[{"content":" It was a fight that even Mohammed Ali would have lost. Dirty Hairy, Johnny Cash, and Superman couldn’t have done better, but in the end I failed and got beat bad and the victor was exhaustion. Exhaustion stood over me, beating its chest and then kicked me while I was down, and though it may not have been an actual fight, my body feels like it was in one, but let me start from the beginning\u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-brawl-in-the-jungle-and-i-lost-bryan-barrow-csom-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://mcusercontent.com/7d25e0de61ca670c8caa93cdc/images/7946576b-c4c0-5ca6-57d4-7128dbdc77e6.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a fight that even Mohammed Ali would have lost. Dirty Hairy, Johnny Cash, and Superman couldn’t have done better, but in the end I failed and got beat bad and the victor was exhaustion. Exhaustion stood over me, beating its chest and then kicked me while I was down, and though it may not have been an actual fight, my body feels like it was in one, but let me start from the beginning\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Brawl in the Jungle, and I Lost - Bryan Barrow CSOM Update"},{"content":"Hello Family and Friends,\nI can’t believe it’s been a couple of weeks since my last newsletter, and now we are already at our final week before this trip comes to an end. I can honestly say I had no idea what the Lord was going to do while I was here, but I knew He was going to use this time to change and grow me. I have been challenged, stretched, and yet filled with peace from the Lord. He has shown me that as long as I put my trust in Him and keep a willing heart, He can use someone like me, someone undeserving of anything in this world to be a part of His Kingdom’s growth\u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-met-some-coras-fidel-ordaz-csom-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://mcusercontent.com/7d25e0de61ca670c8caa93cdc/images/fb90f2c8-74c6-8a3d-ef03-33a715f8009f.png\"\u003eHello Family and Friends,\u003cbr\u003e\nI can’t believe it’s been a couple of weeks since my last newsletter, and now we are already at our final week before this trip comes to an end. I can honestly say I had no idea what the Lord was going to do while I was here, but I knew He was going to use this time to change and grow me. I have been challenged, stretched, and yet filled with peace from the Lord. He has shown me that as long as I put my trust in Him and keep a willing heart, He can use someone like me, someone undeserving of anything in this world to be a part of His Kingdom’s growth\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Met Some Coras! - Fidel Ordaz CSOM Update"},{"content":" _“You cannot control the origin of your suffering, but you can control the outcome.”- Warren Wiersbe, The Strategy of Satan_This past week’s readings were the 3-D Gospel by Jayson Georges and the Strategy of Satan by Warren Wiersbe. The timing of the Strategy of Satan could not have been more perfect because we struggled. Our time in Mazatlán was our first adjustment as we slept on the church floors. A theme you’ll notice is our naturally desired comforts being slowly stripped away\u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-got-shot-danielle-tsague-csom-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://mcusercontent.com/7d25e0de61ca670c8caa93cdc/images/236d71b3-0d30-8aca-4963-ad104a1a49ce.png\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e_“You cannot control the origin of your suffering, but you can control the outcome.”- Warren Wiersbe, The Strategy of Satan_This past week’s readings were the \u003cem\u003e3-D Gospel\u003c/em\u003e by Jayson Georges and the \u003cem\u003eStrategy of Satan\u003c/em\u003e by Warren Wiersbe. The timing of the Strategy of Satan could not have been more perfect because we \u003cem\u003estruggled\u003c/em\u003e. Our time in Mazatlán was our first adjustment as we slept on the church floors. A theme you’ll notice is our naturally desired comforts being slowly stripped away\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Got Shot - Danielle Tsague CSOM Update"},{"content":" Hello friends and family,\nThis is our last week here at CSOM, and I’m feeling the weight of that today as I reflect on our time in Mazatlan and the mountains this past week. It was the climax of the trip for us, the time to test ourselves and put in action what we had been building up to. It’s hard to put into words all the ways God has met me during this time, and I have this sense of needing time to process and rest, but also never wanting it to end\u0026hellip;..\nFULL NEWSLETTER\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/here-i-am-lord-heather-illias-csom-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://mcusercontent.com/7d25e0de61ca670c8caa93cdc/images/57f6ac0a-d955-2cf2-33ff-4dfb7aedcbc0.png\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is our last week here at CSOM, and I’m feeling the weight of that today as I reflect on our time in Mazatlan and the mountains this past week. It was the climax of the trip for us, the time to test ourselves and put in action what we had been building up to. It’s hard to put into words all the ways God has met me during this time, and I have this sense of needing time to process and rest, but also never wanting it to end\u0026hellip;..\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Here I am, Lord - Heather Illias CSOM Update"},{"content":"Time to Send / Tiempo de Enviar\nSadly, my time at the School of Missions has come to an end, but I’m excited for what’s next. Together with my brothers, we flew from Tijuana and arrived in Mazatlán.\nFor a few days, we served together at my home church, Calvary Maranatha, and then I had…\nA different kind of experience. It was my turn to pray and send them off to continue the work while I stayed behind in Mazatlán\u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/time-to-send-manuel-canedo-csom-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://mcusercontent.com/7d25e0de61ca670c8caa93cdc/images/33a91231-b2e0-6027-71c8-f78cdb7d938e.png\"\u003eTime to Send / Tiempo de Enviar\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSadly, \u003cstrong\u003emy time at the School of Missions has come to an end\u003c/strong\u003e, but I’m excited for what’s next. Together with my brothers, we flew from Tijuana and arrived in Mazatlán.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a few days, we served together at my home church, Calvary Maranatha, and then I had…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"a-different-kind-of-experience\"\u003eA different kind of experience.\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt was my turn to pray and send them off\u003c/strong\u003e to continue the work while I stayed behind in Mazatlán\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Time to Send - Manuel Canedo CSOM Update"},{"content":"¡\nBreaking the Silence!\nHola, familia!\nImagine stepping out of a nice, air-conditioned airplane and directly into a relentlessly hot, steamy sauna, with tons of beautiful green foliage everywhere around you. This is how our team felt upon our arrival to and throughout the duration of our time in Mazatlan, MX. Yet despite the muggy weather, we were refreshed when we discovered an incredibly loving church body at CC Maranatha, which is where we stayed last week. While there we were blessed with the opportunity to help set up for and serve in their VBS and soccer tournament, before being sent out from their Sunday service for our mission trip to the Cora tribe. Since there is a lot we could share about from the past couple weeks, we\u0026rsquo;ll just focus on some of the highlights since our last newsletter!\u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/breaking-the-silence-albano-csom-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e¡\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://mcusercontent.com/7d25e0de61ca670c8caa93cdc/images/296ad7c3-3ef7-27c3-c77b-b16c3686fe9b.png\"\u003eBreaking the Silence!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHola, familia!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImagine stepping out of a nice, air-conditioned airplane and directly into a relentlessly hot, steamy sauna, with tons of beautiful green foliage everywhere around you. This is how our team felt upon our arrival to and throughout the duration of our time in Mazatlan, MX. Yet despite the muggy weather, we were refreshed when we discovered an incredibly loving church body at CC Maranatha, which is where we stayed last week. While there we were blessed with the opportunity to help set up for and serve in their VBS and soccer tournament, before being sent out from their Sunday service for our mission trip to the Cora tribe. Since there is a lot we could share about from the past couple weeks, we\u0026rsquo;ll just focus on some of the highlights since our last newsletter!\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Breaking the Silence! - Albano CSOM Update"},{"content":"God is Absolutely Amazing!~ CCOM Week 4 Update ~\nHello all my loved ones! To all of you, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I hope you are all doing well.\nThis is what the Lord has been doing in my life recently…\nFULL NEWSLETTER\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-amazing-norman-rodriguez-csom/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/blog/category/news/\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://mcusercontent.com/7d25e0de61ca670c8caa93cdc/images/92f68a1e-b6f2-aacf-4ab4-e0c39b087b0c.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003eGod is Absolutely Amazing!~  CCOM Week 4 Update ~\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHello all my loved ones! To all of you, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.\u003c/em\u003e I hope you are all doing well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is what the Lord has been doing in my life recently…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/2b1f51cd1ce5/god-is-absolutely-amazing\"\u003eFULL NEWSLETTER\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God is Amazing! - Norman Rodriguez CSOM Update"},{"content":"God’s Mountain\nHello Friends and Family,\nI am at the end of the fifth week of this journey that the Lord has led me on—learning not only the real purpose of the Church, but also the seriousness of making disciples and being sent to the unreached.\nWhat does “unreached people” mean?\u0026hellip;..\nFULL NEWSLETTER\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gods-mountain-guiseppina-ercolamento-gruner-csom/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://mcusercontent.com/7d25e0de61ca670c8caa93cdc/images/51a2063f-55d0-2953-b1cb-067ebd29eee2.png\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGod’s Mountain\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am at the end of the fifth week of this journey that the Lord has led me on—learning not only the real purpose of the Church, but also the seriousness of making disciples and being sent to the unreached.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat does “unreached people” mean?\u0026hellip;..\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/674d2a56eff9/stepping-into-the-garden-of-god-1908\"\u003eFULL NEWSLETTER\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God's Mountain - Guiseppina Ercolamento Gruner CSOM Update"},{"content":"I GOT FOOD POISONING IN THE TRIBE!?!\nWOW first off, thank you for all your prayers! We had a safe arrival in Mazatlán, and I’ve truly felt the covering of God and His people throughout this journey.\nThis whole program has been such a blessing. I’ll be back Sunday the 10th, and I just wanted to share a bit of what I’ve experienced. I’ve learned so much and walked through spiritual warfare, spiritual growth, and testing in these 6 weeks! Especially during our time in Mazatlán and with the Cora Tribe\u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER\nClick Here\nClick Here\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-was-poisoned-timothy-gibson-csom/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://mcusercontent.com/7d25e0de61ca670c8caa93cdc/images/10f6e532-ae08-9b4c-0458-e9fa53977c44.png\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI GOT FOOD POISONING IN THE TRIBE!?!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWOW first off, thank you for all your prayers! We had a safe arrival in Mazatlán, and I’ve truly felt the covering of God and His people throughout this journey.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis whole program has been such a blessing. I’ll be back Sunday the 10th, and I just wanted to share a bit of what I’ve experienced. I’ve learned so much and walked through spiritual warfare, spiritual growth, and testing in these 6 weeks! Especially during our time in Mazatlán and with the Cora Tribe\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I WAS POISONED?? - Timothy Gibson CSOM Update"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico. As you are reading this update, we have just finished hosting our 10th annual international church planting conference!\nThe theme of this year’s conference was “Church Planting Essentials” and we had close to 600 people in attendance at this free event. In this monthly update I want to tell you about the great things God is doing.\nWe had an amazing and gifted lineup of speakers this year, and each one of these men are not only Pastors, but they Pastor churches that have planted other churches as well! (The idea of the local church being a “Sending Hub”! ) This year’s line-up included three church planters we have sent out, and four pastors from out of state that are experienced church planters.\nOur speaker lineup included three of our church planters; Aaron Smith from The Rock Church in Punta Gorda Florida, Tony Carranza from Maranatha Calvary in Mazatlan, and Hugo Limon from Calvary Culiacan in Sinaloa. We were also blessed this year to have four Pastors traveling to Mexico for our conference which included my good friends, Pastors Bruce Zackary, Trent Douglas, Al Pittman (from Colorado) and Juan Domingo, who planted the very first Calvary Chapel church in Mexico over 40 years ago!\nThis year we are offering eighteen workshops over the two-day conference that cover a wide area of church planting and ministry. This year these workshops included a special women’s track (three teachings taught by women), a church ministries track, and a Bible teaching track.\nThe highlight of the conference each year is the blessing we have of sending out church planters at the conference. And this year’s batch of new churches did not disappoint. To start off the conference, our church sent out a church planting team to the large border city of Tecate! (50 miles East of Rosarito). Our 2nd church plant from the conference was a 2nd generation church plant from our 3-year old church in Michoacan. (Camino Viviente Quirga)\nWe will also be making Calvary Rosarito church planting history as we plant our first fourth generation church plant together. This new church will be located in a city called Santa Rocio Sinaloa, and I want to tell you the exciting testimony of how God brought these four generations of church planters together.\nFirst off, our family planted Calvary Rosarito back in 2002. We then sent out Pastor Hugo Limon and his family to plant Calvary Culiacan North in 2015! Hugo sent out his assistant, Pastor Valerio, to plant a church called Calvary Culiacan South (2nd generation) in 2018. Valerio sent out Pastor Antonio to plant Calvary AguaRuto (3rd generation) in 2021. And now Pastor Antonio is sending out Pastor Cruz to Santa Rocio Culiacan to plant Calvary Caminando Por Fe! (Our first 4th generation church plant, “Walking by Faith”) What a great church planting heritage God has given us, and precious friends, this is your spiritual fruit!\nAlso in July we unfortunately faced a defeat in our ongoing court battles over the land we legally own and purchased. Sadly, this defeat was in criminal court, and because of the corruption in the legal system here, there is now a local warrant out for my arrest! (Please don’t panic, but trust God with me!) I don’t believe that the police will follow up on this warrant, as it would not be in their best interests to have the Pastor of the largest Christian church in the state get arrested over a phony criminal case. I share this bad news with you to ask you to pray for my protection, which I know you have been doing.\nWe also have a couple of pieces of really good news on the church side of things! First off, our church has been growing rapidly recently, and we have been averaging over 100 first time local guests every month. To facilitate this growth, our church is going to four weekend services at the start of August, so please keep that in your prayers!\nAlso in regards to the building, we are moving close to making an offer to purchase our church facility. (We own the two parking lots, but not the church building yet!) We believe our future agreement will be well north of one million dollars for the beautiful 15,000 plus square foot facility that we use for the church. YES, that is a lot of money for a church in Mexico, but NO, that is not a lot of money to our God who owns the cattle on a thousand hills. Please pray that we can come to a fair purchase agreement with the owner, and then pray for God’s favor and blessing as we begin a fund-raising campaign with our church family and ministry partners.\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for your partnership with our family here in the ripe mission fields of Mexico. It is through your prayers, that God meet’s our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God meet’s our physical needs. We love you and are praying for you.\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God will provide a financial miracle and allow us to purchase our church facility.\n#2- Pray that God will bless our church planting conference coming up on August 1-2.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for the growth He has brought to our church, and our move to four services!\n#2- Praise God for the blessing of sending out three new church plants at our church planting conference!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-august-2025-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. As you are reading this update, we have just finished hosting our 10th annual international church planting conference!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/95838977-b981-45f7-90b2-4450caefdfaf-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe theme of this year’s conference was “Church Planting Essentials” and we had close to 600 people in attendance at this free event. In this monthly update I want to tell you about the great things God is doing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/515499490%5F10163002975999208%5F4037797343348711151%5Fn-240x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe had an amazing and gifted lineup of speakers this year, and each one of these men are not only Pastors, but they Pastor churches that have planted other churches as well! \u003cem\u003e(The idea of the local church being a “Sending Hub”! )\u003c/em\u003e This year’s line-up included three church planters we have sent out, and four pastors from out of state that are experienced church planters.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family August 2025 Missions Update"},{"content":"Well… I’m glad you you asked! It was amazing! I got to see some of the places where the Lord first made an impact on my life and was privileged to see people I hadn’t seen in years. The Lord is doing amazing things in Uganda through the different people and ministries Joel and I got to visit on our 2-week trip in June. But before I give you more details, I want to take you back to when I first visited Uganda in 2009.\nI had just turned 12 years old and my dad decided it would be a good idea to take his rebellious middle schooler to Uganda to hopefully have a seed planted in my heart. We went to Midigo, a village in the north of Uganda, and then to Kampala, the capital city. It was while I was in Uganda that God made me aware of the blessings I had neglected to be thankful for back at home and that He was real. I didn’t give my life to the Lord on the trip but a seed was planted for me to make that decision just 3 and a half years later. It’s safe to say Uganda has changed my life!\nSo when the opportunity came for me to go again, I was so excited! We said goodbye to our families and headed on our way to Uganda. Once we landed, we met our wonderful friends Bryan and Jill Kanyike and their 3 kids, Luke, Laylee and Liana. They serve at Arise Christian Fellowship in Kampala where Bryan is the Senior Pastor.\nWhile we we there, we got to lead a men’s conference looking at what it means to be a biblical man. On Sunday morning, Joel taught and I led worship. We got to take a trip to the market place where we evangelized and shared with a few people. The market place is actually where the church started 10 years ago! We also got to visit some people in the slums and bring them some soap and sugar. We came into their homes and prayed for them.\nOne man named Vincent prayed for us, that we would be able to share the good news of Jesus around the world because they were unable to due to their situation. It was very moving to see someone living in a slum praying for me to be a witness of Jesus around the world.\nAs we were making our way through the slum, we noticed that many of the people we had seen at church lived in the slum. They loved God and trusted in Him, even in the midst of their circumstances. It was awesome to see that this church was reaching the poorest people with the Word of God!\nBut the sweetest time in Kampala was just to simply sit with the Kanyikes, eat with them, worship with them, and fellowship together. This was the purpose of our trip, to care for these missionaries who don’t always get people coming to see them. They encouraged us as much as we wanted to encourage them. Please pray for them and sign up for their newsletters to hear all that God is doing! We were mentioned in the last update!\nNext, we went to see the Harris family in Gulu, which is 6 hours north of Kampala. Matt came down and picked us up and drove us all the way there. Matt and Noelle have 5 kids, Apio, Emma, Madi, Noah and Charlotte. They serve at Calvary Chapel Gulu and run the Terebinth Bible School that trains pastors to teach the Word of God instead of emotionalism.\nWhile we were there we visited all the different places where they minister, spent some time at the church, Joel shared at a widows ministry, we went to people’s homes, and we got to see the Bible college campus as well. Of course we got to spend time with the family and got to hear all that the Lord has been doing in their lives. Pray for their ministry and sign up for their newsletters as well! Matt also sends out a devotional that’s really good!\nWe were then picked up by the Aniku family. Vincent and Melissa have 2 boys, Zachary and Ian, and they serve at Calvary Chapel Midigo where Vincent is the Sr. Pastor. Before we got to their home, however, we went on a safari! It was a nice break in the midst of all the ministry we were doing.\nWe made it to Midigo where we were welcomed by a thriving church! I was asked to share in the youth group (5th-7th graders) at 7am on Sunday morning. Now, my first thought was that 7am is way too early for this age group of kids, as the youth I lead in America probably wouldn’t want to get up that early for youth group. But man was I wrong! Hundreds of kids ran to save a seat at church as the sanctuary filled up before we even started. I got to share about Jesus praying for us in John 17 and encouraged the youth to be bold in their faith. It was an amazing time!\nJoel shared the message at church on Sunday morning and then in the evening we went to their church’s soccer game. They started a men\u0026rsquo;s soccer team to be an evangelistic tool in the community and they have now won the league and will move up to the premier league in Uganda! Praise God!\nThere were so many things happening in Midigo like the new community center they are building to host conferences and teams and to bless the community. They are praying about reaching the surrounding areas where 95% of the people are Muslim. Please pray for the Anikus and sign up for their newsletter!\nWe did so much more, but I don’t have the space to share everything. If you want to know more, please reach out! And if you’d like to support us as we continue to serve the Lord then click the giving link below. Thank you and may God bless you!\nStay tuned for our next update where I’ll share about the youth summer camp we just finished and more plans for mission trips coming up soon!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/how-was-uganda-douglass-update-july-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell… I’m glad you you asked! It was amazing! I got to see some of the places where the Lord first made an impact on my life and was privileged to see people I hadn’t seen in years. The Lord is doing amazing things in Uganda through the different people and ministries Joel and I got to visit on our 2-week trip in June. But before I give you more details, I want to take you back to when I first visited Uganda in 2009.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How Was Uganda? - Douglass Update July 2025"},{"content":"To our church families!!\nWe are excited to announce our son Micah was accepted to Biola University. This was an enormous answer to prayer. After graduating Bible college, Micah wanted to continue his studies with the hopes of going into the ministry. His desire is to study theology and communications. We asked God for a miracle to provide for his studies and door after door kept opening, so we continued to walk in that direction. He has received two scholarships and financial aid, but even with all this we are still short for paying his tuition. Biola offers a church matching scholarship up to 1,300 per year, but it cannot come from anyone related to him. We humbly ask that you or your church would prayerfully consider supporting Micah fulfill his dreams. Thank you!\nIf you are able to help, please email us! stacy.villegas@gmail.com or calvaryacapulco@gmail.com\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-special-request-for-our-son-micah-villegas-update-july-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTo our church families!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are excited to announce our son Micah was accepted to Biola University. This was an enormous answer to prayer. After graduating Bible college, Micah wanted to continue his studies with the hopes of going into the ministry. His desire is to study theology and communications. We asked God for a miracle to provide for his studies and door after door kept opening, so we continued to walk in that direction. He has received two scholarships and financial aid, but even with all this we are still short for paying his tuition. Biola offers a church matching scholarship up to 1,300 per year, but it cannot come from anyone related to him. We humbly ask that you or your church would prayerfully consider supporting Micah fulfill his dreams. Thank you!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Special Request for Our Son Micah - Villegas Update July 2025"},{"content":"“Blessed Be the Flexible”\nThat’s been the saying at the school—and wow, did we ever get a crash course in Flexico… lol! Flexico is a combination of two words: flexible and Mexico! That\u0026rsquo;s what the Lord has been leading us to be each year that we’ve been in Mexico.… Flexible.\nWhen we arrived in Mexico for our 7th year of Calvary School of Missions (CSOM), we started out on the “right” foot and then we “left…\u0026quot;\nWe could hardly believe that we were here with 12 amazing students and 8 passionate leaders. With eager anticipation, we were looking forward to what the Lord was going to do in and through this year. We start the school off with the theme of surrender where we ask the students to be willing to lay down their hopes, dreams, thoughts, and plans in an act of surrender to the Lord, Jenn and I participate in this as well offering Him our lives to do with as He will. We do this very literally and symbolically, after looking into the Word of God and what it says about surrender, we spend some time in worship and prayer and write down the things that are near and dear to us. After that, we take our pieces of paper to the fire and burn it, watching our plans go up in smoke. That’s the right foot to start off on!!\nThough we started off on the right foot, we took a major U-turn after just one week— Jenn fell down some stairs and broke her left leg. Ouch! After four days in the hospital and reconstructive surgery, we find ourselves back home.\nTrusting God in the Unexpected\nThe Bible gives us so many examples of flexibility and trust in God’s guidance:\n• Abraham left his homeland on God’s Word.\n• Moses led an unpredictable people through a wilderness.\n• Paul adapted through every twist in his missionary journeys.\nAnd now, we too are learning how to trust God’s plan and adapt to changing circumstances.\nOver and over again, God was showing us through His Word how faithful, trustworthy, and able He is to handle any of our problems. I, Tim, was thinking wow maybe this is going to be one wild ride this year… Never even thinking hardship would strike so close to home and I would find my bride laying on the ground reeling in agony. There’s not enough room in this newsletter to tell you how many ways we saw God’s hand upon the situation beforehand, in the middle of, and afterwards, but we happened to have some extra time on our hands and would love to visit with you either in person or over the phone and share more of God’s goodness in the middle of apparent catastrophe.\nI Tim don’t normally share what I’ve written on that piece of paper that I put in the fire as an act of surrender to the Lord, I keep it between Him and I but this year I wrote that I’m willing to surrender CSOM. With no idea that resolve would be put to the test the way it has been. I’m happy to report by God’s grace, I’m still in that place and find myself in acceptance to whatever He chooses to do in my life… No regrets, no resentment.\nWe want to share one more glimpse of God’s fingerprints on our situation. The Lord had set Tim and I up with an incredible team of support staff that have been able to slide right into our roles in such a seamless way that we wonder if we were ever really needed.\nEverybody stepped right up into their instant promotions, and they are doing a great job. Jenn had prepackaged children’s ministry and women’s ministry in such a way that our student leaders were able to take the ball and head down field for a touchdown. Tim is still available and working hard from home in a consultation and support roll along with wrapping up a few of the details handing over the school to Pastor Gary. Along with his home healthcare duties caring for Jenn as God would have it, he has also resumed some of his regular responsibilities around the church. One of them being teaching four of the midweek studies throughout the summer.\nWe also want you to know we have been truly blessed in serving God in many other ways since our last newsletter, we have been running full speed….As you all know it takes a lot of planning for a 6-week program for CSOM along with the other day to day things we get to be a part of!! Here’s some updates on the wonderful things we GET to be a part of.\nWhat We’ve Been Up to Since our Last Newsletter – It’s been go time! Preparing a 6-week program for CSOM is no small feat, not to mention the many other ministry opportunities we’re blessed to be part of. Here’s a peek at what’s been happening:\nVoice of Refugee (VOR) Outreach – Jenn recently took a couple of students to Friends Church in Corona to help host a VOR outreach event for women in the refugee community. It was a beautiful time of showing the love of Jesus through facials, manicures, food, and fellowship.\nThis was the first time this church participated in such an event—praise God for new partnerships and open doors! It’s so encouraging to see more churches coming together to reach the unreached.\nLydia and I (Jenn) sat at the bracelet table and had the opportunity to engage in deep, meaningful conversation with three incredible women: a mother, her daughter, and an aunt. The daughter, a former teacher, had left Afghanistan to give her child a better life. Hearing their stories—full of trauma, strength, and hope—reminded us of the deep need for Jesus’ healing love.\nWelcoming Workers on Furlough\nOne of the greatest blessings of our ministry through SGWM is having the opportunity to welcome and host global workers while they’re on furlough. It fills us with joy and gratitude to open our home—to love on them, encourage them, and share meals and fellowship together.\nRecently, we had the joy of reconnecting with Michelle, a missionary serving in South Asia who married a national brother just one year ago. She returned to the States for a visit, and we had the privilege of attending a special dessert gathering at her home church.\nIt was a powerful evening— Tim shared the Word, and Jenn had the honor of praying over Michelle. It was such a beautiful time of encouragement and unity, seeing the body of Christ gather to support one of our own.\nMoments like these remind us just how deeply connected we are, no matter where we serve. What a gift it is to come alongside these faithful laborers, even if only for a short time, and refresh their hearts as they prepare to return to the mission field.\nOur very dear friend and sister Lacey from our first year of school has finally been able to come on furlough after two long years from S. Asia. What a joy it is to reunite and share precious time together again, especially to have them stay in our home! It was such a blessing to see her daughter experiencing a new culture and delighting in the company and joy of other children.\nWalking alongside the students in discipleship is one of Jenn’s deepest joys.\nPrayer Requests:\n• Continued healing for Jenn’s foot\n• Health, unity, and strength for the CSOM team\n• Open hearts and fruitful ministry as the students \u0026amp; leaders serve in Mexico\n• Opportunities for deeper discipleship with the students\nWe love and appreciate all of you who pray, give, and support us in so many ways. We couldn’t do it without your partnership in the Gospel. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase you’re already generous support you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 92886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/flexico-pappas-update-july-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Blessed Be the Flexible”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat’s been the saying at the school—and wow, did we ever get a crash course in \u003cem\u003eFlexico\u003c/em\u003e… lol! Flexico is a combination of two words: flexible and Mexico! That\u0026rsquo;s what the Lord has been leading us to be each year that we’ve been in Mexico.… Flexible.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen we arrived in Mexico for our \u003cstrong\u003e7th year of Calvary School of Missions (CSOM)\u003c/strong\u003e, we started out on the “right” foot and then we “left…\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Flexico - Pappas Update July 2025"},{"content":"Hi family and friends,\nIt’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year since I joined the Missions Training School. It’s truly been a rollercoaster of emotions. Filled with highs, lows, breakthroughs and a whole lot of stretching. I’ve been learning so much about myself. My strengths, my weaknesses, and the personal traits I’ve needed to surrender in order to properly serve the Lord. It’s hard and honestly, it hurts my pride. But I don’t want to be prideful. I want to be humble before the Lord and before His people.\nIn this season, God has been gently breaking down old ideas and comforts I used to turn to when I was in the world. Things that simply don’t work anymore now that I’m in Christ. I’ve learned that real transformation requires letting go. And letting go hurts.\nI entered what feels like a season of mourning. God began to bring up past traumatic things done to me, and things I brought upon myself through sin. It’s been deeply painful, but necessary. I’m learning to surrender that pain to Jesus and trust Him with my healing. It’s not easy. It’s messy. But I’m so grateful He’s given me the strength, awareness, and conviction to walk through it.\nRight now, I’m walking through my life starting from childhood with the Lord. We’re in constant dialogue as I’m processing events, connecting dots, seeing how one hurt led to another, and how sin slowly crept into my heart at a young age. And even in this hard place, I see His hand. He’s placed godly people around me. Members of the Body of Christ who are walking with me, speaking truth, and helping me navigate this healing season.\nI’ve lost friendships because of my faith. The truth is, the gospel is offensive. Just living it out can create distance with those who are comfortable in their sin or who don’t yet see the need for repentance. But at the same time, it’s drawn me closer to nonbelievers in a different way. My worldview has shifted. I no longer see the lost with judgment, but with the same grace and compassion God has shown me, because I was once lost too, blinded by the world. I’ve learned that not everyone is in a place of full surrender yet. God has people in different places. My role is to be present, to be the light. Not to affirm sin, but not to condemn either. Simply to love and leave the rest to Him.\nGod has given me the privilege of going on small short- term missions trips, as well as serving in both the children’s ministry and social media ministry. It’s been a refining experience. He’s growing me in ways I didn’t know I needed, and I’m so thankful. Just last month, we held our Vacation Bible School. It was such a sweet time to minister to the children of the congregation and to many from the surrounding community.\nI can’t express how beyond grateful I am that Jesus My Lord and Savior rescued me. I was literally walking to the gates of hell. But He’s set me free from so much sin. He’s completely transforming my heart, mind, and worldview.\nMy confidence and security used to come from within myself, and it was never enough. But now, my security and confidence come from Christ alone who never changes. And the more I walk with Jesus, the more grateful I am. Not just that He saved me, but that He wants a relationship with me. That He desires to know me deeply and transform me into a godly woman who lives in submission and service to Him. That’s something I cherish deeply and I can’t put a price on it.\n“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.”\nGalatians 2:20–21\nThis has become my life verse. It explains so beautifully how I feel about my life now in Christ: I no longer live for myself. I live by faith in the One who loved me and gave Himself for me and I never want to set aside His grace.\nThank you so much for taking the time to read this update and for walking this journey with me. I’ve committed to another year of the Missions Training School, and I’m beyond excited to see what the Lord has in store for me.\nPraise Report:\nJesus has redeemed my relationship with my parents. It is now the best it has ever been. We tell each other “I love you,” we show affection, and it’s only because of Jesus, who has transformed my heart and the way I view my parents and family.\nI’ve now been saved for over a year and a half, and I’ve been praying that the Lord would make me more like Jesus. He’s answering that prayer but not in the easy way. He’s doing it by teaching me to die to myself, to surrender, and to walk in humility. And I’m truly thankful.\nPrayer Requests:\nThat I would continue to daily surrender my life to Christ\nThat my family and close friends would come to know Jesus and be born again.\nThat the Lord would reveal in His perfect timing where He is calling me to serve long-term\nFor financial provision as I carry some debt. I know and trust the Lord will provide\nIf you feel led to support me, I’d love to invite you to partner with me most importantly through prayer. Your prayers truly make a difference in this walk of faith and obedience. If the Lord puts it on your heart to support me financially as well, that would be a blessing and help further the work He’s doing through me in this training and ministry.\nWith love and gratitude\nFor His Glory,\nKatia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/beauty-in-the-breaking-alvarez-update-july-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi family and friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year since I joined the Missions Training School. It’s truly been a rollercoaster of emotions. Filled with highs, lows, breakthroughs and a whole lot of stretching. I’ve been learning so much about myself. My strengths, my weaknesses, and the personal traits I’ve needed to surrender in order to properly serve the Lord. It’s hard and honestly, it hurts my pride. But I don’t want to be prideful. I want to be humble before the Lord and before His people.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Beauty in the Breaking - Alvarez Update July 2025"},{"content":"Hi family and friends!\nIt’s been a few months since our vision trip to Japan and we wanted to show you how the trip went and talk about some things the Lord spoke to us while we were there. In this first newsletter, we want to give more of a general recap of our time and some experiences. But in our next newsletter, we want to go a bit deeper and share some things the Lord put on our hearts while we were there, and explain why we feel called to be missionaries in Japan.\nBut first, we were able to film some of our experiences so you can get a better glimpse of what we did and the church we partnered with. We created 2 videos below, one “through Lydia’s eyes” and one “through Geoff’s eyes.” They each capture different aspects of our trip so we hope you enjoy watching!\nhttps://youtu.be/Uoc45-3OW7k\nhttps://youtu.be/ZemW_EcW4tg\nStumbling Over Ourselves in Japan\nThe first few weeks of our trip were definitely spent settling in, figuring out our train route, and trying to adapt to the new systems of everyday life in Japan. At first it was a little overwhelming, having to learn many basic things that everyone else already knows and that you feel you should already know too (like how to order at a restaurant, how to use all the toilet buttons, and even how to simply walk down a sidewalk!) And when you do something even slightly wrong or different than everyone else there, suddenly every Japanese head swivels around in your direction in silent judgement. We felt like 2 incompetent people stumbling over themselves several times. However, we knew it was all part of the process of learning a new culture, and we were eventually able to find weekly routines, which helped us feel a little less off balance.\nOur Time with Calvary Chapel Abide Osaka\nWe truly fell in love with Abide Osaka, a body of joyful Christian believers of all nationalities. We really enjoyed jumping into ministry where we could, and getting to know the believers’ unique stories. With our limited knowledge of Japanese, we also tried our best to converse in their language, though we are still at the beginning stages of our comprehension! They were always very gracious and happy to help teach us new phrases here and there.\nWe were able to attend the different bible studies they had every week and got to serve in childcare every Sunday. What a learning experience that was! Japanese children are raised to be very independent from a young age and so we encountered a few things that we weren’t used to in our American culture. One little kid who was hanging out in the children’s room suddenly got up mid-service, took his backpack, and walked out to take himself to a test he was scheduled for that day! We didn’t know what was happening at first so we thought we had lost a kid under our watch on our very first Sunday haha.\nGoodbye for Now\nIt was such a blessing to be able to go to Osaka, Japan for an extended time and learn more about the culture, make new friends, experience the beautiful church body of CC Abide Osaka, and learn under Pastor Joseph Totsis and his wife Amy. We also enjoyed being with our dear friends Jeff and Alishia Root again who moved to Osaka as missionaries last year during our first trip!\nBy the time we had to leave Japan, we finally felt like we had gotten used to where we were and were sad to leave Abide. But where we came with many questions, we ended up leaving with such assuring clarity from the Lord. We are excited to move forward in preparing to move to Japan as SGWM missionaries. More on that in the next newsletter!\nWe hope you enjoyed watching our 2 videos and through them were able to feel a little bit more a part of what’s going on in Osaka. Thank you so much for reading this update from us, we are really blessed to share with you what the Lord is doing in our lives! We are so grateful for your love and support.\nSincerely,\nGeoff \u0026amp; Lydia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/3-months-in-japan-hamano-update-july-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi family and friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s been a few months since our vision trip to Japan and we wanted to show you how the trip went and talk about some things the Lord spoke to us while we were there. In this first newsletter, we want to give more of a general recap of our time and some experiences. But in our next newsletter, we want to go a bit deeper and share some things the Lord put on our hearts while we were there, and explain why we feel called to be missionaries in Japan.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"3 Months in Japan - Hamano Update July 2025"},{"content":"Summer is here, and life is very very busy! We were very encouraged by all of your responses and your prayers following our last newsletter, so thank you. Life has moved so fast in the last year, and both of us truly feel like God is growing us through all of this. Part of the growing is constantly remembering that we have done absolutely nothing to get ourselves here… to get ourselves saved, to get ourselves married, to get ourselves in ministry, to get ourselves a source of income, to get ourselves a home, or to get ourselves a baby boy on the way! Every good and perfect gift has come from Him (James 1:17) and so our prayer is to ever be seeking after Him, the Giver.\nOne such step of obedience came last week during Calvary Chapel Saving Grace’s youth summer camp. With my (Barek) new work schedule (nights and weekend nights) I only get Mondays and Tuesdays off. Because of this, I couldn’t join CCSG’s youth summer camp for its entirety, unfortunately. But after praying, Ara and I felt it would be totally worthwhile to go for at least my two days, at the beginning of the week. So I got assigned to teach the Tuesday night session (in Hebrews) and we were excited.\nBut Sunday night, after work, I broke my contact for my right eye. For those of you who don’t know, I’m as blind as a bat in my right eye, so this made things interesting, for not only the youth retreat plans, but also for work! These are the kind of inconveniences that God allows at times, ultimately in order to have us walk by faith (and in this case literally) not by sight.\nWe went up the mountain to the camp a day later than planned, with Ara doing all the driving of course, and we had an incredible night and next morning. God moved so powerfully through this camp, and we got to witness His glory and His salvation! I got to teach on Hebrews 3, where Jesus is counted worthy of more glory than Moses, and where the Hebrews are warned to heed God’s voice while it is still “today.” By the grace of God, after the message and during worship, I got to pray with a young man to receive Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. All glory be to Him, who loves us, and saves us, and sustains us through everything. He never leaves us nor forsakes us, and there could not be a greater gift for Ara and I in pushing through the inconveniences to our plans, walking instead in His, than to see a life saved by Him. Ultimately 3 youth kids gave their lives to Him through the camp. Praise God!\nWe Got An Apartment!\nI (Araceli) had been doing research on finding an apartment and we had no idea how quickly the LORD would open the door for us to move out of my in-laws. Within a week of searching and applying we got approved! It has been a month of living on our own. We were beyond blessed for the time we got to live at my in-laws. They had given us the entire upstairs of their home. One of the bittersweet moments was walking into our prayer closet knowing that we had to pack it all up. That was where we both sought the Lord, prayed together, and did our personal devotionals.\nNow here is a picture of our living room in our apartment. We can’t wait to create memories with our baby boy in this home, and to see how God uses this place for ministry!\nFear not, for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.\nIsaiah‬ ‭41‬:‭10‬ ‭\nThroughout my pregnancy, the LORD has constantly been teaching me to be fully dependent on Him, physically, spiritually and mentally. I am constantly running to Him for aid and comfort and He has been so faithful to meet me there. The week that Barek and I were going to host some missionary friends, my heart was not in the right place. A part of me was excited to have them over, but physically and mentally I was wrestling with not being able to do it. I knew I needed to pray and I asked the Lord to encourage me and He did! He gave me the verse above. I held to this promise, and guess what?… God was faithful, and we had such a sweet time with the missionaries. Both Barek and I were encouraged by them and the calling that God has placed upon their lives. It is so refreshing to have likeminded people who understand the need to reach the nations with the gospel.\nAnother moment where I had to depend on God was when I went grocery shopping at night by myself. Out of nowhere I got a nosebleed so bad that I had to go to the hospital. My mother-in-law picked me up, and when I got in her car I remembered what I had read in the book that I am going through with some women at the church. One of the things the author wrote was, “Although such and such is happening, I’m going to praise you God.” So in that moment I said, “Although I’m having a nose bleed and it seems like the most inconvenient thing right now, I’m going to praise You God.” God is constantly calling us into a deeper relationship with Him, and sometimes that requires going through what seems inconvenient.\nPraise Reports\nPraise God for the 3 youth who got saved! Praise God for His faithfulness Praise God for our new apartment Prayer Request\nPray that the 3 new youth believers would grow in the newness of life Pray that Araceli would see an OBGYN soon as she has transitioned doctors and has not been seen for two months Pray for Araceli’s health and baby Moses’ health Please continue to pray that God would provide a second car, if He sees fit Please continue to pray that Barek would be a witness at his job ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/salvation-is-now-brzezinski-update-july-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSummer is here, and life is very very busy! We were very encouraged by all of your responses and your prayers following our last newsletter, so thank you. Life has moved so fast in the last year, and both of us truly feel like God is growing us through all of this. Part of the growing is constantly remembering that we have done absolutely nothing to get ourselves here… to get ourselves saved, to get ourselves married, to get ourselves in ministry, to get ourselves a source of income, to get ourselves a home, or to get ourselves a baby boy on the way! Every good and perfect gift has come from Him (James 1:17) and so our prayer is to ever be seeking after Him, the Giver.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Salvation is Now! - Brzezinski Update July 2025"},{"content":" Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.\nGalatians 6:10\nDear Friends and Family,\nDo you ever have those times when you see someone after a long time, and it seems like no time has gone by or that they have always been there?\nThis past month we experienced that with Joel and Isaac, leaders from my home church. Since Arise Christian Fellowship began about 10 years ago, we have been trying to have some of my home church pastors or leaders come to visit. Every time a trip was planned, something would happen from the pandemic to our kids getting called last year for their citizenship. We have really seen that a man makes a plan, but God directs his steps. Finally, this year we made plans again and it was now God’s timing. His timing was evident in the ministry that took place and the fruit that was produced in the short time they were here.\nThe day after they arrived, we had a BBQ with all of the church leadership so they could get to know them. All the leaders shared something about themselves, their ministries and how God called them to where they are now. They also shared some of their visions for future ministry. Joel and Isaac shared about themselves as well. One of the blessings was Isaac sharing with Timothy who is our youth leader as well as a teacher when Brian is not able. Isaac shared how he has been serving in his role as youth leader and teacher for 5 years but is not yet ordained. This encouraged Timothy because he serves in a very pastoral role but is not yet a pastor. The BBQ ended with some worship and prayer for the ministry that would take place over the next couple days.\nThe following day, Joel and Isaac had a men’s conference at the church. The theme of the conference was \u0026ldquo;Being A Biblical Man.\u0026rdquo; When we were advertising the conference, we invited the youth or young men as well since they are the next generation of godly men. It was a surprise that the teens almost outnumbered the men on the day of the conference. Both Joel and Isaac taught. The topics included Being a Biblical Man, The Man Who Loves God, and A Man Used by God. They alternated leading worship with the men from our worship team and teaching a session. Laylee, Liana, and I didn’t get to hear the teachings since we are not men, but we managed to enjoy some of the worship when we came to serve food to the men on their lunch break. After the teachings were over, they spent time talking and answering questions. The men from Arise have expressed their thankfulness for the one-on-one discussions.\nOn the same day as the conference but in the late afternoon, Joel and Isaac went to the market to see where the church first began under a tree. While they walked around, they were able to engage in a conversation with some Muslims. At the same time Timothy, our youth leader, also found himself in a conversation with a Muslim. We pray that the seeds that were planted that day will grow into fruit.\nThe following day was a Sunday and Joel preached the sermon and Isaac led worship with our worship team. Our worship leader said that it was as if he’d always been a part of their team and very little rehearsal was needed because they all flowed together in worship. Joel taught on the Joy of Repentance from Psalm 51. The timing was perfect for us women as the Wednesday before we had just learned about David and we talked about the sin that had led to this psalm being written. GOD truly worked out this trip according to His timing.\nAfter church, the guys came home with some of the church leadership for a quick lunch then headed out for home visits. Our church members are very blessed when visitors come to their homes. Many live in nearby slums or shanty town area next to the market. When we go for home visits, we of course visit church members but also try to visit people who are shut-ins and those who still need to hear the gospel. Often when we go, it is with a large team and it becomes more like an open-air crusade because everyone cannot fit in their small homes. But with Joel and Isaac, it was much more personal. We pray for the many people who were touched by their prayers and visit to see their good works and glorify our Father in Heaven.\nOn their last day with us, Isaac went to play basketball and fellowship with Luke’s basketball team and friends. Some of them are Christian but many are not. We are always praying for them and for Luke to be a light. Luke, Laylee and Liana were very blessed last year when they were able to be a part of the youth at my home church. All of them connected with Isaac and especially Luke has kept in contact for guidance and support since we returned to Uganda. For them it was as if he came just to visit them. That evening, another missionary from where Joel and Isaac were going to visit next, came as well as our worship leader. After dinner, Isaac led us in worship, some of which were songs from Saving Grace that only we knew but everyone who was there now loves.\nThey returned the day they had to fly out and our whole family accompanied them to the airport as we were all sad to see them go and wanted every last minute of fellowship. It took almost 10 years for this visit to take place, but it was worth the wait, and we look forward to when they can come again, hopefully sooner this time, but definitely in God’s timing.\nWe are thankful for the prayers and support you give our family and the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee and Liana\nPrayer Requests We are thankful for Saving Grace and for not giving up on coming to see the church plant, Arise Christian Fellowship, in Uganda. Pray for the all the people, both in the church and in the community who were touched by the teaching and fellowship of Joel and Isaac. Pray for fruit to continue to grow from the seeds they planted. Pray for safety in Kampala as in 1 month there have been 3 terrorist attempts. The situation is only expected to get worse the closer Uganda gets to elections. Pray for health as many people have been sick with the flu, including Brian and Liana. Pray for the Kanyikes’ finances as they have had many extra expenses. Luke needed braces and is now recovering from surgery to remove 4 impacted wisdom teeth. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team or giving a one-time gift to help with Luke’s dental expenses. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-june-2025/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTherefore, as we have opportunity,\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003elet us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGalatians 6:10\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDo you ever have those times when you see someone after a long time, and it seems like no time has gone by or that they have always been there?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month we experienced that with Joel and Isaac, leaders from my home church.  Since Arise Christian Fellowship began about 10 years ago, we have been trying to have some of my home church pastors or leaders come to visit.  Every time a trip was planned, something would happen from the pandemic to our kids getting called last year for their citizenship. We have really seen that a man makes a plan, but God directs his steps. Finally, this year we made plans again and it was now God’s timing. His timing was evident in the ministry that took place and the fruit that was produced in the short time they were here.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update June 2025"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico. We had another busy month of ministry in June, and in this missions update I am excited to tell you all about it. June is a special month for our family, and the reason for that is that was the month we were sent down to Mexico to plant the church!\nIt was the end of June 2002 when our family left California to move to Rosarito to plant the church. And this month our church celebrated 23 years of God’s faithfulness to us!\nWe had a wonderful anniversary party together, that included food, fellowship, music and over 600 from our congregation in attendance. I was blessed to share about the beginnings of the church, and for many of our new members, they were hearing that story for the very first time.\nA special surprise for me was when they made a 23 year highlight video of some of my most cherished memories. I am so thankful to the faithfulness and kindness of God to our family over these past 23 years.\nSpeaking of new people at the church, our church has been growing a lot recently. We have been growing so much in fact, that next month (August) we are moving to four weekend services. Even with our 700+ seat occupancy, every single seat in our main (11am) service has been filled recently, so we are adding a new afternoon service.\nSo starting in August, we will have four services that meet at #1- Saturday 6:30pm, and then Sundays at #2- 8:30am, #3- 10:30am, and #4- 12:30pm! Please pray for this transition as it will be an extra work load on me, our church staff, and on our servant team.\nOn the church front, we have some more big news. The owner of our church building is finally ready to sell us the building. (We own the two parking lots on either side of the sanctuary, but the owner of the church property was not ready to sell UNTIL NOW.) We are expecting the price to be around $1.5 million US dollars, so we will need a miracle to purchase it. But the good news is our God is a miracle-making God who has told us in Luke 1:37 that, “Nothing is impossible with God!” Please pray with us for the miraculous provision from the Lord to purchase the church facility!\nAlso at the end of June, I was blessed to take a team of six men to a fantastic Pastors and Leaders conference located in Temecula, California! The focus of this conference was, “The Way Forward, Ministry according to Jesus!” And I was delighted that the headline speaker was one of my all time favorites, Alistair Begg of Parkside Church in Cleveland.\nI have listened to Alistair over the years through his online radio ministry, “Truth for Life” for many years, but the funny thing is that he is Sarah’s absolute favorite Bible teacher. I have the blessing to listening to his online sermons preached almost every morning as my precious wife gets ready for work. To hear this seasoned Pastor teach in person was both motivating and encouraging.\nAnother aspect of this conference I enjoyed was their focus on church planting. While at the conference, I attended a Cultivate Church planting network meeting, and was blessed to hear their goal of planting 1000 churches over the next 10 years. The cultivate leadership team has a bunch of pastors that are close friends of mine and I feel honored and blessed that they want to partner with our ministry.\nAlso on this trip, I was excited to bring a team of six men from our staff and church planting program. I have always modeled our mission’s ministry after the ministry of the Apostle Paul. And one thing you never saw Paul doing, was traveling alone. Paul always brought along young men like Timothy, Silas, Titus and others to serve with him and learn from the great apostle. One of my greatest joys in the ministry, is traveling with my own personal Timothy’s as we serve together and I am blessed to pour into them. Please keep the five men who went to the conference with me in your prayers as they pray about their own future ministry opportunities.\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for your partnership with our family. Having served on the mission field now for over 23 years, I have seen the prayer and financial support of many missionaries dry up over time. But thanks to you, our support and partnership has remained strong. Sarah and I are so thankful for you, our ministry partners who have stood faithfully with us over the years. We love you and are praying for you.\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God will provide a financial miracle and allow us to purchase our church facility.\n#2- Pray that God will bless our church planting conference coming up on August 1-2.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a wonderful 23-year anniversary celebration at the church!\n#2- Praise God for a wonderful pastors and leaders conference that our team was blessed to enjoy.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-july-2025-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. We had another busy month of ministry in June, and in this missions update I am excited to tell you all about it. June is a special month for our family, and the reason for that is that was the month we were sent down to Mexico to plant the church!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2025/07/bdb0eeec-eb74-4766-9122-d8161a5417ab.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt was the end of June 2002 when our family left California to move to Rosarito to plant the church. And this month our church celebrated 23 years of God’s faithfulness to us!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family July 2025 Missions Update"},{"content":" Summer has arrived in Osaka, and with it come hot humid days. The Japanese put bells in their windows and above their verandas to catch any breezes that might blow through. Our Japanese friend told us that the reason they do this is because the chime of the bell lets them hear the breeze and gives them a sort of Pavlovian effect that tricks their brain into thinking it’s cooler. It hasn’t worked for us yet, but Alishia enjoys the bells anyway. While we may want our bodies to be cool, we want the opposite for our spirits. We want to remain on fire for the Lord and passionate about our calling. Please pray that we don’t cool off in that way.\nWhen it’s not too hot, Alishia has been getting outside with friends from the church. She loves building relationships, and these pictures represent some of the people who bless us each and every week.\nChurch each week brings several opportunities to connect and minister. It’s amazing to be a part of Abide and worship along these people. Please continue to pray for us as we serve the church and each other. Pictured with Alishia is our friend Miao; she’s a professor at a university here in Osaka. Once a month, a group of missionaries from Abide join her and her husband Matt at her school for what is called a ‘Life Studies Group.\u0026rsquo; Like most places, universities in Japan are difficult places to share with people about Jesus. With this group, students and teachers from the university come and share the challenges in their life and we are able to share with them how we use the Bible to navigate the challenges that we face in our lives. Please also pray for this group of students and our meetings with them.\nAbide hosted teams from both Hawaii and Chicago recently. Both teams were a huge blessing to us, and it was awesome to meet them. The Chicago team made Chicago-style hotdogs for everyone at our mid-week service and shared their testimonies with us. The team from Hawaii made a couple of meals for the church to share on Friday night and Sunday afternoon. They also put on a Hawaiian theme festival for kids and families and taught hula to anyone who wanted to learn.\nWe had an Independence Day party on July 5th at our apartment. The young adults group joined us for American summertime foods and a Bible study. As many of you know, Alishia has a great gift for hosting and hospitality, and she outdid herself again with this celebration.\nPlease pray for our language learning as we continue our studies. Our desire it to be able to communicate with the people here without a translator. The task is very difficult, so we need the Lord’s help to accomplish it.\nPlease pray for the Lord to meet our needs both spiritually and physically. Please consider partnering with us financially if you’re able.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-sound-of-wind-root-update-june-2025/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/root/wp-content/uploads/sites/116/2025/07/IMG%5F8026.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/root/wp-content/uploads/sites/116/2025/07/IMG%5F8033.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSummer has arrived in Osaka, and with it come hot humid days. The Japanese put bells in their windows and above their verandas to catch any breezes that might blow through. Our Japanese friend told us that the reason they do this is because the chime of the bell lets them hear the breeze and gives them a sort of Pavlovian effect that tricks their brain into thinking it’s cooler. It hasn’t worked for us yet, but Alishia enjoys the bells anyway. While we may want our bodies to be cool, we want the opposite for our spirits. We want to remain on fire for the Lord and passionate about our calling. Please pray that we don’t cool off in that way.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Sound of Wind - Root Update June 2025"},{"content":" Ah Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.\nJeremiah 32:17\nDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\nJesus has been transforming lives in Trujillo! June was a special month, full of joy and new works, relationships, and trials. Halfway through the month I was in the middle of a very difficult situation. I went to Henry’s birthday (one of the orphan boys from Mundo de Ninos, where I have been discipling them each week), and had a great time with them. Unfortunately, the director told us how their over night shift caretaker is leaving, with a 1-day notice, and there is no one else to fill the spot! Because of that, she asked me to help her by seeing if there was someone at the church who could take the position. I talked with the church leadership, even though we had already decided as a ministry not to get involved in the home management itself because of differences in ideology, liability, and many other reasons. Though we wouldn’t be able to help, mainly because of liability with the church in case something happens, it still weighed on me very heavily. Having spent a lot of time each Sunday evening with them, I have grown to love the boys very much, and I know what kinds of things they could get into if no one is there to supervise. During my devotional time, the Lord brought the verse above to me. It was very hard to receive because of how helpless I felt in the situation, but I was reminded that God is able to work with or without me. And He did just fine without! I texted the lady I couldn’t help, and she responded they already had someone to fill the shift! I share this story to help stir up your faith in the Lord Jesus. He is so mighty and good to us, He never fails us and we should always keep our hope in Him. We can be completely helpless, and yet God works mightily. What a freeing reminder that God doesn’t need you to do His work, but what a privilege that He has called you and every believer to be a part of it!\nNew Discipleship Opportunity The Lord has given the Calvary Trujillo youth group open doors to minister at a Jr. High / High School just a few blocks down the road from the church. We have done outreaches at this school before, sharing the gospel, doing games and worship, and having small group conversations. But this time, we will be doing it monthly with the leaders of the youth group. I have been a part of the youth group since moving to Peru, and it is amazing to see the way that God is fortifying and growing the youth. Join me in praying that God would multiply the youth group with many new youth, and He would use the school outreach to bring many to Christ!\nNew Sordos I have an awesome story about how God brought me new friendships with some younger ‘sordo’ boys (deaf). During a recent Sunday church service, I met 3 new deaf people, their names are Christian, Jesus, and Darwin. I only got to hangout and talk with them for a short time because I had ministry responsibilities that morning. After church, I went to do some shopping and preparing for a ceviche lunch the next day with two other deaf friends. Before I went shopping, I was very hungry for lunch, as it was already 2:30pm. I decided to get ramen, and after I sat down, an older lady from the church named Carmen came up and said hi. As I looked over my shoulder at her, behind her I saw the three new deaf boys I met that morning sitting at the table next to me. We ended up all eating lunch together, and I got to spend time with them and share the gospel in signs. Although it is possible to understand the gospel in signs, it is still very difficult to fully communicate it, and it is almost impossible to know how much was actually received. Jesus must reveal Himself to them personally! Still, it was a very sweet encounter that I was not expecting at all!\nNew Road Trip One last special event this month, and next month, is the wedding of two very great friends of mine- Sara and Salomon! These two are very special to me. I met Sara in Mexico during the Calvary School of Missions. She has been serving here at the Bible Institute for over 5 years, and Salomon I met when I came down the first time to Peru. They are both on fire for the Lord and feel called to the Middle East. Sara has already spent a few months in Bethlehem, serving at a ministry for disabled people, and learning Arabic. In June, they had their civil wedding ceremony (signing the legal papers for marriage), but this month they had their official (religious) ceremony on a beach town far away from Trujillo. Please pray for Jesus to fill this new married couple with his love and grace, and give them greater vision for their calling to the unreached Muslim world!\nIn the beginning of July I visited Piura for half a week, where Sara and Salomon had their official wedding. Right after, I went on a bus to go far away, helping lead a group of 3 girls and 3 other leaders for a missions trip in Moyobamba (a jungle city)! This was with a small group of girls from the states who are here on our Summer on a Mission program. The program was started last year to introduce individuals interested in mission work into practical ministry and service on the field! I already had the opportunity to teach a class on Acts 9-10, and translate one of the other classes they had as well. Be praying for these girls as they learn about Peruvian culture, missions, and the book of Acts! Their names are Bernia, Daniel, and Faith.\nCalling All Partners! It is my honor to connect you, my sisters and brothers in United States, to all God is doing on the mission field, and show you the fruit of your work through me! If you would like get more involved in this work, there are different ways you can partner with with me as I seek to fulfill my call to rescue and care for children in trafficking, and bring the gospel to the ends of the earth.\nOne way you can support is through joining my Signal group. This is where I send prayer requests and more frequent updates on my life in the mission field of Peru! You can join this group by responding to this email.\nAnother way is to partner financially. If you feel led to become a financial partner, you can give through the link found at the bottom of this newsletter! It is by your generosity that I am provided for on the field and available to give my all in this new work.\nThank you all so much for your wonderful partnership and love, I am eternally grateful for your support!\nPraise Reports\nWe have organized a leadership team for the new pre-school and are starting to get the government permits. My new sordo friends! Sara and Salmon’s new season of marriage Pastor Cory taught a series of sermons on Biblical leadership, and has now ordained 3 pastors, and a group of deacons and women’s ministry leaders! Pastor Cory got to go to a short pastor’s conference/retreat with his assistant pastor Mario in Miami Prayer Requests\nPrayer! The attacks of the enemy are strong against the missionaries and leadership here, but your prayers make a world of difference Rescue to children being trafficked and blessing over preparations for the children’s home That Christian, Jesus and Darwin would have a transformational, personal encounter with Jesus through dreams, visions, or miracles and experience salvation Relief from the heavy ministerial burden on Pastor Cory, especially with the new church leadership organization That I would be able to get my residency card, which has been extremely delayed ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/relax-god-doesnt-need-you-vanrenterghem-update-june-2025/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAh Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJeremiah 32:17\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJesus has been transforming lives in Trujillo! June was a special month, full of joy and new works, relationships, and trials. Halfway through the month I was in the middle of a very difficult situation. I went to Henry’s birthday (one of the orphan boys from Mundo de Ninos, where I have been discipling them each week), and had a great time with them. Unfortunately, the director told us how their over night shift caretaker is leaving, with a 1-day notice, and there is no one else to fill the spot! Because of that, she asked me to help her by seeing if there was someone at the church who could take the position. I talked with the church leadership, even though we had already decided as a ministry not to get involved in the home management itself because of differences in ideology, liability, and many other reasons. Though we wouldn’t be able to help, mainly because of liability with the church in case something happens, it still weighed on me very heavily. Having spent a lot of time each Sunday evening with them, I have grown to love the boys very much, and I know what kinds of things they could get into if no one is there to supervise. During my devotional time, the Lord brought the verse above to me. It was very hard to receive because of how helpless I felt in the situation, but I was reminded that God is able to work with or without me. And He did just fine without! I texted the lady I couldn’t help, and she responded they already had someone to fill the shift! I share this story to help stir up your faith in the Lord Jesus. He is so mighty and good to us, He never fails us and we should always keep our hope in Him. We can be completely helpless, and yet God works mightily. What a freeing reminder that God doesn’t need you to do His work, but what a privilege that He has called you and every believer to be a part of it!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Relax, God Doesn’t Need You - Vanrenterghem Update June 2025"},{"content":" Hello my brothers and sisters,\nThis week has been amazing. I have been walking with God since 2002. I have always maintained a good consistent alone time with God, starting my days in prayer alone with Him. This week at the school missions we read two books, “The Baptism of the Holy Spirit” and “Absolute Surrender.” I have been learning the importance of being filled with God’s Spirit. In Acts 10:38 God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit, and with power.\u0026hellip;..\nFULL NEWSLETTER!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gods-love-in-a-dump-guiseppinapina-ercolamento-gruner-csom/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Pina-Newsletter-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHello my brothers and sisters,\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis week has been amazing. I have been walking with God since 2002. I have always maintained a good consistent alone time with God, starting my days in prayer alone with Him. This week at the school missions we read two books, “The Baptism of the Holy Spirit” and “Absolute Surrender.”  I have been learning the importance of being filled with God’s Spirit. In Acts 10:38 God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit, and with power.\u003c/strong\u003e\u0026hellip;..\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God's Love in a Dump - Guiseppina(Pina) Ercolamento Gruner CSOM"},{"content":" Hello,\nIt’s week 3 here at CSOM, another week of learning and outreach that keeps chipping away at my heart and showing me where I’ve been holding myself back from living completely for God. Absolute surrender. These are the words that keep echoing in our heads and challenging us to count the cost. We’ve all been dealing with a little spiritual warfare and wrestling with God in our hearts this week, as the more we learn, the more serious it becomes\u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/changing-my-mind-heather-illias-csom/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Heather-illias-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s week 3 here at CSOM, another week of learning and outreach that keeps chipping away at my heart and showing me where I’ve been holding myself back from living completely for God. \u003cem\u003eAbsolute surrender.\u003c/em\u003e These are the words that keep echoing in our heads and challenging us to count the cost. We’ve all been dealing with a little spiritual warfare and wrestling with God in our hearts this week, as the more we learn, the more serious it becomes\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Changing My Mind - Heather Illias CSOM"},{"content":" Family and Friends! I want to begin by saying how truly thankful I am for each one of you who is reading this and walking alongside me through this incredible journey. Your prayers, encouragement, and support mean more than I can express.\nThis week has been full of both sweet and stretching moments, where the Lord has spoken into my heart and reminded me why He brought me here\u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/what-a-dump-fidel-ordaz-csom/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Ordaz-Fidel-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFamily and Friends!  I want to begin by saying how truly thankful I am for each one of you who is reading this and walking alongside me through this incredible journey. Your prayers, encouragement, and support mean more than I can express.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis week has been full of both sweet and stretching moments, where the Lord has spoken into my heart and reminded me why He brought me here\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/cc6e3458e9f2/what-a-dump\"\u003eFULL NEWSLETTER!\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What a Dump! - Fidel Ordaz CSOM"},{"content":" _“For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” - Philippians 1:21_Hello friends and family! Do not be alarmed, I only intend to spiritually die. I am very much physically alive!\nSomething I’ve found myself thinking constantly about is how dependent and helpless I am. I find myself coming to the end of myself, thinking how on Earth a God so Righteous and Powerful would desire to use us for His great work. This has been my thought process everyday. Dying to myself. We’ve been talking about this a lot in class. It’s a beautiful sentiment but a grueling process\u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/wake-up-die-sleep-repeat-danielle-tsague-csom/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Danielle-Tsague-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e_“For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” - Philippians 1:21_Hello friends and family! Do not be alarmed, I only intend to spiritually die. I am very much physically alive!\u003cbr\u003e\nSomething I’ve found myself thinking constantly about is how dependent and helpless I am. I find myself coming to the end of myself, thinking \u003cem\u003ehow on Earth a God so Righteous and Powerful would desire to use us for His great work\u003c/em\u003e. This has been my thought process everyday. Dying to myself. We’ve been talking about this a lot in class. It’s a beautiful sentiment but a grueling process\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Wake Up. Die. Sleep. Repeat. - Danielle Tsague CSOM"},{"content":" Taking the gospel to the dump, the church, and the bustling markets!\nThe dump outreach this week was a huge blessing. We partnered with a church, Calvary Homex, and ministered to people who literally built their homes in a dump: homes made of plywood, tarps, and whatever else they could find. It was powerful to serve them through prayer, teaching, worship, and food. Please keep praying for them and that the gospel would continue to take root there\u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-got-dumped-timothy-gibson-csom/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Gibson-Email-Header-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTaking the gospel to the dump, the church, and the bustling markets!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe dump outreach this week was a huge blessing. We partnered with a church, Calvary Homex, and ministered to people who literally built their homes in a dump: homes made of plywood, tarps, and whatever else they could find. It was powerful to serve them through prayer, teaching, worship, and food. Please keep praying for them and that the gospel would continue to take root there\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I GOT DUMPED!! - Timothy Gibson CSOM"},{"content":" ¡Hola familia!\nThis week was packed full with outreach, learning, and fun bonding with our team. We are daily in awe that with each opportunity to grow, even as new challenges emerge, God continues to teach us what it means to lay down our lives in submission as an act of worship to Him. Although it is not easy, those ancient yet forever relevant words impart courage to us as they echo in our ears: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13.\u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/running-on-empty-james-and-tatiana-albano-csom/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Albano-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e¡Hola familia!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis week was packed full with outreach, learning, and fun bonding with our team. We are daily in awe that with each opportunity to grow, even as new challenges emerge, God continues to teach us what it means to lay down our lives in submission as an act of worship to Him. Although it is not easy, those ancient yet forever relevant words impart courage to us as they echo in our ears: \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Running on Empty - James and Tatiana Albano CSOM"},{"content":" México and Beyond! This weekend I returned to Calvary Maranatha in Mazatlán and really enjoyed teaching on Hebrews 12 and the topic of discipline.\nOn my way back to Rosarito, the airline decided it would be best to send me to Mexico City first, make me wait for 4 extra hours, and then fly me to Tijuana. It was a longer trip than expected, but still a blessing. I used the time to catch up on some of the weekly reading assignments from our missions school.\nAs I waited, I looked up and saw a screen with upcoming flights—\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/where-are-we-going-a-donde-vamos-a-ir-manuel-canedo-csom/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Canedo-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"méxico-and-beyond\"\u003eMéxico and Beyond!\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis weekend I returned to Calvary Maranatha in Mazatlán and really enjoyed teaching on Hebrews 12 and the topic of discipline.\u003cbr\u003e\nOn my way back to Rosarito, \u003cstrong\u003ethe airline decided it would be best to send me to Mexico City\u003c/strong\u003e first, make me wait for 4 extra hours, and then fly me to Tijuana. It was a longer trip than expected, but still a blessing. I used the time to catch up on some of the weekly reading assignments from our missions school.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Where are we going? / ¿A dónde vamos a ir? -Manuel Canedo CSOM"},{"content":" Sitting in a hot room with only two small wall fans fighting in vain to cool us down, the pastor of the local church welcomed us. And as we funneled into this room, with one whole wall being chain link fence and covered in blue tarps, tattered with holes and slivers of light coming through, and the occasional passerby peering in, he gave us his testimony. A man that was so set on murder and violence, having been to prison several times, stood there with a huge smile and joked around with us\u0026hellip;..\nFULL NEWSLETTER!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-got-dumped-bryan-barrow-csom/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Copy-of-Gibson-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSitting in a hot room with only two small wall fans fighting in vain to cool us down, the pastor of the local church welcomed us. And as we funneled into this room, with one whole wall being chain link fence and covered in blue tarps, tattered with holes and slivers of light coming through, and the occasional passerby peering in, he gave us his testimony. A man that was so set on murder and violence, having been to prison several times, stood there with a huge smile and joked around with us\u0026hellip;..\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Got Dumped. - Bryan Barrow CSOM"},{"content":" Hello all my loved ones! How are you guys doing today. I hope you guys are all doing well. Here’s some of the things the Lord has been doing in my life!Yup that\u0026rsquo;s right I blew UP….Balloons,.. I blew up balloons. HAHA. It was actually way harder than I thought but I had the opportunity of making balloon animals for kids at a swap meet pop up in La Playas, Mexico while partnering with the local church! It was great! We got to evangelize to many people on the street, pray for them, give out balloon animals and face painting for kids coming by. \u0026hellip;.\nFULL NEWSLETTER!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-blew-up-norman-rodriguez-csom/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Norman-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello all my loved ones! How are you guys doing today. I hope you guys are all doing well. Here’s some of the things the Lord has been doing in my life!Yup that\u0026rsquo;s right I blew UP….Balloons,.. I blew up balloons. HAHA. It was actually way harder than I thought but I had the opportunity of making balloon animals for kids at a swap meet pop up in La Playas, Mexico while partnering with the local church! It was great! We got to evangelize to many people on the street, pray for them, give out balloon animals and face painting for kids coming by. \u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Blew Up! - Norman Rodriguez CSOM"},{"content":"Visit to another district\nMy team had a wonderful and impactful day during their recent visit. The team was blessed with the opportunity to share the Gospel with many individuals throughout the area. A particularly meaningful moment came when they shared the Good News with the uncle of a Bible College intern and his family.\nIn addition to visiting his uncle’s home, my team also reached out to several nearby households. Many of the residents had never heard about Jesus before. Despite this, every home warmly welcomed us, creating an open and joyful environment for Gospel sharing.\nOne special encounter stood out during the visit. The team met a woman whose mother had been a Christian. Although she had attended church in the past, she no longer does. My team was able to speak with her again about Jesus and gave her an Audio Bible, which she received with great joy. We request continued prayer for her — that God would stir her heart and draw her closer to Him.\nIt was a great blessing for us to pray with people and distribute both Audio Bibles and New Testaments. We ask for continued prayer that:\nGod would speak to each person through His Word, That these Gospel tools will help many come to a deeper understanding of Jesus. Involvement with Harvesters\nThis past weekend was a time of rich fellowship and fruitful ministry for the team and I as we joined fellow Calvary Chapel pastors in South East Nepal. My wife and I, along with Pastor Milan, Pastor Rabi, and a Bible college intern, traveled together and stayed in the church where I previously served.\nThe team visited Pastor Joshep’s church to participate in a program. It was a joyful occasion marked by vibrant fellowship among the believers. I shared an encouraging message from Romans 6:1–14, exhorting the new believers to walk closely with Christ.\nWhile this was happening, Pastor Rabi visited Pastor Majiya’s church, where two more individuals were prepared to publicly declare their faith. Witnessing these lives being dedicated to the Lord was a significant blessing for the entire team.\nThe visit also included intentional time with Bible college students. The team shared meals, visited students\u0026rsquo; homes, prayed with them, and provided encouragement for their ministry journeys. These moments were filled with love, care, and meaningful conversations about the future of their calling.\nA personal highlight was my opportunity to visit my family, which was a special blessing. The team was warmly received at my in-laws’ home, where they enjoyed a wonderful dinner and heartfelt fellowship.\nThis time of breaking bread and sharing life with fellow believers was deeply meaningful. All glory to God for His faithfulness and the fruit borne through this trip.\nPrayer Request:\n\nPray for the seven new believers to grow strong in their faith and walk closely with the Lord.\n“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”\nPhilippians 1:3-6.\nWe Are Not Alone\nGod recently opened the door for my team and I to travel to another area where we visited several church planters ministering in the region. The team was filled with joy and anticipation to reconnect with their fellow workers in the Kingdom.\nDuring the visit, the team joined a local church service, offering encouragement and fellowship to the congregation. It was a powerful time of worship, ministry, and mutual strengthening.\nWe also spent time sharing ministry experiences with the local pastors. The gathering was marked by laughter, stories of God’s faithfulness, and heartfelt conversations. It was a time of mutual encouragement—a reminder to stay strong in the faith, continue serving Christ, and lift each other up in prayer.\nOne of the most moving moments came when two families serving the Lord looked at each other and said, “You are not alone.” Ministry often brings seasons of loneliness, fatigue, and discouragement. But when one pastor visits another, it becomes a time of refreshment—a sacred reminder that we are united in Christ and not forgotten.\nWe give all glory to God for this opportunity to encourage and be encouraged. We ask for continued prayer so we can keep visiting and supporting pastors—both in rural villages and urban areas—who need connection, prayer, and fellowship.\n“Fear not, for I am with you;\nBe not dismayed, for I am your God.\nI will strengthen you,\nYes, I will help you,\nI will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”\n— Isaiah 41:10\nThank you,\nAnand and Usha and Family (AC)\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/never-alone-anand-update-july-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eVisit to another district\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy team had a wonderful and impactful day during their recent visit. The team was blessed with the opportunity to share the Gospel with many individuals throughout the area. A particularly meaningful moment came when they shared the Good News with the uncle of a Bible College intern and his family.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition to visiting his uncle’s home, my team also reached out to several nearby households. Many of the residents had never heard about Jesus before. Despite this, every home warmly welcomed us, creating an open and joyful environment for Gospel sharing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Never Alone - Anand Update July 2025"},{"content":"Warm greetings to you in the precious and mighty name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.\nI trust you are doing well and continuing to walk in the joy and peace that only Christ can provide. As I look back on the month of June, I am filled with thankfulness for the faithfulness of God in every step of our journey. His grace has been our strength, His Word our anchor, and His presence our greatest treasure.\nThis past month has reminded me again that ministry is not defined by size or visible success, but by faithful hearts surrendered to Jesus. Whether in small gatherings, quiet moments of prayer, or simple conversations centered on God\u0026rsquo;s truth, the Lord has made His nearness known. We are seeing lives touched—not by our efforts, but by the gentle and powerful work of His Spirit.\nEvery fellowship meeting, every outreach opportunity, and every moment spent in God’s Word has carried a sense of His purpose. Even though we are few in number, the Lord is building in us a deeper hunger for His truth and a stronger desire to walk in His ways. He is teaching us to find joy in serving, to trust Him in the unseen, and to grow together as His family.\nSaturday, June 7: Outreach Visit with Brother S*\nThis day was very special. I had the opportunity to visit a village with Brother S*, who is a sincere and spiritually hungry young man. Though we had planned a month ago to have a Bible class, it did not happen at that time. But in God’s perfect timing, on Thursday, Brother Sunil suddenly said to me, “We could do the Bible class this Saturday morning. What do you think?”\nI gladly said, “Yes, we will do it,” because I had been prayerfully looking for an opportunity to teach the truth of God’s Word.\nBrother P* and I prayed and started our journey early in the morning. When we arrived, 8 to 10 people had gathered in a small church building. I was deeply humbled to hear that this was the very first Bible class ever held in their area. I shared the Word of God, and the people received it with great joy and thankfulness. It touched my heart and reminded me that there are still many places waiting to hear the truth. I truly believe that God is the one opening these doors in His perfect time. It is my prayer that His truth will continue to spread everywhere, and that He would keep using me to teach and share His Word faithfully.\nAfter the meeting, we went to Brother S*’s home. His family welcomed us warmly. We had deep spiritual conversations. Brother S* shared his burden and concern about the way ministry is being done in many places. He asked for help and guidance to grow spiritually and to do ministry in a way that honors the Lord. I was humbled by his sincerity. I encouraged him to continue seeking the Lord, and we prayed together. His family expressed a real hunger for the Word. Please pray for them.\nWednesday, June 11 : Weekly Bible Class\nIn the morning, we gathered for our weekly Bible class. Sister M* opened our time together with a heartfelt prayer, inviting the presence of the Lord to be with us. We then entered into worship, singing songs of praise and thanksgiving. It was a joyful and reverent atmosphere, as we lifted up the name of Jesus together. After worship, I continued teaching from the Gospel of John, chapter 3. I shared the truths God had placed on my heart during my study and preparation over the past few days. The Lord gave me clarity and boldness to explain His Word. I emphasized the new birth through the Spirit and the love of God revealed through Jesus Christ. The class was attentive, and I sensed that the Holy Spirit was at work during the teaching.\nFollowing the class, we all shared a meal together, continuing in fellowship. After lunch, we remained in the spirit of worship and spent more time in prayer and song practice. We encouraged one another and lifted up praises to God as we prepared for future gatherings. We remained together in this spirit of worship and fellowship until 5:00 PM. It was a truly blessed time, not just of learning, but of building unity and spiritual strength among the believers.\nFriday, June 13: Youth Program\u0026ndash;A Day of Impact and Learning\nWe had invited about 30 boys and girls, but by God’s design, 15 youth members joined us. Although fewer came than expected, we trusted that those who attended were chosen by God to receive what He had prepared for them. The program started with worship and prayer. Brother M* opened with a heartfelt prayer, and together we worshiped the Lord through singing. It was a joyful time, where we could see the youth genuinely participating and singing praises to God. Worship set the right atmosphere, opening our hearts to hear from God. After the worship, I shared Bible teaching focused on encouraging the youth to walk faithfully with the Lord, live in holiness, and trust in His plans for their lives. I taught with the desire that God would ignite a fire in their hearts to follow Jesus.\nAt 1:00 PM, we had a lunch break, which gave us the opportunity to spend informal time with the youth, building relationships and getting to know their hearts better. The most powerful part of the day was the Question and Answer session, which lasted from 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM, without stopping. The youth asked many important and meaningful questions about faith, Christian living, the Bible, and life’s challenges. Their hunger to learn more was very encouraging. It was not just a formal session—it was a real conversation where doubts were cleared, and Biblical truths were explained. This Q\u0026amp;A time became a life-changing moment for many. The youth were fully engaged, and God’s Spirit was working in our midst. We truly felt the presence of the Lord throughout the entire session. It was more than just a program—it was a divine appointment.\nWednesday, June 18: Bible Class\nWe gathered together as a fellowship for our weekly Bible class. Sister M* led us beautifully in the opening prayer, preparing our hearts to focus on the Lord. We began the session by worshiping God through songs, lifting our voices in praise and inviting His presence into our midst. I had the privilege of continuing to teach from God’s Word. It was a special class because some people who hadn’t joined us in a long time returned—one of our brother’s friends came back after a long absence, and my wife\u0026rsquo;s aunt also joined the class after being away for some time. Their presence reminded me that God is always working to draw His people back to Himself. After the teaching, from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM, we had an engaging question and answer session. It was encouraging to see that people were not just listening but genuinely wrestling with the Word, desiring to understand and apply it in their lives. These moments of interaction show that the Word is sinking in deep, and I praise God for that.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our small fellowship, that we may continually grow in the Lord, remain strong in our faith, and always stand for the truth of God’s Word. We desire to be faithful in both our walk and our witness, even though we are small in number. Please pray for our brothers in the fellowship who are seeking jobs. They are specifically looking for work nearby because they do not want to leave this fellowship. They deeply value being part of this church family and are willing to sacrifice better opportunities elsewhere in order to stay connected and grow in Christ. Please pray for the new fellowship we are praying to start, focused on reaching out to the youth with the true Word of God. We desire to teach them sound doctrine and lead them to a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ. Please pray for my wife, that God would fill her with His Spirit and use both of us mightily for His kingdom. Please pray that the Lord would grant us wisdom, knowledge, and a heart of humility as we lead and guide those whom God has entrusted to us as part of the Calvary Chapel Saving Grace family. Thank you so much for your faithful partnership, prayers, understanding, encouragement, and support. We are truly blessed to be part of this family. Please continue to pray for us, that we may build God’s kingdom in this place and that many people would come to know the truth of the Gospel.\nPastor 17*\n\\* Names and faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/joyfully-serving-jesus/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWarm greetings to you in the precious and mighty name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI trust you are doing well and continuing to walk in the joy and peace that only Christ can provide. As I look back on the month of June, I am filled with thankfulness for the faithfulness of God in every step of our journey. His grace has been our strength, His Word our anchor, and His presence our greatest treasure.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Joyfully Serving Jesus- Worker 17 Update July 2025"},{"content":"The word “Posada” in Spanish refers to an inn or place of lodging, but it also happens to be the word used in Luke 2:7 where the Bible says, “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the INN.” The Mexican culture has adapted this word to refer to any and all Christmas parties, the implication being that we make room for Jesus in our hearts and lives during the Christmas season.\nIn spite of everything going on here in our war-torn city, Calvary Culiacán was the site of many “posadas” this year. In all of them, the Gospel was preached, and many people surrendered their lives to Christ. I like to think that they received the greatest Christmas gift ever given – the gift of salvation which began with the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. And what better way to celebrate Christmas than with a brand new relationship with Christ!\nPOSADA #1 – Calvary North Ladies’ Group\nOur first “posada” was held on December 14 for our women’s ministry. It was a very well-attended event with many first-time visitors. We shared some amazing food, great worship, and fellowship in addition to sharing the Word of God. After an encouraging message about how Jesus is the solution to all of our problems, 9 ladies made the life-changing decision to surrender their lives and will to Jesus and accept Him as their Lord and Savior. What a great start to the Christmas season!\nPOSADA #2 – Calvary North Servants\nThe following day, we held our second “posada” for all of the people who serve in our church – not just the pastors and leaders, but everyone that serves actively in one or more ministries within the church. Rather than hosting the event in the evening as we have always done in the past, we held the party right after our Sunday morning church service so that everyone would be able to attend without fear. The sermon was entitled “Case Closed with Dr. Pilate,” and we learned about 3 things that took place during the judgement of Jesus: 1) Jesus chose to save our lives instead of His own, 2) the people still chose the wrong man, and 3) Barrabas (translated “son of the Father”) was saved. The message was so stirring that another 9 people gave their lives to Jesus that day. While it didn’t happen during our party, it certainly gave us more reasons to celebrate, and we had a very merry time.\nCheck out all of the photos and videos from the event here! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10164584161064325\u0026amp;type=3\nPOSADA #3 – Calvary North General\nOur third “posada” was after the following Sunday’s service and was for everyone at our church. While there were no professions of faith made that day, many people heard the Gospel story for the first time through the Christmas story, and we know that God says His Word never returns to Him void, “But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11). We shared food, fellowship, and lots and lots of fun with special presentations from our children’s and youth ministries, Christmas music, and of course, a piñata!\nCheck out all of the fun photos and videos here! https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10164584257624325\u0026amp;type=3\nPOSADA #4 – Transformadas (Rehab Center)\nBut my favorite of all of our Christmas parties was the “posada” we held for the ladies at the rehab center. What an enormous blessing and privilege it was to be part of that event!\nAs we entered the living area of the center, the first thing that greeted us was a wall decorated with a fireplace scene, a small wire Christmas tree, and stockings – 60 stockings to be exact – one for every woman living at the center.\nThe ladies were excited for our visit, because they knew we were going to do something special for them, and as a result, every woman that wasn’t doing chores was in attendance – nearly 50 in all!\nWe started off by singing a couple worship songs, something we don’t usually have time for, but since it was a special occasion, we spoiled them with two great songs.\nNext, we had a short teaching about the Christmas story, or to be more precise, about the first “posada” where Jesus was NOT received. We taught them to learn from the mistakes of the people of Bethlehem and be sure to make room for Jesus in their hearts and lives, giving Him the place He deserves as our Lord and Savior and recognizing Him as the best Christmas gift ever. What a perfect message for a Christmas party!\nAs a result, another 9 ladies made first-time professions of faith after hearing the message. And led by the Spirit, I gave a second invitation with a more specific explanation, and even more women prayed to give their lives to Christ!\nAfter those prayers, we taught them the story of the candy cane and how it teaches the Gospel story. The ladies were pleasantly surprised to discover the Gospel message in the popular candy.\nThen, we continued with a memory verse Christmas bow challenge. To win a prize, the ladies had to recite a memory verse they had learned during our ministry, then select a bow to see which prize they won. We laughed as two women tried to pass off common sayings as Bible verses… But were shocked and amazed when Katherin recited half a chapter for us!\nAfter that challenge, the women had the opportunity to stay in the meeting room and make a manger ornament with a Bible verse in it. Seeing many of the ladies hang their finished ornaments on the patio Christmas tree made me smile.\nOthers chose to head over to the kitchen area to get some great homemade cupcakes and cookies and Christmas snacks, a real treat after not being able to enjoy those things during their internment. Mandarin oranges and peanuts are a must at all Mexican “posadas” … though no one seems to know why. Lol!\nAnd at some point, almost all of the ladies made their way to the main patio area to play some fun games.\nWe started with a hilarious straw game. Without no hands, they had to carry a straw across the patio between their nose and upper lip and insert it into a Coke bottle, then run back and tag their next teammate. We played round after round until I finally ran out of straws. Even the older women played, including 81-year-old Lidia!\nThe second game was just as entertaining. We played a Christmas relay race version of tic-tac-toe where the ladies had to run to the large tic-tac-toe board on the floor and place their cup or plate, then hurry back to tag their next teammate until one team managed to arrange three in a row. Their excited cheers and squeals of laughter filled the patio as they hilariously ran, slipped, and blundered their way through the game, leaping with joy as they won. Seeing them play like happy children, temporarily forgetting about their addictions, loneliness, and troubles, made everything we did that day worth it.\nAnd, of course, the presents! We were able to collect enough presents to ensure that nobody left empty-handed! From make-up to hair accessories, hygiene products to undergarments, candies to coffee mugs, and much more, everyone either won or received at least one gift, and many went away with very full pockets. My heart was warmed as one after another told me that they had gotten exactly what they wanted for Christmas. Isn’t God amazing?\nPlaying with the girls was such fun, for us and for them! Giving out presents was a great privilege and joy.\nBut maybe the greatest joy for me was serving alongside my children. After helping with the craft project, Sammy helped referee the games while Ruby took pictures – quite a feat when you consider that she was able to capture every detail of the experience without invading the women’s privacy.\nJESUS, THE REASON FOR THE SEASON\nSo, this past Christmas season, in spite of living in a war zone, we were able to enjoy ourselves to the fullest while watching the family of Christ grow by leaps and bounds. Just counting the people I personally witnessed surrender their lives to Christ this month, we now have more than 60 new brothers and sisters in Christ!!! Now, that’s the way to celebrate Christmas!\nContinue to pray for my prioritization of ministries and the complete healing of my neck and herniated discs, for Ruby’s job and her desire to join the women’s rehab ministry team, and Sammy’s schooling and calling as he also wants to get involved in ministry again.\nAnd as always, don’t forget to sign up to receive my newsletters if you haven’t already done so. Click the link below or scan the QR code at the bottom.\nNewsletter\nAnd if the Lord lays it on your heart to support us financially, we are only about 30% support-funded at this time, and I would love to be able to dedicate less time to secular work, so I can dedicate more time to the ministry. Click the link below or scan the QR code to send a one-time gift or become a monthly donor.\n/pepin/give/embed/#?secret=IRXYwMWZMZ#?secret=Tchsstq1GT\nGod bless you as you continue to support this ministry in your prayers and with your finances.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/you-say-potato-i-say-posada-pepin-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe word “Posada” in Spanish refers to an inn or place of lodging, but it also happens to be the word used in Luke 2:7 where the Bible says, “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eINN\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e.”  The Mexican culture has adapted this word to refer to any and all Christmas parties, the implication being that we make room for Jesus in our hearts and lives during the Christmas season.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"You say Potato, I say Posada! - Pepin Update December 2024"},{"content":"Praise be to God, who is always faithful. His mercies never fail! We give Him all the glory for the work He is doing in and through the ministry here in our country. It is only by His grace that we continue to see lives touched, hearts transformed, and the Gospel being shared in both word and deed.\nWe also want to take a moment to thank you—our dear friends, prayer partners, and supporters. Your prayers, encouragement, and sacrificial giving have played a vital role in advancing the mission here. Whether it’s through your intercession, financial support, or simply standing with us in spirit, please know that your partnership is making an eternal impact.\n\nOur country is a land of great need but also great opportunity for the Kingdom of God. Amid brokenness, hardship, and spiritual hunger, we are seeing God move in powerful ways—restoring families, drawing hearts to Christ, and raising up new leaders for His glory.\nI wanted to take a moment to share a wonderful testimony from a recent visit that truly reminded me of how powerfully the Lord is still working in hearts today.\nMinistering to Catholic Families\nThis past week, I had the opportunity to visit a Catholic family and spend some time in fellowship with them. With openness and kindness, they welcomed me into their home. As we shared stories and conversations, I felt the Holy Spirit gently guiding our time together.\nBy God’s grace, I was able to clearly share the Gospel — the message of salvation through Jesus Christ alone, by grace through faith. They listened attentively and responded with such sincerity and interest. Their hearts were tender, and there was a genuine openness to the truth of God’s Word.\nI’m thankful to say that they responded positively to the Gospel. While this is just the beginning of their journey, I believe God has planted seeds that will continue to grow and bear fruit in their lives. We are praying that the Spirit continues to draw them closer, gives them clarity, and surrounds them with truth and love as they seek to know Jesus more deeply.\nPlease continue to pray for this family — that the light of Christ would shine brightly in their hearts and home.Please also pray for boldness and compassion in all our conversations, trusting that the Lord prepares hearts long before we speak.\nHome Visits\nThis month, I had the opportunity to visit several homes in our community. As I stepped into these spaces, I was met with the reality of many messy and broken lives. I spoke with families who are struggling deeply—some battling with sin, and others facing heartbreaking situations, including women suffering abuse at the hands of their husbands.\nThese visits were not easy, but they were necessary. In the midst of the pain, I saw hearts that are longing for hope and change. I was able to sit with them, listen, and most importantly, share the Gospel of Jesus Christ\u0026ndash;the good news that He meets us in our brokenness, that His love redeems, and that there is true freedom and healing in Him.\nPlease continue to pray for these families. Pray that God’s light will shine in the dark places, that hearts will be softened, and that lasting transformation will take place. Pray also that we, as the Body of Christ, continue to go where it’s messy, where it’s hard, and bring the love and truth of Jesus with us.\nTestimony of a Women Who Is Coming to Our Church\nI want to share a powerful and deeply moving story that reflects both the pain some are silently enduring and the unshakable faith that God gives in the midst of suffering.\nA woman who has been coming to our church for 6 years with her children is walking through an incredibly difficult and heartbreaking season. She is experiencing ongoing abuse and threats from her husband, who has told her not to come to church or bring their children. Despite this pressure and pain, she continues to come. She chooses to worship God with a sincere heart, even while facing opposition at home.\nWhat has impacted me and my wife most is her unwavering faith. In the midst of all this, she is full of faith and continues to trust the Lord. She believes God is with her and is holding on to His promises, even when everything around her feels uncertain. We had the privilege of sitting with her, listening, and encouraging her through the Word of God. It was a humbling moment to witness someone so committed to Jesus despite such suffering.\nPlease pray for her and her children—that God will protect them, strengthen them, and bring peace and healing into their home. Let us also pray for her husband. Pray that his heart will be changed by the love and truth of Christ.\nThis sister’s story is a testimony of faith under fire. Pray also that we, as her church family, surround her with love, support, and constant prayer. May we be reminded to remain faithful, even when the road is hard—just as she has shown us.\nUpdate and Prayer Request About Our Daughter\nRecently, our daughter fell from a 2 foot wall and fractured her hand. It has been a difficult time for her, as she has been in a lot of pain. We took her to the doctor, and they placed a plaster cast on her arm to help it heal properly.\nShe has been very brave through it all, but as parents, it is never easy to see your child in pain. We’re trusting God for a full and quick recovery. We would truly appreciate your prayers for her—both for healing and for strength and comfort as she goes through this process.\nWedding Update\nIt’s been a wonderful season of celebration. I am grateful to share that I had the privilege of being part of two special weddings recently—both involving young leaders who are faithfully serving the Lord.\nThe first was the wedding of AV* and P*. AV*, a committed servant of God and a graduate of Calvary Bible Institute, has been actively involved in ministry. It was a joy to share a message at their wedding ceremony, pointing to the cross as the foundation of true love. I reminded them—and all who were present—that a strong marriage begins and thrives when built on the sacrificial, covenant love of Christ.\nI also had the honor of preaching at the wedding of A* and G*. A*, who is also a Calvary Bible Institute graduate and faithful in ministry, entered into this new season with a heart ready to serve God together with his wife. I shared a message encouraging them to keep Christ at the center of their marriage and to reflect the Gospel through their daily lives together.\nBoth of these young men have dedicated their lives to the service of the Kingdom. It is a joy to see them stepping into marriage with women who are ready to walk alongside them in faith and ministry.\nPlease continue to lift up AV* \u0026amp; P* and A* \u0026amp; G* in your prayers. May their homes be full of God’s presence, wisdom, and love—and may their marriages be fruitful in the work of the Lord.\nSharing the Gospel to the Transgender\nWhile traveling recently, we stopped for a short break to have some Chai. During that simple moment, God gave us a powerful opportunity. I met a transgender person. As we began to talk, the conversation turned toward faith. I shared the love and hope found in Jesus—the One who sees us completely and still chooses to love and redeem us.\nAs we spoke, I felt the Holy Spirit prompting me to ask if I could pray for him. He responded with a smile and said yes. After we prayed, he asked me to keep praying for him, which truly moved my heart. It was a reminder that no one is outside the reach of God’s love and that every soul is precious to Him.\nPlease join me in praying for him—that the seeds of the Gospel planted in that moment will grow, and that he will come to know the fullness of God’s grace and truth.\nThe Gospel is for all people, and God often works in the most ordinary places—even at a roadside Chai stop. Let us stay sensitive to His leading and faithful in sharing His love wherever we go. Let us never forget: the Gospel is for everyone. No one is beyond the reach of God’s grace.\nMinistering in Other Churches in Our Neighboring State\nI got the opportunity to minister in two churches in a neighboring state this past week. It was a great joy to teach from the Word of God and strengthen believers in their walk with Jesus.\nIn one of the churches, I shared from the life of the church in Thessalonica. We looked at how they endured great suffering yet remained strong in their faith. Even in the midst of trials, they held onto the hope of Christ and became an example to other believers. It was a powerful reminder that we are called to stand firm, no matter what we face—because our hope is not in circumstances, but in the Lord.\nIn the second church, I taught on the importance of growing in the Word of God. Just as healthy plants need deep roots, believers need to be rooted in Scripture to grow strong and bear fruit. I encouraged the church to remain in the Word daily, allowing it to shape their hearts, renew their minds, and guide their steps.\n\nPlease continue to pray for these churches—that they would endure faithfully like the Thessalonians, and grow deeply in their love and understanding of God’s Word.\nPrayer Points:\nPlease pray that our family continues to grow in our walk with the Lord. Pray for deeper spiritual maturity, unity, and a stronger hunger for God’s presence and Word in our daily lives. Pray for the preparations for our next Bible college semester beginning in August. Ask the Lord to guide every detail—teaching, students, resources—and to use this semester to raise up strong, faithful disciples. We are praying for more committed and Spirit-led staff to join us in the Bible college. Pray that God will bring the right people to help with teaching, mentoring, and serving in this important work. Please pray for our brothers who are faithfully serving in different regions, sharing the Gospel and making disciples. Ask God to protect them, provide for them, and empower them through the Holy Spirit as they labor in the harvest field. May the Lord richly bless you—your family, your work, and your walk with Him. I pray He continues to use you as a channel of His grace, and that you also experience the joy of being part of His Kingdom work.\nThank you for standing with us. We are deeply grateful.\nIn Christ,\nPastor 6 and Family\n\n“How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you”\n1 Thessalonians 3:9\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-always-faithful/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise be to God, who is always faithful. His mercies never fail! We give Him all the glory for the work He is doing in and through the ministry here in our country. It is only by His grace that we continue to see lives touched, hearts transformed, and the Gospel being shared in both word and deed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe also want to take a moment to thank you—our dear friends, prayer partners, and supporters. Your prayers, encouragement, and sacrificial giving have played a vital role in advancing the mission here. Whether it’s through your intercession, financial support, or simply standing with us in spirit, please know that your partnership is making an eternal impact.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Always Faithful! - Pastor 6 Update July 2025"},{"content":"(Español abajo)\nWe were so grateful to welcome our beautiful baby girl into the world on January 13th! We decided to name her Cristina Lizbeth, named after our moms (Kristy \u0026amp; Elizabeth). Thank you to our sending church Calvary Rosarito for allowing us to have her baby dedication there. Praise God we have her American passport now and just need to get her Mexico paperwork done (as well as Brittany’s \u0026amp; Kimmy’s). Also, while we were in Rosarito, God took our good friend Chuck home to Heaven. It was a sad time, but also beautiful to remember all of the sweet memories we had together. We returned to Calpulalpan the first week of February along with Kristy (Brittany’s mom) to help us get situated in our new house.\nAt the church we were able to do a marriage dinner for the couples on Valentine’s Day. It was a sweet time of fellowship and encouragement to keep striving to be a better spouse every day.\nIn April, we had our church’s 2nd anniversary! Praise God for the full church service we had, for the 87 adults and 20 kids who came, for the time of food and fellowship, for the 6 people who were baptized, and for how God is moving and working here in Calpulalpan!\nIt has been such a blessing to see the people in our church grow into servants and leaders, taking steps of faith and trying new things. Two new things that we did with our church were: a prayer retreat and a mission trip! The prayer retreat was a sweet time of studying, praying, and worshiping surrounded by God’s beautiful creation. We are so grateful and proud of each person who stepped out in faith to go on the mission trip. 7 out of the 10 people who went on the trip were all youth from our youth group! It was a blessing to see how God used each of them in a special way on the mission trip to Calvary Cocoyoc. We look forward to the many mission trips that we will be doing in the future, Lord willing.\nOf course we had to have a celebration for Dia del Niño (Day of the Kids)! All of the children\u0026rsquo;s ministry leaders and servants put together games for the kids like a little carnival. They won tickets at each game and got to redeem them for prizes at the prize table! Praise God we were also able to a special breakfast for the moms in the church for Mother’s Day. Sister Esme shared a devotional, sister Dennis had a sweet craft for everyone, and sister Estef made the delicious breakfast. It was such a sweet time together sharing the many ups and downs of motherhood and encouraging one another.\nAnother first-time thing we did was a men’s retreat! There was about 22 men who went on the retreat from our church, from Calvary Cocoyoc, and a few other friends as well. They had a blast playing games, cooking carne asada and burgers, having Bible studies from various people, having a time of worship, and simply having a time of fellowship together.\nPraise Reports: Our baby girl Cristina was born healthy with no complications We celebrated our 2nd anniversary with our church The Sunday service was getting so full that now we have 2 services on Sundays! Prayer Requests: For God to provide and help us with the planning for the Youth Camp in August For the servants and leaders in the church to continue strong and keep growing spiritually For our family adjusting to being a family of 5 now For God to guide Brian on how to train up those whom God choses to be the assistant pastors “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”\nColossians 3:23-24\nWe love you all family and friends! Thank you so much for taking the time to read about what God is doing here in southern Mexico. Hugs to all! God bless!\nLove Brian, Brittany, Joshua, Kimberly, and Cristina\nAño Nuevo, Cosas Nuevas Estuvimos muy agradecidos de dar la bienvenida al mundo a nuestra hermosa bebé el 13 de Enero. Decidimos llamarla Cristina Lizbeth, en honor a nuestras mamás (Kristy y Elizabeth). Gracias a nuestra iglesia, Calvario Rosarito, por permitirnos celebrar la dedicación de nuestra bebé allí. Gracias a Dios, ya tenemos su pasaporte Estadounidense y ahora solo nos falta completar sus trámites para México (al igual que los de Brittany y Kimmy). Además, mientras estábamos en Rosarito, Dios se llevó a nuestro buen amigo Chuck al cielo. Fue un momento triste, pero también hermoso recordar todos los dulces recuerdos que compartimos juntos. Regresamos a Calpulalpan la primera semana de Febrero con Kristy (la mamá de Brittany) para ayudarnos a instalarnos en nuestra nueva casa.\nEn la iglesia, pudimos celebrar una cena de matrimonios para las parejas el Día de San Valentín. Fue un momento bonito de compañerismo y ánimo para seguir esforzándonos por ser mejores cónyuges cada día.\n¡En Abril también celebramos el segundo aniversario de nuestra iglesia! ¡Alabado sea Dios por el servicio completamente lleno que tuvimos, por los 87 adultos y 20 niños que vinieron, por el tiempo de comida y compañerismo, por las 6 personas que se bautizaron y por cómo Dios está obrando aquí en Calpulalpan!\nHa sido una gran bendición ver a los miembros de nuestra iglesia crecer como siervos y líderes, dando pasos de fe y probando cosas nuevas. Dos cosas nuevas que hicimos con nuestra iglesia fueron: ¡un retiro de oración y un viaje misionero! El retiro de oración fue un tiempo hermoso para estudiar, orar y adorar rodeados de la hermosa creación de Dios. Estamos muy agradecidos y orgullosos de cada persona que dio un paso de fe para ir al viaje misionero. ¡Siete de los diez participantes eran jóvenes de nuestro grupo de jovenes! Fue una bendición ver cómo Dios los usó cada uno de ellos de manera especial en el viaje misionero a Calvario Cocoyoc. Esperamos con ansias los muchos viajes misioneros que realizaremos en el futuro, si Dios quiere.\n¡Claro que teníamos que celebrar el Día del Niño! Todos los líderes y siervos del ministerio infantil organizaron juegos para los niños, como si fuera una pequeña feria. Ganaron boletos en cada juego y los canjearon por premios en la mesa de premios. ¡Gracias a Dios, también pudimos ofrecer un desayuno especial para las mamás de la iglesia por el Día de las Madres! La hermana Esme compartió un devocional, la hermana Dennis preparó una manualidad para todos y la hermana Estef preparó un desayuno delicioso. Fue un momento muy dulce compartiendo los altibajos de la maternidad y animándonos mutuamente.\nOtra de nuestras actividades nuevas fue un retiro de hombres. Asistieron unos 22 hombres; de nuestra iglesia, de Calvario Cocoyoc y algunos otros amigos. Se divirtieron muchísimo jugando, cocinando carne asada y hamburguesas, con estudios bíblicos de varias personas, tiempo de adoración y simplemente un momento de compañerismo.\nReportes de Alabanza Nuestra pequeña Cristina nació sana y sin complicaciones. Celebramos nuestro segundo aniversario con nuestra iglesia. ¡El servicio en Domingo estaba tan lleno que ahora tenemos dos servicios los Domingos! Peticiones de Oracion Para que Dios nos provea y nos ayude con la planificación del Campamento Juvenil en Agosto. Para que los siervos y líderes de la iglesia se mantengan fuertes y sigan creciendo espiritualmente. Para que nuestra familia se adapte a ser ahora una familia de 5. Para que Dios guíe a Brian en el entrenamiento de quienes Dios elige para ser pastores asistentes. “Y todo lo que hagáis, hacedlo de corazón, como para el Señor y no para los hombres; sabiendo que del Señor recibiréis la recompensa de la herencia, porque a Cristo el Señor servís.”\nColosenses 3:23-24\n¡Los queremos mucho, familia y amigos! Muchas gracias por tomarse el tiempo de leer sobre lo que Dios está haciendo aquí en el sur de México. ¡Un abrazo a todos! ¡Que Dios los bendiga!\nCon cariño,\nBrian, Brittany, Joshua, Kimberly y Cristina.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-year-new-things-de-la-cruz-update-june-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e(Español abajo)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe were so grateful to welcome our beautiful baby girl into the world on January 13th! We decided to name her Cristina Lizbeth, named after our moms (Kristy \u0026amp; Elizabeth). Thank you to our sending church Calvary Rosarito for allowing us to have her baby dedication there. Praise God we have her American passport now and just need to get her Mexico paperwork done (as well as Brittany’s \u0026amp; Kimmy’s). Also, while we were in Rosarito, God took our good friend Chuck home to Heaven. It was a sad time, but also beautiful to remember all of the sweet memories we had together. We returned to Calpulalpan the first week of February along with Kristy (Brittany’s mom) to help us get situated in our new house.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Year, New Things - De La Cruz Update June 2025"},{"content":" “These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”\nDeuteronomy 6:6-9\nWe have been enjoying the fruits of our labor. Pounds and pounds, in fact! One day in June, we measured the day’s harvest of cucumbers to be just under 50 pounds, 12 pounds of which were pickled, and the rest carried off as gifts to neighbors by the same little people who had planted them. Besides cucumbers, we have been eating daily from the kids’ Swiss Chard, local spinach, green onions, dill, and cilantro. Maize and okra are well on their way, and potatoes, picky about the climate, will be ready eventually. We are even doing a science experiment with elderberry seeds, trying to fool them into believing they’re not actually in sub-Saharan Africa. We started them a month ago on a wet paper towel. In a month, we will put them in the fridge until November, when they will theoretically be ready to germinate. I’m looking forward to my kids experiencing elderberry syrup on pancakes, which is something I enjoyed when I was young.\nLast June, Matt and I built a “Chicken Tractor on Steroids,” a composting system popularized by YouTuber and permaculturist Geoff Lawton. Since then, we have been processing grass clippings, vegetable peels, and other green waste into beautiful, rich soil, which has been helping us turn our clay garden into a more balanced growing environment. We also praise God for the daily eggs from our 12 chickens!\nThe garden has presented many opportunities for sharing new ideas with people. Allowing our children a handful of seeds and a few feet of space for themselves has been a wonderful way for them to learn to love work and appreciate good food. Allowing our kids to sell off or share with the family from their own produce has been a great way to instill in them a sense of responsibility. Showing them the importance of caring for the soil through composting and proper trash disposal provides us with opportunities to teach our kids to be producers, not solely consumers. And most relevant in our context, is the idea that training your child is much like tending a garden; you plant the seeds, carefully uproot the weeds, and provide the nutrients. Matt is currently sharing about this idea in his monthly devotional, “A Little Harris-y.” He also teaches it in our church’s 3-week parenting class.\nThe garden is FULL of teaching points, object lessons, and healthy food. We are looking forward to all the good things that will continue to come out of it!\nThis month, please pray with us that: God will bring the right students to our Bible college this Fall. God will provide two computers for our girls who are starting online school. God will continue healing Pastor James Lonyera from the paralyzing motorcycle accident he experienced in the Spring. That God will bless our efforts to root and ground Acholiland in His Gospel and His Word. In Christ, Matt, Noelle, Apiyo, Emma, Madeline, Noah, \u0026amp; Charlotte\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-june-2025/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update June 2025"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, \u0026ldquo;Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.\u0026rdquo; And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.\u0026rdquo;\n- Luke 8:38-39Some of the girls from the team in Osaka, Japan serving at CC Abide Osaka.\nThis Spring was filled with testimony after testimony of God\u0026rsquo;s power, faithfulness, and love poured out as many moved out in faith to obey God\u0026rsquo;s call upon their lives.\nWe had the privilege of sending another MTS student to the 10/40 window, to Osaka, Japan, as well as celebrate the marriage of 2 of our students in Mexico. SGWM was represented at a sister church in St. Joseph, Missouri at their annual Missions conference, and Calvary Chapel Saving Grace celebrated 30 years of God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness. As incredible as all that was, we were also privileged to send a short-term team to the Middle East to visit our team there, as well as go to the country of Georgia to minister to the underground church of a neighboring closed country.Osaka team with pastor\u0026rsquo;s wife Amy Totsis.Pastor Joel speaking at Arise Christian Fellowship in Uganda, AfricaCelebrating 30 years of God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness as the pastors pray over Trent.Pastor Trent sharing \u0026ldquo;The Purpose of the Church\u0026rdquo; at Grace Calvary Chapel in St. Joseph, Missouri.Africa at Last!!**Visiting Three Amazing Families Serving the Lord in Africa.**This Spring, we had the joy and privilege of sending Pastor Joel Garcia and Isaac Douglass on a missionary care trip to Uganda, Africa—home to three of our faithful SGWM missionary families who have been diligently planting churches and sharing the Gospel for many years.\nHaving looked forward to this trip for quite some time, Joel and Isaac arrived in Kampala, where they were warmly welcomed by Brian and Jill Kanyike. Jill has been serving in Uganda with SGWM for over 20 years, and since marrying Brian in 2006, she has witnessed God\u0026rsquo;s plan beautifully unfold. Brian now pastors Arise Christian Fellowship, a thriving church located near the slums of Kampala.Both Brian and Jill were deeply encouraged to finally host their dear friend and pastor in their home. These face-to-face, hand-in-hand visits are vital for the spiritual health and encouragement of our missionary teams around the world.\nDuring their time in Kampala, Joel and Isaac joined the Kanyikes in ministry—visiting families in the slums, leading Sunday services, and sharing in prayer and worship. Their presence brought refreshment, support, and was a powerful reminder of the body of Christ standing behind them.\nFrom there, Joel and Isaac traveled north to Gulu to visit Matt and Noelle Harris and their five children. The Harris family has been faithfully serving the Lord as Matt leads the training of pastors at Terebinth Bible College. Their home was filled with joy and gratitude as they welcomed Joel and Isaac, who brought encouragement and love from back home. The Harris children were especially thrilled, counting down the days until their visitors arrived. These visits mean so much—not only to the missionaries, but to their children as well, who are often serving and sacrificing alongside their parents.\nThe final leg of the journey took them even farther north to Midigo, where they spent time with the Aniku family. This amazing family is reaching hundreds in their community through a wide array of ministries, including a local church, a school, and a thriving soccer outreach. This long-anticipated visit was rich with mutual encouragement as Joel and Isaac witnessed first-hand the fruit of the Anikus\u0026rsquo; faithful service and the lives being transformed through the love of Jesus.Throughout the trip, Pastor Joel and Isaac were continually blown away by the beauty of East Africa and the powerful work God is doing through these dedicated missionaries. These visits serve as a crucial reminder that no one is laboring alone—our SGWM family is united across continents, carrying the mission of Jesus together.\nPlease continue to pray for our missionaries in Uganda, as they labor to multiply disciples—disciples who make disciples who make disciples. Thank you for standing with us in this great Gospel mission!The Harris family showing off the gifts they received from the care package brought by Joel and IsaacIsaac leading worship at Arise Christian Fellowship in Kampala, Uganda.The Kanyike family with Pastor Joel and Isaac.Visiting the slums near Arise Christian Fellowship in Kampala is always a highlight of our visits.Soccer team in Midigo, Uganda. The Anikus have a very effective ministry through soccer outreach.Sitting with the team in Gulu ministering to the people who are so hungry for God\u0026rsquo;s Word.Middle East and Republic of GeorgiaMissionary care is essential in all areas of the world. Whether the missionary is single or married, has children or not, lives in an open country or a restricted country, they all need love, encouragement, and care. Pastor Trent, his wife Debbie, and Pastor Jesse Colon from Calvary Chapel in Jerez, Zacatecas were able to visit 4 of our full-time missionaries in the Middle East.\nTheir visit was timely as the team is sensing God leading them to take next steps. There are 6 from the team there who have been in country for 2 years studying language and culture in order to be prepared to do what they ultimately moved there to do\u0026hellip; plant churches.This Fall we will, God willing, have 4 more joining this team. We can see God stirring them all to take steps of faith towards fulfilling the vision.\nPastor Trent and the team were able to bring much needed encouragement and direction to the Middle East team so they can confidently move ahead. Through times of teaching, worship, prayer, and sharing their hearts, all were feeling confident to start doing new things which includes learning Biblical Arabic and getting deeper involved with the local church there. We are excited for this next venture of faith and want to ask that you continue to pray for this team for wisdom, discernment, dependency and clear direction.\nNext, Pastor Trent and his team moved on to the country of Georgia where they met up with two more of their team members to teach a conference to a group coming from a very restricted neighboring country. Partnering with a local Calvary Chapel pastor and his team, Trent and his group had the privilege of teaching 7 hours a day through the Word of God. These teachings were received with great joy and hunger. These extremely isolated believers were engaged in and excited about every teaching and in the end communicated several times their gratitude for the teachings and time spent by our Saving Grace team.\nRecognizing the potential for a lasting partnership, this initial trip proved to be a vital step forward—laying the groundwork for SGWM to make a greater impact in this nation strategically located within the heart of the 10/40 Window. Please pray for these precious believers as they face huge challenges in their home country and risk their lives daily as they share the gospel with those they encounter.Praying over the city our team is in who is learning language and culture before starting on church planting.Equipping these precious believers from a restricted country in a safe place where they can freely worship and openly study the Bible.These believers sat for hours everyday, so hungry for the Word of God.Pastoral Training for our National WorkersPastor Gary has a heart for the 10/40 Window, where pastors work relentlessly in areas full of opposition and persecution. These pastors have incredible testimonies and work tirelessly and fearlessly to reach their people with the gospel. Although they are strong in faith, they lack in training in the area of Bible knowledge and spiritual leadership. Seeing this as a great need in South Asia, Pastor Gary and our dear brother Jim scheduled a 2-month multi-state tour to equip, encourage, and love on our national workers. Nothing can replace that face-to-face time of discipleship. This is where deep connection and trust is birthed!\nAs Gary and Jim sat with these brothers and answered their questions, God worked in their hearts and minds and they were radically impacted by this time spent. Please pray for all the seeds planted during this trip and that the Word that was taught would sustain, encourage, and keep these precious brothers as they seek to make disciples through church planting.Gary pouring into a national pastor and his friend. This particular pastor does not have a lot of fellowship in his area, so he was very appreciative.It was a great opportunity to be able to teach in one of our CBI campuses where many of the students feel called to plant churches.Pastor R is an amazing shepherd of the people. He has never had a visit from a SGWM leader and he was so blessed as Gary and Jim came.Thank you for partnering with us as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission by raising up and sending out!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/spring-2025-sgwm-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, \u0026ldquo;Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you.\u0026rdquo; And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.\u0026rdquo;\u003cbr\u003e\n- Luke 8:38-39\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/9763ad30-14b1-4d42-a0c2-4c1c32b8cb33.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003eSome of the girls from the team in Osaka, Japan serving at CC Abide Osaka.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Spring 2025 SGWM Newsletter"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.\u0026rdquo; Matthew 9:37-38There are more than 3 billion people in the world who have yet had the opportunity to hear the sweet, saving gospel of Jesus. That number is so big it\u0026rsquo;s hard to even grasp. Jesus Himself recognized that there are vast populations of people who need to hear, but there are not enough workers going to these places to share about what He has done. But rather than saying, therefore \u0026ldquo;Get up and GO\u0026rdquo;, He calls His followers to pray. And this year we at SGWM have been reminded of the power of prayer and the realization that the world will only be won by praying to the Lord of the Harvest Himself. And what are we praying for? We are praying that God will send out multitudes from the body of Christ to the darkest corners of the world to seek out the lost and boldly proclaim the gospel.Vision Tours and New Territories**God continues to open doors all over the world.**One of the many things we do at SGWM is pray and remain open to new opportunities and new fields. As we intentionally raise up those who feel called to go, these students are praying fervently about where God wants them to invest their lives. All of them are praying for the unreached and asking God if there\u0026rsquo;s a specific place He wants them to go. It\u0026rsquo;s exciting to partner with each of these students as God begins to show them where He wants them. As we pray, we also go. We provide opportunities for the students to visit various locations within the 10/40 window. As we travel with them, we spend time praying over the city or country. We visit various ministries and other believers in the area. We ask a lot of questions and learn more about the location. Last year we were able to take teams to Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, South Asia, and the Middle East. Through these trips there has been confirmation through open doors, and there have also been closed doors. But these trips are essential in providing the next step for these future missionaries to get to the field working full time. At SGWM, we also continue to walk through the open doors presented to us. Last year Pastor Trent and his wife Debbie traveled to the Republic of Georgia. They had been invited to that country to find out more information about a ministry that specifically raises up pastors from a neighboring country that is very closed and where Christianity is illegal. These pastors lead small underground house churches where there are only one or two families gathering together to meet in secret. God is moving in this country and amongst believers there is a deep belief that soon this country will open and God is going to use all these trained pastors to go out and share boldly the message of the gospel. This is an effectual door that we see God opening and we are excited for a future partnership in this area of the world. Please pray for the Missions Training Students as they seek God’s direction for their future. Also, pray with us as we step into new opportunities and frontiers that God is opening before us.Team in Japan for their vision tour.Meeting with the team in the Middle East. This was both a vision tour and missionary care.Team in Southeast Asia meeting with local pastor learning about the church culture there.Pastor Trent and Pastor Vlad strategizing how best to train those coming from a bordering persecuted country near Georgia.Team in the Philippines praying about a new work training up Philippinos and those from that region to church plant amongst the unreached.The team in South East Asia praying about a possible new frontier for raising up nationals and church planting.God is Moving in the Middle EastDid you know that more missionaries have been sent to the Middle East in the last 20 years than in the last 100? In theaters in 2004, The Passion of the Christ played 100 times a day to packed audiences\u0026hellip;in the Middle East! In December 2001, Al Jazeera reported that there were large numbers of Muslims converting to Christianity. God is moving so powerfully that Muslim background believers are reaching out to their own people in record numbers. God is stirring the hearts of those in the Arabic world so much so that 50 million Muslims are tuning into the Arabic Christian radio program of Father Zachary which is broadcasted around the world. So many muslims have come to the Lord through this program that he has become a threat to the Muslim world. Another exciting truth that has come to light in recent months is that there are thousands of copies of the Arabic Bible being downloaded from the Bible app every month! God is doing something and we are excited to be smack dab in the middle of it. We now have 10 missionaries committed to language and culture learning in the Middle East. While in this season of learning, the team is building relationships both inside and outside of the church. They are specifically asking God how they can effectively church plant in this region and what it would look like to raise up and train the nationals to reach their own people through church planting. Please pray for our team as they seek to establish a hub to all of the Middle East.Christmas Outreaches to the Most UnreachedIn many restricted countries, the Christmas season provides a strategic time for our national workers to reach the most unreached among them. In these areas of the world conversion is illegal, publicly proclaiming Christ is not permitted and many governments forbid Christians from sharing their faith. Even with hostile governments and persecution growing, our brothers and sisters are offered a reprieve during Christmas and are able to visit villages, singing songs, showing the Jesus film, giving gifts and sharing about the greatest gift ever given. So they take full advantage of this time and spend days reaching out to several groups.Children\u0026rsquo;s Outreach is a huge part of reaching these villages.Providing meals is a great way to get the community to come out.Many will come and patiently wait for hours to see the program.Our national pastors and workers have opportunities to invite their unbelieving neighbors, villagers, family and friends to come and hear about Jesus who was born to save us from our sins. With months of planning, much prayers and invitations extended we were able to host Christmas outreaches in 35 locations throughout Pakistan, Nepal and S. Asia. We saw thousands of people attend, hear the Gospel of Jesus and many shared a meal together.\nThe Christmas outreaches took place in open fields, tents, courtyards, on mountain tops, in prisons, and in the most remote places you can imagine. We are grateful for the many people who provided funding and prayers that are necessary to see the Gospel go out to the ends of the earth.\nPlease pray for those who heard the good news of Jesus during Christmas that the seed of the Gospel would take root in their hearts and they would desire to know Jesus personally and start coming to church to learn the Word of God.Thank you for partnering with us as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission by raising up and sending out!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/winter-2025-sgwm-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.\u0026rdquo; Matthew 9:37-38\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/b0f4e89d-030c-4850-8095-a2b429cc7a4a.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003eThere are more than 3 billion people in the world who have yet had the opportunity to hear the sweet, saving gospel of Jesus. That number is so big it\u0026rsquo;s hard to even grasp. Jesus Himself recognized that there are vast populations of people who need to hear, but there are not enough workers going to these places to share about what He has done. But rather than saying, therefore \u0026ldquo;Get up and GO\u0026rdquo;, He calls His followers to pray. And this year we at SGWM have been reminded of the power of prayer and the realization that the world will only be won by praying to the Lord of the Harvest Himself. And what are we praying for? We are praying that God will send out multitudes from the body of Christ to the darkest corners of the world to seek out the lost and boldly proclaim the gospel.Vision Tours and New Territories**God continues to open doors all over the world.**One of the many things we do at SGWM is pray and remain open to new opportunities and new fields. As we intentionally raise up those who feel called to go, these students are praying fervently about where God wants them to invest their lives. All of them are praying for the unreached and asking God if there\u0026rsquo;s a specific place He wants them to go. It\u0026rsquo;s exciting to partner with each of these students as God begins to show them where He wants them. As we pray, we also go. We provide opportunities for the students to visit various locations within the 10/40 window. As we travel with them, we spend time praying over the city or country. We visit various ministries and other believers in the area. We ask a lot of questions and learn more about the location. Last year we were able to take teams to Japan, Indonesia, Philippines, South Asia, and the Middle East. Through these trips there has been confirmation through open doors, and there have also been closed doors. But these trips are essential in providing the next step for these future missionaries to get to the field working full time. At SGWM, we also continue to walk through the open doors presented to us. Last year Pastor Trent and his wife Debbie traveled to the Republic of Georgia. They had been invited to that country to find out more information about a ministry that specifically raises up pastors from a neighboring country that is very closed and where Christianity is illegal. These pastors lead small underground house churches where there are only one or two families gathering together to meet in secret. God is moving in this country and amongst believers there is a deep belief that soon this country will open and God is going to use all these trained pastors to go out and share boldly the message of the gospel. This is an effectual door that we see God opening and we are excited for a future partnership in this area of the world. Please pray for the Missions Training Students as they seek God’s direction for their future. Also, pray with us as we step into new opportunities and frontiers that God is opening before us.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/8b0412d0-5c47-4713-9d15-bbe4724cd724.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003eTeam in Japan for their vision tour.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/5800a8ec-d89a-4b62-88b7-c8388ed1fb29.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003eMeeting with the team in the Middle East. This was both a vision tour and missionary care.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/6fd45431-c4a2-43ae-abc7-27ba62bbc1e8.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003eTeam in Southeast Asia meeting with local pastor learning about the church culture there.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/2e1dfdc3-2459-4638-8d30-9c14f58f59e6.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003ePastor Trent and Pastor Vlad strategizing how best to train those coming from a bordering persecuted country near Georgia.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/081f54e9-d82f-4e14-bd7a-864156b139ab.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003eTeam in the Philippines praying about a new work training up Philippinos and those from that region to church plant amongst the unreached.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/d699501e-eb52-45d9-b4a1-1b786b534559.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003eThe team in South East Asia praying about a possible new frontier for raising up nationals and church planting.\u003cstrong\u003eGod is Moving in the Middle East\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/d9a4ff31-4e72-4fef-89eb-9577946e22e7.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003eDid you know that more missionaries have been sent to the Middle East in the last 20 years than in the last 100? In theaters in 2004, The Passion of the Christ played 100 times a day to packed audiences\u0026hellip;in the Middle East! In December 2001, Al Jazeera reported that there were large numbers of Muslims converting to Christianity. God is moving so powerfully that Muslim background believers are reaching out to their own people in record numbers. God is stirring the hearts of those in the Arabic world so much so that 50 million Muslims are tuning into the Arabic Christian radio program of Father Zachary which is broadcasted around the world. So many muslims have come to the Lord through this program that he has become a threat to the Muslim world. Another exciting truth that has come to light in recent months is that there are thousands of copies of the Arabic Bible being downloaded from the Bible app every month! God is doing something and we are excited to be smack dab in the middle of it. We now have 10 missionaries committed to language and culture learning in the Middle East. While in this season of learning, the team is building relationships both inside and outside of the church. They are specifically asking God how they can effectively church plant in this region and what it would look like to raise up and train the nationals to reach their own people through church planting. Please pray for our team as they seek to establish a hub to all of the Middle East.Christmas Outreaches to the Most Unreached\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/8fb90a60-7ad7-4e99-889e-b10c11572d24.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003eIn many restricted countries, the Christmas season provides a strategic time for our national workers to reach the most unreached among them. In these areas of the world conversion is illegal, publicly proclaiming Christ is not permitted and many governments forbid Christians from sharing their faith. Even with hostile governments and persecution growing, our brothers and sisters are offered a reprieve during Christmas and are able to visit villages, singing songs, showing the Jesus film, giving gifts and sharing about the greatest gift ever given. So they take full advantage of this time and spend days reaching out to several groups.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/56c677b8-90c4-4bcb-a817-4a91ece15513.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003eChildren\u0026rsquo;s Outreach is a huge part of reaching these villages.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/08f9030f-b499-4e75-89fa-3bb9f741b701.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003eProviding meals is a great way to get the community to come out.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/4c9c2a50-89da-4220-9427-517eb7b5ab1a.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003eMany will come and patiently wait for hours to see the program.Our national pastors and workers have opportunities to invite their unbelieving neighbors, villagers, family and friends to come and hear about Jesus who was born to save us from our sins. With months of planning, much prayers and invitations extended we were able to host Christmas outreaches in 35 locations throughout Pakistan, Nepal and S. Asia. We saw thousands of people attend, hear the Gospel of Jesus and many shared a meal together.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Winter 2025 SGWM Newsletter"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Leaders and Supporters,\nGreetings to all of you!\nI thank God that He has taken care of us. I want to thank all of you for always praying for us and that you are always ready to fulfill our every need in every way.\nJesus Freak!\nLike I often do, I am going to share the testimony of a believer of my church. Five years ago, my father and I went to a village. While sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we went from house to house, we met a woman named S*. She was very excited to learn about Jesus Christ. We invited her to come to our church. Gradually she started coming to church and started understanding more about our Lord Jesus Christ. She believed in Jesus and was baptized. Her husband also started believing in Jesus. He asked us to establish a church in his house also. We used to go to his house every month to have church. Because of that, the people around him started hating him.\nWhen they completely abandoned idol worship, their neighbors started making various plans to drive them out of the village. Even then they did not abandon the Lord Jesus Christ and kept coming to church. A few months ago, when the pastors from SGWM came, I took them to their village to meet them.\nLast month S*\u0026rsquo;s father-in-law insisted that they worship idols because the villagers were taunting him. The villagers were making fun of her mother-in-law and father-in-law because their son and daughter-in-law have converted to another religion. Even then, S* and her family did not worship idols. Her mother-in-law and father-in-law then beat up their son and daughter-in-law a lot. The villagers also beat them. Because of this, everyone in the entire village heard about what was going on. After that, the shopkeeper who was near their house also refused to sell them anything. That made S* and her husband very sad. They have three small children, and they had to go to another village to buy goods. Because of all of this, they have now left their village, society and relatives and have moved to a big city so that no one can stop them from believing in the name of Jesus Christ and their children can be brought up well. This is the eighth family of my church who have moved away- leaving their relatives, village, society, land, property etc. because of their faith in Jesus Christ.\nSunday Ministry\nI have always been thankful to God that He has given me such a strong church. Despite facing many kinds of mental and physical torture, people do not stop coming to church on Sunday. Every Sunday 40 to 70 people come to church.\nPeople from our village have always been against Jesus Christ. They have ostracized us from society because of the name of Jesus Christ. They stop people who are on the way to our Sunday fellowship. They brainwash them and threaten them in many ways so that they do not come to our fellowship. I thank God that the Holy Spirit gives the people of our church who are not educated the words to say. They answer those who try to stop them from coming to church and they shut their mouths. Only some new people get misled by them and stop coming to church. I am happy with my established believers. Despite facing many kinds of torture, they do not stop coming to church.\nBy God\u0026rsquo;s grace, I am starting to teach my church through the New Testament verse-by-verse. I have just reached the 6th chapter of 2nd Corinthians. 95% of the people in my church do not know how to read and write, yet they listen to God\u0026rsquo;s Word carefully, understand it and also share it with others.\nSunday School Ministry\nEvery week, Sunday School is also held in our church. It is led by my niece, who has lived with us since childhood. During our Sunday service, as soon as the worship ends, my wife and niece take all of the children to a separate room where they teach them action songs about Jesus Christ or help them memorize verses. Each Sunday, 15 to 20 children come to Sunday School. I thank God that the children also learn well. Sometimes they recite the verses they have memorized in front of everyone at church. Sometimes they also sing their action songs in front of church.\nHouse Church Ministry\nWhenever we read the book of Acts in the Bible, we find out how important house churches are for today\u0026rsquo;s time. By God\u0026rsquo;s grace, house churches are currently operating in four villages. Wherever we want, we spend time with people, do counseling, spend time in worship and prayer and study the Word together. By God\u0026rsquo;s grace, people understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word. Even though they do not know how to read, they are still able to understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word well by listening to it.\nEarlier, house churches were operating in about 10 to 12 villages. But when we would go to the villages, the house where the church was running started getting persecuted- some through their family, some through their neighbors and some through other people in the village. Because of this, we told them to come to our home for Sunday fellowship and Friday Bible study. So, now fellowships are running only in four villages.\nChildren\u0026rsquo;s Ministry\nAll of you who know me know that I love children so much. I have a special passion for children in my heart. In the future, I have a goal of opening an orphanage which God will fulfill in His time.\nWhenever I go to villages and wherever we have fellowship, I see children. I feel very sorry for their condition. Children do not have education, good clothes, or nutritious food. After seeing them, I always pray to God to open a door for them. Whenever I go, I take biscuits and chocolates for them. When I give them to the children, they become very happy. I also sometimes tell them stories from the Bible.\nEvangelism Ministry\nWe all know the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ in Matthew 28:18-20. That is why my father and I have, so far, taken the Good News to more than 500 villages. We have taken the Good News to villages where the name of Jesus Christ has reached their ears for the first time. Whenever we get a chance, we go out to share the Gospel. I thank God that the people of our church have become so strong in the Lord that they are also telling the name of Jesus Christ to their relatives around them and bringing them to our church as well.\nOver the next two days, I am planning to spread the Gospel in three states. This will be a journey of 2000 kilometers (1243 miles) by riding my motorcycle. Lord willing, during this journey, the Good News will reach about 10 villages. We will show the Jesus Movie through a projector in about four villages. Also, we will go to 5 to 6 tribal villages and distribute New Testaments and pray for them. Please pray that God fulfills all my needs.\nPraise Points\nPraise God! The woman I asked for prayer for, who was shut up in her house by her family is fine now and is coming to church again. Her brothers went to rescue her. Praise God! So far, all the medical reports for my wife are normal. Praise God, He kept me and my parents safe even though there is opposition all around. Prayer Points\nPlease pray for the family whose testimony I have written above- for S. and her children. May God keep them safe and keep them growing in faith. Please pray. I was preparing for about a year to send two students named R. and P. to Bible College. Before they could reach Bible College, their families sent them out of the state to work. Please pray for my wife. She is in the city and in the fifth month of pregnancy. She has to undergo dental treatment, for which I am going to the city again. May God keep my wife and my unborn child safe. Please pray for my mother and father. May God keep them safe from all kinds of pain and illness. Thank you all for participating in the news.\nMay God bless you all.\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/by-gods-grace-pastor-11-update-july-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Leaders and Supporters,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God that He has taken care of us. I want to thank all of you for always praying for us and that you are always ready to fulfill our every need in every way.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/pic-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJesus Freak!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLike I often do, I am going to share the testimony of a believer of my church. Five years ago, my father and I went to a village. While sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ as we went from house to house, we met a woman named S*. She was very excited to learn about Jesus Christ. We invited her to come to our church. Gradually she started coming to church and started understanding more about our Lord Jesus Christ. She believed in Jesus and was baptized. Her husband also started believing in Jesus. He asked us to establish a church in his house also. We used to go to his house every month to have church. Because of that, the people around him started hating him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"By God's Grace - Pastor 11 Update July 2025"},{"content":"Greetings! Jai Masih Ki! (Praise the Lord!)\nI hope you all are well. I thank the Lord that He has taken care of you and us. Praise the Lord! A while ago I was sick. You all prayed for me continuously and now I am fine! Thank you for your continuous prayers. May the Lord bless you all.\nLately all the women of the village are coming to my church. Some of them are true believers and some live a life of compromise. Four or five young people also come to my church who are already believers. I am teaching through the Acts of the apostles in my church. Pray for the people who come to grow strongly in the holy Word of the Lord.\nFor a while we have also been doing Friday meetings. Some of the women of our village come and my family members come. We pray together. I have also been giving New Testaments to many people\nWhile I was traveling to another village area, I met some people on the way. They were from far away and they have been working here for a long time. While I was on my way back they were walking down the road. They waved to me and asked me to give them a ride. I did not know them. They said \u0026ldquo;Brother, please give both of us a ride.\u0026rdquo; But there were four of them.\nThen the Lord put it in my heart that this was a good opportunity. I first took two people on my bike, then I came to pick up the other two and dropped them off also. They started saying, \u0026ldquo;God bless you.\u0026rdquo;\nI thanked God in my mind and told them the Gospel of the Lord. They got very excited and started asking me many things about Jesus Christ. The Lord helped me. I talked to them with the Word of the Lord and told them everything about Jesus Christ. Then they started telling about themselves. They were very upset with their lives because they were going through many difficulties. They told me about their circumstances. I prayed with them and told them to believe in the Lord. He will make everything right. They were very excited. They gave me their phone number. Now, I am in contact with them about every other day. Please pray for them. May the Lord change their hearts so that they can know the truth.\nA while ago, I got engaged. The my fiancee\u0026rsquo;s brothers had come back to their home village. They asked me to come meet them so I went to their village to meet them. They already knew that I am a Christian and know Jesus Christ. When I met them, we talked. I had met them twice before, but we were only together for a very short time. That day, a few other guests had also come to their house. I asked the two brothers to go somewhere with me. I thanked the Lord in my heart because I had asked them to go for a walk so that I could share the Gospel with them. We went and rested at a secluded place. We talked a lot among ourselves. Two other boys had also come with them. I told them all the Gospel of the Lord. I shared many things about Jesus with them. They got very excited. They began telling me that their village is full of Pundits. People worship idols a lot. They warned me to stay away from those people because they would oppose me.\nI told them that Lord will change those people\u0026rsquo;s hearts and will transform their hearts too. I prayed for them. When we came back and sat with the guests who had come, one brother told them \u0026ldquo;He believes in Jesus Christ.\u0026rdquo; After that, the guests started asking me many questions and started talking about different things about Jesus Christ. Thank be to the Lord, He gave me courage so that I could answer them and tell them the Gospel. I am praying for them. May the Lord change the hearts of these three brothers and also the hearts of the guests who had come.\nRecently, while I was traveling with two boys from my village to a larger village, I saw another boy from a different village whom I had shared with before. I was very happy to see him and he was also very excited to meet me. We did not talk much in the market. Then I took the two boys from my village and that boy towards a different village and we sat together. I asked the boy about how his life was going. He told about his life. He was facing many problems in his life. Then I asked him, \u0026ldquo;Did I tell you about the Lord before?\u0026rdquo;\nHe said \u0026ldquo;Yes, I remember. but I don\u0026rsquo;t have time for all these things.\u0026rdquo; Then I shared God\u0026rsquo;s Word with him again and encouraged him with the Gospel of the Lord and talked to him.\nI said, \u0026ldquo;If you believe in Jesus Christ completely, then your life will change. Whatever problem is in your life, will be solved.\u0026rdquo; There were also boys of my village with me, who are believers. Then I prayed for all three and they became very excited. I am praying that the Lord speaks to their hearts so that they can know the Lord completely\nSome guests stayed at my house. I took them to a nearby village area the next day. A new guest house has been built in that area, so I showed it to them. The Lord helped me share the Gospel with them. Many of them asked me about Jesus Christ. We had many conversations about Jesus Christ. I thank the Lord that He gave me the opportunity to preach the Gospel to them. I am praying for them so Lord changes their hearts so that they can know the truth.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for the believers of my village, both women and young men, to grow in the Word. Also pray for those who do not believe in Lord completely. May they also come to know the Lord completely. Pray to Lord that He will increase the faith of all the people who are coming to our Friday meetings, so that they don\u0026rsquo;t go astray. Also pray for all of the people to whom I have given New Testaments. May they read the New Testament and may the Lord change their hearts. Pray for the people I met who are from far away. I shared the Good News with them. May the Lord speak to their hearts so that they can be saved. Pray for the people to whom I have shared the Gospel with, specifically the three brothers in village K* and the one brother in D* and also for the guests who came to my house. May Lord speak to them and may their hearts be changed so they can know the truth. Pray for the village where I go visiting. I have told the Gospel of the Lord to many people there. May they also know the truth and may the Lord speak to their hearts. Pray for me to grow more powerfully in my spiritual life, so that the Lord can use me more powerfully among the people of this area so that many people are saved. Pray for my church building. May the Lord complete the work of this church building soon. Pray for my marriage. May Lord prepare both of us for marriage. Also pray that God provides for all of the arrangements. Praise the Lord!\nThank you,\nPastor 10*\n\\* Names and faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praise-the-lord-pastor-10-update-july-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings! Jai Masih Ki! (Praise the Lord!)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you all are well. I thank the Lord that He has taken care of you and us. Praise the Lord! A while ago I was sick. You all prayed for me continuously and now I am fine! Thank you for your continuous prayers. May the Lord bless you all.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLately all the women of the village are coming to my church. Some of them are true believers and some live a life of compromise. Four or five young people also come to my church who are already believers. I am teaching through the Acts of the apostles in my church. Pray for the people who come to grow strongly in the holy Word of the Lord.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praise the Lord! - Pastor 10 Update July 2025"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\n- God would continue to heal our Academic Registrar, Pastor James Lonyera, from his broken spine. He is recovering according to schedule and has just arrived home after three months of intensive care in Kampala, but he has a long way to go. Atrophy has eaten away most of his weight, and he is still unable to so much as move his legs.\n- God would bring in the exact students He would have join our next intake in September. We are asking God for Christian leaders who are willing to be committed and diligent.\n- God would grant our family a court date for the adoption of our daughter, Apiyo Cynthia. We have been tossed around to different judges four times, and our deadline, Apiyo\u0026rsquo;s 16th birthday, is coming soon.\n- God would grant us wisdom and diligence as we design the curriculum for our new classes.\n- God would protect our city from the ever-present heresies coming to influence the church. Particularly from Benni Hen, who is coming to do a major crusade at the end of the month.\nGod Bless You,\nThe Harris Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\n- We praise God for the amazing pastors conference He did here. There were pastors from all over East Africa and Congo. - We praise God our soccer team has won 1 first place in big league. We are moving up to Uganda premier league with much opposition. But if God is for us, who can be against us? - Praise God for the time we had with the teams and with Joel and Isaac! It’s such a blessing when those who pray for us and partner with us to come and see all God is doing in person. - Please pray for rain for our farms. We need more rain or soon there will be famine in our area. - Please pray for the youths here already addicted to alcohol! It is heartbreaking these days! Too many too young only alcohol from morning to morning. May God show us how to help them! - Please pray as we need to start working on Vincent’s dual citizenship. Thank you!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email BlogUSA\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n- Pray for our upcoming trip to Uganda in July. Pray for safe and smooth travels, good health, fruitful times of ministry and for God\u0026rsquo;s blessing as we spend time with those on the front lines serving in a Muslim community. - Pray for our students at CBI in Nepal and S. Asia as they are at home in their villages. Pray that they would be bold to share the Gospel and preach the Word and that many would come to Christ during the break. - Pray for our family for wisdom and direction for the remainder of the year and how best to invest our time as we ask the Lord what He would have for us.\nBlessings,\nBond, Heather and Breanna Gaona Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n1. Please continue to pray for my parents’ health. Please pray for healing for my mom. My dad also needs treatment for his ears; pray that he will find a good surgeon and receive good treatment.\n2. Please pray for the health of my children, and that God will give us opportunities to serve Him.\n3. Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n- Please pray for my mom’s upcoming surgery.\n- Please pray for healing for my dad.\n- Please pray that the lost will be saved through our nursing home ministry, especially pray for a Mormon women who comes to our Sunday Bible Study there.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nHi friends, here are the prayers for Mike and Sarah Vincent, and Calvary Rosarito!\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God will bless our 36th church plant to Peru with Pastor Lorenzo at the end of May!\n#2- That God would give us favor as we attempt to purchase our facility! Praise Reports?\n#3- For our daughter Grace to find a job in Hesperia where she is finishing up college.\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello and thank you for praying for me.\n1. For my dog, Davey I’ve had about 14 years now. He’s not doing too well physically. He’s my little buddy I love him so much and so I need wisdom to know what to do and how to care for him the best possible way. 2. Continued prayers for my 84 year-old mom who lives alone. She is having challenges emotionally and physically.\n3. For all of the girls ages 13 to 19 who Attended the youth conference this past weekend that the Lord would continue to speak to their hearts and transform their lives. That they would continue to seek Jesus, and also wisdom for us leaders in Discipling/Ministering to them.\n4. For me for strength to carry on. I’m pouring into many lives (Which is incredible and so awesome), But also draining emotionally.\n5. WISDOM!!! So much wisdom for me in all areas of life!\nThank you so much for all of your prayers and God bless each and every one of you reading this!\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n1. Pray that the church stays strong and unified while I am in the U.S. in July.\n2. Pray for provision to buy land here in the jungle to start a Bible Institute.\n3. Pray that God can send/raise up a right hand man. It is very difficult being the only leader.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We humbly ask for your continue prayers as we begin the next phase of work on our building.\n2. We desire that everything we do in our new building brings glory to God.\n3. Let’s continue to pray for brother C and his work in our city.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 6\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nPraise Points\n1. Praise God! The woman I asked for prayer for, who was shut up in her house by her family is fine now and is coming to church again. Her brothers went to rescue her.\n2. Praise God! So far, all the medical reports for my wife are normal.\n3. Praise God, He kept me and my parents safe even though there is opposition all around.\nPrayer Points\n1. Please pray for the family whose testimony I have written above- for S. and her children. May God keep them safe and keep them growing in faith.\n2. Please pray. I was preparing for about a year to send two students named R. and P. to Bible College. Before they could reach Bible College, their families sent them out of the state to work.\n3. Please pray for my wife. She is in the city and in the fifth month of pregnancy. She has to undergo dental treatment, for which I am going to the city again. May God keep my wife and my unborn child safe.\n4. Please pray for my mother and father. May God keep them safe from all kinds of pain and illness.\nThank you all for participating in the news.\nMay God bless you all.\nWorker 11 Worker 13 - 10/40 Window\n- Pray especially for our ministry in this area, that God will open more doors here in the unreached villages.\n- Right now we have a place for Sunday services. Pray that more people will come and learn about Jesus Christ. God bless you all for your prayers!\nThank you so much everyone for praying for us! God bless you!\nWorker 13\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\n- Please continue to pray that the Lord will give us wisdom and boldness to preach the Gospel and also to equip many more laborers for the work of the Gospel. - Please pray for protection and God’s provision for our graduates who are doing church planting ministries.\n- Please pray for the students who graduated last month to be used by the Lord to advance His kingdom.\n- Please pray that our state will become a Christian state in our country. Thanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\n**Prayer Requests\n**\n1. Please pray that Usha continues to grow in her knowledge of God\u0026rsquo;s Word, in her personal relationship with the Lord, and in His grace. Pray that God will use her more powerfully in women’s ministry in the days ahead.\n2. Pray that future gatherings (like the birthday party we shared at this month) open even more doors for the light of Christ to shine in the community.\n3. Pray for the new believers and families who have recently accepted Jesus, to grow strong in their faith and become faithful disciples.\n4. Every Tuesday and Friday, a group of our brothers go out to share the Gospel in different parts of Kathmandu city. Please pray that God will open doors for us and give us clear words to preach the Gospel of Christ with boldness.\n5. We will soon be traveling to South East Nepal, where 10 people are ready to publicly show they are following Jesus. Please pray for:\n• A safe journey, especially because it is the rainy season. • God’s guidance as we encourage the new believers. • Good meetings with pastors, leaders, and students. • Good health for all of us during this trip.\n⸻\nThank you for standing with us in prayer!\nTo God be all the glory!\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\n1. Please pray for the medical camps.\n2. Please pray for the women’s fellowship and prayer and fasting.\n3. Please pray for the youth meetings.\n4. Please pray for the families in the house fellowships.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\n· That God will bring more people to our church.\n· My friend Sujan always reads the Bible. He comes to church every week. Pray He will accept Jesus as His personal Savoir.\n· Pray that parents will allow their children to come to our church.\n· Many people in the area surrounding the church hear the Gospel and the Word of God. Pray that they will accept Jesus and come to church.\n· Pray that God will help our church to be able to have more types of musical instruments.Some times the church hall becomes full and we have difficulty adjusting. Pray that God will provide for us.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima- Email Blog\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\n1. Please pray that many more hearts will come to know Jesus personally.\n2. Please continue to lift up our district in prayer; may the Easter program this year spark a greater spiritual awakening here and beyond.\nThank you,\nMilan\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-july-2025-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/5c5401fe-f7b9-4e8b-9b8f-faeef3b55e6a.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- God would continue to heal our Academic Registrar, Pastor James Lonyera, from his broken spine. He is recovering according to schedule and has just arrived home after three months of intensive care in Kampala, but he has a long way to go. Atrophy has eaten away most of his weight, and he is still unable to so much as move his legs.\u003cbr\u003e\n- God would bring in the exact students He would have join our next intake in September. We are asking God for Christian leaders who are willing to be committed and diligent.\u003cbr\u003e\n- God would grant our family a court date for the adoption of our daughter, Apiyo Cynthia. We have been tossed around to different judges four times, and our deadline, Apiyo\u0026rsquo;s 16th birthday, is coming soon.\u003cbr\u003e\n- God would grant us wisdom and diligence as we design the curriculum for our new classes.\u003cbr\u003e\n- God would protect our city from the ever-present heresies coming to influence the church. Particularly from Benni Hen, who is coming to do a major crusade at the end of the month.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JULY 2025 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"So, they told us to pour our heart out on a piece of paper. Our desires, hopes, worries, joys…and burn it. Like… they literally made a fire for us to put this in.\nOuch.\nBut wow, was it needed. I thought for a moment “maybe I should take a photo of it so I can remember it and see what I thought I would do” and immediately Pastor Trent said, “And don’t take a photo of it or hold onto it because if God wants it to happen it will happen”.\nTalk about a heart check!\nDid I really believe my desires and hopes were safe with the Lord?\u0026hellip;\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-couldnt-put-the-fire-out-serena-keeler/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo, they told us to pour our heart out on a piece of paper. Our desires, hopes, worries, joys…and burn it. Like… they literally made a fire for us to put this in.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOuch.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut wow, was it needed. I thought for a moment “maybe I should take a photo of it so I can remember it and see what I thought I would do” and immediately Pastor Trent said, “And don’t take a photo of it or hold onto it because if God wants it to happen it will happen”.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Couldn't Put the Fire Out?!? - Serena Keeler"},{"content":"Hello friends and family,\nGod allowed us to make it here safely across the border, and we spent our first night at Connections House here in Rosarito.\nWe had our first class today, learning about how the point of the church is to spread the gospel throughout the world, and how to study God’s Word with the heart to obey. Please pray for me, as I believe God has sent me here at the perfect time, and I believe He is preparing me to be sent out for the gospel\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/hello-from-mexico-heather-illias/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod allowed us to make it here safely across the border, and we spent our first night at Connections House here in Rosarito.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe had our first class today, learning about how the point of the church is to spread the gospel throughout the world, and how to study God’s Word with the heart to obey. Please pray for me, as I believe God has sent me here at the perfect time, and I believe He is preparing me to be sent out for the gospel\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hello From Mexico! - Heather Illias"},{"content":"Don’t be fooled, the title is not clickbait. By the grace of God we arrived in Rosarito last night and after dinner we had our first class from Pastor Trent on Surrender. At the tail end of his teaching we were instructed to write down our deepest desires and to go burn them (literally we burned them in a small campfire). And then we went to bed. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room that night\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/burn-your-desires-and-go-to-bed-danielle-tsague/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDon’t be fooled, the title is not clickbait. By the grace of God we arrived in Rosarito last night and after dinner we had our first class from Pastor Trent on Surrender. At the tail end of his teaching we were instructed to write down our deepest desires and to go burn them (literally we burned them in a small campfire). And then we went to bed. There wasn’t a dry eye in the room that night\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Burn Your Desires and Go to Bed - Danielle Tsague"},{"content":"Hello Family and Friends,\nI’m so excited to share this first short update with you! Thank you for signing up to stay connected and for being part of this amazing journey God has placed on my heart. I truly couldn’t be here without your prayers, encouragement, and support.\nAs many of you know, this is my first mission trip, and just getting here has already been a faith building experience! I came in with a heart full of excitement and anticipation, ready to see how God would move, and He has already in many ways!..\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/they-almost-turned-us-around-fidel-ordaz/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHello Family and Friends,\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI’m so excited to share this first short update with you! Thank you for signing up to stay connected and for being part of this amazing journey God has placed on my heart. I truly couldn’t be here without your prayers, encouragement, and support.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAs many of you know, this is my first mission trip, and just getting here has already been a faith building experience! I came in with a heart full of excitement and anticipation, ready to see how God would move, and He has already in many ways!\u003c/strong\u003e..\u003c/p\u003e","title":"They Almost Turned Us Around!?! - Fidel Ordaz"},{"content":"Well I am finally here in Mexico with my CSOM team. It felt like an eternity that would never come when I signed up for the school, but time proved me wrong. From signing up, to leaving my job at the bank, to even coming down to Yorba Linda a week early, (that was the longest part) it seemed like it was all coming too fast, but also too slow\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/starting-a-new-life-with-a-firm-foundation-bryan-barrow/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell I am finally here in Mexico with my CSOM team. It felt like an eternity that would never come when I signed up for the school, but time proved me wrong. From signing up, to leaving my job at the bank, to even coming down to Yorba Linda a week early, (that was the longest part) it seemed like it was all coming too fast, but also too slow\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Starting a New Life with a Firm Foundation - Bryan Barrow"},{"content":"Hello everyone, this is Pina.\nPraise Report!! We made it safely to Mexico!! The Lord protected us and got us over the border safely; however, we ran into a hiccup, and all our documents had to be checked one by one. It didn’t take too long, though and we got on the road pretty quickly. I had a few concerns about sleeping arrangements and food; however, God prepared the way! It is better than I expected!\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/stepping-into-the-garden-of-god-guiseppina-pina-ercolamento-gruner/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello everyone, this is Pina.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePraise Report!! We made it safely to Mexico!! The Lord protected us and got us over the border safely; however, we ran into a hiccup, and all our documents had to be checked one by one. It didn’t take too long, though and we got on the road pretty quickly. I had a few concerns about sleeping arrangements and food; however, God prepared the way! It is better than I expected!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Stepping Into the Garden of God - Guiseppina (Pina) Ercolamento Gruner"},{"content":"¡Hola!\nFirst of all, for all of you who were praying for our safe travel to Mexico, thank you so much! We arrived yesterday evening here in Rosarito, MX, after being prayed over at our church along with the rest of our team. We will be staying here at what is called the ConnectionsHouse, an amazing facility built by an SGWM missionary couple for itinerant short term missions teams nearly a decade ago.For the next 4 weeks we will be learning about God’s heart for reaching the world as we study the great commission and the Book of Acts, as well as participate in local outreaches with neighboring churches.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/were-expecting-albano-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e¡Hola!\u003cbr\u003e\nFirst of all, for all of you who were praying for our safe travel to Mexico, thank you so much! We arrived yesterday evening here in Rosarito, MX, after being prayed over at our church along with the rest of our team. We will be staying here at what is called the ConnectionsHouse, an amazing facility built by an SGWM missionary couple for itinerant short term missions teams nearly a decade ago.For the next 4 weeks we will be learning about God’s heart for reaching the world as we study the great commission and the Book of Acts, as well as participate in local outreaches with neighboring churches.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We're Expecting! - Albano Update!"},{"content":"*ENGLISH*As part of God\u0026rsquo;s calling for me and my family, yesterday I left my wife and children in Mazatlán and flew to Rosarito, Mexico. I came to learn more about missions from a 100% biblical perspective, with a focus on the 10/40 window.\nThank you to those who generously partnered with me to make this trip possible—may the Lord multiply it back to you!*ESPAÑOL*Como parte del llamado de Dios para mí y mi familia, ayer dejé a mi esposa e hijos en Mazatlán y volé a Rosarito, México. Vine para aprender más sobre las misiones desde una perspectiva 100% bíblica y con un enfoque en la ventana 10/40. Gracias a quienes participaron generosamente conmigo para hacer posible este viaje, ¡que el Señor se los multiplique!\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/yesterday-i-burned-everything-down-manuel-canedo/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e*ENGLISH*As part of God\u0026rsquo;s calling for me and my family, yesterday I left my wife and children in Mazatlán and flew to Rosarito, Mexico. \u003cstrong\u003eI came to learn more about missions from a 100% biblical perspective, with a focus on the 10/40 window.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThank you to those who generously partnered with me to make this trip possible—may the Lord multiply it back to you!*ESPAÑOL*Como parte del llamado de Dios para mí y mi familia, ayer dejé a mi esposa e hijos en Mazatlán y volé a Rosarito, México. \u003cstrong\u003eVine para aprender más sobre las misiones desde una perspectiva 100% bíblica y con un enfoque en la ventana 10/40\u003c/strong\u003e. Gracias a quienes participaron generosamente conmigo para hacer posible este viaje, ¡que el Señor se los multiplique!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Yesterday I Burned Everything Down! - Manuel Canedo"},{"content":"Timothy a disciple of Jesus Christ saved from the bondage of sin! Writing too you all with joyful news.\nGreetings from Mexico,\nIt’s a great pleasure writing to you all! I’ve arrived in Mexico safely. We’re staying at the “Connections House” in Rosarito. The Lord’s provision was so great! He gave us a smooth passage and favor in getting our visas\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/hola-from-mexico-timothy-gibson/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eTimothy a disciple of Jesus Christ saved from the bondage of sin! Writing too you all with joyful news.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s a great pleasure writing to you all! I’ve arrived in Mexico safely. We’re staying at the “Connections House” in Rosarito. The Lord’s provision was so great! He gave us a smooth passage and favor in getting our visas\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/9b6abc018fd7/hola-from-mexico\"\u003eFull Newsletter\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hola From Mexico! - Timothy Gibson"},{"content":"Hey guys welcome back to what is another newsletter!! This newsletter is gonna be an exciting one, that’s for sure!!!\nCSOM 2025 is under way here at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, where we have officially sent out the 7th year of CSOM students! It’s amazing to see what God is doing through the lives of those who I’m proud to call my church family here. My amazing friends Deprii, Ariana, and Serena are CSOM leaders this year. They were a part of my 2024 year. It’s amazing to see how the Lord has provided and continuously providing for this amazing opportunity to go and be a part of the staff.\nJust as I was a year ago headed to Mexico, now some old and new friends are headed to Mexico to truly seek what the Lord has for them. I had no idea what the Lord had in store for me just a year ago. CSOM changed my life forever and helped me discover the path that the Lord has for me. Getting to be a part of the CSOM worship night again was such an amazing time to seek the Lord not only for what He has in store for me this next year but to get to encourage these new students in what the Lord has for them these next few weeks. My biggest encouragement to these students is to just take this time to seek what the Lord has for them. Not to worry about next steps but really just seek Him right where they are. A verse that has stuck out to me ever since my time at CSOM has been Romans 10:13-15.\n“For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!””‬ ‭\nThis has been on my heart since CSOM and still speaks to me this day. On the CSOM send off Sunday we got to go through 1 Samuel 30:21-31 and it was such a sweet reminder that whether you are a goer or a sender your roles are just as important. Senders need goers to do the great commission and goers need senders to do the great commission. We are all commanded to be a part of the great Commission. I encourage you all to seek the Lord and pray and see where the Lord wants to use you for the Great Commission.\nSpeaking of CSOM and moving forward, I have some exciting news!!\nI have been praying about next steps and where the Lord is guiding me for my future as we are approaching the end of Year 1 of MTS. These last few months CBI (Calvary Bible Institute) has been on my heart. As I have been praying and seeking what the Lord has for me, the Lord has been putting the Middle East, specifically Israel, on my heart to go to and study at their CBI program for 3 months. As I started praying, the Lord has opened some doors and I was officially accepted into CBI Israel this June. As I got in many of you may know the war started shortly after I was accepted. As I continue to seek the Lord on wether or not to still go based on the all that is happening right now, I would like you to know that the Lord is still good no matter where I am. The Lord will make it clear as day to whether it’s His will or not for me to go. As I\u0026rsquo;m looking into many different CBI campuses, I have been praying with an open heart of whether He wants me in Israel or somewhere else. My prayer is to attend CBI Israel as long as it’s safe and that’s where the Lord wants me to be.\nChildren’s Ministry-\nSince coming to CC Saving Grace I have been involved in many different ministries, including children’s ministry nursery! It’s such an amazing time to be able to show the love of Jesus to these kids. They are playful, funny, and so beyond smart. They are such a light into my life and a reminder of our Creator. He made each of these beautiful kids, as well as all of you, perfectly and wonderfully. They always remind me of the simplicity of who God is and how much He loves each of His children. I get the opportunity to be able to love on these amazing children and tell them about Jesus!!\nMore Recently\nWe had our VBS (Vacation Bible School) this summer and it was an amazing time! The Lord was working in these little hearts and it was such a blessing to me. I got to help out with games as a fellow MTS student and lead them for the first time!! It was such a blessing to see the Lord work through each of us, to be able to show kids the love of God, pour into their lives, and teach them more of who God is.\nI got to attend an Arabic Bible study with a friend of mine. I was unsure of what to expect and it was honestly an eye opener. These wonderful people came from Egypt and are Coptic Christians. If you don’t know what a Coptic Christian is, here’s the definition for you:\n\u0026ldquo;Coptic Christians are an ethnoreligious group native to Egypt, predominantly members of the Coptic Orthodox Church. They trace their origins to the earliest Christians in Egypt.\u0026rdquo;\nThese people were so amazing and so hospitable. They treated us as though we already knew each other. Many have come to the states to escape persecution and/or for better jobs. As we got there and they started their study in Arabic, a beautiful young woman came to translate for us. She was so sweet and she translated beautifully. I got to experience a different culture\u0026rsquo;s Bible study. It was such a cool time to see the differences but also have the same core values of who God is and what He has done for us on the cross.\nAs I take these next steps going forward and walking in what the Lord has called me to do, I am still paying off CSOM from last year. I have $2,700 left to pay off for CSOM last year. So if you feel led to partner with me, there will be a giving link down below, BUT most of all I would appreciate prayers as I step forward into this call.\nThank you all for taking the time to read this newsletter, I hope it has touched you in some way. :)\nPrayer Requests:\nTo find a job The Lord to provide financially For Israel Next steps! Praise Reports:\nCSOM 2025 is under way! VBS was a hit The Lord is so faithful Thank so very much for your love and support. I would also love to pray for you! Please respond to this email with how I can be praying for you!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/another-year-contratto-update-june-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey guys welcome back to what is another newsletter!!  This newsletter is gonna be an exciting one, that’s for sure!!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/4ea216e0-1278-4b22-9a50-85500bc83a27-300x272.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCSOM 2025 is under way here at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, where we have officially sent out the 7th year of CSOM students! It’s amazing to see what God is doing through the lives of those who I’m proud to call my church family here. My amazing friends Deprii, Ariana, and Serena are CSOM leaders this year. They were a part of my 2024 year. It’s amazing to see how the Lord has provided and continuously providing for this amazing opportunity to go and be a part of the staff.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Another Year!? - Contratto Update June 2025"},{"content":"Hello Family \u0026amp; Friends!\nI bring back greetings from the churches in Uganda to all of you! I can’t thank all of you enough for your support and prayers that helped send me to Uganda a few weeks ago. I never realize how fruitful one of my missionary trips is until I arrive and see how blessed our missionaries are to be visited and loved through our presence there.\nAfter a few long flights, Isaac and I arrived near Kampala, the capital of Uganda, where we stayed a few days with the Kanyike family. Jill was one of the first missionaries sent out of our home church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. Her husband, Brian, a Ugandan national, pastors an amazing church called Arise Christian Fellowship there in Kampala. We got to hold a men’s conference, go to the slums, visit the marketplace where Brian started the church, and I even got to teach the Sunday service! But on top of seeing their amazing ministry, the best part was just spending time with their family.\nFrom Kampala, we traveled north to Gulu with the Harris family. Their ministry is special as well. We met many new friends along the way there, and the Harrises showed us the amazing operation of Terebinth ministries, a training school for pastors. There isn’t much good biblical training in Uganda, so Terebinth is a blessing, and a huge operation that includes incredible sustainable farming! Matt and his wife designed the Bible School campus and had a hand in building it themselves. They gave us a tour and it is awesome! We also visited friends of theirs and had some truly amazing experiences with local music, food, and fellowship.\nFinally, Vincent and Melissa Aniku picked us up from Gulu. Before we headed north to see their home and ministry in the village of Midigo, close to the border of Sudan, we stopped to go on a safari with them. What an adventure and once in a lifetime experience for us!\nFinally, we ended the trip in Midigo. The Aniku family has a flourishing church, a school that educates over 900 children (housing and feeding many of them), a hospital program, and even a football (soccer) club that has become a powerful tool for the gospel in Uganda! We were so blessed to participate in all of these things, but once again, the sweetest time we had was just spending time fellowshipping with the family.\nOverall, while I am always happy to be back home, I left a little bit of my heart in Africa, and I cannot express how proud I am of our missionaries there in Uganda. They are so submitted to the Lord and are raising godly families even in difficult places. Thank you all again for sending me!\nIf you are not already a financial partner, please know that your prayers for us are sufficient, but you are welcomed to prayerfully consider partnering with us financially using the means provided below.\nWe would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/uganda-hear-about-this-garcia-june-2025-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Family \u0026amp; Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI bring back greetings from the churches in Uganda to all of you! I can’t thank all of you enough for your support and prayers that helped send me to Uganda a few weeks ago. I never realize how fruitful one of my missionary trips is until I arrive and see how blessed our missionaries are to be visited and loved through our presence there.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter a few long flights, Isaac and I arrived near Kampala, the capital of Uganda, where we stayed a few days with the Kanyike family. Jill was one of the first missionaries sent out of our home church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. Her husband, Brian, a Ugandan national, pastors an amazing church called Arise Christian Fellowship there in Kampala. We got to hold a men’s conference, go to the slums, visit the marketplace where Brian started the church, and I even got to teach the Sunday service! But on top of seeing their amazing ministry, the best part was just spending time with their family.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Uganda Hear About This! – Garcia June 2025 Update"},{"content":" “But his lord answered and said to him, \u0026lsquo;You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.\u0026rsquo;\u0026quot;\nMatthew 25:26\nAs you know, we have been going through many discouraging health problems and other challenges since the end of last year; but God’s grace has been sufficient. May and the first part of June were extremely difficult for us. Thanks for your faithful prayers and support, especially during times when we didn’t have the ability to mobilize special prayer support.\nGod also raised up key parts of His Body here in Cambodia to help and encourage us. In the process, one brother from South Asia and one brother from Kenya got into a conversation about how in separate bible colleges they both studied from (probably unofficial) copies of Christianity: Reasons for Faith. This is the apologetics/evangelistic book I co-authored many years ago. The brother from Kenya told me that he and many other evangelists and missionaries have used the lessons from that book to reach thousands for Christ.\nDecades ago, I had the dream of reaching beyond the borders of Cambodia to other nations. However, the doors never seemed to open for me to do so officially or directly. So, I gradually gave up on it and assumed it was just my own ambition. But God already made this vision and dream come true through unofficial means. And without the recent trials, I probably would not have received this encouraging testimony until eternity.\nA couple of weeks ago, God arranged for me to meet another missionary who also requested me to share the above book and more than 50 related videos and scripts with his new ministry. His ministry here in Cambodia is equipping Cambodian Christian teachers to be prepared to live out and share the gospel. One module that this organization is developing is to help the teachers answer difficult questions or challenges about their faith. Please pray for this ministry to impact many students and teachers for Christ across this nation.\nThe combination of testimonies, opportunities, and trials have encouraged and challenged me to renew my focus on equipping believers to confidently share their faith. So, I’ve been adjusting my roles in ministries such as the international men’s ministries. These are areas where other brothers are stepping up so that I can focus on evangelism/apologetics through teaching and writing.\nPlease keep all three of us in prayer. God is faithful and knows what we need before we even ask.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/unexpected-impact-record-update-june-2025/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But his lord answered and said to him, \u0026lsquo;You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eI reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u0026rsquo;\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew 25:26\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs you know, we have been going through many discouraging health problems and other challenges since the end of last year; but God’s grace has been sufficient. May and the first part of June were extremely difficult for us. Thanks for your faithful prayers and support, especially during times when we didn’t have the ability to mobilize special prayer support.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Unexpected Impact - Record Update June 2025"},{"content":" Greetings, friends and family!\nWe know you just received a newsletter from us, but we wanted to catch you up with events leading up to our wedding. Now we\u0026rsquo;d like to officially welcome you to the Albano family updates! From now on you can expect monthly newsletters just like this written from the perspective of James, Tatiana, or both of us\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/married-life-albano-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Albano-Email-Header-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings, friends and family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe know you just received a newsletter from us, but we wanted to catch you up with events leading up to our wedding. Now we\u0026rsquo;d like to officially welcome you to the Albano family updates! From now on you can expect monthly newsletters just like this written from the perspective of James, Tatiana, or both of us\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/e491666366e7/married-life-albano-update\"\u003eFull Newsletter\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Married Life - Albano Update"},{"content":" Who doesn’t love a great adventure, right?\nThat funny feeling in your belly during a dangerous movie scene\u0026hellip; Maybe you’ve felt it when your favorite team is about to play the championship game, or when you’re about to step into something new or challenging\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/neervexcited-manuel-candeo/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Canedo-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWho doesn’t love a great adventure, right?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat funny feeling in your belly during a dangerous movie scene\u0026hellip; Maybe you’ve felt it when your favorite team is about to play the championship game, or when you’re about to step into something new or challenging\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/5b38a153eee9/nervexcited-manuel-caedo-may-2025\"\u003eFull Newsletter\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Neervexcited! - Manuel Candeo"},{"content":" A big big thank you! Hi everyone! I want to first say THANK YOU to those that have signed up for my newsletter!\nThis is where you’ll hear from me while I’m on my trip in Mexico. I’m deeply encouraged by\nyour support, and eager to continually share all that the Lord is doing. If you don’t already\nknow, I’d like to share my heart in what I’ll be doing this summer and why!\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/reflecting-on-gods-goodness-danielle-tsague/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Danielle-Tsague-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"a-big-big-thank-you\"\u003eA big big thank you!\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHi everyone! I want to first say THANK YOU to those that have signed up for my newsletter!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is where you’ll hear from me while I’m on my trip in Mexico. I’m deeply encouraged by\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eyour support, and eager to continually share all that the Lord is doing. If you don’t already\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eknow, I’d like to share my heart in what I’ll be doing this summer and why!\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Reflecting on God’s goodness - Danielle Tsague"},{"content":" Hello dear family and friends,\nI first thank the Lord for you all and your love and for your support. It’s truly a blessing knowing the body of Christ is here for me in this calling the Lord has been placing on my life.\nSecondly, I pray you are all doing well and have true biblical shalom.\nSo, I’m coming to you with updates! The preparations for Mexico are going well\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/shalom-yall-timothy-gibson/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Gibson-Email-Header-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello dear family and friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI first thank the Lord for you all and your love and for your support. It’s truly a blessing knowing the body of Christ is here for me in this calling the Lord has been placing on my life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSecondly, I pray you are all doing well and have true biblical shalom.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo, I’m coming to you with updates! The preparations for Mexico are going well\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Shalom Y'all - Timothy Gibson"},{"content":" Hello family! It has been far too long since I have sent one of these out, but I am hopeful that more regularity will be coming as the Lord has provided me an exceptional help, more on that in a moment. Since my last correspondence I’ve been continuing on in the missions training school here at church, have taken a leadership role in our barbecue ministry, and have even gone on a trip to the Holy Land. But as amazing as all this has been, God has done something exceedingly and abundantly above all that I could’ve asked or thought, which shouldn’t be surprising because He’s God after all. And although I’ve prayed for so long, this answer to those prayers has me relating much more to the believers who thought they saw a ghost when their prayers for Peter to be released from prison were miraculously answered. It astounds me more and more just how easily we can be like the Israelites and limit the Holy One of Israel, but this answer to prayer will always remind me that our God is in fact an Ephesians 3:20 God! So what is this answer to prayer you may ask?\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-beginnings-albano-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Albano-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello family! It has been far too long since I have sent one of these out, but I am hopeful that more regularity will be coming as the Lord has provided me an exceptional help, more on that in a moment. Since my last correspondence I’ve been continuing on in the missions training school here at church, have taken a leadership role in our barbecue ministry, and have even gone on a trip to the Holy Land. But as amazing as all this has been, God has done something exceedingly and abundantly above all that I could’ve asked or thought, which shouldn’t be surprising because He’s God after all. And although I’ve prayed for so long, this answer to those prayers has me relating much more to the believers who thought they saw a ghost when their prayers for Peter to be released from prison were miraculously answered. It astounds me more and more just how easily we can be like the Israelites and limit the Holy One of Israel, but this answer to prayer will always remind me that our God is in fact an Ephesians 3:20 God! So what is this answer to prayer you may ask?\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Beginnings - Albano Update"},{"content":" _FOR SECURITY REASONS, PLEASE DO NOT POST OR FORWARD THIS EMAIL WITHOUT PERMISSION. IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN MORE DETAILED INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT ME DIRECTLY._It\u0026rsquo;s been a while now that I\u0026rsquo;ve been back in the states, and I wanted to report to you on what God has done since my last update.\nAs you know, I was in the 10/40 window for the two months of March and April. It is my great pleasure to report that God met me and our team of pastors in the most wonderful way imaginable\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/fruit-faithfulness-and-future-barrow-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Barrow-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e_\u003cstrong\u003eFOR SECURITY REASONS, PLEASE DO NOT POST OR FORWARD THIS EMAIL WITHOUT PERMISSION. IF YOU’RE INTERESTED IN MORE DETAILED INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT ME DIRECTLY.\u003c/strong\u003e_It\u0026rsquo;s been a while now that I\u0026rsquo;ve been back in the states, and I wanted to report to you on what God has done since my last update.\u003cbr\u003e\nAs you know, I was in the 10/40 window for the two months of March and April. It is my great pleasure to report that God met me and our team of pastors in the most wonderful way imaginable\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Fruit, Faithfulness, and Future - Barrow Update"},{"content":" 1 year ago, I had a desire for a deeper and more intimate relationship with God. I didn’t just want to know Him. I wanted to know EVERYTHING about Him. The Way, the Truth and the Life.\nSo I took a step of faith\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-steps-of-faith-ariana-landaverde/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Ariana-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e1 year ago, I had a desire for a deeper and more intimate relationship with God. I didn’t just want to know Him. I wanted to know EVERYTHING about Him.  The Way, the Truth and the Life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo I took a step of faith\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://mailchi.mp/e93feb25bc28/the-steps-of-faith\"\u003eFull Newsletter\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Steps of Faith - Ariana Landaverde"},{"content":" Hello friends and family,\nI\u0026rsquo;ve been given an opportunity this summer to travel to Rosarito, Mexico to join the Calvary School of Missions where I will be learning about cross-cultural missions. Missions is something I have dreamed of doing for a long time. I\u0026rsquo;ve often said I want to live a life \u0026ldquo;on call for the Lord\u0026rdquo;, and it seems like this is another thing He has put in front of me to do. I will be learning a lot of new things while in Mexico. My time will be spent learning about what the Bible says it means to be a missionary with a focus on church planting, helping/attending the local churches that were planted by Calvary Chapels, helping with children\u0026rsquo;s VBS, and going on an outreach to an unreached tribe in the San Gregorio Mountains\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/my-first-newsletter-heather-illias/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Heather-illias-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;ve been given an opportunity this summer to travel to Rosarito, Mexico to join the Calvary School of Missions where I will be learning about cross-cultural missions. Missions is something I have dreamed of doing for a long time. I\u0026rsquo;ve often said I want to live a life \u0026ldquo;on call for the Lord\u0026rdquo;, and it seems like this is another thing He has put in front of me to do. I will be learning a lot of new things while in Mexico. My time will be spent learning about what the Bible says it means to be a missionary with a focus on church planting, helping/attending the local churches that were planted by Calvary Chapels, helping with children\u0026rsquo;s VBS, and going on an outreach to an unreached tribe in the San Gregorio Mountains\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My First Newsletter - Heather Illias"},{"content":" Dear Family and Friends,\nI want to begin by saying how incredibly thankful I am for each one of you. Your love, prayers, and support, both in the everyday and significant moments in my life, have been a true blessing to me.\nI am pleased to announce that this summer, I\u0026rsquo;ve been given the opportunity to attend the Calvary School of Missions. It\u0026rsquo;s a six-week program designed to equip believers for global missions. During this time, I\u0026rsquo;ll be learning under experienced missionaries, studying God’s Word more deeply, and participating in outreach. I will also be learning about church planting, biblical support raising, cultural immersion, cross-cultural missions and the current state of the unreached. We’ll be partnering with Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in California and Calvary Chapel Rosarito—alongside their many church plants throughout Mexico\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/first-csom-newsletter-fidel-ordaz/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Ordaz-Fidel-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDear Family and Friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI want to begin by saying how incredibly thankful I am for each one of you. Your love, prayers, and support, both in the everyday and significant moments in my life, have been a true blessing to me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am pleased to announce that this summer, I\u0026rsquo;ve been given the opportunity to attend the Calvary School of Missions. It\u0026rsquo;s a six-week program designed to equip believers for global missions. During this time, I\u0026rsquo;ll be learning under experienced missionaries, studying God’s Word more deeply, and participating in outreach. I will also be learning about church planting, biblical support raising, cultural immersion, cross-cultural missions and the current state of the unreached. We’ll be partnering with Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in California and Calvary Chapel Rosarito—alongside their many church plants throughout Mexico\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"First CSOM Newsletter - Fidel Ordaz"},{"content":" Hello dear family and friends,\nIf I’m being honest, it took me a while to think of how to start this letter. I am here sitting on the couch watching TV, thinking how do I go about writing this. And I realized, isn\u0026rsquo;t this the perfect example of a comfortable life? Comfort is addicting. I could stay here on the couch, keep living this comfortable life, waiting for retirement, hoping I get that promotion at work, living for the weekend, working toward buying that new car or buying that new house. The American dream, that is what I could get. And as much as I want that, as much as I have been taught that that is what I should want, working at a bank that literately tells you that is what you should be working toward. Financial independence, achieving your dreams, getting everything you want, the security of living your life knowing every step, it all sounds too good to pass up. And as much as that sounds nice, I feel the Lord has called me to leave it all behind\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/my-first-newsletter-bryan-barrow/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Copy-of-Gibson-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello dear family and friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf I’m being honest, it took me a while to think of how to start this letter. I am here sitting on the couch watching TV, thinking how do I go about writing this. And I realized, isn\u0026rsquo;t this the perfect example of a comfortable life? Comfort is addicting. I could stay here on the couch, keep living this comfortable life, waiting for retirement, hoping I get that promotion at work, living for the weekend, working toward buying that new car or buying that new house. The American dream, that is what I could get. And as much as I want that, as much as I have been taught that that is what I should want, working at a bank that literately tells you that is what you should be working toward. Financial independence, achieving your dreams, getting everything you want, the security of living your life knowing every step, it all sounds too good to pass up. And as much as that sounds nice, I feel the Lord has called me to leave it all behind\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My First Newsletter - Bryan Barrow"},{"content":" Hello friends and family\nI am excited to tell you about the next phase of my life. During the next six weeks I will be attending Calvary School of Missions in Rosarito, Mexico. This training program will begin June 28th and I’m so blessed to be able to be a part of it. Many of you know, I have always evangelized and loved talking about the Lord and His purpose. Why are we called to be His hands and his feet? Is it not to make disciples, with the wonderful Gospel of Salvation To a lost and dying world\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;..\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/my-first-newsletter-guiseppina-pina-ercolamento-gruner/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Pina-Newsletter-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am excited to tell you about the next phase of my life. During the next six weeks I will be attending Calvary School of Missions in Rosarito, Mexico. This training program will begin June 28th and I’m so blessed to be able to be a part of it. Many of you know, I have always evangelized and loved talking about the Lord and His purpose. Why are we called to be His hands and his feet? Is it not to make disciples, with the wonderful Gospel of Salvation To a lost and dying world\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;..\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My First Newsletter - Guiseppina (Pina) Ercolamento Gruner"},{"content":" Mexico? Now before you jump to writing your reply too fast\u0026hellip;allow me to explain. Remember last summer when I left for Mexico for 6 weeks to attend the Calvary School of Missions(CSOM)? I am going back!\n“Serena, why are you going back if you already went?”\nI am so glad you asked!! Well.. I will not be going as a student this year\u0026hellip; I will be going as a leader!! I will be able to see more behind the scenes of hosting a team, getting to know the girls, and simply being available to help in any way possible! Because if you remember.. There are a LOT of outreaches and church takeovers. But.. for those who may not be familiar with CSOM allow me to explain a little\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;.\nFull Newsletter\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/im-called-to-mexico-keeler-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Keeler-Email-Header.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMexico? Now before you jump to writing your reply too fast\u0026hellip;allow me to explain. Remember last summer when I left for Mexico for 6 weeks to attend the Calvary School of Missions(CSOM)? I am going back!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Serena, why are you going back if you already went?”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am so glad you asked!! Well.. I will not be going as a student this year\u0026hellip; I will be going as a leader!! I will be able to see more behind the scenes of hosting a team, getting to know the girls, and simply being available to help in any way possible! Because if you remember.. There are a LOT of outreaches and church takeovers. But.. for those who may not be familiar with CSOM allow me to explain a little\u0026hellip;\u0026hellip;.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I'm Called to Mexico?!?!?! - Keeler Update"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.\n\u0026ldquo;But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?\n\u0026ldquo;My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.\u0026rdquo;\n1 John 3:16-18 (NKJV)\nVillage Ministry\nThe first week in March we had a visiting medical team. Together with the medical team, we had a sweet time of fellowship and sharing love with the people. The team donated clothes to our dear ones that are growing up in the Lord.\nSome of the team members visited some village homes. As we entered their house, we saw that they had no beds. That broke our hearts. In that community, they have lots of children even at a young age.\nThe team decided to donate mattresses and blankets. A month later, we were able to give them those things.\nChurch Visits\nDuring every Calvary Bible Institute vacation, I love to visit our church branches. This time, I got the opportunity to visit them with Pastor Milan. We had a great time visiting and sweet fellowship.\nPastor Laxman\u0026rsquo;s Child Dedication:\nGod has blessed Pastor Laxman’s family with the wonderful gift of a baby boy. His family had no children. After a long time, God heard all of our prayers and filled them with the joy. We had a wonderful time together to praising God and naming their son.\nCalvary Chapel with Pastor Nikesh\nAs I mentioned earlier, I love to visit and spend time together with our dear pastors. They have dedicated their lives and moved out of their comfort zone to serve the Lord and win lost souls. They have challenges and persecution around them. It is everywhere.\nPastor Nikesh had to move to a new location because they could not continue church there. It is hard to find a place to do the church in that city. We went there to encourage his family and visit the new location.\nChurch Youth Meetings\nThree weeks out of every month, our teens and young adults have meetings. They do different types of activities: Bible studies, Bible quizzes etc. It is always a blessing to see them grow in the Lord and fall in love with His Word.\nCalvary Bible Institute\nThe spring semester of our Bible Institute is complete. The students have gone back to their hometowns. We pray that they will have a fruitful ministry during their vacation.\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-outworking-of-godly-love-prakash-update-june-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;But whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Outworking of Godly Love! - Prakash Update June 2025"},{"content":"Kingdom Woman: Usha’s Ministry Update\nMy wife, Usha, has been faithfully serving alongside me since the beginning of her faith journey. She is also the mother of our two boys.\nUsha has a warm and caring relationship with the girl students at the Bible college, which allows her to disciple and guide them well. She spends a lot of time with them and often teaches them how to be a good pastor’s wife or a strong woman leader in the church. She plays an important role in the ministry through her support, teaching, and example.\nUsha has a deep love for Jesus. She enjoys studying God\u0026rsquo;s Word and is passionate about teaching it. She regularly visits women in the church, makes friends easily, and always encourages others in their faith.\nRecently, she has felt a strong calling to teach God\u0026rsquo;s Word to women, especially because she sees a great need for it among them. She has also built strong friendships with other pastors’ wives in the capital city, which has helped her grow in fellowship and ministry support.\nPlease pray that Usha continues to grow in her knowledge of God\u0026rsquo;s Word, in her personal relationship with the Lord, and in His grace. Pray that God will use her more powerfully in women’s ministry in the days ahead.\nGospel Shared at Birthday Party\nLast month, we had a wonderful birthday celebration in the courtyard of our church. It was for our church leader’s daughter, Sionna. The family invited many guests—around 70 people—including several non-Christians.\nDuring the celebration, the family requested me to share a message from the Word of God. I used this special opportunity to share the Gospel. I spoke about how Jesus is the center of everything and how He is the one who can truly bless our lives.\nWe believe that God was glorified through this event, and that many non-Christian guests were able to see hope in Christ. The seed of the Gospel has been sown in their hearts. Now, we continue to pray that God will make it grow—30 times, 60 times, and even 100 times.\nPray that future gatherings like this will open even more doors for the light of Christ to shine in the community.\nGod is Moving: A Report from the Field\nLast month, Pastor Joseph\u0026rsquo;s church reached out to many communities, and several families accepted Jesus. His team also traveled to remote villages where there are no churches or believers to share the Gospel. God answered their prayers by sending young people to help the ministry and opening new areas for outreach.\nPastor Joseph has personally learned to stay strong in faith, be patient, and continue God\u0026rsquo;s work during hard times. One big challenge is that they do not have lot of resources to travel from one place to another. Some non-believers mocked them, but they kept going on foot.\nSpiritually, the church is growing stronger, although they are currently struggling with some challenges. Since the beginning of his pastoral work, nine families have come to Christ. His church now has various needs. Pastor Joseph’s long-term vision is to train and send local believers to plant churches among unreached ethnic groups. He asks for prayer for the Bible college students and a new Gospel outreach team.\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray that Usha continues to grow in her knowledge of God\u0026rsquo;s Word, in her personal relationship with the Lord, and in His grace. Pray that God will use her more powerfully in women’s ministry in the days ahead. Pray that future gatherings (like the birthday party we shared at this month) open even more doors for the light of Christ to shine in the community. Pray for the new believers and families who have recently accepted Jesus, to grow strong in their faith and become faithful disciples. Thank you,\nAnand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/faithful-disciples-anand-update-june-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eKingdom Woman: Usha’s Ministry Update\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1000009377.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMy wife, Usha, has been faithfully serving alongside me since the beginning of her faith journey. She is also the mother of our two boys.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUsha has a warm and caring relationship with the girl students at the Bible college, which allows her to disciple and guide them well. She spends a lot of time with them and often teaches them how to be a good pastor’s wife or a strong woman leader in the church. She plays an important role in the ministry through her support, teaching, and example.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Faithful Disciples - Anand Update June 2025"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico. We had a wonderful month of May here in Mexico, but in this update I wanted to share with you a big change in our extended family and ministry!\nNine years ago I received a phone call from my brother Mitch who had been serving in Hawaii with Teen Challenge for many years. Mitch and his wife Joy were sensing a change in their ministry calling and they asked if they could move to Mexico with us and join our church’s full time missionary staff.\nI enthusiastically invited them and for the past nine years Mitch and Joy have served faithfully at our church along with their three precious children (My nieces and nephew) Faith, Justice, and Hope!\nMitch’s family has served in so many ministries over the years it’s almost impossible to recount. (But I will try) Joy has served as a women’s ministry leader, a mission’s trip leader, a greeter, the kettle corn assistant, and has served on our church planting class staff.\nMitch has served as a Sunday School teacher, the (Mexican) Kettle Master, a church planting course leader, and a worship leader. Some of my greatest memories over the past nine years are being up on stage and leading worship together. Mitch always sang with passion and skill, and he was the favorite worship singer for many in our congregation.\nAlthough I will miss Mitch and Joy, I might miss my nephew and nieces the most. At nearly the exact time that my children had grown up and started college, God sent a new batch of younger Vincent’s that I could love and enjoy.\nIt was a great blessing to see Mitch’s children learn Spanish, profess faith and get baptized, make new friends, and thrive at the church. I made sure we had a special final “CRAZY UNCLE DAY” where I took them to the carnival where we made some final lasting memories together.\nAs I reflected back this week on our time together, one word kept coming into my mind, Thankfulness. I am thankful that God gave me nine close years with my brother Mitch and his family, and I am thankful to the Lord for sending them to serve with us at Calvary Rosarito. When I think of Mitch and Joy, I am reminded of the words of our Lord Jesus found in Matthew 25:23, “Well done good and faithful servants!”\nI will miss Mitch and Joy and their family, as they were a great blessing to me and the ministry here. But I do believe that this move to Missouri is a good move and God’s will for their family. Joy’s family (the Guasti’s) all live there and Mitch and Joy have had the privilege of buying several income earning properties. Please keep them in your prayers as they make this cross country move at the time of the writing of this letter.\nOn another note, many of you were praying for my court case in May. Just a few weeks ago, I went back to the local Criminal court to try and get the frivolous lawsuit thrown out over the property South of the church that we legally purchased several years ago. When I arrived for the court case that morning, I received some fantastic news. WE WON!!!! Thanks to the good Lord and thanks to your prayers, a higher court sided with us and Lord willing this will bring an end to the criminal side of things. Regarding the lawsuits, there is still work to do, so please pray we see God’s favor in the CIVIL court which is the court with the final say over the property.\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for your partnership with us in the ripe mission fields of Mexico. It is through your prayers that God meet’s our spiritual needs, and through your financial partnership that God meet’s our physical needs. I love you and am praying for you.\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God will bless Mitch and Joy and their cross country trip to Missouri.\n#2- Pray that God will bless our church planting conference coming up again this summer.\n#3- Pray that God would bless our ministry financially, as we prepare to make an offer on our church building. (We own the two parking lots on either side of the church, but not yet the church building!)\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a BIG WIN in the criminal courts in May!\n#2- Praise God for nine great years of Mitch and Joy serving with us at the church.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-june-2025-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. We had a wonderful month of May here in Mexico, but in this update I wanted to share with you a big change in our extended family and ministry!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2025/06/467404516%5F10228619173877326%5F8860367672017420750%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNine years ago I received a phone call from my brother Mitch who had been serving in Hawaii with Teen Challenge for many years. Mitch and his wife Joy were sensing a change in their ministry calling and they asked if they could move to Mexico with us and join our church’s full time missionary staff.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family June 2025 Missions Update"},{"content":"Hello, Dear Family in Christ!\nGrace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nWe are deeply grateful for your faithful partnership and generous support in reaching the unreached with the Gospel. Your prayers, encouragement, and heartfelt giving are making a profound difference in places where the name of Jesus is being heard for the very first time.\nNew Campus Building\nWe are overjoyed and deeply grateful to announce that, by the grace and faithfulness of God, we have completed the construction of our new campus Bible college building! What once was a dream has now become a reality—brick by brick, prayer by prayer.\nThis new facility is more than just a structure; it is a testimony to God’s provision, a place dedicated to equipping future generations for ministry, and a sanctuary for learning, worship, and spiritual growth. We thank every supporter, prayer partner, and worker who stood with us through this journey.\nWe extend our deepest gratitude to each of you who have stood with us in faith, prayer, and action as we pursue the call God has placed on our lives. Your encouragement, support, and unwavering belief in this mission have been instrumental in helping us move forward with clarity and confidence.\nWe are especially thankful for your generous contributions—both in time and resources—toward the construction of the Bible college building. What once was a vision has begun to take tangible shape, and it is all because of your partnership and obedience to God’s prompting.\nWe recognize that this blessing comes with great responsibility. God has entrusted us with this new facility, and we are committed to being faithful to the calling He has placed on us—to raise up disciples, to teach sound doctrine, and to build His Kingdom.\nWe humbly ask for your continued prayers as we begin the next phase of work. There is still much to be done in preparing the space, equipping classrooms, and creating an environment where students can grow spiritually and academically. Most importantly, we desire that everything we do in this place brings glory to God.\nMay the Lord bless you abundantly for your heart for His kingdom. Your efforts are not in vain, and the fruit of this work will impact many lives for generations to come.\nTo God be all the glory—great things He has done!\nCalvary Chapel Conference in Our City\nWe are truly grateful for the incredible time we had during the conference. It was a powerful and spirit-filled gathering that left a lasting impact on our hearts and ministries. One of the greatest blessings was the opportunity for pastors and leaders to sit under the teaching and wisdom of senior pastors. Their guidance, rooted deeply in the Word of God and rich with years of experience, helped us grow both spiritually and practically.\nWe are blessed and deeply grateful for the incredible experience we shared at this year’s conference, The Making of the Man of God. From the moment we gathered, it was clear that God was moving in powerful ways—through the worship, the Word, the fellowship, and the Spirit-led teachings.\nOne of the most impactful lessons came from our study of Samson. Though he was a man marked by divine calling and supernatural strength, we saw how his journey was also marked by personal struggle, compromise, and redemption. It reminded us that becoming a man (or woman) of God is not about perfection—it’s about surrender, obedience, and allowing God to shape us through both our victories and our failures.\nTruly, this conference was not just an event—it was a divine moment of growth, equipping, and renewal. We return to our churches and communities empowered to serve more faithfully, preach more boldly, and love more deeply.\nSharing the Gospel – Joseph’s Story and God’s Sovereignty\nDuring my recent open-air Gospel outreach, I had the opportunity to share a powerful message from the life of Joseph. Standing before a crowd of people—many of whom do not yet know God personally—I spoke about how Joseph’s life is a testimony of God’s control, even in the midst of suffering and uncertainty.\nJoseph was betrayed by his own brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused, and thrown into prison. Yet, through every trial, God was working behind the scenes, positioning Joseph for a greater purpose. What others meant for evil, God used for good. Just like Joseph, we too may walk through dark and confusing seasons, but God is never absent—He is in control.\nI encouraged the listeners to trust in the Lord, even when life doesn’t make sense. Whether they had never heard of Jesus or only knew of Him from a distance, I invited them to draw near and discover a personal relationship with a God who sees, knows, and cares deeply.\nAs it says in Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”\nThis truth brought comfort and hope to many who listened, reminding them that no matter their past or present, God is at work for their good and His glory.\nWitnessing God’s Work Through Brother C*\nI recently had the incredible opportunity to visit another city and witness firsthand the powerful work God is doing through His servant, C*. It was a humbling and inspiring experience to see how faithfully Brother C* is serving the Lord in that place, with passion, perseverance, and a heart full of love for the people.\nAs I spent time there, I could clearly sense God’s presence moving among the people—hearts being touched, lives being changed, and hope being restored. It reminded me that God’s work is active and alive in every corner of the world, often in the most humble and overlooked places.\nI came back encouraged, stirred in my own faith, and grateful for C*’s obedience. Let’s continue to pray for him and support the work in this city—because God is just getting started.\nPalm Sunday Worship Service\nPalm Sunday worship was truly a special time for our congregation this year. As the pastor, I couldn’t be more grateful for the spirit of joy and reverence that filled our church. From the moment we began, there was a sense of anticipation and excitement as we reflected on Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem.\nAll the church congregation waving palm branches added such a beautiful touch, and seeing our church family come together in praise and worship reminded me of the power of community. The procession with palm branches was especially moving, as it symbolized the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, a moment of great significance for Christians around the world.\nAs we waved our palms and sang hymns of praise, it felt like we were part of that ancient celebration, acknowledging Jesus as our King and Savior.\nI want to take a moment to give thanks to God for each one of you. Your support, encouragement, and prayers mean more than words can express. Whether through giving, lifting us up in prayer, or simply standing with us in faith—you have been a vital part of the work God is doing.\nThank you for believing in the vision and for partnering with us in the mission. I pray that God is with you all, strengthening and encouraging you daily. May the Holy Spirit lead you, guide your steps, and fill you with wisdom and power as you continue to serve Him wherever you are.\nMay God bless you abundantly as we continue to walk forward together in His purpose.\nThank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/to-god-be-all-the-glory-great-things-he-has-done-pastor-6-update-june-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello, Dear Family in Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGrace and peace to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are deeply grateful for your faithful partnership and generous support in reaching the unreached with the Gospel. Your prayers, encouragement, and heartfelt giving are making a profound difference in places where the name of Jesus is being heard for the very first time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNew Campus Building\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are overjoyed and deeply grateful to announce that, by the grace and faithfulness of God, we have completed the construction of our new campus Bible college building! What once was a dream has now become a reality—brick by brick, prayer by prayer.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"To God Be All the Glory--Great Things He Has Done! - Pastor 6 Update June 2025"},{"content":"by Serena Keeler |Published May 30, 2025\nAs I sat to write this newsletter I honestly didn’t know where to start. Not because I had so many exciting things to share, but because I feared I had nothing worth sharing. So I prayed and honestly tried to find an excuse not to write it, but as I pondered all that God has done since January (my last newsletter) I am in awe. And it may not look like a lot in the sense of activities I did, but let me tell you, God is moving!\nYouth Group Update Winter camp was a blast! Thank you for all your prayers! Now.. we only had two girls come, but it gave me a chance to really connect with them and simply build a stronger friendship with them. I also was privileged to be able to teach the girls a devo for one of the mornings we were there! And it was so cool to see how the Lord put such specific words on my heart for them and wanted to use me. I was in awe.\nWe had a sweet time in worship, games, and sweet teachings from multiple guest speakers. Since then we have gained a couple new youth girls, one in which I have been able to connect well with and love dearly! I ask for your continued prayers for more students to come with a desire to study the word of God and that more girls would be open to 1 on 1 discipleship.\nOutreach In April I was able to serve at a Voice of the Refugee outreach where I was in charge of the henna room! Henna is a temporary dye that you use to create an intricate design on someone’s skin that stays for about a week or two. During our break half way through the day I was exhausted and very discouraged.There was only me and one other girl doing henna and we had about 60 women coming through that morning. I wasn’t doing it very well and I had one lady wipe off the whole design in front of me and come back 10 minutes later for my other friend who was serving with me to do a new one. I was pretty done. But after much prayer..and some chick fil a.. I went on for the 2nd half. And God heard me! We gained 4 more women who were helping with the afternoon shift and they had never done henna before..and they were doing amazing! I was in awe. It was awesome seeing these ladies come with no experience, but simply a willing heart. And God was willing.\n“Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”\n~ Matthew 6:30 ~\nDo you ever keep seeing scripture everywhere and think that would look great on a mug..and that’s it? That is how I have honestly seen the Matthew 6 passage often. Verses 25-33 are taking away all my excuses to be worried and doubt God, yet I somehow find myself refusing to apply it to my life and am worried often. Where am I called…? How will I raise support…? Am I even called to missions…?!? But these moments have all brought me to the same conclusion… God is able. Now you see, when you step back, even in the mundane moments and really think… What is God doing? You will begin to say, what is He not doing?? And that is when you realize.. This is way more than a verse on a coffee mug.. This is WHO God is. And I am in awe of who He is.\nWAYS TO SUPPORT And so with that I have been praying: What next Lord? How can I further prepare and walk in the calling You have for me? With that prayer comes opportunities for you to partner as well with me! Here are a few ways you can do so:\nPrayer: I absolutely NEED your prayers as I am seeking the Lord while doing all that He has placed in front of me. I can’t do any of this out of my own strength, and so I ask that you come alongside me in prayer for this next year of MTS and simply serving our King!\nFinancially: As I mentioned earlier I am unsure of where God has called me to serve locationally. But what I am 100% sure of is He has called me to leave everything and serve Him cross-culturally. I am grateful to be serving here but I am also so excited to see where He will send me. A part of that preparation time includes vision tours. A vision tour is essentially opportunities we are given as MTS students to visit different places (accompanied by our pastors or leaders and or other students who feel led) and spend a few days or weeks praying over the land and seeing if this is where God has called us. There are some opportunities I am praying over and know the Lord will provide for exactly where He wants me. If you are interested or feel led to help cover the cost of those please click here or check out the financial giving button at the end of this newsletter!\nPRAISE REPORTS\nGod has brought 2 new girls to the youth group! God has been opening doors to love on my extended and close family! God is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore! PRAYER EQUESTS\nFor continued growth in our youth group and with 1 on 1 discipleship For an opportunity I was given for this summer ( Wisdom and provision for it ) For me to not worry about my future, but to trust God in every aspect. For the salvation of my family! Thank you for taking the time to read this update on all that God is doing in my life! I pray you were encouraged and stirred up to seek Him more and more. If you have any questions or would like to chat further email me and I truly would love to talk more! Until then,\n“.. seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”\n– Matthew 6:33 SEEK HIM and STAY IN AWE\nSerena Keeler\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-am-in-awe/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003ca href=\"/skeeler/author/skeeler/\"\u003eSerena Keeler\u003c/a\u003e |Published \u003ca href=\"/skeeler/2025/05/30/\"\u003eMay 30, 2025\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs I sat to write this newsletter I honestly didn’t know where to start. Not because I had so many exciting things to share, but because I feared I had nothing worth sharing. So I prayed and honestly tried to find an excuse not to write it, but as I pondered all that God has done since January (my last newsletter) \u003cstrong\u003eI am in awe\u003c/strong\u003e. And it may not look like a lot in the sense of activities I did, but let me tell you, God is moving!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I am in Awe- Serena Keeler May Update 2025"},{"content":" By Barek Brzezinski in Newsletters Hi to you all, family and friends!\nNo we have not fallen off the face of the earth! We are so grateful that you are taking the time to read this and to keep us in your prayers. There are many incredible things to write about in this season. It’s really too much info for one newsletter! But we are excited to share and will provide a glimpse into what God is currently doing in our lives.\nMinistry Updates\nOne big change to note is that in December we were invited by the Youth Director at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace to join the youth ministry leadership! The youth at CCSG range from 6th grade all the way to 12th grade. We’ve been serving in this ministry for a little over 4 months now and it’s been so fun, challenging, growing, and exciting. For myself (Barek) it has been a great opportunity to hone the gift of teaching in a new and direct way. I’m so privileged to pour into these kids and they are no longer just peers or pastors in a classroom setting as has been the case up until now; they are a true mission field in and of themselves. We are spending time with them on Wednesday nights, Sunday mornings, special events, retreats and going to their big life events (sports, theater, parties, etc.) For both of us, there is a constant, new aspect to ministry, which is discipling. Sometimes we think of discipling as a serious kind of‘sensei/pupil type of relationship, but what biblical discipleship really looks like is beautifully simple and I’m so grateful for how God is growing me in this aspect of ministry. In youth ministry, this looks like doing life with them, supporting them in endeavors, inviting them over to hangout, to exercise, or whatever it may be; and to take every opportunity to speak biblical truth into their lives and situations.\nIn addition to youth ministry, I (Barek) was asked about a month and a half ago to become an intern pastor at the church. This role has been so exciting to step-into (though for reasons we’ll share in a bit, I haven’t fully delved into this role!). But for us, this opportunity is monumental. When I think of where God has led me in the last 3 years, I have every confidence in Him that this role is so pivotal to our future in the mission field. It also is incredibly humbling to be on a road to becoming a pastor. We are both praising God for this new season and these opportunities to labor for the kingdom of heaven, here and now.\nWith Barek being raised up as an intern pastor, I (Araceli) am being raised up to be a pastors wife. I have joined a pastor’s wife book study with our senior pastor’s wife, along with a few other women. It has been such a sweet time of gleaning and growing. During my bible college years I somehow had an inclination that I would be a pastor\u0026rsquo;s wife and wow how that is slowly becoming a reality. This is a new venture for sure, one that I don’t feel qualified for but praise God I have the LORD to lean on. Closing Our Business, And Starting Something New!\nIn other news, we closed our business, Brea Barks! Although it was for such a brief season (about 9 months total) we experienced and learned so much. It was definitely challenging for both of us, in so many different ways, and we are very grateful for all of those who supported and prayed for us all throughout the endeavor. In some ways, we are still very unsure why we took the challenge of the business on, why we put so much into it and why we had to close it so soon into its inception. But, it has been and still currently is a part of walking by faith. We have peace in this, for all the highs and lows of it and we’re grateful.\nGod has blessed our steps of faith! While we were wrestling with and considering the idea of closing Brea Barks, we prayed for a miraculous job opportunity to be given in turn. We have both never lacked nor will we ever lack in His will, spiritually, physically, or otherwise, and God answered our prayers. He provided us with a new job opportunity for myself (Barek). The day after we prayed for a ‘Gideon’s fleece’ type of gracious sign from God, a childhood friend of mine reached out to me in regards to a job opening in a new career, for me; working in local city government as a code enforcement officer. Although in some ways out of left field, we knew that this was God’s incredible gracious response of provision for us. Fast forward a couple of months, I am currently starting my second month on the job and it has been such a huge life transition. We have so much to learn about hard work and stewardship, and this job, for however long or brief God wills us to have it, is and is going to be used to teach us those things and much more. Also, I (Barek) have a new ‘mission field’ in this city and in my workplace!A baby boy is on the way\nThe news you have been waiting for… We are going to be having a baby boy! We are so incredibly excited to welcome Moses Stephen Brzezinski in late August! We weren’t sure when we wanted to have kids in all of this figuring out marriage and ministry, but God has made it clear that the time is now and we are grateful. His life is precious and our hearts are so full as we pray for him, see his movements in the ultrasounds and feel him already punching and kicking. I (Araceli) am currently in my third trimester, and although this first pregnancy has been challenging for me physically in many ways, I am excited to be not only a wife but also now a mother. I have made it a goal to make Spanish his first language!:)\nMissions is still on our hearts and although we do not know when the LORD will call us to go, we are ready and available to answer that call in His perfect timing.\nPraise Reports:\nPraise God for our marriage and for our sweet little baby Praise God for new ministry opportunities Praise God for providing a job for Barek Prayer Requests\nI, Araceli have started a bible study with my mom please pray that it would be a sweet Jesus filled time Please pray for good health for the baby and I Please pray that the LORD would give Barek continual opportunities to share about Him to his coworkers Please pray for the youth at CCSG, to learn and draw nearer to the LORD. Please pray for a car for us! We currently have one, and are hoping to get a second for Momma and baby, LORD willing! Til’ Kingdom come,\nThe Brzezinski’s\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/were-having-a-baby/","summary":"\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBy \u003ca href=\"/bbrzezinski/author/bbrzezinski/\"\u003eBarek Brzezinski\u003c/a\u003e in \u003ca href=\"/bbrzezinski/category/uncategorized/\"\u003eNewsletters\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHi to you all, family and friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo we have not fallen off the face of the earth! We are so grateful that you are taking the time to read this and to keep us in your prayers. There are many incredible things to write about in this season. It’s really too much info for one newsletter! But we are excited to share and will provide a glimpse into what God is currently doing in our lives.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We're Having a Baby! - Brzezinski May Update 2025"},{"content":" May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.PSALM 90:17\nPraise God! After years of planning, preparing, and patience, the Lord has given our school accreditation from the National Council of Higher Education here in Uganda! We are no longer Terebinth School of Discipleship, but are now officially known as Terebinth Bible College, the first and only accredited Evangelical Bible college in Northern Uganda. We strongly believe that it is God’s Word and His Spirit that truly equip His people to work in His service, not a piece of paper. However, we also know several benefits that come with this license. Firstly, seeking to meet higher standards is improving the quality of our product. Also, because of their love of formality, Ugandans will now have more respect for the education and discipleship they receive from us. Lastly, with accredited papers, the student’s churches will be safe from the likely coming of laws which threaten to shut down “unqualified” religious institutions.\nAs we mentioned in the last update, shortly after the graduation in April, our Academic Registrar, James Olonyo, was in an accident and severely broke his back. God protected him and brought surgeons who could repair much of the damage, and he is now, slowly but surely, on the path to recovery. Due to his level of involvement in the running of the school, his injuries have pushed the starting date for our next class from July back to September. While disappointing, this late start gives our team more time to develop courses. The matter of curriculum stands as a challenge for us, since our previous materials do not fit the required format, and since NCHE does not allow outside curriculum to be used in the school. Each school must develop its own original materials. That has kept Matt and the rest of the team very busy. Please pray for them to overflow with the same kind of vision and strength they had for developing the previous materials.\nTerebinth Bible College will differ from Terebinth School of Discipleship in various ways. Firstly, we will be offering a Certificate in Christian Ministry (a 60-credit hour course), a Diploma in Biblical Studies (a 90-credit hour course), as well as a Higher Education Access Program to prepare students for college entry if they do not have the qualifications (think GED prep course). Time spent on campus will now be in larger chunks of time. Instead of 1 week every single month. Diploma students will study for five weeks consecutively, three times a year, over a two-year period. Certificate students will study for four weeks consecutively, three times a year, over a two-year period. Likewise, HEAP students will study for 4 weeks in a row, 3 times over the course of 1 year, for their prep course. Each student will also have homework between each of these modules. TBC also has caps of 20, 30, and 10 students for the Diploma, Certificate, and HEAP programs, respectively. Besides those, we will be offering classes that were not taught to past students, such as computer use, essay writing, and other various academic subjects. If this brings concern over those who are not educated and will not be able to enter the school, our heart is still with them, and we are working on how to offer classes in their local tongue, something we have not offered in the past. Pray for this aspect as well, since it would require more time and money.\nBible trainings in Uganda are now becoming plentiful, and many people are proclaiming the Word; however, it is still rare to find teachers or leaders who have read through scripture, understand context, and can explain a verse accurately to another person. While our school’s name and our standing with the Ugandan government have changed, our goal remains the same as before: to equip church leaders both spiritually and physically to do God’s work.\nIn Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family P.S. Thank you for your prayers for our friend Vivian. Unfortunately, we lost her early on May 30th. Please pray for her family as they mourn the loss of a daughter, sister, mother, and grandmother.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-may-update-2025/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMay the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us—yes, establish the work of our hands.PSALM 90:17\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2025/06/20250320%5F092657.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePraise God! After years of planning, preparing, and patience, the Lord has given our school accreditation from the National Council of Higher Education here in Uganda! We are no longer Terebinth School of Discipleship, but are now officially known as Terebinth Bible College, the first and only accredited Evangelical Bible college in Northern Uganda. We strongly believe that it is God’s Word and His Spirit that truly equip His people to work in His service, not a piece of paper. However, we also know several benefits that come with this license. Firstly, seeking to meet higher standards is improving the quality of our product. Also, because of their love of formality, Ugandans will now have more respect for the education and discipleship they receive from us. Lastly, with accredited papers, the student’s churches will be safe from the likely coming of laws which threaten to shut down “unqualified” religious institutions.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family May Update 2025"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:\u0026rdquo;\n1 Samuel 1:27 (NKJV)\nBy the grace of God, we have become parents! God heard our prayers that we prayed during these past six years. We faced a lot of problems and also discouraging words from other people. We felt like we had no hope in this world, but we always hoped and fully trusted that Jesus could hear our prayers and that He would certainly give us a baby. Thank you for praying with us and supporting us in this difficult situation. God gave us a baby!\nWhen our baby was born, we were so happy. The nurse let us look at our baby and take pictures. Unfortunately, we could not hold him. She told us that in 30 minutes, they would give us our baby and we would be able to hold him. We waited very long hours, but we did not get our baby. After many hours, the doctor told me that our baby had to be in the NICU for several days, because his blood sugar levels were not correct. I became very upset and was crying so hard. I ran to my beautiful wife, who had a C-section surgery. For days, I went go back and forth between my wife and our baby to be with both of them. I was so happy, but I was not allowed to hold our child. Suddenly, this made me feel very sad.\nThree days ago, we were able to bring our baby home! He spent 9 days in the hospital. He is now healthy. We are praying that our baby will do great work in the Kingdom of God.\nFor Christians, death is not the end, but the beginning of a new life with God. This is the message I shared with my church on Easter Sunday. I told our church to be witnesses of Christ and to be ready to do God\u0026rsquo;s work and share the Good News with everyone.\nGod loves people, so we should also love them, teach them, equip them, and finally, love to serve them. Another ministry we are doing is at the leper colony. We have Bible study every Friday with the people at the leper colony. Our Bible school students are doing their practical ministry there. They are able to learn how to preach, how to serve, and how to fellowship. By the grace of God, we are currently teaching the Gospel of Matthew. Each week, over 20 people attend the Bible study. Please pray that other unreached people around the leper colony will come to our Bible study. God is using me to train up these lepers, who have become Christians.\nBy the grace of God, this semester I have already been able to finish the Gospel of John. I love to teach my dear students and they also enjoy learning.\nIn our home church, I am teaching the Book of 1 Peter.\nAnother update is both happy and sad. Happy, because my mother went to be with the Lord at the age of 62. It was my mother that taught me how to be a Christian and to continue doing the service of the Lord.\nSad, because we miss her every moment. We miss her presence in our home and at our church. We had a memorial service for her.\nMy beautiful wife is also helping me. She encourages young and old women in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. She is teaching through a social platform, doing Bible study online with many women from different churches. She has finished teaching the Book of Genesis, which has taken 1.5 yrs to teach chapter-by-chapter and verse-by-verse. Now, she is teaching the Book of Revelation on Sundays. Since our baby was delivered, she is taking some time to rest. After her health recovers, she will continue to teach and train them.\nMore people are attending our church. More teens and young adults are attending, and we also do children\u0026rsquo;s ministry. Please pray that more parents will allow their children to come to our church.\nWe went to visit one of our church believer\u0026rsquo;s home, to spend time with them and have fellowship together. One of the family members in this home had been very ill. No medical treatment had worked, no witch doctor treatment had worked. The doctor told him that he would not live. He will definitely die. He had a problem caused by demonic power, and his nervous system would not work well. He was like a paralytic for years. Now, this year, God did a miracle in his life! He is changed and from that time to this time, he and his whole family have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior! Pray that Brother Nabin will be healed completely. Please also pray that if he becomes well physically, and can see clearly with his eyes, that he will join Bible college and show interest in doing God\u0026rsquo;s work.\nPray Requests:\nPray that God will bring more people to our church. My friend Sujan always reads the Bible. He comes to church every week. Pray He will accept Jesus as His personal Savoir. Pray that parents will allow their children to come to our church. Many people in the area surrounding the church hear the Gospel and the Word of God. Pray that they will accept Jesus and come to church. Pray that God will help our church to be able to have more types of musical instruments. Some times the church hall becomes full and we have difficulty adjusting. Pray that God will provide for us. Thank you so much for supporting us, praying for us and raising us up. God bless every entire family of Saving Grace.\nGrace and Peace,\nYour faithful servants,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-has-answered-our-prayers-rabi-update-june-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him:\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 Samuel 1:27 (NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1000100703.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/1000097887.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBy the grace of God, we have become parents! God heard our prayers that we prayed during these past six years. We faced a lot of problems and also discouraging words from other people. We felt like we had no hope in this world, but we always hoped and fully trusted that Jesus could hear our prayers and that He would certainly give us a baby. Thank you for praying with us and supporting us in this difficult situation. God gave us a baby!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Has Answered Our Prayers! - Rabi Update June 2025"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nWe deeply express our heartfelt gratitude to the almighty God for His glorious mercy upon my family. At the same time we appreciate each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. Because of your financial help, we are able to move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached without any worry. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministries, jobs and businesses. May the good God bless you with every resource and good health.\nIn February, our Church hosted a Bible quiz competition under the Trans World Radio (TWR) program. It was wonderful that most of our church members and our CBI students participated in it. By God’s grace one of our CBI students got first prize in the district level and one of our church members received third prize.\n“Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision:”\n(Acts 26:19)\nThis verse was the theme for our March family conference. We had a wonderful, blessed time during the three day-conference. Our previous graduates also joined us. It was great time to see them and their wives and children. We could also hear some of their testimonies. God is working amazingly through them in the mission field.\nOn the last day of our family conference, we had a graduation program. Altogether 8 students graduated. We had immense joy receiving our special guest who shared from the Word of God and witnessed this event.\nLast month, God helped me visit some of our graduates in another state to see their ministry. It was wonderful experience to visit the remote villages and see how God is working among the unreached communities there. We had a great youth meeting in one of the churches. God helped me encourage them through the Word of God and motivate them in God’s mission. As a result three young adults committed their lives to God’s ministry. Next semester they are planning to join our CBI.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for all of the graduates. May God use them as they return home. We are recruiting new students for our upcoming CBI semester. Please pray that God will help us to have committed students. Continue to pray for my daughter\u0026rsquo;s education. Continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-working-in-amazing-ways-pastor-3-update-may-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe deeply express our heartfelt gratitude to the almighty God for His glorious mercy upon my family. At the same time we appreciate each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. Because of your financial help, we are able to move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached without any worry. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministries, jobs and businesses. May the good God bless you with every resource and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Working in Amazing Ways - Pastor 3 Update May 2025"},{"content":"Greetings from our country! We thank our God for His protection and grace. Thank you for your continued prayers and support! The devil has been trying to stop the advancing of God’s kingdom, but he has not been able to do so. Christ is the builder of the kingdom of God (the church). It is His promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Our state government is planning to pass anti-conversion laws to prevent people becoming Christians and to throw pastors in jail. We need your continued prayers that we will proclaim the Gospel boldly.\nPraise the Lord! We were able to complete the fourth semester of Calvary Bible Institute. We had our reunion and graduation ceremony on April 5th. Most of our former graduates from our state attended it. Some of them have gotten married and came with their spouses and children. We had wonderful time listening to their stories of how the Lord has been working through them. We thank the Lord that most of our graduates are doing church planting in spite of heavy persecution in our state.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease continue to pray that the Lord will give us wisdom and boldness to preach the Gospel and also to equip many more laborers for the work of the Gospel. Please pray for protection and God’s provision for our graduates who are doing church planting ministries. Please pray for the students who graduated last month to be used by the Lord to advance His kingdom. Please pray that our state will become a Christian state in our country. Thank you for partnering with us in spreading the Gospel, through your prayers and financial support.\nGod bless you and your family!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/standing-on-gods-promises-pastor-15-update-may-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from our country! We thank our God for His protection and grace. Thank you for your continued prayers and support! The devil has been trying to stop the advancing of God’s kingdom, but he has not been able to do so. Christ is the builder of the kingdom of God (the church). It is His promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Our state government is planning to pass anti-conversion laws to prevent people becoming Christians and to throw pastors in jail. We need your continued prayers that we will proclaim the Gospel boldly.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Standing on God's Promises - Pastor 15 Update May 2025"},{"content":"Our Easter Sunday Celebration\nThis Easter Sunday our district experienced a beautiful and powerful testimony of unity and faith! Thousands gathered to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! Believers from over 100 churches across the district came together as one body, marching to the district headquarters and boldly proclaiming that Jesus is Risen!\nIt was a moving moment as we worshiped together in one accord — a true reflection of the unity of the Church. During the program, I was humbled to share the message of Easter — the hope, life, and salvation we have through Jesus Christ.\nPeople from all backgrounds, including many politicians, attended and heard the Gospel. We believe the Lord is working in our district. We pray that many more hearts will come to know Jesus personally.\nLet us continue to lift up our district in prayer. May this Easter spark a greater spiritual awakening in our district and beyond.\nThank you,\nMilan\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/boldly-proclaiming-that-jesus-is-risen-milan-update-may-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur Easter Sunday Celebration\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis Easter Sunday our district experienced a beautiful and powerful testimony of unity and faith! Thousands gathered to celebrate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ! Believers from over 100 churches across the district came together as one body, marching to the district headquarters and boldly proclaiming that Jesus is Risen!\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image6.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image7.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/image5.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a moving moment as we worshiped together in one accord — a true reflection of the unity of the Church. During the program, I was humbled to share the message of Easter — the hope, life, and salvation we have through Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Boldly Proclaiming that Jesus Is Risen - Milan Update May 2025"},{"content":"We are grateful for the faithful service of Pradeep, who continues to minister alongside Calvary Bible Institute and the local church. Since completing his Bible College training, God has provided him with multiple opportunities to serve within the ministry team. His commitment has been a great blessing.\nHere is a summary of how Pradeep is currently serving:\nBible Teaching: Pradeep is teaching courses at the Bible College this semester, specifically focusing on the Old Testament and Theology. His classes have been a valuable part of the students’ spiritual growth. Church Ministry: Pradeep works closely with Pastor Anand, assisting in various church ministries and activities. His involvement helps strengthen the church community and outreach efforts. Youth \u0026amp; New Believer Discipleship: Pradeep guides the church youth and newcomers through foundational Bible teachings, helping them grow in their understanding of God’s Word. Student Support: He offers extra classes, such as English, to enrich and support the students’ overall development. Digital Ministry: In addition to teaching, Pradeep creates online Bible applications, commentaries, and study materials aimed at reaching a global audience. Translation Work: Pradeep is also actively translating English Bible commentaries and Christian resources into Nepali, making biblical materials more accessible to local believers. Family Update: On a personal note, Pradeep and his family have been blessed with the arrival of a baby girl. He is joyfully embracing the new responsibilities of fatherhood. We thank God for Pradeep’s heart to serve and for the many ways that God is using Pradeep to build up the church and equip future leaders. Please continue to keep Pradeep, his family, and his ministry in your prayers.\nOur Courtyard Outreach\nWe had a wonderful time on Resurrection Day. Everything went smoothly and the weather was beautiful. Over 100 people attended the outreach. Our students led a powerful time of worship with songs, dances, skits, and meaningful explanations.\nWe also enjoyed a great lunch together. A football team joined us, which included 25 young adults. We shared the message from John chapter 4 about the Samaritan woman.\nWe believe the Holy Spirit has planted seeds in good soil, and we are praying for a harvest—30, 60, and even 100 times more. May all the glory go to God!\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that the new family will remain strong in their faith, grow deeply in the Word of God, and become a shining light for Christ in their community. Please pray for strength, wisdom, and continued guidance for Pradeep as he faithfully serves in teaching, discipleship, digital ministry, and translation work. Pray also that God will bless his family—especially with the new baby—as they grow together in faith and service. Please pray that the seeds sown during our Resurrection Day outreach will take root and bear lasting fruit for God\u0026rsquo;s glory. Please especially pray for the youth and the football team. Thank you,\nAnand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sowing-the-seeds-of-the-gospel-anand-update-may-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe are grateful for the faithful service of Pradeep, who continues to minister alongside Calvary Bible Institute and the local church. Since completing his Bible College training, God has provided him with multiple opportunities to serve within the ministry team. His commitment has been a great blessing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere is a summary of how Pradeep is currently serving:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Anand-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBible Teaching: Pradeep is teaching courses at the Bible College this semester, specifically focusing on the Old Testament and Theology. His classes have been a valuable part of the students’ spiritual growth.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eChurch Ministry: Pradeep works closely with Pastor Anand, assisting in various church ministries and activities. His involvement helps strengthen the church community and outreach efforts.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYouth \u0026amp; New Believer Discipleship: Pradeep guides the church youth and newcomers through foundational Bible teachings, helping them grow in their understanding of God’s Word.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eStudent Support: He offers extra classes, such as English, to enrich and support the students’ overall development.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDigital Ministry: In addition to teaching, Pradeep creates online Bible applications, commentaries, and study materials aimed at reaching a global audience.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTranslation Work: Pradeep is also actively translating English Bible commentaries and Christian resources into Nepali, making biblical materials more accessible to local believers.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFamily Update: On a personal note, Pradeep and his family have been blessed with the arrival of a baby girl. He is joyfully embracing the new responsibilities of fatherhood.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe thank God for Pradeep’s heart to serve and for the many ways that God is using Pradeep to build up the church and equip future leaders. Please continue to keep Pradeep, his family, and his ministry in your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sowing the Seeds of the Gospel - Anand Update May 2025"},{"content":"AFRICABrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nWhat is normally a light raining season in Uganda had been very heavy.\nPlease pray for safety as many of the Arise church members have had their homes flooded.\nPray for safety as well as many demonstrations and riots have taken place due to campaigning for presidential elections.\nPray for the Kanyike children to do well in school and make good decisions.\nPray for Brian and Jill to be filled with the Spirit for the many ministries they participate in and as they equip and lead the ministry tram at Arise.\nPray for Brian to stay healthy. Pray for him as he pastors Arise Christian Fellowship.\nPray for the church as they make preparations for events and outreaches leading up to Easter.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email BlogAniku Family - Uganda\nPlease pray for:\nThe Koinonia Center dedication late May. Please pray for the first Pastors and Leaders conference we will host in the Koinonia Center, head worship, and teach at. We are expecting around 1,000 pastors and leaders so we need a lot of prayer!!!! Headed by CC Old Bridge joined by CC Stone Mountain, CC Eldoret, and CC Greer touching pastors from Uganda, South Sudan, and even Congo. The team also has medical members and some doing a much needed eye clinic reaching the Muslim community through both physical and spiritual healing.\nPlease pray for the other teams still planning their trip to come serve along side us including our own Saving Grace!!!! We can’t wait to see how God is guiding each one of them to encourage everyone here and help us to do things we have not been able to do on our own.\nPray for all the construction that needs to finish before all these previous prayers!!!! We praise God for the amazing first Graduation that took place! We were blessed God sent Larry and Colleen Powers to officiate! They loved the parade through the dusty roads as Muslims and Christians danced along side us, the graduates getting picked up by the women and whisked back to their seats, the dancing, gifts, cake, and all the joy! God was surely in this day!!!!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email BlogUSABond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\nPray for the completion of the semester from April - May and that the students in Asia campuses would finish strong in their studies.\nPray that as they return back to their villages they would have boldness to share from the Word all they have learned.\nPray for all the seeds of the Gospel that were planted during student Easter outreach to take route and that many would come to church to learn more.\nPray for the many needs of the national pastors for medical, ministry and massive physical needs they encounter each day living in remote rgions.\nPray for provision, strength and discernment in all they do.\nPray for our family as we prepare for a busy season of travel and teaching.\nPray that we would be continually filled with the holy spirit to accomplish all the Lord has set before us.\nThank you for your prayers!\nBond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email BlogMexicoTony and Angela Carranza – Mazatlan, Mexico\nIntegrity , Love and Spiritual Growth for our Church leaders (Me, Assistant Pastor and Leaders of teams)\nGods provisión for our Church and Church Plants\nCare and love for me toward people un our Church\nChurch Van for Missions Thank you for your Love and support Email BlogPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\nTo keep time with the Lord Jesus our #1 priority Wisdom and diligence in the counseling ministry Healing and restoration for to sister\u0026rsquo;s recently widowed who help us in counseling More unity in Calvary churches New church plant in El Hongo prison, Tecate\nIn Him,Paul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email BlogDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello, Happy resurrection, day,and thank you in advance for praying for me!Here are my requests: PRAISE report— I wanna thank Jesus in advance for touching hearts and transforming lives on Easter Sunday as I know He will! My mom continues to do very well emotionally physically, and spiritually which allows me to be serving more time in Mexico. Continued prayers for my mom and her health issues. She Is 84 years old, dealing with Parkinsons, and lives alone.\nFor the parents of the kids in the afterschool program that they would continue to attend services after the Easter presentation. (They are currently bringing their children to practice for the Easter play and staying in the service)! 😁\nMore teachers in the Sunday school on Wednesday nights. The teachers presently have been faithfully teaching for about six years now.\nFor the teen girls ministry that we have once a month, that they would be more consistent in attendance. Also for a A group of ladies, friends of mine from Oceanside, that desire to come alongside this ministry and serve on a regular basis, praise the Lord!!!\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth AmericaAndrew Weakland - Peru\nPraise God that someone will come and help me with the church all of May!\nPraise God that our discipleship group is having fruitful conversations and biblical convictions. Prayer for the Calvary Trujillo missions team that is coming. That we work in unity and love. That we reach many for Christ.\nPrayer for wisdom in what to do as the church is growing. Thanks everyone!\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 WindowThe 10/40 Window The 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)Worker 6 - 10/40 Window  Prayer Requests : 1. Please continue to pray for the people who we shared the Gospel with.\n2. Please continue to pray for the women’s ministry.\n3. Please continue to pray for us.\nThank you! God bless you,Worker 6Worker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPraise Points:\nPraise the Lord, this month God gave me the opportunity to bring the Good News to two more new villages. Many women heard the news of Lord Jesus Christ for the first time.\nPraise God, and God heard the prayers of my family and all of you, and my wife is pregnant now.\nPraise God, some pastors from Saving Grace came to visit us and we had a very good time with them. And God allowed everything to go safely.\nThanks to God, the conference was also very good.\nPrayer Points:\nPlease pray for my wife, may He keep my wife and child safe. I am thinking of sending them to another city in the coming days because there is no good doctor here.\nPlease pray continuously. A woman named P in our church was beaten up by her family members, her Bible was taken away, and she was locked in the house. When she spoke to us on the phone, they took her phone away, too. May God release that woman quickly so that she can come to the house of God.\nPlease keep praying that the believers in our church will be strong in God\u0026rsquo;s word and strong through the persecution.\nPlease keep praying that in the coming elections, God will give us a government that will allow us to spread the news.\nPlease keep praying that God will open the doors of more villages where we can spread the news.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership and participation in spreading the Gospel! God bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for…\n1) God’s protection over churches, as persecution is increasing daily.\n2) God’s wisdom and boldness to preach the Gospel.\n3) The students who graduated.\n4) Our health. We have some health problems.\nThanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,Worker 15 Prakash and Muna - Nepal\nPlease pray for:\n1. Our Bible Church land lease renewal.\n2. CC Hetauda needs a worship hall, and we are praying about adding a second story to Pastor Laxman’s house for a worship place.\n3. CC Janakpur. It has been difficult to find a rental house for the pastor because of his church services. He has to move many times to different locations. Generally, people in that area do not want to rent houses to Christians.\n4. CBI Nepal. Pray for all the staff and students.\nBlessings!Prakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email BlogRohith and Michelle - 10/40 Window\nThank you for your faithful prayers.\nPlease pray for us to continue to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.\nFor vision and wisdom.\nFor open doors to share the gospel and for discipleship.\nFor the young man that Rohith is discipling to grow and remain faithful to the Lord.\nLanguage learning for Michelle.\nMichelle’s father is having a heart ablation procedure May 14th.\nThank you,Rohith and Michelle\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-may-2025-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg?rdr=true\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWhat is normally a light raining season in Uganda had been very heavy.\u003cbr\u003e\nPlease pray for safety as many of the Arise church members have had their homes flooded.\u003cbr\u003e\nPray for safety as well as many demonstrations and riots have taken place due to campaigning for presidential elections.\u003cbr\u003e\nPray for the Kanyike children to do well in school and make good decisions.\u003cbr\u003e\nPray for Brian and Jill to be filled with the Spirit for the many ministries they participate in and as they equip and lead the ministry tram at Arise.\u003cbr\u003e\nPray for Brian to stay healthy. Pray for him as he pastors Arise Christian Fellowship.\u003cbr\u003e\nPray for the church as they make preparations for events and outreaches leading up to Easter.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM MAY 2025 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Hello Family in Christ!\nWe are so thankful for God’s grace in bringing us into this new year. We can’t wait to see what God has in store for us this year. We are so grateful for your prayers and support. You truly are part of the ministry that God has allowed us to be a part of.\nChurch Outreach\nIt is so inspiring to see believers embracing their faith and spreading the Gospel to those who have been left behind by their families! We had an incredible opportunity to share the Gospel with people. It was so rewarding to see church believers stepping out of their comfort zones and going out to spread the Word. You know our vision. God’s purpose in our hearts, is to equip people to be passionate servants of Jesus Christ. We are so grateful to God and His Word for giving life to those who receive it.\nWe went out as a church to share the Gospel with people who were sick and deeply affected by diseases. There were people who were lost and had no hope of life or life after death. We spent time with them, singing songs, and sharing the Gospel. We could see genuine joy on their faces as we praised Jesus and shared the truth. We believe God has moved their hearts to see the truth. We prayed for them and had lunch together. Please continue to pray for them. Many people have died there due to infections and other illnesses .\nGospel Outreach\nWe embarked on a mission to the tribal community to share the Gospel with those who had never encountered Jesus Christ or the message of Salvation. We were astounded by the receptivity of the people to the Gospel, as it possesses the power to profoundly impact lives.\nAs we shared about John 6:44, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day,” we witnessed God’s grace opening their hearts to the truth. While we shared the Gospel with a young group, an unexpected surge of interest occurred. Several young individuals approached me, captivated by the message I was conveying.\nAt that moment, I felt compelled to boldly proclaim the Gospel. I sensed a powerful divine presence guiding my actions, and I shared the Gospel with them. They engaged in numerous inquiries, expressing a keen desire to learn more about God. We offered them several Bibles, which they eagerly accepted.\nOur hearts were filled with joy as we witnessed the reception of the Word of God with such enthusiasm. Furthermore, they recognized the falsity of their previous practices and worship of idols, acknowledging their mute state.\nCalvary Chapel Conference\nWe had a wonderful time at the conference in the city. We were delighted to see all our brothers and sisters who are serving in various parts of our country. We learned many valuable lessons from the teachings. The conference’s central theme was \u0026ldquo;The Development of the Man of God\u0026rdquo;. We are deeply grateful to those who taught at the conference to provide guidance and equip us for the divine call upon us.\nWomen’s Ministry (My Wife’s Update)\nWhat an amazing God we serve! I would like to express my sincere gratitude to those who have been praying for and encouraging me as I lead women in our church. Thank you for your prayers and support.\nAs you are aware, women from different states and backgrounds who speak different languages come to our church. However,we have a common language. We hold weekly Bible studies on Wednesdays, focusing on the book of Philippians. God has been imparting wisdom to us through this book, emphasizing the importance of joy and patience. This letter has been particularly encouraging us to fix our eyes on God.\nMany of our church members face significant challenges in following Jesus. Some of them are compelled to attend church secretly due to the fear of being beaten and evicted from their homes by their families if they are discovered.\nOur vision is to foster growth in the Word of God and encourage believers as they journey in Christ. We are also actively praying to be able to visit the homes of those who have yet to hear the Gospel.\nI am pleased to share about the recent women’s conference, which was a resounding success. Over 60 women attended the conference. We were honored to have Sister H* present, who shared the Word of God on the essential qualities of godly character that women should have. Her message deeply encouraged and blessed us.\nPlease continue to pray for the women’s ministry here at our Calvary Chapel.\nChildren’s Ministry\nIn our church, we hold weekly children’s ministry sessions. They provide an opportunity to educate and nurture young minds about the teachings of Jesus Christ and the profound stories from the Bible. Despite their diverse religious backgrounds, many of these children express a deep love for Jesus and engage in prayerful devotion to Him. Witnessing their reverence for God fills our hearts with immense joy and gratitude.\nWe are immensely thankful for the educational resources and engaging activities that facilitate the children’s spiritual growth and knowledge of God. Through these efforts, we have witnessed the children’s profound understanding of the Word of God and their deep connection to their Savior.\nI would like to share the remarkable story of N*, who is now eight years old. We had the privilege of meeting her when she was only three or four years old. Tragically, she fell from a two-story building. She sustained severe injuries, including a fractured skull. During this challenging time, we fervently prayed for her recovery. After four long years, we are overjoyed to see her thriving. God’s remarkable healing touched her life. She is now ready to participate in our children’s ministry. It was a heartwarming experience to reunite with her after such a long time/ We express our profound gratitude to God for His unwavering love and care in her life.\nOnce again, thank you for your prayers and support, Please continue to pray for us.\nThank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/boldly-proclaiming-the-gospel-pastor-6-update-may-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Family in Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are so thankful for God’s grace in bringing us into this new year. We can’t wait to see what God has in store for us this year. We are so grateful for your prayers and support. You truly are part of the ministry that God has allowed us to be a part of.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Pastor-6-10.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChurch Outreach\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is so inspiring to see believers embracing their faith and spreading the Gospel to those who have been left behind by their families! We had an incredible opportunity to share the Gospel with people. It was so rewarding to see church believers stepping out of their comfort zones and going out to spread the Word. You know our vision. God’s purpose in our hearts, is to equip people to be passionate servants of Jesus Christ. We are so grateful to God and His Word for giving life to those who receive it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Boldly Proclaiming the Gospel - Pastor 6 Update May 2025"},{"content":"Calvary Bible Institute Update: Our CBI Nepal spring semester started in February. We now have 22 students. Praise God for men and women who have left everything to learn from His Word.\nMedical Camps in Three Different Locations\nMedical Camp in the Capital\nThe first medical camp station was at our church in the capital city. Over 150 people, including both believers and nonbelievers, were treated through the camp. The camp had three doctors (a general doctor, a dentist and an eye doctor), and two pharmacists.\nGospel and prayer station\nAfter each patients saw the doctors they went through the prayer station where we shared with them and prayed for them.\nOutreach\nWe had two wonderful outreaches in this area, a women\u0026rsquo;s outreach and a children\u0026rsquo;s outreach.\nWomen\u0026rsquo;s Outreach:\nOver 50 women came to the outreach. It was a wonderful, and meaningful outreach.\nChildren\u0026rsquo;s Outreach:\nWe had another wonderful outreach. Over 50 children attended. Initially we had planned the outreach in the worship room at Pastor Laxman’s house, that barely fits 15 people. When the team saw that the kids could no longer fit inside the room, we moved them outside on the walkway. The team share with a story and action songs. The kids were very excited to listen and to be part of the outreach. We pray that this will open up a way for them to come to church.\nOur Second Medical Camp:\nAt our second medical camp, over 160 people, including both believers and nonbelievers, were treated at the camp.\nPrayer Station:\nAfter each patients saw the doctors they through the prayer station where we shared with them and prayed for them.\nOur Third Medical Camp:\nAround 100 people, including believers and nonbelievers, were treated at the camp.\nOutreach:\nI am always grateful to share about outreaches among in this area. I praise God for the short-term mission team. I thank God for their hearts for these people. Whenever short-term mission teams come from those churches, they love to see and share love with these people. This time the team provided some snacks and clothes along with sharing with these people. Initially the people group isolated themselves from other people, but now they sit and talk with us easily.\nThank God for the changes He is making in these people!\nThe team also visited the homes of the people. They were overwhelmed after the visits.\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/medical-camps-and-gospel-outreaches-prakash-update-may-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCalvary Bible Institute Update:\u003c/strong\u003e Our CBI Nepal spring semester started in February. We now have 22 students. Praise God for men and women who have left everything to learn from His Word.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMedical Camps in Three Different Locations\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/att.XuLqtmb7N1oqcpOmqDb-rMKCedUiqz6iFcUiTF4keGk.jpeg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/att.XuLqtmb7N1oqcpOmqDb-rMKCedUiqz6iFcUiTF4keGk-300x200.jpeg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMedical Camp in the Capital\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first medical camp station was at our church in the capital city. Over 150 people, including both believers and nonbelievers, were treated through the camp. The camp had three doctors (a general doctor, a dentist and an eye doctor), and two pharmacists.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Medical Camps and Outreaches - Prakash Update May 2025"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Leaders and Supporters,\nGreetings to all of you. I thank God that He is really great. He is a God who makes everything possible. He is a faithful God. God has protected us from all kinds of trouble and suffering. Even though Christians are being targeted and persecuted because there is going to be an election here, God is giving us chances to share the Gospel with our people.\nGod gave me the opportunity to take the Good News to two new villages.\nI am always grateful to God that He has given me two areas where people are hearing the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time through us.\nI see many churches stealing each other\u0026rsquo;s sheep and fighting for each other\u0026rsquo;s believers. But, God be praised, my father and I are going to every house in the area and taking the Good News. I like Romans 15:20 so much. Paul says that the passion of my heart is to go and take the name of Jesus to those places where the name of Jesus has not reached.\nSimilarly, God gave us the opportunity to go to two villages where we prayed for the women of the village. I preached the Gospel through the Words of Jesus Christ. Most of these women live alone in their homes with their children. Their husbands have gone to big cities to work as day laborers. They come back only during big festivals. I thank God that when we preached the Gospel to them, they listened very carefully. Since then every Sunday they come from very far away to our church. They even have to switch vehicle rides about 3 different times each way.\nA woman from our church was scolded and chased away by people from a violent radical Hindu group when she came to our Sunday service. When we went to her village, her own son started abusing her in front of us.\nWe went to the houses of all of the people who were scolded and chased away by the people of our village who are part of radical Hindu groups. When we went to the house of the woman who was chased away from our village on Sunday, she welcomed us very well. As soon as her son returned from work and saw us there, he started abusing his mother very badly right in front of us. The poor woman could not say anything to her son. She just kept crying. I was very saddened to see that the child to whom she gave birth to and raised by fulfilling his every need, abused his mother because of the name of Jesus Christ. His mother later told us that to stop her from coming to church, he once beat her so badly that he broke her hand. Please pray for this woman. She is the only believer in her village. Her daughter also has faith but she lives with her in-laws in a big city. Now this woman also went to a different city to work and be free from her son.\nMy dream came true when for the first time a pastor from Saving Grace came to our area to meet me.\nI thank God that He really fulfills the wishes of those who are devoted to Him. I have been wishing for many years that someone from Saving Grace would come to meet me here. God sent two people! Spending time with them was very good for us. For the first time, some white-faced foreigners came to our place. Because of that people stared at them. I took them to about three villages to see my ministry area. People stared at them and insisted on taking their photos.\nWe had arranged meetings in 5-6 more villages where we go monthly and also in some places that we go to weekly. We knew that to prevent problems, the story of them coming and their photos should not be put on social media. Because of the situation, we cancelled the other meetings and went to a place to study the Bible. There, Pastor J* taught us from 1 Timothy. I translated from English for my wife for the first time. Spending time with them was a great blessing for us. They also taught us how to give weekly reports. We were praying for many days before they arrived that neither we nor they would face any kind of problem. I thank God that so far, there has been no problem.\nWe had a great time at a conference with Pastor B* in another state.\nI thank God that He gave me the opportunity to go to the conference. I got a viral fever, cough and cold after going there. But the teaching was very good. Pastor B* taught us how we can become God\u0026rsquo;s man. Pastor A* also filled us with enthusiasm and excitement. Spending time with the pastors from the North and the South was a very exciting. I thank God for giving me this wonderful opportunity.\nA woman who was beaten and locked in the house by her entire family to stop her from coming to church.\nThe Lord Jesus Christ said in His Word that unless you take your plough and follow me, you will not be my disciple.\nJesus Christ also said that when people persecuted me, they will persecute you too. I am always thankful to God that He has given me a church that is still strong in the Lord despite suffering. There is a woman who always comes to our church. I also encourage her. During Bible study I give her a chapter of Psalms which she reads and talks about with us. Yesterday evening, when she was getting ready to come, her husband told her not to go to church. She said that she was going. Her husband gave her a lot of work to do so that she would not be able to come to church. But the poor lady completed all the work quickly and then came to to our church yesterday. As soon as she got home from church, her husband, mother-in-law and other family members beat her a lot, took away her children and sent her to her mother\u0026rsquo;s house. The poor lady was crying and praying. She called us to tell us. When her mother saw that she was talking to us on the phone, she grabbed the phone from her and broke it. Our entire church, prayed for her and God heard our prayers. She came to our church again last week, thanks to God!\nPraise Points:\nThanks be to God! This month God gave me the opportunity to bring the Good News to two more new villages. Many women heard the news of the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time! Praise be to God! God heard the prayers of my family and you all. My wife is pregnant now. Praise be to God! Some pastors from Saving Grace came to visit us. We had a very good time with them. God let everything happen safely. Thanks be to God! The conference was very good. Prayer Points\nPlease pray for my wife. May God keep my wife and child safe. I am thinking of sending them to another city in the coming days because there is no good doctor here. Please pray continuously. A woman named P* in our church was beaten up by her family members, her Bible was snatched away and she was locked in the house. When she spoke to us on the phone, they took her mobile too. May God release her quickly so that she can come to the house of God. Please keep praying that the believers in our church may be strong in God\u0026rsquo;s Word even through persecution. Please keep praying about the coming elections. May God give us a government that will not make any kind of deterrence in spreading the news. Please keep praying that God will open up doors to more villages where we can spread the Good News. May God bless you all!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/with-god-all-things-are-possible-pastor-11-update-may-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Leaders and Supporters,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you. I thank God that He is really great. He is a God who makes everything possible. He is a faithful God. God has protected us from all kinds of trouble and suffering. Even though Christians are being targeted and persecuted because there is going to be an election here, God is giving us chances to share the Gospel with our people.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"With God, All Things Are Possible- Pastor 11 Update May 2025"},{"content":"New Beginnings\nWe have five new students in our Bible college. Now, we have a total of 21 students. Six students will complete their studies at the end of this semester. This semester, our first-semester students are studying Genesis, 1, 2 \u0026amp; 3 John, and James. All of the students are also learning from Exodus, Isaiah, the Gospel of John, and Revelation. The semester will last for four months, from February to May. We will focus on community outreach during this time. Every Sunday evening, our students go out for a couple of hours to share the Gospel. Please pray for them as they continue to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. May the Lord bless their learning and ministry!\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for the new students as they begin their studies. Pray that they may grow in their knowledge of God\u0026rsquo;s Word and become strong in their faith. Pray for the students\u0026rsquo; outreach efforts every Sunday evening. Please pray that their efforts to share the Gospel will bear fruit in the community. Faith in Action\nWe are thankful to have Dhan and Bijay as interns at our Bible College. They were both excellent students during their time here. Dhan graduated in November 2023, and Bijay graduated in October 2024. Though both of them have lost their earthly fathers, they have found comfort in God as their Father.\nDhan and Bijay are a big help at the college. They are always ready to serve wherever is needed. Every week, they take students out to share the Gospel. They also support students in their studies and help them grow spiritually. Sometimes, they even help in the kitchen. They always have a joyful attitude.\nBoth Dhan and Bijay are talented Bible teachers and love sharing God’s Word. We are truly thankful for their lives and for their commitment to serving God in His ministry.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for Dhan and Bijay as they continue their internship. Pray that they may be encouraged and strengthened in their service. Pray for their ministry efforts, that God would continue to use them powerfully to teach His Word and lead others to Christ. Blankets of Love\nThere are many valleys that the Gospel has not yet reached. There are no Christians or churches in those areas. People there put their hope in things that are not true. They are misguided, hidden from the truth, and have never been told the truth for generations. They are content with their own way of life. Their homes have high walls. Outsiders are not allowed in or welcomed.\nWe were wondering how we could help these people. One of our friends asked them what their greatest need was. They said that needed blankets more than anything else. So, we decided to provide a blanket to every household. We were unsure how we would be able to buy 200 blankets for the people in the valley, but we know that our God can do the impossible.\nPeople came to receive the blankets. We were able to share the Gospel with them, which is warmer than any blanket. Please pray for these Himalayan people to come to know the warm love of Jesus.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for the people in the Himalayan valleys to be open to hearing the Gospel and to experience the warmth of God\u0026rsquo;s love. Pray for the success of the blanket distribution. May it be a meaningful way to build relationships and share the Gospel. Thank you,\nAnand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/empowering-serving-and-sharing-gods-love-anand-update-may-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNew Beginnings\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/IMG%5F5079.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have five new students in our Bible college. Now, we have a total of 21 students. Six students will complete their studies at the end of this semester. This semester, our first-semester students are studying Genesis, 1, 2 \u0026amp; 3 John, and James. All of the students are also learning from Exodus, Isaiah, the Gospel of John, and Revelation. The semester will last for four months, from February to May. We will focus on community outreach during this time. Every Sunday evening, our students go out for a couple of hours to share the Gospel. Please pray for them as they continue to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. May the Lord bless their learning and ministry!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Empowering, Serving, and Sharing God's Love - Anand Update May 2025"},{"content":"In the past few months a lot has happened. However, in this newsletter I want to focus on 2 main things.\nTime to Retreat These past few months have been packed with ministry, preaching class and all sorts of events still to come. In the midst of it all, I must admit I got used to just doing. My walk with the Lord was looking more like a checklist rather than a relationship. One day I saw a text on the Trinity Church Young Adults group chat (the church I was formerly attending on Thursdays). In this text was an invitation to sign up for their Young Adults retreat up at Oak Glen. After some time thinking about it I signed up and the weekend finally came. I got to catch up with some good friends over dinner the first night and we opened up with the word and worship. Admittedly, it was so nice just to sit and receive and not have to worry about who would tear down the chairs or finding people to help serve the food. I could just bask in the glory of God’s word and fellowship with some brothers and sisters I greatly admire and love. I was extremely encouraged in the small groups where I found I wasn’t the only one feeling like I was. The theme of the retreat was being strong in the grace of God and the second day Pastor Jerrod was preaching on the parable of the prodigal Son. It was nothing new to me but it was such a good reminder of the character of the Father. The retreat eventually ended to my dismay, I walked away physically tired but spiritually refreshed being reminded of the grace of God and the goodness of God\nIn The Studio On the Saving Grace side of things, evangelism at the colleges has continued as usual. However, what has been unusual is the filming we’ve been doing. In the past, whenever it rained that was just an off day, but now the rain has become an opportunity to film short apologetic videos on various topics. So far we’ve filmed and released about 5 videos. Our first table talk covered life after death and what the Bible says about it. I was shocked at how well the first video came out. I guess my home movie making experiences did count for something. While we haven’t blown up and gone viral, we have had a few views on our videos. The ultimate goal for these videos is to reach those on the various social media platforms either to reach them with the gospel or encourage other believers to share their faith with others. Please continue to pray for the campuses as we continue to reach them with the gospel.\nIf you would like to check out our latest video or visit our channel click the button below!\nYOUTUBE CHANNEL\nPrayer Requests/ Praise Reports Praise God for the students who have been joining us at the college campus and for the connections we’ve made Pray for the VBS coming up in June Praise God for retreats Praise God for all the new marriages that have happened in the past few months Pray for God’s direction as I pray about upcoming vision tours Pray for a car as getting around has gotten a little more difficult Thank you all so much reading the newsletter and praying. I am excited about what the Lord will do in the next season. Please continue to pray for direction as I continue to ask the questions “Where Lord?” And “When Lord?”. Thank you guys so much for all the support. If you have any questions or comments feel free to reach out to me. God bless you.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/so-whats-new/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn the past few months a lot has happened. However, in this newsletter I want to focus on 2 main things.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"time-to-retreat\"\u003eTime to Retreat\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese past few months have been packed with ministry, preaching class and all sorts of events still to come. In the midst of it all, I must admit I got used to just doing. My walk with the Lord was looking more like a checklist rather than a relationship. One day I saw a text on the Trinity Church Young Adults group chat (the church I was formerly attending on Thursdays). In this text was an invitation to sign up for their Young Adults retreat up at Oak Glen. After some time thinking about it I signed up and the weekend finally came. I got to catch up with some good friends over dinner the first night and we opened up with the word and worship. Admittedly, it was so nice just to sit and receive and not have to worry about who would tear down the chairs or finding people to help serve the food. I could just bask in the glory of God’s word and fellowship with some brothers and sisters I greatly admire and love. I was extremely encouraged in the small groups where I found I wasn’t the only one feeling like I was. The theme of the retreat was being strong in the grace of God and the second day Pastor Jerrod was preaching on the parable of the prodigal Son. It was nothing new to me but it was such a good reminder of the character of the Father. The retreat eventually ended to my dismay, I walked away physically tired but spiritually refreshed being reminded of the grace of God and the goodness of God\u003c/p\u003e","title":"So What's New?"},{"content":" Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.1 CORINTHIANS 15:58\nI sat down and wondered how time had gotten away from us, how we managed to let a whole month slip by without writing home and letting you know how we are and what has been happening. Looking at the list Matt wrote to help me; well, now I remember how time got away from us. So many things have happened that it will be hard to include most of them beyond just mentioning them. From the student’s triple wedding, the Terebinth graduation, preparing official college-level courses for the accreditation, to our school registrar lamentably breaking his back. Also starting men’s and women’s soccer leagues in Adak, helping a new friend get testing for a 7-year-long sickness, and Emma turning 10, along with receiving additional visitors, our dear friends the Schroetlins, who joined the visiting team from Rocky Mountain Calvary. Yes, it has been a very full time since you last heard from us, and I am excited to share a few of the highlights with you.Finally, after 3 years of sacrifice by students and their families, a week of studying hard every single month, hearing teaching after teaching, discussing, writing, practicing in real life, and ultimately maturing in the Word of God, 36 men graduated from our school. Ranging from their early 20’s up to late 60’s, these were senior pastors, church leaders, and earnest disciples striving to understand Scripture. Our entire team, both Ugandan and American, worked tirelessly to prepare and deliver sound biblical teachings, insightful workbooks, fair testing, organize the welfare of the students during class weeks, keep good records, and provide discipleship for all the students. The graduation was held at the campus in Adak. The students and teachers marched down the path from our own old house to the cheering crowd of family, friends and alumni awaiting at the school buildings. Emotions were strong as each man was joined by his wife and walked the carpet to receive his diploma, the sign of their achievement. Everyone was beaming. Everyone was jubilant. And everyone was sweating profusely. It was a beautiful day, and I was proud to share it with our visiting friends.\nAfter the graduation and seeing off our visitors, we went right back to preparing curriculum. We had been pressing to begin the first accredited class in July, but pushed back the opening date after James, our school registrar, had an unfortunate motorcycle accident and suffered near-paralyzing back injuries. We were grateful for “Easter Monday”, which gave Matt the extra time off to visit him at the hospital in Kampala. He is slowly improving, regaining feeling in his lower body after a successful emergency surgery, another thing to praise God for! James’ spirits are high, his family is strong, and all of them are thankful.\nI would love if you joined us in praising God for Emma’s 10 years of life! She is such a precious girl, and we are amazed at all that God continues to do in her. Please pray for her as she goes into these preteen years, that God would continue to work in her heart, that she would begin to stand on Christ for herself, and that she would be ruled by His peace as she follows Him.\nPlease pray for our new friend, Vivian, whom we have been trying to help since meeting her several months ago. She has suffered from a sickness yet to be determined for the past 7 years. Please pray that God would heal her, that He would encourage her, but most importantly that she would be saved, as it seems she does not yet understand salvation despite much knowledge of God and the church.\nIn Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle, Cynthia, Emma, Madeline, Noah, and Charlotte\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/march-april-2025-harris-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTherefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.1 CORINTHIANS 15:58\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2025/04/20250405%5F110135.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI sat down and wondered how time had gotten away from us, how we managed to let a whole month slip by without writing home and letting you know how we are and what has been happening. Looking at the list Matt wrote to help me; well, now I remember how time got away from us. So many things have happened that it will be hard to include most of them beyond just mentioning them. From the student’s triple wedding, the Terebinth graduation, preparing official college-level courses for the accreditation, to our school registrar lamentably breaking his back. Also starting men’s and women’s soccer leagues in Adak, helping a new friend get testing for a 7-year-long sickness, and Emma turning 10, along with receiving additional visitors, our dear friends the Schroetlins, who joined the visiting team from Rocky Mountain Calvary. Yes, it has been a very full time since you last heard from us, and I am excited to share a few of the highlights with you.Finally, after 3 years of sacrifice by students and their families, a week of studying hard every single month, hearing teaching after teaching, discussing, writing, practicing in real life, and ultimately maturing in the Word of God, 36 men graduated from our school. Ranging from their early 20’s up to late 60’s, these were senior pastors, church leaders, and earnest disciples striving to understand Scripture. Our entire team, both Ugandan and American, worked tirelessly to prepare and deliver sound biblical teachings, insightful workbooks, fair testing, organize the welfare of the students during class weeks, keep good records, and provide discipleship for all the students. The graduation was held at the campus in Adak. The students and teachers marched down the path from our own old house to the cheering crowd of family, friends and alumni awaiting at the school buildings. Emotions were strong as each man was joined by his wife and walked the carpet to receive his diploma, the sign of their achievement. Everyone was beaming. Everyone was jubilant. And everyone was sweating profusely. It was a beautiful day, and I was proud to share it with our visiting friends.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"March/April 2025 Harris Update"},{"content":"He is not here; for He has risen, as He said. Matthew 28:6 Dear Friends and Family,\nHe is risen! He is risen indeed!! As we enter in to this season of celebrating Christ’s Resurrection let us remember that it is the resurrection that sets us apart from every other religion, what makes us certain that Jesus is the only way to heaven.\nAs we prepare here in Uganda to celebrate the passion week and resurrection I cant help but think of some of the activites that have recently taken place or just begun.\nThe first thing I think of is my women’s Bible study. My home church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and my pastor, Trent Douglass, just celebrated their 30 year anniversary. The reason I mention this in conjunction with my Bible study is that my Pastor is the one who inspired me to put together this study. When our family was in the states last year Pastor Trent did a couple of teachings on David and Goliath. I was blown away with the fact I knew this story so week yet there was so much I had never considered before and how it related to Christ and the New Testament.\nThis started my thinking about all of the common Bible stories we teach our children. Stories that even most nonbelievers have heard of before. I felt that I was to put together a study on these common stories and what the deeper truths are and how they point us to Jesus. When I first announced the study at church the ladies were a bit skeptical. Most of them actually teach Sunday school. They told me later that they were like, “we already know all of this, this should be for new believers or children.” After the very first teaching they had changed their minds. Like me they did not realize the so called simple stories we normally teach our children actually contain some very deep spiritual truths and foreshadow or prophesy of Jesus. I am so blessed that I get to be the teacher because I feel like I am learning so much more then the ladies as I study and prepare the teachings. Even sometimes when I am teaching it feels like I am listening and learning something for the first time. I made a workbook for the ladies to go through during week and I learn so much from what they get out of their personal study. I think more than ever the verse from Hebrews 4:12 applies. “ For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” No matter how many times we have read God’s Word, it is always revealing more to us, more of God and more of how we should live for Him.\nOf course as a church we are preparing to celebrate Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter. The youth and the kids at church will have a big role in those celebrations and I can’t wait till next month when I can share how they all turned out and how God moved during those services, because I know He will.\nLuke, Laylee and Liana also participate in activities outside of church. The girls have been in Ballet since they were 3 yrs old. Luke used to be in Karate but after his huge growth spurt he chose to focus on basketball. He has just reached 6ft, which he is very proud of. When Laylee turned thirteen last year she was promoted to pointe. It has been challenging but she has been very faithful to practice on her own and her teacher comments almost every week on how good her technique is. For Liana ballet is more of a class in self discipline. She is normally vey hyper and can barely hold still. Her dance of choice and what she normally incorporates into our church productions is hip hop/breakdancing. Ballet helps her to have to slow down and be aware of her body and control her movements.\nEarlier in the year the girls were invited to help showcase ballet in a production put on by the New York University school of dance. They both enjoyed being on stage in front of an audience and we were so proud of them. Luke has been training 4 hours a day 3 days a week with a local basketball team. They play against teams from other areas around Kampala. Every so often scouts come looking for talent for the national teams. Luke hopes that as he improves his skills and when he is old enough that he will be able to play for one of those teams.\nThe other event that took place, or I suppose it wasn’t an actual event but was special to us, was that our Godchildren were in town. They were able to stay with us for over a week. It was such a blessing to see all the children together playing and fellowshipping. It was also a great time of fellowship for us adults as we caught up with their parents, Greg and Jo. Greg taught a Sunday service and shared about Jesus as our super hero. I have never heard the church laugh so much during a service or the translator seem so lost as he tried to keep up with the strong American accent. It was a very memorable service and I can’t wait for them to come back from the states in 6 months and share with us again. I know the kids are already missing each other so much.\nThank you for faithfully praying for our family and the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS Give thanks for the proof we have of the resurrection and that Jesus is 100% the way, the truth and the life! Please pray for the women of Arise Christian fellowship. Pray that as they learn more of God’s word they would grow in their faith and would be a light in the areas which they live. Pray for the Kanyike children to be a light to the children and coaches they come into contact with through out the week. Pray for them not to be tempted by the nonbelievers in their activities. Pray for Greg, Jo, Israel, Lindiwe and Keziah while they are on furlough for 6 months. Pray for the Kanyike family as they continue to serve the Lord in Uganda. Pray for their spiritual life as well as their physical needs. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-april-2025/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"he-is-not-here-for-he-has-risen-as-he-said-matthew-286\"\u003eHe is not here; for He has risen, as He said. Matthew 28:6\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"he-is-risen-he-is-risen-indeed\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHe is risen! He is risen indeed!!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we enter in to this season of celebrating Christ’s Resurrection let us remember that it is the resurrection that sets us apart from every other religion, what makes us certain that Jesus is the only way to heaven.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we prepare here in Uganda to celebrate the passion week and resurrection I cant help but think of some of the activites that have recently taken place or just begun.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update- April 2025"},{"content":"Hello friends and family! Thank you so much for taking the time to read our newsletter and for partnering with us in the Gospel! It’s a huge blessing to know that we have people who love us and care to hear about what God is doing in and through our lives. We’re excited to share where the Lord has us right now and what we are doing at SGWM (Saving Grace World Missions), at CCSG (Calvary Chapel Saving Grace), and in our home as our family continues to grow.\nThe last few months have been riddled with excitement. First, I (Isaac) have been given the opportunity to serve in a new role as Assistant Director of Missionary Care assisting Pastor Joel in serving our missionaries around the world.\nSaving Grace World Missions is the sending organization of CCSG and our goal is to reach the world with the Gospel by training and raising up missionaries to minister cross-culturally and nationals to reach their own communities. We currently have 65 missionaries/families serving on 6 continents (sorry, we haven’t reached Antartica yet) who are planting churches, serving in sending hubs*, and establishing bible colleges to help raise up national pastors and leaders to plant churches. We have seen over 130 churches planted from CCSG over the last 30 years and many more are in the works. All of this is made possible by the Holy Spirit working through ordinary people who have made it their aim to go and to send well.\n*churches that have a goal to send missionaries\nMissionary care is the crucial puzzle piece of sending well and is extremely important to us as a sending church. Many missionaries around the world are forgotten by their sending churches and many churches view missionaries as people who have left their church to go somewhere else. We believe, based on Scripture, that missionaries are an extension of the church and that they will be most effective on the mission field with the ongoing physical, financial, and spiritual support of the church. That takes the form of prayer, financial giving, short term visits, and provision for the missionary’s practical needs. This is what we call missionary care, and at our church, we provide this care through care teams.\nCare teams are groups of people from the church (senders) who meet together once a month and pray for the missionary or missionaries their group has adopted. When the missionary returns to America for furlough or to transition off the field, the care team helps meet their practical and spiritual needs. Many missionaries sold everything to serve God and have no material belongings to return home to, just a few suitcases that they’ve carried across the world. The care team steps in and helps meet whatever needs and serves the missionary where they are able. Our goal is that all of our missionaries feel supported, taken care of, and covered in prayer by the body of Christ.\nAs you can see, there is a lot of need in this area and with so many missionaries mobilized around the world, we have a lot comings and goings. My job is to make it easier for them to transition home from the field and take care of their needs so they can focus on what they need to do during their time on the field and at home. This includes planning where they will stay, what they will drive, and when they will share at the church, keeping in mind time for rest, time with supporters and much, much more. In a scenario where missionary care is lacking, the missionary usually has to figure all of that out on their own before they get home.\nPlease be praying for us as we step into this role as a family. We have been writing some curriculum for the care teams with the goal of helping them better help our missionaries. There is one body but it has many different functions so pray that the body here functions effectively in our different roles. If you are interested in our care teams, our missionaries, or in knowing more about all of this, please reach out and we would love to talk to you about it!\nSecond, we have been able to share at other churches and with other people about missions. Our family had the privilege to travel to St. Joseph, Missouri and share with Grace Calvary Chapel about the Great Commission and our collective calling as the Bride of Christ to missions during their Missions Week. I got to share in the youth group and my dad, pastor Trent, got to share with the young adults and the entire church. Many people were encouraged and stirred by the word and by the command to reach the lost with the Gospel. Pray that God would send more laborers and raise up more senders!\nWhile we were in St. Joseph we were blessed to stay at Jon and Mel Medina’s house. The Medinas serve at Grace Calvary Chapel and Jon is the youth pastor. Hope and Mel have known each other since they were kids so it was very special for us to go see them. Plus, Jon makes the best coffee and they had raw milk, which my wife was so excited about. Please pray for them as they serve the Lord in Missouri!\nWe also got to see our good friends Bryan and Kayla Crenshaw! They served with us in the youth ministry at CCSG for over 2 years and just moved to Missouri at the end of last year. It was a great reunion and very refreshing to spend time with them again. Plus, the kids loved seeing their friends as well!\nFor those who don’t know, we help serve in the youth ministry and in the worship ministry at CCSG. I am the Youth Director at our church and Hope assists me in that. I also get to lead worship at our church a few times a month. Hope is involved in our church’s ministry to young moms, Inspired Motherhood, where moms come to be encouraged in raising their kids in the ways of the Lord. Please pray for these ministries, that God would grow the people who are attending, and that more would come to know Him.\nOne cool note about youth ministry is that our Wednesday night youth service is entirely student led. The students set up the room, lead worship, do the sound, pick a game, and even teach; three young men are on rotation teaching through 1 Peter. It is a huge blessing to witness these young men and women serve God and step up in areas they may be called to serve in the church in the near future! Praise God!\nLastly, we added another baby boy to the Douglass family! Titus Zion Douglass was born late on January 14th and is healthy and growing! His brothers, Fletcher (4 years) and Theo (2 years) are absolutely in love with him, as we all are. Hope has recovered well and is already starting to train for her next marathon! Crazy! Haha, but please pray for us as a family of 5, that God would give us grace in parenting and training these boys and that He would provide for our needs.\nThank you again for taking the time to read our newsletter! Your prayers and encouragements are coveted treasures and sustain us. If you’d like to support us as we serve God around the world, please consider becoming a monthly financial supporter. God bless!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/in-case-you-dont-know-douglass-family-update-april-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family! Thank you so much for taking the time to read our newsletter and for partnering with us in the Gospel! It’s a huge blessing to know that we have people who love us and care to hear about what God is doing in and through our lives. We’re excited to share where the Lord has us right now and what we are doing at SGWM (Saving Grace World Missions), at CCSG (Calvary Chapel Saving Grace), and in our home as our family continues to grow.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"In Case You Don’t Know… - Douglass Family Update April 2025"},{"content":"EDIT\nby Joshua Vanrenterghem |Published April 9, 2025\nMarch 2025 Newsletter\nJoshua Vanrenterghem\nI went out… and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire… Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies in waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, “Let us rise up and build.” Then they set their hands to this good work.Nehemiah 2:13,17-18\nDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\nNehemiah took a few men and viewed the necessities of the city of Jerusalem- the destruction of the walls. Without walls, a city was not a city. There would be no protection or security, and no one would want to live or trade there. This was a great problem, but with the severity of the necessity well understood, the people gathered together and the call went out to rise up and build. This month I got to see God do the same thing here. Pastor Grant, and Tim his son, and Luke, Brent, and Jonathan form Far Reaching Ministries visited us for a week to see and partner in the work of the ministry here. We went all around Trujillo visiting the churches, ministries, and places where child trafficking takes place.\nViewing the Walls\nOne of the first places we visited was the tourist destination of Huanchaco. The city is a beautiful beach town with some of the best waves for surf, but just behind the peak where the big catholic church stands in the picture on the left, there is a very poor neighborhood. In this neighborhood children are often sold by their parents to be used by the mafia for sex trafficking. Many times children are kidnapped right off the street at night as well.\nAnother location we took the team was the Basurero, or the garbage dump. This is an extremely poor area of Trujillo near El Milagro where people make money by recycling and raising animal. We talked to a local about the area. She told us how children are kidnapped from the schools, and the mafias threaten to kill the principal or leaders if they try to stop them. When we asked directly about the mafia’s presence in the dump, she said, “I can’t answer that, I have a family, and kids too”.\nAside from our visits with the team, I also want to share a report that came out this month. In the city of Arequipa, the second largest in Peru, an investigation and subsequent raid revealed that the former chief of the National Police of Peru and his wife were selling babies for organ harvesting. The way they did it was through convincing pregnant ladies who wanted an abortion to not abort, but instead give birth and then give them their newborn for about $1k. What wrenches my stomach the most is this is one of the nicest cities in Peru. What could be happening in Trujillo?\nAside from Trafficking, we also got to share the miraculous story of Calvary Buenos Aires, a church mostly filled with Venezuelan refugees, and lead by pastor Angel, also a refugee. Pastor Grant, my pastor from Texas, shared at the Wednesday night service about family discipleship.\nYouth Ministry\nWeekly I have been visiting a group of orphan boys for discipleship. It has been difficult, but going well. I can see God moving greatly but the ground is by no means soft. They all have very rough backgrounds and often of abuse. One of them named Henry has been very involved in the church and even serving. I can see his growth even in the short time I have been with them, which is a great encouragement!\nMOYOBAMBA!\nI am sure some of you remember about my trips to the jungle city of Moyobamba when I lived here in 2023, well, I am going again! April 13-19th I will be going with a group of CBI students to support the Calvary church plant and one of my best friends, pastor Andrew. It is going to be a packed week of evangelism, outreaches, and serving at the church. We are going to be visiting the prison to share the gospel with the inmates, and some schools.\nCalling All Partners It is my honor to connect you, my sisters and brothers in America, to all God is doing on the mission field, and show you the fruit of your work through me! If you would like get more involved in this work, there are different ways you can partner with with me as I seek to fulfill my call to rescue and care for children in trafficking, and bring the gospel to the ends of the earth.\nOne way you can support is through joining my Signal group. This is where I send prayer requests and more frequent updates on my life in the mission field of Peru! You can join this group by responding to this email.\nAnother way is to partner financially. If you feel lead to become a financial partner, you can give through the link found at the bottom of this news letter! It is by your generosity that I am provided for on the field and available to give my all in this new work.\nThank you all so much for your wonderful partnership and love, I am eternally grateful for your support!\nPraise Reports\nPraise God for the successful operation against organ harvesting in Arequipa That Far Reaching Ministries wants to be involved and partnering in this work Blessing of my pastor visiting from Texas and my friend, his son, Tim. Growth of the Ministry, and closing on a new property for the church Prayer Requests\nFor favor in our search for a property for the children’s home That as the church and Bible school grow in numbers, they would grow in love and grace as well Protection and the filling of the Holy Spirit as we go to Moyobamba to support the church there and share the gospel That I would keep learn how to be a better support and assistant to pastor Cory ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/rise-up-and-build-vanrenterghem-april-2025-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/jvanrenterghem/wp-admin/post.php?post=401\u0026amp;action=edit\"\u003eEDIT\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eby \u003ca href=\"/jvanrenterghem/author/jvanrenterghem/\"\u003eJoshua Vanrenterghem\u003c/a\u003e |Published \u003ca href=\"/jvanrenterghem/2025/04/09/\"\u003eApril 9, 2025\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMarch 2025 Newsletter\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJoshua Vanrenterghem\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI went out… and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire… Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies in waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, “Let us rise up and build.” Then they set their hands to this good work.Nehemiah 2:13,17-18\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rise Up and Build! - Vanrenterghem April 2025 Update"},{"content":"Posted on April 9, 2025 by Paul Boubion\nApril 2025\nDid you know that the greatest way to show that you love God is by loving people?\nJesus said that the Greatest commandment is to love God first, and then He said this:\nAnd the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:31\nAs missionaries in a border city in Mexico, we have enormous challenges as well as big opportunities to meet and help people! Since we are part of the biggest church in Playas de Rosarito, Baja California we have constant opportunities to meet people all the time. Our staff goal for 2025 is to make at least 25 friends! Of course, that means spending time and sitting down and talking with folks every week.\nPeople visit church constantly typically because they have problems in their lives! I see the same thing in the ministry of Jesus. He constantly spent time listening to people and healing their illnesses. I’m not Jesus, but I can listen to people’s problems and pray for them! I have a friend that says, “people feel loved when you listen to them!” I like that!\nWe hope you enjoy this month’s blog! Hope you like the pictures! Enjoy Poiema’s update! Don’t forget to send us a greeting by email or whatsapp! Or how about subscribing? https://www.youtube.com/@CalvaryRosarito\nPoiema in Peru and Brazil! by Poiema Joanne Boubion\nHello everyone! I just wanted to thank you all for your kind prayers and for taking the time to read this part of the blog. God has been so faithful and kind to me these past few months and I want to quickly share about it!\nFirstly, by God’s grace I was able to return for my fourth and final semester here in CBI Peru. He gave me such a peace about returning, on top of completely providing for the semester when I had zero funds. He has been so faithful to guide my steps as I’ve sought Him and His will for my life. I think it’s been about a month and a half that I’ve been here and this time has just been filled with lessons and incredible opportunities.\nA big tragedy occurred suddenly in our big shopping mall. The roof collapsed and many people died, were missing or injured! It was national news! Many of us shop there and friends work there! So the next day, we immediately went to help.\nWe were able to bring aid to workers that were rescuing people from the wreckage. We had the blessing of providing water, food, and prayer for the workers as well as those waiting outside for any information on their loved ones. It was incredibly humbling to even have the opportunity to serve the community in such a way. I will never forget it.\nImages from our aid efforts.\nThe roof over the food court had collapsed.\nAbove are photos of time at the Institute and some of the ways I get to serve: helping lead worship, sharing for morning devotionals (Bible),\nMe and my friend Meche after evangelism and finally, finishing our church history class with Pastor Cory\nGod is teaching me to walk by faith without doubting! He’s always teaching us this lesson, but recently I’ve had a big opportunity to put it into practice! God has opened the door for me to go on a week-long mission trip to Río de Janeiro, Brazil. I’ve always wanted to go to Brazil, however this time I was kind of reluctant when I first heard about it. God really worked on my heart, and He has confirmed to me that this is where He would have me go for our semester’s mission trip. I trust that this is where He would have me go to serve and I’m not going to doubt that. The Lord is my good Father, and He will protect me and guide me by opening doors or closing them. During our time in Río de Janeiro, we will be going to help with a Bible study that was started inside of the favela(slum) of Rio. We will be serving with the students from CBI Brazil and Pastor Alexandre from a Calvary there in Rio. We will be helping with construction, children and youth outreaches, and just serving in whatever is needed.\nSo in April, I will be boarding a plane to go to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! God continues to surprise me with the opportunities and doors He opens to me. My prayer is that I would go without expectations, but to be simply ready and available to serve in whatever way He opens to me.\nPlease pray for me and the trip!\nPOIEMA’s PRAYER REQUESTS:\nFor traveling mercies as we leave and enter Peru Brazil trip to minister in the Favelas of Rio! (April 7-14) That I would be able to just transmit the love of God and the Gospel to those that we are serving For unity amongst the whole team that we would be one in our purpose to serve God and the people We are going to a very sensitive situation, so for safety and wisdom for the leaders And just in general that the Lord would guide me into my next steps after I finish up at CBI Peru! Celebrating Birthdays Claudia has had great opportunities to teach and travel! In the last couple months, Claudia and I got to share our thoughts on our church’s podcast on spotify “Después del sermón” ( After the Sermon) . The interview and discussion is in Spanish in case you are interested!\nSpotify Podcast:\nhttps://open.spotify.com/embed/episode/2gg01AdPjLdOS4izqPsiTM?go=1\u0026amp;sp_cid=5a31838b-e047-4af5-8469-5221cfcd6eeb\u0026amp;nd=1\u0026amp;dlsi=12e27af2fb584d80\u0026amp;utm_source=oembed\nClaudia recently took a couple of ladies from the Bilingual Women’s study on Thursdays to Morelia and Patzcuaro, Michoacan to teach at a women’s conference.\nHere is one of the most popular teachings on the Youtube channel if you would like to learn how to develop your personal time with Jesus through Bible reading and prayer.\nPaul’s Favorite things! It is a great blessing being able to communicate with my friends and Christian brothers in their native language! I get to meet with men every week and communicate daily with men through the popular WhatsApp messaging app! I get to do a lot of translating into English as well. I will be translating the main church Bible study April 9th and will be teaching the main Bible from the Book of Acts on Wednesday night, April 23. That message will be posted on our Calvary Rosarito youtube channel in case your curious about what a bilingual sermon looks and sounds like!\nPraise Reports and Prayer:\nPRAISES:\nSuccessful first 10 weeks of Claudia’s bilingual womens study! Poiema’s excellent experience and growth at CBI Peru! Our sons’ studies are going well! Imroved health – diet and exercise imoproving! Discipling and counseling men and married couples! PRAYER REQUESTS:\nMDVP new semester and greater social media impact! For the priorities of making God first and family second, ministry 3rd!\nWisdom in accepting opportunities and invitations to teach\nMarried couples in counseling\nUnmarried couples to repent, do premarital counseling and get married legally!\nFor Paul to develop online counseling resources in Spanish – Youtube / Spotify\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/loving-people-first-in-mexico-and-brazil-boubion-april-family-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePosted on \u003ca href=\"/pboubion/2025/04/09/loving-people-first-in-mexico-and-brazil/\"\u003eApril 9, 2025\u003c/a\u003e by \u003ca href=\"/pboubion/author/pboubion/\"\u003ePaul Boubion\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eApril 2025\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDid you know that the greatest way to show that you love God is by loving people?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJesus said that the Greatest commandment is to love God first, and then He said this:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd the second, like \u003cem\u003eit, is\u003c/em\u003e this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:31\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/pboubion/wp-content/uploads/sites/146/2025/04/Claduia-and-Paul.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs missionaries in a border city in Mexico, we have enormous challenges as well as big opportunities to meet and help people! Since we are part of the biggest church in Playas de Rosarito, Baja California we have constant opportunities to meet people all the time. Our staff goal for 2025 is to make at least 25 friends! Of course, that means spending time and sitting down and talking with folks every week.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Loving People First in Mexico and Brazil! - BOUBION APRIL FAMILY UPDATE"},{"content":"Brian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nPlease pray for Brian, he is recovering from a bad stomach flu. Pray for Brian to have strength and regain health.\nPray for him to be filled with the Spirit and joy of the Lord as he pastors and serves the Lord.\nPray for Jill as she teaches the women on, Jesus in Old Testament Stories. Pray the women will continue to grow in the Lord and share with others what they are learning.\nPray for Uganda as they have Ebola in the west of the country near Calvary Chapel Fort Portal . In Kampala there has been alot of unrest as the campaigns get under way for next year\u0026rsquo;s elections. Please pray for safety.\nPray for God\u0026rsquo;s leading and wisdom as the Kanyikes serve at Arise and at the guest house. Pray for all those who serve at Arise and those who support the ministry. Pray for the Kanyike children to desire to follow and serve the Lord.\nThank you so much.\nIn Him,Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email BlogUSATim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\nPrayer of Praise to the Lord for\nTwo safe trips into Mexico and back.\nVery fruitful time.\nGreat times of connection for Tim and Jenn with missionaries on the field\nGreat times of discipleship with those in the Missions Training School.\nPrayer Request\nTim sustained an injury January 1 which resulted in a torn rotator cuff and torn tendon in his shoulder. There is a surgery date set for April 9. Please pray for successful surgery and speedy recovery.\nPlease pray for both Jenn and Tim to have great success in the areas of physical fitness and nutrition. Please pray for an Increased ability to stay tuned in to God\u0026rsquo;s will for our lives.\nAll for His Glory,Tim and Jenn - Email BlogBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\nPlease pray for upcoming CC Pastors and Leaders Conference in S. Asia for a refreshing time in the Word and encouraging to all those who are on the front lines.\nPray for the CBI building dedication in S. Asia and for the new campus to be a hub for equipping of men to be sent out to share the good news and plant churches. Pray for good health as we have a busy travel season and teaching schedule. Pray for many more souls to come to Christ amongst the unreached places in the world!\nPray for our Summer Uganda team as we meet, plan, prepare and seek to serve the Lord in Africa later this year!\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email BlogJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease continue to pray for my parents’ health. Especially pray for healing for my dad, or an accurate diagnosis and treatment.\nPlease pray also for my mom’s health.\nPlease pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\nPlease pray that God will use us for His glory.\nGod bless you,Paul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email BlogJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for the Christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.\nPlease pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health.\nPlease continue to pray for my mom’s health and complete recovery.\nPlease pray for our nursing home ministry and children’s after-school ministry.\nGod bless you!Joni - Email BlogMexicoMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico Hi Friends, Thanks for the prayers! Here are the prayer requests for Mike and Sarah Vincent!\nRequests!\nPlease pray that we would do a good job with our connections station and plugging in and discipling the visitors that God is bringing to the church! Please pray that God would bless our 42nd church plant to the El Hongo State Prison being sent out in April! Praises!\nThanksgiving for Grace and Daniel both having full time jobs in San Diego!\nThanks for the prayers!\nMike and Sarah Vincent - Email BlogPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease Pray\nKeep our relationship with Jesus #1 priority\nWomen\u0026rsquo;s bilingual bible study Thursdays @630pm\nPaul\u0026rsquo;s mens discipleship group\nLearn to rest in the Lord consistently and take on only what God has cakes us to and say no to the rest.\nReceive all people and the many visitors to our church with love and grace.\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,Paul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email BlogDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello to all and happy Resurrection day!! May your Easter celebrations touch hearts and transform lives, All for the glory of God!\nPlease pray for:\nFor Our Easter service on April 20, that hearts may be surrender to Christ. The kids will be presenting an Easter drama and the parents will come to see their children and prayerfully Surrender their lives to Christ as well.\nFor this rainy season and the homes of our families especially those Who are “ Squatters“, that the Lord would have mercy and the rain would miraculously not end up in their homes! For the kids in the afterschool program and their parents for the seeds of the good news to sprout and take route in their hearts and that they would grow to love Jesus and serve him all the days of their lives. CONTINUED good health and blessings for my 84 year old mom Kathy, Who lives alone and has Parkinsons. The Lord is truly blessing her and she is doing extremely well these days!\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth AmericaAndrew Weakland - Peru\nPray that God can send/raise up a right hand man for me. I am the only current leader and can use help. Pray for unity in the 14 servants at church. Prayer that God can stir people\u0026rsquo;s hearts in the jungle to return to His ways and be shephered by Him. And that we can find them at church.\nThanks! - Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 WindowThe 10/40 Window The 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)Bryan and Andrea - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for the people that we have been sharing with.\nPray for a deeper relationship with the local churches.\nPray for the Lord to provide a way for residency.\nPray for our language studies.\n~Bryan and AndreaBranden and Nancy - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for the rest of this month as Ramadan continues. For the Son to reveal Himself to those around us.\nPlease pray for Oscar and Seb. That Branden would continue to have great conversations with them\nPlease pray for our neighbors. That they would feel the love of Him through us.\nPlease pray for our visa need and for the Lord to provide\n~Branden and NancyWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer RequestsPray for my ministry, that God will give me wisdom and understanding.\nPray for my family, that they will grow in the Word of God.\nPray for my church members, that each one may grow in the Lord.Thank you so much once again for your prayers. Worker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for me that God would continue to use me among the students, the church members and in the community.\nPray for my health, that God will give me complete healing as I have allergies to dust, and my town has a lot of dust.\nPray for students and staff of a school who have heard the Gospel.\nPray for a revival in our town, that it may become a Christian town.\nPray that the Lord would open doors to share the Gospel.\nPray for the growth of our church.\nThank you so much for your prayers. God bless you all!Worker 9Worker 13 - 10/40 Window\nContinue to pray for our conference here, that we will learn more deeply about God\nContinue to pray for our ministry in the mountain villages. May God open more doors so that more people can be saved from their sin.\nContinue to pray for our believers in the villages, that they will stay strong in their faith.\nGod bless you all for your prayers!\nWorker 13Worker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for my children to grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord, and for their final exams.\nPlease pray for our home visits and for the students as they share the Word of God.\nPray that the Lord will use them.\nPlease pray for the village ministry, that they will grow in the Word of the Lord.\nPlease pray for the youth in our area, that they will walk in the Lord.\nPlease pray for the CBI students, that they will grow in God’s Word.\nPlease pray for Princy, that her operation will go well.\nWorker 16Anand and Usha – Nepal\nPray for the people in the Himalayan valleys, that they may be open to hearing the Gospel and experience the warmth of God\u0026rsquo;s love.\nPray for the success of the blanket distribution, that it will be a meaningful way to build relationships and share the Gospel.\nThank you for your prayers and support,Anand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email BlogRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our new baby, who has been in the hospital three days so far.\nMy wife had a c-section; please pray for her health, and that she will recover quickly.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership.\nGrace and Peace,Rabi and Mahima - Email BlogRaju – 10/40 Window\nLord,I lift up Calvary Chapel Lapu and ask for Your provision. You know their need for a permanent building. Please provide the right place, the right materials, and the right people to make it happen. Strengthen their faith as they wait on You.\nI also pray for my friend, who is struggling at home. Bring peace into their heart despite the difficulties. Please touch their father and lead him away from alcohol, bringing healing and restoration to their family. If moving is necessary, open the right doors for them and provide the resources needed.Lord, be their refuge and strength. In Jesus\u0026rsquo; name, Amen.\nRaju - BlogDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nI (Darryl) have been working with Light Times Magazine/Light Association the only Christian magazine since 2017. We are in the process of making some major decisions about the future of the organization.\nPlease pray for continued strength, schedule, and many other doors to open as I research for my third evangelistic/apologetics book for Cambodia and Japan along with other projects and activities.\nPlease pray for continued strength and healing from my Guillain-Barre Syndrome and for general health for us all. Please pray for Kayo as she balances many projects with Precious Women Organization, women\u0026rsquo;s ministry, and continuing education.\nPlease pray for Benjamin as he has two months of major international exams at his school.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-april-2025-prayer-upd/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Kanyke.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nPlease pray for Brian, he is recovering from a bad stomach flu.  \u003cbr\u003e\nPray for Brian to have strength and regain health.\u003cbr\u003e\nPray for him to be filled with the Spirit and joy of the Lord as he pastors and serves the Lord.\u003cbr\u003e\nPray for Jill as she teaches the women on, Jesus in Old Testament Stories. Pray the women will continue to grow in the Lord and share with others what they are learning.\u003cbr\u003e\n Pray for Uganda as they have Ebola in the west of the country near Calvary Chapel Fort Portal .  In Kampala there has been alot of unrest as the campaigns get under way for next year\u0026rsquo;s elections. Please pray for safety.\u003cbr\u003e\nPray for God\u0026rsquo;s leading and wisdom as the Kanyikes serve at Arise and at the guest house. \u003cbr\u003e\nPray for all those who serve at Arise and those who support the ministry. \u003cbr\u003e\nPray for the Kanyike children to desire to follow and serve the Lord.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM APRIL 2025 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico. In March, I got to travel to Mazatlan to help send out our first church plant to the South American Country of Venezuela! In this update, I am excited to tell you all about it!\nOur church was blessed to send out my good friend (and former Calvary Rosarito assistant Pastor) Tony Carranza and his team to plant a church in Mazatlan back in 2016! In just 9 years they have planted six churches. The great news is that in March, they sent out their seventh.\nVenezuela is one of the poorest countries in South American which has resulted in a flood of their citizens fleeing the country to the neighboring countries of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Although Venezuela is governed by an authoritarian Socialistic government, they are open to Mexicans coming to work. Thankfully, this Latin American country also practices freedom of religion. It is in this poor country that God has called us to plant our next (2ndgeneration) church plant.\nI met Pastor Raul Favela and his family three years ago at the church in Mazatlan at one of their yearly church planting conferences. Raul along with his wife and adult daughter completed the church planting course with excellence, and while they were studying, God placed it on their heart to plant a church in Venezuela. At our conference in March, we got to ordain and send out Raul and his family to do this great church planting work.\nThe theme of this year’s conference was “The Movement of the Holy Spirit in Church Planting” and each one of the eight main sessions related to this powerful theme. The title of my sermon was “The Holy Spirit leading the Apostle Paul!” This topic I was assigned gave me a great opportunity to do a new Bible study, because although I have taught many sermons on church planting, I had never focused on this aspect of Paul’s church planting journeys!\nThe conference was a blessing and well attended with over 200 in attendance. But the highlight for all was definitely sending out Pastor Raul and his family to plant the church “Maranatha Caracas!” (Caracas is the capital of this country with over 3 million inhabitants.) After the conference, I got to join them for their Sending Sunday where their local church joined us to send out their mission’s team. This is our most recent 2nd generation church plant, and it is special as this is the first 2nd generation church plant that has been planted in a foreign country by one of our church plants.\nThe final words of Jesus to the church in Acts 1:8 were, “ You shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!” It is always challenging to plant churches in other countries and continents, but this is exactly what our Lord Jesus has asked us to do. We thank the Lord for the blessed opportunity to reach not only our city and country, but the rest of the world as well!\nFinally, I want to once again thank you for your partnership with our family and ministry. It is through your prayers that God meet’s our spiritual needs, and it is through your financial partnership, that God meet’s our physical needs. We love you and are praying for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God will bless our newest 2nd generation church plant in Caracas Venezuela!\n#2- Pray that God will bless our church’s Easter community outreaches and events.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for the blessing of planting a new church in a capital city of South America. (Caracas Venezuela)\n#2- Praise God for Grace and Daniel’s full time jobs in San Diego.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-april-2025-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. In March, I got to travel to Mazatlan to help send out our first church plant to the South American Country of Venezuela! In this update, I am excited to tell you all about it!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2025/03/454589081-843295754652907-8195705429551310221-n.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur church was blessed to send out my good friend \u003cem\u003e(and former Calvary Rosarito assistant Pastor)\u003c/em\u003e Tony Carranza and his team to plant a church in Mazatlan back in 2016! In just 9 years they have planted six churches. The great news is that in March, they sent out their seventh.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family - April 2025 Update"},{"content":"“ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrew 4:16\nWelcome back beautiful creations of God!\nI’m honored that you are taking the time to read and interact with me! This month of March has been…. What’s the word… pruning! Well, so far, this whole year has been. I’ve had to surrender lots of like things, people, ideas, desires and materialistic things. (I wish it were that easy to surrender this weight) JOKES! (Kinda)\nLast time we spoke I caught you guys up on the last few months in mostly pictures and very general information. LIKE MOVING TO CALIFORNIA! Anyway this time I want to get in deep; getting into the juicy stuff…\nFebruary 25’\nYes, I know! I just said we were in March, BUT things also happened at the end of February that I want to share!\nLife group is basically when the congregation gathers in groups and attend different houses. (Usually at the pastors house) It’s a time of eating and fellowship with friends but in smaller groups! We do this instead of midweeks and I love it! It’s a time where we can be more open and honest, where everyone has a chance to express themselves. We help one another with prayer, encouragement and love. On this specific day, I cooked the chicken on the grill (my first time eee!) and everyone helped with bringing rice, salad, drinks, beans etc. However, this year we’re doing 2 months life group then 2 months men’s/women’s Bible study.\nThere was a call in the Middle East to attack a group of Christians with horrific violence and evil doings. And of course those that were targeted were asking for prayer. So, that’s exactly what we did. We had a time of interceding for them, with everyone making their request made known to God and especially a head of protection for the dads, mothers and children. A couple days later, the attack was called off. The Lord protected them and are able to worship God through this time of terror. Prayer changes things.\n[Psalm 34:17]\nThe By Faith conference was amazing! This was a beautiful reminder that God is really faithful when we are faithless.\nThe worship was absolutely insane! I love that the presence of God was in that room!\nWe had many gifted pastors teach and encourage us with focusing on the core subject, faith.\nI had the privilege to hear David Guzik, David Rosales, Wade Oniell and John Randall! There was other amazing teachers there like Art Reyes I wasn’t able to see teach however it was truly inspiring and encouraging.\nThis is convinced ministries! I first joined this team around November/ December. I realized that I had so much to learn about apologetics and about defending the word of God while not so much attacking people\u0026rsquo;s beliefs but to ask them questions to help them question their own faith.\nI always had a love for editing and having a social media platform. Now, the Lord used all that I had learned for His glory. We are small but mighty group who want to help get the word of truth out!\nWe are still new and currently in a trial and error process. This takes time and endurance. However, knowing this will work out for the furtherance of the gospel makes it all worth it.\nI sold my car! At first, I tried my hardest to keep the Honda. I tried working hard and tried convincing myself that I should keep it. However, after learning about financial peace with Dave Ramsey I learned lots about financial wealth. The Lord had already been preparing my heart for this moment and was already working. I put my car up on Facebook marketplace and one week later it was sold. Another week passed and the Lord provided me with this beauty named Grace. Fully paid off, this lovely couple at church sold me the car and now I am able to focus on paying off the debt I have and allowing God to use me for His glory. One thing I came to realize, is that if I want to be sent out one day, I can’t have debt. Neither will I have a fancy red car across the world.\nI want to give a humongous thank you to everyone who has blessed me with accountability, guidance, prayer and grace. I know that you are a gift from God because I wouldn’t know how to do anything like this without you.\nAnswered Prayer:\nGrowth in financial peace Taking class on time management Surrendering everything the Lord calls me too Growing in evangelism and sharing the faith Prayer Request:\nGrowing and improving on teaching kids/ practice sermons Wisdom on time management and budgeting That I would have a heart of worship To obey where the Lord wants me for summer Ways to Support:\nPRAYER: If I can request anything of you, it would be that you would pray for me. The things I wrote above but that the Lord be magnified in my life. I’ve seen the Lord answered prayer and I know He hears.\nFINANCIAL PARTNERSHIP: Although I don’t know where the Lord wants to send me, I would love to go on vision tours and be able to experience different cultures.\nSHARE THE VISION: I would love to be able to connect with people interested in supporting a missionary or even just staying in touch. I love when people interact, then I know that this is not in vain.\nI thank you all for the time you took to read and write back. It means so much to even see an encouraging word or hearing that you read makes my heart abound. May God bless you and keep you all the days of your life!\nLove, Ariana\n“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”\n‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭33‬ ‭\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-journey-of-grace-landaverde-march-2025-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrew 4:16\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWelcome back beautiful creations of God!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’m honored that you are taking the time to read and interact with me! This month of March has been…. What’s the word… pruning! Well, so far, this whole year has been. I’ve had to surrender lots of like things, people, ideas, desires and materialistic things. (I wish it were that easy to surrender this weight) JOKES! (Kinda)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Journey of Grace - Landaverde March 2025 Update"},{"content":" “As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”\n‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭27‬:‭17‬ ‭\nIt is good to be back home in Cochiquinas. After spending the holidays in the states visiting family, churches and friends, we have returned to the Amazon jungle of Peru. We have a new member the Lord has added to our team. My brother Patrick has been here with us for the last month and a half. He has been a great support. Taking on construction tasks, helping wherever there is need and he has birthed a fishing ministry in the jungle. My brother is an avid fisherman and was gifted a fishing pole from Jim at 414 missions. When he got to Cochiquinas he would go out to fish the Amazon in the evening. A bunch of kids came up to him because they had never seen a rod with a reel. So they saw him casting and wanted to try it themselves. They are hooked, pun intended. We are in the process of buying 4 fishing poles with reels and are going to use it to minister to the youth through prayer and Bible study. These kids are always at our house because they love hanging out with “Patricio”.\nWe got off to a slow start in February as we were in Iquitos for about two weeks. While we were in Iquitos, we were purchasing equipment and material for the construction project we have undertaken, visiting churches and friends we had made the previous year, and helping with a mission’s team from Idaho.\nOnce we were done in Iquitos, we traveled to a place called Cushillo Cocha which is about 12 hours by boat down river, on the Amazon to be a part of a boat training for the Ticuna leaders and visit the Bible training classes at IBIETA where they not only train pastors and leaders in the word but they also have a technical training program that includes computer literacy, wood working, welding, and mechanics.\nLater in the week we met up in Cushillo Cocha with the 414 missions team and did some pastoral training and helped with a team from Texas who did some medical outreaches and VBS for the kids. We are blessed to be under the banner of 414 missions, which is directed by Jim and Chrystal Booth, and our hearts are knit together with this incredible couple.\nWe were blessed to receive 50 pastors and leaders from the river communities and the Ticuna tribe in Peru, and Columbia during this 4 day training. We focused on the inductive Bible study method, where they learned how to observe, interpret and apply the Bible in their biblical studies and spiritual life in Christ. We graduated 10 pastors from this training and our next training will be in early August. Once the training was finished, we headed home to Cochiquinas.\nWe have 3 goals we would like to reach this year. We are looking forward to building a 1500 square foot dormitory, with a rain catching system, some solar power and about 10 rooms. The purpose for the build is to house 10-15 young adult men in March of 2026 and take them through 8 months of biblical study courses. Right now we are in the process of drying out the wood in preparation for the build. Our build date is dependent on the level of the Amazon river. If the river comes up and covers the land in the community, we will begin in July. If the water stops rising, we will begin in May. Please pray that the river is at its highest point.\nThe second goal we have is to plant the church in our community. We have begun taking steps to come under the covering of Ibieta ministries, which will allow us to legally function as a church in Peru. We thought the jungle was a place without rules and we could do whatever we want, but we are learning new things every day. We have about 15 people attending the services right now and are focused on teaching book by book through the Bible. We have four men that we are training in biblical leadership and biblical counseling. Our hope is to plant Bible teaching churches on the river, which seems to be in short supply.\nThe third goal we have is reaching out to the local pastors and beginning a discipleship program. Many of the pastors in the river systems feel abandoned and are discouraged. The missions providing spiritual covering generally do not visit them and have little communication with them. They need to be encouraged. Our plan is to boat to these local communities, build friendships with the pastors and their congregation and offer practical, biblical care for them. They need fellowship and we are going to provide it. Please keep these things in prayer and we will continue to update you on the progress. We thank you for your continued love and support!\nClick here to see the full newsletter with more photos!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/iron-sharpens-iron-gause-family-march-2025-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2025/03/IMG%5F9924-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”\u003cbr\u003e\n‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭27‬:‭17‬ ‭\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2025/03/IMG%5F9936.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is good to be back home in Cochiquinas. After spending the holidays in the states visiting family, churches and friends, we have returned to the Amazon jungle of Peru. We have a new member the Lord has added to our team. My brother Patrick has been here with us for the last month and a half. He has been a great support. Taking on construction tasks, helping wherever there is need and he has birthed a fishing ministry in the jungle. My brother is an avid fisherman and was gifted a fishing pole from Jim at 414 missions. When he got to Cochiquinas he would go out to fish the Amazon in the evening. A bunch of kids came up to him because they had never seen a rod with a reel. So they saw him casting and wanted to try it themselves. They are hooked, pun intended. We are in the process of buying 4 fishing poles with reels and are going to use it to minister to the youth through prayer and Bible study. These kids are always at our house because they love hanging out with “Patricio”.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Iron Sharpens Iron - Gause Family March 2025 Update"},{"content":"Greetings to all family and friends! Thanks for continuing to take the time and read my newsletters. It brings joy to my heart knowing that you guys are part of the Calvary Moyobamba team with your prayers, messages, and letters of encouragement.\nThose Amazon rains!\nIn the Peruvian jungle, there is no spring, summer, fall or winter. Rather, there is the rain season (November-March) and the non-rain season. Throughout February and March, I have never seen so much constant and heavy rain in my life! It has eroded roads, delayed trips, flooded jungle communities, kept people at home, and interrupted prayer meetings (Imagine loud drops pounding on a thin tin roof).\nThe roads keep narrowing after every heavy rain! Some driver wasn\u0026rsquo;t so fortunate.\nAll of that being said, the sky showers keep God\u0026rsquo;s beautiful creation green and lively!\nAdjusting to being more alone\nJesús had been with me for 1 year and 3 months. We lived together, started the church together (with 2 others as well), and have seen God transform peoples lives. A truly amazing run together. He is a great worker, faithful friend, and I love him. In January, he returned to Trujillo to start the next phases of his life: marriage and a church plant in Chile. Very exciting! Please keep him in your prayers.\nJesús and I moving a stove into the church\nJesús showing love to our neighbor Alejandro at church service.\nThat being said, Jesús leaving has been a lot more difficult to adjust than I thought. I used to think it would be wonderful to live alone, having peace and quiet. Yet, I miss his presence at the apartment. The older I get, the more I long to spend time with other Christians and be with people. I believe that it is God doing this work in my heart.\nTherefore, I am being more intentional with the people that God has placed in my life in Moyobamba. This includes inviting people over for meals, playing soccer, and painting together. In this, quality time together has increased and friendships have been deepened.\nI made American hamburgers and french fries for my friends Ronald and Lili at my apartment. They are special, as I met them at the very first church service on October 15, 2023! Once every week or two, I will invite different people from church over to my apartment and prepare something for them. Just like in Jesus\u0026rsquo; days, eating food is a way to connect and enjoy time with others.\nThe guys from church playing soccer right after Wednesday service. I am normally one of the last people picked, and my team normally loses. But I am getting better!\nPeople from Calvary Moyobamba painting right after Sunday service service. An opportunity to spend more time together as a church family.\nJanuary was a tough month!\nThere has been lots of adversity in January. Although there was intense pressure and tedious trials, I understand that it is part of the ministry. God is getting me through with His mighty hand, and I am finding a lot of encouragement through the scriptures, as well as a helpful phone call from one of my pastors. Zechariah 4:6 has really ministered to me, as it reads \u0026ldquo;\u0026lsquo;Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,\u0026rsquo; says the Lord of hosts.\u0026rdquo; Meditating on this day by day has given me a peace of heart and great perspective.\nVictorious Christian Service\nThis year, the Lord has put on my heart to REALLY focus on discipleship. We are going to start a Saturday evening group, which will be a study through the book \u0026ldquo;Victorious Christian Service\u0026rdquo; by Alan Redpath. It focuses on the book of Nehemiah in the Bible, and topics such as leadership, serving God, prayer, opposition, and much more! Please pray for edifying conversations and spiritual growth. As of now, there are 14 signed up.\nBaptisms and pool water on the church floor\nFebruary 16th was certainly a day to remember. Axl and Eros just finished painting the church around 9pm, then stayed to assemble and fill up the pool for the baptisms. With our narrow hose and medium water flow, it was going to take all night! So they watched it fill until midnight, then I came at 3am to finish the job. There happened to be several drunks passing through the streets and stumbling by the entrance of the church in the dark night, so I waited in secret until they finally wandered off. Then I opened the church gates and doors to check the pool progress. To my surprise, the pool was empty and water covered much of the floor. \u0026ldquo;Asu!\u0026rdquo;, as they say in Peru which means \u0026ldquo;Oh my!\u0026rdquo; Lo and behold, there was a little hole somewhere at the bottom that I couldn\u0026rsquo;t find.\nLong story short, I was able to slow down the leak and fill the pool again, JUST enough to submerge someone. Praise God, there were about 12 people that arrived later in the morning to help me finish up. In spite of the extra work, flooded streets from the rain, and tiredness, it was easily one of my favorite days here in Moyobamba. There was joy, hugs, and lots of family support, as Patrick and Dayanna were baptized and want to continue following Jesus.\nPatrick, myself, and Dayanna wet, yet happy right after the baptism.\nPrayer requests\nFor Jesús\u0026rsquo; preparation for marriage and the next church plant\nFor God to raise up or send more help in the ministry\nFor spiritual growth and unity in the discipleship group\nPraise reports\nGod\u0026rsquo;s strength through the many attacks\nIncreased fellowship among the brothers and sisters at church\nGod\u0026rsquo;s Word is speaking to many through the Wednesday services in Exodus and the Sunday services in 1 John.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/water-should-be-in-the-pool-not-the-church-floor-weakland-march-2025-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all family and friends! Thanks for continuing to take the time and read my newsletters. It brings joy to my heart knowing that you guys are part of the Calvary Moyobamba team with your prayers, messages, and letters of encouragement.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThose Amazon rains!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the Peruvian jungle, there is no spring, summer, fall or winter. Rather, there is the rain season (November-March) and the non-rain season. Throughout February and March, I have never seen so much constant and heavy rain in my life! It has eroded roads, delayed trips, flooded jungle communities, kept people at home, and interrupted prayer meetings (Imagine loud drops pounding on a thin tin roof).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Water should be in the pool, not the church floor - Weakland March 2025 Update"},{"content":"Greeting to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nI am doing good by God’s grace. Thank you for your prayers and support.\nIt is is a joy to see church members and Bible Institute students growing in the knowledge of the Word of God. We had a Bible quiz competition. It was a written test that was organized by a national organization. Members from many churches in our district participated in it. One of our church members one first prize out of the whole district and another won third prize! The man who got first place is a student from our Bible institute who is going to graduate next month.\nIt is such a great reward for me to see the fruit of our hard work teaching the Word of God to our students and to those in our church. They are growing in their faith and knowledge of the Word and the result is evident.\nI can look back and see the importance for growing in Christ and in the Word of God. Three families of our church are from a nearby village. A few years ago, they went through so much persecution in their village. Many people from their village who had accepted Christ and were part of other churches turned their back from their decision. However these believers, who attend our church, stood firm and faced the persecution. They were excommunicated from their tribe (Hindus have many tribes) and were denied any privilege in their village. They were not allowed to talk to other people or buy basic necessities from their village shops. In spite of all this, they stood firm in their faith. I think that one of the main reasons is that their faith is grounded in true knowledge of the Lord according to the Word of God. This encourages me to work even harder to minister to them from the Word of God.\nWe had planned to do some Christmas programs and outreaches in December. However, we were not able to do all of them because were not given permission by the local government officials. Last year an anti-Christian government came into power in our state.\nI was invited to be a guest speaker for a Christmas program at a Christian school. The students of that school performed a really beautiful dance and skit. Then I was given time to address the students and teachers. I shared the real Gospel message to the students and staff of the school. Most of the students and staff are non-Christians. Even the principal is not a Christian. I thank God for the opportunity that I got. I pray that the seed planted in their hearts will grow and that they will be saved.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray that God will continue to use me among the students, church members and community. Pray for my health. May God give me complete healing. I have a dust allergy and my town has a lot of dust. Pray for the students and staff of the school who have heard the Gospel. Pray for a revival in our town. May it become a Christian town. Pray that the Lord will open doors for us to share the Gospel. Pray for the growth of our church. In His service,\nPastor 9\n\\* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/growing-in-gods-word-pastor-9-update-march-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreeting to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am doing good by God’s grace. Thank you for your prayers and support.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is is a joy to see church members and Bible Institute students growing in the knowledge of the Word of God. We had a Bible quiz competition. It was a written test that was organized by a national organization. Members from many churches in our district participated in it. One of our church members one first prize out of the whole district and another won third prize! The man who got first place is a student from our Bible institute who is going to graduate next month.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Growing in God's Word - Pastor 9 Update March 2025"},{"content":"Hello Family and Friends!\nAs always, we pray you are doing well. I’m not sure all of you realize this, but you are a vital part of the ministry we get to do for Saving Grace World Missions. The fact that you read our updates blows us away; we are so grateful! For those of you who give financially, that partnership allows for this ministry to be a part of my full time work, so that missionary care can get more of the attention that it needs! And every time that I hear of someone praying for us, I am reminded that prayer is the engine that keeps our ministry moving and effective. Without your prayers, there is no power behind what we get to do for the Lord. So, from the bottom of our hearts, we want to say thank you!\nOn top of my normal duties on the SGWM Board and as Director of Missionary Care, I (Joel) am happy to announce that we are in the middle of arrangements for me to travel to Uganda, Africa in June! Plane tickets have been purchased and other plans for the trip are in motion. The purpose of the trip is to spend time with our three different missionary families in that country and get to see their ministries first hand. Zoom calls and emails are amazing, helpful technology, but they cannot replace the ministry and missionary care that happens when you get your “boots on the ground.” Please pray for all of the plans to fall in place smoothly for this trip, and that the Lord would take care of the rest of the family while I am away for over two weeks.\nSpeaking of the family, everyone is doing well by the grace of God! The boys have just finished up a season of basketball with the YMCA, and I was privileged to coach Harrison’s team! The girls are doing great as well, and as a family we are enjoying all of the fun experiences that all kids go through, like learning to ride bikes, learning to read, school projects (like building California missions!), field trips, learning sports, learning new instruments, losing teeth and fixing teeth with braces, and everything in between!\nOne special prayer request we have is for financial support. We know that a tough economy is hitting everyone right now, and it has been no easier for us in Southern California on a single-income ministry budget. It is a sacrifice that is well worth it, but we’d ask that you would pray for the Lord’s provision. If you are not already a financial partner, please know that your prayers for us are sufficient, but you are welcomed to prayerfully consider partnering with us financially using the means provided below.\nWe would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/garcia-family-update-march-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Family and Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs always, we pray you are doing well. I’m not sure all of you realize this, but you are a vital part of the ministry we get to do for Saving Grace World Missions. The fact that you read our updates blows us away; we are so grateful! For those of you who give financially, that partnership allows for this ministry to be a part of my full time work, so that missionary care can get more of the attention that it needs! And every time that I hear of someone praying for us, I am reminded that prayer is the engine that keeps our ministry moving and effective. Without your prayers, there is no power behind what we get to do for the Lord. So, from the bottom of our hearts, we want to say thank you!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Garcia Family Update - March 2025"},{"content":"**Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old** he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22: 6\nDear Friends and Family,\nLiving on the equator we have unique times and seasons throughout the year. For instance we have pretty much 12 hours of dark 12 hours of light all year it varies only by minutes. Our summer is not much different then our winter. It is hotter and drier but only by about 10 to 15 degrees. Our summer or hot season takes place during America’s winter. It is during this time of year that the children of Uganda, as well as mine, have their school year break.\nAt Arise Christian Fellowship we try to provide more opportunities for fellowship and teaching during the summer holiday. Many of the children go to boarding school and this is the only time of year they are able to be a part of youth activities at church.\nWe had a kids day at church for the younger kids, 12 and under. Though as usual we did have quite a few teenagers show up to be part of the fun as well. My women’s bible study joined together with the Sunday school teachers to teach and put on a couple of skits. Our Theme was Gods Gift to us Our gift to others. We shared about the gift of creation and how God reveals Himself to us through it. The kids played games and the winners were given little animal toys as a prize. They learned the story of the good Samaritan and the teachers put on a skit showing how we are supposed to love others like God loves us.\nI ended the teachings with the greatest gift God could give us, salvation through Jesus and forgiveness of sins. After the teaching we asked if there was anyone who wanted to receive that gift and if there were those who wanted to pray for others the wished would receive that gift. It was a really sweet time praying for and with the children. After all the teachings were over we had more games and coloring pages and we shared a meal together.\nThe older kids also had many activities to keep them busy and focused on Jesus during the summer holiday. The first thing they all did was to drive 10 hours North to the border of South Sudan. Calvary chapel Cush was hosting a youth conference with Arise ont the Uganda side of the border in a town called Bbibia. Many churches from around the area joined in with their youth as well. Our youth enjoyed participating in reaching teaching and participating in the activities as well as also being able to serve through worship and cleaning up after meals. Some testified at church when they returned about how the trip helped to deepen their friendship, strengthen their faith in God and learned that ministry involves hard work.\nIt is hard to maintain an older kid youth group since most of them go to boarding school. After the conference everyone was gung ho to try and make it work. We came up with the plan to meet every Saturday during holidays and twice a month when school is in. Our Youth leader, Timothy, is calling the youth group RES, rooted, equipped, serve. They have been blessed with many youth coming, way more than went to the conference. What we have found so beneficial and productive is the question and answer time. The youth really want to know the word of God and what it means.\nThe last Sunday before school went back we called the teenagers in service forward. The pastors shared some words of encouragement with them and prayed for them. We also were able to give some basic school supplies to them to help them get stared for the year. We pray that they hold on to all they have learned during this holiday and the faith they have developed will continue to grow as they return to school and the challenges that will come.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for all of you who pray and support the ministry here in Uganda. Pray for the children and youth as they return to school, many to boarding school. Pray for them to be strong in their faith an protected from sickness and evil. Pray the new youth group would continue strongly even though school has resumed. Pray for all the teachers of youth at Arise to find way to reach and encourage the youth who have gone to boarding school. Pray for Jill and the Kanyike children as they begin a new year of homeschooling. Pray for their finances as the big kids schooling is becoming more expensive as Luke has started highschool. Pray for the Kanyike family as they continue to serve the Lord in Uganda. Pray for their spiritual life as well as their physical needs. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-march-2025-update/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"train-up-a-child-in-the-way-he-should-go\"\u003e**Train up a child in the way he should go,\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd when he is old** \u003cstrong\u003ehe will not depart from it\u003c/strong\u003e. \u003cstrong\u003eProverbs 22\u003c/strong\u003e: \u003cstrong\u003e6\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLiving on the equator we have unique times and seasons throughout the year.  For instance we have pretty much 12 hours of dark 12 hours of light all year it varies only by minutes.  Our summer is not much different then our winter.  It is hotter and drier but only by about 10 to 15 degrees.  Our summer or hot season takes place during America’s winter.  It is during this time of year that the children of Uganda, as well as mine, have their school year break.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike March 2025 Update"},{"content":"“And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you.” 1Kings 19:7\nWe all need to rest and recharge from time to time, but depending on our life patterns, we may need to rest and recharge in different ways. For those who work around people schools or offices or offices etc., spending time alone may be refreshing, but for me, my “office” is an IKEA chair in the corner of my living room, and I spend a lot of time alone (at home, in the gym, in the car, or in rickshaw taxis) preparing and researching for teaching, speaking, and now writing my third book.\nSometimes I feel like I’m pouring out mentally, spiritually, and physically but I also need to be refilled as well. Fellowship, communication, and connection (in person or online) with beloved friends and family in Cambodia, the US, and Japan help to refresh me in ways that spending even more time alone, even resting physically, can’t. I also find that to be able to pour into my family I need fellowship beyond my family and so on.\nSince my last update, I took a few days off from work, ministry, and physical therapy etc. to recharge. I also reduced some good but non-essential ministry related commitments and expectations. I also set Tuesdays as my fixed day off because weekends are often to filled with various ministry outpourings to be refreshing. Since then, I’ve also made fellowship, communication, and connection with others a high priority.\nRecently, I have been blessed to spend time fellowshipping and recharging with brothers from around the globe (Africa, Asia, and Pacific Islands). One brother, Joe, a missionary from Fiji, founded and leads Hope Ministry here in Cambodia, which evangelizes, teaches, and supports in various ways, Cambodian children and their families in impoverished communities across the nation. God has put it on Kayo and my hearts to be senders/partners for Cambodia based/founded/funded/and led ministries like Hope and others (Precious Women Organization, Bethel Mission Organization, Light Association/Light Times Magazine).\nWe partner with these ministries in the same ways our senders and partners in the US and Japan support us. They also partner with others, so the blessings keep flowing. Please pray for Joe, his family, and his team for wisdom, favor, and financial provision especially now, as they are finalizing their registration with the Cambodian government. Because of the economic status of Fiji, Hope Ministry etc. must trust God to provide most of the funds here in Cambodia (international Christian community and tentmaking). Another challenge for Joe etc. is that he finds it easier to raise funds for things like school supplies for poor children than behind the scenes necessities like legal documents and his family’s daily needs etc. So much more to share but this update is getting long!\nPlease also pray for Kayo’s strength especially now that we are in the hot season with highs in the mid 90s now and expected to be as high as 105F with high humidity (possible blackouts…). Kayo had several days of sickness but has recovered now. She continues to mentor and teach the Bible to women from various nations at the international church and at Precious Women Organization. She also continues working studying online for continuing education and many other activities.\nBenjamin came back from a school trip with high fever and heat exhaustion (near heatstroke). He has recovered fully. He has some major international tests over the next two months. Please pray for him and for wisdom and doors to open for his future (he will graduate and return to the US in 2 years!)\nSorry I don’t have any recent family photos. All three of us are camera shy and we don’t have anyone around to take pictures of us (against our will) 😉\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/recharging-record-update-march-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“And the angel of the Lord came back the second time, and touched him, and said, “Arise \u003cem\u003eand\u003c/em\u003e eat, because the journey \u003cem\u003eis\u003c/em\u003e too great for you.” 1Kings 19:7\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe all need to rest and recharge from time to time, but depending on our life patterns, we may need to rest and recharge in different ways.  For those who work around people schools or offices or offices etc., spending time alone may be refreshing, but for me, my “office” is an IKEA chair in the corner of my living room, and I spend a lot of time alone (at home, in the gym, in the car, or in rickshaw taxis) preparing and researching for teaching, speaking, and now writing my third book.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Recharging - Record Family Update March 2025"},{"content":"February 2025 Newsletter\nJoshua Vanrenterghem\nThat power is prayer, which soars on high, through Jesus, to the throne, and moves the hand which moves the world, to bring salvation down.”James Wallace\nDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\nGod has brought me down to Peru at quite a season of ministry! God is moving greatly here in Trujillo, and though I have only been here about two months, God has been bringing many new people to the church to the point that we had to add a third Sunday service! For some of you that doesn’t sound too bad, as the church where I grew up had 6 services between Saturday and Sunday at one point. But it is a great encouragement and sign of revival.\nDisaster Strikes\nUnfortunately, in the middle of February something terrible happened in the city! The roof of the food court in one of the only two malls in Trujillo fell and killed many people. It was a little shocking personally because I was in that very spot eating lunch the day before. As a church we went out and made basic needs available, but mostly to pray and comfort the families who lost loved ones and waited outside the mall. To make things worse, the authorities lied to the public and press by severely underreporting the deaths, sneaking bodies out during the night.\nEven in disaster, God uses it all for His glory. Being the only church there to help, many heard about Calvary Trujillo. That Sunday, and since, we have been packed to the doors until we had to begin the third service.\nContinuing In Prayer\nDuring my time set aside to pray at the beginning of the year, the phrase God gave me was “continue in prayer”. So far, this has been coming up over and over again. Prayer is truly what moves the hands which move the world. Another man, E.M. Bounds put it this way, “prayer effects men by effecting God, prayer moves men because it moves God to move man. Prayer influences man because it influences God to influence them. Prayer moves the hand that moves the world.”\nWith that being said, we pray that God moves in providing a property for the children’s home and the church. Because we believe it is vitally important as a ministry to be overseen and run through the local church, the ministry of the church and home go hand in hand. Right now we are focusing on finding a new property that will be big enough to fit the new growth of the church and the Calvary Bible Institute as we are also looking for property for the children’s home at the same time. It has been pretty difficult. Prices are ridiculous near the city, sometimes costing even more than some places in the States. Regardless, I know the Lord will provide in His perfect time as we continue in prayer. Personally, this has given me a sweet season of preparation and reconnecting with the church.\nMore Language Learning?!\nOne awesome thing I have gotten into is the deaf community at church. An amazing missionary from Columbia named Sara began the deaf ministry at Calvary Trujillo just after I left in 2023. Now there are many deaf people who have been baptized and come every Sunday. Something stunning about the deaf community in South America is that many are never taught sign language, so they never get to communicate with anyone. Not just that, but even if they do learn it, most family members or people around them never bother to learn it so they still barely communicate. This also means many never hear about the gospel. One Wednesday night, I decided to talk with the first deaf couple to come to the church and during the conversation they asked me (through a translator) “Why don’t you talk to us? People who hear don’t talk to us much, why?” The question kind of shocked me, but it also convicted me because even as I gave my excuse that I didn’t know sign language, I felt it was inadequate.\nAfter that conversation I decided to sit with them for Sunday service, and while watching the lady translate the preaching in signs, I got a message on my phone from an app that gives me quotes every once in a while for fun. It said “Life isn’t a spectator sport”. When I read that, I felt like the Lord was calling me to invest time and learn sign language so I could talk with the deaf. Since then Arabela, one of the deaf ladies, has been teaching me Peruvian Sign Language every Sunday and Wednesday after service. Although it is not super complicated, it does make Spanish feel very easy. But the Lord has been ministering to me each time, I am have fun learning every time.\nCalling All Partners! It is my honor to connect you, my sisters and brothers in America, to all God is doing on the mission field, and show you the fruit of your work through me! If you would like get more involved in this work, there are different ways you can partner with with me as I seek to fulfill my call to rescue and care for children in trafficking.\nOne way you can support is through joining my Signal group. This is where I send prayer requests and more frequent updates on my life in the mission field of Peru! You can join this group by responding to this email.\nAnother important way to partner is financially. If you feel lead to become a financial partner, you can give through the link found at the bottom of this news letter! It is by your generosity that I am provided for on the field and available to give my all in this new work.\nPraise Reports\nThe great blessings of growth at the church Watching the growth of all the students at the Bible school Creating new relationships in the deaf community Prayer Requests\nBlessing over our search for a new church property Provision for a place for the children’s home Wisdom for the leadership of the church regarding all the new growth Comfort for the families and the light of the gospel to shine after the tragedy at the mall. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/we-need-more-space-vanrenterghem-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFebruary 2025 Newsletter\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJoshua Vanrenterghem\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat power is prayer, which soars on high, through Jesus, to the throne, and moves the hand which moves the world, to bring salvation down.”James Wallace\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod has brought me down to Peru at quite a season of ministry! God is moving greatly here in Trujillo, and though I have only been here about two months, God has been bringing many new people to the church to the point that we had to add a third Sunday service! For some of you that doesn’t sound too bad, as the church where I grew up had 6 services between Saturday and Sunday at one point. But it is a great encouragement and sign of revival.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We Need More Space! - Vanrenterghem Update"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and for your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well, God has kept us safe.\nLast month we got the chance to visit brother A\u0026rsquo;s* house. We had fellowship with his family in the Word of God. I got the chance to share the Word of God there.\nBrother A* is surfing with pain. He had neck surgery, but the surgery was not good. Since then his whole body is paralyzed. He has been unable to walk or stand up for a year. We are continuing to visit him and pray for him and share the Word of God with him and his family.\nLast month our church conducted a children\u0026rsquo;s program. 50 kids participated. It was a wonderful time with them. The Word of God was shared through songs and a skit.\nI met a child named P*. She has a hole in her heart. She has to have an operation. I prayed for her.\nI am also teaching a computer class at our Calvary Bible Institute.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for my children to grow in Lord’s fear and knowledge and also for their final exams. Please pray our house visitation ministry. Please also pray for the students as they share the Word of God. May the Lord use them. Please pray for our local village ministry. May the villagers grow in the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word. Please pray for the youth of our local area to walk in the Lord. Please pray for our CBI students to grow in the Word. Please pray for the young girl, P*, who has a hole in her heart. Pray that her operation goes well. Blessings,\nPaster 16* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/by-thy-word-pastor-16-update-march-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and for your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well, God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/dd42d41c-fcf9-4ce2-943e-838d61a1859e.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month we got the chance to visit brother A\u0026rsquo;s* house. We had fellowship with his family in the Word of God. I got the chance to share the Word of God there.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"By Thy Word - Pastor 16 Update March 2025"},{"content":"AFRICAMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nDear brothers and sisters in Christ, Thank you so much for your continual love and support.\nThis month, we can praise God that:\n· After three long years, the pastors and church leaders finished their last week of Bible school! · God is sending an intern named Morgan Landrey to live and work with us for two months! · A wonderful new church was just built in a rural area of the north by the father of a wonderful friend of mine who is a general in the Ugandan military.\nThis month, please pray with us that:\n· God will bless the churches represented by the 35 church leaders who have just finished their last week of classes with the pastoral school of discipleship.\n· Pray that their churches will be fruitful in the Lord and abounding with good works that are worthy of the name of our Lord Jesus. · God will bless Morgan\u0026rsquo;s time with us that she will learn what God has sent her here to learn and accomplish what He has sent her here to do. · God would heal my legs. (I broke the navicular bone in my left foot by stepping into a hole I didn\u0026rsquo;t see, and my right leg was mauled severely by a dog)\nIn Christ,Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family - Email BlogUSABond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n· Pray for the teams heading to Nepal in March for medical and hiking to remote places for a fruitful time of sharing and for ready hearts to receive the good news. · Pray for our time in S. Asia in March as we teach at the bible college, host a conference for nationals and encourage / refresh the front line workers. · Pray for the new semesters that are underway in Nepal and S. Asia, for the new students, for the teachers, for the Word being taught to take root and for transformation in the students lives. · Pray for us to manage our time with additional responsibilities in this season, for good health, for protection from spiritual warfare, for sweet times as a family.\nThank you for praying, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona\nBond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email BlogJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n· Please pray for the salvation of some of the residents in our Bible Study at the assisted living facility. Though they know much about God, pray that they will fully surrender their hearts to God and belief in the truth of His Word, and receive Him in their hearts.\n· Please continue to pray for my parents’ health.\n· Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\n· Please pray that God will continually strengthen our faith and service for Him.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,Paul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email BlogJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n· Please pray for the Christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.\n· Please pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health, for complete recovery.\n· Please pray for our nursing home ministry, that the lost will come to know Jesus.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email BlogJoel and Amy Garcia - Yorba Linda, California\n· Praise God Joel is approved and funded for a trip to Uganda this June!\n· Please pray that the Lord gives guidance and provision as he works with our missionaries on the ground there on details of the trip. · Pray that if the Lord has a larger team to join him and Isaac (his traveling partner), that the Lord would speak to those people.\nThank you all!\nLove in Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email BlogGary and Tina Barrow - Reno, California\nI’m headed back to South Asia for the next 2 months. I’ll be leading a small team of pastors and faithful servants. We will be holding a 2 day youth conference in the north, another 3 day conference and graduation in an area that SGWM has not been able to visit for the past 6 years due to heavy persecution.\nWe will be going to an area never visited by SGWM before in order to witness the work going on there and to encourage our workers. After this, we will be headed to another area where a new work has started about a year ago. The worker there has recently be brought on as a SGWM worker. God has really been blessing this work and it’s a joy to go there and witness what the Lord is doing.\nThen we are headed to an area where SGWM has recently completed construction on a new facility that houses one of our CBI’s. There we will be teaching a block class through one of the books of the Bible and doing a week long discipleship meeting with former graduates. We will be focusing on what it means to be a pastor.\nFinally we will head out for a few weeks to be with a newly married couple. They are also engaged in a new-ish work. Our time there will be spent on discipleship, coming alongside them to encourage and strengthen them in the ministry God has called them too.\nThe over arching theme God has placed on my heart for this trip is the importance of God’s Word and serving Him faithfully, in the way He would have us serve Him.\nAs I leave the South Asia, I will stop over in Germany for a short stay. I will be revisiting many people who were in our church, when we lived in Leutershausen, to catch up with them. One of the members of our church, Calvary Chapel Ansbach, recently got married. He’s a young man that we consider to be part of our family, so I will spend time with him, meet his wife and pour into them for 4 days.\nPlease pray for God’s mercy \u0026amp; grace, as well as the presence of His Spirit to lead and guide as we are engaged in a great work in His name. Pray that God would bless each and everyday with a greater blessing than He blessed the day before.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless,\nGary and Tina Barrow - Email BlogMexicoMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nHi friends, Here are the prayer requests for Mike and Sarah! · That God would bless our next church plant in the prisons (Libre en el, Free in him) which will be officially launched in April! · For God\u0026rsquo;s blessing as we try and do a better job of connecting and plugging in our guests and visitors to the church!\nAnswered prayers?\nGood jobs in San Diego for our children, Grace and Daniel!\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email BlogDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello and here are my prayer request for February: PRAISE— my mom is doing so much better. (84 years old lives alone with Parkinsons). I am just so thankful to the Lord for this and continue to pray for her well-being. · A nursery worker for Wednesday night.\n· A teacher for the 8 to 11-year-olds on Wednesday night.\n· The homes of our neighbors in this community during the rainy season as the rain enters into their homes. · For Much needed wisdom in the day-to-day with the kids in the afterschool program (Special needs children, children with trauma), We need God‘s wisdom and love to help them. Thank you so much for Your prayers! - Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth AmericaCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nHey SGWM FAMILY, thank you for your faithfulness to keep us missionaries in your prayers!\n· Pray for Daisy\u0026rsquo;s therapy and pain management. She has been going through intensive pain in her neck, back, lower back and hands since november.\nThank you from our hearts, Craig and Daisy - Email BlogAndrew Weakland - Peru\n· For a right hand man to help me with the ministry.\n· Growth in fellowship at Calvary Moyobamba\n- Andrew Weakland - Email BlogJoshua Vanrenterghem - Peru\n· Grace, mercy, and peace as I begin to assist pastor Cory with things related to the children’s home and discipling the teenage boys, interning at the CBI, and finishing my last class.\n· To learn much from a conference I will be attending this February 20-22 in Trujillo about equipping people to take care of children from traumatic backgrounds.\n· Wisdom for how we can help the teenage boys from Ninos del Mundo get better taken care of.\n· To find the perfect property for the children’s home, and all the different resources that we will need to raise children rescued from trafficking.\n- Joshua Vanrenterghem Email Blog10/40 WindowThe 10/40 Window The 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)Worker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPraise Points\n· Praise the Lord, He has kept me and my family safe. · Praise the Lord, He is leading the people of our church forward in faith and in the Word. · Praise the Lord, there was idol worship in our village, and they installed an idol in front of our house, but by the mercy of the Lord, we were not attacked.\nPrayer Requests\n· In the coming days, there are many types of Hindu festivals in our area. May God protect our family and Christian brothers and sisters.\n· There are elections in the coming months. Pray that God will give us a government that allows us to worship and pray in peace, and pray that no law will be made against spreading the Good News.\n· We are planning to do several types of outreach in the coming months. Please pray that God will open the door to a village that has not heard the Good News yet.\n· A pastor from the states in coming soon to visit, which will be the first time in our area. Pray that God will protect him and that God will keep us safe, too.\n· Please pray for my wife. Three of her teeth are painful and hollow, and she needs treatment. Pray that God will provide a good place to go for medical care near here so that we will not have to travel for treatment.\n· Two students from my church are ready to go to Bible school. Please pray that there will be no hindrance to them going, before the next semester. The last time I sent a student to Bible school, his parents called the police.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership and participation in spreading the Gospel! God bless you all! Worker 11\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPrayer Requests: · Please pray for good health for our team.\n· Pray for our upcoming trip to the northern part of Nepal, where we will be sharing Christ in the coming days.\n· Pray for our community outreach, where we will be inviting local people to hear about the Gospel.\nPray for our Bible school, which has started this week, that God may guide us in teaching and equipping the students.· Pray for our interns, that God may use them powerfully in ministry. Thank you for your prayers and support,Anand, Usha, Asher and Amos Email Blog\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\n· Please continue to pray for my (Darryl) recovery from Guillain Barre Syndrome. I\u0026rsquo;m making rapid progress and having opportunities to praise God in the process. · Please pray for us as we have been able to return to most of our regular ministries recently and please pray for all of our ministry partners here in Cambodia. · Please pray for a restful summer as we will not be able to return to visit the USA as we had hoped. In Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-march-2025-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/5c5401fe-f7b9-4e8b-9b8f-faeef3b55e6a.jpg\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nDear brothers and sisters in Christ, Thank you so much for your continual love and support.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis month, we can praise God that:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n·   After three long years, the pastors and church leaders finished their last week of Bible school! \u003cbr\u003e\n·   God is sending an intern named Morgan Landrey to live and work with us for two months! \u003cbr\u003e\n·   A wonderful new church was just built in a rural area of the north by the father of a wonderful friend of mine who is a general in the Ugandan military.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM MARCH 2025 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico. At the end of January, I was blessed to take a missions trip to our church plant in Loreto (South Baja) and in this update, I wanted to tell you all about this fruitful trip!\nElmer and Crystal Cardenas arrived at our church many years ago with broken lives and a broken marriage. They both quickly professed faith, were born again, and God lit a holy fire in them. They both quickly went “All in” in their new found faith, and began serving together in the church.\nElmer eventually approached me and asked to join our church planting program! Together, they joined our class and began their training. After Elmer completed his 2nd year, he assisted his good friend Eddie Mijares plant his church in the Tijuana dump in a community called Homex. After Elmer completed his third year, we sent him out with a mission’s team to plant a bilingual church in Loreto!\nFast forward to four years later, I got to lead an 11 person mission’s team to Loreto to host a conference for the churches in the city! The conference was fantastic with over 100 local pastors and leaders in attendance including leaders from eight different denominations.\nBut for me, the Sunday service was even more amazing as this growing church had about 150 in attendance. I also got to spend time with nine of my friends from Calvary Rosarito who had moved down to be part of this church plant use their gifts to serve, and that filled my heart with joy.\nA special highlight for me was chatting with three of Elmer’s future church planters that have completed their church planting program. Each one of these men are praying and preparing to be sent out to one of the local communities around Loreto! Please pray for these men as they prepare to take this step of faith to plant their first church!\nAt the end of our trip, Elmer and his team took us over to a new piece of land that his church is purchasing to build their own permanent church building. I remember when Elmer told me they were going to purchase this land even though they had very little money. Although to be honest, I lacked faith that it would ever happen, his church family stepped out in faith, gave generously, and God has abundantly provided. Thank you Lord for your faithfulness to our church in Loreto and to all of our church plants.\nAs I am writing this update, I am preparing to go to prison in Tijuana tomorrow! PLEASE DON’T PANIC!!! I’m not being thrown into prison, but am happily going with a good friend of mine named Jesse Garcia along with our church planting board to take a church planting vision tour.\nThe good news is that our next church plant is going to be planted in the largest prison in our state in a place called El Hongo! It has been a dream of mine for many years to plant a church in the local prison system, and it seems like God is making that dream come true. You will hear a lot more about this church plant in the future, but please keep this in your prayers.\nFinally, I want to once again thank you for your generous partnership with our family. It is through your prayers that God meet’s our spiritual needs, and it’s through your financial giving that God meet’s our physical needs. We love you and are praying for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God will bless our upcoming church plant in the Tijuana prison!\n#2- Pray that God will bless our new church planting classes, and the 51 students enrolled. (Many of them first timers)\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a wonderful SoCal church planting conference at the start of January!\n#2- Praise God for a blessed visit to our church plant in Loreto South Baja.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-february-2025-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. At the end of January, I was blessed to take a missions trip to our church plant in Loreto \u003cem\u003e(South Baja)\u003c/em\u003e and in this update, I wanted to tell you all about this fruitful trip!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2025/01/470594420%5F10162367688434208%5F8053047393809161631%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eElmer and Crystal Cardenas arrived at our church many years ago with broken lives and a broken marriage. They both quickly professed faith, were born again, and God lit a holy fire in them. They both quickly went “All in” in their new found faith, and began serving together in the church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family February 2025 Missions Update"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico. February was a blessed but busy month in our ministry, and in this update I want to tell you all about it. The foundation of our church’s missions program is our church planting program, and that all begins with our weekly church planting class. At the start of February we started our new class of church planting and we were surprised with nearly 50 students including 12 first timers.\nThe requirements to be in our class are that you #1- Are a faithful servant in the church, and #2- You are open to being sent out as a church planter or part of a church planting team. Over the years, each one of our 41 church planters have completed this course, and our 25 2nd and 3rd generation church planters have also completed the church planting class which was begun by their pastors in their local churches.\nAs I looked around at this years class, I reminded each one to believe that God can use them to do a great work. Because of the fruit of our program, many of our rookies begin the program wide eyed with hearts full of fear. I encourage them to work hard and to (even more importantly) trust in the work that the Lord wants to do through them. I also had two of our final semester students share a testimony of how God called them during their time in the class to be sent out to do the church planting work that God has called them to do.\nI do have some breaking news to share with you about our church planting program! The final words that Jesus shared in Acts 1:8 were “you shall be my witnesses, in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth!” Our church has done a great job of reaching our city (Jerusalem) our surrounding cities (Judea) and the other states that are close to us. (Samaria) But we have found it a challenge to send church planters to the ends of the earth!\nAs the word has gotten out about our church plants, I have had many men from other countries reach out to me and ask me to train them to church plant in their respective countries. Over the past couple years I’ve been praying about how we could do that, and in February I’m happy to announce that we started our very first Online International church planting class!\nIn this years class we have four students that live in the Philippines, Kenya, and Uganda. Each one of these men have been contacting me for over a year and we even attempted (unsucesfully) to get two of them over here to Mexico to train at our church in person. After much prayer, God showed us a way that we could do our church planting program 100% online, with our online participants receiving the same training that our local students receive. Were only three weeks into this new class, but so far it’s been fantastic. Please pray that this new online program bears much fruit.\nIn February, I was also interviewed by my good friend Pastor Hugo Limon for his SPOTIFY church planting podcast! Though mostly in Spanish, this podcast is one of the highest rated mission’s podcasts on Spotify. Hugo and I had a great time chatting together and reminiscing about the great things that God has done through his church and the 11 church plant’s he has sent out in just 10 years. You can listen to my bilingual interview by searching “Plantacion de Iglesias con Hugo Limon”! (I am on episode 26)\nWe ended the month with a Vincent Family Reunion! My brother Matt brought out his six children (all adults now) and I brought up Grace and Daniel, who hadn’t seen their Kentucky cousins in over five years. We had a wonderful time eating, fellowship, singing, and eating some more, and as always my mom was a great host! Our time together reminded me how blessed I am by the Lord to have been raised by a mom and dad that honored the Lord and taught us to do the same.\nWe had a spiritually fruitful month, but we could not have done any of this without you, our generous ministry partners. Our family could have never lived here in the ripe mission fields of Mexico for the past 23 years if it weren’t for precious friends like you that choose to partner with us through your financial support and prayers! We love you and are praying for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God will bless our new church planting students!\n#2- Pray that God will bless my two missions trips in March to visit our church plants. (Mazatlan and Morelia)\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God that three of our church plants are planting their first churches in the next few months.\n#2- Praise God for a blessed family reunion and a quick vacation with Sarah to celebrate Valentines Day together.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-march-2025-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. February was a blessed but busy month in our ministry, and in this update I want to tell you all about it. The foundation of our church’s missions program is our church planting program, and that all begins with our weekly church planting class. At the start of February we started our new class of church planting and we were surprised with nearly 50 students including 12 first timers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family March 2025 Missions Update"},{"content":"It has been almost 6 months since coming home from CSOM, and it has been amazing. Since coming home from Mexico my life has completely changed. I have moved to Yorba Linda California, and have started my first year in Mts (Missions training school). I have been learning a lot since moving here, I am serving in the church multiple days a week learning all the aspects of running a church and it has been a blessing. I am serving in the nursery, lyrics for the sanctuary on Sundays, and even helping doing worship for our life group. The Lord has been teaching me all that it takes to run a church, but most importantly how much each role matters. All roles are equal in the eyes of God. Whether you are in ministry or not no one is greater than another. We all have our roles as a body in the church. We each have our strengths and weaknesses. We each have our gifts the Lord has given us for a reason and we must trust the plan and reason the Lord has given these gifts.\nEvery Thursday we do a college outreach in Fullerton going between two different campuses. it has been a growing experience for me. It’s pushing me to get out of my comfort zone and grasp the reality of the world we live in. The colleges are full of a lot of different religious groups including some cults. One Thursday I went out and got to talk to a few people and for some reason this day I felt more scared of walking up to a stranger and asking them questions about Jesus, but I prayed that the Holy Spirit would use me and give me the strength and confidence in Christ. The Lord gave me confidence through him, I didn’t find confidence in myself but through Jesus. I had the realization that some of the people may never have heard of the gospel before, or some may have grown up in a different state or even country. Our mission field starts here right where we live. I have started helping with the social media team, and it allows me to capture the moments of others spreading the good news and others receiving the Gospel.\nThank you all for taking the time to read this letter, i hope you enjoyed it\nif you would like to support me there are a couple of different ways, you can help support me financially, and most of all prayerfully. if you feel the Lord is guiding you to give there is a link down below, but most of all prayer is a powerful thing. So please keep me in your prayers. I will be having connection cards coming out shortly, please email me and I can send some out to you!\nGod bless you\n-Emma\nPrayer Requests:\nThe Lord to give me confidence through Him To use my time and resources for what the Lord wants with it. Financial support praise reports:\nThe Lord has confirmed missions is where He is leading me I am learning more aspects of ministry The Lord is providing in amazing ways ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/welcome-back/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt has been almost 6 months since coming home from CSOM, and it has been amazing. Since coming home from Mexico my life has completely changed. I have moved to Yorba Linda California, and have started my first year in Mts (Missions training school). I have been learning a lot since moving here, I am serving in the church multiple days a week learning all the aspects of running a church and it has been a blessing. I am serving in the nursery, lyrics for the sanctuary on Sundays, and even helping doing worship for our life group. The Lord has been teaching me all that it takes to run a church, but most importantly how much each role matters. All roles are equal in the eyes of God. Whether you are in ministry or not no one is greater than another. We all have our roles as a body in the church. We each have our strengths and weaknesses. We each have our gifts the Lord has given us for a reason and we must trust the plan and reason the Lord has given these gifts.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Welcome Back - Contratto Update February 2025"},{"content":"The time has come to return to the 10/40 Window. The statistics are literally staggering.\nFor example, as I write this update, there is approximately 8.09 billion people in the world. It’s estimated that 42% of the worlds population, or 3.45 billion people have never heard the name of Jesus. The 10/40 Window is often called “The Resistant Belt” and includes the majority of the world’s Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists\nMore than half of the world’s population and people groups live in the 10/40 Window. The 10/40 Window is also infamous for having the greatest population of unreached people and unreached people groups. That means they have no access to the Gospel, that means they have no access to a Bible, there’s no Christian presence, no church or believer who could even share the Gospel with them. I believe Christ died for these people and they have the right to hear the Gospel at least once in their life in order to make a decision for Christ.\nAs I write this update, there has been 270,000 people born today, over 20.2 million people born this year. 126,000 deaths today, and over 9.5 million people have died this year. We’re just 2 months into 2025. That’s more than 1.1 million people dying each week, and the overwhelming majority of them don’t know Jesus. Again, nearly half of them have never had a chance to receive Him as their Savior before stepping into eternity to be forever separated from Him.\nAs if that’s not bad enough, the statistics don’t stop there. More than 70% of the world’s evangelistic witness is focused on the world’s historically Christian countries. Most of the churches in the west retain over 90% of God’s resources for itself. That means that 90% of all giving in the west is directed towards staff salaries, buildings, and educational materials for people who are already in the Kingdom.\nDon’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with paid staff, buildings to meet in or preparing a comfortable place for believers. My point is that there are so many people who need to hear about the salvation that is found in Christ alone and still haven’t heard. They are born, live their lives, they die and then go to hell without ever hearing that Christ died for their sins. It’s something that haunts me. And I believe it is something that breaks the Lord’s heart.\nThe unreached are unreached because they’re hard to reach. It takes time and money, and it’s a long term investment. Great returns aren’t seen instantly. Truth be told a great harvest among the unreached may not even be realized for decades.\nI believe that God has given His church a command to go in to all the world to make disciples. It’s not a valid excuse to say, “But Lord, we didn’t go because they’re hard to reach.”\nI want to be like David, who was a man after God’s heart, a man that was obedient, who would do all of God’s will. At the end of my life, I want to stand before the Lord and hear Him say, “Well done, good and faithful servant…”\nThese are the things that stir me to do what I do. They are the things that God has placed upon my heart to direct me into His call for my life.\nGod has opened an amazing door for me to oversee the teaching at our CBI’s (Calvary Bible Institutes) in the 10/40 Window. And He has given me the opportunity to go for extended periods of time to teach, disciple and encourage our guys on the ground. To encourage them to go where we could never go, to take the Gospel to those who have never ever heard. It’s a great privilege to have the opportunities that I currently have. But we need to make the most of them while we have them.\nI have a great deal of travel planned for 2025. I have 4 extended trips planned this year. To start, I’ll be flying out March 3rd for a 2 1/2 month trip. Please keep this trip in your prayers as I will be leading a small team of pastors and faithful servants to the 10/40 window. Pray that God’s Spirit would move mightily on the hearts of the people who will be attending the Bible studies. Pray for our national pastors as we come alongside of them to further equip, encourage and strengthen them for the work ahead.\nWe will be holding a 2 day youth conference in the north. We will also hold another 3 day conference and graduation at one of our CBI’s, which happens to be in an area that we have not been able to visit in the past 6 years due to heavy persecution. I love doing conferences because the results are always wonderful. It’s a time of equipping our guys for the harvest that’s ahead.\nWe will be going to an area never visited before by SGWM staff. We’ll be going there to witness the work that’s going on there and to encourage our workers.\nAfter that, we will be headed to another area where a new work has started about a year ago. It’s a work that God has really been blessing and it’s a great joy for me to go there and spend time with our national worker there. It’s always a fruitful time of fellowship and growth, while seeing all that the Lord is doing.\nThen we will be flying on to an area where SGWM has recently completed construction on a new facility that houses one of our CBI’s. We will be teaching block classes through one of the books of the Bible and doing a week long discipleship meeting with former graduates. We will be focusing on what it means to be a pastor.\nFinally we will head out for a few weeks to spend time with a newly married couple. They are also engaged in a new-ish work. Our time there will be spent on discipleship, coming alongside them to encourage and strengthen them in the ministry God has called them too. This is a couple I dearly love and I expect it to be a time of great refreshing for all of us.\nThe over arching theme that God has placed on my heart for this trip is the importance of God’s Word and serving Him faithfully, in the way He would have us serve Him.\nAs I leave the 10/40 Window, I will stop over in Germany for a short stay. I will be visiting many people who were in our church, Calvary Chapel Ansbach, when we lived in Leutershausen. It will be a blessed time of reconnecting and catching up with them.\nI’ve really been looking forward to this trip since I started planning it some 4-5 months ago.\nAgain, I’d ask you to be praying for us as we go. Pray for God’s mercy, His grace, as well as His presence to lead and guide as we engage in this great work among the unreached, for His glory.\nPlease pray that God would bless each and everyday with a greater blessing than He blessed the day before.\nAs always, I’m incredibly humbled by your willingness to stand with us in this ministry through your prayers. Thank you for your friendship, love, prayers and support. We’re a team. Tina and I happen to be the spearhead and all of you are the shaft. Both are equally important to accomplish its purpose.\nThank you again for your prayers.\nGod bless,\nGary\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/literally-staggering/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe time has come to return to the 10/40 Window. The statistics are literally staggering.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor example, as I write this update, there is approximately 8.09 billion people in the world. It’s estimated that 42% of the worlds population, or 3.45 billion people have never heard the name of Jesus. The 10/40 Window is often called \u003cstrong\u003e“The Resistant Belt”\u003c/strong\u003e and includes the majority of the world’s Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Literally Staggering - Barrow Update February 2025"},{"content":"BY MATTHEW AND NOELLE HARRIS FEBRUARY 17, 2025 UPDATE\nBe diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 2 TIMOTHY 2:15\nAfter finishing their study through the book of Revelation in December, the church leaders returned for one last week to recap what they had learned through the Bible. It was a wonderful week of hard work, remembrance, and celebration. Each of the pastors had two final projects: they each had to present the Gospel through a sermon based on a biblical theme as well as prove their knowledge of the timeline of Scripture and the major points of the biblical themes, feasts, and covenants (if you do not understand what that is all about please ask me sometime). It was a blessing to watch them display what they had learned and how far they had come. To their surprise, on Friday morning, they retook the pre-course exam. We could not gain control of the room when the students received the scores they earned at the beginning of the school, along with the scores they had just earned. The commotion was thunderous! On the test covering basic Bible knowledge, men who had been serving as pastors for years and scored as low as 14% on their first day of class were overjoyed with scores of 99-100%! Directly after the excitement, we ushered everyone into the dining hall, where they received a word of encouragement to continue growing in Christ and serving Him.\nUnfortunately, the day ended poorly for me as I broke my foot during the sermon that Friday (I had never known I could do that:)). During the sermon, I walked outside to ensure the catering would be done on time, but when I stepped two feet down off of the veranda, my foot landed in a hidden hole and cracked my navicular bone:(. Unfortunately, my right leg was badly mauled by a dog a week later, making it very difficult to walk with crutches. Unfortunately, due to the water scarcity in the dry season, the city water has been cut intermittently, causing Noelle to need to fetch water in cans from the church. Last-unfortunately, our daughter Emma fell backward into a row of large rocks while carrying her sister Charlotte on her back and badly tore a muscle in her upper arm (fortunately, Charlotte was not hurt). In light of all that, it goes without saying that Noelle is tired:).\nThis month, our family was blessed to receive an intern named Morgan Landrey, who will be staying with us for two months. Morgan is a wonderful young lady from Aurora who simply wants to serve God and experience life on the mission field. During her stay, Morgan will help Noelle homeschool our children, help minister to the widows in our program, teach Sunday School, help write curriculum for the Bible College, serve wherever she can, and most importantly, build relationships with everyone here, including us. By God’s providence, Morgan will also be able to utilize the Business Administration degree she just earned by assisting the ministry accountant and human resource manager in the office. We are excited to witness everything God will do in and through her while she is here.\nThis month, please pray with us that: – God would comfort and bless the family of our head pastor, Fred Latim, as they are mourning the loss of Fred’s mother.\n– God will bless the churches represented by the 35 church leaders who have just finished their last week of classes with the pastoral school of discipleship. Pray that their churches will be fruitful in the Lord and abounding with good works that are worthy of the name of our Lord Jesus.\n– God will bless Morgan’s time with us that she will learn what God has sent her here to learn and accomplish what He has sent her here to do.\n– God would heal my legs and Emma’s arm and give Noelle strength and rest as she takes care of us.\nMay God bless you as you represent Him this month In Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-february-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBY  \u003ca href=\"/harris/author/harris/\"\u003eMATTHEW AND NOELLE HARRIS\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/harris/2025/02/17/february-2025/\"\u003eFEBRUARY 17, 2025\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/harris/category/update/\"\u003eUPDATE\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBe diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 2 TIMOTHY 2:15\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2025/02/20250212%5F165614.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter finishing their study through the book of Revelation in December, the church leaders returned for one last week to recap what they had learned through the Bible. It was a wonderful week of hard work, remembrance, and celebration. Each of the pastors had two final projects: they each had to present the Gospel through a sermon based on a biblical theme as well as prove their knowledge of the timeline of Scripture and the major points of the biblical themes, feasts, and covenants (if you do not understand what that is all about please ask me sometime). It was a blessing to watch them display what they had learned and how far they had come. To their surprise, on Friday morning, they retook the pre-course exam. We could not gain control of the room when the students received the scores they earned at the beginning of the school, along with the scores they had just earned. The commotion was thunderous! On the test covering basic Bible knowledge, men who had been serving as pastors for years and scored as low as 14% on their first day of class were overjoyed with scores of 99-100%! Directly after the excitement, we ushered everyone into the dining hall, where they received a word of encouragement to continue growing in Christ and serving Him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update -  February 2025"},{"content":"Greetings to all of you!\nI want to thank God the Father and all of you. Thank you for always praying for us and encouraging us through God\u0026rsquo;s Word every day. I thank God that, despite the fog and cold here, my family has been protected from pain and illness. God has protected us from all kinds of opponents even as persecution is increasing here day-by-day. People are being tortured in various ways by the villagers and the society. Praise be to God\u0026ndash;despite the torture here, people are growing in their faith in the Lord and people are giving their lives to the Lord.\nI thank God that by His grace this month went very well. It was very cold here, but we still went to two to three villages every week and studied, prayed and worshiped together. Twice a week we also have fellowship at our home, a Bible study on Friday and a Sunday service on Sunday.\n\nHere are the testimonies of some people who gave their lives to the Lord and accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior last month.\nThe Lord chose a drunkard who used to beat his wife. The Lord completely changed his life.\nI thank God that He is really great and alive. He has the power to change people\u0026rsquo;s lives. This brother\u0026rsquo;s name is VY*. He has four children. He is a three-wheel (rickshaw) taxi driver. We hired him to take us to do outreaches. When he went from village to village with us for our Christmas outreaches, he kept listening to the Good News. God convinced his heart and he accepted the Lord.\nWhen we went to a place in his village in his rickshaw, he took us to his house also. The people who lived in his house told us that he beats his wife a lot after drinking alcohol. Then we preached the Gospel to him. He had already heard the Gospel from us during the outreaches he took us to.\nHe started crying and regretting his actions. We prayed for his whole family, then God brought peace to his family. He accepted the Lord that very day. Praise be to God! He is planning to get baptized soon. He now comes to our church with his whole family and listens to the Word of the Lord. I hope that in the coming days, like this brother, his entire family will also gradually believe and get baptized.\nA person who was despised by the people of the village for not having a son has been rescued from darkness by the Lord.\nI feel proud of God. God has chosen me and is using me for His work. God never discriminates between a son and a daughter.\nI am going to share the testimony of a person who has just given his life to the Lord during our Christmas Outreach. He is very poor and has 6 daughters. In our area, if someone has only daughters and does not have a son, then he is looked down upon. No one respects him. A lot of money has to be spent on the marriage of a daughter. No man will get married without being paid a dowry. People believe that the lineage continues only through a son.\nBecause of this, in the desire of having a son, many give birth to daughters even though they do not have the resources to feed them. People become more and more poor. Many people even sell their land to give dowry in their daughter\u0026rsquo;s marriage. Because of this, many people get an abortion if they are expecting a girl child. It is illegal to test whether a baby is a boy or girl, but everything can be done by giving a bribe.\nI thank God that when I reached his village and gave a New Testament to him, he was very happy to accept the New Testament. He listened to the true news of Jesus Christ. He started sharing about his life and that he was despised for not having a son. As soon as he heard the true news of Jesus, he immediately believed and handed over his life to the Lord. He accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior. Now he comes to our church and listens to the Word of the Lord.\nA young man, who heard the Word of the Lord, asked for so many New Testaments to tell the Word of the Lord to others!\nI thank God that He has been using me for His work and continues to use me. In November, when I went to a village that is 400 km away from my home, the Lord introduced me to this young man. His name is RK*. He does farming in the village and goes to the city to work. When I went to the village, I met him and showed the Jesus movie on a new projector. After that I also told him the Gospel. He slept in the same hut in which I slept. I talked to him about the Word of God throughout the night and encouraged him. As soon as he woke up in the morning, he said that he wanted to share the Gospel. I gave him some New Testaments and told him that if he wants to serve in the future, he can go to Bible college and gain the right knowledge of the Word of the Lord. Then he can go from village to village and share the Gospel properly.\nHe is ready to go to Bible college but his parents sent him to a big city to work. He often calls and asks, \u0026ldquo;When will Bible college start? I want to study the Bible.\u0026rdquo; He keeps asking for prayer for his parents to send him to Bible college. Because of his parents greed for the money he makes in the city, they will not let him go to Bible college.\nPlease pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, he will be able to study the Bible in the coming days and that he can go from village to village preaching about the Lord.\nPraise Points!\nPraise the Lord, God has kept me and my family safe. Praise the Lord, He is leading the people of our church forward in faith and in the Word. There was Hindu worship here and an idol was also installed in front of our house. By the mercy of the Lord, we were not attacked. Praise the Lord! Prayer Requests:\nPlease pray. In a state of my country some anti-Christian elements are planning to rape and massacre the daughters and daughters-in-law of Christians. The date is set for 1st March. May God give protection to all the brothers and sisters there. Please pray. In the coming days, there are many types of Hindu festivals in our area. May God give protection to our family and Christian brothers and sisters. Please pray. Our country has elections in a few months. May God give us a government that lets us worship and pray in peace. Pray that no law is made against spreading the Good News. Please pray. We are planning to do several types of outreach in the next few months. May God open the door to a village that has not heard the Good News yet. Please pray. A pastor is planning to come from the United States which will be the first time in our area. May God protect him and keep us safe too. Please pray for my wife. Three of her teeth are painful and hollow. She needs to get treatment. May God provide a good hospital here for her to get treatment. Otherwise, we will have to go somewhere else for her treatment. Please pray. Two students from my church are ready to go to Bible college. Pray that until the next Bible college year starts, there will not be anything that prevents them from going to Bible college. The last time I planned to send a student to Bible college, his parents called the police. May God bless you all!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/testimonies-of-those-who-were-rescued-from-darkness-pastor-11-update-february-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI want to thank God the Father and all of you. Thank you for always praying for us and encouraging us through God\u0026rsquo;s Word every day. I thank God that, despite the fog and cold here, my family has been protected from pain and illness. God has protected us from all kinds of opponents even as persecution is increasing here day-by-day. People are being tortured in various ways by the villagers and the society. Praise be to God\u0026ndash;despite the torture here, people are growing in their faith in the Lord and people are giving their lives to the Lord.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Testimonies of Those Who Were Rescued from Darkness! - Pastor 11 Update February 2025"},{"content":"We traveled to a youth conference, that was hosted by one of our graduates. He is now serving as a pastor in the church there. Around 40 young people from the area attended the conference. We encouraged them with the Word of God. We also invited them to attend our Bible College. Two students decided to join next semester. We had a great time of learning and fellowship. We were happy to see our graduate serving faithfully. The trip was a blessing for all of us.\nI had a wonderful trip to the South. We had a youth meeting. Around 120 people attended. We shared about our Bible College with them and invited the young adults to come. I had a great time with the students who traveled with me.\nFor the first time in my life, I taught in the that language at a youth conference. It was an amazing experience for me. We also met and connected with many pastors from there. The whole trip was a blessing and a joyful time.\nFor the past few months, Christians from all around the capital have been gathering once a month. We sit together, share our vision, and learn from the Bible. We also pray for each other and encourage one another. It has been a great blessing to stay connected. We asked those who come to share about our Bible College in their churches.\nThe people who come are connected with many different Christian organizations. The organizations do a lot of social work. This connection is helping us reach more people. We are thankful for this growing fellowship. It is a joy to see God working among us.\nThank you,\nAnand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/connecting-teaching-and-growing-in-gods-mission-anand-update-february-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe traveled to a youth conference, that was hosted by one of our graduates. He is now serving as a pastor in the church there. Around 40 young people from the area attended the conference. We encouraged them with the Word of God. We also invited them to attend our Bible College. Two students decided to join next semester. We had a great time of learning and fellowship. We were happy to see our graduate serving faithfully. The trip was a blessing for all of us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Connecting, Teaching, and Growing in God's Mission - Anand Update February 2025"},{"content":"Well as most of you are having winter weather, we are in the 90’s here in Huacho. Our lastupdate was around Christmas and so much has happen since then. In January, we hadan ordination ceremony for Stalyn to be one of the pastors of Calvary Huacho. He hasmore than proven himself as a noble and humble servant of God. He has finished theschool of ministry; he has graduated from Bible College and has been discipled for 9years. People came from all over Peru to celebrate this moment with us. We also had agraduation for the School of Ministry.\nAt the end of January and the first part of February we had two amazing ladies come fromCentral Florida to not only minister to the ladies, but to the entire church. Beth and Tracyare no strangers to Peru as they have been coming here for several years now. Their lovefor our church and Peru is remarkable.\nThis month, I was able to attend a pastor’s conference in Lima with some of our leaders.It was refreshing time to worship with so many people who are in full time ministry. I wasable to introduce our leaders to people that I know who have been serving in Peru formore than 25 years. It is a privilege to see this generation embrace new ideas and learnfrom those who have been approved by fire and wisdom as they persevere in the goodfight for the Gospel. Anttom, is one of our newer disciples who is taking Bible collegeclasses online, and serves full time in the church. Please pray for him. The Lord is doingsomething special in this next generation.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s hard to believe that my first trip to Peru was in 1996, and that in 1997-98 I was a full-time single missionary in Lima. Then, I went to Bible College in 98’ and then went backto Peru to marry Daisy in 2000. Then, we served a year at the Bible College in Lima for ayear, because Daisy could not get a US visa. Then, we went on Staff at the Bible Collegein Murrieta California, then at the Calvary Twin Peaks conference center, because theysponsored Daisy so she could get her visa / US residency. After that we came back toMelbourne, and were sent out again as missionaries in 2008. Going to the conferencethis month, brought back to memory all of God’s faithfulness.\nWe know that many of you have been with us as partners for a long time, and some arenew. We want to take the time to thank everyone of you for helping us be part of the GreatCommission, and to make disciples in this world. We are grateful for every prayer, andevery cent that has been given to extend the Gospel. All the honor and glory goes to anall-powerful and mighty God who loves His creation.\nBlessings, Craig \u0026amp; Daisy\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/tippie-family-winter-update-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell as most of you are having winter weather, we are in the 90’s here in Huacho. Our lastupdate was around Christmas and so much has happen since then. In January, we hadan ordination ceremony for Stalyn to be one of the pastors of Calvary Huacho. He hasmore than proven himself as a noble and humble servant of God. He has finished theschool of ministry; he has graduated from Bible College and has been discipled for 9years. People came from all over Peru to celebrate this moment with us. We also had agraduation for the School of Ministry.\u003cbr\u003e\nAt the end of January and the first part of February we had two amazing ladies come fromCentral Florida to not only minister to the ladies, but to the entire church. Beth and Tracyare no strangers to Peru as they have been coming here for several years now. Their lovefor our church and Peru is remarkable.\u003cbr\u003e\nThis month, I was able to attend a pastor’s conference in Lima with some of our leaders.It was refreshing time to worship with so many people who are in full time ministry. I wasable to introduce our leaders to people that I know who have been serving in Peru formore than 25 years. It is a privilege to see this generation embrace new ideas and learnfrom those who have been approved by fire and wisdom as they persevere in the goodfight for the Gospel. Anttom, is one of our newer disciples who is taking Bible collegeclasses online, and serves full time in the church. Please pray for him. The Lord is doingsomething special in this next generation.\u003cbr\u003e\nIt\u0026rsquo;s hard to believe that my first trip to Peru was in 1996, and that in 1997-98 I was a full-time single missionary in Lima. Then, I went to Bible College in 98’ and then went backto Peru to marry Daisy in 2000. Then, we served a year at the Bible College in Lima for ayear, because Daisy could not get a US visa. Then, we went on Staff at the Bible Collegein Murrieta California, then at the Calvary Twin Peaks conference center, because theysponsored Daisy so she could get her visa / US residency. After that we came back toMelbourne, and were sent out again as missionaries in 2008. Going to the conferencethis month, brought back to memory all of God’s faithfulness.\u003cbr\u003e\nWe know that many of you have been with us as partners for a long time, and some arenew. We want to take the time to thank everyone of you for helping us be part of the GreatCommission, and to make disciples in this world. We are grateful for every prayer, andevery cent that has been given to extend the Gospel. All the honor and glory goes to anall-powerful and mighty God who loves His creation.\u003cbr\u003e\nBlessings, Craig \u0026amp; Daisy\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/e6705b09-e427-4a4b-be4a-a0c19db74a6b.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/70e6adc3-f220-40d8-809a-4bc29c00563e.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/6b148d6c-dd2c-421b-953c-1b8c97d2cc35.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/8dd50582-c772-403f-b12a-966631bed9d4.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/61d1d14d-1ae3-46ca-ace6-f095dbb10205.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tippie Family Winter Update 2025"},{"content":" My soul waits for the Lord\nMore than those who watch for the morning—\nYes, more than those who watch for the morning.\nPsalm 130:6\nLooking back at my last e-mail about a month ago, I am amazed, encouraged, and blessed by God’s faithfulness! I’m back to full capacity of work and ministry and even able to handle about 90% of the household errands and chores despite my physical limitations. Kayo and Benjamin are also pretty much back to “normal” life. I am busier than before I got sick, with weekly physical therapy sessions across town and intense daily exercise routines at a local gym and our neighborhood gym.\nNormally, we spend our summers in the US or Japan visiting loved ones which are very blessed but (honestly) strenuous trips and times. This summer, we will not (unless something drastic changes) be able to visit the USA, as we expected. I’m not sure if my physical therapy and recovery will be complete enough to travel, and the whole family needs some down/flex/free time, etc. etc. Even though we can’t visit in person, we look forward to opportunities to connect online (E-mail/Messenger/Zoom).\nSince my last e-mail, I’ve spoken twice at the international church, restarted helping lead Bible studies in the Chinese ministry, done a lot of planning with the men’s ministry team for upgrading the Men’s Ministry, and started working with a tentmaker missionary from the Philippines to develop the in-church evangelism/apologetics/discipleship ministry. After taking a few months off, I’ve restarted researching and developing the outline for a new evangelism/apologetics book for Cambodia and Japan. I’m very excited that Benjamin is joining me in this project! We really enjoy working together. In the coming months I will also resume my activities with Light Times Magazine and True Education School.\nKayo has resumed her work with Precious Women Organization, the women’s ministry at the international church. She also is starting to pursue some online training in Christian counseling, which will strengthen her mentoring of and ministries to Cambodian and international women living in Cambodia. She’ll need extra time to study this summer.\nBenjamin finished one round of testing and is preparing for another final round of major international standardized testing. He is planning to do some volunteer work with a local organization or school this summer for some work experience this summer.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/waiting-for-the-lord-record-family-february-2025-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy soul \u003cem\u003ewaits\u003c/em\u003e for the Lord\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMore than those who watch for the morning—\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eYes, more than\u003c/em\u003e those who watch for the morning.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cdel\u003ePsalm 130:6\u003c/del\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLooking back at my last e-mail about a month ago, I am amazed, encouraged, and blessed by God’s faithfulness! I’m back to full capacity of work and ministry and even able to handle about 90% of the household errands and chores despite my physical limitations. Kayo and Benjamin are also pretty much back to “normal” life. I am busier than before I got sick, with weekly physical therapy sessions across town and intense daily exercise routines at a local gym and our neighborhood gym.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Waiting for the Lord - Record Family February 2025 Update"},{"content":"Hello everyone! I hope all is well! Let’s get you caught up on what the Lord has been doing!\nAugust/ September\nIn August our team went to an unreached tribe in the mountains of Mazatlán. Here we were able to minister and share the good news. They not only received us, but they also received the good news of Jesus Christ.\nPastor Antonio has recently been able to take over 70 Spanish Bibles to their tribe. With lots of patience, love and dedication, we are all still praying for many leaders to be raised up to pastor their own church!\nReturning from Mexico and the school, our leaders helped us on this next step journey. I mean, what are we supposed to do after ministering and loving these people, to have them receive Christ- to just leave?\nThis is not the end. My goal is to see it to the end. Not just to preach, but to teach. That’s when I knew, the Lord isn’t calling me to just preach the gospel but to teach it. To dwell in the land He will call me too- long term.\nSo, I had to say goodbye. It’s never easy, BUT praise God I even have people to say bye to! I packed my bags and I moved to California!\nI still visit for holidays! However, each time that I go, it tasks a toll. Looking back at my old newsletters, I knew the cost. Now understanding it- is something else. I pray that my family sees the good works and glorifies our Father in heaven.\nOctober/ November/ December\nThe holidays are so weird now! My first ever Halloween as a Christian! It was the best time ever! We went to someone’s house and was able to set up a popcorn, hotdogs, cotton candy, drinks and of course candy. While hundreds of people came, we were all able to spread the gospel and share the love of Jesus. It was such a fun time.\nNovember was my first whole month living here, I started school and was working. At first it was really lonely and slow (now it’s the complete opposite) I celebrated Thanksgiving with my church here and with my family back in Las Vegas. This was such a blessing.\nThe reason for the season: Jesus! December was full of peace and serving. There were many events inside and outside of church. I was working hard doing my homework and being social. I definitely would say I should’ve been resting at the feet of Jesus more.\nJanuary/ February\nJanuary was such an awesome month. I received prophetic prayer at the beginning of the year and it was so encouraging and special to experience. I recently ended a relationship so I was on a spiritual high and felt so close to the Lord. Being broken hearted is much easier to call upon the name of Jesus.\nWe are currently in the month of February and so far, it’s been really challenging. I feel as though I am in a dry season. However, after speaking to some wise counselors and fellow saints, they helped me realize that IM HUMAN. Feelings and emotions aren’t bad, but they are not something to rely on or to have confidence in. They are a good indicator to point us to what we need (which is the Lord) but not to always listen. We aren’t always going to want to serve or workout or even get out of bed BUT GOD— listen to the word of the Lord. Proverbs 16:3 says “commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established.” Often times we tend to not WANT to do read our bibles or pray, we can either listen to the flesh and not do it (often times it’s not drawing near to the Lord) or we can commit ourselves to the work (reading and praying) and the Lord will establish our thoughts.\nThis is a difficult season I’m in. It’s continuous surrender and taking up our cross. I would love prayer for this! Even doing this newsletter has been very difficult, my goal is to send one out every month. (You all have become my accountability partners)\nI thank you all for your precious time. Thank you for your fellowship in the gospel and I pray you all abound still more and more in the knowledge and discernment of our Heavenly Father.\nAnswered Prayers:\nI am growing in the Lord and becoming the women He’s called me to be! My older siblings Anthony, Julio, Jacky and Deedee have all put their faith in Jesus! The Lord completely providing a way for me to continue this path in doing missions Prayer Request:\nThat I would be able to organize and keep to a budget and time management That the Lord will provide provision to go a vision tour That I would be used to be the salt and light of the world (evangelism) Ways to support:\nPRAYER. IT CHANGES THINGS! Jeremiah 29:12, The Lord listens to us!Prayer is the most loving and effective ways to show you care, but that you also support me. FINANCIAL PARTNERSHIP. Philippians 4:18-19, God has really blessed me with all that I have. If the Lord has put on your heart to support me in this way, I thank you and pray, knowing that the Lord will supply all your needs too. SHARE IN THE VISION. My hearts desire is that all will call upon the name of Jesus; I can’t do this alone. Sharing this or even what the Lord has been doing in my life can and will help. Thank you again for your generosity and patience.\n“The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26\nLove, Ariana\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-stands-at-the-door-and-knocks-landaverde-february-2025-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello everyone! I hope all is well! Let’s get you caught up on what the Lord has been doing!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAugust/ September\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/alandaverde/wp-content/uploads/sites/214/2025/02/518bfcf0-7b40-415e-944c-50737df69bd8-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/alandaverde/wp-content/uploads/sites/214/2025/02/IMG%5F2639.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/alandaverde/wp-content/uploads/sites/214/2025/02/IMG%5F4886-edited.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn August our team went to an unreached tribe in the mountains of Mazatlán. Here we were able to minister and share the good news. They not only received us, but they also received the good news of Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePastor Antonio has recently been able to take over 70 Spanish Bibles to their tribe. With lots of patience, love and dedication, we are all still praying for many leaders to be raised up to pastor their own church!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He Stands at the Door and Knocks... - Landaverde February 2025 Update"},{"content":"A LITTLE HARRIS-Y: Esther – God of Promises(The votes are in… A Little Harris-y wins! Sorry to those who are disappointed:))\nI love The Book of Esther; I often consider it my favorite book of the Bible, but it has long been shrouded by controversy. In his theological commentary, Paul Redditt notes that Eastern churches rejected the book’s canonicity and that the reformers did not devote much attention to it. Likewise, Samuel Wells points out in his biblical commentary of the book that these types of views are often related to the fact that the book “contains no promise to the Church, makes no mention of the Gospel” and “does not once introduce the name of God or recognize [H]is providence.” In fact, according to Reddit, “Luther could say that he wished the book did not exist at all, because it contained pagan impropriety.” So why do I love it so much? I would have to write more than I am willing to (and more than you would be willing to read) if I were to say everything I wanted to about it, but some of my favorite things about the book are how God is able to keep all His promises even though they seem to contradict and work out salvation even when He seems hidden.\nSome of God’s most famous promises are found in what people call the Abrahamic Covenant (see Gen. chapters 12, 15, 17, and 22). When God called Abraham, He promised He would bless his descendants with a great name, a land of abundance, and a high population (Gen. 12:1-3). God also promised Abraham and his descendants divine protection, swearing that whoever blessed them would be blessed and that whoever cursed them would be cursed (Gen. 12:3). Most importantly, God promised that His descendant(s) would end up blessing every people group on the planet (Gen. 12:3, 22:18).\nAround 500 years later, God made another series of promises to Abraham’s descendants in what people call the Mosaic Covenant (Exod. 19-24, Lev. 26, Deut. 28). In the Mosaic Covenant, God promised Abraham’s descendants that IF they were faithful to obey the terms of His covenant, the ten commandments (see Duet. 4:13), that they would be His treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Exod. 19:4-6). God went on to relay the wonderful blessings Israel would experience if they were obedient and the terrible suffering they would face if they were disobedient (Lev. 26, Deut. 28). God said that if Israel continued in their disobedience, that they would eventually be driven out of their homeland (Lev. 26:33, Deut. 28:64). Perhaps most severely, God said: “But I will surely hide My face [אַסְתִּ֤יר] in that day because of all the evil which they will do, for they will turn to other gods.” (Deut. 31:18; also see 31:17, 32:20, and Ezek. 39:29).\nOne thousand years after God laid out His terms to Moses, those two sets of promises came to a head in the Book of Esther. Israel was facing all the threatened curses as a desperate, homeless, and foreign minority group on the brink of distinction because of a ruthless edict written by the leader of the pagan kingdom of Persia, just as they deserved (Esth. 3:13). Yet instead of being exterminated the book relays that many people actually decided to become Jews in the days leading up to their potential harm! (See Esth. 8:21). The book revolves around a plot to exterminate every living Jew, yet, because of God’s loyalty to Abraham, there are more Jews at the end of the story than there were at the beginning! However, the book does not explicitly give God the credit for this. Why? Because God had promised that He would hide His face during the time of their punishment.In the middle of the whole story is a young orphan named Esther, whose name is derived from the Babylonian god Ishtar. Yet every Hebrew who read Esther could see the four consonants in her name, אסתר, which form the title of the book and be continually reminded of God’s promise to אַסְתִּ֤יר (Hide Himself) during their punishment. This would bring comfort as they remembered that God kept all of His promises, for He saved them just as He promised Abraham, but He did it from behind the scenes because of what He promised Moses.\nI love Esther; it strengthens my faith that God sovereignly works behind the scenes of history to keep His promises and orchestrate the salvation and multiplication of His people. When God seems distant, I can be confident that “He knows, He is there, and He is working” (Douglass). Most importantly, I can remember that in God’s protection of Esther and the Israelites, He spared the line of the Promised Messiah, who came 2,000 years ago to suffer separation from His Father and bless all the families of the earth with salvation from sin and death!\nBibliography: Douglass, Rob. Psalm 139 – He Knows, He’s Here, He works. Blue Letter Bible Rob Douglass Media\nNASB. The Bible. New American Standard Version. Lockman, 1995.\nRedditt, Paul. L. “Esther.” Theological Interpretation of the Old Testament: A Book-by-Book Survey. Kevin Vanhoozer, Craig Bartholomew, and Daniel Treier, eds. Baker, 2008, pp. 142-47.\nWells, Samual and George Summer. Esther and Daniel. Brazos, 2013.\nWechsler, Michael G. Commentary on Esther.\nWechsler, Michael G. Shadow and Fulfillment In The Book of Esther. Bibiotheca Sacra 154 July- Septemer 1997.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-little-harris-y-esther-god-of-promises-february-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA LITTLE HARRIS-Y: Esther – God of Promises(The votes are in… A Little Harris-y wins! Sorry to those who are disappointed:))\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2025/02/Esther-God-of-Promises-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI love The Book of Esther; I often consider it my favorite book of the Bible, but it has long been shrouded by controversy. In his theological commentary, Paul Redditt notes that Eastern churches rejected the book’s canonicity and that the reformers did not devote much attention to it. Likewise, Samuel Wells points out in his biblical commentary of the book that these types of views are often related to the fact that the book “contains no promise to the Church, makes no mention of the Gospel” and “does not once introduce the name of God or recognize [H]is providence.” In fact, according to Reddit, “Luther could say that he wished the book did not exist at all, because it contained pagan impropriety.” So why do I love it so much? I would have to write more than I am willing to (and more than you would be willing to read) if I were to say everything I wanted to about it, but some of my favorite things about the book are how God is able to keep all His promises even though they seem to contradict and work out salvation even when He seems hidden.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A LITTLE HARRIS-Y: Esther – God of Promises - February 2025"},{"content":" … Yet, this alone is the true life of a Christian-its source, its sustenance, its fashion, its end, all gathered up in one word-Christ Jesus. Lord, accept me; I here present myself, praying to live only in thee and to thee. Let me be as the bullock which stands between the plough and the altar, to work or to be sacrificed; and let my motto be, “Ready for either.” Morning and Evening, January 7th, Charles H. Spurgeon\nDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\nThrough this passage of Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon the Lord spoke to me at the beginning of the fast we started as a church in California to begin the new year right before I moved Peru. As I was denying my flesh its natural desires and about to leave my family and comforts for another country, the Lord spoke so clearly and outlined how my mentality should be moving away from home. This kind of preparation and communion with the Lord sums up my last few weeks leading up to the move. The Lord has spoken so clearly and so much, I feel like the most blessed man on the planet. Not just that, but all the prayers, support, and love I have received makes me hardly able to contain my joy and shock. I truly believe I am one of the most privileged missionaries ever to be sent out.\nOf the many other confirmations, I want to share a specific one that was so clear and simple. Last year I shared how I received a prophetic word from a pastor who prayed for me during the week of fasting we had. I never met the man, but he described a vision of me being a sprinkler of water to children in a front yard, giving them the water of the Word. Additionally, that God was going to fulfill my desire for children. This was a clear answer to my prayers of whether I should pursue the calling to rescuing and caring for children in trafficking. This month, during the week of prayer and fasting, another man prayed for me (who I also did not know). After asking me if I knew God’s calling for my life, he said, “do not put it off, do it now, by continuing in that calling.” While having the same kind of urgency as proverbs 6:4. This confirmation to not delay helped fix my gaze concretely on the place and work God has called me to.\nBelow are some last moments I shared before moving. The first is of my Sending Sunday at CC Saving Grace, my last Sunday before moving to Peru, when the children prayed for me. The other photo was a going away party with the Spanish Ministry, which was a huge blessing.\nLiving in Peru!\nTo be fair, I already lived in Trujillo for most of 2023, while I studied at Calvary Bible Institute. But moving full time to serve in ministry is a very different experience! I left Southern California January 18th with a one-way ticket to Peru. I got greeted with news that the church would also be doing a week-long fast to seek the Lord! If I didn’t just finish the one in California, I probably would have laughed. Either way, I decided to follow the fast as best I could while we were doing construction work on Pastor Cory’s house. It was difficult, but at the end I felt a great inner strength and anointed for the new life and ministry in Peru. It was only towards the end of that fast that I realized it was actually an answer to prayer. The last few months leading up to my move to Peru I asked the Lord to provide time before going into full-time ministry that I could use for my own “wilderness experience”, like Jesus before He started ministry. Definitely not to be tempted by the devil, but to have time alone with the Lord to be strengthened and filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, somehow in all the busyness of moving, God had made the way for it, even if it wasn’t completely alone, I got to seek the Lord and deny my flesh with my home fellowship in California and new fellowship in Peru.\nA Beautiful Oasis\nIf you know anything about my new home city, Trujillo, Peru, you know it is not the best place to live. As the largest city in the North of Peru, it houses 1,000,000 people. The problem is, as a costal desert, it gets close to zero rain all year. It is a very hot, dry, and dusty, and has the worst UV rays on the planet besides some parts of Africa, with levels commonly being at 11. The developing tan city can sometimes make me feel depressed. But one morning as I was spending time in worship, the Lord gave me a picture in my mind of beautifully vibrant grass hills, with a strong tree next to a stream. It was like a mental picture of Psalm 1. That brought me a great wave of peace and joy. Then, as I looked over at the city, in my mind I saw the whole city green with trees and rolling hills. It is a mental picture I take with me everywhere I go. Because, although the city may still be a dry desert, the Lord is with me, and wherever I go I am a tree planted by still waters!\nLater that day on my taxi ride, I made small talk with the driver. As I asked where he was from, he began for almost 5 minutes to describe how green hills, trees, and big rivers surround the city he used to live in Venezuela. It immediately reminded me of the picture I had in my mind that morning of Trujillo, and I could tell the Lord had brought me to this man for a reason. Afterwards I shared my testimony and the gospel with him. As I began to share how I had hated my sin, but didn’t have power over it, like Paul in Romans 7, he yelled out, “Yes! That is exactly my problem!”. I then got to share about the victory I found in Jesus Christ, and all the amazing promises of Romans 8. I get to have these opportunities to share the gospel with taxi drivers almost every other day, so please be praying for many of them to receive salvation!\nWorking Hard\nAs soon as I arrived to Peru, I began working with Calvary Trujillo and interning at the Bible School. I am also taking two classes leftover from when I first studied here. One of the first projects we started when I arrived was constructing walls for Pastor Cory’s first story on his home. His house is directly on the beach and the salt from the ocean goes straight through the bottom of the house, destroying the little room down there, as well as his car. It is the most corrosive place I have ever seen. So we built walls to help keep moisture out. We are also doing lots of construction projects around the Bible School as well. This is a big part of mission work and serving in full time ministry- whatever needs to get done, you just do it! And God has been blessing us the whole way.\nCasa Calvary \u0026amp; Other Needs\nIn other news, we have been looking for a property for the children’s home. The non-profit has been legally created, and we have called it “Casa Calvary.” Though we are mostly in limbo as we look for a property, in the mean time, we have had other opportunities come up. One of them is a boys home which needs help. The orphanage, called “Ninos del Mundo”, was officially dissolved a few months ago. The problem is, the 6 teenage boys who live there have no where else to go, so they have been staying at the orphanage even though there it legally no longer exists. The food and lights are paid for by one man’s family business. Most of these boys will mostly be independent in 4 years, and our vision being really for trafficked children means we are looking for a temporary solution for them. I will be personally visiting and discipling them weekly as well as we seek out how we can take care of/provide a good place for these boys. I am expectant for the Lord to work mightily.\nCalling All Partners! It is my honor to connect you, my sisters and brothers of the American Church, to all God is doing on the mission field, and show you the fruit of your work through me! If you would like get more involved in this work, there are different ways you can partner with with me as I seek to fulfill my call to rescue and care for children in trafficking.\nOne way you can support is through joining my Signal group. This is where I send prayer requests and more frequent updates on my life in the mission field of Peru! You can join this group by responding to this email.\nAnother important way to partner is financially. If you feel lead to become a financial partner, you can give through the link found at the bottom of this news letter! It is by your generosity that I am provided for on the field and available to give my all in this new work.\nPraise Reports\nThe incredibly blessed sendoff I got leaving to Peru! A quick and (mostly) easy transition, and the quick improving of my Spanish All the opportunities to share the gospel to taxi drivers Being able to bless pastor Cory with a closed space under his home An incredible start to a new, very full, semester at CBI. Prayer Requests\nGrace, mercy, and peace as I begin to assist Cory with things related to the children home and discipling the teenage boys, interning at the CBI, and finishing my last class To learn much from a conference I will be attending this February 20-22 in Trujillo about equipping people to take care of children from traumatic backgrounds. Wisdom for how we can help the teenage boys from Ninos del Mundo. The perfect property for the children’s home, and all the different resources that we will need ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/an-incredible-sendoff/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e… Yet, this alone is the true life of a Christian-its source, its sustenance, its fashion, its end, all gathered up in one word-Christ Jesus. Lord, accept me; I here present myself, praying to live only in thee and to thee. Let me be as the bullock which stands between the plough and the altar, to work or to be sacrificed; and let my motto be, “Ready for either.” \u003cem\u003eMorning and Evening,\u003c/em\u003e January 7th, Charles H. Spurgeon\u003c/p\u003e","title":"An Incredible Sendoff"},{"content":"“For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but (a Spirit) of power and love and self-control.”\n2 Timothy 1:6-7 ESV\nIn this passage of scripture The Apostle Paul is encouraging and instructing his disciple Timothy not to be afraid of what he (Timothy) may have to endure for his faith in Jesus. And to remember what and Who lives with in him. (1 COR 3:16)\nThe Spirit of God was living in Him, The One who has created all things and is called a Consuming Fire. (HEB 12:29)\nWho has chosen us to be His vessels and dwelling place in the earth.\nHe who by His divine power was working in Paul’s life, Timothy’s life and now ours.\nTo take the burning light of The Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.\n(ACTS 1:8)\n(WEEK OF PRAYER AND FASTING) Hello Beloved, I pray this update finds you in peace and in the love of God.\nJanuary began with a beautiful time of fanning to flame our faith as a church and preparing our bodies, minds, hearts and souls; for all that The Lord wanted to do in us and through us for 2025. We fasted and prayed for a week as a church, the type and length was your choice but as a community we set our face to seek God and pray. We prayed for America, Our Government, The Church and The World. It was a time of humbling ourselves before God seeking Him to heal the land and a time for us to be unified as The Body of Christ.\n(MINISTRY OPPURTUNITITES) God has also given me awesome ministry opportunities. Our Missions School was invited to several conferences where we setup a booth to stir others up for missions, and I was also invited to speak with a friend at a mission’s week at a Christian middle school.\nThe first conference was a Church Planting Conference to learn about biblical church planting. The second was an Expository Preaching Conference held by John Miller and Skip Heitzig. My favorite opportunity by far was the Missions Week at the Christian Middle School, me and my friend got to share about Southern Asia and The Great Commission, getting the next generation fired up for Jesus and the lost.\n(Pray for L.A) As many of you know L.A experienced one of the worst wildfires in its history, that evacuated over 200,000 people from their homes, that burned over 57,660 acres in total and destroyed 16,000 structures in counting and took 29 lives. It is very tragic.\nThe area I live in was not affected, but I was able to join a relief team hosted by Calvary Chapel Monrovia. We went into the affected areas and ministered with food and supplies to emergency responder’s and people in the community who stayed with their property. The fires are 100% contained, but prayers are still desperately needed for the restoration of and healing of the communities.\nAs sad as it was to see, it was a sobering reminder of the fate of this world. The first time God judged The Sin of the earth it was with water; the second time will be with fire. (2 PET 3:7) All of our homes, money, “treasures “all of it will be destroyed.\nI spoke to one man who lived in the affected area and managed to save his home.\nI asked him “if he knew Jesus? “\nand after conversing a bit I realized he didn’t. And the sad reality set in. This man was able to save his temporary home… but if he died that day his eternal soul would’ve been destroyed in the fire that can’t be quenched. (MARK 8:36)\nWe must tell the world about Jesus, for there is salvation in no one and nothing else.\nPrayer Requests: That God would save thousands upon thousands of Children, Women and Men across the world\nThat God would reveal where He would have me serve long-term\nFor my walk with Jesus to remain intimate and that I would abide in Him\nThat God would protect and provide spiritually, physically, and financially\nThat I would walk in His perfect will for my life\nThat God would help me to clear my debt\nIf you have any prayer requests, please click “respond” at the end of my newsletter, and it will be sent directly to my email: Haggstromdeprii@gmail.com.\nI want to thank everyone who has partnered with me. I am so excited to share this journey with you all as we fulfill the Great Commission together.\nStay tuned for all that the Lord is doing!\nIf you would like to partner with me as I serve with Saving Grace World Missions, a giving link will be posted below.\nAnd may we all continue to faithfully follow, love, obey, and walk with the Lion and the Lamb.\nGod bless,\nGiving Link: https://www.shelbygiving.com/App/Form/11d132d-b68e-4cfe-a719-1e35c951f5ea\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-fire-within-us-around-us-and-before-us/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“For this reason, I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, for God gave us a spirit not of fear but (a Spirit) of power and love and self-control.”\u003cbr\u003e\n2 Timothy 1:6-7 ESV\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this passage of scripture The Apostle Paul is encouraging and instructing his disciple Timothy not to be afraid of what he (Timothy) may have to endure for his faith in Jesus. And to remember what and Who lives with in him. (1 COR 3:16)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Fire Within us, Around us, and Before us"},{"content":"Planting Seeds \u0026amp; Expanding Our Mission: Vision for 2025\nAs we have entered 2025, I am excited to share a new vision for the future! But first, I am so thankful and joyful for all that God has done through our school and eagerly anticipate what He will do next.\nYour prayers, generosity, and encouragement have been instrumental in shaping the lives of the children and families we serve. Our vision for 2025 is to continue planting seeds of faith in the hearts of young children, equipping them with God’s truth, and reflecting God’s love to their families and the community that surrounds them. What a blessing it has been to be a part of this together, don’t forget that this is your school too!\nGod has also placed a new vision on our hearts. We have many parents asking us if their children can continue their education with us; we see the need and truly desire God’s guidance as we pray about this. Our vision is to expand beyond our nursery/preschool and establish a Christian primary and secondary school in Mallorca. This will allow us to continue nurturing these children in faith and education as they grow, equipping them to be future leaders who walk in Christ’s truth. We are also excited to welcome new children as we continue planting seeds of faith to children and families that do not know Him. This is truly a pioneering work as there is no other Christian school in Mallorca and the need for one is great!\nWhat exactly is this Vision for 2025?\nExpanding Our Reach – We as a school, are praying for more opportunities to reach children and families with the love of Christ. We believe God is leading us to provide a Christ-centered education that extends beyond preschool. We are praying for the resources, land, and teachers to make this vision of starting a Christian primary and secondary school a reality. Join us in prayer for open doors, provision of resources, and to guide every step for our current school and also for this expansion. If you would like a copy of our project description to learn more, please let me know. I would love to send it your way!\nDiscipling the Next Generation – Every lesson, song, and prayer at our school is a step in nurturing young hearts for Jesus. Our goal is to help these little ones experience His love and grow in their faith. I would love to share 2 testimonies on how we have seen that happen…\nTestimony 1: In February, our theme always revolves around God’s love leading up to Valentine’s Day, and something beautiful happened a few days ago. One of our kids, Matty, usually prefers to play quietly instead of joining Bible reading. For most of the children in our school, reading the Bible at our school is the first time they’ve ever been exposed to God’s Word. So, I never force them to listen—I want their first experience with God’s Word to be positive and loving. But even while playing, I came to discover that Matty is always listening…\nWhen the kids made videos about why they love their parents, Matty surprised me by starting his video with, “ I love Jesus.” He continued listing who he loves, like his mommy and daddy, and at the end of the video he says, “And they all love me.” What a sweet surprise that our little student has always been listening and that he knows that Jesus loves him very much! It was a powerful reminder that God’s Word is planting seeds, even when we don’t realize it!!\nTestimony 2: A few months ago, we had to say goodbye to one of our students. He learned about Jesus and how to pray here with us. He was moving on to primary school and as we gifted him his own Bible (which he couldn’t believe he was able to take it home) with teary eyes we said our goodbyes. A few minutes after that, he took a moment during free play to pray. When he finished praying, he told me he was asking God to bring him back to visit us soon. His simple, heartfelt prayer reminded me to be open to pray at any time (even if it interrupts my own version of something great like “free play”) and of the depth and sincerity of childlike faith through prayer.\nStrengthening Our Team – We pray for wisdom, endurance, and unity among our teachers and staff, that we may serve with joy and passion. May God continue to provide the right people for this mission.\nTrusting God for Provision – As we move forward, we rely on God’s provision to sustain and expand this ministry. We believe He will meet every need. If you would like to know more about our school needs, please do not hesitate to contact me!\nPray With Us– “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” (Colossians 4:2) Join us in prayer for our school and our future primary and secondary school. We know great things for God all start with prayer, and we only desire God’s will, direction, and wisdom. So join us on the last Thursday of every month to pray! You can scan the QR code to join our WhatsApp group for real time updates and information on the prayer meetings. Thank you for standing with us in prayer. Together we are making an eternal impact, and we are excited to see what God will do in 2025!\nJoin the Mission– Whether through volunteering, spreading the word, partnering with us, or praying with and for us, your involvement can make a lasting impact!\nWe know that with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26), and we are trusting Him to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20). Thank you for being part of this journey—your prayers and support are building a future rooted in Christ!\nWays You Can Pray:\nPray for the children to grow in faith and understanding of God’s love. Pray for the teachers and staff to be strengthened and encouraged. Pray for the Lord to provide one more teacher! Pray for resources and provision to continue and expand to a primary and secondary school. This is a bold step of faith, and we kindly ask for your prayers and support as we are trusting in the Lord for resources, partnerships, and leadership to make it happen. Pray for open doors to reach more families and communities.\nPray for the Lord’s strength and wisdom over my life. I need Him more and more each day!\nMay God bless you abundantly in 2025 as we continue this journey together! If you would like to learn more or get involved, if you have any prayers requests too, please contact me. I would be more than happy to hear from you!!\nWith gratitude and faith,\nZully Ruano\nWhatsApp: +34 605 54 8181\nEmail: ruano@sgwm.com or zyruano@gmail.com\nValentine’s Day… **If you do not care for love letters, cheesy jokes, or feeling a bit sentimental…you can stop here!** Since it’s Valentines Day very soon, I couldn’t resist…\nDear Jesus\nHappy Valentine’s Day!\nCan I say that? Can I wish you a happy valentine’s day?! Can I offer you loving but cheesy one-liners like I normally send my nephews on Valentine’s Day too?\nOne-liners like, “You have a ‘pizza’ of my heart!” (you have all of my heart actually, so not a good one) or “Do you like Star Wars? Because Yoda the only one for me!” (reminds me of Psalm 23:1, “…You are all that I need” … sorry, better stick to the Psalms!)\nAll [bad] jokes aside, this is a different kind of love letter. At 40-something, I have seen and heard much in life to know that no human love can compare to Yours. So, my heart is overfilled with gratitude…\nThank You, Jesus, for loving me first.\nThank you, for remaining sovereign in my life, and also kind and gentle especially when your sovereignty has meant taking big steps of faith.\nThank you, for loving me perfectly.\nThank you, for showing me what unconditional love looks like.\nThank you, for being my strength when I have been weak (many times).\nThank you, dear Lord, for letting me see Your love through precious little lives every day. What a blessing!\nThank you, for loving me sacrificially, whole heartedly, and willingly.\nThank you, because I know that You see me. And on those lonely nights, you’re there.\nThank you, for always being there!\nThank you for showing me a “through thick and thin” kind of love through my family’s unwavering support.\nThank you, for being You. For being the source of love and all that 1 Corinthians 13 describes and more.\nAlthough, my love for You will never be as perfect as Yours for me, I give You my heart over and over again.\nLove, Zully\nP.S. Last one… “I’d part the Red Sea just to be with you!” (this one is not… You already did that so I…) Love you!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vision-for-2025-and-valentines-day-ruano-feb-2025-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePlanting Seeds \u0026amp; Expanding Our Mission: Vision for 2025\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we have entered 2025,  I am excited to share a new vision for the future!  But first, I am so thankful and joyful for all that God has done through our school and eagerly anticipate what He will do next.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYour prayers, generosity, and encouragement have been instrumental in shaping the lives of the children and families we serve. Our vision for 2025 is to continue planting seeds of faith in the hearts of young children, equipping them with God’s truth, and reflecting God’s love to their families and the community that surrounds them. What a blessing it has been to be a part of this together, don’t forget that this is your school too!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vision for 2025 and Valentine's Day - Ruano Feb 2025 Update"},{"content":"People First! February 2025\nPeople First! Thank you to everyone reading our blog and supporting us!\nThe border area of Mexico is an incredible place to minister! Sometimes we get too caught up in the “ministry” stuff that we are TOO BUSY for people! Our goal and desire for 2025 is to fulfill the second greatest commandment:\n“…you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:39\nPicture: Helping a dear friend \u0026amp; recent widow move.\nLast year was an incredible year in Rosarito’s biggest church! We had hundreds of people visit and had many baptisms each month. However, Claudia and I have found that in a church so full of new visitors and new converts (baby Christians!), it is easy to get overlooked. Our desire is to get to know people, spend time with them and make new friends! Now, while many people want attention from the main pastor and so on, we have discovered that most folks don’t know anyone and may not even have one friend! I believe Jesus wants us to love people with our most valuable resource: our time!\nMen’s Discipleship 2025\nI restarted my men’s small group in January. We meet every Thursday to review the week’s Bible reading in the Gospel of John. I have met many men in our church patio and through counseling over the past three and a half years and most do not have the great discipline of reading the Bible daily (daily devotions). I will ask men if they would like to learn how to read and study the Bible and most say yes!\nThe key is to read slower than faster! I have created a 365 year reading plan through the book of John! Yes, you could easily read the whole book in a couple of days, but by slowing down, we have found that God truly speaks and teaches us much more effectively!\nWe started this reading plan in the small group in April and I am personally now in chapter 15. Here is an example of my personal reading this morning:\n“You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” John 15:3\nThe context of this verse is a little while after Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and Peter said, wash ALL of ME! Jesus said that it was not needed since Peter was already clean from Jesus’ words! As I read this verse in John 15:3, I realized that in our community the majority of people put more emphasis on water baptism and church attendance than in reading the Word of God. What an incredible blessing to know that as we read God’s Word, He does a supernatural work in drawing us closer to Him, revealing Himself and transforming our minds!\nWomen of Worth and Purpose 2025\nClaudia leads a bilingual women’s study with one co- leader, 9 table leaders and 2 subs. On Thursday nights the women whether in person or online are coming together to be more equipped to walk in those good works God has preordained for them to walk in thru studying systematically, verse by verse, through the whole counsel of God in a book of the Bible. Praying for the ladies, serving together, and going on mission trips together! This year we have added a Youtube channel including “shorts!” God has even provided a 21 year old to manage the channel and record “shorts” ! How about subscribing? https://youtube.com/@mujeresdevalorypropositobiling?feature=shared\nMission trip to Morelia, Michoacan – February 7-10th Claudia was invited to travel and teach at a conference this weekend! More to come next time!\nBiblical Counseling!\nAs most of you know, Claudia and I oversee the Biblical Counseling area. Counseling people who are struggling is both fulfilling, difficult, frustrating and fruitful! Claudia regularly counsels remotely very successfully I might add!\nEven my men’s discipleship group grew out of the need so many men have to grow in their character and habits. Most of us guys are too busy, too proud or too oblivious to request counseling! (Ladies, can I get an amen?) Our goal is to help people receive the mercy, forgiveness and love of God and grow in their relationships with Christ!\nPeople First!\nThe title of this month’s blog emphasizes the great need to remember why Jesus came to this earth. Most of us can quote John 3:16 “ God so LOVED the world, that He gave His only begotten son, that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have everlasting life”. God LOVES the world and so should WE! And that means loving people. How do you show love to people you meet? We meet new people and families every week! This year we are committed to meet, befriend, and connect people to our community. My own mother to this day is lifelong friends with the other young couples she met at their church when they first moved to Claremont in 1969! Picture: Celebrating a birthday with friends! (Elias, Elvia, Claudia, Tina, Flor and Kristy)\nPicture: This precious young family moved here from Culiacan a few years ago! We want to help them connect and make friends! (Lizbeth, ALvaro, Matias and Emma)\nConstant Challenges!\nWorking closely with folks and getting involved with people’s lives means great victories but also failures! In our community you will experience a lot of welcoming genuine love. People often seek God in times of personal crisis! We have wept with people as they suffer through overwhelming trials and tragedies. Three years ago, I remember being in our “prayer corner” where people wait for and request prayer. These are some things I was asked to pray for: my children won’t come to church; my son is on drugs; my daughter is suicidal; I have cancer; I was overwhelmed and I couldn’t sleep at night; my daughter has cancer; my son was in a car accident; my partner was just killed in an accident; my nephew was kidnapped… But guess what? OUR GOD is BIG and HE IS GREAT! Remember the promise of Jesus,\n“ If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” – John 14:14\nWhile this is not a blank check to get whatever we want, we can be absolutely sure that GOD hears our prayer and will answer! And, believe it or not, most of the time he answers YES! I also remember being so overwhelmed by people’s prayer requests and apparently enormous problems! So the next time I went to the prayer corner to pray, I was ANXIOUS and NERVOUS! I prayed, “Dear Jesus, please! I can’t handle this! Don\u0026rsquo;t crush me with your people’s burdens! But, Lord, I won’t run away, I am going to pray for them nonetheless!” Guess what happened that Sunday? I remember that person after person said things like,\n“Pastor, do you remember me? God healed me!”\n“Here is my son who was in that car accident! He is well!”\nAnd many more like those grateful saints! A few months ago when my friend asked me to pray for his nephew, my natural thought was… it’s over for him. But, he told me the nephew was released. I didn’t ask for details. The lady who asked for prayer for her children who didn’t want to go to church… they come now and have friends here! That lady is one of Claudia’s table leaders and her daughter enthusiastically serves as an usher! We have learned to place people’s great needs and prayers at the foot of Jesus! And, by the way, people regularly return to tell us how God answered their prayers!\nThe Kids!\nPoiema experienced a great time of growth and challenge with her new job as a cashier at Cafe de la Fonda in downtown Rosarito! It is not easy to go from a cozy, supportive home to a 40 hour work week and job that starts at 6:30 am! She learned a lot about customer service and working with the public! Not so scary after all! This is one of the ways God provided for her last semester at CBI Peru! She will have left Monday February 3rd!\nBen is doing great and is taking coding classes online and pulling straight A’s!\nCristian continues his medical studies at Universidad Xochicalco in Ensenada. Email me and request their phone numbers so you can send a message of encouragement!\nLydia and Geoff are currently in Japan for the next few months working as missionaries!\nNatalie continues her high school Biology and Physics teaching in Midland Texas… wedding this June on the 28th!\nPraise reports:\nGod has answered ALL our prayer requests from our December blog! Men’s discipleship started in January and we have added a daily whatsapp message! Claudia’s bilingual Thursday study now has a Youtube channel! 1000 views for the two “shorts in less than a week!” God has provided financially for Poiema to return to Peru one last semester! And her renewed US passport arrived just in time! Prayer Requests:\nFor men to get serious in the discipleship class and do the daily homework! (Paul) For four couples who we have counseled who have not been willing to repent and be reconciled. (Paul \u0026amp; pastors) God’s wisdom and protection over two ladies in abusive relationships. (Claudia) For God to guide us, as we try to connect new people and families to our church family. (both) For God to help me be focused and more organized (Paul) Hortensia and Jesus’ wedding on February 14 and celebration on the 15th. (Paul) Faithful women \u0026amp; leaders for the Bilingual Women’s study (Claudia) ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/people-first-boubion-update-february-2025/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"people-first\"\u003ePeople First!\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD%5F4nXc23ptR5NIszHIDAoCVWup8OejdGQFxqJ1HCQpwRMC4Hl1-fWJi5NARorIy1hlU4pFRlz8TEI-Vx4T23RVB38XY0Nsh37FuaYLIuycuPAXHe1aB%5FRhdtRwYK5rDxP33oiaA5OMUtA?key=nuyt6SY8gV0UpcrEQ2GivoWt\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFebruary 2025\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePeople First!\u003c/strong\u003e Thank you to everyone reading our blog and supporting us!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe border area of Mexico is an incredible place to minister! Sometimes we get too caught up in the “ministry” stuff that we are TOO BUSY for people! Our goal and desire for 2025 is to fulfill the second greatest commandment:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“…you shall love your neighbor as yourself.”\u003c/strong\u003e  Matthew 22:39\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePicture:\u003c/strong\u003e Helping a dear friend \u0026amp; recent widow move.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfSUgJtzfXIeLDtgP0NPr_Q_GQfeFEkxxIq94ilOcsqLA2q5P49fsuv6buJGix_YsMu3MAHzzz8bOahqI7KaWfEeKboMFdnwiqgxPZMe4Oz6w-J9tHWr-P1Ynkdd0BaVX38gqrZyA?key=nuyt6SY8gV0UpcrEQ2GivoWt\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nLast year was an incredible year in Rosarito’s biggest church! We had hundreds of people visit and had many baptisms each month. However, Claudia and I have found that in a church so full of new visitors and new converts (baby Christians!), it is easy to get overlooked. Our desire is to get to know people, spend time with them and make new friends! Now, while many people want attention from the main pastor and so on, we have discovered that most folks don’t know anyone and may not even have one friend! I believe Jesus wants us to love people with our most valuable resource: our time!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"People First! - Boubion Update February 2025"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.\u0026rdquo;\n2 Peter 3:9\nRomans 3:22 says, \u0026ldquo;Even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference.\u0026rdquo;\nChristmas Outreaches\nAs we usually do, last year in November, we organized some Gospel outreaches in three different cities. The outreaches were very joyful. People came from all around.\nChristmas Celebration at our Bible Church.\nThe church members invited their neighbors, relatives and those who lived near the church so that they could have an opportunity to hear about Jesus. Over 70 guests came besides our regular church members. Praise God for a great occasion to share Jesus with them.\nGospel outreach at Calvary Chapel\nThe people who live around the church came and heard the Gospel. We pray that God will draw them towards Him.\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-desires-that-no-one-should-perish-prakash-update-february-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e2 Peter 3:9\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRomans 3:22 says, \u0026ldquo;Even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChristmas Outreaches\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we usually do, last year in November, we organized some Gospel outreaches in three different cities. The outreaches were very joyful. People came from all around.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Desires That No One Should Perish! - Prakash Update February 2025"},{"content":" “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and\nwhoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. “Luke 16:10\nYou just spent 6 weeks in Mexico, where your heart was exposed to the realities of people who have never heard the gospel, you were hearing both good and bad from current missionaries all around the world, and you were intensely involved in day-to-day ministry and outreaches. You became engrossed with the heart wrenching fate that 3.2 billion people may be born, live, and die without ever hearing the Gospel. Then, you come home to leave all, ready to see where God may send you, and He says wait.\n“Trust in the Lord with all your heart\nand lean not on your own understanding;\nin all your ways submit to him,\nand he will make your paths straight”Proverbs 3:5-6\nWhy I am Here When I came home, I was so expectant that the Lord would speak clearly on the call He gave me at CSOM, and He did. But not how I expected. He started to show me I must be faithful with whatever is in front of me, no matter where I am. It’s easy in a school of people your age all with similar callings to compare. I found myself doing that as people knew where they were called locationally and started going on vision tours and I was home, doing the same things I was doing before.\nBut God showed me how crucial it is to be faithful with the small things and showed me how big they actually are. I am blessed to serve in our Youth Ministry here at CCSG, where we meet every Wednesday for youth group and Sunday for a youth church service. Lately we have had a small attendance, especially in the number of girls that come. But it’s those moments where even 1 girl comes, that the Lord speaks to me and says, “That is why you are here”. I also am extremely blessed to be on staff at CCSG which means I get to be a little more involved in the behind the scenes of running a church! Here I am growing in a lot of ways, but my job is simply an Administrative Assistant where I assist our Administrative Pastor/Worship Pastor Joel Garcia, as well as do our graphics, bulletins, and a little of our church app. So, until that time comes where I know where the Lord has called me elsewhere, I will be faithful exactly where He has placed me.\nWhere He has Placed Me Where else has He placed me? In our Missions Training School (MTS) here at CCSG. I have a culture class about 2x a month on Mondays with Pastor Rob who was a missionary on the field for over 10 Years. And we currently have a Hebrews class Tuesday nights taught by Pastor Trent, and I am loving every second! As well as every Wednesday we all have class together from 1pm-4:30pm and for an hour of it we split up into groups and practice teaching a specific passage from the Bible while getting critiqued by one of our Pastors or leaders! As scary as it is, it’s the best way to grow in Homiletics (Teaching the Bible) and Hermeneutics (Studying the Bible), so I am thankful for it. Sparing you some details.. I just want to say I absolutely LOVE this program. I am so grateful to be intentionally poured into here and have the opportunity to serve consistently in so many areas. I am excited for 2025 and all that God is going to do! Here are a few ways you can further support me in this new year!\nWays to Support Prayer\nI absolutely NEED your prayers as I am seeking the Lord while doing all that He has placed in front of me. I can’t do any of this out of my own strength, and so I ask that you come alongside me in prayer for this next year of MTS and simply serving our King!\nFinancially\nAs I mentioned earlier I am unsure of where God has called me to serve locationally. But what I am 100% sure of is He has called me to leave everything and serve Him cross-culturally. I am grateful to be serving here but I am also so excited to see where He will send me. A part of that preparation time includes vision tours. A vision tour is essentially opportunities we are given as MTS students to visit different places ( accompanied by our pastors or leaders and or other students who feel led) and spend a few days or weeks praying over the land and seeing if this is where God has called us. This year there will be a few vision tour opportunities that I am praying over. If you are interested or feel led to help cover the cost of those please click the financial giving button at the end of this newsletter!\nPrayer Requests Youth\n• More discipleship opportunities with the girls\n• Each youth would have a personal walk with Jesus\n• Our Winter Camp this weekend (Feb 7th-10th)\n• Me teaching girls winter camp devotional every morning (wisdom)\nMTS\n• Growth in my teaching class\n• I would time manage well\n• Financial provision for future vision tours\nLife\n• Salvation of my family\n• I would saturate my life in the Word\n• I would diligently seek the Lord on direction\nThank you for taking the time to read this update on all that God is doing in my life! I pray you were encouraged and stirred up to seek Him more and more. If you have any questions or would like to chat further email me and I’d love to talk more! Until then,\n“.. seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given\nto you as well.”\n– Matthew 6:33 SEEK HIM\n– Serena Keeler\nEnd of Year Moments in Pictures!! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/faithful-with-the-small-things-january-2025-keeler-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ewhoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much. “Luke 16:10\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou just spent 6 weeks in Mexico, where your heart was exposed to the realities of people who have never heard the gospel, you were hearing both good and bad from current missionaries all around the world, and you were intensely involved in day-to-day ministry and outreaches. You became engrossed with the heart wrenching fate that 3.2 billion people may be born, live, and die without ever hearing the Gospel. Then, you come home to leave all, ready to see where God may send you, and He says wait.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Faithful with the Small Things - January 2025 Keeler Update"},{"content":"For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 6:9 Dear Friends and Family,\nI am sure by now your New Year is well under way. As I write this we have begun 2025 and as you have done, we have celebrated the end of the year with remembrance of all God had done in 2024 and are now looking forward to what God will do and how we can be used in 2025.\nIn our last newsletter we were just preparing our Christmas programs so I wanted to share how it all turned out. The Christmas program at Arise Christian Fellowship turned out beautifully. The children and youth really took over most of the service. They performed a variety of 8 different songs, dances and skits to tell the Christmas story and what it means for us. They practiced everyday for 2 weeks. Liana was in every performance and we are so proud of how hard she worked and the commitment she showed. She even got to be the lead in one of the dances and to conduct the small children in singing.\nWe are so thankful to the Sunday school teachers as well. They worked very hard to teach and choreograph the songs. They came everyday to the church to work with the kids and designed the outfits for the different parts of the program. They also performed a collaboration of Christmas carols. They demonstrated so much patience and love to the children as well as providing the children with something fun and fruitful to invest their time in over the long school holiday. (It’s our summer break here).\nThe teachers awarded the kids for their hardwork by giving them a Christmas party and gifts.\nLiana showed her appreciation for being a part of the show by sharing candy with all the kids and teachers.\nThe worship team did a beautiful job leading the church in Christmas carols as well in to the heart of worship. I often wish we would sing those beautiful songs more than once a year. My heart was overwhelmed as I sang about the gift of Jesus. They really prepared us for the Christmas message.\nFor the weeks leading up to Christmas Brian had been sharing each week on the different characters of the Christmas story and their importance. His Christmas message was about Jesus and how His birth was just the beginning of the story of God’s gift to us. He went on to share about Jesus’ purpose in being born and our salvation through His death and resurrection. Truly it taught us the reason for the season.\nAfter the church service we had a meal for everyone who was there. Some of the ladies in the church cooked. We are so thankful for how God multiplied the food. We had planned for 250 people and ended up with 280 children plus the adults. Everyone got something. It was a great time of “swallowship” as Brian and the other pastors always say. We love sharing a meal with everyone because many people in our church are very poor and we do not know if they will have a nice meal for Christmas or not.\nAlso I believe the fellowship draws us closer together. Our church is not too big and one of the things people always comment on is that they feel like they are part of a family when they are at Arise. For those who we are aware of, that probably would not have any meal on Christmas such as the widows and orphans of the church, we gave out Christmas gifts of rice, maize flour, oil, sugar and soap. We were so blessed to know we would have a nice Christmas at home as a family and it is a blessing to ensure that others will as well. We are very thankful for those of you who gave to make that possible.\nFor my women’s Bible study and the children who come to that we also had a Christmas party. We have been studying the Names of God, so for the Christmas message I shared on the names from Isaiah 9:6 that are given to the coming Messiah. For the New Year Brian taught a mini series on New Year resolutions and goals we should have as Christians and as a church. I believe not just me but everyone is excited to step out of our comfort zone of 2024 and take steps of faith into whatever God has in store for us in 2025.\nThank you for praying for our family and\nfor the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for all that the Lord has done in us and for us in 2024. Pray for God’s leading and direction in 2025. We are thankful for our church family. We are thankful to those who serve and for those who are still learning what it means to follow Jesus. Pray that God would continue to grow the church and raise up a new generation of servants. We are thankful for the for the many people who pray and support the ministry here. Pray for Danison and Ester. He leads our ministry team and she is our Sunday School director. As I am writing this I was just informed their 1.5 year old son has passed away. It is heartbreaking. Pray for the Kanyike family as they continue to serve the Lord in Uganda. Pray for their spiritual life as well as their physical needs. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/kanyike-update-january-2025/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"for-unto-us-a-child-is-born-unto-us-a-son-is-given-and-the-government-will-be-upon-his-shoulder-and-his-name-will-be-called-wonderful-counselor-mighty-god-everlasting-father\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFor unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father,\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003ePrince of Peace. Isaiah 6:9\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am sure by now your New Year is well under way. As I write this we have begun 2025 and as you have done, we have celebrated the end of the year with remembrance of all God had done in 2024 and are now looking forward to what God will do and how we can be used in 2025.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Kanyike Update - February 2025"},{"content":"December 2024 and January 2025 Update\nSometimes it’s all too easy to get stuck in our own circumstances. Praise the Lord He’s with us. Praise the Lord we have this hope to ground ourselves in the truth when distractions and trials come: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory,” (Colossians 3:1-4, NKJV). I’m so thankful for His faithfulness to continue to grow me heavenward, to know that He loves me beyond my greatest imagining, that my sins are paid for once and for all, and that He will neither leave me nor forsake me. He is more than able to place us where He wants us, and give us the strength to endure in any circumstance.\nDecember\nDecember was a bit of a whirlwind, but it was a blessing. Things settled down quite a bit after our last semester ended, and it was a nice change of pace and allowed me to prepare and plan for coming back stateside. It was a blessing continuing to draw closer to students. Praise the Lord I’ve been continuing to see my Spanish grow (thank you for Your prayers—the Lord is strengthening me to learn). One highlight before I flew home was a big outreach we did to our community. We called it Dar es Amar (To Give is to Love). People from our church and others donated presents and money for toys where we could wrap presents and prepare lunches for children in need and go out into our community, share the Gospel and practically the love of Jesus for these little ones by giving them a gift with that message of freedom. That they would remember they received something because Jesus loves them. Please keep praying that the Lord would equip us to share well His Gospel for the glory of His name. December 22nd I flew back stateside—I arrived Monday the 23rd around 12pm and I was so excited to see my aunt and go get some In-N-Out. I was so blessed to be able to see my family and spend time with them on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. After a long year it was good to be with loved ones. A final highlight was getting to teach the Young Adults at the Rock the next day. It’s a blessing to see how the Lord is moving and stirring in the hearts of His people to serve Him where they are and to go the nations.\nJanuary\nJanuary was a whirlwind and a blessing all at once. I got to see many old friends, make passport appointments, take a family trip, and share at multiple churches. I got to spend a lot of time at my home church—Calvary Chapel the Rock and it was a blessing to see what the Lord has been doing with my church family back in California. There were a lot of little logistical things, meeting up with people to catch up after being on the field for a year, and new relationships made as well. It was a blessing of a time. My weekends were full as well as I shared at Calvary Chapel Willits on the first Sunday of the month and then at the Rock for a missions gathering and dinner the next week. I was so blessed by the opportunities and all of the support from all who came. It was refreshing and bittersweet as my time stateside was coming to an end, but I’m blessed to have the opportunity to represent the Lord on the field and am so thankful to have you partnering with me in prayer and support to take His name to South America and beyond. I’m now officially an SGWM missionary. I got to spend a week down South seeing some old friends, and getting to meet with the staff at Saving Grace to go over different protocols, share with their missions students, and enjoy some time with them all. In the midst of the busyness, the Lord brought refreshment. I pray the Lord would refresh your hearts for the refreshment you’ve been for me.\nI got back to Trujillo at 9:45am Jan. 21st and at the same time as a team that was coming to help us at the church. We hit the ground running. We had two small construction teams and got a lot done. I was so encouraged to see their work ethics and hear the work that the Lord has done in their lives. They were an absolute blessing. I hope to see them again soon.\nWhat’s Next?\nPlease be praying, things with the property in Argentina are moving along and may be heading there sooner than first anticipated. Here at CBI Perú I’m going to be heading up evangelism for the students, practical service hours, head up different construction projects, help disciple the students, and prepare more for the work in Argentina. There is much to be done, and I need His strength. I cannot do it without the empowerment of His Spirit. Our next semester has just started and I’m so excited to see what the Lord is going to do! Please pray for the leadership, and please pray for the students that this would be a fruitful time that the Lord would reveal the call He’s placed on the lives of His children.\nHow to Get Involved…\nPlease pray! There is no greater need for me than for prayer of the work that the Lord has called me to do. I need His wisdom and guidance. I need the empowerment of His Spirit. I need His provision. Please pray that I would prioritize evangelism and discipleship as there is absolutely a need. Please pray that I would redeem my time well using it for the glory of His name. Please pray that the Lord would open doors for the work in Argentina and that we would be able to establish a sending hub in the South of the continent to reach South America.\nFor the glory of His name,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/perspective-voisin-january-2025-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDecember 2024 and January 2025 Update\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/voisin/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2025/02/2EFC5EF9-3388-4474-B027-4027A6954289.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSometimes it’s all too easy to get stuck in our own circumstances. Praise the Lord He’s with us. Praise the Lord we have this hope to ground ourselves in the truth when distractions and trials come: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things of the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory,” (Colossians 3:1-4, NKJV). I’m so thankful for His faithfulness to continue to grow me heavenward, to know that He loves me beyond my greatest imagining, that my sins are paid for once and for all, and that He will neither leave me nor forsake me. He is more than able to place us where He wants us, and give us the strength to endure in any circumstance.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Perspective - Voisin January 2025 Update"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nWe deeply express our heartfelt gratitude to the almighty God for His amazing mercy upon my family. At the same time we appreciate each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. Because of your financial help, we are able to move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached without any worry. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, job and businesses. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\nBy God’s grace, all of the classes of second semester are going very well at our Calvary Bible Institute. We take our students for house visitation weekly as part of their practical ministry training. They are able to lead and share from the Bible.\nDuring the Christmas season we had various types of wonderful outreaches on different days. It was a great time to share the love of Jesus through a huge Christmas rally, Christmas caroling, children\u0026rsquo;s Christmas program etc. We also had a wonderful Christmas gathering with our church believers.\nMr. K.*, a Hindu man, had been suffering with weakness in his neck for about a year because of a road accident. Now he is unable to do anything by himself. I learned about him through one of the believers of our church. I was privileged to visit him and share the love of Jesus with his entire family. We prayed for him to be healed and for his whole family to come to the saving knowledge Jesus. His wife now comes to our church.\nOn December 24th my wife’s uncle went to be with the Lord. Everyone in the family grieved, but they were comforted by God\u0026rsquo;s divine peace. Now our family is doing okay. Thank you so much for your prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our Calvary Bible Institute\u0026rsquo;s new semester. May God help all of the teachers teach well. May God open the minds of students to understand the Bible. Kindly pray for those who have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ for the first time. May God work in their hearts, so that they may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Please for the healing of Mr. K., and that through his healing his entire family may come to Jesus Christ. Please pray that God’s heavenly peace will dwell in our grieving family Continue to pray for my daughter\u0026rsquo;s education. Continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/for-the-expansion-of-gods-kingdom-pastor-3-update-february-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe deeply express our heartfelt gratitude to the almighty God for His amazing mercy upon my family. At the same time we appreciate each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. Because of your financial help, we are able to move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached without any worry. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, job and businesses. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"For the Expansion of God's Kingdom - Pastor 3 Update February 2025"},{"content":"Happy New Year!\nMay this New Year be filled with joy, peace and God’s abundant blessings! This new year is going to be a year of hope and harvest.\nThe last month of 2024 did not go well with us (humanly speaking). Five people whom we knew went to be with the Lord. My wife\u0026rsquo;s uncle was one of them. He died early in the morning on December 24th.\nWe could not do as much outreach during the Christmas season as we did in previous years. We needed permission from the government officials of the town to be allowed do any Christian activity. We had planned to do prison ministry and school evangelism, but we were not given permission. Nevertheless, we were able to invite non-Christian children to our church on December 21st and do a program for them. The Gospel message was shared with them through songs, skits, and a short message.\nWe had a Christmas rally on December 15. Thousands of Christians from all of the churches of the town gathered together and marched through the streets of the town singing carols and Gospel songs and preaching Gospel messages. Since it was organised by all of the churches through an association, permission for the rally was granted.\nEach evening, from December 16-19, we, along with members from our church, went to different locations in the town to sing carols and visit Christian families. In front of Christians\u0026rsquo; houses we sang carols and Gospel songs. We shared short Gospel messages that their neighbors could hear. We didn’t need permission from the government to do this.\nThe Lord has opened up a Hindu family for us to share the Gospel with. The man in the family was previously in an accident. He had a problem in his backbone, but had recovered after being treated. A few months ago he was sitting on a chair and fell down. No one knows how he fell down. He hurt his neck and was paralyzed. He got surgery, but it did not help. We have been visiting his family for the last two months. We read God\u0026rsquo;s Word, give a short exhortation and pray for him. Please pray for God’s miraculous healing for him. His wife has been attending our Sunday services.\nPraise the Lord that we could do something for His glory during this Christmas season. We know that we are weak, but He is strong.\nThank you so much for your continued prayers and support throughout 2024.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/we-are-weak-but-he-is-strong-pastor-15-update-february-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHappy New Year!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMay this New Year be filled with joy, peace and God’s abundant blessings! This new year is going to be a year of hope and harvest.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe last month of 2024 did not go well with us (humanly speaking). Five people whom we knew went to be with the Lord. My wife\u0026rsquo;s uncle was one of them. He died early in the morning on December 24th.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/IMG%5F6030.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/IMG%5F6045.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe could not do as much outreach during the Christmas season as we did in previous years. We needed permission from the government officials of the town to be allowed do any Christian activity. We had planned to do prison ministry and school evangelism, but we were not given permission. Nevertheless, we were able to invite non-Christian children to our church on December 21st and do a program for them. The Gospel message was shared with them through songs, skits, and a short message.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We Are Weak, But He Is Strong - Pastor 15 update February 2025"},{"content":" not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. HEBREWS 10:25\nWe decided as a team to begin our year by separating from work and business and going on a retreat. Our team gathered at the source of the Nile River for a few days in Jinja. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, relaxation, recuperation, prayer, and worship. Since some of the kids are getting old enough to watch the others, the adults were able to meet and discuss important topics for long periods. During that time, the team had the incredible privilege of baptizing one of our director’s children in the Nile River! Also, Emma was privileged to be a flower girl at the wedding of a young lady who grew up under the provision of our Director and his wife.\nAs a church, we ushered in the New Year with an all-night service of prayer, praise, worship, and preaching. It was a great time of fellowship, even though I had to wear earplugs. We are excited about this year for our church for a few reasons. Firstly, our church is becoming more organized because we can delegate more work as more members are being discipled. Secondly, we have started a yearly bible plan with a number of those leaders using the YouVersion Bible app. While reading the Word on a phone has its downsides, it is great to read as a group and have a platform to share what you are learning every day.\n**\nPlease be praying with us:**\nFor our pastoral school, Terebinth Bible College, as we are graduating our current students this Spring and are starting the new intake process. Please pray that we will get the right students who are hungry to learn God’s Word and passionate about Jesus. That God would bless the work of our church, Calvary Chapel Gulu, as we start a new year and plan new things. Please pray that many will be saved and baptized through the church body and that the body will grow in their love for, knowledge of, and commitment to Jesus. For our family, as we are looking to raise more monthly support. For Noelle’s stomach as she is battling painful peptic ulcers. For the other Calvary Chapels that have been planted through our church and our sister churches. We currently have nearly 30 churches that need to be further established with permanent buildings that would cost about $5,000 each. For Yalwak Manyen Sports Academy, the soccer ministry we have running in the village of Adak. We are currently discipling and training about 60 children multiple times a week, but the program is currently lacking a lot of gear and development (we need new balls, uniforms, cones, etc…). Lastly, please pray for Acholi-Land as a whole that people would turn away from demon worship, cults, and false gospels and toward an understanding of Jesus through God’s Word. May God richly bless you as you seek to further His kingdom in your neck of the woods. Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/january-2025-harris-family-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003enot neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. HEBREWS 10:25\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2025/01/Screenshot%5F20250116%5F111916%5FPhotos.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2025/01/IMG-20250116-WA0005.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe decided as a team to begin our year by separating from work and business and going on a retreat. Our team gathered at the source of the Nile River for a few days in Jinja. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, relaxation, recuperation, prayer, and worship. Since some of the kids are getting old enough to watch the others, the adults were able to meet and discuss important topics for long periods. During that time, the team had the incredible privilege of baptizing one of our director’s children in the Nile River! Also, Emma was privileged to be a flower girl at the wedding of a young lady who grew up under the provision of our Director and his wife.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"January 2025 - Harris Family Update"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICABrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\n-Please pray for families at Arise Christian Fellowship. They have had multiple deaths in the church since the year started. 4 to be exact.\n-Pray especially for the Sunday school director and her husband as they lost their middle baby who was 1 .5 years. They have another son who is 3 and a newborn.\n-Pray for the Youth as Arise has launched an new youth/ young adult ministry called RES. Standing for rooted, equipped , serve.\n-Pray for Jill as she has been dealing with some women hormone issues and it is causing some small but uncomfortable health issues.\n-Pray for the Kanyike children as they begin this new school year.\n-Pray for provision as school is more expensive this year with Luke entering high-school courses.\n-Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email BlogMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nDear friends and family, Thank you so much for your continued love and care. This month, please be praying with us:\n-That God would bless the work of our church, Calvary Chapel Gulu, as we start a new year and plan new things.\n-Please pray that many will be saved and baptized through the church body and that the body will grow in their love for, knowledge of, and commitment to Jesus.\n-Please pray for the other Calvary Chapels that have been planted through our church and our sister churches. We currently have nearly 30 churches that need to be further established with permanent buildings that would cost about $5,000 each.\n-Please pray for Yalwak Manyen Football Academy, the soccer ministry we have running in the village of Adak. We are currently discipling and training around 60 children multiple times a week, but the program is currently lacking a lot of gear and development (we need new balls, uniforms, cones, etc\u0026hellip;).\n-Please pray with us for our pastoral school, Terebinth Bible College, as we are graduating our current students this Spring and are starting the new intake process.\n-Please pray that we will get the right students who are hungry to learn God\u0026rsquo;s Word and passionate about Jesus.\n-Lastly, please pray for Acholi-Land as a whole. That people would turn away from cults and false gospels and toward an understanding of Jesus through God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nMay Christ richly bless you, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; family- Email BlogAniku Family - Uganda\n-Please pray for our first Graduation, February 22, as an affiliate of CC Golden Spring Bible College. We are praying over the details and who will officiate.\n-Our soccer team, Calvary FC has finished first phase in 3rd place of Big League. If it is God’s plan we will go to premier with more open doors to share the gospel beyond Uganda.\n-Pray for the teams planning to come visit us. Teams are extremely important! They help encourage the weary warriors, used by God in ways sometimes the locals can’t be used, it keeps accountability, and much more.\n-Please pray for the details, needs, unity, all needed for them to fulfill Gods plan for them here in Midigo, Uganda.\n-Pray for our nursery and primary school as we start a new school year with many changes.\nIn Him, The Aniku’s- Email BlogUSABond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n-Pray for this time of recruitment for new students in Nepal and S. Asia as the new semester for CBI starts in February.\n-Pray the Lord brings the students He desires to study His Word.\n-Pray for all those who heard the Gospel at the Christmas Outreaches in Nepal, S. Asia, Pakistan to allow the seed to take root and to come to church and put their faith in Jesus as their Savior.\n-Pray the seed would take root and grow.\n-Pray for the completion of the building project for CBI S. Asia.\n-Pray for the move into the new campus to go smoothly and protection from anyone who may try to come against.\n-Pray for wives that love Jesus and feel called into ministry for our single brothers who are pastoring in Nepal and S. Asia.\nThank you for your prayers! Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email BlogJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n-Please pray for the salvation of attendees in our nursing home ministry, for those who are not trusting in Jesus for salvation.\n-Please continue to pray for my parents’ health.\n-Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\n-Please pray that God will continually strengthen our faith and service for Him.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,Paul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email BlogJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n-Please pray for the Christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.\n-Please pray for both of my parents’ health.\n-Please pray for our after-school children’s ministry, that many children would come to know Jesus personally.\nGod bless you! Joni - Email BlogMexicoMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n-For God\u0026rsquo;s favor in the court case, so we get our property and the sports center back!\n-God\u0026rsquo;s provision as we prepare an offer to purchase our building!\n-God\u0026rsquo;s blessing on our 42nd church plant in March! (This one will be in a prison)\nPraise Reports:\n-Jobs in San Diego for both of our young-adult children Grace and Daniel! Thanks for your prayers! Mike and Sarah Vincent- Email BlogJenna Pepin – Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico\n-Pray that the Sinaloa Cartel drug war would end soon. The Lord has miraculously kept us safe, but we are all tired of having to schedule ministry activities around the Cartel\u0026rsquo;s activities\u0026hellip; and I nearly lost a good friend 2 weeks ago.\n-Pray for Ruby\u0026rsquo;s continued health. She has been temporarily diagnosed with diastolic hypertension, but her doctors honestly have no idea what is causing her high blood pressure and heart rate. In fact, they still believe she is smoking. 🤦🏼‍♀️\n-Pray for Sammy as he continues to navigate the difficult waters of adolescence. May God shape him into a Godly man full of integrity and purpose.\n-Pray for our ongoing ministry of Calvary Misiones in Nayarit, specifically that God would raise up long-term missionaries and eventually local pastors to continue the work. On our most recent trip to San Gregorio, Nicolás and Miguel Ángel (2 locals and new believers) expressed a desire to receive further training toward that end.\n-Pray for the ministry \u0026ldquo;Transformadas\u0026rdquo; in the women\u0026rsquo;s rehab center. In December alone, we had 47 first time professions of faith.\n-Pray that the Lord helps us and our discipleship of these new believers so that they could be transformed by God\u0026rsquo;s love and not return to their addictions.\n-Pray for my continued healing process. I will be starting a new rehab program next weekend, hoping to reverse the degenerative disc disease and restore the herniated discs in my neck.\n-Pray for all of our church planting students. Our second and longest semester started this week. Jenna Pepin- Email BlogDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\n-Continued prayers for my mom’s well-being and good health. She is doing so well at this time, and I’m so grateful to God for his answered prayers!\n-A teacher for the 8 to 11 year olds on Wednesday nights.\n- Funds to finish various projects one being our library. We need beanbag chairs, and large pillows to make it inviting and cozy.\n-For continued good health, and strength to take care of my mom and run the afterschool program here en Tijuana, and wisdom from God in all of it.\nDeanna Jevas- Email BlogSouth AmericaAndrew Weakland - Peru\n-That God can raise up a worship leader. My friend Jesus has been with us for a year and 3 months. He has been leading worship in Calvary Moyobamba, but is returning to Trujillo in 2 weeks. Learning and blessing for our new believers class that will start Saturday Jan 18 Thankfulness to God because He has helped me make a lot of decisions through precise words from the Bible. And now I see the wonderful benefits.\nAndrew Weakland- Email Blog10/40 WindowThe 10/40 Window The 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)Worker 3 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n-Kindly pray that God may open the eyes of Hindu fanatic groups to see God\u0026rsquo;s love and come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\n-Please pray that God will stop such great persecutions.\n-Kindly pray for the growth of our church.\n-Pray for suitable land for our church.\n-Kindly pray for me and my family, that the Lord will use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\n-Please also pray for my daughter\u0026rsquo;s schoolwork.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!In Him,Worker 3Worker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests :\n-As we are celebrating the New Year, we are praying for the year ahead in our ministry plans. We are fervently praying and planning to increase our outreach efforts in the city.\n-Pray for C*, who is diligently serving in M* and sharing the Gospel with the villagers. He began Bible studies and eventually led the establishment of Sunday worship services.\n-Pray for A*, who is currently serving in three locations. We request your prayers for raising up pastors who can assume leadership roles in the churches and for the construction of a new church.\n-Pray for A*, who is serving in K* village.\n-We pray for P*, who is serving in the most challenging areas and ministering to two different villages.\n-We are also praying for the staff at the CBI campus in the city and for all of their needs. Thank you!\nGod bless you, Worker 6Worker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n-Pray that I will continue to grow in the Lord.Pray that God will continue to use me for His glory as I teach and disciple these students.\n-Pray that I would be a blessing to the young adults and the youth whom I disciple.\n-Pray for the people who heard the Gospel preached to them and for those who decided to follow Jesus, that they may continue to grow in Him and that they may stand firm in tough times.\n-Pray for God’s protection upon us as persecution is increasing in our place.\nThank you so much for your prayers. God bless you all!\nWorker 9Worker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n-Please pray those who heard the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time during Christmas outreaches.\n-Please pray for the salvation of all who heard the Gospel during Christmas outreaches.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership and participation in spreading the Gospel! God bless you all! Worker 11Worker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n-Pray for those who fully committed their life to Christ, that they may strongly build their life with God and keep learning the Word of God.\n-There are some more families ready to follow Jesus publicly; pray for God\u0026rsquo;s timing and also protection from evil things.\n-Pray for a family who is being prosecuted by the anti-Christian groups.\n-Our church is growing day by day; we don\u0026rsquo;t have a good place where we can meet and have freedom for church activities.\n-Please pray that God will help us have a place where we can have more freedom for meeting and activities.\n-Please pray for our renting situation.\nThank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers!Worker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for:\n-Those who heard the Gospel during the Christmas season.\n-The paralyzed man in a Hindu family we are sharing the Gospel with.\n-Please pray for God’s miraculous healing for him. His wife has been attending our Sunday Service. Thank you so much for your continued prayers and partnership throughout 2024! God bless,Worker 15\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n-Please pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge.\n-Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing.\n-Please pray for the village ministry in our local area. May the villagers grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word.Please pray M* (the niece of one of our students). She is suffering from Chickenpox.\n-Please pray for our state believers, as they are facing persecution. Worker 16Anand and Usha – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n-Please pray for those who heard the Gospel during Christmas outreaches.\n-Please keep the young people who are considering joining CBI in your prayers.\n-Pray that they will continue to seek God and grow in their spiritual journeys.\n-Please pray for those who graduated from CBI this year, that God will guide them and use them mightily in spreading His Word.\nThank you for your prayers and support,Anand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email BlogPrakash and Muna - Nepal\n-Please pray for those who graduated from CBI Nepal in 2024.\nBlessings!Prakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email BlogRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n-Our Bible Institute\u0026rsquo;s new semester will be starting soon. Pray that God will bring more young people to learn the Word of God.\n-Pray that God will provide for the needs of our church.\n-Pray that God will bring more unreached people to hear the Gospel in our church.\n-Pray that God will bring more children to our church.\n-Please pray that Mahima will have normal blood sugar (with her diabetes) and that her blood pressure will be normal.\n-Pray that our child will be in good health.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership. Grace and Peace,Rabi and Mahima - Email BlogAbhishek and Lacey – 10/40 Window\n-Please pray for us. That we would grow more as a family and personally - closer to Jesus.\n-Praise God we moved into a new house 15 minutes away from the new construction of the CBI.It\u0026rsquo;s been one month and we are still not able to get WiFi at our house.\n-Please pray we would get WiFi soon. -Abhi has been asked to take on a new role. For the next 6 months, Abhi will be looking after most responsibilities of the church. Teaching thrice monthly, (currently started the Book of Exodus) etc. Please pray for Him.\n-The CBI will start soon.\n-Please pray for us to find Lacey a Telugu teacher in our new Community.\n-Please pray for women\u0026rsquo;s bible study every Wednesday, Lacey and the Pastors wife are almost done with book of James.\n-Please pray for the salvation of our unsaved family members.\n-Please pray for Lacey and El sali to have all the financial provision to visit the States in the summer 2025.\n-Please pray for wisdom and favor as Abhi applies for tourist visa to the States.\nWe thank you for your labor of love and partnership in the Gospel!\nLove Abhishek and Lacey Darryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nDear Prayer Warriors, Thanks for your prayers! In the middle of December, I (Darryl) was diagnosed a rare and serious autoimmune disease called Guillain Barre Syndrome, which has greatly weakened/temporarily paralyzed parts of my legs and feet and caused great pain. I\u0026rsquo;m recovering rapidly and regaining strength and confidence still, a long journey remains. I\u0026rsquo;m thankful that God has provided all the resources (physical therapy etc.) that I need here in Cambodia.\n-Please pray for wisdom for me as I have started returning to regular ministry and life activities (as I am able).\n-Please pray for wisdom as we must start from scratch as we reconsider our plans and commitments for 2025 etc. (with my frequently changing physical capacity etc. in mind).\n-Please pray for wisdom, health, and strength for Kayo and Benjamin as well as they must bear more burdens during this season.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-february-2025-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n-Please pray for families at Arise Christian Fellowship. They have had multiple deaths in the church since the year started. 4 to be exact.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-Pray especially for the Sunday school director and her husband as they lost their middle baby who was 1 .5 years. They have another son who is 3 and a newborn.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-Pray for the Youth as Arise has launched an new youth/ young adult ministry called RES. Standing for rooted, equipped , serve.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM FEBRUARY 2025 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Sugoi! It has been quite a year for us living out our faith over here in Japan. This update is going to highlight both the difficulties and blessings this year has brought. Thank you so much to each of you who have gotten behind us and opened your hearts to the lost souls of Japan. It’s been quite a ride so far, but one full of God’s Glory. Learning to walk with Jesus while isolated from a culture that we know and understand has been both stretching and rewarding. We have the opportunity as adults to experience being “cultural infants” as we learn a new way of life and what it looks like to be ambassadors of Christ here in Japan.\nDecember 2023\nAfter seven long years of waiting and training, there we were, preparing to move. It was Sunday the 10th and Jeff was sharing one last message with our home church in Montana. I distinctly remember becoming emotional and honestly overwhelmed. I was sitting beside my mother and father and surrounded by people who I’d built deep relationships with. I asked the Lord ‘ will I know how to love the Japanese people? I love these people you have given me. I feel so sad to not do life side by side with them.’\nFor every missionary there is great cost here on earth, but we each have to ask how much of ourselves is Jesus worthy to have? I had made the choice years earlier that Jesus could have my whole life, but on that Sunday I felt myself put it on the altar again. I sat there thinking about all that the Lord had done in our lives. I listened and watched in awe of the man of God that had been built in my husband. I thought of all the people whose lives had been used by God to get us to this launching point. I was filled with trust once more, reminded that He loves the lost and that the Japanese are lost. 127 million people without hope waiting to hear. “I heard the voice of the Lord, saying whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then I said, “Here I am send me.” – Isaiah 6:8\nThree days later would be the most painful experience and also the solidifying event of understanding just how important it is to get the hope of Jesus to the Japanese and give proper discipleship in this empty land. My dear friend who we’d met a year previously committed suicide. I have tried to understand why this happened for a year but to be honest, it is something that I don’t have an answer for. She was a 22 year-old woman that loved Jesus. To us she was a beautiful example of what God wanted for every Japanese soul. And personally my heart loved her so much that it was a terrible loss. We stayed up crying until the wee hours of the morning too confused about how this could happen. And now the excitement we had for moving and experiencing the Lord’s joy was met with deep sorrow. But…“WE know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose” Romans 8:28. There is still a deep hole in so much that Jeff and I do in ministry as we still feel that she is supposed to be here ministering alongside us. However, her story showed us that the issue of suicide in Japan is very real and we need to be sensitive to the Spirit and I am continually praying about how the Lord wants to use our dear friend’s testimony to help others.\nJanuary-May 2024\nWe packed our bags and with a team of 9 others coming on a short-term vision trip, we moved and led a missions trip to Japan. It would take us three months to finally find a place to call home and settle into life in Japan. That time was very stretching for us as many of you know I have celiac disease and eating at restaurants is very risky for me and we didn’t have a kitchen so it was a hard way to start our new life. But we are so thankful for having the team come, because out of the 9 people that came, 4 of them are going to be here from this month until April/May. They are praying about moving full time to come over and do ministry together. I cannot even begin to tell you how encouraging this is for Jeff and I, we honestly thought it would just be us faithfully following the Lord, but to have so many missionaries lining up behind us is mind-blowing. The Lord really has His eyes on this country. Over and over again we are reminded how precious they are in His sight.\nMay-June 2024\nWe were so blessed to have the funds needed to travel back to America and see Jeff’s daughter Daphne graduate high school. There was so much joy as we saw the faithfulness of the Lord to have the whole family together and see her enter adulthood.\nJune-September 2024\nWe came back to Japan and really dug in. We started our language learning at this time and were able to start understanding how to live as part of the Japanese community rather than be a bystander or a tourist. We also experienced our first summer; wow that was no joke with temperatures of 100+ and humidity of 98%! Plus, there was the noise of the cacophonous cicadas that penetrated every room in our home.\nOctober-November 2024\nWe were so blessed to travel to Thailand for the Saving Grace conference. It was seriously so wonderful to be all together from different countries and hear about all that the Lord is doing all over the world. This was so so so faith-building and I can tell you that the Holy Spirit is really moving globally. When we got back, we hosted another missionary as she prayed about moving full time over here too. It was also at this time that Jeff started teaching a bible college class on the book of Acts.\nDecember 2024\nWe ended out the year totally encouraged as we had outreaches amidst the community that seemed to be very successful. It was so special to be here for our first Christmas. It was nothing like Christmas in America so it was a time of some sadness as we missed our loved ones and traditions. But the simplicity of just enjoying the celebrations of Jesus’ birth with the believers was so special.\nJanuary 2025\nAs our second year begins, our language learning is going well. Jeff started a 5 day a week language program, and I am still learning with my tutor. We have 4 other missionaries here for 3 months praying about coming over long term so we are blessed by them being with us. We are continuing in the ministry at the church and praying if there is anything the Lord wants us to add in our second year.\nIf you would like to get behind us and the work the Lord is doing this year, our one-time needs include:\nThe ladies’ retreat at Abide coming up that will be an extra cost of $100.\nFunds needed while we are blessed to host the short-term teams that come (for extra train rides and meals we’ll host in our home)\nThe ministry trip to Tokyo for the Japan Calvary conference we would like to join (about $860 in total)\nA vacuum for our home\nA dryer machine\nA printer to print Japanese worksheets\nWe are also still in need of monthly partners at the moment and so if you feel led to partner with us monthly, you can do so through the financial button below. Thank you so much for your prayerful consideration in partnering with us as we reach out and minister to the people of Japan.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/one-year-in-root-january-update-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSugoi! It has been quite a year for us living out our faith over here in Japan. This update is going to highlight both the difficulties and blessings this year has brought. Thank you so much to each of you who have gotten behind us and opened your hearts to the lost souls of Japan. It’s been quite a ride so far, but one full of God’s Glory. Learning to walk with Jesus while isolated from a culture that we know and understand has been both stretching and rewarding. We have the opportunity as adults to experience being “cultural infants” as we learn a new way of life and what it looks like to be ambassadors of Christ here in Japan.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One Year In - Root January Update 2025"},{"content":"But Jesus said, \u0026ldquo;Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.\u0026rdquo;\nMatthew 19:14 NKJV\nThanks to be God\u0026ndash;He has brought these wonderful children to our church! We are also amazed by the number of children who came to our Christmas program\u0026ndash;about 42 children attended the Christmas program in our church! When I saw them, I rejoiced in Christ because they were so eager to come to our Christmas program.\nWe also distributed some gifts to the children who regularly come to our children\u0026rsquo;s ministry. We gave them some chocolate to enjoy during the program, too.\nIn the beginning, over 40 adults came for our Christmas program. More people continued to come, even into the night. By the end of the night, more than 100 people had attended. We had a bonfire and many enjoyed the fire.\nOur church youth did the best they could to dance, sing, and do other things to engage our guests. We do not have a good sound system, so sometimes people cannot hear us loudly when we are in an open area. We have been praying, and slowly more people have been coming to our open area church program.\nDuring this program, we added extra things to draw more people. We played games, and when we played musical chairs we gave the winners prizes like soap, a brush, or a comb, etc.\nMy beautiful wife, Mahima, is now 7 months pregnant. Thank you for praying for Mahima. She has also been teaching her women\u0026rsquo;s Bible Study, through an online platform. She has been dealing with gestational diabetes, and her blood pressure is also increasing. Please pray for her to be healthy and for our baby to be healthy.\nIn the leprosy colony, we have been doing a Bible Study. By the grace of God, everyone has been growing daily as we are feeding God\u0026rsquo;s Word to them. We 200 packets of sugar at the leprosy colony during the Christmas season. Their faces glowed, and every leper had a smiling face when they received a small packet of sugar in their hands. They thanked me and told me, \u0026ldquo;May God bless you.\u0026rdquo;\nFor the first time, we played Christmas carols in our neighborhood and shared the Gospel. The people heard the Good News of Christ. We also shared the Gospel more to the people in the area around our church by having a fire outside. People gathered around the fire and we shared the Gospel with them.\nPray Requests:\nOur Bible Institute\u0026rsquo;s new semester will be starting soon. Pray that God will bring more young people to learn the Word of God. Pray that God will provide for the needs of our church. Pray that God will bring more unreached people to hear the Gospel in our church. Pray that God will bring more children to our church. Please pray that Mahima will have normal blood sugar (with her diabetes) and that her blood pressure will be normal. Pray that our child will be in good health. Thank you for your support and prayers for us.\nThank you so much for partnering with us, praying for us and encouraging us. May God bless every family in Saving Grace World Missions.\nGrace and Peace,\nYour\u0026rsquo;s faithful servants,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/of-such-is-the-kingdom-of-heaven-rabi-update-january-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBut Jesus said, \u0026ldquo;Suffer the little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew 19:14 NKJV\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/0e8bbcff-ee52-42c0-8136-eb27eb053483.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThanks to be God\u0026ndash;He has brought these wonderful children to our church! We are also amazed by the number of children who came to our Christmas program\u0026ndash;about 42 children attended the Christmas program in our church! When I saw them, I rejoiced in Christ because they were so eager to come to our Christmas program.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\"Of Such Is the Kingdom of Heaven\" -Rabi Update January 2025"},{"content":"2024 Christmas Outreach Event\nOn December 25, 2024, our church hosted a special Christmas outreach event in our church courtyard. Around 150 people attended. Most of them were non-Christians from the local community. The event was filled with joy and excitement as the youth group and children performed beautiful songs and lively dances. The highlight of the evening was the sharing of the Gospel from the book of Luke, chapter 1, which tells the story of Jesus’ birth. Everyone listened attentively, and many were touched by the message of hope and love. After the Gospel reading, we had time for fellowship, where we shared food and drinks. It was heartwarming to see people from different backgrounds come together to celebrate Christmas. The event ended with everyone feeling joyful and uplifted. This outreach was a wonderful opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas with our community. We hope to continue spreading the message of love and hope in the future.\nYouth Conference in the South East\nWe held a one-day youth conference in the Southeast. It was attended by 80 young people from various regions. The teaching sessions were led by Pastor Anand, Pastor Milan, Pastor Majiya, and Pastor Joshep, focusing on lessons from the Book of Ruth. The young people were very engaged and eager to learn more about the Bible. Some of them also showcased their talents by performing traditional dances, adding joy and excitement to the event. During the conference, we enjoyed a delicious lunch together, which gave everyone a chance to bond and share their experiences. The atmosphere was filled with enthusiasm and a desire to grow in faith. At the end of the conference, we invited the young attendees to consider joining our Bible Institute. We hope and pray that many of them will take this step to deepen their understanding of the Word of God. Please keep these young people in your prayers. Pray that they may continue to seek God and grow in their spiritual journeys. This conference was a wonderful opportunity to inspire and encourage the youth in their faith.\nInductive Bible Study Workshop in the North East\nWe recently held an inductive Bible study workshop in the Northeast. Around 45 young people and church leaders participated. The workshop was facilitated by Pastor Anand, Pastor Milan, Pastor Majiya, and Pastor Joshep. Together, we had a great time discussing the Bible, and learning how to study it deeply and apply it to our lives. The young people and church leaders were eager to learn and asked many thoughtful questions. It was inspiring to see their enthusiasm for God’s Word. During the workshop, we encouraged the church pastors and leaders to send their young people to our Bible Institute for further studies. We believe that these young people can be powerful instruments for God in their region. Please pray that God will guide and use them mightily in spreading His Word. This workshop was a meaningful step in equipping the next generation for ministry in the Northeast.\nThank you,\nAnand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/empowering-the-next-generation-anand-update-january-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2024 Christmas Outreach Event\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/IMG%5F4784.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn December 25, 2024, our church hosted a special Christmas outreach event in our church courtyard. Around 150 people attended. Most of them were non-Christians from the local community. The event was filled with joy and excitement as the youth group and children performed beautiful songs and lively dances. The highlight of the evening was the sharing of the Gospel from the book of Luke, chapter 1, which tells the story of Jesus’ birth. Everyone listened attentively, and many were touched by the message of hope and love. After the Gospel reading, we had time for fellowship, where we shared food and drinks. It was heartwarming to see people from different backgrounds come together to celebrate Christmas. The event ended with everyone feeling joyful and uplifted. This outreach was a wonderful opportunity to share the true meaning of Christmas with our community. We hope to continue spreading the message of love and hope in the future.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Empowering the Next Generation - Anand Update January 2025"},{"content":"Hello Dear Family in Christ,\nWe are delighted to share the blessings that God has bestowed upon us and our ongoing ministry endeavors.\nOur ministry has expanded to three southern states!\nGod has expanded our ministry to three southern states. What a great God that He has added to our work! Please pray for us to equip more people and send them out to plant churches that teach the Word of God. We believe that God entrusts us with the Gospel to reach the unreached and those who lack the Word of God.\nIt is commanded in the Bible, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” We have witnessed God’s grace in our lives and ministry.\nFollowing the completion of our Bible Institute, our esteemed brother, P*, embarked on an internship program. He is now prepared to serve in the location where God has called him. Brother P* is a courageous minister with a genuine passion for reaching people with the Gospel. During his internship, he had the privilege of serving at our Calvary Chapel in the city and assisting in planting churches in several villages.\nAfter laying hands on P* and praying for his ministry, we released him to fulfill the Great Commission of God. As we lay hands on individuals to send them out, we are reminded of the Great Remainder of the Great Commission. The means by which we fulfill this command are “going,” “baptizing,” and “teaching.”\nWe are filled with anticipation for the future and continue to pray for P\u0026rsquo;s* success.\nChristmas Outreaches in Eight Locations\nWe are profoundly grateful to God for opening doors to minister in these villages and enabling us to share the Gospel during this festive season.\nOutreach Location #1: M* Village\nPastor C*, a missionary from our Calvary Chapel in the city, has been serving in this village for two years. God has been doing remarkable things. Initially, his efforts focused on Bible studies. Now he is hosting Sunday worship services. Three families join in the worship services.\nOn December 11th, the church organized an extraordinary Christmas outreach program. The attendance was impressive, and the program had a profound impact on the lives of attendees. Prior to the outreach, a group of local Hindu villagers expressed opposition. However, during that moment, we prayed fervently, and God used that opportunity to strengthen our faith. With God’s guidance and strength, we were able to successfully conduct the Christmas outreach. Over 250 people were reached with the Gospel message.\nWe are delighted to report that many young adults and adults who attended the program experienced life-changing transformations. The Christmas outreach served as a powerful reminder of the transformative power of God’s Word. Two ladies responded positively to the Gospel and expressed positive thoughts about God.\nWe kindly request your continued prayers for Pastor C*.\nutreach Location #2\nP*, a missionary from our church in the city, is currently working in one of the most challenging regions in the south. This area is heavily influenced by idol worship. People from all over the world visit there to offer gold and their hair. It is disheartening to witness the lack of recognition of the true God and the prevalence of idol worship. Every street and corner is filled with temples. People are possessed by demonic spirits. Carrying the Bible in this region poses significant risks. Anyone caught discussing Jesus or sharing the Gospel can face severe punishment, including imprisonment.\nDuring the Christmas season, we prayed to God to open doors for a Christmas outreach in this region. On December 17th, we commenced our outreach efforts. As we were preparing for the event, many individuals approached us, expressing their desire to hear about Jesus. Unfortunately, people also threatened to beat us, used abusive language, and attempted to prevent us from preaching the Gospel.\nDespite these challenges, we remained steadfast in our faith. We prayed to God for His guidance. After some time, the individuals who were against us dispersed, and God opened doors for us to share the Gospel. Even in these difficult circumstances, God provided us with opportunities to reach people who were initially hesitant to approach us but were drawn to the Gospel message from the outside of their homes.\nWe firmly believe that God will work in the midst of these people and bear fruit from our efforts. For safety reasons, we have decided not to share the name of the village where we are currently serving. Brother P* is also serving in two other villages. We kindly request your prayers for these endeavors.\nOutreach Location #3\nPastor A*, a Bible Institute graduate, returned to his village after completing his studies. He began teaching the Bible verse-by-verse and book by book. He is witnessing remarkable growth among the believers in response to the Word of God.\nAs John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.”\nDuring the Christmas outreach in M*, we had the privilege of witnessing the profound impact of Pastor A*’s unwavering dedication to serving the Lord. Individuals engaged in wholehearted worship and embraced the message of Jesus Christ. The Gospel was not confined to the churches but also extended to outdoor settings. It reached a broad audience and inspired countless individuals to surrender their lives to the Lord. We extend our prayers for the village.\nOutreach Location #4\nPastor Ah* is serving in a neighboring state. He is diligently working among the impoverished villages. He faithfully teaches the Word of God and serves the community. We recently had the opportunity to conduct a Gospel outreach to reach the villagers. We fervently hope that the Word of God will bear fruit.\nOutreach Location #5\nThe Christmas outreach at the home for the elderly was a great joy. It was heartwarming to see the church actively caring for widows and orphans, as the Bible instructs, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction.” A* and his wife led the church team in providing love and care to the residents. We extend our prayers for their well-being.\nOutreach During Christmas at Calvary Chapel in our Local City\nWhat an incredible God we serve! We genuinely praise God for the transformative work He is doing within our church. Despite the challenges the people face in their lives, they remain steadfast in their faith and overcome these obstacles. Every year, we witness a remarkable growth in both the number and spiritual depth of our congregation. This Christmas, new people joined our church, and we had the privilege of sharing the Gospel with them. A few of the individuals responded positively, embracing Jesus as their Savior! We continue to extend our prayers for the church.\nPrayer Requests:\nAs we are celebrating the New Year, we are praying for the year ahead in our ministry plans. We are fervently praying and planning to increase our outreach efforts in the city.\nPray for C*, who is diligently serving in M* and sharing the Gospel with the villagers. He began Bible studies and eventually led the establishment of Sunday worship services.\nPray for A*, who is currently serving in three locations. We request your prayers for raising up pastors who can assume leadership roles in the churches and for the construction of a new church.\nPray for A*, who is serving in K* village.\nWe pray for P*, who is serving in the most challenging areas and ministering to two different villages.\nWe are also praying for the staff at the CBI campus in the city and for all of their needs.\nThank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blessed-in-ministry-pastor-6-update-january-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Dear Family in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are delighted to share the blessings that God has bestowed upon us and our ongoing ministry endeavors.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOur ministry has expanded to three southern states!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod has expanded our ministry to three southern states. What a great God that He has added to our work! Please pray for us to equip more people and send them out to plant churches that teach the Word of God. We believe that God entrusts us with the Gospel to reach the unreached and those who lack the Word of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessed in Ministry - Pastor 6 Update January 2025"},{"content":"Hello Everyone. Greetings.\nI am very grateful for your prayers. I am very excited that God has done a wonderful work. Many people are being saved here through the Gospel! Through that, our church is growing.\nIn this past few months, we have baptized many people who came to the Lord. There are some wonderful stories that I am very excited to share with you. I hope that through this God will be glorified.\nIn the book of Acts, we see how God preaches the Gospel to the Ethiopian through Phillip. The Ethiopian immediately decided and said, \u0026ldquo;Look there is water here. Now what is stopping me from baptism?\u0026rdquo;\nPhillip says, \u0026ldquo;If you believe with all your heart then you can take it!\u0026rdquo;\nHe said \u0026ldquo;I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God\u0026rdquo;\nA similar thing happened to a brother in my church. He had a lot of trouble in his family. He did all kinds of work to get out of the circumstances and to have peace. But he did not find satisfaction through Hindu rituals.\nThe same day that he heard the Word of God, he dedicated his life to the Lord. The next Sunday when he came to church, he said, \u0026ldquo;I want to get baptized.\u0026rdquo;\nI told him to wait and learn more about God first, but he said, \u0026ldquo;I believe in the Lord. So what is stopping me?\u0026rdquo; The same day that this brother got baptized, his wife and father dedicated their lives to the Lord!\nHere is the story of another brother. He was very troubled because of family reasons. Eventually, his mother died. He became full of depression and anxiety. Evil held him in such a way that he tried to hang himself twice.\nA person from our church shared about Jesus with him. From the time on, he wanted to come to church. The day he came to church and heard the whole Gospel, he said \u0026ldquo;I have never been so happy in my life before!\u0026rdquo; He decided to follow God. After that his whole family accepted Jesus.\nA while ago a boy from our church was beaten up by an anti-social group. A video was even made of him that said that he was converted to another religion. The boy was very scared. He is only 15 years old. The boy\u0026rsquo;s family was very upset. But this family stood up for their faith. They said, \u0026ldquo;No matter what happens, we will not leave Jesus.\u0026rdquo; Keep them in your prayers.\nWe distributed about 200 notebooks in our slum ministry for Christmas. We also donated school items to them.\nPrayer Requests\nPray for the people who have fully committed their lives to Christ. May they become strong in the Lord and keep learning the Word of God There are some more families who are ready to be baptized. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s timing and also for protection from anything evil. Pray for the family who is getting persecuted by fanatical anti-Christian groups. Our church is growing day-by-day. We don\u0026rsquo;t have a proper place where we can meet and have freedom to do church activities. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s guidance in this. Our rent agreement is over now. Please pray for the landlord to extend our rent agreement for another year. Thank you so much!\nPastor 12*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-has-done-great-things-pastor-12-update-january-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Everyone. Greetings.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am very grateful for your prayers. I am very excited that God has done a wonderful work. Many people are being saved here through the Gospel! Through that, our church is growing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/IMG-20241106-WA0002.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/IMG-20241106-WA0003.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this past few months, we have baptized many people who came to the Lord. There are some wonderful stories that I am very excited to share with you. I hope that through this God will be glorified.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Has Done Great Things! - Pastor 12 Update January 2025"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Leaders and Supporters,\n\u0026ldquo;But my heart\u0026rsquo;s passion is to preach the gospel where the name of Christ has not been spoken, lest I build on another\u0026rsquo;s foundation.\u0026rdquo;\nRomans 15:20\nHappy New Year to all of you.\nI am thankful to God from the bottom of my heart that He is opening up villages for me to spread the Gospel in where no one has heard about Jesus Christ before.\nOur First Christmas Outreach\nGod gave us two more villages where people heard the name of Jesus for the first time! One is a village that no one wants to enter. The people are very poor and of a lower caste. It is also very dangerous. People there beat up leaders and policemen. Even though the village is close to the city, the people had never heard the name of Jesus Christ before. When we got to the village we started inviting people to gather together. We then started explaining to them that we would pray for them. After that a huge crowd gathered.\nFirst, we taught them the Christian action songs. Then we preached the Gospel to them and prayed for them. We distributed New Testaments, biscuits and candies to them. We also showed the Jesus film on a big screen through a projector.\nAfter that we went to another village. There also we gathered everyone and sang an action song first. Then, we preached the Gospel and distributed New Testaments and biscuits. We also gave toffees to the children. Later we prayed for them. At that village one person accepted the Lord. After that we showed the film of Jesus Christ on the screen.\nPraise God, that day more than 1000 people, including children and women, heard the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the first time and prayed for the first time.\nAll this is the answer to your prayers. Pray that we are able to establish a new church in this area soon.\nOur Second Christmas Outreach\nThanks be to God! We celebrated Christmas in a home church where we have a weekly church service. Last year, some anti-Christian people came there and beat people up a lot. Because of that, many people stopped coming to the church.\nBut thanks be to God, we went there and invited everyone again and told them the news of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and encouraged them. We taught action songs to the children and distributed biscuits, balloons and candy. Those who had stopped coming to our home church came and joined in prayer once again and were prayed for.\nThe lady who is lying on the bed accepted the Lord Jesus Christ on December 25th. She has cancer. Please pray for her. The doctor charged her a lot of money and then sent her home saying that no one in this world can save her. But she has believed in the Lord and is coming to the church.\nShe sold everything in she had to get treatment but still could not get cured. When she first came, four people had to carry her to the church. But today I saw she came walking on her own feet with only one person helping her. Praise the Lord!\nAll the villagers in that village prepared a very tasty meal for us together. May God bless them all.\nOur 3rd Christmas Outreach\nThank you for praying for us and always encouraging us.\nWith God\u0026rsquo;s grace, we were able to do an outreach in three more different villages. As we reached the first village, we sat down and started worshiping. Some people came and one of them protested badly. I thank God that He prepared the people there to calm him down. We continued to sit there and worship.\nWe preached the Word to the people and then went from house to house. We spent time in 5 or 6 of houses and prayed for the people. While we were leaving the village, one man accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. He promised that he will come to our church.\nWhen we went to the second village, we preached the Gospel, distributed New Testaments and gave biscuits to the children. The people gave us a place to sit in front of there house. By God\u0026rsquo;s grace, one person accepted the Lord there also.\nWhile we were distributing New Testaments in the 3rd village, a teacher opened his door for us so that we could sit there and pray for everyone. A girl was suffering from an evil spirit. The sisters of our church prayed together for her and God freed her from the evil spirit. We prayed for many people and gave them New Testaments. We also distributed biscuits to the children. The people in that village invited us to come again. We all returned to our homes thanking God.\nOnce again I thank you all for your prayers and for participating in the good news.\nOur Christmas Celebration\nI hope that your Christmas was a joy and blessing.\nThank God! We were able to celebrate Christmas very happily. There was no protest of any kind. 500 people were invited but only 300 came.\nOut of those who came, more than 100 people heard the Good News for the first time. One person accepted the Lord during the celebration for Jesus Christ\u0026rsquo;s birthday.\nThe children of our church performed some action songs and dance programs. Gifts were distributed to the children.\nEveryone had Christmas lunch together. It took us about 3 hours to feed everyone. Thank God that everything went well.\nMay God bless you all!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/my-hearts-passion-pastor-11-update-january-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Leaders and Supporters,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;But my heart\u0026rsquo;s passion is to preach the gospel where the name of Christ has not been spoken, lest I build on another\u0026rsquo;s foundation.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRomans 15:20\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHappy New Year to all of you.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am thankful to God from the bottom of my heart that He is opening up villages for me to spread the Gospel in where no one has heard about Jesus Christ before.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My Heart's Passion - Pastor 11 Update January 2025"},{"content":"For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 1 Peter 2:21\nGuillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) has knocked me down (in many ways) since early December, but by God’s grace I’m getting back up! One of my sisters recently sent me this quote from a book she is reading. “When God lays men on their backs, then they look up to heaven.” Thomas Watson-Mid 1600s Puritan, All Things for Good (Romans 8:28).\nI am learning to see God’s hands of mercy, protection, and provision through this refining fire and “valley of (literally) the shadow of death.” Back in December, I didn’t realize just how serious GBS is and could have been until I came across this video, while trying to figure out how to pronounce Guillain Barre Syndrome https://youtu.be/HtkWhtG-MCM?si=NIU_xuPVhtzQr4kO . For example, I’m so thankful that God made a way for me to lose weight (115 lbs.) just in time or I might have been in wheelchair (or worse).\nI’m also thankful that God has provided physical therapy and everything else I need here in Cambodia to restore the damaged nerves, regain strengthen my legs and learn to walk normally again. At this moment, I can only walk around 100 steps (sometimes less) at a time before pain forces me to stop and sit for minute (possibly nerves are coming back online/muscle cramps?). Prayers appreciated for this healing and strengthening process.\nI continue to regain capabilities and confidence. At my lowest point, I couldn’t even dress myself, but now I’m in the process of returning to ministry and daily life activities (gradually and as I’m able). I’m learning to practice what I call, “expectant-patience,” because even though I am making rapid progress, I recognize that a long journey to complete health and strength still lies ahead. I want to be able to recognize and be thankful for each baby step (the way I walk now) God provides along the way. It also means that my plans etc. have been completely shaken up and erased (like an old Etch-A-Sketch toy). So (we all) will have to wait and see how God redraws the lines (including all travel or ministry plans etc.).\nMy Apologetics/Evangelism class for Cambodian students at a local seminary, founded and run by missionaries from Korea, ran between November 4 and January 16. I was only able to teach three times before I got sick. The seminary students and staff have all been very good to me, in many ways. I was very concerned that since I couldn’t teach, and finding a substitute might have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, that my students would have to retake the entire class later. However, despite my bad condition at the time, God brought it to my mind that I had recorded all the lectures during COVID. I was able to find the old video files and share them with my students-so they were able to complete the class on schedule! This morning, I was able to drive to the seminary and meet my students, my first significant ministry activity since the first week of December!\nBetween December 19 and January 12, Kayo hosted/facilitated (months of preparation) a team and visitors from Japan. They worked alongside our Cambodian ministry partners to host/serve in Christmas/New Year outreaches in organizations, mission/private schools, and a rural prison. They shared the Gospel, testimonies, meals, school supplies, and performed a puppet show with a Cambodian language soundtrack (even though they can’t speak Cambodian). The team/church also raised funds for the construction of a public toilet for around forty families who live in a garbage dump without any facilities, and hosted a dedication event/meal during their time there. They also visited a rural tribal church.\nBenjamin finished his semester and was on Christmas break from December 20 to January 13. He spent some time studying for some major standardized tests in the next semester. He also helped me (with chores I couldn’t do), especially when Kayo was busy and traveling (one overnight trip) with the team and visitors (I’m thankful that my condition improved, just enough and just in time, so she could go and serve!) He’s really grown a lot during this trial and he and Kayo (and many others) have been a big help!\nThanks so much for your prayers, encouragement, and support!\nIn Christ’s Loving and Healing Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/learning-to-walk-again/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFor to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow His steps: 1 Peter 2:21\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGuillain Barre Syndrome (GBS) has knocked me down (in many ways) since early December, but by God’s grace I’m getting back up!  One of my sisters recently sent me this quote from a book she is reading. “When God lays men on their backs, then they look up to heaven.” Thomas Watson-Mid 1600s Puritan, \u003cem\u003eAll Things for Good (Romans 8:28).\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Learning to Walk Again - Record Update January 2025"},{"content":"I (Matt) recently decided to start sharing my thoughts on life, ministry, and God’s Word with all of you in regular devotionals. I have not decided whether or not I should name them, but if I do, I would like your help. Please email me back to vote on which name you like best: A Little Harrisy, Matt’s Musings, Matt’s Monthly Devotional, A Word of Wisdom, or some other suggestion you have (my favorite is the comedic A Little Harrisy). My prayer is that this helps us grow together into Christian maturity as we look forward to Christ’s return.\n15 But the news about Him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear Him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16 But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. LUKE 5:15-16.\nWhen Jesus’ popularity increased, He did the opposite of what we would expect. Often, instead of going toward the crowds, He sought seclusion. Not only does verse 16 teach us about Jesus’ fully human nature (while 15 demonstrates His divinity), it also provides a great example for Jesus’ followers. We only have a limited amount of time on the earth to serve our King, and we should desire to accomplish as much for Him as possible, but more work can actually be accomplished when it is relegated to its proper place in our lives. This is because sharp tools work better than dull tools and it is worth the time to sharpen and maintain them. But what does this look like practically?\nI recently was taught the illustration of Central Park by a team that came from Maryland to teach our pastors about counseling. Despite being prime real estate worth a fortune, no one can build on Central Park because, in 1853, the 778 acres (now 843) were designated forever to bless the city with beauty and fresh air. Now, according to Wikipedia, it is “the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated 42 million visitors annually as of 2016. It is also one of the most filmed locations in the world.” This month, my wife Noelle and I sat down to plan our “Central Park” by designating the things in our lives that are off limits from life’s business and ever-demanding workload. Because I am an audio and visual learner, we actually took the time to doodle our park and label its different aspects so that we can hang it on our wall. In order to maintain ourselves as tools in the Master Craftsman’s hand, we have carved out time for the following: personal devotions (daily), family devotions (daily), dates (weekly), dinner with our missionary team (weekly), prayer with our international team (monthly), camping with our friends (bi-monthly), family fun (regularly), family movie nights (weekly), exercise (daily), walks with friends (weekly), reading and listening to audiobooks (regularly), budget meetings (monthly), and sending out prayer requests, updates, and devotionals (monthly). While some of these things will be harder to maintain than others, we have made it off-limits to build on Central Park.\nMay God bless us as we seek to balance work and maintenance. May we all maintain “Central Park”.\nIn Christ,\nMatt Harris\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/central-park/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI (Matt) recently decided to start sharing my thoughts on life, ministry, and God’s Word with all of you in regular devotionals. I have not decided whether or not I should name them, but if I do, I would like your help. Please email me back to vote on which name you like best: A Little Harrisy, Matt’s Musings, Matt’s Monthly Devotional, A Word of Wisdom, or some other suggestion you have (my favorite is the comedic A Little Harrisy). My prayer is that this helps us grow together into Christian maturity as we look forward to Christ’s return.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Central Park - Harris Family Devotional January"},{"content":"There is a saying in our language that a person is matured by his practical experience more than his education. However, that may not always be true. First comes the doctrine, then comes duty. That makes better sense.\nAlmost every year we organize a pastor\u0026rsquo;s conference. We invite all of the Calvary pastors from all over the country and also other local church leaders. We bring our Calvary Bible Institute students to the conference.\nI want to thank Pastor B* and Pastor R* for bringing their Calvary Chapel mission teams. I also want to thank Pastor A* for teaching at the conference. The conference was very blissful. Praise God for the time to ponder from His Word in the book of Genesis!\nWe have a two year program at our Calvary Bible Institute. It has always been a blessing to teach and also to learn together from God’s Word with our students from the four corners of our country. It is a great joy to see our students learning God\u0026rsquo;s Word and maturing in their faith and to sense God’s calling in their lives for His ministry. Twelve students graduated on October 24, 2024 from our Calvary Bible Institute.\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-chapel-pastors-conference-calvary-bible-institute-graduation-prakash-update-january-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere is a saying in our language that a person is matured by his practical experience more than his education. However, that may not always be true. First comes the doctrine, then comes duty. That makes better sense.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlmost every year we organize a pastor\u0026rsquo;s conference. We invite all of the Calvary pastors from all over the country and also other local church leaders. We bring our Calvary Bible Institute students to the conference.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary Chapel Pastors Conference \u0026 Calvary Bible Institute Graduation - Prakash Update January 2025"},{"content":" Greetings family!!! Well, most of you know that Acapulco has struggled with corruption and cartels. This has always been “normal” but recently there has been a surge of violence throughout the whole city. There is a current fight for power and everyone suffers because of it. Just a few days ago our next-door neighbors had a home invasion. They were taken at gun point by three men and they stole my neighbor’s whole life savings. We were next door when it happened but didn’t see or hear anything at the time. We ask that you please continue to pray for our safety as well as the safety for the church. We also ask that you please pray the Lord opens a door to minister to these cartels. They need Jesus just as much as the next guy.\nPraise the Lord The Lord continues to bring more and more brothers and sisters to His feet and we get the great honor of receiving them and baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Spirit. We have had the privilege of doing baptisms at the beach and in a pool. This was the first time we were able to do it in the sanctuary so that everyone could be a part of it. It was beautiful!\nChildrens Ministry We love the children’s ministry!! Our good friend and pastor Stef Mitrano taught us that they (the children) are not the church of the future, like so many teach, they are the church of today!! We have a desire to build up this ministry for the little ones. If the Lord allows, we would like to build extra rooms on the top floor. This will be a big job, so we ask for your prayers.\nTime for a little break This past month has been a real challenge for us. I (Hassan) suffered my third seizure and have had heart issues and the doctors still don’t know why. I will be heading to the states for more studies to determine the cause. I will also take advantage of this trip for a little break. The work here is nonstop and my body is asking for a little relief. But more importantly it’s a good time for me to sit at the Lord’s feet and receive His word with Stacy by my side. We have had many tribulations and now is a good time to take a break and hear from Him. We want to come back stronger and healthier than before. We are in it for the long haul.\nIt’s a blessing to know we can leave the church in good hands, for the time being. Both P. Mike and Josemi have been faithful servants and great teachers. We also have so many amazing leaders that will be stepping up in our absence. We are excited to see everyone do their part. “Unless the LORD builds a house, They who build it labor in vain;” Psalm 127:1\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/urgent-prayers-villegas-update-january-2025/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/villegas/wp-content/uploads/sites/130/2025/01/ImageTransformer.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings family!!! Well, most of you know that Acapulco has struggled with corruption and cartels. This has always been “normal” but recently there has been a surge of violence throughout the whole city. There is a current fight for power and everyone suffers because of it. Just a few days ago our next-door neighbors had a home invasion. They were taken at gun point by three men and they stole my neighbor’s whole life savings. We were next door when it happened but didn’t see or hear anything at the time. We ask that you please continue to pray for our safety as well as the safety for the church. We also ask that you please pray the Lord opens a door to minister to these cartels. They need Jesus just as much as the next guy.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Urgent Prayers! - Villegas Update January 2025"},{"content":"Hi friends and family. It’s crazy to believe that we are now in 2025! It’s also crazy knowing that the Denver Broncos are in the playoffs! (Don’t worry, this letter is not about the Broncos. I just had to throw that in).\nGod is on the move here in Moyobamba. Thank you to those who have prayed. You prayer warriors are a big part of this team. Your prayers are so meaningful to me. They are truly having an impact in peoples’ lives here.\nA Busy December\nOur goal as Calvary Moyobamba is to share about Jesus to everyone here in our city. December was stacked with several outreaches.\nIn the picture below (outreach 1), we shared with about 400 people in a stadium here in the city.\nIn this picture, we just finished a play called “Jesus is the Best Gift.” Five people from church acted out how Jesus is the only way to heaven. Then I explained the reason why Jesus came to this earth.\nIn the picture below (outreach 2), we shared with about 100 students in a middle school right outside of Moyobamba.\nThe director of this school told us that many people are afraid of Satan and evil spirits. So we shared with the students through a play and a message about how Jesus has the greatest power over the spiritual world. Afterwards we gave out over 100 gospels of John (the red book in their hands) and shared with them a Bible reading plan.\nWe had some wonderful group conversations with the students afterwards. We shared more about Jesus and also answered questions that they had about the Bible. It was a sweet time! There were 10 people from the church (in the green shirts) in total that came to this outreach.\nHere is a picture of Martha (from Calvary Moyobamba) comforting one of the students and praying with her.\nIn the picture below (outreach 3), we shared with children and their parents in an indigenous jungle community about 2 hours from Moyobamba.\nWe played games, taught Christians songs, and finished with sharing the gospel. These kids were SOOO hyper! Next time we need to add another game with more movement to calm down these energetic kids! As a church, we plan to return to this village and do a mission trip this year. They are the Awajun people. There are some Awajun villages that are days away and completely unreached. These unreached parts have ZERO knowledge of the Bible or Jesus. But we know a guy who can take us to them. Please keep this in prayer.\nA Peek into our Sunday Services\nThe fellowship on Sundays is sweet! We always serve free Moyobamba coffee to those who arrive before service starts. More and more people are singing the worship songs with joy and less timidity. Hearing their voices praise the Lord is like a little slice of heaven. In our study in the gospel of Luke, we are currently seeing how much Jesus suffered on His path to the cross, and the wonderful salvation that came out of that!\nHere is a peak of our Sunday service in the gospel of Luke. We will finish Luke by February, and then we’re on to another book of the Bible!\nEros (yes, that is really his name) teaching Sunday school. He is one of the most faithful servants at the church. I see him as a future leader and right hand man. Please keep him in your prayers. We want to equip and raise up local leaders, and then send them out to plant other churches when the timing is right.\nA New Group\nWith all of the outreaches, we decided to postpone our new believers group until January (in the last newletter, I said it would start in December). I will be teaching on what the Christian life looks like. Topics include “Following Jesus,” “How to have a devotional life,” “The family,” and many more! Aside from the teaching, there will be a time for questions, interaction, and homework.\nThe Land\nAs more and more are attending church and Sunday school, we are going to need a bigger space. It’s a good problem to have. We are working on a plan with the hopes of buying a lot of land for the ministry and have church services there. We also want to do other projects as well with the land. I will give more updates and details in the next newsletter.\nPraise God that…\nThere are lots of open doors to preach the gospel in Moyobamba More and more people from church are stepping up from their own desire to help with different responsibilities in the ministry. Many at church now have a daily devotion time in the Bible and prayer. Many come to the church services with notebooks, pens, and hunger to learn more. Prayer for…\nStrength and boldness. I recently had a difficult but necessary conversation with someone at church. It didn’t go very well. Another conversation is needed. That we as a church stay humble, always looking for peace and reconciliation with all if possible. Our new believers group that starts January 18th. May biblical principles be embedded, and that we all have the same mind. That all of the Awajun people hear of the salvation that there is in Jesus Christ. Financial provision to buy the land. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/an-update-on-the-ministry-not-american-football-weakland-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi friends and family. It’s crazy to believe that we are now in 2025! It’s also crazy knowing that the Denver Broncos are in the playoffs! (Don’t worry, this letter is not about the Broncos. I just had to throw that in).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod is on the move here in Moyobamba. Thank you to those who have prayed. You prayer warriors are a big part of this team. Your prayers are so meaningful to me. They are truly having an impact in peoples’ lives here.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"An Update on the Ministry, Not American Football - Weakland Update December 2024"},{"content":" The heart of man plans his ways, but the LORD establishes his steps.\nProverbs 16:9\nDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\nHappy New Year everyone! What a blessing it has been to look back over the year and see God\u0026rsquo;s amazing faithfulness, love, and provision. This concludes my last month before moving full time to Peru, and I am so excited for what God is going to do. But I also want to share some amazing things that happened in December!\nFirst of all, in the beginning of the month I had the opportunity to go with a group from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace to a sister church in Pedregales, Mexico! During this time we helped them host a yearly children’s day-long VBS and shoebox gift giving. We went for a Friday and Saturday. Friday evening we also got to help with setting up and serving a group of women who came for a lady’s dinner event at the church.\nI had the awesome role of leading the kids\u0026rsquo; games! My custom the last two years when visiting my home church in Texas is to lead their games at the VBS, so I have gotten lots of experience leading games with kiddos! It is always an exhausting, but a very fun time. At the end of the VBS we handed out about 100 shoebox gifts for the children to open! It was so cool to hear all the screams of excitement and joy. It was actually so loud that it took me a solid minute before I could get them to quiet down as I got to give all the kids a goodbye message before they left. It was a challenging, but exciting little endeavor as I am improving my Spanish speaking skills.\nMid-December I went with Paul Rygalski to a safe home for girls out of trafficking located in California. Paul is a board member of Olive Crest, a faith-based foster organization on the West Coast. I believe God used that time greatly to help prepare me and give me practical advice and experience on how these types of homes function. Working with children and teenagers with severe trauma is no easy task. It takes a large team of people to make sure that they are recovering, safe, and able to grow and eventually transition to adulthood. While I was there I got to see a panorama of girls at different stages in their recovery. Each individual has different needs and different coping mechanisms, and being able to see how to handle different situations was a great help to know ways I will be able to organize, assist, and support the caretakers and psychologist when we begin the home in Peru.\nBefore Christmastime, my brother Jonathan finished his last semester at CBI Joshua Tree in Yucca Valley, CA. I got to go with my mom to his graduation! It has been a huge blessing to see him grow and change from where he was a year ago just coming out of rehab. Afterwards we brought him home and spent Christmas together. Then, after New Years, we dropped him back off for his new season as an intern at the school!\nChristmastime this year was exciting, but also felt so different. It was just my parents, brother, and I at home, as one of my sisters moved to Missouri, and the other one is serving in the Middle East. The most difficult part about moving to another country is leaving family. But I realized that I need to make the most of this time while I am still here! Regardless of this big transition coming, it was an amazing season celebrating the birth of Christ, who is worthy of all our sacrifices in life. Now, with New Year\u0026rsquo;s past, God has been comforting me with Proverbs 16:9 as I look forward to His plans for me this year.\nFinally, this season God has abundantly provided for me spiritually, physically, and financially. I am all set and ready to move the 18th of January to Peru and begin assisting this new children’s home with Cory. The main thing to be praying for right now is for the right property for the home; we are still looking!\nCalling All Partners! I will be moving to Peru January 18th. If you believe the Lord is calling you to be a part of this work He is doing through me for the children and church in Trujillo, you can do so through the \u0026ldquo;Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; button below! It is my honor to connect you, my sisters and brothers of the American Church to all God is doing on the mission field, and show you the fruit of your work through me.\nPraise Reports\nThe wonderful time spent with family and friends during my last Christmas and New Year\u0026rsquo;s living in the USA. All the continued prayer, encouragement, and financial support I have been receiving! All the little ones in Mexico who got to enjoy presents for Christmas this year! Prayer Requests\nGod to be glorified in the calling of rescuing children, and that many children will be saved and able to grow up in a Christ-centered home. Legal and financial provision for a property that will have space for the church, Bible school, and children’s home. Safety, strength, and an easy passage as I move down to Peru this January. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-year-2025-vanrenterghem-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe heart of man plans his ways, but the LORD establishes his steps.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProverbs 16:9\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHappy New Year everyone! What a blessing it has been to look back over the year and see God\u0026rsquo;s amazing faithfulness, love, and provision. This concludes my last month before moving full time to Peru, and I am so excited for what God is going to do. But I also want to share some amazing things that happened in December!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"NEW YEAR 2025! - Vanrenterghem Update December 2024"},{"content":"I love January! I’m always looking for a fresh start, a blank slate. It excites me to think about all of the things the Lord may have for us in the year ahead!\nIt’s been a great holiday season. October through December is a busy time for our church, with Halloween Front Yard Party Outreaches, our annual Thanksgiving Potluck, and Christmas services (which means dusting off the old Christmas songs for the worship teams I lead!). But it was so great to celebrate all of these things with our church and family.\nThere is also the added bonus of receiving back some missionaries over these last couple of months who are back from the field, visiting on furlough, or here to have a baby, from places like the Middle East, North Africa, and Peru! And speaking of Peru, we are sending out a new missionary, Joshua Vanrenterghem, to be a missionary in Peru just next week! On top of that, we are sending a young couple from our Missions Training School, Geoff \u0026amp; Lydia Hamano, on a 3-month vision tour to Japan this month as well, so they can get a better feel of what it will be like to live in this country that they feel called to. Click their images below to check out more about their ministry!\nIt is always hard to send out some of our best co-laborers in Christ, but we know that the need is so great in other unreached parts of the world, and they need these amazing servants of God!\nThis new year is a blank slate as far as travel plans. I will need to do my traveling in the first half of the year this year, so would you pray for us in that? We would ask two things:\nThat the Lord would guide us as to where Joel should travel. None of these trips are arbitrary or randomly chosen; there are so many good options in front of us for which locations need missionary care, but we can only choose one or two a year to travel to and make an impact, so we want the decision to be the Lord’s. That the Lord would provide the necessary funding for Joel to travel where the Lord leads him this year. We would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/will-you-pray-with-us-garcia-family-update-january-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI love January! I’m always looking for a fresh start, a blank slate. It excites me to think about all of the things the Lord may have for us in the year ahead!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s been a great holiday season. October through December is a busy time for our church, with Halloween Front Yard Party Outreaches, our annual Thanksgiving Potluck, and Christmas services (which means dusting off the old Christmas songs for the worship teams I lead!). But it was so great to celebrate all of these things with our church and family.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Will You Pray With Us? – Garcia Family Update January 2025"},{"content":" “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.”\n1 John 1:3-4\nDear Friends and Family,\nMerry Christmas!\nI know that by the time this newsletter reaches you, you most likely will have already celebrated Christmas and I pray that it was a wonderful time with family and friends celebrating of our Savior’s birth.\nAs for us, Brian began his Sunday morning Christmas series and taught on the significance of the characters in the Christmas story. Each week focused on specific characters and on Christmas he shared specifically on Jesus. My women’s study went though the names of God and for our Christmas message we looked at the prophecy of Jesus in Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” I was excited to prepare for this because I have seen how studying the names of God has already impacted the ladies significantly. The children’s ministry also prepared so many activities. We had a kids\u0026rsquo; day that focused on the gifts God has given us. The older youth had a conference in Northern Uganda with the youth from South Sudan. The children also put on a Christmas play.\nI also wanted to mention that after the Thanksgiving season, I was reminded of what a gift people’s testimonies are to us and how they help others know them and God better. I thought what better way to enter this season of Christmas and New Year then sharing some of these testimonies and the blessing they have been to us.\nThe first one I want to share is from Wes Bently. He recently shared at our church. Everyone knows him and knows he is the director of Far Reaching Ministries and that he and his wife minister in many countries. When Wes shared at the church, he shared about how he came to where he is now. The beginning of the ministry was a step of faith, leaving the security of secular employment. He shared how daily he had to trust in the Lord not only for direction but for provision of simple everyday needs. It took time, obedience and much prayer for the ministry to develop and become what it is today. It also took knowing that whatever we have is from God and that when we share it with others He will bless us with more to keep sharing.\nThis message really impacted the church. As you know, most of our church comes from the slums and market place but through this message realized that they too can be used by God and it\u0026rsquo;s not about how much they have but what they are willing to share, even if all they have is the love of Christ!\nRecently, we had 2 ladies who work in the FRM office come through the guest house. They happened to be around during my women’s Bible study. I asked them if after the study they wanted to share anything with the ladies. One of the ladies who shared had a testimony that really challenged the ladies as they could relate so well to it. She shared about how when she first got invited to a Bible study she was a single mother and that she really agreed to go to the Bible study only because she was told they would have donuts and snacks and she was poor so she wanted to eat. She shared how she would ride her bike there with her baby on her back and she would just stare at the food waiting for when they would say it was time to eat.\nShe said that after a while of attending she began becoming more interested in what the teacher was saying than the food. This resonated with my ladies who are mostly very poor and almost all are single mothers or daughters of single mothers. I was aware of a couple who come mostly for the food but I have been praying that as they also hear the Word, their lives will be changed and they will hunger and thirst for righteousness as well. A while after that Bible study, one of the ladies asked to give a testimony at church and in her testimony she referenced both Wes’ and these ladies\u0026rsquo; testimonies on how she used to have different motives for coming to church and Bible study and even used to be in sin while coming. But after seeing, hearing and experiencing the love of God through the brothers and sisters at church, she realized that Christ loves her and she loves Him. She is so thankful that even through the times of wrong motives, God was calling her to Himself and she is now living for Him.\nThe last testimony that recently was shared was from Brian. We were reading through Exodus at home when we came to Exodus 14:13-14, “ But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the Lord’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you must be quiet.” He said the verse brought back memories from when he was around 7 and his family had to flee their home because the fighting of the war came so near. He felt led to teach these verses and to share this testimony with the church. He shared how they ran and ran and then they saw this little dilapidated mud house and they ran inside. He said he was with his mom and baby sister and there were others with children as well. He said that in those moments they could hear the guns and fighting and knew that the mud walls couldn’t protect them. But those verses about being still, being quiet, and about God’s salvation spoke to them. Even the babies did not cry. God delivered them that day and the fighting moved away from there and they were safe to go the rest of the way to a camp that was set up near the lake for families displaced by the war. He and the church praise God that his family and so many others were saved and that since then there has been no war in Uganda.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS I am so thankful for the many testimonies the Lord has blessed us with ourselves and for those that have been shared with us by others. We are thankful for our church family: for those who come to serve, those who come to hear, and even those who come for the food. We pray that all will find Jesus and the blessing of knowing Him personally. We are thankful for the visitors who come through and bless us with their teaching, testimonies, and outreach. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship as they finalize all their plans for the new year. Pray for the Kanyike family as they continue to serve the Lord in Uganda. Pray for their spiritual life as well as their physical needs. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e1 John 1:3-4\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eMerry Christmas!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI know that by the time this newsletter reaches you, you most likely will have already celebrated Christmas and I pray that it was a wonderful time with family and friends celebrating of our Savior’s birth.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update December 2024"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico. Our family hopes that you and yours had a wonderful and blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year! On the church side of things, we had a number of wonderful Christmas outreaches in our community that I would like to share with you!\nThe most creative of our outreaches was definitely our annual Christmas parade! We had over 40 vehicles covered in Christmas lights and filled with singing and smiley Christians from our church! This Calvary Rosarito parade slowly drove 5 miles through our community\u0026rsquo;s main streets while giving out Christmas candy and Gospel tracks.\nThis festive parade ended at our church, where we enjoyed a fantastic Christmas musical. The highlight of this musical celebration was seeing several of our guests make first-time professions of faith in Jesus.\nOn the family side of things, we now have both of our children working full time in San Diego. Thankfully, they come back home to Mexico for the weekends to join us at our house and attend the church (so I guess you could call us mostly empty nesters now)!\nWe are very thankful that God provided both Grace and Daniel good full-time jobs, and they are both doing really well in their employment. We are also thankful that they love Mexico and our church, so they come home to be with us each weekend. With Sarah’s mother and father now also living in Mexico full time, we were blessed to have a full house this Christmas!\nWith the New Year arriving of 2025, I am full of hope for myself, for our church family and church planters, and for you, our precious ministry partners. The Apostle Paul wrote this in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation, the old things have passed away, behold all things have become new!” The New Year is a wonderful time to allow God to give you new vision for the upcoming year. And there is not a doubt in my mind that God has a good plan for your life and we are praying you get to see His plan bless your life in 2025!\nFor me, I am very excited to start the New Year by hosting our very first church planting conference in Southern California.Calvary Chapel Bear Creek has been a long-time church planting partner of ours, and they host their own church planting class that they have modeled after our ministry. Last year, their elders invited me to host a church planting conference at their church, and I am excited to do that in just a few days on Saturday, January 11th!\nMy good friends, Pastors Hugo Limon (Horizon Ensenada), Bruce Zackary (Calvary Nexus) and Trent Douglass (Calvary Chapel Saving Grace) will be joining me as we focus on helping ministry leaders, pastors, and their churches move forward in the great missions work of church planting.\nI wanted to let you know about this conference, because it is open to anyone interested in church planting. So if you live in Southern California and would like to attend, I would love for you to join us on January 11th from 9am to 1pm. The conference is free, but registration is required. You can register at CC Bear Creek’s website (www.calvarybearcreek.com).\nFinally, I want to once again thank you for your generous partnership with our family over this past year! To have you partner with us each month means the world to us, and we feel honored and blessed to serve with you as your missionaries. We love you and are praying that you have your best year ever in 2025!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God will bless our upcoming SoCal church planting conference at CC Bear Creek!\n#2- Pray that God will bless our church and church plants with fresh vision in 2025!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for good jobs for our children, Grace and Daniel!\n#2- Praise God for a blessed and fruitful Christmas at our church!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/january-2025-vincent-family-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. Our family hopes that you and yours had a wonderful and blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year! On the church side of things, we had a number of wonderful Christmas outreaches in our community that I would like to share with you!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/470158053%5F10162299452254208%5F6164121675958711608%5Fn-200x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe most creative of our outreaches was definitely our annual Christmas parade! We had over 40 vehicles covered in Christmas lights and filled with singing and smiley Christians from our church! This Calvary Rosarito parade slowly drove 5 miles through our community\u0026rsquo;s main streets while giving out Christmas candy and Gospel tracks.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"January 2025 Vincent Family Missions Update"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nLast month we got the chance to visit the brother A*\u0026rsquo;s house along with a CBI student. We had fellowship with their family in the Word of God. A student who is in his final year of our Calvary Bible Institute shared from the Word of God.\nLast month, we conducted a Bible quiz in our church from the books of 1 \u0026amp; 2 Timothy and Titus. Our church members and Bible college students participated. It was a great way to check their knowledge of the Bible.\nLast month, we organized a cleaning day along with our students, staff, and church members.\nLast month an annual convention was organized by the Christians of the district. We got the chance to lead the convention along with our church brothers. It was a great time to pray for people. Many dedicated their lives to Jesus and decided to walk with the Lord!\nLast month, our church organized a one day youth retreat. About 96 young adults participated. They were blessed and renewed by the Word of God.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge. Please also pray for their final exams. Please pray for our house visitations. Please pray for the students as they share the Word of God. May the Lord use them. Please pray for our local village ministry. May they grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word. Please pray for youth of our local area. May they walk in the Lord. Please pray for the CBI students to grow in the Word. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/renewed-by-the-word-of-god-pastor-16-update-jan-2025/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/1000071062.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month we got the chance to visit the brother A*\u0026rsquo;s house along with a CBI student. We had fellowship with their family in the Word of God. A student who is in his final year of our Calvary Bible Institute shared from the Word of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Renewed by the Word of God - Pastor 16 Update Jan 2025"},{"content":"By Paul Boubion\nPreaching Acts 19, “ The Fruits of Revival.”\nI recently had the privilege of teaching in the pulpit on a Wednesday night. It was during the World Series, but my mom said she still watched my sermon! I taught a passage in Acts 19 where the great Apostle Paul does great miracles as he preaches the Word of the Lord in the ancient city of Ephesus (now in Turkey). Now, there is a passage that says,\n“ Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books\ntogether and burned them in the sight of all.” (Acts 19:19)\nIsn’t that incredible? Not only do the people see God’s miraculous power, they respond to the gospel in transforming repentance by burning their witchcraft books!\nI mention this because it is very similar to what we have witnessed in Mexico! Many people since before the Spanish Conquest in 1519 have worshipped demonic spirits in a bloody trail that persists to this day. Today, Santeria, witchcraft, and other openly demonic practices occur all through Mexico and Latin America. Many people suffer the bondage of fear to these evil powers!\nHowever, when people encounter the REAL Jesus Christ and HIS power and they turn to God in repentance, great things happen! People destroy their idols and books and are transformed by the Holy Spirit!\nWhen you see photos of people worshipping and celebrating, remember that some were in bondage to demon worship, black magic, or similar occultic practices.\nMy title of this newsletter, “Challenging Faith,” has a double meaning as we challenge people to follow Christ in genuine repentance and at the same time our faith is challenged! We must believe that Jesus’ power is greater than the forces of darkness, of demons, criminals, and the general feeling of insecurity that persist in our country.\nMission trip to San Luis Colorado, Sonora\nRecently, Claudia and a team from her women’s group travelled to a more rural part of northwest Sonora to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to 40 women and 70 children. The ladies enjoyed a time of worship, the Word which was taught by Claudia, food, games, and a raffle. Meanwhile, the children enjoyed celebrating a birthday party for Jesus.\nOur sister Elodia, (one of the leaders in the women’s study) brought the fun games and gifts to the large group of children! We thank you for your prayers and financial support as this is your spiritual fruit as well.\nWedding Fun\nThis is Lupita and Cupertino, who wanted to have a church wedding!\nLupita and Cupertino have been legally married for 3 years, but wanted God’s blessing over their wedding. This woman’s genuine faith has had a wonderful impact on her family! Many faithfully attend our church.\nCelebrating a wedding is an honor and privilege because Jesus loves weddings too! Did you know that Jesus’ first public miracle was turning water into wine at a wedding feast? Blessings, miracles, and transformed lives occur when Jesus is invited.\nBiblical Counseling Ministry\nPlease pray for us as we lovingly confront folks who ask for counseling. We live in a culture, whose national slogan includes, “El Orgullo Mexicano!” Which is the legendary MEXICAN PRIDE! Pride is a cultural value God hates! Pride prevents correction. In fact, I have had people correct me and quote Bible verses to me in counseling! When I suggest that a person would benefit from LIVING a bible verse, rather than preaching it to a pastor…I have sometimes triggered a very angry response! God’s Word says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble!” (quoted in James 4:6 and 1 Peter 5:5).\nOften, we scratch our heads wondering if the person seeking help even knows Jesus!\nWe like to ask people their “testimony” and when they are confused, it is a great opportunity to share and explain the Gospel and invite people to cry out to God in repentance! Obviously this is a process that sometimes requires more than the 6 weeks we dedicate to a counselee.\nDo you have a personal testimony of how Jesus Christ has radically transformed your life?\nIn our Mexican church culture, many folks are just like I used to be! I would sin and ignore God all week (unless I had a test in school) and then go to Mass on Sunday, and repeat this every week! If I felt especially convicted of some sin, I would go to confession (a super rare occasion – like once a year)!\nI never knew nor experienced the transforming power of a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ! That didn’t happen to me until 1992 at age 28! I want everyone to know our Savior!\nThe good news is that when we come to God in repentance and honesty, He receives us. See what Jesus says in John 6:37,\n“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out!”\nOur Christmas Celebration!\nWe celebrated Jesus’ birth with family and friends! What a blessing to invite folks to celebrate my favorite holiday! We had the privilege of celebrating not only with most of our children, but also with a few friends who are not able to be with family this season! We randomly divide our guests into 3 teams and they complete three challenges, each within 5 minutes. They build a Nativity scene, color a picture, and put together a puzzle! Fun with a purpose!\nMost people ask, “what food did you prepare?” So if you are curious…we had turkey, potatoes, stuffing, macaroni \u0026amp; cheese (thanks Costco!), hamburgers, pizza, and chicken from Pollo Feliz!\nPastors’ Christmas Photo!\nOne of the things I love about our church is that God consistently brings us faithful and gifted men and their families! Right now we are 17 pastors! What a blessing to have so many at hand! Here’s why it helps to have so many leaders, pastors, and servants: In 2024, we had 197 baptisms and 599 professions of faith!\nPoiema in Guatemala! By Poiema Boubion\nMy third semester at Calvary Bible Institute has just come to an end. I’m amazed about how I even ended up there! I never even considered going to Guatemala, but God had other plans! And I give Him thanks for it! I never imagined I’d get to live in such a beautiful place. I’m not used to so much greenery, volcanoes, and color everywhere! God brought me to grow and teach me to be more like Him. God used a new environment with new rules, routines, and people, to mold my character. I learned more self discipline and dying to my own desires and will, in order to obey God’s will. I’m so incredibly thankful for the time I got to spend in CBI Guatemala.\nI can’t wait to see what God has in store for me in 2025! So please pray for me! I need God’s guidance for courage and initiative to take steps of faith to where I believe He is leading me. I would like to finish what I started and complete the 2-year CBI course. God willing, I will be able to return to CBI Peru for my last semester.\nCristian in Mexico\nCristian has made some great friends at school and church. Below is a photo a friend made and sent to him on his 19th birthday. He is attending Medical School at Xochicalco University in Ensenada (5.5 years to go!). It is very rigorous with NO free time, but he is doing fine! If you visit, he will measure your blood pressure for 5 pesos!\nPosadas and English Speakers Christmas Party!\nWe attended a lot of parties (posadas) this season! I think Claudia’s favorite was the white elephant gift exchange. Have you been to a white elephant gift exchange before? Everybody gets to choose a new gift or “steal” one someone already opened. The third time a gift is “stolen,” it is locked! Claudia is the happy owner of a locked gift!\nBelow is our team assembling candy bags to throw out along the route of our second annual parade!\nPost-Christmas in Southern California\nThe day after Christmas, we returned to SoCal. The ladies went dress shopping for my daughter Natalie’s wedding this June!\nPrayer Requests\nFamily unity and protection Provision for Poiema to return to Peru one last semester! Renewed vision and focus for 2025 ministry service Developing Spanish language resources for our counseling ministry For God to raise up more women’s leaders for the Bilingual Women’s study! Provision \u0026amp; Travel Visa for Poiema to return to CBI Peru. Praise Reports!\nSelling one of our lots in Rosarito has provided for Cristian’s schooling for 1 more year! Claudia and I have been faithfully doing daily bible devotions all year! The blessing of counseling and discipling many successfully this past year! A successful year for MDVP Bilingual women’s Bible study! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/challenging-faith-boubion-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBy Paul Boubion\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePreaching Acts 19, “ \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/live/XSTLKRaW3kA?si=98s0JKXnxt6U5k12\u0026amp;t=2195\"\u003eThe Fruits of Revival\u003c/a\u003e.”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/unnamed-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI recently had the privilege of teaching in the pulpit on a Wednesday night. It was during the World Series, but my mom said she still watched my sermon! I taught a passage in Acts 19 where the great Apostle Paul does great miracles as he preaches the Word of the Lord in the ancient city of Ephesus (now in Turkey). Now, there is a passage that says,\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Challenging Faith – Boubion Update December 2024"},{"content":" He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.\nRevelation 22:20-21\nWhen we read these words from our Lord Jesus Christ and His beloved Apostle, forty church leaders and I gave a long moment of cheering. As the last verses of the Bible, those words represented the end of another three-year journey through Scripture with the shepherds of God’s people in Northern Uganda. The students will return in January to present their final projects, Gospel Sermons that utilize biblical themes, and to recap what they have learned. After that, they will return one final time to celebrate their graduation on April 5th!\nUnfortunately, we are ending this journey with only two-thirds of the students that we started with. However, we are so proud of the men who have stuck through to the end. We have seen God move in powerful ways in their lives through the transformation that naturally occurs when people saturate themselves in God’s thoughts. Most of our graduation candidates used to lead the church away from the truth of Scripture towards African superstitions, works-based salvation, cultic glorification of celebrity “pastors,” and many false doctrines learned from others or fabricated themselves through a twisting of God’s Word. Yet, after three years, those same pastors are grounded in the message that ties God’s Word together, the Good News of Jesus’ advent, perfect life, substitutional death, resurrection, ascension into heaven, and soon return as Judge. Now, not only do they grasp the Gospel, but they can now teach it from Scripture. In the past, when asked to preach, instead of explaining and applying their texts, they quickly left their passage in order to preach popular, unbiblical ideas they learned from pastoral “telephone tag.” Eric is a good example of this transformation. Despite his Anglican overseers initially trying to dissuade him from coming to an evangelical school, Eric was placed as the teacher over a circuit of four churches after his leaders witnessed his newfound careful handling of God’s Word.\nThis journey has been very rewarding and strenuous, but it has not been lonesome. Much like the feeling the Apostle Paul expressed in his second letter to the church in Corinth (2 Cor. 11:28-29), I am continually burdened for the purity of the church here in Acholi-land. Because of the responsibility that I feel, I often go without days off, I wake up to study and pray hours before dawn, and continually intake knowledge from God’s people who have come before me in order to grow as a teacher and leader. But God has given me support from six Acholi men who have served with me through this process. While all the students have become my true friends, the six discipleship group leaders have become more like brothers. I was reminded of this fact last week when I visited Pastor Walter, who sent me home with more than 20 ripe papayas, a humongous jackfruit, and a sack of casava and corn from his garden to show his appreciation.\nWe are frequently reminded of God’s reasons for calling us here, and ask for your prayers to continue the work, being steadfast and immovable. We don’t take it for granted that so many of you are sacrificing for our family to be here. You labor with us in the forwarding of the Gospel.\nMay God bless you all with newfound intimacy with Christ and spiritual growth, In Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle, Cynthia, Emma, Maddie, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-december-2024-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20241117%5F123735-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRevelation 22:20-21\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen we read these words from our Lord Jesus Christ and His beloved Apostle, forty church leaders and I gave a long moment of cheering. As the last verses of the Bible, those words represented the end of another three-year journey through Scripture with the shepherds of God’s people in Northern Uganda. The students will return in January to present their final projects, Gospel Sermons that utilize biblical themes, and to recap what they have learned. After that, they will return one final time to celebrate their graduation on April 5th!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update December 2024"},{"content":" We are excited to announce that we are married! We can’t believe it has been a month already; it has been so awesome! Marriage is such a gift from God and we both can’t wait for all that the LORD has in store.\nLeading up to the wedding it felt so slow at times, and yet at other times, time was flying! There were many challenges for both of us in our engagement season, lots of difficulties that we did and didn’t anticipate, but the LORD was absolutely enthroned through all of it. We can honestly say that we are grateful for all of the stretching and growing, for all of the various trials by which He has tested our faith and gifted us with perseverance, preparing us for seasons, trials, and victories yet to come, but now… as husband and wife!\nThe Bridegroom and His Bride Right from our engagement back in February, we knew that this wedding was going to be centered on Christ and the good news of His death and resurrection; after all, it is the gospel that has transformed both of our lives and has brought us together for a purpose so much greater than we ever could’ve asked for or imagined. Therefore, we are not ashamed!\nOur prayers were answered as our whole church family rallied around us in cooking, serving, planning, coordinating, setting up/tearing down, etc.; we were so grateful to see them being the hands and feet of Jesus, which was perhaps the strongest witness of the whole event to our unsaved family and friends. They heard AND saw the gospel in action. Do join us in praying for all of those seeds planted in their hearts, so that there will be a harvest for His kingdom.\n“Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”\n– REVELATION 19:7\nSomething one of our pastors told us when we were first engaged is that a wedding is only one day, one party, and as incredible as it is, the true witness of marriage comes with time, with aging, with growing; therein lies the witness of two regenerate hearts beating after their Lord and Savior! We are His bride, and He is our Bridegroom!\nPresently… We had prayed for months leading up to the wedding about where we would live and how we would be able to afford anything, and God has provided! We are living with my family while we grow our business and continue to train for missions. We do ask for prayer for our business, as it has been challenging, but also fruitful; we know we have been called to steward it in this season, so we want to do so with diligence and with grateful obedience.\nWe also want to share that we have struggled with health concerns, and we’d love for prayer in regards to these as well! Araceli has been struggling with her breathing, and though at this time we believe it to be asthma, we are not yet sure. I (Barek) have been struggling with a random and rapid onset of vertigo, These have been challenging for sure, but we are grateful to have each other and to have access to the medical/professional help that we need.\nMissions Training School We have started the new year of MTS, this being Araceli’s third year and my (Barek\u0026rsquo;s) second year! It has been so awesome seeing all of the new year-one students who went through the School of Missions (CSOM) this summer. God is using this school, this small but mighty church, to reach out unto the ends of the earth, and it is the honor of our lifetimes to be a part of this eternal work. God be glorified! Please pray for all of us students as we seek to grow in ministry, in the Word, and in our callings to fulfill the Great Commission.\nRegarding the Mission Field We mentioned in a previous newsletter that we wanted to go on a vision tour to the Middle-East, which took place in October. But between our business and the wedding planning, we strongly felt that it wasn’t the right time. Our hearts are still eager, however, to see this part of the world. Please join us in praying for an opportunity to go in the next year.\nWhen we look back, we are astounded at the faithfulness of our God, for all that He has given both of us. We look forward to writing our next newsletter as we are praying through some exciting new ministry opportunities!\nPRAISE REPORTS\nFor the gift of marriage! We are so excited and grateful. For the gospel going forth in power on our wedding day. For provision in every way as we surrender our lives to His will. PRAYER REQUESTS\nFor our unsaved family and friends who heard and saw the gospel! For our business, as we seek to grow and steward it well. For our physical health. For ministry and missions opportunities! Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter! We appreciate your support through prayers and ask that you continue to seek the Lord with us in regards to this calling on our lives. If you feel led to partner with us financially, with a one-time or a recurring gift, it would be such a great blessing. There is a giving link below! God bless you, and please reach out with any questions or encouragements.\nTil’ Kingdom come,\nThe Brzezinski’s\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/were-married-brzezinski-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/IMG%5F2729-200x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are excited to announce that we are married! We can’t believe it has been a month already; it has been so awesome! Marriage is such a gift from God and we both can’t wait for all that the LORD has in store.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLeading up to the wedding it felt so slow at times, and yet at other times, time was flying! There were many challenges for both of us in our engagement season, lots of difficulties that we did and didn’t anticipate, but the LORD was absolutely enthroned through all of it. We can honestly say that we are grateful for all of the stretching and growing, for all of the various trials by which He has tested our faith and gifted us with perseverance, preparing us for seasons, trials, and victories yet to come, but now… as husband and wife!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We’re Married!! - Brzezinski Update December 2024"},{"content":"God has done amazing things in 2024!!\nMinistry By the end of 2024, we will have hosted 44 teams (over 680 people) from the US and Canada. We also had our first team from Hawaii this year! All of these teams were housed at Connections House where our staff cooked most of their meals as well. About 25% of the teams did ministry with other missionaries, so we set up the ministry for the majority of them. They served at orphanages, feeding kitchens, the garbage dump, churches, and more. There was a lot of kids’ ministry (VBS, which also reaches out to a lot of their parents), soccer ministry, construction projects, two homes built for families in need, and the gospel was shared at every single one of them.\nThis year we’ve also hosted almost a dozen events for our church and other ministries, a few retreats, a couple of missionary training teams, a quinceañera, and another wedding!\nWe also hosted the Calvary School of Missions for the sixth straight year. They stay with us in the summer for four weeks. They have classes five mornings per week where they learn about missions and church planting, primarily focused on the 10/40 window. Then three to four times per week we take them out into the different communities to serve and visit some of our church plants.\nMissions We had the opportunity to take four mission trips this year! Kristy served with a team of ladies from our church (Calvary Rosarito) in Oaxaca. She led worship and spoke at their ladies’ conference. They also did a painting project and served during Sunday service.\nRon \u0026amp; Kristy took a small group from our church, which included some of our Connections House staff and interns, to Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala. There we served at Brian (our son-in-law) \u0026amp; Brittany’s church, Calvary Conexión México. We helped run a youth camp for about 70 youth, held a children’s outreach, and more.\nKristy also had the privilege of returning to Calpulalpan to serve with some of the worship team from our home church, Calvary Rosarito. We put on a worship conference where Kristy helped lead worship and led a workshop on EasyWorship (and other lyric presentations, such as PowerPoint).\nRon \u0026amp; Kristy also took a short mission trip to Loreto. We were able to bring down some belongings for an Assistant Pastor’s family and deliver some chairs to our church plant, Calvary Loreto. It is always a blessing to visit Pastor Elmer and his wife, Crystal, and serve wherever we can. While there, we did a movie outreach on the beach and handed out backpacks to over 80 kids!\nFamily There are many highlights this year, but not the least of which is that our third grandchild will be born in January 2025! We are blessed to have Brittany and our two grandchildren, Joshua and Kimberly, here for over a month. We’ve enjoyed spending time with them and decorating for Christmas together. This year we also had the privilege of traveling to Loreto, Baja California Sur, for the wedding of one of our very first interns in Mexico, Claudia. Brittany was one of the bridesmaids and our whole family was able to attend. We’ve also had three different sets of family members come and visit. Kristy’s niece, Hannah, came to visit it with her friend, Annika. Ron’s cousin, Erin, and her husband, Charles, and their son, Eli, came on a week-long trip with their church. Ron’s brother, Phil, and his wife, MeLinda, came down to deliver 300 backpacks! Ron was also able to travel to Tennessee for a family reunion, where 9 out of 10 of his siblings were able to attend!\nVisiting our Supporters \u0026amp; Supporting Churches We were able to take a few weeks and visit most of our supporters and our supporting churches in Illinois and Wisconsin. It was a huge blessing and encouragement to us. We were able to attend the missions weekend at our sending church, Faith Community Church, in Fort Atkinson, WI. There, we shared a short update during the morning service, shared with a small group during adult Sunday School, shared with the kids during children’s church, attended a dinner and a church-wide pancake breakfast. We also managed to spend some time with family and have a little bit of fun!\nThank You! The Lord is doing amazing things here in Rosarito, Mexico and beyond, and it would not be possible without our ministry partners! Thank you so much for your prayers and support. All of this is part of your spiritual fruit!\nPrayer Requests 1 – Health – Please pray for Ron’s back and shoulder. He is planning to have shoulder surgery soon, and his back pain has worsened significantly again.\n2 – Grandbaby #3 – Please pray that everything goes well with our granddaughter’s birth next month.\n3 – Connections Staff – Please pray with us as the ministry has grown immensely over the last year and a half. We are in great need of staff to help shoulder the load. We are looking for self-supported missionaries to come on the field and join us. In the meantime, we will begin to hire staff soon. Please pray for wisdom as we prepare to begin this process.\nWe hope you have a Merry Christmas \u0026amp; a very blessed New Year! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/looking-back-at-an-amazing-year-struska-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGod has done amazing things in 2024!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"ministry\"\u003eMinistry\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the end of 2024, we will have hosted 44 teams (over 680 people) from the US and Canada. We also had our first team from Hawaii this year! All of these teams were housed at Connections House where our staff cooked most of their meals as well. About 25% of the teams did ministry with other missionaries, so we set up the ministry for the majority of them. They served at orphanages, feeding kitchens, the garbage dump, churches, and more. There was a lot of kids’ ministry (VBS, which also reaches out to a lot of their parents), soccer ministry, construction projects, two homes built for families in need, and the gospel was shared at every single one of them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Looking Back at an Amazing Year! - Struska Update December 2024"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nHello friends and family, May God bless you for standing with us in your prayers.\nThis month, we can praise God together that:\n- After three years of hard work, 40 pastors finished studying through the entirety of Scripture together! Along with their time in the Bible, they were also trained in leadership, marriage, counseling, teaching/preaching, evangelism, premarital counseling, and running funerals and weddings. - After a year of being monitored by the children\u0026rsquo;s welfare office, we have been approved by the National Alternative Care Panel to submit our adoption case to court!\nThis month, please pray with us that:\n- God would provide shoes and sports equipment for the 40+ children in our Football Academy as what they have is wearing out. - God would grant our family rest and fellowship as we take a few weeks off. - God would help us enroll the correct people for the next intake of our Pastoral School.\nGod Bless You,\nThe Harris Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\n- Pray for the 3-day community outreach. - Pray for our upcoming Bible College graduation. Also, for the start of next semester. - We will be making many changes in our preschool-junior high school. Please pray for God’s guidance and wisdom as we seek Him. - Pray for all our students as they are on break until early February. Also for God’s protection as they go share the gospel throughout the community and their homes. - Koinonia Community Center is going great. The flooring is almost done. Please pray for God’s plans as we finalize and prepare to open in the coming months. Pray for the hearts of the Muslim community. - Our soccer/football ministry is still in the top 3 of the big league. Pray the gospel continues to spread all over Uganda and neighboring areas with this ministry and if it is God’s will, to be promoted to premier league.\nThank you all for your prayers!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email BlogUSA\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n- Pray for the 12 new graduates that were sent out in Nepal after completing 2 years of study at CBI Nepal. Pray as they share and start bible studies. - Pray for 2025 and for all the Lord has for our family as we continue to seek and save the lost, teach the Word, and send out church planters in the most remote regions of the world. Pray for our travel plans as we seek to be in Asia and Africa this upcoming year.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email BlogMexico\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n- Thanksgiving for God\u0026rsquo;s victories in our ministry for 2024! - Mexico\u0026rsquo;s increasing insecurity, delinquency and corruption as people resign themselves to oppression. May Christ Jesus bring salvation and transformation to this country! - Our Family: love, unity, and that our relationship with Jesus Christ comes above everything.\n- Vision for upcoming year 2025\nThanks to God and blessings upon all who support us and read our updates!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nPRAISE:\n- My mom is doing so much better, and I know it’s because of all of the prayers for her. Thank you so much for your continued prayers for my mom, Kathy. - The two events with Calvary Chapel Saving Grace last month were amazing! The women on Friday night were blessed with the Word, dinner, and a time of sweet fellowship. The very next day we gave 100 gifts to the kids in this community. Everyone was blessed! Thank you for your prayers.\nPRAYER:\n- For more servants who are called to work with children, specifically in our afterschool program, and a teacher for the 8-11 year old class on Sunday. - For God to move on the hearts of the people in this community to surrender their lives to Jesus. The ground is very hard here, but we persevere and press on doing our part and trusting that God will do his part! - For God’s wisdom in all of it!\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nMerry Christmas Saving Grace Familia!🎄\n- Pray for the future of our School of Ministry - Pray for Craig \u0026amp; Daisy\u0026rsquo;s health - Pray for 2025 so that the Lord is the One who is guiding our decisions. Ordination of Stalyn - Pray for Bryan \u0026amp; Junior who are completely in the world. - Pray for my dad (Bob) who is 92 and spending Christmas all alone this year! - Pray for the SGWM\u0026rsquo;s team, who faithfully serve us missionaries!\nThank you from our hearts, Craig and Daisy - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n- We will be focused a lot more on discipleship in 2025. Prayer that everyone is of the same mind, lots of learning about the Christian faith, and continuing forward in God\u0026rsquo;s ways. - Pray for wisdom of what to do for this lot of land that is for sale. To buy part of it or not. It is big, on the cheaper side, and has lots of potential. We would love to have a bigger church, a missionary base, a house, a refuge for children, and possibly a Bible Institute in the future. May God guide us in all of this.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPlease pray for our family in many ways, especially our health!\nThe end of November I had severe food poisoning. A few days after recovering from the food poisoning, I started having pain in my legs and lower back and severe weakness/partial paralysis in my toes, legs, and fingers.\nDoctors diagnosed me with Gillian-Barre Syndrome after an MRI and Lumbar Puncture Test. They were planning to put me in ICU for 5 days for intensive therapy, but miraculously, my condition improved enough for me to be discharged to recover at home. God protected me from having that therapy which only has a 50% success rate and I was also protected from the financial devastation of it due to the weakness of our insurance.\nPlease pray for my complete recovery, especially from the pain at night which hinders my sleep. It hurts too much to lie or sit down so I must walk around on a weak leg for a few hours. God is healing and holding me together day by day and I am learning to praise in the pain.\nPlease pray for strength, peace, wisdom, grace, and favor for my wife Kayo and our son Benjamin.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-december-2025-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/5c5401fe-f7b9-4e8b-9b8f-faeef3b55e6a.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family,  \u003cbr\u003e\nMay God bless you for standing with us in your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis month, we can praise God together that:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- After three years of hard work, 40 pastors finished studying through the entirety of Scripture together! Along with their time in the Bible, they were also trained in leadership, marriage, counseling, teaching/preaching, evangelism, premarital counseling, and running funerals and weddings. \u003cbr\u003e\n- After a year of being monitored by the children\u0026rsquo;s welfare office, we have been approved by the National Alternative Care Panel to submit our adoption case to court!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JANUARY 2025 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Though I’ve never been to Kansas, I did go to India and Thailand recently. Many of you may have heard some funny stories or perhaps know a little bit about the trip. In this newsletter, I would love to share a full breakdown. However, to protect workers from sensitive countries, it will have to be vague in regards to names and places. If you’d like more detail, please feel free to reach out to me—I’d be glad to share everything with you. Before I even begin I would love to thank all of you for your financial support and most importantly your partnership in prayer. Only heaven will reveal all the rewards and all the results of your earnest intercession.\nThailand On the 13th of September, my roommate and I left for our long trip to Thailand. After a few days of travel, we arrived in Thailand. From there, we attended the CCA Conference. The likes of 8+ countries were represented, many of which were believers from the 1040 window and missionaries serving in these challenging countries. During the conference we would start our days with morning prayer. This part impacted me the most. It just amazed me how much the saints from some of these persecuted countries pray. They aren’t much different than us in nature, however, their fervency in prayer left me in awe. On top of that I was able to listen to one of my favorite teachers expound on the life of Joseph. To top it all off, day in and day out we fellowshipped with believers and missionaries over lunch and dinner constantly. I met missionaries from all over and even got to see some old friends. It was such a sweet time. Then on Wednesday of that week I started to feel a sore throat coming on. That morning I thought to myself, “Uh oh.” Nonetheless, I powered through, but as the day kept going on it got worse and worse. Soon it was body aches until I was in my bed at the end of the day sick. I’ll spare you the gory details of all the sickness entailed. I remember feeling totally discouraged and utterly down in the dumps. For the next few days I was in my room in a strange country, missing home and my parents especially. I specifically remember reading the story of the woman coming to Jesus with the issue of the flow of blood and thinking what she says in Scripture, “For she said to herself, “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.”” Though I didn’t get an instant miracle. I slowly recovered in time for the SGWM conference. During that conference I got to meet many of the workers from Asia. I got to hear about the work going on in all the various countries that need the greatest efforts to reach.\nIndia A few flights later, we traveled to India to visit some workers. We arrived late at night to our hotel and instantly fell asleep. That morning we met with the workers who we would spend the most time with. We went out to breakfast and got to experience traveling in India. Driving in India reminded me of a game we used to play in school called chicken. It’s a game where you run at each other and swerve out of the way at the last minute. I wasn’t super concerned since everyone else wasn’t worried but I found it fascinating. Then, we took a train which reminded me so much of Israel and taking the rail there. Then from there we took a Tuk Tuk. Truly an iconic vehicle of India. A sort of staple form of transportation. After a few days of being in India we had eaten plenty of Dosa (sort of like a crepe but with curry inside) and all sorts of other Indian specialties. Not only did we eat and fellowship with the workers there, more importantly we got to meet the church. This was truly a awesome experience. Our first meeting with them was for a church worship practice. I absolutely love other cultures\u0026rsquo; takes on worship and theirs was just as good. I can’t comment on the spiritual aspects to the song as I can’t speak the language, but as far as music goes, it was stunning. There was one brother who had a set of bamboo flutes that sounded heavenly. After spending some time with them, we had a boys\u0026rsquo; day. Our day began early and we started the day as any Indian does with some Chai. Then we ventured throughout the city stopping along strategic points and praying over them. It was a wonderful time to get to see the work needing to be done. Another eye-opening experience was getting to spend time with them during church. The church is very young. The median age was probably around 25-30. The interesting thing about the city is that it’s a sort of hub for work and education. This naturally attracts plenty of young people who come for school and work. However, the challenge when ministering here is that people come and go often.\nThrough my time in India I got to see some of the spiritual difficulties there. The most prevalent problem there is idolatry. Certainly, idolatry is a issue worldwide. However in India it is blatant and totally normal. Throughout India, anti-proselytization laws mean evangelism is difficult and even dangerous. All this goes to say that the work for the Church is great. This can tend to seem overwhelming, but the work of God is going on and God is still not done with India.\nPrayer Requests/Praise Reports Thank God I made a full recovery while in Thailand and didn’t have to go to the doctor Praise God for the time I got to spend within India and Thailand Please pray for the work going on at Cal State Fullerton Pray for India and the workers there Pray that the Lord would direct me Again thank you so much for your support and prayers. Currently, I am still waiting and praying for God’s direction in my life. I don’t currently believe that God is calling me to India. However it wasn’t a wasted trip. I was able to learn so much from the brothers and sisters from that part of the world and understand more of their world. I am grateful for the opportunity I was given to go and be a part of what the Lord is doing in Asia. Please continue to pray God would direct me. Thank you all so much again. God bless.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/definitely-not-in-kansas-anymore-sanchez-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThough I’ve never been to Kansas, I did go to India and Thailand recently. Many of you may have heard some funny stories or perhaps know a little bit about the trip. In this newsletter, I would love to share a full breakdown. However, to protect workers from sensitive countries, it will have to be vague in regards to names and places. If you’d like more detail, please feel free to reach out to me—I’d be glad to share everything with you. Before I even begin I would love to thank all of you for your financial support and most importantly your partnership in prayer. Only heaven will reveal all the rewards and all the results of your earnest intercession.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Definitely Not in Kansas Anymore - Sanchez Update December 2024"},{"content":"Hello, dear brothers and sisters.\nChristmas greetings to you from our family and a blessed, happy “New Year”!\n2024 has been a year of persecution for the churches in our state. Many house churches have been closed by the government with the pressure of Hindu radicals.\nIn spite of all this, churches are growing. One new family was added to our Sunday fellowship. We baptized four people. Five couples were blessed with babies this year. One couple was blessed with a child after being married for four years.\nWe pray that this Christmas season will give us the opportunity to share the Gospel. Please keep us in your prayers.\nGod bless,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/christmas-greetings-pastor-15-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello, dear brothers and sisters.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChristmas greetings to you from our family and a blessed, happy “New Year”!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2024 has been a year of persecution for the churches in our state. Many house churches have been closed by the government with the pressure of Hindu radicals.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn spite of all this, churches are growing. One new family was added to our Sunday fellowship. We baptized four people. Five couples were blessed with babies this year. One couple was blessed with a child after being married for four years.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Christmas Greetings - Pastor 15 Update December 2024"},{"content":" And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.\n– Matthew 1:21\nMerry Christmas Everyone!\nAt Thanksgiving, I (Tim) was asked the question, “if you could pick one word that would describe the last year. What would it be and why?” I picked the word \u0026quot; wow.\u0026quot; Why would I use the one word \u0026ldquo;wow\u0026rdquo; to describe the last year? It’s because as I look back at all that God has let us put our hands to this year, all I could think to say was wow. Many of you have received and read our updates throughout the year and I’m sure you would agree with me. If you haven’t, then please visit our blog and catch up on all that happened this year!\nLooking back at the last couple of months is a big WOW. June through October was an incredible season, starting with six weeks in Mexico at the Calvary School of Missions. CSOM is where I (Tim) get to direct the school, assisted by my beautiful wife and an incredible team of past graduates, who are in training, learning skills that will assist them on the mission field (please read last month‘s update for further information on that). At the end of the six weeks in Mexico, we came back to the states for two weeks in order to regroup and wrap up the admin portion of CSOM. Early September, we launched out to Thailand and South Asia for six more weeks to lead a few students on a vision tour, visit the church plants, and workers there, and host in Thailand one of the most incredible conferences that I’ve ever been to. We had close to 50 SGWM “Workers” gathered, many of them serve in countries where it is illegal to preach the gospel or share the Bible with the intent to convert someone to christianity.\nAfter Thailand, we went to South Asia where we had opportunity to teach at some of the Bible colleges and churches. We were able to help strengthen, encourage, and counsel senior pastors and their wives who are in the church plants within restricted country. They serve where Christians are highly persecuted and where the gospel is not welcomed. Pastor Gary and myself also had the privilege of teaching systematic theology and the book of Colossians at two of the Bible colleges there. It is such an incredible privilege to be able to train up future church planters and pastors in a country where over 1 billion people have never heard the name of Jesus and are completely deceived and lost in Hinduism.\nThe photo below is CBI Kauai singing the Goodness of God with hand motions. It truly was really beautiful.\nI’ll pitch it over to my wife Jenn for some of her highlights of our time.\nMeeting the pastor’s wife from Pakistan for the 1st time, spending time with her, and hearing her heart for women of Pakistan blessed me (Jenn) a lot. She has the same desires as I do with biblical counseling and encouraging the broken women. I look forward to continuing to support and encourage her through the next season of her ministry. Her older son gave his life to Jesus at the conference. Hallelujah!!\nI also spent time with another pastor’s wife from South Asia who has been serving on the field for many many years. I loved hearing her heart and challenges on the field and praying for her. She was encouraged by the conference to get more involved with her ministry and with the students at the Bible school in South Asia. Tim and I also spent time as a couple with the other couples, listening to them, praying with them, and encouraging them.\nWe also had a new MTS student and a returning MTS student with us in South Asia on a vision tour. One of the students stayed in south Asia for 6 months on a vision tour. It was her second time in south Asia and she feels led to this country.\nSpending time at each church plant in South Asia with the workers on the ground was very fruitful. We got to see one of the relocated new churches and see how their ministry has grown. I was able to share my testimony at 2 locations and teach at a women’s conference at another church. The women even had a sleepover which I hadn’t done in many years. It was fun to see the women’s home and learn their culture. We were able to stay at one of the worker’s home for 1 week and spend intimate time with them and their new baby.\nThen after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.”\nActs 15:37\nWe really love this verse, it motivates us to do what we do.\nComing back into the country in mid-October felt like we were busier than ever. MTS (missions training school) was launching in one week and there was so much work to do. By God’s grace we completed enrollments, scheduling, census, curriculum, and syllabus. It is off to a great start and we are looking forward to what the Lord will do with this year\u0026rsquo;s 19 students.\nAs we close out 2024 we are beyond grateful to our great God and King for the most incredible gift ever given… forgiveness of our sins and reconciliation with Him through the shed blood of His son Jesus Christ. We deeply desire the whole world to hear this good news. We are also grateful for each and everyone of you who are in our corner financially, emotionally, and prayerfully. If the Lord leads you to join us financially, or increase your already generous support, you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-greatest-gift-of-all-pappas-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– Matthew 1:21\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMerry Christmas Everyone!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt Thanksgiving, I (Tim) was asked the question, “if you could pick one word that would describe the last year. What would it be and why?” I picked the word \u0026quot; \u003cstrong\u003ewow.\u0026quot;\u003c/strong\u003e  Why would I use the one word \u0026ldquo;wow\u0026rdquo; to describe the last year? It’s because as I look back at all that God has let us put our hands to this year, all I could think to say was wow. Many of you have received and read our updates throughout the year and I’m sure you would agree with me. If you haven’t, then please visit our blog and catch up on all that happened this year!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Greatest Gift of All! - Pappas Update December 2024"},{"content":"I wasn’t hoping for this…\nSometimes things don’t go as planned, and when hardships, trouble, and trials arise—as they will—remember the words of our Lord Jesus: to count it all joy (James 1:2) and that in Him, we have peace by faith (John 16:33). We can trust in His grace, goodness, and faithfulness, for He is the God of hope.\n“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”\nRomans 15:13 NKJV\nBlessings to you, beloved,\nI have officially been living in Yorba Linda, California, for about two months, and it’s been a bumpy yet wonderful ride so far.\nAfter landing at LAX from Southern Asia, I began getting my life situated in Yorba Linda. I was excited and feeling incredibly blessed. I had a job lined up, support to sustain me, and had just come from an amazing experience in a new country. But as Jesus said, “You will have troubles in this life,” and as Christians, we are either in a trial, coming out of one, or heading into one.\nWithin three days of my return, I reached out to my potential employer only to find out the position had been taken. My support was inaccessible, my family called to inform me of trouble back home, my car’s check engine light came on, and the diagnosis revealed it needed a new transmission, which would cost me 3,000 dollars to fix…\nThis wasn’t the beginning I was hoping for, and I was tempted to say:\n“Lord, I’m doing the will of God; shouldn’t I be receiving favor and blessing? Lord, I left all to follow You; why are You letting this happen to me?”\nIt’s easy for us to fall into the snare of believing that our obedience equals a life of ease—and that is simply not true. Trial, testing, and temptations are just a part of this life.\nSo, what did I do to overcome? I remembered the cross. I remembered His promises in His Word, I remembered His love for me and how circumstances don’t define it or Him.\nAnd in His faithfulness, He turned it all around.\nIn the coming weeks, I found two jobs, my support came in, I received news that God was moving in the lives of my family back home, and I got a call that my check engine light had gone off and my transmission was miraculously okay.\nGreat is His faithfulness.\nI miss my family and church community, but in the meantime, God has blessed me with such a special community that loves Him, each other, and the lost. I feel so blessed to be a part of the work that God is doing here.\nMost of my time is spent serving, training, and being equipped for the field with this wonderful body of believers—on Sundays, at church events, evangelistic outreaches, missionary training classes, and in sweet fellowship.\nThe other part of my time is spent working at Samaritan’s Purse, an organization that sends Christmas presents to children all over the world—with the greatest gift of all: an invitation to receive Jesus Christ.\nOperation Christmas Child is a ministry that invites churches to fill shoeboxes with Christmas gifts for children ages 2–14 years of age. Samaritan’s Purse collects these shoeboxes and sends them to children all over the world. But it’s not just about the gifts—it’s about the Gift of Salvation.\nAlong with the shoebox, children also receive the gospel and are invited to receive Christ. If they do, the children are discipled, taught about their faith, and shown how to share it with others. Samaritan’s Purses heart for operation Christmas Child is evangelism, discipleship, and multiplication.\nSince 1993, Samaritan’s Purse has sent out over 220 million shoeboxes; that is 220 million Gospel invitations and counting. These shoeboxes are reaching the ends of the earth, including many unreached areas.\nWhat a journey it has been so far!\nI am so thankful for the grace of God that has sustained me and I\u0026rsquo;m excited for what lies ahead.\nPrayer Requests:\n– That God would save thousands upon thousands of children, women, and men through the ministry of Samaritan’s Purse\n– That God would reveal where He would have me serve long-term\n– For my walk with Jesus to remain intimate and that I would abide in Him\n– That God would protect and provide spiritually, physically, and financially\n– That I would walk in His perfect will for my life\nIf you have any prayer requests, please click “respond” at the end of my newsletter, and it will be sent directly to my email: Haggstromdeprii@gmail.com.\nI want to thank everyone who has partnered with me. I am so excited to share this journey with you all as we fulfill the Great Commission together. Stay tuned for all that the Lord is doing!\nIf you would like to financially partner with me as I serve with Saving Grace World Missions, you can click here.\nWishing you all a wonderful and Merry Christmas, and a blessed New Year!\nAnd may we all continue to faithfully follow, love, obey, and walk with the Lion and the Lamb.\nGod bless,\nDeprii\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-wasnt-hoping-for-this-haggstrom-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI wasn’t hoping for this…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSometimes things don’t go as planned, and when hardships, trouble, and trials arise—as they will—remember the words of our Lord Jesus: to count it all joy (James 1:2) and that in Him, we have peace by faith (John 16:33). We can trust in His grace, goodness, and faithfulness, \u003cstrong\u003efor He is the God of hope.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I wasn’t hoping for this… - Haggstrom Update December 2024"},{"content":"CARTELS\nIt is a well-known fact that Culiacán is home to the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the largest and most dangerous drug cartels in the world. Upon my arrival in 2016, I learned that 90% of the city has ties to the cartel– they are either in it themselves or have family or friends who are. In spite of those grim statistics, for my first 8 years in Culiacán, that was all they were – statistics that didn’t affect my reality. It’s in the Cartel’s best interests to keep the city peaceful and pretty, so the ugliness of the drug trade is generally eclipsed by the prosperity they provide in exchange for our feigned ignorance. As the saying goes, “Don’t mess with them, and they won’t mess with you.” We stay out of their business, they stay out of ours, and the city reaps the rewards.\nWAR!\nOn September 9, all of that changed. Due to some critical arrests and a massive shift in power, the children of the founders and former leaders of the Sinaloa Cartel (El Chapo and El Mayo) have openly declared war against each other, turning our beautiful city into a war zone and shattering the once peaceful and prosperous facade. In the last three months, thousands of people have lost their lives, liberty, and property in the cross hairs of these warring factions, and the city along with its outlying villages is living under a self-imposed curfew, a “narco-pandemic.” Few people dare to be out after dark, and as a result commerce is dying, people are losing their homes, jobs, and businesses, and travelling in and out of the city is dangerous at best, deadly at worst.\nWhen I signed up to be a missionary, I knew I wasn’t signing up for something easy or “cushy,” but never in my wildest dreams did I imagine taking shelter with my children at 4:00 AM while cartel members detonated grenades, fired machine guns, and incinerated vehicles two blocks from my home. 😬\nBUT, GOD…\nOne of my favorite phrases in the Bible is “But, God…” Far from being affected by what goes on in our world, God’s sovereignty always prevails. Psalm 23:4-5 says, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.”\nIn spite of the crippling violence plaguing our city, God’s hand of protection and prosperity continues to rest on our Calvary Culiacán church family. With over 1,000 people forming part of our 11 churches, only one family was briefly affected. A friend’s nephew was taken hostage, but instead of being pressed into service in the war, he was released 6 days later. Among all the horrific stories of violence, this is literally the only account I have heard of where someone was released unharmed. God is GOOD!\nCAKES GALORE ! \u0026hellip; IN THE PRESENCE OF OUR ENEMIES\nIn spite of the war, the churches of Calvary Culiacán are in fiesta mode, enjoying the table the Lord has set before us in the presence of our enemies! At the end of October, we celebrated our 9th anniversary in grand style, renting out the city’s famous downtown theater to welcome more than 600 people from our 10 current churches and our newest church planting team – Horizonte Culiacán. Our dual theme was “9 Years Doing Church…” and “Praying for the Peace of Culiacán.” We had guest speakers and musicians from several Calvary churches in other states who braved the drug war to be part of our main celebration and to participate in the individual celebrations of each of our church plants.\nIn celebration of all that God is doing in and through Calvary Culiacán, allow me to proudly introduce you to each of our churches and their pastors…\nAND WAIT, THERE’S MORE!\nBesides being the day the Cartel war started, September 9 also marked the first day of classes for this year’s EPICC– the church planting school of Calvary Culiacán. From 2018 to 2022, all church planting students met together at Calvary Culiacán North in classes ranging from 20-40 students. In the Fall of 2022, we opened our second campus at Calvary Culiacán South, and we added a virtual campus via zoom to train up the staff of a new church plant in another city. In the Fall of 2023, we expanded again, adding our 3rd campus at Calvary Culiacán West. And this year, in spite of the war, we opened our 4th and 5th campuses in Calvary Patria and Calvary Aguaruto!\nDue to the insecurities we are all facing, each campus has chosen to meet in the safest way possible. Two of our groups are rather small, and since everyone lives within a few minutes of the church, they are able to safely meet in person. Another has chosen to meet in a centrally located home, so as to not call attention to themselves, and the other two campuses are meeting via zoom.\nWe have more than 60 students enrolled at this time. Most of them will graduate in June of 2025 and go on to become teachers of the Word and ministry leaders. If they continue training and demonstrating that they are F.A.T. (faithful, available, and teachable), the men will go on to become assistant pastors, and many will eventually plant churches of their own. Pray with us that God will clearly speak to all of their hearts and direct them to the ministry and/or location where He would have them serve.\nSo far, the majority of church-planting efforts have centered on the city Culiacán, but our vision is to grow beyond our Jerusalem (Culiacán) to reach our Judea (all of the state of Sinaloa), our Samaria (the rest of Mexico), and the rest of the world. Statistics have proven that Mexicans, with their physical appearance and culture, are perfectly equipped to reach the vast majority of the world with the Gospel. They can blend in to almost any European, Asian, or Middle Eastern culture without raising suspicion, and are therefore welcomed into many areas of the world that are 100% closed to the Gospel… and to Americans. Please pray that God will raise up not just city-changers, but world-changers from this generation of students.\nHOW CAN YOU PRAY FOR US?\nWith all of the unrest in our city, our primary prayer concern this month is for safety and a quick end to the war. Our churches were able to resume some mid-week activities a couple weeks ago, but due to a major upsurge in violence this week, all evening activities have returned to virtual mode. Pray for the wisdom of our leaders in balancing the “not forsaking the gathering of the saints” with protecting their flocks from the inherent dangers of our city. This will especially be a concern with all of the upcoming Christmas events and outreaches that we are accustomed to having. May God provide a SAFE way to continue reaching the lost of our city during this special season of the year.\nIn addition to our safety, you may pray specifically for my family:\n• Sammy’s health and schooling. We praise the Lord for his strong health this year and pray that God would help him to be the best student he can be as he faces junior high for the first time this year.\n• Ruby’s safety and continued healing and preparation. Her shift at work is from 2:00-10:00pm, meaning that she must travel home AFTER the 8:00pm curfew. So far, we have seen God’s miraculous hand of protection, and we hope it remains as her boss refuses to close early. While she has made huge strides in her emotional healing journey over the past 18 months, it is far from over. Pray for her continued healing and that she might continue her schooling and achieve the future she longs for.\n• Jenna’s health and priorities. I\u0026rsquo;m still recovering from last year’s car accident, I am battling 3 herniated cervical discs. Pray for a good medical team to find solutions instead of more problems. Also, pray that God helps me to prioritize my relationship with Him, my family, my part-time jobs, and the ministries He has given me. Ministry opportunities abound, but I must choose my activities wisely so as not to neglect myself, God, or my family.\nHOW CAN YOU SUPPORT US?\nIf you have not already done so, please sign up to receive my e-newsletters. They usually come out once every two months, but my goal is to increase that to every month. Use this link or the QR code below to sign up.\nYou can also support us financially. At this time, less than half of my monthly budget is met by supporters, making it necessary for me to maintain a part-time job in addition to my mission work. I would love to become fully funded and be able to dedicate ALL of my time to the ministry. Use this link or QR code below to give a one-time gift or to become a monthly partnering the work God is doing here in Culiacán.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-cartels-war-and-cakes-galore-pepin-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCARTELS\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a well-known fact that Culiacán is home to the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the largest and most dangerous drug cartels in the world.  Upon my arrival in 2016, I learned that 90% of the city has ties to the cartel– they are either in it themselves or have family or friends who are.  In spite of those grim statistics, for my first 8 years in Culiacán, that was all they were – statistics that didn’t affect my reality.  It’s in the Cartel’s best interests to keep the city peaceful and pretty, so the ugliness of the drug trade is generally eclipsed by the prosperity they provide in exchange for our feigned ignorance.  As the saying goes, “Don’t mess with them, and they won’t mess with you.” We stay out of their business, they stay out of ours, and the city reaps the rewards.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Cartel’s War, and… Cakes Galore? - Pepin Update December 2024"},{"content":" And He said to me, weakness, \u0026ldquo;My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.\u0026rdquo;\n2 Corinthians 12:9\nPlease continue to pray for my family and me. On my birthday, November 25, I started having symptoms of severe food poisoning. I got IVs and antibiotics and recovered within a week. A couple days later, on December 3, I started having severe and increasing weakness and pain in my legs. I thought it was just muscle soreness from overexertion. Eventually, the symptoms progressed to partial paralysis of my toes on both feet and ankles, and to weakness in my fingers and legs. I also had severe pain in both legs and my lower back as well. To make a long story short, I had an MRI, a Lumbar puncture on December 12, and was diagnosed with Guillian-Barre Syndrome which came as the result of my food poisoning. According to some sources, it may take six months to a year to recover completely.\nPraises:\n1. Praising God for His grace and protection through weeks without proper sleep due to severe pain.\n2. Praising God I recovered enough to be discharged from the hospital without needing to spend five days in the ICU for intensive and potentially financially devastating treatment.\n3. Praising God that we had just enough time left on our term-health insurance (which expires the end of 2024) to get treatement).\n4. Praising God that my apologetics students can continue to learn despite my illness because I was able to find the video lecture files that I recorded during COVID time-God doesn’t waste anything!\n5. Praising God that I am regaining strength and balance more rapidly than the doctor and nurses expected.\n6. Praising God that I am able to weakly curl the toes on my right foot again and trusting Him for toes on the left foot and that my finger strength is returning to near normal.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for more sleep.\n2. Please pray for a rapid and complete recovery process.\n3. Please pray for strength and health for Kayo and Benjamin as they must bear more burdens and stress during my recovery process.\n4. Please pray for favor with our insurance company and for speedy processing of our claims.\n5. Please pray that we won’t have major expenses related to this syndrome in the future because we have term-health insurance (which expires the end of 2024), as they probably will not be covered as a pre-existing condition.\n6. Please pray for wisdom, protection, and provision in our finances.\n7. Please pray for wisdom and provision for Physical Therapy etc.\nAs we celebrate Christmas, we have many blessings to be thankful for and remember that Christ is the greatest gift we could ever receive!\nI am praising in the pain and trusting that God will transform this dead-end street into a runway!\nIn Christ’s Loving Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praising-in-the-pain-record-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd He said to me, weakness, \u0026ldquo;My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2 Corinthians 12:9\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease continue to pray for my family and me. On my birthday, November 25, I started having symptoms of severe food poisoning.  I got IVs and antibiotics and recovered within a week.  A couple days later, on December 3, I started having severe and increasing weakness and pain in my legs. I thought it was just muscle soreness from overexertion.  Eventually, the symptoms progressed to partial paralysis of my toes on both feet and ankles, and to weakness in my fingers and legs. I also had severe pain in both legs and my lower back as well. To make a long story short, I had an MRI, a Lumbar puncture on December 12, and was diagnosed with \u003ca href=\"https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/guillain-barre-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20362793\"\u003eGuillian-Barre Syndrome\u003c/a\u003e which came as the result of my food poisoning. According to some sources, it may take six months to a year to recover completely.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praising in the Pain - Record Update December 2024"},{"content":" Christmas is in full swing here in Japan. There are decorations and lights in the parks and shopping malls. The stores are playing Christmas music. There are Christmas markets and holiday light shows that you can go watch. Unfortunately, they don’t understand why Christians are celebrating. So, while on the surface they seem more excited about the birth of Christ than the West does (‘Merry Christmas’ is plastered everywhere, there’s no ‘Happy Holidays’ or ‘Season’s Greetings’ here), once the Hollywood version of Christmas is wiped away there’s nothing left.\nThe other night we went to the German-esque Christmas Market near where we live. There were stalls selling sausages and candied nuts and hot chocolate, there was an ice-skating rink and street performers. There was also a nativity scene. Mary, Joseph, and Jesus were there, along with sheep and donkeys and the like. As the Japanese people passed the nativity they would bow to the manger and then throw a coin at the feet of Mary and Joseph. This is the sight very common in Japan, but you’d only see it if you were at a Buddhist Temple. The Japanese aren’t a spiritual people, but they are extremely superstitious, so they will go to the temple and throw in a coin if they need good luck on a test or a job interview. They don’t understand the difference between Jesus and the principalities that are worshiped at the temples and shrines, all they know is that the nativity shows up for six weeks a year and if they have time, they might as well throw a coin and see if their luck improves.\nThis, of course, leads to many opportunities to have important conversations with people. Some are curious about the meaning of the manger scene, or the reason for decorating trees, or how Santa Claus fits into the story, and it’s an easy conversation to take them to Jesus and His coming to earth. Be praying for us as we continue to have these conversations with people until the end of the year.\nWe are almost to the end of our first year here in Japan, and it has gone by in a flash. We are so thankful for all that the Lord has done to bring us to where we are now. Japan has quickly and mostly painlessly become to feel like home, and our church family here are a blessing in every way. Thank you for all your prayers and support, they have been a great encouragement to us.\nIn January, more workers will arrive from California to serve with us at Abide. Please be praying for our entire team as it starts to grow. I’ll be attending a language school full-time starting in January and Alishia will continue on with our friend from church who tutors her. I have been teaching the book of Acts via Zoom at a bible school in South Asia for the past few months. Those classes will run through March; please pray for me as my schedule becomes much fuller. Alishia continues to host people and has been investing in some of the young girls at church. We are still helping with the kid’s English classes at the church, and I have been given the opportunity to teach here and there as well. Please continue to pray for us.\nWe love you all. Merry Christmas!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/christmas-facade-root-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/FullSizeRender-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eChristmas is in full swing here in Japan. There are decorations and lights in the parks and shopping malls. The stores are playing Christmas music. There are Christmas markets and holiday light shows that you can go watch. Unfortunately, they don’t understand why Christians are celebrating. So, while on the surface they seem more excited about the birth of Christ than the West does (‘Merry Christmas’ is plastered everywhere, there’s no ‘Happy Holidays’ or ‘Season’s Greetings’ here), once the Hollywood version of Christmas is wiped away there’s nothing left.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Christmas Facade - Root Update December 2024"},{"content":"October and November 2024\nThere comes a point in our walks with the Lord where He begins to test our trust in Him and in His Word more and more. I know the Lord has been working on this in me and it’s been stretching. I know that if He puts His chisel on me, it’s because there’s an area of my life where I have not yet brought an emotion or action under His authority and light. Thank God, by His grace, He wants to grow us heavenward. I love what Chuck used to say, he might’ve gotten it from someone, but in response to some saying, “Don’t be so heavenly minded you’re of no earthly good,” he shared, “Be so heavenly minded you’re of every earthly good.” It’s easy to think, get your head out of the clouds, but I don’t think you can be too focused on Jesus. I think if your heart and mind are really and truly wrapped up in Him, then you will be busy about the business He’s given you to do here on this earth. We have a purpose and a mission to make disciples during our time here (no matter where He sends us). Our time is short, let’s not let anything keep us from that goal—that aim. Jesus is the prize (Phil. 3:7-15).\nI think one of the enemy’s greatest tactics is to shame the people of God (it could be over something that happened yesterday or 10 years ago). Why do we keep bringing up things that Jesus has put away, with His blood, once and for all. It’s a tactic that, if we allow it, can debilitate the people of God. We have to remember how we’ve been redeemed. We must preach the Gospel to ourselves daily and remember His all-sufficient sacrifice. The enemy wants to defeat the saints of God with shame, but the Lord wants to pick you up, dust you off, and help you keep moving forward; and all for the glory of His name. Nothing is greater than our God and King.\n“For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things.”\n-1 John 3:20\nI pray that we all grow in His grace together. To radically deal with sin, to walk in holiness, to know greater the depths of His love, and to live more fully in His grace. His grace is His enablement for us to walk in holiness! Lord, give us more grace!\nLife in the Southern Hemisphere…\nOctober:\nMan oh man, how do I sum up two months concisely? It’s been a blessing, it’s been really busy, it’s been really fruitful, and God is doing so much. Our conference had finished up right before October hit, and so it was nice to get some good rest afterward. I battled some sickness for a while, but by the grace of God was able to keep up with everything I needed to. The Thursday prayer group for Argentina, and our Casa a Casa kept meeting on each Friday as we dove into the Word together. I was still preparing for both Tuesday night Church Planting Class, and for Fridays at our home group. It was such a blessing to see how the Lord was bringing us closer together as a group each week. The Lord has blessed me with some wonderful friends and family here in Trujillo. In October I was asked to go and teach the book of Genesis at CBI Brazil and so when I could I was trying to prepare for that as well. Classes continued and we began to get things ready for graduation and the coming semester. Construction continued and is continuing—there is a lot to do. At the end of the month all the students and a few staff went to Lima for a big outreach. It was crazy to experience the campus so quiet in between services at the church. In a lot of ways it was a good break, but I missed them a lot. They’ve all become like family and it’s hard to see them go at the end of the semester. I’m so thankful for them and what the Lord is doing in their lives. It’s amazing to see the growth that’s taking place in their hearts and minds and seeing lives transformed by the power of His Word. It’s so cool to see the discipleship that’s taking place and I’m blessed to be able to be a part of it.\nNovember:\nNovember was a little crazy, but the Lord saw me through it. I got to go teach the book of Genesis at CBI Brazil and was super blessed by my time there. During the busyness of everything, I actually ended up missing my flight to Brazil, but by the grace of God He worked it out and I was able to get a new flight out later that night and arrived the next afternoon. Right before I left, all the students got back from their mission trip in Lima so there was a lot going on. I was in Brazil for two weeks in Sao Paolo in a city called Sao Vicente and was super blessed by everyone at the campus and church there. I had a great opportunity to teach a Sunday service while I was there and it was a blessing. It was a busy and full two weeks, and outside of class preparation, teaching, and hanging out with the students, we still got to go have some fun. Praise the Lord it was on their free day and what turned out to be the only sunny day while I was there.\nI got back early the morning of the 17th, and it was back to business as usual at CBI Peru and Calvary Trujillo. It was almost a weird feeling because things were slowing down immensely—not having to study for a class on top of everything else, and with our Casa a Casa’s coming to an end, the semester had one more week, and we also had our final prayer meeting for Argentina over the semester (excited for what God is doing). It was strange celebrating Thanksgiving in Peru, but it was much more than I expected. Our pastor’s wife knows how to make gluten free food and she absolutely blessed me by bringing gluten free pie, stuffing, gravy—the works! Thanksgiving food is my favorite and it was a blessing to get to spend it with good friends on the southern part of the planet. Our final Casa a Casa was on Nov. 29th, it was a great time just fellowshipping, eating good food (Pollo a la Brasa), and getting to encourage them one last time before the break.\nWhat’s on the Horizon\nI will arrive back in the States on Dec. 23rd. I’m looking forward to seeing you all, and catching up after almost a year here in Peru. I’ll be back for about a month and head back on the 20th of January. Prayers would be appreciated as I need to renew my passport, driver\u0026rsquo;s license, and some other things while I’m back. If you’d like to get together please shoot me a text or an email and I’d love to try to make some time to see you (I’ll also be down in Southern California for a bit too).\nAfter I get back, we’ll be within a week of our Spring Semester and we’ll be hitting the ground running. As for anything Argentina related, I will keep you guys in the loop as there are some moving parts—I’m hoping to go again soon. As for now, the plan will be to keep on with construction and administrative tasks at CBI Peru.\nPrayer Requests\nTravels. Time with family. Passport and license renewals. Getting everything set up for next semester. Continuing to grow in managing my schedule in a way that allows for more productivity between admissions, service hours scheduling, construction, and anything else that’s needed. To continue to grow closer to the Lord, and walk in His will and calling on my life. Wisdom, discernment, His strength, leading, and provision for all that He has in store. Visiting a couple churches while I’m back (I’ll be sharing at my home church on Jan. 12th). That my time back would be restful, and productive, and fruitful to catch up on all the necessities since I’ve been gone. Ciao Familia, los amo mucho,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/growing-in-grace-voisin-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOctober and November 2024\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG-20241214-WA0049-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere comes a point in our walks with the Lord where He begins to test our trust in Him and in His Word more and more. I know the Lord has been working on this in me and it’s been stretching. I know that if He puts His chisel on me, it’s because there’s an area of my life where I have not yet brought an emotion or action under His authority and light. Thank God, by His grace, He wants to grow us heavenward. I love what Chuck used to say, he might’ve gotten it from someone, but in response to some saying, “Don’t be so heavenly minded you’re of no earthly good,” he shared, “Be so heavenly minded you’re of every earthly good.” It’s easy to think, get your head out of the clouds, but I don’t think you can be too focused on Jesus. I think if your heart and mind are really and truly wrapped up in Him, then you will be busy about the business He’s given you to do here on this earth. We have a purpose and a mission to make disciples during our time here (no matter where He sends us). Our time is short, let’s not let anything keep us from that goal—that aim. Jesus is the prize (Phil. 3:7-15).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Growing in Grace…- Voisin Update November 2024"},{"content":"Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\nI hope you are doing well! Thank you for your prayers and support. I am doing good by God’s grace.\nIn September, I got the opportunity to visit Thailand. We had a conference for those who are serving God in Asia. I had a blessed time hearing the stories and ministry updates of all of the people I met.\nIt was such a blessing to meet those who have been doing ministry in difficult places for many years. It challenged me when I learned about their perseverance in the ministry of the Gospel in spite of all the difficulties that they face. I was really encouraged when I met the young adults who are just getting into the mission field. It was encouraging to see their passion to reach the un-reached.\nLast month we had an annual convention organised by all of the local churches in our town. Together they invited unchurched people to attend the services and hear the Gospel. We had a three-day meeting and the Gospel message was preached. I am grateful that I got the opportunity to be a part of the choir and to lead the worship on the first day during the evening meeting.\nThe pastor taught against prosperity Gospel preaching. The topic of his message was “We need only Jesus”. His emphasis was on coming to Jesus only to get Jesus (not material possessions). On the third night, the last night of the convention, many people who heard the Gospel surrendered their lives to Jesus. They asked me to pray for them so that they may grow in their personal relationship with Jesus.\nAlong with the young adults of my church, I organised a one-day youth meeting. We invited young adults from our town and the nearby areas. We were expecting 60 to 70 people. 96 young men and women showed up for the convention! One of our graduates (who leads worship at our church) and I taught on four different subjects.\nAt the end of the meeting, we handed out a feedback form for everyone to fill out. We got positive feedback on all of the forms. They shared that the meeting helped them realize their need to grow in the Lord and be His witness to young adults who are living a worldly life. Many of them shared that they want us to do one-day youth meetings more often.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray that I will continue to grow in the Lord. Pray that God will continue to use me for His glory as I teach and disciple these students. Pray that I will be a blessing to the young adults and teens whom I disciple. Pray for the people who heard the Gospel. Pray that those who decided to follow Jesus continue to grow in Him and that they stand firm during difficult times. Pray for God’s protection upon us. Persecution is increasing in our area. God bless you,\nPastor 9\n\\* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blessed-in-ministry-pastor-9-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you are doing well! Thank you for your prayers and support. I am doing good by God’s grace.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn September, I got the opportunity to visit Thailand. We had a conference for those who are serving God in Asia. I had a blessed time hearing the stories and ministry updates of all of the people I met.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessed in Ministry - Pastor 9 Update December 2024"},{"content":"(Español abajo)\nI (Brittany) was able to go with about 9 other ladies to a women’s conference at Calvary Chapel Texcoco. It was a time of refreshing encouragement. The teachings were about healing our hearts and how we can help others through that healing process as well. I also got to pray for the ladies at the conference alongside the other pastors\u0026rsquo; wives who were there. It’s always such a blessing to have a time of fellowship, worship, teaching, and prayer together with other ladies.\nYou may have seen some pictures on our social media that we were able to go to Loreto in southern Baja California for Brittany’s best friend Claudia’s wedding. We are so grateful that we were able to be there to celebrate their special day with them! But as it always is, when everything seems to be going well, Satan starts pushing in discouragement and worry. As soon as Brian’s flight landed in La Paz, as he was traveling north for the wedding, he received messages that the church property had caught on fire. Luckily some of our church members were able to get there and put the fire out before it reached the church building and the event tent. We are not sure how the fire started, or if it was on purpose, but we are grateful that there was no damage. Another thing that happened while Brian was gone is that one of the neighbors put up a brick wall on the other side of our fence, permanently blocking one of our two entrances into the property. Praise God though that after Brian got back and was able to talk to the person responsible, he was very understanding about what he had done. They came to an agreement that we would let him keep his wall there for now as long as he paid for another entrance to be built for our property. So praise God that this next week we will be able to finish fencing in the rest of the property along with another entrance!\nWe are also very grateful for an answered prayer for our family. Praise God we were able to find a new house that is perfect for what we wanted for our growing family. It is also close to the church which is a bonus. Praise God I (Brian) was able to take the owners of the house to our church, introduce them to some of our church members, and even share the Gospel with them a little bit. They are not Christians, but we hope to be able to be a good testimony for them to come to know God’s love and salvation that He has for them.\nThe kids (Joshua \u0026amp; Kimmy) and I (Brittany), are now here in Rosarito staying with Ron \u0026amp; Kristy (Brittany’s parents) until our baby girl is born. We are grateful to have family that live close to the border, that way I can go to my doctor\u0026rsquo;s appointments and be near for when baby girl decides to make her appearance. Baby girl is healthy and growing well, we can\u0026rsquo;t wait to share photos with you all once she arrives!\nBrian returned back to Calpulalpan for a few weeks, but will come up to Rosarito for Christmas and then stay until baby girl arrives. In the mean time, he is painting our new house and moving our belongings over so that it is ready for when Brittany returns with our new baby girl. He is also planning and doing the Christmas events at our church. We will be having a youth Christmas party, ladies Christmas party, men’s Christmas retreat, family Christmas movie night, servant’s Christmas party, and a special Christmas service with a time of food, fellowship, and testimonies afterwards (we will be sharing the photos with you all in our next newsletter).\nBrian finished up the second semester of the church planting class with the students. We are so blessed to see how they are growing and maturing spiritually. The class will start up the third semester in February. Also the ladies were able to have there final Bible study for the year and have a little Christmas party as well. They had a time of teaching, gift exchange, food, and more. I (Brittany) would have loved to be there with them but it just wasn’t possible for this year. The youth also had their Christmas party and had a blast together! They played games, had prizes, did a gift exchange, had food, and sweet time of fellowship. We are so grateful for Esme \u0026amp; Esau (the couple in charge of the Youth Group), and everything that they do. They have helped us so much and we are excited to see what God will do in their lives! (Click here to see more photos from the last church planting class).\nAlso if you would be able to help us out with anything on our baby registry that would be much appreciated! There are a few things we would like to have for our new baby girl who is almost here! Please click here to see the registry.\nPraise Reports: That we were able to attend Claudia \u0026amp; Alejandro’s wedding That we were able to find a house for our growing family That Brian has been feeling much better with his knee That Brittany and the baby are good and healthy Prayer Requests: For Brittany to have a safe delivery and the baby to be healthy For the church to do well on its own while we are in Rosarito for the birth of our baby That God will provide a 15-passenger van for the church to use to transport our church people and teams That God will give us grace before our neighbors so that we don’t have more issues with them That God will continue to provide for our family and church going into this new year with financial support changes happening That the home groups would be able to start in January with our church planting class students “The Lord is my strength and my shield;\nMy heart trusted in Him, and I am helped;\nTherefore my heart greatly rejoices,\nAnd with my song I will praise Him.”\nPsalms 28:7\nTerminando Fuerte y Emocionados por el Futuro Yo (Brittany) pude ir con otras 9 mujeres a una conferencia de mujeres en Calvary Chapel Texcoco. Fue un tiempo de animo refrescante. Las enseñanzas trataban sobre sanar nuestros corazones y cómo podemos ayudar a otros a través de ese proceso de sanacion también. También pude orar por las damas en la conferencia junto con las esposas de otros pastores que estaban allí. Siempre es una gran bendición tener un tiempo de compañerismo, adoración, enseñanza y oración junto con otras mujeres.\nSeguramente habrás visto algunas fotos en nuestras redes sociales de que pudimos ir a Loreto en el sur de Baja California para la boda de Claudia, la mejor amiga de Brittany. ¡Estamos muy agradecidos de haber podido estar allí para celebrar su día especial con ellos! Pero como siempre sucede, cuando todo parece ir bien, Satanás comienza a presionar con desánimo y preocupación. Tan pronto como el vuelo de Brian aterrizó en La Paz, mientras viajaba hacia el norte para la boda, recibió mensajes de que la propiedad de la iglesia se había incendiado. Afortunadamente, algunos de los miembros de nuestra iglesia pudieron llegar allí y apagar el fuego antes de que llegara al edificio de la iglesia y a la carpa. No estamos seguros de cómo comenzó el incendio o si fue intencionado, pero estamos agradecidos que no haya habido daños. Otra cosa que sucedió mientras Brian no estaba es que uno de los vecinos levantó una pared de bloques al otro lado de nuestra cerca, bloqueando permanentemente una de nuestras dos entradas a la propiedad. Sin embargo, gracias a Dios, después de que Brian regresó y pudo hablar con la persona responsable, fue muy comprensivo con lo que había hecho. Llegaron a un acuerdo de que le permitiríamos mantener su muro allí por ahora, siempre y cuando pagara la construcción de otra entrada para nuestra propiedad. ¡Alabado sea Dios que la próxima semana podremos terminar el cercado del resto de la propiedad junto con otra entrada!\nTambién estamos muy agradecidos por una oración contestada por nuestra familia. Gracias a Dios pudimos encontrar una nueva casa que es perfecta para lo que queríamos para nuestra creciente familia. También está cerca de la iglesia, lo cual es una ventaja. Gracias a Dios, yo (Brian) pude llevar a los dueños de la casa a nuestra iglesia, presentarles a algunos de los miembros de nuestra iglesia e incluso compartir un poco el Evangelio con ellos. No son cristianos, pero esperamos poder ser un buen testimonio para que conozcan el amor y la salvación que Dios tiene para ellos.\nLos niños (Joshua y Kimmy) y yo (Brittany) ahora estamos aquí en Rosarito quedándonos con Ron y Kristy (los padres de Brittany) hasta que nazca nuestra niña. Estamos agradecidos de tener una familia que vive cerca de la frontera, de esa manera puedo ir a mis citas médicas y estar aquí para cuando la niña decida hacer su aparición. La niña está sana y está creciendo bien. ¡Estamos ansiosos por compartir fotos con todos ustedes una vez que llegue!\nBrian regresó a Calpulalpan por unas semanas, pero vendrá a Rosarito para Navidad y luego se quedará hasta que llegue la niña. Mientras tanto, él está pintando nuestra nueva casa y moviendo nuestras pertenencias para que estén listas para cuando Brittany regrese con nuestra nueva bebé. También está planeando y organizando los eventos navideños en nuestra iglesia. Tendremos una fiesta de Navidad para jóvenes, una fiesta de Navidad para damas, un retiro de Navidad para hombres, una noche de pelicula familiar de Navidad, una fiesta de Navidad para servidores y un servicio especial de Navidad con un tiempo de comida, compañerismo y testimonios después. (Compartiremos las fotos con todos ustedes en nuestro próximo actualizacion)\nBrian terminó el segundo semestre de la clase de plantación de iglesias con los estudiantes. Somos muy bendecidos de ver cómo están creciendo y madurando espiritualmente. La clase comenzará el tercer semestre en febrero. Además, las damas pudieron tener el último estudio bíblico del año y también tener una pequeña fiesta de Navidad. Tuvieron un tiempo de enseñanza, intercambio de regalos, comida y más. A mí (Brittany) me hubiera encantado estar allí con ellos, pero no fue posible este año. ¡Los jóvenes también tuvieron su fiesta de Navidad y se divirtieron mucho juntos! Jugaron, recibieron premios, intercambiaron regalos, comieron y disfrutaron de un tiempo de compañerismo. Estamos muy agradecidos por Esme y Esaú (la pareja a cargo del Grupo de Jóvenes) y todo lo que hacen. ¡Nos han ayudado mucho y estamos emocionados de ver lo que Dios hará en sus vidas! (Haga clic aquí para ver más fotos de la última clase de plantación de iglesias)\nAdemás, si pudiera ayudarnos con algo en nuestro registro de bebés, ¡se lo agradeceríamos mucho! ¡Hay algunas cosas que nos gustaría tener para nuestra nueva bebé que ya casi está aquí! Por favor haga clic aquí para ver el registro.\nReportes de Alabanza: Que pudimos asistir a la boda de Claudia \u0026amp; Alejandro Que pudimos encontrar una casa para nuestra creciente familia Que Brian se ha sentido mucho mejor con su rodilla Que Brittany y la bebé estén bien y sanas Peticiones de Oracion: Para que Brittany tenga un parto seguro y la bebé esté sano Para que a la iglesia le vaya bien por sí sola mientras estamos en Rosarito para el nacimiento de nuestro bebé. Que Dios proporcione una camioneta de 15 pasajeros para que la iglesia la use para transportar a la gente y los equipos de nuestra iglesia. Que Dios nos dé gracia delante de nuestros vecinos para que no tengamos más problemas con ellos. Que Dios continuará proveyendo para nuestra familia y nuestra iglesia al comenzar este nuevo año con cambios en el apoyo financiero. Que los grupos base pudieran comenzar en enero con nuestros estudiantes de la clase de plantación de iglesias. “Jehová es mi fortaleza y mi escudo;\nEn él confió mi corazón, y fui ayudado,\nPor lo que se gozó mi corazón,\nY con mi cántico le alabaré.”\nSalmos 28:7\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/finishing-strong-excited-for-what-is-to-come-de-la-cruz-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e(Español abajo)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI (Brittany) was able to go with about 9 other ladies to a women’s conference at Calvary Chapel Texcoco. It was a time of refreshing encouragement. The teachings were about healing our hearts and how we can help others through that healing process as well. I also got to pray for the ladies at the conference alongside the other pastors\u0026rsquo; wives who were there. It’s always such a blessing to have a time of fellowship, worship, teaching, and prayer together with other ladies.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Finishing Strong \u0026 Excited for What is to Come - De La Cruz Update December 2024"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family,\nMERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR !! We would like to thank all of you for blessing us with your prayers and support that led to the amazing gift of the children finally getting their American citizenship. Thank you also for praying for our family and ministry in Uganda. This year has seen many events and outreaches take place at Arise Christian fellowship and in the community. As always, it has been exciting to see God move in the hearts of the Ugandan people. The church body has enjoyed meeting together for church and fellowship to pray, worship, and to be filled with the teaching of God’s Word. We look forward to this coming year to see what new things God may do. You are in our thoughts and prayers as we enter this new year. God Bless You this holiday season as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus!\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-year-in-review-2024-kanyike-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year-\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eMERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR !!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe would like to thank all of you for blessing us with your prayers and support that led to the amazing gift of the children finally getting their American citizenship. Thank you also for praying for our family and ministry in Uganda. This year has seen many events and outreaches take place at Arise Christian fellowship and in the community. As always, it has been exciting to see God move in the hearts of the Ugandan people. The church body has enjoyed meeting together for church and fellowship to pray, worship, and to be filled with the teaching of God’s Word. We look forward to this coming year to see what new things God may do. You are in our thoughts and prayers as we enter this new year. God Bless You this holiday season as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Year in Review–2024 - Kanyike Update December 2024"},{"content":"Greetings to you,\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nBy the grace of our Lord l am doing well. Right now, in my personal study I am going through the Gospel of Matthew. In our family devotions, we are reading 1 Corinthians.\nThank you for your prayers for a man maned S* who I asked for prayer for before. The Lord heard our prayers and opened his heart to receive Christ!\nPrayer Requests:\nContinue to pray that the Lord will use me in ministry. Please pray that the Lord will open new doors for ministry. Please pray that the Lord will add new souls to our church. Thank you!\nPastor 2*\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-changes-hearts-pastor-2-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your prayers and support!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the grace of our Lord l am doing well. Right now, in my personal study I am going through the Gospel of Matthew. In our family devotions, we are reading 1 Corinthians.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG%5F5976.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your prayers for a man maned S* who I asked for prayer for before. The Lord heard our prayers and opened his heart to receive Christ!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Changes Hearts! - Pastor 2 Update December 2024"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\n- Pray for Jill and Evelyn as they were in a car accident. They are okay but sore and bruised. The taxi they were in was very damaged. - Pray for Jill and her women\u0026rsquo;s study as they plan a VBS for the 1st week of December. - Pray for Luke as he just joined a basketball team and is getting used to the difficult practices. - Pray for Brian and Arise as they plan for the Christmas season.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nMay God bless you for your continued love, prayers, and support of His work.\nThis month please pray for:\n- The adoption process of our daughter Apiyo Cynthia. In two weeks we will sit before the International Alternative Care Panel who will determine whether or not our case is eligible to be brought before court. Please pray that God would grant us their favor. - The 35 pastors who are training with us at Terebinth Bible College as they finish their 3-year journey through the entirety of God\u0026rsquo;s Word next month. Please pray that they will continue to fear God and His Word and that they will lead their churches to boldly represent the truth of the Gospel. - The lost of Gulu city as we have been experiencing an influx of Muslims, Mormons, and mad-people.\nThis month please praise God with us that:\n- We are currently in Kampala getting a psych evaluation for Apiyo that will help us better provide for her unique needs in the future. - Our college was inspected by the Ugandan National Council of Higher Education on the 7th of November. Praise God that the experts who inspected us were very impressed with the school and were very thankful for what we are doing in the community. - Our teammates, Luke and Hannah Buescher successfully gave birth to their first child, a healthy baby girl! God Bless You,\nThe Harris Family - Email BlogMexico\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\n- For our Thursday night men\u0026rsquo;s discipleship group— that we would have vision for 2025.\n- For Claudia\u0026rsquo;s Bilingual Women\u0026rsquo;s study— for new leaders and that we would have unity \u0026amp; love for the women God sends. - For the property we own— for protection against wicked men \u0026amp; theft + God\u0026rsquo;s peace!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nBlessings to all and thank you for praying for me! Here are my prayer requests for this month:\n- For my mom; specifically her left leg is giving her extreme pain. She has deep vein thrombosis, arthritis in her back, and other things! We have to make some decisions soon, so pray for wisdom and provision. - For two events coming up on Dec. 6th and 7th with CC Saving Grace! That God would touch hearts and transform lives through His Word that will be shared. - For more servants who are called to work with children, specifically in our afterschool program, and a teacher for the 8-11 year old class on Sunday. - For God’s wisdom in all of it!\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nHello SGWM family, thank you all for faithfully praying for us. Please continue to pray for Daisy\u0026rsquo;s and my health.\n- Daisy\u0026rsquo;s carpal tunnel is getting worse in both wrists, combined with something called trigger finger. She had already been operated on a few years back, but now it has come back. Pray for Daisy\u0026rsquo;s torn rotator cuff, which is painful in the mornings and when the day is winding down. - Craig is still experiencing pancreas issues and is taking medicine three times a day. Craig is also having severe pain in his hip, and it is limiting his physical activities. - Pray for the school of ministry which is in a slow season. - Pray for us as we are evaluating many tough decisions.\nThank you from our hearts, Craig and Daisy - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n- Prayer that God can raise up a worship leader. - Prayer for our 3 outreaches in November and December. That many are saved in Moyobamba when we preach Christ. - Thankfulness to God for the church family and growth in friendships and quality time.\nThanks for praying!\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nHello,\nThank you for your faithful prayer cover! God continues to bless and open doors in Cambodia.\n- Please pray for our Cambodia visa renewal process. We\u0026rsquo;ve had challenges in the past and are praying for a smooth process this year. - Please pray for Light Association/Light Times Magazine. We keep hitting what look like dead-end streets but we know that God has a way of turning dead-end streets into runways. - Please pray for me as I have started the process of researching for a new apologetics/evangelistic book for Cambodia, Japan, and possibly other countries. - Please pray for health, strength, wisdom, and favor for us both in our current ministries and as we look forward to the coming year and beyond.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-december-2024-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Pray for Jill and Evelyn as they were in a car accident. They are okay but sore and bruised. The taxi they were in was very damaged. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Jill and her women\u0026rsquo;s study as they plan a VBS for the 1st week of December.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Luke as he just joined a basketball team and is getting used to the difficult practices. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Brian and Arise as they plan for the Christmas season.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM DECEMBER 2024 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life.\n2 Corinthians 3:5-6\nDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\nThis month was absolutely non-stop! Before I share anything, I first want to thank you for your support. The support I have received this month through prayers, encouragements, and financial partners was incredible. I had 2 great opportunities this month to share my testimony and to share what the Lord has called me to in Peru. First, I shared at the beginning of the month at Calvary Chapel North Texas, and then on December 1st, I shared at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace.\nImparting The Vision\nBeing intentional about spending my last few weeks living in the States has given me a whole new view on my relationships. While I had a blessed time sharing the vision the Lord has given me with the churches, the greatest blessing I have had was spending time with friends and partners. The blessing of getting to know each one of you more deeply and personally has only invigorated me more as I get ready to move. To know I have the blessing of praying for all of you and keeping y’all up on what the Lord is doing on the field, and then receiving the physical and spiritual support to serve on the field is something I could never really imagine until now. I hope all of you understand how much I love you. Although I will miss living and visiting with all of you when I move, there is a special kind of fire that burns in my heart when I think about the fellowship we will share in eternity as partners in bringing the gospel to the most vulnerable and unreached children. I still plan to come back and visit at least once a year though!\nMinisters of the New Covenant\nBecause I have been so busy working, studying online, being in the Mission Training School, and preparing to move, I have not had as many opportunities to minister. When I flew back from Texas though, the same day I was able to go on a regular Thursday evangelism outreach to Cal State University Fullerton with Pastor Nick and my friend Caleb. I spent the whole day at the university talking with students and sharing the gospel. I often look at evangelism as the icing on the cake of my week when I get a chance to go. It is one of my favorite things to do. Having been in Texas the last two weeks, it was funny to me how different the views were of people between the two states, Texas and California. Especially right after the elections. But what really piqued my interest was as we packed up and began to leave for the day, we saw a table for the “Revolutionary Communists of America” handing out pamphlets. I couldn’t help but stop to talk with them. Although they were pretty unreasonable, we ended up being able to share the gospel, as well as strongly warn them of tragically fatal consequences of communism. You should have seen the guy’s face when I ended by saying, “Ultimately the hope your searching for is not in a human government, but a theocracy.”\nWhat was extra special and exciting was the next day I also had work off, so I joined some friends and went with a group that evangelizes to local Muslims. We arrived at a mosque before one of their services and as everyone came out at the end, we handed out tracts and talked with whoever was interested. Although I normally am very bold in evangelizing, for some reason I always have a little hesitancy sharing Jesus with Muslims. However, at this Mosque, God gave me a great example from others in the group, and I had boldness and kindness in trying to give out the fliers and contact people. As one guy was driving out, he was clearly very agitated and started yelling at me as he drove away. Eventually he drove back to an alley right next to the mosque, and jumped in a car with his friend, whom one of the guys from the group was sharing with. He ended up getting out and talking longer with him, my friend, and eventually I joined the conversation as well. He turned out to be a very nice man and heard a lot of what we had to say. Pray for Abdullah! That whole experience reminded me of 2 Corinthians 3:5-6, that I am not able to be a minister of Jesus in myself, but my strength, boldness, power, wisdom, and ability all come from God!\nA Special Thanksgiving\nThis month I also had a very special time with family in Oregon for Thanksgiving. Because I will be moving, this was probably one of the last big family events I had the opportunity to go to for a long time. I stayed in Grantspass, Southern Oregon, and had a fantastic time enjoying family, food, and the beautiful forest!\nCalling All Partners! I will be moving to Peru on January 18th. In order to move to the mission field full-time as a Saving Grace World Missions missionary, I need to have at least 80% of my monthly budget provided for through regular monthly giving to ensure I am able to meet all my needs on the field. I still have need for support, so if you believe the Lord is calling you to be a part of this work He is doing through me for the children and church in Trujillo, you can do so through the Financial Partner link below! It is my honor to connect you, my sisters and brothers of the American Church, to all God is doing on the mission field, and to show you the fruit of your work through me.\nPraise Reports\nThe blessing of being able to share at different churches, especially in Texas, about what the Lord is doing in Peru and the new ministry for the children’s home. All the prayer, encouragement, and financial support I have been receiving. The deep conversations and openness in people’s hearts to hear about Jesus. Prayer Requests\nGod to be glorified in the calling of rescuing children, and that many children will be saved and able to grow up in a Christ-Centered home. Legal and financial provision for a property that will have space for the church, Bible school, and children’s home. Abdullah, the students at Cal State, and the communists would come to know Jesus as Lord, God, and Savior. The Lord to bring more monthly financial partners before I leave in January. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/republicans-democrats-and-communists-vanrenterghem-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNot that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient as ministers of the New Covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills but the Spirit gives life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2 Corinthians 3:5-6\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month was absolutely non-stop! Before I share anything, I first want to thank you for your support. The support I have received this month through prayers, encouragements, and financial partners was incredible. I had 2 great opportunities this month to share my testimony and to share what the Lord has called me to in Peru. First, I shared at the beginning of the month at Calvary Chapel North Texas, and then on December 1st, I shared at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Republicans, Democrats, and Communists - Vanrenterghem Update November 2024"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Leaders, and Supporters,\nThe passion of my heart is to reach the places where the name of Jesus has not reached.\nWe did a 5-day outreach by motorbike in two different states to 5 new villages that are about 400 km (250 miles) from my home.\nAs we know, this is the end times. Billions of people are leaving the earth without hearing the Good News. I thank God that He gave me the opportunity to go to such an area where no one has heard the name of Jesus Christ before. It is far from my home.\nI began praying for a this village area about 3 months ago. Because of the floods, I could not go right away. As soon as the floods subsided, I planned to go there and spread the Good News in two villages.\nAs soon as I reached there and saw the love of the people and their hospitality and hunger and thirst for God\u0026rsquo;s Word, I decided to stay for 3 more days. I showed the Jesus film to them. I also read the Word of Jesus Christ to them, distributed New Testaments and 4 page Gospel tracts, and gave chocolates to the children.\nWhile I was on the trip, I entered another state where I met tribal people. I talked to them and told them about Jesus Christ. They invited us to come and show the film of Jesus Christ on our screen. After talking to them, I felt that they were very hungry and thirsty to hear the Word of God. All of the men, women and children were roaming around only half-clothed. I did not take their photo because they might have gotten angry, since it was the first time I went.\nOn the way back, I had to ride my motorbike for about 400 kilometers (250 miles), which should usually take about 12 hours. A boy from my church came back with me on my bike. I drove the bike for 6-7 hours, then I let him drive the bike for a while. He drove the bike into a drain, and I got a slight injury on my right hand. By the grace of God, the swelling is going down now. The pain has also gone away.\nMay God bless you all!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/where-jesus-name-has-never-been-spoken-pastor-11-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Leaders, and Supporters,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe passion of my heart is to reach the places where the name of Jesus has not reached.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe did a 5-day outreach by motorbike in two different states to 5 new villages that are about 400 km (250 miles) from my home.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG20241119161756-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs we know, this is the end times. Billions of people are leaving the earth without hearing the Good News. I thank God that He gave me the opportunity to go to such an area where no one has heard the name of Jesus Christ before. It is far from my home.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Where Jesus' Name Has Never Been Spoken - Pastor 11 Update December 2024"},{"content":"In my last letter, I shared how God has placed eternity in our hearts; the longing for something more, an eternal hope. To be reconciled back to God is what we truly long for, but this is a gift of God, for we have been saved by grace and grace alone.\nFor by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,not of works, lest anyone should boast.\nEphesians 2:8-9\nLove of Christ\nDuring my last couple of weeks in Japan, I experienced this very thing and was blessed with several opportunities to share my testimony. On one occasion, a Japanese friend from the church invited me over to her bible study and asked that I share my story with her group of unbelieving friends. She has been wanting to share the love of Christ with her friends, and because of this she started this group once a month where they read through the Bible and share stories. What an amazing opportunity to share about God’s redemptive love!\nWhile sharing, I instantly could see it in her eyes that God was running after her and I shared how it was the same for me. There was absolutely nothing I did in my own strength or power, definitely not my own abilities, that allowed me to draw closer to God. It is He who does all the work! It was almost like a lightbulb clicked in her mind as well. After praying for her, she was in tears knowing that Jesus was running after her. Please keep her in your prayers, along with her two kids. I pray that she continues to experience the love of Christ– a love that is patient, unfailing, and a love that runs after us.\nSeeking Truth\nI also had the blessing to share my testimony during one of the Women’s bible studies at Abide. Leading up to my time of sharing, I began to feel unsure how the women would respond and started to feel shame and guilt from my past. The Japanese are a shame and honor culture, and I didn’t want them to see me in a different light. In prayer I realized this fear was from the enemy, but God allowed it in order for me to get a glimpse into their burden of belief.\nDoing anything that is outside of the “norm,” outside of the “order” of society, is thought to bring shame and dishonor to not only the person, but their family and society as a whole. And yet there I was, exposing all my wrongs, all my sins, all of my life. Towards the end I could see one woman with tears coming down her face, in awe of what God had done. After sharing, I encountered another woman who had been coming to the study for a couple of years and was seeking truth similar to my own journey, but has yet to accept Jesus into her heart. I pray that her eyes are opened to the truth, may she also know that God is drawing her close.\nFor the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.\nRomans 6:23\nDivine Appointment\nLeaving my new friends and family at Abide Osaka, wasn’t a goodbye, it was a ‘see you soon.’ My time back in California has been such a blessing as I have been able to see my friends and my family after a couple of months away. Just this past week, I had a divine appointment with three of my family members.\nIt was unplanned, unexpected, but I knew that God had me there for a reason. One evening, my cousin began to ask me questions about my faith in Jesus. He mentioned he was agnostic but was trying to understand and seek why we put our faith in God. We talked for more than three hours! It was during this time that I found out his dad (my uncle) also does not believe in God. This always breaks my heart to know that people, especially family members, are living without the blessing of knowing Christ, but I know they will continue to seek and find the truth in the same way I did. God is long-suffering, faithful, and so so kind to us. Please keep them in prayer, may they also accept by faith the best gift of salvation!\n“With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible.”\nMark 10:27\nPraise Reports!\nMy time in Japan was a blessing and I’m excited and looking forward to going back, Lord willing. I made it back home safely and am thankful to be spending time with friends and family during this Christmas season. I’m eternally grateful for the family at South OC, for housing me, and for their love and care for me. I praise God for them. Prayer Requests:\nPlease continue to join me in prayer for my visa approval- Lord willing, I will have my visa in hand by the end of this year and my prayer is to be back in Osaka by January 6th, in order to start language school at the YMCA. Please join me in prayer for guidance on housing for my time in Osaka- whether it’s a share house, or my own place close to where the team is. Please continue to join me in prayer for the Japanese- may their hearts be open to hearing the gospel, may we continue to sow seeds in prayer and for more laborers. Thank you family so much for your love and support. If you are reading this and you have questions about God, please feel free to reach out I would love to chat with you! God sees you, God loves you, and He too wants to give you the greatest gift ever! \u0026lt;3\n-Mayra Alejandra\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-gift-of-god-solorzano-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn my last letter, I shared how God has placed eternity in our hearts; the longing for something more, an eternal hope. To be reconciled back to God is what we truly long for, but this is \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003ea gift of God\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e, for we have been saved by grace and grace alone.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; \u003cem\u003eit is\u003c/em\u003e the gift of God,not of works, lest anyone should boast.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Gift of God - Solorzano Update December 2024"},{"content":" \u0026ldquo;I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.\u0026rdquo;\nJohn 12:46\nSaving Grace World Missions missionaries are serving in the darkest places of the world. The more workers we send into His harvest field, the more we are made aware of the stronghold the enemy has in these areas. He has shackled these people into hopelessness and darkness. But we have learned that His light shines the brightest in the darkest of places. He is at work and calling many out of darkness into His marvelous light. We are grateful for the many who have counted the cost and gone to where Jesus\u0026rsquo; name has never been heard! Please continue to pray for our precious sent ones who are fulfilling the Great Commission by taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.\nMissionary Care Our Dream Come True\nWe at SGWM have for years envisioned a time where we could gather all our workers in one place. We dreamed of the day we could come from every corner of the earth to a place in the region where we could find refreshment and connection. And that day finally came. In September, 50 workers from America and around the world, gathered together in Thailand for the Calvary Chapel Asia Missions Conference. Watching each group arrive and be received with excitement and love was a sight to behold. We only wish we could have taken all of you with us. The faces shone with smiles and hearts were filled with the comfort of knowing they were with family who loved them and prayed for them. People who were just faces on a refrigerator or a name on a prayer list are now living, breathing personalities. It was a sweet time of fellowship and teaching. We joined with the regional conference for the first few days and heard from missionaries from all over the region. After that, SGWM workers remained at the conference center for 4 days of teaching and connection with just our SGWM family. We heard from many missionaries and were able to pray over each team from every country represented. Please keep all our workers in prayer as they have now settled back in their regions and are gearing up for a busy holiday season of Christmas outreaches.\nCalvary School of Missions 2025 Please pray for us as we seek God\u0026rsquo;s heart for CSOM 2025. We are already assembling a team of seasoned missionaries and pastors to be a part of training this next group of students. Please also pray that God would continue to show us ways to let the Calvary Chapel churches know what we are doing at SGWM and we\u0026rsquo;d find more and more churches who desire to partner with us to send missionaries to share Jesus with the world.\nMissionary Care and Visions Tours in the Middle East Pastor Trent and his wife Debbie were blessed with the opportunity to lead a team to the Middle East as they pray about if this is the region God would have them serve long term. Part of their time there was spent with the team on the ground. They were able to visit them in their homes, connect with each family, and encourage the team. This is a season of foundation building which includes language and culture learning. Every team member is doing well and enjoying the learning process.\nNational Missionaries October afforded us with the opportunity to send a team of pastors and support people to travel to South Asia in order to bring encouragement to some of our national workers. The report we received when they arrived home was mind blowing. God is providing for our workers as they seek to reach the most unreached peoples of the world. God, by the power of His Spirit, is giving our workers strength and boldness to go out and share in hostile environments. We are seeing many saved and make public proclamations of faith through baptism. Please continue to pray for our national workers as they boldly preach the gospel.\nThank you for partnering with us as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission by raising up and sending out!\nWe ask that you would prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with SGWM. Financial partners are crucial to help operating costs at the SGWM home base, allowing us to serve missionaries worldwide.\nDonate to SGWMSGWM.com | 714-993-4801\nTo read more about the Calvary School of Missions please visit our website at /csom/\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/sgwm-fall-2024-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn 12:46\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSaving Grace World Missions missionaries are serving in the darkest places of the world. The more workers we send into His harvest field, the more we are made aware of the stronghold the enemy has in these areas. He has shackled these people into hopelessness and darkness. But we have learned that His light shines the brightest in the darkest of places. He is at work and calling many out of darkness into His marvelous light. We are grateful for the many who have counted the cost and gone to where Jesus\u0026rsquo; name has never been heard! Please continue to pray for our precious sent ones who are fulfilling the Great Commission by taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Fall 2024 SGWM Newsletter"},{"content":" \u0026ldquo;As the Father has sent Me, I also send you\u0026rdquo;\nJohn 20:21\nGod is moving all over the world, and He has given us at Saving Grace World Missions a front row seat to see His work accomplished amongst the nations! Thank you for your partnership and prayers as we together seek to fulfill Jesus\u0026rsquo; final words, \u0026ldquo;Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.\u0026rdquo;\nMissionary Care Whether they are from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, or a sister church, whether they are American, Mexican, or Asian, all our missionaries need love and care. We at SGWM know that these precious brothers and sisters have left all to GO and follow the call to see the nations won for Christ, therefore we make it our aim to be available to them and find ways to minister to them. We often remind ourselves and our staff that these workers have left what is familiar and comfortable, to what is foreign and sometimes extremely challenging. So we just want to make sure that they know they are not forgotten and that we are here for them. Please continue to pray for all those who have been sent, that they would feel encouraged and receive the care they need so they can be effective where Christ has called them to be.\nCalvary School of Missions 2024 We just completed our 6th year of the Calvary School of Missions and God has radically met the students and is transforming hearts and minds. Each student came to Mexico for this six-week training program to learn and grow in their calling to fulfill the Great Commission in their life. Every class and every outreach are strategically designed to help these students learn what it means to be a long term, cross cultural missionary. This training is exposing these students to the great needs of the nations, both physically and spiritually. They get to see first hand how true biblical missions is church planting. We are called to GO and make disciples of all nations, and God has set up His church to do that very thing, and the gates of hades will not prevail against His church!Some people have asked\u0026hellip;why all the training?Saving Grace World Missions has been involved for over 25 years in missions. We primarily focus on long-term cross cultural church planting within the 10/40 window. This area of the world is the most unreached area of the world, and it is unreached for a reason, it is difficult to reach. In this context, the need for deeper training and longer preparation has proven to be the difference between long- term success or short-term failure. Also, having been in close contact with a plethora of missionaries from different countries, different churches and different organizations, we have seen first hand the terrible effect that untrained missionaries have had on those they have been sent to help. Not to mention the many who have gone out untrained and have returned from the field burnt out, discouraged, and disillusioned. Many times those coming home from the field because of infighting, cross-cultural stress, or spiritual warfare, come home and crash and burn. We\u0026rsquo;ve seen divorces, families separating, depression and even some have left the faith altogether. Time and time again we have seen that good training in cross cultural ministry, navigating spiritual warfare, as well as healthy team building and team dynamics, has insured the success of those that are sent out to live long-term overseas. That\u0026rsquo;s why our Calvary School of Missions, as well as our Missions Training School is so encouraged for anyone planning on going to the field full time. This year we have had 12 students from CSOM show interest in continuing their training through our MTS program. Please pray for each of these students as they seek the Lord on what He has for their next steps.\nChurch Planting in the Jungles of Peru Andrew Weakland We love to see God leading His people and putting them right where He wants them. In 2019, Andrew traveled to Peru to do a short term trip. He ended up staying in country and serving under Pastor Cory Kilgus at Calvary Trujillo. Last year he was sent out to plant a church in the jungle area of Peru called Moyobamba. God is moving and people are being saved and baptized. Please pray for Pastor Andrew that God would raise up leaders to assist him in the work and that God would be glorified.\nNational Missionaries Did you know that SGWM has over 35 national full-time church planters and 3 Calvary Bible Institutes in South Asia? These men and women live under extreme cultural pressure and persecution is quite normal in these areas of the world. Yet these faithful Pastors and their wives work hard to make the name of Jesus known. Many of them are involved with outreach weekly, sharing the gospel at the risk of their own lives. They are passionate about the word of God and seek to find ways to equip their people in God\u0026rsquo;s truth. One of those ways is through the CBI. There have been well over 100 graduates from our CBI\u0026rsquo;s and many of those graduates are church planting and seeing a harvest of souls. Please pray with us for these brothers and sisters, for boldness to proclaim the word of God and wisdom on how to most effectively do that.\nThank you for partnering with us as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission by raising up and sending out!\nWe ask that you would prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with SGWM. Financial partners are crucial to help operating costs at the SGWM home base, allowing us to serve missionaries worldwide.\nDonate to SGWMSGWM.com | 714-993-4801\nTo read more about the Calvary School of Missions please read the Calvary Chapel Magazine Spring 2023 edition, pages 16-22.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/summer-2024-sgwm-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;As the Father has sent Me, I also send you\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn 20:21\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod is moving all over the world, and He has given us at Saving Grace World Missions a front row seat to see His work accomplished amongst the nations! Thank you for your partnership and prayers as we together seek to fulfill Jesus\u0026rsquo; final words, \u0026ldquo;Go therefore and make disciples of all nations.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG%5F0105-300x156.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"missionary-care\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMissionary Care\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhether they are from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, or a sister church, whether they are American, Mexican, or Asian, all our missionaries need love and care. We at SGWM know that these precious brothers and sisters have left all to GO and follow the call to see the nations won for Christ, therefore we make it our aim to be available to them and find ways to minister to them. We often remind ourselves and our staff that these workers have left what is familiar and comfortable, to what is foreign and sometimes extremely challenging. So we just want to make sure that they know they are not forgotten and that we are here for them. Please continue to pray for all those who have been sent, that they would feel encouraged and receive the care they need so they can be effective where Christ has called them to be.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Summer 2024 SGWM Newsletter"},{"content":" \u0026ldquo;And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, \u0026ldquo;All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations\u0026rdquo;\nMatthew 28:18-19a\nThe Harvest is Plentiful Did you know that today there are 3.2 billion people who are still waiting to hear the name of Jesus for the first time? Out of the 17,000 ethnolinguistic groups in the world, there are 7000 who have yet to hear the gospel shared with them. The harvest is plentiful, there\u0026rsquo;s lots of work to be done, but there are few who will obey the call to \u0026ldquo;Go!\u0026rdquo; We here at Saving Grace World Missions feel a calling to train, mobilize, and send people who have a burden to reach the lost and feel called to full-time missions work. Over the years we have come across many who felt a calling at one time in their life, but had no clear path to fulfill that calling, so that vision faded away. We know there are many called out ones, right here in the Calvary Chapel movement, who just need a clear path and people who will come alongside them and help them fulfill their calling as missionaries. This is why we at Saving Grace continue to reach out to our Calvary Chapel community of churches, letting them know about our Calvary School of Missions summer program in Rosarito, Baja California, as well as our year-long Missions Training School in Yorba Linda, California. We are here to come alongside churches and individuals who have a passion to go but may need assistance to fulfill that call. Please continue to pray for our missions equipping programs as we seek to raise up the next generation of world changers.\nThe Roots in Japan In January, Jeff and Alishia Root packed their bags and headed to Osaka, Japan to live as long-term missionaries. Because they were able to join an existing Calvary Chapel work in Osaka, they were blessed to have instant fellowship and a community of like-minded Jesus-followers. But although they are able to come in and have plenty of people to be with and plenty of ministry to do, their first priority is learning language and culture. So we checked in with them to see how their transition has been so far and our conversation was eye-opening for sure.\nQuestion: We\u0026rsquo;d love to hear more about your transition to Japan. Is there one thing that you can say has been the most surprising for you guys?\nAlishia- The way that the Lord has been so gracious to us in revealing His love towards us, beyond what was expected or what I thought I needed.\nJeff- The level of understanding of the Word and the maturity of the Japanese Christians has really been a pleasant surprise. And the level of teachings being taught at the church are very similar to America.\nQuestion: What do you miss most about America?\nAlishia- Intimate relationships with other believers who speak the same language.\nJeff- I miss the convenience of everything being in our own language, like packaging and transportation.\nQuestion: What has been the most challenging thing you have faced so far?\nAlishia- Death of a dear friend in the church. And the grieving being difficult because of trying to minister to the people in their grief, as well as processing my own.\nJeff- Dealing with immigration and getting our visas sorted out.\nQuestion: How has language learning been going? What has been the most challenging about language learning?\nAlishia- It\u0026rsquo;s been fun to learn words and repeat them. And that\u0026rsquo;s been surprising.\nJeff -Slow and frustrating, like trying to eat an elephant in one bite.\nQuestion: What are you looking forward to most on your return to Japan?\nJeff- I\u0026rsquo;m looking forward to getting past settling in and moving on to learning language, culture, ministry, and relationships.\nAlishia- Growing in relationship with the ministry leaders. And getting back to the young adults group and pouring into some of the younger women in that group. Also seeing and experiencing the transition of going from a single language to bi-lingual.\nPlease pray for the Roots as they settle back into their lives in Japan and seek to make disciples and be a blessing to the local church!\nPastors Faithful in Persecution Persecution in South Asia is on the rise due to a government that pushes its anti-Christian agenda and seeks to wipe out the Church by severe restrictions and pro-Hindu propaganda. The escalation of persecution is demonstrated in this recent article published at efe.com. At least 147 incidents* of violence against Christians occurred in 2014, 177 incidents in 2015, 208 in 2016, 240 in 2017, 292 in 2018, 328 in 2019, 279 in 2020, 505 in 2021, 599 in 2022, and 687 in 2023. Here we can clearly see that being a Christian in this region of the world has become more and more difficult. But even in the midst of this cultural pressure, our workers in this region are fearlessly following God\u0026rsquo;s calling to go and make disciples, even at the risk of their own lives. We are grateful for each church planter who continues the work of the ministry and we rejoice with them that many are still being saved and baptized, and churches are still being established. Please pray for these beloved brothers and sisters as they seek to continue to be bold for Jesus, and walk in wisdom towards those who are threatening their churches.\n\n*incidents can refer to entire churches being attacked\nOur State-Side Staff Highlight Gary Barrow Gary has been a missionary with SGWM for many years but recently he has joined our team and is living state-side. He has been overseeing Zoom class teachers for our CBIs in South Asia as well as doing missionary care. He recently was able to do a 3-month trip to South Asia where he was blessed to visit several of our workers there and encourage them in their church planting ministries. He is a huge asset to our team and we are so happy to have him!\nThe Great Blessing of Furlough One of the most important things for our missionaries\u0026rsquo; spiritual health and connection to the Body of Christ is furlough. It is imperative that they are able to come home, visit family, friends, and the church, get some rest, and be ministered to both spiritually and emotionally. Missionaries take a furlough usually once a year or every 2 years. When they come home, we at SGWM make it our aim to give them whatever they may need for their stay here. Because they have sold all they have and moved overseas, they don\u0026rsquo;t have the things they need when coming home. So we seek to provide housing, a car, a place to share their updates, and a meeting with one or two of our team members for a debrief. These things make their arrival back state side much more smooth and takes away hurdles that could hinder them from having an effective, fruitful, and restful furlough. We believe that because our missionaries have given up so much to move overseas, we want to put out the red carpet for them upon their arrival. Over these next 2 months, we will have 14 of our missionaries home on furlough. Please pray they can get all the rest and love they need to go back and be effective, healthy church planters as they seek to fulfill the Great Commission. Here are some of the families who will be here in the next couple of months.\nThank you for partnering with us as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission by raising up and sending out!\nWe ask that you would prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with SGWM. Financial partners are crucial to help operating costs at the SGWM home base, allowing us to serve missionaries worldwide.\nDonate to SGWMSGWM.com | 714-993-4801\nTo read more about the Calvary School of Missions please read the Calvary Chapel Magazine Spring 2023 edition, pages 16-22.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/spring-2024-sgwm-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, \u0026ldquo;All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew 28:18-19a\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Image-7-300x200.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"the-harvest-is-plentiful\"\u003eThe Harvest is Plentiful\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDid you know that today there are 3.2 billion people who are still waiting to hear the name of Jesus for the first time? Out of the 17,000 ethnolinguistic groups in the world, there are 7000 who have yet to hear the gospel shared with them. The harvest is plentiful, there\u0026rsquo;s lots of work to be done, but there are few who will obey the call to \u0026ldquo;Go!\u0026rdquo; We here at Saving Grace World Missions feel a calling to train, mobilize, and send people who have a burden to reach the lost and feel called to full-time missions work. Over the years we have come across many who felt a calling at one time in their life, but had no clear path to fulfill that calling, so that vision faded away. We know there are many called out ones, right here in the Calvary Chapel movement, who just need a clear path and people who will come alongside them and help them fulfill their calling as missionaries. This is why we at Saving Grace continue to reach out to our Calvary Chapel community of churches, letting them know about our Calvary School of Missions summer program in Rosarito, Baja California, as well as our year-long Missions Training School in Yorba Linda, California. We are here to come alongside churches and individuals who have a passion to go but may need assistance to fulfill that call. Please continue to pray for our missions equipping programs as we seek to raise up the next generation of world changers.\u003cbr\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG%5F2953.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG%5F6976.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/IMG-20240423-WA0000.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Spring 2024 SGWM Newsletter"},{"content":"Our Family\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been a lot of crazy days, weeks, months, and years for us as a family and individually. There is always something happening, always new adventures, and God is in each one of them.\nAzaff has a high pain tolerance so every time he lets us know something is not okay, we act right away. He continues with the treatment for seizures. On November 5th, Azaff had a surgery for appendicitis stage 2. It was an intense time of waiting for results to know what was happening.\nWe went to a private hospital for the MRI, tests, and labs Azaff needed. When we received the results, we moved from there to a public General Hospital in Ensenada where they performed the surgery. He spent a few days there because when they did the surgery, it was already stage 3, so it was perforated and purulent. I’m so grateful for this hospital, we only had to pay for the tests and meds that the hospital didn’t have, and the doctors and nurses where so incredible good and attentive to us. When Azaff was home, I went back to thank them, especially the nurse and pediatrician; they were so grateful.\nA doctor ordered an MRI for my lower back since February. In July, I finally did the MRI and found out that 3 vertebras are almost with hernias. I’m on pain medication and trying to keep losing weight to relieve pain.\nMy sister Conchita keeps dealing with menopause and is having so many issues because of it. She’ll be 50 years old next month, and I have learned so much from her. Despite everything she is going through she loves to help with cleaning and giving foot massages to us and the staff at the Mission.\nGod provides, He is present in every adventure as a family, and we will continue serving Him with our hearts no matter what.\nMy husband keeps working hard with the locksmith and with the Mission responsibilities to keep providing for Azaff\u0026rsquo;s medication and treatment, and every need for all of us.\nAbdiel and Azaff keep doing homeschool every day.\nOur Ministry!!\nFor two weeks, we have a school of discipleship from Brookings, Oregon, along with the Belt family. It is always a blessing to have old friends and family at home.\nAlonso (from the Bastidas, one of the families serving here) was working on the retaining wall behind our house at the Mission. This is the same wall that was ruined 7 years ago because of the rain a few days before Christmas when our house got flooded in. Well, the retaining wall is finished!! We are so grateful for Alonso, Belo, and every person who worked on it and the people who donated to make it possible. God is so good and faithful, I can see Him in everything.\nA ministry comes monthly to donate beans, rice, oatmeal, eggs, etc. to support the orphanage. This always bless my heart so much. I thank God for the beautiful ministry of MCCA.\nThe wheelchairs, clothing, food, etc. that we have extra of or don’t need at the moment, we donate to people who contact us asking for help or to the people at the \u0026ldquo;ejido\u0026rdquo; we know are in need.\nA group from Edgewater was here and they cooked every day the week of Thanksgiving and some of them helped with the construction on the Ahumada house.\nKaylee is visiting home! She was here for Thanksgiving week, and it is always a joy to have her home. She is a sister-daughter, and she always brings so much joy and fun the days she is here.\nWe didn’t have the School of Discipleship the church wanted to do for 3 months, but even 2 ladies who planned to be part of that came to the Mission anyway and served here the time they were supposed to be here for the school. Elaina from Ohio and Lisa from Oregon; it was a beautiful blessing for us all to have them here.\nIt was a blessing to have Gedeon, Cora, and baby Phoebe Delgado at the Mission for a few months. We said goodbye to them recently. They helped do the Mission\u0026rsquo;s daily tasks with joy, I miss them already.\nWe celebrated…\nLuci’s 25th birthday on October 10th, she wanted to look like Minnie Mouse.\nMagali’s 25th birthday on November 15th.\nLupe’s 55th birthday on November 25, she wanted to look like a princess frog.\nHow to pray:\nGod\u0026rsquo;s peace in our hearts no matter what Health Ministry and family Strength for all our amazing staff Safe travels for everyone visiting home Wisdom in everything Thank you for reading our update and for every prayer in our favor.\nWith so much love,\nThe Rivera Family\nMiguel, Zurisadai, Azaff, Abdiel and Conchita.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/rivera-family-update-october-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOur Family\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s been a lot of crazy days, weeks, months, and years for us as a family and individually. There is always something happening, always new adventures, and God is in each one of them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAzaff has a high pain tolerance so every time he lets us know something is not okay, we act right away. He continues with the treatment for seizures. On November 5th, Azaff had a surgery for appendicitis stage 2. It was an intense time of waiting for results to know what was happening.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rivera Family Update October \u0026 November 2024"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nWe hope that you and yours had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving! As we approach the end of another year, this is a wonderful time to reflect back on God’s faithfulness and blessing. In this final update of 2024, I want to give thanks with you and for you as God allowed us to partner together to do some great things here on the mission field of Mexico this year!\n#5 - Our son Daniel got his first full-time job working at Chick-fil-A in Chula Vista and is living in San Diego Monday to Friday!\n#8 - I took 12 missions trips visiting and encouraging our church plants! (On those trips we hosted 8 church planting conferences).\n#10 - Our church was able to once again bless the least of these in our community, as we gave out more then 500 free large family size food bags to those in need during the continual economic difficulties in our area.\nWe want to thank you for partnering with our family this past year. 2024 was once again one of our most difficult and challenging years ever, as it was for so many of you. Yet in the middle of the difficulties, God was faithful and He blessed our labors together. We look forward to partnering together in 2025 and asking God to do even greater things! May God bless you with a Jesus-filled Christmas and a very happy New Year!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-december-2024-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe hope that you and yours had a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving! As we approach the end of another year, this is a wonderful time to reflect back on God’s faithfulness and blessing. In this final update of 2024, I want to give thanks with you and for you as God allowed us to partner together to do some great things here on the mission field of Mexico this year!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family December 2024 Missions Update"},{"content":"This is a question that I’ve asked myself multiple times while being in the Middle East. I had so many emotions, thoughts, and adjustments that made me feel weak, stuck, and left with no joy. Amidst the challenges I faced, I felt like the Lord wasn’t with me. I knew He was, but I didn’t feel it. I wanted to run away to the place that I know, which is home. Where I was comfortable. But the Lord was my help in this time of sadness. This newsletter is off to a good start haha! Nevertheless, God showed me things I’ve overlooked in the past. I needed to go through the thick of it, to know my Father better.\nBefore I talk more about my time there… hi! I am blessed to know you all. The messages and encouragement I’ve received from you while I’ve been on the field has made me feel so loved. It’s crazy how long I’ve been away. I’m grateful to the Lord for putting people in my life who love and care for me in this way. Truly, it has helped me through my highs and lows. I am praying for you all and hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with friends and family!\nWhile it took me some time, eventually I realized that the joy of the Lord is my strength. When I am weak, He is strong. I have the joy of His salvation. He has given me my personality and gifts for a reason. He had been sanctifying me and working on me prior to that moment. He showed me that He had set me apart and called me to be a light in the midst of darkness. That means that even in the Middle East, I was to be the same light in the midst of a very dark land.\nThen he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10 My days consisted of language school, walking around the city, and spending time with the team and learning from them. I got to see what it’s like to live in the Middle East and see how the team shares the love of our Savior in another cultural context. My friends and I took language class together and had such a good teacher! We had many spiritual conversations with her and built a good relationship.\nOne night as I was praying, I asked the Lord to show me why I was there specifically in the ME. The next day He answered. This is when we had our first spiritual conversation with our teacher. She is very dedicated to her religion but she says she has read the Bible before, so she knows some stuff. We talked about the Holy Spirit and how Jesus left His Holy Spirit when He ascended to heaven. She also shared some things about her religion. It was good conversation. One thing she said, stuck with me. She shared how she thinks it’s good that we share with her because she likes to learn about what we believe. She said most of her friends are believers and they’re really good people. So, when people have their opinions about Christians, she is able to defend them. Many people think Christians to be liars. They say they love God but they still drink and party and live a worldly lifestyle. I wouldn’t blame them. They only see those who confess Christianity, but are not actually followers of our Lord. Our teacher said, “it’s good that you are here so that they know that you are really good people and that the bad stuff isn’t true.” It’s important that people see the love of Christ in us. In order for them to see this, we must BE there!\nOn to the Next Now, I am in South Asia. I have been here for a month now. As soon as I got here, I was going through a stomach virus, which took about a week to recover. It really took me out. I am fully healed now and have been adjusting to the culture, the people, and the schedule here. I can’t wait to share more with you all in my next newsletter!\nI thank you for your continued support in my calling through your prayers, finances, love, and time. Please send me your prayer requests so I know how to be praying for you too. If you are interested in partnering with me in the work of the Gospel for the first time or in new ways, I invite you to prayerfully consider one or more of the following:\nPrayer: As I spend some time in different countries, there can be a lot of fear of the unknown. Not only from me, but my family as well. Please pray for my safety as I come and go from different places. Please pray for peace for my family. Also, as I go, that I would seek Him first and be a blessing to the workers I will be staying with. Please pray that my time on these vision tours are fruitful and that He would be glorified.\nFinancially: My heart is that you would be a part of what God is going to do in taking the gospel to the Unreached. If you feel led to give a one-time donation or monthly support, that would be a blessing to me. As of now, this financial support will cover the cost of flights, on-the-ground stay, language school, food, etc.\nEncouragement: If you are not already signed up for my newsletter, I encourage you to sign up! This is where I give monthly updates and prayer requests, so you know what’s going on. I have started a group chat on an app called Signal. This is where I will be giving day-to-day updates about what I am doing and how you can keep praying. Please download the app Signal first and let me know if you would like to be in this group chat.\nI love and appreciate you all!\nIn His Love,\nAlani\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/what-is-this-feeling-rangel-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis is a question that I’ve asked myself multiple times while being in the Middle East. I had so many emotions, thoughts, and adjustments that made me feel weak, stuck, and left with no joy. Amidst the challenges I faced, I felt like the Lord wasn’t with me. I knew He was, but I didn’t feel it. I wanted to run away to the place that I know, which is home. Where I was comfortable. But the Lord was my help in this time of sadness. This newsletter is off to a good start haha! Nevertheless, God showed me things I’ve overlooked in the past. I needed to go through the thick of it, to know my Father better.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What is this Feeling? - Rangel Update November 2024"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Leaders, and Supporters,\nGreetings to all of you! First of all, I want to thank God and all of you for your prayers, Christian love, and support. By your prayers and love, we have reached over 500 villages that no one had reached before. In all of these villages, the people had never even heard the name of Jesus Christ before we shared.\nDuring these 12 years, we distributed over 12,000 New Testaments and over 50,000 four-page Gospel tracts. We played the Jesus movie on a screen in over 60 rural villages and distributed about 20 audio Bibles. We baptized more than 200 people.\nTogether, my dad and I planted churches in over 60 villages at different times. However, because of persecution and a lack of jobs, most of the churches have closed. There are not good jobs in my state, so people move to bigger cities to find work. Right now, three house churches are being held in different villages. We are planning to start another church in a village we did outreach in last month.\nRecently, over a hundred people began coming to our Sunday services. We do not have enough space to seat a 100 people. So, we divided the church into two parts. Those who were already baptized, we invite on Fridays. Those who are new and are not baptized, we invite on Sundays. This way we can all sit comfortably. It is all happening because of your prayers.\nWe had a great time sharing the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Supper together and having a fellowship meal.\nI thank God that He is increasing our people in faith and in the knowledge of His Word daily. The believers of our church are facing pain and trouble. They have a difficult time being able to come to the Lord\u0026rsquo;s house, yet they are not abandoning the Lord. God be praised!\nDuring our special gathering, we spent a lot of time with the believers of our church in fellowship and Bible study. We prayed throughout the day and also had the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Supper and a fellowship meal. This was a matter of great excitement for us. We prayed for the whole world, especially for the Gospel to be spread. There are still many places left where the name of Jesus has not even reached the ears of the people. We also prayed for our organization and for all of the servants, preachers and pastors who are imprisoned and persecuted for the name of Jesus. After having a fellowship meal, everyone went home.\nWhile I was in another city for a meeting, my neighbor called the police to arrest my father.\nI thank God that He is great! He gave me and my wife the opportunity to attend a meeting in another state. We were encouraged by Pastor G* and J*. God also gave us the opportunity to visit a Hindu pilgrimage city. There, my wife and I preached the Gospel to some Hindu priests and distributed candy to the children living in the slums.\nWhile I was gone, our neighbors, who are always against our church, broke the entire water drain in front of our house and church. When my father stopped them, they abused him and called the police. They told the police that my father converts people to another religion. However, because there is no special law here right now, the police did not say anything about conversions. However, the police sided with the people against us and scolded my father and mother.\nThe police told my parents, \u0026ldquo;The drain will be built again, so no one should trouble these people.” However, it has been more than a month, and the drain has not been rebuilt yet. Because of this, we and the people of our church have great difficulty coming into our home and fellowship. It is especially difficult when we need to take a motorbike out to do ministry. Two or three people are needed to help push the motorbike out across the area and also to help it come back in. We cannot leave the motorbike outside. It would be stolen within an hour if we did.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease continue to pray for our church family. May the Lord help them as they face persecution. Please continue pray for my parents. They both suffer with bone pain and still share the Good News. Please pray for my neighbors to believe on Jesus. Pray also that they will live peacefully and rebuild the drain quickly. The neighbor who led the breaking of the drain is a village leader. There are many outreaches that we are planning in November and December. The news about the outreaches needs to be spread in many villages. May God fulfill all of our needs for this. May He also grant us protection from those who are anti-Christian. Please pray that God gives us protection during Christmas. Many anti-Christians are planning to attack on Christmas. A very large Hindu festival is being held in our ministry area. So far, about 7 churches have been attacked. Those who do not participate in this festival are abused physically and mentally. May God bless you all!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-am-not-ashamed-of-the-gospel/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Leaders, and Supporters,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/November-3.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you! First of all, I want to thank God and all of you for your prayers, Christian love, and support. By your prayers and love, we have reached over 500 villages that no one had reached before. In all of these villages, the people had never even heard the name of Jesus Christ before we shared.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring these 12 years, we distributed over 12,000 New Testaments and over 50,000 four-page Gospel tracts. We played the Jesus movie on a screen in over 60 rural villages and distributed about 20 audio Bibles. We baptized more than 200 people.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel - Pastor 11 Update November 2024"},{"content":" “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”\n~ 1 Corinthians 10:31 ~\n“When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”\n~ John 11:4 ~I’m encouraged by these verses because sometimes we go through seasons of exciting activities, such as evangelistic outreaches, but there are many other times when we are called to be faithful in mundane activities. For example, I am in the process of making phonics and alphabet videos for True Education School, a project of Precious Women Organization, which isn’t glamorous or exciting at all! Benjamin and I have been teaching their English teachers on Saturdays, so it’s a blessing to work together. The long-term goal is for the school to help Precious Women Organization to become more self-supporting so they can continue to minister to and evangelize Cambodian women at risk of sexual exploitation. So, the whole process brings glory to God, even the many hours I spend staring at my screen and repeatedly listening to the alphabet song 😊. This reminds me of a quote by Charles Spurgeon, “When William Carey volunteered to be a missionary, he implored those who sent him, “Remember that you must hold the rope.” Since 2000, many faithful brothers and sisters have been faithfully holding the rope for my family and me in many ways. Holding the rope may feel mundane and you may not be able to see the impact. But, from our end of the rope, we have had the privilege of experiencing miracles in the mundane. We also have reason to believe that there have been many lives impacted through our partnership of faith, but we may not hear their testimonies until heaven.Family and Ministry Highlights:\n- Kayo and I had a blessed 20th anniversary celebration on October 16.\n- Kayo continues ministering to the staff and clients of Precious Women Organization in various ways including staff devotions, advisory board member, and various administrative/financial activities.\n- Kayo also continues ministering to women from many nations includingCambodia through the international church. Recently, she organized and led a two-day retreat.\n- I have started researching in preparation for writing a new apologetics/evangelistic book for Cambodian, Japanese, and possibly other languages.\n- I also started teaching a new apologetics/evangelism (weekly) class to Cambodians at a seminary founded by Korean missionaries in November. I’m enjoying fellowshipping with the Cambodian students, staff, and the Korean professors there.\n- I’m starting the process of renewing our Cambodian visas. Please pray for this process.\n- Please pray for Light Association/Light Times Magazine that God will transform circumstances that seem to be dead-end-streets into runways.\n- Please continue to pray for our health, strength, and wisdom.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/miracles-in-the-mundane-record-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Family-SC-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”\u003cbr\u003e\n~ 1 Corinthians 10:31 ~\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“When Jesus heard \u003cem\u003ethat,\u003c/em\u003e He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”\u003cbr\u003e\n~ John 11:4 ~I’m encouraged by these verses because sometimes we go through seasons of exciting activities, such as evangelistic outreaches, but there are many other times when we are called to be faithful in mundane activities. For example, I am in the process of making phonics and alphabet videos for True Education School, a project of Precious Women Organization, which isn’t glamorous or exciting at all! Benjamin and I have been teaching their English teachers on Saturdays, so it’s a blessing to work together. The long-term goal is for the school to help Precious Women Organization to become more self-supporting so they can continue to minister to and evangelize Cambodian women at risk of sexual exploitation. So, the whole process brings glory to God, even the many hours I spend staring at my screen and repeatedly listening to the alphabet song 😊. \u003cbr\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/464815354%5F10161543144489618%5F6359529295743807262%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/464709675%5F10161543145389618%5F8832733331017161454%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\nThis reminds me of a quote by Charles Spurgeon, “When William Carey volunteered to be a missionary, he implored those who sent him, “Remember that you must hold the rope.” Since 2000, many faithful brothers and sisters have been faithfully holding the rope for my family and me in many ways. Holding the rope may feel mundane and you may not be able to see the impact. But, from our end of the rope, we have had the privilege of experiencing miracles in the mundane. We also have reason to believe that there have been many lives impacted through our partnership of faith, but we may not hear their testimonies until heaven.\u003cstrong\u003eFamily and Ministry Highlights:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Miracles in the Mundane - Record Update November 2024"},{"content":" Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.\n1 Peter 2:13-14\nMajor Milestone: Inspection by National Counsel of Higher Education\nWe have been planning, raising funds, and working to gain official accreditation for Terebinth Bible College for the last 4 years. Our aim was shifted toward this when, in 2018, Rwanda passed Law 72, requiring faith-based institutions to meet 10 key standards, one major standard being that the leader must hold a degree in religious studies from a higher learning institution. Uganda has always tended to adopt the major policies of other nations, and this case is no different, with promises to implement similar laws. Many church leaders are rising to fight against the passing of a law restricting the practice of religious institutions. However, it would be a disservice to the church body, if we, though morally able to meet government standards, fail to provide them with the certification required if such a law were passed.\nSince 2020, we have been busy building and preparing the Terebinth Bible School campus in Adak. Many of you lent your support for the construction of classrooms, dormitories, cafeteria, kitchen, and bathrooms. Because of great support from several groups, we were able to furnish a library of more than 6,000 books, as well as provide 20 laptops for the computer lab, both required amenities. Our team has worked hard to prepare the location as well as the organization of the ministry; we have hired consultants to guide us in the process, remodeled houses into offices, and expanded our staff.\nOn November 7th, the National Counsel of Higher Education (NCHE) came to inspect our facilities. They sent six experts of various educational fields to examine every aspect of the school, from the “software” (personnel, curriculum, history, and future plans etc.) to the “hardware” (quality of construction, physical capacity, and safety measures). This team was not sent to give or withhold the accreditation, but to write a report which they will submit to the Quality Assurance Counsel, who has the power to grant a provisional operational license. While they did give us a list of corrections to make, they were very impressed with our school, and thankful for the work we are doing for God’s kingdom in such a rural area. They were very optimistic about our qualifications for getting the license very soon, which would make Terebinth Bible College the first accredited Evangelical college in Northern Uganda. This would be a huge blessing as it will not only safeguard all of our students from unnecessary conflict with the government, but also increase our influence on the doctrine of the entire region!\nIn Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSubmit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and the praise of those who do right.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 Peter 2:13-14\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/this-one.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMajor Milestone: Inspection by National Counsel of Higher Education\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have been planning, raising funds, and working to gain official accreditation for Terebinth Bible College for the last 4 years. Our aim was shifted toward this when, in 2018, Rwanda passed Law 72, requiring faith-based institutions to meet 10 key standards, one major standard being that the leader must hold a degree in religious studies from a higher learning institution. Uganda has always tended to adopt the major policies of other nations, and this case is no different, with promises to implement similar laws. Many church leaders are rising to fight against the passing of a law restricting the practice of religious institutions. However, it would be a disservice to the church body, if we, though morally able to meet government standards, fail to provide them with the certification required if such a law were passed.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update November 2024"},{"content":"Where did the year go? When we’re fully engaged in meaningful work and focused on a higher purpose, days blend together, and before we know it, a year has gone by. David and I are thankful for the opportunity to serve God and His people here in Loreto, Mexico. As David \u0026amp; I continue our ministry in Mexico, we’re continually amazed by the doors God is opening and the blessings He’s pouring out. We feel incredibly blessed to be part of a thriving bilingual church community at Calvary Loreto, where we’ve seen God’s hand at work in wonderful ways. Thank you for reading this brief update on what the Lord has been doing in our lives and this community.\nMost of you know that the building Calvary Loreto is currently renting is being sold. We have been in prayer on what to do and feel through the Holy Spirit we have been led to purchase some land to build a new church. Last week, Calvary’s ”Real Men of Christ” gathered to pray over the piece of land we believe will be the future home of our church. Pastor Elmer and I had the privilege to step forward in faith and sign a contract for this land. We need to make 4 payments over the next 8 months to secure this property before we can start to build. Please be praying for the Lord’s will in all of this as we step out in faith to raise all the funds to secure this land. We invite you to join us in this journey of faith! If you feel called to contribute, please know that 100% of your donation will go directly to the purchase of the land and the construction of our new church building.\nOur men’s group, ”Real Men of Christ,” is going strong. David is leading this group of men in their walk with Jesus to become the men God created them to be. He is seeing so many of these men being transformed week after week. Each week, 15 to 20 men show up to be taught the Word of God and share how they can apply it to their lives. This group is creating a space where men can be honest with one another about their challenges, victories, and spiritual struggles. Through praying over one another, lifting each other, and “iron sharpening iron,” they’re discovering the strength and freedom that come from walking together in faith.\nWe had the opportunity to come alongside The Connection House ministry and do a movie night on the beach. This was a great way to invite non-believers to a church-friendly event. About 300 people came to the event to enjoy some nachos, popcorn, and a movie. We were able to give the gospel message and also invite them to Calvary Loreto. At least 3 new families now call Calvary Loreto their home because of this outreach. God is good always.\nOur weekly life group in an area outside of Centro, Loreto is continuing to be fruitful with up to 20 people showing up. Miguel and Bernice who are faithful servants lead this group and are preparing to go out and plant a church (God willing) sometime next year. We serve a meal every week to feed them physically and then we give the Word of God to feed their souls. We had the privilege and honor of baptizing our first person from this life group last month. God is doing amazing things through this life group. Please keep praying for lives to be saved in this area and also for Miguel and Bernice’s calling from the Lord.\nThe Bi-weekly Blessing table is going well. Through your financial commitments we are currently able to give out about 50 to 60 bags of groceries a month to those who need food. Also, we can share serving opportunities with church members by shopping and preparing food bags to be distributed at church. We are short every time of around 10 to 15 bags of food but know that in God’s timing, His will may be done. Please pray about coming alongside us financially as this need is greatly needed for quite a few of the church members.\nThank you to all of you who continue to pray for David and I in our ministry here in Loreto, Mexico. It is a great blessing to be able to serve our Lord and Savior in the calling He has for our lives. It isn’t always easy but we are so thankful that at this time in our lives we can do the will that God has for us. If you feel led to support any of the ministries we are involved in, please know that 100% goes to the work of the ministry. We could never do this work without your prayers and financial support. Everything that happens here for the Kingdom of God is your spiritual fruit so thank you and blessings to you all!\nFor I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”\nJeremiah 29:11\nThank you, everyone. Have a wonderful holiday season celebrating our Lord in the coming months.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/opportunities-to-rejoice-mullins-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhere did the year go? When we’re fully engaged in meaningful work and focused on a higher purpose, days blend together, and before we know it, a year has gone by. David and I are thankful for the opportunity to serve God and His people here in Loreto, Mexico. As David \u0026amp; I continue our ministry in Mexico, we’re continually amazed by the doors God is opening and the blessings He’s pouring out. We feel incredibly blessed to be part of a thriving bilingual church community at Calvary Loreto, where we’ve seen God’s hand at work in wonderful ways. Thank you for reading this brief update on what the Lord has been doing in our lives and this community.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Opportunities to Rejoice! - Mullins Update November 2024"},{"content":"(Español abajo)\nWe had an amazing Youth camp praise God! We had teachings, worship, campfires, movie night, prayer, outing to the pool, a rally, food, prizes, crafts, and more! It was such a blessing to receive over 50 youth from about 7 different churches. We thank God for everyone who made this 3-day event possible; all of you who are reading this letter, our servants from our church, all of the youth leaders, and also the team from Connections House! All of you played such a big role in making this possible and we thank God for your lives! (Click here to see a post with pictures from the youth camp)\nWhile the Connections House team was still here with us, they also did a children’s outreach at our church. There was about 50 kids that attended the event where we had songs, face painting, Bible-teaching, crafts, nail painting, bracelets making, food, gifts, candy, and more! Praise God that we had some people come to Sunday service after the event! The Connections House team also gave out some school supplies to the kids and teens in our church after service on Sunday. This really helped to fulfill a need that people struggle with very often here.\nPraise God we were able to start the Church Planting class again. There are about 8 faithful students coming to the class every week. It is such a blessing to see how with each week that passes, they are growing more and more in spiritual maturity and in their teachings. We are so proud of them and can’t wait to see how God uses them in the future in church planting!\nOf course we could not go without having a Mexican independence day party! It was a blast! There was a food court, karaoke, fireworks, costume contest, prizes, piñata, and more. We are so grateful with God for the church family that He has provided for us here in Calpulalpan. It is such a blessing for us to have such wonderful friends here with us. (Click here for more photos; click here for the recap video)\nAlso in September we had our first Church Planting Conference at CCM. We were blessed to have the pastors come from Calvary Rosarito to do the conference. This was a one-day version of the Church planting conference that we attended in Rosarito in August. Not only was it a great conference in Rosarito, but it was so sweet to be able to have the same conference here in our church. There were also people from other local churches that attended with us. Praise God there was over 80 people who attended the conference and 17 people who accepted their calling to church planting. God is moving greatly here in Southern Mexico! (Click here to see the conference; Click here to see the recap video; Click here for photos)\nLastly we would like to share with you about what a blessing it was to have the Calvary Rosarito Worship team here with us! The first event they did was a special concert night of worship. Even though it was cold, it was such a sweet night of fellowship and praise that also ended with desserts and a bonfire. (Click here to see the concert). On day 2 with the team they did a worship conference! We had a full church again with people from many local churches joining us. It was a blessed time of fellowship, worship, teachings, workshops, food, and even a raffle! (Click here to see the conference part 1 – part 2; Click here for the team’s recap video they made)\nPraise Reports That God provided and all the events for these past months were able to happen That Brittany’s pregnancy is going well and baby is healthy For the teams that have been able to come and be such a blessing to us and the Christians here in Tlaxcala Prayer Requests That God will continue to provide so that we can continue to do free events for our church and other local churches That God will continue to help Brian’s knee to heal That God will continue to keep Brittany and baby girl safe and healthy That God will provide a suitable home for our family to move into That God will provide a 15 passenger van for the church to use to transport our church people and teams That God will guide us in deciding what we will do in the church this coming year, and the leaders/assistant pastors we will be raising up “Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed,\nfor his compassions never fail. They are new every morning;\ngreat is your faithfulness.”\nLamentations 3:22-23\n¡Tuvimos un campamento de jóvenes increíble gracias a Dios! ¡Tuvimos enseñanzas, alabanza, fogatas, noche de pelicula, oración, salida a la alberca, rally, comida, premios, manualidades y más! Fue una gran bendición recibir a más de 50 jóvenes de aproximadamente 7 iglesias diferentes. Damos gracias a Dios por todos los que hicieron posible este evento de 3 días; ¡Todos ustedes que están leyendo esta carta, nuestros servidores de nuestra iglesia, todos los líderes de jovenes y también el equipo de Connections House! ¡Todos ustedes jugaron un papel muy importante para hacer esto posible y damos gracias a Dios por sus vidas! (Haga clic aquí para ver una publicación con fotos del campamento juvenil)\nMientras el equipo de Connections House todavía estaba aquí con nosotros, también realizaron un alcanze para niños en nuestra iglesia. Alrededor de 50 niños asistieron al evento donde tuvimos canciones, pintura de caras, enseñanza bíblica, manualidades, pintura de uñas, manuelidad de pulseras, comida, regalos, dulces y más. ¡Gloria a Dios que algunas personas vinieron al servicio dominical después del evento! El equipo de Connections House también entregó algunos útiles escolares a los niños y adolescentes de nuestra iglesia después de la iglesia el domingo. Esto realmente ayudó a cumplir una necesidad con la que la gente lucha muy a menudo aquí.\nTambién salimos como iglesia a ver la nueva película Cristiana “La Forja”. Fue un tiempo de bendición y animo para todos nosotros. ¡Muy agradecido por cómo Dios proveyo a estas personas maravillosas para ser parte de nuestra iglesia!\n¡Fue un gran privilegio poder tener nuestra primera dedicación de bebé en Calvary Conexión México! Estamos muy orgullosos de Suzeth y David, los padres del bebé Dastan, por dar este paso de fe y dedicar a su bebé a Dios y querer que crezca en un hogar centrado en Dios y rodeado de gente piadosa. (Haz clic aquí para ver el post de la dedicatoria del bebé)\nGracias a Dios pudimos comenzar nuevamente la clase de Plantación de Iglesias. Aproximadamente 8 estudiantes fieles asisten a la clase cada semana. Es una gran bendición ver cómo cada semana que pasa van creciendo más y más en madurez espiritual y en sus enseñanzas. ¡Estamos muy orgullosos de ellos y no podemos esperar a ver cómo Dios los usa en el futuro en la plantación de iglesias!\n¡Por supuesto que no podíamos pasar el mes de Septiembre sin tener una fiesta del día de la independencia de México! ¡Fue una maravilla! Hubo venta de comidas, karaoke, fuegos artificiales, concurso de disfraces, premios, piñata y más. Estamos muy agradecidos con Dios por la familia de la iglesia que nos ha provisto aquí en Calpulalpan. Es una gran bendición para nosotros tener amigos tan maravillosos aquí con nosotros. (Haga clic aquí para ver más fotos; haga clic aquí para ver el vídeo resumen)\nTambién en Septiembre tuvimos nuestra primera Conferencia de Plantación de Iglesias en CCM. Tuvimos la suerte de que los pastores vinieran desde Calvary Rosarito para hacer la conferencia. Esta fue una versión de un día de la conferencia de plantación de iglesias a la que asistimos en Rosarito en Agosto. No sólo fue una gran conferencia en Rosarito, sino que fue muy animante poder tener la misma conferencia aquí en nuestra iglesia. También asistieron con nosotros personas de otras iglesias locales. Gloria a Dios hubo más de 80 personas que asistieron a la conferencia y 17 personas que aceptaron su llamado a la plantación de iglesias. ¡Dios se está moviendo grandemente aquí en el Sur de México! (Haga clic aquí para ver la conferencia; Haga clic aquí para ver el video resumen; Haga clic aquí para ver fotos)\nPor último, nos gustaría compartir con ustedes la bendición que fue tener al equipo de Calvary Rosarito Worship aquí con nosotros. El primer evento que realizaron fue una noche especial de concierto de alabanza. Aunque hacía frío, fue una noche tan dulce de compañerismo y alabanza que también terminó con postres y una fogata. (Haga clic aquí para ver el concierto) ¡El día 2 con el equipo hicieron una conferencia de adoración! Nuevamente tuvimos una iglesia llena con gente de muchas iglesias locales uniéndose a nosotros. ¡Fue un tiempo de mucha bendicion de compañerismo, adoración, enseñanzas, talleres, comida y hasta una rifa! (Haga clic aquí para ver la conferencia parte 1 – parte 2; haga clic aquí para ver el video resumen del equipo que hicieron)\nReportes de Alabanza: Que Dios proveyó y todos los eventos de estos últimos meses pudieron suceder Que el embarazo de Brittany va bien y el bebé está sano Para los equipos que han podido venir y ser de tanta bendición para nosotros y los Cristianos aqui en Tlaxcala Peticiones de Oracion: Que Dios seguirá proveyendo para que podamos seguir realizando eventos gratuitos para nuestra iglesia y otras iglesias locales Que Dios seguirá ayudando a que la rodilla de Brian sane Que Dios seguirá manteniendo a Brittany y a su niña seguras y saludables Que Dios proveerá una casa adecuada para que nuestra familia se mude Que Dios proveerá una camioneta para 15 personas para transportar gente de la iglesia e equipos Que Dios nos guiará para decidir lo que haremos en la iglesia el próximo año y los líderes/pastores asistentes que estaremos levantando “Por la misericordia de Jehová no hemos sido consumidos, porque nunca decayeron sus misericordias. Nuevas son cada mañana; grande es tu fidelidad.”\nLamentaciones 3:22-23\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-works-in-miraculous-ways-de-la-cruz-update-october-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e(Español abajo)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe had an amazing Youth camp praise God! We had teachings, worship, campfires, movie night, prayer, outing to the pool, a rally, food, prizes, crafts, and more! It was such a blessing to receive over 50 youth from about 7 different churches. We thank God for everyone who made this 3-day event possible; all of you who are reading this letter, our servants from our church, all of the youth leaders, and also the team from \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ConnectionsHouse\"\u003eConnections House\u003c/a\u003e! All of you played such a big role in making this possible and we thank God for your lives! (Click \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/media/set?vanity=Iglesiacristianacalvaryconexionmexico\u0026amp;set=a.950992957038979\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e to see a post with pictures from the youth camp)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Works in Miraculous Ways - De La Cruz Update October 2024"},{"content":"Craig and Daisy Tippie are ministering in Huacho, Peru and utilizing Surfing as an outreach. Their vision is to reach, teach and disciple. They have one son named Ryan. Through their skating and surfing camp outreaches to the youth many have come to know Christ. Huacho is the capital of witchcraft in Peru, and they have great opposition and many spiritual battles over the souls of the people of Huacho. “But if God is for us, who could be against us.” Craig and Daisy also started a church which has grown into a fellowship that has families that have come to the Lord, because their teenager got saved through an outreach. They have several families in their church and their focus is not just youth, but all lost people.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/tippie-family-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCraig and Daisy Tippie are ministering in Huacho, Peru and utilizing Surfing as an outreach. Their vision is to reach, teach and disciple. They have one son named Ryan. Through their skating and surfing camp outreaches to the youth many have come to know Christ. Huacho is the capital of witchcraft in Peru, and they have great opposition and many spiritual battles over the souls of the people of Huacho. “But if God is for us, who could be against us.” Craig and Daisy also started a church which has grown into a fellowship that has families that have come to the Lord, because their teenager got saved through an outreach. They have several families in their church and their focus is not just youth, but all lost people.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tippie Family Update November 2024"},{"content":" “Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.\u0026quot;\nJohn‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬-‭14‬\nHola friends and family, we hope you are well and the narrow road is the path you find yourself walking upon. We are finishing up our eighth month as missionaries in Peru and are preparing to head back to the States to visit family, friends, and our supporting churches. We want to give you a quick update about what we’ve been doing the past month.\nWe are blessed to be living in Cochiquinas, a small community on the Amazon River. Jungle life is definitely an adjustment, but God has been very gracious to us. We have been getting settled in and preparing the ground for a garden. Hopefully we will have some fresh fruits and vegetables next Fall. We are still trying to figure out the best way to set up a water filtration system and our solar energy system, so any expert advice is welcomed!\nRyan is meeting twice a week with two of the men from our small church family, Juan and Pastor Julio. He is doing some guitar lessons with Pastor Julio and is currently taking both of them through the book of 1 Timothy. They are spending 4 hours a week going verse by verse and it is such a blessing to see the hunger these men have for God’s Word.\nA group of people have been meeting four times a week for Bible studies, worship, and prayer. Once a week some of the leaders do home visits to share the gospel, pray, and worship the Lord with those who are sick. Two of the people they visited this week are Mario and Odela, one is a believer and one is not; both have very serious health issues and need prayer.\nThe more we meet with people, the more we see the need for a Bible-teaching church in our community. We have been praying about planting a church here in Cochiquinas and opening a Discipleship Center. We already have a church building and we recently were able to purchase the property next to the church. When we first looked into the property, we were told it was already sold, but the Lord had other plans and a few weeks later we were able to purchase the property for the Discipleship Center. Please join us in praying about planting a church in Cochiquinas early next year and starting a Discipleship Center in March 2026.\nRyan went up to teach at a conference in a small community of 500 people called, \u0026ldquo;Nuevo San Juan.\u0026rdquo; This community is up river about 16 hours from where we live, on the river Chambira. There were about 400 people that came from surrounding areas for the conference and 100 of them were from an indigenous tribe called the Urarina. The people had such a desire to spend time with the Lord so they were up at 4 A.M. for morning devotions and then spent the days listening to teachings and singing praise songs until it was time for bed. It was a great time of studying the Word of God and worshipping the Lord. The end of the conference ended with many people getting baptized.\nOne couple from the conference is praying about moving their family to Cochiquinas to serve at the church and the discipleship center. Their names are Isias and Layla. Their family has had tremendous health issues in the past and they have witnessed first-hand God’s miraculous healing. They are both musically talented and have a heart to serve the Lord in any way they can. Please keep them in prayer.\nAfter the 4-day conference was over, it was time to take an 8-hour tour back to another city to catch another boat to head back to Cochiquinas. Ryan realized quickly he was in a boat with no bathroom, no seats, and only a cover to block the sun. It promptly began to rain and the trip turned into 16 hours with no bathroom and 50 people on board (children included). It didn’t take long before everyone was wet, and for the first time it actually felt cold. Needless to say, around hour 10, the boat started to take upon itself a unique smell. Then, the boat hit a sandbar in the middle of the river and was stuck for about an hour and a half. The storm continued to worsen and the captain could no longer see. Also, because he was new to being a captain, he pulled over to take refuge and abandoned the boat for 2 hours while he stayed with friends in the small river community until the storm passed. Needless to say, the American traveler didn’t have joy in his heart but was so thankful when they were on dry land. What was amazing was to see the Peruvian people sing praise songs to the Lord despite their circumstances. Through it all, God received the glory!\nThe rainy season is here and the great Amazon River is slowly rising. More people will soon have better access to much needed water and the smaller tributaries that were dried up will be navigable again. Even though it can be dangerous to navigate the river and smaller tributaries because of the hidden sandbars and large debris in the river, it will be a blessing to visit the surrounding communities that have been out of reach when we return back from furlough.\nWe are excited to see family and friends and are looking forward to all the Lord will do in the New Year!\nPlease pray for:\nSalvation and healing from cancer for Odela Healing for physical ailments for Mario Construction for the Discipleship Center Financial sponsors for Isias, Layla, \u0026amp; their two kids to be missionaries with us in Cochiquinas Clean water systems for the community Travel mercies and our time while we are on furlough Thank you all so much for your loving support!\nLove,\nRyan and Karen Gause\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gods-sovereign-grace-gause-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Jesus answered and said to her, “Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn‬ ‭4‬:‭13‬-‭14‬\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/IMG%5F2692-1-300x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHola friends and family, we hope you are well and the narrow road is the path you find yourself walking upon. We are finishing up our eighth month as missionaries in Peru and are preparing to head back to the States to visit family, friends, and our supporting churches. We want to give you a quick update about what we’ve been doing the past month.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God’s Sovereign Grace - Gause Update November 2024"},{"content":"It is written\nI am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.\n– 1 Corinthians 9:22\nThere I was, just trying to be all things to all men. Conforming to a culture that does the majority of its eating with their right hands. By rolling rice, meat, and various sauces into small balls and bringing it to their mouth. While attempting to mimic this eating technique (which in my mind I was doing it decently, since the food was making it into my mouth) I hear from my South Asian brother, who is sitting across from me say:\n\u0026ldquo;What are you doing bro?” LOL\nMy Vision Tour of Southern Asia Why Southern Asia?\nI went because of God. I never had any intentions of going to Southern Asia. Before going, all that came to mind when I thought of Southern Asia was that it was a hot, dangerous, and dirty place and I had very little interest in it. But about six months ago, a burden that I never had before arose in my heart for Southern Asia, and it\u0026rsquo;s still here. After coming to a new place of surrender with God, one door led to another, and there I was on a 3-week tour of Southern Asia.\nHow was my time in Southern Asia?\nEye-opening, challenging, and awesome! It was a completely different world. Eating with my hands, bathrooms having no toilet paper (on purpose), no showers (just a bucket that you fill up and splash yourself with), and pedestrians, motorcycles, cars, and cows all sharing the road at the same time. It was a wild place…but there was a part of me that felt like I was supposed to be there. I instantly fell in love with the people; especially with the believers who labor in such a hostile environment but shine with the love, joy, and light of Jesus Christ.\nThe Gospel and Southern Asia\nSouthern Asia is within the 10/40 window and is considered unreached. The work is massive, with there being 3.5 billion people who have never heard the eternal Gospel of Jesus Christ, and half of them live in this country. There are people within this country who have never heard the name of Jesus Christ. And unfortunately might not have the opportunity. It is illegal to become Christian and the persecution can be brutal. My heart broke as I saw the great need for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The emptiness and hopelessness that were in the people, as they worshipped cows, statues, and small sculptures and carvings made with their own hands. They want to know God they just don’t know how…but this is why Christ came; to declare the Father and make Him known. And as the Father sent Jesus, He is sending us.\nPrayer and Conclusion\nMy time in Southern Asia has come to an end and Lord willing I will be back. God has transformed my heart for this place and its people, and if this is what He has for me I say, yes. My vision for being here would be to disciple the young men and women who are here, and help them to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. The encouraging part about being here was hearing from the national believers and they all said, ”God is on the move, and many are coming to Jesus. ” But they need help. My next steps are to complete a cross-cultural ministry school, held by Calvary Chapel Saving Grace where I will be trained up for the ministry.\nPrayer Request:\n– Pray that Southern Asia would receive the Gospel.\n– Pray for our brothers and sisters living in Southern Asia doing full-time ministry.\n– Pray against persecution.\n– Pray against conversion laws.\n– If God is calling me there, pray that He would open a door.\n– That God would bring provision spiritually, physically, and financially.\nIf you have prayer requests please press \u0026ldquo;reply\u0026rdquo; at the end of my newsletter and it will be sent to my email.\nI want to thank everyone who has partnered in making this mission happen. I am so excited to share this journey with you all as we fulfill the Great Commission. Stay tuned for all that the Lord is doing.\nIf you would like to partner with me as I serve with Saving Grace World Missions, there will be a giving link posted below.\nAnd may we all continue to faithfully follow, love, obey and walk, with the Lion and the Lamb.\nGod Bless!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/what-are-you-doing-bro-haggstrom-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt is written\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– 1 Corinthians 9:22\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Eating-with-hands-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere I was, just trying to be all things to all men. Conforming to a culture that does the majority of its eating with their right hands. By rolling rice, meat, and various sauces into small balls and bringing it to their mouth. While attempting to mimic this eating technique (which in my mind I was doing it decently, since the food was making it into my mouth) I hear from my South Asian brother, who is sitting across from me say:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\"WHAT ARE YOU DOING BRO?\" - Haggstrom Update November 2024"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Dear supporters and prayer partners, thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well, God has kept us safe.\nI have been meditating from the book of Philippians, and learning to have a Christ-like mind. I got the chance to teach this chapter in our Sunday service.\nLast month, I got the chance to visit the brother J*. We had fellowship with his family in the Word of God. Last year, he was in an accident. A truck hit him from the back. He was injured badly and lost his left leg. By the grace of God, he is okay now. He is going to try to get an artificial left leg.\nLast month, I also got the chance to visit a believer\u0026rsquo;s house. I take the Bible school students to visit families and give them the opportunity to preach and lead worship. We are trying to give them opportunities like this to learn and get prepared for their future ministry. In class, we evaluate their sermons and correct them. We also give them chances to share sermons in believer\u0026rsquo;s homes. After house visiting also we evaluate their work and correct them, so that they may become better at preaching.\nOn July 1st, our Calvary Bible Institute classes started. We got 5 new students from different parts of the country. They are from different backgrounds. We thank God for the students who have also joined us again for the 2nd year.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge. Please also pray for their final exams. Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problem the world is facing. Please pray for our local village ministry. May they grow in the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word. Please pray for Brother J* as he plans to get an artificial left leg. Please pray for the CBI students to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/growing-to-be-more-like-christ-pastor-16-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Dear supporters and prayer partners, thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well, God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have been meditating from the book of Philippians, and learning to have a Christ-like mind. I got the chance to teach this chapter in our Sunday service.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Growing to Be More Like Christ - Pastor 16 Update November 2024"},{"content":"October has started, but it is still very hot. It is hot and humid which makes it more difficult. Not only the climate in this region is hot, but the spiritual battle is also furious. Attacks on Christians are increasing day-by-day. Last month four churches were attacked and the pastors were arrested by the police.\nThree believers died in three different villages. The villagers did not let the Christians bury them in their villages. The villagers and government officials tried to force the family members of the deceased to become Hindu. The family members stood for their faith. In one of the villages, the Hindu villagers took the body and burnt it with all of the Hindu rituals. In the other two villages the Christians took the bodies away and buried them. One was buried in a forest and the other in nearby town.\nIt is not only difficult to preach the gospel, but also to put one’s faith in Christ. We thank God for giving us and all the ministers of the Gospel boldness to do the work of the Gospel. We appreciate your prayers and financial support. Please pray that the Lord will continue to strengthen us and give us words in our mouth to boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel (Eph. 6:19). Pray for the new believers, who go through all kinds of sufferings, to be faithful to the Lord.\nWe thank all those who sponsored my family and me to attend the Calvary Chapel Conference in Thailand. It was a time of refreshing and also encouragement. We had a wonderful time getting to know other missionaries and learning what the Lord has been doing through them. We were encouraged by the commitment of the young adults from the United States, who have surrendered their lives to be missionaries. I also started ministry at the same age, but I did not have to leave my country. These people have chosen to leave their comfort and go and serve the Lord in a country where they do not have all of the facilities that they have in the United States.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/to-boldly-proclaim-the-gospel-pastor-15-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOctober has started, but it is still very hot. It is hot and humid which makes it more difficult. Not only the climate in this region is hot, but the spiritual battle is also furious. Attacks on Christians are increasing day-by-day. Last month four churches were attacked and the pastors were arrested by the police.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree believers died in three different villages. The villagers did not let the Christians bury them in their villages. The villagers and government officials tried to force the family members of the deceased to become Hindu. The family members stood for their faith. In one of the villages, the Hindu villagers took the body and burnt it with all of the Hindu rituals. In the other two villages the Christians took the bodies away and buried them. One was buried in a forest and the other in nearby town.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"To Boldly Proclaim the Gospel - Pastor 15 Update November 2024"},{"content":" He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.\nECCLESIASTES 3:11\nHi fam! I’m missing you all dearly and pray that you are doing well! I’m so grateful for this opportunity to be in Japan. I will start off by saying I’m SO grateful summer is over. The weather reminded me of the hot and humid temperatures off the coast of Colombia. We are now turning a new leaf and entering into Autumn- what a blessing and a relief. There is a season for everything and God “has made everything beautiful in its time.” It truly is beautiful. The verse also says that He has put eternity in their hearts.\nI realized that this innate human desire to seek for wisdom and knowledge outside of God is so applicable to our missionaries’ message; especially here in Japan. Apart from Christ, a person often believes that they must count on their own achievements, their own strength, and their own will. However, with Christ, the opposite is true. I can’t rely on my own abilities, but rather trade the system of accomplishments for divine wisdom and revelation of the Creator God. I was reminded that God has placed inside their souls a longing and hope for more than this present world!\nThis past month has been such a blessing being back in Osaka. My favorite part has been being a part of the Kids Ministry here at Calvary Abide. If you know me, you know I have a heart for kids and seeing their heart and wisdom in Jesus grow! On one sunny Sunday morning, we took the kids out to the park and I shared the story of Jesus choosing His disciples. I highlighted how when we choose to follow Jesus, we also get to be a part of His Great Commission. They each went around and shared about opportunities they have had to share Jesus with their friends. We ended the teaching in prayer over their friends and loved ones. It was such a sweet time of encougagement!\nWe also were able to host a Harvest Festival as a Kid’s Outreach for the Japanese kids in English class. I was asked to come up with a short story and to include new English vocabulary. I sought that as an opportunity to share the gospel, as the kids’ parents would be there as well. I added words such as messy, slimy, yucky, to refer to how sometimes our insides, our heart, our emotions, or our behaviors can look. Then I used words such as clean, bright, and perfect, in describing a life that has been made new by believing in Jesus Christ.\nDuring this time, one of the little girls had a very confused look on her face, she raised her hand and told me that we are not perfect. I agreed with her that we in ourselves are not perfect, but reminded her that when we have put our faith in Christ, He sees us as perfect. This moment reminded me of the pressure these kids have, even at a young age, to strive and achieve for greatness in themselves.\nPraise Reports\nWe moved into a new apartment and I have been blessed with my own room! Grateful for Jeff + Alishia, please keep them in your prayers. My family came to visit me and I was able to show them around the city! The Lord has blessed me with the ability to grow and build relationships here in Osaka! Language learning is going great as well- being fully immersed has been challenging but adventurous at times! Prayer Requests\nPlease continue to join me in prayer for my Visa- the Lord’s timing is perfect! Pease join me in prayer for approval into YMCA Japanese Language School! Please join me in prayer for continual opportunities to build relationships! Please continue to pray for the Japanese people and their salvation! From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for partnering with me on this journey and making it possible! I will be back in California in less than two weeks and I would love to share personally all that the Lord has been putting on my heart. Love you all!\n-Mayra Alejandra\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/eternity-in-their-hearts-solorzano-update-october-24/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/msolorzano/wp-content/uploads/sites/186/2024/11/b45b8952-89d2-4403-adc5-df2af67e73ed.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eECCLESIASTES 3:11\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHi fam! I’m missing you all dearly and pray that you are doing well! I’m so grateful for this opportunity to be in Japan. I will start off by saying I’m SO grateful summer is over. The weather reminded me of the hot and humid temperatures off the coast of Colombia. We are now turning a new leaf and entering into Autumn- what a blessing and a relief. There is a season for everything and God “has made everything beautiful in its time.” It truly is beautiful. The verse also says that He has put \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eeternity in their hearts\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Eternity in Their Hearts - Solorzano Update October 24"},{"content":"October 2024 Newsletter\nJoshua Vanrenterghem\nDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\nSpending these last few months in the States, God keeps reminding me that He has me exactly where He wants me. The constant temptation when preparing to move overseas is to only be focused on the next season, and end up missing out on the things God still has here.\nA Present Pillar\nEarlier in the month I got a chance to go to a worship/prayer service called Orange County House of Prayer, and during that time the Lord spoke to me. The word He used was ‘pillar’, that I am a pillar where I am right now, and He is going to use my words for supporting others here. That really shocked me, especially because I felt like I couldn’t be depended on because I will be moving so soon, and that I can’t be too rooted. But He used this word to remind me to really seek Him for the things happening now in the States and not miss all the work He still wants me to do here, and that a pillar can be moved wherever, and still be a support and strength for others.\nOne event that really stuck out was a ‘church takeover’ we do every few months with a sister church of Calvary Chapel Saving Grace called Hope Central Watts, an inter-city church in LA. I got the privilege of leading the children’s class of 3. Though it was the smallest Sunday class I have ever lead, it was the most impactful. As I was explaining the gospel through the story of Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus in Acts 9, one of the kids said, “I don’t really know if I am saved or not”. This really struck me, especially because of how genuine and simply the kid said it. Although everything in me wanted to stop and pray with the kid, I knew he would be too shy with the other children to pray right there, so instead at the end I lead the group in a prayer of repentance and confession of Jesus as Lord and Savior.\nAdditionally, the next year of the Mission Training School has begun! Although I am going to leave the school year very prematurely to move to Peru, I am excited for the last month of connecting with the other students and taking in the ever-valuable classes on homiletics, hermeneutics, Bible Study and cross-cultural ministry.\nOne of the first endings of this season of my life living in the States was the Spanish Ministry at Calvary Saving Grace. We had our last meeting on October 30th, and they won’t begin again until after I leave to Peru. Having been part of the group and leadership gave me invaluable experience in preparing for ministry in Peru. Carlos, Gaby, and I met together for our last leadership meeting the night before and we talked for hours, connecting on an even deeper level than before. God has really knit my heart to this group, and I will never forget the growth in the Lord that we experienced as we spent time in community seeking Him!\nA One-Way Ticket!\nI have bought one-way tickets to move January 18th to Peru! With the date set, I am now taking time to connect with partners and share what God is doing in Peru. I am currently in writing this from Texas, where I will be staying for 2 weeks, until November 14th, and sharing my testimony and all that God has put in my heart to do for trafficked children in Peru.\nSpeaking of moving, because of the necessities of the church and Bible school, we are currently looking for another property instead of the one that I shared last month. Something that will give space enough for the church, school and children’s home. Please keep this in prayer!\nLastly, I have created a signal messaging group where you will be able to be updated more regularly on things going in the mission field. If you would like me to add you, simply respond to this email!\nCalling All Partners! I will be moving to Peru January 18th. In order to move to the mission field full-time as a Saving Grace World Missions missionary, I need to have at least 80% of my monthly budget provided through regular monthly giving to ensure I am able to meet all my needs on the field. If the Lord is calling you to be a part of this work He is doing through me for the children and church in Trujillo, you can do so through the Financial Partner link below! It is my honor to connect you, my sisters and brothers of the American Church to all that God is doing on the mission field, and show you the fruit of your work through me.\nPraise Reports\nWe have an official legal name for the children’s home non-profit, Refugio Calvary Trujillo. Although this may or may not be the actual name, the legal side is coming together All the opportunities of service and ministry this month at Watts and the year of being apart of the Spanish ministry at CCSG We have many new students at the Mission Training School in California! Peru just had its first Harvest Crusade type-evangelism event with thousands of people! Prayer Requests\nGod to be glorified in the calling of rescuing children, and that many children will be saved and able to grow up in a Christ-Centered home Legal and financial provision for a property that will have space for the church, Bible school, and children’s home Monthly provision for me to be able to be sent out as a full time missionary in January Continued provision for the connections we need in government, as well as the children’s home non-profit organization creation. For me to be able to reconnect well with my church in Texas and connect/partner well with them for the work in Peru. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-dont-know-if-im-saved/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOctober 2024 Newsletter\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJoshua Vanrenterghem\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/jvanrenterghem/wp-content/uploads/sites/167/2024/11/MTS2025.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpending these last few months in the States, God keeps reminding me that He has me exactly where He wants me. The constant temptation when preparing to move overseas is to only be focused on the next season, and end up missing out on the things God still has here.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Present Pillar\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEarlier in the month I got a chance to go to a worship/prayer service called Orange County House of Prayer, and during that time the Lord spoke to me. The word He used was ‘pillar’, that I am a pillar where I am right now, and He is going to use my words for supporting others here. That really shocked me, especially because I felt like I couldn’t be depended on because I will be moving so soon, and that I can’t be too rooted. But He used this word to remind me to really seek Him for the things happening now in the States and not miss all the work He still wants me to do here, and that a pillar can be moved wherever, and still be a support and strength for others.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Don't Know if I'm Saved - Joshua Vanrenterghem Update October 24"},{"content":"October 2024 marked my 5 Year Anniversary of living in Mallorca! Below were my initial thoughts on the morning of my 5th year anniversary on October 1, 2024…\nMixed feelings - normal.\nMy Loved ones - still far away.\nTwo “homes” - a reality.\nLos Angeles, CA - forever love.\nMallorca, Spain - new love.\nCalling - big sacrifice.\nJesus - worthy of it all. I would love to elaborate on this a bit more, specifically on what I’ve learned as a missionary, as a missionary living in Spain, and as a single missionary living in Spain. What I’ve learned……AS A MISSIONARY My “Yes” to Jesus, involves sacrifices I did not think I was actually going to have to make. And they can be tough to go through.\nIt’s never easy to be far from family.\nGod truly cares for me as His daughter. He is faithful.\nGod provides for things I didn’t know I needed and they have been the biggest blessings on this island for me.\nPrayer is a life line, a place of comfort, where miracles happen, deep heart work also happens, strategy is given, discernment is sharpened, and beautiful communion is shared in the loving presence of the Lord.\nWhen you “ show up and let God do the rest”, it really does work! (Neal, I will never forget your advice!)\n**Before the school began, the first teacher we hired and I were praying about how I have never led a school before so I was asking in prayer for a lot of wisdom. She then remembered that she had a hard drive with all the documents needed to run a preschool. It had all the documents I didn’t know we needed, protocols and policies already written, attendance logs etc. Before school started, we had everything we needed administratively because of that hard drive!! Just show up, and let God do the rest.\n**As we were designing the school playground, we needed artificial grass in a specific size for a certain area of the playground. We found one but it was beyond our budget so we prayed and left it in God’s hands to provide. Almost a year later, I received a phone call at 11:30pm telling me that there was a big roll of artificial grass next to the trash can on the street. We rushed over to pick it up and it was the exact size we needed and it was brand new! Not sure why it was by the trash can?! Just show up, and let God do the rest.\n**When we first started the refurbishment of the building we are in, the architect we hired spoke to the council members at our City Hall to ask for certain documents needed for the property. He let them know that we had a meeting with the Secretary of Education of Mallorca. The council men were in shock and asked our architect, “Who are your clients? Are they important people on the island?” He said, “They’re from the Christian church!” Unbeknownst to us, the Secretary of Education was a very important person that rarely sat down to meet with people. We met her, we found favor, she drew up the plans needed to have our school, and she was amazingly supportive. Just show up, and let God do the rest!!\nWhat I’ve learned…as a missionary LIVING IN SPAIN\nThe siesta hours are a real thing in Spain :) As beautiful as Mallorca is, the Lord has continuously confirmed that He has not sent me to a place but to people living on this island. So, my love for the children and their families in the school are those people God sent me to, and I love them so much more because of that. The local church I serve in, the community I live in, the relationships formed, are people God also sent me to and I also love them so much more because of that. Relationships revolve around a nice cup of coffee. My love language! Relationships can take a lot of time to develop here (it’s taken me 3 years to befriend my neighbors). In Mallorca specifically, the demonic presence is very apparent and a common part of their culture. There is a little car ride in front of our school that has a license plate with 666. The mascot for the Mallorca soccer team is the demon called the Demoni (he is like the patron of Mallorca). The two big public Mallorca holidays revolve around extremely open demonic celebrations. They are called San Antoni and San Sebastián. What I’ve learned…as a single missionary living in Spain.\nThis is a topic that I don’t speak about too much in public spaces. It can be the elephant in the room when I go back home. It has also brought on very embarrassing moments… Like that one time I was at a wedding and a well-meaning pastor asked a few people to circle around me in the middle of the reception hall (no privacy at all and unsolicited on my behalf) so that they can lay hands on me and pray for my future husband. I had many hands on me as I bowed my head and tried to be thankful for the well intentions of the pastor, but I could not help but want to be outside that circle. This all took place while loud music was playing in the background and my friends were enjoying their time on the dance floor. This is an absolute true story! My hesitancy in sharing revolve around these kinds of experiences but nonetheless, I know I’m not alone in this singleness journey so even more so I see the importance to speak a bit more about this very real part of my life. I have been feeling this tug in my heart to address it here, so I hope it blesses whoever needs to read this.\nTo my West Coast friends in the US, you should know that there are many in Spain that also desire to be married! You’re not alone! I have learned that this desire is the same no matter where we are from, where we reside, whether we are millennials, Gen X, Gen Y and everyone before and after said generations. We all desire to marry and we hope it happens sooner rather than later. Having realized this, I asked the Lord, “Why do so many of us want to be married, or more specifically, why do we greatly want to be loved?”\nAfter sitting down with the Lord about this, I truly believe the answer is … that we desire to be loved in a perfect way. We seek this perfect kind of love. A love that will make us forever happy, that will satisfy us, that will love us just the way we are, that will love us sacrificially, a love that will be unconditional, a love that will never fail\u0026hellip;etc.\nAs we hope for this kind of love, we try to find it ourselves, or we feel that it can never be for us. I don’t mean to throw in the Sunday School answer but, it is THE answer….Only Jesus Christ can love us perfectly. His love will make us forever happy, it will satisfy us, He already loves us just the way we are, He loves us sacrificially, His love is unconditional, His love will never fail.\nI often get the question, “Zully, do you want to be married?” (My mom gets bombarded with this question about me too.) However, for me the question is better asked if stated, “What kind of man do you want to marry?”\nThat is the better question because who I marry will be the one that will best represent Christ to me on a daily and intimate basis. It is from Christ Himself that he will draw the best kind of love from which to love me. The way he loves, serves, and fears the Lord will reflect that.\nPersonally as a single missionary woman, the desire to be loved perfectly is encompassed by so much more and not just solely about marriage. For example, the feelings can be quite strong when I am missing my family and on top of that, I am looking at wedding pictures of not just childhood friends, but of my former students! Over and over again. Year after year. I am not saying that for all my aunties out there to start sending me profiles of candidates! (I guess you can if you feel led to, my mom would be most thankful!!) I am just sharing this so you know how to pray for me. Thank you in advance for your prayers. If you are single and need prayer, please reach out to me. I would love to pray for you too.\nI can make this conversation much longer and answer many more questions about singleness but I would like to end here with this true statement that has brought so much comfort to me. Love originated with the Lord, God is holy, He\u0026rsquo;ll never make a mistake in the way He loves us. His plans for me are perfect and good, so I know I can rest in His perfect kind of love for me.\nThank you for being on this journey with me. For your support, love, and prayers. Many of you have sacrificed alongside me as we together share the gospel to the children and families in our school. We are in this together for as long as the Lord desires. I love you all!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/5-year-anniversary/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOctober 2024 marked my 5 Year Anniversary of living in Mallorca! Below were my initial thoughts on the morning of my 5th year anniversary on October 1, 2024…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/ruano/wp-content/uploads/sites/90/2024/11/IMG%5F2605-3.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMixed feelings - normal.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy Loved ones - still far away.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTwo “homes” - a reality.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLos Angeles, CA - forever love.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMallorca, Spain - new love.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCalling - big sacrifice.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJesus - worthy of it all. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI would love to elaborate on this a bit more, specifically on what I’ve learned as a \u003cstrong\u003emissionary\u003c/strong\u003e, as a missionary \u003cstrong\u003eliving in Spain\u003c/strong\u003e, and as a \u003cstrong\u003esingle\u003c/strong\u003e missionary living in Spain. \u003c/p\u003e","title":"5 Year Anniversary - Ruano Update October 24"},{"content":"Hello family and friends! There is always so much happening here in Mexico, at church, at our house\u0026hellip; but we must always remember to rejoice and pray thanksgiving to God!\n“16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing,”\n1 Thessalonians 5:16-17\nA special thanks to all who regularly pray for us! Mexico frequently feels unstable and dangerous as we continually receive reports of assaults, robberies, thefts and murder. Sometimes, we hesitate to report the danger so as not to frighten or discourage you! Despite these realities, we don\u0026rsquo;t always hear or see what God is doing in the midst! In this months report, I will show you some of the wonderful things our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is doing along with some of the more challenging events and trouble that is part of life on the mission field!\nRejoicing in Culiacán, Sinaloa\nMy Pastor and good friend Mike Vincent and I along with some pastors and church planting students spent a weekend in Culiacan to celebrate 9 years of Calvary Culiacan! While the city was on high alert and a cartel turf war was in effect, we were rejoicing and celebrating God\u0026rsquo;s work in the region! Nine years ago, Calvary Rosarito sent one of our best assistant Pastors to plant Calvary Culiacan Norte. His name is Hugo Limón. While the madness, anxiety and violence have harmed many, God is moving and saving souls!\nRejoicing in Aguaruto, Sinaloa\nWhile we were in Culiacan, all the churches continued with their regular Sunday services. Most people chose to seek worship God despite the tension in the air. In a town right outside of Culiacan there was a great atmosphere of joy and thanksgiving as 18 new people went forward to declare Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior ! In times of trouble, many people seek God. 18 souls made public professions of faith last Sunday (Oct 27). If you are unfamiliar with churches like this, imagine at the end of the service, the pastor invites people to be born again by confessing their need for God, coming to Him in repentance and believing in Jesus Christ alone for salvation! Have you done this publicly? Send me an email with the details, we’d love to hear your testimony!\nPreaching and Rejoicing at Calvary Rosarito!\nI have the privilege to teach in the pulpit roughly every six months. My mom always watches! This time it was during the Dodger game! I am amazed someone would rather watch a Bible study than the World Series. Thanks mom! And GO DOYERS (Dodgers)! Here is a link with some cool pictures. I start preaching at minute 38:38\nLive Stream\nHere is a post on FB from one of our friends Sandra Mata. The photos are of three new friends making a public declaration of faith in Jesus Christ and a decision to follow Christ. What do you think?\nFB Post\nRejoicing and Resting in Cuernavaca, Morelos!\nClaudia and I finally took a week off for vacation the week of October 7-13th. Cuernavaca is known as the city of eternal Spring!\nWe also took time to visit with friends Bryan and Brittany of Calvary Conexiones in Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala. Next to Claudia is Gudelia, my sister-in law Sofia’s mother and her auntie Cuquita!\nWe also took time to visit with friends Bryan and Brittany of Calvary Conexiones in Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala. Next to Claudia is Gudelia, my sister-in law Sofia’s mother and her auntie Cuquita!\nTrouble in Rosarito, BCN!\nWe often don’t post too many negatives in our blog, but as we all know, LIFE is both a battle and a blessing. God blessed us back in 2006 to purchase three lots in Rosarito and we finally sold one this past week! However, while we were on vacation, our lawyer went to the property to install a for sale sign. A neighbor came out claiming the property was his! The next day we found our sign missing and the wooden stake tossed on the ground…Theft of real estate is a huge problem in Mexico! And while all our paperwork is legitimate and in order, there is a law that allows people to take property if they can convince a judge they bought it, but the owner was “unable” to come in person to sign the sales document. This kind of fraud is very successful as so many people can’t afford a legal battle or they live elsewhere and are unaware of what’s happening. In our case, we immediately put a barbed wire fence around the lots! Thanks to my son Ben and the friends who came Sunday night to put up the fence!\nStaying healthy Mexico, BCN!\nMy favorite way to stay healthy is now mountain biking! I have a great friend, Pastor Wilson Hurtado to accompany me every week. It is a great blessing to have friends who share your passion! If you are interested, follow me on the Strava app and give me a thumbs up!\nhttps://strava.app.link/5OSkEA6scOb\nRejoicing with the DAMAS, MDVP!\nClaudia co-leads a large bilingual Bible study that is streamed online through Facebook live.Dama – lady and MDVP stands for Women of Worth and Purpose! If you are interested in watching online. Scan the QR code or send Claudia a friend request!\nPrayer requests:\nThat our personal devotional time with Jesus would continue to be priority #1 MDVP bilingual women’s study! For loving, strong and inspired leadership! Paul’s Thursday night discipleship group! For Focus and clarity. Violence and insecurity in Mexico to cause many to come to Jesus Christ! For righteous and moral leadership in all branches of government in Mexico! For more church planting financial partners to further the gospel in Mexico and South America and beyond! For comfort to the grieving as many family and friends have been laid to rest this year. For our children and their continued growth and success in all they are doing! Natalie, Lydia \u0026amp; Geoff, Benjamin, Poiema, and Cristian ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/opportunities-to-rejoice-boubion-update-november-24/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello family and friends! There is always so much happening here in Mexico, at church, at our house\u0026hellip; but we must always remember to rejoice and pray thanksgiving to God!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing,”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e1 Thessalonians 5:16-17\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA special thanks to all who regularly pray for us! Mexico frequently feels unstable and dangerous as we continually receive reports of assaults, robberies, thefts and murder. Sometimes, we hesitate to report the danger so as not to frighten or discourage you! Despite these realities, we don\u0026rsquo;t always hear or see what God is doing in the midst! In this months report, I will show you some of the wonderful things our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is doing along with some of the more challenging events and trouble that is part of life on the mission field!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Opportunities to Rejoice! - Boubion Update November 24"},{"content":"Greetings to everyone. There has been lots of rain showers in Moyobamba, Peru this past month. We are now entering the rain season. Several roads are eroded, puddles are scattered throughout the city, and there is lots of mud! It has been difficult to travel to other jungle cities, let alone going from one side of Moyobamba to the other.\nBut none of this has stopped what the Lord has been doing here in our jungle church.\nOctober 27th we celebrated the one year anniversary of Calvary Moyobamba! Here I am pictured with 2 local young men. Both have grown in their understanding of the Bible and faithfulness to the church. They have been helping during church service with Sunday school and projection.\nAfter Sunday’s service, we had a delightful time worshiping God, giving thanks to Him for His goodness, and filling our “buchisapas”. Buchisapa is Peruvian jungle slang and it means belly. It is fun to pronounce!\nTo see more photos and clips of the activities we do throughout the week, check out the Calvary Moyobamba Facebook and Instagram pages!\nIn our 1 year as a church, we have shared the gospel with more than 1000 people in our city through school outreaches, kids festivals, and evangelizing in the main square. We want to keep this going in year 2 and beyond!\nIn this picture we are with 50 middle school students in the church. They are from a local school nearby. Many of them go throughout the day without eating breakfast or lunch due to lack of resources. Once every 2 months, we feed them breakfast sandwiches and juice in the morning. In the middle is Yenry(from the Calvary Moyobamba team) sharing with them about how Jesus is the only way to heaven. Thanks to God, we have an open door to enter their classrooms to interact and share more of the Word of God.\nWe have 2 big outreaches planned for November and December. One will be in a poor neighborhood. The other will be in a more open and public place. Please pray that many come to salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. We will also invite everyone to connect with us at church.\nIn the middle of October, I had the privilege to teach at Calvary Bible Institute Peru for 2 weeks. This was extra special because it is where I graduated from and was trained to be a church planter and Pastor. The fellowship with the 50 students was my favorite part. They are so hungry for God and asked great questions in class. They completed all of their homework! And that was not easy because I gave them about 5 hours of homework each day! The class is called Self-Confrontation. It is about confronting the sins in our lives and handling them in a biblical manner. It is heavy and cuts to the heart. But it produces lots of humility.\nI also had the opportunity to teach a church planting class. The guy next to me is Pastor Joaquin of Calvary Trujillo, who translated for me. Don’t ask me what I said at this exact moment. Because I don’t remember.\nI also taught at Pastor Angel’s church (he is in the middle with glasses). He graduated from CBI Peru with me and was the first church plant through Calvary Trujillo. He is one of my best friends. It is always edifying to see him.\nIt is such a blessing to connect with Pastor Cory(my Pastor from Calvary Trujillo) and Pastor Angel. They have such big hearts for preaching the Word, equipping their church, and being part of the great commission. They also have given me great advice as a new Pastor.\nPraise God that…\nWe now have 12 people who are serving at Calvary Moyobamba.\nWe have finished all 50 chapters of the book Genesis on our mid week service. Now on to Exodus!\nThere are open doors to share the gospel in Moyobamba.\nGod is so faithful and good to us.\nPrayer for…\nWe are going to donate Bibles and Christian books to a high school about 30 minutes from the city. Pray that the books are read and that the students can learn about God and His ways.\nBeing more intentional sharing the gospel.\nSpiritual growth in our 2nd New Believers class that will start in December.\nGrowth in leadership.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/could-it-be-the-one-year-anniversary-weakland-update-october-24/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to everyone. There has been lots of rain showers in Moyobamba, Peru this past month. We are now entering the rain season. Several roads are eroded, puddles are scattered throughout the city, and there is lots of mud! It has been difficult to travel to other jungle cities, let alone going from one side of Moyobamba to the other.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut none of this has stopped what the Lord has been doing here in our jungle church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Could it be? The One Year Anniversary? - Weakland Update October 24"},{"content":"Greetings to you all. I praise God for His protection and provision for me. Thank for your continued prayers for me and the ministry.\nI live in a village that is under the power of darkness. I have been praying that the Lord\u0026rsquo;s light will shine and and He will deliver the people.\nMy father is cured from the sickness that he had been suffering with for about six yeas. Thank you for your prayers.\nI have been visiting a new village called \u0026ldquo;Bh*\u0026rdquo; to share the Gospel. Please pray for this village. May the Lord use me to start a church there.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for me. May the Lord give me wisdom in doing ministry Please pray that we would grow in knowledge of the Word of God. Thank you!\nPastor 2*\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/may-gods-light-break-the-power-of-darkness-pastor-2-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all. I praise God for His protection and provision for me. Thank for your continued prayers for me and the ministry.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI live in a village that is under the power of darkness. I have been praying that the Lord\u0026rsquo;s light will shine and and He will deliver the people.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/October-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/October-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMy father is cured from the sickness that he had been suffering with for about six yeas. Thank you for your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"May God's Light Break the Power of Darkness - Pastor 2 Update November 2024"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nDear friends and family, Thank you so much for your continued prayers. This month, you can praise God with us that:\nWe currently have a team visiting the ministry from the East Coast! God has helped me lead two contractors who have been working on our school to the Lord recently! Our pastors will be finishing their study through the entire Bible this year!\nPlease pray with us that:\nGod uses the team\u0026rsquo;s time here mightily as they lead a conference for our pastors and their wives, preach at multiple prisons and churches, and visit with our widows. The two contractors continue to grow in the Lord. That our pastors would be filled with wisdom as the apply all they are learning from Scripture.\nIn Christ, Matt, Noelle \u0026amp; Family - Email BlogUSA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\nREQUESTS: That Jenn and I are able to adjust well returning to California. Our ability to communicate well all the things we were able to be involved in, people we were able to see and magnificent works that God is doing around the world. That our son Andy would be delivered from a seemingly hopeless state of body and mind.\nPRAYERS OF GRATITUDE: Safely back home after a long and rigorous travel schedule since July. We remained healthy and reasonably pain-free throughout our journeys Able to connect well with many overseas workers.\nAll for His glory!Tim and Jenn Pappas - Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\nPray for our time in Nepal and S. Asia this month to be fruitful and productive. We have several projects that we are working on and ask for God\u0026rsquo;s continued wisdom to have them completed.\nPray for those students who are graduating from our CBI campuses in Asia this semester and returning home.\nPray that the Gospel would go forth and that they would share all they have learned from the Word with others and we would see revival in the land.\nPray for all who we ministered to at conferences, outreaches and through relief efforts, that they would know God more and fall more in love with God\u0026rsquo;s Word. The statistics, spiritual darkness, and need for Jesus is overwhelming.\nPray that we would be a light in a dark part of the world.\nThank you for praying with us, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease continue to pray for my parents’ health; for complete recovery for my dad and for a safe surgery for my mom.\nPray for wisdom for the doctors for my mom also, and that she does not have colon cancer.\nPlease pray for the children’s ministry and nursing home ministry we are part of.\nPlease pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\nPlease pray that God will use us for His glory.\nGod bless you,Paul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for the Christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.\nPlease pray for my mother’s health. She has an upcoming surgery.\nPray for safety and that she will not have colon cancer.\nPlease continue to pray for my father’s health.\nGod bless you! Joni - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nHi Friends, Here are the prayer requests for the Vincent family and Calvary Rosarito!\nPrayer Requests God\u0026rsquo;s blessing on our upcoming Christmas outreaches and events!\nA job for my college graduate (daughter) Grace!\nPeace for our church for the families of our two friends that passed to heaven last month. (Pastor Dan and Marcus)\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nDavid and Michelle Mullins - Loreto, Mexico\nDavid \u0026amp; I have become caretakers for his mom that has Cirrhosis of Liver and Chronic pain due to the necessity of a hip replacement. She desperately is trying to find a surgeon to operate.\nPlease pray the Lord would give her a thirst for a relationship with Him. She has accepted Christ but has a hard time due to her suffering and disabilities.\nPlease pray the Lord give David \u0026amp; I patience and understanding during this time.\nPray she seeks Jesus for strength and endurance.\nThank you for your prayers 🙏🏽 Blessings,David and Michelle Mullins - Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\nFor men Paul is discipling. Group is growing!\nUnity among pastors \u0026amp; leaders of Calvary Chapel.\nPastor Dan Valdez\u0026rsquo; family in the wake of his recent death.\nProperty dispute over lots we purchased 10 years ago.\nOur children to walk in Truth 3 John 4 Thanksgiving to God (Romans 8:28)\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,Paul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHere are my prayer request for this month:\nMore staff for our afterschool program For the new ministry of youth girls ages 12 to 18, that the Lord would bless these girls and that they would come to know Jesus intimately.\nFor the parents and the kids in the afterschool program, that they would come to Christ.\nContinue good health for my mom.\nThank you so much for your prayers for me and the people of Mexico! Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nHola SGWM family, thank you for always praying for us missionaries!\nEvangelism - Outreach, Classes in SOM , and the Ladies Bible studies.\nPray for our Mission trip to Mancora Peru, 18 hours north from Lima.\nSurf Outreach, Boardwalk outreaches / evangelism, and the Children festival.\nFor divine appointments and Follow - up.\nTraveling mercies and 😁 Health\nThank you from our hearts, Craig and Daisy - Email Blog\nShilo and Racquell Stratton - Peru\nPrayer requests: Understanding Trujillo and Peru culture more, and being upset over sin, not preferences\nWisdom as we try to buy a car this weekend!\nDying to ourselves and being invisible like the grain of wheat who dies.\nWisdom in disciplining Amalia.\nHealth for Racquell and new baby.\nStrength, joy, love in marriage\nBreakthroughs in discipleship with CBI students and people at church.\nBoldness in evangelism.\nThank you CCSG and SGWM prayer warriors! Aloha fuerte, Shilo and Racquell Stratton - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window The 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for me, that the Lord will give me wisdom to do the ministry.\nPlease pray that we would grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.I have been visiting a new village to share the Gospel.\nPlease pray for this village, that the Lord will use me to start a church there.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nS.K. (2)\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for:\nPlease pray that the Lord will continue to strengthen us and “give us word to open our mouths boldly to proclaim the mystery of the Gospel” (Eph. 6:19)\nPray for the new believers who go through all kinds of suffering; pray that they will be faithful to the Lord.\nThanks for your prayers! God bless, Worker 15\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge.\nPlease pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing.\nPlease pray for the village ministry in our local area. May the villagers grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nPlease pray for brother J, for an artificial left leg.\nPlease pray for the CBI students, that they will grow in the Word.\nWorker 16\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that God will bring more people into our church.\nPlease pray for my friend, S. He reads the Bible often and comes to church.\nPray that he will accept Jesus as his personal Savior.Pray that parents will allow their children to come to our church.\nPray that many people will hear the Gospel and Word of God in the area surrounding our church, and that they will accept Jesus and come to church.\nPray that we will be able to livestream our services smoothly.\nThank you so much for supporting us, praying for us and lifting us up in your prayers. God bless you all!\nGrace and Peace,Rabi and Mahima- Email BlogAcacia - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray as I am heading back to Yorba Linda on November 7th for the upcoming months. We\u0026rsquo;ll be serving at SG and planning our wedding, as well as connecting with our partners.\nI have 2 more weeks of language school, with plenty of interesting Bible conversations with my Majority teacher this past week.\nPlease pray for my conversations in class: I would like wisdom on how to share in a way that she can understand and will cause her to ask questions about her own system.\nThank you for prayers! Love you all.\n- Acacia\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPlease pray for my upcoming book project to write another evangelistic/apologetics book for Cambodia and Japan. So far, God has blessed me with the all the digital/physical research materials and equipment I need for this project. I\u0026rsquo;m trusting God to provide the human resources/volunteers and other needs that may arise along this new journey.\nPlease pray for my upcoming apologetics class at a seminary for Cambodians founded and run by Korean missionaries. I will begin teaching on November 7.\nPlease pray for health and strength for all of us during this season of ministry.\nPlease pray for wisdom and provision as we start the planning process for our next visit to the USA next summer.\nPlease pray for favor and wisdom as we renew our Cambodian visas and extend our housing lease.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-november-2024-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/5c5401fe-f7b9-4e8b-9b8f-faeef3b55e6a.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,  Thank you so much for your continued prayers.  \u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eThis month, you can praise God with us that:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe currently have a team visiting the ministry from the East Coast! God has helped me lead two contractors who have been working on our school to the Lord recently! Our pastors will be finishing their study through the entire Bible this year!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM NOVEMBER 2024 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" In many ways I’ve found the Lord to be growing and stretching me much in this season. It’s easy to keep moving and maintain in the midst of busyness, but going deep, pressing in closer, and preparing for things to come adds a different twist. I know He’s growing me in this season to not just get by, but flourish and prepare for what’s next. It takes preparation, and much more of His grace. Such a season produces an understanding of my utter inadequacies, and my great need for more of Him and less of me. Paul exhorts us in his own struggle where the Lord encourages Him in his weakness, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me,” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NKJV). He is a good God, and no matter where I find myself. If I am feeling stretched and pressed on every side, if I feel my strength dwindling—surely He desires to show Himself strong in my life. He’s not setting us up for failure. He desires our purity, our pursuit of holiness, and our life to be lived for Him more than we do. I need His help to recognize where I’m not properly relying on Him to accomplish His will. Paul had strong words for the Galatians who sought to complete the work of God, in themselves, in their own strength. Lord, please give us the grace to understand, to see, to trust and see You glorified!\nLife Lately—\nThe month of September came with a lot of work, all worthy things, and it’s amazing to see how much growth is taking place here at Calvary Trujillo and CBI Perú. There’s been a lot of progress not just physically, but spiritually. Many peripheral projects have been getting accomplished as we have many more construction minded people here now—what a blessing! Spiritually, the classes have been a blessing for the students and the discipleship that’s been taking place is always soul-searching, and pruning. I’m thankful for it all. God has been blessing me with the ability to think and relate how I need to to accomplish tasks more quickly on the administrative end. I’ve been able to help implement transcripts for all of our students and am continuing to refine and update them as the semester progresses; helping students make sure they are on track to graduate as well. God is good!\nAt the beginning of the month we were blessed to have multiple pastors here to teach the book of Mark and they were a blast to hang out with! Lot’s of cooking good food, fellowship, hard work, and fun. The guys bathroom upstairs in the new dorm has been able to get a lot more attention—praise the Lord we’re getting closer! I got to help teach the book of Isaiah which was a huge honor and blessing (if any of you would like to watch the class I can get you a link). We got to have a construction team out only for a few days, but they helped us progress quite a bit—they were a blessing to hang out and work with for sure! I finally got the girls\u0026rsquo; bathroom vanity completed as well! Leading the home fellowship group has been a blessing as well. A lot of the work was needed as well as we got ready for our annual South American Missions Conference—what a blast! I even got to build some planter boxes and plant some trees! An even bigger blessing I got was to see some family from back home when Pastor Bond and his wife came out to speak at the conference! I got to see old friends and help drive around a lot of guests and pastors. It was a blessing! I also got to see a lot of the people who are excited, prayerful, and heading up ministry in Argentina right now! We’ve even got a fruit budding on one of our trees we planted this past summer! It’s amazing to see what God is doing here, there’s been a lot of growth in a very short time—but in that the attacks of the enemy have not been lacking—praise the Lord He is greater!\nWhat’s Next—\nI was asked to go to the CBI in Brazil early in November to teach the book of Genesis and I am honored and blessed by the opportunity to get into the Word with hearts that are hungry for Jesus. Please pray for me and my preparation, that nothing would be held back. Also, that I would be filled with the Spirit and enabled to share His Word contextually, and in a way that will draw their hearts closer to Jesus! Please pray for safe travels as well! I’m also needing to renew my passport and I may do it as I pass through Lima at the American Embassy there. Other than that, it’s business as usual. We’re progressing more and more on finishing the other rooms in the new guys\u0026rsquo; dorm. We’re getting little projects done. The Lord is providing for other big works in our ministry. It’s a blessing to be a part of what the Lord is doing here at CBI Perú and Calvary Trujillo. Our semester ends November 22nd so please be praying for the students and ourselves as we get ready for graduation and want to finish well.\nOther exciting news, I already booked my flights and am going to be heading back to the States just before Christmas and will be in California for about a month. There’s much more on the horizon, and I will keep you posted as new information about the property in Argentina comes in. Currently we’re awaiting a signature to keep the ball rolling to buy the property.\nPrayer Requests—\nTeaching Genesis at CBI Brazil Travel mercies Passport renewal Continued wisdom for scheduling with students and other admin tasks Continued unity—no opportunity for the enemy Continued focus and progress on construction things That the Lord would give me wisdom on all the specifics for my trip to the States Refreshment and renewal For my lungs with my asthma (it’s been acting up quite a bit lately) and I may be fighting some kind of bacterial bug For my family back in the States Continued opportunities to share the Gospel Continued wisdom and grace to better my leadership as being a dorm steward, leading construction (alongside some of the other staff), leading administratively, teaching with Church Planting class, and for our home fellowship groups To learn quickly anything else related to running a campus That my mind would be thinking ahead enough to not only be present, but not overwhelmed in what’s to come The purchase of the property in Argentina for the new CBI there Thank you all so much for all of your love and support. Thank you for reading and keeping up with these updates. I couldn’t be here doing what I’m doing without your love, prayers, and support. You are having a far greater effect than you know and I pray the Lord blesses you and the part you’ve taken. I pray that He would encourage you in all He has for you in this season and for you to walk in where He has you. I’m excited to see what He has in store for your lives!\nThe Lord bless you and keep you,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/his-grace-is-sufficient-voisin-update-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/CB6A78B6-A4B9-4FF5-8C4A-BE8DAE6D334A-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn many ways I’ve found the Lord to be growing and stretching me much in this season. It’s easy to keep moving and maintain in the midst of busyness, but going deep, pressing in closer, and preparing for things to come adds a different twist. I know He’s growing me in this season to not just get by, but flourish and prepare for what’s next. It takes preparation, and much more of His grace. Such a season produces an understanding of my utter inadequacies, and my great need for more of Him and less of me. Paul exhorts us in his own struggle where the Lord encourages Him in his weakness, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me,” (2 Corinthians 12:9, NKJV). He is a good God, and no matter where I find myself. If I am feeling stretched and pressed on every side, if I feel my strength dwindling—surely He desires to show Himself strong in my life. He’s not setting us up for failure. He desires our purity, our pursuit of holiness, and our life to be lived for Him more than we do. I need His help to recognize where I’m not properly relying on Him to accomplish His will. Paul had strong words for the Galatians who sought to complete the work of God, in themselves, in their own strength. Lord, please give us the grace to understand, to see, to trust and see You glorified!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"His Grace Is Sufficient - Voisin Update September 2024"},{"content":" As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 1 Peter 4:10\nDear Friends and Family,\nHappy Thanksgiving!\nOften times when I am teaching I say something to the effect that we always have something to be thankful for. Even when we don’t have much or even if we are going through a hard time there is always something to be thankful for. Sometimes it is in that search for what to give thanks for that God is able to take our eyes off of ourselves and put them back on Him.\nIn this season that we have been back in Uganda I am blessed to say I do not have to search for things to be thankful for, God is so good. And as everyone in Uganda would say after that, and all the time, God is so good. Right after we got back we had an after glow service with the church. It was a beautiful time of everyone coming back to the heart of worship. We took communion together and prayed together. Our family was also able to share about our time in the states and thank the church for their prayers and the volunteers for all they did while we were away. It was a joyous reunion with our church family. Brian said we missed them and was sad that they all couldn\u0026rsquo;t have come with us but we had brought a piece of America back for them and then Luke passed out chocolate to everyone.\nMy first Wednesday back they ladies gathered at my house for Bible study. They all shared testimonies of what had gone on in their lives while I was away. I was blessed to hear from them how the study we had finished on Reflecting God continued to minister to them and they were able to apply what they had learned while I was gone. On that first study I shared about my time in the states and introduced the new topic we will be studying. Of course there was more chocolate for them. A lovely lady from my church, Julie, had sent earrings for the women so they had fun looking at them at choosing them. On the following Sunday at church most of the ladies were wearing them. They were so blessed and thankful that someone in America had thought of them. I am looking forward to how God will move in the new study we are beginning.\nWe just had a large team of pastors come through. They came to teach the refresher course for the chaplains in South Sudan. Before they went up North they spent some time with us and Arise Christian Fellowship here in Kampala. The fellowship was so nice. Having a house full of pastors is a blessing because someone is always giving a devotion, sharing an encouraging word or telling a good joke. While they were here they participated in market evangelism, open air preaching and home visits. It was raining on and off so they had to brave the rain but many people were ministered to and at least 10 received the Lord as their personal savior. The team was able to provide practical gifts such as: tea, sugar, soap, rice, and/or milk to over 70 families. Although it was raining on and off a large crowd gathered to hear the open air preaching and some people were able to find tarps to put up as a quick shelter. Some of the team were taken by a church member to the older people in the community and the shut-ins to pray for them and also share the gospel with. The team was a blessing and the community has shared with us through our church members how thankful they are.\nThe Sunday that the team was at Arise, Pastor Chris shared about keeping our eyes focused on Jesus only and serving Him with all we are. The message was very stirring and when he had finished he said that if the Lord was touching your heart to know Him and serve Him better to come forward. Almost half the church and even some of the other pastors came forward. It was so beautiful. I too want to serve my Lord better. After church the visitors were able to play with and minister to the Sunday school children during their snack time. We are truly thankful for this team.\nThank you for Praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS I am so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us in serving Him and for everyone who supports our family and the ministry in Uganda. We are thankful for our church family and for those who volunteer to serve at Arise. Pray for the volunteers to be blessed and for more church members to discover their gifts and step out into ministry. We are thankful for the team that has come and the ministry they have done. Please pray for the people who have heard the gospel and for those who received Jesus to come to church. Pray for the women\u0026rsquo;s ministry as they begin a new study. They are very thankful for the people who think and pray for them. Pray for us as a family as we continue to serve the Lord in Uganda. Pray for our spiritual life as well as our physical needs. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-kanyike-update-november-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAs each one has received a gift,\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eminister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e1 Peter 4:10\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eHappy Thanksgiving!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOften times when I am teaching I say something to the effect that we always have something to be thankful for.  Even when we don’t have much or even if we are going through a hard time there is always something to be thankful for.  Sometimes it is in that search for what to give thanks for that God is able to take our eyes off of ourselves and put them back on Him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update - Kanyike Update October 2024"},{"content":" Greetings from Mexico. This past month I had the privilege of celebrating three church plant anniversaries! The Rock Calvary Chapel in Florida and Calvary Maranatha in Mazatlan both celebrated their 8th anniversary. I was also blessed to travel to Culiacan to witness Calvary Culiacan North’s 9th anniversary! In this update, I wanted to tell you all about the great things God has done in Culiacan over the past nine years.\nHugo ended up sending out his first church plant Calvary Culiacan South after just three years in 2018! (That church became our first 2nd generation church plant). Calvary South sent out their first church plant, Calvary AguaRuto in 2021, which became our first 3rd generation church plant.\nAs you can see, there was a lot to celebrate, so I was blessed to jump on a plane and lead a team of six staffers from our church to Culiacan to join in on their celebration! For the Saturday event, we rented a large theater in the center of this city, where Hugo brought in all of his churches for a celebration. I was the featured speaker (in Spanish) and the title of my message was, “The Sending Hub of Culiacan!” We spent an amazing and joyous evening with six hundred friends celebrating all that the Lord has done.\nOne of the highlights for me personally, was to be called up to the stage with Hugo’s eleven other church planters. Hugo called me up along with my good friend Pastor Juan Domingo. If you haven’t heard Juan’s story, he was the first Calvary Chapel Missionary from the States to move to Mexico over forty years ago (at just 21 years of age) where he planted the first Calvary Chapel in the entire country. To stand with one of my spiritual hero’s (Pastor Juan), my church planter Hugo, and his eleven planters, brought me to tears.\nAt the celebration, we didn’t only celebrate God’s faithfulness, but together we sent out Hugo’s 11th church plant. Please keep this new church, Horizon Culiacan and their young Pastor Yael in your prayers. I have been blessed to send out many gifted pastors to church plant, but never have I seen a man plant churches faster than my friend Hugo!\nGod has used Hugo and his pastoral team to truly do far more than we could ever ask or imagine. Hugo has a funny saying that he often shares at our church planting conferences. Hugo tells us “I wants to plant churches in Mexico like OXXO’s!” (For those of you living in the USA, OXXO’s are our 7-Eleven’s and every city has at least 50 of them!) For a church to plant 11 churches in just 9 years is something that only God could do, but that’s exactly what we have witnessed in this key capital city of Culiacan!\nI never tire of sharing these testimonies with you our precious ministry partners, because all of this is your spiritual fruit. I want to thank you once again for partnering with us in this great missions work here in Mexico. It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God meets our physical needs. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God will bless our new (2nd generation church plant) Horizonte Culiacan in Sinaloa.\n#2- Pray that God will provide a job for our college graduate daughter Grace! (And if you know of any online businesses that are hiring, please reach out to me!)\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a wonderful and safe trip to Culiacan Sinaloa for our mission’s team!\n#2- Praise God for the 135 first time guests that visited our church last month, please pray that we can do a good job of plugging them in and discipling them.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-november-2024-missions-report/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/463885403%5F10161901875524208%5F8006413087233428434%5Fn-1-300x183.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. This past month I had the privilege of celebrating three church plant anniversaries! The Rock Calvary Chapel in Florida and Calvary Maranatha in Mazatlan both celebrated their 8th anniversary. I was also blessed to travel to Culiacan to witness Calvary Culiacan North’s 9th anniversary! In this update, I wanted to tell you all about the great things God has done in Culiacan over the past nine years.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family November 2024 Missions Report"},{"content":"It is written\nThen Peter said ” See, we have left all and followed You.“\n– Luke 18:28\nI have decided to leave all and follow Jesus.\nWhy?\nBecause He saved me and is worthy off all that I am.\nGod sent His Son from the highest of the heavens and He became a man and gave His life for me, for you, and for the world. He suffered a shameful and horrendous crucifixion; the wrath that we deserved was poured out on Him and He died in our place. Through this, He restored us unto Himself, saved us from our sin, judgement, and the eternal wrath of God, and gave to us eternal life.\nWhy?\nBecause He loves us and there is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for another. This is the good news, the Gospel that the world is dying to hear.\nWhat Now? I have uprooted my life from Washington and moved to California to be trained up to serve and share this message cross culturally. Only a day after moving to California, I hopped on a 21-hour plane ride heading from Los Angeles to Thailand. I had the amazing opportunity to be in Asia for over a month, a trip that started with a 10-day conference in Thailand. Through this conference, I had the privilege of meeting brothers and sisters from all over the world. We fellowshipped, encouraged one another, exchanged wisdom from the field, and made lifelong friendships and partners in the Gospel.\nAfter being in Thailand for ten days, I began my 3-week journey in South Asia. This leg of the trip was a \u0026ldquo;vision tour,\u0026rdquo; a time where workers are able to go to a region of the world where they feel called to and they are able to experience the culture, the work, and the need of that place. The Lord has placed South Asia on my heart, a region that is within the 10/40 window that has some of the most concentrated amounts of the lost who have little to no access to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Souls are being born, living, and dying without ever having the opportunity of choosing eternal life. I know what some of you may be thinking: \u0026ldquo;How could a loving God send someone to hell for not knowing or believing in Jesus?” God is not sending anyone to hell for not believing in Jesus, but for their sins. In the same way a just judge could not allow a convicted murderer to be set free without first paying for their crimes. God cannot allow sin to go unpunished, so He laid that punishment upon His Son Jesus Christ. This gifted forgiveness, innocence, and eternal life to all who will repent and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. (John 3:16)\nThis is the purpose of the Church: the evangelization and discipleship of the whole world, to let the world know that there is a Savior and His name is Jesus Christ.\nI\u0026rsquo;m so excited to share this journey with you all and in my next update I\u0026rsquo;ll share the good, the bad, and the hope for Southern Asia, as well as what it was like serving in the 10/40 window.\nPrayer Requests:\n• Guidance on what my exact role in the Great Commission is and where I’m to serve long term.\n• God would provide all my needs spiritually, physically, and financially.\n• That the Church would awaken to her purpose.\n• That souls would be saved.\nIf you have prayer requests, please press respond at the end of my newsletter and it will be sent to my email: Haggstromdeprii@gmail.com\nI want to thank everyone who has partnered in making this mission happen. I am so excited to share this journey with you all as we fulfill the Great Commission. Stay tuned for all that the Lord is doing.\nIf you would like to partner with me as I serve with Saving Grace World Missions, there is a giving link posted below.\nAll gifts will go towards the funding of future missions and pressing on towards the purpose of preaching Jesus in places where He has not been preached.\nMay we all continue to faithfully follow, love, obey and walk with The Lion and The Lamb.\nGod bless,\nDeprii\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/leaving-it-all-for-jesus-haggstrom-update-october-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt is written\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen Peter said ” See, we have left all and followed You.“\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– Luke 18:28\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG%5F9282-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI have decided to leave all and follow Jesus.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhy?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBecause He saved me and is worthy off all that I am.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod sent His Son from the highest of the heavens and He became a man and gave His life for me, for you, and for the world. He suffered a shameful and horrendous crucifixion; the wrath that we deserved was poured out on Him and He died in our place. Through this, He restored us unto Himself, saved us from our sin, judgement, and the eternal wrath of God, and gave to us eternal life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Leaving it All for Jesus! - Haggstrom Update October 2024"},{"content":" Greetings from San Jose de Cochiquinas. Yes, it is official, we have moved onto the mighty Amazon river into a community of 3,000 people. It is the Centro Poblado of this section of river, which means it is the center of 63 communities and the hub of ministry for us. This is the perfect place to begin to disciple local pastors and plant churches.\nWe have been here about a month and it has not been an easy adjustment. The people are wonderful, the community leaders are welcoming, but the living ain’t easy. We have a jungle home, now we know it sounds like we are living in a hut with a palm leaf thatched roof, but that isn’t the case. We were beyond blessed to have wonderful missionaries come before us and build a house and church in Cochiquinas. We just installed some more solar panels, so we have power and we have a rain catching system, so we have water but we still need to make a filtration system for the rain water. We live in a beautiful little wooden home with plenty of space for the natives to invade. Now, by natives, we don’t mean the human kind. Bullet ants, mosquitos, a pet rat that we can’t seem to trap, termites that come out at 6pm on the dot in such numbers– it is impossible to keep them out of your hair and we get more bug bites than we can count. It is hot and humid, all day, all night. This is another kind of living and it\u0026rsquo;s going to take some getting accustomed to but we know the Lord is on the throne!\nIt is so great to make plans and then watch the Lord throw a changeup. When we came here to Peru, Ryan was confident that he would not be pastoring a church or church planting. We were planning on discipling the existing pastors, and that was going to be our focus. However, after coming to Cochiquinas, the Lord has shown us the need to plant a church and pastor it as well. There is a local group of about 15 people that have been meeting. One of them is Pastor Julio, an awesome brother in the Lord. Ryan has sat down and talked with him and another brother from this group and we have decided that through much prayer, we will plant a church in March of 2025 and Ryan will Pastor it for one year. Ryan will be training both of these men in biblical teaching, biblical counseling, and biblical leadership. In January of 2026, Ryan will step into a role as an assistant and Pastor Julio will take the lead role. There are quite a few communities around our area that do not have churches, so one of our prayers is for God to bring us men to send out. This brings us to March of 2026.\nThe 2026 plan is to begin a Discipleship Center in our town. Praise God we were able to purchase a piece of property next to the church on the river and the hope is to raise enough funds to build a dormitory and class room. We are hoping to construct the building in June of ‘25 and have everything set for the following school year. The goal is to have 10 to 15 students the first year and go from there. Please keep these things in prayer as we continue to advance the gospel together.\nWe have a lot of opportunities to minister in our community. One of the biggest problems in the river communities is clean water. We are talking to community leaders about putting in a system to help alleviate that problem. Also, there is no higher education for the kids who finish school. The kids finish school at 15 or 16 years old. After that, they generally go to the coco fields to plant and harvest. This whole area is controlled by the cartel, and this is not a very bright future for the youth. We are praying for the opportunity to open a technical school that would be connected to the discipleship ministry. Teaching carpentry, agriculture, general construction, and even computer skills. The purpose would be to give the kids a spiritual education as well as teaching them an honest trade to support their future families. Please keep these things in prayer and thank you all once again for your incredible support as we seek the will of the Lord together, here in the Peruvian Amazon Jungle.\nPrayer Requests:\nDiscipleship Center Construction\nRiver Conference Oct 24-28\nNew Church Plant in Cochiquinas\nPastors and Leaders who desire to plant churches\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/preparing-the-ground-gause-update-october-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG%5F6332-222x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from San Jose de Cochiquinas.  Yes, it is official, we have moved onto the mighty Amazon river into a community of 3,000 people.  It is the Centro Poblado of this section of river, which means it is the center of 63 communities and the hub of ministry for us. This is the perfect place to begin to disciple local pastors and plant churches.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG%5F5502.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG%5F6070.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG%5F5486.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG%5F5161-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG%5F4950.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG%5F5542.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have been here about a month and it has not been an easy adjustment. The people are wonderful, the community leaders are welcoming, but the living ain’t easy. We have a jungle home, now we know it sounds like we are living in a hut with a palm leaf thatched roof, but that isn’t the case. We were beyond blessed to have wonderful missionaries come before us and build a house and church in Cochiquinas. We just installed some more solar panels, so we have power and we have a rain catching system, so we have water but we still need to make a filtration system for the rain water. We live in a beautiful little wooden home with plenty of space for the natives to invade. Now, by natives, we don’t mean the human kind. Bullet ants, mosquitos, a pet rat that we can’t seem to trap, termites that come out at 6pm on the dot in such numbers– it is impossible to keep them out of your hair and we get more bug bites than we can count. It is hot and humid, all day, all night. This is another kind of living and it\u0026rsquo;s going to take some getting accustomed to but we know the Lord is on the throne!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Preparing the Ground - Gause Update October 2024"},{"content":"Dear friends \u0026amp; family,\nDo you ever fall into a rough cycle of trying to do the right things but end up falling short each time?\nSo often as humans, we naturally want to take it upon our own strength and ability to go through life and accomplish what we need to. But the truth is so much less burdensome than this way of life. Jesus beckons us to come to Him like little children, understanding our need for utter dependency on Him. This teaching is what I always come back to (Matthew 11:25-30). The truth is that the more we depend on our own strength and “wisdom,” the further we go from God. But when we approach God eagerly with a child-like heart, understanding our great need for Him, it is to that kind of person the Lord reveals Himself.\nThese truths have been particularly speaking to mine and Geoff’s heart lately. Because as we have each grown out of childhood, have gotten married, and have begun a new life together with all kinds of new responsibilities, it is more natural to learn how to become “self-sufficient” rather than become dependent on God like a child. Afterall, aren’t all those typical steps of growing up moving you towards being an independent unit?\nYet as we put in the work for our new independent family, there must be a constant recognition of our utter need for God, otherwise we will find ourselves drifting further away from the One we were created for. Everything we have is ultimately from Him, even down to our functioning hands which allow us to work. Praise God He is our Provider and He has never let us down! When we look to our own frail capabilities or circumstances, there is anxiety. When we look to Him as a child trusts their providing father, there is peace.\nSo we write this newsletter full of gratitude in our hearts to our good Father, His gracious ways, and to all of you who He has brought into our lives. We have felt so loved by you and are grateful for your partnership in our lives thus far. May you be reminded and encouraged by these grace-filled truths of God as we have been.\nLife Updates:\nAs we enter a new year of SGWM’s Missions Training School in late October, we will resume our biblical studies and cross-cultural training. Geoff has been progressing in his videography course as well, and has begun a few exciting video projects with more to come. It is amazing to see the Lord bringing different opportunities to Geoff and I’m excited to see how the Lord uses this gift for His kingdom.\nSpeaking of which, we were recently asked to go to Hawaii to film a class at the bible college in Kauai (CBI Kauai)! Our pastor here at CC Saving Grace, Trent Douglass, will be teaching his “Purpose of the Church” block class there in November and he asked Geoff to film and edit the teaching into video classes. Please pray for a smooth recording process and for Geoff to have a peaceful and clear mind as he takes this project on. We are so excited to meet the students there who are interested in missions and to see a bit of Hawaii too of course! We will be there November 3-7.\nFinally, an update on our Japan vision tour. We are excited to spend about 3 months in Japan in the upcoming year! This will be an extended time of seeking the Lord for confirmation of our calling, a time of prayer over the country, a time of fellowship with the Japanese believers, and a time to get a better understanding of what living there would truly be like. We will get more connected with Abide Osaka church and see more of what ministry looks like there. We have hearts ready to serve however we can, but also desire to get to know the church, missionaries, and way of life first so we don’t overstep as newcomers. We will be in Osaka, Japan from January 16th to April 4th, 2025.\nWe praise God for this opportunity! Pray that He would speak to us clearly while we’re there and that the Holy Spirit would guide us and provide divine appointments in Japan. We’re also so excited to see our friends Jeff \u0026amp; Alishia Root again, who we went with to Japan earlier this year when they were planted in Osaka as SGWM missionaries! Pray the Lord reveals His will for more of us to join their team in Japan.\nThank you so much for reading another one of our updates! We really appreciate your prayers, encouragement, financial support, and email responses! We feel so loved by your care! May God bless you abundantly for your kingdom partnership. Until next time!\nSincerely,\nGeoff \u0026amp; Lydia\nA few moments from the last month:\nPraise Reports:\nGod is so good and gracious, the only One we can fully depend on! We get to visit CBI Kauai and film Trent’s “Purpose of the Church” block class. God provided the temporary housing we needed for the 2 months leading up to our Japan vision tour (thank you Gerry \u0026amp; Becca!\u0026lt;3) We’re going back to Osaka, Japan for an extended vision trip! God is providing more opportunities for Geoff to grow his skill and passion for videography! Lydia is growing more in her understanding of the Japanese language through both her 1-on-1 training with Mirei and independent study. Prayer Requests:\nPray for a smooth filming process of Trent’s class at CBI Kauai and that God would continue to speak to the students through those teachings. Pray the Lord would raise up and send more laborers to Japan, a very spiritually dry country in need of the hope of the gospel! Pray that we would keep depending on the Lord for strength and endurance as we enter another rigorous year of MTS. Pray for our personal times with the Lord, that our love for God would grow and He would teach us more about Himself. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/theres-peace-in-dependency-hamano-update-october-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear friends \u0026amp; family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDo you ever fall into a rough cycle of trying to do the right things but end up falling short each time?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo often as humans, we naturally want to take it upon our own strength and ability to go through life and accomplish what we need to. But the truth is so much less burdensome than this way of life. Jesus beckons us to come to Him like little children, understanding our need for utter dependency on Him. This teaching is what I always come back to (Matthew 11:25-30). The truth is that the more we depend on our own strength and “wisdom,” the further we go from God. But when we approach God eagerly with a child-like heart, understanding our great need for Him, it is to that kind of person the Lord reveals Himself.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"There’s Peace in Dependency - Hamano Update October 2024"},{"content":"Hi friends and family!!\nThank you for your love, support, and prayers through the years for our family.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been a wonderful adventure being able to continually witness God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness.\nWe pray you are all doing well when reading this update!! The Mission for children / La Mision para niños We keep serving at this wonderful ministry that God planted in our hearts since I was 19 years old (26 years ago). It\u0026#39;s our joy to announce we have a new family, the Cruz family!!! Anna and Belo served on staff at La Mision as singles for several years, then they got married almost 2 years ago and now feel the call to serve as a family at the Mission, its been a wonderful blessing to have them back at home!! We always have new staff coming and going during the year. We\u0026#39;re so grateful for our amazing single staff: Blanca, Estefani, Yair, Karolina, Zimri, Ashley, Aneli, Lisa, Gedeon, Cora, Elaina, and Pearl. It brings joy to our hearts and comfort to our souls to witness God\u0026#39;s faithfulness every time for every need we face each day. We\u0026#39;re so thankful for the churches and groups that visit home. They bring rest to all our staff and fun times of sharing the Word, snacks, board games etc. At the moment we are focused on obtaining the Mission\u0026#39;s operating license again. This takes time, finances, and different courses such as: Civil protection, drills, what to do in case of a fire, earthquake, etc. Although all of this represents work, it\u0026#39;s something extra because in the middle of any activity we never stop caring for the Mission\u0026#39;s kids. Our amazing staff always makes us laugh as we live together in the midst of any situation, and that is a beautiful blessing. AZAFF\u0026#39;S ADVENTURES Our family adventures seem to never end. Our journey with our son Azaff started an the end of 2019 when he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his brain. He received 2 surgeries within a week to remove the tumor, and they were able to remove about 95% (the rest was too dangerous to remove). Since then, he has been improving little by little until this day. Jesus is with us at every step of the this adventure with our beloved son Azaff. Even though he\u0026#39;s been losing his vision slowly, he graduated from middle school this past July. It\u0026#39;s been so challenging for him but he does not give up!! At his graduation he sang a beautiful song named, \u0026#34;God Knows What He Does.\u0026#34; The doctor recommended for him to learn Braille and keep doing therapy for fine motor skills. He also needs to keep practicing rock climbing; that eye-hands-and-feet therapy helps him a lot, so we will continue going to San Diego once a week for that therapy. He is still on medication for seizures, sometimes it\u0026#39;s difficult because of finances but we keep trusting our amazing God and resting on Him in the midst of all circumstances. Prayer requests: 1. Please pray for strength, wisdom, joy, and all the fruits of the Spirit for me in homeschooling our kids. Azaff is now in 9th grade and Abdiel in 8th grade. 1. Please pray for provision for the medical treatment, traveling expenses, and rock climbing therapy expenses. 1. Strength and joy to our wonderful Mission kids, staff, and families. 1. Also, if you would like to bless our staff with snacks or anything, you can send them packages to: La Mision para niños P. O. BOX 460 Tecate CA 91980 With so much love The Rivera Family Miguel, Zurisadai, Conchita, Azaff, Abdiel. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/rivera-family-update-july-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi friends and family!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your love, support, and prayers through the years for our family.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s been a wonderful adventure being able to continually witness God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"highlight\"\u003e\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\" style=\"color:#f8f8f2;background-color:#272822;-moz-tab-size:4;-o-tab-size:4;tab-size:4;\"\u003e\u003ccode class=\"language-fallback\" data-lang=\"fallback\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWe pray you are all doing well when reading this update!!\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Mission for children / La Mision para niños\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWe keep serving at this wonderful ministry that God planted in our hearts since I was 19 years old (26 years ago).\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt\u0026#39;s our joy to announce we have a new family, the Cruz family!!! Anna and Belo served on staff at La Mision as singles for several years, then they got married almost 2 years ago and now feel the call to serve as a family at the Mission, its been a wonderful blessing to have them back at home!!\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWe always have new staff coming and going during the year. We\u0026#39;re so grateful for our amazing single staff: Blanca, Estefani, Yair, Karolina, Zimri, Ashley, Aneli, Lisa, Gedeon, Cora, Elaina, and Pearl.\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eIt brings joy to our hearts and comfort to our souls to witness God\u0026#39;s faithfulness every time for every need we face each day.\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWe\u0026#39;re so thankful for the churches and groups that visit home. They bring rest to all our staff and fun times of sharing the Word, snacks, board games etc.\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAt the moment we are focused on obtaining the Mission\u0026#39;s operating license again. This takes time, finances, and different courses such as: Civil protection, drills, what to do in case of a fire, earthquake, etc. Although all of this represents work, it\u0026#39;s something extra because in the middle of any activity we never stop caring for the Mission\u0026#39;s kids. Our amazing staff always makes us laugh as we live together in the midst of any situation, and that is a beautiful blessing.\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAZAFF\u0026#39;S ADVENTURES\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOur family adventures seem to never end. Our journey with our son Azaff started an the end of 2019 when he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his brain. He received 2 surgeries within a week to remove the tumor, and they were able to remove about 95% (the rest was too dangerous to remove). Since then, he has been improving little by little until this day.\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eJesus is with us at every step of the this adventure with our beloved son Azaff.\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEven though he\u0026#39;s been losing his vision slowly, he graduated from middle school this past July. It\u0026#39;s been so challenging for him but he does not give up!! At his graduation he sang a beautiful song named, \u0026#34;God Knows What He Does.\u0026#34;\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe doctor recommended for him to learn Braille and keep doing therapy for fine motor skills. He also needs to keep practicing rock climbing; that eye-hands-and-feet therapy helps him a lot, so we will continue going to San Diego once a week for that therapy. He is still on medication for seizures, sometimes it\u0026#39;s difficult because of finances but we keep trusting our amazing God and resting on Him in the midst of all circumstances.\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePrayer requests:\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1. Please pray for strength, wisdom, joy, and all the fruits of the Spirit for me in homeschooling our kids. Azaff is now in 9th grade and Abdiel in 8th grade.\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1. Please pray for provision for the medical treatment, traveling expenses, and rock climbing therapy expenses.\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1. Strength and joy to our wonderful Mission kids, staff, and families.\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e1. Also, if you would like to bless our staff with snacks or anything, you can send them packages to:\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLa Mision para niños\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eP. O. BOX 460\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eTecate CA 91980\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith so much love\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Rivera Family\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMiguel, Zurisadai, Conchita, Azaff, Abdiel.\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003c/div\u003e","title":"Rivera Family Update July-September 2024"},{"content":" Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.\nEphesians 3:20-21\nCan someone please pinch me?! This is how I’ve felt for the past month. I have been praying this whole year to come back to Japan and it finally happened again! This time I have the opportunity to stay here for two months! And if that wasn’t enough, I had the blessing of attending the Asia CCA Missions Conference in Thailand! But wait… there’s more… the last stop was in the Middle East. I truly am blessed beyond measure. This is exceedingly abundantly above all that I could ever ask or think. This is a result of saying yes to Jesus! Yes, Lord send me!\nSeek God\nDuring the first week of the trip we got to show a couple of people around Osaka. They also are praying about possibly moving to Japan \u0026amp; sure enough, their heart grew for the people! It is so exciting to see a team slowly building on this side of the world. This is the true purpose of a Vision Tour, of my time here in Japan as well. It is to seek God and pray over the country and the people. As you have noticed, it is a gradual process. It started off as a 2-week trip, to now a 2-month trip, to soon a couple of years here, God willing. It is a way to be fully immersed in the culture and the language before making the full-time decision of moving here. And let me tell ya, I feel completely immersed! Full send!! I will share more about my time in Japan in my next newsletter. Stay tuned!\nHeroes in the Faith\nOur next stop for ten days was in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Over the past year I have read so many biographies of missionaries, but to meet them in person was another thing! You hear stories of Jim \u0026amp; Elizabeth Elliot going to tribes in the jungle and how he gets killed by the tribe, but the wife comes back and they all get saved. We had the honor of hearing those same stories from people all over the world! For example- one of the ministries that was started in Asia, sprung out from a pastor being killed by the tribe. Years later, God spoke to this man and told him to go back to that village to preach the gospel. He obeyed, left early in the morning, and the village got saved!\nAfter the main conference, Saving Grace World Missions held their own conference from their own missionaries working in different parts of Asia. There were about 50 people! Some who have given their whole lives to share the gospel. And not just that, but all the trials and persecution that come with it in their specific countries. In one closed country, a man shared about being beaten and incarcerated because of his faith. These are normal things that they experience. It was like walking into a red carpet event, except this was like walking in the hall of faith. We got to meet many of the heroes in the faith!\nLight in a Dark Place\nThe last part of the trip was in the Middle East. As most of you may know, I have had a heart for the Middle East since I was little. The purpose of this trip was to meet with the current team in the Middle East, as well as seek God and His will. My heart remained open during my days there, as I embraced the culture, the people, and the food. I was highly encouraged as we met with many workers there from all over the world! The highlight of the trip for me was seeing the Latino community, specifically the Brazilian community, being a light in a dark place. I’m glad I got the opportunity to go, to encourage my friends that are praying about moving there.\nGoing up to the Citadel, a historical place with ancient ruins dating back to the Bronze Age, we were able to overlook and pray over the country as a team. I was amazed looking at the horizon, seeing house stacked upon house, upon house, hundreds and thousands of people who are lost without Jesus. And the Lord spoke to my heart- He showed me a flock of birds, what looked like doves, going about in different parts of the city. All together, all reflecting the love of the Father to all peoples. Even with the call to prayer going on in the background, my heart felt compassion for the people. I was encouraged to hear that the Lord is sending out laborers into His harvest!\nPraise Reports\nWe made it safely to all the countries- thank you all for your prayers, we couldn’t have done it without y’all!! The conference was refreshing and uplifting- it ignited a fire from underneath us! God is sending out workers in all parts of the world- it\u0026rsquo;s so exciting to be a part of His work! I applied for my Visa paperwork- please be praying for God’s will and His timing! Prayer Requests\nPlease join me in prayer for those in restricted and persecuted countries- may they be filled with the Spirit and continual boldness in sharing the Good News! Please continue to pray for the Middle East- may they also turn to Jesus during these moments of turmoil! Please continue to pray for more laborers! Please pray for my time back in Japan- for wisdom and understanding in language learning, as well as open doors to sharing the Gospel! The Lord has truly given me His peace that surpasses all understanding being back in Japan. I’m more than confident in knowing this is exactly where He wants me. I’m blessed beyond measure for your prayers- I have witnessed the hedge of protection around not only myself, but the team as a whole. I’m extremely blessed for your faithful partnership on this journey.\nMay God supply all your needs according to HIS riches in glory by Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:19). \u0026lt;3\n-MAYRA ALEJANDRA\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blessed-beyond-measure-solorzano-update-october-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG%5F5003-300x134.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him \u003cem\u003ebe\u003c/em\u003e glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEphesians 3:20-21\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCan someone please pinch me?! This is how I’ve felt for the past month. I have been praying this whole year to come back to Japan and it finally happened again! This time I have the opportunity to stay here for two months! And if that wasn’t enough, I had the blessing of attending the Asia CCA Missions Conference in Thailand! But wait… there’s more… the last stop was in the Middle East. I truly am \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eblessed\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ebeyond measure\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e. This is exceedingly abundantly above all that I could ever ask or think. This is a result of saying yes to Jesus! Yes, Lord send me!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessed Beyond Measure - Solorzano Update October 2024"},{"content":" And He is the head of the Body, the church…that in all things He may have preeminance.\nColossians 1:18\nThis past month has been a very blessedly busy month for my family and I. I taught an intensive Christology class, organized a day retreat for the men of the international church, and (because of the central location of the Christology class) I had the opportunity to fellowship with other missionaries/tentmaker missionaries as well. I also helped Soksan, the founder of Light Times Magazine, to film a testimony of Ps. Dara of Faith Family Church/Sonshine Kids School. He used to help translate my apologetics/evangelistic video scripts, and I’m a guest teacher at his church and school).\nOne of the main passages of the Christology class was Colossians 1:15-20. One of the blessings (and sometimes challenges to be honest…) of where God has positioned me in the Body is that I’m, as one Japanese pastor put it, “a bridge.” Sometimes I feel like I’m a ligament and a cartilage between the bones of the Body (denominations, cultures, nations, languages, and other doctrinal differences etc.). This month, the Christology class reminded me that Christ is the head of His Body and that the blessings outweigh the challenges by far.\nFor example, my fellowhip opportinities with other missionaries and tentmakers, really encouraged and strengthened me. I am blessed to have various key relationships that remind me of Paul’s relationships with Barnabas, Silas, and Timothy. I also think of Apollos\u0026rsquo; relationship with Aquilla and Priscilla. Some missionaries have been and continue to be mentors and co-laborers. I’m able to encourage and equip them as well, even though we come from different nations and denominational backgrounds.\nI was blessed that of the 13 men who were able to go out for a retreat/recharge event, I was the only westerner. The rest of the men were from various parts of broader Asia and Africa. This was our first event beyond the international church facility. Lord willing, we hope to be able to do an outreach with another mission organization before the end of the year (or possibly early 2025). I also fellowship with another men’s ministry that has more western men, so that is a blessing too.\nI continue to work under the umbrella of Light Association/Light Times Magazine with Soksan and Linat, the founders. We are in the process of transitioning the magazine from print to digital and other activities as well. One of our immediate hurdles now is starting a website that has all the capabilities needed for such a project. Please pray for wisdom and provision for this undertaking.\nThis was my second time teaching the Christology class and so it went much smoother than two years ago. I believe and trust that the students learned from the class and I know that I learned a lot in the process of teaching. We learned about true Christian unity and discernment under the headship of Christ and much more. I discovered that Christology class is a great follow up to the Apologetics class that I usually teach at two different Bible schools. These lessons also helped me with sharing about discernment at a prayer meeting and speaking on 1 Thessalonians 5:19-22 at the main service of the international church (also a very diverse congregation).\nI’m thankful that Kayo and Benjamin were willing and able to bear more burdens during this past month so that I could go out so much. I’m also thankful to be able to work from home (so I can help around the house) most of the time. Kayo continues to lead the women’s ministry at the international church, please pray for her and her team as they plan their retreat. She also continues to serve with Precious Women organization in various roles. She’s also busy preparing to host guests and a team from Japan around the end of the year and organizing their projects etc. Benjamin has been busy studying for some major standardized tests that will impact his future college applications, so please pray for strength and wisdom for him as well.\nPlease pray for health, wisdom, and strength in many ways for us as well. There’s more to say, but this is getting long. We are blessed by those who support and encourage us with prayer, finances, and other ways. You all also represent a very broad spectrum of the Body. We thank Christ, the Head, for each one of you.\nIn Christ’s Love and Care,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/christ-the-head-of-the-body-record-update-october-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnd He is the head of the Body, the church…that in all things He may have preeminance\u003c/em\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eColossians 1:18\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/photo%5F2024-10-09-08.30.22-768x576-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/photo%5F2024-10-09-08.31.19-768x432-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/photo%5F2024-10-09-08.39.11-768x576-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/462230061%5F10161494072384618%5F7962563291332638991%5Fn-768x576-1-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month has been a very blessedly busy month for my family and I. I taught an intensive Christology class, organized a day retreat for the men of the international church, and (because of the central location of the Christology class) I had the opportunity to fellowship with other missionaries/tentmaker missionaries as well. I also helped Soksan, the founder of Light Times Magazine, to film a testimony of Ps. Dara of Faith Family Church/Sonshine Kids School. He used to help translate my apologetics/evangelistic video scripts, and I’m a guest teacher at his church and school).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Christ: The Head of the Body - Record Update October 2024"},{"content":"Family! I write this month\u0026rsquo;s newsletters with a heart that is filled with gratitude. While it has been a busy season for me, I have had a few weeks to sit back and see all that God has done and wants to do. Let me tell you… I cannot believe it. To think that a few years ago my mentality was a lot different than what it is now. I was once focused on things that did not really matter or things that would never make an impact on the kingdom of God. But little by little the Lord changed my heart and switched my focus to see the reason we as believers are here on this earth! So, with this heart change and call on my life, I continue to seek the Lord and be diligent to do what He has called me to do…. Go and make disciples of all nations!\nIn my last newsletter, I mentioned the vision tours I would be taking this month. Well, today it is finally starting. I am currently in the Middle East where I will spend the first part of my vision tour. I will be in the ME for one month and in South Asia for three. As exciting as this sounds, I want to be clear on what these trips are for. It is called a vision tour because I am going to get vision from the Lord. The last thing I want it to sound like is a vacation. There I will see the land, be trained in cross-cultural ministry in the 10/40 window, and seek the Lord as to what He wants to do. So, I am buckling up for a ride I’ve yet to go on. I love what my pastor always says, it’s “a venture of faith”. I’m ready!\nSent! This month came with awesome opportunities. I had the honor and privilege of sharing the vision and call on my life with my SOLA family, my home church. I had never spoken in front of a crowd like that, so for me it was big and very nerve racking. But the Lord helped me get up there and share what He wanted the church to hear. I pray that much fruit will come out of Calvary Chapel South Los Angeles. Please pray for me! I felt very loved by my spiritual family. I want to say thank you once more for all of you who have poured into my life and have loved me to the fullest, I am incredibly grateful to have a home at SOLA. To be sent from my church that Sunday was something I never thought would happen. All glory to God!\nThat Sunday, we also sent out a team to Colombia. I was blessed to be a part of this team that the Lord handpicked. Our time serving with Calvary Cartagena and Tierra Bomba was something I will never forget. The Lord is doing a great work in Colombia, and we got to be a part of it and witness it firsthand. The love that the servants there have for the people of Colombia is awesome. Not only are they faithful to the labor God has called them to but they do it with a heart full of the joy of the Lord. That is something that I want for my life. To serve God and people, love God and people, and not only that, but to do it with the joy of the Lord.\nGoing! I thank you for your continued support in my calling through your prayers, finances, love, and time. Please send me your prayer requests so I know how to pray for you too. If you are interested in partnering with me in the work of the Gospel for the first time or in new ways, I invite you to prayerfully consider one or more of the following:\nPrayer: As I spend some time in different countries, there can be a lot of fear of the unknown. Not only from me, but my family as well. Please pray for my safety as I come and go from different places and pray for peace for my family. Also, as I go, that I would seek Him first and be a blessing to the workers I will be staying with. Please pray that my time on these vision tours are fruitful and that He would be glorified.\nFinancially: My heart is that you would be apart of what God is going to do in taking the gospel to the Unreached. If you feel led to give a one time donation or monthly support, that would be a blessing to me. As of now, this financial support will cover the cost of flights, on the ground stay, language school, food, etc.\nEncouragement: If you are not already signed up for my newsletter, I encourage you to sign up! This is where I give monthly updates and prayer requests, so you know what’s going on. I have started a group chat on an app called Signal. This is where I will be giving day to day updates about what I am doing and how you can keep praying. Please download the app Signal first and let me know if you would like to be in this group chat.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vacay-or-vision-rangel-september-update-24/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFamily! I write this month\u0026rsquo;s newsletters with a heart that is filled with gratitude. While it has been a busy season for me, I have had a few weeks to sit back and see all that God has done and wants to do. Let me tell you… I cannot believe it. To think that a few years ago my mentality was a lot different than what it is now. I was once focused on things that did not really matter or things that would never make an impact on the kingdom of God. But little by little the Lord changed my heart and switched my focus to see the reason we as believers are here on this earth! So, with this heart change and call on my life, I continue to seek the Lord and be diligent to do what He has called me to do…. Go and make disciples of all nations!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vacay or Vision? - Rangel September Update 24"},{"content":" Some would see language as a barrier, I saw an opportunity. As some of you who have been following my newsletters know, my last update was on my way to the Cora tribe. A tribe located in Mexico that had not been impacted by the gospel yet. We flew to Culiacan, Mexico, and then took an 11-hour bus ride up a mountain. Upon arriving, our pastors had to meet with the counsel men of the tribe to get permission to stay. Permission was granted, so we went to work setting up tents and tidying up. We were able to hang with a few of the kids who were curious as to why we were there. They spoke mostly their own language, separate from Spanish. But rather than seeing it as a huge hurdle I had to jump, the Lord showed me it was an opportunity for love. So, with my mediocre braiding skills, some of us girls started braiding the girls’ hair and they did ours! It was a moment that reminded me how much my actions matter to those I am sharing Christ with, and it was a great start to our weekend there!\nI love how the Lord shows me things in such simplicity. While I was braiding one of the girls’ hair, she had knots in her hair and we didn’t have a brush. So I began to take each knot out of her hair one by one and the Lord reminded me of His love for this girl. When I was younger I would cry while getting my hair brushed, so my dad would come and take each knot out one by one. And the Lord spoke to me, “remember that love your dad showed you? I love her way more than that.” And I began to try to comprehend God’s love for this little girl, then His love for the whole village, which then reminded me of how much He loves me! And I was overwhelmed. And it set my perspective for that whole trip, that God loves the Cora people, He sees them, and desires to know them. So a question I’d encourage you all with is: How does God’s love for people and yourself, challenge you in your faith?\nOverall God did amazing things there at the Cora tribe! There was great unity within the team, nobody got majorly sick, and the Gospel was shared! We held the first ever church service there that Sunday and held an outreach as well! We saw a great response from the tribe and about 30 people gave their lives to the Lord that Sunday! A few people got saved as well the night before at the outreach. The only thing is that they need bibles as well as someone there to teach the Word and disciple them! So please keep them in your prayers that the Lord would stir it in someone’s heart to stay there and help plant a church!\nI will have a section on my blog with more in-depth stories from the tribe as there is just too much to share here! I would also love to chat more via email, text, or even over coffee sometime about all that God did those 6 weeks and is doing in my life currently. And beyond anything else, I hope you can come alongside me in a few prayer requests as well.\nPray for the Cora people (Pastor Antonio will be going back with bibles for them in November) Pray I would walk confidently in the calling God has placed before me Pray I would continue to seek the Lord for direction in my calling Pray I would be a bold witness of my faith to my family and community around me! Pray for fresh vision with the Youth and Young Adult Ministries here at CCSG Pray for the upcoming MTS school year! Love you all! Thank you for following my journey through CSOM.\nGod Bless You!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/speaking-another-language-by-hair-braiding-keeler-update-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/98e1bbe9-1161-43d9-90d7-a92f7641408b.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSome would see language as a barrier, I saw an opportunity. As some of you who have been following my newsletters know, my last update was on my way to the Cora tribe. A tribe located in Mexico that had not been impacted by the gospel yet. We flew to Culiacan, Mexico, and then took an 11-hour bus ride up a mountain. Upon arriving, our pastors had to meet with the counsel men of the tribe to get permission to stay. Permission was granted, so we went to work setting up tents and tidying up. We were able to hang with a few of the kids who were curious as to why we were there. They spoke mostly their own language, separate from Spanish. But rather than seeing it as a huge hurdle I had to jump, the Lord showed me it was an opportunity for love. So, with my mediocre braiding skills, some of us girls started braiding the girls’ hair and they did ours! It was a moment that reminded me how much my actions matter to those I am sharing Christ with, and it was a great start to our weekend there!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Speaking Another Language...By Hair Braiding? - Keeler Update September 2024"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\n- Pray for the Kanyikes as they adjust to being back in Uganda. They all returned with colds and the flu (it may be covid because it is lasting long). - Pray for paperwork that needs to be completed in Uganda now that the children are US citizens. - Pray that the ministry NGO renewal is finalized. - Pray for the ministries as Brian prepares his teachings for Sunday and Jill begins her women\u0026rsquo;s Bible study. - Pray for the Kanyikes as they get the guesthouse and logistics ready for a team coming in October. - Pray for safety as there is a terrorist alert in Kampala till the end of September.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\nWe want to praise God for all of you! Your prayers are coveted and answered.\nFor this month please pray: - For the Koinonia Center. We hope to finish it this year. - For the school farm. That area received too much rain, which may spoil our planted beans for the children. - For the sports ministry. The professional league is starting this month. We pray God will be glorified and for lives changed. - For the renewal of our NGO status for the church; for God’s favor as the government is getting strict with so many fake NGOs. - For Vincent’s dual citizenship papers and also for the work permits of our intern, worship leader, and the worship leader\u0026rsquo;s wife. For our health. I will be seeing a doctor in the capital.\nThank you!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email BlogUSA\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n- Praise God we celebrated 25 years of marriage this month! - Pray as we lead a team to Nepal this month. Pray for safety, good health, and fruitful ministry. - Pray for the conferences we will be hosting in Nepal. Pray for a time of refreshment for the nationals who will come together from all over the country to be further equipped. - Pray for the current students who are being discipled throughout Asia and Africa and for many more churches to be planted.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n- Please continue to pray for my parents’ health.\n- Please pray for health this winter for my children, and that they will grow to love Jesus more and more.\n- Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\n- Please pray that God will use us for His glory.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n- Please pray for the Christians in South Asia who are going through persecution.\n- Please pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health.\n- Please pray for the children’s ministry we are a part of. Pray that many children will come to know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email BlogMexico\nJenna Pepin – Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico\n- Pray for peace and order to be restored in our city, Culiacán. - Pray for the families who have suffered as a result of the drug war in our city. - Pray for wisdom for our government officials, pastors, and heads of families as they make decisions on our behalf.\nJenna Pepin - Email Blog\nJon and Allison Brechtel - Oaxaca, Mexico\nPrayer requests from Oaxaca!\n- Please pray for the health of Sandra and Natalia, two women in our church who are very sick. And please pray for their families. - Please pray for continued unity within the church. - Please pray for the opportunity for us to one day buy a van or a bigger car for the church. Many people here don’t have cars and when we have events, there isn’t enough transportation. Also, when teams come, this would be a huge help. Our personal car has been having lots of problems since we got it. - Please pray for our continued learning of Spanish. Mainly for Jonny and Noah because they still aren’t speaking it much. - Please pray that the Lord would continue to grow the men and women who are leaders in the church in their walks with Him.\nThank you for keeping us in your prayers while we have the blessing of serving the Lord here in Oaxaca.\nGod bless!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah - Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease pray:\n- For my men\u0026rsquo;s discipleship group. Pray for the men to grow! - For the women\u0026rsquo;s bilingual study. Pray for the Lord to bring more faithful servants and leaders. - For my children to walk with God! (3 John 4) - For unity in the ministry, both internally and internationally.\n- For the upcoming men\u0026rsquo;s retreat in Mexico (October 4-6).\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nThanks for your prayers—I cherish them!\nPraise Reports:\n- We had our first gathering with girls ages 12-18 on Saturday. I’ve been praying for this for many months and for new ministries starting once a month. - My mom is doing so well lately! She was accepted in the PACE program and is so happy and pain free! This is because of all your prayers!\nPrayer Requests:\n- For the Lord to raise up a servant in the afterschool program. We lost one staff member, and another is leaving in December. - For Pastor Federico and family—health and healing. (His wife, Nena had a ruptured appendix and was hospitalized in Tijuana for a week. Nena‘s mom is at a hospital in San Diego recovering from an 8-hour brain surgery to remove a tumor). - For much needed WISDOM for me and GUIDANCE by the Holy Sprit!\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n- Prayer that the local servants of Calvary Moyobamba grow in wisdom, good reputation, and fullness of the Holy Spirit.\n- Prayer that Calvary Moyobamba understands the grace of God and what it does for the Christian life. - Thanks to God for the rain recently. Many parts of the rain forrest are burning. May the Lord send more rain. - Thanks to God for the families who are being reconciled to God.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion. (Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons).\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for the area affected by the floods; may God help everyone recover what they have lost.\n- Please pray for brother SKD and his family, that they will continue to grow in the Lord. This brother has joined CBI; may God give him wisdom and understanding to learn.\n- Please pray for CBI new semester sessions. May God help all of the teacher to teach well, and may He open the minds of the students to understand the Bible.\n- Please continue to pray for my daughter and her studies.\n- Continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church.Please pray for me and my family, that the Lord will use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nWorker 3 Worker 10\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray for the believers in our village, that they will be stronger in the Gospel of the Lord and not misled by anyone.\n- Pray for “Th” village, a very large village. The people there consider themselves to be of high caste. There is a lot of untouchability and discrimination here, and idol worship. Pray that the Lord will change the hearts of those to whom I have preached the Gospel. Pray that they will know the truth and that many souls will be saved in the village.\n- Pray for me, that when I visit “Th” village, no demonic force will stop me. Also pray that I will be able to spread the Gospel of Jesus there very boldly, so that everyone will know the truth.\n- Pray for a new family who have just opened a shop in the market and have given their lives to the Lord. Pray that the Lord will take care of them and support them in their sorrows when people bring trouble into their lives. Pray that they will believe in the Lord and no satanic force will mislead them.\n- Next to our village is a small village where a young widow and her young children live. I have preached the Gospel to her, and she believes in the Lord. Pray that she will completely surrender to the Lord and that God will help her with all of the problems in her life—health and financial related.\n- Pray for me, that the Lord will open new doors and give me new villages to go to, and that many souls will be saved. Pray for my health, that I will be fully healed so that I can perform my ministry well.\n- Pray for my church building that is not yet complete. Some things remain to be finished, like lighting, doors and tiles. May God work things out so that they will happen quickly.\n- Pray for the region I live in. It is raining a lot this time of year. Landslides are happening everywhere. Pray that God will take care of us during this time and protect us, and that we can spread the Gospel to all the superstitious so that they will know the truth.\n- Please pray for my mom. She has been in the hospital for 9 days. She had typhoid fever, and she has not fully recovered. Pray that the Lord will heal her completely.\n- Pray for my elder brother and his wife, who is a believer. Both of them are not in good health; pray for healing. My elder brother was preparing for a civil services job, and due to his health he is not able to do the preparations well. My sister-in-law has a heart related problem and is on daily medication. My whole family is ill. Pray to the Lord to give good health to my family.\nMay the Lord bless you! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah!\nThank you! Worker 10\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPraise Points:\n- A family in our church was persecuted. The grandfather, who did not believe, gathered the people of the whole village and called the police to get his son and his family out of the village. But the police fully supported the family in our church and said that they could not stop anyone from believing in Christ. The family is in their village now. Praise the Lord!\n- Glory to God, there has been no flooding in our area yet!\nPrayer Points:\n- Please pray that God strengthens our church members in faith, and that they can understand the Word more deeply.\n- In the days ahead, we will be going to many new places to spread the good news. May God help us and protect us and fulfill every need.\n- Please pray for our protection from Hindu fundamentalists. Hindu festival season started in my place; during that time, they attack churches and pastors.\n- A land survey is going to be done in our village. Many different people are claiming that the land where our church is built is their land. The court case about it has been going on for about 20 years.\nMay God help us so that no injustice happens to us.\nMay God bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- The capital city of our state (where I live) is a big hub for people. People from different parts of the state live here. Pray that we can share the Word of God to each of them, that people can get saved, and that the Gospel will spread to the rest of the state!\n- Pray for the places where we are serving. May God’s glory be made known in these places. Also pray for our vision to have a church in every village.\n- Pray that God will provide for all of our needs.\n- Pray for our jail ministry, that more people will know about the living God, and that they will be set free from darkness. If anyone is interested in jail ministry and would like to teach me and help me minister there, please contact me.\n- Pray for a piece of land for the church, so that we can have our own place where we can glorify God’s name.\nThank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers!\n- Worker 12\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\n- Please pray for “D,” a former student who has begun ministry.\n- Please pray for “J” a student who has begun ministry and that he will be able to pastor his father’s church.\n- Please pray for a 23 year old couple who are sold out for Jesus and love to teach the Bible. They graduated; pray that God will use them powerfully.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nDear Praying Friends,\nThanks for your prayer cover. God has been opening many exciting doors for ministry in the areas of evangelism, Bible teaching (Christology), preaching, encouraging, and helping local ministries develop and thrive.\n- Please pray for wisdom and physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional strength during this very exciting time. Also, please pray for a time of rest and recharging afterwards, Lord willing, most of October and November. - Please pray for our family relationships to deepen and thrive despite the pressures (no matter how rewarding) we are experiencing during this season. We are thankful for many supportive relationships with fellow believers both here in Cambodia, and around the world.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-october-2024-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Pray for the Kanyikes as they adjust to being back in Uganda. They all returned with colds and the flu (it may be covid because it is lasting long).   \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for paperwork that needs to be completed in Uganda now that the children are US citizens. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray that the ministry NGO renewal is finalized. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for the ministries as Brian prepares his teachings for Sunday and Jill begins her women\u0026rsquo;s Bible study. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for the Kanyikes as they get the guesthouse and logistics ready for a team coming in October. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for safety as there is a terrorist alert in Kampala till the end of September.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM OCTOBER 2024 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"(Español abajo)\nPraise God we were able to have our first Quinceañera at our church in April! One of our youth kids, Andrea, had her 15th birthday party and ceremony at the church. It was a beautiful party and we were blessed to be a part of it! We are also very proud of her because she is taking our pillars class on Sundays because she wants to serve in a ministry, which will possibly be the children’s ministry.\nWe had such a blessed time celebrating our kids at the church for Día del Niño (Day of the Kids – Mexican holiday). Thank you to our faithful children’s ministry teachers and other servants who were able to set up a fair for the kids. It was super fun to have the kids play the games and giving them prizes. Praise God for providing everything to celebrate the kids together. (Click here to see the post with more pictures)\nWe are also so grateful that we got to celebrate both Mother’s Day and Father’s Day at our church. It is always such a blessing to see families come to church together. After both the Mother’s Day service and the Father’s Day service, we were able to have a potluck together, which is always a blessed time of fellowship. (Click here for the Mother’s Day post). (Click here for the Father’s Day post).\nThere was a little bit of a rough patch that we went through with our community. After we got robbed and decided it was time to put the fence up around the property, there was a lot of opposition from the community. They started complaining about the church, how they were not asked before we started the church, and how they didn’t want a Christian church but a Catholic one. After all of this had been happening, the community was telling everyone that there was going to be a cleaning day for everyone to come out and help clean up the community. So we messaged our church and let everyone know that we should try to come out and help. Praise God we had about 10 people from our church come out to help and we haven’t really had any issues with them since then.\nWe are also so grateful for our partners in ministry. We\u0026rsquo;re so grateful for your prayers and financial gifts, and because of your partnership we were able to finally put fencing around about 80% of the church property. This is exactly what we were praying for to be done before the youth camp that we will be having August 7th-10th. (Click here for a video where we explain in a little bit more detail about the fencing and future plans).\nAs for the youth camp, we are so grateful to be partnering with Connections House and their team that will be coming down August 6th-13th. They are planning to help us with our youth camp. They were also able to help us with the funding for adding 3 more toilets to our church building! This will be a big blessing for the youth camp as we only had one toilet before that! We are excited, yet nervous, to see how the event unfolds. We hope that it will be a blessing to everyone attending and serving. We have also been blessed with a donation of a 30×60 feet structure that we will be using as our chapel area for the youth camp. Praise God that we were also able to purchase the tent fabric for the structure so it will be waterproof in case of rain and also protect us from the sun. It was a big blessing to get this structure because now we can use our church sanctuary as the dining hall.\nOn the left-hand side where the white door is, we have our current one-toilet bathroom. On the right side you can see the construction being done to put in 3 more toilets, with one common sink area in the middle. On the right-hand side of the picture you can see the white metal structure that will be used for the youth camp.\nThe last thing we would like to share with you all is about Brian’s knee accident. Brian accidentally smacked his knee into a trailer hitch on the back of our car while trying to rush to our car in the rain. At first we thought it was going to heal on its own, but then realized it was worse than what we thought. We went to a specialist, got tests done, got an x-ray, and got an MRI done. It turns out that the tendon in his knee separated from his bone. Thankfully there was no fracture, but the doctor said that the pulled tendon may need surgery. He sent us home telling Brian to find a physical therapist, do 12 weeks of therapy, and then come in to get checked again. He is currently doing therapy and seems to be getting a little better. (Click here to see Brian’s Facebook post with more details).\nPraise Reports: That God is providing in miraculous ways for the youth camp That we were donated the structure and were able to it retrieve safely That Brian didn’t break any bones in his knee Prayer Requests: That Brian would be able to continue going to therapy and be able to recover without needing the expensive surgery That there wouldn’t be any more break-ins on the church property That we would be able to continue being in ministry full time and not need to get a separate job to support our family and ministry For a safe and healthy pregnancy for Brittany with our baby #3 “And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.”\nPhilippians 4:19\nBendiciones Sobre Bendiciones ¡Gloria a Dios pudimos tener nuestra primera Quinseñera en nuestra iglesia en Abril! Una de nuestras jóvencitas, Andrea, celebró su fiesta y ceremonia de cumpleaños #15 en la iglesia. ¡Fue una fiesta hermosa y tuvimos la suerte de ser parte de ella! También estamos muy orgullosos de ella porque esta tomando nuestra clase de pilares los Domingos porque quiere servir en un ministerio, posiblemente el ministerio de niños.\nTuvimos un tiempo muy bendecido celebrando a nuestros hijos en la iglesia por el Día del Niño. Gracias a nuestros fieles maestros del ministerio infantil y los demás servidores pudimos montar una feria para los niños. Fue muy divertido jugar a los juegos para los niños y darles premios. Alabado sea Dios por proporcionar todo para celebrar a los niños juntos. (Haz clic aquí para ver el post con más fotos)\nTambién estamos muy agradecidos de poder celebrar tanto el día de la Madre como el día del Padre en nuestra iglesia. Siempre es una gran bendición ver a la familia venir junta a la iglesia. Después de ambos servicios, uno el día de la Madre y otro el día del Padre, pudimos compartir una comida juntos, que siempre es un tiempo bendito de compañerismo. (Haga clic aquí para ver la publicación del día de la Madre) (Haga clic aquí para ver la publicación del día del Padre)\nHubo una pequeña mala racha que atravesamos con nuestra comunidad. Después de que nos robaron y decidimos que era hora de poner la cerca alrededor de la propiedad, hubo mucha oposición de la comunidad. Comenzaron a quejarse de la iglesia, de que no les preguntaron antes de que empezáramos la iglesia, y de que no querían una iglesia cristiana, querían una católica. Después de que todo esto había sucedido, la comunidad les decía a todos que habría un día de limpieza para que todos salieran y ayudaran a limpiar la comunidad. Entonces enviamos un mensaje a nuestra iglesia y les hicimos saber a todos que deberíamos intentar salir y ayudar. Gracias a Dios, unas 10 personas de nuestra iglesia vinieron a ayudar y gracias a Dios no hemos tenido ningún problema con ellos desde entonces.\nTambién estamos muy agradecidos por nuestros socios en el ministerio. Muy agradecidos por sus oraciones y donaciones financieras, gracias a su asociación finalmente pudimos cercar alrededor del 80% de la propiedad de la iglesia. Esto es exactamente lo que estábamos orando para que se hiciera antes del campamento juvenil que tendremos del 7 al 10 de Agosto. (Haga clic aquí para ver un vídeo donde explicamos con un poco más de detalle sobre el vallado y los planes futuros)\nEn cuanto al campamento juvenil, estamos muy agradecidos de asociarnos con Connections House y su equipo que vendra del 6 al 13 de Agosto. Están planeando ayudarnos con nuestro campamento juvenil. ¡También pudieron ayudarnos con los fondos para agregar 3 baños más al edificio de nuestra iglesia! ¡Lo cual será una gran bendición para el campamento juvenil ya que antes solo teníamos un baño! Estamos emocionados, pero nerviosos, de ver cómo se desarrolla el evento. Esperamos que sea de bendición para todos los asistentes y siervos. También hemos sido bendecidos con una donación de una estructura de 9×18 metros que usaremos como área de capilla para el campamento juvenil. Gloria a Dios que también pudimos comprar la carpa para el techo de la estructura para que sea impermeable en caso de lluvia y también nos proteja del sol. Fue una gran bendición conseguir esta estructura porque ahora podemos usar el santuario de nuestra iglesia como comedor.\nLo último que nos gustaría compartir con todos ustedes es sobre el accidente de rodilla de Brian. Brian accidentalmente se golpeó la rodilla contra un enganche de remolque en la parte trasera de nuestro auto mientras intentaba correr hacia nuestro auto bajo la lluvia. Al principio pensamos que se iba a curar solo, pero luego nos dimos cuenta de que era peor de lo que pensábamos. Fuimos a un especialista, le hicieron pruebas, le hicieron una radiografía y una resonancia magnética. Resulta que el tendón de su rodilla se separó del hueso. Afortunadamente no hubo fractura, pero el médico dijo que el tendón desgarrado podría necesitar cirugía. Nos envió a casa diciéndole a Brian que buscara un fisioterapeuta y que hiciera 12 semanas de terapia y luego viniera para que lo revisaran nuevamente. Actualmente está haciendo terapia y parece estar mejorando un poco. (Haga clic aquí para ver la publicación de Brian en Facebook con más detalles)\nReportes de Alabanza: Que Dios está proveyendo de manera milagrosa para el campamento juvenil Que nos donaron la estructura y pudimos recuperarla de forma segura Que Brian no se rompió ninguno de los huesos de su rodilla Peticiones de Oracion: Que Brian podría continuar yendo a terapia y recuperarse sin necesidad de una costosa cirugía Que no habría más robos en la propiedad de la iglesia Que podríamos continuar en el ministerio a tiempo completo y no necesitar un trabajo separado para mantener a nuestra familia y ministerio Por un embarazo seguro y saludable para Brittany y nuestro bebé #3 “Mi Dios, pues, suplirá todo lo que os falta conforme a sus riquezas en gloria en Cristo Jesús.”\nFilipenses 4:19\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blessings-upon-blessings-de-la-cruz-update-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e(Español abajo)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePraise God we were able to have our first Quinceañera at our church in April! One of our youth kids, Andrea, had her 15th birthday party and ceremony at the church. It was a beautiful party and we were blessed to be a part of it! We are also very proud of her because she is taking our pillars class on Sundays because she wants to serve in a ministry, which will possibly be the children’s ministry.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessings Upon Blessings - De La Cruz Update September 2024"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico. As I write this update, I am in the Central Mexico state of Morelos (near Mexico City) preparing to board a plane to fly back home. While on this trip I was blessed to lead two church planting conferences in different churches located in key population centers of central Mexico.\nI write this letter with sadness in my hearts because my good friend and church planting assistant pastor Dan Valdez was planning on being on this trip with me as one of the featured speakers at our conferences. Dan had been sick for the past few weeks, to the point of being hospitalized. But as I prepared to start our first conference, I received a shocking text from Dan’s precious wife Cecilia that Dan had suddenly passed away in the hospital an hour earlier.\nDeath is so difficult for us as believers. But Jesus gave His disciples this encouraging word in John 14:1-3, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.\u0026quot;\nI know that Dan is alive in heaven today, and as a faithful believer, I know the words he heard as he stepped into eternity! Dan heard these words from our Lord Jesus Christ found in Matthew 25:23, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ These eternal promises are true not only for my friend Dan, but for every one of us who are faithful servants of Jesus!\nMy friend Dan was a long-time assistant pastor of a Calvary Chapel up in the Southern California, but then five years ago, God called him and his family (wife and four daughters) to move to the Mexico mission field full time to serve as missionaries. Dan and his family moved up the street from the church in Rosarito, and he and I became quick friends.\nDan and I bonded over our shared love for Jesus, missions, sports (Go Dodgers and UCLA) and corny jokes. When Dan moved down to Mexico, he served in another ministry full time, but he and his family immediately got deeply involved in our church. Two years ago, Dan decided to move over to our church staff to serve full time as my church planting assistant pastor.\nDan used his amazing social gifts to connect with our church planters, and he made quick friends wherever he went. For the past two years, Dan has faithfully led our church planting classes, and he was by my side on most of my recent church planting trips. Everywhere Dan went, he seemed to know tons of people, and he was also quick to make everyone laugh as he was the king of the silly dad puns!\nDan and I had so many future plans that we were dreaming about as we focused on the great mission’s work of church planting. When I heard the tragic news of his passing, my first thought was to return to Rosarito to be there for his family and our church. But after talking to our missions team (all friends of Dan) we quickly realized that Dan would have wanted us to continue on with the conferences that he had helped us plan. We dedicated both of these church planting conferences to Dan and his missions work.\nDan left a legacy of faithfulness to the Lord Jesus, His family, and missions work, and I am thankful for the time the Lord gave us as close friends. I know and believe that Dan’s memory will continue to inspire the future generations to continue with the great work of church planting. To help that happen, our mission’s team decided to create the “Dan Valdez Memorial Church Planting Scholarship” that will be given out in his name and memory each year at our annual church planting conference for as long as the Lord allows us.\nPrecious friends, when a loved one passes away it is a good time to remember the brevity of life and commit to live every day for the Lord. My friend Dan Valdez did that, and I intend to continue moving forward in this great missions work God has called us to.\nSo once again, I want to thank you for supporting me and my family as your missionaries. We are honored and blessed to have you as our ministry partners!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico (with much love from Mexico),\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God will comfort Dan’s widow Cecilia and their four daughters. (Ages 19 to 28)\n#2- Pray that the “Dan Valdez Memorial Church Planting Scholarship” can continue to help new church planters do the work God has called them to do.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for two wonderful church planting conferences in Cocoyoc (Morelos) and Calpulalpan! (Mexico City)\n#2- Praise God for 31 baptisms of (mostly) new believers in our September baptism.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-october-2024-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. As I write this update, I am in the Central Mexico state of Morelos \u003cem\u003e(near Mexico City)\u003c/em\u003e preparing to board a plane to fly back home. While on this trip I was blessed to lead two church planting conferences in different churches located in key population centers of central Mexico.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/461405629%5F10161825773039208%5F4712413471828275523%5Fn-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI write this letter with sadness in my hearts because my good friend and church planting assistant pastor Dan Valdez was planning on being on this trip with me as one of the featured speakers at our conferences. Dan had been sick for the past few weeks, to the point of being hospitalized. But as I prepared to start our first conference, I received a shocking text from Dan’s precious wife Cecilia that Dan had suddenly passed away in the hospital an hour earlier.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family October 2024 Missions Update"},{"content":" This past Sunday at Abide, Pastor Joseph started Matthew chapter 5, the \u0026ldquo;Sermon on the Mount.\u0026rdquo; We covered the Beatitudes, and one that stood out to those I spoke with after the service was, \u0026ldquo;Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.\u0026rdquo; The Japanese are all about keeping peace, but not about making peace. In this culture they would assume that Jesus would have said blessed are the peacekeepers, but not peacemakers. They have what’s called the \u0026ldquo;wa,\u0026rdquo; which is the concept which values harmony and group unity over all else. They value harmony over truth, over justice, over love.\nWhat that looks like day-to-day for them is that they must put their personal feelings aside for the benefit of the society. If a problem arises between two Japanese people, it will be ignored. They will not address the issue and will act as if there is no problem at all. The problem is that inside, they aren’t able to let go of the problem. They let bitterness toward the other person grow and fester, until finally one or both parties must leave the group. That may be a friend group or a job or even on some occasions, a church. They can’t make peace with one another because that would involve losing the peace long enough to face the problem and fix the issue.\nNow, we know that the Beatitudes are for believers, not unbelievers, but I wanted to use them as a way to share with you just how far the average Japanese mindset has to change in order for them to ever have peace with their Creator. Like so many people around the world, they think that if they ignore the fact that they are at enmity with God, if they deny God’s very existence, then they won’t have to ever face the consequences of being in rebellion towards Him. Please be praying for the Japanese people, and for the Holy Spirit to help them see the failures of their culture and help them overcome those failures to find true peace with God.\nWe are back home from Thailand. Thank you all for your prayers regarding Alishia’s health while we were at the conference. She wasn’t able to stay healthy the entire time, but all-in-all, she was pretty happy about how it went, and we may go back next year. The CCA Asia Pastors\u0026rsquo; and Leaders\u0026rsquo; Conference, as well as the SGWM Conference, was a wonderful time of teaching and fellowship with the other missionaries from around Asia, and especially the other SGWM workers who were there.\nA team from SGWM joined us here in Japan the week before the conference as well. Having them here praying for and about the work in Japan was amazing. They were a huge blessing to Alishia and I and Lordwilling some of them will come back full-time.\nThank you for always praying for us, it makes such a big difference. Here are some things to be praying for this month:\nAlishia’s health and for the Lord’s healing of her body. Language learning and what my language schooling will look like moving forward. For the Lord to meet our needs and provide for us in every way. For wisdom about our housing situation moving forward. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/peacekeepers-are-not-peacemakers-root-update-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/IMG%5F2027-750x803-1-280x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis past Sunday at Abide, Pastor Joseph started Matthew chapter 5, the \u0026ldquo;Sermon on the Mount.\u0026rdquo; We covered the Beatitudes, and one that stood out to those I spoke with after the service was, \u0026ldquo;Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.\u0026rdquo; The Japanese are all about keeping peace, but not about making peace. In this culture they would assume that Jesus would have said blessed are the peacekeepers, but not peacemakers. They have what’s called the \u0026ldquo;wa,\u0026rdquo; which is the concept which values harmony and group unity over all else. They value harmony over truth, over justice, over love.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Peacekeepers are not Peacemakers - Root Update September 2024"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Leaders, and Church Family,\nGreetings to all of you!\nI thank God that He has kept us all safe. I also thank God for you. You keep praying for us and standing shoulder to shoulder with us, like a family, in every difficult time. Through your prayers and by God\u0026rsquo;s grace, we now have church in three villages. Also, Sunday services and Friday Bible studies are held in the hall of our house, which my father built after receiving a\nvision. In our Friday Bible study, I started teaching with Genesis Chapter 1, verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter. Now, I have reached\nExodus Chapter 18. In our Sunday service, I am teaching through the New Testament. Right now, we are in the second to the last chapter of 1st Corinthians.\nOne Day Outreach!\nWhy people said \u0026ldquo;God has come to our village today!\u0026rdquo;\nWe all know when Lord Jesus Christ met a Samaritan woman in John chapter 4 and\nHe went to her village, the people welcomed Him and accepted God. In this way we also got the opportunity to go to a village where no pastor or evangelist had ever before reached. This village is completely different from other villages, because it is a village of people of lower castes. Because of that, people of other castes hesitate to enter this village.\nA believer of my church grew up in this village. I have written about her many times in prayer requests. Her name is R*. Her father-in-law, the people of the village and the Hindu fundamentalists were ready to kill her for refusing to leave Jesus Christ, yet she did not leave Jesus Christ. She shared with us that the Gospel had not yet reached her mother\u0026rsquo;s village. I had been preaching from 1 Corinthians 15. Through that chapter, she got more excited to spread the Good News.\nWhen we reached her mom’s village, they gave us a very warm welcome and jumped with joy because it was the first time that someone had entered their village. Two women started saying, \u0026ldquo;You people are God for us.\u0026rdquo;\nWe explained to them, \u0026ldquo;We are not God, we are humans like you are, we have come only to share the news of Jesus Christ.\u0026rdquo; Initially only 10 or 15 people came. But as soon as we started worship, over 50 people gathered!\nI started sharing the Word of God. It was very hot. There had not been rain for a month and there was no wind. We were so drenched in sweat it was like we had taken a bath. I was also sick with a cold, cough and fever. Still, we were very happy and joyful as we shared the Good News. That day two people in that village believed in Jesus Christ!\nAfterward, the people prepared many types of food for us for lunch. When we were on our way back, some people walked with us part way. They told us that they would come to our Sunday service.\nWhen my father and I were on our way back, the tire of our motorbike burst. We had some trouble because of that. Later, we got a new tire put on the motorbike. I thank God that everything went well. The following week, 10 people from that village came to our Sunday service. I believe that God is going to plant a church in that village also.\nWhy a father called the police to get his son, daughter-in-law, grandson and granddaughter out of the village.\n\u0026ldquo;And your parents, brothers, relatives and friends will also hand you over; they will even get some of you killed.\u0026rdquo;\nLuke 21:16\nWe always thank God that the people of our church understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word deeply and are ready to bear the greatest sufferings in\nthe name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Recently, a family had gone to the capital after believing in Jesus. As soon as they came back from the capital city, their family members asked them to do idol worship. They refused and said, \u0026ldquo;We believe in Jesus Christ and we will not worship any kind of idol.\u0026rdquo; Upon hearing this, the man\u0026rsquo;s father got angry. He gathered the villagers and tried to kill him. His father then called the police.\nWhen the police reached there, the police saved the life of the believing family. The man said in front of everyone, as the whole village was gathered, \u0026ldquo;If you want to kill me, and then kill me, but we will not leave Jesus Christ.\u0026rdquo;\nWhen the policeman heard this, he said, \u0026ldquo;We cannot stop anyone from following any religion.\u0026rdquo;\nThe believer\u0026rsquo;s father said, \u0026ldquo;From today on, no one will have any kind of relationship with this family. No one will talk to them. No one will eat food in their house. No one will invite them for dinner.\u0026rdquo;\nThe believer said, \u0026ldquo;We are happy with our Lord Jesus Christ. You all do whatever you want to do.\u0026rdquo;\nI am thankful to God that this family is always coming to the church and listening to the Word of the Lord. No inquiry of any kind was made against us either.\nPoints of Thanksgiving:\nPraise God! A family from our church was persecuted as I wrote in the story above. His father, who did not believe, gathered the people of the whole village and called the police to get his son and his family out of the village. But the police fully supported our church family and said, \u0026ldquo;We cannot stop anyone from believing in Christ.\u0026rdquo; The family is still living in their village. Glory to God, there has been no flood in our area yet. Prayer Points:\nPlease pray that God strengthens our church members in faith and that they can understand the Word more deeply. Please pray. In the coming days we are planning to go to many new places to spread the Good News. May God help us and protect us and fulfill our every need. Please pray for our protection from fundamentalists. The season of Hindu festivals started in my area. During this time, Hindus attack churches and pastors. Please pray. A land survey is going to be done in our village. Many people are claiming that the land where our church is built is theirs. The case has been going on for about 20 years. May God help us so that no injustice happens to us. Please pray that God fulfills all of our needs. May God bless you all!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/those-who-had-never-the-heard-good-news-are-now-hearing-it/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Leaders, and Church Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Sep-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God that He has kept us all safe. I also thank God for you. You keep praying for us and standing shoulder to shoulder with us, like a family, in every difficult time. Through your prayers and by God\u0026rsquo;s grace, we now have church in three villages. Also, Sunday services and Friday Bible studies are held in the hall of our house, which my father built after receiving a\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Those Who Had Never the Heard Good News Are Now Hearing it! - Pastor 11 Update September 2024"},{"content":"August 2024 Newsletter\nJoshua Vanrenterghem\nTherefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.\n1 Corinthians 15:58\nDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\nThis last month and a half I have seen miracle after miracle of the Lord moving in this new ministry beginning in Trujillo. This newsletter will not be able to contain half of the things I would like to share, but I will do my best!\nAt Home Returning from Costa Rica, everything began switching up for the fall season. The CCSG Spanish Ministry began meeting again on Wednesday nights, and it has been a blast getting back into serving in this Spirit-lead, transformative group! During our second meeting back together, we had the pleasure to have a little pachunga (party) time for one of our sisters who is going on a 6-month vision tour to a Middle Eastern country to confirm her call to live there full time. As always, it was sad, but a joyful sad.\nI have been purposely taking many extra steps to spend time with the Lord in this short time I have left in the States. One great experience I had was to go to an all night 10:30pm-6:30am worship meeting at Pasadena International House of Prayer with two friends. It was a blessing to take so much time with the Lord in worship, prayer, reading, studying, and meditating.\nStand Firm, Immoveable! I have just come back from a week-long trip to Peru! I took this trip because Calvary Trujillo was hosting this year’s South American Missions Conference, and we were meeting with some great supporters of this new work with children; Wes and Vicky Bentley, and David Zavala. Wes founded Far Reaching Ministries, the same ministry I used to intern at. The conference gave me many great new connections, and the teachings themselves were on another level of fuego (fire)! The conference was named, “Firmes y Constantes,” based off of 1 Corinthians 15:58. Almost all the teachings encouraged pastors and church planters to be fearless and passionate for the Great Commission, even in the most dangerous places. Actually, during the conference we got to pray for a Venezuelan pastor, Angel, and pastor Cory, who are planning to take a vision tour to Venezuela in January to see how they can plant a Bible-teaching church in Maracay.\nOne of the messages of the conference was fittingly named, “Preparing for Battle.” Of course, Wes Bentley spoke for this message and it was a great encouragement to me, knowing more and more the kind of dangers involved in rescuing children. During the visit, we had the entire children’s home team meet with Wes and Vicky, and then go out to lunch. It was a great time of sharing encouragement and insight about how to pray and begin this new ministry. By God’s grace, He has provided every important role for the home through members of the church who already have professional training and licenses.\nChildren’s Home Plans I have some great updates to share about the children’s home! Cory, with the help of one of the CBI students who has a degree in building architecture, drew up some blueprints and a 3D model of a future home we can build in an open lot directly next to the CBI and church. During the trip, God provided all the funds to buy the property. Now, all that is left is talking with the owner in negotiations. The current building plan would make space for housing 40 children, as well as all the facilities for school classrooms, an outside grass playground, staff housing, and offices. There is also some space for expansion.\nGod keeps moving in miraculous ways through connections we are getting in the government, police, and church. We have 2 renowned lawyers who write curriculum on law from our church currently working on the bylaws for the non-profit. One of the men in charge of security was a former commandant of the Peruvian Marine Special Forces and the other is a black belt martial arts instructor and MMA competitor, both from the church. God has provided us with some next-level people to play integral parts of this new work.\nOn the Battle Field I went on two trips through some areas in Trujillo where children are known to be trafficked, kidnapped, or sold. Through multiple solid sources, we have heard story after story about how children are abducted right from the road at night, as well as bars, night clubs, and hotels who sell them for the evening or house this activity. One of these 24-hour prostitution hotels is a block down the road from the church. One of the pastors from our own church has seen a man leave at night with two children before. This evil is barely even hidden.\nLearning more and more of the context and understanding of the local trafficking situation has only strengthened my sense of responsibility to this call and the lives of those children waiting to be saved.\nCalling All Partners! I will be moving to Peru January 2025. In order to move to the mission field full-time as a Saving Grace World Missions missionary, I need to have at least 80% of my monthly budget provided through regular monthly giving to ensure I am able to meet all my needs on the field. So far I am funded 30% of the way. There are also a few one-time payments I will need to make, such as flights. If the Lord is calling you to be a part of this work He is doing through me for the children and church in Trujillo, you can do so through the \u0026ldquo;Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; button below! It is my honor to connect you, my sisters and brothers of the American Church, to all God is doing on the mission field, and to show you the fruit of your work through me.\nPraise Reports\nThe success of the South America Missions Conference in encouraging and building up the pastors and missionaries serving here in South America God providing the finances for the land for the children’s home Provision of all the important staff and leadership in the home, as well as the support of Far Reaching Ministries A great beginning to the Fall season, and God’s graciousness as I never stop growing in my walk with Him Prayer Requests\nGod to be glorified in the calling of rescuing children, and that many children will be able to grow up in a Christ-Centered home God’s leading while Cory begins negotiations for the children’s home land Monthly provision for me to be able to be sent out as a full-time missionary in January Continued provision for the connections we need in government, as well as the creation of the children’s home non-profit organization Provision that will be needed for the building, and all the needs of the children ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/miracle-in-progress-j-vanrenterghem-update-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAugust 2024 Newsletter\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJoshua Vanrenterghem\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTherefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 Corinthians 15:58\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis last month and a half I have seen miracle after miracle of the Lord moving in this new ministry beginning in Trujillo. This newsletter will not be able to contain half of the things I would like to share, but I will do my best!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Miracle In Progress - J Vanrenterghem Update 2024"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nWe had a massive amount of rainfall, in our state. Four people, including a child, were swept away in the flood waters in different parts of our state. Bodies of two people have been recovered. The road routes between our state and the neighboring states have been disrupted. More than 100 villages have turned into islands (become surrounded with water). A truck full of grain was also washed away in water. A CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) army was also swept away while crossing a rivulet. This news was published in ‘The Times\u0026quot; of our country. In addition many other places, of our town was affected by the flood.\nWe deeply express our heartfelt gratitude to the almighty God for His grace and mercy upon my family. At the same time, we appreciate each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. Because of your financial help, we are able to move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached without any worry. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, job and businesses. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\nI would like to share the story of one of our new students at Calvary Bible Institute. His name is SD*. He is from another state. He was born and brought up in a Hindu family. His father was demon possessed. Because of that, many times he used to go unconscious. The family members took him to the temple and to many sorceresses, but he did not get any relief.\nOne day, a Hindu man came to his home and told his family, “Some of my relatives went to a church for prayer and they are okay now.” The man suggested that they should also try going.\nSo listening to Hindu man’s words, they took their demon-possessed father and went to a church. They met the pastor and the pastor shared the Gospel of Jesus with them and prayed. By God’s grace his father was delivered completely! He was set a free from the evil bondage after having the problem for 4-years. Through this, the whole family accepted the Lord as their personal Savior. Since then they are believers. Now brother SD* has committed his life to God’s ministry.\nIn the month of July we started our new semester of CBI. By God’s grace, all the classes are going very well. This semester I am teaching the book of Exodus. Every week we take our students to do practical ministry where they are able to lead and share from Bible.\nMy daughter’s new school year has started. This year she is in 11th grade.\nPrayer Requests:\nKindly pray for area that is affected by the flood. May God help them recover all that they have lost. Please pray for brother SD* and his family to continue to grow in the Lord. As he studies at CBI, May God give him the wisdom to understand and learn. Please pray for the new semester at CBI. May God help all the teachers and may they teach well. May God open the minds of students to understand the Bible. Continue to pray for my daughter\u0026rsquo;s education to go well. Continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-my-deliverer-pastor-3-update-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Flood-in-our-town.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe had a massive amount of rainfall, in our state. Four people, including a child, were swept away in the flood waters in different parts of our state. Bodies of two people have been recovered. The road routes between our state and the neighboring states have been disrupted. More than 100 villages have turned into islands (become surrounded with water). A truck full of grain was also washed away in water. A CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) army was also swept away while crossing a rivulet. This news was published in ‘The Times\u0026quot; of our country. In addition many other places, of our town was affected by the flood.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord is My Deliverer - Pastor 3 Update September 2024"},{"content":"School has started up again for the students of Cal State Fullerton and for Fullerton college and so me and Pastor Nick are back on campus for some evangelism. If you’ve been reading my newsletters for some time now you know that we have been working hard sharing the gospel on both campuses and maybe you’ve even heard some stories from my encounters there. However recently God has been putting on Nick\u0026rsquo;s and my heart to do more than just evangelism on both campuses. God has given both of us vision of starting a club on campus in which we have more ability to minister to the students and make disciples out of students who hear the gospel. If we were to become a club it would allow for a number of opportunities. The biggest opportunity would be to host events, not only that but this would allow us access to the facilities where we could teach and disciple the students. In order to become a club on both campuses we need 2 students and a professor. However we really are praying for someone we can trust and someone who is a solid believer because on both campuses there are plenty of false disciples and even people from various cults. So while we want to start the club as soon as possible we don’t want to compromise in who is to partner with us.\nIf you’ve kept up with the past few newsletters you would also know that for months I’ve been praying and planning on going on 2 vision tours. I have been praying about going to Thailand and India. At the time which I’m writing this I have been in Chiang Mai, Thailand for almost a week now. I have been attending a conference and for the most part it has been awesome. Also at the time of writing this, I am sick with some sort of cold but am recovering. Please continue to keep me and the team in your prayers. I don’t want to give too much away because next month I will be back in the states and will have a whole segment dedicated to my travels in the next newsletter.\nPrayer Requests/ Praise Reports Praise God I, my buddy, and the rest of the team made it safely to Thailand Please pray for continued travel mercies Please pray for the Lord to speak to me with direction Pray that I would have full strength for India Please be praying for Godly men and women we can partner with to start a club on one or both college campuses Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. I can’t wait for next time to tell you all about both of my trips. Thank you again for all your partnership in prayer for the colleges. I don’t believe much of the work would go on without your prayers. I cannot thank you all enough for your financial support as well for this trip. It has been such a blessing watching the Lord provide for more than I could ask or think. If you would like to give financially there is a link below labeled “become a financial partner” which will give you the choice of a one time or a recurring donation. If you have any questions or want to hear more please feel free to email me at Calebsanchez0321@gmail.com. Until next time. God bless you all.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/back-to-school-sanchez-update-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSchool has started up again for the students of Cal State Fullerton and for Fullerton college and so me and Pastor Nick are back on campus for some evangelism. If you’ve been reading my newsletters for some time now you know that we have been working hard sharing the gospel on both campuses and maybe you’ve even heard some stories from my encounters there. However recently God has been putting on Nick\u0026rsquo;s and my heart to do more than just evangelism on both campuses. God has given both of us vision of starting a club on campus in which we have more ability to minister to the students and make disciples out of students who hear the gospel. If we were to become a club it would allow for a number of opportunities. The biggest opportunity would be to host events, not only that but this would allow us access to the facilities where we could teach and disciple the students. In order to become a club on both campuses we need 2 students and a professor. However we really are praying for someone we can trust and someone who is a solid believer because on both campuses there are plenty of false disciples and even people from various cults. So while we want to start the club as soon as possible we don’t want to compromise in who is to partner with us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Back to School! - Sanchez Update September 2024"},{"content":" “Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.”\nPsalm 37:3\nIt has been a whole year since moving from our home in Adak Village to our “new” home in Gulu City. Believe it or not, it is a little painful to think of our time in Adak. All the hard things that made us leave are intermingled with precious things. There were many relationships forged in the fire of trials, many friendships made with little neighbors after years of struggling to establish boundaries, many tasks accomplished on the “work” side of ministry, and countless testimonies of God’s mercy, grace, healing, provision, and overall goodness to those who called on His name. It has been hard to remember that God created us as emotional beings, and that mourning a loss is normal. Taking time to thank God for the good things He did and is still doing in Adak has kept me from swinging to the other end of the pendulum, feeling overly justified in leaving because of all the hard things that happened there. However, it seems an appropriate time to share how we have been doing, especially in the areas that led us into moving.\nIn Adak we were constantly sick. For our entire 6 years in Adak, the longest our family went without a case of clinical sickness was 6 weeks. Our time in town has been drastically different, all praise to God! Our health and physical strength have improved, and sickness is now very rare for us. We are no longer waiting for hours on end, multiple days each week to get blood test results and treatment. And despite living away from Adak, I am able to be more intentional with relationships when I go back because I now have the energy to walk through the “bush” to visit friends. We have the energy (and time!) to carry out our tasks, as well as do fun things. We even decided to get bikes for our family as everyone’s birthday presents this year. We have been able to ride as a family to and from church, something we would not have had strength for in Adak!\nOther than being healthy, another benefit we have enjoyed here in town is uninterrupted homeschool time. In Adak we wore many hats, from ambulance driver to construction manager, clinic administrator, Bible teacher, clothes patcher, and cake baker. All of these hats we wore with patience, knowing that one day it would be passed on to someone else… once someone else knew how. But all of those hats kept knocking on the door, often without notice, and normally when you were least prepared. It was easy enough to bear it all, even while we were sick. However, it had begun to interrupt our humble beginnings of homeschool, and every knock at the door meant 20 minutes of trying to get the kids back into the rhythm of school. I am very thankful that at that time the kids were still young and school could be more flexible. Now Emma and Maddie are in 4th grade, Noah is in 1st, Cynthia is in 1st and Special Ed., and Charlotte is trying to force me to teach her how to read (she turns 4 in October). During their standardized testing this year we found that they are doing very well. I would not have been able to keep up with all the different levels if there was still so much traffic at the door.\nWe look back in amazement and thankfulness over what God has done in the last year. We are excited and prayerful over what God will do here in the years to come!\nIn Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-august-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Trust in the LORD and do good; Dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePsalm 37:3\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/20240904%5F084215-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt has been a whole year since moving from our home in Adak Village to our “new” home in Gulu City. Believe it or not, it is a little painful to think of our time in Adak. All the hard things that made us leave are intermingled with precious things. There were many relationships forged in the fire of trials, many friendships made with little neighbors after years of struggling to establish boundaries, many tasks accomplished on the “work” side of ministry, and countless testimonies of God’s mercy, grace, healing, provision, and overall goodness to those who called on His name. It has been hard to remember that God created us as emotional beings, and that \u003cem\u003emourning\u003c/em\u003e a loss is normal. Taking time to thank God for the good things He did and is still doing in Adak has kept me from swinging to the other end of the pendulum, feeling overly justified in leaving because of all the hard things that happened there. However, it seems an appropriate time to share how we have been doing, especially in the areas that led us into moving.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update August – September 2024"},{"content":"Greetings! Jai Masih ki! (Praise the Lord!)\nI want to thank the Lord for taking care of you and us and giving good health to us all. Thank the Lord for blessing us all. Thank the Lord for blessing all of you who are constantly praying for us and supporting us!\nLately, most of the women are coming to our Sunday service. I am teaching them from the Gospel of Luke. A few new people are also coming to my church who are from our village. They used to be against me, but they have been coming to church for some time now. They are not believers, but I trust that the Lord will soon change their hearts.\nOn Sundays we fellowship together first. Then I pray for everyone\u0026rsquo;s prayer requests. Thanks to the Lord, there has now been a lot of improvement in my village. There was a little persecution before, and a few people were against me. Gradually those people are also beginning to know the truth of the Lord. Pray that the Lord changes the hearts of all those who are still resisting me.\nI am now also going to another village every week. It is the village where my eldest sister lives. This village believes in a lot of idol worship and gods and goddesses. I preached the Gospel of the Lord to my elder sister, but she lives a life of compromise. Pray to the Lord that my sister will fully believe in the Lord.\nOne day, when I went there to visit, two or three people were sitting at my sister\u0026rsquo;s house talking. They asked me about my occupation. Praise the Lord, as I was talking about myself, my sister said, \u0026ldquo;He is a Christian.\u0026rdquo;\nThey started asking me if I was a Christian and I said \u0026ldquo;Yes, I have come to know the truth.\u0026rdquo; I preached to them the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Gospel, but they said that it was not true.\nThen they asked me many questions which I answered. I told them all about Jesus Christ, they kept nodding \u0026ldquo;Yes\u0026rdquo; to me. Then they said to me, \u0026ldquo;You have left your gods, it is not good.\nI answered them about the Gospel of the Lord. Pray against all their superstitions. May the Lord use the words I preached to them. May the Lord change their hearts. Since that day, I have kept going to this village to tell many people the Gospel of the Lord at my sister\u0026rsquo;s house. Pray that these people may come to know the Lord in the time to come and that the Lord will use me more in this village.\nThere is a man from our village whose name is S*. He used to live in the capital city. He and his wife (pictured right) rent a room in a small town that is nearby. I used to run into him ever two or three days. He was very upset because he wanted to open a shop in the market, but he was not able to. I told him the Gospel of the Lord each time we met, but he and his wife did not believe. I used to pray for them daily. Each day I met them, I told them about Jesus Christ. They kept ignoring my words. It went on like this for a while, and the shop still was not able to be opened. One day he and his wife and I were sitting down together. He said to me, \u0026ldquo;If your Lord can do anything, then why is he not helping me?\u0026rdquo;\nI told him, \u0026ldquo;You have not believed all the things that I told you. The Lord can do anything, but we have to believe in the truth. You have to believe in the Lord completely and give your life Him.\u0026rdquo; I prayed for him in his room and helped him, and his brother opened a shop in the market only four days later.\nI prayed for S* every day and the Lord heard my prayer. With the Lord\u0026rsquo;s help, he opened his shop in the market. On the day the shop was inaugurated, he told me, \u0026ldquo;I prayed to the Lord and said, \u0026lsquo;If you really are the Lord, then help me.\u0026rsquo; and I got my answer.\u0026rdquo;\nFrom that day on, I have visited him at his house every day. He and his wife have both given their lives to the Lord and have come to know the truth. Thanks be to the Lord for changing their hearts. They are new believers. Pray that no one will deceive them, that they will grow in the Lord, and that the Lord will continue to change their lives.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for the believers in our village and for the women to become stronger in the Gospel of the Lord, not be misled by anyone, and grow in the Lord. Pray for my sister\u0026rsquo;s village. It is a very big village and the people there consider themselves to be high caste. There is a lot of untouchability and discrimination there. There is also an extreme amount of idol worship. May the Lord change the hearts of those to whom I have preached the Gospel of Lord, so that they may know the truth and many souls will be saved in the village. Pray for me as I visit the new village. May no demonic force stop me, and may I spread the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Holy Gospel with boldness so that everyone can know the truth. Pray for the new family (S* and his wife B*) who have just opened a shop in the market and given their lives to Lord. If anyone brings trouble into their lives, then may the Lord take care of them and help them through all of their sorrows. Pray that they will continue to believe in the Lord and that no satanic force will mislead them. Next to our village is a small village. There lives a woman whose husband died young. Her children are still very young. I preached the Gospel to her and she believes in the Lord. Pray that she will fully believe. Pray that the Lord will handle all of the problems in her life (health-related and financial) in every circumstance. Pray for me. Pray that the Lord will open new doors for me and give me new villages to serve in. Pray that a lot of souls will be saved. Pray for my health. Pray that I may be fully healed so that I can perform my ministry well. Pray for our church building. It is not yet complete. Some things like lighting, doors, and tiles still need done. May God remedy these things so that they can happen quickly. Praying for the our region. It is raining a lot right now. Landslides are happening everywhere. May the Lord take care of us during this time and help us spread the Gospel to all those who are superstitious so that they can know the truth. Pray for my mom. She was admitted in the hospital for 9 days for typhoid fever. She is still not completely well. Pray to the Lord that He will heal Mom completely. Pray for my elder brother and his wife, who is a believer. Both of them are not in good health. May the Lord will heal them. My elder brother is currently working towards being able to do civil service and also working a job. Because of his poor health, his preparation for doing civil services is not going well. My sister-in-law has a heart problem. She takes medicine for it every day. My whole family is sick. Pray that the Lord gives good health to my family. Pastor 10*\n\\* Names and faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sharing-the-good-news-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings! Jai Masih ki! (Praise the Lord!)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI want to thank the Lord for taking care of you and us and giving good health to us all. Thank the Lord for blessing us all. Thank the Lord for blessing all of you who are constantly praying for us and supporting us!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLately, most of the women are coming to our Sunday service. I am teaching them from the Gospel of Luke. A few new people are also coming to my church who are from our village. They used to be against me, but they have been coming to church for some time now. They are not believers, but I trust that the Lord will soon change their hearts.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sharing the Good News - Pastor 10 Update September 2024"},{"content":" Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. Matthew 28:19-20\nDear Friends and Family,\nHappy Anniversary! You might be wondering, “Happy Anniversary to who?” I have just celebrated my 25th anniversary in Uganda. I cannot believe how time flies. I am overwhelmed with emotions of thankfulness and awe as I reflect on all the Lord has done in those years. While I doubt I can fit the multitude of God’s work in this one newsletter, I do want to share some of what has taken place in those years.\nI felt called to Africa pretty much from the time I was saved. It was in 1996 while finishing Bible College at the Campus in Austria that God spoke to me specifically about ministering to South Sudanese. Three years later, I landed in Africa to serve amongst Sudanese refugees in Uganda.\nI arrived in Uganda with just a backpack, a sleeping bag, and a knife. This has really become a joke now amongst the team I was a part of. I really imagined I was going to have to get off the plane and hike though the jungle. In actuality, I landed in a pretty big city. The refugee camp was 4-5 hours north of us and while the roads were not good, we were able to drive there. In the refugee camp, my team and I did many things. We taught many Bible studies. I taught women and children, as well as helped teach a women’s school of discipleship. We taught English as a second language. Most of the women we ministered to knew little to no English. It was eye opening to see how women were treated and how much work they did for their families, and also how common polygamy was.\nOne of the hardest things in sharing the gospel with them was eliminating some of the harmful traditional practices. I still want to weep at some of the deaths that were the result of such practices. One of my favorite memories was the first time I taught the women about Christmas. As I was teaching, one of the ladies interrupted and was quite surprised that Jesus “happened” to be born on Christmas. Some of the ladies never had known that the reason we celebrate Christmas is Jesus.\nWe had a feeding center for malnourished children. This was a very tough part of the ministry; to see starving babies and children, and the sickness and death related to that. The blessings and miracles we saw God do for these children outweighed the difficulty of the situation. To see a child’s life and body transformed through prayer and good nutrition was a wonderful experience to be a part of.\nWe had a child sponsorship program for over 500 children. I would make sure they stayed in communication with their sponsors and do home visits. I also got called into the principal’s office to assist with bad behavior correction and to the clinic when someone was sick. I was single back then and people would always ask me, “don’t you want to get married and have children?” I would respond I already have 500. I do not know where all of those children have ended up but I do know 1 is now a doctor, a couple are teachers, and quite a few have resettled to Australia where they were able to finish school and attend university.\nWhen the war was over and the refugees began to return to Sudan, I wanted to go with them. At that time my team had returned to the States. A missionary pastor who also worked with Far Reaching Ministries asked me to come to Kampala to help establish their women’s ministry. I was torn because I really had been trying (but unsuccessfully) to go to an unreached people group in South Sudan. In my devotions, God spoke to me from Galatians about doing good to all, especially the household of faith. I knew then I was supposed to move to Kampala. Little did I know God had my husband and future children planned through that obedience. As I taught the women at the church, I also taught at the Bible College. Lo and behold God brought me Kudamuch, a Sudanese man from the very tribe I wanted to reach. He eventually graduated and returned to his people to share the gospel with them and plant a church. He has since passed away but the ministry there continues.\nAlmost 10 years ago my husband, Brian, was called to minister to the market people, people from the slums, people who are poor, and those who suffer with addictions. That outreach turned into \u0026ldquo;Arise Christian Fellowship,\u0026rdquo; the church where we currently serve.\nIt has not all been easy, there has been much sickness, betrayal, robberies, terrorist attacks, and sometimes fear/doubt, but more than that, there was and is God. I know Him better and trust Him more because of all the good and bad experiences.\nI am amazed He has allowed me to be a part of His ministry here for this long and I still look to each day with wonder at what He is going to do or call me to do next.\nI am thankful for all of you whose prayer and support has enabled me to serve these 25 years. While God has done so much, the work is not done. Let us continue to run this race together knowing we will receive the prize.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS I am so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed me in serving Him and for everyone who supports me and the ministry in Uganda. We are still praising God for our safe return to Uganda and for finding the ministry well taken care of and thriving. Pray for the many different ministries taking place in Uganda and South Sudan. Pray for the Kanyike family as they continue to serve the Lord in Uganda. Pray for their spiritual life as well as their physical needs. Pray for Jill as her women’s bible study resumes and for the children as they get back to a normal homeschool schedule. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for the Kanyikes as they prepare for a large team coming next month. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"go-and-make-disciples-of-all-nationsbaptizing-them-in-the-name-of-the-father-and-of-the-son-and-of-the-holy-spiritand-teachingthem-to-obey-everything-i-have-commanded-you\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGo and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew 28:19-20\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"happy-anniversary\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eHappy Anniversary!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou might be wondering, “Happy Anniversary to who?” I have just celebrated my 25th anniversary in Uganda. I cannot believe how time flies. I am overwhelmed with emotions of thankfulness and awe as I reflect on all the Lord has done in those years. While I doubt I can fit the multitude of God’s work in this one newsletter, I do want to share some of what has taken place in those years.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update September 2024"},{"content":" “I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”\nPhilippians‬ ‭3‬:‭14‬\nHey family, we are on month 7 here in Iquitos, Peru. It has been full of ebbs and flows. We have some great news to share and are excited for these next couple months as we anticipate the Lord really challenging us. Nothing of any lasting value comes without a cost and we expect there will be some sacrifices as we head down the river. We are so thankful for the people and churches we were able to fellowship with during our time in Iquitos.\nThe first bit of good news is that we have received our “Carne de Extrangeria,” which loosely translates “flesh of the foreigner.” Not sure if that is on any menu here in the jungle, but what it means for us is that we are legal temporary residents and can proceed to receive full residency over the next couple years. It has been quite a process but it is done.\nNow that we have our residency in order, we can head down river to our Swiss Family Robinson home in San Jose de Cochiquinas. As I have written before, we have an awesome jungle home awaiting us. It is a beautiful home built by 414 Missions, and you can check them out on Youtube. We have already moved our belongings down to Cochiquinas and we will be heading out on the 17th of September. We have a home, a church building, and a piece of land we will use for chickens, a garden, and whatever else we can grow.\nOur plan to start a Discipleship Ministry is going to be put on hold for a year. We were planning to start March 2025, but realized that might be a little ambitious or crazy (however you want to nuance it).\nWe realized that there is a lot of work to do getting to know the community of 3,000 people, building relationships with the town leaders, setting up infrastructure so we can house and feed people. We will not be able to get that done by March, particularly because it will rain everyday from December to February. March 2026 will be the goal for the Discipleship Ministry to begin.\nPrayer Requests:\nThe water level is really low here in the Amazon; please pray for rain so the “Peke Pekes” can navigate the river and barges can bring much needed supplies.\nPurchasing a piece of property next to the church to build dorms for students.\nConnections for ministries who set up filtered water systems; the drinking water situation is bad.\nSolar power for the church\nBlessings family, may the Lord continue to guide you on the path to His eternal Presence.\nLove,\nRyan and Karen Gause\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/pressing-forward-gause-update-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilippians‬ ‭3‬:‭14‬\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IMG%5F4544-300x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHey family, we are on month 7 here in Iquitos, Peru. It has been full of ebbs and flows. We have some great news to share and are excited for these next couple months as we anticipate the Lord really challenging us. Nothing of any lasting value comes without a cost and we expect there will be some sacrifices as we head down the river. We are so thankful for the people and churches we were able to fellowship with during our time in Iquitos.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pressing Forward - Gause Update September 2024"},{"content":"August Update — 2024\nAlready another month has gone by. Time has been absolutely flying and I find the Lord calling me closer and deeper than ever before. It’s so easy for all of me to get wrapped up in what I’m doing. I’ve been seeing the Lord reminding me of His goodness, gentleness, kindness, and of His thoughts toward me more and more. A Scripture that comes to mind is in Luke 10:38-42:\n“But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (v.40-42)\nIt’s so easy for me to get caught up and distracted in the work that I’m doing that I don’t stop and connect with the Lord in the depth that I would like to. This passage is something that the Lord has hidden within me over the years. In my seasons of busyness (aren’t we all busy?), He lovingly reminds me to be still and sit at His feet. The things that often preoccupy my mind are far better handled in His care— He knows far better. His ways are higher and it’s okay when things go differently than planned—He knows far better. There is nowhere that feels more at home than Jesus. In my busyness I want to press in deeply.\nAugust:\nSo much has happened in this last month, and here we are in September. Wow! From weddings, to grocery trips, to new dorms, and being reunited to good friends—life is full and the Lord is good. I was asked to be in my first Peruvian wedding (for a Venezuelan couple from our church). It was a blessing and an honor.\nI spent a lot of time planning and doing construction with a lot of the guys on campus. Our dorm has come a long way and we’re getting much closer to being done. We have the bathroom to finish, some finishing touches in our closet, and the clothes hanging area to do. Wherever I can, I’m teaching the guys what I know, as well as picking up new skills along the way. We’ve been working on the plumbing quite a bit. We were able to have someone come out and put in a float sensor that will automatically turn on, fill our tank, and turn off the pump when it’s done. Putting in new manifolds to all of our water piping, figuring out vents, and finding where everything goes was a process, but it was a great learning experience too. It’s been a few years, but it takes me back to my landscaping days.\nThe Lord has been growing my Spanish abilities and I have been able to help at different times with worship in a bilingual setting! A highlight to the kick-off of the semester wasn’t just seeing returning students, but also getting to see one of my pastors and his family for the first class. It was so good to have some family from back home come out and represent the Rock, but also to reconnect and talk about what’s coming next too! We’ve even got a new student representative from the Rock as well—God is good! In August we started up our “House to House” groups and I’ve been given the opportunity to lead our Bilingual Casa a Casa, and it’s been a blessing! Between daily tasks, the Church Planting class that restarted up, dorm stewarding, discipleship, leading the Argentina prayer group, and Casa a Casa, my time is well filled.\nWhat’s Next:\nRight now I am in the process of getting ready to teach our final class on Isaiah, where I will be teaching chapters 56-66, and I’m excited to see what the Lord is going to do. It’s been a great opportunity and the Lord has greatly grown my own understanding and perception of the book in the process. Please pray for me to handle my time well as I am studying for three different teachings this week (one for Church Planting, one for Casa a Casa, and the book of Isaiah). As for the school and the church, we’ve got our big South America Missions Conference coming up in a couple weeks, and there’s a lot of work to be done. We’re going to have quite a few more people on campus, and it’s going to be a really exciting time. Please continue to pray for everything going on with the property in Argentina as we are in the process of purchasing it. Coming up in October we’re going to have a student missions trip down near Lima and the whole school is going. Not all of the staff are going, but I will keep you posted as to whether or not I will be.\nPrayer and Needs:\nIf you could also be praying for the school, we always have a need for help with scholarships (for South American students) and for food. We have a direct link for the new Gospel South America website that I will try to post soon if you’d like to look and see or even if you would like to help financially in some way.\nTo draw closer to the Lord more and more\nStrength for teaching\nTo grow in my Spanish abilities\nProvision for the school and everything for the conference\nScholarships—and room and board\nFavor and smooth transitioning with everything in Argentina\nThat the Lord would bring all who He wants in the Argentina prayer group this semester\nFor the Lord to begin preparing hearts for the new campus\nFor the teachings and all those who are coming for the conference\nThe health of everyone on campus, as most of us have been sick\nThe new church plants and works the Lord is leading towards\nThat we would trust and watch His faithfulness\nFor evangelism here in Trujillo\nPlease pray for my family right now as my grandma just passed about a week ago\nThat my unsaved family would come to the Lord. Pray that the Lord would bring His hope and healing to their hearts\nThank you so much for partnering with me to be here and walk in the gifts and calling the Lord has placed on my life. I could not be here without your prayers and support. You are a blessing!\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-taste-of-home-voisin-update-august-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAugust Update — 2024\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/7F357617-2766-40BE-B677-52BD90A25233-300x266.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlready another month has gone by. Time has been absolutely flying and I find the Lord calling me closer and deeper than ever before. It’s so easy for all of me to get wrapped up in what I’m doing. I’ve been seeing the Lord reminding me of His goodness, gentleness, kindness, and of His thoughts toward me more and more. A Scripture that comes to mind is in Luke 10:38-42:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Taste of Home - Voisin Update August 2024"},{"content":" “…Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature…”\n(Mark 16:15 NKJV)\nIn my last update, I shared that God has been opening new doors of ministry for us here in Cambodia. One of the open doors is increased partnership with Bethel Mission Organization. BMO/BGM evangelizes and educates children who live on top of the tombs in a graveyard (and their families/communities) and has expanded to minister to those living in the garbage dump, other urban poor communities, and prisons.\nWe have known and partnered with this family and organization for several years, but now we have the resources and strength to become more active. I have shared various aspects of the Gospel with the students at the monthly chapel services in May, August, and September in the main office and the graveyard location. Rather than risk false-conversions and other misunderstandings, I always help connect the children with Brother Sirvith for follow up and discipleship.\nKayo was able to join and sing in September and is facilitating future projects with BMO/BGM with churches and individual Christians in Japan. In September, BMO/BGM celebrated their sixth anniversary. We were blessed that a Christian retired judge who is currently an attorney and law school professor from Japan was able to visit the celebration. He encouraged the staff by playing and singing in Japanese and by sharing his testimony about never giving up on God’s plans. He came to Cambodia for six days to train Cambodian judges as a Japanese government foreign-aid program. We met him at one of the churches we visited this past summer during our trip to Japan.\nAnd Beyond… I have been attending an international Christian fellowship (400+ from arond 40 nations) in Cambodia much of the time since I first arrived in Cambodia in 2000. I continue to help evangelize and disciple Chinese in partnership with the Chinese ministry. In August, more than a dozen people made professions of faith through the ministry of a visiting pastor. That spurred me on to connect and equip the new believers, the curious non-believers, and the believers who struggle with doubts and questions after the meetings. So far I’ve made connections with a Sri Lankan (and I could share my Christianity: Reasons for Faith book), a Cambodian via email/text messages only (I could share my Cambodian language evangelistic/apologetics YouTube videos), along with other oportunities to pray, encourage, and provide counsel. I also continue to speak around once a month to encourage other missionaries, expat workers, and Cambodians. I also lead the men’s ministry. Kayo leads the women’s ministry, assists with keeping everyone organized, helps lead worship in the prayer meetings, and more. In partnership with this fellowship and the Light Association (Light Times) organization, Kayo and I have been encouraging a Cambodian man and a Filipino woman in the area of mental health. More doors are opening in this area as well… There are many other related opportunities to serve and bless others from Apologetics, English curriculum development, and to helping people find jobs.\nLifestyle Change Journey: Phase 1 Completed (Major Weight Loss) PTL! I have struggled with my weight and fitness my whole life, especially during the past 20 years. I tried and failed to control or lose weight but I kept gaining until I reached 315 lbs. I started having knee pain on stairs as well as getting up from chairs, had difficulty putting on socks and shoes and so on… To make a long testimony short, around October 19, 2023, I felt led to start wearing and using a fitness watch a friend had given our family during our summer visit to the USA. Then, on October 21, Benjamin asked me to buy a scale for him and then “tricked” me into weighing myself. I was shocked that I was 315.4 lbs. Benjamin then showed me how to count and control my calories using an app, and so my lifestyle change journey - Phase 1 began. Now I am in Phase 2 (Weight Maintenance - 195-205 lbs). Lord willing, Phase 3 (Strength and Fitness) will begin in October.\nDuring the past 10 months, I have had wonderful times worshiping and praying while walking and exercising, and this has strengthened and refreshed me spiritually. My long-term depression and lethargy have ended and I have more joy and strength for family and ministry etc. My health (heartrate, blood pressure, and sleep apnea symptoms have all gone in a healthy direction). Many people here have been asking for advice to the point that Benjamin wisely recommended that I make a 5-page PDF of my testimony and recommendations. If you would like to receive this document, please contact me by email or social media. I am so thankful to God for His blessings on this breakthrough, and I hope to be a blessing and encouragement to others.\nWell, this is getting long. Much more could be written. Feel free to contact me directly. Our family is doing well. Benjamin is gearing up for some major tests but is really growing up rapidly in many wonderful ways. Please keep him in your prayers!\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gospel-in-the-graveyard-and-beyond-record-update-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“…Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature…”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(Mark 16:15 NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn my last update, I shared that God has been opening new doors of ministry for us here in Cambodia. One of the open doors is increased partnership with \u003ca href=\"https://www.bethelgraceministry.org\"\u003eBethel Mission Organization\u003c/a\u003e. BMO/BGM evangelizes and educates children who live on top of the tombs in a graveyard (and their families/communities) and has expanded to minister to those living in the garbage dump, other urban poor communities, and prisons.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gospel in the Graveyard (and Beyond…) - Record Update September 2024"},{"content":"This year was our first ever national pastors\u0026rsquo; conference for all of Mexico. We had hundreds of pastors from every corner of Mexico come together. The most beautiful thing about it was….we had the honor to host the event here in Acapulco. This year I was one of the guest speakers along with legends like Raul Ries, David Rosales, Bryan Parish and many more. We had a great time of Bible study and rich fellowship. Our team did such an amazing job serving the pastors. They worked very hard day and night as they served, cleaned, took care of kids, drove, and cooked. We are so grateful for the hours our team spent to bless these pastors and their families.\nGrowing in Grace and in Numbers too As the church continues to grow, we continue to pray for our own building. We want to be able to build more classrooms on the second floor, as well as extend our sanctuary. However, it’s too big of an investment to make for only being renters. Another option is to buy land and start from the bottom. Whatever the case, we need more space. Finding places with rooms as seen below is very difficult in Acapulco; almost everything is built upwards rather than spatially wide. So please pray that the Lord gives us wisdom and patience and if it’s His will, that doors would open.\nMarried Couples We recently concluded our marriage study and it was a blast. We had an intense 3-month study that challenged all of us. By the grace of God, we were able to witness fruit. We believe marriage is an area that needs to be protected, invested in, and given special attention. It is the core of our society, and strong marriages produce strong families. God’s Word teaches us how to love, honor, and respect one another. We look forward to our next marriage course.\nMen\u0026rsquo;s Discipleship We finally opened our men’s discipleship study. This will be our 3rd generation. The course is designed to raise new pastors and leaders, either to serve here or open up a new work. The group usually starts off with around 30 men but as the course gets more and more intense, we usually end up with 12-15 solid servants. We study 1 Timothy 3 regarding bishops and deacons.\nWomen’s Groups One step to Freedom and Navigators We have two women’s groups. One group is doing a discipleship, while the other group started a class called, \u0026ldquo;One Step to Freedom.\u0026rdquo; It is for ladies struggling with addictions and sin or for those who have family members who struggle. Both groups get together to worship, pray, and study His Word. It is such a blessing to have these ladies lifting one another up and sitting at the Lord’s feet together each week.\nHospital Outreach Our hospitals are overflowing with people. Sadly, when someone visits a loved one at the hospital they usually have to camp out at the entrance. These hospitals never have sufficient medicine, which means a relative needs to be close in order to send them to the pharmacy. Some people are there for days on end. Our ministry, \u0026ldquo;LOVE in ACTION,\u0026rdquo; feeds them, ministers to them, and gives them the Good News. We pray that our Heavenly Father would be glorified by these servants shining their light for the world to see.\nVBS We had an amazing VBS as we taught the truth of God’s Word to the little ones. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” This year was based on Romans 12:2 (not to be conformed to this world, but renewing our minds on God’s truth). The truth comes from God, we need to learn the truth, Jesus is the truth, and we need to share the truth with love. We pray the the seeds sown will bring fruit in their lives!\nVillegas FAMILY update! We celebrated 25 years of marriage and 20 years on the mission field!! God has been so good to us! We were able to celebrate with our all our children! We have so much to be thankful for! Our son Noah just started the journey of marriage. He married Keyla, a beautiful girl from Acapulco. Their situation is difficult because she does not have a visa to go to the States. She is currently living with us until everything is ready. Noah is studying at Cal State Fullerton. Please keep them in prayer. Elijah and Bianca are living in New Mexico as he is still serving in the US Air Force. Micah has been in full-time ministry for the last year, but he will be heading to the States in December to go to college.\nTrusting in His Plan God has been faithful to not just cover our needs for the last 20 years, but He has gone above and beyond to bless us! We humbly realize that He has used people like you to bless our ministry and family. We truly acknowledge that our ministry is a team effort in which we bear fruit together. When you partner with us, you are a co-laborer in the work God has given us. Please prayerfully consider coming alongside us. The smallest contribution goes a long way. Thank you all, and God bless you!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-chapel-mexico-united-villegas-update-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis year was our first ever national pastors\u0026rsquo; conference for all of Mexico. We had hundreds of pastors from every corner of Mexico come together. The most beautiful thing about it was….we had the honor to host the event here in Acapulco. This year I was one of the guest speakers along with legends like Raul Ries, David Rosales, Bryan Parish and many more. We had a great time of Bible study and rich fellowship. Our team did such an amazing job serving the pastors. They worked very hard day and night as they served, cleaned, took care of kids, drove, and cooked. We are so grateful for the hours our team spent to bless these pastors and their families.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary Chapel México United - Villegas Update September 2024"},{"content":"By Paul Boubion\n\u0026ldquo;Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,\u0026rdquo;\nMatthew 28:19\nThis year the Lord has really highlighted to us the desire to teach folks how to read their Bibles. At our church we have a New Believers class that encourages folks to daily pray and read their Bible. This practice is called “daily devotions” by many people. We have found that, like everything, we need to learn both the \u0026ldquo;HOW TO\u0026rdquo; and the DISCIPLINE of spending time with Jesus by prayer and reading the Bible.\nThis daily practice is part of required homework for everyone that requests counseling with us! And recently, on Thursdays, I have invited available men to sit in my office from 6:30-8:00pm to learn how to read their Bibles.\nEarlier this year, I developed a one-year reading plan in the Gospel of John. It allows the reader to really focus on just one or two verses at a time. Send me an email if you’d like a copy of the plan!\nAs a pastor at Calvary Rosarito, I get to do a lot of teaching and translating! Here are a couple pictures:\nAugust was a busy month for the family!\nPoiema: Something amazing happened with our daughter Poiema! She flew to Peru on her Mexican passport and was only given a 12-day visa! Mexico and Peru on not on the best of diplomatic terms! SO, after she prayed and fasted about what to do, Pastor Cory, the director of CBI Trujillo offered to send her to CBI Guatemala in Antigua!\nCristian is now attending the Universidad Xochicalco in Ensenada!\nHe is extremely busy studying and making new friends! He started August 20th after passing the entrance exam on August 19th! Not only that, the dorm rooms were 100% occupied and in high demand! However, the day we drove down, a student exited the program and 1 room became available! Studying medicine is very hands-on as they are given practical experience in local hospitals and clinics starting the 2nd semester!\nStay healthy! I get to ride on my mountain bike a few times a week with Pastor Wilson!\nLosses and reunions: On a sadder note, as I mentioned in our last blog, my cousin Adrienne passed away in July. However, funerals give us not only a time to reflect, but to reconnect with our loved ones.\n“To everything there is a season,\nA time for every purpose under heaven:\nA time to be born, and a time to die…”\nEcclesiastes 3:1-2\nPraise Reports\nPaul’s new men’s discipleship group on Thursdays! We are enjoying good health! Our three children in Mexico are all on track and moving forward! Cristian at University, Poiema in Guatemala, Benjamin studying coding at San Diego Community College. Poiema starting CBI in Guatemala! 45-60 women join Claudia in person and online for the MDVP bilingual study! This year we have been more successful in the Biblical Counseling ministry having trained around 5 more ladies, as well as making Paul’s office available for pastors to counsel in! Prayer Requests\nFor the ministry at church as well as in the home! For our personal relationship with God to be our #1 priority. MDVP bilingual women’s study Developing a web resource for our counseling ministry Provision for finances for Cristian’s tuition. For the upcoming men’s retreat October 4-6 (I am helping with planning \u0026amp; teaching) ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/discipleship-boubion-update-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBy Paul Boubion\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Go therefore and \u003cstrong\u003emake\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003edisciples\u003c/strong\u003e of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew 28:19\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/image-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis year the Lord has really highlighted to us the desire to teach folks how to read their Bibles. At our church we have a New Believers class that encourages folks to daily pray and read their Bible. This practice is called “daily devotions” by many people. We have found that, like everything, we need to learn both the \u0026ldquo;HOW TO\u0026rdquo; and the DISCIPLINE of spending time with Jesus by prayer and reading the Bible.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Discipleship! - Boubion Update September 2024"},{"content":"I really want thank God for how He is working through us.\nI am sorry that I have not been able to write a newsletter for a while. I am very happy to share with you what God has wonderfully done these few months.\nWe are serving in many villages around our city. Many people are coming to the Lord. We run house churches in three places. The churches are 10-20 km apart from one another, so it is difficult to all meet together in one place.\nThe people who got saved during the last few months decided to get baptized. By the grace of the Lord, everything went well.\nMy colleagues and I conduct Bible studies in different places during the week. We also host online Bible studies. The Lord is helping those who attend grow in His Word. Thank you for your prayers.\nGod\u0026rsquo;s Word says, \u0026ldquo;He who is faithful till the end will be saved\u0026rdquo;. There are many people who came to church regularly for a long time, but have now left the Lord and went into the world. I pray that they will one day return to the Lord.\nMy vision is to have a church in another district of our state. There are 13 districts in our state, in which we are serving in 3 districts. There are more than 18 hundred villages in these districts. 80% percent of these villages do not have any Christians.\nThere are 2 divisions in our state. We serve in one of them, but the other one is completely untouched.\nThere are some tribes in our state among whom we are working. We have learned their languages, I can speak almost all of the languages ​​of these tribes. These include JS*, B*, R*, J*, S*, and T*. Some of these villages are situated near the highest mountains where it is difficult to go. There are not good roads there.\nM* is another place near the high mountains. It has about 99 villages. We serve in some of these villages, but most of the villages are still not reached with the Gospel. Our vision is to reach all of these villages. There should be Christians in every village.\nSimilarly, there is J* which has 400 villages. Many people in our church are from this tribe, but we are still far from our target. We pray that doors from these places will open for us and that we can reach them too.\nWe have been visiting these places for several years. Now, by the grace of God, house churches are being run in some of the villages by local people. Our vision is that people from these places will come to know Christ and serve there. Every two or three months, we give some training to the people who serve there, so that they can do the work of the Lord well.\nPrayer Requests:\nThe capital of our state is a very big hub for people. People from different parts of of our state live here. Pray that we can share the Word of God to each of them and people get saved! Pray for the places where we are serving. May God bring His glory to these places. Also pray for our vision to have a Christian church in every village. Pray for God to provide all of our needs. Pray for our jail ministry. May more people come to know about the living God and may He set them free from darkness. If anyone is interested in serving in jail ministry and wants to teach me and help, please contact me. Pray for a peace of land for our church so that we may have our own place where we may glorify God\u0026rsquo;s name. For a very long time, we have had church in a rented place. Each day it is getting more difficult to run. Thank you so much!\nPastor 12*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/light-in-the-darkness-pastor-12-update-september-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI really want thank God for how He is working through us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am sorry that I have not been able to write a newsletter for a while. I am very happy to share with you what God has wonderfully done these few months.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IMG-20240511-WA0007.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IMG-20240702-WA0026.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/IMG-20240722-WA0003.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are serving in many villages around our city. Many people are coming to the Lord. We run house churches in three places. The churches are 10-20 km apart from one another, so it is difficult to all meet together in one place.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Light in the Darkness - Pastor 12 Update September 2024"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico. As I write this update, I just got back from a trip up to Orange County to speak at a conference, and I am preparing to fly out tomorrow to Las Vegas, for another two speaking engagements. I am not a world traveler or even a guy that loves traveling out of town for vacations, but God has opened up the door for me to travel to share about God’s heart for missions, and I am so thankful for these open doors.\nWhen the Apostle Paul traveled on his four missionary journeys, he often revisited the churches that he had planted on his earlier trips. One of my favorite verses (quotes) from the Apostle Paul is found in Acts 15:36, where we read; “Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.”\nThis year I have had the privilege of taking eight trips so far, and I have six more remaining in the rest of 2024! I have two main types of trips that I travel on, and in the rest of this update, I want to talk about the different focuses of these missions trips.\nFirst off, most of my trips focus on me visiting one of our own church plants. There is nothing more exciting for me than to travel with a small team from our church to bring encouragement, love, and finances as we visit one of our church plants out on the mission field. On these trips we usually fund a work project, spend time with the church planter and his family, and host and fund a conference of their choosing. The conferences this year have included: Basics of the Christian faith conference, a marriage conference, family conference, relationships conference, and (surprise surprise) church planting conferences!\nWhen I arrive at our church plants, for them I am viewed as their spiritual parent. But even though I raised up and sent out the church\u0026rsquo;s pastor and his original church planting team, many of the people in the congregation have never met me before personally. It is such a joy to me to meet these new believers who have come to faith in our church plants.\nHistorically, most of my trips have focused on visiting our church plants, but recently, God has been opening up many more doors for me to speak at Missions and Pastors\u0026rsquo; conferences. Now, I am not a conference speaker and I have never viewed myself that way. I am simply a local church pastor that God has blessed with the privilege of planting other churches. But with the message of church planting and the release of my book “The Sending Hub,” God has opened up many new doors for me where I get the opportunity to speak with pastors and leaders that I would never have met otherwise.\nThis year, I have five of these trips planned where I get to speak at outside conferences and bring this missions message to a new audience. I thank the Lord for setting this open door before me, and pray that I am able to present this message in a loving way so that it encourages my listeners to move forward in the great missions work of church planting.\nThe reason I wanted to tell you about my travels in this update is because when I travel, I don’t travel alone. I am always sent by #1 - our local church, but I am also sent #2 - by you, our precious ministry partners! Our ministry model is based on the Apostle Paul in the book of Acts and Paul was always supported by a group of spirit-filled believers who sent him to do his missions work. For my family and I, that group of senders IS YOU! There are many worthy causes out there to support, and please know that Sarah and I take this responsibility of representing Jesus and you very seriously!\nSo once again, I want to thank you for supporting me and my family as your missionaries. It is through your prayers and love, that God meets our spiritual needs, and it is through your financial partnership, that God meets our physical needs.\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God will bless my two trips planned in September to Las Vegas, Nevada and then later to Mexico City and Cuernavaca.\n#2- Our daughter Grace is going through her 2nd follow up interview for a job in San Diego, please pray for God’s perfect plan with this job opportunity!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for the open doors He has been placing before me in the ministry!\n#2- Praise God for another (small) victory in our court case against the thieves trying to steal our south property/sports court.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-september-2024-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. As I write this update, I just got back from a trip up to Orange County to speak at a conference, and I am preparing to fly out tomorrow to Las Vegas, for another two speaking engagements. I am not a world traveler or even a guy that loves traveling out of town for vacations, but God has opened up the door for me to travel to share about God’s heart for missions, and I am so thankful for these open doors.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family September 2024 Missions Update"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nDear friends and family,\nThank you so much for your love and your prayers.\nPlease pray that:\n- We will grow in our love for each other as a family and for the community in which we have been planted. - For us to have wisdom as we help oversee the work of the ministry and the church. - For the pastors in our school to remember what God has taught them and apply it well as they near the end of their three years of discipleship.\nPraise God:\n- The Ugandan National Council of Higher Education has accepted our application for accreditation and will be coming to inspect our school next month.\n- For the tremendous growth He has brought in the lives of the pastors and church leaders who have been studying in our pastoral school for the past 2.5 years. - For the growth of the four young men who have been living with my friend Luke for the past year and undergoing life-on-life discipleship. In Christ,\nMatt, Noelle \u0026amp; Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\n- We praise God first for the teams He brought this last month. They were such a blessing. Pray for the fruit that will come from these teams - We also praise God for our intern, Anastasia, she has been a huge help already with a true servant\u0026rsquo;s heart. - We pray for our school garden. We are almost finished planting and praying for a good harvest. - Pray as we start a new Bible college semester. - Pray as Vincent starts his process for dual citizenship.\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email BlogUSA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\nPraising the Lord for everyone\u0026rsquo;s faithful prayer requests:\nPraise reports:\n- CSOM 2024 was an amazing work of God, we praise Him for letting us be involved - We praise Him for everyone\u0026rsquo;s safety and security. - We praise Him for the way He moved in all of our hearts. - We praise him for sustaining us in our physical affirmative.\n- Jenn is healed up nicely from her surgery and Tim\u0026rsquo;s back although not great is definitely not worse than when he left.\nPrayer requests:\n- Continued wisdom and healing regarding Tim\u0026rsquo;s back. - The heartbreak of our son Andy still struggling - Financial wisdom as the year closes out. - Wisdom in our ministry and travel plans.\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n- Pray for the students, staff, and CBI campuses in Nepal, S. Asia and worldwide as the Word goes forth each day. Pray for Bond as he will be teaching at the campuses in S. Asia, Nepal, and Peru this semester and that there would be much fruit as he teaches, equips, and encourages others in the Word and in their callings. - Pray for the 4 new church plants in Nepal and for the 3 new church plants in S. Asia. Pray for boldness, protection, and for the Holy Spirit to move in power in these new places. - Pray for us as we will both be teaching at the South America missions conference Sept. 19 - 21, 2025 in Peru. We are also bringing others with us, so pray that more people would be stirred up to be sent out to fulfill the great commission. - Pray for our marriage as we celebrate 25 years in the month of September. Pray that our marriage would be an example and reflect of God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness and that we would be able to minister as an awesome team together for many more years to come. - Pray for Breanna as she begins 4th grade this month. Pray that she will continue to grow in the Lord and become the young lady God desires her to be!\nThank you prayer warriors, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n- Please continue to pray for my parents’ health. Especially pray for healing for my dad, or an accurate diagnosis and treatment. Please pray also for my mom’s health.\n- Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\n- Please pray that God will use us for His glory.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n- Please pray for the Christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.\n- Please pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health.\n- Please continue to pray for my mom’s health and complete recovery.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - Yorba Linda, California\n- Please pray for Joel as he will be traveling to Japan and Thailand for 3 weeks this month.\n- This is one of the longest trips he has taken, so please pray that the Lord would use him as he teaches, helps lead a vision tour for aspiring missionaries, and does missionary care on this trip; and please pray for Amy and the kids, that the Lord would protect and sustain them in Joel’s absence.\nThank you! Love in Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nThese are the prayer requests for Mike and Sarah Vincent and CC Rosarito!\nPrayer Requests:\n- An online job for our daughter Grace! - Strength for Sarah as she starts her new school year as a teacher! - Blessings upon our 39 church planting students this semester!\nPraise Reports:\n- A fantastic church planting conference partnering with CC Saving Grace! - The blessing of sending out our 40th church plant, Calvary Del Lago in Patzcuaro, Michoacan!\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\n“I will bless the Lord at all times his praise will be continually on my lips!” I can stay with Joy that the 33 kids in our afterschool program have memorized Psalm 34:1- 12! We are hoping to memorize the entire chapter. I am so blessed with these kids and by serving them in the afterschool program three days per week and ask that you would continue to pray for their families. Each one has a story, some worse than others, but we pray that the seeds that are planted in their hearts will grow.\n- Please pray for much-needed wisdom! I am not good with words and I have difficulty speaking in difficult situations. There is a difficult situation that we need to deal with as a staff so I ask for wisdom. - For the parents of the kids in the afterschool program to be won over for Christ through their children. - For a ministry that is starting soon with Junior High girls. That this discipleship will take off and reach these young girls for Christ. They age out of the afterschool program at 12 and many times just stop coming to church. - For continued good health for my 83-year-old mom who lives alone and has Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s.\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nShilo and Racquell Stratton - Peru\nPrayer Requests:\n- HEALTHY churches in Trujillo, Buenos Aires neighborhood, and Moyobamba - HUMILITY to work with our young team - WISDOM to train up Amalia in the way she should go - BALANCING time well with family, friends, and the ministry\u0026rsquo;s responsibilities\n- Also: Divine appointments with evangelism and discipleship, in and outside of CBI Divine appointments for car shopping - Wisdom for planning furlough - Children’s rescue home here in Trujillo\nTHANK YOU SO MUCH for praying these things with us and interceding for us.\n- Shilo, Racquell, and Amas - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\nThank you all for taking time to pray!\n- Pray that I as a pastor and we as a team in Calvary Moyobamba improve on organization. - Pray that the price of a piece of a property we want to buy right next to the church will reduce. We want to use it to build a patio, a kitchen, and dorms for visiting teams. - Pray that the Lord continues to purify us as a church. - Pray that someone can be raised up or come to disciple the women at the church.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPraise Reports:\n- I thank God that He helped me to arrive to my area of ministry safely.\n- I thank God that He allowed my wife to have a safe gallbladder operation, and that she is absolutely fine now.\n- I thank God that my sister gave birth to a son, and that after such a bad illness, he is safe now.\n- I thank God that my mother’s health has improved some.\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for our safety.\n- There is flooding in our area this month. Please pray that God will keep the unemployed and the people living where there are no roads safe.\n- There is 2 feet of water on the road in front of our house. Because of this, it is very difficult to commute. Pray that God will open the heart of our village leader to drain the water.\n- Due to the rain, the roads become muddy; while going to the ministry, my motorcycle tires slip and sometimes I am injured. Pray that God will protect us.\n- During the last week of September and the first week of October, my friends and I are planning to preach the Gospel in about 4 villages. The villages are about 250 miles from my village. We would like to go to the villages, show the Jesus Film on the projector, and distribute New Testaments. Pray that God will fulfill our needs and that the plan will be successful.\n- Please pray that the faith of our church will become stronger, and that they will understand the depth of God’s Word and be able to stand in all kinds of persecution.\nThank you. God is doing amazing work through your prayers, and new people are listening to the Gospel.\nMay God bless you all. Worker 11\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\n- Pray for those who heard the Word at the conferences.\n- Please pray for safety from persecution.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nWe had a blessed time in Japan visiting churches, friends, and Kayo\u0026rsquo;s family.\n- Please pray for wisdom as we set our priorities and commitments for this season. There are so many needs and opportunities/open doors that we need God\u0026rsquo;s guidance to know how they all should fit together.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-september-2024-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/5c5401fe-f7b9-4e8b-9b8f-faeef3b55e6a.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003cbr\u003e\nThank you so much for your love and your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease pray that:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n- We will grow in our love for each other as a family and for the community in which we have been planted. \u003cbr\u003e\n- For us to have wisdom as we help oversee the work of the ministry and the church. \u003cbr\u003e\n- For the pastors in our school to remember what God has taught them and apply it well as they near the end of their three years of discipleship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM SEPTEMBER 2024 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" Time is flying by! So much has happened in the last two months that it can be hard to place it all, but God is doing some amazing things! God is doing much in my heart as well. My strength is never enough and I constantly need more of His grace and the empowerment of His Spirit. As the Gospel of John tells us, we can do no good thing apart from Him (John 15:4). I’ve been seeing that power again and again in my life here on the field. Thank you so much for partnering with me, thank you for praying, and thank you for your faithfulness in the role’s you’re walking out in the kingdom of God.\nWhat’s been going on?\nWe had a very busy vacation in between semesters. Many students stayed on campus which was a blessing for us. We were able to accomplish more with construction and outreach here in Trujillo. They spend a lot of time working on their Chuck Tracks and other work to help free up some time over their semesters as they finish sooner.\nI’ve been working on construction and admin, getting things ready for our current semester. It’s been a lot of work, but it’s been really awesome to see the Lord give me the wisdom I need to accomplish tasks much faster than I would normally imagine. Running service hours for the students has been a growing task and has been growing me as well. It’s forced me to get ahead schedule-wise and plan ahead not only for the students but for myself as I have tasks I still need to accomplish. I’m thankful for the opportunity to grow and I’m thankful to see how the Lord is providing strength for it all. I love problem solving and am loving the Lord’s help in growing in those abilities as well.\nWe had 3 or 4 weddings over the summer and I even got asked to be in one (I’ll cover that in my next newsletter). We got to celebrate the 4th of July here in Peru and a bunch of people from the church and institute were there to celebrate with us—their Dia de Independencia was just around the corner and it was a great time! In my free time I’ve been training at the gym nearby learning catch wrestling and taking some classes—health-wise I feel great and am loving challenging my body. As for construction a lot has gotten done as well. We’ve had a good “spring cleaning” on a few different occasions and we are now up in our new men\u0026rsquo;s dorm. We are still finishing up the new guys\u0026rsquo; bathroom but the living area is all good to go. In the old one, we were able to knock out a couple of rooms for married couples who want to attend on campus.\nThere’s also been a good amount of outreach. We’ve done some open street evangelism, but also when we had a team come out we did a couple different outreaches, a huge one for kids and then a VBS at the church! The outreach turned out far bigger than we expected. Our students and staff put a lot of work into it and so did the visiting team. Some of our students and staff went out to invite people in the days leading up to the event, and when it began we were blown away! We believe there were over 500 kids (maybe closer to 750) in attendance with their families! They heard the Gospel, played games, got invited to church, and received free prizes and food! God is doing a work here in Trujillo and we can’t thank you enough for being a part of it and for praying for what God is doing here.\nWe had another baptism which was combined with one of our church plants—Calvary Buenos Aires and, in total, over 30 people got baptized! That’s including 2 people from our deaf ministry at Calvary Trujillo! It was such a blessing to see and I’m looking forward to what the Lord is going to do next! Already more newcomers are giving their lives to the Lord!\nWhat’s next?\nIf you could please pray for my friends Julian and Hope, they just got married recently and are now running the new CBI in Brazil for the semester. They are preparing to go plant a new Calvary in Concepción, Chile. After the semester they will go back to the states for a time, but are planning to go in the new year! If you could please be praying for me, Gospel South America (the organization based out of Calvary Trujillo) is in the process of purchasing the new property in Mendoza, Argentina for our new CBI campus there. The plan is to have it closely tied to Calvary La Vid—Maipu in Mendoza, Argentina. Please pray for the process to go smoothly and for the Lord’s leading and wisdom. We will also need help getting the property ready for it’s first semester shortly after. I also need your prayers for this semester. I am running a Casá á Casá that is bilingual through the church. It’s a privilege to be able to teach and lead one of the church\u0026rsquo;s Bible studies and I want to do it well and in an honoring way. I will also be leading one of the new prayer groups for Argentina as we are getting ready to expand the ministry there. Please pray for wisdom there and for me as I will be teaching 2 days of our Isaiah class that’s coming up in about a week. I’ll be teaching through Isaiah 14-19, and the final day of class on chapters 55-66. Thank you so much for praying and partnering with me here. The Lord has used all of you so much—I can’t wait to see what He’s going to do!\nPlease pray for:\nContinued faithfulness\nDrawing close to Jesus—complete reliance upon Him\nBeing empowered by His Spirit\nThe classes\nThe new church plants\nThings in Argentina\nThe Lord’s wisdom, leading, provision, and guidance\nI’m so glad to have you guys in my corner. Love you all!\n-Jordon\nIf you would like to get involved or even help support the school with scholarships for South American students, please let me know! Please let me know how I can be praying for you!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-my-strength-voisin-update-august-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/IMG%5F6350-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTime is flying by! So much has happened in the last two months that it can be hard to place it all, but God is doing some amazing things! God is doing much in my heart as well. My strength is never enough and I constantly need more of His grace and the empowerment of His Spirit. As the Gospel of John tells us, we can do no good thing apart from Him (John 15:4). I’ve been seeing that power again and again in my life here on the field. Thank you so much for partnering with me, thank you for praying, and thank you for your faithfulness in the role’s you’re walking out in the kingdom of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord is My Strength - Voisin Update August 2024"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Leaders, Supporters and Church Family!\nGreetings to all of you!\nI am sorry that I was not able to send an update last month. Thank God that I am home this month. I am sharing with you the wonderful work God has done in the last two months.\nWe had a wonderful time filled with encouragement and God\u0026rsquo;s Word!\nI thank God that He gave my wife and me the opportunity to attend a meeting in the North and arranged flight tickets for us to go there and come back. Thank God that my wife was able to travel in a plane for the first time. My wife and I\u0026rsquo;s hearts were filled with joy when we met the pastor and his wife at the meeting. It was very nice to see their love and hear the Word of God from them. My wife and I were really excited to go. When we went, our hearts were filled with even more joy than we had imagined!\nThe pastors taught us many things, including many spiritual tools for helping our church members and personal lives grow through the Word of God. I am very grateful to God that He has placed us in a family that always encourages us and loves us so much.\nI told the Good News to a friend who I knew 15 years ago. I also gave him an audio Bible and spent time with him.\nPraise the Lord! Many years ago, while we lived in the North for 18 years, we made a lot friends who have now forgotten us. But there is one family whose friendship we have not forgotten. Whenever we enter their home, they welcome us with an open heart. They do not let us leave without being their guest.\nThis time when my wife and I reached their house, they welcomed us very warmly. I brought them some gifts. My wife and I told them the Good News and gave them an audio Bible. We remembered old memories together and they prepared a very tasty meal for us. After we ate, we went for a walk and took a lot of pictures together. I thank God that people listen to audio Bibles when they get one in their local language. I believe that one day they will definitely accept the Lord.\nI am thankful that God gave me the opportunity to share the Word of God in 2 house churches in the North.\nOne of these is the church of my wife\u0026rsquo;s relative. He runs a church with great faith and also works a job. He goes door-to-door every week and shares the Word of God verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter. I was very excited to come to his church. Even though there were only 8-10 people, everyone knew the Word of God. He has completed a 6 month online Bible study at Calvary Chapel Bible Institute. I will always pray for God to take his ministry further. I am thankful to God for giving me the opportunity to share the Word of God in our colleague Pastor 12\u0026rsquo;s church also.\nMy wife\u0026rsquo;s gall bladder operation went well and God gave a new life to my elder sister\u0026rsquo;s newborn child.\nI thank God that He has given me a wife who helps in every activity of God\u0026rsquo;s work. It seems like God created her for me. My wife had pain in her stomach. I took her to the doctor and she got an ultrasound. They found a 15 mm stone in her gall bladder. The doctor said she should get the surgery done soon or else it would cause her a lot of problems later. God took care of our financial need for the surgery.\nOn the same day that the doctor had scheduled my wife\u0026rsquo;s surgery, I got a call from my elder sister who still lives in the North. The doctor had admitted her to a government hospital to deliver her baby. Because of that, my wife\u0026rsquo;s operation was put off for a few days.\nWhen my sister gave birth to her son, the doctor did not take good care of him. He became very ill. My wife and I told the doctor that we were concerned about him many times. We showed the doctor the trouble my nephew was having, but the doctor did not answer us. After three days my nephew stopped moving. He could not open his eyes, cry, or make any noise at all. When that happened, my wife and I took him to a private hospital. As soon as we reached the private hospital, the doctor gave him oxygen and started treating him. The doctor said that if we had arrived even a half of hour later, my nephew would not have survived.\nGlory to God! God gave him new life. The fees of the private hospital were very expensive. God opened the heart of so many Christians and also some who did not believe in Christ who donated to save his life. He was able to reach home safely with his parents after 21 days. After he was admitted to the good hospital, my wife also underwent a good, painless surgery, in the best hospital for her in the same city in the North. Praise the Lord! Now my sister\u0026rsquo;s child and my wife are both completely fine.'\nPoints of Thanksgiving\nI thank God that He helped me to reach my area of ministry safely. I thank God that He allowed my wife to have a safe operation and that she is absolutely fine now. I thank God that my sister gave birth to a son. Praise the Lord that he is safe now. I thank God that my mother\u0026rsquo;s health has improved a little. Prayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our safety. Please pray. There is projected to be a flood in our area this month. May God keep the unemployed and the homeless people who live on the footpaths safe. Please pray. There is 2 feet of water on the road in front of our house. Because of that, it is very difficult for us to go places. May God open the heart of the head of our village make a drain for the water to drain somewhere else. Please pray. Because of the rain, the roads are wet. While I travel to do ministry, my motorcycle\u0026rsquo;s tires slip. Sometimes I get hurt. May God protect us. Please pray. In the last week of September or the first week of October, my friends and I are planning to preach the Gospel in 4 villages. That village area is about 400 km away from my village. We want to go to the villages, show the Jesus film on the projector and distribute New Testaments. Pray that God fulfills our every need and that this plan becomes successful Please pray that the faith of our church members will become stronger. May they understand the depth of God\u0026rsquo;s Word and face all kinds of persecution firmly. Thank you for your prayers, support, Christian love, and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you all!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-always-faithful-pastor-11-update-august-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Leaders, Supporters and Church Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am sorry that I was not able to send an update last month. Thank God that I am home this month. I am sharing with you the wonderful work God has done in the last two months.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/August-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/August-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWe had a wonderful time filled with encouragement and God\u0026rsquo;s Word!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God that He gave my wife and me the opportunity to attend a meeting in the North and arranged flight tickets for us to go there and come back. Thank God that my wife was able to travel in a plane for the first time. My wife and I\u0026rsquo;s hearts were filled with joy when we met the pastor and his wife at the meeting. It was very nice to see their love and hear the Word of God from them. My wife and I were really excited to go. When we went, our hearts were filled with even more joy than we had imagined!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Always Faithful - Pastor 11 Update August 2024"},{"content":"Hey Friends and Family!\nI pray you are all doing well and enjoying these last days of Summer! Joel had an amazing time in Mexico teaching a workshop on raising up and leading a worship team, leading a night of worship and prayer for our School of Missions students, and then teaching a class for them on the theology of worship.\nWe are looking forward to a BIG month starting this week; here are some of the things going on that we would ask you to be in prayer for us over:\nThis weekend, Joel is teaching at a Missions Conference at Calvary Chapel Westgrove On Sunday, we are hosting a Dessert Gathering update at the church for the Kanyike Family, SGWM missionaries from Uganda The following Sunday, the whole family will be participating in a Walk-A-Thon to raise money for missions (more on that later) In two weeks, Joel will be leaving for three weeks in Japan and Thailand. In Japan, Joel will lead a small team who is praying about moving there, check up on our missionaries the Root Family there, and teach at Calvary Chapel Abide in Osaka In Thailand, Joel will attend the CCA Missions Conference in Chiang Mai, and then spend an extended time helping lead a separate conference for many of our SGWM missionaries and nationals who will be joining us there Please pray for a fruitful trip for Joel, and that the Lord would protect and provide for the rest of the family during the trip, as it will be the longest Joel has ever taken!\nNow, about the Walk-A-Thon… Our church is putting on a Labor Day picnic that will include a mile walk in Yorba Linda to raise money for missions! All six of us Garcias will be participating, and we would love your help! Would you consider sponsoring us by donating toward the cause we are walking for? It would be a huge blessing! We are raising money to help put our new batch of missionaries in the Middle East through language school, as it is an expensive investment that will be absolutely crucial for their effectiveness on the field there!\nTo donate, please click the link below, select One-Time, or Recurring if you would like this to be a recurring donation, and select MIDDLE EAST GENERAL as the Fund you are donating to, along with the dollar amount of your choice. Any amount helps!\nClick here to sponsor us for the Walk-A-Thon!\nHere are some pics of us participating in last year’s Walk-A-Thon:\nWe would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/walking-for-the-nations-how-you-can-get-involved-garcia-family-update-august-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI pray you are all doing well and enjoying these last days of Summer! Joel had an amazing time in Mexico teaching a workshop on raising up and leading a worship team, leading a night of worship and prayer for our School of Missions students, and then teaching a class for them on the theology of worship.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/b5e0d9d4-efae-427e-a2fe-9d64c71c6250-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are looking forward to a BIG month starting this week; here are some of the things going on that we would ask you to be in prayer for us over:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Walking for the Nations! How YOU Can Get Involved! – Garcia Family Update August 2024"},{"content":"Dear friends and family,\nWe hope each of you have been having a good summer so far! Geoff and I have been so grateful for the past 2 months because it gave us a chance to step back, rest, reset, and set out new goals to run after together.\nStepping Back In the second week of July we were blessed to go on our postponed honeymoon and went up to the beautiful coast of central California. After a 6-hour road trip we arrived at the charming little town of Carmel-by-the-sea. It was full of good food, art galleries, tea shops, bookstores, and little gardens tucked away behind ivy and cobblestone.\nWe had a wonderful time there and even drove up to the Santa Cruz forests to do a fun zipline and rope course in the sequoias. The scenery was absolutely stunning and we really enjoyed getting to have both a beach and forest vacation in one trip!\nA few weeks following our honeymoon we drove down south to visit my (Lydia’s) family in Mexico for a week. We loved being back in Rosarito and had a restful time there as well as we hung out with family, ate tacos, and enjoyed the beautiful weather!\nWhile in Mexico we were also able to attend Calvary Rosarito’s annual church planting conference. It was amazing to witness the work God is doing in Mexico and beyond, and we got to see several new church planters sent out at the conference this year! God is raising up leaders young and old who are willing to be used by Him to reach the world with the gospel. One of the pastors who was sent out to plant a church this year was almost in his 70’s! What an encouraging reminder that it’s never too late to be called and used by God in His Great Commission!\nPressing Forward As the summer is coming to an end, we have been praying through next steps the Lord is leading us to take. We believe it’s time to prepare to go back to Japan for an extended trip of 3 months. During the trip, our heart is to seek the Lord for confirmation of our long-term calling there, to get a better glimpse of what it would be like to live and serve there, to learn under the missionaries there, and to come alongside Abide Osaka church anyway that we can. We don’t know exactly what the Lord has in store, but we are excited and open to however the Lord would lead and use us for His kingdom. We will update you all on the travel dates in our next newsletter.\nUntil the trip, we will continue to be equipped through SGWM’s Missions Training School (MTS) here in Yorba Linda, California. Lydia will be carrying on with her job at SGWM as an administrative assistant, as well as continue on in her weekly Japanese lessons.\nAs I (Geoff) go on in my studies through the Bible and MTS, I have enrolled into a videography course looking to learn how to potentially build my own business. My heart for the possible business venture is to create videos that allow viewers to see mission work and life as a missionary (while also taking clients for event photography). While I am still new to learning the skill as a videographer, there is something about being able to take a moment the Lord has moved and capture it for others to be blessed by it. I hope to bring a new way of updates to you guys very soon as we progress into the next steps of our journey.\nThank you once again for reading another one of our updates and for partnering with us. Your love and care mean truly so much to us. Let us know how we can be praying for you as well!\nUntil next time,\nGeoff \u0026amp; Lydia\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray we would have renewed strength and a fresh fire within us as we continue serving and being equipped here at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace Please pray for God’s guidance \u0026amp; provision as we prepare for the Japan trip Please pray with us as we are in need of short-term housing for November \u0026amp; December Please pray that our hearts would be open and surrendered before the Lord each day ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/stepping-back-and-pressing-forward-hamano-update-august-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe hope each of you have been having a good summer so far! Geoff and I have been so grateful for the past 2 months because it gave us a chance to step back, rest, reset, and set out new goals to run after together.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240716%5F160213.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch3 id=\"stepping-back\"\u003eStepping Back\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the second week of July we were blessed to go on our postponed honeymoon and went up to the beautiful coast of central California. After a 6-hour road trip we arrived at the charming little town of Carmel-by-the-sea. It was full of good food, art galleries, tea shops, bookstores, and little gardens tucked away behind ivy and cobblestone.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Stepping Back and Pressing Forward - Hamano Update August 2024"},{"content":"おはよう (ohayou)! And so the countdown begins… officially two weeks away from our departure to Japan! This is also our last week of the Missions Training School. Can you believe it has been a year already?! Time really does fly by when you’re having fun! After all the months of training, preparing, and equipping, I am one step closer to being sent out as a full-time missionary.\nRun Hard After Jesus!\nI had the honor of sharing what the Lord has done throughout my life at a Titus 2 women’s event in South OC. In recounting my testimony, I was reminded of how Jesus not only saved me from the pit of hell, but how He continues to transform my life for His glory!\nAs Michelle Randall spoke on Mary Magdalene, I reveled in how much I have in common with her faith story. Mary Magdalene was delivered from seven demons, but her testimony didn’t end when she met Jesus. She continued to run hard after Jesus every single day, never leaving His side even during His death and after His resurrection! That is exactly what I’m doing! After being saved by grace through faith alone and freed by Jesus from many demons myself; I will continue to seek Him, His will, and reflect His love to all peoples. \u0026lt;3\nWatch Michelle’s teaching on Mary Magdalene here (testimony starts at 51:00)!!\nFull Circle Moment\nThis past weekend, I had the blessing of heading back to El Niño, Mexico- the place and the people where the Lord first stirred my heart for missions three years ago. It was a full circle moment! It has been a little over a year since I’ve last seen them, but I was welcomed as if I had never left. On this special day, we were celebrating the graduation of many university students, as well as some High School students going into University. As a part of the program, Do 4 One also offers sponsorships for elementary and middle school students (pictured below). It is because of this program that these kids are able to have an education and a career. I am truly grateful the Lord has allowed me to be a part of this work for the past two years! If you would like more information, please visit Do 4 One Foundation.\nPraise Reports\nGlory to God I had the honor of sharing what God is doing in my life! Praise God many kids are able to go to school this upcoming year because of sponsors! Missions Training School year one is coming to an end- I’m excited for the new students that are coming in and to see what the Lord will continue to do! Prayer Requests\nPlease join me in praying for a revival to happen in the Church in America! May we also repent as a nation and turn back to God!! Please pray for the nations- for Mexico, South America, and beyond- may they encounter Jesus Christ like never before! Please continue to pray for the upcoming trip to Japan, we leave on September 6th- for team unity, guidance, and wisdom as I begin to budget for future living expenses! Please continue to pray for provision in paying off my debt- I’m almost half way there! Thank you family for your constant love! It is because of your faithful partnership in the gospel from the first day till now, through prayer and financial support, that any of this is possible. Love you all!!\nFor His glory,\n-Mayra Alejandra\nFor the love of Christ compels us…\nRomans 5:14\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/one-step-closer-solorzano-update-august-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eおはよう (ohayou)! And so the countdown begins… officially two weeks away from our departure to Japan! This is also our last week of the Missions Training School. Can you believe it has been a year already?! Time really does fly by when you’re having fun! After all the months of training, preparing, and equipping, I am \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eone step closer\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e to being sent out as a full-time missionary.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Titus2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Titus2-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRun Hard After Jesus!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One Step Closer! - Solorzano Update August 2024"},{"content":"A Ministry of the Calvary Culiacán Church Network\nThank you so much for your continued prayers for me and my family. Instead of updating you on all that God has been doing this summer (which I will do soon), I’d like to take a moment to highlight our newest ministry, \u0026ldquo;TRANSFORMED BY HIS LOVE.\u0026rdquo;\nTRANSFORMED is run by 20+ women from 5 of our Calvary Culiacán churches. We go to a women’s rehab center every Friday morning to preach the Word of God verse by verse (currently the Gospel of Mark) and have a time of sharing where the women can talk about what’s going on in their lives and reflect on what God is speaking to them. We leave them with a homework assignment to complete during the week – memorizing verses, praying or reading the Bible, making amends, and more – so they can apply what they are learning and be transformed by the Word as Paul says in our theme verse, Romans 12:2.\n“And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”\nIn the nearly 3 months we have been working here, we have witnessed many miraculously transformed lives. Margarita was freed from her 40+ year marijuana addiction by learning to pray and satisfy her cravings with tortillas. Others have been freed from alcohol addictions, drug addictions, and mental illness. Bitterness and seeking revenge have been replaced with forgiveness and seeking reconciliation. Many women have made first-time professions of faith, and many hardened and damaged hearts have been softened by the love of Jesus. Those that once prayed only for a quick release, visits, or permission to leave campus are now praying for patience to complete their healing processes, opportunities to reconcile with family and friends, and that they would leave TRANSFORMED.\nToday, we had a super INTENSE day of ministry and spiritual warfare. Due to technical glitches, endless interruptions, and distractions, including two women who seem to be possessed, it was a very difficult day, but our God is bigger, and He accomplished more than the enemy!\nThe sermon was titled, “Chosen with Purpose.” Flor showed them through Jesus’s chosen disciples that, 1) those who are chosen must be obedient to God’s call and 2) God equips us to be used by Him. During the time of reflection, we asked the ladies, “What is God speaking to your heart? What is He calling you to do?” Their answers were varied, but intense, and many were left with a big task for this week – reflect on what God is calling you to do and start obeying. Here are a few examples:\nLiseth said that God told her it’s time to obey. As a Christian, she has been listening for a long time, but God is calling her to start obeying and putting into practice all that she has heard. Delia and Carmen (a former dealer and her client) said that God is speaking to them about starting a support group in the same neighborhood where they did drugs to share their testimonies and help others find freedom from addiction. Rocio recently accepted Christ through our ministry. She has never entered a church in her life, but says that God told her it’s time to start reading the Bible, because if she is going to believe, she has to know who/what to believe in, and that can only be found in the Bible. She also said that, when she leaves, she will go directly to one of our churches to be baptized and learn more about Jesus. Dinora, a recent arrival whose only concern was getting out as quickly as possible, said that God told her that she has to calm down, be patient, and let the recovery process run its course, because while her children do need her, they need her clean and sober. She asked us to pray for her complete restoration and transformation. Alejandra says God is calling her to help other women with similar problems. “Coincidentally,” one recently arrived at the center, and she has been assigned to help her. Recently, Josefina proudly declared that when she died, she would go straight to hell, but first, she wanted to take revenge on the countless people who had hurt her. Today, she said God told her that, upon leaving, she needs to go to her mother’s grave to make amends. And there are many more stories… just as incredible as these! Despite all the opposition we faced today, God spoke to these women’s hearts clearly, directly, and specifically.\nI also ask you to help us pray for the women/girls who were distracting others today. They are in dire need of Jesus’ TRANSFORMING LOVE!\nValeria and Alison are new arrivals. After laughing and chattering through the entire sermon, one declared that she is a fallen angel sent to “move” the other women, shake them up, steal their peace, sow discord, and destroy the work we are doing in the center. Brianda was recently admitted for addiction, anxiety, and bipolar disorder. She reminds me of the girl who followed Paul everywhere shouting, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation,” … and later had a demon cast out of her! (Acts 16) Like that girl, Brianda talks loudly and constantly, reciting Bible verses, anecdotes, and throwing out trick questions, all while fidgeting, pacing, coming, and going. Norma, too, seems tormented by an evil spirit. She related an unbelievable tale of invisible, venemous vipers trapped inside her body, repeated poisoning attempts, invisible wounds that won’t stop bleeding, murders and conspiracies, a dead son and another hidden where the snakes can’t find him, etc… When I told her to read Psalms 91 for peace and protection (because He is the only one who can save her!) she asked, “Does that book talk about getting rid of snakes and surviving poisons?” We know that our God is far greater than any demon or unclean spirit, and with faith and boldness, we continue to work and pray, doing spiritual warfare to rescue these souls from the enemy and bring these women to the point of decision where they choose to surrender their lives to Christ and be TRANSFORMED BY HIS LOVE.\nTo accomplish that purpose, we want to purchase Bibles for ALL these women. There are approximately 60 residents, but with so many coming and going, we want to start with 100 Bibles. In bulk, we can pay as little as 60 pesos per Bible (less than $3.50 USD each). If God puts it on your heart to help us with that purchase, please contact me privately or make a dedicated donation through SGWM with a description of your gift (Jenna Pepin, Bibles).\nAs always, we thank you for your prayers. We are on the front lines here, rescuing souls from the enemy’s camp, and the battle is intense. Remember to pray each Friday morning (and throughout the week) for each of the Calvary ladies who will be participating. You can also join us in prayer each Tuesday evening during our weekly prayer meeting (8:00pm AZ time via zoom, Spanish only).\nIn addition to the previously mentioned women (Liseth, Delia, Carmen, Rocio, Dinora, Alejandra, Josefina, Valeria, Alison, Brianda, and Norma), please join me in praying for the complete transformation of all the precious ladies at this center and the requests they have shared with us:\nKáterin (a young woman who tried to take her life her first week in the home wants to know Jesus) Heidy (a vivacious, young woman with a deep desire to know Christ and reconcile with her mom) Gloria (an older woman battling severe depression) Silvia (seeking to reconcile with her husband and children) Alma Alicia (a doctor’s wife battling a prescription addiction who needs Jesus) Mirna (anxiety about her mother with Alzheimers) Lizette (has schizophrenia, recently left to live with an aunt but was sent back) Margarita (overcoming a 40-year tobacco/marijuana addiction) Margarita (missing daughter, addicted daughter, estranged son) Pamela (open and seeking a relationship with Jesus) Concepción (wants a complete transformation!) Rosa Isela (has a knee injury, a pain pill addiction, and a missing son) Miriam (battling severe mental illness) Arely (seeking reconciliation with her mother and salvation for her brother) Génesis (a young woman who believes going to the USA will solve all of her problems) Elvira (battling addiction and cancerous cysts) Adriana (a back-slidden Christian who desperately wants to return to Jesus) Arlín (a new Christian battling addiction and mental illness) The rest of the ladies who have not mentioned specific requests – América, Sinahy, Miriam, Yesica, Naymar, Connie, Abigail, Elizabeth, Jazniel, Ariany, Carolina, … Finally, pray for those who have recently left the center (Zaire, Lorenza, Priscila, Alina, Patricia, Brisa, Sonia, Martha, Nayeli, Denisse, Mercedes, Ana, and Claudia), please pray that they remain firm in their newfound faith, join a good Bible-preaching church, and do NOT fall back into their previous habits, vices, or lifestyles.\nZaire is one of our favorite stories of TRANSFORMATION. The weekend she was released, she brought her mother to our church, and both women gave their lives to Christ. A few days later, they brought their whole family (9 people) to our fellowship dinner, and many more professed faith in Christ. While they are still developing church-going habits, they faithfully attend at least 4 services per month. With your support and prayers, we hope to have many more stories of TRANSFORMATION, just like hers!\nThank you and God bless you all!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/transformed-by-his-love-pepin-update-august-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eA Ministry of the Calvary Culiacán Church Network\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you so much for your continued prayers for me and my family.  Instead of updating you on all that God has been doing this summer (which I will do soon), I’d like to take a moment to highlight our newest ministry, \u0026ldquo;TRANSFORMED BY HIS LOVE.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/20240816a-1-300x157.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTRANSFORMED is run by 20+ women from 5 of our Calvary Culiacán churches. We go to a women’s rehab center every Friday morning to preach the Word of God verse by verse (currently the Gospel of Mark) and have a time of sharing where the women can talk about what’s going on in their lives and reflect on what God is speaking to them. We leave them with a homework assignment to complete during the week – memorizing verses, praying or reading the Bible, making amends, and more – so they can apply what they are learning and be transformed by the Word as Paul says in our theme verse, Romans 12:2.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Transformed by His Love - Pepin Update August 2024"},{"content":"Exciting news! Last time I wrote you all, I was planning on going to India and Thailand and now it’s official! I leave for Thailand on September 13 with a brother from Calvary School of Missions. Once the group gets there we will be attending a conference and having a little SGWM Conference with our missionaries from all over the world. Then after the conference I will be flying to India for a short trip to visit some brothers and sisters in Christ out there. During that time I will be praying about what the Lord has for me out there. Some might wonder why go to these places? Well, India alone has over 1 billion people who have not heard the Gospel or have a Christian they can ask or a church they could go to. Thailand certainly isn’t much better having 60 million people who also desperately need the gospel. The reason I want to go on these trips is not for just some vacation, but to seriously and prayerfully consider going to be a part of the work there in reaching these hard-to-reach people. Part of that requires going, seeing, and hearing of what God is doing through our brothers and sisters in those parts of the world. Please be praying for the trip that the Lord would speak to me and show me His will. If you would like to support this trip financially, there is a link below labeled, \u0026ldquo;Become a Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; where you can make a donation. All the money will go directly towards funding the airfare and on-the-ground costs.\nTrip To Ecuador Some of you know that I had the privilege of going to Ecuador last month for about a week. During that trip, my family and I got to visit our dear family friend and missionary Pastor Carlos. Pastor Carlos has spent a number of years in Ecuador now raising up men to lead the church he has been pastoring. I got to visit 2 years ago and back then I wasn’t very good at Spanish and I didn’t have the vision of going beyond my local area with the gospel. This time I still wasn’t good at Spanish but I was able to understand and really glean so much more from Pastor Carlos and his missionary experiences. I really felt like a Timothy watching Paul and gleaning from such a faithful servant. I got to see Pastor Carlos raising and discipling men to lead the church for the glory of God. As of right now the church he has been pastoring is looking to buy a property to fit their congregation which has drastically grown in the past two years, not just in size but in love. I ask that you please join me in praying for Carlos and the church he pastors, for provision for a property and that the gospel would expand its reach in Ecuador.\nPraise Reports/Prayer Requests Pray for the church, Pastor Carlos, the discipleship going on, and for the rehab ministry the church is a part of. Pray for provision of a building for the church in Ecuador. Pray for me and my upcoming vision tour that God would speak to me powerfully Please pray for the upcoming evangelism outreaches at Cal State Fullerton and Fullerton College that God would open the door so we can become a club on campus (more on that next time) Thank you all for your prayers and support. If you would like to support the financial aspect of the trip you can do so by clicking the “become a financial partner” link and make a donation of your choice. If you would like to help support the church in Ecuador financially, please let me know so I can get you in touch with Pastor Carlos. Nonetheless, please pray for the upcoming trip. I can’t wait to tell you all about it. God Bless.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/where-god-guides-god-provides-sanchez-update-august-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eExciting news! Last time I wrote you all, I was planning on going to India and Thailand and now it’s official! I leave for Thailand on September 13 with a brother from Calvary School of Missions. Once the group gets there we will be attending a conference and having a little SGWM Conference with our missionaries from all over the world. Then after the conference I will be flying to India for a short trip to visit some brothers and sisters in Christ out there. During that time I will be praying about what the Lord has for me out there. Some might wonder why go to these places? Well, India alone has over 1 billion people who have not heard the Gospel or have a Christian they can ask or a church they could go to. Thailand certainly isn’t much better having 60 million people who also desperately need the gospel. The reason I want to go on these trips is not for just some vacation, but to seriously and prayerfully consider going to be a part of the work there in reaching these hard-to-reach people. Part of that requires going, seeing, and hearing of what God is doing through our brothers and sisters in those parts of the world. Please be praying for the trip that the Lord would speak to me and show me His will. If you would like to support this trip financially, there is a link below labeled, \u0026ldquo;Become a Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; where you can make a donation. All the money will go directly towards funding the airfare and on-the-ground costs.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Where God Guides, God Provides - Sanchez Update August 2024"},{"content":"One year and some change living here in Perú full time. We would like to thank you ALL so much for your prayers and support both leading up to our move, and throughout our time overseas so far. The fact that you are even reading this newsletter means so much to us. Like most great things in life, our first year on the foreign mission field has been a rollercoaster with a lot of: fun things, difficult things, learning experiences, sweet successes, humbling disappointments, huge opportunities, and many, many divine appointments.\nOver this year we’ve had a lot of big changes. Reading the Bible and praying in Spanish used to be the most difficult for me (Shilo), now they’re still challenging, but not as much. We’ve also moved three times, from staying with Cory, Danielle, and their kids (our pastor and great friends), to sharing a whole house with two other couples (and a big dog) we had never met, to now being afforded the huge blessing of living in our place (for the first time since we were newly weds in 2020). Amalia has also grown so much — she is talking and walking. Prayers appreciated as we seek to be examples to her, and learn to discipline and train her up in the way she should go.\nWe also were accepted for our visa status to be changed from tourist to religious, which allows us to stay here on a four-year basis at a time.\nOne of our main responsibilities here on the Bible college campus is hosting visiting teams and pastors who come to preach or teach classes. This last year we had teams come that helped build two large dormitories for the school. Another team came and painted the whole church campus and helped us put on a huge outreach in Trujillo’s biggest public park. We’ve had a great time hosting short-term missions teams here, and it’s been a learning process.\nWe’ve had the privilege of hosting CBI Peru’s Summer Missions Internship this summer! It was catered towards English speakers in the college age range wanting do something with purpose for their summer break. We taught through the Book of Acts, read “Radical” by David Platt, a few amazing missionary biographies, and did hands-on training here on the foreign mission field.\nWe had an amazing time serving with these three young gals. We served with our home-base Calvary Trujillo, also Calvary Buenos Aires (neighborhood of Trujillo), and of course Calvary Moyobamba. The idea was to give them training and outlets to practice what they were learning (work with church plants, share the gospel of Jesus and their testimonies, and be generous with their time to serve others, in spite of cultural differences).\nDuring the internship the Lord spoke to these girls and mighty ways. One of them specifically through the book of Acts class as her heart was being stirred for the nations. She was confident that the Lord was calling her to missions and knew that coming here for 6 weeks was another step. As she prayed about what was next the Lord kept making it clearer that she was to come back and serve as a student/intern this fall semester in Peru. In choosing this she’s giving up comforts and opportunities but she has been so encouraged to pursue the Lord wholeheartedly. To see the growth and the heart of service in each of these girls has been a great joy for us. We’re so blessed and excited for what the Lord has in store for each of them.\nRacquell and I just kept on thinking to ourselves, “Wow, what an opportunity.” What an opportunity! These Americans are here to sit at the feet of Jesus, to experience foreign missions…and they are only here for 6 weeks. It was on a trip to Peru 7 years ago that God really started to show me (Shilo) what missions is. Then Racquell and I participated in Calvary School of Missions a few years ago where we further developed a biblical view for foreign missions. I knew that God would want to change these new interns’ lives and work in mighty ways. He did.\nhttps://youtu.be/UK20FmvT8bM\nMoyobamba recap\nOur fall semester is starting at CBI Perú, and soon we’ll have pastors and their wives coming to visit and teach “block” classes that run a week or two weeks, through different Books of the Bible, or different themes and topics to train our students. We’re excited to host them, and especially for God to use these classes to help shape the students’ biblical worldview as well as train and equip them for their future service in South America and beyond.\nWhat’s next for our family? Whatever Jesus wants. We just need to obey Him. We plan to continue living in Trujillo until God clearly calls us away and to another place, if He wills that. So we are putting our roots down, trying to make friendships and pour into discipleship times. We are currently car-shopping, potentially a truck or an SUV that would fit our family, with the potential to be used to move church items or pick up guests, and mobilize students and friends here around town.\nWe’ve got one more year until we graduate from CBI Peru’s Church Planting Class, and we’re excited to study the Word of God, teach short sermons every week, and take notes from talks by pastors who serve all over the world, that we might be better equipped to serve God in the future. So whether long term be here in Trujillo and helping to keep home-base strong (at CBI and the church), or leading/being part of a church planting team to some far away place, or doing something else…we are surrendered to Jesus and wanting to live everyday as if it were our last, for God’s glory and our good.\nOne year in Perú so far. Years are cool. But we want to make every day count. Moses, a man who had lived 120 years and had basically three 40 year blocks in his life, prayed to God, “So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” (Psalm 90:12)\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nHEALTHY churches in Trujillo, Buenos Aires neighborhood, and Moyobamba HUMILITY to work with our young team WISDOM to train up Amalia in the way she should go BALANCING time well with family, friends, and the ministries’ responsibilities We love you all so much and thank you for partnering with us. Through your prayers and generous financial support, you have made this ministry possible for us, and we want to let you know that this is the fruit of your labor as well. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support, you can do so by clicking on this financial button or mailing your support check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203\nYorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note “Stratton” in memo*\nTo check out the ministry we are serving with, please click the link below or find us on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube:\nCalvaryperu.com\nBy the grace of Jesus and for His glory,\nThe Stratton Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/one-year-in-peru-stratton-update-august-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOne year and some change living here in Perú full time. We would like to thank you ALL so much for your prayers and support both leading up to our move, and throughout our time overseas so far. The fact that you are even reading this newsletter means so much to us. Like most great things in life, our first year on the foreign mission field has been a rollercoaster with a lot of: fun things, difficult things, learning experiences, sweet successes, humbling disappointments, huge opportunities, and many, many divine appointments.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One Year in Perú! - Stratton Update August 2024"},{"content":" “ I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”\nRevelation 3:8\nWe are back in Cambodia after spending June 6 to August 6 visiting and sharing at more than a dozen churches, a pastor’s meeting, a Bible school chapel, and visiting as many friends as possible in addition to Kayo’s parents in Hiroshima.\nWe had a blessed and busy time in Japan. We traveled and stayed in Tokyo, Kansai/Osaka, Okayama, Hiroshima, Kyushu, and more. During our time in the Kyushu/Imari area, Benjamin came down with a very serious ear infection. The church and missionary we were visiting arranged for their doctor friend to meet him on his day off (Sunday), this probably spared Benjamin from a ruptured eardrum, possible ER etc. and hearing loss. After visiting two more specialists and a couple of rounds of antibiotics, his infection went away completely without hearing loss. We are thankful for all the prayer cover and practical support/hospitality we received in Japan during our entire time there.\nClosed and Open Doors In my May update I asked for prayer for God to open and close all the right doors related to whether or not I should pursue employment as an English teacher here in Cambodia so that we could close a financial gap related to Benjamin’s Christian international school tuition and other needs. Before the trip, I started making practical steps in that direction. However, God had other plans and provided unexpectedly and miraculously so that it is not necessary for me to seek extra income in this season! So now we can keep focusing completely on ministry and even expand into new areas.\nThe above closed door came with a few open doors. During my time in Japan, several Christians including a pastor and a missionary from Japan encouraged me to write, have translated, and publish a new short Apologetics book in Japan. My vision for apologetics ministry for many years has been to provide apologetics/evangelistic books, videos, and other media in other languages beyond English and Cambodian. I have made steps in this direction (Spanish and Chinese etc.) in the past but the doors always closed. Please pray for this opportunity because the Japanese Christians need a lot of encouragement and resources right now.\nMore than a decade ago, I co-authored a book called, \u0026quot; Christianity: Reasons for Faith.\u0026quot; I continue to use it as a textbook but it has been out of print for some time because I have not had the resources to make a new edition or print. Now, with the opportunity to write a short book for Japan, the doors are also opening now for me to make a version of that same book in Cambodian as well.\nIn addition to these long-term book projects, I will continue to teach Apologetics and Christology at local Bible schools/churches, help Cambodian ministries/organizations in various roles, and help our local international church/community. Please pray for me as I prepare to teach Christology September 10-27 at a local Bible school.\nKayo will resume her ministries with Precious Women organization, the women’s ministry at the international church, and other ministries related to Japanese Christians/missionaries in Cambodia.\nBenjamin has started 10th grade and is doing very well. He’s also planning for his future life in the USA in less than 3 years. Please pray for wisdom and open doors for him as well.\nThere is so much more to share but this is getting long. Feel free to connect with me via email or social media if you have any questions and to let us know how you are doing. We always love to hear from you!\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/open-doors-record-update-august-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“ \u003cem\u003eI know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRevelation 3:8\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are back in Cambodia after spending June 6 to August 6 visiting and sharing at more than a dozen churches, a pastor’s meeting, a Bible school chapel, and visiting as many friends as possible in addition to Kayo’s parents in Hiroshima.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Open Doors - Record Update August 2024"},{"content":"The summer has been heating up here in Loreto. David and I have been keeping busy serving the Lord here in Loreto with many faithful servants. Seeing God’s purpose for our lives here through his church Calvary Loreto has been so amazing. We thank all of you who have continued to pray and financially support us, none of this work could be done without your faithfulness.\nCalvary Loreto has been able to start its 3rd life group in one of the poorest areas of town. This weekly life group has grown up to 25 people who are hungry for the Word of God. Through your support, we have been able to teach and share the Word of God and begin a weekly feeding ministry where we can share a meal with them. This allows us to show the love of Jesus through actions while also meeting the physical need for food for them. Additionally, our church van has added this location to its route on Sunday mornings to pick up people who have been unable to attend church without transportation. Please pray that the Lord continues to provide for this weekly feeding ministry as its growth continues weekly.\nCalvary Chapel decided to change up our baptisms this time around and rented a location with a pool. It was a huge success with many blessings for everyone. After Sunday service we gathered and had a time of worship and fellowship along with food-eating competitions. We had the opportunity to baptize 14 people who wanted to take the next step of faith in their walk with Jesus.\nIn July we took a team of faithful servants on a one-day mission trip to a small village of about 300 people in the rural mountains to do a children’s and movie outreach in a pueblo called, ”San Javier.” We were able to play games with all the children, as well as provide a meal for over 75 people. Through this mission trip we were able to share the gospel message with those who might not have ever heard it and praise be to God, 2 adults accepted Christ into their lives. We\u0026rsquo;re praying for continued provisions to be able to keep doing these mission trips up in San Javier every few months and continue the good work that was started.\nDavid is teaching on Wednesdays chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse through the book of Acts. We are so blessed that God is using David to preach and use his gifts. Please keep him in prayer for continued wisdom and strength to honor God and to always be teaching truth with boldness and love.\nDavid is leading the men’s group every Monday night. These men are growing so much in their walk with Jesus. They are becoming the men that God created them to be. So many of their lives are transforming right before our eyes. They are sharing in the breakout groups along with praying for each other. For some, this is the very first time they are sharing openly with other men. Satan is continually attacking these men as they are truly becoming a new creation as disciples. Please pray for these men and their ministry, it is such a blessing.\nIt wouldn’t be an update without the children. Our children’s ministry is nothing less than spectacular. The teachers had the children perform during a Sunday for Father’s Day and I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house. We are seeing these children start to grow so much in their love for Jesus. We see them praying and treating one another with love and respect. We pray this next generation here in Loreto, Mexico will be a God-led generation. Loving God with all their hearts.\nWe thank you all for your continued prayers. David and I are serving the Lord here in Loreto, Mexico, and truly believe this is where we are meant to be. Somedays are much tougher than we would like or even think we are equipped to handle but God is good and faithful. He has a purpose and plan. We could never do this work here without your prayers and financial support. Everything that happens here for the Kingdom of God is your fruit as well so thank you and blessings to you all.\n“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.”\n‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭11‬\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/august-calvary-loreto-update-2024-mullins-family/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe summer has been heating up here in Loreto. David and I have been keeping busy serving the Lord here in Loreto with many faithful servants. Seeing God’s purpose for our lives here through his church Calvary Loreto has been so amazing. We thank all of you who have continued to pray and financially support us, none of this work could be done without your faithfulness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/SGWMaug2024-outreach-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCalvary Loreto has been able to start its 3rd life group in one of the poorest areas of town. This weekly life group has grown up to 25 people who are hungry for the Word of God. Through your support, we have been able to teach and share the Word of God and begin a weekly feeding ministry where we can share a meal with them. This allows us to show the love of Jesus through actions while also meeting the physical need for food for them. Additionally, our church van has added this location to its route on Sunday mornings to pick up people who have been unable to attend church without transportation. Please pray that the Lord continues to provide for this weekly feeding ministry as its growth continues weekly.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"August Calvary Loreto Update 2024 - Mullins Family"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico. This past weekend we had the biggest weekend of our ministry year. We held our 8th annual church planting conference. Every year, our church prepares to host this international conference, and this year did not disappoint. We hosted over 500 guests who attended from 6 different countries, and a total of 80 different churches were represented.\nThe focus of this year’s conference was Biblical church planting, and our eight primary teachings focused on church planting lessons from different books of the New Testament. We were blessed to have teachings from Pastors Hugo Limon (Ensenada), Trent Douglass (California), Tony Carranza (Mazatlan), Aaron Smith (Florida), Gregg Seymour (Las Vegas), Pedro Velasquez (Monterrey ), Danny Hodges (Florida), and myself. We also had 24 workshops that covered every aspect that you can think of in regards to church planting.\nA blessing of this year’s conference was the many women that were in attendance. As always we had a full slate of women’s workshops available for the ladies to learn about their important part in church planting. My wife Sarah, Debbie Douglass, Brenda Limon, and Angela Carranza all led workshops.\nThe highlight of this year’s conference was sending out church planters. One of the goals of our church planting movement is teaching and encouraging pastors to send out church planters. In the past conferences we have sent out one church planter together, but at this year’s conference we were able to send out four different church planters.\nOur church sent out our 41st church planter at the conference. (More on that later) Pastor Tony Carranza sent out his next church planter Raul to Venezuela South America. Pastor Hugo Limon sent out a new church planter from Ensenada back to Culiacan. And Pastor Trent Douglass got to send his first Mexican national (Marcelo) out to the Middle East to church plant.\nAll of our attendees were blessed and encouraged as together we learned about church planting. The fellowship was rich and many friendships were formed. One of my favorite parts of this conference is that we get to provide this conference free of charge to all of our guests. A special thank you to our generous church congregation, Pastor Trent, and our sending church Calvary Chapel Saving Grace for funding this year’s conference.\nOn our church side of things, this past weekend Calvary Rosarito was blessed to send out our 41st church plant (Calvary Del Lago) to Patzcuaro Michoacan. I met my good friend Humberto Ambriz about 5 years ago at one of our church planting conferences. It was Humberto’s dream to raise up a young couple to plant a church in his beloved home state of Michoacan!\nSadly, there weren’t any young couples that were willing to step out in faith and be trained up and church plant. After that disappointment, Humberto heard the call that he was the one God was calling to plant the church! After retiring, Humberto left the American dream and moved to Rosarito to join our staff and take our church planting class. Humberto completed our church planting program with excellence, and our church family was blessed to send him out to do the great work of church planting.\nHumberto is 68 years old, yet as he taught on Sunday morning he reminded us that Moses was 80 years old when God called him to go back to Egypt and set his people free. Now Humberto and his beloved wife Miriam take this great leap of faith and they are asking God to do more than they could ever ask or think. Please keep them and their church plant (Calvary Del Lago) in your prayers!\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for partnering with us in this great missions work in Mexico and beyond. God has blessed us with much fruit, and we feel honored and blessed that you have chosen to support our family as your missionaries. Thank you again for your love, prayers, and financial support.\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God will bless our new batch of church planters. We have 40 students enrolled in our two classes this semester, which includes 10 first-year students.\n#2- Our college graduate Grace has applied for several jobs recently, please pray that God opens up a door for her in the job that He has chosen.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for our 41st church plant, Calvary Del Lago in Patzcuaro, Michoacan.\n#2- Praise God for a fruitful and blessed church planting conference!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-august-2024-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. This past weekend we had the biggest weekend of our ministry year. We held our 8th annual church planting conference. Every year, our church prepares to host this international conference, and this year did not disappoint. We hosted over 500 guests who attended from 6 different countries, and a total of 80 different churches were represented.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/435399968%5F10161407294654208%5F5768076924373507261%5Fn-240x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e            The focus of this year’s conference was Biblical church planting, and our eight primary teachings focused on church planting lessons from different books of the New Testament. We were blessed to have teachings from Pastors Hugo Limon \u003cem\u003e(Ensenada),\u003c/em\u003e Trent Douglass \u003cem\u003e(California),\u003c/em\u003e Tony Carranza \u003cem\u003e(Mazatlan),\u003c/em\u003e Aaron Smith \u003cem\u003e(Florida)\u003c/em\u003e, Gregg Seymour \u003cem\u003e(Las Vegas),\u003c/em\u003e Pedro Velasquez \u003cem\u003e(Monterrey ),\u003c/em\u003e Danny Hodges \u003cem\u003e(Florida)\u003c/em\u003e, and myself. We also had 24 workshops that covered every aspect that you can think of in regards to church planting.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family August 2024 Missions Update"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\n- Please pray for the Kanyike children\u0026rsquo;s passports. They received letters declining them, needing more documents. This was after they were approved at their interview for the passports. Pray they get their originals they had sent in back quickly so they can resubmit. Pray that they are approved . - Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship and the FRM guesthouse while the Kanyikes are away. Pray for those they left in charge. - Pray for provision for all the expenses that come with being in the USA and the children\u0026rsquo;s paperwork.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nDear friends and family,\nThank you so much for your continued love and prayer support.\nThis month, please pray for:\n- My friend Joshua who just came to Christ out of Islam. Please pray for his safety and peace as he learns to have a new life in Christ. - The marriage conference we are hosting for our pastoral students and their wives. Please pray that the husbands and wives grow in their love and respect for each other. - The new School of Ministry we opened in Kitgum town. Pray that many Christians would be equipped and empowered for ministry there.\nGod Bless You,\nThe Harris Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\n- Pray for our adjustment back to Uganda. We praise God for all the miracles He did while in America! - - Pray for the teams coming! - Pray for our intern. - Pray for the school farm and other school activities such as their field trips.\nThank you!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email BlogUSA\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n- Pray for all the visits and opportunities to share about the bible colleges during the summer break. Recruiting is in motion and pray that the right students are selected\u0026hellip;.those who are called by God, have a hunger for His Word, courage to stand in a culture that is full of persecution and a boldness to proclaim the Gospel and the Word of God.\n- Pray for the campus project in S. Asia as we have broken ground. Pray that all plans go smoothly and favor in all the construction dealings. - Pray for our family as we travel to teach at CBI Peru and visit missionaries in August. Pray as well as Heather is part of teaching at the women\u0026rsquo;s conference at Calvary Trujillo.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n- Please continue to pray for my parents’ health.\n- Praise the Lord that my daughter’s surgery went well. Please pray that they were able to remove enough tissue that the nevus does not grow back, and that the biopsy reports are clear.\n- Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\n- Please pray that God will use us for His glory.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n- Please pray for the Christians in South Asia who are going through persecution.\n- Please pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s complete recovery.\n- Please pray for our nursing home ministry, for the salvation of the lost and for us to know how to minster to those who have heard the Gospel many times but have not received Jesus.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - Yorba Linda, California\nThank you all for your faithful prayers and support!\n- Please pray for continued vision and vigilance in caring for our missionary units all around the world - Pray for Joel as he prepares for a long trip to Japan and Thailand in September, and for the Lord to sustain Amy and the kids in his absence - Pray for our kids to continue to grow in the Lord and walk in His ways\nLove in Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nThanks for the prayers!\nPrayer Requests:\n#1- For a good job for our daughter Grace! #2- For God\u0026rsquo;s blessing on our upcoming church planting conference (August 2-3).\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHere are my prayer requests for this month:\n- For my mom‘s health. God is so good. He is taking care of her and sending people her way to love on her and help her when she needs it. - For the Lord to provide a teacher in our afterschool program. - For much needed wisdom in every aspect of the ministry here - For God‘s guidance and wisdom in counseling the young girls here and the mamas of the kids in the afterschool program.\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nHola SGWM family,\n*Please pray for all of our boys in the school of ministry.\n- For their homework, chuck tracks, and testimonies. - For their health. It is flu season with the cold weather. - For their endurance to serve, especially when we host a team this week. \\* Pray for Craig, he has issues with his pancreas, prostrate, fatty liver, enlarged heart, and high blood pressure! \\* Daisy is still having sciatic nerve pain and neck pain.\nThank you from our hearts, Craig and Daisy - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n- Pray that the people at Calvary Moyobamba strive more and more for holiness.\n- Pray for salvation and connection with others in our 3 upcoming outreaches.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\n- Please pray for good rainfall in our country; also pray for the farmers, that they will have good crops.\n- Please pray for my parents’ health, also that they will grow in faith.\n- Please pray for the believers in my village, that they will grow spiritually. Also pray for Mr. K.D. and family, that they will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\n- Continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church.\n- Kindly pray for me and my family; may the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nWorker 3 Worker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please keep praying for me, that the Lord opens new doors for me so that I can continue to do the work of the Lord faithfully.\n- Please pray for a young man I visited, H. He has mental problems; please pray for his deliverance.\nOnce again, I thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of the hands who partner with me. May the Lord bless you!\nIn the Lord,\nYour brother,\nPastor 8 and family Worker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray that God will continue to use me for His glory as I teach and disciple the students.\n- Please pray for my health as I have dust allergies right now and have to take daily medication.\n- Pray for the students, that they will be able to adjust well, as most of them are from different states.\n- Pray for God’s protection over us.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you all!\nWorker 9\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPraise points:\n- Thank God, some pastors came from another state last month to visit. It was wonderful to spend time with them, and I was able to hear a lot of new words.\n- Thank God, my wife’s gall bladder surgery went well.\n- Thank God, I am receiving invitations from many places to share the Good News.\n- Thank God, my sister gave birth to her son through a c-section. Due to lack of proper care in the government hospital, though, he had many infections and suffered from much illness. My wife and I admitted him into a private hospital for 21 days. Praise God! God healed him and provided every need; now he is fine.\nPrayer requests:\n- Please pray that my wife’s surgery wound heals quickly, so that I can go home.\n- My wife and I have shared the Good News with my wife’s relatives and many people have distributed audio Bibles in the local languages. May God work in their hearts.\n- Our administrator, Jana\u0026rsquo;s, daughter Kaylee has surgery. Pray that God will help that surgery and for the recovery to go well.\n- Please pray for my mother’s health. Pray that God will heal her from all kinds of pain.\n- Please pray for my church family, that God will grow them in the Word of God more deeply.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for\u0026hellip;\n- God’s protection and expansion of the ministry.\n- The believers in Jesus who have been persecuted in our state.\n- The Lord to give us good health and strength.\n- God’s wisdom for the work of the Gospel.\nThank you for upholding us in your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15 Rohith \u0026amp; Michelle - 10/40 Window\nHi family, thank you for your faithful prayers.\n- Please pray for wisdom and direction for our next steps as we are looking to plant a church.\n- For Michelle’s language learning process. - A few young men have been coming to our home and Rohith has started a study with them. Please pray that they would stay committed and that God would stir their heart for His work.\nRohith and Michelle\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise Reports:\n- Last month we were able to visit the eastern part of the country, where we did Inductive Bible Study for 2 days for a Pastor and new leader. It was such a blessed time with them and we also did a one-youth conference. We saw a lot of young people who love and serve the Lord.\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for our good health.\n- Please pray for the upcoming semester, that God may bring wonderful young people.\n- Please pray for the safe travel for the students who will be returning from their homes.\n- Please pray for brother D, who is our ex-graduate. He is serving in the western part of the country underneath a pastor. He asked for prayer that “God will lead him to go the place where there is no church.”\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\n- Please pray for the church mission trip.\n- Please pray for spiritual growth, numerical growth, and maturity in the church. May the Lord lead the steps of neighbors to the church.\n- Please pray for the two new church plants. May the Lord use and bless the pastors to spread the Gospel to their places. Pray that God will bring many new people to the church.\n- Pray for our church’s property. This is the last year of our lease/rental agreement and then we have to move out. Pray that God will grant property for the church so that we will not have to move.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-august-2024-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Please pray for the Kanyike children\u0026rsquo;s passports. They received letters declining them, needing more documents. This was after they were approved at their interview for the passports. Pray they get their originals they had sent in back quickly so they can resubmit. Pray that they are approved . \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship and the FRM guesthouse while the Kanyikes are away. Pray for those they left in charge. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for provision for all the expenses that come with being in the USA and the children\u0026rsquo;s paperwork.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM August 2024 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" Japan is a nation of being shiny and put together. The mess and grime is cleaned, covered, or hidden. Like any place in the world, entropy happens. In Japan, however, the break down and disorder are fought against as much as possible. The upkeep of possessions is done compulsively, especially items that other people will see. So it came as quite a surprise when several times we would hear loud squeaks coming from the brakes of the bicycles that passed by us each day. Why don’t Japanese people oil their brakes. When they meticulously take care of almost everything in their lives, why not their bikes? It wasn’t just old looking bicycles or random people, it was nearly every bike including the policemen.\nOne day we asked one of our friends if she knew the reason why this was the case. She told us that people want their brakes to squeak. Bicycles are rode exclusively on the sidewalk. When you come up behind someone you don’t want them to move into your path. If your brakes are squeaky, you can use them to let people know you’re coming up behind them. The other option would be to have to interact with people on the street, they want a system that allows them to do their communal responsibility without having to actually talk or interact with people. Even with something as non-direct or small as letting them know you’re coming up in their blind spot. As Christians who desire to connect with the Japanese and show them the love of Christ and share the gospel with them, how do you overcome a culture that avoids interaction at that level? We need the Spirit to lead us to right people every single day. If He doesn’t go before us, we won’t be able to have any impact in this country. Please be praying for us to talk to the people who are lonely and looking for an interaction with a strange foreigner.\nWe have a lot of stuff going on right now, both Alishia and I have been given teaching opportunities this month. I taught a Sunday morning at Calvary Chapel Iwakuni at the end of July. I will be teaching a Sunday and midweek service at Abide in August, and Alishia will be teaching the women’s bible study for two weeks in August as well. There is also our normal young adults bible study and the opportunity to possibly teach at a homeless church this month as well.\nWe have a team coming from the US in early September that we are hosting, then we will head to Thailand with them for the CCA Asia Conference. Then a few people will be coming to Japan for three month stays later this fall. As we have more opportunities and are doing more traveling to conferences we have some financial one-time needs. If you’re interested in supporting us monthly or with a one time gift, please click the financial button below.\nPrayer Requests:\nAlishia’s health as we head to Thailand. We are trusting the Lord in stepping out to have her go to this and so we would ask that you cover her greatly in prayer. With some single female missionaries coming for medium to long term stays here in Osaka, we are praying about moving to a larger apartment so that we can house them and other visitors that may come spend time with us. For the Lord to meet all our needs, spiritual, and financial alike. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/squeaky-bikes/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG%5F0116-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJapan is a nation of being shiny and put together. The mess and grime is cleaned, covered, or hidden. Like any place in the world, entropy happens. In Japan, however, the break down and disorder are fought against as much as possible. The upkeep of possessions is done compulsively, especially items that other people will see. So it came as quite a surprise when several times we would hear loud squeaks coming from the brakes of the bicycles that passed by us each day. Why don’t Japanese people oil their brakes. When they meticulously take care of almost everything in their lives, why not their bikes? It wasn’t just old looking bicycles or random people, it was nearly every bike including the policemen.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Squeaky Bikes - Root Update July 2024"},{"content":"Hey everyone! It has been a couple months since our last newsletter, and we are really excited to share all the different things that the LORD has led us into. We are truly grateful for every opportunity that has come about this summer, in regards to missions, ministry, marriage, and so much more.\nOne of the biggest things that has been on our hearts in this season is the LORD’s provision; as the world would see, we face a lot of physical challenges as a nearly-married young couple living in Orange County, CA, serving at the church. But the main focus for us has been to fix our eyes upon Him, in every aspect of our lives, both together and individually. Romans 11:36 tells us that, “…of Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” In this doxology of praise, we are reminded that there is promise, provision, and purpose in the LORD’s will. There is promise that He is sovereign over what we face, there is provision through Him and Him alone, no matter what we face, and He is the purpose for why we face what we face! He is more than worthy.\n“Do not seek your needs, seek the God who gives you what you need.”\nI (Araceli) as I was praying about provision and the new business we have started (which we will talk about down below!) the LORD put Matthew 6:25-34 on my heart; as I read a commentary, the quote above stood out to me. God knows all of our needs and all I need to do is look to Him and trust that He will provide for the present, for the wedding, and for married life.\nMinistry Opportunities Keep Coming I (Barek) am grateful for the opportunities that have come about to serve in different ways at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. As we make ourselves available there are always opportunities that arise where a need in the body is to be met, and this is how the church is to function! With all of the staff and students who headed down to Mexico this summer for the Calvary School of Missions, there was a need for help with worship at the Connect Young Adults group, and I was blessed to be able to help with that.\nI (Araceli) have continued to serve at the church in the social media ministry. I am blessed to be able to use the creativity with which the LORD has gifted me! I have now been blessed with opportunity to manage and oversee the church’s Instagram/Facebook pages. If you read the previous newsletter, you’ll remember that I was only managing the Saving Grace World Missions instagram, so this is an awesome and challenging responsibility to get to manage both!\nBarek and I were able to go to the beach and evangelize with a group of friends from the church! Barek was able to head this up! More and more I see the need among our local communities for the gospel. We both want to continue to evangelize as this is an area the LORD has gifted me in, and I have to exercise the gift. We were able to have multiple conversations with people and we pray that seeds were planted!\nIntroducing… Brea Barks! We don’t know how long we will be in training and preparation for the mission field, as we are about to get married and start this life together, but in the meantime, we are excited for this business that the LORD is bringing about. We have been blessed with an opportunity to start a small local dog-pack walking business in North OC! It is very slow going, and we still have lots of needs that we’re entrusting to the LORD as we seek Him, but this is one way in which we know we will see His provision.\nPRAISE REPORTS\nFor the new business and the clients that the LORD has already provided! For the opportunities that have come about to serve in new ways at the church. For His provision for a trip this upcoming weekend to the CC Rosarito Church Planting Conference! PRAYER REQUESTS\nFor provision for our wedding, honeymoon, and a place to live! For our engagement season, as we are excited to begin our premarital counseling soon. For us and everyone else attending to have ears to hear what the LORD will speak at the church planting conference! Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter! We appreciate your support through prayers and ask that you continue to seek the Lord with us in regards to this calling on our lives. If you feel led to partner with us financially, with a one-time or a recurring gift, it would be such a great blessing. There is a giving link below! God bless you, and please reach out with any questions or encouragements.\nTil’ Kingdom come,\nBarek \u0026amp; Araceli\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/we-started-a-business-barek-araceli-update-july-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey everyone! It has been a couple months since our last newsletter, and we are really excited to share all the different things that the LORD has led us into. We are truly grateful for every opportunity that has come about this summer, in regards to missions, ministry, marriage, and so much more.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the biggest things that has been on our hearts in this season is the LORD’s provision; as the world would see, we face a lot of physical challenges as a nearly-married young couple living in Orange County, CA, serving at the church. But the main focus for us has been to fix our eyes upon Him, in every aspect of our lives, both together and individually. Romans 11:36 tells us that, “…of Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” In this doxology of praise, we are reminded that there is promise, provision, and purpose in the LORD’s will. There is promise that He is sovereign over what we face, there is provision through Him and Him alone, no matter what we face, and \u003cem\u003eHe\u003c/em\u003e is the purpose for why we face what we face! He is more than worthy.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We Started a Business! - Barek \u0026 Araceli Update July 2024"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nLast Month I got chance to visit another state for a mission trip with Pastor 3*. It is about 250 miles from where I live. While we were traveling to the railroad station on an auto rickshaw, a bus hit our vehicle. By the grace of God, we were safe. No harm came to us.\nOur one week of mission trip was so wonderful and blessed. We met all of the believers and their families. We encouraged them with the Word of God and prayed for them.\nLast month I got a chance to visit the home of a previous Bible Institute student. We spent some time with his family and had fellowship with him. It was good to see that he is doing ministry while he is also working a job. We also met another Christian brother there who used to smoke. God worked in his heart. He has now quit smoking and attends prayer meetings.\nI also got the opportunity to preach at a birthday program last month.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge. Please also pray for their final exam. Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing. Please pray for our local village ministry. Pray that those we are ministering to may grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word. Please pray for Pastor 2* and his ministry. May the people he is ministering to grow in Lord. Please pray for the Christians in our state. May they stand strong in the Lord in the midst of persecution. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-our-protector-pastor-16-update-july-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/WhatsApp-Image-2024-07.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/WhatsApp-Image-2024.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast Month I got chance to visit another state for a mission trip with Pastor 3*. It is about 250 miles from where I live. While we were traveling to the railroad station on an auto rickshaw, a bus hit our vehicle. By the grace of God, we were safe. No harm came to us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Is Our Protector - Pastor 16 Update July 2024"},{"content":"Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nI pray for you and your family. May the Lord keep you and bless you. Thank you for partnering in the ministry through your prayers and support.\nI am doing great by the grace of our Saviour. The new semester of our Bible Institute has started. I am teaching “Systematic Theology” this semester. I am excited to connect with the new students. I am looking forward to ministering to each one of them not only in the classroom, but also at a personal level as I get to know them more and disciple them individually. Overall, we have a total of 9 students.\nWe are running our Bible Institute in a small, rented house. We cannot have a lot of students because the students also stay at the same facility. Another reason for not having many students is that there is a lot of persecution going on in our state. Having a lot of students would draw the Hindu fanatics’ attention since they are always looking for any Christian activity to attack.\nAt the end of last year, we had an election in our state. The anti-Christian government came into power. Last month we had a national level election, and the same anti-Christian government has been re-elected. The same anti-Christian party is in power in our state and also in our country. They have some laws against Christian mission work. They also have many local groups everywhere who track Christian mission work. They persecute the churches. They come in groups and attack churches and Christian schools. They beat people and destroy their property. Last year many Christians in our state were forcefully kicked out of their villages and their homes were destroyed.\nWe thank God that we can continue to do His work. We will continue to do ministry as long as the Lord keeps the door open. I know that God is in control, so I am moving forward and trusting Him in all circumstances.\nMy grandma went to be with the Lord on June 28. She was 95 years and 6 months old. Her life was a life of prayer.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray that God continues to use me for His glory as I teach and disciple these students. Pray for my health. I am having trouble with an allergy to dust. I have to take medicine every day. Pray for the students to adjust well. Most of them are from different states. Pray for the God’s protection upon our lives and ministry Blessings,\nPastor 9\n\\* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-in-control-pastor-9-update-july-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI pray for you and your family. May the Lord keep you and bless you. Thank you for partnering in the ministry through your prayers and support.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/image5.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am doing great by the grace of our Saviour. The new semester of our Bible Institute has started. I am teaching “Systematic Theology” this semester. I am excited to connect with the new students. I am looking forward to ministering to each one of them not only in the classroom, but also at a personal level as I get to know them more and disciple them individually. Overall, we have a total of 9 students.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is in Control - Pastor 9 Update July 2024"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nAccording to the “Economic Times News,” nearly 43 per cent of the surveyed farmers lost at least half of their standing crops. Rice, vegetables, and pulses were particularly affected by the uneven rainfall. In the northern states, paddy fields often remained submerged for more than a week, destroying the newly planted seedlings. We need to pray for the farmers. Many times, it is reported that they commit suicide because of losing their crops.\nWe express our heartfelt thanks to the Lord Almighty for His abundance grace upon our family. At the same time, we highly appreciate each one of you for your earnest prayers and financial support. Because of your financial help, we are able to move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached without any worry. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, job and businesses. May the good God bless you with all the resources and good health.\nAs a family we went to my home village in another state. It is about 400km away from where we live now. It was wonderful to spend time with my parents. We also had the privilege to meet the believers in my home village. We visited them and listened to their problem and difficulties. We also encouraged them through the Word of God and prayed for them personally. It was a good time to speak to them through the Word of God in a home prayer meeting.\nDuring our trip we met some of Hindu families. One of them is Mr. K.D. and his family. I got the opportunity to share my testimony with them about how God changed my life. They were amazed to hear my life story. I believe some day God will touch their hearts so that they will experience God’s love in their lives. Overall, I spent quality time with my parents and the believers in my village.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for good rainfall in our country. Also pray for the farmers to get good crops and that none of them commit suicide. Please pray for my parents to have good health. Also pray that they may grow in their faith. Please pray for the believers in my home village to grow spiritually. Also pray for Mr. K.D. and his family to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-blessed-visit-pastor-3-update-july-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to the “Economic Times News,” nearly 43 per cent of the surveyed farmers lost at least half of their standing crops. Rice, vegetables, and pulses were particularly affected by the uneven rainfall. In the northern states, paddy fields often remained submerged for more than a week, destroying the newly planted seedlings. We need to pray for the farmers. Many times, it is reported that they commit suicide because of losing their crops.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Blessed Visit - Pastor 3 Update July 2024"},{"content":"Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ!\nFirst of all, I want to thank my living God that He has sustained us till now. I also thank all of you who constantly lift us up in your prayers.\nThank God also for my family. By the grace of God we are doing well! Please pray for my family so that we grow spiritually day-by-day.\nA few days ago, God gave me the opportunity to visit a new family. I told them the Good News about the infinite love of God. I shared John 3:16 and about finding salvation from sin. At the end, I prayed for the family. A young lady who is part of the family is looking for a job. Please pray for this family.\nPlease keep praying that the Lord will open new doors for me, so that I can continue to do the work of the Lord faithfully. I also visited another family. There was a young man there whose name is H*. He has mental problems. I prayed for him. Please pray for his deliverance.\nI especially thank, from the bottom of my heart, every hand who is supporting me financially. May the Lord bless all of you!!\nYour Brother,\nPastor 8* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/continuing-in-fellowship-and-love-pastor-8-update-july-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in the Name of Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG%5F20240501%5F170629.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG%5F20240529%5F170527.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG%5F20240526%5F113951.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst of all, I want to thank my living God that He has sustained us till now. I also thank all of you who constantly lift us up in your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank God also for my family. By the grace of God we are doing well! Please pray for my family so that we grow spiritually day-by-day.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA few days ago, God gave me the opportunity to visit a new family. I told them the Good News about the infinite love of God. I shared John 3:16 and about finding salvation from sin. At the end, I prayed for the family. A young lady who is part of the family is looking for a job. Please pray for this family.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Continuing in Fellowship and Love - Pastor 8* Update July 2024"},{"content":"While my (Joel’s) travels typically take me internationally, every once in a while I get to travel to a new state. Back in May, our whole family went on a road trip to Pagosa Springs, CO. While there, we hiked along rivers, to waterfalls, saw historic little towns, and spent time swimming at the beautiful resort we were blessed with a free 7-night stay at! On the way back, we also got to visit the “Four Corners,” where you can stand in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico all at once. A novelty for sure, but the kids loved it.\nThis month, I got to head to Alabama for the first time! While I ate some good food (much of it deep-fried and not friendly to my diet!) and got to spend time with some dear family, this wasn’t for a vacation. The purpose of our trip was for a Crisis Management Training seminar in Auburn, where my friend and fellow SGWM pastor Tim, his wife Jenn, and Rob Douglass and Elaine Sedillos of Ends of the Earth Ministries, met up to invest in the stewardship of our dear missionaries and ministries around the world.\nMissions is never entirely safe; there is always risk involved. The purpose of this training was to equip us to: assess risk for each area of the world we have workers and ministries in; come up with and write policies and contingency plans for each of those regions; and create teams to help manage any potential crisis that may arise. We hope to NEVER have to implement a single one of those plans, but we need to be equipped in case anything happens to our precious missionaries. Our job as a home office is to steward them well.\nIn a couple of weeks, my international travels will continue as I will head down to Rosarito, Mexico to teach a workshop at CC Rosarito’s annual church-planting conference (my workshop will be “Building a Worship Team”) and then give my testimony, lead a night of worship, and teach a half-day class at our Calvary School of Missions on “Worship \u0026amp; Missions.”\nThen in September, I will be taking one of my longest trips ever, as I lead a team to Japan to visit our missionaries Jeff \u0026amp; Alishia Root as well as to expose the team to Japanese culture as they pray about their future in missions. From there, I’ll go straight to Thailand (where I took my first overseas missions trip almost 20 years ago!) for the CCA missions conference and then a special retreat/conference for many of our SGWM missionaries in Asia. I ask that you keep my family and I in prayer as we prepare for these big things coming up.\nWe would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-states-new-countries-garcia-family-update-july-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhile my (Joel’s) travels typically take me internationally, every once in a while I get to travel to a new state. Back in May, our whole family went on a road trip to Pagosa Springs, CO. While there, we hiked along rivers, to waterfalls, saw historic little towns, and spent time swimming at the beautiful resort we were blessed with a free 7-night stay at! On the way back, we also got to visit the “Four Corners,” where you can stand in Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico all at once. A novelty for sure, but the kids loved it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New States \u0026amp; New Countries – Garcia Family Update July 2024"},{"content":"Those were some of the most exciting words we ever heard when we were younger. As smoke billowed and restraints were released, thousands of tons of steel lifted into the air. There was a course, a destination, a goal, and even a plan, however, everybody knew anything could happen. Welcome to CSOM (Calvary School of Missions). By the time you read this, we are through the final countdown and have arrived at our destination. Bags were packed, vehicles serviced, a course prepared, a destination, a goal, and even a plan, however, everybody knows anything could happen. But unlike a rocket to outer space, our sovereign, all-powerful, all-knowing Father is in complete control. We are completely dependent on Him!! Also, we are so grateful for your prayers, encouragement, and partnership in the Great Commission!! Did you know that the great commission isn\u0026rsquo;t a calling? It\u0026rsquo;s a COMMAND!\nMeet the students \u0026amp; staff:\nJesus said, \u0026ldquo;Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.\u0026rdquo; - Matt 28:19-20\nWe are super blessed that we get to be a part of His Great Commission!! We had it on our hearts to share with you a short answer to these two questions: \u0026ldquo;what is the unreached?\u0026rdquo; \u0026amp; \u0026ldquo;what is the 10/40 window?\u0026rdquo; We have been asked these questions a lot and want everyone to know!\nCSOM students will spend the next six weeks learning the answers to these questions and understanding the need so please understand this is a condensed explanation that we would welcome you to contact us about so we could explain more in person.\nWhat is the unreached ?\nDefinition: a population with less than 5% claiming to be Christian and of that, less than 2% evangelical.\nThe term \u0026ldquo;unreached\u0026rdquo; also refers to a people group among which there is no indigenous community of believing Christians with adequate numbers and resources to evangelize this people group.\nWhat is the 10/40 Window?\nI, Jenn, hear a lot of people ask me, “what is the 10/40 window?\u0026quot; It’s a common question, I myself didn’t know what it was until 10 years ago when I began studying the Great Commission and learned what the purpose of the church is. The purpose of the Church\u0026rsquo;s existence on the Earth is for the evangelization and discipleship of all people.\nThe 10/40 window is a rectangular area of North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia between 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude. It is often called, \u0026ldquo;The Resistant Belt,\u0026rdquo; and includes the majority of the world\u0026rsquo;s Muslims, Hindus, and Buddhists. There is an estimated 5.37 billion individuals that reside in approximately 8,762 distinct people groups.\nThe 10/40 window is home to the majority of the world\u0026rsquo;s un-evangelized countries. The “un-evangelized\u0026quot; are people who have a minimal knowledge of the gospel, and have no valid opportunity to respond to it. While it constitutes only one-third of earth\u0026rsquo;s total land area, nearly two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s people reside there. That is a massive amount of people who if they were to die today, would stand before God in judgment for their sins, never having heard the name of Christ, never having had the chance to put their faith in Him for forgiveness of their sins.\nWe have the privilege to lead the Calvary School of Missions into an indigenous unreached tribe in the mountains of Mexico in August. This will be the 2nd year we are able to take the gospel and the love of Jesus to the tribe.\nWe look forward to seeing how the Lord will use us this year to these beautiful people!!\nHere are a couple of videos you could watch to further understand our passion for the unreached: \u0026ldquo;Tears of the Saints\u0026rdquo; on YouTube, \u0026ldquo;The Great Imbalance,\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Risk it all for Christian Mission.\u0026rdquo;\nhttps://youtu.be/VtQbzRmmMfk?si=B3yJRydCG-uuSx8K\nhttps://youtu.be/HCOUvfDr9tQ?feature=shared\nhttps://youtu.be/hOESKzmq4rI?si=8_G3cF173-oojjAS\nPraise reports:\nGod is moving in Andy’s life. He has just completed 20 days in an inpatient hospital. Jenn was able to spend time with Andy before leaving for 6 weeks. Tim’s back is improving and we as a couple are implementing personal disciplines that will help enable us to serve the Lord in this capacity. Jenn is recovering well from surgery.\nPrayer requests:\nPlease pray for the 2024 Calvary School of Missions. Wisdom and sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit as we plan out the rest of this year’s missionary care calendar. Please pray that as a couple serving together in the office and on the field, that we continue to be steadfast in the Lord. Please continue to pray for Tim. Although he is improving, he still continues to have back pain. Please pray for continued healing for Jenn. Pray for Andy\u0026rsquo;s salvation and his willingness to surrender his ways.\nWe love you all so much and thank you for being behind us. Through your generous, financial support you have made this ministry possible for us and we want to let you know that this is the fruit of your labor as well. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase you’re already generous support you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/3-2-1-lift-off/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThose were some of the most exciting words we ever heard when we were younger. As smoke billowed and restraints were released, thousands of tons of steel lifted into the air. There was a course, a destination, a goal, and even a plan, however, everybody knew anything could happen. Welcome to CSOM (Calvary School of Missions). By the time you read this, we are through the final countdown and have arrived at our destination. Bags were packed, vehicles serviced, a course prepared, a destination, a goal, and even a plan, however, everybody knows anything could happen. But unlike a rocket to outer space, our sovereign, all-powerful, all-knowing Father is in complete control. We are completely dependent on Him!!  Also, we are so grateful for your prayers, encouragement, and partnership in the Great Commission!! Did you know that the great commission isn\u0026rsquo;t a calling? It\u0026rsquo;s a COMMAND!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"3 - 2 - 1  LIFT OFF ! ! - Pappas Update July 2024"},{"content":"“For the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the Word of the LORD.”\n-1 Samuel 3:21\nI have been reading 1 Samuel. I am blessed by the verse mentioned above. It is my aim to know God, as Paul says of himself, “That I may know Him… being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10). The best way the Lord reveals himself is through His Word. As I am going through His Word, it is my prayer that the Lord would reveal himself more and more to me. I pray the same for you too.\nWe, as a family, are doing well by His grace. Even though my wife has to regularly take medication, the Lord is helping her to continue to stand with me in the ministry. She is used by the Lord to teach online Bible studies for women and Sunday school in our church. Thank you for your prayers for her health.\nIn spite of persecution in our area, we are able to continue to meet for Sunday services by God\u0026rsquo;s grace. Many house fellowships in our town and neighboring villages have been closed down by the police and Hindu fanatics. I have finished teaching Genesis. Now we are going through the book of Exodus.\nMy mother went to be with the Lord on June 28th. She was a godly woman. She devoted herself to the reading of the Word and prayer. It is because of her prayers that I am saved and used by the Lord in ministry. Praise the Lord for such a godly mother. Thank you for your prayer support at this time of sorrow.\nThank you for your partnership in the ministry of the Gospel.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\nPastor 15\u0026rsquo;s family is in need of monthly support.\nIf you feel led to become a monthly financial partner or increase your currently monthly support, please click the \u0026ldquo;Become A Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; button or mail a check to Saving Grace World Missions with a note designating the gift is for Pastor 15.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/that-i-may-know-him-pastor-15-update-july-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“For the LORD revealed himself to Samuel in Shiloh by the Word of the LORD.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-1 Samuel 3:21\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/1859f4b9-09dc-4772-98f3-6207e83206bd.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI have been reading 1 Samuel. I am blessed by the verse mentioned above. It is my aim to know God, as Paul says of himself, “That I may know Him… being made conformable unto his death” (Philippians 3:10). The best way the Lord reveals himself is through His Word. As I am going through His Word, it is my prayer that the Lord would reveal himself more and more to me. I pray the same for you too.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"That I May Know Him - Pastor 15 Update July 2024"},{"content":"Hello Dear Family in Christ,\nWhat a wonderful year God has given us to serve Him! His works are amazing! As the Psalmist says, \u0026ldquo;We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare that Your name is near.\u0026rdquo;\nWe hope you all are doing well. Thank you for your prayers and support. I am thankful to God for His provision.\nHome Prayer Meetings\nWe had a great time with the families of our church in their homes. The reason we have home prayer meetings is so that we can invite the host\u0026rsquo;s family and friends so that they can hear the Gospel. All of the families come together, have fellowship and we end with dinner.\nChurch Planter’s Meeting:\n\u0026ldquo;Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!\u0026rdquo;\nPsalm 133:1\nWe really had a great time meeting with the other pastors and leaders. We all shared our ministry reports and about the challenges that we are facing in the mission field. Then we prayed for each other. I am really blessed to see our brothers growing in the Word of God and ministering to people in the places where they are serving. Every time we meet we remember the great commission and the purpose of our calling.\nBaptism Service\n\u0026ldquo;In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.\u0026rdquo;\nLuke 15:10\nIt\u0026rsquo;s amazing to see people coming to Christ and surrendering to Him. Christian baptism is one of two ordinances that Jesus instituted for the church. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:19–20). These instructions specify the church’s responsibility to make and teach disciples, and to welcome and baptize those disciples.\nThe woman who was baptized was in the hardest time of her life before she received Christ into her life. She was going through a lot in her life and with her family. She lost her husband and also her daughter. In that time of trouble she met Jesus and He comforted her. She gave her life to Jesus and surrendered it to Him. Please pray for her to continue to walk with God.\nBible Study in a New Church Plant\nThere has been great progress in N* village. I recently shared in my past newsletters that this village is in the most persecuted and anti-Christian area. They do not allow Christians into the village. All of the villagers are unbelievers. God has opened the door for us to share the Gospel. He also led us to start a Bible study in a home. Right now we are meeting in a home church every Sunday. Six people regularly attend. The other villagers do not know that we are meeting every Sunday for Bible study. I do not know what will happen if the find out. We pray that God will work in the hearts of the people so that they will come to Him and know Him. God has led us to this place because there is a great need. We are happy and praising God that we have been able to meet every Sunday and meditate on His Word. Continue to pray for this village.\nPlease also continue to pray for us. Thank you, once again, for your prayers and support.\nThank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-will-praise-the-lord-pastor-6-update-july-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Dear Family in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a wonderful year God has given us to serve Him! His works are amazing! As the Psalmist says, \u0026ldquo;We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks! For Your wondrous works declare \u003cem\u003ethat\u003c/em\u003e Your name is near.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe hope you all are doing well. Thank you for your prayers and support. I am thankful to God for His provision.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/July-7.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/July-8.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHome Prayer Meetings\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Will Praise the Lord - Pastor 6 Update July 2024"},{"content":"“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”\n-Matthew 28:19-20.\nGo\nWe love to go where God lead us. Last month God lead us to the western part of our country. We went to our Calvary Chapel church plant there with our Bible College students. Our students were so excited to hear stories about the church and how God is moving in that area. Our students went to a tribal people group. They preformed a dance, songs, skit and shared the gospel. They showed love and care for the people and prayed with them. The next day we had a youth conference. Over 60 teenagers and young adults came. We shared God’s Word with games with the young people. We had a great time of fellowship with them. The next day we did street evangelism close to the church. A lot of people loved to hear the Gospel and watch the skit. Our students learned to “GO” because God command us to “GO”. Please pray for our students that they may love to go where God wants them to go.\nMake Disciples\nGod has been so gracious to us. He has connected us with so many people around our country. So many people love to be discipled through us. Many pastors love to send their young people to our Bible College. We ask each of our students to teach a small cell group. We do not want them only to learn but we want them to also teach alongside us. We take them to different places so that they can see the mission field. May they have a heart for the people where God leads them. Our students are willing to work with any kind of people group. They are open to work in children\u0026rsquo;s ministry. They are open to serve in the leprosy camp, etc. Please pray that these young people will be good disciples and that they will make other disciples.\nIt is so awesome to see people come to Christ. The Bible says “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents.” We love the new believers to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s grace.\nTeach Them\nWe see in Book of Acts that the Apostle Paul was teaching people from the Word of God. We do not only love to share the Gospel, we also love to teach people more about Christ and make Him known. We love to teach any denomination and people group. Last month we went to some church students to teach and encourage them from God\u0026rsquo;s Word. We believe that after coming to Christ, people must grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. It is always awesome to explain how important it is to teach the Bible verse-by-verse, so we arranged an Inductive Bible Study workshop in the eastern part of our country. Please pray that God will raise up these young leaders to grow in God’s Word and grace.\nThank you,\nAnand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/go-make-disciples-anand-update-july-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-Matthew 28:19-20.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG%5F3787.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGo\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe love to go where God lead us. Last month God lead us to the western part of our country. We went to our Calvary Chapel church plant there with our Bible College students. Our students were so excited to hear stories about the church and how God is moving in that area. Our students went to a tribal people group. They preformed a dance, songs, skit and shared the gospel. They showed love and care for the people and prayed with them. The next day we had a youth conference. Over 60 teenagers and young adults came. We shared God’s Word with games with the young people. We had a great time of fellowship with them. The next day we did street evangelism close to the church. A lot of people loved to hear the Gospel and watch the skit. Our students learned to “GO” because God command us to “GO”. Please pray for our students that they may love to go where God wants them to go.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\"Go, Make Disciples\" - Anand Update July 2024"},{"content":"This phrase has been repeated every week in a Bible study through the book of Proverbs with two of the girls in the house I am currently living in. Asking this question has been helpful to reflect on the way I live my life for the Lord and opens conversation for how God is working in our lives. But I would say that this phrase perfectly describes how these past couple of months have been going for me. It has been filled with conversations where I ask this question without specifically asking it. In sitting and listening to people share their struggles and their victories in the Lord, God has taught me to listen and speak when I need to, but most of all to pray.\nDiscipleship We are constantly reminded here at MTS (missions training school), that the Purpose of the Church’s existence on the earth is for the evangelization and discipleship of all people. I missed this part of the Great Commission. Yes, we are to evangelize to all nations, but we are also to make disciples of all nations. If we don’t disciple the people we evangelize to, we won’t see them grow in the things of God. To disciple is not easy and sometimes it’s not fun. But it is worth it! To see that light go on in someone’s heart and mind, to see change in their life, is cool! This is what we are called to. I thank God that He has shown me the importance of this and the opportunity to be involved in making disciples for Him.\nAll authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you... Matthew 28:18-20 What Now? Calvary School of Missions 2024 is now in play! As you all know, last summer I was a student at CSOM. The Lord taught me so much through this school and confirmed a calling on my life; to pursue cross-cultural missions to reach the Unreached. This year I am blessed to be a part of the school as a leader. I will be leading social media, worship, and anything else the leaders need. I am excited to see what God does through the students\u0026rsquo; lives as they seek His face!\nThank you for taking the time to read this update and for joining in on the work that God has called me to! It is such a beautiful gift to realize that the Lord doesn’t need our help in fulfilling His plans, but because of His love, He wants us to take part in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth! I would greatly appreciate your continued partnership with me in prayer as the Lord is leading me to long-term, cross-cultural ministry, as well as through financial support, if you feel led to give. Any amount of a one-time or monthly donation is an absolute blessing as I prepare to be sent out long term on the field. It means so much to me. God bless and thank you all!\nIn His Love,\nAlani\nPrayer Requests For me as the Lord uses me here at the school of missions. For the students as they seek the Lord and learn about the Great Commission. For me to be led by the Lord as He guides my life. Praise Reports Praise God He provided the funds for School of Missions through the body of Christ! That we made it safely to Rosarito, Mexico and our very first outreach was a huge blessing. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/one-wise-thing-and-one-unwise-thing-you-did-rangel-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis phrase has been repeated every week in a Bible study through the book of Proverbs with two of the girls in the house I am currently living in. Asking this question has been helpful to reflect on the way I live my life for the Lord and opens conversation for how God is working in our lives. But I would say that this phrase perfectly describes how these past couple of months have been going for me. It has been filled with conversations where I ask this question without specifically asking it. In sitting and listening to people share their struggles and their victories in the Lord, God has taught me to listen and speak when I need to, but most of all to pray.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One Wise Thing and One Unwise Thing You Did - Rangel Update June 2024"},{"content":"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.\nMARK 16:15 (NKJV).\nBy the grace of God we are doing ministry. We already finished this semester\u0026rsquo;s formal classes at Calvary Bible Institute. Everything went well . For the end of our semester, we did outreach in the area where one of our staff, Pastor Milan ministers. All of our beloved students worked hard during the outreach. They prepared a skit, Gospel songs, dance and more. We did open air preaching at local places including the market area. We did our outreach with a tribal people group that our student Manish is serving with. Manish is the brother of Pastor Milan. He is taking care of these people and giving them sound doctrine and sound teaching. This people group is not very educated. They used to live only in the forest, not in houses like we live in. I am also doing ministry among these people. Some came to become students at our Calvary Bible Institute, but unfortunately they ran away from the Bible Institute. We shared and proclaimed the Gospel there like the Bible says \u0026ldquo;Go and preach to all the nations.\u0026rdquo;\nGod loves people, so we also love them, teach them, equip them and love to serve them. Another ministry we are doing is at the leper colony. We do Bible study every Friday at the leper colony. As our students are learning how to preach, serve, and conduct fellowship, they do practicums at the Leper Colony.\nBy the grace of God, we are teaching the book of 2nd Samuel. Over 20 people regularly attend our Friday Bible studies. Please pray that more unreached people from around the leper colony will come. I am also doing ministry at the Leper colony. God is using me to train the leper believers and raise them up in God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nBy the grace of God this semester, I already finished the Gospel of Luke. I love to teach my dear students. They also enjoy learning. In my home church I am teaching the book of Hebrews. I love to teach and equip others. In the book of Hebrews, God taught the great lesson of how to have joy in Christ even in every bad circumstance. It talks about the angels, Moses, David, Abraham, the law, the Old Testament, and Melchizedek and that Jesus is the greatest of them all. The book teaches us to meet together in church fellowship; to be ready for the Lord\u0026rsquo;s coming, to encourage each other, to rejoice in Christ every day, not to loose everything that we got from Jesus. that we should always pray. The writer encourages his fellow brothers and sisters. We also should do that work in Christ to raise up others and encourage them and lift them up in Christ during hard times in ministry.\nMy beautiful wife is also helping me and helping at Calvary Bible Institute. She helps raise up young and old women in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. She is teaching a Bible study where many sisters and mothers from different churches gather online. She already finished teaching the book of Genesis. She went through Genesis in a year and a half by teaching verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter. Now she is teaching the book of Revelation every week on Sundays. Pray for her to have a baby. If it is not God\u0026rsquo;s will pray that He will provide a good job for her, because other people look down on her if she only has free time. They will gossip. So to stop people gossiping, she needs a nice job. We are planning to try to go to the doctor again to try to have a baby. The first time we went to the doctor it did not work, so we saved our money even while we were moving to our new church and are now planning to go back to the doctor.\nWe have been married for over 5 years now. In our country\u0026rsquo;s culture for a woman to not have a baby is like being cursed. Our family also is not supportive of us not being able to have a baby. They gossip about it, so we also feel very bad at family gatherings. Other women say things to my wife like \u0026ldquo;I do not even want to look at your face, because you do not have a baby.\u0026rdquo; Because of this, we are facing a lot of difficulties right now. Please pray for us to have a baby and that God will provide for us to have further treatment at the doctor if it is His will.\nMore people are coming to our church. More teenagers and young adults are also joining our church. We are also doing children\u0026rsquo;s ministry. Pray that the children\u0026rsquo;s parents will allow them to come to our church.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray that God will bring more people to our church. My friend Sujan reads his Bible a lot. He always comes to our church every week. Pray that he will accept Jesus as his personal Savior. Pray that parents will allow their children to come to our church. In the surrounding area of our church many people are hearing the Gospel and the Word of God shared. Pray that they will accept Jesus and come to church. Teenagers and young adults enjoy musical instruments. Pray that God will provide music for the church. Pray that God will provide me with the ability to live-stream easily. Thank you so much for supporting us, praying for us and raising us up in the Lord. God bless every entire family of Saving Grace World Missions.\nGrace and Peace.\nYour Faithful Servants,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/go-into-all-of-the-world-rabi-update-july-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnd he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMARK 16:15 (NKJV).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG-20240513-WA0007.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/IMG-20240513-WA0007.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the grace of God we are doing ministry. We already finished this semester\u0026rsquo;s formal classes at Calvary Bible Institute. Everything went well \u003ca href=\"http://well.at/\"\u003e.\u003c/a\u003e For the end of our semester, we did outreach in the area where one of our staff, Pastor Milan ministers. All of our beloved students worked hard during the outreach. They prepared a skit, Gospel songs, dance and more. We did open air preaching at local places including the market area. We did our outreach with a tribal people group that our student Manish is serving with. Manish is the brother of Pastor Milan. He is taking care of these people and giving them sound doctrine and sound teaching. This people group is not very educated. They used to live only in the forest, not in houses like we live in. I am also doing ministry among these people. Some came to become students at our Calvary Bible Institute, but unfortunately they ran away from the Bible Institute. We shared and proclaimed the Gospel there like the Bible says \u0026ldquo;Go and preach to all the nations.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Go Into All of the World - Rabi Update July 2024"},{"content":" For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior,\nthe Lord Jesus Christ.\nPhilippians 3:20\nDear Friends and Family,\nGod Bless America! We are praising God! The Kanyike children are finally Americans!\nWe want to thank everyone who has been praying for this day for so long. It was hard to remain hopeful and believe it would finally come to pass, and we could not have done it with out you.\nI never thought it would take my children so long of a time to legally become my children or to be Americans. The process of both was very long.\nI became a mother in June 2010 when I first met Luke, then again in 2011 and 2014 with Laylee and Liana. Each of these gifts from God were miraculous to Brian and I. With Luke, the elders of the church had prayed for me on a Wednesday to get a baby. On Friday, a friend who was adopting, as well as a friend who worked for the babies home called me that a baby had just arrived that they were sure was our son. By the following Monday, Brian and I, began the process of bringing Luke home.\nWith Laylee, we had taken a couple from the USA to a different babies home to meet the baby they were matched with. We saw Laylee then and inquired about her. At that time, that particular babies home only did international adoptions. A couple months later we were contacted out of the blue and asked to come in for a meeting. They told us that they were beginning to do in-country adoptions and they had a baby they thought was multicultural and wanted to place her with a mixed couple. It was Laylee. She came home 5 days later.\nIn 2014 my nephew was visiting. He is adopted and wanted to visit a baby home to see how adoptions were done in Uganda. It was on that visit we met Liana. I knew immediately she was my daughter but were told that she was not adoptable because she might not be Ugandan. I prayed because I knew she was ours. 4 months later they called and asked if we still wanted Liana. Of course I said yes. She came home 3 days later. Each of our children are a miracle. We thank the Lord everyday for giving us these precious gifts.\nIn Uganda you have to have the children in your home for 3 years before they will finalize the adoption. When Luke was 4, we began the process for him and Laylee to be finalized. Every couple months we would be given a date for court only to arrive at the courthouse and be told it was canceled. This went on till 2017 when finally after many failed attempts and tears we were able to finalize the adoption of all three children. This picture was us in our “Court Clothes.”\nThe next step was to apply for the children’s American citizenship. We first applied for their USA visas so we could travel to the US. We were granted visas in 2018. While we were waiting for the visas to arrive, we were contacted by Ugandan Social workers telling us that there was a new law that required a new special certificate to be issued for adoptions in order to apply for citizenship. We traveled to the US as planned but we could not apply for citizenship at that time. In 2020 we finally had the certificates we needed and planned to travel to the US and meet with a lawyer. My father passed away and we travelled sooner than expected. After the funeral we were waiting for our meeting with the lawyer when covid shut everything down. Our meeting was canceled and we returned to Uganda. I decided to gather the necessary documents and file the applications myself. I sent everything in the Fall of 2020. I was told we would be called in 6—18 months for an interview. In May of 2024, we were finally called for our interview. I am so thankful for the immigration counselor we were paired with because he made the rest of the process so easy and not stressful. I am so happy to say that on June 11, 2024, the Kanyike children were sworn in as American citizens!\nWe are not finished yet. We have applied for the children’s American passports. They were denied once with a request for more certified proof that they are my children and that I am American. We have resubmitted and are praying all goes well and they will have their passports soon. Please be praying for us that this happens and for them to be able to receive their social security numbers afterwards as well.\nWhile we wait we are spending time with my family who the children haven’t seen since 2020. Luke and Laylee were able to celebrate their birthdays, 14 and 13, for the first time with my family. All the children celebrated their first 4th of July as Americans too.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for the many prayers that were answered for the Kanyike children to get their citizenship. Please pray for Arise Christian Fellowship and the FRM Guesthouse while the Kanyikes are away. Pray that the Kanyike children would get their American passports. Pray for the time the Kanyikes get to spend with Jill’s family and with her home church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. Pray for provision for the many expenses involved with getting the children’s citizenship, travel, and being in the States. Pray for Brian as he encourages and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship over the internet/phone while away. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-15/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eFor our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior,\u003cbr\u003e\nthe Lord Jesus Christ.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003ePhilippians 3:20\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"god-bless-america\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGod Bless America!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are praising God! \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Kanyike children are finally Americans!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/kids-citizenship-184x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe want to thank everyone who has been praying for this day for so long. It was hard to remain hopeful and believe it would finally come to pass, and we could not have done it with out you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":"Hey everyone! Since Calvary Moyobamba was planted October 2023, we have had more than 8 months of chapter by chapter, verse by verse teaching through the Bible. One of my goals is to teach through the whole Bible.\nIt is neat to see the power of God’s Word transforming peoples lives. One family was confronted by a Sunday message that I preached in Luke. They now realize that life is not all about making money and accumulating materials, rather Jesus sees it more important to love others and help those in need. Another few people were touched after a Genesis teaching on Wednesday night. They saw that in spite of some of the Bible characters failing in life, God still used their lives for His purposes. And this gave them hope and encouragement that God can still use them.\nIt is becoming more and more like a loving family every Sunday service. Most people will stay after service to drink coffee and chat with others. We make sure to give a warm welcome to every new person that comes.\nThank you to all who were praying that God would raise up local workers. We now have 5 people who are faithful servants at Calvary Moyobamba along with Yenry, Jesus, and I. They arrive an hour and a half early every Sunday and Wednesday to help us prepare for church service. Sometimes they help with construction and painting projects at the church too. They are avid Bible students that take notes of every church service and love to learn. And we like to have fun too (thus the paint on their faces from the picture above).\nAs a church, we have seen in the book of Luke how Jesus spent a lot of His ministry healing people and showing them the compassion of God. Every Thursday we deliver bags of love to about 5 families in need around the community. Each bag has enough food to sustain them for several days. It’s a wonderful opportunity to pray for them, listen to their stories, and share about Jesus Christ. There are now 3 adults and 3 children who have constantly been coming to church through this outreach. In the picture above, we are with a crippled boy and his parents. Although he has faced lots of discouragement with his limitations, he loves our visits. We are now friends and have been able to exchange smiles. Please keep him in your prayers.\nThe upstairs of the church has come a long way! I was just looking at the pictures of it in old newsletters, and it made me chuckle at how different it was then and now. We use it for Sunday school, prayer meetings, and Bible study.\nA team from Dothan, Alabama came and did a stellar painting job with the wall on the left.\nI am thankful for…\nThe work God is doing in the lives of those at church. Lots of reconciled families, forgiveness, love, generosity, and biblical convictions.\nSpending time with the church family outside of church. We play sports, eat, laugh, share the gospel, and many other things together.\nAll of your prayers. God has truly answered so much.\nThe mission teams that have come. Our fellowship, school outreaches, and serving the community of Moyobamba.\nI am grieving for…\nThe loss of my grandma. I miss her so much. She helped raise me up in the ways of God and has sacrificed so much for me. At least she is in the presence of God right now.\nPrayer Requests:\nThat God’s Word continues to impact our lives at Calvary Moyobamba\nThat everyone in Moyobamba knows Jesus Christ and the eternal life that He brings.\nContinual strength and wisdom for Yenry, Jesus, and I. (They have helped me plant the church.)\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/8-months-strong-weakland-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey everyone! Since Calvary Moyobamba was planted October 2023, we have had more than 8 months of chapter by chapter, verse by verse teaching through the Bible. One of my goals is to teach through the whole Bible.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/WhatsApp-Image-2024-07-02-at-20.33.00-300x173.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is neat to see the power of God’s Word transforming peoples lives. One family was confronted by a Sunday message that I preached in Luke. They now realize that life is not all about making money and accumulating materials, rather Jesus sees it more important to love others and help those in need. Another few people were touched after a Genesis teaching on Wednesday night. They saw that in spite of some of the Bible characters failing in life, God still used their lives for His purposes. And this gave them hope and encouragement that God can still use them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"8 Months Strong! - Weakland Update June 2024"},{"content":" But to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.\n2 Cor 3:15-16\nI want to begin this update with a wonderful story. Last month I had the opportunity to go to an event hosted by Voice of the Refugees, a Christian non-profit dedicated to helping refugees get back on their feet. The event was a ‘cultural celebration,’ where my friends Tori, Katia, and I went to learn about a bunch of different countries and make relationships. It was an exciting event with dancing and a bunch of different desserts and food to try. Through it I met an Afghani refugee who wanted to talk about Christianity and Islam, so the next day we went to talk at a cafe! We had a great, respectful discussion and we both learned a lot about each other and our respective religions. Though he is still blinded to the truth that Jesus is God, we have a good connection and we will meet again. That evening during my devotional time with the Lord, He gave me a great encouragement as the Spirit brought 2 Corinthians 3:16 to mind, though I didn’t even know what it said! Even though it is addressing he Jews, Muslims have the same blinders, denying the deity of Jesus. Yet, as this verse says, when they turn to the Lord, He will take away the veil! Also, that same time I was reading a Spurgeon devotional, and he says at the beginning, “the great fact on which genuine faith relies on is, that ‘the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.’” God comforted me greatly after taking that anxious step of going out and speaking with this kind Muslim. His name is Jafar, please be praying with me that he would come to faith in Jesus!\nThis month has been full of preparation, both preparing myself and the Lord preparing me. The highlight was the Vacation Bible School I got to serve in, it was a blast. I love to teach and lead kids at the church. This year the theme of the VBS was the jungle. We went all out with decorations, and we ended up with over 60 kids attending. Throughout the VBS the kids learned about, \u0026ldquo;the Seven C’s\u0026rdquo;: Creation, Corruption, Catastrophe, Confusion, Christ, Cross, and Consummation. I had the opportunity to teach the older aged kids in the class I served, and it was the greatest joy seeing them understand the lessons and the gospel, and enjoy the VBS as the week went on.\nIn the Mission Training School, we went through Dave Ramsey’s course on Financial Peace, which was a blessing. Even though I have done it before, to see it as a group in the context of the mission field gave me a lot of insight. As we were going through that course I doubled down and spent a lot of time doing extra work to prepare myself financially for my upcoming trips this July. It has made my schedule absolutely insane, one day I worked almost 16 hours. But I love to work hard, and God has blessed me greatly with generous people giving above what I ask for services. We also have been going through a self-defense class, which has been exciting and important. Besides having better safety consciousness, it also reminded me to keep improving and maintaining my physical health, to be able to protect myself and others, and to be able to do whatever the Lord calls me to in the future.\nThis coming month of July is going to be insane, so please be praying for me! I have tickets for 3 back-to-back trips. First, I am going to be connecting with my home church in Texas, Calvary Chapel North Texas, for a week and a half, starting the 17th. I will be staying with my grandparents, and then helping at the church’s VBS. Then I fly to Costa Rica for 5 days to get vision as I meet with Cory, my pastor from Peru, as we visit a kid’s safe home and pray for direction about starting one in Peru. Finally, I fly straight to Oregon to be at a friend’s wedding.\nAlthough it is going to be a lot of things, thank the Lord I am not doing it alone, He will be with me the whole way!\nPrayer Requests\nProtection for the Costa Rica trip and God’s leading in a possible future work of housing children rescued from sex and organ trafficking in Peru For my Muslim friend Jafar to be saved Good health for the upcoming back-to-back trips in July (aka, that I don’t get sick) Never stop growing in my relationship with the Lord Jesus each day Praise Reports\nReceived funding for flights to Costa Rica Getting to create a relationship with Jafar Success of the VBS in reaching kids with the gospel God’s great provision and grace. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/ready-for-takeoff-josh-vanrenterghem-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their heart. Nevertheless, when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2 Cor 3:15-16\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI want to begin this update with a wonderful story. Last month I had the opportunity to go to an event hosted by Voice of the Refugees, a Christian non-profit dedicated to helping refugees get back on their feet. The event was a ‘cultural celebration,’ where my friends Tori, Katia, and I went to learn about a bunch of different countries and make relationships. It was an exciting event with dancing and a bunch of different desserts and food to try. Through it I met an Afghani refugee who wanted to talk about Christianity and Islam, so the next day we went to talk at a cafe! We had a great, respectful discussion and we both learned a lot about each other and our respective religions. Though he is still blinded to the truth that Jesus is God, we have a good connection and we will meet again. That evening during my devotional time with the Lord, He gave me a great encouragement as the Spirit brought 2 Corinthians 3:16 to mind, though I didn’t even know what it said! Even though it is addressing he Jews, Muslims have the same blinders, denying the deity of Jesus. Yet, as this verse says, when they turn to the Lord, He will take away the veil! Also, that same time I was reading a Spurgeon devotional, and he says at the beginning, “the great fact on which genuine faith relies on is, that ‘the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.’” God comforted me greatly after taking that anxious step of going out and speaking with this kind Muslim. His name is Jafar, please be praying with me that he would come to faith in Jesus!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ready for Takeoff! - Josh Vanrenterghem Update June 2024"},{"content":"Hello friends and family!\nWhile Claudia and I have been married 26 years, we are like all parents who are most joyful when our children are doing well!\nIn fact, one of our favorite Bible verses is:\n“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”\n3 John 1:4\nHere are a few milestones we have reached this month!\nOn July 6th, we celebrated our 3rd anniversary of being in Mexico! Our son Cristian graduated with honors from Santillana del Mar high School in Rosarito! Claudia will have completed one whole year, leading the new women’s bilingual Bible study (Women of Worth and Purpose/Mujeres de Valor y Propósito) Poiema completed her first year of Bible college at CBI Peru. Natalie earned her Masters in Education and finished her first year teaching high school Biology. She also moves to Texas very soon! Lydia and Geoff Hamano reached 6 months as newlyweds! Claudia and I have completed two years overseeing the Biblical Counseling ministry! Claudia and I get to do many exciting things as we serve the Lord at Calvary Rosarito. Here are a few photos from our lives the past month.\nServing as a Pastor at Calvary Rosarito\nClaudia’s Mission trip to Morelia, Michocan to host a Women’s Conference with Calvary Living Way, Morelia!\nClaudia and Poiema VOTED in the recent elections in Mexico. All my children are dual national citizens and have the “INE” voting card!\nPraise reports\nWe celebrate living 3 years in Mexico! Our children are all on track and moving forward! Poiema decided to be baptized! (3 John 4) MDVP bilingual women’s study completes 1 year anniversary! Leading the Counseling ministry 2-year anniversary! The Gospel is preached after every service and on average 10 people respond to the altar call each week! We are blessed to see over 20 baptisms a month! Prayer Requests\nFor continuing the priority of our relationship with Jesus daily (prayer and Bible) For my discipleship group (Jorge, Sergio, Marco Antonio, Roberto \u0026amp; Victor) MDVP bilingual women’s study: for the ladies to be prepared for every good work God has prepared for them to fulfill. Safe travels for Poiema in Peru and continued growth while at CBI Training for competent future biblical counselors Developing a web resource for our counseling ministry For the Cordova family, my beloved first cousins, as we grieve the sudden loss of my cousin Adrienne. She leaves behind her son Miles and daughter Adelina. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/no-greater-joy-this-july-boubion-update-july-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile Claudia and I have been married 26 years, we are like all parents who are most joyful when our children are doing well!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn fact, one of our favorite Bible verses is:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3 John 1:4\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHere are a few milestones we have reached this month!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOn July 6th, we celebrated our 3rd anniversary of being in Mexico!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOur son Cristian graduated with honors from Santillana del Mar high School in Rosarito!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClaudia will have completed one whole year, leading the new women’s bilingual Bible study (Women of Worth and Purpose/Mujeres de Valor y Propósito)\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePoiema completed her first year of Bible college at CBI Peru.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNatalie earned her Masters in Education and finished her first year teaching high school Biology. She also moves to Texas very soon!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eLydia and Geoff Hamano reached 6 months as newlyweds!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClaudia and I have completed two years overseeing the Biblical Counseling ministry!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClaudia and I get to do many exciting things as we serve the Lord at Calvary Rosarito. Here are a few photos from our lives the past month.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"No greater Joy this July! - Boubion Update July 2024"},{"content":"Hello again friends \u0026amp; family!\nThe Summer is upon us bringing lots of great fellowship through several celebrations \u0026amp; ministry opportunities! Let us share with you a few of the things we’ve been up to this past month.\nCCA West Coast Pastors’ \u0026amp; Leaders’ Conference\nThe first week of June brought us right into a 3-day Pastors’ \u0026amp; Leaders’ Conference held at Calvary Chapel Golden Springs. This was a refreshing conference where we were able to hear great messages and meet great people! Something we love about these conferences is how they really bring the Body of Christ together, whether you know the person sitting next to you or not! There is a beautiful unity within the global church, knitting our hearts together. It was a blessing to meet a few people at the conference and get to encourage one another in our ministries and spiritual walks.\nMissionary Dessert Gathering\nThe following Sunday, our church held a “dessert gathering” for one of our missionary families who serve in North Africa. At a dessert gathering, we get to enjoy fellowship and dessert while the missionaries share about their past year of ministry. It is always so encouraging to hear their stories about how the Lord has been so faithful.\nOne thing that the missionary shared that spoke to our hearts was on the topic of dependency on God. Being in such an isolated part of the world as far Christian community, the missionary said that it has forced him to learn how to depend on the Lord even more. But what has really helped grow him in his dependency on God has been reading the Scriptures. He said, “The more I read about who God is in His Word, the more I realize how utterly needy I am of Him.” This is so true, and his words really spurred in our hearts a greater desire to maintain that awe of God and dependency upon Him by reading the Word.\nVBS 2024!\nA big highlight of the month was definitely VBS (Vacation Bible School)! All the volunteers who helped make it happen were so talented and we loved seeing how much the kids enjoyed everything. Geoff and I got to run sound and media for the week; it’s always a blessing to get to serve together at these events. VBS takes a ton of work to put on but is always equally a ton of fun! Geoff made a VBS 2024 recap video if you want to check it out here.\nA Quick Trip to Mexico!\nWell, we finished off the month with a fun weekend trip to Rosarito, Mexico! We went down to visit Lydia’s family, attend her brother’s high school graduation, and celebrate her sister’s 20th birthday! It was a packed weekend but we were so grateful to be able to go and celebrate with everyone.\nLydia’s family is going to be coming up to Yorba Linda soon to have a big BBQ and share with everyone about their past year of ministry in Mexico as missionaries. You are all invited! It will be July 13th at 2:00-6:00 P.M. If you are interested in joining, feel free to reply to this email and we can send you the address of the gathering!\nOther New Things!\nFor the past 2 months I (Lydia) have been able to be tutored in Japanese by one of the friends we met during our trip to Japan. I have gotten to meet weekly with Mirei and learn many new phrases that will be helpful to know in everyday life. It’s been a blessing for me to learn under Mirei as well as grow in friendship!\nI have also been leading a 1-on-1 weekly bible study with a friend at church for the past 2 months, which has been such a joy! We’ve been slowly going through the book of John together, with a focus on learning more of who God is. This has been so wonderful, to reason through the Scriptures together and grow more in love with who God is.\nMeanwhile, I (Geoff) have been continuing to grow the booth ministry (lyrics, livestream, and soundboard) at our church. We are creating training videos for both livestream and the soundboard which will be helpful as we bring new people onto the team. I have also been able to continue using my passion for photography and take a lot of photos for church events.\nThank You for Reading\nWe are so grateful to you for taking the time to read another one of our updates. Thank you to all who have been supporting us in prayer as well as finances. Your support and partnership truly means so to us! We are excited to update you on how the Lord leads next. We would greatly appreciate your prayers in the following:\nFor a possible upcoming 3-month vision trip to Japan: That God would keep opening the doors and confirm this next step if it’s His will. For our marriage: That we keep learning how to better encourage and support one another, and that we would grow in our love for the Lord together. For Lydia’s discipleship with her friend: That the Lord would continue to give her wisdom in answering her friend’s questions about God. For Geoff: That he would grow in leadership over the booth ministry and that he would grow ever closer in relationship with the Lord. Sincerely,\nGeoff \u0026amp; Lydia Hamano\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-joy-of-fellowship-hamano-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello again friends \u0026amp; family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Summer is upon us bringing lots of great fellowship through several celebrations \u0026amp; ministry opportunities! Let us share with you a few of the things we’ve been up to this past month.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCCA West Coast Pastors’ \u0026amp; Leaders’ Conference\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first week of June brought us right into a 3-day Pastors’ \u0026amp; Leaders’ Conference held at Calvary Chapel Golden Springs. This was a refreshing conference where we were able to hear great messages and meet great people! Something we love about these conferences is how they really bring the Body of Christ together, whether you know the person sitting next to you or not! There is a beautiful unity within the global church, knitting our hearts together. It was a blessing to meet a few people at the conference and get to encourage one another in our ministries and spiritual walks.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Joy of Fellowship - Hamano Update June 2024"},{"content":" “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”\nMATTHEW 7:24\nGang Ghetto Kwo “The House That Builds Life” You may remember our friend Luke, and his wife Hannah, whose wedding we were blessed to be a part of last December. We have mentioned Luke often in our updates over the years since we work closely with him in ministry, and because we share a lot of life together as he is Matt’s best friend. We wanted to share some of the things he has been working toward, and now does together with Hannah.\nLuke has worked with the Terebinth school since we arrived in Uganda long-term, and has filled many roles in the ministry. Since the beginning Luke has been involved with the young adults in the church and in the community, almost always staying with one of the young men as his roommate for company, accountability, and to pour into someone on a more personal level. Somewhere along the way he began dreaming of making his lifestyle of discipleship more of a committed program for young men interested in growing spiritually, but who were not yet ready to join the Terebinth school, or perhaps may not be called to full-time work in ministry.\nSeveral years ago Luke bought a plot of land near our church and began building. His hope was to have a communal-style living space, where people could feel free to join in any time of devotions, worship, or prayer. The “community house” (a room with seating and a table, joined by a kitchen) was built standing in the middle of the compound, surrounded by 4 cement huts with tin roofs (these are called Bandas). It took Luke a long time to begin the more formal discipleship program, but while he was preparing he was still pouring into young guys from the church, doing devotions, discipling, and walking alongside them as a few of them occupied his Bandas.\nBefore getting married, Luke and Hannah began the discipleship program, which they have named Gang Ghetto Kwo (The House That Builds Life) with 4 young men, Moses, Louis, Jacob, and Calton. It has been a unique and special time as these guys have seen Luke and Hannah working together, practicing purity and boundaries while not yet married, getting married, and now watching them grow in relationship, all while being led through a series of biblical principles. We have truly enjoyed watching the lot of them grow together in Christ, Luke and Hannah grow in unity and in leadership, and the 4 guys mature both in Christ and in character.\nPlease pray: For Luke and Hannah as they continue walking alongside Moses, Louis, Jacob and Calton. For the four guys to continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. God Bless, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMATTHEW 7:24\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/slim.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch4 id=\"gang-ghetto-kwo-the-house-that-builds-life\"\u003eGang Ghetto Kwo “The House That Builds Life”\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou may remember our friend Luke, and his wife Hannah, whose wedding we were blessed to be a part of last December. We have mentioned Luke often in our updates over the years since we work closely with him in ministry, and because we share a lot of life together as he is Matt’s best friend. We wanted to share some of the things he has been working toward, and now does together with Hannah.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update June 2024"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico. In Revelation 3:7-8, Jesus writes to the faithful church in Philadelphia and describes Himself this way, “ He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it…”\nThe Bible reveals to us an Almighty God that is able to open up doors for His people, and it is our job to step out in faith and walk through them. In June, the Lord opened up several doors of ministry for me in the USA and Southern Mexico, and in this update I wanted to tell you all about them!\nOne of the main reasons I wrote my book, \u0026ldquo;The Sending Hub” was to help pastors and church leaders move forward in the great mission’s work of church planting. We have been so blessed to see the great church planting work flourishing in Mexico, but God has also placed in my heart that He wants me to help American pastors move forward in church planting as well. It seems like in 2024 God is opening doors up in the States for me to share this important message.\nMy first trip in June was to Colorado. I had not been to this beautiful state since my college basketball playing days when we were on tour. We had played a Division 1 basketball team and got our lunch handed to us. But this trip was to teach about church planting at the regional Calvary Chapel Pastors Conference.\nThe conference was filled with pastors and leaders who had worked diligently in their cities serving the Lord and loving the sheep. Although this was not a church planting conference, I was honored to teach an introductory church planting message. It was well received and many of the pastors committed to move forward in church planting. Our generous church was also able to donate 80 of my books so that each senior pastor in attendance received one!\nAfter that trip, in the middle of the month I traveled south to Acapulco for the Mexico National Pastors\u0026rsquo; Conference for Calvary Chapel. Although I did not speak at this conference, it was a fantastic time to be refreshed and hear from the Lord. I was also able to catch up with 12 of our 1st, 2nd, and even 3rd generation church planters spread out all over Mexico who joined me at the conference. I left Acapulco thanking the Lord for this opportunity to fellowship with our church planters.\nAt the end of the month, I traveled with my church planting team (Super Mario Medrano, Pastor Dan Valdez, and church planter Hugo Limon) to visit our church planters Donnie and Coby Aldana and their church, Refresh Calvary in Waddell Arizona that we sent out five years ago.\nI was blessed to teach at the first ever church planting conference in Arizona, along with four other gifted local pastors. This was an amazing conference, as I was blessed to witness the Lord working in many hearts to fire them up about this great work of reaching their local communities and beyond through church planting!\nA highlight for me was meeting some future church planters that I have been mentoring long distance that live in Idaho! I have been discipling this young husband over the phone for the past five years through long distance phone calls. And this gifted couple made the 15 hour drive from Idaho to Arizona to just attend the conference. After the conference, I was blessed to have a private meeting with them as together we developed a plan for them to step out in faith and church plant in Idaho in the next year.\nThis month was a month of open doors for me from the Lord and I was blessed as I stepped through them. Precious friends, our Lord is a God who is able to open doors that no man can shut, in your life too! My prayer as I write this update is that you will see God’s mighty unseen hand at work in your life, as He opens up a door FOR YOU, that no man can shut.\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for partnering with us in this great missions work in Mexico and beyond. It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial partnership that God meets our physical needs. We love you and give thanks for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Our college graduate Grace has applied for several jobs recently, please pray that God opens up a door for her in the job that He has chosen.\n#2- Pray that God will bless our upcoming church planting conference on August 2nd and 3rd!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for our 40th church plant sent out in June, Calvary Chapel Lone Star in San Antonio Texas!\n#2- Praise God for three fruitful trips in June, where I got to witness God opening up new doors for ministry.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-july-2024-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. In Revelation 3:7-8, Jesus writes to the faithful church in Philadelphia and describes Himself this way, \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eHe who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”: 8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eand no one can shut it…”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/441884639%5F10161506149919208%5F9065932070509128688%5Fn-1024x773-1-300x227.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Bible reveals to us an Almighty God that is able to open up doors for His people, and it is our job to step out in faith and walk through them. In June, the Lord opened up several doors of ministry for me in the USA and Southern Mexico, and in this update I wanted to tell you all about them!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family July 2024 Missions Update"},{"content":"Arriving home from our travels across Eastern Asia began a time of reflection, restoration, reassessment, and re-engagement. We first hit the ground running on MTS (Missions Training School) and re-engaging in church and classes. It was so wonderful to reconnect with our family and the church family. 6 weeks away brought many changes but of course the biggest was seeing our granddaughter and her growth, her being less than a year old there are a lot differences in her. We feel so blessed to be able to have some of our children living so close to us during this time of preparation. It\u0026rsquo;s a blessing to be able to enjoy this time with them, for we know it won’t always be this way.\nWe then prayed and reflected on what and where our next year would be leading us. We realized we would renew our lease for another year here in Southern California. While we still feel led to Japan, we are not likely to be leaving before this next year is out. With that commitment we are now in the process of job searching. Expenses for training and living in Southern California are high as you can imagine. So please be lifting that up in prayer.\nAs we are praying for when we would be ready to leave, we are having such a sweet time of restoration and growth in our relationships and time with the Lord. He has been teaching us so much through the trainings and classes in MTS. Then the Lord gave us another opportunity. We got to head to Rosarito, Mexico for 4 weeks, from April to May, to attend the Church Planting classes with Calvary Rosarito and serve there.\nMEXICO While serving in Mexico we reconnected with the Vincents, our old next door neighbors in Yorba Linda from over 20 years ago. Mike and Sarah Vincent felt the calling to start a church in Mexico and now Mike pastors a thriving church that focuses on church planting all across the world. We were so blessed and made so many new friends during those four weeks of serving and being a part of the community of Calvary Rosarito. Carrie got to work in the nursery and love on the babies and Sven worked the parking lot security and greeting. We learned some new styles to serve and experienced it in a new culture. What really impacted us was the way the Lord used the church to spread the Gospel. We got to be there for baptism weekends and see so many, from so many different ages, profess publicly their decision to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.\nWe love how at every service at Calvary Rosarito, the Gospel of Christ goes out and many came forward to accept it. The Gospel remains the same no matter what language it’s spoken in.\nCarrie met a couple of families who were new believers and after hearing their stories she was blown away by the work of the Lord in their lives. For one family, the husband first came to the Lord then his wife had just accepted Jesus the week we got there. When Carrie met Maggi she also met her daughter, Aleah (yes, her name is the same as our daughter). That night during service Aleah came forward to accept the Lord and they both got baptized on baptism weekend. Praise God!!\n“For the promise is unto you and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”\nActs 2:39\nOur son, Joshua and a fellow MTS student Marcelo, came to share about Calvary School of Missions, and then Marcelo taught at CBI Mexico in Ensenada. We got to enjoy our time there and go along with them to the CBI. We can’t describe how amazing it is to see your children walk with the Lord and serve Him.\n“I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,…”\nPhilippians 1:3\nThank you for all your prayers and support. We have felt them during this time of preparation and changes in our lives. We would greatly appreciate your continued partnership with us in prayer as the Lord is leading us to long-term, cross-cultural ministry, as well as through financial support, if you feel led to give. Please let us know if there is anything we could pray about for you.\nPraise Reports We are enjoying our time here with our family. We are staying in California for another year. We were so blessed by our time in Mexico, we left a little of our hearts there. We love being home and serving on the Welcome team at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. Prayer Requests Answers in our job search. Sven is studying for some certifications; pray that he can go through it quickly and retains what he needs to pass. Our family unity and growth in the Lord. Our Missions Training Schooling as we look for jobs. Our desire is for a job that would fit in our classes and ministry responsibilities. Also please pray that we would absorb and learn all we can during this preparation time. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-gospel-remains-the-same-vanrenterghem-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eArriving home from our travels across Eastern Asia began a time of reflection, restoration, reassessment, and re-engagement. We first hit the ground running on MTS (Missions Training School) and re-engaging in church and classes. It was so wonderful to reconnect with our family and the church family. 6 weeks away brought many changes but of course the biggest was seeing our granddaughter and her growth, her being less than a year old there are a lot differences in her. We feel so blessed to be able to have some of our children living so close to us during this time of preparation. It\u0026rsquo;s a blessing to be able to enjoy this time with them, for we know it won’t always be this way.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Gospel Remains the Same - Vanrenterghem Update June 2024"},{"content":"It’s been a bit since I have returned from my last trip, and God has opened many wonderful opportunities for us to serve Him.\nI continue to lead a weekly Bible study every Sunday morning in King’s Beach, CA. It’s a small home fellowship, but the group is so loving and desires to go deeper in the Word. It’s been such a blessing to meet with them. We recently finished teaching verse-by-verse through the Book of Acts and have started the Book of Romans. One of the great blessings to me has been when God has called me away, either to teach or share in other churches about the ministry that the Lord has given us, reaching out to the unreached, Bryan, our son, has stepped in to lead the group. It’s such a blessing to be able to trust the Bible study to him, knowing that he cares for the people and is able to teach them the Word faithfully, without error. What a blessing!\nTo update you on the recent past, I have been invited to share at a number of different churches. A few months ago, Tina and I were in Columbia, TN sharing at Calvary Chapel Columbia. Last month, Tina and I were at the West Coast Pastors’ Conference in Diamond Bar, CA. It was a great opportunity to meet with other pastors and give them a taste of what we, and Saving Grace World Missions, have been doing around the world. A few weeks ago, I was invited to teach at Calvary Chapel Reno Sparks. That church is pastored by a good friend of mine, pastor Phil McKay. It’s the largest Calvary Chapel in Northern Nevada. I was able to teach on the Great Commission given to the disciples and followers of Christ. I was invited to share the Word at Calvary Chapel June Lake on June 23rd. It’s a small church full of dear saints who welcomed the teaching on the purpose of the church. Pastor Damian Martinez and his wife blessed Tina and I with their hospitality.\nImmediately after Calvary Chapel June Lake, Tina and I will be flying to Knoxville, TN to meet and share with the pastor there the ministry God has called us to and the open doors that are set before us in the 10/40 window. We’re really looking forward to meeting Pastor Mark Kirk, we’ve heard such good things about him and Calvary Chapel Knoxville.\nA day or 2 after we return home, I’ll be heading off to Mexico to co-lead the Calvary School of Missions with my good friend, pastor Tim Pappas. It’s a 6-week school put on by our sending church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda, CA. The school is designed to help direct, inform, and equip young men and women who are feeling a call to full-time missions. It’s taught by Calvary Chapel pastors and missionaries who are serving all over the world. The students are instructed in various topics concerning reaching out to the lost and unreached of the world. Topics being taught include cross-cultural ministry, God’s heart for the nations, the current state of the unreached in the world, cultural immersion, evangelism, discipleship, church planting, and much more. This will be the 6th year for the school, but the 1st year that I have been able to be part of it. The dates are July 6 through August 18. It’s something that I am really looking forward to. For those students who feel called to go deeper in missions training, a Missions Training School is offered as well. It’s a one-year program that prepares each student for the work of the ministry in a foreign field.\nShortly after the Calvary School of Missions wraps up, I will be headed to Thailand to attend a conference there. We will be flying in some of our key leaders from the 10/40 window. It will be a great time of fellowship and encouragement for our leaders who are laboring tirelessly. After the conference, we’re planning on having our own little conference in order to reconnect with all our leaders in one place. It gives us the opportunity to pour into them, encourage, strengthen, support, and hold their hands up. When the conference is finished, our stateside team will be headed in different directions. One of the pastors I’m working with will lead a team to the Middle East. Another to Japan, and I will head back to the 10/40 window to continue to meet with our guys and disciple them. I will be in country for about 2 months before I return home in November.\nI would ask you to please be praying.\nPlease pray for the teaching opportunities that are ahead of me. That the Lord would be glorified and magnified in the hearts of those listening. Pray for the travels ahead of us. That there would be no delays and that we would experience the mercy and favor of God. Please pray for the school and the conference. That ears would be open to clearly hear God’s voice, and that hearts would be ready to receive, and lives would be impacted for the glory of God. Please pray for our family while Tina and I are away, in Tennessee. Then, while I am away for an extended period, please pray for Tina and the boys. God has blessed us with a close family and it’s always difficult when any member of our family is gone for any length of time. It always creates a void. Pray for more opportunities to share in churches what God is doing among the unreached through Saving Grace World Missions and our ministry, which the Lord has entrusted to us.. And please be praying for our little home fellowship in King’s Beach, that God would bless the teaching of HIs Word and that He would reveal His heart for this little fellowship. And most importantly, if there is a prayer request that is on your heart, would you please share it with us? We would count it a privilege to do battle in the spiritual realm on your behalf.\nThank you for all your prayers, love, friendship and support. It’s a tremendous privilege for us to partner with you in equipping the saints to take the Gospel where it has literally never gone before. Praise the Lord.\nGod bless,\nGary and Tina\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/past-events-as-well-as-future-ones-barrow-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt’s been a bit since I have returned from my last trip, and God has opened many wonderful opportunities for us to serve Him.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI continue to lead a weekly Bible study every Sunday morning in King’s Beach, CA. It’s a small home fellowship, but the group is so loving and desires to go deeper in the Word. It’s been such a blessing to meet with them. We recently finished teaching verse-by-verse through the Book of Acts and have started the Book of Romans. One of the great blessings to me has been when God has called me away, either to teach or share in other churches about the ministry that the Lord has given us, reaching out to the unreached, Bryan, our son, has stepped in to lead the group. It’s such a blessing to be able to trust the Bible study to him, knowing that he cares for the people and is able to teach them the Word faithfully, without error. What a blessing!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Past events, as well as future ones - Barrow Update June 2024"},{"content":"Someone once told me, “don’t expect anything and you won’t be disappointed.” I understand having expectations on people, places, and things isn’t the best. We will be disappointed by them. BUT there is One who will never disappoint us- Jesus Christ. He is God and with Him we can expect the unexpected.\nNew Life, New Creation\nI had the blessing this past month to share my testimony at a Women’s Conference at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, unexpectedly. I woke up that morning unsure if I was still on for the day- I didn’t even curl my hair! I get to church and sure enough during prayer I was reminded I was going to be the first one to speak. During my testimony, I couldn’t help but fix my eyes on a lady sitting at the table right in front of the podium who was weeping and weeping. After the event, I went up to her and asked her if everything was okay. She shared about her son and how he currently isn’t walking with the Lord but because of my testimony she was encouraged to know Jesus could do the same for him. It is because of this that I’m grateful to be able to boast in the rescuing, redeeming, and freeing power found only in the name of Jesus Christ. He gave me a new life, made me a new creation, and I believe He will do it for her son as well!\nThe Unexpected\nThe Missions Training School is coming to and end in August and I really wasn’t sure what was going to happen next. One Sunday morning, after teaching the 4-5 year olds, at Calvary South OC, I get a text from Pastor Tony and he tells me to come and talk to him. He tells me that a lady from the church reached out to him about housing someone for a couple of months. I was in awe. He then continues to tell me that they want to offer me an internship position until September (mind you, he had no idea I was praying about going back to Japan in September). I was even more speechless!! I was not expecting things to be this way, this was not my plan. But GOD, He knew. For His ways are higher than mine (Isaiah 55:9). This is a HUGE answer to prayer and I want to thank y’all for praying!! We can pray expectantly, intentionally, and specifically, but ALL the glory goes to God. He is sovereign and His plan for us is greater than we can ever think or imagine! Expect the unexpected with God.\nUnexpectedly Evangelized\nDuring one of our Thursday night bible studies, a man named Leslie came up to us and asked us what we were studying. He mentioned that we looked different- that we weren’t like everyone else there and how he was impressed that we were reading the Bible. Coincidentally, we were in John 17 and had just read that we are to be set apart as believers of Jesus and we should walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. In awe, he continued to ask us what we learned exactly (if you know me- you could picture the huge smile on my face). I wanted to give one of my friends an opportunity, so I encouraged them to share what they had learned. You could tell he was thinking about what she said and so I asked him if he believed in Jesus Christ.\nHis response was, “yes, but I am a Jehovah’s Witness and we believe Jesus was created by ‘Jehovah’ similar to the archangel Michael.” I was even more excited to share and read to him verses 3-5 and verse 26 where Jesus says, “I made your name known to them and will continue to make it known, so that the love you have loved me with may be in them and I may be in them.” He was speechless. I continued to share about what we believe and encouraged him to read the book of John. This was such a sweet moment for our small group as we unexpectedly evangelized. May we continue to be bold and share about Jesus Christ- the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6)! Please keep Leslie in your prayers- may he come to a saving knowledge and revelation of THE Truth!\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for language learning and for clarity on the duration of the trip to Japan in September! Please continue to pray for job opportunities and for God’s provision in paying off my debt. Please pray for the time as an intern- to continue to learn all aspects of ministry. Please continue to pray for the bible study group- for more opportunities to evangelize and make disciples! The Lord has truly blessed me with an amazing family at Calvary South OC and Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. I’m eternally grateful for you all and want to thank y’all for your continual support! May God continue to strengthen you in whatever He has called you to do. May we be filled with all the fullness of God. May you also, expect the unexpected with God. After all, we live by faith, not by sight \u0026lt;3\n-Mayra Alejandra\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/expect-the-unexpected-solorzano-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSomeone once told me, “don’t expect anything and you won’t be disappointed.” I understand having expectations on people, places, and things isn’t the best. We will be disappointed by them. BUT there is One who will never disappoint us- Jesus Christ. He is God and with Him we can \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eexpect the unexpected.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/0049dbb9-a596-47d9-bf4f-cf82169a04b1-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNew Life, New Creation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI had the blessing this past month to share my testimony at a Women’s Conference at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, unexpectedly. I woke up that morning unsure if I was still on for the day- I didn’t even curl my hair! I get to church and sure enough during prayer I was reminded I was going to be the first one to speak. During my testimony, I couldn’t help but fix my eyes on a lady sitting at the table right in front of the podium who was weeping and weeping. After the event, I went up to her and asked her if everything was okay. She shared about her son and how he currently isn’t walking with the Lord but because of my testimony she was encouraged to know Jesus could do the same for him. It is because of this that I’m grateful to be able to boast in the rescuing, redeeming, and freeing power found only in the name of Jesus Christ. He gave me a \u003cem\u003enew life,\u003c/em\u003e made me a \u003cem\u003enew creation\u003c/em\u003e, and I believe He will do it for her son as well!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Expect the Unexpected - Solorzano Update May 2024"},{"content":"Hello Saving Grace World Missions Team,\nGreetings to all of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I thank you for your prayers and the unlimited love you shower on us. You stand shoulder to shoulder with us in all kinds of sorrows and difficulties and always pray for us like a warrior.\nA woman rears 6 cows. Her son is 22 years old and 70% disabled since birth. Yet she does not stop coming to God\u0026rsquo;s house.\nThis woman\u0026rsquo;s name is R*. I have mentioned her many times in prayer requests before. She has been a believer for about 15 years. She comes to our church on time every week. On Thursdays, we hold another church service at her house. Right now, her society and the people around her are treating her very badly because she will not leave her faith in Jesus Christ. She is being mentally tortured in many ways. People accuse her of many different things. Some says she is a religious convert. Some say she has become a Muslim. Everyone has stopped talking to her. The saddest thing is that due to their belief, people have stopped buying cow milk from her house for a while. Because of this, her family\u0026rsquo;s financial condition has become very bad. She brings grass from the field from morning till midnight for the cows\u0026rsquo; food and takes car of the cows. She also has a young son who is more than 70% disabled. He cannot bathe or feed himself etc. Still she and her husband have complete hope in God that God will take care of them.\nPeople threaten them that if someone dies in their family, no one will even come to lift their dead body. By saying this, they mean that no one will have any kind of dealings with them. They say this because they believe that they have abandoned their religion and adopted a foreign religion.\nNow the people of their village will neither buy milk from them nor buy their cow dung cakes as fuel for their fires for cooking food. Because of this, their whole house is filled with cow dung cakes. There is no place to sit. Every Thursday, when we go there to have church, we have to move things around and find a place to sit with great difficulty.\nBecause of their poor financial condition, her husband rides his bicycle 12 kms (7 1/2 miles) in order to attend our Bible study every Friday. The woman walks half the way to our church and then takes an auto rickshaw the other half the way so that she does not have to spend money on fare. She has another son who has gone to a big city to work. I want him to go to Bible college and become a messenger of God\u0026rsquo;s good news, but due to their poor financial condition at home, he is not going to Bible college. He wants to work and support his family.\nThe Son of a Staunch Anti-Christian Gave a Pulpit to Our Church.\nA single believer gradually brought almost his whole family to faith in Jesus. His father, who was previously trying to hand him over to the police, also joined us in prayer this week.\nI thank God that he has given our church a young man who is always ready to share the good news of the Lord. His name is U*. When I was in Bible college, he also went with me for 6 months for Bible training. At that time he was the only believer in his family. But gradually he brought almost the whole family to faith by the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ and by his good behavior. Everyone except his father. His father has a very short temper. Whenever my father and I used to go to his house, his father always used to come in angrily to fight with us. He used to accuse us of making his son a Christian. I thank God that so far his father has not attacked us physically, because his father is against Christians.\nWhen U* went to Bible college, he wanted to complete the full coarse in Bible training. However, his father, who is a staunch opponent of Christ, did not let him return to Bible college after one semester. But U* did not stop studying the Bible. He studied the Bible by himself every day and came to our church. However, because of a lack of employment in our village, he had to go to a big city in the South to find work. He makes furniture there. Recently, he came to visit our village for a while. He gave a new pulpit to our church that he made with his own hands. Last week, when we went to his house, his father also came. Before his father would rather die than hear the name of Lord Jesus Christ, but this time joined us in prayer and sat quietly and listened! It was a very surprising thing for us! I thank God that He is changing people\u0026rsquo;s lives!\nMy younger sister finally got married! She had a Christian wedding.\nI thank God that He has chosen every person in my family to spread the Gospel of His kingdom. When we became Christians, people in our neighborhood used to tease us. They would make jokes about who would be willing to marry us. I thank God that He answered all of them. My younger sister served with a youth organization for about 12 years independently, without any financial support. God arranged a pastor\u0026rsquo;s son for her to marry. On May 16, she got married with a nice big celebration. Many people who hate Christians were trying to create obstacles for the wedding. Thank you for your prayers! God put fear in their hearts and they did not dare to create any obstacles.\nThis was my youngest sister\u0026rsquo;s wedding. We invited all of the Christian brothers and sisters in our village and city. People in our city and village were surprised at the huge crowd. They wondered where we found so many people to come to the wedding when we were ostracized from society. I thank God that He fulfilled our every need. The ceremony went very nicely. Even though it was very hot, by God\u0026rsquo;s grace, no one fainted or had any kind of problem. I want to thank all of you who prayed about this wedding.\nWe had a great time studying the Bible on Google Meet with our Aunty. I thank God that He provides us with all of the electronics and everything that is needed for His work. Through the internet, we are able to learn the Word of God more deeply, even when we are at a distance from each other. On the first week of the month, I asked Pastor 15\u0026rsquo;s wife to conduct a Bible study. Most of the people in our church are women, so whenever I ask her to share at a Bible study, the women of our church get very excited. They get a chance to learn many new things. She conducted the Bible study with us on Fridays. We started studying the Old Testament chapter-by-chapter beginning in Genesis. Now we have reached Exodus 15. We also share God\u0026rsquo;s Word with others.\nThe Holy Bible was given to the women who were baptized last month.\nI thank God that He never lets us have a shortage of Bibles and New Testaments. That is why we keep distributing New Testaments to everyone with an open heart. We also give the complete Bible (which includes the Old Testament) to those who want to know the Lord more and are interested in reading the Bible. I thank God that His Word is working in people\u0026rsquo;s lives. People are reading the Bible and understanding God\u0026rsquo;s love more deeply.\nPoints of Thanksgiving:\nI thank God that He has protected me, my parents and my entire family from those who are anti-Christian. I thank God that He allowed my younger sister\u0026rsquo;s wedding to go very well. I thank God that despite the extreme heat, He did not let my family get sick in any way. Prayer Points:\nPlease pray for R\u0026rsquo;s* family\u0026rsquo;s financial condition to get better. Pray that the people who have been boycotting them will buy milk from their house again. Please pray for U\u0026rsquo;s* father who is against Christians. Pray that God will also use him for His kingdom. Please pray that the people in our state and village will find jobs. Because of a lack of jobs here, more than 50% of the people from our church have moved to big cities. Please pray for my mother. Her bones are very weak. The doctor said that she will have to take daily injections for 18 months. Please pray that our Lord Jesus heals her. Please pray. In a few days we will be traveling to have fellowship in the North. May God protect us, and may our time go well. Please pray for the believers in our church to understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word more deeply. May they be able to face all of the suffering they are facing for the Name of Lord Jesus Christ with courage. Please pray for my wife\u0026rsquo;s health. She has a health problem for which I am taking her to get treatment in a bigger city in the North. Pray that God will help us. Thank you for your love, prayers, support and participation in the Gospel.\nMay God bless you all!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/excluded-from-society-and-boycotted-because-of-their-faith-pastor-11-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Saving Grace World Missions Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I thank you for your prayers and the unlimited love you shower on us. You stand shoulder to shoulder with us in all kinds of sorrows and difficulties and always pray for us like a warrior.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA woman rears 6 cows. Her son is 22 years old and 70% disabled since birth. Yet she does not stop coming to God\u0026rsquo;s house.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Excluded from Society and Boycotted Because of Their Faith - Pastor 11 Update June 2024"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nAccording to the “The Times News\u0026quot; of our country, many areas in our state continue to suffer from a sever heat wave. On Friday, major cities across the state experienced scorching hot weather. The intense heat and heat wave-like conditions have led to the deaths of three people so far. Our state\u0026rsquo;s capital city experienced its hottest day of the decade on May 30. The temperature reached a record 46.8°C (116 degrees Fahrenheit) in the afternoon.\nEven though there is record breaking heat outside, we are protected by God\u0026rsquo;s mighty wings and blessed with His provisions. We highly appreciate each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support for the expansion of God’s ministry. Because of your financial help, we are able to move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached without worry. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, job and businesses. May our good God bless you with all resources and good health.\nOur one week mission trip was wonderful and blessed. We went to A* (the area where Pastor 2* minsters). It takes one night on the train or bus to travel there. We met all the believers and their families. We listened to their problems and about the things they were going through in their lives. We then encouraged them through the Word of God and prayed for them. We visited different villages including S*, K*, A*, M*, and T*. We had wonderful prayer fellowships, encouraging them from the Word of God and praying for them.\nWe could also motivate and pray for Brother A* (above). He was previously a student at our CBI in the mountains.\nWe met a young man named A T* who is a student (above). He had a lot of questions regarding his faith. By God’s grace we could counsel him and encouraged him to study the Bible and grow in the Lord. Overall the trip was very blessed.\nPrayer Requests:\nIn our area the temperatures is very high. Please pray for the field workers (who live on day-to-day wages). May God protect them. Also pray for God to change the weather soon. Please pray for those who we met during our mission trip to A*. Pray that God will strengthen in their faith. Also pray for Brother A* and A T* to grow in the Lord. Do continue to pray for the growth and need of our local Church. We are recruiting students for our next semester of Calvary Bible Institute. Pray that God will bring good students. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thanking-god-for-a-wonderfully-blessed-mission-trip-pastor-3-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAccording to the “The Times News\u0026quot; of our country, many areas in our state continue to suffer from a sever heat wave. On Friday, major cities across the state experienced scorching hot weather. The intense heat and heat wave-like conditions have led to the deaths of three people so far. Our state\u0026rsquo;s capital city experienced its hottest day of the decade on May 30. The temperature reached a record 46.8°C (116 degrees Fahrenheit) in the afternoon.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thanking God for a Wonderfully Blessed Mission Trip - Pastor 3 Update June 2024"},{"content":" Hola Familia, we are heading into our fourth month here in Iquitos, Peru. It seems like we have been here for a year, but time is a strange master. This last month was a difficult one as we were all sick for about two weeks. The whole city was fighting something with flu like symptoms, but we are back on our feet and running.\nWe visited two local churches whose pastors are in the Friday night Inductive study class. At one of the churches, Ebenezer, Ryan taught a message and they sang a special song in their native tongue for us. It was a sweet little fellowship in the outskirts of town. The second church, Iglesia Cristiana Gloria de Christo, is a new church plant and they had a two-day conference to celebrate their one year anniversary. Victor and Ryan both shared messages to encourage the congregation. It was a great time of sharing the Word and breaking bread with the body of Christ.\nVictor and I have also had the opportunity to teach at Calvary Chapel Iquitos for the last 3 weeks while the senior pastor is on furlough. I have been teaching in Spanish only and it has been tough! The people have been very gracious with helping me find the correct words to say when they evade me. I have found myself playing charades sometimes to come up with the right words or phrases. It works well, the people are forced to stay attentive, praise the Lord. We will teach two more times and finish up the book of Colossians. On Thursday nights we are also doing guitar lessons for some of the youth at CC Iquitos. It has been a blessing to get to know the people at this sweet fellowship. On Friday nights, the inductive study is going great! We are in our sixth week and people are starting to catch on. It is fun watching them get excited about interpreting Scripture within its context. The people are so excited to learn and we have great hope for their future as Bible students as well as teachers.\nKaren and I recently took a trip to Cusco for our visas. We are in the process of getting our residency visas so we don’t have to leave the country every six months. The process promotes patience in the inner man, but we are topping the hill and should be starting the downhill run this Monday when our last document should be filed. We went to Cusco for the last steps of the Interpol process and now everything is in the hands of the Lord. While we were there, we did some sightseeing and we went to a mid-week service at Iglesia Calvary La Semilla. It was a great time of prayer, worship, and fellowship!\nPlease pray for us as we are heading out to a river community called Oran. We are going to be able to teach and fellowship with them as they celebrate their 50th anniversary. We have done studies there before and they have been such a great church and are very much on fire for the Lord.\nWe will be moving out to Cochequinas in August. Everything is still on course. We have a jungle home ready for us, a multi-purpose church building, and a couple other properties we will use for ministry. Jim and Chrystal Boothe, who run 414 Missions, are letting us use all of the property and they notified us we can use their big boat as well. Praise the Lord, we are set! What a miracle.\nThe plan is to teach a two-week pastoral training course to the surrounding jungle communities throughout the year. We will also start a Bible College in the jungle where local river pastors can send men who would like to be trained for ministry. It will be an 8-month course with an optional extra year for pastoral training. Please continue to keep that in prayer. We would like to make it free, so we are praying for the Lord to provide!\nIf anybody has any connections with organizations who do water filtrations systems in the mission field or reading glasses distributions, please contact us. There is a great need for both in the jungle river communities.\nWe continue to be overwhelmed by the Lord’s guidance and provision in our lives.\n“And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.””\n(Deuteronomy 31:8)\nThank you for your love and support!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/looking-forward-gause-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG%5F1227-768x479-1-300x187.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHola Familia, we are heading into our fourth month here in Iquitos, Peru. It seems like we have been here for a year, but time is a strange master. This last month was a difficult one as we were all sick for about two weeks. The whole city was fighting something with flu like symptoms, but we are back on our feet and running.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG%5F1107.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG%5F1075.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG%5F2192.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e     We visited two local churches whose pastors are in the Friday night Inductive study class. At one of the churches, Ebenezer, Ryan taught a message and they sang a special song in their native tongue for us. It was a sweet little fellowship in the outskirts of town. The second church, Iglesia Cristiana Gloria de Christo, is a new church plant and they had a two-day conference to celebrate their one year anniversary. Victor and Ryan both shared messages to encourage the congregation. It was a great time of sharing the Word and breaking bread with the body of Christ.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Looking Forward - Gause Update May 2024"},{"content":"https://youtu.be/p6tI47z1-PE\nHere is a May recap video to watch before you read!\nA Poem comparing a life of a butterfly and being a new creation in Christ!\nWhen I am cocooned in a wrap of silk\nYou begin to feed me more than milk\nYour word so fulfilling\nIt’s creating every wing\nSo that one day I may fly\nAnd I won’t feel the need to ask why\nThis new life I couldn’t have known\nWithout my God, in whom I have grown\nA new creation more beautiful than before\nI can’t wait to fly, and learn about Him more.\nNew creation! That was the theme of the Women’s Spring Brunch we had here at CCSG. It was themed around butterflies and how they transform from a caterpillar to these beautiful butterflies with such a new look! A few ladies shared their testimonies and it allowed me to reflect on my own transformed life and the lives of those around me. The poem in the beginning references the process (metamorphosis) of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly! And I love the idea of how all the food the caterpillar eats is saved for later, so that when they are cocooned they use that food and energy to grow into a butterfly. It may not look like much is happening in that cocoon, but so much is being grown. And although I know I am already living in that new transformed life, the Lord showed me another way to look at this analogy. All the studying and preparing I am doing here at CCSG has a huge purpose! And when it feels mundane, or may not “look” like a lot is happening, the Lord is doing some awesome stuff in my life and to those around me and it’s all to prepare me to fly(literally and metaphorically) somewhere else one day! To live in that transformed life unrecognizable to my old self. And because of that foundation of trust I have in the Lord, I won’t feel the need to ask “why this, or why that?” Because I know He has a perfect plan for my life and I can trust in that. I encourage you to take a moment today and reflect on how God has transformed your life! And let it evoke worship, because our God is so good!! And so worthy!!\nAny other pictures come to mind when you think of a new transformed life? Baptism. Oh how beautiful it is. I was beyond blessed to witness our baptism we held this month. Every baptism brings me to tears, but this one was quite special. One of the youth girls I have been discipling had gotten saved during our last winter camp. And her desire for the Word and a relationship with Jesus has been growing rapidly. Her parents were actually baptized at the last baptism as God has been moving in this family’s life like crazy and I have been blessed to walk alongside her during it. I have always been convicted with the saying “if you aren’t doing it here, you won’t do it there” regarding discipleship and sharing the Gospel. And if we are not doing it where we are at now, we won’t do it when we move overseas either. And that has stirred me recently to spend more time with these youth girls one-on-one more often, and share the gospel whenever I can in conversation. It’s been awesome and encouraging just getting to know the girls and study the Word of God in a deeper way with them.\nUltimately, that is making disciples. Living life with people and encouraging them in the Word. All Christians have this call to make disciples. As I mentioned in my last newsletter, I was starting a Young Adult Girls bible study! And it’s been AWESOME! I was so nervous wondering who would show up\u0026hellip;and how would my teachings go\u0026hellip;and what if I don’t have time? And the Lord has led the whole thing and I’ve been blessed to watch this group of about 6-7 girls consistently come and study the Word of God on their Saturday mornings. God is moving! Some have shared how timely the teaching has been, and just expressed how they had been hoping for a study just for the young adult girls. So I am beyond grateful for God’s hand in this study. God has really been moving in our young adults group overall and I see those my age around me becoming more bold in their faith and just in love with Jesus!! So please continue to pray for me as I teach God’s Word that I would be sensitive to the Spirit’s leading in topics to teach on and how I can best serve those around me through the study and display the powerful love of Christ! Maybe God is leading you to step out in faith somewhere a little intimidating? I pray this testimony of God’s leading hand in this step of faith would encourage you to go out and take that step today! You never know how God wants to use you in the lives of others.\nSometimes stepping out in faith includes a hair straightener. Allow me to explain. I was given the opportunity to head over to Watts, Los Angeles to help do 5th grade girls\u0026rsquo; hair for a “Daddy Daughter Dance”. At the end of the school year, this school will host a dance for the girls graduating to get dressed up and bring their dads and celebrate. The school recognized that many girls didn’t have a dad to accompany them, so the police officers of that community stepped up and escorted the girls to the dance! It’s an awesome outreach that has been running for about 7 years and in that time, the church that helps run this dance “Hope Central Watts” (which is who I served with) has seen father figures in these girls’ lives be provoked to jealousy! Brothers, grandpas, uncles, or cousins started to step up and take these girls to the dance because they realized, “why should a police officer have to take my niece, granddaughter, or cousin? I can do that.” And the church has said it has brought great fruit in that regard of families stepping up for one another and they have had many opportunities to share the gospel at these events and with the families. With that said, I made a friend! Luckily when you are doing someone’s hair they can’t walk away, haha. I was with her the whole time, and because she had a ton of hair all we did was chat it up! I was able to explain how I go to church and work there and love Jesus! She was a sweet girl and we clicked really well. She was willing to hear and I pray that it made an impact in her life. The girls were shocked we would just come out of our day to do hair and nails for them, and I think it really displayed a sweet side of the love of Christ to them.\nAbove anything else you think I may need, always begin and stay praying. I want to invite you to come alongside me in this work. We have an enemy. He is real. But, our God is greater. And life gets busy, but just as you have taken the time to read this newsletter, I ask you to take time to pray for:\nThe finances needed to attend the Calvary School of Missions in July ($2,700 still needed). Staying focused on the Missions Training Program. Wisdom and discernment on what to teach the young adults girls each time we meet. Continual opportunities for me to disciple/connect with the Youth Girls. The salvation of my family and that I may be a bold ambassador for Jesus. Thank you so much for taking the time to read all about what God is doing in my life recently! Please feel free to check out the rest of my pages on my blog for poems and more about how God is speaking to me through His Word in the “hear when near” tab. God bless you! Have a wonderful day!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-new-creation-keeler-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/p6tI47z1-PE\"\u003ehttps://youtu.be/p6tI47z1-PE\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere is a May recap video to watch before you read!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Poem comparing a life of a butterfly and being a new creation in Christ!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen I am cocooned in a wrap of silk\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYou begin to feed me more than milk\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYour word so fulfilling\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s creating every wing\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo that one day I may fly\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd I won’t feel the need to ask why\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis new life I couldn’t have known\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A New Creation! - Keeler Update May 2024"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.\u0026rdquo;\n1 Corinthians 15:58.\nAfter serving the Lord in the northern mountains for many years, we moved back to our home town in 2017. The Lord gave us the opportunity to revisit the northern mountains last month. We met with the believers and had fellowship with them that before we led to the Lord. It was such a blessed time to see them all and to see them walking in the Lord! We thank SGWM for sponsoring our trip to the North.\nThese three young men, Pastor 10*, Pastor 12*, and Pastor 13* (our first fruits in the North) are serving the Lord. They are being used by the Lord to save the lost. We were filled with joy to see how they are being used by the Lord to share the Gospel with young men and women. We worshiped the Lord with these believers and encouraged them from the Word to continue to grow in the knowledge and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\nSome of the young men and women, whom we shared the Gospel with and led to the Lord, have moved to cities for jobs. Those who are working in a nearby city came to know that we were here and came to see us. They were children when we were sowing the seeds, but now they have grown up and are working in the city. More importantly, they are following the Lord.\nThese young women shared their past experiences with my wife. They said things like, \u0026ldquo;Auntie, you used shampoo our hair and comb our hair. You played with us and used to tell us Bible stories.\u0026rdquo; They are the girls from low caste families. In their society they are looked down on, but they felt love and acceptance by us. In the mountains, children do not regularly take baths. Because of that, they smell and have lice in their hair. The love and acceptance they received from us made the Gospel effective in their lives.\nM* is another girl (now a woman) who together with her three sisters gave her life to the Lord while we were ministering in the mountains. Two of her sisters, who accepted the Lord, have now married unbelievers. One of them (right) was in the village when we visited this time. My wife talked to her and encouraged her from the life of Naomi who had left the house of bread and finally returned to the house of bread.\nM* stood firm in her faith and is married to a man who is also a believer (above). She and her husband serve the Lord in a village that is about 40 kilometres from her parent’s village. She came with her family to see us in her parents’ village. What a joy to see them serving the Lord!\nWe also visited a family where a young woman is believer in Jesus. She wants to marry a believer in the Lord. All the family members were there when we visited. We spent a few hours with the family and shared the Gospel with them.\nAfter visiting the villages we went to the city where Pastor 12* serves the Lord. We spent a day and a night with him. While we were there, one young woman came with her two children to see us. We did not remember her. She told to us that when we would go to villages to share the Gospel she was 12 or 13 years old. At that time, she was looking after the goats for her family. She used to come to our camp site with her goats and listen to the Bible stories that my wife would tell all the children who came. She now lives in the city. She is working and she has two kids. She is following the Lord with her heart. Praise God! None of our labor is in vain in the Lord.\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support. Please continue to uphold us in your prayers. We need more financial supporters as our monthly income has gone down.\nGod bless,\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/your-labor-is-not-in-vain-in-the-lord-pastor-15-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 Corinthians 15:58.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter serving the Lord in the northern mountains for many years, we moved back to our home town in 2017. The Lord gave us the opportunity to revisit the northern mountains last month. We met with the believers and had fellowship with them that before we led to the Lord. It was such a blessed time to see them all and to see them walking in the Lord! We thank SGWM for sponsoring our trip to the North.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Your Labor Is Not in Vain in the Lord - Pastor 15 Update June 2024"},{"content":"Dear Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nWe express our heartfelt thanks to God almighty for protecting us, giving us good health and enabling us to meditate on His Word every day. We would like to also thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May our good God bless you with all good resources and good health.\nLast month, SGWM Pastors 3* \u0026amp; 16*, came to my home and stayed for a week. It was a blessed time to meet people and share the Gospel. Every Friday I conduct a prayer service at K* village which is just 6 kilometer away. In this particular village, there are 6 families who are believers. On Sunday I conduct worship service at my home. I am now teaching from Colossians. By God’s grace everyone is growing in the Lord.\nBy God’s grace I am visiting some more villages and sharing the Gospel. I am praying that in days to come, people in those villages will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for M* and K* village fellowships. May God strengthen the believers\u0026rsquo; faith. May others also come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Please pray for my marriage. My parents are trying to find a suitable girl for me to marry. Kindly pray for my parents. Most of the time they are not well physically. Thank you very much for your prayer and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 2*\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/grateful-to-the-lord-pastor-2-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PHOTO-2024-06-03-08-45-48-1-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/PHOTO-2024-06-03-08-45-48.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe express our heartfelt thanks to God almighty for protecting us, giving us good health and enabling us to meditate on His Word every day. We would like to also thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May our good God bless you with all good resources and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Grateful to the Lord - Pastor 2 Update June 2024"},{"content":"I am glad to announce the end of the spring semester, February–May 2024, of our Calvary Bible Institute. It was a wonderful semester to teach and get to know our dear students. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to our Lord for sending such wonderful men and women to CBI. It was another great opportunity to live with them, teach them, and share God\u0026rsquo;s vision for His ministry.\nGospel Outreach- This time we ended the semester with Gospel outreaches. It was really exciting. The students showed their great enthusiasm in preparing dances, skits and Gospel messages. We had the opportunity to share the Gospel in two areas.\nOne-Day Youth Conference: The local church youth also attended the conference. There were over 80 youth at the conference, including our students. It was a great time to teach at the conference from the book of Jonah: Don\u0026rsquo;t Try to Run Away from God\u0026rsquo;s Calling in Your Life.\nMorning Devotions in the Church Courtyard\nEvery morning we had devotions as we started the day. The final semester students got to share during the devotions.\nOpen Air Gospel Outreach in the Village\nThis tribe used to be considered an isolated jungle people. They used to not associate with any other people. But the Gospel has been spread among their tribe for many years, and they are becoming social. The Gospel brings everyone together. Our government is also encouraging them to become social. The village we had outreach in is around 8 kilometers from the Calvary Chapel we had the conference at. Some families from that village attending the church. Generally, people in this tribe have many children in their family. They do not like to send their children to school.\nOur Second Outreach:\nWe did a second outreach. Praise God, there were no hindrances or objections! The Gospel was clearly shared.\nAt the end of the trip, we had a great time refreshing with our Calvary Bible Institute students. We hiked for 4 hours to a mountain cave. It was full of excitement and fun.\nMeeting Pastor Raju’s Family\nBefore we headed back to the capital, we stopped at Pastor Raju\u0026rsquo;s church. We spent time praying with Pastor Raju\u0026rsquo;s family and the neighboring church believers.\nOur Church in the Capital\u0026rsquo;s Bible Church Ministry\nAlong with our weekly worship services, there is a lot of ministry happening throughout the week: women\u0026rsquo;s ministry, fasting prayer meetings, children\u0026rsquo;s ministry, youth ministry, weekly Bible studies, house fellowships, and visitations.\nInductive Bible Study Class\nCurrently, two of our church leaders, Roshan and Akash, are studying at our Calvary Bible Institute. They have completed their second semester. They have been engaged in ministry in our church. Last month, the church organized IBS training for its believers. Roshan and Akash taught the IBS class.\nBible Study at Rabindra\u0026rsquo;s Place\nThe Bible study has been led by one of our church leaders, Rabindra, for over a year. New people are joining the Bible study.\nCalavary Chapel in the South-East\nPastor Nikesh\u0026rsquo;s family has been serving in the south-eastern part of our country. The city is filled with orthodox Hindus and Muslims. Despite persecution, threats, and employment challenges, he has been serving the Lord. The Gospel has not been stopped; people are coming to their church.\nCalvary Chapel in the Middle-Eastern Part of Our Country\nPastor Laxman is serving in the middle-eastern part of our country. The place is filled with orthodox Hindus. Despite social discrimination, hatred towards Christians, and employment challenges, he has been serving the Lord faithfully.\nBlessings!\nIn His Service,\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/ending-our-spring-semester-with-gospel-outreaches-prakash-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am glad to announce the end of the spring semester, February–May 2024, of our Calvary Bible Institute. It was a wonderful semester to teach and get to know our dear students. I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to our Lord for sending such wonderful men and women to CBI. It was another great opportunity to live with them, teach them, and share God\u0026rsquo;s vision for His ministry.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Finishing Our Spring Semester with Gospel Outreaches - Prakash Update June 2024"},{"content":" “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.”\nIsaiah 55:8 NKJV\nHello our friends and family,\nIt’s been a few months since our last update and we are very grateful for each of you who pray for us, encourage us or financially partner with us as we continue to be faithful and obedient to our Father! So many privileges and opportunities have been placed in our path and God continues to show us it’s not about our ways, but His ways! It’s definitely been a humbling experience but by God’s grace, we are blessed to be a part of His plan. His Will.\nTim finished teaching the book of Matthew to the students at the Bible college in S. Asia. They spent several months going through this glorious gospel and mining out the beautiful and powerful truths that are there. It was a great time for Tim and the students. We are grateful that even when we can’t physically be there. Technology allows us to continue to pour into these young future church planters who are passionate for the furtherance of the gospel and the work of the ministry in some of the most persecuted and difficult places in the world.\nIn March, one of our dear friends Merry, went home to be with the Lord. Her husband of 46 years rejoices that she is present with the Lord, but still struggles through much grief as you could imagine. We are grateful to be here for him and with him. Tim was able to have a role in the funeral and the celebration of life. That meant so much to him and his dear friend John. Please be praying for John as he tries to figure out how to navigate life here without his bride by his side. We are fortunate to have had him at our house often and he has joined Tim in a men’s small group that meets every Friday.\nWedding Bells\nLife certainly has its ups and downs, new beginnings and sudden endings but through it all, it’s clear that God is in complete control. 100% sovereign. What a fun time we had at the wedding of a couple of our past students. We are grateful, humbled, and somewhat baffled that these youngsters not only want us in their lives, but consider us near and dear to them. It was such a privilege for us to walk them through this pivotal event in their lives and for Tim to be able to conduct their wedding.\nJenn got to use her God-given gift of hospitality and host a bridal shower for an MTS student moving to S. Asia who just married one of the National Pastors serving with SGWM. Jenn especially enjoyed cooking the Indian Dishes from scratch. She said, \u0026ldquo;the tikka masala and chaat dip turned out so yummy. Chaat dip is a layered dip and tikka Masala is a delicious sauce with chicken. Typically it is very spicy but I didn’t make it spicy. Now I know how to make food for our nationals when they come on furlough!”\nIf you would like to join us for dinner and eat National food together, please let us know. I truly enjoy hosting, it’s such a blessing to bless others.\nThere are definitely no shortages of care needed on the mission field. In these past months, Jenn has counseled women struggling with many difficult things. Spiritual depletion, spiritual warfare, deception, grief, loss, as well as marriage counseling. Also positive stuff too, encouragement with the calling on the field, rejoicing with them for God’s faithfulness and provisions, and building them up through the Word of God and prayer.\nWhat an amazing opportunity it was to serve at the Voice of Refugees a Ministry here in Orange County. They host a yearly event to help women who have fled from persecuted and dangerous countries for safety. These women have been through a lot of trauma, at times fearing for their lives . VOR is the hands and feet of Jesus, transforming lives through God’s love. They provide assistance with many resources from English classes to housing and much more.\nLast month our church hosted a woman’s spring brunch where Jenn was asked to lead up this event along with an awesome opportunity to share her testimony and the the gospel to the women. The theme was, “New Life.” We are a new creation in Christ. We played games and had crafts too!! The butterfly craft was a hit!! Over 80 women attended this event!! I truly love teaching and encouraging the women by the Word of God and by my testimony. It’s humbling and honoring to our Father!\nTim had a wonderful opportunity to teach the principles of biblical counseling in the missions training school. We believe Scripture is absolutely sufficient to guide us through all issues in our life. While the world’s approach to counseling may aim to “fix” people from the outside, biblical counseling’s goal is to lead individuals into the Word, allowing the Holy Spirit to transform them from the inside out. The emphasis is on heart change, realignment with God’s will, and internal transformation. This is something that Jenn and I are passionate about and seek to pass on to the next generation.\nCalvary School of Missions coming up around the corner.\nIt’s hard to believe that we get to do this for the sixth year in a row, and we are expecting God to do great things. Time fails us to tell you of all the wonderful things that he has done in the past five years of this school, but we have seen the fruit of this ministry grow beyond what we ever thought it could. We have seven graduated students serving full-time in the Middle East, two in Japan, and two in South Asia. We’ve seen incredible spiritual and personal growth in the students, as well as in ourselves. So far we have 15 students who will be attending, with a few interviews still to conduct. There is much work left to do so we appreciate everyone’s prayers as we put the finishing touches on scheduling teachers, outreaches, transportation, housing, etc. One of the incredible things that we get to do this year is a return visit to the unreached people group in the mountains of Mexico that we visited last year. In our next newsletter we will speak more of that and of the unreached.\nWe love you all so much and thank you for being behind us. Through your generous, financial support you have made this ministry possible for us and we want to let you know that this is the fruit of your labor as well. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase you’re already generous support, you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/not-our-ways-pappas-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIsaiah 55:8 NKJV\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello our friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s been a few months since our last update and we are very grateful for each of you who pray for us, encourage us or financially partner with us as we continue to be faithful and obedient to our Father! So many privileges and opportunities have been placed in our path and God continues to show us it’s not about our ways, but His ways! It’s definitely been a humbling experience but by God’s grace, we are blessed to be a part of His plan. His Will.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Not Our Ways - Pappas Update June 2024"},{"content":"After five weeks in America, we are thankful to be back home in Osaka. Thank you to everyone who blessed us in big and little ways while we were there. It was a packed trip and we wouldn’t have made it through the different legs if it wasn’t for the generosity of several of you.\nAt the beginning of May we attended the Calvary Chapel Japan conference in Tokyo. It was an amazing time meeting missionaries, worshiping with national believers, hearing wonderful teachings from some of the leaders. We even got to spend quality time with some friends who had traveled with us from Abide Osaka. It can often feel like you’re the only Christian here just like Elijah in 1 Kings 19, but these times where we all get together allow the Lord to show us that he has a remnant here that love and worship Him. It refreshes our souls and we look forward to other conferences this Fall and next Spring.\nWe left from the conference and flew straight to America. Our first week there we drove up to Canada to visit some of Alishia’s family. We then spent a week in Whitefish before heading to Helena for Alishia’s oath of allegiance ceremony where she received her American citizenship. After another week in Whitefish, meeting with people and reconnecting with the church, we flew down to California to spend time with our friends at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. Our week in California was full of speaking opportunities and time spent with friends, before we drove up to Idaho. We spent a few days in Idaho with both of our families and we were able to see Daphne graduate from high school. Then it was back to Montana to spend one last week there before we flew back to Japan.\nIt was great seeing everyone, but we are thankful to be back serving the Lord in Osaka. We feel like we have our feet under us now and we should be able to hit the ground running. Please keep us in prayer as we start language classes and start up a couple of ministries this summer. One will be our young adults’ ministry at our house, and the other will be an evangelistic ministry that we will be starting with a couple of friends from the church.\nWe have some needs for monthly support as well as one-time gifts. We’ve been asked to attend the Calvary Asia Conference in September and then lead a short-term team to Japan at the conclusion of the conference. Please prayerfully consider partnering with us financially through the link below.\nPrayer requests and praise reports:\nOur trip to the States went well and we were able to accomplish everything that we had hoped to accomplish.\nThe church here in Osaka has been growing! Please pray that we can find ways to minister to those who have started to attend.\nWe start official language classes this month. Please pray for our minds to be able to grasp Japanese.\nWe have opportunities to attend conferences in September and November, as well as potential visits to bible schools in other parts of Asia. Please pray for wisdom and provision to go if it’s the Lord’s will for us.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blessed-to-be-back-root-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfter five weeks in America, we are thankful to be back home in Osaka. Thank you to everyone who blessed us in big and little ways while we were there. It was a packed trip and we wouldn’t have made it through the different legs if it wasn’t for the generosity of several of you.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/IMG%5F3024-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt the beginning of May we attended the Calvary Chapel Japan conference in Tokyo. It was an amazing time meeting missionaries, worshiping with national believers, hearing wonderful teachings from some of the leaders. We even got to spend quality time with some friends who had traveled with us from Abide Osaka. It can often feel like you’re the only Christian here just like Elijah in 1 Kings 19, but these times where we all get together allow the Lord to show us that he has a remnant here that love and worship Him. It refreshes our souls and we look forward to other conferences this Fall and next Spring.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessed to be Back - Root Update May 2024"},{"content":" May 2024 Update\n“Train up a child in the way he should go,\nEven when he is old he will not depart from it.”\n-Proverbs 22:6 (NASB)\n“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”\n-Matthew 28:18–20\nLegacy has been something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. It’s been a common and consistent theme preceding and following my arrival here in Trujillo. There is so much work before us, and the Lord has been equipping. We’ve been praying and the Lord has been answering. He is a constant help in times of trouble (Psalm 46:1). The work that I’m doing now, what effect is it having and will it last? This last semester we taught from John 14 through John 16, and what powerful passages those are! Jesus is speaking with His disciples and preparing them for His departure. That He in His death would not only provide a means of atonement and reconciliation for our sins, but that He was going to prepare an eternal place for us. Even more than that, He was coming back for us. These are exceedingly great and precious promises (2 Pet. 1:1-3). In John 15 He says this: “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you,” (John 15:16). We have been called to be His, to bear fruit, and not just any fruit, but fruit that will remain or abide. Our works are to be exemplary of someone who has fully surrendered their lives to Jesus, but also to leave an impact that will last; a legacy. Man, I want my works to remain in Him, to be done in His time, His way, and with His heart and means. In that, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that, by His Spirit, I need to disciple and train people to take my place. That they would be ready when I’m gone, and that they would be equipped to carry on the work the Lord is doing. There’s much to learn, and there’s much work to do, but it’s absolutely worthy of my life—it’s His.\nMoyobamba\nThere’s been so much going on it’s been hard to remember what’s happened in basically a month! We were in Argentina in the beginning of April, and two weeks later we had a missions trip with the school to the jungle a little further north east in a place called Moyobamba. For those who came last May, it’s the Calvary Chapel that Pastor Andrew just planted at the end of last year. What a blast! It was such a beautiful area. The people were so kind and welcoming, and God is doing an amazing work! We did construction, we did outreach, we taught the Word, we worshipped, and we encouraged the Body there in the jungle of Perú. Many of the Christians there are first generation Christians and are very young in the faith, but they are learning a lot under Pastor Andrew’s stewardship. We got to be present for their first baptism and 15 people got baptized—praise the Lord! It was an amazing trip, and I hope to go back to help them again in the future. Getting to meet people whose lives have been changed by the Lord in such radical ways was an amazing thing to see. A man who had once been known by many for who he was in his past, at an older age, being saved, surrendering his life, and living for Jesus was such a cool thing. Getting to see him baptized was a blessing!\nLife in the Month of May\nRight after we got back, it was May! Time has flown by and the Lord has been doing a lot! As I write this, we have just under two weeks before our Summer Missions Internship! After we got back to Trujillo, we got back into the swing of things. Getting into our daily routines, doing administrative work, and construction. The students had two more classes. We had one of the first Calvary pastors in Peru come and teach one of the classes—Pastor Lucho. Then after that, Pastor Brent from Calvary Roma came and taught the last class for the students—it was a great time! I was working on accepting new students into the institute and getting things ready for graduation and even our next semester. Then we had graduation. It was a bittersweet time, but it’s so exciting to know that those finishing and being sent out not only have a heart to go, but to be faithful to the work the Lord has put them to. I’m going to miss those who are going to other places, but I’m excited to see what God is going to do in their lives! One thing that’s been amazing to see is how the Lord is blessing the deaf ministry that we have at Calvary Trujillo. It’s been growing quite a bit, and some have been surrendering their lives to Jesus. Please pray that the Lord would continue to provide avenues to minister to such an unreached community.\nRight now I’m in charge of handling correspondence and applications regarding students and prospective students here at CBI Perú. In that, I’m seeking to come alongside students wherever I can to disciple the guys, and am getting ready to take on scheduling for service hours for the rest of the summer and the coming semester. The person who’s been in charge of admissions and correspondence is getting married and moving with her husband (one of our other campus administrators) to Brazil, and then they’re going to plant a church in the city of Concepción in Chilé. That being said, with her gone I will be doing a lot more of those things administratively. I’m excited to help where I can and do my best to keep things going smoothly.\nPrayer Requests and Needs:\nPlease pray for me and the team we have here at CC Trujillo. There’s a lot going on, a lot of work to do, and a lot of growth taking place in the staff, the school, and the church. It’s all exciting, but we certainly need the Lord’s wisdom and guidance for what’s next, for how to adapt and change well with the growth of our ministry, and to be faithful witness to the people of Perú here in Trujillo.\nTo draw closer and closer to the Lord\nTo faithfully represent Him well\nTo be faithful in new responsibilities\nEyes to see where I need to grow\nTo have a teachable heart\nTo disciple well\nTo learn Spanish quickly\nTo be able to disciple well and with the Lord’s heart\nTo be well prepared for teaching the book of Acts for the Summer of Missions Internship (I’ll be teaching 2 or 3 days of 12).\nTo continue to be a steward of my body by working out and eating well\nTo be wise with the resources the Lord is providing\nThe Lord’s wisdom, preparation, and guidance as to helping plant a new CBI\nNeeds:\nMany of our students from Latin and South America are here on scholarship\nThe funds for the property for CBI Mendoza in Argentina.\nThank you so much for your love, for your faithfulness in prayer and giving, and thank you for partnering with me to live out the Great Commission!\nThe Lord bless you, and keep you, and make His face to shine upon you…\nDios te bendiga!\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/legacy-voisin-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Andy-and-I-with-Pastor-Andrew-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMay 2024 Update\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Train up a child in the way he should go,\u003cbr\u003e\nEven when he is old he will not depart from it.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-Proverbs 22:6 (NASB)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Legacy… - Voisin Update May 2024"},{"content":"Hi friends and family!!\nThank you for your love, support, and prayers through the years for our family.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been a wonderful adventure being able to continually witnesses God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness.\nWe pray you are all doing well when reading this update!!\nThe Mission for children / La Mision para niños\nWe keep serving at this wonderful ministry that God planted in our hearts since I was 19 years old, (26 years ago). In all these years we have experienced so many different seasons: fun ones, stressful ones, new-old families, single staff, groups, churches, etc. If you visit the Mission now, you will notice a big change in everything.\nBefore, \u0026ldquo;the Riveras\u0026rdquo; were the only Mexican family serving at the Mission. For the last 2 years, the Hulstrom family was the only American family serving at home together with other wonderful families we have serving here. The Ahumada family, Lopez family, Bastida family, and (most recently) the Darger family have been such a blessing to have here!! Just 2 weeks ago we said goodbye to the Hultroms, it was a wonderful blessing have them back at home. We are so thankful for their time here in obedience to our God like every family serving here. We\u0026rsquo;re so grateful for the friendship, their hearts, and the example in their service to everyone. We\u0026rsquo;re also so grateful for our amazing single staff: Blanca, Estefani, Yair, Karolina, Zimri, Davis, Ashley.\nIn the midst of so many changes, these things always remain: His love and faithfulness for these wonderful Mission kids and the different ways they bless us all every time we serve them. What a privilege and what an honor!!\nAZAFF\u0026rsquo;S ADVENTURES\nOur family adventures seem to never end. Our journey with our son Azaff started an the end of 2019 when he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his brain. He received 2 surgeries within a week to remove the tumor. They were able to remove about 95%, but the rest was too dangerous to remove. Since then, he has been improving little by little to this day.\nAfter almost 3 years of traveling to Tijuana 1-3 days a week for 1-5 different therapies, he finished successfully at every level. He has improved so much and has grown to a height of 176cm, when the doctors used to say, \u0026ldquo;He won\u0026rsquo;t grow, walk, talk, etc.\u0026rdquo; But I know who\u0026rsquo;s my Daddy!!! Abundantly merciful!! I keep asking myself, \u0026ldquo;how are those without Jesus??\u0026rdquo;\nAzaff is losing his vision slowly so the doctor recommended for him to learn Braille and keep doing therapies for fine motor skills. He also needs to keep practicing rock climbing, that kind of eye-hands-and-feet therapy helps him a lot so we will continue going to San Diego once a week for that therapy.\nPrayer Request s\n1. Please pray for strength, wisdom, joy, and all the fruits of the spirit for me in homeschooling our kids. Azaff will be graduating 8th grade in July and Abdiel will be going into 8th grade.\n2. Please pray for provisions for the medical treatment, traveling expenses, and rock climbing therapy expenses.\n3. Strength and joy for our wonderful Mission kids, staff, and families.\nAlso, if you would love to bless our staff with snacks or anything, you can send packages to: La Mision Para Niños P. O. BOX 460 Tecate CA 91980\nWith so much love ,\nThe Rivera Family Miguel, Zurisadai, Conchita, Azaff, Abdiel.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/rivera-family-update-january-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi friends and family!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your love, support, and prayers through the years for our family.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s been a wonderful adventure being able to continually witnesses God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe pray you are all doing well when reading this update!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Mission for children / La Mision para niños\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe keep serving at this wonderful ministry that God planted in our hearts since I was 19 years old, (26 years ago). In all these years we have experienced so many different seasons: fun ones, stressful ones, new-old families, single staff, groups, churches, etc. If you visit the Mission now, you will notice a big change in everything.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rivera Family Update January – June 2024"},{"content":" having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.\nEphesians 1:5-6\nDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\nThis month was packed with exploring unknown territory! Though, with every new work of God, there is always the enemy ready to steal, kill, and destroy. May was no exception! From seeing demonic manifestations at an In-n-Out and prayer meeting, to randomly experiencing spirts of depression, the enemy has been using every tactic, obvious and subtle, to thwart God’s plans. Yet, God always wins! God ministered to me greatly through Luke 10:18-20, especially verse 19 which describes how God has given us authority over all spiritual wickedness. “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” But even greater, what the Lord has shown me in order to conquer attacks in my mind through depression, anxiety, fear, has been the reminder of my identity. One evening, after working hard all day and thinking through all my plans for the summer, and everything I had been doing recently, I felt lost in it all. I doubted whether God could use me and if I was really being led by Him. Finally, I just wrote down on a piece of paper, “who am I Lord?” Obviously, I knew the theological answer to that question. But I wanted to hear it from the Lord Himself. The next morning my devotional reading was Ephesians chapter 1, and I could just hear the voice of my heavenly Father as I read the words. I pray God ministers to you the same way as you go through this next month. No matter how far the enemy tries to separate you from God’s love, He is still your Father, and you have been accepted before Him. Go before your heavenly Father! He wants to be with you. He paid everything to be with you.\nAs I left off in my last newsletter, I spent the beginning of May still in Mexico! I visited two churches and Calvary Bible Institute Mexico. Although I wasn’t speaking at any of them, I got to assist Rob Douglass, who taught at Calvary Chapel Rosarito’s church planting school and their Wednesday night service. I also got to share about the Calvary School of Missions with people from the church, and help give counsel as they considered mission work. Then I took Marcelo, one of the Missions Training School students, to Ensenada, where he taught a morning class. Neither of us had been to Ensenada before. The same day we drove to Horizonte Ensenada church where he taught their church planting class, and also shared a quick testimony on Sunday. It was a very exciting trip, and let me tell you, God is moving Mexico for the unreached!\nThe purpose for this quick, week-long trip was to help light a match in Mexico for cross-cultural missions. Not many in the Mexican church know about the unreached, those who have no access to receive the gospel. Our goal was to spark a passion in the Mexican church for reaching the world with the gospel. Most people view Mexico as a place to send and do missions, but, for the vast majority of it, Mexico already has Christians, churches, and Bibles. So we went to share about those who have none of these things. The Lord has given us a great vision of Mexico being transformed into a sending hub to the unreached nations!\nBeing on the ground helping serve, talk with people, and pray, was an incredible experience personally. I could see the little sparks let off by the thought-provoking teachings caught onto people’s hearts. I also met many who already had a desire for missions, but little direction. Our goal for this was not to train missionaries, but to spark a desire, and as we do, we are praying that God will begin works where those called can be biblically trained in cross-cultural missions. I ask you to join us in prayer for this, as we have spoken with many who hear the call, but don’t have a place to prepare.\nOn a more humorous note, as Marcelo and I were driving to CBI Mexico, we got lost on a road out in the middle of nowhere. I drove up a steep dirt hill in the Civic until the road finally turned into massive rocks and dips. In the photo we were lost trying to figure out what to do, and Marcelo had to teach very soon. Yet, he still had a smile with a thumbs up. I’m pretty sure he could be kidnapped and he would still have a smile with his thumbs up. In the end, we found the right road (which still had a huge creek running through it) and made it to the class.\nLater in the month, I got to spend time with one of Saving Grace World Mission’s Indian national missionaries. I picked him up from the airport, and went to dinner at a Nepali Restaurant with some friends. It was a blessing to get to know him. Another day, a bunch of the Mission Training Students went to J’s (one of our short-term India missionaries) house in order to help him get rid of 3 generations of stuff in his home. This will free him to spend more time doing missions and teaching at CBI India. I also got many opportunities to teach this month. First I taught and led my first time in Spanish during the Wednesday evening Spanish group at CC Saving Grace. That was challenging, but super fun! And I also got to teach the youth group on a Sunday. Please join me in praying about CBI Philippines! The director has been asking me to come teach for almost 2 years, and I haven’t felt called. But he asked again recently for the fall semester, and I feel the Lord may be leading me to take a short trip to the Philippines. It would be very costly trip, but the country is also very strategic in it’s placement. It is open to gospel work and would serve as a perfect sending hub and place of training for SGWM missionaries to all the nearby, unreached countries of Asia. I would love to go on a short trip to see what the Lord might do in the future and teach at the CBI.\nCosta Rica\nIn August I will have been praying for a year about serving in Peru with Pastor Cory Kilgus to help lead in starting a safe home for kids rescued from sex trafficking and organ trafficking. The first step we will be taking is to visit an existing safe home in Costa Rica to learn how it functions. This trip will be July 29 – August 2. This will also be a sort-of vision tour, where we will be praying for confirmation of God’s call to begin this new work. If you would like to financially partner with me for this trip, you may give using the link at the bottom of the page.\nPrayer Requests\nGod to begin a work to train Spanish-speaking Mexicans who have a heart for cross-cultural missions Financial provision, wisdom, and spiritual/physical protection for the trip to Costa Rica in July Boldness as I continue preaching the gospel and discipling others where I am at currently Wisdom and peace about work; my boss will be moving to Northern Carolina, and taking the business with him. Guidance for possible trip to CBI Luzon, Philippines in the Fall Praise Reports\nSuccessful trip stirring up the Mexican Church for the Great Commission All the different opportunities to serve and teach Revival and deliverance of people at CC Saving Grace and outside the church. The random gifts and blessings God has been giving me through all of you! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/lighting-a-match-in-mexico-josh-vanrenterghem-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ehaving predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEphesians 1:5-6\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends, Family, and Loved Ones,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month was packed with exploring unknown territory! Though, with every new work of God, there is always the enemy ready to steal, kill, and destroy. May was no exception! From seeing demonic manifestations at an In-n-Out and prayer meeting, to randomly experiencing spirts of depression, the enemy has been using every tactic, obvious and subtle, to thwart God’s plans. Yet, God always wins! God ministered to me greatly through Luke 10:18-20, especially verse 19 which describes how God has given us authority over all spiritual wickedness. “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.” But even greater, what the Lord has shown me in order to conquer attacks in my mind through depression, anxiety, fear, has been the reminder of my identity. One evening, after working hard all day and thinking through all my plans for the summer, and everything I had been doing recently, I felt lost in it all. I doubted whether God could use me and if I was really being led by Him. Finally, I just wrote down on a piece of paper, “who am I Lord?” Obviously, I knew the theological answer to that question. But I wanted to hear it from the Lord Himself. The next morning my devotional reading was Ephesians chapter 1, and I could just hear the voice of my heavenly Father as I read the words. I pray God ministers to you the same way as you go through this next month. No matter how far the enemy tries to separate you from God’s love, He is still your Father, and you have been accepted before Him. Go before your heavenly Father! He wants to be with you. He paid everything to be with you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Lighting a Match in Mexico - Josh Vanrenterghem Update May 2024"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nThe Kanyikes are getting closer to being allowed to come to the USA for the kids to receive citizenship. They have an interview soon in Uganda to get travel visas. Once the children have that they need to send it to a USCIS office in the States where they should immediately be assigned an interview date. Please pray that all goes well each step of the way. They come in June. Pray for the Lord to provide all they will need financially and logistically to get to the States and for their stay while they are there. Pray for Brian and Jill as they prepare and make plans for the ministry and the guesthouse while they are away. Pray for the children who attended our recent youth event. Pray for those who accepted Jesus as Savior. Pray for 2 Muslim boys who attended. Pray for health and safety. Viruses are spreading like crazy during this hot and rainy season and there have been political riots not far from where the Kanyikes stay. Thank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nThank you so much for your continued love and support. May God bless you as you lift us up in your prayers. Praise God that: One of our students, named Bismark Okwera, recently opened a new Calvary Chapel and a nursery school at one of the refugee camps in Northern Uganda. We are currently teaching our pastors through the books of 1-2 Corinthians which contain vitally important truth for their churches. God saved four people when my daughters preached on the radio recently. Please pray that: God would continue to strengthen and encourage our family as we serve Him here. God would work in the hearts of our students as they continue to study His Word. God would bless the new church plant in the refugee camp with love, understanding, and grace. God Bless You, The Harris Family - Email BlogUSA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\nPraise:\nGod is moving in Andy’s life. He has just completed 20 days in an inpatient hospital. Tim’s back is improving and we as a couple are implementing personal disciplines that will help enable us to serve the Lord in this capacity. Prayer:\nPlease pray for the 2024 Calvary School of Missions planning and preparations. Wisdom and sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit as we plan out the rest of this year’s missionary care calendar. Please pray for our son Andy as he will be discharged from the hospital. That he would be willing to continue his treatment at a lower level of care. Pray for us as we depend on Him in making decisions for the next steps. Praise Jesus we are able to minister to him and see him frequently. We pray for our Father to renew his mind. Please pray that as a couple serving together in the office and on the field, that we continue to be steadfast in the Lord. Please continue to pray for Tim as he continues to have back pain.\nAll for His Glory,Tim and Jenn - Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\nPraise God for the student outreaches in S. Asia in May. Pray for the seeds that were planted to take root and for people to put their faith in Jesus. Pray for our Young Adults Missions Trip in June to Mexico. Pray for divine appointments to share the Gospel. Pray that we would be an encouragement to the churches. Pray for the students as they return to their villages for the semester break to be ambassadors for the Lord, teach the Word and preach the Gospel. Thank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease continue to pray for my parents’ health. Especially pray for healing for my dad, or an accurate diagnosis and treatment. Please pray also for my mom’s health.Please pray for my father-in-law who is battling stage 4 cancer.Please pray for my family’s health, and that God will protect us from any kind of spiritual or physical attack.Please pray that God will use us for His glory.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,Paul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for the Christians in South Asia who are going through persecution.Please pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health. Please pray for complete healing.Please continue to pray for my mom’s health and complete recovery.\nGod bless you!Joni - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nThanks for the prayers!\nPrayer Requests:\n#1- A job in the States for our daughter Grace! #2- That God would bless my two church planting conferences coming up in June in Colorado and Arizona! #3- That God would enable the two lawsuits against me and our church to be thrown out! (Regarding our church property that a man is attempting to steal)\nPraise Reports:\n#1- A wonderful church planting vision tour to Patzcuaro Michoacan! #2- Our church\u0026rsquo;s new Sports Center is drawing many youth!\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nJenna Pepin – Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico\nThank you so much for taking the time to pray for us and keep us connected to our \u0026ldquo;home\u0026rdquo; church, family, and friends. We have a lot going on here in Culiacan, as always, but I ask you to pray for the following:\n1- Pray for Los Gavilanes, a new community in Nayarit among the Cora tribes. By God\u0026rsquo;s divine plan, we worked with them this month instead of the Kuare. Although they have received no formal training of any kind, they have created a small sending hub of churches with 7 pastors\u0026hellip; the fruits of an old missionary woman that found their community more than 30 years ago! Pray that the Lord continues to grow them all in their walk with Him, and that He would protect them from the fierce persecution they often face. 2- Continue to pray for the Kuare and our next proposed trip to visit them in August with the School of Missions. 3- Continue to pray for my neck and shoulder injury, which thanks to God, it is finally coming back to normal. 4- Pray for all of our Church-planting graduates (approximately 40 this year among our 4 campuses, including my daughter, Ruby) as they graduate in June and begin moving towards the callings God has placed on their lives. 5- Pray for a new ministry that I have been blessed to be a part of at a local women\u0026rsquo;s rehab center. There are about 60 women we will be ministering to. Pray for continued favor with the director and that God would raise up many godly women from our Calvary churches to work with them. And thank you so much for your prayers this past month! All of our April/May events have been a huge success! All of our Children\u0026rsquo;s Day events and outreaches went very well with many professions of faith. All of our women\u0026rsquo;s events had similar results with many new professions of faith. And our mission trip was AMAZING! God had to break down both of our vehicles to send us where He wanted us to go (LOL), but as a result, many men, women, and children made professions of faith, many people were ministered to via our medical brigade, and 7 pastors were encouraged and trained up to help them be even more effective. ❤️ Thank you all and God bless you.\nJenna Pepin, Ruby, and Sammy - Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease pray for:\n1. Family - our adult children 2. Us to better hear from the Holy Spirit 3. Claudia’s big bilingual Women\u0026rsquo;s study 4. Counseling ministry: for guidance in helping people with heavy issues 5. God to show people in the church how to have a personal relationship with Him through daily devotions 6. My new men\u0026rsquo;s discipleship group! 7. Thanksgiving and praise for His provision and for giving us purpose!\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul \u0026amp; Claudia - Email BlogHassan and Stacy Villegas - Acapulco, Mexico\nPlease help us pray for souls. Acapulco is rough and we need divine appointments. That God would give us the boldness to share freely.\nHassan \u0026amp; Stacy - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nPRAISE— my mom had another fall and was in the hospital and then transferred to a skilled nursing center, but is now back at home and doing well. I have been with her and so have not been in Mexico for over a month. I am now going to be spending half the week with my mom in San Diego and half the week here in Mexico.\n1. Continued prayers for my mom’s health. We have an appointment on June 4 with San Diego PACE hoping that they will accept her. (PACE is an elderly care program in San Diego that is wonderful)! This will help with future long-term care. 2. For a trip that our staff here is taking to North Bend, Washington June 22-30. It’s a wonderful opportunity to minister to the Spanish community of Calvary Chapel Mt. Si in North Bend Washington. (This church comes every summer to assist us with VBS, and they are flying us out to assist them in Ministry). Specific prayer that someone will be able to stay with my mom during this time. 3. Provisions for a nursery and youth room makeover. 4. Wisdom, wisdom, wisdom!!! I need so much of God’s wisdom in everything that I do! 5. Salvation for the moms and dads of the kids in the afterschool program.\nThanks to all who take the time to read our prayer requests and pray for us!\n- Deanna Jevas - Email Blog\nLilibeth Rabiella - Acapulco, Mexico\nHello dear brothers! My name is Lili, I am from Mexico and I serve in the missions area among other services at the Calvary Acapulco Church. On May 5, my brother Manuel was wounded by three bullets, he was in the wrong place, unfortunately. At this time, insecurity in Acapulco has increased due to organized crime and several civilians have died.\nLILI PRAYER REQUESTS: Prompt recovery for my brother Manuel. May God provide a hospital in good condition where he can recover. May God continue to open Manuel\u0026rsquo;s spiritual understanding and renew his inner man. May God transform his heart. May God give me wisdom, health, and fullness of the Holy Spirit to accompany my brother in this process. May God provide men with the character of Christ and use them to disciple my brother. Please we need your prayers 🙏🏽\nWith love ❤️ Lili - Email BlogSouth America\nAndrew Weakland - Moyobamba, Peru\n1. Thanks to God for Yenry and Jesus. They are faithful workers sent from Calvary Trujillo who have helped tremendously with Calvary Moyobamba 2. Thanks to God for this group of 5 locals that God is raising to take on some church responsibilities. May they be encouraged and grow deeper in their love for Jesus and serving Him. 3. Thanks to God for helping me consider the \u0026ldquo;insignificant\u0026rdquo; in Moyobamba and giving me a heart of compassion towards them. May God heal them and set them apart for Him. 4. Thanks to God for the provision. 5. Thanks to God for 7 months of verse-by-verse teaching in Luke and Genesis. May more people come and be spiritually fed.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email BlogRyan and Karen Gause - Iquitos, Peru\nPlease pray with us about our Visas for Peru. We only have a few more documents to submit and everything has to be submitted before June 30. Thank you so much for all of your love and support!!!!\nRyan \u0026amp; Karen Gause - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window The 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Kindly pray that God will open the eyes of Hindu fanatic groups, that they will see God\u0026rsquo;s love and come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\n- Please pray that God will stop the kinds of persecutions that are happening here.\n- Kindly pray for the growth of our church.Kindly pray for our graduates, that God will use them effectively.\n- Pray for B. and his wife, that they will understand each other.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nWorker 3 Worker 11 – 10/40 Window\nGlory to the Lord:\nGlory to God that God protects me and my family from all kinds of sorrows and troubles.Glory to the Lord, the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has reached a new village!Glory to the Lord, three women have accepted the Lord!Glory to the Lord, a woman has publicly showed she follows Jesus!Glory to the Lord, my wife has been cured of thyroid!Glory to God that He is providing all kinds of resources for His ministry.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for my father’s and my safety. There are many people who say things against us.Please pray that we can reach more villages with the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ.Please pray that some of the youth can be prepared to go to Bible College, so that in the coming days they too will be able to participate in spreading the Good News of the Lord.Please pray for my mother; her bones are very weak and she has to have daily injections. Also, her thyroid levels have increased to about 18 points; may God help in controlling her thyroid problem as well.My younger sister is getting married on May 16. May God fulfill all our needs, and also pray that since it is a Christian wedding, that no Hindu fundamentalists will oppose it.Please pray for the registration of our church in which there are some obstacles; may God remove those obstacles according to His will.Please pray for us that God will give us a child.\nThanks for your prayers, love for Christ, and participation in spreading the Gospel!\nGod bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease continue to pray for safety from persecution. We praise God because He is on the throne. He is drawing people to Himself, and the devil can’t stop Him.\nThanks for your prayers and partnership!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15 Worker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n- Please pray for my children, that they will grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord, and for their final exams.\n- Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing.\n- Please pray for the village ministry in our local area, that the villagers will grow in the Word of the Lord.\n- Please pray for the new family, that they will grow in the Lord.\n- Please pray for the Christians in our state, that in the midst of persecution they will stand in the Lord.\nWorker 16\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for the Himalayan people, that they will know God.Please pray for our capital city, where 6 million people live and only 200,000 are believers. May God bring revival to our city and country. Thank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the people who heard the Gospel, that they will they believe.\n2. Pray that the youth will seek God first and serve Him.\n3. Pray for the church and believers to grow more in the Word.\n4. Pray for me as I am leading the district youth group; may the Lord give His wisdom and favor upon me.\nThank you,\nMilan\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nWe are trusting God to change the hearts of people where the Gospel has been heard, and turn to Jesus.\nPray for the local pastor in a nearby mountain area who helped lead us to this new place; he needs God’s guidance, wisdom, and filling of the Spirit in the coming days.\nWe are thankful for this mission, and may God bless the team in the days ahead.\nPray for us for God’s guidance, strength, and wisdom, as my wife and I will be parents soon.\nBlessings!\nRaju - Blog\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPlease pray for our upcoming time in Japan from June 6 to August 6. We will be visiting and encouraging churches all over the country. Also, please pray for opportunities and wisdom to be witnesses before Kayo\u0026rsquo;s family. Please pray for our ministries and partners in Cambodia that God will continue to bless and guide them during our time away. Please pray for wisdom, favor, and provision regarding some financial decisions we are in the process of making. The Japanese Yen continues to lose value against the US Dollar, Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s educational expenses will continue to increase over the next three year, and other challenges. Right now, we don\u0026rsquo;t see any clear open doors, but are trusting God to open and close all the right doors at the right time so that we can continue to serve Him. Please pray for renewed strength and vision for the next season in Cambodia during our time in Japan. We thank God that the weeks-long 105F (170-year record) heatwave has ended and that we are back in the normal high 90s. Not just for us, but even for the Cambodians, there is a sense of residual fatigue.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-june-2024-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Kanyikes are getting closer to being allowed to come to the USA for the kids to receive citizenship. They have an interview soon in Uganda to get travel visas. Once the children have that they need to send it to a USCIS office in the States where they should immediately be assigned an interview date. Please pray that all goes well each step of the way. They come in June.  Pray for the Lord to provide all they will need financially and logistically to get to the States and for their stay while they are there.   Pray for Brian and Jill as they prepare and make plans for the ministry and the guesthouse while they are away.  Pray for the children who attended our recent youth event. Pray for those who accepted Jesus as Savior. Pray for 2 Muslim boys who attended.   Pray for health and safety. Viruses are spreading like crazy during this hot and rainy season and there have been political riots not far from where the Kanyikes stay.  Thank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and for the ministry in Uganda.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JUNE 2024 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Leaders, Partners, and Church Family,\nGreetings from our church! I thank God that He has taken care of me, my family and my parents. Despite the extreme heat, God has not let me get any major illness.\nA few weeks ago when my father went out of the house for a morning walk, four people, including a doctor, threatened him. They said that if my father does not return to his old religion and stop spreading the Gospel, they will kill him.\nWe prayed a lot. We considered informing the police many times, but they do not listen to Christians. The police also will not do anything without a bribe. For these reasons, we did not inform the police and only prayed. By the grace of God, my father is safe until now.\nI keep thanking God for your love, prayers and participation in the Gospel. Through the grace of God and your prayers, the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ is reaching places we couldn\u0026rsquo;t have even imagined. God is strengthening those who are listening to His Word through His miracles and signs.\nWe Went to a Place Where the Good News Had Not Yet Reached. The Temperature Was 43 Degrees Celsius (109 Degrees Fahrenheit)!\nI always thank God that He has sent me to serve in a place where there is less than 1% Christians. Despite having many pastors in the city, there are many villages where the Good News has not yet reached. We got an invitation to fellowship in such a village which is about 30 kilometers from our house. We got the opportunity to go to this village through a believer of our church.\nWhen we went to that village, they welcomed us very nicely. We told the Good News to the people of that village. Three women believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. Due to the extreme heat, we became very restless. The food that they had lovingly prepared for us had a lot of hot chili peppers in it. Because of the spicy food, the heat felt twice as intense as it did before we ate. But God gave us peace. We got comfort in the heart from the fact that by our coming, God saved three souls. I thank God for the love and hospitality of these people, who did more for us than they were able to.\nOur Lord Jesus Freed a Girl from an Evil Spirit.\nI thank God that He shows signs and miracles to strengthen His Word! We have been having a fellowship in the mango garden of a certain village for about 12 years. Last week, during the fellowship there, a young girl was brought who was possessed by an evil spirit. The evil spirits troubled her a lot. It would throw her anywhere and start shouting and saying things.\nWhile I and my father were worshiping, the girl started shouting loudly. We prayed and at that time the devil threw her and came out of her. Since then this girl is completely fine! The people of her family have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ and are coming to the village church.\nThe church in that village was started with a boy who I mentioned many times in my newsletter. He had very long nails and the skin of his hands and feet kept bleeding. I took him to many hospitals for treatment but there was nothing that the doctors could do for him. It was not possible to get him treated medically, but God healed him through prayer! Now, he has been baptized. His mother has also been baptized. She regularly comes to our church. We also go to their house once a week for fellowship. This boy\u0026rsquo;s name is S*. Before, he wanted to commit suicide because of his illness, but God healed him. Now he is completely fine! His family is looking for a girl for him to marry.\nIf You Believe, Your Family Will Be Saved!\nThis is a testimony of a person who was the first person in his family to believe. After his faith, gradually the whole family believed in Jesus. His name is U*. While I was in Bible College, he also came to Bible College with me for 6 months. After that, his father would not allow him to go back to Bible College again, but he did not give up his faith. He remained engrossed in learning the Word of God day and night.\nTo bring the people of his family to faith, he kept showing God\u0026rsquo;s love through prayer, sharing the Word and living a godly life. Initially, the people of his whole family were against him, but he showed God\u0026rsquo;s love to them through his life.\nFirst of all, U* brought his wife to the Lord. After that, he brought his mother to the Lord. Whenever my father and I went to her house, his mother always used to scold us for converting her son. But he brought his mother to faith through love and sharing the Word.\nAfter that U* went to the South in search of a job. He did not stop going to church. He lived with his elder brother who opposed it. Gradually he started taking his elder brother to church and his elder brother also believed and got baptized. His elder brother\u0026rsquo;s wife, who was a very quarrelsome woman, was very afraid of her husband believing in Jesus Christ. She used to scold U* a lot about getting her husband converted to Christianity. She was ready to fight every day, but U* would ignore her words. Whenever I and my father used to go to his house, we used to tell his sister-in-law about the Lord Jesus Christ. Whenever she came to church, she used to listen to the Gospel. Gradually she started come to know about the Lord Jesus Christ. Glory be to God! She also believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and got baptized last week. She is in the above photo.\nGlory to the Lord!\nGlory to God! He protects me and my family from all kinds of sorrows and troubles. Glory to the Lord! The Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ has reached a new village. Glory to the Lord! Three women have accepted the Lord. Glory to the Lord! A woman has been baptized. Glory to the Lord! My wife has been cured of her thyroid problem. Glory to God! He is providing all kinds of resources for His ministry. Prayer Points:\nPlease pray for the safety of my father and me. There are many people who talk badly about us, saying that we have changed our religion and that will keep planning to convert people. Please pray that we can reach more villages with the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ. Please pray for the youth that we want to be prepared to go to Bible college, so that in the coming days they also can participate in the Good News of the Lord. Please pray for my mother. Her bones are very weak, because of which she has to take injections every day. Her thyroid levels also have increased about 18 points. May God help control her thyroid as well. Please pray. My younger sister is getting married on May 16. May God fulfill all of our needs. It will be a Christian marriage. Pray that no Hindu fundamentalists oppose it. Please pray for the registration of our church. There are some obstacles to registering. May God remove those obstacles. Please pray for God to give us a child. Thank you for your prayers, your love for Christ, and for your participation in the Gospel.\nMay God bless you all!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/go-to-a-place-where-no-one-has-taken-the-gospel-pastor-13-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Leaders, Partners, and Church Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/May-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from our church! I thank God that He has taken care of me, my family and my parents. Despite the extreme heat, God has not let me get any major illness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/May-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA few weeks ago when my father went out of the house for a morning walk, four people, including a doctor, threatened him. They said that if my father does not return to his old religion and stop spreading the Gospel, they will kill him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Go to a Place Where No One Has Taken the Gospel - Pastor 11 Update June 2024"},{"content":" It is always exiting to tell you about what God is doing in our country. Last month, we got the chance to go to a restricted area of the mountainous region. It is on the border. They are a tribal people who follow the Buddhist religion. There is not any church in this area. One pastor from the South and a team from another Calvary Chapel also came. All together, 20 of us went to share the Gospel in this area. We were the first people to share the Gospel there. Please keep praying that God will bring the people there into His kingdom. It is a place that can only be reached by walking. There are no roads there.\nWe believe God wants young people to serve Him. Keeping this in mind, I am serving in the mist of young people. I am going to different church\u0026rsquo;s youth groups to encourage them. I also talk to them about going to Bible college, so that they may give their lives to serving the LORD.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for the people who heard the Gospel in the border region. May they believe. Pray for the young generation. May they seek God first and serve Him. Pray for our church\u0026rsquo;s believers to grow more in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. Pray for me as I lead this district\u0026rsquo;s youth group. May the Lord give me His wisdom and favor. Thank you,\nMilan\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-opening-doors/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/image0.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/image1-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is always exiting to tell you about what God is doing in our country. Last month, we got the chance to go to a restricted area of the mountainous region. It is on the border. They are a tribal people who follow the Buddhist religion. There is not any church in this area. One pastor from the South and a team from another Calvary Chapel also came. All together, 20 of us went to share the Gospel in this area. We were the first people to share the Gospel there. Please keep praying that God will bring the people there into His kingdom. It is a place that can only be reached by walking. There are no roads there.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Opening Doors - Pastor Milan Update June 2024"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nWe are grateful to the Lord for His protection and provision in my family. We appreciate each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial aid for the expansion of God’s ministry. Because of your financial help, we could move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, jobs and businesses. May the good God bless you with all good resources and good health.\nIn our family devotions we have been learning from Word of God and trying to follow the footsteps of Jesus in our daily walk.\nFor the past several months, we had been facing a lot of opposition from Hindu fanatical groups. Many churches had been shutdown. By God’s grace we got permission from the government to conduct our Sunday worship services. However, fanatical groups are still causing problems. It has become hard to go to the villages and share the Gospel. However, God is opening the door for us to go to individual houses and make friends and do personal evangelism. As a family, we visit families to testify about Lord and pray for them (above).\nLast month, visitors came to our home. It was wonderful time to encourage each other and pray. They asked us to pray for their son, B*. He is married but he and his wife are not happy to stay together.\nIn the month of March we completed our fourth semester. Five of our CBI students graduated. Before the students left to their homes, we had a wonderful time of fellowship with them at our home.\nAnd we had wonderful staff outing as well (above).\nPrayer Requests:\nKindly pray that God will open the eyes of the fanatical Hindu groups, that they may see God\u0026rsquo;s love and come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Please pray that God will stop such persecution. Kindly pray for the growth of our Church. Kindly pray for our graduates. May God use them effectively. Do pray for B* and his wife to understand each other. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/moving-forward-with-the-gospel-of-jesus-christ-pastor-3-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are grateful to the Lord for His protection and provision in my family. We appreciate each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial aid for the expansion of God’s ministry. Because of your financial help, we could move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, jobs and businesses. May the good God bless you with all good resources and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Moving Forward With the Gospel of Jesus Christ - Pastor 3 Update May 2024"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Dear supporters and prayer partners, thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nLast month, I got chance to lead the Sunday service in village. I had fellowship with them with the Word of God. I am teaching them from book of Ephesians.\nThree new families called us to have home prayer meetings last month. We had fellowship with them. I also got an opportunity to preach at a birthday program last month.\nLast month was very difficult time in our area. A radical group tried to stop the house churches. They shut down a few churches with the help of the government authority. The police know this group has the goal to close all of the churches in our district. Because of that, we visited the district collector. We submitted an application to him through the Christian form. By the grace of God, he accepted the application and allowed our churches to conduct prayer. There are still many churches in our area struggling with that.\nLast month, in the mist of problem (of churches being attacked) we were able to conduct our graduation program. Five students graduated.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for my children to grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord and for their final exam. Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problem the world is facing. Please pray for the village ministry in our local area. Pray that the villagers may grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word. Please pray for the new family to grow in Lord Please pray for the Christians of our state to stand in the Lord in the midst of persecution. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/standing-firm-in-the-midst-of-persecution-pastor-16-update-june-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/WhatsApp-Image-2024-05-15-at-10.12.25-PM-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Dear supporters and prayer partners, thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month, I got chance to lead the Sunday service in village. I had fellowship with them with the Word of God. I am teaching them from book of Ephesians.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Standing Firm in the Midst of Persecution - Pastor 16 Update June 2024"},{"content":"Dear friends and family,\nIt’s been a whirlwind of events as usual and we’re sorry we couldn’t get this update out to you sooner, but we’re excited to finally share about our trip to Japan! We were there for about 8 full days and were thrilled to finally be able to see and experience the country we have been praying over. As I (Lydia) write this, it doesn’t even feel real that we were actually there on the other side of the world! But now we will share some of our main moments with you. :)\nLanding in Japan As we stepped off our 15 ½ hour flight, we stretched out our legs and eagerly hurried to meet our friends Jeff and Alishia Root. The Roots had arrived a few days earlier with some of our other team members attending this trip. I (Lydia) had met Jeff and Alishia when we attended the Calvary School of Missions program together back in 2020. They were the ones who first stirred my heart for the spiritual needs in Japan and they have been preparing to move to Japan as long-term missionaries for the past 6 years. And as of January 2024, the Lord has officially planted them there!\nWe were so happy to greet them in their new home of Japan and once we got our train passes we went straight to dinner with them at a yakitori restaurant in Tokyo. We were immediately immersed in the smells of the winter air, sizzling meat, and cigarette smoke permeating the restaurant. Sitting around the table we shared stories of our trip and went over the agenda for the next few days.\nAfterwards we met up with the rest of our team and headed to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building, one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo. We went up to the top floor to see the beautiful city night life. Here, the Lord spoke to me (Geoff) of the needs of all the people through the lit-up city lights. There were what seemed to be thousands of red lights on top of all the skyscrapers. My heart felt burdened as each red dot symbolized to me a spiritual need blaring from the countless tall structures. As we continued into our next few days, we had the opportunity to speak with a few of the missionaries there who had great insight on how ministry is and how the people react to the gospel.\nMinistry in Japan There were some hard truths we had to listen to, such as Japan is a very hard place to do ministry. The Japanese people are very engraved with their family heritage and that also means religion. If I could sum it up in one sentence I would say, Japan’s soil is very spiritually dry. But as we continued with our journey to Osaka, we began to see that the Lord is on the move in Japan. Meeting up with our main contacts Joseph and Amy who run Abide Osaka church, we were able to meet a lot of people and Lydia was able to even attend a women’s study. It was amazing to see how the gospel can truly change anyone, to the point where it felt like night and day with the Japanese people who have been converted to Christ.\nIt was such a blessing for me (Lydia) to join Abide’s women’s bible study for a day! Amy is such a wonderful bible teacher and it was such a joy to fellowship with the other women afterwards. One lady I met was named Keiko. She was very kind and told me of her experience studying English abroad in her younger days and she shared a bit about her family too. We are both praying over unsaved relatives and the Lord gave me a Scripture passage to share with her. Luke 18:1-8 has always been an encouragement to me to keep praying for my unsaved relatives and to not give up.\n“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.”\nLuke 18:1\nBefore parting ways, Keiko wanted to give me one of the evangelism bracelets she carries around in her purse wherever she goes. It has a Japanese explanation of the symbolism behind each color bead telling the message of the gospel. It would be so amazing to take part in sharing the gospel in Japanese. I am currently taking Japanese lessons now but I have a long way to go!\nPrayer Walk in Tokyo A final experience in Japan we want to share with you is one of the prayer walks our team went on during the trip. This was very impactful to us as we walked around a park in Tokyo where they had various shrines that people would go up to, bow, pray, and some offer money. Most Japanese don’t really believe in the religion of Buddhism/Shintoism but they continue to do its religious practices for the sake of family tradition. Their loyalty is very strong and it would be extremely shameful if an individual left their family religion. They typically view Christianity as a “western ideology” rather than a possibility of truth. So despite the religious freedom in Japan, most Japanese are very closed off to the gospel. Please join us in praying for the people of Japan as there is a great spiritual stronghold over this country.\nSo, Are We Called to Japan? As we have had a lot of time to process our trip and pray through it, we don’t believe God has confirmed to us a “yes” or “no” to serving in Japan. Rather we both felt the Lord telling us, “wait.” Though we both have a burdened heart for the Japanese, we believe God hasn’t called us to go yet, or make serious moves towards going. Instead He has called us to be faithful where we are at. Though it is difficult sometimes to not know for sure where or when we are going to serve long-term, we trust God with the process.\nWe will be staying in Yorba Linda for the time being, continuing our missionary training with SGWM and serving with CC Saving Grace. Geoff has taken on a leadership role this year in the sound/media ministry and has been blessed to train up more servants for that ministry. I (Lydia) continue to work in the SGWM office as an admin assistant as well as continue to grow in discipling other women at church. I love this amazing life God has given us and am so excited for what God is doing in this season!\nGeoff and I are so grateful for all of your support as we pursue what God has called us to. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this newsletter and keeping us in your prayers. We look forward to sharing with you what God does next!\nSincerely,\nGeoff \u0026amp; Lydia\nMore Photos! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/darkness-in-the-land-of-the-rising-sun-hamano-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s been a whirlwind of events as usual and we’re sorry we couldn’t get this update out to you sooner, but we’re excited to finally share about our trip to Japan! We were there for about 8 full days and were thrilled to finally be able to see and experience the country we have been praying over. As I (Lydia) write this, it doesn’t even feel real that we were actually there on the other side of the world! But now we will share some of our main moments with you. :)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Darkness in the Land of the Rising Sun - Hamano Update May 2024"},{"content":"The new year brought in many new experiences, places, and people into our lives. This update has been needed for some time and we want to thank everyone for the prayers and support. We have felt them throughout our last few months. Hang on for a long update!\nTurning Japanese…we wish.\nWe planned and prayed and planned and finally made it to JAPAN! We spent our first few days in Tokyo and stayed in a great Airbnb in Shibuya. You may have seen it in movies, it’s the place in Tokyo known for millions of people crossing the street daily. Because of our excitement, and all the places we wanted to go to and see, we hit the ground running.\nA main goal of ours was to not only see the sights of Japan, but to pray over and meet the people of Japan. We got to go up to key places like high-rise buildings in Tokyo and Osaka in order to view the cities and pray over them, to lift up Japan to the Almighty Creator of the Universe. In Tokyo, we really felt small, the most populated city in the world with current numbers at 37,115,05 people. We serve a God who is BIG and know that He knows each and every person, nothing is too big for Him. He formed them from the start and loves and cares for each individual one.\nFor you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. You eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand.”\nPsalm 139:13-18 ESV\nWe got to visit with pastors and missionaries who have labored in Japan for many years and hear from them their thoughts and experiences living in Japan. 13 years and more are an example of how long they have served and lived in Japan. We got to connect with three pastors/churches in the Tokyo area and then we also got to visit/attend Calvary Chapel Abide in Osaka and Calvary Chapel Iwakuni in Hiroshima. These churches and pastors are laboring and plowing and are tenacious for the Gospel and for the people of Japan. The theme we kept hearing from all the missionaries was patience and being tenacious for the Lord.\nAnd let us not grow weary which doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.\nGalatians 6:9\nWhile the people of Japan tend to be polite but distant, our experience with the christian Japanese was an amazing transformation. They are so open, loving, and accepting. We experienced true koinonia (fellowship) with them in how they included us into their Bible studies and lives.\nTo wrap up, our time was very eye-opening and wonderful and we left our hearts in Japan, as well as our friends, the Roots, who now serve in Osaka with Calvary Chapel Abide. During the first two weeks we were on our own, and then in the last two weeks of the vision tour we met up with others who are praying about going to serve in Japan. Jeff and Alisha Root, who had been preparing and praying to go to Japan for 6 years moved there on this trip! Another tenacious couple to serve the Lord in Japan.\nINDONESIA We flew from Osaka, Japan to Indonesia to continue on our vision tour. We met up with some new members of the team. We decided to join the vision tour team in Indonesia because we are open to whatever the Lord has for us and the opportunity and connections spurred us to.\nWe spent the first few days on the island of East Java and visited with pastors and missionaries there. This was a sweet time to see the work being done there. Then we spent the last of our 10 days in Bali.\nSo while Indonesia is a Muslim country, Bali is Hindu. There is quite a difference in Bali from the rest of Indonesia. In East Java we saw the Muslim mosques and call to prayer, and in Bali we saw the shrines and temples to Hindu gods in almost every home.\nThe contrast from Japan: a people that is closed spiritually, to Indonesia: a people that is all about spirituality. Sven explains the spiritual climate better below.\nSven was given the opportunity to teach Sunday service at a church in Bali as well as our son-in-law, Bryan Crenshaw, at another church. Pastor Trent Douglass had just taught at a pastor’s conference the day before where he got to share about “The Purpose of the Church.” It was a great turn out all around and so impactful. He shared with the believers in Bali and taught them biblical truths that many had never even heard before.\nSVEN’S CORNER The blessing of seeing for myself and experiencing the countries and the people of Japan and Indonesia was worth the wait. Japan is such an interesting place. On the surface everything looks put together like nowhere else on earth. The structure, the conformity, the obedience of the people to each other and the system makes Japan run like a well-oiled Shinkansen (bullet train) speeding down the track at over 250 miles per hour. However, under the surface it is evident that the people feel hopeless and are looking for any in which way to get hope. The suicide rate is at epidemic proportions. The oppression of many, especially young people, feels like a vice around their necks of which they see no way out. For centuries Japan has been a closed off country, with no leeway for western influence let alone evangelical missionaries. The traditions, false religious oppression, demonic activity, and mystic practices have such a foundational root in the country, that it looks impossible for these chains to be broken in the lives of the people. Now here is the catch, unlike most parts of the 10/40 window Japan is completely open. That is, you do not have to fear in Japan of sharing your faith, even starting a church, or evangelizing on the street. All these practices are perfectly legal in the country. However, even though the country is open, the mindset of the people is 100 percent closed. So Japan is known to the evangelical missionary world as the place where ‘missionaries go to die.’ That\u0026rsquo;s uplifting, isn’t it?\nWe got to see that despite these entrenched thoughts about Japan, we saw evidence of fruit. That those who answered the call to go and lay down their comfortable lives and went to serve the Japanese, were producing. We saw the perseverance of Calvary Chapel pastors and their families who have been there for years was starting to pay off. In Cross-Cultural missions class I have often heard it said that whatever the norm is for missions in other parts of the world, add another 10 years on that for Japan. And we saw that this is very true. We visited a number of Calvary Chapels and some had been laboring for over 13 years, others well over 25 years. But their diligence, faithfulness, and tenacity to the call God gave them, have started to produce fruit and results in these last recent years. God is deeply at work in Japan and I know He wants to do an amazing work there. I believe the field is being made ripe and the Lord is preparing those who are to labor in that Field.\nThe Japanese people need hope. They need to know that there is hope for them in Jesus. Millions of Japanese people have never heard of Jesus. And if they have they associate Him with a western religion that they want no part of. I heard one guy say that he thought Jesus was Santa Claus. There is no Biblical understanding of the gospel. What Japan needs is for them to hear and experience the gospel in a way that they can understand it. Not the gospel according to America but the Gospel according to the Bible.\nIn contrast, 1 month later we landed in Bali, Indonesia. Some of you are aware that I lived in Indonesia for my high school years. During that time, I visited Bali about five times so I knew what to expect. The first thing that you are greeted by stepping into the airport at Denpasar is the overwhelming large and intimidating looking Hindu idols with all their grotesqueness. They are meant to strike fear in those who lay eyes on them. The Balinese people of Indonesia have been under the fear and oppression of Hinduism for centuries. The evidence of Balinese Hinduism is everywhere and when I say everywhere I mean everywhere. Every fourth building on any given street is a small or large Hindu temple. The offerings that the Balinese give to their gods are carefully placed outside every home and business.\nThe Balinese people on the other hand are night and day to the Japanese. Where Japanese people are polite but cold and prize their privacy, the Balinese people are warm, hospitable, and want to build relationships. The church in Bali is actually alive. Does Bali need more churches? Of course, absolutely. But the real issue is the lack of Biblical solid teaching. The church for the most part is very pentecostal. Nothing wrong with that, if they are also teaching sound Biblical doctrine. Unfortunately Bible teaching is lacking. So Bali can absolutely use some great Bible Colleges and a generous amount of Calvary Chapel style churches. Which simply means going through the Bible verse-by-verse with room for the Holy Spirit to move. We had many opportunities to teach, preach, pray, and fellowship with the body in Indonesia. They are wonderful brothers and sisters. Indonesia does need more workers sharing Jesus to pierce through the demonic Hinduism and Muslim strongholds in the country.\nSo having come back and having experienced both places, what is the Lord doing with us now? Well, He is preparing us. How long will this preparatory work last before He says it is time to go? Only the Lord knows that answer. We are in no hurry to go before the Lord says to go. So please continue to pray for us as we wait on the Lord.\nPRAISE/PRAYER REQUESTS We arrived home safely from our 6-week vision tour. We stayed healthy overall. We are looking for work in Southern California as we study and prepare to be sent out. Financial and prayer partners. Tenacity in our studies and serving here at Saving Grace World Missions and Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/tenacity-for-the-lord-vanrenterghem-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe new year brought in many new experiences, places, and people into our lives. This update has been needed for some time and we want to thank everyone for the prayers and support. We have felt them throughout our last few months. Hang on for a long update!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTurning Japanese…we wish.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe planned and prayed and planned and finally made it to JAPAN! We spent our first few days in Tokyo and stayed in a great Airbnb in Shibuya. You may have seen it in movies, it’s the place in Tokyo known for millions of people crossing the street daily. Because of our excitement, and all the places we wanted to go to and see, we hit the ground running.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tenacity for the Lord - Vanrenterghem Update May 2024"},{"content":"Also, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”\nEven though I have done a lot of media ministry over the years, I admit that I am terrible about taking pictures of myself or even our family in action. I usually get so caught up in the moment, that I forget to take pictures and I don’t want to invade anyone’s privacy etc.. So, I am thankful that our Fijian missionary friends shared these pictures with me. We have been partnering with and supporting this missionary family for several years now, but I haven’t been able to visit their projects in person until recently. I hope (Lord willing), to visit and participate in more outreaches and projects with them after we return from Japan.\nFor this outreach, the team sang worship songs with about 50 children crammed together under a shelter in the late afternoon heat. I was able to briefly explain the basics of Bible and Gospel to the children, and then we distributed backpacks and school supplies. Joe, Ima, and their team/family will continue to follow up with, evangelize, and disciple these children each week going forward. They are starting from the very beginning with these children and their families so they are going slowly making sure that they truly understand and sincerely believe. They are careful not to rush the process.\nI also apologize for not sharing pictures of Kayo and Benjamin for a while. I hope we can take some pictures in Japan. Right now, Kayo is very diligently working to wrap things up in her various ministry projects in Cambodia and preparing for our time in Japan visiting churches and family there. Even though we have a desk and chair available, when she is really working hard, she prefers to sit at a low Japanese table on a Japanese floor-chair beside our bed. So, I don’t think she wants me to take her picture…:) Benjamin is very busy finishing up his school year and when he is home he spends a lot of time lifting weights and growing/maturing in every way.\nAs far as prayer requests, there are two main areas right now. The first one is everything related to our home assignment in Japan (June 6 to August 6). Please pray for our final preparations and deeper relationships with the churches and senders we will meet in Japan. Also, please pray for us to be witnesses before Kayo’s non-Christian family.\nThe second prayer request is for God to give me wisdom/favor/strength and to open and close all the right doors related to seeking a part-time English teaching job here in Cambodia after my return from Japan. I was a semi-tentmaker/English teacher at a university from 2000-2003 and 2007-2009. Since then, I have mainly used my English (MA TESOL) degree/skills for volunteer ministry, except for a couple of short-term tutoring opportunities to Chinese Christians. Many of my missionary friends in Japan are also semi/full tentmakers and still have effective ministries, but there are pros and cons that need to be prayerfully considered before I/we take any significant steps.\nOn the positive side, this may give me more opportunities to build relationships and be salt and light before non-believing students and staff though I probably can’t share openly in the classroom/campus. This may also help close/narrow a widening financial gap caused by Benjamin’s increasing educational expenses etc. He has 3 more years of high school and the continuing devaluation of the Japanese Yen against the US Dollar (especially since 2020) has greatly reduced the value of the sacrificial and generous giving from our senders in Japan. This has in turn, put more strain on the generous giving of our senders in the US. We have made as many cuts to our expenses as we can, and we continue to trust in the Lord to provide in whatever way He chooses. I should be able to maintain most of my current ministry activities and Kayo could still serve/volunteer as much as she is able at Precious Women Organization etc. However, there will be schedule conflicts etc. This step might also make it difficult for us to travel to the US and Japan as we have before.\nThank you so much for your faithful prayers, encouragement, and support. Our ministry activities continue pretty much as I shared last month, I just wanted to share my heart and a little behind the scenes this month.\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/send-me-record-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAlso, I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send? Who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/436276630%5F291090554060752%5F1919340477827332222%5Fn-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/436283200%5F2722302787945902%5F3394383602375487056%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEven though I have done a lot of media ministry over the years, I admit that I am terrible about taking pictures of myself or even our family in action. I usually get so caught up in the moment, that I forget to take pictures and I don’t want to invade anyone’s privacy etc.. So, I am thankful that our Fijian missionary friends shared these pictures with me. We have been partnering with and supporting this missionary family for several years now, but I haven’t been able to visit their projects in person until recently. I hope (Lord willing), to visit and participate in more outreaches and projects with them after we return from Japan.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Send Me - Record Update May 2024"},{"content":"Most of you may know that I’ve been the Young Adults Pastor at my church for about 8 years now. The Lord has done amazing things in this group over the past year. We are currently going through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and one of the recurring themes in those books is God’s good hand being upon the work that these great men of God did (Ezra 7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22, 31; Nehemiah 2:8, 18). As I think about our ministry, and in particular about what’s to come this Summer, I see God’s good hands all over it!\nREST\nThis coming week, our family is taking an overdue vacation, a road trip to Colorado, where we will stay for a week and get some much needed rest before a busy Summer. Our family has been doing great! Our two youngest (Jude \u0026amp; Clara) just celebrated their 7th \u0026amp; 5th birthdays, respectively, over the past month. Maggie, our oldest, was baptized last year in a moment that made us so proud as parents, and now Harrison, our second oldest, got baptized this month!\nCONVERGENCE\nOne reason Summer is so busy for me as the Director of Missionary Care at SGWM is that so many missionaries come home on furlough. This is such a blessing for us! Last week I got to meet with one national worker who is visiting from South Asia. This week, we will have a couple we recently sent out to Japan here. With more missionaries coming in, that means that this week we will have one couple in from Japan, two couples in from the Middle East, one family in from North Africa, and one South Asian national here all at the same time (hence my sub-heading convergence above)! Another gal will be in from the Middle East for some of the Summer as well. This kind of stuff blesses my heart so much!\nCHANGE\nOne thing that was both a blessing and a disappointment is that the trip to Uganda we had scheduled for June has been canceled. This is disappointing because I’ve been trying to make it to Uganda to visit our three missionary families there for a few years now. But, it is also a blessing because the reason we had to cancel the trip is that both families will be in the States during June receiving US citizenship, one for their children, and one for the father/husband who is an African national! I am so excited for this step for them!\nWORK\nSummer, as usual, is busy for other reasons as well. Much of our staff, including our senior pastor, spend 6 weeks in Mexico for our annual Calvary School of Missions, where we give people with a heart for missions a crash-course in all things missions, from theology to practice. To help support that, I will spend much of the summer leading the staff and home base here in Southern California, including teaching a summer Wednesday night series through the book of Proverbs for our church. On top of that, the cancelation of our Uganda trip will allow me to spend a little more time traveling to Mexico occasionally this Summer to visit and teach at our school there, and also to teach a workshop on building a worship team at the Church-Planting Conference at our own church plant, Calvary Chapel Rosarito.\nI’m looking forward to an amazing Summer full of great things and covered by God’s good hand. We ask you to keep us in your prayers and in your hearts, and please let us know how we can be praying for you as well!\nWe would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gods-good-hand-garcia-family-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMost of you may know that I’ve been the Young Adults Pastor at my church for about 8 years now. The Lord has done amazing things in this group over the past year. We are currently going through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and one of the recurring themes in those books is God’s good hand being upon the work that these great men of God did (Ezra 7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22, 31; Nehemiah 2:8, 18). As I think about our ministry, and in particular about what’s to come this Summer, I see God’s good hands all over it!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God’s Good Hand – Garcia Family Update May 2024"},{"content":" “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”\nJames‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭5‬ ‭\nHello, Barek here! We are both so excited to welcome you to our conjoined newsletter. It is wild when we look back to over a year ago; we were communicating through email about CSOM, Araceli as an office admin and myself as a student, looking to set-up this very newsletter account! The same now as He did then, God has plans for us, and we can’t wait to share with you what has taken place the last few months. Thank you again for your prayers, support, and messages of encouragement!\nOne constant lesson among many that has been on my mind is how unworthy I am of all that God is doing in my life; what He has called me to, the woman that He has called me to love. The closer I draw to Him, the more grateful I am. Araceli and I are daily realizing more and more that He is sanctifying both of us through this relationship, through ministry, through study, through service, through failures and successes. But it is one of the greatest freedoms in Christ; knowing that we are inadequate for any good work in our own strength. This truth frees us up to get out of the way and watch Him use us, not in spite of, but rather through our weaknesses. Pray for us to remember this as we grow in Christ together!\nI, Araceli, had the opportunity a week ago to pray over Jane. I loved her customer service and I decided to let her know about it because I wanted to encourage her. I then asked her how I can pray for her. This led her to open up and tell me she’s been backsliding and she is having a difficult time because she’s moving out of her parents\u0026rsquo; home. I was able to pray over her and invite her to young adults at my church. I am an awe of God because He knew that Jane needed this and I love being used by Him.\nI was able to serve at a Voice of the Refugees event. The Lord reminded me of the heart He has given me for refugees. After Israel and having been there during the war, the Lord began to do a work in my heart towards Muslims. I was always shut down to the idea of ministering to Muslims or going to the Middle East, because if you have read my previous newsletters, you’d know I have had a desire to go to an unreached, tribal country where no one has ever heard the name of Jesus; but the Lord is working on my heart, and I am open to whatever He wants! Barek and I are praying about going to the Middle East in October, and Lord willing, He will make a way.\nNew Opportunity\nI am excited that I will be taking over Saving Grace World Missions instagram! This was something the Lord gave me a desire for; He has been giving me ideas to expose what our church is doing in fulfilling the Great Commission. I can’t wait for what the Lord will bring from this!\nBarek here again! Among a few incredible opportunities that the Lord has led us into, one was being able to teach at the Young Adults camping retreat in San Clemente. It was a great weekend of beautiful weather, great teaching through Ephesians, and nights of worship. I was asked to teach a morning devotion on Colossians 3:1-3, setting our minds where Christ is seated! I am excited for opportunities like these, as they come. It is so easy for me to get in my head worrying about if I know enough to teach, or if I am in the right place, etc.; the bottom line is, walk in the Lord’s will, be available, and He will put things in your path, good works that He wants you to do; they have nothing to do with me or you or how adequate we are, just with how faithful we are.\nAnother cool answer to prayer that I’ve seen is how the Lord has been moving in our life group. This past week we had 19 people! Life groups have provided fellowship within the body in such an awesome way; it is held at my parents\u0026rsquo; home. It’s been special to see how the Lord has given them both such hearts to host and welcome everyone who comes, to show them the love of Christ. I had the privileged opportunity to lead the small group discussions at these life groups for a couple of weeks. It was a special time of discussing the Word, as Pastor Trent teaches through 1 Samuel on Sundays; it is also a really cool opportunity to see how leading a small group Bible study may very well look someday on the mission field! I have no doubt that the Lord is preparing Araceli and I for this in more ways than we even notice. We are so grateful.\nPraise Reports\nAraceli’s mom began reading the bible! This has been one of Araceli’s prayer request for months For the opportunities we have had and the Lord opening doors For life groups and the fellowship Prayer Request\nWe are launching a business, stay tuned for the next newsletter where we will talk more about it That we would grow in humility For provision for going on a vision tour to the Middle East Thank you for taking the time to read this newsletter! We appreciate your support through prayers and ask that you continue to seek the Lord with us in regards to this calling on our lives. If you feel led to partner with us financially, with a one-time or a recurring gift, it would be such a great blessing. There is a giving link below! God bless you, and please reach out with any questions or encouragements.\nTil’ Kingdom come,\nBarek \u0026amp; Araceli\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/opportunity-knocks-bear-araceli-may-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eJames‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭5‬ ‭\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello, Barek here! We are both so excited to welcome you to our conjoined newsletter. It is wild when we look back to over a year ago; we were communicating through email about CSOM, Araceli as an office admin and myself as a student, looking to set-up this very newsletter account! The same now as He did then, God has plans for us, and we can’t wait to share with you what has taken place the last few months. Thank you again for your prayers, support, and messages of encouragement!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Opportunity Knocks… - Bear \u0026 Araceli May Update"},{"content":" For the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.\nEPHESIANS 4:12-14\nLast year, I (Matt) was heartbroken to hear about the state of some churches from one of my students. He told me that he had recently moved to a village called Acet to open a drug store and plug into a local church. Acet had five evangelical churches, but they were all in disarray. In three out of the five churches, the pastors had recently been caught in adultery, their reputations were ruined, and their churches were in shambles. The fourth church had undergone a recent church split because the youth pastor refused to relinquish control back to the senior pastor when he returned from a long trip away. Finally, the fifth was overseen by an emotionally charged, unstable woman who changed her theology and direction weekly. Unfortunately, although I was heartbroken to hear about the state of the churches, I was not surprised. Because the zeal to further God’s Kingdom was not accompanied by knowledge of His Word, many churches have imploded, and many faiths have been shipwrecked.\nHowever, this week, I was encouraged to catch up with a good friend named Bismark Okwera, who graduated from our pastoral school in 2019. Bismark had witnessed many well-meaning pastors open churches and fail to maintain them. In most cases, when they fell into hard times financially, they turned to the more popular message of the prosperity cults to try and increase the offerings of their congregations. Desiring to avoid the temptation of following in their footsteps, Bismark and his wife worked hard for five years and saved their money by buying cattle. At the close of 2023, they sold five of their cows, used the money to make a down payment on two acres of land, and built a temporary church structure for a fellowship of people they had evangelized to and were actively discipling. Bismark and his wife Concy, one of my wife’s best friends, cleared the land and constructed the church building with their own four hands. By doing this, Bismark is protecting himself from future allegations of hidden motives and is providing the refugees with an example of a Godly work ethic.\nCalvary Chapel Ogili was planted adjacent to a large refugee camp in northern Uganda. They hold multilingual services to witness to those fleeing for their lives from war-torn areas in East Africa. Bismark and Concy also opened a nursery school that meets in their church building to minister to the refugees and help sustain the church financially.\nPlease pray for Calvary Chapel Ogili. Pray that God would continue to add to their number daily those who are being saved as Bismark and Concy faithfully teach God’s Word. May God bless you and continue to strengthen you in your faith. Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update May 2024"},{"content":"A poem about His sovereignty\nIt’s your power, it’s your plan.\nAbove all my thoughts, above all of man.\nThere I will rest, because your hand is great\nThere I will be blessed, because you carry the weight.\nIt’s not up to me, when I’m lost at sea.\nBut you have the power to redirect me.\nThough life goes up and life goes down.\nI’m focused on ONE imperishable crown.\nSo when I wonder, when I worry.\nBring me back to that assurance of eternity.\nThank you for how you lead, and how you guide.\nI am so in love with being your bride.\nGuys. God is so good! Have you ever been in a season where all you are is in AWE of what God is doing? That has been me recently. Even within hard times, when I feel the pruning… I get to choose to be focused on the flowers and fruit that bloom after the pruning, and when I do.. I can’t help but sing! I have watched God reveal Himself in crazy ways recently, and I’m excited to share all this fruit with you!\nDependency. That has been what I have been learning. What does true dependency on the Lord look like? Well, honestly I didn’t realize how much I depended on others until they weren’t there anymore. And I praise God that I was put in a season where it felt like nobody was there, because then all I could do was run to Him. Ever been in a season like that? The more I ran to the Lord and depended on Him FIRST, the more I learned about Him. The poem in the beginning really is the lesson I have been learning in this season of dependency. His plan is better than my thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). In Him I find rest because I know He takes care of everything (Matthew 11:28-30). Even if I take a wrong turn He is faithful to redirect (Jonah). Trials don’t compare to the glory which is eternity!(Romans 8:18) And I have learned to find that peace which surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:6-7). That is what you gain from dependency. Peace. Because when I was reminded of the realization, I can’t do it, I NEED God, I got filled with the PEACE of God which truly passes understanding. There is no other place I can find peace. I can confidently say that when I have Christ I am complete, because I know that those who seek him shall not lack any good thing.(Psalm 34:10)\nAs I learn more about who God is, I get the privilege to become more like Him! That’s what happens when we seek him. With that, I have had some awesome opportunities to display that love of Christ. The first one being at our Women’s Voice of the Refugee’s event. Where we gave refugee women the love of Christ through a spa day! There I volunteered to do henna which is similar to a temporary tattoo where you use this paste in a tube to draw a design on someone’s skin and as it dries it dyes the skin to be a hopefully, beautiful pattern. This was an awesome open door to love on refugee women around me. I had a good conversation with a young girl from Syria which ended with me giving her my number so that we can share our different cultures with each other through food! She mentioned that she loves tacos! So I jumped at the opportunity to make her tacos sometime and she agreed and said she would make one of her favorite dishes from her home as well. It was a sweet interaction and I’m looking forward to growing that relationship.\nSpeaking of tacos…Spanish ministry! I have had the privilege to spend time with our Spanish ministry more and more. And it has been a huge blessing! I have been able to be a part of a few gatherings within the ministry and have helped with worship both in English and Spanish. I definitely have a heart for Spanish speaking areas, and so what better way to begin equipping myself/learn Spanish than jumping at any opportunities I can to join our Spanish Ministry. Within the ministry I have been able to grow closer with people in it, but especially my new friend Katia. I met her through some other students and we were able to invite her to church and she kept coming because all she wanted to do was study the Bible! That is literally what she would tell us! She has now given her life to Christ and has been growing like crazy! God is so good! Watching her grow in Christ and be transformed has been such a huge highlight this past month! And has encouraged me to reflect on the faithful hand of God in my life personally. And I hope that encourages you to do the same!\nRecently I have also grown a desire to help teach those around me and around my age everything the Lord has taught me through His Word. This started when I went to the nearby college campus with some of the students with Pastor Nick who runs our Evangelism opportunities and was blessed to have a ton of conversations with believers who were needing encouragement. My heart started to ache realizing that not everyone gets fed as much as I do in the Word, and may not know these same truths. And the Lord really put it on my heart to be the one to step up, rather than praying for someone else to meet the clear need. And as I was praying what to do I had it on my heart to start a Bible study for young adult girls. After 2 weeks of praying for that, I started to get cold feet and doubts, worry, and the anxiety was overwhelming. But during one of our Tuesday School of Discipleship and School of Ministry class, the Lord confirmed it. The topic was stepping out in faith. And the example of stepping out in faith to maybe start a bible study was said as well as other things that confirmed all I was praying about. That night I knew I heard correctly, as I was so excited….as well as absolutely terrified but that’s beside the point. I then spoke with our other Young Adult girl leaders about what they thought and they mentioned they had been wanting to do something like that for awhile and just didn’t have the time. That was another way I saw it confirmed, so I stepped out and now it goes every other Saturday morning starting May 4th. I was further reminded while praying for the study of the verses 2 Corinthians 12:9-11, alongside Galatians 2:20. And I remembered it had nothing to do with my ability, but my AVAILABILITY. So, when the doubts and worry came, it didn’t matter because it’s Christ through me. All I have to do is be a willing vessel.\nWow, God has taught me a ton this past month. And honestly, I haven’t even scratched the surface on who He is, so I’m excited to keep learning and sharing with you all! Above anything else you think I may need, always begin and stay praying. I know these next steps are only possible with God and so I will be praying continually for His wisdom in every step I take. And I want to invite you to come alongside me in this work. We have an enemy. He is real. But, our God is greater. And life gets busy, but just as you have taken the time to read this newsletter, I ask you take time to pray for:\nThe finances needed to attend the Calvary School of Missions. The Lord to continue to break my heart for His people around the world. The salvation of my family and that I may be a bold ambassador for Jesus. Guidance as I teach the YA Girls Bible Study. Boldness for all my past/future evangelism opportunities. Like I mentioned in my prayer requests, there are the financial needs too. If you feel led to financially support my CSOM tuition, the cost of the program is $2,700 and so any kind of contribution would be a huge blessing! You can find the financial support button at the bottom of this page. If you’d like to hear more about what God’s been speaking or see more poems like the one at the beginning of the newsletter, please check out my blog page where I share a ton on all the awesome things God is doing every day!\nThank you so much!\nWith all joy,\nSerena Keeler\n/boubion/\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blooming-within-the-pruning-keeler-update-april-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA poem about His sovereignty\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s your power, it’s your plan.\u003cbr\u003e\nAbove all my thoughts, above all of man.\u003cbr\u003e\nThere I will rest, because your hand is great\u003cbr\u003e\nThere I will be blessed, because you carry the weight.\u003cbr\u003e\nIt’s not up to me, when I’m lost at sea.\u003cbr\u003e\nBut you have the power to redirect me.\u003cbr\u003e\nThough life goes up and life goes down.\u003cbr\u003e\nI’m focused on ONE imperishable crown.\u003cbr\u003e\nSo when I wonder, when I worry.\u003cbr\u003e\nBring me back to that assurance of eternity.\u003cbr\u003e\nThank you for how you lead, and how you guide.\u003cbr\u003e\nI am so in love with being your bride.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blooming Within the Pruning - Keeler Update April 2024"},{"content":"(Español abajo)\nWe are so grateful to God for everything that we have been able to do so far this year! Big shoutout and thank you to my (Brittany’s) Uncle Phil \u0026amp; Aunt Melinda for the backpacks that we got for our kids. The kids were very excited and grateful for their Christmas presents! (click here for more information about their backpack ministry)\nPraise God we were able to have another baptism Sunday! There were 5 people who got baptized. It was also very special for us because 2 were young men from our youth group! We thank God for the people who have made this decision, and we pray for those who are in our church who have yet to make this decision to take that step of faith to do so. (Click here to see more photos)\nIt has been such a blessing being able to have our own church building. We had a wonderful Easter week here in Calpulalpan. The church was able to have Easter week devotionals Monday through Friday, and an Easter concert on Friday as well! Our resurrection Sunday service was very full praise God! After service we were able to take family photos and of course share a meal together as the body of Christ to celebrate. (Click here to see more photos)\nIn February of this year we started up the Church planting class. It has been such a blessing to see how each of the students have grown over these few months. God is definitely moving in their hearts and we are excited to see the church plants that will come out of this class and the people and cities that will be bless by it!\nIt’s hard to believe that our church plant has just celebrated it 1 year anniversary! We are so grateful and amazed at what God has done here in Calpulalpan throughout this past year. After the Sunday service, we had a time of food and fellowship. There was also a time when we had an open mic time for people to share their testimonies. This was a very special time and it was very encouraging for us. It feels like every day God is confirming that this is where He wants us. One thing that we hear very often from people when they share their testimonies, is how they were abused in the churches that they had previously attended. Abused financially, hurt by selfish pastors and their wives, hurt by condescending congregants, etc. The two biggest things we hear about how Calvary Conexion Mexico is different is that they really feel the love of God, and that they have learned so much more in the one year that they have been with us studying verse by verse, than the many years at the other churches. (Click here for more photos) (Click here to watch the service)\nOur youth group was able to go on a little retreat in Cocoyoc, Morelos with Pastor Sergio Rojas and other youth groups from Acapulco, Mexico City and Texcoco. We had 15 of our people go, 2 adult leaders, 4 young adult leaders, and 9 youth kids. It was a great time for the youth to be able to fellowship with each other. They had time for games, teachings (one of which was taught by Brian on Christian dating and identity), worship (led by Brian, Kevin, and Aldrin), and pool time! This is something that is new here in southern Mexico, and we hope to be able to do more events like this in the future!\nUnfortunately, 6 days after we were loaned a small trailer to use as a little store to sell food and snacks to raise money for the church, someone broke in and stole. We had just finished our youth group study and worship practice. We had spent that day buying stuff to sell and cleaning up the trailer to use it the following day (Sunday). The lock we were going to use for the trailer didn’t fit. In the 20ish minutes we left to get a new lock, people came, cut open the fence, and stole most of the stuff out of the trailer. They took most of the stuff we had bought to sell, our 40-cup coffee maker, tea kettle, coffee grounds, sugar, creamer, and other miscellaneous items. Please pray for resources to be provided to be able to purchase these items again so we can continue our ministry and bless the city of Calpulalpan.\nPraise Reports: That we have given out over 30 Bibles to new believers, meaning that we have had about 30 professions of faith! That there has been a total of 15 people baptized in this past year That we have about 18 people currently serving in the church We are grateful that we have been able to continue with our mid-week Bible studies for men, women, and youth That we were loaned a small trailer, which we will use to sell food and snacks to raise funds for the church Prayer Requests: For resources to finish fencing in the whole property before August For the youth event that we are planning for August For the church planting class students to stay faithful to finish this semester For resources to finish the bathrooms and the classroom For our family’s health, and these past months have been rough for us health wise For protection for the church, pray for no more break-ins! Un Año Marcado por Su Fidelidad ¡Estamos muy agradecidos con Dios por todo lo que hemos podido hacer en este año! Un gran saludo y gracias a mi tío Phil y mi tía Melinda (de Brittany) por las mochilas que recibimos para nuestros niños. ¡Los niños estaban muy emocionados y agradecidos por sus regalos de Navidad! (haga clic aquí para obtener más información sobre su ministerio de mochilas)\n¡Gloria a Dios pudimos tener otro Domingo de bautismo! Fueron 5 personas las que se bautizaron. ¡También fue muy especial para nosotros porque 2 de ellos son dos chavos de nuestro grupo de jovenes! Damos gracias a Dios por las personas que han tomado esta decisión y oramos por aquellos que están en nuestra iglesia y que aún no han tomado la decisión de dar ese paso de fe para hacerlo. (Haga clic aquí para ver más fotos)\nHa sido una gran bendición poder tener nuestro propio edificio de iglesia. Tuvimos una maravillosa Semana Santa aquí en Calpulalpan. ¡La iglesia pudo tener devocionales de Semana Santa de lunes a viernes y también un concierto de Pascua el viernes! Estuvo lleno nuestro servicio del Domingo de Resurrección ¡alabado sea Dios! Después del servicio pudimos tomar fotos familiares y por supuesto compartir una comida juntos como cuerpo de Cristo para celebrar. (Haga clic aquí para ver más fotos)\nEn Febrero de este año iniciamos la clase de plantación de iglesias. Ha sido una gran bendición ver cómo cada uno de los estudiantes ha crecido durante estos meses. ¡Dios definitivamente se está moviendo en sus corazones y estamos emocionados de ver las iglesias plantadas que surgirán de esta clase y las personas y ciudades que serán bendecidas por ella!\n¡Es difícil creer que nuestra iglesia acaba de celebrar su primer aniversario! Estamos muy agradecidos y asombrados por lo que Dios ha hecho aquí en Calpulalpan durante este último año. Después del servicio dominical, tuvimos un tiempo de comida y compañerismo. También hubo un momento en el que tuvimos un tiempo de micrófono abierto para que la gente compartiera sus testimonios. Este fue un momento muy especial y fue muy animante para nosotros. Se siente como si cada día Dios estuviera confirmando que aquí es donde Él nos quiere. Una cosa que escuchamos muy a menudo de las personas cuando comparten sus testimonios es cómo sufrieron abusos en las iglesias a las que habían asistido anteriormente. Abusados ​​financieramente, heridos por pastores egoístas y sus esposas, heridos por congregantes condescendientes, etc. Las dos cosas más grandes que escuchamos acerca de cómo Calvary Conexión México es diferente es que realmente sienten el amor de Dios y que han aprendido mucho más en el año que han estado con nosotros estudiando versículo por versículo, que los muchos años en las otras iglesias. (Haga clic aquí para ver más fotos) (Haga clic aquí para ver el servicio)\nNuestro grupo de jóvenes pudo asistir a un pequeño retiro en Cocoyoc, Morelos con el Pastor Sergio Rojas y otros grupos de jóvenes de Acapulco, Ciudad de México y Texcoco. Asistieron 15 de nuestra iglesia, 2 líderes adultos, 4 líderes adultos jóvenes y 9 jóvenes. Fue un gran tiempo para que los jóvenes pudieran tener compañerismo. Tuvieron tiempo para juegos, enseñanzas (una de las cuales fue dada por Brian sobre el noviasgo e identidad cristianas), alabanza (dirigida por Brian, Kevin y Aldrin) y tiempo en la alberca. ¡Esto es algo nuevo aquí en el sur de México y esperamos poder realizar más eventos como este en el futuro!\nDesafortunadamente, 6 días después de que nos prestaron un pequeño remolque para usarlo como una pequeña tienda para vender comida y botanas para recaudar dinero para la iglesia, alguien entró por la fuerza y ​​robó. Acabábamos de terminar nuestro estudio del grupo de jóvenes y la práctica de adoración. Habíamos pasado ese día comprando cosas para vender y limpiando el remolque para usarlo al día siguiente (domingo). El candado que íbamos a utilizar para el remolque no encajaba. En los 20 minutos que salimos para conseguir un nuevo candado, vino gente, abrió la cerca y robó la mayoría de las cosas del remolque. Se llevaron la mayoría de las cosas que habíamos comprado para vender, nuestra cafetera de 40 tazas, la tetera, el café, el azúcar, la crema y otros artículos varios. Por favor oren para que se proporcionen recursos para poder comprar estos artículos nuevamente para que podamos continuar nuestro ministerio y bendecir la ciudad de Calpulalpan.\nReportes de Alabanza: ¡Que hemos repartido más de 30 Biblias a nuevos creyentes, lo que significa que hemos tenido alrededor de 30 profesiones de fe! Que ha habido un total de 15 personas bautizadas en este último año Que actualmente tenemos alrededor de 18 personas sirviendo en la iglesia. Estamos agradecidos de haber podido continuar con nuestros estudios Bíblicos entre la semana para hombres, mujeres y jóvenes. Que nos prestaron un pequeño remolque (caseta), que usaremos para vender comida y botanas para recaudar fondos para la iglesia Peticiones de Oracion: Por recursos para terminar el cercado de toda la propiedad antes del mes de Agosto Para el evento juvenil que estamos planeando para Agosto Para que los estudiantes de la clase de plantación de iglesias se mantengan fieles para terminar este semestre Por recursos para terminar los baños y el salón de niños en la iglesia Por la salud de nuestra familia, y estos últimos meses han sido duros para nosotros en cuanto a salud Por protección para la iglesia, oremos para que no haya más robos “En esto conocerán todos que sois mis discípulos, si tuviereis amor los unos con los otros.”\nJuan 13:35\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/one-year-marker-of-his-faithfulness-de-la-cruz-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e(Español abajo)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are so grateful to God for everything that we have been able to do so far this year! Big shoutout and thank you to my (Brittany’s) \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/philstruska\"\u003eUncle Phil\u003c/a\u003e \u0026amp; \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/melindastruska\"\u003eAunt Melinda\u003c/a\u003e for the backpacks that we got for our kids. The kids were very excited and grateful for their Christmas presents! (click \u003ca href=\"https://www.elev8ministry.org/s-projects-side-by-side?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR136HGzaxUY1MyDTyVrpvTh-b_u0qp9GiXfG0ZaL2-HaFkeE2v8NabH_tg_aem_AZf7AS2aUlHDF7CfPhV0r653-p1YZUNu1K8HokKgcAmx8rCx0w3utASpFb-L04jN8xHRAopH2GLAJcgro49U61rz\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e for more information about their backpack ministry)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG%5F6219-1-300x200.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePraise God we were able to have another baptism Sunday! There were 5 people who got baptized. It was also very special for us because 2 were young men from our youth group! We thank God for the people who have made this decision, and we pray for those who are in our church who have yet to make this decision to take that step of faith to do so. (Click \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/Iglesiacristianacalvaryconexionmexico/posts/pfbid032Jb1mCTGa2FNqDR8RbdGeBRGEMtrfJjm1GqUmq3zG15Zq79Z7S2zzVbUEPyPpnPal\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e to see more photos)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One Year Marker of His Faithfulness - De La Cruz Update May 2024"},{"content":" There always seems to be much to do, and sometimes it can be hard to balance all that’s before us. It can be so easy to get caught up and distracted in all of the little things that pop up in life that we can lose sight of what’s important. It can be far too easy to say yes and not have a plan to fulfill that word. There is a work– a task that He has called us to. If we allow Him, He will give us a grace that is sufficient for that task. It’s certainly not easy, but it’s worth it. He assures us that He will enable us by His grace to be all that He has called us to be. To give us the strength, and to empower our will by His Spirit for the glory of His name. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. There is nothing more worthy of our time and attention than the Lord, our relationship with Him, and what He has called us to.\nThese last several weeks have been a whirlwind. Just before April, I began my process for obtaining a religious workers residency to live and serve here in Peru. Shortly after, I was able to get a permission from immigration (as you’re not typically allowed to leave until you obtain the residency) to then go with our Pastor here to a conference in Mendoza, Argentina. That was all at the beginning of this month. The Lord provided. He opened doors, and He’s putting things in front of me to walk and serve in. There’s much to do, and as I’ve gotten older I like to be still–it’s stretching for me. Since we returned from Argentina, I’m excited to be back and to be serving as I’m taking on more responsibilities here with CBI Peru. Construction, on several fronts, is still under way, and my schedule is well balanced between responsibilities in construction and administration with the school. Much is happening here and God is doing a great work! I got to sit in on our Nehemiah class that Pastor Cory taught–it was a blessing! Seeing Nehemiah’s heart of service and devotion in the face of some overwhelming opposition. Seeing his faithfulness despite the opposition because he knew the thing that God had called him to… and that was to help rebuild the wall of the city of his ancestors. The Lord provided him all he needed, and He does the same for us today. For you and me. He’s been doing so with the church, and ministry of Calvary Trujillo. We’ve moved to two services a Sunday and we’re already very full, and more are giving their lives to the Lord. He is raising up people to serve and be a blessing where there are needs, and the CBI students are closely involved with what’s happening in the church. Growth is happening, and I’m excited to see all that the Lord is doing!\nWe just returned from our week of missions, and I was a part of the team that went to Moyobamba, a city in the jungle. It was a really sweet time, but I’ll share more about that in my May update–God is doing an incredible work there too!\nHow to Get Involved\nPrayer! I need your prayers. For myself, for my walk with the Lord, that I would represent Him well in the work He has called me to, and that I would continue to be busy about the business He has called me to. We are helping train up the next generation of church planters, pastors, and missionaries here in Peru and God is doing a great work! And further expansion in the time to come. Would you please continue to pray for us? For this ministry? For my role in it and that God would make and keep me faithful in what He has called me to, and that I would help relieve burdens in ministry wherever He allows me. That I would point everyone here to a risen King and Savior, and that I would exemplify His heart, His love, and His forgiveness in all things. What He has called me to is worthy of my all because He first gave Himself for me. He is the goal, He is the prize, and He is absolutely worthy.\nEmpowering by the Spirit Using my time well For immigration process to finish well and smoothly To have eyes to see what He’s doing To be led of the Spirit For strength and endurance Summer internship Next semester What’s Coming Up\nIf you could please be praying for this summer, we have graduation in 3 weeks (2 more classes), and I am gaining more responsibility for the coming semester. Please pray for students to finish well. We also have our upcoming “Summer of Missions” program, pray all those who will come and intern over the summer to learn and that the Lord would cultivate a heart of surrender and to live on mission. Please pray for this upcoming semester that all who attend and serve would draw closer to the Lord and be better equipped for the life the Lord has called them to. Please pray for wisdom for the church and our pastors as we are needing to keep up with the growth that is taking place.\nService Opportunity!!\nIf any of you would be interested in interning over the summer we will have a 6-week missions training program (for those ages 18-29) where we will go through the book of acts and spend three 2-week periods in three different locations (here in Trujillo and in the jungle) serving and coming alongside church plants. If that sounds like something you would be interested in, please let me know!! I’ll put the link below so you can come check it out. Please let me know if you have any questions.\nI love you all and am so glad to have your prayers and support. What I am doing here would not be possible without you–thank you!\nBendiciones,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/worthy-of-my-attention-voisin-update-april-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG-20240507-WA0056-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere always seems to be much to do, and sometimes it can be hard to balance all that’s before us. It can be so easy to get caught up and distracted in all of the little things that pop up in life that we can lose sight of what’s important. It can be far too easy to say yes and not have a plan to fulfill that word. There is a work– a task that He has called us to. If we allow Him, He will give us a grace that is sufficient for that task. It’s certainly not easy, but it’s worth it. He assures us that He will enable us by His grace to be all that He has called us to be. To give us the strength, and to empower our will by His Spirit for the glory of His name. It’s not easy, but it’s worth it. There is nothing more worthy of our time and attention than the Lord, our relationship with Him, and what He has called us to.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Worthy of My Attention… - Voisin Update April 2024"},{"content":"‘’ I (Jesus) will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’’\nMatthew 16:18.\nWe have been experiencing the activities of forces of darkness to stop the growth of the church, but it is the promise of our Lord that they shall not prevail. Every Sunday, churches are attacked by the Hindu fanatics who are assisted by the local police and government officials. A few churches in our town have been closed down.\nIn such a situation, we planned a graduation service for our CBI graduating students on April 7th. We booked a venue owned by a mainline church, but they canceled the booking on Saturday the 6th at 9 pm. After having our booked avenue for our graduation program cancel, we immediately informed all the people who were invited about the cancellation of our program. On Sunday, April 7, we instead had a graduation ceremony with our local church members and students’ families at the same place were meet for Sunday worship after our church service.\nThe same day, Sunday, April 7th, the Hindu fanatical groups had planned to attack three more house churches. On the 6th, one police officer gave this information to the President of a district Christian group. Knowing this, one house church canceled their Sunday service. The Hindu fanatics went there to attack, but they found no one. They then went to the next church that was their target. There the worship service was going on. The fanatics started disrupting and shouting, but they could not enter the church because the police and other government officials had already come. But when the believers were sent home by the police, they were beaten up as they came out of the church. Vehicles, CCTV camera etc. were also damaged.\nThe news came to me through one of the local pastors that anytime the Hindu fanatics could reach to our church as well. Their third target was a church according to the police in our area. We finished our graduation program quickly, distributed snacks and dispersed. Instead of having lunch we had a graduation dinner secretly in one of our church member\u0026rsquo;s house.\nThe next day, two of our co-workers and I went to the head officer of the district along with district Christian leaders (from a united Christian group) to give a petition about the above matter. We also submitted the trust registration copy. By God’s grace, the collector permitted us and eighteen other house churches to continue our church services. He assured us that whoever is creating the problem will have action taken against them.\nPeople are scared because of the persecution and church attendance in many churches has decreased. But praise the Lord! He added one more soul to our fellowship. This sister had been attending our fellowship. She has now decided to fully follow the Lord by being baptized (above). She is from a Hindu family. We praise God for He is on the throne. He is drawing people to himself and the devil can’t stop him.\nThank you for your prayers and financial support! We pray for you and your family.\nGod bless,\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/standing-on-gods-promises-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e‘’ I (Jesus) will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.’’\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew 16:18.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/1880109e-610e-4f5e-9590-0a60ce00c59f.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/e5d995bf-45ec-4730-9387-ef920d62408a.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have been experiencing the activities of forces of darkness to stop the growth of the church, but it is the promise of our Lord that they shall not prevail. Every Sunday, churches are attacked by the Hindu fanatics who are assisted by the local police and government officials. A few churches in our town have been closed down.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\u003cstrong\u003eStanding On God's Promises\u003c/strong\u003e"},{"content":" Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.\nActs 14:23\nDear Friends and Family,\nRecently I shared about the church growing and maturing. It has been such a blessing to see the members grow and desire to serve the Lord according to the gifts they have been given.\nSome of the people who have been serving have served with Arise Christian Fellowship since before the church even began and we were still meeting in our home. One of these is the Assistant Pastor, Deo Mukasa. Deo, went to Calvary Chapel Bible College with Brian and they graduated together. When Calvary Chapel Entebbe was first beginning he was a part of the church plant there. When Brian first felt called to begin the market ministry here in Kampala and we were have a Bible study at our house, he felt led to ask Deo to come and help out and assist him. For 10 years now the 2 men have served side by side.\nAs the Lord has been raising up more and more volunteers to serve at our church Deo has felt the Lord stirring his heart to plant a church in his village, a suburb to the west of Kampala, where he grew up. He said that about one year ago he was visiting and someone in the village asked what he was doing these days and he shared that he was a pastor at a church in Kampala. He was then asked why didn’t he come and share Jesus with the people of that village? Deo says that those words stayed in his mind like they were being said over and over. Then one day when he was reading his Bible he was reading about God punishing the Israelites for doing evil in His sight and how then after sometime they cried out to Him and He heard them and sent an army to deliver them. Deo says that the story pierced his heart and he felt that the man asking him to come was like the Israelites finally asking for God’s help and that the constant replaying of that request was the Lord calling Him to share Jesus with this village. Since January, Deo has been going every Wednesday and evangelizing and sharing a Bible study with anyone that would listen. Like the beginning of Arise Christian Fellowship, they have just been meeting outside. A couple of people from our church have joined Deo in his mission to reach the people of Bujuuko. As they have been faithful to share Jesus, a lady from the community has been moved to offer them a room to meet in. With this blessing the team will hold their first Sunday church service this month.\nI have said that Deo is not alone on the church plant team for Bujuuko. As He has been praying and going there to minister, a team has formed around him to help out. They began going with him just to pray but now they have all found a place where God wants them to serve.\nFirst there is Wilson. Wilson is a young man in his twenties. Deo has been discipling him. When Deo started going out to Bujuuko on Wednesdays, Wilson would go with him. On the church plant team he is helping with evangelism and logistics. He is like the Timothy of Paul in the Bible.\nNext we have Hope. Hope is very active in our church. She loves to sing and dance. She serves in the Sunday school. She also translates for my Women’s Bible study. Deo says that he is “vocally challenged” when it comes to singing. As the prayer and evangelism times turned into a study he began to pray for someone to lead worship. When Hope heard this request she felt the Lord nudge her to step up and volunteer to help.\nThe final member of the team is Peace. Peace is better known by most as Nalongo. Nalongo means mother of twins. She is not just a mother of one set, but of two sets of twins. Peace has been a part of our fellowship for many years. We have known her pretty much since she got saved from her Muslim family over 14 years ago. Peace has been helping in our Sunday school and is part of Women’s Ministry. Peace is amazing with children. She is serving alongside Deo teaching the children.\nRecently we had a sending service for the whole team as they prepare to launch Sunday Services at Arise Bujuuko. Deo gave his testimony of how God called him and what the response has been there in Bujuuko. He introduced the members of the church planting team. Brian and the elders laid hands on them and prayed for them. The church also had some gifts to present to them to help them get started: chairs, and amplified speaker and a keyboard. After the service we celebrated with the cutting of a cake. Brian and I, the team and the whole of Arise Christian Fellowship are excited to see what God is going to do.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us and for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. Please pray for all the volunteers at Arise Christian Fellowship, both old and new. Pray for them to be filled with the Spirit and gifted for the ministries they are doing. Pray for the new church plant, Arise Bujuuko. Pray for the team to be filled and encouraged, pray for many people to come to know Jesus. Pray also for Pastor Deo as he takes on the role of Senior pastor. Pray for him to be filled with the Spirit, led, and guided in the new ministry. Pray for the Kanyike children as it seems likely they will be called very soon for their citizenship interview. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePaul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eActs 14:23\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecently I shared about the church growing and maturing. It has been such a blessing to see the members grow and desire to serve the Lord according to the gifts they have been given.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome of the people who have been serving have served with Arise Christian Fellowship since before the church even began and we were still meeting in our home. One of these is the Assistant Pastor, Deo Mukasa. Deo, went to Calvary Chapel Bible College with Brian and they graduated together. When Calvary Chapel Entebbe was first beginning he was a part of the church plant there. When Brian first felt called to begin the market ministry here in Kampala and we were have a Bible study at our house, he felt led to ask Deo to come and help out and assist him. For 10 years now the 2 men have served side by side.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update May 2024"},{"content":"By Paul Boubion, May 2024 family update!\nThis is my dad and me about 8 or 9 years ago. He loved his hats and beanies! This March 14, 2024, at the age of 89, he went home to be with his Lord.\nHave you heard this phrase? “God is good all the time! And all the time, God is Good!”\nDoes it sound cliché? Is it true? As we all struggle through trials and tribulations, we may wonder, “where is God?” This is what the Psalmist sang 3000 years ago: “ My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “ Where is your God?” – Psalm 42:3\nMy father LOVED Psalm 42 and shared it many times! I will always remember how he quoted verse 1:\n“ As the deer longs for the running waters,\nso my soul longs for you, O God ”\nWhen my dad could still think clearly, he longed to be with the Lord. He continually repeated “I love God” and “God is Love” even as dementia took him. We have been saying goodbye for many years.\nI had a great father and loved him dearly! I miss him, but I am eternally grateful to God for him!\nYet, I will see him again! I hope all who read this will be part of the Heavenly multitude worshipping and praising God before his throne (that’s described at the end of the Bible!) Thanks be to God!\nI leave you this thought found throughout Scripture as we all experience loss and trials:\n“ Why am I so sad? Why am I so troubled? I will put my hope in God, and once again I will praise him, my savior and my God.”\nPsalm 42:11\nThank you, to everyone for your love and condolences!\n‭We have been living in Mexico for nearly 3 years. I have been reflecting on the great blessing it has been to serve the Lord here and how much we have learned! A special thanks to all you who take the time to read these updates and support us!\nBiblical Counseling Mini-Conference\nIn March, we organized our annual Biblical Counseling mini-conference! This is the first time we planned an evening conference to be available to working individuals who may not be able to attend on Saturday! It was well attended.\nThe Bilingual Women’s study:\n“Women of Worth and Purpose” recently made its first local mission trip to Calvary Otay to do a women’s event. For some of the ladies, this was their first mission trip and they loved it!\nPoiema is at CBI Peru for the semester and will return for the Summer soon!\nCristian continues to enjoy his last year of Preparatoria and is constantly studying Spanish vocabulary and grammar as he prepares to attend college in Mexico next year.\nTeaching and Translating\nRecently we had the blessing of receiving Rob and Heidi Douglass from CCSG and Ends of the Earth Ministries where Rob is the director. He taught our Church Planting class and the church congregation on Wednesday night where I got to translate him into Español! (Check out Rob’s message on Youtube) https://www.youtube.com/live/3S90jR_ZYiY?si=r-L2b5Fa2hVmSdN3\nMy main ministry is pastoring and helping through our Biblical Counseling ministry, but occasionally I get to teach! I had the privilege of teaching our Wednesday night Bible study in the Book of Acts on April 17. Here is the link! https://www.youtube.com/live/BYhx7YnF-lI?si=okdfOXThNEjBgRMN\nWe stream services on Facebook live and then save them to our Youtube channel.\nClaudia and I will be teaching on Women’s Ministry and Biblical Counseling at the 2024 Church Planting conference.\nMy next big project is to create a website for our counseling materials in Spanish and English and make it available through our church website calvaryrosarito.com\nPrayer requests:\nFor our children Claudia to co-lead the women’s bilingual study with wisdom, grace, and love. Biblical Counseling ministry: to better manage the growing number of people requesting help. Balance our family life, parenting, and above all, time with Jesus individually. For my mom Joanne and our desire to visit her more frequently. The upcoming Church Planting Conference this August 2-3, 2024 Claudia will be leading her first missions trip to Morelia June 20-24. Logistics, finances, and spiritual \u0026amp; physical health for each member of the team. Praise Reports!\nWomen’s bilingual Bible study is going great! Including a Facebook live stream! Thursdays @6:50pm Successful missions trip to Calvary Otay Mesa Counseling is going great for Claudia! Paul exited teaching at the rehab clinic and is now discipling men Thursday nights Cristian is doing great at school, church, and personally. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-good-all-the-time-boubion-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBy Paul Boubion, May 2024 family update!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/P1010649-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis is my dad and me about 8 or 9  years ago. He loved his hats and beanies! This March 14, 2024, at the age of 89, he went home to be with his Lord.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHave you heard this phrase? “God is good all the time! And all the time, God is Good!”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDoes it sound cliché? Is it true? As we all struggle through trials and tribulations, we may wonder, “where is God?” This is what the Psalmist sang 3000 years ago:  “ \u003cem\u003eMy tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “\u003c/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eWhere is your God?\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e” – Psalm 42:3\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God is Good All the Time! - Boubion Update May 2024"},{"content":"Our Heavenly Father is on the move in our hearts and in our lives. It is so amazing to see the hand of the Lord at work when He wants to get things done. Philippians 4:6 comes to mind. Prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, and asking, according to His will. We serve a miraculous God.\nAs you may know we have been in Iquitos, Peru for a little over a month and a half. Our heart has been to get on the river and train pastors in remote places on the Amazon. What we have found is the great need and desire the river pastors have for biblical training. The question is, Lord, how do we do this? No boat, no base of operations, no knowledge of the river, no connections. The Lord delivers!\nWe were invited on a trip to a place called Cushillo Cocha. We were traveling with 414 Missions which is led by Jim and Chrystal Boothe. They have the same heart and vision as we do for river pastors and we went to Cushillo Cocha to help train about 12 pastors and 13 leaders from various river communities. It was an incredible trip and our hearts were knit together to labor in this ministry.\nAs our trip was coming to a close, Jim asked us if we would be interested in running a base of operations for pastoral training out of a small river community 4 hours upriver called, Cochiquinas. This was an area we had been praying about since Ryan and a group of guys took a trip to the Amazon last June/July. Jim had already taken us to Cochiquinas on the way up to Cushillo Cocha and kind of planted the seed in our mind of doing ministry from this location. So, by the end of the trip, when he offered it, we were confident this was the Lord’s plan, so we agreed.\nOne of the amazing aspects of this whole project is that Jim and Chrystal spent the last year building a beautiful jungle home, with solar, water filtration, and a garden. They tore down a bar and built a training center/church with a kitchen and bathrooms. They drilled a well on another piece of property and they have a piece of property for agriculture (some of the property donated to them by the leaders of the community). Jim told us, it is yours to use, we have freedom to use it all for ministry. We were blown away. We had been praying for all these things and it was an impossibility, from the perspective of our feeble human minds. Our plan is to move to Cochiquinas in July. What is impossible for Yahweh, the Lord of all creation? Now that this reality has set in, Lord what would you have us to do?\nOur priority will be to the local pastors, training and equipping them. There are at least 20 communities within an hour and a half boat ride from Coachiquinas, better than L.A traffic. We don’t have a boat and that is a major form of transportation. Jim told me that he has a 30 foot outboard that he will co-op with us, so we are going to be talking about what that looks like financially, but that will be such a blessing! There is also a 40hp small aluminum boat for ministry in Cochiquinas that we will be able to use as well. Truly, God has gone before us.\nThis is where the plot thickens. After this crazy trip, we went back to the river the following week to a community called Oran. Pastor Victor and I went to meet and teach 7 pastors and leaders from local communities. It was a blessed time. God began to stir my heart to question these pastors about who they are discipling to take their place if the Lord called them home (half the pastors were 55 or older). They all said they have no one. I asked them, if we had a base where they could send us some of their young men for discipleship, would they be interested? By the end of our time there we already had them signing up for something we were not prepared for. We prayed for a couple weeks.\nI called Jim of 414 missions, and asked him what he thought about the idea. He got excited and said that we can use the training center to house and train them. Our prayer right now is using the training center for a Bible college to train future pastors and home Bible study leaders through an 8-month program. The river communities do not have the finances to send their students, so we will have to provide financially for their transportation and basic living necessities. We are planning to start next March with 5-10 students. So grateful for what the Lord does through His will, through His saints!\nDuring our remaining time in Iquitos we have been able to share at several local churches, train pastors once a week from the local river communities and churches, share the Word on a local Christian radio station and we are praying about a young adult study on Mondays. Please also keep in prayer the people who we share the gospel with, that they would trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.\nWell if you stayed to the end, you are a trooper. Please keep us in prayer.\nCon mucho amor,\nRyan and Karen\nLocal cuisine, wildlife, and airport in Caballo Cocha\nPrayer Requests:\nPeople and churches to partner with us financially and physically Pastors and teachers who would like to come and teach block classes Someone who would like to teach English, they all want to learn Patience and perseverance, this is going to be an investment of time and resources ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/answered-prayers-gause-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur Heavenly Father is on the move in our hearts and in our lives. It is so amazing to see the hand of the Lord at work when He wants to get things done. Philippians 4:6 comes to mind. Prayer, supplication, thanksgiving, and asking, according to His will. We serve a miraculous God.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG%5F0389.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG%5F0385.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG%5F0419.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG%5F0136.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/IMG%5F0092.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e     As you may know we have been in Iquitos, Peru for a little over a month and a half. Our heart has been to get on the river and train pastors in remote places on the Amazon.  What we have found is the great need and desire the river pastors have for biblical training. The question is, Lord, how do we do this? No boat, no base of operations, no knowledge of the river, no connections. The Lord delivers!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Answered Prayers - Gause Update May 2024"},{"content":"It’s crazy to believe it’s been about a month since I last wrote. A lot has happened since I wrote last time. There have been ups and downs, events, and fun things to share. I’m excited to share some things God has done in the past month.\nDivine Appointments During my time at the Missions Training School (MTS), I have talked to a lot of people during work, classes, and outreaches. One of the most notable ones happened recently at a college campus outreach. At the beginning of our time at Cal State Fullerton, I noticed a girl was standing by some table materials. She was one of the only people in sight who wasn’t looking preoccupied with school or her phone so I walked up to her. I began as usual asking her what she thought about the afterlife. At first, she was a little stunned but responded and we talked about heaven and hell which she believed in. Like most people I meet she was quick to say the way you get to heaven is through good works. During our time talking, I noticed she had a strangely familiar accent. At one point it all clicked when she told me she was Jewish. For those who know me well enough, I’m not a very animated person most of the time but I was thrilled. It was such an open door because I have lived in Israel. I started to share about how Jesus is the promised Messiah. Then she brought up the question skeptically. What does the church think about Israel? This was another awesome opportunity to share that God is faithful to keeping His promises to the nation Israel and not only that but since He’s faithful to His people Israel, He’s faithful to save all those who call out to Him. It was an amazing moment. Yet also looking back at it, it was a sad moment. Here is a Jew, who is one of God’s chosen people and all she knows about Jesus is how His followers have been abandoning Israel. Despite all that, she heard the full gospel and hopefully, we can stay in contact as she plans on teaching a class on Hebrew which I want to attend. Please keep her in your prayers and pray for more opportunities to share with her.\nTeaching/Class One of the core parts of the Missions Training School is our preaching class. While it’s certainly not easy, it is one of the highlights of my week. During my time here I have taught through 2 books, Philippians and Jonah. At MTS, each student is required to teach an allotted amount of Scripture every week. For example, last week all first-year MTS students will be taught 1 Timothy 1:12-20. So during the week we are tasked with properly exegeting a passage (drawing out from the text what is already there). Like any Calvary Chapel, we learn to teach verse by verse through the whole book. Once we have prepared a sermon with an accompanying PowerPoint and paper handout, then we preach in front of the pastoral staff and our peers. Through this, I have learned so much about properly breaking down a text and learning to share from it. Not only that but I’ve watched the things I’m teaching being applied in my own life.\nWhat’s Next? One of the things I love about the Missions Training School is that there are opportunities to go to unreached countries all around us. Our church is constantly sending out missionaries. As I seek the Lord for what He has next for me, I’m praying about going on various Vision Tours. If you’re not familiar with what a vision tour is, neither was I until I got here. A vision tour is simply a trip to another country where we get to go and seek the Lord in said country to see the works already going on and to wait and see what the Lord would want to do. Thankfully there is one coming up in the fall which I plan to go to. Please pray the Lord would show me where He wants me as I plan on going.\nPrayer/Praise Reports Pray for the College Campus outreaches as we are praying that God would open a door for us to be established as a club on both campuses Pray for our Israeli friend that God would open her heart to the gospel Pray that God would raise up more laborers to go out evangelizing to the Jews Pray that God would provide for the upcoming vision tours Praise God for our friend Jessica (from the last newsletter) who has been to almost every event Saving Grace has Praise God for our friend Kyle who has had it on his heart to go to France and share the gospel with some of his friends Praise God that He continues to work in our Young Adults group to bring new people Thank you all again for all the prayers and support. I’m so excited about what the Lord will have in store for the next Newsletter. If you have any questions or want to hear more, feel free to reach out to me via email. If you would like to support me financially there is a link below. Thank you all again. God bless you.\nGive\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/what-am-i-passionate-about-sanchez-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt’s crazy to believe it’s been about a month since I last wrote. A lot has happened since I wrote last time. There have been ups and downs, events, and fun things to share. I’m excited to share some things God has done in the past month.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"divine-appointments\"\u003eDivine Appointments\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring my time at the Missions Training School (MTS), I have talked to a lot of people during work, classes, and outreaches. One of the most notable ones happened recently at a college campus outreach. At the beginning of our time at Cal State Fullerton, I noticed a girl was standing by some table materials. She was one of the only people in sight who wasn’t looking preoccupied with school or her phone so I walked up to her. I began as usual asking her what she thought about the afterlife. At first, she was a little stunned but responded and we talked about heaven and hell which she believed in. Like most people I meet she was quick to say the way you get to heaven is through good works. During our time talking, I noticed she had a strangely familiar accent. At one point it all clicked when she told me she was Jewish. For those who know me well enough, I’m not a very animated person most of the time but I was thrilled. It was such an open door because I have lived in Israel. I started to share about how Jesus is the promised Messiah. Then she brought up the question skeptically. What does the church think about Israel? This was another awesome opportunity to share that God is faithful to keeping His promises to the nation Israel and not only that but since He’s faithful to His people Israel, He’s faithful to save all those who call out to Him. It was an amazing moment. Yet also looking back at it, it was a sad moment. Here is a Jew, who is one of God’s chosen people and all she knows about Jesus is how His followers have been abandoning Israel. Despite all that, she heard the full gospel and hopefully, we can stay in contact as she plans on teaching a class on Hebrew which I want to attend. Please keep her in your prayers and pray for more opportunities to share with her.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What Am I Passionate About? - Sanchez Update April 2024"},{"content":"Hola!\nWe pray this newsletter finds you well! We’ve got updates and pictures from CBI Peru, Calvary Trujillo, our recent mission trip to Moyobamba, and of course some prayer requests and praise reports to share with you.\n“…and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”\nMatthew 16:18\nJesus really is the One who builds His church. He is adding to the church here in Trujillo — we’re now at two services on Sunday mornings, and the home fellowships and midweek Bible studies are often full. Calvary Bible Institute Peru has also been growing — two new students signed up to live on campus midway through the semester, along with a few others who are living off-campus.\nThe semester at CBI Perú is wrapping up, and we’ve had teachers from different parts of the U.S. and Perú come to teach classes on 1 \u0026amp; 2 Kings, the Pastoral Epistles, Ephesians, Hebrews, Nehemiah, Daniel, Song of Solomon, and currently, 1 Corinthians. God is truly transforming students’ hearts and minds as they diligently study and soak in the Word of God. We’ve seen big changes in some of the students’ attitudes, and they are learning not just how to be adults, but how to follow Jesus, and stick to the Bible as the guide for their lives.\nA young student, we’ll call him “J,” was ready to pack up and leave after his first week here. He wasn’t used to living away from family, sharing a room with other students, or living in Perú in general. The balance of serving and working hard at the church and keeping up with his studies was a challenge for him. He bought flights without telling staff or his parents, and was going to sneak out and leave. But his mom called him, and he confessed to her and chose to stay. “J” has since been a really faithful student. On his turn to share a devotional with the school one morning recently, he told us what happened at the beginning of the semester. He compared himself to the prophet Jonah, who was running away from what God had commanded him to do. “J” is growing in his humility and his teamwork, and plans to stay here for three more semesters and finish the program at CBI Perú. Please keep him and other students like him in your prayers.\nThank you for praying also for our mission trip! We split in to three teams to visit three different churches here in Perú and serve alongside them for a week. I (Shilo) had the privilege to lead the team to Moyobamba, where we visited our friends and church planters Pastor Andrew, Jesús, and Yenry. The week was full of great things.\nSome highlights from our trip to Moyobamba:\nWe got to prepare and deliver “bags of love” that had dry goods like rice, beans, and canned food to families in need. The director of an institute in Moyobamba has become a friend of Pastor Andrew’s, and he prepared every classroom to receive our team in small groups, where we shared testimonies, a message from the Bible, gave gospel invitations, and invited them to Calvary Moyobamba. We also gave some love to the church’s property — framing up walls for a storage area upstairs, texturing, and pouring some new concrete to upstairs walls, and giving fresh coats of paint to everywhere we could.\nThe entire trip was a demonstration of God’s faithfulness, and continuing to build up His church. The Moyobambinos were encouraged, and our team who travelled 20 hours by bus from Trujillo were likewise encouraged. 14 people were baptized the Sunday we left, and our team got to make great connections with many of them! God is really blowing us away with what He’s doing in this church plant that started only about 6 months ago.\nPersonally God has really been building us up recently also. Easter was a great time of reflection and rejoicing in our risen King. My (Shilo’s) parents were here visiting for a week around that time as well, and that was a blast. They met all of the Bible college staff and students, came and worshiped with us at the services, and we got to share some quality time out and about as well. Racquell and I both felt encouraged and glad to share time with family. Having extra baby-sitters for Amalia was great, too. Love you, Mom and Dad!\nWe’re also excited to share that we’ll be leading a program THIS summer, to introduce young people to foreign missions, and give an introduction and Biblical view of what “missions” is. It’s designed for English speakers aged 18-29 years old. Check out this short video for more information.Summer Missions Internship, June 22nd-July 31st\nIf you would like to apply, or know someone who may be interested, please contact us directly by responding to this email, or visit Calvaryperu.com and click on “Summer Missions Internship.” We’re excited for what God has in store this summer!\nThank you so much for keeping our family, and the ministries of CBI Peru and Calvary Trujillo in your prayers. We would not be here if it were not for prayer. We’ve seen God answering prayers in our own lives and the lives of others, and we look forward to His continued faithfulness. May His will be done.\nSome current prayer requests:\nThe students at CBI Peru to finish the semester strong Good rest at night (Amalia has been difficult lately– she’s our toddler with teeth poking through and needs a lot of attention) Wisdom in how to organize and plan for the Summer Missions Internship People to come to the Summer Missions Internship, and that their lives would be changed For continued unity and humility among the leadership team Grace to be prepared for the growth God is bringing as He’s building His church here Continued love and dependence on Jesus in our personal lives THANK YOU FOR PRAYING!\nWe love you all so much and thank you for partnering with us. Through your prayers and generous financial support, you have made this ministry possible for us, and we want to let you know that this is the fruit of your labor as well. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support, you can do so by clicking on the financial button below or mailing your support check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note “Stratton” in memo*\nTo check out the ministry we are serving with, please click the link below or find us on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube:\nCalvaryperu.com\nBy the grace of Jesus and for His glory,\nThe Stratton Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/jesus-the-builder-stratton-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHola!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe pray this newsletter finds you well! We’ve got updates and pictures from CBI Peru, Calvary Trujillo, our recent mission trip to Moyobamba, and of course some prayer requests and praise reports to share with you.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“…and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew 16:18\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJesus really is the One who builds His church. He is adding to the church here in Trujillo — we’re now at two services on Sunday mornings, and the home fellowships and midweek Bible studies are often full. Calvary Bible Institute Peru has also been growing — two new students signed up to live on campus midway through the semester, along with a few others who are living off-campus.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Jesus the Builder - Stratton Update"},{"content":" Last month, we were able to hike with a team to reach a new mountain area and it was one of the most blessed opportunities for us. The place is inhabited by tribal people that follow Buddhism. They are strict in their beliefs and culture. However, we were able to take the gospel of good news to that isolated and difficult land.\nGod is so wonderful that He provided a team from another Calvary Chapel to venture with us. We were altogether a team of 20 (8 from the states and 12 Nepalis) along with some porters hiking for many hours into the highs and lows of mountain.\nWe were warned in advance that the place is strictly prohibited for sharing the good news and people are hostile toward any new teachings. However, upon reaching there we found the opposite was true. The people were in fact very kind and welcoming. As we started to share, the people began to gather and heard the gospel enthusiastically. We thank God that He opened the heart of these people and the door for this opportunity. We are happy that the seed has been sown in this prohibited location, probably for the first time.\nWe are trusting that God will do wonderful work in this area by bringing these mountain people in His Kingdom.\nHere are some prayer requests:\nWe are trusting God to change the hearts of people where gospel fell, and turn to Jesus. For the local pastor in a nearby mountain area that helped lead us to this new place as he needs God’s guidance, wisdom and filling of the Spirit in coming days. We are thankful for this mission, and may God bless the team in the days ahead. Pray for us also for His guidance, strength and wisdom as my wife and I will be parents soon. Thank you for your prayers,\nPastor Raju and Srijana\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/taking-the-good-news-to-an-isolated-land-pastor-raju-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/image0.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month, we were able to hike with a team to reach a new mountain area and it was one of the most blessed opportunities for us. The place is inhabited by tribal people that follow Buddhism. They are strict in their beliefs and culture. However, we were able to take the gospel of good news to that isolated and difficult land.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod is so wonderful that He provided a team from another Calvary Chapel to venture with us. We were altogether a team of 20 (8 from the states and 12 Nepalis) along with some porters hiking for many hours into the highs and lows of mountain.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Taking the Good News to an Isolated Land - Pastor Raju Update May 2024"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico. In this update I wanted to tell you about our upcoming church plant. (It will be #40) I met my good friend Humberto Ambriz over 5 years ago and I want to share his testimony with you. Humberto immigrated to the United States from Michoacan when he was just 8 years old with his family! He later married, worked, raised three children, and retired, all while serving in Christian churches for the past 25 years. And throughout that time, Humberto felt a burning desire to return to his home-state to church plant, even though he had no idea how that could ever happen.\nFive years ago I invited Humberto to our church planting conference where God spoke to him clearly that this was God’s retirement plan for him and his wife Miriam. Fast forward four years later, and Humberto moved down to Rosarito to join up with our church staff and church planting program. He has plans to plant his church, Calvary Del Lago (Calvary of the Lake) in August of this year.\nBesides learning to teach the Bible creatively verse-by-verse, our church planting program also includes serving in all of the different ministries we have at the church! Humberto has thrived in every area that I have assigned him. It is wonderful to see Humberto working side by side with our 20 something year old interns all serving the Lord together joyfully.\nHumberto was born in the beautiful Mexican state of Michoacan! And God has placed on his heart to church plant in a historic city called Patzcuaro! This city is the ancient Mexican capital of this state and has a mostly unreached population of over 100,000 inhabitants. In April, I was blessed to visit this city along with my church planting assistant Super Mario Medrano, our Morelia church planter Tony, (who church planted one hour away) and my good friend Humberto! God blessed us in a powerful way on this church planting vision tour.\nWe spent three days in Patzcuaro seeking the Lord, getting vision for this church plant, and (of course) sampling the delicious cuisine! Humberto has already purchased a home there in that city, so we were blessed to stay in his home on this trip. We quickly learned that Patzcuaro is surrounded by many towns that have populations of around 10,000. Sadly some of these cities don’t have any Christian churches! (YET!) Because Patzcuaro is the central city in this region, Humberto has a vision to use Patzcuaro as a sending hub of church planting to train up and send out church planters to reach those other cities.\nDuring our vision tour, we took a 1 ½ hour road trip to visit the small town that Humberto grew up in. (He still has a family home there!) On this visit, we ran into at least ten different people who knew and loved Humberto! (He is so loved and recognized there, he reminded me of the town mayor!) Humberto plans to visit his hometown once a week from Patzcuaro to start a home Bible study in his ancestral family home.\nWhen I travel on these church planting journeys, I do not travel alone. I take you in my heart, my precious friends and ministry partners. I want to thank you once again for partnering with us in this great missions work in Mexico. It is through your prayers that God meet’s our spiritual needs, and through your financial support that God meet’s our physical needs. We love you and give thanks for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray for the two lawsuits against me and our church! Please ask God to defeat this thief that is attempting to steal our south property! (Where our new sports center is located)\n#2- Pray that God will bless our church plant that we will be sending out this summer to Patzcuaro with Humberto and Miriam Ambriz!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a wonderful month at the church! We had over 50 first time professions of faith in April! (A post-covid record!)\n#2- Praise God for a wonderful church planting vision tour, where God gave us vision about the future church plant.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-may-2024-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico. In this update I wanted to tell you about our upcoming church plant. (It will be #40) I met my good friend Humberto Ambriz over 5 years ago and I want to share his testimony with you. Humberto immigrated to the United States from Michoacan when he was just 8 years old with his family! He later married, worked, raised three children, and retired, all while serving in Christian churches for the past 25 years. And throughout that time, Humberto felt a burning desire to return to his home-state to church plant, even though he had no idea how that could ever happen.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family May 2024 Missions Update"},{"content":"As they boarded the plane the team’s first stop was Japan, then on to Indonesia and finishing up in the Philippines.\nAlthough I did not get on the plane… as Pastor Trent’s assistant, coordinating the travel and schedule details for this Vision Tour, I felt like I was right there with the team every step of the way.\nPREPARING TO SEND … A lot has happened since I finished the Calvary School of Missions program last summer. Let me give you a quick run down… I’m back in Southern California, continuing to live with and help care for my mom, I’ve joined the Missions Training School (MTS) held in Yorba Linda. MTS is the training program run through Saving Grace World Missions, my missionary sending agency!\nIn addition to the weekly classes and training received through the MTS program, I’ve started helping weekly in the SGWM main office, assisting our senior pastor here, Trent Douglass. One of my first big projects was to help coordinate travel plans for his Vision Tour to Southeast Asia.\nVision Tours offer MTS students a first-hand experience in an area of the world they have sensed the Lord is calling them to. With a group of students and leaders, together they scope out the land and have the chance to meet and spend time with various missionaries and nationals currently involved in local ministry. These opportunities provide great insight as they seek the Lord’s confirmation of His specific calling on their lives to full-time ministry.\nI believe that the Lord continues to prepare and send his laborers to His harvest through trips just like this Vision Tour to Southeast Asia.\nAnd, I get to be part of His sending team! In the midst of all the details…coordinating travel, accommodations, transportation, and communicating between the pastors and leaders in the various countries, the Lord has shown me, no matter if I am stationed out in the field or at the SGWM headquarters in Yorba Linda, it is always an an honor to be used in the Lord’s work!\nFIRST STOP….OSAKA Through the coordination of vision trips in various areas of the world, SGWM brings interested students to places like Japan, which happens to be the largest unreached people group in the world even though the country of Japan is still “open” to the gospel.\nWith still such great need for the teaching of God’s word in Japan it is encouraging to know that as many missionaries that may be interested, can be sent to this part of the world to share the gospel of Christ openly.\nJeff and Alishia Root, previously SGWM mission training students, now went to Japan with plans to stay and continue on as full-time workers excited to join in the ministry of a local church plant in Osaka.\nNEXT STOP… INDONESIA Yes! They all got on the bus! Sounds funny but, it’s details like this that made me happy. Having 3 groups of people coming in from 3 different countries, arriving on 2 different days, I breathed a sigh of relief and prayer of thanksgiving knowing this second part of the trip was underway.\nThere are so many great lessons that occur during these trips that just can’t be simulated in a classroom. The team experienced 2 different areas, providing great insight into the variety of culture in Indonesia.\nThe Island of Bali, predominantly Hindu, is a culture overrun by idol worship, shrines everywhere you look with a very small church presence that is very much in need of strengthening in God’s word and protection from spiritual warfare. Their time visiting the Province of Jakarta gave great insight to life in a Muslim culture, along with the multiple calls to prayer throughout each day. The team had the opportunity to meet with various Christian workers who lived alongside indigenous church planters. With the local church being overrun with idols it was evident the existing church needed to be focused on teaching the whole Word of God. Pastor Trent’s seminar, “The Purpose of the Church” made a huge impact, encouraging and challenging local pastors and leaders to be grounded in God’s Word.\nGod is definitely in the details! Pastor Trent and Victor had the opportunity to baptize several people after church in the pool of the hotel the team was staying at. When I organized and booked the hotel, it never crossed my mind that the Lord was going to use this location to have these new believers baptized!\nMEANWHILE…BACK IN CALIFORNIA As I continue my stay in California, the Lord has continued to provide opportunities to serve Him through the church, outreach, and discipleship groups. I am blessed by the ways He continues to equip me for what He has next…whatever and wherever that may be.\nBy joining the SGWM’s Mission Training program, I’ve appreciated the great cultural and biblical teaching and training, presentations from visiting missionaries serving all over the world, as well as a wide variety of classes like: security (cyber \u0026amp; ground training), time management, scheduling, and money management. I feel honored to learn and serve alongside these amazing young adults who desire to be trained up and follow the Lord’s calling to “GO” and to bring the Gospel of Christ to the 10/40 window (remote areas where the people have not yet heard the Gospel).\nIn addition to the classroom experience, students train alongside pastors and leaders of Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in the various ministries that the church offers. God has also graciously provided opportunities for me to share my past experiences by mentoring several students with examples of how He has guided me, a single gal, through the years serving alongside new church plants in Mexico.\nI am truly grateful to invest time in the training program! With such a great scope of learning opportunities, I really believe that the MTS provides a very well rounded training solution for all of us as we prepare for what the Lord has next.\nFINAL STOP …THE PHILIPPINES\nWith an invitation from Pastor Tony Reyes to put on a conference for local pastors, leaders, and students at the Calvary Bible Institute, Pastor Trent, Debbie and 3 other mission training students finished off the last leg of the Vision Tour by heading over to the Philippines.\nThe Philippines, considered a country “reached” with the Gospel of Christ, had not really been on the SGWM radar of locations of scouting areas to send missionaries. But, God revealed the gem He has hidden in the midst of the 10/40 window, the heart of SGWM’s focused calling. Their hearts were sparked when they realized they were currently staying in a the only “reached” country, with freedom to teach, train and share the gospel, right in the midst of the “unreached.” The strategic location of the Philippines provides a unique solution for training national workers for those surrounding “closed” countries.\nIn addition to this, Pastor Tony explained in greater detail about the large amount of migrant workers coming from the Philippine population, already working cross-culturally who have become an integral segment of the labor force in the Middle Eastern countries. One article listed 2-3 million workers, with about 90% of them split between the gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE… This group of workers from the Philippines could be strategically mobilized to fulfill the great commission in their context, thus reaching the Middle East with the Gospel of Christ.\nIt is amazing about how God works… as we pray for God’s heart, guidance, and direction to these “unreached” people groups, He keeps revealing new opportunities and avenues to send workers to be His light by opening up new ways to impact the “closed” areas.\nPRAYER THE COORDINATION OF DETAILS FOR SGWM’S NEXT VISION TRIP. GOD’S OPEN DOORS OF OPPORTUNITY AND HEARTS READY TO SERVE HIM! FOR THE STUDENTS, AS THE LORD PREPARES THEM FOR WHAT HE HAS NEXT. SUMMER 2024 CALVARY SCHOOL OF MISSIONS! STAFF, STUDENTS, GOD’S GUIDANCE AND DIRECTION! THANK YOU! The time invested on the Southeast Asia Vision Tour has brought much valuable return. In each location, God has turned hearts and minds toward new solutions and opportunities. He sparked hearts, spoke, and called people. It is so fulfilling to help coordinate these trips knowing that I get to do my part on God’s sending team.\nThank you all for your love, prayers, and continued support making it possible for me to be equipped and able to serve the Lord full time!\nWith great love and appreciation for you all! Because of HIM!\nNANCY “We love Him because He first love us.”\n1 JOHN 4:19\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/fasten-your-seatbelts-schipke-update-april-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs they boarded the plane the team’s first stop was Japan, then on to Indonesia and finishing up in the Philippines.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough I did not get on the plane… as Pastor Trent’s assistant, coordinating the travel and schedule details for this Vision Tour,  I felt like I was right there with the team every step of the way.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"preparing-to-send-\"\u003ePREPARING TO SEND \u003cem\u003e…\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA lot has happened since I finished the Calvary School of Missions program last summer. Let me give you a quick run down… I’m back in Southern California, continuing to live with and help care for my mom, I’ve joined the Missions Training School (MTS) held in Yorba Linda.  MTS is the training program run through Saving Grace World Missions, my missionary sending agency!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"FASTEN YOUR SEATBELTS… - Schipke Update April 2024"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Supporters,\nI hope you are well and filled with God’s grace and peace. It has been far too long since my last newsletter, and for that, I sincerely apologize. Life and ministry have been a great adventure here in Mallorca and the magnitude of responsibility I have with our Christian school here has been both busy and tremendous, but I recognize the importance of staying connected with you, my faithful partners in mission.\nI want to express my heartfelt gratitude for your unwavering support and prayers. Your encouragement sustains me during every season of my missionary journey in Spain, and I am immensely grateful for your partnership in advancing God’s kingdom.\nWhile I may have been silent in my correspondence, the work of the ministry in Mallorca has continued. I have witnessed God’s faithfulness in remarkable ways, as He has opened doors for me to continue planting seeds into the precious hearts of our students and families, as well as opportunities to serve through the ministries at the local church.\nI have now been serving the Lord in Spain for almost 5 years, (I can’t believe it will be 5 years in October!!), and as I am reflecting on everything God has done, I am reminded of the beautiful metaphor of seasons. Each season has brought its own unique blessings and my desire is to take you through a quick journey into what these seasons of serving in Mallorca have been like.\nSeason of Sowing (Spring):\nOur school (I’m so glad we are in this together, it’s your school too!) has been running for 3 ½ years now! It has been a time of growth, of perseverance, and inevitable challenges. We are experiencing the sweet blessing of starting something very different in Mallorca; our school is not only providing a great academic program that parents love but it has also gained a reputation as a school that LOVES people. Praise God!! You and I know that what the children and their families are experiencing is God’s love overflowing through us!\nWe are receiving many new children through the recommendations of other families, and that has been a huge blessing! We currently have about 30 children ages 1-5 years old, with a waiting list to enroll more children. Within those 30 children enrolled, 83% are from non-believing families. As a result, they come into our school with a total unawareness of who Jesus is. What a privilege, honor, and a great responsibility to be the first ones to share Jesus with them!!\nSeason of Growth (Summer):\nWe are so excited in the steadiness of growth in numbers of students and staff at our school, however, I am even more so excited to share the growth that the kids are having in their knowledge of who Jesus Christ is!\nWe recently celebrated Easter, and what a joy it was to experience it once again through the eyes of our students who for the first time are hearing what Easter is all about. As the kids are receiving the gospel message, the inevitable questions come, and this year one of our 5-year-old students asked,\n“Zully, why did Jesus have to die? Why did He have to do it?”.\nWe gifted this specific student with her first Bible, and as she was joyfully embracing it, she was waiting for my response. At that moment, I asked the Holy Spirit for wisdom on how to answer her question so that as a 5-year-old she would understand what I say and that it would resonate in her little heart as well. This was my response:\n“Do you remember what happens when the kids in our class do not listen or they do something they are not supposed to do? They have to sit on a chair and wait until they are allowed to go back to play. Well, it’s like if Jesus sits on that chair for you and….”\nShe interrupts me and says, “Ohhhh, it’s like Jesus takes our place. He had to die because He took our place!”\nWith my eyes super wide opened, awestruck and amazed, I affirmed her response, “Yes, exactly! Jesus loves you so much that He took your place on the cross…” and I continued sharing more of the gospel message to her. The Holy Spirit made the gospel so relatable and understandable for her! What an immense privilege to be a part of that! I shared that “chair” analogy to the rest of the class and in this season of our school, it was the best way for our students to understand the gospel message. Praise God for those heavenly “downloads” that come down at just the right moment!!\nSeason of Harvest \u0026amp; Gratitude (Fall):\n“Ask of Me, and I will give You The nations for Your inheritance, And the ends of the earth for Your possession.” – Psalm 2:8\nThe Lord gave me this verse during my birthday last year. My first reaction to this verse was a bit of intimidation as I felt the weight of this big promise. Then I asked the Lord, “What does this verse mean for me?” After praying, the Lord reminded me of all the Bibles we have given to the children at our school. Many of the kids at our school do not have a Bible in their home, so they are often so excited to receive their very own Bible! Since Mallorca is a very transient place to live in, it’s very common for some of our students to move back to their home countries (we have kids from all over the world) and they of course take their Bible with them. In addition, their parents have to read the Bible to them because they are still too young to read! The Lord revealed how all these Bibles are scattered throughout so many homes across the globe! The impact our little school is having is only through the power of God and His Word. For that I am so thankful!!\nSeason of Rest and Preparation (Winter):\nThe commitment to oversee and teach in our school has not been without overwhelming to-do lists and exhaustion. However, I can attest to the Lord’s sustenance, grace, and wisdom in my life. I can also boldly state that in those moments of exhaustion, He is my strength. When stress and worry want to creep in, He is my peace. When I consider the sacrifices that are part of this calling, I know He is worthy!\nI am at the school every day, all day so any moments of rest are so much appreciated!! The times I have been able to fly back home have been a tremendous blessing for me! But by far, the season of rest that I am so thankful for was one in which the rest was a bit different. It was more of a sweet refreshing and encouraging time for me. It was the time my parents traveled to Mallorca last year!! I am forever grateful that my parents, who are my biggest supporters, were able to witness first-hand what God is doing in Spain! They are such a big part of the work God is doing here!\nAs I keep moving forward in God’s call, please be assured that I am committed to improving my communication to you all, ensuring that you are kept informed and involved in the ministry. Your support is invaluable to me, and I’m deeply grateful for your continued partnership in spreading the love of Christ in Spain.\nThank you for sticking around until the end! Thank you so much for being a part of this eternal investment. Thank you for your support and your prayers. Everyone at the school truly feels your prayers, they are sincerely powerful, so I kindly ask you to please keep them coming!! If you have any prayer requests, if you would like to know how to get involved in the work here in Spain, or just want to say hello, contact me via email, WhatsApp, or any of my socials. You are very much appreciated, love you all!\nGod bless you,\nZully\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/seasons-in-mallorca/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Supporters,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you are well and filled with God’s grace and peace. It has been far too long since my last newsletter, and for that, I sincerely apologize. Life and ministry have been a great adventure here in Mallorca and the magnitude of responsibility I have with our Christian school here has been both busy and tremendous, but I recognize the importance of staying connected with you, my faithful partners in mission.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Seasons in Mallorca - Ruano Update May 2024"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nAniku Family - Uganda\n- Pray for the 5 new Muslim converts. For their safety and boldness. - Pray for the container clearance. The container is finally in Africa working its way to Uganda but there is a hold-up on one paperwork. Please pray for the details. - We are now beginning the roofing on the Koinonia community center and library. - Pray for all the church fellowships and ministries, that God will continue to strengthen us as we grow deeper in Him. Pray for our Bible college students as they do their finals and break for summer. Continued prayers for our nursery and primary school.\nThank you!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nChildren: Hannah, Lila and Judah We are thanking God for the ministries\u0026rsquo; steady growth and pray for the 65 national missionaries serving in our Christian school, medical clinic, church plants and evangelism ministries.\nThe recent church plant among the Koma tribe has grown to 300 people who are maturing in their new faith. The school there is also continuing to flourish. Pray for the migrant Muslim camel herders who are hearing the Gospel from our missionaries as they travel through the Koma area. Pray also for the new Calvary Chapel that has been planted in the capital city of Juba and for the evangelism teams who go out weekly into the city to share and pray with the community.\nPlease keep Rob’s health in prayer as he suffers from chronic back pain and it makes speaking and traveling challenging. Please pray for strength and wisdom as he oversees and disciples our key African leaders.\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email BlogUSA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\n- Please pray for the 2024 Calvary School of Missions and for us as we get to lead this wonderful work of God’s. - Please pray for us, as we are implementing some personal disciplines that will enable us to serve the Lord in this capacity for many more years. - Please pray for our son Andy as he is still wandering in his wilderness and desperately needs Jesus. Praise Jesus we are able to minister to him and see him frequently. We pray for our Father to renew his mind. - Please pray that as a couple serving together in the office and the field that we continue to be steadfast with the Lord. Please pray for Tim as he has been having major back pain.\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n- Pray for student outreach trip in May in S. Asia as the Gospel is taken to remote regions and new villages. - Pray for the completion of the semester, teachers to finish strong and for the Word to sink into the hearts of the CBI students in Nepal and S. Asia - Pray for our summer missions trips we have planned to be fruitful, to raise up the next generation of missionaries, to share the Gospel with the lost and to encourage the churches in the areas we work.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n- Please continue to pray for my parents’ health. Especially pray for healing for my dad, or an accurate diagnosis and treatment.\n- Please pray also for my mom’s health.My 6-month old daughter is having kidney problems. Please pray for accurate diagnosis and treatment.\n- I have a kidney stone; please pray that I will not have to have surgery.\n- Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\n- Please pray for my whole family, that God will use us for His glory.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n- Please pray for the Christians in South Asia who are going through persecution.\n- Please pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health and recovery.\n- Please pray for my mom to have accurate diagnosis and treatment in her illness.\n- Please pray for the nursing home ministry and children’s after school ministry.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nThanks for praying!\nPrayer Requests?\n#1- That God would bless our upcoming church planting conference on August 2-3! #2- That God would provide a job for our daughter Grace!\nPraise Reports?\n#1- God provided a good job for our son Daniel! #2- A blessed church planting trip to Guadalajara to visit our 2nd generation church plant!\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nPRAISE— my mom is doing much better emotionally and physically and spiritually thanks to all of your prayers! She is in her Word daily, and God is getting her through it all! Thank you for your continued prayers for her health! Also, the Easter, drama of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus that the man performed for our church was phenomenal! Hearts were touched, and seeds were planted! (you can see it on my Facebook page) 😁\n1. Provisions for a nursery and youth room makeover. 2. Wisdom, wisdom, wisdom!!! I need so much of God’s wisdom in everything that I do! 3. Salvation for the moms and dads of the kids in the afterschool program.\nThanks to all who take the time to read our prayer requests and pray for us!\n- Deanna Jevas - Email Blog\nHassan \u0026amp; Stacy Villegas - Acapulco, Mexico\nIn June we are having our first ever Mexico international pastors conference and CC Acapulco will be hosting. Pray that we can get everything organized, pray for the pastors speaking, and for the pastors who will be coming.\nThank you!!!\nHassan \u0026amp; Stacy Villegas - Email BlogSouth America\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n1. Workers. The church is growing in numbers and my team finished their 6-month commitment. There is a lot of work to do and I need help. 2. Leadership. For me to be organized, communicate well, and make wise decisions.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray for a man who used to disturb our Sunday Bible Study, who has asked us to come pray for him since he is ill. Please pray for him and for his salvation.\n- Please pray as we minister in a village of stone cutters. Nobody knows Jesus in the village.\n- Please pray that the believers in another anti-Christian village would grow in faith and stand as bold witnesses in their difficult circumstances.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 6\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nThe Lord has been opening doors to new ministry opportunities in different villages, and I am starting to see the new believers desiring to grow in God’s Word.\nPlease pray:\n- I have continued to visit some of the villages where we did Christmas outreaches. Please pray that the souls there would have the conviction of the Holy Spirit and turn their lives from their idols to the Living God. Please join me in praying for their salvation.\n- Please pray for the Lord to raise up many disciples among my people; men and women who will have a great desire for God and to reach our nation.\n- Please pray for Michelle and I as we begin preparations for our marriage and life together. There are many things involved and we are trusting God for everything in every step.\nThank you, Worker 7\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPraises:\n- Thank God that He has kept us safe.\n- Thank God that He is fulfilling our needs.\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray that God keeps me and my family safe.\n- Please pray that our church remains firm in this crisis with faith and becomes knowledgeable in God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\n- Please pray, as there are many festivals in the coming days in which Hindu people make processions; pray that they will not attack any Muslims or Christians.\n- Please pray that our church can buy land for a Christian graveyard so that the people who are leaving their homes, village, society, relatives and accepting the Lord, can be given a respectable funeral after doing so.\n- Please pray for my wife, that God will keep her safe from every kind of disease.\n- Please pray for my mother; her bone density is very low, so she has to have daily injections. May God heal her and fulfill her needs.\n- Please pray for my sister, who is getting married on May 16. Pray that God will fulfill all needs and that there would be no hindrance in the marriage.\nThank you for your prayers, support, and Christian love and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you all! Worker 11 Anand and Usha – Nepal\nHere are the prayer requests for this month:\n- Please pray for the Himalayan people, that they will know God.\n- Please pray for the capital city, where 6 million people live and only about 200,000 are believers; may God bring revival in this city and country.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\n- Please pray for those who heard the Gospel at the medical camps.\n- Please pray for the women’s fellowship and prayer and fasting.\n- Please pray for the youth meetings.\n- Please pray for the families in the house fellowships.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray that God will allow all of the children in our area to come to our church.\n- Pray that God will provide our choir team with things to help us with worship.\n- Pray for my dear friend, S, to accept Jesus as his personal Savior.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- We are trusting God to change the hearts of people where the Gospel has been preached, and turn to Jesus.\n- The local pastor in the area needs God’s guidance, wisdom, and filling of the Spirit in the coming days.\n- We thank all of the team, and pray that God will bless them in the days ahead.\n- Pray for us for God’s guidance, strength and wisdom.\nBlessings!\nRaju - BlogAbhishek and Lacey – 10/40 Window\nHere are our prayer requests!\n- Please pray our loved ones\u0026rsquo; salvation. Please pray our family would “train ourselves unto godliness.” - Please pray for our local church, and the Bible College we are a part of and vision for future ministry.\nGod bless you, Abhishek and Lacey\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\n- Please pray for strength and health during this season. We are in the hottest time of the year with temperatures averaging around 100 degrees Fahrenheit with high humidity. The whole country is sluggish and less productive than normal. We are thankful that so far, the electricity has been stable.\n- Please pray for wisdom, strength, and guidance as we prepare for our trip to Japan this summer to visit senders and Kayo\u0026rsquo;s family there. I need wisdom in preparing to speak at churches there.\n- Please pray for provision, favor, and wisdom, especially related to Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s Christian international school\u0026rsquo;s upcoming tuition and guidance for him as he continues high school and prepares for the future.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-may-2024-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/7cb33dc8-2016-40ea-b831-867802aaa696.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAniku Family - Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Pray for the 5 new Muslim converts. For their safety and boldness.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for the container clearance. The container is finally in Africa working its way to Uganda but there is a hold-up on one paperwork. Please pray for the details.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- We are now beginning the roofing on the Koinonia community center and library.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for all the church fellowships and ministries, that God will continue to strengthen us as we grow deeper in Him. Pray for our Bible college students as they do their finals and break for summer.  Continued prayers for our nursery and primary school.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM MAY 2024 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"The title of this post is three-fold. It refers to our time so far here in Japan, the time we’ll be spending in the States, and this post itself. Even though it’s a quick one, we wanted to keep you up to date on our comings and goings. If you’d like to see us and hangout we’ll be in Montana from May 7-22, and in California from May 23-29. It’s tough to head back so soon, but we look forward to seeing you again.\nWe have caught our breath here in Osaka and have settled in nicely. Ministry opportunities are opening up and we are building several relationships. We hosted our first young adult night at our apartment this month and will be having that every first and third Saturday once we get back. We met up with some friends from Las Vegas who were in Osaka praying about moving here to serve in a church, please pray for them as they seek the Lord. Also, we helped out with a belated Easter party that was held for some kids that attend English classes taught by some friends from church. I shared with them what it was like growing up in America as a Christian, and we played games with them. So, a pretty eventful few weeks when added to our normal church days and meeting with people.\nThis week we are attending the Calvary Chapel Japan Conference in Tokyo before we fly to America. It will be great to connect with Pastors and believers from all over Japan. Thank you for thinking of us and praying for us continually, we could not do this on our own.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/short-but-sweet-root-update-may-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe title of this post is three-fold. It refers to our time so far here in Japan, the time we’ll be spending in the States, and this post itself. Even though it’s a quick one, we wanted to keep you up to date on our comings and goings. If you’d like to see us and hangout we’ll be in Montana from May 7-22, and in California from May 23-29. It’s tough to head back so soon, but we look forward to seeing you again.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Short but Sweet - Root Update May 2024"},{"content":" Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.\n2 Corinthians 2:14-15\nDear friends, family, and loved ones,\nWhat a thrilling season! Celebrating the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was glorious! There is something very special about this year’s Resurrection Sunday celebration. I have never had such a profound time seeking Jesus and His Word.\nDream of the Flower Normally I never remember my dreams. But one night this month I specifically remember being in Alaska, on some kind of outreach in a town. I don’t remember most of the dream, but I remember the ending. I began taking photos at the end of the day of a beautiful Alaskan sunset for some kind of social media. The views were incredible and I can still remember one of the pictures I took, in the green of spring, with the orangey glow of the sun beaming over the horizon next to a slightly blurred hill and large tree just in view. As the glow was still covering the landscape, someone told me that the flowers here would let water out at night. So I went over to a small flower and saw a little bit of water pooled in the center with the glow of the sunset reflecting off, and the petals slightly wilted, as if the water had come out from them. I began crying as it reminded me of how Christ gave us living water, the Holy Spirit, only after He was crucified.\nRight after this I woke up, and immediately I searched online about flowers in Alaska. Although I couldn’t find any that have water come out at night, I did find out about the Alaska state flower, Forget-Me-Nots. They are really beautiful blue little flowers that grow in bunches. There are a lot of stories and lore about how they got their name, but mainly they have become a symbol of eternal love and remembrance. A lesser-known fact I found was that they only give off a scent in the evening and night. During the day they are scentless. What an amazing way to end, and yet never end, this special season of celebrating Jesus’ death and resurrection! It is as if Jesus was saying, “Forget-Me-Not!” And although Jesus’ life on earth was amazing- it was His death that gives us salvation through forgiveness. It was for His death that Mary anointed Jesus with precious perfume. Remembering Jesus is not just a time for Christmas and Easter, it is our life, and He invites us everyday to remember His eternal love through His death and resurrection. The flower also reminded me of the thief on the cross, “Then he said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when you come into Your kingdom.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise.\u0026rsquo;” (Luke 23:24-43)\nOnce in a while, Saving Grace goes to our sister church, Hope Central Watts, an inner city church to help run their service for a Sunday in order to refresh the locals. This time I got the opportunity to join and teach the youth group! I was pretty nervous because I was told to teach in Spanish, and it would be the first time. Although I had everything ready for Spanish-even my notes were in Spanish- a few minutes before starting I was told they actually do it in English, and some of the youth don’t even speak Spanish! That made it much easier, and it was a very blessed time teaching, and afterwards playing spoons with them.\nThe week before Resurrection Sunday, some of the MTS students went to Biola University to share about Calvary School of Missions during their Missions Conference! It was a super blessed time to share with a bunch of young people who are excited for reaching the world for Christ in missions. We’re praying for many to signup at CSOM 2024 and learn more about God’s heart for the unreached and hear the call to “go”!\nAt Cal State University Fullerton there was a Christian event called the Godly Grind that me and a friend were invited to while we were out evangelizing one day. It was a great event and through the lady who invited us, we met another girl named Katia who she is friends with. We all went out to tea afterwards and talked about our testimonies for a long time. Katia was a non-practicing catholic, but recently started wanting to learn more about God and the Bible. She literally asked us, “how do I learn the Bible?” It felt like one of those people God just plops in our lap, ready to be discipled. She’s been coming for almost 2 months now and is being totally transformed by Jesus’ work in her life! She has been active in the church, and coming to Wednesday evening Spanish Study group.\nGod has been moving greatly in the Spanish Group at Saving Grace! We have begun doing outreaches by visiting people’s home to bring our community, and most importantly, God’s presence in worship, sharing testimony, and prayer. We are also planning days to go to public centers like the Circle in Fullerton to do worship and ministering in the public, to reach our community with the gospel!\nGod also answered my prayers for a job! I have been working with a friend from church in his steam cleaning business, cleaning carpets. I have also been doing a bunch of little jobs, helping do electrical, paint, etc. for friends. God has been providing in really unique ways.\nAt the end of April, as I am writing this, I am on a trip in Mexico to visit my parents who have been staying in Rosarito. I am also helping my friend Marcelo, and my friend Rob Douglass, who runs a ministry called Ends of the Earth Ministries, teaching at Calvary Chapel Rosarito about the unreached. I will be staying for a week, also going to Horizonte Ensenada church and Calvary Bible Institute Mexico with Marcelo as he shares about the unreached and Calvary School of Missions.\nCosta Rica Trip\nI have rough dates for my mission trip to Costa Rica to visit and learn from a children\u0026rsquo;s safe home there. It is planned for July 29 – August 2.\nPlease continue in prayer with me as this trip will be a very new and important part of the work we have been praying for, to start a safe home in Peru! Also, I want to invite all of you to pray for my brother in Christ, Andy. He has been praying about being a part of leading this work as well. He has a great heart for children.\nPraise Reports:\nFor Jesus coming, living, dying, and resurrecting for our salvation! For Katia coming to know Jesus personally For my new job of steam cleaning Prayer Requests:\nFor God’s provision and will to be done in planning and going to Costa Rica in July Jesus would touch hearts in Mexico for the Unreached as we are sharing and He would call them to lay their lives down for Jesus in this work! Protection, provision, and guidance for my sister and brother-in-law as they minister in the unstable environment in the Middle East! God would use the Spanish group to call more people to their first love! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/forget-me-not-josh-vanrenterghem-update-april-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Forget-me-not-cluster-1024x1024-1-300x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2 Corinthians 2:14-15\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear friends, family, and loved ones,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a thrilling season! Celebrating the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus was glorious! There is something very special about this year’s Resurrection Sunday celebration. I have never had such a profound time seeking Jesus and His Word.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Forget-Me-Not - Josh Vanrenterghem Update April 2024"},{"content":" Then He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.\n1 KINGS 19:11-12\nHave you ever had those moments when you’re just waiting God to show up radically? In the strong wind, in an earthquake, in the fire? But instead, He graciously chooses to show up in a still small voice? Yup, that’s exactly what happened this past month.\nThe Lord spoke LOUD and clear during my time away, but coming back to my regular routine, to the mundane, He spoke to me when I least expected it. He reminded me that He has me here for a reason. For a purpose. Yes, my heart and desire to be sent out as a full-time missionary continues to grow, but so does my trust and patience in God’s timing. He has a good and perfect plan for me. His promises are what I continue to hold unto.\nSpreading the Fire\nComing back to vis i t my home church, Calvary South OC, was such a blessing. I had an opportunity to share about my trip with the singles ministry, Focus Generation. They have been supporting me since day one and they are truly a gift from above. I’m eternally grateful for y’all!! The words the Lord had placed on my heart was ‘redeem the time’. I shared about my trip- going from different religions, to cultures, to even the weather!\nAfter I spoke- I was even more blessed to know that my testimony was confirmation for some to pray about missions, especially in Japan! I continued to see how the Lord was spreading the fire even in our generation. As a reminder- Calvary School of Missions summer is just a few months away- if you have a heart for missions, fill out an application and learn more about the school by clicking here! Please continue to pray for more laborers, the harvest is plentiful and many are needed!!\nDiscipleship + Teaching\nMy favorite part in the school is the teaching class- I enjoy studying the Word of God and then being able to teach it. I have learned so much in this class, as every week we are critiqued by Pastors and leaders in the church. This has allowed me to grow in so many ways, but it has also allowed me to share with other women what God has shown me.\nLast year, around September, I started a mini bible study with my cousin Val. By God’s grace, it is slowly growing and my other friend also decided to join! It has been such a joy teaching through the book of John. We have seen God not only transform us through His Word, but also how His Spirit has moved throughout the study. These ladies are hungry for the Word of God and it has been such a blessing seeing them grow in that! My passion for discipling women in the Word of God is truly a gift from above. Please keep us and the study in your prayers! \u0026lt;3\nNext Steps\nAs mentioned above, I know the Lord has me here for a reason. And it is truly by His grace that I am here. That perfect grace is called debt. Thanks to God, we will be starting Financial Peace next week! If you can please be praying with me for wisdom, for accountability, and for me to be able to pay the debt off quickly. I know with God all things are possible! He made that very clear on this past trip. Once that is paid off, my next step will be to return to Japan for 3-5 months, Lord willingly, before making the decision to move somewhere full-time.\nHowever as some of you may know, since day one, my heart has been for the Middle East. You might be asking yourself, then why Japan? I ask myself the same thing everyday. They’re both completely opposite yet with one similarity- they are both UNREACHED. They both desperately need the gospel. As of right now I will continue to be faithful with what God has placed in front of me. The rest- where I go and when I go- I will continue to surrender it all to Him. As Isaiah said, “Here am I! send me” (Isaiah 6:8). This is His heart- for us to be willing. I pray this is your heart as well. If you can please join me in praying for Japan, as well as the Middle East- as we are preparing and planning a trip towards the end of this year! How exciting!!\nThank you again for taking the time to read this newsletter. I pray you are blessed and encouraged. Thank you for your continual partnership in the gospel from the first day until now- both through prayers and financial support. Any amount you feel led to give will help me in raising monthly support to be sent out one day as a full-time cross-cultural missionary, Lord willingly. I’m eternally blessed as this is also fruit to your account.\nNow to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.\nEPHESIANS 3:20-21\n-Mayra Alejandra\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/and-after-the-fire-solorzano-update-april-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen He said, “Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, \u003cem\u003ebut\u003c/em\u003e the Lord \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c/em\u003e not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, \u003cem\u003ebut\u003c/em\u003e the Lord \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c/em\u003e not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, \u003cem\u003ebut\u003c/em\u003e the Lord \u003cem\u003ewas\u003c/em\u003e not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"And After the Fire… - Solorzano Update April 2024"},{"content":" “Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith…”\nHebrews 12:1-3\n“…So You Will Not Grow Weary.” We are currently in the middle of Cambodia’s hot season until the monsoon rains come in June. Temperatures have risen as high as 104F with usual highs around 100F with high humidity. We are blessed that this year the electricity has been pretty stable, but even the Cambodians are struggling with the heat. In addition to the heat, the spiritual climate is challenging for all the believers here and can lead to a sense of spiritual/emotional/physical weariness.\nApril has been a challenging month for us in various ways. Benjamin had a severe ear infection and other health problems but has recovered fully/quickly. The bathtub in our rented townhouse broke mainly because it was not designed for American people’s weight. It took three weeks to for the renovation project (jackhammering/drilling/dust) to be completed instead the expected one week because of the Cambodian New Year holidays and a leak from the neighbor’s house. We also had some stresses with our car.\n“…Run With Endurance the Race…” Despite the above stresses and frustrations, God has strengthened us to keep going and in some ways even thrive.\nIn April, I started volunteering part time to help teach English at True Education School about an hour outside of Phnom Penh. In my career as an English/Apologetics/Christology teacher I have spent 95% of my time teaching university/seminary/Bible school students. I only spent one year teaching K-12 ESL in northern Missouri from 1999-2000. Despite being rusty, I was able to teach them a few things including the “Head and Shoulders…” song. When they have more students, Kayo will also volunteer at the school part time.\nBecause of the Cambodian New Year holidays, many other ministries were paused for a while, but Kayo and I continue to volunteer at Precious Women Organization’s office in various roles from video production (Darryl), devotions/Bible studies, life skill training, and administration/board (Kayo).\nWe also continued to work with the international church. I lead the men’s ministry, help with the Chinese ministry, help with visitation, and speak around once a month. Kayo leads the women’s ministry, helps keep everyone organized, and helps with the worship team as needed.\n“…Lay Aside Every Weight…” As of this moment i have lost 82 pounds in the last 6 months (October 21, 2023). God has opened all the doors for me to completely change my health and lifestyle by providing the knowledge, technology, and support that I have been looking for 20 years. This process has greatly improved my spiritual, physical, mental, and emotional health. It has also really given me the strength and energy to be more active and engaged in ministry and revolutionized our family dynamics and relationships. Others are starting to reach out to me for recommendations and it is a blessing to encourage and equip them.\nAs I mentioned last month, I continue to be available to help encourage those with mental health challenges (and those who care for them) from my own challenges and victories in this area. I continue to monitor, encourage, and visit (from time to time) a Cambodian man and his family and help them connect with the resources they need in partnership with the international church and Light Association.\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/fixing-our-eyes-on-jesus-record-update-april-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith…\u003c/em\u003e”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHebrews 12:1-3\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"so-you-will-not-grow-weary\"\u003e“…So You Will Not Grow Weary.”\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are currently in the middle of Cambodia’s hot season until the monsoon rains come in June. Temperatures have risen as high as 104F with usual highs around 100F with high humidity. We are blessed that this year the electricity has been pretty stable, but even the Cambodians are struggling with the heat. In addition to the heat, the spiritual climate is challenging for all the believers here and can lead to a sense of spiritual/emotional/physical weariness.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Fixing Our Eyes On Jesus - Record Update April 2024"},{"content":" Soldiers for the People of the Himalayas We are given the assignment to share the Gospel all over the world by Jesus. There is not anywhere that is excluded. We are to share the Gospel in the easy places and in the hard places, in the Himalayan mountain range and in the flat land, in the closed areas and in the open areas, to Hindu people and to Buddhist people.\nWe are thankful to God that many years ago people of God came to our country with the same mind set. We have heard the Gospel and we were saved. Now God is building the same mindset in us. There are so many people in our country who haven’t heard the Gospel. One of the places where people live is in the Himalayan mountain range. A lot of people who live there have never heard the Gospel even once. God allowed us to go last month in March to the Himalayan mountains to share the Gospel. This area had hard trekking routes. Because of this, people do not want to go these places and the Gospel has not reached there. As a soldier of Christ we went there, not because we are strong, but because our God of love compels us to do so. Please pray for these Himalayan people to come to know God.\nSoldiers for the People of the City\n“For I have much people in this City”-Acts 18:10.\nThis verse remind us to do Gospel outreach in the city. We know street preachers are caught and sent to prison, but we preach in our Bible college courtyard. We ask our students as well as church believers to invite their family members, friends, and neighbors who have not received Christ as their Savior. Last week many people showed up in our courtyard to hear the Gospel. Our Bible school students did a skit, dances, and songs. We shared from God\u0026rsquo;s Word. One of the teenage girls received Christ as her personal Savior. One woman said that she will begin attending church every week. We see the harvest in city and it is ready. We pray that God pours His Spirit on us more and more. We see our students as future soldiers. They are trained for this war and believe that they will be doing the same things in their communities. We believe this verse, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. “-Acts 26:18. Please pray for our city. There are 6 million people here, but only about 200,000 are believers. God may bring revival to this city and country.\nThank you,\nAnand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/we-are-good-soldiers-pastor-anand-update-april-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG%5F3493-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch4 id=\"soldiers-for-the-people-of-the-himalayas\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSoldiers for the People of the Himalayas\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are given the assignment to share the Gospel all over the world by Jesus. There is not anywhere that is excluded. We are to share the Gospel in the easy places and in the hard places, in the Himalayan mountain range and in the flat land, in the closed areas and in the open areas, to Hindu people and to Buddhist people.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We Are Good Soldiers - Pastor Anand Update April 2024"},{"content":"Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved\n(Acts 2:47)\nWhat a wonderful God we serve! It is amazing to see people coming to Christ and surrendering to Him. Christian baptism is one of two ordinances that Jesus instituted for the church. Jesus said, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”(Matthew 28:19–20). These instructions specify the church’s responsibility to teach and make disciples, and to welcome and baptize those disciples.\nBoth of the new believers are from a Catholic background and were very much into idol worship. God opened the opportunity to preach the Gospel to them and to disciple them. Before one of them was saved, he was very addicted to alcohol and was also having difficult family problems. But now, having a relationship with Jesus changed everything. God really worked in his life. Now his whole family comes to church and attends Bible study.\nM* Village (Church plant)\nIt has been 8 months since our dear brother C* began serving in M* village. God is doing amazing work through him. He started tutoring children and teenagers (from the ages of 5-16 years), showing them the love of God and sharing Gospel with them. It really opened doors to reach out to those villagers.\nIn my last newsletter, I briefly explained how God opened doors to minister in that village. I also shared about conducting a Christmas outreach program there which helped reach more people with the Gospel. In that village the teenagers and young adults are addicted to alcohol and drugs. Please pray about that. We have now started a Bible study every Sunday in a home in the village (a house church fellowship). Three families are attending the Bible study.\nI want to share a praise report about the ministry in M*. There was an elderly man who always used to disturb us during our Sunday Bible study. He would threaten us and using abusive words. So we all prayed together for the elderly man to come to Christ. All of a sudden he became sick. He suffered so much with his health problems. So the man invited us to his house and to pray for him. We then got to share with him about the love of God and preached the Gospel to him. We praise God that He made a way to reach this man. Please continue to pray for him and for the his salvation.\nNameless Village:\nReaching Out to the Unreached\nFor 30 years people have been living in this village, but they have not named it. They call themselves the stone cutters. Their work is to cut stones from big rocks. They then supply stones for building construction. God has led one of our team members to that place to preach the Gospel. Almost 30 families live there. When we visited the second time, we had many conversations about their lives. This village is in the forest. Snakes and scorpions come inside their houses, and there is no water source available.\nGod put this village in our hearts to reach out to and share the Gospel in. Nobody knows Jesus in this village. Please pray for us as we minister in this village.\nN* Village (Church Plant)\nWe are ministering in a village named N* (which is very Anti-Christian). The elders and villagers wanted there village to remain fully Hindu. There is some religious persecution going on, but the Lord is doing amazing work in that village. We started a house fellowship and two families are attending there. The Lord has also opened doors for us to meet five more families. We can see that He is working in their hearts. Now three people are ready to be baptized. Please pray that these people might grow in their faith and stand as bold witnesses even in difficult circumstances.\nThank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/repent-and-be-baptized-pastor-6-update-april-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e(Acts 2:47)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/3c90acdb-feae-42ba-98c1-983d0627f73b-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/8e4d160a-b468-46ae-8fc8-20707d38707e-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/April-2-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/April-3-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a wonderful God we serve! It is amazing to see people coming to Christ and surrendering to Him. Christian baptism is one of two ordinances that Jesus instituted for the church. Jesus said, \u003cem\u003e“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age”\u003c/em\u003e(Matthew 28:19–20). These instructions specify the church’s responsibility to teach and make disciples, and to welcome and baptize those disciples.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Repent and Be Baptized - Pastor 6 Update April 2024"},{"content":"Dear pastors, leaders, supporters and church family!\nWe hope you all had a good Good Friday and Resurrection Day.\nMy dear sisters and brothers, I thank you for your prayers and love. God is doing amazing work here through your prayers. By the grace of God, house churches are now running in many villages. Although there is a lot of persecution here, people are still giving their lives to the Lord.\nA Very Good Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday\nThank God that He is increasing the number of people in our church and that they are growing deeply in the Word of God day-by-day. Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Easter services were very blessed for us. People of our church went to many other communities who had never heard of Jesus Christ and shared the message of Good Friday and Easter. They invited many new people from the villages to come to the church. About 100 people came and we celebrated the day of our Lord Jesus Christ\u0026rsquo;s resurrection together. Breakfast was arranged for everyone. After listening to the Gospel, everyone had breakfast and left for their homes.\nGood Fellowship and Hospitality\nI thank God that He is taking the people of our church deeper into His Word day-by-day. This month, by the grace of God, a believer of our church\u0026rsquo;s wedding date has been finalized. He has been coming to our church for about 15 years. He is the only Christian in his entire family. I thank God that he is getting married to a Christian girl who is about 20 years old. They have been talking to each other for about 10 years. By the grace of God, their wedding date is June 11th. It was a great thing to fellowship with them as they planned their marriage.\nAn Attempt to Establish Conversation with the Village Again\nAbout 25 years ago, my parents accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. At that time, due to the name of Jesus Christ, the people in our village stopped talking to us. They stopped inviting us to any function. They also imposed a fine on anyone who talks to us of ₹ 10000. Because of that, no one has talked to us for all of these years. But God recently opened the hearts of a family that have started coming to our church. They are sending their children to our house to be tutored in school. Through them, gradually other children are also starting to come to our house. My niece, whom I have raised since childhood, teaches free school classes to these children. She also teaches them Christian action songs and Christian songs. I believe that in the coming days more children from the village will come here and learn about Jesus Christ.\nPoints of Thanksgiving:\nThank God that He has kept us safe till today. I thank God that He is fulfilling our needs. Prayer Requests:\nPlease pray that God keeps me and my family safe. Please pray that our church remains firm in their faith through crises and becomes knowledgeable of God\u0026rsquo;s word. Please pray. There are many festivals in the coming days in which Hindu people go on processions. Pray that they will not attack any Muslims or Christians. Please pray that our church can buy land for a Christian graveyard. This will make it so that the people who are leaving their homes, villages, societies, and relatives to accept the Lord, can be given a respectable funeral after doing so. Please pray for my wife, may God keep her safe from every kind of disease. Please pray for my mother, her bone density is very low due to which she has to take injections daily. May God heal her and fulfill our financial needs. Please pray for my sister\u0026rsquo;s wedding on May 16th. May God fulfill all of our needs for this, and may there be no hindrance in the marriage. Thank you for your prayers, supports and Christian love and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you all!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-working-in-amazing-ways-pastor-11-update-april-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear pastors, leaders, supporters and church family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG-20240401-WA0009.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG-20240401-WA0008.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe hope you all had a good Good Friday and Resurrection Day.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy dear sisters and brothers, I thank you for your prayers and love. God is doing amazing work here through your prayers. By the grace of God, house churches are now running in many villages. Although there is a lot of persecution here, people are still giving their lives to the Lord.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Working in Amazing Ways! - Pastor 11 Update April 2024"},{"content":"Praise God for another semester! God has added more new students this season as well. It is always a blessing and a lot of fun to spend time with these young men, teaching and learning from the Word of God. The students are from almost all four corners of our country.\nWe try to equip our students with everything we can. We teach the students basic English, worship \u0026amp; music, and basic computer along with teaching them God\u0026rsquo;s Word. It\u0026rsquo;s our desire to teach them all possible knowledge and skills. It fills us with great joy as we see them growing in the Lord and in other activities.\nSometimes we organize hiking with our students. It is a great time to get refreshed with them.\nMedical Camps in four different Churches\nLast month, we had a short term mission group from a church in the U.S. There are many hospitals in our country now, both government hospitals and private ones. The private hospitals are too expensive for ordinary people. People have to go through a long process that takes many days to go to the government hospitals. For this reasons, it is beneficial to have short-term mission trip medical camps, especially for villages.\nThe government of our country has been issuing new restrictions against Gospel preaching, however, by the means of such camps we can build relationships between local churches and their neighbors and invite them to the churches. Thank God for the kind-hearted doctors and for all of the members of the entire team. All together, over 500 people were benefited by the medical camps.\nMedical Camp at the New Church in a Village Area\nOver 200 people were treated .\nPrayer Stations\nAlong with the medical camps, there were prayer stations. This was to have an opportunity to offer prayer and the Gospel to those who came after they got their medicine which is also our goal.\nMedical Camps at a Calvary Chapel in a Village Area\nAlmost 80 people were treated. At the end of the camp the doctor offered a medical workshop to the local volunteers.\nChildren\u0026rsquo;s Outreach after the Camp\nWe had a good opportunity to share the love of God with students from the school after the camp.\nMedical Camp at the Leper Colony\nA camp was held at the Lepers\u0026rsquo; hospital. The hospital opens twice a week. However, according to the people there, the medicine from medical camps works much better than the medicine usually offered. So people are attracted to come to the camp.\nGospel preaching and Hygiene Kit Distribution\nAfter the medical camp, the Gospel was preached, and hygiene kits were distributed.\nNepali \u0026amp; Chinese Food Cooking Exchange\nAt the end of the mission trip, there was a cooking exchange between the Nepalese and Chinese teams. It was a fun, quality time to interact with each other. The students were especially happy.\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/cbi-spring-semester-medical-outreaches-prakash-update-april-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise God for another semester! God has added more new students this season as well. It is always a blessing and a lot of fun to spend time with these young men, teaching and learning from the Word of God. The students are from almost all four corners of our country.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/7f057f83-24df-41fa-82dc-9d9f6c11df4f.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe try to equip our students with everything we can. We teach the students basic English, worship \u0026amp; music, and basic computer along with teaching them God\u0026rsquo;s Word. It\u0026rsquo;s our desire to teach them all possible knowledge and skills. It fills us with great joy as we see them growing in the Lord and in other activities.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"CBI Spring Semester \u0026 Medical Outreaches - Prakash Update April 2024"},{"content":" There are times in life when everything goes smoothly and other times when it feels like the Holy Spirit has just dragged you onto the scariest rollercoaster ride of your life. For me, February and March was one of those rollercoaster rides here in Culiacán. Here are some of the highs and lows.\nValentine’s Day Marriage Event On February 3, we held our first couples’ event of the year. We were blessed to have Pastor Hugo visiting us as the “guest” speaker and took advantage of the date to celebrate Valentine’s Day, or “The Day of Love and Friendship” as it’s called here in Mexico. The theme was, “A Holy Covenant.” At the end, there were very few dry eyes in the room as 40 couples renewed their vows and two couples professed faith in Christ for the first time.\nThe Death of a Saint The Bible tells us that the death of the saints is something beautiful to God. It marks the beginning of that person’s eternal life with him. However, it often marks a very painful ending for those left behind. On February 5, one of my best friends lost her mother. It was a loss felt by many in our congregation, and we pulled together to love on Patty and help her through her grieving process.\nExperiencia IDÓNEA #7 Just 5 days later, we held our first women’s conference of the year. This was a huge leap of faith for us, because after Pastor Hugo and Brenda’s departure, we had completely restructured the women’s ministry, and this was our first event. The theme was “New Beginnings: Women of Faith and Determination.” Three days before the event, we had less than 20 women registered, but by faith, we printed material for 60. Thank goodness for that step of faith, because nearly 60 women came, many of them first-time visitors to our church! Several made professions of faith, several others have now become regular attendees of our church, and all were ministered to. I was most touched watching Patty help host the event with a genuine smile on her face. What an example of Faith and Determination!\nReaching Valle del Agua One week later, we held our first outreach in a very poor community known as Valle del Agua. When building the homes in this community, there was a problem with the water services, causing all construction to cease. Almost immediately, squatters moved into the area and took up residence in the abandoned construction projects and unclaimed lots. Now, as a result of the ministry we plan to start there, these people will be given new hope for a bright future. Please pray for all the children who attended, and that God will move the hearts of their parents to attend as well.\nBeach Bungles and Microphone Troubles We finished February on a high note with the annual church-planting conference in Mazatlán. On the 3-hour drive to Mazatlán, home to Calvary Chapel Maranatha and its 4 church plants, we stopped at the beach for an hour to relax, enjoy, and take some pictures. The picture below was taken just moments before a huge wave surprised us from behind, soaking my shoes and leaving me barefoot or in borrowed shoes for the rest of the weekend. LOL! (Thanks, Jenn!)\nThe conference was amazing! I had the privilege of translating for two of our Culiacán pastors and several workshops. In addition to the amazing worship, food, and fellowship, pastors and teachers from nearly 20 churches taught us about the necessity of church planting and its Biblical base, how to strategically reach large cities and unreached peoples, how to reach adults through children’s ministry, and the importance of faith, perseverance, discipleship, prayer, integrity, and above all, intimacy with Jesus in order to make all those things happen.\nIn the midst of all my translating, however, I was reminded of my limitations. Apparently, holding a microphone was too strenuous for my injured neck and shoulder, causing me a lot of extra pain and loss of mobility for several weeks. Thankfully, renewed and intensified physical therapy has made a huge difference in the last two months, bringing me almost back to normal. PRAISE THE LORD!!!\n“The Best Camp Ever!” Camping, swimming, volleyball, soccer, food, worship, teaching, devotions, teams, games, relays and rallies, the reenacted Bible stories, talent show, bonfires, bonding… Our annual Family Camp the last week of March did not disappoint! As a matter of fact, it was declared by many to be “the best camp ever!” More than 300 people from 14 different churches in 4 different cities loaded up their tents and ventured out to Hacienda Lago Encantado campground to spend 4 days playing and praying, eating and competing, working and worshipping together. Many people made professions of faith or were baptized, and many marriages and families began the process of restoration with Christ as their center. But since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll leave you with these…\nMore Twists and Turns We also attended or participated in women’s conferences in Calvary Culiacán East and Calvary Santa Fe, one of our newest church plants, went to a homeschooling conference at Calvary Maranatha Mazatlán, had a baptismal service in Calvary Culiacán North, started a new discipleship class for new believers, and watched a total solar eclipse!\nAnd as always, God has been extremely faithful to me and my family. After a very rough first job experience, Ruby has a new job. She now has good pay and benefits as well as a healthy work environment. Sammy had his debut as an official children’s ministry TEACHER and celebrated his 11th birthday. And, after a whirlwind house-hunting experience, God provided a new home for us that meets and exceeds all of our needs! We made the move in 4 days’ time with the help of many friends from church, and now, one month later, we are ALMOST settled in.\nIn addition, I joined a Friday morning prayer group called “Mexico and Beyond.” Spanish-speakers from all over Mexico and the U.S. pray together for all of the Calvary churches here in Mexico, all of the unreached peoples in the world, and all of the laborers that God is raising up to reach them. We also take time to pray for each other and the needs of our particular churches. It has been a huge blessing to me!\nComing Soon… The rest of April and May promises to be just as busy as ever! You can pray with us for the following events:\nApril 24 and May 15 – I will be preaching at our Wednesday night women’s ministry April 27 – children’s outreach with Calvary Aguaruto April 28 – Children’s Day service in Calvary Culiacán North May 2-6 – our next trip to work with the Kuáre in Nayarit May 11 – our next EXPERIENCIA IDONEA women’s conference (I am coordinating) May 11 – Mother’s Day event in Calvary Culiacán West (I will be preaching) Final Prayer Requests Here are some other things you can be praying for in the coming weeks:\nI lead the Wednesday night worship team, and we recently lost several guitar players and worship leaders. Pray that God raises up new people to continue this ministry. Pray for our Culiacán pastors and their families. Many are struggling with illness and family- and ministry-related problems. Let’s cover them in prayer! Please continue praying for my neck and shoulder – that I will finally recover full mobility and be pain-free soon. Pray for Sammy’s school and upcoming national testing, that he will be able to stay on top of all of his work in the midst of all this month’s activities. Pray for Ruby’s continued success in her new job and that she would remain faithful in church-planting school and the other ministries she is involved in. Pray for our finances – that God would raise up new monthly supporters and help us to be good stewards of what he has given us. And as always, if you are interested in receiving my monthly email updates and prayer requests through SGWM, click this link!\nOr if you would like to become a financial partner, click here!\n/pepin/give/embed/#?secret=YtexkT0emT#?secret=HFdKprzKJN\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/rollercoaster-ride-of-faith-pepin-april-2024-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/20240418.1-300x238.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere are times in life when everything goes smoothly and other times when it feels like the Holy Spirit has just dragged you onto the scariest rollercoaster ride of your life.  For me, February and March was one of those rollercoaster rides here in Culiacán.  Here are some of the highs and lows.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"valentines-day-marriage-event\"\u003eValentine’s Day Marriage Event\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn February 3, we held our first couples’ event of the year.  We were blessed to have Pastor Hugo visiting us as the “guest” speaker and took advantage of the date to celebrate Valentine’s Day, or “The Day of Love and Friendship” as it’s called here in Mexico.  The theme was, “A Holy Covenant.”  At the end, there were very few dry eyes in the room as 40 couples renewed their vows and two couples professed faith in Christ for the first time.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"ROLLERCOASTER RIDE OF FAITH - Pepin April 2024 Update"},{"content":" “He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. …” Matthew 28:6\nDear Friends and Family,\nHe is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!\nThis time of year is always a great reminder of why we believe what we believe. It is the reason for counting the cost and giving all we are to sharing the Gospel with the world. There are many religions in the world but it is Christianity alone that has a risen, an alive, Savior. The resurrection of Jesus is our proof and our hope in everything God has promised us through his Word, both for this life and the kingdom to come.\nAs this is the foundation of our faith, we took time to celebrate each part of the resurrection story with our family at Arise Christian Fellowship. We began with the Triumphal Entry or Palm Sunday. In Uganda, it really starts on Saturday as the street hawkers begin selling palm branches and people begin decorating with palm leaves. Even the public transport decorate themselves for Palm Sunday.\nKeeping with tradition, at church we also handed out palm branches. It was so amazing as we celebrated Jesus’ Triumphal Entry through song and teaching to see the church participating with the waving of the palm branches. It made me feel as if I was in the story. The choir had special music as well as singing the very familiar \u0026ldquo;Hosanna in the Highest\u0026rdquo; songs. Brian gave a message on Jesus, the Passover Lamb. He talked about being aware of Jesus’ coming and cleansing our temples, us being the temple of the Holy Spirit. He walked the church through the week that would lead up to the Last Supper and the first communion. As a church we were planning to have a Good Friday supper together and he encouraged us to pray and really check our hearts as we prepared for taking communion as taught in 1 Corinthians 11:23-27.\nAs Christians we are called to share the gospel with all people, all over the world, beginning in our own neighborhoods. In some countries this can be a very dangerous undertaking. We are very blessed in Uganda to be free to share the Gospel anytime and anywhere we want to. It is not uncommon to see people on the street corner or outside a shopping center sharing the gospel. At Easter, churches here often publicly act out the triumphal entry and the crucifixion. As a church we also go out and share with the community as well as have teams that are praying for those who are sharing and those who are hearing the gospel. Below are two pictures from other churches around Kampala acting out the Easter story and one picture of our leadership team praying for the activities taking place during this season.\nOn Good Friday we gathered as a church to remember what Christ did for us by going to the cross and dying for our sins so that we might receive salvation and eternal life if we believe. All the children stayed in the sanctuary to hear the message of the cross. As a church, we took communion and shared a meal together. It was a beautiful time of fellowship.\nOn Resurrection Sunday we celebrated Jesus rising from the grave. The children and some of the church members had special songs prepared and Brian shared about the gift we have been given as believers because of the resurrection. The worship and message all left me in tears as I reflected both in thankfulness and repentance, knowing that Jesus loved me so much that He died for me and now through His resurrection I also have the promise of eternal life. May we remember these truths all year long. May we always share this precious gift with those we come in contact with so they can have the hope we have.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us and for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. Please pray for all the people who have heard the gospel throughout this season. Pray that their hearts will be soft and that the Word is deeply planted. Pray for all of the Christmas/Easter Christians who came to service this past month. Pray that they were stirred up to live everyday for Christ. Pray for health and safety as there has been much sickness going around as well as terrorism threats. Pray for Jill and the children as they continue homeschooling. Pray for patience for Jill and a desire to learn for the children. Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-april-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"he-is-not-here-for-he-is-risen-as-he-said\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. …”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eMatthew 28:6\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eHe is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis time of year is always a great reminder of why we believe what we believe. It is the reason for counting the cost and giving all we are to sharing the Gospel with the world. There are many religions in the world but it is Christianity alone that has a risen, an alive, Savior. The resurrection of Jesus is our proof and our hope in everything God has promised us through his Word, both for this life and the kingdom to come.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update April 2024"},{"content":" Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.\n2 CORINTHIANS 5:20\nLast fall, a prominent member of our community was brought to our church, Calvary Chapel Gulu, by his son, who is a faithful member of the congregation. The man, Walter, had recently had a land dispute with his neighbor and suspected that his neighbor had put some sort of curse on him because of mysterious noises which he claimed were following him and which he had not been able to identify or expel. He came to the church as a last resort to rid himself of whatever spirit may be disturbing him. Matt was able to preach the gospel to him and prayed that if the noises were a result of something spiritual, he would look to Jesus, but if not, they would go away, and the glory would belong to Jesus. That day, a monitor lizard fell from his roof into his living quarters and was chased out. The sounds stopped. The man returned to the church looking for Matt a few weeks later, only to find he was not around. Instead, our senior pastor, Fred, met with him. Walter claimed that birds were beginning to follow him. He thought that Matt had some secret spiritual power to chase away these spirits. Pastor Fred explained that it was not Matt’s own power but that real power is found in Jesus Christ. He prayed with him, and the birds left. Walter came to church for Sunday service that week and got saved. He invited the pastors to go and preach to his household. They also turned to the Lord. Glory to God!\nWe are happy to report that Walter is now a faithful member of the church and is walking with the Lord. He even hosts a fellowship every month in his home. We have even seen God bring significant improvement to the health of one of Walter’s children, who is epileptic. We are continually blessed to see God pour out His Spirit on the willing, and fill the homes where the doors are opened to Him. Please pray for Walter as he leads his family in the Word so that he will remain humble, sit in God’s presence, and grow in Christ. Pray for Walter’s family, that they would continue in the grace of the Lord, that they would be rooted in the truth of His Word, and that the Spirit would use them to reach their extended family and the community.\nIn other news, in March, we were able to travel to Kampala for adoption purposes. We are still in the official fostering period. Still, we were required to sit before the National Alternative Care Panel, which reviewed our case and interviewed our family, as well as Cynthia’s biological parents. There was stress involved in the travel and the waiting period before our turn to sit before the panel, but otherwise, it was a peaceful event. Understandably, there is often pressure and tension between the adoptive family and the biological family, if present. But we have been blessed to remove a vulnerable child from a dangerous situation, to assist in raising a child whose parents had given up hope on living, and to turn a very broken situation into a hopeful one. Over the last few years, we have been able to witness to both of her parents, and as of November last year, both have repented and turned to the Lord. We can now walk in agreement regarding the future of their daughter, our daughter, Cynthia. When we went to Kampala with them, there was no fear, tension, or feelings of belittlement on either side. We pray that as their shame is covered by the love of Christ, they can stand up and lead the rest of their family in righteousness.\nAnd He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”\nREVELATION 21:5A\nIn Christ, Matt, Noelle, Apiyo, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-april-2024-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTherefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2 CORINTHIANS 5:20\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/20240404%5F1055552.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast fall, a prominent member of our community was brought to our church, Calvary Chapel Gulu, by his son, who is a faithful member of the congregation. The man, Walter, had recently had a land dispute with his neighbor and suspected that his neighbor had put some sort of curse on him because of mysterious noises which he claimed were following him and which he had not been able to identify or expel. He came to the church as a last resort to rid himself of whatever spirit may be disturbing him. Matt was able to preach the gospel to him and prayed that if the noises were a result of something spiritual, he would look to Jesus, but if not, they would go away, and the glory would belong to Jesus. That day, a monitor lizard fell from his roof into his living quarters and was chased out. The sounds stopped. The man returned to the church looking for Matt a few weeks later, only to find he was not around. Instead, our senior pastor, Fred, met with him. Walter claimed that birds were beginning to follow him. He thought that Matt had some secret spiritual power to chase away these spirits. Pastor Fred explained that it was not Matt’s own power but that real power is found in Jesus Christ. He prayed with him, and the birds left. Walter came to church for Sunday service that week and got saved. He invited the pastors to go and preach to his household. They also turned to the Lord. Glory to God!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family April 2024 Update"},{"content":" We have arrived! We landed down in Iquitos, Peru on March 17th. It has been a wild 3-week ride for us here serving in the Amazon basin. We are very excited to see what the Lord has in store as He has already given us great opportunities to minister in Iquitos and on the Amazon river.\nTwo days after we arrived in Iquitos, a Calvary Chapel from Colorado held a conference for over 200 pastors from the river communities. Some of these pastors spent days on small boats to get to the conference, it was amazing. The conference was a great encouragement for the pastors and we were able to share briefly about the “Rios de Refugio” ministry the Lord has given us for the river communities. We had over 150 pastors sign up from 40 different regions, asking us to come and teach the inductive Bible study method, identity in Christ, and teach through 1 Timothy. Very overwhelming and we know to temper expectations, but praise God, it’s a start.\nDuring the conference week, we went to a local store to do some shopping. We ran into an American missionary who started sharing with us about his ministry and the 9 years he has been serving in Iquitos. His ministry is feeding kids from the local river communities. After talking with him, we were invited to go with a group of Peruvian missionaries to Colombia and Brazil to teach the Word in some indigenous areas. It would be a 10-day trip and their pastor was sick with dengue fever, so they needed someone to teach. On the spot we committed and the next day at the end of the conference we were on our way with a group of strangers to some foreign countries to share God’s Word, exciting!\nOn our way up river on an 18-hour ferry ride, we met Cam Anderson whose parents had recently finished translating the Ticuna Bible after 70 years. He shared it with us and we were able to share with the pastors we ministered to in the river communities. It was a great blessing because the pastors only had the complete New Testament. Talk about God’s providence. We also met a tourist from France who was atheist and Ryan was able to share the gospel with him. Praise God for opportunities to share the love of Christ!\nOur first stop was in Brazil where we took a small boat, a “peke peke”, about an hour down a small tributary to a village that was called “Tierra de Paz.” It was a small village of indigenous people who are called the Ticunas. They have their own tribal language but some spoke Portuguese as well. After spending 2 days in that area, we went to another place called Philadelphia, this was another small town of Ticunas as well. We had a conference, were able to teach on multiple occasions, and did some programs for the kids. It was probably the toughest 10 days of our lives, everything in the jungle wants to eat you.\nWe returned to Iquitos and have made many great contacts. Pastor Manaces and Pastor Julio have been a great blessing. We are currently scheduled to start the inductive Bible study training with 2 separate groups of 15 pastors and leaders. We are starting on May 5th and are hoping by then we will have more pastors scheduled as well. We are going to be teaching at a couple churches this week and sharing on a local radio station. I don’t know how the Lord does it, but He does. We have started a website called “Rios de Refugio” (“Rivers of Refuge”). You can check out some of the pictures and stories we will be posting in the future. It is new, so there is not much there yet, but it will be a place you can stay updated throughout the month.\nPlease pray for:\nFuture purchase of property. We would like to purchase a small piece of ground to start a base for a school of ministry and for missionaries who would come down to minister. A vehicle for ministry. A ministry truck will probably be in our future, as well as a boat. Missionaries who would like to come down and help in the labor. For the Lord to magnify himself through the ministry and teaching of His Word. To sign up for our email updates or to support the ministry please click the link below:\n/blog/missionaries/ryan-and-karen-gause/embed/#?secret=SAvL4Td5xW#?secret=k04vJWY1SD\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/we-have-arrived-gause-update-april-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG%5F9267-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have arrived! We landed down in Iquitos, Peru on March 17th.  It has been a wild 3-week ride for us here serving in the Amazon basin.  We are very excited to see what the Lord has in store as He has already given us great opportunities to minister in Iquitos and on the Amazon river.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG%5F9009.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG%5F9876.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG%5F2256.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMG%5F9983-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e     Two days after we arrived in Iquitos, a Calvary Chapel from Colorado held a conference for over 200 pastors from the river communities.  Some of these pastors spent days on small boats to get to the conference, it was amazing.  The conference was a great encouragement for the pastors and we were able to share briefly about the “Rios de Refugio” ministry the Lord has given us for the river communities. We had over 150 pastors sign up from 40 different regions, asking us to come and teach the inductive Bible study method, identity in Christ, and teach through 1 Timothy.  Very overwhelming and we know to temper expectations, but praise God, it’s a start.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We Have Arrived - Gause Update April 2024"},{"content":" “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience…”\n1 Peter 3:15-16a\nImagine you had invited a Muslim man to join your group going to a site in the Middle East and he excitedly agreed. So, along the drive you all got to talking and he quickly learned you were Christians and proceeded to say, “So, tell me about Jesus.” What would you do?… What would you say?… Well, this actually happened to my friends and me! The Lord gave us an incredible opportunity to share our faith with him. (More of this story can be found below!)\nHello family and friends,\nI have been back in America for about two weeks now and let me tell you, I definitely hit the ground running! Before I share what I am doing in this season and what’s to come in the future, let’s take a journey back through the past couple months the Lord has blessed me with. First of all, I want to say a huge thank you to you for supporting, partnering, loving, praying, and encouraging me through the entirety of the 5-month vision tour I just completed. I left back at the end of October and I cannot believe how fast the time went. God has been so gracious to allow me to see so many different cultures, people groups, divine encounters, and even His hand at work through the hardships faced in these places. I want you to know that all of this is “fruit that abounds to your account” (Philippians 4:17) as we are all partners in the Gospel reaching towards the same goal. It is beautiful to see how the Lord has given each of us different gifts and paths to fulfill His will for this world.\nIndonesia Back in February, I went to Indonesia for a week with a team as we scouted out the land and possibility of starting a new work in this country. We spent time in East Java and Bali with ministries we have connections with. It was surreal to witness the many temples throughout Bali as its majority religion is Hinduism, while the rest of the country is mainly Muslim. This island specifically is saturated with idolatrous worship. There was an evident spiritual heaviness over this place due to the darkness and lost people. It truly broke my heart, BUT GOD!… I’m so thankful to have been there with an amazing team and to have seen the ministry going on in a country desperate for the hope and freedom found in Jesus. My friends and I have been praying for the country of Indonesia and the needs there for over a year now. I never imagined that within a year He would have opened the door for me to go on a vision tour. All glory to Him! Please keep this country in your prayers, as well as what the Lord desires to do there with Calvary Chapel!\nThe Philippines After Indonesia, some of us went on to the Philippines to visit the Calvary Bible Institute as Pastor Trent taught on \u0026ldquo;The Purpose of the Church.\u0026rdquo; Pastors and leaders from around the country were also able to attend this conference and it was so exciting to see the fire being lit in these people to go out and reach the world for Christ. This country no doubt has spiritual needs, although it is much more Christianized than it’s surrounding countries within the 10/40 Window. The majority of the people there consider themselves to be Catholic, so the need for religiosity to be broken down is prevalent in light of the personal, loving relationship Jesus Christ offers. It is also known as an open country in terms of the allowance of missionary activity and the fact that the Gospel has spread throughout this place is a huge blessing. This means that the Philippines is in a strategic location to go out and reach the most unreached people in Asia! I believe the Lord has big things planned for His Filipino church and people in this regard. Please pray with me that they would continue to catch vision in training up and sending out their laborers into the field!\nThe Middle East The last country I visited on my trip is in an undisclosed location within the Middle East. It was definitely a sobering way to end this season of my time overseas. Aside from the spiritual oppression and heart wrenching reality of the millions of people chained to Islam and false worship of Allah, I was so thankful for the chance to visit my friends who just moved to this place. They recently moved in hopes of starting a new work, as the Lord leads, and are currently in the process of learning Arabic. It was really sweet to spend time with them, encourage them, and learn from their experiences.\nSo, back to the story I started above! I never would have imagined this opportunity to share our faith would arise in a context like this. This man, let’s call him Sam, was so open to discussing the truths of Jesus and things pertaining to Christianity. During our time with him we were able to share the entire story of Jesus’ life, the Gospel, as well as answered prayers and miracles we’ve seen in our lives. He told us that he has never met Christians that actually know what they believe and are excited to talk about it, let alone, young people… wow! We had him read the beginning of Genesis and the beginning of Matthew in Arabic. He was surprised by how clear it was and said he actually understood the things we shared with him. He mentioned that he has a lot to think about and consider now, but praise God that the seeds were planted. One of the coolest parts was that he noticed we would pray for our food before eating and asked us why. We were able to explain the significance and told him that we love praying together. He asked if we could all pray together before we departed. This very well may have been the first time he has prayed an unrehearsed prayer in his life. What a blessing to be a part of and see some walls start to come down in his heart. Please keep Sam in your prayers that the Lord would bring more serious Jesus followers into his life and lead him to salvation.\nWhat’s To Come… It has been so sweet coming back to California and seeing family and friends. I have felt such a warm welcome and that is a big blessing in my life. I am excited for what’s to come in the future as God has been so faithful to open and close doors, leading and guiding me in His perfect will. There is still so much to share in terms of my immediate future and next steps, but that is for a later update. Please pray that the Lord would continue to put all the pieces together and work out every detail of the vision and desires He has placed in my heart. Praise God for His constant faithfulness over the course of the 5 months I was overseas. Praise Him for what He is doing globally and how He is using His children to reach even the hardest and “least of these.”\nThank you for taking the time to read this update and for joining in on the work that God has called me to! It is such a beautiful gift to realize that the Lord doesn’t need our help in fulfilling His plans, but because of His love, He wants us to take part in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth! I would greatly appreciate your continued partnership with me in prayer as the Lord is leading me to long-term, cross-cultural ministry, as well as through financial support, if you feel led to give. Any amount of a one-time or monthly donation is an absolute blessing as I prepare to be sent out long-term on the field.\nIt means so much to me. God bless and thank you all!\nFor His glory,\nMacey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/so-tell-me-about-jesus/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always \u003cem\u003ebe\u003c/em\u003e ready to \u003cem\u003egive\u003c/em\u003e a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience…”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 Peter 3:15-16a\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eImagine you had invited a Muslim man to join your group going to a site in the Middle East and he excitedly agreed. So, along the drive you all got to talking and he quickly learned you were Christians and proceeded to say, “So, tell me about Jesus.” What would you do?… What would you say?… Well, this actually happened to my friends and me! The Lord gave us an incredible opportunity to share our faith with him. (More of this story can be found below!)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"“So, tell me about Jesus.”"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico! In this update I am excited to tell you about our Resurrection services at the end of March! For the last 2000 years, Christians all over the world have gathered together on Easter Sunday to celebrate our risen Lord Jesus! And our church here in Rosarito had a wonderful Resurrection Celebration!\nThe celebration began with our annual Good Friday drama and concert. This year, we had amazing actors portraying the key characters in the Passion story (Mary, Peter, Barabbas, and a Roman Centurion). After each dialogue, a gifted choir with soloists came out and sang songs that accompanied that part of the Crucifixion. As we walked together through the death and burial of Jesus, every one of the over 600 in attendance were touched!\nI don’t need to tell you how the story ends. Jesus didn’t stay in that grave, but He resurrected from the dead on the third day, conquering forever the power of Satan, sin, and death. It was so powerful to join with our church family to sing together of the glorious resurrection of our risen Savior.\nUnfortunately, our Easter weekend began with a large storm. We were hit with torrential downpours throughout Saturday and Sunday morning that were threatening our church services. Since many in our community live on dirt roads, my prayer was Lord, please clear up the weather for Sunday morning. And that’s exactly what the Lord miraculously did. Even though the weather report called for heavy rain throughout the entire weekend, the weather cleared up and we even got some sunshine! Thank you Lord!\nWe celebrated the weekend with a super fun clown show for the kids. In the Sanctuary we got to witness 15 new believers get baptized and many first time professions of faith. Our 2nd service really stood out for me. I shared the message of salvation and gave an altar call as I always do, but for over 3 minutes, no one responded. I felt the Spirit telling me to wait, (even though it was an uncomfortable time of silence) so I did. After this waiting time, one by one, I began to see hands being raised to profess faith in Jesus. At the end of the service, we saw seven first time professions of faith in that service. Praise the Lord!\nMy sermon was taken from the Resurrection story found in Mark 16, verses 1 through 15. As I taught verse by verse through this passage, I focused on three blessings of the Resurrection. Those three blessings are, #1 - The resurrection reminds us that there is glory and victory on the other side of the difficulties of life. Blessing #2 - Because Jesus resurrected and ascended into heaven, we will too! And blessing #3 - The Resurrection reminds us that JESUS IS ALIVE!\nOn another note, many of you might remember last year the thief that has been suing our church and trying to steal our south property (Which is now the Calvary Sports Center). Even though we already defeated this evil man, he is back suing me again on appeal. This is a criminal case, where he is suing me personally, and trying to get me thrown into jail.\nOur church owns this property, we purchased it from the rightful owners, and we are trusting God through this new trial. But, I need your prayers. Please pray that God will give us the righteous victory here, and that the trial will not be stained by the corruption that can be prevalent here.\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for partnering with us in this great missions work in Mexico. We are a team, and it’s an honor and a privilege for me and my family to serve as your missionaries. We love you and give thanks for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico (with much love from Mexico),\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God will give our daughter Grace a job. She is applying to several companies this month, so pray for God’s favor.\n#2- Pray that God will bless our two church plants that we are sending out in the next few months to San Antonio Texas and the Mexican state of Michoacan.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a wonderful missions trip to our 2nd generation church plant in Guadalajara, and the church planting conference we got to host there.\n#2- Praise God for Daniel’s new job. He is working at the Chick-Fil-A in Chula Vista, near the border.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-april-2024-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico! In this update I am excited to tell you about our Resurrection services at the end of March! For the last 2000 years, Christians all over the world have gathered together on Easter Sunday to celebrate our risen Lord Jesus! And our church here in Rosarito had a wonderful Resurrection Celebration!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/434217764%5F942450910926079%5F1215424009356723723%5Fn-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe celebration began with our annual Good Friday drama and concert. This year, we had amazing actors portraying the key characters in the Passion story \u003cem\u003e(Mary, Peter, Barabbas, and a Roman Centurion).\u003c/em\u003e After each dialogue, a gifted choir with soloists came out and sang songs that accompanied that part of the Crucifixion. As we walked together through the death and burial of Jesus, every one of the over 600 in attendance were touched!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family April 2024 Missions Update"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\n- Pray for the Kanyike kids as they are back to school. Pray for Luke and Laylee as they are finding their new grades much harder than before. - Please continue to pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interviews in the States. - Pray for the chaplains who have been coming to Kampala for medical treatment. - Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email BlogUSA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\nPrayer Requests\n- Please pray for our son, Andy, he continues to refuse treatment, or any other kind of assistance to change the course of his homelessness and drug addiction. - Please pray for an increase in people to partner with us financially as our support has dipped down recently.\nPraise Reports\nPraise God with us\u0026hellip;\n- For those who have given generous one-time gifts and ongoing monthly support to help us do the work the Lord has us called to. - For His continued strength as we engage in missionary care. - For the way Jenn and I are able to work side-by-side with no problems in our day-to-day and overall relationship\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n- Pray for the new students at each of our campuses in Nepal and S. Asia for all of the new students to learn quickly and fall more in love with God through His Word. Pray also for the teachers for wisdom and to be filled with the Holy Spirit. - Pray for several teams traveling to Nepal in March to minister through medical help in the mountains. - Pray for divine appointments and for the churches to be strengthened. Pray for our family as we plan out our travel for the year! Pray also as we handled many building projects currently in Asia. We need wisdom, clear communication, and favor from the Lord. - Pray for our family to stay strong in the Lord and remain healthy physically to accomplish all He has called us to as we work together to reach the nations for Jesus.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n- Please pray for good health for our family this year. I am having problems with kidney stones; pray for wisdom and healing.\n- Please continue to pray for my parents’ health.\n- Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\n- Please pray that God will use us for His glory.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n- Please continue to pray for my dad’s recovery. Praise the Lord, he is doing a little better!\n- Please pray for the Christians in South Asia who are going through persecution.\n- Please pray for the children’s ministry I am a part of, that many children will be saved and grow in the Lord.\n- Please continue to pray for my mom’s health and complete recovery.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nHere are the Vincent Family prayer requests! - Part time jobs for our children, Grace and Daniel! - God\u0026rsquo;s blessing on our 36 new church planting students! Praise Reports:\n- Thank you Lord for our 39th church plant, Calvary Chapel New Zeal in Las Vegas, Nevada!\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nRon and Kristy Struska – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Reports:\n- Praise God for our newest full-time volunteer staff member – Yesenia Lopez! Yesi served with us last spring and summer and has committed to serving at Connections House for one year.\n- We also want to give praise to the Lord for our part-time volunteer staff member, Jody Gonzales! Jody has recently taken over as Intern Coordinator at Connections House. She has also started training to take on some administrative responsibilities.\nPrayer Requests:\n- Prayer for Yesi as she begins to raise prayer and financial support. She stepped out in faith last month to come on staff full-time. She is helping in the kitchen and training to help with accounting and other areas as needed.\n- Please pray for more full-time volunteer staff for Connections House. While we are blessed to have the new help the Lord has provided, it is long overdue. Over the last year, the number of teams hosted at Connections House has doubled, and with that comes a lot more work that needs to be done. We are searching for two full-time volunteer staff, or one married couple.\nThank you so much for praying! Blessings!\nRon \u0026amp; Kristy Struska - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\n- Provisions for a youth room and nursery makeover. - Continued good health for my mom who just turned 83 and lives alone and has Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s. - For the Lord to continue to use me as He so desires for his honor and glory!\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nHola SGWM family, thank you for your faithful prayers for us on the mission field. We are having one of the hottest summers on record, pray for us, because the heat affects everything, even the chicken in the market. Pray for our summer outreaches, teams, and spiritual growth. We have some of our leadership going to Iquitos for the pastor\u0026rsquo;s and leader\u0026rsquo;s conference next month. Stalyn is graduating from CCBC Cajamarca in May and we are going to do a church mission trip up there the week before.\nThank you from our hearts, Craig and Daisy - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n- Pray that God can equip the saints from Calvary Moyobamba to help with the responsibilities and ministries. - Pray for peace in my heart and sensitivity to God. I really miss my mom and grandma. - Praise God that we have made wonderful friendships with people at church. - Praise God that we have been able to minister to people in the community and share Christ.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for the new Sunday worship service that started in a village that has been very anti-Christian.\n- Pray for those who heard the Gospel in Christmas outreaches.Please be continuously praying for us to reach the unreached places to share God’s love to His people.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 6\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray that God will continue to use me for His glory.\nPray for my health, as I have a dust allergy, and we have a lot of dust in my town. As a result, I do get sick very often.\n- Pray for the students, that they will be prepared to start church planting ministry.Pray for my ministry among youth and young adults, that the Lord would continue to use me to minister to them.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you all! Worker 9\nWorker 10\n- Pray that all of the believers to whom I have preached the Gospel will grow with the Lord’s blessings in their lives.\n- Pray for a brother who I preached to. He was greatly attracted to the Gospel. May God bring him to saving faith.\n- Pray for me and my family. My health is not getting much better. The medicine did not help, and I had to go to another place to a doctor, and still I could not get completely well. Pray to the Lord that I will be completely healed soon.\n- Pray for me, in the village where I preach God’s Word. May God give me strength and blessings so that more will be converted.\n- Pray for the young believers in my village who are ill and for those who have bad financial conditions. May they be healed in the name of the Lord Jesus, and may they grow in the Gospel of the Lord and prosper in their lives.\nThank you! Worker 10\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- I thank God that I was able to reopen the churches which had been closed earlier due to the government, and that it went safely.\n- Thank God that our institution has started again.\n- Thanks to God, people are moving forward in the Lord despite physical and mental persecution.\n- Thank God for keeping me and my family and parents safe.\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray continuously for our safety.\n- Please pray for our CBI friends with faith, that God will protect them from the coming suffering.\n- Please pray that God will provide land for a cemetery for Christ\u0026rsquo;s people.Please pray so that peace can be established between the Hindus and Muslims. There are riots during every Hindu festival, and as a result, the internet is closed for three or four days.\n- There is a 22-year-old paralyzed boy in our church, whose name is R. About 60 to 70% of his body is paralyzed. May God heal him completely.My sister’s wedding is on May 16th. Please pray that God will fulfill all of our needs for the wedding.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership and participation in spreading the Gospel!\nGod bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 13 - 10/40 Window\n- Continue to pray for our ministry around the villages here.\n- Pray for all of our believers in the area, that they will stay with God during persecution and problems.\nYesterday, I was in a meeting, and they were talking about the main religion here, that they want it to grow. They are doing very dark things. Pray that God will help them to open their eyes so that they will see the truth.\n- Pray that God will open new doors so that we can share the Gospel in this area.We have some new families who have just accepted Jesus.\n- Pray that they will grow in God’s Word faithfully.\nThank you so much everyone for praying for us! God bless you!\nWorker 13\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for\u0026hellip;\n- Pray for our health.\n- Pray for our safety, as persecution has increased in our area since the new government (anti-Christian) has come in power.\n- Pray for the ministry in our country.\nThanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15 Worker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n- Please pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge.\n- Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing.\n- Please pray for the village ministry in our local area. May the villagers grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word.Please pray for our state believers, as they are facing persecution.\nWorker 16\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray that God will allow the children in our area to come to our church.\n- Thank you so much for supporting us, praying for us, and raising us up. May God bless every family in the Saving Grace family.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nThank you for your prayer cover! It really makes a difference!\n- Please pray for me as I teach Apologetics/Evangelism at a Cambodian church and train the teachers at a Cambodian Christian school.\n- Please pray for our health as we enter the Cambodian hot season. Kayo and Benjamin have recently had some minor health issues and fatigue and the heat makes things more challenging.\n- Please pray for our ministries alongside organizations, churches, and schools here in Cambodia. We need wisdom to maximize and balance all the opportunities.\n- Please pray for our upcoming trip to Japan this summer to visit senders and family there. - Please pray that we will be able to encourage the believers and be strong witnesses before the unbelievers.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-apr-2024-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Pray for the Kanyike kids as they are back to school. Pray for Luke and Laylee as they are finding their new grades much harder than before. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Please continue to pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interviews in the States. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for the chaplains who have been coming to Kampala for medical treatment. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM APR 2024 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" \u0026ldquo;How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.\u0026rdquo;\nRomans 10:15\nIt\u0026rsquo;s Finally Happening!\nIn 2019, after several divine confirmations, we stepped out in faith and took a team of twelve, 7 students and 5 leaders, to Rosarito, Mexico for the first ever Calvary School of Missions. Since that first year, we have trained over 60 students and have 15 graduates working full-time around the world. Five of those first seven students are now serving full-time in the 10/40 window; immersing themselves, learning language and culture, planting churches, and building relationships in order to reach unreached peoples with the gospel. In 2023 alone, we had the privilege of sending out 12 of our students to serve full-time overseas! We sent two to Peru, two to Japan, one to South Asia, and seven to the Middle East. We have also seen many go out for extended seasons of training on the field. Truly a historic and unprecedented season for us at Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM) and we are soblessed to be a part of these sent ones’ stories.\nPlease pray with us for each of these precious saints who have counted the cost, sold all they had here, and moved overseas to start a new life. Pray also for those currently preparing for that day when they board a plane with their scant possessions and deep faith, expecting great things of God as they attempt great things for Him. Each of them need our support and prayers as they enter into this new season of life.\nJeff and Alishia Root\u0026rsquo;s Sending Sunday and heading to Japan.\nShilo and Raquel being prayed over before heading to Peru.\nMiddle East team being prayed over at missions study.Missions Training SchoolAfter the 6-week Calvary School of Missions (CSOM), students are offered further training through our Missions Training School (MTS), a year-long program hosted at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace which prepares the students for full-time cross-cultural church planting. This year, there are 19 students in our MTS program who attend several classes during the week,including Culture 101, Book studies, School of Ministry, Chuck Tracks (and other various Calvary Pastors) and our Missions Training class. At the Missions Training class Pastor Trent teaches verse by verse through the book of Acts gleaning out mission\u0026rsquo;s principles from the New Testament church. Each student, male and female alike, participates in a Homiletics course (the art and science of teaching the Bible) wherein they prepare and teach a sermon weekly and receive critiques from the MTS staff in order to grow in this discipline. The intensive training program has been designed for thosewho are following the call to fulfill the Great Commission by going and making Jesus known to the ends of the earth.\nOne of the very special things about our MTS program is that we do several vision tours throughout the year to various countries. Vision tours are a sort of scouting trip to spy out the land. We have found that taking potential missionaries to countries they feel called to, or exposing students to various religious blocks of the world, helps tremendously when praying for a region. So, we go and pray and meet with various people in order to gain a clearer vision of what the country needs and where the people are spiritually. We spend hours in prayer and worship over the region asking God to show us what part we can play in that country.Recent Vision ToursAlready this year, Pastor Trent and his wife, Debbie, were able to go on a 3-week Vision tour to 3 different countries in order to encourage missionaries, equip believers, and introduce Missions Training Students to unreached or under reached countries in the 10/40 window. They started their trip in Japan, a country that is wide open for the gospel, (but less than 2% evangelical) with a team of 11. It was a significant trip because they were able to accompany 2 School of Missions and MTS graduates, Jeff and Alishia Root, on their one-way journey to serve full-time with Calvary Chapel Abide in Osaka. Jeff and Alishia have been visiting and praying about Japan for years now and after last year’s vision tour there, they knew that God was calling them to serve beside Joseph and Amy Totsis in Osaka. They have been warmly welcomed and are excited to finally be in the country they have long prayed for and among the people they love! The rest of the team comprised of several students praying about potentially moving to this area. The team shared beautiful times of prayer over the city and over the Roots, and of encouragement over the Totsis\u0026rsquo; who have been faithfully serving for over 16 years. We look forward to what God is going to do with this partnership and entreat you to say a prayer for this country and ask God to send many to this area of the world. The harvest truly is bountiful, but the laborers are still few.\nAfter church fellowship at Calvary Chapel Abide in Osaka, Japan.\nTrent teaching the Purpose of the church at CC Abide in Osaka.Bali, Indonesia\nAn old friend from Calvary Chapel Bible College, Victor, pastors a church in Bali where Trent was able to teach \u0026ldquo;The Purpose of the Church\u0026quot;at a conference.Trent and Debbie continued on from Japan with a handful of the students and joined another group of MTS students in Bali, Indonesia. Twelve individuals on the trip are seeking God’s will regarding long-term work in Southeast Asia. They met with various full-time, established workers in the area to pray over and learn about this region of the world. They learned that this area is less than 3.5% evangelical, desperate for workers, and in great need of sound biblical teaching and equipping. SGWM continues to pray with these students about pioneering a future work there, where the need is so great, and we invite you to pray for Indonesia. Bring before the Father Indonesia’s great need for Bible-based churches and ask that God wouldgrant the churches that do exist there a greater vision to risk it all and share Jesus with their Muslim and Hindu neighbors.Tagaytay City, Philippines\nFor their third and final leg, Trent and Debbie took the 4-hour flight from Bali to the Philippines with 3 MTS students in tow. Pastor Tony Reyes invited Trent to share at the Calvary Bible Institute (CBI) there about the Purpose of the Church and also invited several pastors from the region to join the conference. The team was awed as God allowed the pastors and students to catch the vision of multiplying disciples through church planting and as He broadened their vision for the world. While seeking God there, Trent and Debbie realized that the Philippines are strategically placed within the 10/40 window, being one of the only reached nations in this area of the world; these islands could potentially be a hub for believers from the surrounding regions to come and get further equipped to fulfill the Great Commission. Please pray for the leadership of CSOM and SGWM as they pray about what God may want to do in partnership with the Filipino church to reach the nations with the gospel.Embarking on these kinds of trips emphatically confirms that the need is overwhelmingly great and that the church in the 10/40 window needs more workers to preach the gospel and plant bible teaching churches. Please pray that the Lord of the harvest would send His laborers into His harvest to fulfill the Great Commission.\nWe strongly believe that Calvary Chapel and our movement is the answer for these countries, so we seek to strategically multiply the church planting movement in these unreached areas of the world.\nThank you for your prayers and support as we seek to see the nations won for Christ and the church abroad be equipped to GO into all the world and preach the gospel.We ask that you would prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with SGWM. Financial partners are crucial to help operating costs at the SGWM home base, allowing us to serve missionaries worldwide.\nDonate to SGWMSGWM.com | 714-993-4801\nTo read more about the Calvary School of Missions please read the Calvary Chapel Magazine Spring 2023 edition, pages 16-22.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/winter-2024-sgwm-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRomans 10:15\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG%5F1656-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s Finally Happening!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nIn 2019, after several divine confirmations, we stepped out in faith and took a team of twelve, 7 students and 5 leaders, to Rosarito, Mexico for the first ever Calvary School of Missions. Since that first year, we have trained over 60 students and have 15 graduates working full-time around the world. Five of those first seven students are now serving full-time in the 10/40 window; immersing themselves, learning language and culture, planting churches, and building relationships in order to reach unreached peoples with the gospel. In 2023 alone, we had the privilege of sending out 12 of our students to serve full-time overseas! We sent two to Peru, two to Japan, one to South Asia, and seven to the Middle East. We have also seen many go out for extended seasons of training on the field. Truly a historic and unprecedented season for us at Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM) and we are soblessed to be a part of these sent ones’ stories.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Winter 2024 SGWM Newsletter"},{"content":"Hi all! I know it’s been a while since my last newsletter, but I would like to update you all on what the Lord has been doing in my life recently. Before I get started, I want to thank you all for your constant support and love. The body of Christ is important for a believer. Knowing that you guys are with me, gives me great comfort!\nEl Reino de Los Ninos This past month I had the opportunity to visit an orphanage in Ensenada. This was a sweet time because this orphanage was one that I used to go to when I was in high school, so it brought back many memories! I remembered that this was where the Lord began to plant the seed of missions in my heart, so visiting while I’m now walking on the path of long-term missions, brought my heart great joy to know that the Lord does not waste anything! Spending time with the kids and getting to know them was sweet. I love these kids! Watching them laugh and have fun was the cutest thing ever! Every time the kids would line up for food, they would recite a verse by memory. I love this because in the moment they feel alone, sad, or broken, the Lord can bring these verses to memory and help them recall what they know to be true about Him. I had the best moments with a girl I met there. She is in her early teens, we will call her Nadia (for her privacy). As we were talking I asked her what her favorite thing to do was and she told me singing. I thought, “perfect! I brought my guitar!” So I pulled it out and we sang a couple of songs together. She was pretty shy to sing by herself, so I sang with her. Later in the night we were singing together again and this time, she sang by herself. My heart melted when I heard her sing. I loved the way she sang, but what got me more was realizing how the Lord gave her that. I prayed that God would make Himself so real to her and that she would use this gift to worship Him and to have intimate times in His presence. I loved sharing what I’ve learned with Nadia. I pray it sticks with her.\nOverall, it was a great trip. I loved seeing everyone that I hadn’t seen in so long. God has been growing the friends I made there when I was in High School, and I was so happy for them.\nI also had a great time with my cousin! This was her first mission trip! I loved our conversations and sharing with her God\u0026rsquo;s heart for the lost.\nIn Training! While being here at MTS (missions training school), I’ve learned so much. From bible classes, missions classes, serving in ministry, to even being around my fellow students. One thing that I know for sure is that I want to GO! My heart is for the lost in general, but the Lord put on my heart, the unreached, the 10/40 window. While I am here, I am training for that. Of course on the field, it won’t be exactly like this, but I know that training is important. If God has called us to something, then we must steward that well and keep that calling on the forefront of our minds. I have to constantly remind myself that He is training me. God is preparing me, teaching me, shaping me. As much as I want to go, I know that He has me where I am for a reason and it’s good. It can be hard to wait and to not really know what the future looks like. There are so many decisions to make, so many things to think through, and so many things to do. As I sit and think about these things, I get overwhelmed, which makes me lose sight of God and who He is. As I was sitting with the Lord, this overwhelming feeling of “I don’t know what to do,” became “But I know He knows what to do.” The Lord is my Shepherd and He is a good Shepherd. When I feel lost or like I can’t do it, He reminds me that He can and He is with me. I tend to complicate things… but something someone told me once, comes back every time I feel this way, “Just walk with God.” It’s as simple as that, though at the time I heard it, I thought, “NO IT’S NOT”! But it is. Walk with God and He’s going to show you what step you need to take at that time. Walk with God and He’s going to lead you to where He wants you to go. God is someone you can trust, He never falls back on His word, but keeps every promise He makes.\nThe Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His names sake... Psalm 23 I am happy to announce that this summer I will be going back to the school of missions, but this time as a leader! The Lord taught me so much as a student last year and I know this will be a great time of learning the leadership side of things this year. The great commission is a command and the Lord wants to send people into all the nations, so I ask that you would pray with me for this year\u0026rsquo;s CSOM students, that they would learn all that God wants to teach them through this school and that more people will be fired up to reach the unreached!\nI ask for your prayers as I serve at CSOM (Calvary School of Missions) this summer. I know this will be a fruitful time. If you would like to partner with me financially, you can give as the Lord leads, and your prayers are always appreciated!\nThank you all for your constant support. I am grateful for each and every one of you and I am blessed to know that God has put you in my life!\nIn His Love,\nAlani\nPrayer Requests For my time training with Saving Grace World Missions, that the Lord would continue to teach me and that I would walk surrendered. This year\u0026rsquo;s CSOM! Praise Reports Praise God for the opportunities He’s given me to share the gospel with people! For loved ones coming to me and asking questions about the Lord. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-my-shepherd-rangel-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi all! I know it’s been a while since my last newsletter, but I would like to update you all on what the Lord has been doing in my life recently. Before I get started, I want to thank you all for your constant support and love. The body of Christ is important for a believer. Knowing that you guys are with me, gives me great comfort!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"el-reino-de-los-ninos\"\u003eEl Reino de Los Ninos\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month I had the opportunity to visit an orphanage in Ensenada. This was a sweet time because this orphanage was one that I used to go to when I was in high school, so it brought back many memories! I remembered that this was where the Lord began to plant the seed of missions in my heart, so visiting while I’m now walking on the path of long-term missions, brought my heart great joy to know that the Lord does not waste anything! Spending time with the kids and getting to know them was sweet. I love these kids! Watching them laugh and have fun was the cutest thing ever! Every time the kids would line up for food, they would recite a verse by memory. I love this because in the moment they feel alone, sad, or broken, the Lord can bring these verses to memory and help them recall what they know to be true about Him. I had the best moments with a girl I met there. She is in her early teens, we will call her Nadia (for her privacy). As we were talking I asked her what her favorite thing to do was and she told me singing. I thought, “perfect! I brought my guitar!” So I pulled it out and we sang a couple of songs together. She was pretty shy to sing by herself, so I sang with her. Later in the night we were singing together again and this time, she sang by herself. My heart melted when I heard her sing. I loved the way she sang, but what got me more was realizing how the Lord gave her that. I prayed that God would make Himself so real to her and that she would use this gift to worship Him and to have intimate times in His presence. I loved sharing what I’ve learned with Nadia. I pray it sticks with her.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord is My Shepherd… - Rangel Update March 2024"},{"content":"Hi! Thank you first and foremost for taking the time to read all that the Lord has done in my life. My hope with every newsletter is to give God the glory and praise through these updates. So, without further ado….\nIntroducing…me!\nCurrently I serve in a couple different ministries at my church. During the week, I work at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace as part of the administrative team, where I regularly work on things such as our bulletins, graphics, our mobile app and more. I have been blessed to work on our SGWM side with missionary interviews and see all the Lord is doing around the world! I have a deep burden for the youth around me so I serve as a leader in our youth ministry and am heavily involved in our young adults group as well. Lastly I serve in our worship ministry where I play guitar and sing. At CCSG I am in a Missions Training Program with the goal of doing cross-cultural missions and sharing with those who may not have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ! But now let\u0026rsquo;s take a look at how the Lord brought me here.\nI grew up in a non-believing home where conflict was all too common. Slowly as I grew older, I started to form my own opinions on the world and what my purpose was. And, without Christ, there wasn’t much. So I filled those empty spots with a life of sin that slowly but surely brought me lower and lower until I was at rock bottom. I lost many friends and didn’t know what to do. But, as always, God comes through. I started dating a boy who attended CCSG and I started to come because I could spend time with him. But it didn’t take long for the Lord to expose the sin in my heart and show me how desperately I needed Him. 4 months later I finally accepted that I couldn’t save myself, but I needed a Savior. This is when I decided to trust Jesus, and follow His plan for my life. Now that we are all up to date… let’s take a look at the present!\nAs I mentioned before, I am a part of a Missions Training Program (MTS). Now, what is the Missions Training Program? It is a program offered by CCSG where I am being equipped in the Word of God and learning what it looks like to run a church for the case that I might be a part of a new or existing church plant somewhere around the world. Typically, to begin that school I would have needed to complete a summer at the Calvary School of Missions(CSOM). But the Lord really opened a door for me to start beforehand and not waste any time to start getting equipped with the knowledge of His Word and how to walk in that calling He has placed on my life. With that though, it means I still need to attend the Calvary School of Missions!\nSo…\nI will be a part of 2024’s CSOM this upcoming summer! The Calvary School of Missions is a 6-week program in Mexico where you simply seek the Lord, get educated on the unreached, and be submerged in a setting where there is more missions training than you might notice. So those will be my next steps in this exciting new focus of my life. For now I am focused on MTS until I get to CSOM, and then we will see how God directs.\nI’m beyond grateful and excited to have you come alongside me in this fight. It’s not a physical fight, it\u0026rsquo;s a spiritual fight. And so I need prayer. We see in Ephesians 6 how much we need the armor of God. And not only that, but that WITH prayer.\n18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 19 and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.\n- Ephesians 6:18-20 NKJV\nPlease pray for me. Above anything else you think I may need, always begin and stay praying. I know these next steps are only possible with God and so I will be praying continually for His wisdom in every step I take. And I want to invite you to come alongside me in this work. We have an enemy. He is real. But, our God is greater. And life gets busy, but just as you have taken the time to read this newsletter, I ask you take time to pray for:\n- Staying focused on the Missions Training Program.\n- For the Lord to continue to break my heart for His people around the world.\n- For the finances needed to attend the Calvary School of Missions.\n- For the salvation of my family and that I may be a bold ambassador for Jesus.\nLike I mentioned in my prayer requests, there are the financial needs too. If you feel led to financially support my CSOM tuition, the cost of the program is $2,700 and so any kind of contribution would be a huge blessing! You can find the financial support button at the bottom of this page.\nI am so excited to see all the Lord is going to do!\nAnd again, thank you for all the love and support! Please let me know how I could be praying for you as well!\nWith all joy,\nSerena Keeler\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/from-darkness-to-light-keeler-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi! Thank you first and foremost for taking the time to read all that the Lord has done in my life. My hope with every newsletter is to give God the glory and praise through these updates. So, without further ado….\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIntroducing…me!\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/5785B45A-924E-4582-895E-6D6F6C4FAC6E.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/D235E85E-9135-471E-8FB3-9A1D65613D2B.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/5D9AEEA7-2D92-499B-91CC-CE4ED9039AD1-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BCD9D53D-4C3F-4B70-948B-9A26FF6360FA-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCurrently I serve in a couple different ministries at my church. During the week, I work at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace as part of the administrative team, where I regularly work on things such as our bulletins, graphics, our mobile app and more.  I have been blessed to work on our SGWM side with missionary interviews and see all the Lord is doing around the world! I have a deep burden for the youth around me so I serve as a leader in our youth ministry and am heavily involved in our young adults group as well. Lastly I serve in our worship ministry where I play guitar and sing. At CCSG I am in a Missions Training Program with the goal of doing cross-cultural missions and sharing with those who may not have heard the Good News of Jesus Christ! But now let\u0026rsquo;s take a look at how the Lord brought me here.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"From Darkness to Light - Keeler Update March 2024"},{"content":"Dear Team and Family in Christ,\nIt is my joy to share with you all the great things that our God has been doing in this part of the 10/40 window and in my life. 1 Timothy 2:4 says that God our Savior “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”. Knowing the heart of God, when you ask Him to open doors to reach those in darkness, we will begin to see Him move.\nThere is a group of villages that I have wanted to visit and share the Good News of Jesus to. As I approach them, I can see that they are in deep idolatry and completely devoted to Hinduism. In these villages, the people have few resources. Many of them do not know how to read. The greatest tragedy is that they do not know Jesus. I knew I had an opportunity during the Christmas season. Here in my nation, people are more open to join in Christmas celebrations. As I planned Christmas outreaches, I decided to visit these villages. God opened the door for me to visit 5 new villages. The people were open and interested to hear as I shared about the true meaning of Christmas.\nSince the outreaches, I have been welcomed back to revisit families in 2 of those villages. The people have not surrendered their lives to the Lord yet, but the seeds have been planted. I know the watering must continue. When I go into these villages, I am surrounded by many children who are so curious about what I have to say. My heart is broken for the people because of the darkness they are in. It is hard for us, as humans, to reach so many people, but it is not hard for the Holy Spirit to reach them. My prayer is that these souls would be convicted by the Holy Spirit and turn their lives from their idols to the Living God. Please join me in praying for their salvation.\nAs I have tried to reach as many as I can, I have found that there is a great need to raise up men and women that will reach the unreached people. I am in lack of men that will go with me. I understand that it is my responsibility to raise them up within my ministry. Just as Paul raised up Timothy, I am seeking those Timothy’s. I am asking God to bring them. Please pray for the Lord to raise up many disciples among my people. Men and women that will have a heart for God and to reach our nation. The work that is happening now should not stop when I leave this world. It should last for generations, for God’s glory.\n“Delight yourself also in the Lord, And He shall give you the desires of your heart.”\nPsalm 37:4\nFor the past few years I have been praying for a godly woman in my life. I am happy to share with you that the Lord has brought her to me. Over 1 year ago, I met her. As our hearts have grown from friendship to love, the Lord has made it clear that He is calling us to marriage. She is being sent out as a worker with SGWM. She loves the Lord and shares the same Kingdom vision and dreams as I do. God has blessed us with great pastors and leaders that have been walking with us, encouraging us, and discipling us in this season, with so much love. Please pray for us as we begin preparations for our marriage and life together. There are many things involved. We are trusting God every step of the way and for every thing.\nMy friends, thank you for your faithful prayers and your partnership in this work of God. Everything that we are doing is for the glory of God and the fruit of your faithfulness.\nGod bless,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/joyful-in-jesus-pastor-7-april-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Team and Family in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is my joy to share with you all the great things that our God has been doing in this part of the 10/40 window and in my life. 1 Timothy 2:4 says that God our Savior “desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”. Knowing the heart of God, when you ask Him to open doors to reach those in darkness, we will begin to see Him move.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Joyful in Jesus - Pastor 7* Update April 2024"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nI got the chance to lead a Sunday service in a village last month (above). I also had fellowship with them with the Word of God. I am teaching them from the book of Ephesians.\nLast month, three new families asked us to have house fellowships with them. We had fellowship with each of them them (above).\nLast month, I also had the privilege to lead the praise and worship at a meeting organized by the pastor fellowship. About 300 to 400 people came. It was a blessed time.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for my children to grow in Lord’s fear and knowledge. Please also pray for their final exams. Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing. Please pray for our village ministry in our local area. May the people there grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word. Please pray for the new family to grow in Lord. Please pray for our state. Pray that God will work and change the heart of the people. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/by-gods-grace-pastor-16-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/WhatsApp-Image-2024-03-11.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI got the chance to lead a Sunday service in a village last month (above). I also had fellowship with them with the Word of God. I am teaching them from the book of Ephesians.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"By God's Grace - Pastor 16 Update March 2024"},{"content":"Greetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\n“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”\n(Isaiah 41:10).\nGod has promised that He will strengthen us to move forward for His kingdom. As a family, we are so grateful to the Lord for His protection and provision. Thank you, to all our ministry partners for your earnest prayers and financial support. We have been constantly praying for you and your family. May God bless you!\nAs you all are aware, day by day Christians are being attacked by Hindu fanatic groups in most parts of our country, especially in the state where I serve. In many places, they are not allowing believers to bury their dead loved ones\u0026rsquo; bodies in the villages. The government is trying to pass a law to shutdown all house churches! Because of that, local police are coming and stopping the church services. They are even beating the pastors and believers. In addition Christian believers are completely helpless from the government. If the Christians complain about the persecution, then charges will be filed against Christian’s who are being persecuted, not the Hindu fanatics that attacked them. Therefore it is getting harder to go to the villages and share the Gospel. However, God is opening the door for us to personally evangelize in homes. In addition to doing church ministry, as a family we visit other families to testify about the Lord and pray for them!\nLast month we finished our 3rd semester examination at CBI (above). The 4th semester has already begun.\nAs part of practical training, we have been taking our students to visit homes (above) where they pray for people. They are also involved in church activities, such as Sunday school, youth group, choir, etc.\nPrayer Requests:\nKindly pray that God may open the eyes of Hindu fanatic groups to see God\u0026rsquo;s love and come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Please pray that God may stop such great persecutions. Kindly pray for the growth of our church. Pray for suitable land for our church. Kindly pray for me and my family, that the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Please also pray for my daughter\u0026rsquo;s study. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/fear-not-for-i-am-with-you-pastor-3-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(Isaiah 41:10).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod has promised that He will strengthen us to move forward for His kingdom. As a family, we are so grateful to the Lord for His protection and provision. Thank you, to all our ministry partners for your earnest prayers and financial support. We have been constantly praying for you and your family. May God bless you!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\"Fear Not, For I Am With You\" - Pastor 3 Update March 2024"},{"content":"Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.\n(Isaiah 41:10)\nGod spoke this Word in my life. By this Word, I am still serving Christ in my life. In previous years, even after I came to know Jesus, I could not stand properly. I could not look at others straight into their faces. God gave me strength to look at them now. Praise God for His wonderful work in my life. Now I am doing ministry as well as teaching at CBI.\nThis semester, I am teaching the Gospel of Luke. In this book, God shows His love to everybody. He loves not only Jews, but also gentiles. He came to the whole world to rescue them from sin and give them life, if they believed Him as their personal Lord and Saviour. I am also enjoying teaching my dear students. God has a greater plan for everybody. So be humble and serve Him in humbleness.\nWe are doing children\u0026rsquo;s ministry at our Calvary Chapel. Many more children are interested in coming to our church, but their parents do not allow them to enter. Pray that God will work their parents\u0026rsquo; hearts to send them to our church.\nWe are going to finish the Book of 2 Timothy in our church services. We started with Matthew. Now, we have finished 2 Timothy chapter 3. In our next worship service, we are going to finish 2 Timothy. We also are doing a Wednesday Bible study from the Book of Eziekel.\nEvery week after our church service ends, we have a youth fellowship. The young adults of our church are enjoying the youth fellowship. They said that they are learning more in our youth fellowship. One of my friends, who is not saved, came to our church service. He is continuing to participate in our youth fellowship and asked many questions there. We all are eager to answer his questions. Please pray for my dear friend. His name is Sujan. May God save his soul.\nMy beautiful wife is teaching the book of Revelation on a social media platform. Many sisters and mothers from our country and other countries join. She now has reached the book of Revelation, chapter 14.\nWe are doing a Bible study at the Leper Colony. Every Friday, we gather and study the Word of God. We are now studying 2 Samuel, Chapter 11. We teach verse by verse, chapter by chapter, at the Leper Colony also.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray that God allows all of the children in our locality to come to our church. Pray that God will provide our church with all our needs. In our church, many fellow believers are still getting their education. Most of them are students. Pray that God will provide our choir team with everything they need to properly worship. A lot of noise comes in from outside while we are having worship. It is not easy to hear the songs sung by the choir. Pray that my dear friend, Sujan will accept Jesus as his personal Savior. Thank you so much for supporting us, praying for us, and raising us up! God bless every entire family and those at Saving Grace World Missions!\nGrace and peace,\nYour faithful servants,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-our-strength-pastor-rabi-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(Isaiah 41:10)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod spoke this Word in my life. By this Word, I am still serving Christ in my life. In previous years, even after I came to know Jesus, I could not stand properly. I could not look at others straight into their faces. God gave me strength to look at them now. Praise God for His wonderful work in my life. Now I am doing ministry as well as teaching at CBI.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Our Strength - Pastor Rabi Update March 2024"},{"content":"“But the Word of God grew and multiplied.”\nActs 12:24\nIt is always exciting to write about how our God is in our mist, and how His kingdom is flourishing. When we look around, we see so many different ways that He has been working. I will explain some of the ways of how He is working in our mist.\nIn Our Bible College:\nThings are going differently in our country. Young adults want to go abroad to find jobs and to chase their dreams. We have seen a million people leave our country. But there are some young people who want to leave their homes and join Bible college. We see hope in our country that God is working in our mist. These young people are not perfect, but our perfect God has greater plan for these imperfect young people. This new semester 8 new students were admitted in our Bible college. Now all together we have 31 students. There are 10 girls and 21 boys. Please pray that they grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word and grace.\nIn Our Bible College Student\u0026rsquo;s Lives:\nOne of our Bible college students graduated a couple of months ago. He went to his hometown and started to share the Gospel. His name is Dhan. He received Christ when he was living at his sister\u0026rsquo;s house in the capital. He knew about our Bible college and came. 2 years later, after finishing Bible college, he went back to his village. While he was sharing Christ, he happened to meet one of the pastors of that area. That pastor invited him Church and asked him to teach in a house fellowship. Everyone in the fellowship was so blessed to hear Word from him. They had not thought that a young man could teach the Bible and open the scriptures in this way. Then the pastor asked him to teach in his youth meeting. Now the same pastor is asking him to teach in the main church service. Please pray for this young man. May God open the door for him to serve in the ways that God wants to use him.\nIn Our Bible College Community:\nOur Bible college courtyard has become a blessing to our community. We did a couple of outreach programs there and invited the people of our community to come and enjoy the programs. We did Gospel songs, skits, and dances and shared the Gospel message. Since we had the programs, 2 brothers in our neighborhood started to come to church. They love having fellowship with us now. They are getting to know Christ and love to hang out with our students. We also made it open to the community to come and play table tennis in our courtyard, so that we can share Christ with them. Please pray that God may bring more young people to our courtyard ministry so that the students may have chances serve in and out of our Bible college.\nThank you,\nAnand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/but-the-word-of-god-grew-and-multiplied-pastor-anand-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“But the Word of God grew and multiplied.”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eActs 12:24\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is always exciting to write about how our God is in our mist, and how His kingdom is flourishing. When we look around, we see so many different ways that He has been working. I will explain some of the ways of how He is working in our mist.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG%5F3416.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn Our Bible College:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThings are going differently in our country. Young adults want to go abroad to find jobs and to chase their dreams. We have seen a million people leave our country. But there are some young people who want to leave their homes and join Bible college. We see hope in our country that God is working in our mist. These young people are not perfect, but our perfect God has greater plan for these imperfect young people. This new semester 8 new students were admitted in our Bible college. Now all together we have 31 students. There are 10 girls and 21 boys. Please pray that they grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word and grace.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"“But the Word of God Grew and Multiplied.” - Pastor Anand Update March 2024"},{"content":"Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ!\nI am deeply thankful to all of you prayer warriors for constantly keeping us in your prayers. By the grace and mercy of God we are doing well!!\nThe homeowners of the house where I was holding church services had a dispute between the husband and wife. After they locked their house up, they moved to rent a house in another village. Because of this, I am facing a lot of difficulties with figuring out where to hold our Sunday worship services.\nCurrently, there is a small room where we pray together on Sundays. We do not make much noise. We worship God very quietly because the present situation is very serious (we do not want to stir up trouble). We ask you all to pray together with great burden for this matter. May God open a door for us.\nThe house where I live with my family is a rented house. I cannot conduct worship there on Sundays, because the owner of the house will not allow me to do this.\nI am dedicated to doing God\u0026rsquo;s work, so my God will not let me be ashamed.\nPlease all of you together pray for us with great burden.\nLast month I went to some villages and did a prayer walk. Please remember those villages in your prayers.\nMay God bless the hands that help me financially. May God bless them in their work and ministry.\nIn the Lord,\nYour Brother,\nPastor 8* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/please-pray-for-up-pastor-8-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in the Name of Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am deeply thankful to all of you prayer warriors for constantly keeping us in your prayers. By the grace and mercy of God we are doing well!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG%5F20230820%5F110720.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe homeowners of the house where I was holding church services had a dispute between the husband and wife. After they locked their house up, they moved to rent a house in another village. Because of this, I am facing a lot of difficulties with figuring out where to hold our Sunday worship services.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Please Pray for Up - Pastor 8* Update March 2024"},{"content":"When I was in the island of Java, there was a lady who was outside her home and I was really intrigued by her. I stared at her for a minute and she gave me a big smile and I smiled back and waved at her. I wanted to go up to her but I knew we were soon leaving the location. Later, I found out that her two grandchildren were possessed. I felt a heavy burden come over me and my heart was broken. The image of her smiling wouldn’t leave my mind. I had no idea that behind that smile was a dark, heartbroken life that she was living. It made me reflect on how the gospel is very needed in places where people have no idea who Jesus is.\nGREETINGS\nThank you all so much for your prayers and support. I am grateful for your partnership and being able to go to Indonesia. God is faithful even when I am faithless. It was unbelievable when I got out of the airplane that I was in Indonesia, considering the prior weeks of not knowing if I was going.\nBALI\nBali was not what I expected. When you google Bali you get these beautiful images of the beach, of resorts, and all these adventure type photos. I didn\u0026rsquo;t see anything like that because it felt like most of what we saw was poverty, financially yes, but more so spiritually. When we got out of the airport and drove to our hotel we saw many demonic statues and temples and I was appalled. I had no idea it was going to be all over and in your face. There were also many offerings on the streets to their gods. Over and over throughout my time in Bali the Lord gave me a burden for the people.\nI took this photo above as we were driving to a restaurant and I had no idea if my phone captured the image; when I checked my phone I was shocked at what I saw. There was another photo that I took where you could see there were kids behind the float and on the side.\nOne night after a woman’s bible study we went to the hospital to pray over someone’s father from the congregation. Barek and I sat outside and waited for our turn, when all of the sudden we heard loud sharp music. As I sat there, I felt this heaviness come over me. I felt like time paused and I couldn’t move. When I stood up to go see what this terrible noise was I saw these men across the street playing different instruments. Barek talked with a security guard at the hospital and asked what it was; and he told him they were preparing for a parade called “The Day of Silence.” The noise was horrific and again my heart was broken for these people.\nJAVA\nJava was like I stepped into another world. Going from Bali, a place that is filled with so many demonic statues, to Java, a new region that is entirely muslim with so many mosques and calls to prayer, was quite interesting. This area had a different heaviness and darkness. I remember sitting at a restaurant and feeling very overwhelmed and I quickly wanted to return to Bali. A gentlemen who has a ministry in this location shared with us that the people who live there don’t know Arabic yet they claimed to be muslim. It made no sense why the people claim to be muslim if the calls to prayer and the Quran are both in Arabic. The only answer is that the enemy has a stronghold on them. The people are living in spiritual blindness.\nOVERALL\nOn both of these islands the enemy has a stronghold on the people and it breaks my heart. The need is great and so more prayer is needed to see if this is a location the Lord wants to use us in a new work. I am open to whatever the Lord wills. I feel like there is still more to process from everything that I have experienced.\nI\u0026rsquo;M ENGAGED\nI am engaged!!! I met Barek a little over a year ago and after much prayer and seeking the Lord we decided to take a step of faith and start dating, and now we are engaged! Barek is a man who is after God’s own heart and I am grateful for the Lord bringing us together. We were able to go up north and see my family. He met my family for the first time and asked for my hand. I am excited to see how the Lord uses us both in our calling to missions.\nPraise Reports:\nPraise God for the opportunity to go to Indonesia Praise God I got to visit my family, it had been serveral months since I last saw them Praise God for working in the ordinary and bringing Barek and I together Prayer Request:\nPray for the grandchildren of the lady in Java Pray for Barek and I as we step into a new season of engagement Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s will to be done as I am considering going back to school and getting my teaching credentials as the Lord has been showing me I can use this when I move overseas. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-smile-hides-a-dark-story-campos-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhen I was in the island of Java, there was a lady who was outside her home and I was really intrigued by her. I stared at her for a minute and she gave me a big smile and I smiled back and waved at her. I wanted to go up to her but I knew we were soon leaving the location. Later, I found out that her two grandchildren were possessed. I felt a heavy burden come over me and my heart was broken. The image of her smiling wouldn’t leave my mind. I had no idea that behind that smile was a dark, heartbroken life that she was living. It made me reflect on how the gospel is very needed in places where people have no idea who Jesus is.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Smile Hides A Dark Story - Campos Update March 2024"},{"content":" Several things fell into place this month. The Lord is faithful and He has blessed us beyond anything we could have imagined and in His perfect timing. It’s easy to look back and write that now. It doesn’t mean that we didn’t have our share of anxious days and stress-filled nights. We haven’t always had peace since arriving in Japan (visa delays and plan changes and team leading etc.), but we have always had access to the Peacemaker. We didn’t often have confidence in the Japanese government, but we did have confidence in our calling. So those moments of doubt and anxiety were hard, but thankfully were few and short-lived.\nSince our last update, our change of status was approved, and we now have our three-year visas. Once those arrived, we were able to register with the local city office and look for a place to rent. We had been praying for the right place for several months, but it’s still difficult to rent as a foreigner in Japan. Alishia had been using a website to see what rental units were available in the area around the church, but nothing quite fit our list that we had been praying about. There was a surprisingly low number of places that were open, and it looked like we wouldn’t have many options. However, the day that our visas came through, and we could officially start looking for a place, one came available. It was the place we had been praying for and met every one of our needs. We moved in this week, and it already feels like home.\nWe were also able start serving at the church. We do set-up and tear-down for our church gatherings on Friday nights and Sundays, we help out with English class on Fridays and Saturdays, and Alishia goes to the ladies’ bible study on Tuesdays. We are preparing for the church’s Easter outreach as well as doing discipleship with some of the other volunteers at the church. And of course, now that Alishia has a kitchen, she is inviting anyone and everyone over for meals or tea. Please keep all of these interactions in prayer.\nWe will be making a ‘short’ trip back to the States in May for Alishia’s American citizenship ceremony, as well as Daphne’s high school graduation. We’d love to spend time with you then if you’re free and we’re in your area. We’ll only be able to be in Montana and California this time, so let us know. Thank you so much for your prayers, they mean so much to us.\nPrayer Requests:\nPraise the Lord that we have an apartment and that we are getting it set up!\nPray for our ministry opportunities, especially our upcoming Easter outreach.\nPray for our trip back to America that is coming up in May.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-place-to-be-root-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/C5B9CFE0-60FD-4758-BF2A-DA671F0D294F-169x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSeveral things fell into place this month. The Lord is faithful and He has blessed us beyond anything we could have imagined and in His perfect timing. It’s easy to look back and write that now. It doesn’t mean that we didn’t have our share of anxious days and stress-filled nights. We haven’t always had peace since arriving in Japan (visa delays and plan changes and team leading etc.), but we have always had access to the Peacemaker. We didn’t often have confidence in the Japanese government, but we did have confidence in our calling. So those moments of doubt and anxiety were hard, but thankfully were few and short-lived.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Place to Be - Root Update March 2024"},{"content":" “Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”\nMatthew 22:37\nThe phrase “with all your mind” has been very important in guiding and inspiring my ministries in the areas of apologetics, evangelism, Bible teaching etc, for many years. Despite reading and thinking about this phrase many times over the decades my view is beginning to expand beyond “intellect” to the “whole mind.” I will explain how this new mindset is leading to an expansion in ministry.\nEducation/Intellect Sonshine Kids International School/Faith Family Church Cambodia: Since last month, I have been involved in teacher training at Sonshine Kids International School, which is connected to Faith Family Church Cambodia, where I also have been teaching Apologetics/Evangelism in partnership with Ps. Dara to equip his church members. Please pray for wisdom and guidance.\nPrecious Women Organization/True Education International School: Kayo and I have been working with, supporting, encouraging, and partnering with Precious Women Organization (PWO) since before it began around 14 years ago. Kayo serves on the advisory board, helps with administration, and does some teaching. I have mainly been helping them produce videos and leading staff devotions from time to time. PWO is in the process of starting True Education International School in a rural neighborhood outside of the city. They have started classes for primary students and Kayo and I will be helping them with their English classes. Please pray for us to be salt and light before the students, their families, and the community.\nInternational Fishers: Christian Evidence Ministry: Even though I haven’t been able to produce any new videos for a while and allowed the subscription for the website to expire, IF continues making an impact on Facebook/YouTube as an evangelistic tool that Cambodians can use to reach other Cambodians. Please pray for wisdom and guidance about the future direction of IF.\nExpansion into Mental Health/Whole Mind It seems that God often leads me to minister out of my own trials and pain. My apologetics ministry sprung out of finding answers to my doubts about the truth of Christianity/God/Jesus/the Bible. Now God is opening new doors and giving me a new passion to reach out to those who struggle with mental health issues and their families from my own struggles/victories in this area since 2003. I am pursuing this new aspect of ministry in partnership with Light Association (the parent organization of Light Times Magazine) and the local international church.\nSo far I have been encouraging a Cambodian Christian man who is struggling with depression and paranoia and helping his family connect to mental health services/referrals through Light Association. I have also been studying and helping other missionaries and Cambodian Christians to better understand mental illness/brain disorders so that they (we) can better minister to those who are struggling and their families. The biggest challenges so far have been overcoming fear, shame, and misunderstandings about the causes of/treatments for mental illness/brain disorders. Please pray for wisdom and favor in this new area of ministry.\nFinancial Concern We are blessed and encouraged by the generous and sacrificial giving of our faithful senders in the USA and Japan! We have encountered some unavoidable (some unexpected) large expenses (Benjamin’s tuition, major car repairs, moving expenses, visas/work permit, insurance, etc.) that have significantly impacted our accounts. The economic situations in the USA and Japan are also concerning. Please pray that God will bless and prosper our senders and also help us to connect to additional senders in both countries. We are planning to visit senders/churches/and family in Japan this summer so please also pray for blessings on this time.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/with-all-your-mind-record-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Jesus said to him, “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew 22:37\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/433988914%5F1477957823065176%5F7098728153888402224%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/434003157%5F1950093195392883%5F2034271109090257328%5Fn-edited.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe phrase “with all your mind” has been very important in guiding and inspiring my ministries in the areas of apologetics, evangelism, Bible teaching etc, for many years. Despite reading and thinking about this phrase many times over the decades my view is beginning to expand beyond “intellect” to the “whole mind.” I will explain how this new mindset is leading to an expansion in ministry.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"With All Your Mind - Record Update March 2024"},{"content":"We have had an exciting couple of months here in Oaxaca. In January we had a team of amazing women come from Calvary Rosarito. We had a 2-night women’s conference that was a huge blessing for all who came. It was so fun to spend time with our friends, old and new, from Rosarito. For those of you that don’t know, we spent a year doing the church planting course in Rosarito.\nIn February we had a married couples dinner to celebrate Valentine’s Day, and about 27 couples came. The youth helped serve the food and had a fun timing hanging out while the married couples listened to a message from Jon, played some games, and ate an amazing meal prepared by one of the ladies from our church.\nAt the beginning of March we celebrated FIVE YEARS of Calvary Oaxaca and all that the Lord has done. There are really no words to express how grateful we are that God called us here to Oaxaca and has given us a love for this place, and especially for the people. We have seen God’s hand in people’s lives in such amazing ways over these past 5 years including restored marriages, new faith in Jesus, baptisms, amazing friendships grow, and so much more. We have also seen His hand on our lives as He has made this our home, among many other things.\nThe men and women finished the book of Colossians a couple of weeks ago. This has been such a blessing to be studying the same book of the Bible. Each week we have worship together and then I (Allison) teach the ladies and one of the men teaches the men. It’s a huge blessing that Jon has some men who can teach so he can be part of the study. I am praying for some ladies who might be able to teach too. We would love prayer for that.\nJon has been teaching 2-3 times a week in Spanish. Each week I see more and more improvement in his Spanish! I think we’ll be learning Spanish for the rest of our lives. Haha! Please pray for all 4 of us to continue to grow in this area. Jonny and Noah have lots of friends here who only speak Spanish and somehow they make it work, but they are still shy. Maybe they just don’t speak it in front of Jon and me and are speaking it when we’re not around.\nThe church keeps very busy during the week. Right now we are doing a Navigators class, prayer night, midweek study, men’s and women’s bible study, Jon has his church planting class on Friday nights, and youth group on Saturday. It’s so fun!\nWe continue to go to the casa hogar each month to spend time with our friends there. They have become more like family than anything. I have also been teaching some of them how to drive once a week or so. It’s been an adventure.\nWe also have the exciting news that we will have another granddaughter in August. Austin and McKenna are expecting their second daughter and we can’t wait. Myla is already almost a year and a half, and it’ll be so fun to see them become a family of four. Another exciting thing is that Jonny will be turning 18 in April. I can’t believe we’re going to have two adult sons, and Noah is only a year behind Jonny.\nPlease continue to keep us in prayer as we serve the Lord here in Oaxaca. We are so grateful for all of you who keep us in prayer, reach out, and support our family and the ministry here financially. If you’d like to support us, please click the link. And please sign up for our email updates. We also continue to post a lot of updates on Instagram and Facebook.\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah\n“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”\nPsalm 107:1\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-oaxaca-is-5-brechtel-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe have had an exciting couple of months here in Oaxaca. In January we had a team of amazing women come from Calvary Rosarito. We had a 2-night women’s conference that was a huge blessing for all who came. It was so fun to spend time with our friends, old and new, from Rosarito. For those of you that don’t know, we spent a year doing the church planting course in Rosarito.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary Oaxaca is 5! - Brechtel Update March 2024"},{"content":" And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2\nDear Friends and Family,\nAs the church grows not just in size but in maturity, it seems to be a natural result that ministry and the responsibilities of doing the ministry increases as well. To help keep the ministry flowing and to keep the leadership from being spread too thin, it is important to train up and share some of that responsibility with mature church members.\nRecently at Arise Christian Fellowship we announced we would like to train up more volunteers to help with the ministries at the church. We were pleasantly surprised with the amount of interest that was shown. To my delight, the majority were interested in children’s ministry. This was a huge blessing because our children\u0026rsquo;s ministry can go from 65 when school is in session to 200 when school is on a break. The next largest interest group was worship. Our worship leader was happy about this because recently she lost 2 of her team members due to their having to relocate because of their jobs. The new worship volunteers are quite young but very motivated. It is a great discipleship opportunity for us with them as well as training them in worship. We also had interest in ushering and cleaning. One man who Brian has been discipling expressed the desire to present announcements for the church services.\nWith all of this interest we held a volunteer training for anyone interested. We also had a specific Sunday school training for those interested in teaching, with some practical, hands-on workshops. The training for the Sunday School teachers was done by a co-laborer of ours, called Paul. He serves with an organization that trains Sunday school teachers all over the world. He travels all around Uganda training Sunday School teachers. He also has gone to our compound in Nimule to train the teachers there. Some of our Christmas and Easter productions have been directed by Paul as well. He is very gifted with children.\n“Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.” James 5:14\nOne of the biggest ministries we have had as of late is helping the many sick chaplains who come through the Far Reaching Ministries. Most of the chaplains have common tropical diseases but have not been able to receive the proper medicines where they are deployed deep in the bush. We had one chaplain who had been shot seven times up near the border of North Sudan. We praise God that he was not killed. The doctors here even were amazed at how every bullet missed vital organs or arteries.\nAnother chaplain was in a car accident that was caused during a rebel attack. He had many injuries but the worst was that his left arm was broken in several places. The doctors put in a metal plate and screws and it is now healing very well. We have another chaplain who is recovering from a broken back. There have been many typical sicknesses you would expect to find from age and a hard life. It is such an encouragement when you see their health improving and they are able to come to church and testify of what God has saved them from and how they have been healed.\nThis year I am still homeschooling the children. I homeschool Liana fully and Luke and Laylee are in online school as well so that they can have permanent records for highschool and eventually university. For extra curricular activities the girls are in ballet and Luke takes karate as well as playing basketball.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us and for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. Please pray for all the volunteers at Arise Christian Fellowship, both old and new. Pray for them to be filled with the Spirit and gifted for the ministries they are doing. Pray for all of the chaplains who are ill or injured. Pray for their healing and for the testimony they are to so many. Pray also for Scovia who works for the FRM guesthouse as she just had surgery to remove a large lump from her neck. Pray all the biopsies come back negative. Pray for Jill and the children as they continue homeschooling. Pray for patience for Jill and a desire to learn for the children. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"and-the-things-that-you-have-heard-from-meamong-many-witnesses-commit-these-to-faithful-menwho-will-be-able-to-teach-others-also\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnd the things that you have heard from me\u003c/strong\u003e among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men \u003cstrong\u003ewho will be able to teach others also.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2 Timothy 2:2\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the church grows not just in size but in maturity, it seems to be a natural result that ministry and the responsibilities of doing the ministry increases as well. To help keep the ministry flowing and to keep the leadership from being spread too thin, it is important to train up and share some of that responsibility with mature church members.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update March 2024"},{"content":"Hello friends and family! It’s been a little over a month since I last wrote and a lot has happened. When I last wrote I had just arrived in Yorba Linda, California for a missions training program. (We’ll call it MTS from now on.) Without further ado, let’s get into it.\nAn Inner Burning In my last newsletter, I talked about how I spent 3 months in Israel. During that time in Israel, I had an urge to reach the Israeli people, yet I had such a hard time when it came to sharing the gospel because of the cultural and language barriers. Though Israel is very Westernized compared to the rest of the Middle East, it still is very culturally different. Not only that but though many Israelis speak English, it often isn’t their first language. Understandably, since I don’t speak Hebrew and am not an Israeli, it was difficult to share the gospel effectively. All this to say that when I got back to the U.S. I was eager to share the gospel in my native language and a culture I understand. During the first month of the MTS program, I decided one Thursday that I would join Pastor Nick (one of the pastors at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace) in his Cal State Fullerton outreach. When we arrived I spent hours sharing the gospel with college students. It was very exciting meeting people of all different backgrounds. Through a long set of divine appointments and stories for another time, I met a girl we’ll call Jessica and a guy named we’ll call Kyle. Kyle had been a believer when I met him, he was a believer for 2 years and was hungry to grow in the Lord and evangelism as well. Since meeting him, he has joined me 2 times to go evangelizing! Jessica is not a believer but is seeking after the Lord. A couple of MTS students and I spent a few hours with her and at the end of our conversation, she told us she wanted to learn more about God and has been faithfully attending Young Adults Group and Sunday services and best of all, 2 of our MTS ladies are pouring into her. All this is to say that the Lord is working amongst the young people.\nWhat Else is Happening at the Missions Training Program? So what else am I doing in the MTS program? Well, I’m glad you asked. The program consists of classes such as a preaching class, missions class, discipleship classes, and various others. In our preaching class, I am learning how to handle God’s Word to instruct others. I am really learning to love the Word and how it really comes to life when you teach it. It seems that every week of teaching through Philippians, God gives me opportunities to apply what I’m studying at work. The week I was studying Philippians 4:4, I had a rough day at work. It was during my shift that I knew I needed to rejoice in the Lord always even when things weren’t good and so I did. All that to say, God is growing and shaping me throughout the process.\nPrayer Requests/ Praise reports Please join me in praying for my coworkers for their salvation and that God would open a door for me to share the gospel with them Please pray for the Cal State Fullerton campus outreach that the Lord would open up the door for us to establish a good bible-teaching club on campus Pray for Jessica and her salvation/ Pray for the ladies ministering to her that God would give them wisdom Pray for Steve and Misha that God would bless their work in Israel Praise the Lord for the work He’s doing in the young adults Praise God for the salvation of Kyle Praise God for His Word and how it truly changes lives Thank you all for your prayers and your support. If you would like to hear more about the things God is doing, feel free to message me and I would love to share with you. If you would like to support my ministry there will be a link below. If you have any questions, please message me. Thank you again. God bless you all.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/put-in-the-work-put-in-the-hours-sanchez-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family! It’s been a little over a month since I last wrote and a lot has happened. When I last wrote I had just arrived in Yorba Linda, California for a missions training program. (We’ll call it MTS from now on.) Without further ado, let’s get into it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"an-inner-burning\"\u003eAn Inner Burning\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn my last newsletter, I talked about how I spent 3 months in Israel. During that time in Israel, I had an urge to reach the Israeli people, yet I had such a hard time when it came to sharing the gospel because of the cultural and language barriers. Though Israel is very Westernized compared to the rest of the Middle East, it still is very culturally different. Not only that but though many Israelis speak English, it often isn’t their first language. Understandably, since I don’t speak Hebrew and am not an Israeli, it was difficult to share the gospel effectively. All this to say that when I got back to the U.S. I was eager to share the gospel in my native language and a culture I understand. During the first month of the MTS program, I decided one Thursday that I would join Pastor Nick (one of the pastors at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace) in his Cal State Fullerton outreach. When we arrived I spent hours sharing the gospel with college students. It was very exciting meeting people of all different backgrounds. Through a long set of divine appointments and stories for another time, I met a girl we’ll call Jessica and a guy named we’ll call Kyle. Kyle had been a believer when I met him, he was a believer for 2 years and was hungry to grow in the Lord and evangelism as well. Since meeting him, he has joined me 2 times to go evangelizing! Jessica is not a believer but is seeking after the Lord. A couple of MTS students and I spent a few hours with her and at the end of our conversation, she told us she wanted to learn more about God and has been faithfully attending Young Adults Group and Sunday services and best of all, 2 of our MTS ladies are pouring into her. All this is to say that the Lord is working amongst the young people.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Put In The Work Put In The Hours - Sanchez Update March 2024"},{"content":"It has been a little while since my last newsletter, right before leaving for Southeast Asia; I have been back for a few weeks now and I am excited to share all that has happened! I want to first thank all of you for reading my newsletter, praying, and partnering with me as I continue to seek the Lord and train for full-time missions work.\nBALI and EAST JAVA\nGetting to visit these islands in Indonesia, seeing the culture, interacting with those in local ministry, and witnessing the darkness of the dominant religions has altogether left me with quite a lot to process in this season. A lot of people have asked me what I thought of the region, if I feel called or if I want to go back. The one thing I can say for certain is that there is so much spiritual darkness there, and the gospel is needed; Jesus Christ is needed.\nIn Bali, where the team spent the majority of our time, we witnessed more Hindu statues than I could possibly have guessed coming into the trip. Quite literally every single corner (every single household) had a shrine or a temple of some kind. The architecture of these is always eerie and off-putting, and as you can see below, the statues are blatantly horrific and demonic. The people on this island most likely do not realize that they are enslaved to these rituals and practices; they live in fear of these ‘gods’ and nearly every aspect of their lives is dictated by this fear. The spiritual darkness is so evident.\nIn spite of the darkness, the Lord opened so many doors to work with local ministries. Though many of them differ in their approaches to missions, there was an opportunity to share the vision that Saving Grace World Missions takes straight from the book of Acts, aptly called “The Purpose of the Church.” I first heard this in the School of Missions, and through it God has given me a theological, and more importantly, Biblical conviction of my role in fulfilling the Great Commission. I’d love to share this vision of evangelizing and discipling the nations, through church-planting, if any one of you has questions!\nVisiting East Java provided our team with such an awesome opportunity, in that we not only were we able to see a predominantly Hindu culture in Bali, but also a predominantly Muslim culture. As soon as the ferry pulled into the East Java harbor we could see multiple mosques from which we would soon hear incessant calls to prayer. In all honesty, the darkness in this island was more palpable than what we encountered in Bali, despite the fact that we spent only three days in Java. On a personal note, I developed some kind of an infection that hit me full force while on this island, as I came down with a fever, sore throat, and strange ankle pain. Though the warfare was happening, I had a peace and a sense of gratitude for my team and my calling. This trip was just a taste of what cross-cultural missions is like, of what culture-shock feels like, and of what my everyday world may eventually look like! Don’t worry, I am not deterred.\nThe darkness of these places and the lostness of these people does not dissuade me but rather emboldens me in the LORD. If I could summarize what I saw in one word, it would be bondage. I encountered so many people in bondage; whether it was a local Balinese woman whirling and breathing in incense to a ‘god’ at a food altar on the street, or a Javanese Muslim wailing a call to prayer in the streets with incessant and depressing repetition, or even if it was the tourists coming to indulge and seek empty lusts and thrills. Yes I encountered bondage, but I’ve never felt so free in Christ, in a unique and strange way. There was a time in my life when the bondage of these people would’ve either gone over my head, or it would’ve been rationally compartmentalized as something other than exactly what it is; they are enslaved to their sin nature, as I once was. They need to hear the gospel! They need to personally know the victory that is in Jesus Christ, a victory that remains always and resounds forever.\n“Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”\n– 1 Corinthians 15:55-57\nIN OTHER NEWS\nUpon returning from Indonesia, the Lord has guided me in taking an exciting new step of faith. This past weekend I got engaged! I met Araceli over a year ago and together we have sought the Lord in our relationship, and have both felt it confirmed that we are called to reach the nations together; where and when we don’t know, but we trust Him and His plans, which He and He alone has always been faithful to guide us through. In each other, the Lord has given us both a helper, as Eve was given to Adam in Genesis 2. Please pray for us as we seek the Lord together in this season of engagement and with the missions program as we seek to spread the gospel, by the power of the Holy Spirit. God is faithful!\nThank you for reading this; I hope to continue to connect with you all, and please reach out to me with any questions about the trip, the next steps, or anything!\nPRAYER REQUESTS\nFor myself and everyone on the teams, both to Japan and to Indonesia; that we’d continue to unpack everything with the Lord and that He’d burden our hearts for these specific countries, if it be His sovereign will. For continued growth in His Word and in the work that He has for me as I continue to seek to be used by Him in ministry. For my fiancé and I as we enter into this season of engagement, seeking the Lord, and eventually planning our wedding with Him in every detail! For a job, as I am currently looking for the best option given where I’m at and what the future holds. PRAISE REPORTS\nFor the victory that we have in Christ, always and forever! For God’s continual guidance and provision through my anxiety; He has shown His sovereignty so many times, I am learning and re-learning that He gives me no reason to doubt His love or His promises. For the amazing and eye-opening trip to Indonesia. For this new season of engagement! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/always-and-forever-brzezinski-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt has been a little while since my last newsletter, right before leaving for Southeast Asia; I have been back for a few weeks now and I am excited to share all that has happened! I want to first thank all of you for reading my newsletter, praying, and partnering with me as I continue to seek the Lord and train for full-time missions work.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBALI and EAST JAVA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGetting to visit these islands in Indonesia, seeing the culture, interacting with those in local ministry, and witnessing the darkness of the dominant religions has altogether left me with quite a lot to process in this season. A lot of people have asked me what I thought of the region, if I feel called or if I want to go back. The one thing I can say for certain is that there is so much spiritual darkness there, and the gospel is needed; Jesus Christ is needed.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Always and Forever - Brzezinski Update March 2024"},{"content":" How great are His signs, and how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And His dominion is from generation to generation.\nDaniel 4:3\nLast month we mentioned that we wanted to “Be Still” and wait upon the Lord. Well, we did that and heard Him saying to continue being faithful to what is in front of us. Jenn is itching to “GO,” however, we are to STAY for now. There are many opportunities and privileges God has put in front of us. The sheep need us, MTS (Missions Training School) \u0026amp; CSOM (Calvary School of Missions) need us, the missionaries overseas need us… and of course we couldn’t do any of this without each and every one of you and most importantly our Father! We need Him! Amen?!\nWe are in our Father’s Business!!\nHere’s what we have been up to since our last newsletter, hold on to your seats:\nWe had an awesome time at the Church Planter’s Conference in Mazatlan. We took one of the MTS students with us, Marcelo. Let us tell you about him. He is a Mexican national, who has graduated from CSOM and is now at our church training to go over seas to the Middle East to join 7 other missionaries that have been sent already in the last year. Marcelo has a huge serving heart and has a passion for the lost. His uncle is the senior pastor at Calvary Culiacan. We are so delighted to have him with us for the time being, he helped us in Mazatlan with promoting the school and helping us with translation. He is an excellent interpreter.\nWe heard from some GREAT bible teachers \u0026amp; pastors. Hugo Limon from Culiacan spoke on, “Creating a Sending Hub” to reach big cities. Wes Bentley founder of “Far Reaching Ministries” taught on “Planting Churches to reach the World.” Bruce Zachary, pastor and author of 17 books, taught on “Raising up Leaders.” Pastor Mike Vincent from CCR who has planted 39 churches and 20 church planting schools taught, “The Sending Hub,” an overview of Acts 1:8. “But you will receive the power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” And finally, Pastor Tony Carranza from Calvary Maranatha, a bilingual church that sent out 6 new church plants. Tony taught on, “Creating a Sending Hub through a Church Planting School.” Tim also taught a workshop on serving as an assistant pastor and closed out the conference with communion. Jenn helped out in the children’s ministry, her wheel house.\nSo many other workshops were taught by missionaries serving on the field, Pastors \u0026amp; Pastors wives Q \u0026amp; A. Sooo encouraging and stirring for the Nations. We are in awe that WE get to be a part of the Great Commission!!\nRomans 10:14 – how then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?\nHere are some quotes that stayed with us when leaving the conference:\n**Engage, equip, encourage, empower.\n**The gospel is of the world, the world needs more gospel centered churches.\n**Be relational.\n**Learn the culture.\n**Identify future disciples and church planters.\n**Prepare yourself for the opposition.\n**Continue to be faithful and count the cost.\n**Make prayer a priority.\nWe were blessed by some divine appointments in getting to know some new sisters and brothers with a possibility to partner with them and helping them use their ministry for the Great Commission AND catching fireflies for CSOM. One of the things we love the most is meeting new people in Christ.\nTim and I continue to love on the students by training, debriefing, discipling, fellowshipping, and walking side-by-side with them on the road the Lord has for them to reach the unreached and fulfill the great commission.\nJenn was able to attend the Calvary Curriculum Children’s Ministry Conference this past month along with one of our missionaries who is here on furlough. Thus was Jenn’s first time attending this conference, in prior years she was not able to attend because of work. Jenn was able to take away so many important ways to teach the kiddos about Jesus. As she leads up the Nursery/ Toddlers Ministry, her main focus is to teach the kids how to pray, read the Bible, \u0026amp; worship. Kids are smarter than we think at this age. Jenn truly enjoys ministering to the kiddos at Saving Grace and hopes to take this to the unreached God willing this year!\nTim also had the opportunity to take/drive the high schoolers up to Big Bear for their annual retreat. The theme of the retreat was God pursuing you. He was asked to teach so he shared on Psalm 139 bringing out the truths of how intimately God already knows you, how much He loves you, and how it doesn’t make sense to run from somebody you can’t get away from anyhow.\nJenn also had the opportunity to teach an encouraging devotional to the group of wives in S. Asia over FaceTime. 5 wives showed up and it truly was a fruitful time praying and sharing. She taught a short lesson on, “It is Well With My Soul.” I’m sure you have heard of the song. No matter the storms and/or persecution that come our way, our GOD is greater. No man can separate us from HIM. (Due to security, we are unable to post any photos) We continue to meet monthly.\nTim and I are amazed by God’s grace and faithfulness to us. We are truly blessed beyond measures that we get to be a part of the Great Commission at Saving Grace World Missions. We see so many times God confirming to us our calling since I quit my job. God continues to provide for us! This is our God! Loving, faithful, sovereign, compassionate.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for the 2024 Calvary School of Missions and for us as we get to lead this wonderful work of God’s. Please pray for us, as we are implementing some personal disciplines that will enable us to serve the Lord in this capacity for many more years. Please pray for our son Andy as he is still wandering in his wilderness and desperately needs Jesus. Praise Jesus we are able to minister to him and see him frequently. We pray for our Father to renew his mind. Please pray for wisdom as we navigate this new year in a way that honors God and brings much glory to Him. This year’s calendar for missionary care and equipping is quite full and opportunities are not lacking. We love you all so much and thank you for being behind us. You are also part of this ‘Great Commission’!! We are so dependent on and grateful for your prayers and want to say thank you to those who have already joined us in this area. We realize it’s by God’s grace and through your prayers that we are able to serve the Lord the way we do! But if the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, we are in need of additional monthly supporters, and if you desire to increase your already generous support, please know that it would be a huge help. You can do so by clicking on the link below to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/were-feeling-young-again-pappas-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHow great are His signs, and how mighty His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And His dominion is from generation to generation.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel 4:3\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG%5F9968-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month we mentioned that we wanted to “Be Still” and wait upon the Lord. Well, we did that and heard Him saying to continue being faithful to what is in front of us. Jenn is itching to “GO,” however, we are to STAY for now.  There are many opportunities and privileges God has put in front of us. The sheep need us, MTS (Missions Training School) \u0026amp; CSOM (Calvary School of Missions) need us, the missionaries overseas need us… \u003cem\u003eand\u003c/em\u003e of course we couldn’t do any of this without each and every one of you and most importantly our Father! We \u003cem\u003eneed\u003c/em\u003e Him! Amen?!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We’re Feeling Young Again! - Pappas Update February 2024"},{"content":"We have never seen anything like this before. The category 5 hurricane left Acapulco looking completely apocalyptic. Not one inch was spared throughout the entire city. We went weeks upon weeks without power, water, gasoline, internet, drivable streets, grocery stores, and more. Our church building had all of its walls ripped out; our 3-ton A.C. units went flying like a piece of paper. At home, the sliding glass door to our bedroom was shattered and the storm flooded our apartment with rainwater, dirt, and broken glass. We are still processing this traumatic event and trying to return to normal. However, it will be something that those of us who went through it will never forget.\nOpportunity Acapulco\u0026rsquo;s biggest need is salvation!! This was the perfect opportunity to share Jesus with our community. With the help of Samaritan\u0026rsquo;s Purse, we were able to open our doors at the church and be a hub that offers daily meals, give out boxes of food, purified water, medicine, and of course the gospel at every turn. We have also seen an influx of people coming to our Sunday service for the last two months. The hurricane relief put us on the map. It\u0026rsquo;s always during the dark times when Jesus shines the brightest. Our missionary Lili did an amazing job finding those most in need. So many communities were left by themselves with no government help so when we stepped in, we were received very well. The children were surrounded by disaster and to relieve them we brought games, toys, and a Christian clown who also taught about Jesus. Everything was incredible. The Lord truly blessed us! Lili is also a Saving Grace Missionary.\nThings are starting to take shape. By the grace of God and your generous donations, our church building is coming together once again. Our walls have been replaced, we got new A.C. units, the nursing mother’s room has been rebuilt, and much more. All this was done with the help of many Calvary Chapel churches from the U.S. and Mexico. There are too many to name but we are forever grateful and we pray that the Lord richly blesses you all in return. On a side note, the owner of the building has put the property up for sale once again. We all love our church location and building. We have looked high and low for other buildings but nothing compares. Our prayer is that we can come into an agreement with the owner and he lowers the price. Its a church planting factory with so much to give. We believe the Lord continues to do miracles. Please pray!\nCalvary Chapel Iguala The doors have officially opened to our last church plant. There is a great need in this city and we are praying many would come to know the Lord through Pastor Julio and his wife Carla. We are still in the process of getting the building ready with everything that they need. Thankfully the rent has been paid for the year. Only God can do those things. For the time being we will continue to equip our leaders and send them out. The door is open.\nVillegas Family Update Our family is growing. Our son Noah just got engaged and will soon be married (another young lady from Acapulco). We are ecstatic with this new addition. Keyla is an amazing girl who loves the Lord. She is serving at our church in multimedia. Our eldest son Elijah was recently promoted to senior airman in the Airforce and his wife Bianca finally received her permanent resident status that we have been praying for. Micah is still living in Ensenada serving in Horizonte Fellowship. He leads the youth study and God is using him greatly there.\nStacy and I just started a much-needed marriage study with our church. We have around 25 couples in attendance that are hungry for the Word. Please keep this in your prayers as we know the enemy loves to divide and attack marriages. We completely trust in Jehovah-Jireh. He has always taken care of our needs. Starting in April we will be losing some of our support. It was a big help so please keep us in your prayers that God would continue to provide as we serve.\nVillegas Family Support ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/hurricane-otis-happened-villegas-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe have never seen anything like this before. The category 5 hurricane left Acapulco looking completely apocalyptic. Not one inch was spared throughout the entire city. We went weeks upon weeks without power, water, gasoline, internet, drivable streets, grocery stores, and more. Our church building had all of its walls ripped out; our 3-ton A.C. units went flying like a piece of paper. At home, the sliding glass door to our bedroom was shattered and the storm flooded our apartment with rainwater, dirt, and broken glass. We are still processing this traumatic event and trying to return to normal. However, it will be something that those of us who went through it will never forget.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hurricane Otis Happened - Villegas Update March 2024"},{"content":"Hey friends and family in Christ, we wanted to share a quick update about our whereabouts and goings on. As you know we are waiting to leave from the States to Peru on March 16th. So in the meantime we have been visiting different churches and our family as well.\nWe were blessed to be able to share at Calvary Chapel Rosedale in Bakersfield and got to catch up with my good friend Pastor Gil Garcia. What a sweet fellowship and neat work the Lord is doing there. Jaime Jimenez and his family always house us and definitely have the gift of hospitality. From Bakersfield we flew up to our home church in Idaho, Calvary Chapel Hagerman. Pastor Dion Douville and His wife Cindy have been such a great support for us over the years as well as many of our friends who are in fellowship there. We love our church family and it was a great time to catch up.\nWe are currently in Folsom, California, visiting my brother and his family. This Sunday we will be in L.A at Calvary Chapel Burbank sharing about our vision for ministry in Peru, as well as on the Amazon river as we prepare to disciple pastors and leaders. We are so excited for this next step we are taking and we know the Lord has gone before us and is preparing the way. (Deuteronomy 1:29-31)\nThank you so much for praying with us and supporting us through this venture of faith!\nRyan and Karen Gause\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-time-of-waiting-gause-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey friends and family in Christ, we wanted to share a quick update about our whereabouts and goings on.  As you know we are waiting to leave from the States to Peru on March 16th.  So in the meantime we have been visiting different churches and our family as well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e      We were blessed to be able to share at Calvary Chapel Rosedale in Bakersfield and got to catch up with my good friend Pastor Gil Garcia.  What a sweet fellowship and neat work the Lord is doing there.  Jaime Jimenez and his family always house us and definitely have the gift of hospitality.  From Bakersfield we flew up to our home church in Idaho, Calvary Chapel Hagerman.  Pastor Dion Douville and His wife Cindy have been such a great support for us over the years as well as many of our friends who are in fellowship there.  We love our church family and it was a great time to catch up.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Time of Waiting - Gause Update March 2024"},{"content":" In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, an glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory\n1 Peter 1:6-8\nDear friends, family, and loved ones,\nI again thank you for all of your love, prayers, and support. The LORD has been doing amazing things this month (like always), and there is a special thing I would like to share with y’all in this update. I am planning a special vision tour this July! But first, I felt like this would be a perfect time to share about what it is like training in California for missions.\nMissions Training\nEver wondered what it would be like to be fully involved as a student in a missions training program? Well I decided to give you a taste of Yorba Linda, California missionary student life at MTS (Mission Training School), I hope you feel encouraged and challenged as I describe the insanity that is training to minister and plant churches in another culture, though it won’t add up to the craziness of the actual work itself!\nClasses – Every Wednesday is our main class time to study life skills, discuss our reading of a book on ministry (right now we are going through Calvary Chapel Distinctives right now), give a 15-minute practice sermon, and a class based on topics like Inductive Bible Study, the book of Acts, Hermeneutics/Homiletics, other religions, etc.\nService Hours – Besides a requirement to be serving in some sort of Sunday service ministry, church events, and a life group (I’m in the Spanish group, which is absolute fire), students serve 4 hours throughout the week. I have had the awesome pleasure of assisting Pastor Tim, one of the assistant pastors at CC Saving Grace, as well as helping with administration for the upcoming Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) this summer!\nOther Classes – Besides the regular Wednesday classes, I go through a class every Monday on a book called On Being a Missionary in order to gain a better understanding of serving and living in a foreign culture. Additionally, on Tuesday students attend the church’s School of Discipleship and School of Ministry, which are always a huge blessing!\nI hope that gave you a good idea of what it is like training here. It is a great blessing and God is using this time as pressure-cooker sanctification. Quick and hard learning and spiritual growth, yet good quality discipleship.\nMy Little Flood\nThe LORD has been breaking me down a lot this month. But He also has shown me a lot about His grace, sovereignty, and love. When I was really struggling in the middle of February, the LORD showed me this awesome passage in Psalms 29:10-11: “The LORD sat enthroned at the Flood, and the LORD sits as King forever. The LORD will give strength to His people; The LORD will bless His people with peace.” God gave me peace and joy because, if He reigns when the whole earth was flooded, He still reigns in my little flood. Yet, God also put me in some awesome spots to minister and have great experiences.\nI was asked to help at the youth Winter Camp, so I got to go with them up to Big Bear Lake February 16th-19th to be a leader for the guys and do a teaching. I was able to really build some great relationships with the guys!\nI also went out with a group of dudes hiking recently on this beautiful mountain trail. It is a great blessing to spend time with brothers building each other up.\nThe next weekend after that, I went with other MTS students to Calvary Chapel Downey for the LA Pastors and Leaders conference to setup a table and share about this summer’s CSOM. My brother Jonathan was there, which was a blessing to see him as well! Then we also had a baptism March 3rd. This was the most powerful and moving baptism I have ever been a part of! The Lord has been doing a great revival at the church here.\nJuly Kid’s House Vision Tour\nDuring February, Pastor Corey was able to go on a vision tour to look at a children’s home for kids rescue from sex and organ trafficking in Costa Rica. The report was very positive, and he was able to learn a lot of how to run one. We are now planning another vision tour with Corey, his wife, possibly one other person, and I in July to Costa Rica for us to receive God’s vision and how to run a kid’s home. As fruitful and positive this trip last month sounded, there is now more clarity on some of the practical risks and security issues with starting a ministry like this. The very real danger of being kidnapped, tortured, and possibly killed by the cartel has been a sobering thought, yet made me very determined. I know the LORD is going to do a work. Please be praying for this upcoming trip, there will be spiritual warfare. Finally, praise the LORD that the major pieces are pretty much in place to begin a home in Peru! We are now just waiting on the Lord and this trip.\nPraise Reports\nAll the spiritual growth God is doing in me Blessing of ministering to the youth at Winter Camp Great evangelism encounters at Cal State Fullerton The trials that build patience and character Prayer Requests\nProvision for the upcoming vision tour (budget not made yet) Provision for a job until I can be sent out as a missionary full time Children to be rescued from sex \u0026amp; organ trafficking in South America My continued faithfulness, growth, and humbleness in training and ministry as I prepare for this work in South America. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/joyful-suffering-vanrenterghem-update-february-update-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, an glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Joyful Suffering - Vanrenterghem Update March Update 2024"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Leaders, Partners and Church Families!\nGreetings to all of you from my church and family. I will always be thankful to you for continuing to pray for and encourage us to do the Lord\u0026rsquo;s work with even more enthusiasm. You always meet the needs of our ministry. May God bless you all.\nMental and Physical Torture for Attending Church\nTo stop her from coming to church, a woman from my church\u0026rsquo;s husband slapped her four-five times and pulled her by the hair, pulling out two handfuls of hair from her head.\nI want to share with you the testimony of a woman who has been attending our church for about 2 years. She is the only believer in her entire lineage. Her name is S*. She is always eager to learn the words of the Lord.\nIn February of last year, a team from the central government and people from the media went to her house. After that, they also came to our house. Thanks be to God and I also thank you for your prayers \u0026ndash; they did not file any false case against us (for doing Christian ministry). At that time, S* was scolded by a lot by the people of the village. The police and people from the media made various allegations against us and put a lot of pressure on S* to give false testimony against us. But she remained steadfast in her faith and continued praying.\nTwo weeks ago, when she was at our church, her husband was worked up by the villagers against Christ and her. When she reached home, her husband started slapping her. He said, \u0026ldquo;If you do not leave Jesus Christ, I will kill you! I will get this out of my house.\u0026rdquo; After that, he pulled her by her hair and threw her out of the house.\nShe kept crying and praying. She told her husband, \u0026ldquo;Whether you kill me or destroy me, I will not leave the Lord Jesus Christ.\u0026rdquo; While sleeping at night, her husband kept an ax under his pillow and said, \u0026ldquo;If my wife comes to the house, I will cut her down.\u0026rdquo;\nWhile she stayed at a friends house, through prayer, God gave peace to her husband\u0026rsquo;s heart. He then allowed her to come home again. I thank God that he has given us such believers in our church who are ready to lose their husband, family, and society and even die for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ.\nI cannot send the photo of this woman because the women here feel very uncomfortable getting photographed. A lot of fake news is being spread on social media saying that we send photos of people and ask for money but then spend it on ourselves. People also say that people convert people to another religion by sending their photos and asking for money. That is why I plan to send you only group photos.\nHere are some photos of our recent outreaches. They were in my friend\u0026rsquo;s phone, so I was not able to send them in my previous newsletter.\nThanksgiving Points\nThank God that I was able to reopen the churches that had been closed earlier because of the government, and that we were able to open them safely. Thank God that our institution has started again. Thanks be to God, people are moving forward in the Lord despite physical and mental persecution. Thank God for keeping me, my family and my parents safe. Prayer Requests:\nPlease pray continuously for our safety. Please pray for our college friends who believe in Jesus, may God protect them from the coming suffering. Please pray that God may provide land for a cemetery for Christ\u0026rsquo;s people. Please pray that peace can be established between the Hindus and Muslims. There are riots during every Hindu festival which cause the internet to be shut down for three or four days. Please pray for a 22 year old paralyzed boy in our church. About 60 to 70% of his body is paralyzed. May God heal him completely Please pray for my sister\u0026rsquo;s wedding on May 16th. May God fulfill every need for this. Thank you for your prayers, support and for sharing in the Gospel.\nGod bless you all.\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/mental-and-physical-torture-for-attending-church-pastor-11-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Leaders, Partners and Church Families!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you from my church and family. I will always be thankful to you for continuing to pray for and encourage us to do the Lord\u0026rsquo;s work with even more enthusiasm. You always meet the needs of our ministry. May God bless you all.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMental and Physical Torture for Attending Church\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTo stop her from coming to church, a woman from my church\u0026rsquo;s husband slapped her four-five times and pulled her by the hair, pulling out two handfuls of hair from her head.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mental and Physical Torture for Attending Church - Pastor 11 Update March 2024"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico! In this update I am excited to tell you about a church planting trip I took to Mazatlan at the end of February! Mazatlan is a historical beach town in the Mexican state of Sinaloa! Almost eight years ago we sent down my good friends Tony and Angela Carranza, along with their son Caleb and a team to plant a church in this famous city of over 600,000!\nTony was one of our assistant pastors way back in the day, and also completed our church planting program with excellence. When I sent Tony out to church plant, he said that his goal was to copy our church down there in Mazatlan! (Not saying that I recommend that, but that was his goal) Over the past seven plus years that is exactly what Tony and Angela have done!\nThey have raised up many leaders, planted a large healthy bilingual church, and started their own church planting class. They have also planted six churches in those seven years and are planning on planting their next church later on this year in the South American Country of Venezuela.\nAnother great part of this church is they also host a yearly church planting conference just like we do. This year I was blessed to travel down to this church planting conference with a team from our church (Pastor Oliver and Super Mario) along with my good friend and church planting partner, Pastor Bruce Zackary from Calvary Nexus in Camarillo California!\nThe title of this conference was “The Sending Hub” (Un Centro Enviador) and our church was blessed to donate fifty of my books to give free to each pastor in attendance. The conference was powerful and convicting and everyone in attendance was encouraged to move forward in the great missions work of church planting. We were also able to send out Pastor Tony’s next church plant together at the conference. Please keep Pastor Pedro, his family, and his new church plant in Chihuahua (A large border city south of Texas) in your prayers.\nIn my time there in Mazatlan, I was blessed to teach and host their newest church planting class. This class was full of new students who are all praying about being sent out in the future. During the conference I was able to teach on the Biblical basis of this idea of a sending hub which is found all over the book of Acts. One of my favorite things to do at these conferences where I am not leading, is to meet and encourage pastors I don’t know in this great work of church planting. I was not surprised to see that God had many divine appointments prepared for me.\nWhen Sunday rolled around, I got to lead worship for their congregation of 200 and also teach them a message from John 6:15-21, that I titled, “Jesus in the storms of life!” The good news from that story is that Jesus will always come after us and eventually rescue us. Even when we are getting pounded by the storms and trials of life like the disciples were in the middle of the Sea of Galilee!\nWhenever I get to travel and visit our church plants, I keep in mind that I am not traveling alone. I represent a great team of believers who are working together and standing by side to reach people with the saving message of Jesus Christ. I am proud to not only be sent out by our local church, Calvary Rosarito, but also be sent out BY YOU, my precious partners and co-laborers.\nI never tire of thanking you for allowing us to serve as your missionaries here in Mexico. It is through your prayers and encouragement that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God meets our physical needs. We love you and give thanks for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God would bless our new batch of church planters that began their new classes in February! (38 students enrolled this year)\n#2- Pray that God will provide our children Grace and Daniel’s with good jobs.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a wonderful missions trip to our church plant in Mazatlan!\n#2- Praise God for Sarah’s mom (Diane) moving down to Mexico this month to be closer to us and to join our church family!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-march-2024-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico! In this update I am excited to tell you about a church planting trip I took to Mazatlan at the end of February! Mazatlan is a historical beach town in the Mexican state of Sinaloa! Almost eight years ago we sent down my good friends Tony and Angela Carranza, along with their son Caleb and a team to plant a church in this famous city of over 600,000!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family March 2024 Missions Update"},{"content":"Greetings to you in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you all and for your partnership in the ministry of the Gospel.\nHere is a brief ministry report of the year 2023.\nDespite growing persecution in our state, the Lord kept us safe and gave us opportunities to spread the Gospel. House fellowships and new churches are being attacked everywhere in our state, but the Lord helped us to start a house fellowship in a village 20 kilometers from our town. Two extended families (15 people) are now members in this house fellowship.\nPraise the Lord! He added two new families from Hindu backgrounds to our church fellowship in the city. The church is divine institution. Jesus himself is the founder. It is His promise that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.\nOne Catholic man, a retired banker, has also been attending our Sunday Service regularly. He attends Catholic church first in the morning. Then, at 10:00 A.M, he comes to our fellowship. Please pray that he would leave his Catholic faith.\nA Catholic girl also started attending our Sunday Services and accepted Jesus as her personal Savior. Despite a lot of opposition from her family and relatives, she stopped attending the Catholic church and became a member of our fellowship. She got baptized in November 2023.\nWe have eight students in our Bible Institute. They are all from Hindu backgrounds. They are being prepared for the work of the Gospel. Please pray that they would be used by the Lord for the extension of his Kingdom on earth.\nThe government in our country and in our state is from the same party. This government is anti-Christian. It is the government\u0026rsquo;s agenda to make our country a Hindu nation by the end of 2024. The media is under the government\u0026rsquo;s control. The media is promoting Hindu sentiments. The political leaders are openly saying in the media that the Christians and Muslims of our country were originally Hindus and therefore, they must become Hindus or leave the country. Please pray that the Christians would be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and be bold witness of the Lord.\nWhen a Hindu becomes a Christian, he is persecuted and excommunicated from the village and his tribe. Many Hindu families believe in Jesus, but they do not openly acknowledge their faith because of the fear that their children will not be married and their dead will not be buried. Now and then this problem is faced by new believers. They are not allowed to bury their dead. Sometimes, if they do bury the dead, the body is excavated even after many days. But praise God we were able to baptize a Hindu convert! He even got married to a girl who had also converted from Hinduism.\nThank you for your prayers and support for the ministry of the Gospel.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/no-matter-what-pastor-15-update-march-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the mighty name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you all and for your partnership in the ministry of the Gospel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere is a brief ministry report of the year 2023.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG-20230813-WA0042.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDespite growing persecution in our state, the Lord kept us safe and gave us opportunities to spread the Gospel. House fellowships and new churches are being attacked everywhere in our state, but the Lord helped us to start a house fellowship in a village 20 kilometers from our town. Two extended families (15 people) are now members in this house fellowship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"No Matter What - Pastor 15 Update March 2024"},{"content":" What an amazing past month it has been traveling around South East Asia. We spent one week in Indonesia and one last final week in the Philippines. Let’s just say- we weren’t in Japan anymore (Dorothy voice). From completely opposite weather, to major culture differences, to even the toilets- they went from heated seats playing music to a hole in the ground with a bucket (haha, no joke!).\nDuring our time in Indonesia, we traveled in a van for about eight hours, including a one-hour ferry ride to a village in East Java that is unreached. There we were able to explore the island through a Christian-owned travel company started by David, a missionary from California in 2015. Many doors have opened for him in sharing the gospel through this business. He also started a Child Sponsorship program for those in junior high, since many kids end up dropping out because there is a fee to go to school and many cannot afford it. The families are mostly Muslim or Hindu, and it is through this program that they are able to experience the love of Christ. However, there is a catch. Once they decide to become followers of Jesus, they must pay the government $10,000 and possibly experience death threats and persecution from their family members.\nTraveling back to Bali, we were able to meet with multiple Pastors from different church plants. One Pastor shared of his conversion from Hinduism to Christianity. Three nights in a row, he had a dream of a road- one path leading to a cemetery and another path leading to light. During one of his Hindu prayers, he prayed, ‘Jesus if you are really God, lead me’, and sure enough, Jesus did. Since that day, his whole life was turned around- he destroyed three different temples that he had built, and started a church. Other testimonies included Jesus revealing Himself in a vision of His wounded hands to Muslim women, who then cried out to Him, as well as amazing, radical, life-changing testimonies of people with HIV being healed by the power of God. The stories we heard were as if we were reading pages from the New Testament- it all became real and visible. This is the narrow way that leads to life.\nEnter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.\nMatthew 7:13-14\nShrine After Shrine\nI know in my last newsletter I mentioned the temples and shrines in Japan, but what we saw in Indonesia was nothing close to that. I was struck with even more sadness, that then turned into anger in seeing shrines and idols house after house, corner after corner. In Hinduism, there are said to be thirty-three million gods- with most being apparitions of demons themselves that were eventually made into statues to appease them. The worshiping isn’t so much in seeing their beauty and hope of love and peace, but rather of fear and power. They must give the idol an offering- an incense, food, and/or payment. They clothe it, clean it, place it under the shade of an umbrella to protect it from the scorching heat. It is under more protection than some kids are- most running around barefoot and without clothes. The temples become something of treasure and possession, taking up any resources of time and money. This is all in hopes of this \u0026ldquo;god\u0026rdquo; staying away and coming against their family and life.\nThe God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.\nTherefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.\nACTS 12:24-25, 29-30\nLove One Another\nArriving to the Philippines felt as if a weight and pressure had been lifted off. I could breathe normally again. Even though the country is in the 10/40 window, it is considered reached with about 89% of the population being Christian. However, only about 11.3% Evangelical Christians. We visited a Calvary Bible Institute, in Tagaytay, for a three-day Conference on the Purpose of the Church. We were reminded that in the first century, there were 12 Unreached People groups to one church. Today, there are about 1,000 churches to one Unreached People group! Indeed, it is a doable task, and let’s just say the Filipino church is on fire for reaching the nations with the Gospel!\nAfter the conference ended, we traveled an hour and a half by van and an hour on a fisherman boat to Tingloy Island. Many accepted Christ on their first visit, they knew about Jesus but did not fully understand the gospel. Now coming back a third time, we had the opportunity to worship, share stories, and play games with the kids. I have been doing kids ministry for almost three years and these kids were the most attentive, well-behaved, respectful kids I have ever seen. The love of Christ radiated from them. Two kids won a cupcake and you will never believe what they did with it… they each took a bite, and without thinking, without being asked, they passed the cupcake around to all their friends. I was in awe. My heart was filled in seeing this love within the community. It was so sweet and the Lord reminded me of this- “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.”\nLast post I mentioned the peace I had in knowing that salvation comes from God. Yes, that is true. After all, it is God who gives the increase (1 Corinthians 3:6). But- how will they call on the name of Jesus if they don’t know who He is? Who is going to tell them? Who is going to go? The Church is commanded to go out and preach the gospel (Matthew 28:19-20). That is the true purpose of our lives here on earth. They need someone to preach the gospel in order to hear, in order to believe in their hearts and confess with their mouths, in order to be saved. In every single country, the Lord showed me that a remnant remains. God has created every single one of us for reason. He has placed us where we are for a special purpose. Amongst the darkness, there is hope. There is a light. A remnant still remains.\nPlease join me in prayer for South East Asia. I pray that the Lord places a specific country, a people, a culture, on your heart, and may you fervently pray for their salvation. For their eyes to be opened and willing to receive the Good News. Please pray for more laborers. For more people to be willing to share the gospel. Pray to be made willing. Thank you for your prayers. Thank you for continual partnership in the Kingdom of God!\nFor, “you are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for You created all things, and by Your will they were created and have their being.”\n-Mayra Alejandra\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-remnant-remains-solorzano-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/VT24-1-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat an amazing past month it has been traveling around South East Asia. We spent one week in Indonesia and one last final week in the Philippines. Let’s just say- we weren’t in Japan anymore (Dorothy voice). From completely opposite weather, to major culture differences, to even the toilets- they went from heated seats playing music to a hole in the ground with a bucket (haha, no joke!).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/IMG%5F3726.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDuring our time in Indonesia, we traveled in a van for about eight hours, including a one-hour ferry ride to a village in East Java that is unreached. There we were able to explore the island through a Christian-owned travel company started by David, a missionary from California in 2015. Many doors have opened for him in sharing the gospel through this business. He also started a Child Sponsorship program for those in junior high, since many kids end up dropping out because there is a fee to go to school and many cannot afford it. The families are mostly Muslim or Hindu, and it is through this program that they are able to experience the love of Christ. However, there is a catch. Once they decide to become followers of Jesus, they must pay the government $10,000 and possibly experience death threats and persecution from their family members.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Remnant Remains - Solorzano Update February 2024"},{"content":" “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”\n2 Chronicles 16:9a\nHe indeed shows Himself strong… It’s official, it’s been more than a month since we left California. You all are missed, but I am so blessed to be here and I feel very much at home in what’s going on and where the Lord has me. Our schedules here are full to say the least, but in some really great ways. Living on a campus provides a very different structure to life and living. It’s been a blessing getting to know the students more and getting to sit in on their first class this semester.\nI’ve honestly felt right at home. There are always opportunities for growth and learning how to focus more on others, and those are welcome lessons. The schedule here is structured in such a way to prepare students and interns for ministry. We take Monday’s off and are working/serving Tuesday through Sunday. It’s been such a blessing to connect with the people who call Calvary Trujillo home. We’ve already been able to go and have dinner with different people in the church and it’s been such a blessing!\nEveryone here is so hospitable and giving of their time and resources and I’m encouraged to see it. There are a lot of things that I get to be a part of here. I’m currently helping a lot with construction, as we are getting ready to welcome our team from Calvary the Rock that’s going to help us build our new men’s dorm! I’m so excited to see so many faces from home, and I’m excited to see the impact these projects will have on students and the school. We finished up the new little storage (well mostly—all functional and in use now). Now we’re finishing up pouring concrete for the new floor for the dorm and getting ready to pour the cement for the rest of our bathroom as well as prepping to put up a steel frame for the dorm itself! It’s busy, but awesome to see things progress and be a part of it. Thank you for your prayers and support in all of this!\nEvery Saturday we will have outreach with the students and will be going out, and in different venues, from nursing homes to juvie, and sharing the Gospel wherever the Lord allows us! Andy has had an amazing opportunity to help lead a Bible study at the fighting gym around the corner (the owner is a student and loves the Lord). Already we’ve been seeing it grow. Please pray that the Lord gives wisdom and fruit from that time as there are many unbelievers. I’m excited to begin helping with outreach and evangelism with the school. There’s a big university nearby and I’m excited to go share Jesus! Outside of construction, serving, and staff/intern discipleship, I’m getting ready to jump into some admin work as well. I’m going to be helping in a \u0026ldquo;registrar role\u0026rdquo; here helping with grades, transcripts, correspondence and more. Every Tuesday we are a part of Calvary Trujillo’s Church Planting School—we just finished our second week and it’s been awesome! We even have someone teaching us Spanish on Monday nights—God is good! My prayer is that the Lord will use me to help strengthen this ministry in whatever way He would have. Please pray with me that I would be that blessing!\nWhat’s Next?\n…To be faithful. The Lord is doing an incredible work here in Trujillo. There are two prayer teams right now for new church plants, one in Chile, and the other in Venezuela. There’s an upcoming conference in Argentina that I’ll be going to with several people from the church in April. Please be praying that the Lord would speak, and that He would have His way! Other than that, things will be business as usual here in Peru.\nPrayer Needs:\nto finish construction well (we’ve gotten a lot of work done—the Rock’s team gets here tomorrow!\nto study well for our sermons with church planting class\nto be a good example to students\nto grow in the Lord and walk in faithfulness\nthat He would empower by His Spirit and give me boldness to make Him known\nthat He would continue to help in language learning\nThank you so much for your prayers and partnering with me to take the Gospel to the nations. God is doing a work, thank you for being a part of it.\nDios te bendiga,\n- Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/roaming-on-voisin-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2 Chronicles 16:9a\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Sunset-from-roof-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHe indeed shows Himself strong… It’s official, it’s been more than a month since we left California. You all are missed, but I am so blessed to be here and I feel very much at home in what’s going on and where the Lord has me. Our schedules here are full to say the least, but in some really great ways. Living on a campus provides a very different structure to life and living. It’s been a blessing getting to know the students more and getting to sit in on their first class this semester.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Roaming On - Voisin Update February 2024"},{"content":" “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.”\n1 Corinthians 10:31\nOver the past few months, the importance of living all aspects of our lives for the glory of God has increasingly been on my heart and mind. This has impacted me personally and in the focus of my teaching.\nSince October 21, I have been keeping up with my diet and exercise and so far I have lost more than 60 pounds! I have really sensed God opening all doors for me to focus on improving my health and fitness in many ways. Please pray for me to continue all the way to the goal because the more weight that I lose, the harder it seems to become to lose more weight. This is not a crash diet but a lifestyle change for the long-haul. One major payoff for this lifestyle change is that now I have much more energy for family and ministries and things are greatly improving and expanding in those areas as well.\nOn the ministry front, the end of January I started teaching Apologetics and Evangelism at a Cambodian church. Sometimes I teach in person and sometimes on Zoom. I have been able to share my Apologetics textbook, unity, and discernment book, and soon will share my videos with the students and pastor. I also have started training the teachers at a Christian school on the spiritual/Biblical aspects of education. This is a new step for me but it has been going well. I continue to lead the men’s ministry and speak as needed at the international church. In February I spoke twice. This church provides opportunities to not only encourage and equip other missionaries but also other believers (and nonbelievers) from more than 30 nations!\nKayo and I continue to partner with Precious Women Organization. Kayo helps the founder/executive director in the office, trains the staff and students, and leads devotions. I continue to help them make videos and lead devotions as needed. Precious Women Organization has a new project to start a school outside of the city in a new neighborhood. Please pray for wisdom, discernment, and provision for this project. Once the school is up and running Kayo and I have agreed to help there as well.\nPlease pray for Light Times Magazine/Light Association. They are currently paused as they try to figure out funding and vision issues. I am standing by to help them but at the moment there is no work for me to do there so I am shifting my focus to other projects and partnerships.\nI have also suspended the International Fishers website, but will keep the videos available on YouTube and Facebook. I haven’t been able to make any new videos for more than a year and since Covid ended the traffic on the website has greatly decreased. I may launch a new website in the future but I am waiting for the right time and focus.\nPlease continue to pray for our health. All three of us have been sick at least once in February. Benjamin has been sick twice. The weather/season is changing and now there are lots of viruses coming in from other countries.\nThanks for your prayers, encouragement, and partnership. You are very important to God’s work in Cambodia and beyond as part of His Body!\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/all-for-the-glory-of-god-record-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all for the glory of God.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 Corinthians 10:31\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/430096905%5F785117703642818%5F6760467547640454765%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver the past few months, the importance of living all aspects of our lives for the glory of God has increasingly been on my heart and mind. This has impacted me personally and in the focus of my teaching.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince October 21, I have been keeping up with my diet and exercise and so far I have lost more than 60 pounds! I have really sensed God opening all doors for me to focus on improving my health and fitness in many ways. Please pray for me to continue all the way to the goal because the more weight that I lose, the harder it seems to become to lose more weight. This is not a crash diet but a lifestyle change for the long-haul. One major payoff for this lifestyle change is that now I have much more energy for family and ministries and things are greatly improving and expanding in those areas as well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"All for the Glory of God - Record Update February 2024"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\n- Please pray for a little girl in Jill\u0026rsquo;s Bible study who is named after her. Little Jill has been sick for 3 weeks. She has been on many treatments for many things but today is very ill. Please pray they find out what exactly the matter is and can treat it properly. Pray for God to heal her.\n- Pray for the Kanyike kids as they are back to school. Pray for Luke and Laylee as they are finding their new grades much harder than before.\n- Please continue to pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interviews in the States.\n- Pray for the chaplains who have been coming to Kampala for medical treatment.\n- Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email BlogUSA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\nPrayer Requests\n- Please pray for our son, Andy, he continues to refuse treatment, or any other kind of assistance to change the course of his homelessness and drug addiction. - Please pray for an increase in people to partner with us financially as our support has dipped down recently.\nPraise Reports\nPraise God with us\u0026hellip;\n- For those who have given generous one-time gifts and ongoing monthly support to help us do the work the Lord has us called to. - For His continued strength as we engage in missionary care. - For the way Jenn and I are able to work side-by-side with no problems in our day-to-day and overall relationship\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n- Pray for the new students at each of our campuses in Nepal and S. Asia for all of the new students to learn quickly and fall more in love with God through His Word. Pray also for the teachers for wisdom and to be filled with the Holy Spirit.\n- Pray for several teams traveling to Nepal in March to minister through medical help in the mountains. Pray for divine appointments and for the churches to be strengthened. Pray for our family as we plan out our travel for the year! Pray also as we handled many building projects currently in Asia. We need wisdom, clear communication, and favor from the Lord.\n- Pray for our family to stay strong in the Lord and remain healthy physically to accomplish all He has called us to as we work together to reach the nations for Jesus.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n- Please pray for good health for our family this year. I am having problems with kidney stones; pray for wisdom and healing.\n- Please continue to pray for my parents’ health.\n- Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\n- Please pray that God will use us for His glory.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n- Please continue to pray for my dad’s recovery. Praise the Lord, he is doing a little better!\n- Please pray for the Christians in South Asia who are going through persecution.\n- Please pray for the children’s ministry I am a part of, that many children will be saved and grow in the Lord.\n- Please continue to pray for my mom’s health and complete recovery.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nHere are the Vincent Family prayer requests!\n- Part-time jobs for our children, Grace and Daniel! - God\u0026rsquo;s blessing on our 36 new church planting students!\nPraise Reports:\n- Thank you Lord for our 39th church plant, Calvary Chapel New Zeal in Las Vegas, Nevada!\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nRon and Kristy Struska – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Reports:\n- Praise God for our newest full-time volunteer staff member – Yesenia Lopez! Yesi served with us last spring and summer and has committed to serving at Connections House for one year.\n- We also want to give praise to the Lord for our part-time volunteer staff member, Jody Gonzales! Jody has recently taken over as Intern Coordinator at Connections House. She has also started training to take on some administrative responsibilities.\nPrayer Requests:\n- Prayer for Yesi as she begins to raise prayer and financial support. She stepped out in faith last month to come on staff full-time. She is helping in the kitchen and training to help with accounting and other areas as needed.\n- Please pray for more full-time volunteer staff for Connections House. While we are blessed to have the new help the Lord has provided, it is long overdue. Over the last year, the number of teams hosted at Connections House has doubled, and with that comes a lot more work that needs to be done. We are searching for two full-time volunteer staff, or one married couple.\nThank you so much for praying!\nBlessings!\nRon \u0026amp; Kristy Struska - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\n- For God to move on the hearts of the parents of the kids in our after-school program to attend our service on Easter Sunday, (their children will be presenting a special dance), AND that there would be decisions made for Christ!\n- Anointing on the special Easter drama that the men from our church will be presenting—again, the goal is to win hearts for Jesus! 😁 Provisions for a youth room and nursery makeover.\n- Continued good health for my mom who just turned 83 and lives alone and has Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s.\n- For the Lord to continue to use me as He so desires for his honor and glory!\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nHola SGWM family, thank you for your faithful prayers for us on the mission field.\n- We are having one of the hottest summers on record, pray for us, because the heat affects everything, even the chicken in the market.\n- Pray for our summer outreaches, teams, and spiritual growth. We have some of our leadership going to Iquitos for the pastor\u0026rsquo;s and leader\u0026rsquo;s conference next month. Stalyn is graduating from CCBC Cajamarca in May and we are going to do a church mission trip up there the week before.\n- Everyone is getting summer colds and flu, it is going around like wild fire in Huacho and in the church. Daisy is sick, and so is Sarah the young foster child living with us.\nThank you from our hearts, Craig and Daisy - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n- Pray that God can equip the saints from Calvary Moyobamba to help with the responsibilities and ministries.\n- Pray for peace in my heart and sensitivity to God. I really miss my mom and grandma.\n- Praise God that we have made wonderful friendships with people at church.\n- Praise God that we have been able to minister to people in the community and share Christ.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for the new Sunday worship service that started in a village that has been very anti-Christian.\n- Pray for those who heard the Gospel in Christmas outreaches.\n- Please be continuously praying for us to reach the unreached places to share God’s love to His people.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 6\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray that God will continue to use me for His glory.\n- Pray for my health, as I have a dust allergy, and we have a lot of dust in my town. As a result, I do get sick very often.\n- Pray for the students, that they will be prepared to start church planting ministry.\n- Pray for my ministry among youth and young adults, that the Lord would continue to use me to minister to them.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you all! Worker 9\nWorker 10\n- Pray that all of the believers to whom I have preached the Gospel will grow with the Lord’s blessings in their lives.\n- Pray for a brother who I preached to. He was greatly attracted to the Gospel. May God bring him to saving faith.\n- Pray for me and my family. My health is not getting much better. The medicine did not help, and I had to go to another place to a doctor, and still I could not get completely well. Pray to the Lord that I will be completely healed soon.\n- Pray for me, in the village where I preach God’s Word. May God give me strength and blessings so that more will be converted.\n- Pray for the young believers in my village who are ill and for those who have bad financial conditions. May they be healed in the name of the Lord Jesus, and may they grow in the Gospel of the Lord and prosper in their lives.\nThank you! Worker 10\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- I thank God that I was able to reopen the churches which had been closed earlier due to the government, and that it went safely.\n- Thank God that our institution has started again.\n- Thanks to God, people are moving forward in the Lord despite physical and mental persecution.\n- Thank God for keeping me and my family and parents safe.\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray continuously for our safety.\n- Please pray for our CBI friends with faith, that God will protect them from the coming suffering.\nPlease pray that God will provide land for a cemetery for Christ\u0026rsquo;s people.Please pray so that peace can be established between the Hindus and Muslims. There are riots during every Hindu festival, and as a result, the internet is closed for three or four days.\n- There is a 22-year-old paralyzed boy in our church, whose name is R. About 60 to 70% of his body is paralyzed. May God heal him completely.My sister’s wedding is on May 16th. Please pray that God will fulfill all of our needs for the wedding.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership and participation in spreading the Gospel!\nGod bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 13 - 10/40 Window\n- Continue to pray for our ministry around the villages here.\n- Pray for all of our believers in the area, that they will stay with God during persecution and problems.\nYesterday, I was in a meeting, and they were talking about the main religion here, that they want it to grow. They are doing very dark things. Pray that God will help them to open their eyes so that they will see the truth. Pray that God will open new doors so that we can share the Gospel in this area.\n- We have some new families who have just accepted Jesus. Pray that they will grow in God’s Word faithfully.\nThank you so much everyone for praying for us! God bless you!\nWorker 13\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for\u0026hellip;\n- Pray for our health. Vinita and I have been suffering from cough, cold and headache.\n- Pray for our safety, as persecution has increased in our area since the new government (anti-Christian) has come in power.\n- Pray for the ministry in our country.\nThanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15 Worker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n- Please pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge.\n- Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing.\n- Please pray for the village ministry in our local area. May the villagers grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word.\n- Please pray M* (the niece of one of our students). She is suffering from Chickenpox.\n- Please pray for our state believers, as they are facing persecution.\nWorker 16\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray that God will allow the children in our area to come to our church.\nThank you so much for supporting us, praying for us, and raising us up. May God bless every family in the Saving Grace family.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nThank you for your prayer cover! It really makes a difference!\n- Please pray for me as I teach Apologetics/Evangelism at a Cambodian church and train the teachers at a Cambodian Christian school.\n- Please pray for our health as we enter the Cambodian hot season. Kayo and Benjamin have recently had some minor health issues and fatigue and the heat makes things more challenging.\n- Please pray for our ministries alongside organizations, churches, and schools here in Cambodia. We need wisdom to maximize and balance all the opportunities.\n- Please pray for our upcoming trip to Japan this summer to visit senders and family there. Please pray that we will be able to encourage the believers and be strong witnesses before the unbelievers.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-prayer-mar-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Please pray for a little girl in Jill\u0026rsquo;s Bible study who is named after her. Little Jill has been sick for 3 weeks. She has been on many treatments for many things but today is very ill. Please pray they find out what exactly the matter is and can treat it properly. Pray for God to heal her.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Pray for the Kanyike kids as they are back to school. Pray for Luke and Laylee as they are finding their new grades much harder than before.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM MAR 2024 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.\n2 CORINTHIANS 11:13\nI (Matt) was surprised to find out that a cult had moved into my neighborhood while our family was away. Last year, several outrageous and vulgar things occurred in one of the “churches” here in Gulu. Among other things, the self-proclaimed prophetess leading the church publicly pronounced curses on anyone who opposed her, including barrenness and poverty. And then blessings of prosperity on those who supported her. Fortunately, the community shut the church down and expelled the leader from their area. However, instead of reflecting and repenting, the “prophetess” subtly relocated her house and church a short walk from my house. She has a large following and has been manipulating them into building the largest home in our community for herself. Now, my whole neighborhood hears damaging things from the loud speakers of that “church” every week.\nBut God has not been idle; the truth is marching on. Last Saturday, I had the privilege of attending the Calvary Chapel 12 Springs School of Ministry graduation. Calvary Chapel 12 Springs is one of our main churches in the Gulu area, which is led by Samuel Olara, my good friend and fellow Gospel worker. Three years ago, God put it on my and Samuel’s hearts to open a ministerial school at Samuel’s church for those who were called to serve the church but were unqualified to enroll at the Terebinth School of Discipleship. We needed $1,200.00 to begin the school, and after praying for the money, I received an unexpected envelope with the exact amount of cash inside. And so the school of ministry was started.\nThe students gathered together on Saturday and Sunday every other weekend; they served in the church and studied Scripture, missions, theology, church history, and more. Most excitingly, the ministry school was led by men equipped through the Terebinth School of Discipleship! During the same time frame, the other main church we work with, Calvary Chapel Gulu, graduated the first intake in its own School of Ministry. Which was likewise led by people equipped through the Terebinth School of Discipleship!\nThe fact that we can’t stop false teachers from spreading lies can be discouraging. But we are encouraged to see the addition of God’s Word turning into multiplication as those who have received the truth are passing it on to those who will do the same. Darkness is present in Northern Uganda, but the light is shining for those who desire it.\nAnd the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.\n2 TIMOTHY 2:2\nIn Christ, The Harris Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2 CORINTHIANS 11:13\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/20240224%5F173547.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI (Matt) was surprised to find out that a cult had moved into my neighborhood while our family was away. Last year, several outrageous and vulgar things occurred in one of the “churches” here in Gulu. Among other things, the self-proclaimed prophetess leading the church publicly pronounced curses on anyone who opposed her, including barrenness and poverty. And then blessings of prosperity on those who supported her. Fortunately, the community shut the church down and expelled the leader from their area. However, instead of reflecting and repenting, the “prophetess” subtly relocated her house and church a short walk from my house. She has a large following and has been manipulating them into building the largest home in our community for herself. Now, my whole neighborhood hears damaging things from the loud speakers of that “church” every week.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Update February 2024"},{"content":"Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nI hope you are doing well! Thank you for your prayers and support.\nI am doing well by God’s grace. Two weeks ago, I was little sick for about a week. I had a fever, throat infection and upper respiratory infection, but now by God’s grace I am doing well!\nIn the end of January, I had my birthday. I am thankful that God added another year in my life. I had a blessed year last year. This last year I have grown closer to God and have been given more ministry opportunities.\nWe have 4 students at our Bible Institute who are in their second year. They will be graduating this summer. Right now, I am teaching 1st and 2nd Peter.\nSince 4 students are graduating this summer, they wanted me to also teach the book of Galatians. They asked me to because after they leave they will not really have more opportunities to learn. In our language, we do not have many commentaries and study materials. The students do not really know the English language. So, I am also taking extra class and teaching them from the book of Galatians in evening.\nLast month I went twice to a village to preach at the Sunday service. I mentioned in my earlier updates about this village where we do church service. It encourages me to see them standing firm for God and not turning back when there is persecution. At one time there were lot of people who used to believe in the village, but after persecution came, many of them turned back. A few of them stood firm. It is a blessing to preach and teach those believers to continue to grow in the Lord.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray that God will continue to use me for His glory. Pray for my health. I am allergic to dust and we have a lot of dust in my town. So I get sick very often. Pray for the students to be prepared to start church planting ministry. Pray for my ministry among youth and young adults. May the Lord continue to use me to minister to them. Blessings,\nPastor 9\n\\* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/growing-in-the-lord-pastor-9-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you are doing well! Thank you for your prayers and support.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am doing well by God’s grace. Two weeks ago, I was little sick for about a week. I had a fever, throat infection and upper respiratory infection, but now by God’s grace I am doing well!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the end of January, I had my birthday. I am thankful that God added another year in my life. I had a blessed year last year. This last year I have grown closer to God and have been given more ministry opportunities.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Growing in the Lord - Pastor 9 update February 2024"},{"content":"Dear Family in Christ,\nI praise God for everything that He has done in the past year, 2023! I praise Him for all of the tests that He allowed for me to grow in my faith and also to learn to fully depend upon Him. We are very excited for what God has for us in 2024!\nGraduation Ceremony\nIt gave us great joy to see these young men be so committed to study the Word. They completed there courses. They are trained in the Word and are now getting ready to go out to the places where God has called them. Three students graduated from our Calvary Bible Institute. All three of them decided to do internships with our church planters in different locations, which will also help them learn.\nVillage Christmas Outreach\nWhat an amazing God we serve! God has been very gracious to use us to share the Gospel in this village. Because the village is very anti-Christian, this was the first time a Christmas outreach was held there. Villagers there once burned a Pastor who came to share the Gospel. After that many others came to reach out to this village, but the villagers beat them up. They did not allow anyone who is a Christian into the village. Even when we went to the village to share the Gospel, the villagers chased us trying to catch us, but we escaped.\nAmazingly, God has opened the door for us to minister to the people in the village by showing God\u0026rsquo;s love and visiting the sick people in the hospital that belongs to the village. This December we had a Christmas outreach. More than 50 people showed up! We got to share the Gospel with them. We had a fellowship dinner together. They really felt loved. They saw the love of God through our deeds. Many responded to the Gospel. They came to us asked us to pray for them. We had already started a Bible study and now we started a Sunday worship service. Right now, 4 families are joining us on Sundays. Praise God for His amazing work! We thank you for your prayers and support.\nChristmas Outreach in Another Village\nIn this village also, it is the first time the people heard about Chistmas. Many of them do not know about Jesus and what Christmas is all about. We prayed about having a Christmas outreach to share the Gospel there. God opened doors for us to conduct an outreach. The village elders also gave us permission to have an open-air Christmas celebration. We held this outreach program on government property. Almost the whole village came to the program! We did not expect this would turn into a big program. More than 200 people showed up! We got the opportunity to share the Gospel with them. We also performed skits about the Christ\u0026rsquo;s birth. As I already mentioned, many of them did not know about Jesus. Now the whole village heard the Gospel! Some of them opposed us while we were sharing the Gospel and used many abusive words. But God gave us the strength to stand and share the Gospel and also share love. In the end, everybody calmed down. The villagers responded very positively and accepted Christ. Our dear brother, a graduate of Calvary Bible Institute, is serving in that village. 5 people are attending Bible study. We praise God for His protection and provision. After our Christmas outreach, we had a fellowship dinner.\nChristmas Outreach In Our City\nWe also did a Christmas outreach in an old age home. Many of the people there are unbelievers and have no hope. They all were rejected by their families. Some of them lost their families. As a church, we stepped out to reach out to those people to share hope in Christ. We got to share the Gospel and also sang Christmas carols and laughed with them. It was really a joyful time for the people to rejoice in Christ and forget about all their burdens. They felt very happy. I was really happy to see our church people showing love to them and caring for them. It is really a great picture of Christ\u0026rsquo;s love.\nThe people of our church are getting fed with the Word of God and they are stepping out to reach the lost and hopeless. We all had a fellowship dinner with them and prayed for all of the people individually. Every Sunday evening we have an old-age home care and Bible study as one of our church programs. On the day of Christmas, we had an amazing worship service celebrating the birth of Christ. We invited many during the outreach.\nOnce again I thank you all for your prayers and support to do these outreaches in places where the people have never heard of Jesus. We are very thankful to God for you. Please continuously pray for us to reach unreached places and share God\u0026rsquo;s love to His people. There are many places we still need to reach. We need workers. As Jesus said \u0026ldquo;The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”\nThank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/laborers-for-the-harvest-pastor-6-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Family in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI praise God for everything that He has done in the past year, 2023! I praise Him for all of the tests that He allowed for me to grow in my faith and also to learn to fully depend upon Him. We are very excited for what God has for us in 2024!\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG%5F1320.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG%5F1326.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG%5F7376.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGraduation Ceremony\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt gave us great joy to see these young men be so committed to study the Word. They completed there courses. They are trained in the Word and are now getting ready to go out to the places where God has called them. Three students graduated from our Calvary Bible Institute. All three of them decided to do internships with our church planters in different locations, which will also help them learn.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Laborers for the Harvest - Pastor 6 Update February 2024"},{"content":" What a month we have experienced. Things have moved fast and obstacles have been removed, doors have been opened, and bonds have been forged in the furnace of life on the mission field. Let’s go over some of the highlights. We headed towards Japan in a pretty humble way, by driving to California. On the way, we visited friends in Las Vegas and Yucca Valley before arriving in Orange County. Our time there flew by quickly as we had a full schedule of meetings with friends and our sending organization, and before we knew it, the day of our departure had arrived.\nLike a more famous group before us, we joined with nine others to form a fellowship that headed to Land of the Rising Sun. Which sounds epic but mostly was just a flight from Los Angeles to Tokyo. Once there, we spent a week meeting with Calvary Chapel pastors in the Tokyo area, helping with an earthquake relief outreach, and praying over a city of 35 million people who don’t know Jesus.\nIt was during one of those pray sessions that we went to the observation deck in the Tokyo government building. 450 feet in the air, with unobstructed views in all directions, and you could not see the end of the mass of people. The sheer size of the metropolis was somewhat overwhelming. It had such a big impact on all of us as we realized the task before us. Could the Lord use us to reach these millions? Well yes, He can, but He wouldn’t do it all in one day. We only have to focus on what He puts in front of us each day and be faithful to that.\nAfter the end of the week, the team traveled to Osaka to see the place we are called to and see the work there. The church really enjoyed having the team with them and embraced us whole heartedly. We were able to give the missionaries a week off as we did an English language worship night for the midweek service and then Pastor Trent taught the Sunday service. Most of the team headed for Indonesia on Monday and those of us that stayed were ready to settle in.\nUnfortunately, the settling will have to wait. We applied for our certificates of eligibility in October. The timeframe on those is supposed to be less than 90 days, and the 90-day mark was January 25. Since we were flying out on January 29, we knew that the timing would be close, but we shouldn’t have any issues getting it worked out before we left. Well, the 25th came and went and the certificates didn’t arrive, they hadn’t arrived by the 29th but since we were leading a team, we decided we should go and trust we could take care of it on the Japan side. They finally arrived on the 31st and we were given three years!! Once the team had left, we went to the immigration office to apply for a change of status, we explained the situation to one of the officers there and were scolded for doing things out of the proper order and to not expect that they would accept our change of status applications. However, after praying about it that night, we returned the next day and turned in our applications and there seemed to be no issues from the people taking the officers there. Please pray for our change of status and that the visas would come through quickly so we can rent an apartment and start putting down roots.\nHere are some ways to pray for us until our next newsletter:\nAlishia’s American citizenship was approved and her oath ceremony is on May 16. Please pray for us as we make plans to return for that and Daphne’s high school graduation on June 1. For direction in finding an apartment that meets our needs and allows us to use it for ministry. Wisdom in finding a language school that meets our needs ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/further-than-we-ever-imagined-root-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/4e4e7ed7-3021-4388-84ee-d6132afec107.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a month we have experienced. Things have moved fast and obstacles have been removed, doors have been opened, and bonds have been forged in the furnace of life on the mission field. Let’s go over some of the highlights. We headed towards Japan in a pretty humble way, by driving to California. On the way, we visited friends in Las Vegas and Yucca Valley before arriving in Orange County. Our time there flew by quickly as we had a full schedule of meetings with friends and our sending organization, and before we knew it, the day of our departure had arrived.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Further Than We Ever Imagined - Root Update February 2024"},{"content":" See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? Isaiah 43:19\nDear Friends and Family,\nI pray you all had a blessed holiday season as you celebrated Christmas and ushered in the New Year.\nI believe Christmas is a time when people are more open than other times to hearing about Jesus. You find people of different cultures and faiths acknowledging His birth and even celebrating. As Christians and as a church we realize acknowledging Christ’s birth is not enough to save you. During the holiday season we found the best way to celebrate Jesus’ birthday is to tell people the whole story, that He was born, lived, died for our sin, and rose again, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.\nThe many different ministries at Arise Christian Fellowship reached out to the community in different ways. For the Women’s Bible Study the ladies invited friends and neighbors to come to our Christmas party. I shared about the family of Jesus leading up to His birth. I concluded with the purpose of His coming. One lady gave her life to Jesus and has said she will begin to come to church and Bible study. We also had a meal together and gave some practical gifts to give the ladies so they could prepare Christmas at home. There were more than 20 children that attended the women’s party as well and we gave them a gift of school supplies and candy.\nAt Church for 2 weeks before Christmas the youth were practicing everyday for at least 4 hours for the Christmas program. We included Bible lessons surrounding Christ’s birth so that they were also learning and understanding what they were preparing for. We encouraged them to bring friends to be a part of the time sort of like a vacation Bible school, as well. The church was literally overflowing with children. Liana was a part of all the activities and was so happy to have so many friends. On the last day of practice we had a big party and the kids had a meal and received a Christmas gift. Liana gave out candy canes.\nSome of the church members went into the slums near the church and shared the gospel and a food gift with those who they knew needed it the most. They also invited them to the Christmas service. Our church celebrated its Christmas service on Christmas eve since it was on a Sunday. Brian shared the Christmas message. We had two people share special music, one on violin and the other on saxophone. The choir led us in worship and Christmas carols. The children and youth put on a big production. They had singing and dancing that all culminated into the telling of the Christmas story through acting. It was very beautiful. I believe everyone was touched and everyone there understood the true meaning of Christmas. After service we had a time of fellowship with snacks and we handed out salt, sugar, and soap as Christmas gifts.\nUganda ushers the new year in with fire works. From our neighborhood you could see many different displays that were set off around Kampala. Brian gave a New Year message for the church, looking forward to what we are praying for the church this year. He used the example of the early church to share how the church should be moving forward. We are excited to see what God has for the church and our family in 2024.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us and for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. Please pray for this New Year. Pray for God’s guidance in the ministry and for His will to be done. Pray for those who were reached during the Christmas outreaches. Pray that they would come to church and be in fellowship. Pray for many to come to Christ. Pray for the youth to continue to desire to meet together and learn about Jesus. Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/kanyike-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"see-i-am-doing-a-new-thing-now-it-springs-up\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSee, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up;\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003edo you not perceive it?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIsaiah 43:19\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI pray you all had a blessed holiday season as you celebrated Christmas and ushered in the New Year.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI believe Christmas is a time when people are more open than other times to hearing about Jesus.  You find people of different cultures and faiths acknowledging His birth and even celebrating. As Christians and as a church we realize acknowledging Christ’s birth is not enough to save you. During the holiday season we found the best way to celebrate Jesus’ birthday is to tell people the whole story, that He was born, lived, died for our sin, and rose again, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Kanyike Update February 2024"},{"content":" ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/early-spring-tippie-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Screenshot-2024-02-21-at-11.48.03%20AM.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"Early Spring - Tippie Update February 2024"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family!\nI pray you are all doing well! The last couple of months have been so exciting for SGWM, and especially for me as the Director of Missionary Care. We have sent out FIVE new missionaries straight to the field for me to care for: one couple to Japan, and one couple and a single gal to the Middle East. It is so exciting to be a part of loving and shepherding these teams as they develop. I get to lead the team who does a lot behind the scenes to support these missionaries well by processing their finances, sending their updates out to their supporters, and providing pastoral care. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing than SENDING these amazing men and women of God!\nThe Lord has also opened the door for me (Joel) to go to Uganda in June to visit our missionaries there. It will be my first time in that part of Africa, so I am very excited, and we have three missionary families there who we hope to spend time with. Pray that the Lord perfectly arranges all of the details of that trip.\nOn a personal note, we want to sincerely thank all of you who prayed for our housing situation from our previous update. The Lord has provided for us to stay at our current house for at least another year! Praise God for His grace in that!\nWe would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praise-god-for-answered-prayers-garcia-family-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI pray you are all doing well! The last couple of months have been so exciting for SGWM, and especially for me as the Director of Missionary Care. We have sent out FIVE new missionaries straight to the field for me to care for: one couple to Japan, and one couple and a single gal to the Middle East. It is so exciting to be a part of loving and shepherding these teams as they develop. I get to lead the team who does a lot behind the scenes to support these missionaries well by processing their finances, sending their updates out to their supporters, and providing pastoral care. I can’t think of anything else I’d rather be doing than SENDING these amazing men and women of God!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praise God for Answered Prayers! – Garcia Family Update February 2024"},{"content":"Hello dear family and friends,\nWhat an incredible month it has been! As many of you know, our 2024 started off with our wedding on January 6th. Praise the Lord! We write this letter to you with hearts full and immensely blessed by God’s goodness. Thank you to all who were able to come celebrate our wedding with us, we felt so loved and supported by each one of you. And to all the people who helped set up, serve, and manage our wedding, we can’t thank you enough!!\nThe wedding day turned out better than either of us could have imagined and the Lord even answered our prayers for good weather! As we’ve entered a bit of a cold, rainy season here, the sun, the warmer temperature, and the stunning sunset that came on our wedding day were all such sweet gifts from the Lord.\nGeoff and I (Lydia) have been enjoying our new life as a married couple and have already been growing together so much, thank you to all who have lifted us up in prayer. The month of January was spent resting, serving at church, working, and moving into our new place in Yorba Linda. We are so grateful and in awe of how the Lord has provided for all of our needs and more.\nAt the end of January, Geoff and I were able to help serve in a women’s conference at our church by running the media/sound booth. It was such a blessing to serve together and the conference was so powerful and ministered to each woman.\nAnother very exciting thing we can share is that as we closed out the first month of 2024, we went on our vision tour to Japan! We were there from January 30th-February 9th with a team from our church. A vision tour is a trip where you go to a country you feel the Lord may be calling to serve in as a missionary for the purpose of seeking the Lord in confirming that calling.\nAs many of you know, we have a heart for the country of Japan where suicide rates are extremely high and less than 2% of the entire population are Christian. We were grateful to be able to pray for Japan, visit a few churches, and meet with different missionaries while we were there.\nThank you to all who financially supported our trip to Japan, we are so blessed by your generosity and love. Stay tuned for our next update all about our trip! Thank you for your prayers and support.\nSincerely,\nGeoff \u0026amp; Lydia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/newly-weds-hamano-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello dear family and friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat an incredible month it has been! As many of you know, our 2024 started off with our wedding on January 6th. Praise the Lord! We write this letter to you with hearts full and immensely blessed by God’s goodness. Thank you to all who were able to come celebrate our wedding with us, we felt so loved and supported by each one of you. And to all the people who helped set up, serve, and manage our wedding, we can’t thank you enough!!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Newly Weds! - Hamano Update January 2024"},{"content":"Konnichiwa! Hi family, I miss you all and pray you are all staying healthy. Sadly, our time in Japan has come to an end but let me tell ya- Japan has my heart. From the people, to the culture, to the fashion, to even the yummy onigiri from the 7-Eleven’s. Truly, all of it. There is so much history here and many everlasting memories.\nHe has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our own works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.\n2 TIMOTHY 1:9\nWe had the honor of coming alongside two missionaries, Alishia + Jeff, who will be a part of the Calvary Chapel Abide Osaka team. Their love for Japan was sparked when they made a trip for their honeymoon eight years ago. The Lord touched their hearts for the Japanese- especially since it is part of the 10/40 window (high concentration of unreached people), with less than 1.3% of their population being Evangelical Christians. What a blessing it was to be with them, learn from them, and also experience this new move with them. I was encouraged by not only their lowliness, gentleness, and long-suffering for one another, but also how they endeavored to keep the unity within the team. Please keep them in your prayers!\nHands on the Plow\nAlong with this beautiful couple, we also had the blessing of meeting local pastors who have been plodding hard for more than twenty years. Twenty years!! That’s a long time- but in perspective, that’s how serious and hard the work is here in Japan (well, truly anywhere in the 10/40 window). Japan is totally open to the preaching and sharing of the gospel. However, it is still considered very unreached due to religious and cultural beliefs (Buddhism, mixed with Hinduism, mixed with atheism). This is hard ground. It is because of this that the pastors in Japan remain faithful to their calling, keep their hands on the plow, and continue to press on.\nLast Sunday during service at Calvary Chapel Fuchu, Pastor Rich mentioned at the end of his message that there are no coincidences. He boldly preached the gospel and gave an altar call. With my eyes closed, I was praying for the hearts in the room to be softened and opened to the move of the Spirit of God. I wasn’t sure if anyone raised their hands, however, after service, we found out there was a couple who brought their Chinese parents to the church. Neither one of them had ever heard of the name of Jesus! This is still so mind-blowing to me (but a reality of being in the 10/40 window). However, my heart was comforted in knowing that they were able to experience the love of Christ within the church. They were greeted with smiles and hugs, which is something that most Asian countries are not used to. I pray that the parents come to a full knowledge and revelation of the truth!\nThe Only True God\nAnd this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.\nJOHN 17:3\nThere is a common Japanese proverb “the nail that sticks out gets hammered down.” Striving to fit the mold, to succeed, to conform, the concept of sin is vague and therefore suicide is seen as a way of taking responsibility. This became a heartbreaking reality during one of our train rides- there was an alert to someone jumping on the tracks. Seeing life underground was also a whole different experience- the hustle and bustle is real here! People are on a mission! After visiting multiple temples, shrines, and places of worship, our hearts continued to break for the people here. The reverence for man-made statues and images however, filled me with compassion in knowing that I was also there, once upon a time. Worshiping my own gods, completely blinded to the truth with a hardened heart, and unwilling to know the one true God. And I wept and wept for them.\nI was immediately filled with joy and worship in knowing that salvation is a work of God, and God alone. It strengthened my faith in knowing that I believe in not only a BIG God, but also a God who is alive! Jesus Christ, being fully God came down to earth as a man, lived a sinless and blameless life, to suffer death on the cross and rose from the dead on the third day. It is then a grace-filled work by His Spirit that brings conviction to our hearts. The Spirit of God initiates the work of salvation, in order to draw us closer to Jesus Christ. My cry is for the Spirit of God to move radically in the hearts of the Japanese. May they seek and find the only true God!\nWhat profit is the image, that its maker should carve it,\nThe molded image, a teacher of lies,\nThat the maker of its mold should trust in it,\nTo make mute idols?\nWoe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’\nTo silent stone, ‘Arise! It shall teach!’\nBehold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,\nYet in it there is no breath at all.\nBut the Lord is in His holy temple.\nLet all the earth keep silence before Him.”\nHABAKKUK 2:18-20\nPraise Report\nWe made it safely to the Philippines, waiting to head out to Indonesia for one week! It has been a fulfilling past two weeks in Japan- the Lord has showed me so many things! The Spirit of God is moving here, many Japanese are coming to know Jesus! Prayer Requests\nPlease keep the team in your prayers- may the Lord speak clearly and may we seek His will for our next steps! Pray for our protection against spiritual warfare! Please pray for the Japanese- against the spirit of depression that is weighing heavy on all, especially the younger generations. May chains break and may the people of Japan experience the freedom found only in Jesus Christ! Please pray for our team as we continue on in Indonesia and the Philippines! Please pray for the missionaries in Japan- may they keep on plowing!! Thank you all for taking the time to read what God is doing and for your continual partnership in the gospel- especially through prayer. Thank you also for your faithful investment in the Kingdom of God. Any amount you feel led to give, will help me in raising support to be sent out one day as a full-time cross-cultural missionary, Lord willingly. I’m eternally blessed- none of this would be possible without you. This mission trip was a huge step of faith and obedience to the Word of God and I’m holding tight to His promise- anything is possible with Him!\nTo the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.\n- Mayra Alejandra\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/in-the-10-40-window-solorzano-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eKonnichiwa! Hi family, I miss you all and pray you are all staying healthy. Sadly, our time in Japan has come to an end but let me tell ya- Japan has my heart. From the people, to the culture, to the fashion, to even the yummy onigiri from the 7-Eleven’s. Truly, all of it. There is so much history here and many everlasting memories.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/ba2d1b40-9faf-47a7-a92a-0ea1e0d85afe.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our own works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"In the 10/40 Window! - Solorzano Update February 2024"},{"content":" Hola!\nWe pray this newsletter finds you well! We’ve got updates, pictures of some highlights and daily life here in Trujillo, and some prayer requests and praise reports to share with you.\nWe are only a few days away from our next semester here at Calvary Bible Institute Peru! We’ve got a batch of returning and brand new students from Peru, Venezuela, Honduras, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Bolivia, Mexico, the US, and Italy. There’s a great lineup of teachers who will come teach 1-2 week block classes through different topics and books of the Bible, and a missions week planned in April. There’ll be three teams of staff and students headed to different parts of Peru to share the love of Jesus and help other Calvary Chapels, and we get to lead one of the teams!\nWe’re super excited for what God has in store this next semester for the students, interns, staff, visiting pastors, and especially those we get to minister to. The semester’s theme is “Heme Aquí,” or “Here am I,” as taken from Isaiah 6:8. It’s also a phrase and theme that runs through other parts of Scripture, when God calls His servants, and they in response say, “Here am I.” May we have the same response, and be ready to obey what God commissions us to do!\nBig update: we moved into our own apartment! We were blessed to crash land at our pastor’s family’s home for our first 6 weeks here, and then to share a home with other families afterward until around Christmas time. Now we’re a 10 minute taxi ride to the church and school. More than half of our marriage, we’ve shared spaces with family and other roommates. We’re really thankful to have a place of our own, and to grow in hospitality.\nThis year we spent our first Christmas in Peru and were surrounded by great friends. We got some neat opportunities to serve during Christmas time, too. As a whole, our church collected and gave presents to all the kids of our church and the church plants (Buenos Aires, and Moyobamba). We also wrapped a bunch of other gifts that we passed out throughout Trujillo to families whose kids might have otherwise not gotten any.\nRacquell and I also got to lead something we in Peru call a “chocolatada.” It’s a pop-up event, mostly for kids, where you give hot chocolate and fruitcake (Panetón) out for free to the neighborhood. At our chocolatada, they got that and more as we did some ice breakers, games, and shared a Christmas message from the Bible with over 80 kids and their families, and we ended the time with face-painting and more games.\nRacquell also helped plan for our church’s Women’s Christmas Tea, where we had about 60 women come for a gift exchange and sweet time of fellowship, laughter and fun. She and I both have gotten to be involved in other ministries in the church lately, like ushering, audio/visual ministry, serving in the coffee shop, and leading Sunday School.\nChristmas in Peru was tough as well, in the way of missing family, friends, and familiarities in San Diego and Kauai. It was really a time of testing and patience for us. Serving as missionaries in South America means that most of the time, we’ll miss birthdays and holidays that we used to spend with family and friends in the States. Living that for the first time this year has been something God is using to refine us and test our obedience.\nBringing in the new year, our church had a week of praying and fasting. As a family we saw the Lord work and answer prayers in a way that completely surprised us. Fasting really showed us our weaknesses and our need for true reliance on Jesus, not food, to satisfy and fill us up.\nPretty much since we moved almost seven months ago, I’ve gotten the opportunity to disciple one of our new friends, Diego. He and his wife moved from Cajamarca, a mountain city, to Trujillo almost two years ago, and they are becoming some good friends of ours. They’ve had some hardship on multiple fronts since moving to this big city. But Diego is such a hard worker, and he and his wife both just want to please God in their lives and marriage. One thing Diego has been struggling with for a while is direction. Well, just a few days ago, God presented an opportunity to them, and Diego and his wife took a step of faith to start at CBI with us, as full time students! It was a quick change, and a lot of things had to move for them to be with us before the semester starts. I’m blessed because obviously this means I’ll get to see my friend a lot! But we are praying that their time at CBI Perú be something that God uses to transform their minds (Romans 12:2), and root them and ground them in the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:17).\nLast update — AMALIA IS WALKING! She didn’t walk by her first birthday, or her second Christmas…but a couple weeks ago she got the balance down, and now that motor won’t stop. Thank you for praying for her. Amalia has been doing great health wise, and she brings so much joy to us and our friends here with her big smiles and laughs.\nPlease pray:\nFor our new semester serving with CBI Peru, and the students we’ll be discipling For love, humility, and discernment as we serve in our various areas For our health — that we would remain healthy so that we can be more effective Praise Reports\nAmalia has learned to walk and is growing every day Racquell and I have both been learning and growing in our Spanish every day, and I’m hoping to start a class for advanced Spanish soon We have a new apartment that is 10 minutes to the church We love you all so much and thank you for partnering with us. Through your prayers and generous financial support, you have made this ministry possible for us, and we want to let you know that this is the fruit of your labor as well. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support, you can do so by clicking on the financial button below or mailing your support check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203\nYorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note “Stratton” in memo*\nTo check out the ministry we are serving with, please click the link below or find us on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube:\nCalvaryperu.com\nBy the grace of Jesus and for His glory,\nThe Stratton Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/happy-6-months-stratton-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG%5F9797-900x675-1-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHola!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe pray this newsletter finds you well! We’ve got updates, pictures of some highlights and daily life here in Trujillo, and some prayer requests and praise reports to share with you.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are only a few days away from our next semester here at Calvary Bible Institute Peru! We’ve got a batch of returning and brand new students from Peru, Venezuela, Honduras, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Bolivia, Mexico, the US, and Italy. There’s a great lineup of teachers who will come teach 1-2 week block classes through different topics and books of the Bible, and a missions week planned in April. There’ll be three teams of staff and students headed to different parts of Peru to share the love of Jesus and help other Calvary Chapels, and we get to lead one of the teams!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Happy +6 months! - Stratton Update February 2024"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nFirst of all, I thank God the Father that He has kept me and my family safe. I thank Him for His faithfulness.\nI thank God for all you prayer warriors who have been continuously praying for me and my family. By the grace of God, my family is doing well and the people of our church are also doing well. Please keep praying for my ministry and that God will reach hearts and bring new families into my church.\nWe study the Bible with both of our children daily. My son has memorized the full chapter of Psalm 119. He is currently memorizing the book of Hebrews. Please pray that he continues to grow in the fear of the Lord and the Word of the Lord. We also do Bible story skits with both of our children.\nMinistry Update:\nMy vision is to do prayer walks together with outreach this year. I have focused on four districts. The plan is to pray for at least 10 to 15 minutes in each of the villages within these districts and then proceed to the next village.\nMy Main Prayer Requests for Each Village:\nMay the Lord work in the lives of the villagers and turn their hearts towards God. Against all the devil\u0026rsquo;s strongholds in each village. To save people from ignorance, from darkness, and from superstition. Please especially pray for me, that my body will be healthy so that I can serve the Lord.\nThis month I went to 4 of these villages and 3 famous temples and prayed over them. Please pray for these villages and temples\nI would especially like to thank the hands who are supporting me financially. May the Lord bless you abundantly!!\nIn the Lord,\nYour Brother,\nPastor 8* and Family\n\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-faithful-father-pastor-8-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst of all, I thank God the Father that He has kept me and my family safe. I thank Him for His faithfulness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God for all you prayer warriors who have been continuously praying for me and my family. By the grace of God, my family is doing well and the people of our church are also doing well. Please keep praying for my ministry and that God will reach hearts and bring new families into my church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our Faithful Father - Pastor 8 Update February 2024"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.\u0026rdquo;\nLuke 18:27\nFor many years, I have wanted to go to the place where the world\u0026rsquo;s tallest mountain is. I could not go, because my mom had fallen from a ladder and she became ill. I have taken care of her since her fall. After praying about this place for 7 years, God brought a student from this place to our Calvary Bible Institute. He is short in height but strong physically. His name is Pasang. He has no parents and no one to take care of him. We convinced him that we will take care of him like our own brother or sister and he will be like family to us. Now he is almost finished with the Bible Institute. He will graduate soon.\nIt is exciting to share about the mission trip that we took to the area that Pasang is from and share the story of how God is moving in our midst. Pasang lost his father and mother in early childhood. There is a blind man named Dawa who lives in Pasang\u0026rsquo;s village. He is a pastor who had been to Bible College. He took Pasang in and fed him like a mother feeds her small baby. He sent Pasang to our Bible College to study God\u0026rsquo;s Word. Pasang has now reached his last semester. When I visited his village for a couple of weeks, I saw that Pasang has a servant\u0026rsquo;s heart. He took care of the blind pastor, Dawa, and helped him in ministry. When I watched them, they reminded me of Paul and Timothy. Pasang is teaching and playing the guitar, as well.\nThey have started a church for the main tribe that lives there. People from another tribe also come to the church. The church has 70 people who come. On Saturdays, 40 people attend the service. This is a very hilly place, so they have a lot of work to do. There are still 300 houses and many more families that are still unreached in this area.\nThere are 5 people in their church that are blind. When we heard the story of how this church was established, it did not sound easy to open a church in this area. People from the village created many obstacles of persecution to try to prevent the building of the church. God was with the Christians, though, and they were able to finally establish the church after many problems. Pastor Dawa shared how the villagers threatened him. Many times the police came and took Pastor Dawa to interrogate him. When we visited the believers\u0026rsquo; houses, we heard how the people in their villages persecuted them and threatened them because they were living for Christ. Pray for those who have persecuted them to be saved. To God be the glory.\nThank you for sending us, supporting us and praying for us. We were encouraged by Pasang\u0026rsquo;s ministry. He had no father or mother, was raised up by his pastor and then was sent to our Bible college to learn to walk in faith and learn the Word. We believe that God has a greater plan for this area.\nWe are doing children\u0026rsquo;s ministry at our Calvary Chapel. Many more children are interested in coming to our church, but their parents do not allow them to enter our church. Pray that God will work in the hearts of the parents and that they will send their children to our church.\nOur church has already finished the book of 1st Timothy. We are starting the book of Matthew now. In our Saturday service we are studying 2nd Timothy. After the service ends, we have a youth fellowship. Also, on Wednesdays, we have Bible study on the Book of Ezekiel.\nMy beautiful wife is teaching the book of Revelation on an online social media platform. Many sisters in the Lord are connected through this social platform in our country and other countries. She has now reached chapter 10 in Revelation with this group of ladies.\nPray Requests:\nPray that God will cause all the children in our locality to be able to come into our church building. Many in our church are still students and are not of working age. Pray that God will provide for all of our church\u0026rsquo;s needs. A lot of noise comes in from outside when we are worshiping, so it is not easy to hear the songs sung by the choir. Pray that God will provide for our choir team to be able to lead worship well. Thank you so much for supporting us, praying for us, and raising us up. God bless every entire family of the Saving Grace family.\nGrace and peace,\nYour faithful servants,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/with-god-all-things-are-possible-pastor-rabi-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLuke 18:27\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor many years, I have wanted to go to the place where the world\u0026rsquo;s tallest mountain is. I could not go, because my mom had fallen from a ladder and she became ill. I have taken care of her since her fall. After praying about this place for 7 years, God brought a student from this place to our Calvary Bible Institute. He is short in height but strong physically. His name is Pasang. He has no parents and no one to take care of him. We convinced him that we will take care of him like our own brother or sister and he will be like family to us. Now he is almost finished with the Bible Institute. He will graduate soon.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"With God All Things Are Possible - Pastor Rabi Update February 2024"},{"content":"The end of every year becomes a season of great harvest and sending out workers. We have a lot of Christmas outreaches with great joy and happiness.\nLike we do every year, at the end of last year we had a great time of harvest. On November 15, 2023, ten students graduated from our Calvary Bible Institute. So much prayer, support, and hard work has been invested in the lives of those dear ones. For two years we equipped them for ministry for the kingdom of God. As we see them with their courses completed and ready to go, great joy and happiness fills our hearts.\nThe church members invited many of their neighbors and relatives on Christmas. It was a good time to share the love of God with a precious Gospel message.\nWe had so many open-air outreaches throughout the month of December in the capital and two other areas. So many people heard the Gospel message. It was a great time to share the Lord Jesus with them.\nAs we entered the New year, on the last night of the year, we gathered together at our church. We thanked God for His greatness and faithfulness in to our lives throughout the year. We also welcomed the new year in prayer. May we fall in love with God and His Word more than before and live it out!\nWorship \u0026amp; Music Workshop (Jan 7-11. 2024)\nWe organized a \u0026ldquo;Worship \u0026amp; Music Workshop\u0026rdquo; that lasted for five days. We expected 30-40 teens and young adults, but 53 people came. It was very exciting to teach them through God\u0026rsquo;s Word about worship, music theory, and different musical instruments. It was also a good time to share about the importance of studying God\u0026rsquo;s Word. We shared about our Bible College, Calvary Bible Institute, and invited them to study there.\nI used to be a member of a worship team. We all know that everyone loves music, especially youth. It is always a good way to approach them through music. This is true in the Christian circle also. It is always most important that we teach them not only music, but also teach them how to worship God based on His Word.\nWe organized a \u0026ldquo;Worship \u0026amp; Music Workshop\u0026rdquo; that lasted for five days. We expected 30-40 teens and young adults, but 53 people came. It was very exciting to teach them through God\u0026rsquo;s Word about worship, music theory, and different musical instruments. It was also a good time to share about the importance of studying God\u0026rsquo;s Word. We shared about our Bible College, Calvary Bible Institute, and invited them to study there.\nWe did not have enough rooms to contain all of the guitar players, so we used an open area as well- music with nature.\nPraise God for every opportunity to serve Him!\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-season-of-great-joy-and-happiness-pastor-prakash-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe end of every year becomes a season of great harvest and sending out workers. We have a lot of Christmas outreaches with great joy and happiness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/image%5F123650291.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLike we do every year, at the end of last year we had a great time of harvest. On November 15, 2023, ten students graduated from our Calvary Bible Institute. So much prayer, support, and hard work has been invested in the lives of those dear ones. For two years we equipped them for ministry for the kingdom of God. As we see them with their courses completed and ready to go, great joy and happiness fills our hearts.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Season of Great Joy and Happiness - Pastor Prakash Update February 2024"},{"content":"\u0026quot;\u0026hellip;and low I am with you even to the end of the age.\u0026quot; Matthew 28:20(b) During our trip we experienced more than 22,000 miles of travel and temperatures ranging over 130 degrees (95 degrees in UG and -42 degrees wind chill in NE). We had meetings nearly every day; seeing, greeting, and sharing with hundreds of individuals. We gave many hugs that were too brief with friends and relatives and had so many late nights catching up with loved ones. There were tears of sorrow as we shared grief over loved ones that we never got to say goodbye to and happy tears, as we saw long-awaited hopes fulfilled, especially watching our dear friends join in marriage. So many smiles. So many hugs. So many prayers answered. So many testimonies to God’s goodness. Putting it all into a paragraph doesn’t quite do justice to the last 7 weeks of travel. But after such a FULL two months, we are glad to be back in the hot, red dust of Uganda. I think it was happy to see us too, it practically jumped on us as soon as we arrived home.\nCynthia is happy to be back home too. She had a really great time with our good friends Allan and Shillah, and especially with their baby. She has jumped seamlessly back into our routine. I have seen a contentment in her that I haven’t seen in her before, no doubt it is seeds planted by her hosts who have always been examples of humility and generosity.\nWe had time to get our house in order before going full-swing back into ministry. As we were leaving the US we came down with a terrible flu, starting with a mild cough and fever, developing into full-on hacking fits. As bad as it was, we were thankful for the extra time it bought us to recover from particularly bad jet-lag.\nAll in all, we are happy to see what new things God will bring about over this next stint, and how the fruit will develop which we have seen Him bring forth from time past.\nBelow are some verses which we would love for you to pray over our family this year, and even over our students and pastors:\nProverbs 4:25-27\nGalatians 6:9\nColossians 3\nColossians 2:6-12\nIn Christ,\nMatt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/january-2024-harris-family-update/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"heading\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026quot;\u0026hellip;and low I am with you even to the end of the age.\u0026quot;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"matthew-2820b\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew 28:20(b)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/IMG%5F20240114%5F130721711%5FHDR.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDuring our trip we experienced more than 22,000 miles of travel and temperatures ranging over 130 degrees (95 degrees in UG and -42 degrees wind chill in NE). We had meetings nearly every day; seeing, greeting, and sharing with hundreds of individuals. We gave many hugs that were too brief with friends and relatives and had so many late nights catching up with loved ones. There were tears of sorrow as we shared grief over loved ones that we never got to say goodbye to and happy tears, as we saw long-awaited hopes fulfilled, especially watching our dear friends join in marriage. So many smiles. So many hugs. So many prayers answered. So many testimonies to God’s goodness. Putting it all into a paragraph doesn’t quite do justice to the last 7 weeks of travel. But after such a FULL two months, we are glad to be back in the hot, red dust of Uganda. I think it was happy to see us too, it practically jumped on us as soon as we arrived home.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"January 2024 Harris Family Update"},{"content":"Greetings family, friends, and fellow co- laborers! ( If you missed the December post, check out our missionary blog at: sgwm.com/pboubion\nWe have been experiencing new beginnings, new ministry opportunities, new friendships, new things to pray for and marvellous things God has and will show us as we recommit spending time in His word daily.\nWe are very happy and privileged to share with you our ministry opportunities for 2024. This is your spiritual fruit as you have been with us in prayer, financially and believed in us.\nBilingual Women’s Bible study\n“ Mujeres de Valor y Propósito”- “Women of Worth and Purpose”.\nFor we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”Ephesians 2:10\nOur Thursday night bilingual study is based on this beautiful Bible verse!!\nOur heart is to equip and disciple ladies the Lord brings to our study on Thursday evenings, and even using Facebook Live!\nHow do we equip and disciple them?\nServing with them,\nmission trips, bible study, praying for them, personal devotions, praise \u0026amp; worship, taking the New Believers classes then baptism and finally our Pillar class! Then possibly later…\nSigning up for our Doulos school of ministry and so much more!\nLupita Hurtado and I welcoming our ladies.\nThis year I am co-leading the study with a future church planting pastor wife. I have the privilege of helping my very gifted friend Lupita become even better equipped! She helps me in all that this ministry entails as she prepares for her future women\u0026rsquo;s ministry one day. Praise God!\nWe have, God willing, 3 mission trips on the calendar to go and encourage the pastors wives and their ladies. Churches that have been sent out from Calvary Rosarito.\nMissions trips with Women of Value and Purpose(Mujeres de Valor y Propósito)\nMarch 23 – Ensenada, day conference\nMay 4 – Otay, day conference\nJune 20-24 – Morelia, weekend conference\nContinuing on to discipleship. I have the privilege of discipling women one on one. It’s about a 3 month study. Called, “First Love”, it’s for all ages it may say youth but trust me it’s for all ages. I have the blessing of sitting with each lady the Lord brings to me. It doesn’t end when we finish our study but it continues, how do you ask they want to go and pour into another sister and sit with her and go through the study, that is amazing. I always say no book, or program is the end all for all to fix each issue. It’s just one more tool in your process of sanctification. I am not, the book, the program is not your savior, it’s Jesus Christ and Him alone.\nPressing ahead with biblical counseling, it has been a blessing to sit with and speak on the phone with ladies who request biblical counseling. God’s word is faithful and proven to encourage, give hope, exhort, teach, and transform as long as you put into practice what you hear and learn. Thanks to the Lord the Holy Spirit, Paul and our Pastor Mike Vincent I have learned and continue to learn how to counsel biblically.\nOur ministry verse is 2 Timothy 3:16-17\nThis encapsulates the essence of this ministry that Paul is overseeing and I am blessed to help with.\nGod’s Word \u0026amp; God’s truth set women, men, couples, young \u0026amp; old FREE indeed!\nPaul has an exciting schedule every week!\nCruz and Graciela are new to the church! Claudia and I constantly meet new people in our church patio every week!\nTeaching in the School of Ministry on a Saturday and visiting our church plants\nFamily Notes:\nPoiema heads back to Peru February 10th to finish her semester at CBI, Trujillo.\nNatalie is praying about her future plans and direction as she finishes her first year of teaching a high school biology class in Sacramento and finishing her Masters degree.\nCristian graduates from high school in June. He’s praying \u0026amp; planning to study medicine in Guadalajara.\nBen is doing well and on his way to deciding what he would like to do this new year.\nGeoff \u0026amp; Lydia are touring Japan in February! Pray for vision as God opens doors for ministering there\nPrayer Requests:\nThat our relationship with Jesus Christ to be our #1 priority For wisdom in accepting ministry requests, To Love all people! Biblical Counseling ministry! For God’s wisdom and understanding Assisting with Church Planting class starting Feb 12, and teaching Feb 17. (Paul) Thanksgiving to God for His Provision and the great and exciting work we get to do! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-year-new-ministry-opportunities/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings family, friends, and fellow co- laborers! ( \u003cem\u003eIf you missed the December post,\u003c/em\u003e check out our missionary blog at: \u003cstrong\u003esgwm.com/pboubion\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have been experiencing new beginnings, new ministry opportunities, new friendships, new things to pray for and marvellous things God has and will show us as we recommit spending time in His word daily.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are very happy and privileged to share with you our ministry opportunities for 2024. This is your spiritual fruit as you have been with us in prayer, financially and believed in us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Year \u0026 New ministry opportunities"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family,\nI count it as a privilege to share with you about what I have been privileged to do here in my country.\nOn December 12, I started getting sick. By December 13th I was unable to get up from my bed, but by God\u0026rsquo;s grace I was up and about by the 16th. I did not have much strength, but I trusted in the Lord every step of the way. The Lord used me to go to various different places.\nChristmas is a season when there is freedom for us to have public events. Also many who are unreached come to churches. They think that Jesus is one among the other gods. It is a great opportunity to share the Gospel. Because of this, many try to go to as many places as possible to use this opportunity and so did I.\nI traveled along with some men who are in our fellowship. The Lord used me to share His Word in many places.\nThe place where we run a Bible school is about 5 hours away from where we did ministry this Christmas. Even though it is far, the Lord has opened doors for me in this area. I have been praying about what the Lord would lead me to do in regards to the ministry in this area. People in this area are interested to go and share about Jesus, but they do not have anyone who encourages them or is able to teach them the Word.\nYou might wonder how they have this desire. About a year and a half ago, I conducted a youth retreat for 2 days. That is when most of the people got saved. They have kept in touch with me and also with four of my pastor friends who are from this area.\nI had open doors in these areas because one or two people in each of the different places made the arrangements for me to share the Gospel in different villages and also at a school.\nDuring this whole time, I was privileged to hear stories of how some of the people got saved. After many years of marriage, some of the families had still not had children, however after I prayed for them, some of them have had children. Some others are expecting a child. I am thankful to the Lord for using me in this. The joy of this is that the people (who were from a different faith) had made a decision in their hearts, that if God gives them a child then they with accept him as their Lord and Savior! Now their houses are filled with light. Their old practices and all the wall hangings from the past faith and belief are no longer there. Glory to God for what He has done!\nAnother thing that has brought me great joy is what happened with a man from a village. Before, he was not able to have peace. He listed to teachings from different religions, but was not at all satisfied. He even heard some teachings from the Bible from different people who were teaching the prosperity Gospel, but he was not satisfied. He listed to some music which helped him feel peace, however he was in search for the truth.\nThere is no church in this man\u0026rsquo;s village. He goes to college in another town. When he asked around, he learned that there was a church in that town. He tried to go to the church there, but he was unable to. However, 3 weeks ago he finally was able to come to the church. It was right when I was teaching at this church. He wanted to meet me after church, so he asked one of the men in the church. The next day we spent time together. I shared the Gospel with him. By the end of our conversation, he was on his knees in tears. He said, \u0026ldquo;Today I have true peace in my heart like I have never felt before. I have never felt so light and so joyous my life.\u0026rdquo; I gave him a Bible and have been in touch with him.\nHe told his family that he has accepted Christ. His family said, \u0026ldquo;If that is where your heart is, we will not stop you from it.\u0026rdquo; Glory to God alone!\nGoing around sharing the Gospel in different places allowed me to minister to various kinds of people. Among the groups, there were gangsters at different places. They heard the Gospel. I was privileged to meet five men personally who gave their lives to the Lord. How wonderful it is to see the Lord ministering to the younger generation! What a privilege it is for me to see the Lord use me. He has chosen. He has trained. He has sent. He has given opportunities. He alone gets the glory as He chose them all. I am privileged to work in the Lord\u0026rsquo;s vineyard.\nAs the year began, I was privileged to attend New Years service at 3 different locations after our church service. On January 3rd I traveled back home for my parents\u0026rsquo; wedding anniversary on the 4th. My cousin got married on January 7th. So from the 5th until the 8th, I spent time with family and made arrangements for the wedding.\nOn the 9th, I traveled to do ministry at another location that is 9 hours away from my home. I shared God\u0026rsquo;s Word at one place for three days while my dad and mom did at a nearby location. Then I was back to church on Sunday. On Monday morning, I again went to another town. On January 16th, I will be sharing God\u0026rsquo;s Word at one other place and then will be returning home.\nI have shared with you all good and exciting things that happened, but there were many challenges along the way. Some places we were forced to leave because they did now want us to share the Gospel. In other places we were warned not to do anything in public. The hindrances are present, but looking at the opportunities God creates in between is joyous. Please pray as the Lord uses me and our guys. Thank you!\nYours in Christ,\nPastor 4*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/glory-to-god-pastor-4-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI count it as a privilege to share with you about what I have been privileged to do here in my country.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn December 12, I started getting sick. By December 13th I was unable to get up from my bed, but by God\u0026rsquo;s grace I was up and about by the 16th. I did not have much strength, but I trusted in the Lord every step of the way. The Lord used me to go to various different places.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Glory to God! - Pastor 4 Update February 2024"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Dear supporters and prayer partners, thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nLast month, I had a chance to lead the Sunday service in B* Village. I had fellowship with them in the Word of God. I am teaching them from the book of Ephesians.\nTwo Hindu families were reached with the Gospel during our Christmas outreach. We shared the Gospel with them and prayed for them.\nWe had also organized a program for the kids in December (above). Almost 50 kids participated in the program. We shared the Gospel through a skit and songs and prayed for them, then we distributed gifts. We had a wonderful time with them.\nLast month, I also had a chance to visit K* Village (above). The pastor invited me to share the Word of God during their Christmas program. It was a great time of fellowship. There were many new people there that came because of Christmas. We distributed New Testaments and gifts to them and prayed for them.\nAs the year was ending, God gave us the opportunity to gather with the believers in our church. We were able to fellowship with them, pray together, and give thanks to God for all the blessings which He gave us in our lives last year…and for adding a new year in our life.\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for my children to grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. Please pray that the Lord would intervene in the problems the world is facing. Please pray for the local village ministry. May the villagers grow in their understanding of the Word of God. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-will-give-thanks-to-the-lord/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Dear supporters and prayer partners, thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/WhatsApp-Image-2023-11-20-at-8.58.20-AM.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month, I had a chance to lead the Sunday service in B* Village. I had fellowship with them in the Word of God. I am teaching them from the book of Ephesians.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Will Give Thanks to the Lord - Pastor 16 Update February 2024"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\n”For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations”\n(Psalm 100:5)\nTruly , God is good all the time!\nDecember is a very exciting month for all Christians around the world to celebrate a historical event. During this Christmas season, God was so good to provide all the things that are necessary for our family and keep us blessed. Thank you, ministry partners, for your earnest prayers and financial support. We have been praying for you and your family continually. May God bless you.\nOne of our church members, a 29-year-old girl, testified for the Lord through water baptism. Thank God for her life and commitment!\nWe as a church family were engaged in different Christmas activities. There was a Christmas rally in the city . Many Hindu fanatic groups were not happy, yet, by God’s grace, we did it.\nAs we do every year, our church hosted a kids Christmas program (above). It is very enjoyable for the kids. We can tell by the look on their faces! Our main focus is on the non-Christian kids that attend. We share the love of Jesus along with snacks and gifts.\nWe did three days of Christmas caroling where we visited door to door and shared the love of Jesus. We also had a potluck dinner (above) with our church families followed by a watch night service.\nAs a family, we participate in all the church activities and visit some family homes to testify of the Lord and pray for them. My daughter took a certain special exam (above) for the first time. It was a good experience for her.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for all of the kids who attended the Christmas program. Pray that God will touch their hearts so that someday they will come to the Lord. Please pray for the sister who got baptized. May she continue to grow in the Lord. May many souls be added into God’s Kingdom through her witness. Kindly pray for the growth of our Church. Recently, we surveyed a piece of land for our church. Kindly pray that God will open the door to buy it. Kindly pray for me and my family- that the Lord will use us for the expansion of His Kingdom. Also, pray for our daughter’s studies. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-good-pastor-3-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e”For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(Psalm 100:5)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTruly \u003cem\u003e, God is good all the time!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecember is a very exciting month for all Christians around the world to celebrate a historical event. During this Christmas season, God was so good to provide all the things that are necessary for our family and keep us blessed. Thank you, ministry partners, for your earnest prayers and financial support. We have been praying for you and your family continually. May God bless you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Good - Pastor 3 Update February 2024"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico! In this update I am excited to tell you about a new outreach our church has begun in the new year! One of our focuses’ of 2024 is reaching and blessing our community. The center of this plan is the opening up our new Calvary Athletic Park to our friends and neighbors in Rosarito. In this update I am excited to tell you all about it.\nGrowing up in the Vincent Family, Sports was always a major part of our home life. My dad Mark was always our coach, my mom Diane was always our team mom, and Mitch, Matt, and I always did our best playing whatever sport was in season. (Little league baseball, JUSA soccer, and eventually basketball) We were blessed to grow up at Rose Drive Friends Church and our Pastor CW Perry loved sports so much, we had a full gymnasium and softball field on our church campus. I have many great memories growing up having fun playing sports at church! I feel blessed and honored that our church in Mexico is continuing on in that same tradition.\nOur major facilities overhaul began last year as we began preparing and transforming our south parking lot, into a new multi-use athletic facility. After 3 months of hard work and generous investment, we now have three completed athletic fields filling up that large area. We have a sand volleyball court, a large basketball court, and a small soccer field. (Indoor soccer, with a 4 foot fence surrounding it to keep the soccer ball in play)\nThese sports courts will have numerous uses. First off, we plan on hosting tournaments and leagues throughout the year in all three sports. The teams in these leagues will be open to believers and unbelievers, people that attend our church, and those that don’t! Please keep these upcoming tournaments and sports leagues in your prayers!\nSecondly, we also have the athletic fields open before and after all of our church services. We have seen this be an especially big hit with the youth. In fact, earlier this month we had a high school mission’s team visit us from California, and after joining our youth group for their Wednesday night church service, their church put together a basketball team and played the boys from our youth group. There were over 100 people packed around the court, watching this epic USA vs. Mexico hoop classic. It was a great game, and I am proud to tell you that our church boys defeated their friends from up north!\nThird and finally, we plan on opening up Calvary Athletic Park to our community two days per week! During these open times, we will have one of our church staff members caring for the fields and organizing games for those in attendance!\nOne of the things that excites me the most is that my son Daniel is going to be helping with our church’s sports program! With his experience in our cities basketball leagues, and his many connections throughout our city, I know that God is going to use Daniel and our other team members to be a blessing to our church family and to our community!\nAnother great blessing of our new sports court, is it has opened up a large cemented area to expand our children’s playground. (Where our old smaller basketball court used to be!) My dad Mark kindly donated much of his old playground he had out front of his house in Silverado (Since his grandchildren have all grown up) and we had another stateside friend donate a used playground from a park and we put it all together to make a brand new (to us) expanded play area for our children!\nThe children at our church are having a blast with their new expanded play area, but once again, this play area will be open to our community as well. (During those same hours that Calvary Athletic Park is open!) Sports are very popular here in Mexico, but unfortunately, there are very few parks and athletic fields open to the public! We are so thankful that God has provided this new area to be a blessing not only to our church, but to our city as well!\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for the privilege and honor of serving as your missionaries here in Mexico. There are many places you can invest your finances, and we feel honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with us in this great missions work! We love you and give thanks for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God would bless our new Calvary Athletic Park!\n#2- Pray that God will bless our church planting class as we begin the new year on February 12th!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a wonderful January Baptism with 21 new believers getting baptized!\n#2- Praise God for the provision to construct our athletic fields and new playground!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-february-2024-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico! In this update I am excited to tell you about a new outreach our church has begun in the new year! One of our focuses’ of 2024 is reaching and blessing our community. The center of this plan is the opening up our new Calvary Athletic Park to our friends and neighbors in Rosarito. In this update I am excited to tell you all about it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGrowing up in the Vincent Family, Sports was always a major part of our home life. My dad Mark was always our coach, my mom Diane was always our team mom, and Mitch,  Matt,  and I always did our best playing whatever sport was in season. \u003cem\u003e(Little league baseball, JUSA soccer, and eventually basketball)\u003c/em\u003e We were blessed to grow up at Rose Drive Friends Church and our Pastor CW Perry loved sports so much, we had a full gymnasium and softball field on our church campus. I have many great memories growing up having fun playing sports at church! I feel blessed and honored that our church in Mexico is continuing on in that same tradition.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family February 2024 Update"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family,\nGreetings from my church to all of you!\nThank God that He helps us do all kinds of outreach. By the grace of God, the Gospel has reached 5 new villages! We were able to spread the news of the Lord Jesus Christ to a distance of about 1100 to 1200 kilometres (680 - 746 miles).\nSome of these further outreaches were done as follows:\nHanded out New Testaments. Distributed biscuits to children. Went from house to house preaching the Gospel and praying. Played the Jesus film in 2 new villages. Celebrated Christmas with 300 people and also fed them lunch and preached the Gospel. Gave gifts to the children of our church who performed Christmas dance and drama etc. If I were to write about each outreach in detail, it would take a lot of time, so I would like to share with you about three of these outreaches.\nWe showed the Jesus film, despite opposition, in a very rural and untouched village that is 400 kilometers away from my home!\nThank you for your prayers. Through your prayers and by God\u0026rsquo;s grace, I was able to reach a very untouched village. It took us about 8 hours by motorbike to reach this village. It was very challenging for me to ride a bike for such a long distance for the first time, but this was to share the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ.\nWhen entering the village, I felt as if I had reached another world, because very rural people live there. My heart was filled with the hunger and thirst for the Lord Jesus Christ in this place. When we arrived, we did a prayer walk through the village. In the evening, we showed films in the village. People brought their blankets. Despite the cold, they watched the movie under the blankets. They sat near the fire and asked many questions about the Lord Jesus Christ. Many people asked us to pray about their problems in their homes. But some of them, who had traveled before and worked in another state, opposed the Lord Jesus Christ and started arguing. The other villagers there supported us and pacified them. Thank God that two people in this village believed in the Lord Jesus Christ!\nWhen we were leaving, after showing the movie, it was very challenging for us to cross the bamboo bridge due to darkness. By the grace of God, we were able to reach another village safely. When we went to the next village, we were shown very good hospitality there, also. They had prepared good food for us.\nThe next day we showed them the Jesus Film, and people also came to watch the film in this village, as well. People sat down with their lotus flowers to watch the film and made a fire. Even in the cold, they stayed to watch until the end and it caused people to pray. In this village, people had installed big loudspeakers and had brought a sound system that they rented. I preached the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ on the microphone. The people of the entire village, about 5,000 people, heard the Good News of the Gospel! Two people accepted the Lord Jesus Christ in this village, also. Praise God!\nWe had a wonderful Christmas with 300 people, Christmas dances and Christmas skits!\nI thank God that like every year in the past, this year God kept all of us safe during Christmas. It was a time of joy and fun. We went to four villages before Christmas and preached the Good News, gave them New Testaments, and invited them all to come to our church on Christmas. They all came!\nTogether, we were about 300 people. The children danced very well during the birthday song of Jesus. After watching the play, we were able to celebrate the birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ with great joy and happiness. The children who danced and performed were also given gifts. Food was arranged for all those who came. I thank God and all of you that with your help all this was possible.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that the people who believed in Jesus where we did outreach remain steadfast in the Lord. Please pray that my mother\u0026rsquo;s health and bones get better. Please pray that the people of our church will remain grounded in the faith and know God\u0026rsquo;s Word more deeply. Please pray for our Admin’s father who is ill, may God heal him completely. Please pray for us as we are restarting the fellowship which was stopped two months ago due to opposition. Pray that God will protect me and my church. Please pray for my wife\u0026rsquo;s health. She has thyroid problems. May God heal her completely. Please pray that God gives us a child. Thanks for your love, support and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you all!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/you-will-have-joy-and-happiness-pastor-11-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from my church to all of you!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/January-11.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank God that He helps us do all kinds of outreach. By the grace of God, the Gospel has reached 5 new villages! We were able to spread the news of the Lord Jesus Christ to a distance of about 1100 to 1200 kilometres (680 - 746 miles).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome of these further outreaches were done as follows:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"You Will Have Joy and Happiness - Pastor 11 Update February 2024"},{"content":"Dear Team,\n\nI wish you much joy and blessings in this New Year! Last year was great and filled with God’s goodness. I am so thankful for each and every one of you. The fact that you are all praying for me is the biggest blessing and strength in my life. God is always faithful and I am grateful to our Lord. It gives me so much joy to see how He is using me in different districts and villages here in my area.\nIn my area, it is very rare to find people with Christian literature, and even more rare to see children with Christian books. Most children are exposed only to Hinduism, not to the Gospel or a story from the Bible. The Lord has given me a great burden for the children. They are the next generation. I was greatly blessed to be able to get and distribute many books that are composed of Bible stories. These books are for different ages and grades, from very young kids to teenagers. They cover stories from the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.\nAs I visit the villages with these books, the children are very open and excited to hear the stories. This is the first time they saw books like this, and they are able to hold them in their hands. They value these gifts.\nWhen I visit them, I divide them into groups based on their age and grade in school. I assign a leader to each group and ask them to read out loud, so that the others who cannot read can understand.\nI was also able to bring Bibles and give them to the kids who have a heart to learn the Word of God, who are also able to read and write. As I continue to visit them, I plan to spend time with these children and help them understand God’s Word.\n“All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children.”\nIsaiah 54:13\nIn one of the villages I visit regularly, there is a young girl whose family I have been ministering to. This young girl was the first in her family to give her life to the Lord. Her faith has drawn her family closer to Him. She is in 10th grade and has become very busy, but she still has an interest to serve.\nI have asked her to read these stories to the younger children that are unable to read and to even help them as they pray. The children love her and pay close attention as she reads. I am praying that this young girl will continue to draw closer to the Lord and grow a heart to serve Him.\nI am asking God to raise up many young men and women like her in every village I visit. It is so easy to focus on having a career and the things of life, but I hope these young people can understand they have an even brighter future serving the King of Glory.\nWhen I reach the areas where I do ministry, sometimes the parents are out in the agricultural fields working, but they invite me to teach their children. The children are usually with their grandparents at home. When I gather the kids, the elderly people are nearby watching the children and listening to what I share. Sometimes the grandparents might not be interested to come on their own, but because their grandchildren are interested, they will come and learn in the process. God is wonderful! His Word never returns void.\n“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”\nIsaiah 55:11\nI am seeing how the Lord is working, how He has a purpose in all things. He has given me vision to see these children as the future generation to carry the Gospel to my nation. My nation is full of darkness, but if these children come to know the Lord, their lights will shine so bright for Jesus and change this land. His work is not only for the future, it is for now as well. He is moving today and He is carrying His Word forth.\nPlease continue to pray for my mother’s health. It is winter here. This is the most difficult season for people who have trouble with their respiratory system!\nGod bless,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/little-lights-shining-brightly-for-jesus-pastor-7-update-february-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI wish you much joy and blessings in this New Year! Last year was great and filled with God’s goodness. I am so thankful for each and every one of you. The fact that you are all praying for me is the biggest blessing and strength in my life. God is always faithful and I am grateful to our Lord. It gives me so much joy to see how He is using me in different districts and villages here in my area.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Little Lights Shining Brightly for Jesus - Pastor 7 Update February 2024"},{"content":"But these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”\n-(Mark 4:20.)\nWe didn\u0026rsquo;t understand before, but when we read the above verse, which is spoken by our Lord Jesus, we see this can happen in the present day. It did not happen in our early days of ministry. But thanks to God, this has happened in the recent days! We believe it will happen in the future too. We are waiting for this miracle to come. May God bring revival in our country!\nSome Thirtyfold\nOur Calvary Bible Institute had 30 young students. We are so thankful to our God, who gave us the opportunity to disciple these young people.\nIn November we were able to graduate 10 students in our Bible College. Some of the graduates are already serving the people. We see that they are already ordained by our God for His kingdom. God brought these students from different parts of our country so we believe that they will be serving\nin different parts of the country. These students love God’s Word. Hopefully they will make His Word known everywhere and wherever God leads them.\nWe can tell that these students have a serving heart. We believe that they will serve God and that they are sold out to God. We see some of them as apostles, some prophets, some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. Please keep praying for these young people.\nSome Sixtyfold\nA couple of years ago, one of our students, named Joshep, graduated from our Calvary Bible Institute. Now he is serving in the eastern part of the country as a Pastor in his community. He loves God and loves people. He went back home to help his father in ministry. While he was helping his father, he started to teach and share the Gospel. This has led so many people joining the church. There are now young people, old people, and people from many different tribes who are coming to Christ. Joshep got married and has a year old son. He loves to share the Gospel in the congregation as well as one-on-one. Last month, 17 people publicly made a commitment to Christ. Most of the people were young people. Please pray that God will use him even more in the coming days.\nSome a Hundredfold\nOne of our pastors graduated a long time ago. He is serving in another area of the country. His name is Pastor Milan. He is the youth leader in his district. He leads a once a year youth camp that hundreds of people come to.\nLast month, he asked me to teach at his youth camp. Around 500 young people came. These young people love the Lord. Calvary Bible Institute senior students also attended this camp so that they could encourage other young people. These young people were able to study Psalm 103. Many young people are chasing the things of this world, but these young people follow Jesus. We need to pray that these young people will surrender their lives for the things of the kingdom of God.\nThank you,\nAnand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/some-thirtyfold-some-sixty-and-some-a-hundred-pastor-anand-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eBut these are the ones sown on good ground, those who hear the word, accept it, and bear fruit: some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some a hundred.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e   -(Mark 4:20.)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe didn\u0026rsquo;t understand before, but when we read the above verse, which is spoken by our Lord Jesus, we see this can happen in the present day. It did not happen in our early days of ministry. But thanks to God, this has happened in the recent days! We believe it will happen in the future too. We are waiting for this miracle to come. May God bring revival in our country!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\"Some Thirtyfold, Some Sixty, and Some a Hundred.” - Pastor Anand Update January 2024"},{"content":"Did you hear it? Did you hear it? We heard it. The starting pistol… it went off and the rat race begins. The first thing we’ve decided to do in 2024 is BE STILL !! The tendency is to hit the ground running, I’m sure we’re not alone but Jenn and I have decided to be still and know that He is God. We’re not going to try to catch up on any undone business of 2023. We’re not going to try to check off our to-do list or New Year’s resolutions of 2024 before we learn to practice the art of being still before our great God and king. We were grateful to be able to have a week of downtime between Christmas and New Year’s. 2024 started off with a short week in the office, followed by a weeklong time of prayer and fasting that our whole church engages in.\nI heard somebody say the other day “no one is as busy as I am” ! That saddened me, but I begin to wonder if the same could be said of us. I think we are all the equal amount of busy, there are only 24 hours in a day, but just exactly what are we busy doing? That’s what Jenn and I have begun to pray about. Ministry matters and affairs around the church have to be tended to but people matter more and being still before the Lord matters even more than that.\nTHROWBACK TO 2023\nWe had the opportunity to serve at one of the church plants, Calvary Chapel Pedregales in Tijuana, Mexico. Taking Christmas shoeboxes and being part of an outreach for the community was such a blessing. SGWM missionary Deanna Jevas has been serving down there for 20+ years. I love her testimony where she committed 1 year to serving at the church and now she doesn’t ever want to leave. Deanna runs an afterschool program/soup kitchen with 40 children ages 6-12. She also oversees the Children’s Ministry at CC Pedregales, as well as correspondence for groups that come for short-term missions trips. She’s an amazing lady and friend and we were honored to be a part of blessing the families in the community. The children there are very poor so several of them wanted to wait to open their gifts on Christmas because it is the only gift they will receive. Please pray for these children and their families, that they would come to know Jesus and attend CC Pedragales. We love serving alongside each other, we provided the craft for the children ages 3-12yrs old. The theme was the “birth of Jesus” in the manger.\nAs you know we recently began to be able to serve together as a couple in this new season of our lives. One of the things we love most is pouring into the missions training students, discipling and teaching them the ways of the Word. We also get to provide housing, transportation, and a safe place for the students to pour their hearts out. One of the really cool and kind of unexpected things we love is discipling the students who are engaged and married. It’s crazy to sit back and look at how good our Father is by raising these like minded youngsters up to marry and be sent out to the mission field! AND they want to hang out with US!! Tim and I love every minute of it.\nAnother one of the blessings over the years has been to host and visit with missionaries around the world here on furlough. We had some great times in our home with Vincent and Melissa Aniku from Uganda. They are dear friends of ours, and we love to spend quality time. Before we closed out 2023 we had a wonderful opportunity to have dinner with some friends of ours from Uganda. They were at our home and shared the wonderful works that the Lord is doing there. We are hoping to go out and visit them and their ministry sometime before June. Another friend from a different area in Uganda was in the office for one day and Tim got to have great fellowship with him.\nWe are thanking our Father for the many blessings He has brought us in 2023. We are so grateful that we GET to serve the Lord in the capacity He allows us. As we are reminded, our God is our Provider, Redeemer, our Salvation, and He saved a wretch like us! We have had our challenges in 2023, but God is faithful and sovereign through it all!\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for the 2024 Calvary School of Missions and for us as we get to lead this wonderful work of God’s. Please pray for us, as we are implementing some personal disciplines that will enable us to serve the Lord in this capacity for many more years. Please pray for our son Andy as he is still wandering in his wilderness and desperately needs Jesus. Praise Jesus we are able to minister to him and see him frequently. We pray for our Father to renew his mind. Please pray for wisdom as we navigate this new year in a way that honors God and brings much glory to Him. This year\u0026rsquo;s calendar for missionary care and equipping is quite full and opportunities are not lacking. We love you all so much and thank you for being behind us. You are also part of this ‘Great Commission’!! We are so dependent on and grateful for your prayers and want to say thank you to those who have already joined us in this area. We realize it’s by God’s grace and through your prayers that we are able to serve the Lord the way we do! But if the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, we are in need of additional monthly supporters, and if you desire to increase your already generous support, please know that it would be a huge help.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/did-you-hear-it/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDid you hear it?  Did you hear it? We heard it. The starting pistol…  it went off and the rat race begins. The first thing we’ve decided to do in 2024 is \u003cstrong\u003eBE STILL !!\u003c/strong\u003e The tendency is to hit the ground running, I’m sure we’re not alone but Jenn and I have decided to be still and know that He is God. We’re not going to try to catch up on any undone business of 2023. We’re not going to try to check off our to-do list or New Year’s resolutions of 2024 before we learn to practice the art of being still before our great God and king. We were grateful to be able to have a week of downtime between Christmas and New Year’s. 2024 started off with a short week in the office, followed by a weeklong time of prayer and fasting that our whole church engages in.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Did You Hear It?"},{"content":"January 2024\n“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”\nEphesians 3:20-21 (NKJV)\nI pray this update finds you well! It’s been a little more than one week of being sent out and living down in Peru. It’s already been a productive time and I am so blessed by all of the relationships that are being grown and the new ones being forged. I’m excited to see all that the Lord is going to do in this coming season and semester. Thank you so much for your prayers!\nRight now, there are a lot of people on campus, but many are still to come. It looks like we’re going to have at least a few more people from the states so that will be nice to be able to grow in our Spanish together. If you didn’t know when we took off, we left last Wednesday around 1pm. We were able to talk with someone waiting near us for our flight about where we were going and what the Lord was doing and that began one of multiple conversations where we got to share Jesus. Please pray that those conversations will be seeds that the Lord will water. During our flight to LAX we got to have a great conversation with a college student sitting next to us. She had a lot of questions and I pray the Lord helped us to answer well! We had about a 6-hour layover in LA so we went to Santa Monica. It was my first time, but Andy had already been there (for those of you who don’t know, Andy is the other missionary being sent out from my home church). We had a good time exploring a little. It was a great way to pass the time and also provided an opportunity to share the Gospel with our driver who was from India named Gouthem. Please pray that those seeds would turn to salvation!\nWhen our second flight was getting ready to leave, there was a man who was having some health difficulties, so the flight ended up being delayed by a couple of hours. As far as I’m aware, things ended up being okay. There were several people who were health care workers flying with us so that was a blessing. We got into Lima a couple hours later than anticipated—right at the time we were supposed to start boarding our flight, which led to a 7-hour layover until our next flight. Praise the Lord there was no lost luggage, and only minor delays. During our layover we went exploring a little in Lima and I got a much-needed haircut. We quickly realized that we weren’t in Santa Rosa anymore as we began to feel how hot it was outside. Thankfully we packed accordingly!\nWe arrived in Trujillo around 8:15/8:30pm Thursday night. We got all settled in as they already had a place picked out for us. We’ll be staying with the guys in the guy’s dorm for now. I’m excited to get to know them all better and to be able to speak Spanish more and more. On our first day here, we got to say hello to people we haven’t seen in a long time and met some new faces as well. They showed us the ropes and we got right into working on some projects. There’s already a lot that has changed since our last visit, but there’s much more to come! All the growth that is taking place here in Trujillo is very encouraging. Not only that, but the new CBI campus is starting up in Brazil this semester!\nRight now, we’re working on finishing up a new storage unit next to the current men’s dorm, and then we are going to begin prepping the floor for the new men’s dorm that CC the Rock is going to come and build. I even get to do cabinets, so when things slow down with the priority projects, I’ll be working on some cabinets in the kitchen and doing some things with the coffee shop as well.\nThe Spring semester starts on Feb. 13th, and I’m excited to help receive new students and some old ones too as not everyone is here yet. This Tuesday we’re going to get to see more what our roles will look like ministry-wise, and how we can pour into the students, make disciples, and be a blessing to the campus. Outside of our time helping in our ministry roles here and with construction, I’m trying to spend as much time as I can to grow in my Spanish speaking ability. Thank you all for your prayers with that. My Spanish is already getting better, and there’s a lot of work ahead.\nHow to Get Involved:\nThank you so much for all your prayers, generosity, and support as I’ve come out on the field. It’s been an overwhelming blessing, and I’m really excited for what He’s doing. Right now, my greatest need is prayer. I want to honor the Lord and walk in all that He has for me to do here. If you feel so led, I think the greatest physical need is monthly giving and support. Your giving makes outreach and ministry possible, as well as opens doors to provide for physical needs as well.\nPrayer:\nto be open to whatever the Lord has to be flexible to grow well in this season to learn Spanish quickly to aid however I can in the growth and development of the students and to help them understand and realize God’s call on their life through prayer and His Word to be faithful in the little things as well as the big to be an example of how a Christian man ought to conduct Himself in every way for physical growth as we train at the gym and are able to use that weekly for a Bible Study to reach the wrestling/jiu-jitsu/MMA gym continued prayers for my family’s health back home Thank you for your prayers and support, Dios te bendiga,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/now-to-him-who-is-able-voisin-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJanuary 2024\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEphesians 3:20-21 (NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IMG%5F4870-1-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI pray this update finds you well! It’s been a little more than one week of being sent out and living down in Peru. It’s already been a productive time and I am so blessed by all of the relationships that are being grown and the new ones being forged. I’m excited to see all that the Lord is going to do in this coming season and semester. Thank you so much for your prayers!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"“Now to Him Who is Able” - Voisin Update January 2024"},{"content":"Hey family! I hope you are all doing well and your new year started out great! The new year is a great time to reflect on the past year and give thanks to God for the good that He has done and look ahead to what He wants to do in the future. I want to share with you the ways God has been comforting me and teaching me. I hope you are all encouraged!\nBeing confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will compete it until the day of Jesus Christ Philippians 1:6 We started off the new year with a week of prayer and fasting as a church body. This was something that I had never really done before, so I was excited to see how God was going to move. I have fasted before but am always so busy when I do, so I don’t put much emphasis on my prayer life. This time my week was filled with praying, reading His Word, and worship. It was hard and I felt weak every morning getting up from my bed ( I was okay!), but I felt that the Lord was strengthening my spirit, I was drawing near to Him and He was drawing near to me and I loved every moment I had with Him. Of course, while seeking Him, I was also seeking answers, but I knew that the Lord would reveal those details to me when He wants to. But He was revealing other things. It’s like the Lord was cleaning out my heart. The things that were not of Him, he was throwing out and I saw that. One thing I was convicted of was not having big faith. When I pray, I give my requests to God, but sometimes I find myself asking but not really believing. There were certain things that I just couldn’t see play out (being completely honest here). But God convicted me. Who am I to doubt the creator of the universe? I devoted more time to praising Him in my prayers and making requests for everything that the Lord put on my heart, and being more aware of how God is answering prayers.\nWe also had a time of prophetic prayer. There were a group of people with the gift of prophecy who came and prayed with individuals in the church. This is a gift from the Spirit that is meant for edification and exhortation (1 Cor. 14:3). This was a sweet time. After they prayed over me it felt like God just gave me a big hug. He hadn’t forgotten about me. He has me where I am for a purpose. This was something the enemy was discouraging me with, but God reminded me through other people who knew nothing about me and even during my time with Him, that He is doing something and it’s going to be great. Not because of who I am but because of whose I am, because of Him! He continues to reassure me still and I am so in awe of the work He is doing. My heart is full…\nSo, with that. I am trusting this process. I don’t know what exactly God wants to do. But I know that He is equipping me, taking me through His process, so that I can do His will and that is what my heart longs to do, what He wants. I desire to live a life that is pleasing to Him.\nGod is stirring up hearts There are many things happening! Many students are on their way to vision tours (where they visit places God has put on their hearts and pray to see if this is the place He wants them). Other students are staying here, as we continue studying and serving, and being diligent in praying for them. I am grateful that God is answering prayers and sending people into His harvest and I am still praying for this. I am also praying that God would send people into the Unreached. I have shared the statistics with you all before but just to remind you. There are still 3 billion people who have not heard the gospel and never will unless someone goes to tell them. Only 3% of missionaries are going to the unreached, the other 97% are going to places where the gospel already is. This leaves 1 person for each 250,000 people who have never heard about Jesus. I am seeing hearts being stirred to go to the unreached but we must still pray that God would send people into these hard places. Pray that He would open doors into these countries and that we would see the unreached, reached. I encourage you all to share the Gospel where you are and keep praying for the world. God loves the world, so we should too.\n\u0026#34;Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.\u0026#34; Amen. Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus\u0026#39; last words to His disciples, this is The Great Commission I thank you all for your support. I am very grateful to have such awesome brothers and sisters in the Lord who are constantly encouraging me and praying for me. If you have any questions, I am always open to answer. Let me know how I can be praying for you guys as well.\nPrayer Requests That God would give me wisdom and boldness as I share the gospel with the people around me. Pray for students on vision tours and the students staying back. Revival in the church! Praise Reports Praise God for the open doors that He has given me to share Jesus with people close to my heart. For the work He is doing here at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/trust-the-process-rangel-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey family! I hope you are all doing well and your new year started out great! The new year is a great time to reflect on the past year and give thanks to God for the good that He has done and look ahead to what He wants to do in the future. I want to share with you the ways God has been comforting me and teaching me. I hope you are all encouraged!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Trust the Process - Rangel Update January 2024"},{"content":"It’s been quite some time since I last wrote and I have plenty of exciting news. In the past 4 months, much has happened and I will briefly sum it all up so you don’t have to read pages upon pages of information. Let’s get right into the reports.\nWhat Happened after Mexico? In the last newsletter, I wrote I was in Mexico. About a week later I was on my way to Israel. I spent the following 3 months in Israel with Study Tour Israel or Calvary Bible Institute Israel (CBI). I was able to connect with a small Jewish Russian congregation in the Golan Heights. During the first half of the trip, we were able to tour lots of the southern parts of Israel and got to explore all the various biblical sites and experience Jewish culture, as well as daily life in Israel. About a month and a half into my stay in Israel, on October 7th, tragedy struck. Around 1,500 people were butchered in their homes and over 200 men and women were taken captive by Hamas terrorists. Our hearts were broken when we heard the news. Soon after, war broke out and the Lord shifted the direction of our time in Israel. Sadly, the majority of the group was either called home or chose to leave due to safety concerns. I along with the director of CBI Israel and his wife (Spencer and Kylie) and the pastors of the Jewish Russian congregation (Steve and Misha) began to aid another local congregation and prepare meals for Israeli soldiers. This group soon began to cook home-cooked curry for the soldiers stationed all over the Golan Heights. It was through this experience that the Lord taught me so many things, I wish I could tell you it all, but for time’s sake, I will keep it brief.\nOne of the most important lessons I learned was truly how great the need there is for people to lay down their lives so that others may come to know Jesus. During my time in Israel, I met a girl on a bus to Jerusalem (and no this isn’t some Hallmark love story) we talked for about 2 hours and I got to share with her about Jesus. We had a long conversation about Jesus and why I believe he is the Messiah. Not only that, but I got to share with her how God has personally transformed me. During this time she told me she lived on a Kibbutz or a farm town of about 100 people. The next day, it dawned on me that I am most likely the only Christian she will ever meet in her whole life. Israel is not like America where there are churches on every corner where she can hear the gospel or be discipled. The point of that story is that the need is so great for people to go to these places where the Gospel isn’t so people can come to know Jesus.\nWhat Now? Since coming home from Israel I believe God is leading me to the mission field, where the need is so great. I recently began the first step of the process which is to wait. However, this isn’t a passive waiting but an active waiting upon the Lord. About 3 weeks ago I joined the Missions Training Program at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda, California. This program is designed to disciple those who may sense a calling to the mission field but don’t know how to get equipped. During the time I will be here, I am attending classes and serving at the church to prepare myself for the mission field. It has been quite an adjustment but God works all things out for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose and I am learning to trust that promise.\nPrayer Requests / Praise Reports Join me in praying for the peace of Israel and the equipping of the saints for the spreading of the gospel which brings true peace Lift up Steve and Misha for protection and opportunities to share as they are still ministering in Israel Pray for me as I begin working a secular job again, that I might have opportunities to share about Jesus Pray that God will transform me throughout the process of this program Praise God that He has provided a place to stay and a job Praise God has been faithful to provide for me financially Praise God that He is already working on my heart and will continue his work I would like to thank all of you who prayed for me during my time in Israel, I truly believe that if it were not for your prayers and for all of those who reached out I would have lost hope. So, thank you again for all the support. If you have any questions regarding anything please, feel free to contact me. Until next time, God bless you.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/surprised-to-hear-from-me-so-am-i-sanchez-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt’s been quite some time since I last wrote and I have plenty of exciting news. In the past 4 months, much has happened and I will briefly sum it all up so you don’t have to read pages upon pages of information. Let’s get right into the reports.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"what-happened-after-mexico\"\u003eWhat Happened after Mexico?\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the last newsletter, I wrote I was in Mexico. About a week later I was on my way to Israel. I spent the following 3 months in Israel with Study Tour Israel or Calvary Bible Institute Israel (CBI). I was able to connect with a small Jewish Russian congregation in the Golan Heights. During the first half of the trip, we were able to tour lots of the southern parts of Israel and got to explore all the various biblical sites and experience Jewish culture, as well as daily life in Israel. About a month and a half into my stay in Israel, on October 7th, tragedy struck. Around 1,500 people were butchered in their homes and over 200 men and women were taken captive by Hamas terrorists. Our hearts were broken when we heard the news. Soon after, war broke out and the Lord shifted the direction of our time in Israel. Sadly, the majority of the group was either called home or chose to leave due to safety concerns. I along with the director of CBI Israel and his wife (Spencer and Kylie) and the pastors of the Jewish Russian congregation (Steve and Misha) began to aid another local congregation and prepare meals for Israeli soldiers. This group soon began to cook home-cooked curry for the soldiers stationed all over the Golan Heights. It was through this experience that the Lord taught me so many things, I wish I could tell you it all, but for time’s sake, I will keep it brief.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Surprised to Hear From Me? So Am I… - Sanchez Update January 2024"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family!\nAs we near the end of the first month of 2024, we look back on last year with gratitude for all that the Lord has done, and for your faithful partnership in prayer and support; and we also look forward to what the Lord has for our family and ministry through the rest of 2024 ahead of us. Please see below for an important prayer request as we begin this year!\nAmy and I are now the proud parents of a kid in “double digits,” as our precious Maggie turned 10 this month! Time is truly flying by, and we are soaking in all that we can with the kids. They are all doing well and flourishing.\nAs far as ministry goes, the church and running Missionary Care at SGWM keeps me busy. Our young adults group is growing both in numbers and spiritual depth, and we can’t believe what God is doing there! On the missionary care side, there were a lot of missionaries in town over the holidays, so I did a lot of planning for that and spending time with them. And this month, we have the privilege of sending our five new missionaries to unreached countries straight from our church. All glory to God!\nAs far as travel for this year, my hope and prayer is to make it to Uganda, my first time in Africa, in June; then deeper Mexico and Japan in the Fall, all for missionary care for established works and works just in their infancy. Of course, all of this is subject to change and is in the Lord’s hands.\nWe do have a personal prayer request for you all: We are in the middle of figuring out what to do next as far as housing. The housing market is not friendly right now for a single-income family of six on a ministry salary! We are not sure whether the Lord wants to provide for us to stay where we are right now, or whether He wants to provide to move to a new house, as our current lease is up at the end of February. We are waiting on Him and trusting Him, as Amy and I received a very specific prophetic word for us during this month’s week of prayer and fasting with our church: Provision. We know He will provide, but we want His wisdom and to know His heart for us. Will you please pray with us to know and walk in however He wants to provide for us?\nWe would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-prayer-request-garcia-family-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we near the end of the first month of 2024, we look back on last year with gratitude for all that the Lord has done, and for your faithful partnership in prayer and support; and we also look forward to what the Lord has for our family and ministry through the rest of 2024 ahead of us. Please see below for an important prayer request as we begin this year!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Prayer Request – Garcia Family Update January 2024"},{"content":" “In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”\nProverbs 3:6\nOur lives and ministries have been quite active since our last update in early December. We continued our regular ministries, work, and partnerships (Precious Women, churches, Light Times, and others). From the beginning of December to the end of January, I have been teaching Apologetics (and Evangelism) at the Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute (CPTI). The students were very engaged and kept up with the lectures, class discussions, and asked good questions. I have been teaching this class at this seminary (founded and run by Korean missionaries) for more than ten years and am blessed to have been used to equip hundreds of Cambodian Christian leaders.\nIn early December, God allowed us to become uncomfortable in our apartment building. We lived in the same apartment building since 2016 even though we changed units a few times. To make a long story short, God opened the doors for us to move to a better place, with a better environment, closer to Benjamin’s school, etc. The place was completely unfurnished so we had to purchase and install some major appliances and equipment, but God opened the doors for that as well. We were able to move during Benjamin’s Christmas vacation with the help of some Fijian brothers. The move was a step of faith. The day after we moved in, the transmission went out on our car and the mechanic found many other problems (brakes, steering, and an oil leak). This was also a step of faith for provision.\nGod worked out the schedule of the move, housing set-up, and car repairs so that they didn’t interfere with hosting ten visitors from Japan for four days and then one more retired woman from that group stayed with us and worked alongside Kayo for another week. During that time I was sick for a few days.\nNow, I am gearing up to start teaching Apologetics and Evangelism 2-3 times a month at Faith Family Church and also to equip and train the teachers at Sonshine Kids International School (connected to Faith Family Church) on the spiritual and Biblical aspects and foundations of Christian education.\nPlease pray for wisdom and strength for us as we continue with our existing ministry activities and possibly expand into new areas with current and new ministry partners in 2024.\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-shall-direct-your-paths-record-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProverbs 3:6\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/photo%5F2024-01-19-08.38.03-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur lives and ministries have been quite active since our last update in early December. We continued our regular ministries, work, and partnerships (Precious Women, churches, Light Times, and others). From the beginning of December to the end of January, I have been teaching Apologetics (and Evangelism) at the Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute (CPTI). The students were very engaged and kept up with the lectures, class discussions, and asked good questions. I have been teaching this class at this seminary (founded and run by Korean missionaries) for more than ten years and am blessed to have been used to equip hundreds of Cambodian Christian leaders.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He Shall Direct Your Paths - Record Update January 2024"},{"content":"It’s been too long, but I’m excited to be here writing my first newsletter of 2024! 2023 was a year of God’s faithfulness in ways that I can’t even begin to fully describe, but those of you who know me know this! To think where my heart was, my head was, not more than a year or so ago; all I can say is that God is faithful, so faithful. Missions wasn’t a blip on my radar, let alone all else that has come about. There is a lot going on, so I am eager to share with you all, family, friends, and followers, what His continued faithfulness looks like right now.\nAs mentioned, 2023 was a blessing of a year, and the way it played out was something I could never have predicted. Among the many things that the Lord gave me this last year, one of the most special blessings has been the church family at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. It is a place, a body, a group of believers where to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21). Something that came to my mind recently is how special it is to be in the Lord’s will, exactly where He wants you. In this, you so clearly see just some of the ways in which He perfectly moves and works all things for His glory and for your benefit, but you also get to see His movements in the lives of those around you; it is not about any one of us, and it’s not even about all of us! All glory, honor, and power is His. There is a fellowship in Christ that the world desperately longs for, so many just don’t know. Oh to taste and see that He is good!\nMissions Training School The Missions Training School at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace has been such a change of pace to my schedule, one that I am still adjusting to, but it is an invaluable resource, and the Lord is moving in this place. I am grateful… I’m grateful for the hours of sermons that we listen to, the many books on teaching, missions, the heart of God, the growth in learning to study properly, learning to teach God’s Word, and learning the importance of availability in ministry. The school is teaching me the importance of commitments, in a new way. Answering to man is one thing, and we ought to represent the faithfulness of the Lord in all our dealings with one another, but how much more ought we to hold to our commitments before the Lord, in light of who He is and all of His faithfulness?\n1 Samuel 13:14 – “The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart…”\nI feel called to missions, I know this, but I do not know where in this world or when. One thing that is clear to me is that I want to be like David, a man after God’s heart. Through our studies in 1 \u0026amp; 2 Samuel, it has been made more and more clear to me that no country, people group, or achievement for the kingdom of Heaven can be the goal. My call to missions, my call to ministry, my call to anything is only a call; yes I must obey, and yes I must work out my salvation, I must walk in faith. But the goal is always the same, the goal is Jesus, even when that goal feels like sacrifice. Just as Jesus prayed, “…not My will but Yours be done,” so I seek to daily pursue His will. There is nothing better than Him, so my will is rendered dead before His; what a joy!\nIn the passage mentioned above, the kingdom of Israel is taken from Saul and given to David. What is a man after God’s heart? It is a man who loves the Lord with all of his heart, mind, and soul. A man after God’s heart is one who knows that the LORD is the goal, and that He is the only love; all else falls where it will, but the Lord is his all and his only. This kind of man knows what he has, the sweet inheritance of heaven, yes! But what’s more, this kind of man has a relationship with the Almighty, and nothing else should matter more. As I mentioned at the beginning, missions wasn’t on my radar not much more than a year ago, but God has led me here; how will He not perfectly keep me and sustain me through what His will has yet to reveal? How could I doubt? I pray to be a man after God’s heart, not a man after his own idea of God’s heart. The real thing is what it’s all about, and I pray that all of you can know this… our goal is for the whole world to hear, to hear of the love of Jesus Christ, for He is the one and only way to life, and even better, to communion with the Father.\nIndonesia In three weeks we have a team flying out to Indonesia. It is going to be an incredible time of seeking the LORD and seeing firsthand what the books and classes have only told us about! It is going to be a time of seeking God’s will for our lives and for the lost people groups of Southeast Asia, all for the sake of the gospel being spread. It is a part of the world where darkness is evident; spiritual blindness, misguided religions, and hopelessness will surely be palpable. But greater is He who is in me than He who is in the world (1 John 4:4); we could not ask for a greater confidence than that our God goes before us, and that His work on the cross has defeated the power of sin; His ascension has defeated death! The world must know, and so we go.\nI have purchased plane tickets, but for what we’ll be doing on the ground I am still in need of around $700. I have no concerns, as I know that the Lord will provide all that I need as I need it, as He always has. Should any of you feel led to partner with me financially, the link is attached below! Your prayers are absolutely essential. Prayers for the people of Indonesia who’ve never heard the gospel, prayers for the leaders of this team as they seek to ensure that our time is spent well before the LORD, and for us team members, that our hearts are set after God alone, our ears open to His voice, our eyes fixed upon Him, our hands open to do His work, as our feet take us where the Light of Christ has never shined.\n“Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.”\nIn the same vain of thought as mentioned before, the beauty of God being all that He is is that His ways overwhelm my ways, and His heart overwhelms my heart. Psalm 63:3 says, “Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You.” The lovingkindness of God is better than life; His presence is the fullness of joy, and He is always present. I pray for myself, the team, the body at Saving Grace, and every one of you reading this, for rest in the grace of God. The freedom of the verse above lies in the truth that this world is not my home; my home is the House of the LORD, where I will dwell forever (Psalm 23), thanks be to God. Until then I am here to be used exactly as the Father wills, in order to bring as many as will hear His voice and follow Jesus into His glorious presence. There’s one Way, one Truth, and one Life, and His name is Jesus Christ. I’ll gladly wear His name.\nIf any of you have questions, concerns, or need prayer, I am available and, more importantly, I’d love to hear from you and talk with you! Thank you for your continued support and prayers.\nPRAISE REPORTS:\nThe LORD’s faithfulness in this past year; using all circumstances to remind me of my desperate need for Him, and then to lead me into deeper fellowship with Him and His people. The vision tour to Indonesia; the LORD’s faithful leading, and His making a way for the gospel in the wilderness of Southeast Asia. PRAYER REQUESTS\nFor the people of Indonesia; that the LORD would bind the enemy, and that the name of Jesus would sweep through their hearts like a mighty wind! For the warfare that has already started for myself and the team. God is absolutely in control. For the remaining finances that I need; the LORD will always provide. For my heart to be after the LORD, in all things, all seasons, all places, always! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/better-than-life-brzezinski-update-january-update-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt’s been too long, but I’m excited to be here writing my first newsletter of 2024! 2023 was a year of God’s faithfulness in ways that I can’t even begin to fully describe, but those of you who know me know this! To think where my heart was, my head was, not more than a year or so ago; all I can say is that God is faithful, so faithful. Missions wasn’t a blip on my radar, let alone all else that has come about. There is a lot going on, so I am eager to share with you all, family, friends, and followers, what His continued faithfulness looks like right now.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Better than Life! - Brzezinski Update January Update 2024"},{"content":"Happy New Year fam! I’m praying the Lord continues to shine His face upon you this year and may His peace + love overflow in your life and to those around you. The year ended on a small bump, but it started off with a great blessing.\nYes, use me for Your glory\nOh God\nHere am I, send me\nYes, pick me up and write Your story\nSONG: ISAIAH 6 BY LINDY COFER + CIRCUIT RIDER MUSIC\nNothing is Impossible\nOkay- now to the good news! I still am speechless and in awe, however, I want to share the past couple of weeks with y’all. It was a rough last week of the year- falling into doubt and unbelief and questioning the decision to continue in Missions Training School. I started feeling anxious about my finances and I decided to take matter in my own hands (never a good thing). I applied for jobs and immediately after, I felt convicted. Not because applying for jobs is bad, it’s great, I still have a job. However- that is not what God wanted me to do. I prayed, I confessed, and I asked the Lord to open a door- whether more hours coaching, or another client. And He did just that- He heard my cry for help and He answered me.\nA couple days later, I was studying at my favorite coffee shop, studying God’s Word, reflecting on His faithfulness + kindness, when I notice I received a donation to the Mission’s account. I opened it, and I was speechless. Someone from my church family donated $1000. I couldn’t believe it. I immediately started to weep, give praises to God, and ask Him how He wanted me to faithfully steward His money. That is when I heard, “Japan.” “No way, that’s impossible,” were my next words. Right after, I heard His still small voice, “ nothing is impossible with me.” Thankfully, I don’t have access to that account or else I would’ve bought my plane ticket right then and there, but it allowed me to pray for God’s will to be done and for Him to show me confirmation that this was actually from Him. And God is so faithful to do just that!\nI was in San Clemente finishing up training my good friend Leslie, when she tells me she has something for me. She asked me if I wanted a box of candies that her Chinese sister-in-law had given her. They weren’t just any kind of candies. Yup, you guessed it… Japanese candies. I was in awe- yet again. I opened the box and inside was a reminder, the title of my last post’s newsletter, Be Bold! And after speaking to the Missions and Senior Pastor, I got the yes to go to Japan for two weeks! All glory to God!\nNext Steps\nOn January 29th, we will be heading down with a small team to Tokyo for one week and Osaka for another week. We will be coming alongside a missionary couple moving to Japan! It is such a blessing to be able to be a part of this new journey with them, to be in prayer with them, and to be able to serve them in any way needed. We will be visiting churches in the local areas, getting to know the people, and embracing the culture.\nThe goal of this trip is to seek the Lord for His guidance, to pray for the country, and to be led by His Spirit. After two weeks in Japan, we will also be heading to Indonesia for one week. Here we will be visiting local churches and also serving alongside current missionaries there. Lastly, we will be heading to the Philippines for a Pastors and Leaders conference, as well as visit an orphanage.\n“Speak, Your Servant Hears”\nI pray this is a testimony you needed to hear today- of not only God’s faithfulness and provision, but also of His kindness and goodness. He is so patient and gracious with us when He calls us to serve Him. He doesn’t just call us once, He continues to call us and draws us in closer and closer to Him.\nI want to ask you… are you heeding His call? Are you opening your ears to hearing from Him? Are you, like Samuel, replying- “ Speak, Lord, Your servant hears,” (1 Samuel 3:10) when He calls? Are you open and willing to go wherever? I had to truthfully ask myself all those questions again.\nTo be honest with you, I had my own plans. I had my own path laid out for where I wanted to go and how that was going to come about. Through this whole process, these past couple of weeks, God kept reminding me to be available and willing. To remain in a state of complete surrender. To believe and trust that HIS ways are better, not mine. I pray the same for you today, may you also FULLY surrender to His will in your life- may HIS will be done.\nPraise Reports\nGod continues to show me His faithfulness \u0026amp; how HE is going to provide! He is Jehovah Jireh! God continues to strengthen our gifts through Missions Training School \u0026amp; continues to equip and prepare us for full-time missions work. God is SO good- I am officially a Calvary South OC Missionary!!! Prayer Requests\nPlease pray for the Women’s Conference next week- I will be sharing my testimony- may the Lord speak through me! Please keep Alishia \u0026amp; Jeff, missionaries moving to Japan, in your prayers- for protection, for guidance and for provision. Please keep our team heading to Japan, Indonesia, and Philippines in your prayers- may we seek the Lord and hear His still small voice. Please pray for the team moving to the Middle East! May the Lord protect them and bless them. I am still in awe. Never in a million years would I have told you I would be doing what I am doing, but I am truly honored to be a part of what God is doing here on earth. I want to thank you, even more, from the bottom of my heart for your faithful partnership in the gospel- both through prayer and financial support. It is because of your obedience, what God has placed on your heart, that any of this is even possible. I am nothing without my church family. I am eternally grateful for you all.\nTo the glory and praise of God,\nMayra Alejandra\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/here-am-i-send-me-solorzano-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHappy New Year fam! I’m praying the Lord continues to shine His face upon you this year and may His peace + love overflow in your life and to those around you. The year ended on a small bump, but it started off with a great blessing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYes, use me for Your glory\u003cbr\u003e\nOh God\u003cbr\u003e\nHere am I, send me\u003cbr\u003e\nYes, pick me up and write Your story\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSONG: ISAIAH 6 BY LINDY COFER + CIRCUIT RIDER MUSIC\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Here am I. Send me! - Solorzano Update January 2024"},{"content":"Discouragement\nHello friends and family. Thank you for taking time to read what has been happening for the last 2 months here in Moyobamba!\nThe last 10 days or so of December have been very challenging. A depression out of nowhere came and would not leave me for some time.\nThankfully, the Word of God has sustained me and I am finally out of that rut!\nReading through Matthew has reminded me to keep my eyes on Jesus, not the circumstances.\nReading through the Psalms has reminded me of King David’s difficulties and him crying out to God. Here are 2 verses that have ministered to me.\nPsalm 25:5\nLead me in your truth and teach me,\nfor you are the God of my salvation;\nfor you I wait all the day long.\nPsalm 25:17\nThe troubles of my heart are enlarged;\nbring me out of my distresses.\nThe Calvary Moyobamba family\nWhile the enemy has attacked, the Lord has been at work!\nThe blessings have been like the Amazon rain! Numerous and overwhelming. One of the many blessings I am thankful for is the church family.\nChristmas surprise!\nThe plan was to have people arrive at church at 7pm on Christmas Eve and eat at 8pm. “We will probably wrap things up at 11pm,” I thought to myself. “Four hours is a good chunk of time.” This was far off! Most people came around 9:30pm. When asked if they were hungry, the majority responded that they were full and just ate. Come to find out, the Christmas tradition here is to eat starting at midnight! My team and I didn’t know what to do because we were very hungry, yet wanted to eat together with everyone else. We decided to wait and allow the stomach noises to continue.\nAfter approximately 7 hours together our friends realized it was late and time to return home. I arrived home around 4:30am and slept until 1pm! Please DO NOT tell my parents.\nAs a church family, we love spending time together and all those hours were worth it.\n“ El Hueco”\nThere is a huge abandoned building close to the church where homeless people sleep and other things occur. It is known as “el hueco,” or “the hole” in English. Some of the men from there came to our Christmas dinner, as they had nowhere else to go for the holidays. As we served them food and conversed with them, we built a good relationship and gained some trust. This allowed me to enter there days later to read the Bible and pray with them. There were no lights, so they had a candle lit to where I could see the pages. As several men gathered to hear, almost all said that they wanted out of that lifestyle and to be right with God. Long story short, 2 of them have now left. One has had close to a month without alcohol and drugs, found a job, reconciled with his family, now attends church regularly, reads his bible that we gave, and has helped with some construction projects. Praise God for His power of radically transforming our new brother in Christ’s life. The other guy has asked to be discipled, so he and I will meet up on Saturdays and go over the bible together.\nMateo’s curiosity\nMost of the children in Sunday school have been coming on and off to church, but one boy who has been fairly consistent is Mateo. He has been asking a lot of questions about God and has the earnest desire to be part of His family. Gina the Sunday school teacher shared the full gospel with him. He understood and said he wanted to receive Jesus into his life. A few days later he ran up to me shouting with joy that he is now a child of God with a big smile on his face. I almost cried.\nThree Months of Verse-By-Verse Teaching\nSince the middle of October, we have had 13 teachings in the gospel of Luke on Sundays and 13 teachings in Genesis on Wednesdays.\nOne of my favorite messages was the call of Abram in Genesis 12. The first verse reads, “Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.” I can identify with Abram, because although I miss my family in Colorado dearly, there is no better place to be than where God calls you.\nThis picture was taken in November. Our hope was that our service would eventually open a door to share the gospel in the classrooms.\n“At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word”\nColossians 4:3a.\nAxl (from church) and Jesus preparing pineapple juice to serve to 50 students from a school close by. For 4 Wednesdays they came to our church to eat breakfast, converse, and hear a short bible message. Many of them normally go through the day without eating breakfast or lunch.\nPraise God for:\nMy team, our unity, and their hard work.\nGod’s Word sustaining me.\nThe open doors to share the gospel.\nPeople’s testimonies in the church of repenting, loving greater, joy, peace, and many other works of God.\nPrayer Requests\nThat Calvary Moyobamba can be a culture of arriving on time ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/waking-up-at-1pm-how-did-that-happen-weakland-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDiscouragement\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family. Thank you for taking time to read what has been happening for the last 2 months here in Moyobamba!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe last 10 days or so of December have been very challenging. A depression out of nowhere came and would not leave me for some time.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThankfully, the Word of God has sustained me and I am finally out of that rut!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eReading through Matthew has reminded me to keep my eyes on Jesus, not the circumstances.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Waking up at 1pm! How did that happen? - Weakland Update January 2024"},{"content":" O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.\nPsalms‬ ‭63‬:‭1‬\nDuring the week of prayer and fasting that takes place at my church, God gave me this longing for Him like never before. In the Psalms, we know David had a relationship with God yet he wanted more of him, he longed for more of Him. God began to show me He is doing something new in my heart and all I have been wanting to do is remain still in His presence and never leave. My prayer for you is that you would long for more of Him. That you would not remain complacent in your walk with God but that you would go running after Him, that you would chase after your first love like never before.\nLast Month\nIn my previous newsletter I told you all that I would be visiting my family over the holidays and unfortunately the Lord led me not to go. I ended up in the hospital one night after not feeling well and the Lord clearly showed me that because of my health and not knowing what was going on, it was not wise to leave. This was heartbreaking for me because since coming back from Israel all I have been wanting is to see my family and it has been the same for them; especially after what I had experienced. But, man, God uses all things to prepare me more for missions. Knowing that there will come a time where I will not be able to see my family and them not see me. Please continue to pray for my family.\nGrateful for the Body of Christ\nFor Christmas I spent it with the Brzezinski’s. I am grateful for the friendship I have with Amy who is in the left photo and her mom who is in the right photo. Amy has truly been an amazing friend and I have been blessed by her and her family in so many ways. I was able to have brunch and dinner with her family and had such a good time.\nFor New Years, I spent it with Denise, aka Gramma (she is the one who houses the girls who are in the missions training school) and church friends.\nBoth of these groups of people brought such genuine joy to my life when I couldn’t be with my family and I will never forget that. God is so gracious to have provided a family amongst the body of Christ.\nMy Health\nI have been doing so much better in regards to my health and my anxiety. Thank you all so much for you prayers. I have been able to recognize the causes of my anxiety and know how to navigate through certain situations that could trigger my PTSD. I began to see a psychiatrist. I can truly say that it is the Word of God that continues to bring healing to my soul and having such an intimate relationship with the living God.\nIt’s almost time, LETS GO\nThe Indonesia trip is approaching and I absolutely cannot believe I am going. Everything was up in the air because of my health and lack of finances but the Lord provided by giving me better health and money to buy my plane ticket. It was just last week that I found out I was going. Praise God! For weeks I thought I was not going and I was discouraged. In the waiting, the Lord put Genesis 22 in my heart, Abraham offering his son at the altar. God was showing me I needed to offer my missions calling at the altar, I needed to put this trip at the altar. Waiting on God can be difficult but that is where our faith is being refined and growing us. God was faithful to reveal His will on His timing and He has given me permission to GO!\nPlease continue to pray that the Lord would provide for the rest of the cost of the trip. I am still in need of $1,000. If you feel led in any way to give towards this trip you can use the link below. Thank you all dearly for coming alongside me through prayer and partnership to fulfill God\u0026rsquo;s call on my life. As you know, my desire is to reach the unreached and eventually move overseas.\nPraise Reports\nPraise God for His continual pursuit after me and having me fall in love with Him Praise God for the church body Praise God for opening the door to go to Indonesia Praise God for His continual healing Prayer Requests\nPray for my family, that they would have an understanding on God’s call on my life and pray that my mom would have a fire to read God’s word Pray for the team going to Indonesia, that God would work out all the details and for a smooth landing Pray for a continual healing for my body and mind and that God would give me the strength and all the energy I need to serve Him ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/waitgo-campos-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eO God, You are my God; Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You In a dry and thirsty land Where there is no water.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePsalms‬ ‭63‬:‭1‬\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the week of prayer and fasting that takes place at my church, God gave me this longing for Him like never before. In the Psalms, we know David had a relationship with God yet he wanted more of him, he longed for more of Him. God began to show me He is doing something new in my heart and all I have been wanting to do is remain still in His presence and never leave. My prayer for you is that you would long for more of Him. That you would not remain complacent in your walk with God but that you would go running after Him, that you would chase after your first love like never before.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Wait…Go - Campos Update January 2024"},{"content":"!!Happy 2024!! The new year has started off with our church having a week of prayer and fasting. This was a time we got to seek God and focus on what He wanted to say to us. A time to surrender our lives, lift up our 2024 year and plans to listen to God. It was a sweet time and the Lord brought us through it. Doing it as a whole church community was also something that we experienced as a sweet fellowship. Koinonia, communion/fellowship/partnership with fellow believers, is amazing. We have really grown and learned so much since our move here to California.\n“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed,”\nPsalm 127:4-5\nLast year began with Sven recovering from back surgery and us praying about moving to California from Texas to attend Calvary School of Missions and going on the mission field. What we had to surrender for the Lord and what was needed to be done. We can tell you that what we gave up is nothing compared to the blessings we have received since then. Since we’ve moved here our entire family has joined us. We added to our family last year with Jorden and Aleah marrying and Bryan and Kayla giving us a grand baby girl. Our son Jonathan came back to the Lord; is walking passionately for the Lord and is now attending bible college here in California to learn more about Him. Joshua will be staying in California from Peru for the next year as a student, training to be a missionary alongside us. We have had a busy year but with many blessings.\nJapan\nSo we are finally off to Japan. We’ll be here for four weeks and then we\u0026rsquo;ll head to Indonesia for 10 days. It doesn’t seem real. We have been praying for this vision tour for a while. You may be wondering why we are going to Indonesia too. Well, we will share more on that in a bit.\nOur first leg will be going to Japan. We had wanted to go for a longer vision tour around Japan but that isn’t possible at this time. So for two weeks we’ll be touring around Japan, then the rest of the team will be flying in on the 29-30th of January, and staying for the next two weeks. We plan on going to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Kanazawa and some areas outside of these places. We are connecting with some churches and pastors but we are really just going to see the areas and pray. We pray God will lead us and guide us and speak to us about Japan. We have been told that sometimes He will confirm after vision tours, so we are open and want to let God lead and not our agendas.\n“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”\nEphesians 2:10\nIndonesia\nAfter the four weeks in Japan we’ll be flying down to Bali, Indonesia. There we’ll also travel to East Java island and visit some local tribes and the rest of the time in Bali. You may be wondering why Indonesia? Sven lived in Indonesia for four years and this is also where he accepted Jesus into his heart through missionary kids at his school in Jakarta. So the Indonesia vision team asked him along. Many people may not know where Indonesia is. We have a map for you to see. Indonesia is a very interesting place, there are tribes to big cities. In Bali the main religion is Hindu, the tribes have mainly animism (spiritual worship of nature and animals), while the majority of Indonesia is Islamic. So a variety of beliefs and livelihood. We are open to what God may be leading and if Indonesia is where He’d like us, then we will go.\nSven’s Corner\nWe are off to Japan and Indonesia! The preparations that have gone into these vision tours you would think would be extensive on the planning and practical application side. But for the last couple of months, since we have come back from Peru, that has not been the center focus. What I mean by that is, of course the details of going to all of our missions classes, serving at the church almost daily, doing all the homework, reading the books, researching about Japan, culture, etc., planning out the itinerary, and purchasing the necessary tickets, hotels, etc., are all very important. But that is not the main thing that God has been doing.\nThe preparation that God has been doing, however, has been mostly internal (and He is still doing it by the way). For as long as I have been walking with the Lord (since January 18th, 1991) I have never gone through as much gut-wrenching pain and trials as I have the last few months. I, much like yourself have been through my fair share of suffering, whether that be physical, financial, mental, or spiritual (all trials on one level or another are spiritual in nature) but this has been on a whole other level. These have been intense emotional trials, so yes the heart for sure, the mind absolutely, but emotionally involves feelings in the seat of emotions (the gut) that can be hard to combat, and yet God is using it all for the good. I am not sure yet how what I am going through will further the gospel, but I know it will because God’s Word says so! God has and is working on the internal, literally from the inside out.\nBut I want you to know brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel.\nPhilippians 1:12\nAll of this has caused me to rely on the Lord more than ever before. Taking my thoughts captive consciously seems like on a minute-by-minute basis. The cause, root, and attention of these particular trials are between myself and the Lord and are not important to our conversation. I merely wanted to point out that when we go through trials, it is because God loves us and does not desire to leave us in our current state.\nHe desires for us to grow in our walk with Him and in His grace more and more, as He molds us and shapes us to be more like Himself every day. This process can only happen, however, if we are willing to go along with His program and not the building of our kingdom of self and desires.\nThe Lord needs a willing vessel for eternal, fruitful change to take place. So turns out preparation for the mission field (whether short or long-term) is done in the heart and mind much more than in the practical outward.\nI pray this encourages you. You perhaps are going through a difficult time, the kind of difficult time where you are praying impossible prayers because you know that God is the God of the impossible. “Nothing is impossible with God.”\nBe of good cheer, God is here with you. He is sovereignly in control. Because God sees the big picture and knows, however heartbreaking and gut-wrenching your trial is, it will bring you closer to Him and you will grow inyour relationship with the Lord more than you ever have before.\nAbide in Christ, like the branch abides in the vine. Let the Lord do His perfect complete work in you. He loves you and knows what is best for you.\nOn that note, we are excited to go on this vision tour and are excited to see what the Lord will do and more importantly what He will say while we are there. Please pray for us that God’s will will be done in the whole trip. See you here, there, or in the air!\nPRAISE REPORTS\nWe had a year of growth- family, personally, and mainly with the Lord. We had an amazing holiday season with family and friends. We are both healthy for our travels. PRAYER REQUESTS\nOur travels. Financial support. Health and safety for travels. The Lord speaks and directs. Divine appointments and contacts in the countries we are traveling to. For team unity. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/near-and-far-vanrenterghem-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"happy-2024\"\u003e!!Happy 2024!!\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe new year has started off with our church having a week of prayer and fasting. This was a time we got to seek God and focus on what He wanted to say to us. A time to surrender our lives, lift up our 2024 year and plans to listen to God. It was a sweet time and the Lord brought us through it. Doing it as a whole church community was also something that we experienced as a sweet fellowship. Koinonia, communion/fellowship/partnership with fellow believers, is amazing. We have really grown and learned so much since our move here to California.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Near and Far - Vanrenterghem Update January 2024"},{"content":"Praise Report!\nWe established a new church. We started church services at a new place. We started having a children\u0026rsquo;s church service. 70 people attend our Christmas Program. God brought youth into our church. We had a blessed Christmas at the Leper Colony. \u0026ldquo;And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.\u0026rdquo;\n(Matthew 16:18)\nPraise God! He provided us with a church building to do His ministry. For many years we have been praying for our church. While we were having church services at my home, we had many obstacles. My own elder brother, who always drinks alcohol, spoke rubbish words that hampered the growth of our church. As you all know, my family does not belong to a Christian background. Only me, my beautiful wife, and my mom are Christians. Sometimes, my mom also has some problems. She says \u0026ldquo;I am a Christian.\u0026rdquo; but does not always behave like a Christian. Because of these obstacles, we lost a lot of people from our church . Because of a minor mistake of my mom, people quit coming to our church. I still ask them to come back to church, but they do not come.\nPlease pray that my mom\u0026rsquo;s life will be change and she will become devoted to Christ. Pray that she will be witness of Christ to be bring more people into our church.\nFor 5 years we prayed, and God heard our prayers. Now God has provided us with a beautiful church building to rent. We are now having church services there. God did a wonderful work! In the area we live, most of the people follow Hinduism. They will not let Christian people rent a home. When they do, they tell the Christians they have to eat meat outside of the house and can only come into the house (not eat in it). God provided us a church building to rent in this area!\nThe people in this area also hesitated to come when we invited them to come to our Christmas program.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that God will bring more people to our church as we share the Gospel daily. Please pray God will bring children to our church . Pray that God will bring more young adults to our church. Pray that God will bring women to our church. Pray that God will bring all types of people to our church so we can serve them. By the Grace of God, we made a beautiful church. We have offering at our church. Every Saturday we collect a little money. That money we use for our church.\nAmazing things happened! We prayed to have a place for a church, and we prayed for a pulpit. God gave us money to buy new carpet, a pulpit and Gypsum board (for the ceiling) from the offering that we collected at our worship service.\nBy the grace of God, He gave us the opportunity to do ministry among children. Eight children came to church (above). All of these children live around our church. Some children are interested and want to come to church but their family did not want them to come, so the children came secretly.\nWe had a blessed Christmas at our new church (above). 70 people attend our Christmas program. By God\u0026rsquo;s help, it is the first time we had a Christmas program like this. We sang a song and danced, some of our students also performed a song. Pastor Prakash prayed for the Christmas program. Pastor Anand shared from the Word of God. Another pastor, who is my friend, proclaimed and shared \u0026ldquo;What is the Gospel?\u0026rdquo; He challenged all of the people who heard the Gospel from their houses, windows, rooftops, etc. outside of our church to believe on Jesus and save their soul. He begged them to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savoir.\nPre-Christmas at Leper Colony\nWe had a blessed pre-Christmas celebration at the leper colony. Every Friday we gather at the Leper colony to do Bible Study. New people are also coming to our Bible Study. We celebrated Christmas together at the Leper colony among our fellow brothers and sisters. In our Bible study, we finished the book of 1st Samuel. Now we are studying 2nd Samuel chapter 5.\nThank you so much for supporting us, praying for us and raising us up! God bless every entire family at Saving Grace World Missions!\nGrace and peace,\nYour faithful servants,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praise-god-from-whom-all-blessings-flow-pastor-rabi-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise Report!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWe established a new church.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWe started church services at a new place.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWe started having a children\u0026rsquo;s church service.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e70 people attend our Christmas Program.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eGod brought youth into our church.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWe had a blessed Christmas at the Leper Colony.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow - Pastor Rabi Update January 2024"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nI thank our Lord God that He has kept me and my family safe. I am deeply thankful for the love and mercy of God our Father.\nMy family is doing well by the grace of God. We pray together as a family and study the Bible together.\nPlease keep praying for our spiritual growth so that God\u0026rsquo;s will can be fulfilled in our lives. Pray for our ministry. We are praying that in the new year God will open new doors for us when He takes us to a new place.\nPlease especially pray that those who have newly come to faith in Jesus remain steadfast in the church and in their faith. Many people come but then leave because of social pressure/persecution.\nPlease especially pray for our state also. There is a lot of persecution here. A new political party recently came into power here which is against people sharing the Gospel and people converting to Christianity.\nPlease pray for me to move forward in this new year with new vision and confidence in serving the Lord.\nPray for all the believing families of our church to grow in the Lord day-by-day.\nI am very grateful to those who sent us the funds for the Christmas program (above). By your support the program was successful. We were able to give warm clothes as a gift from our church. We also provided the new people who came to our church Christmas program with a 2024 calendar and a copy of the New Testament. Pastor 16* from another city shared the Word of God. Please pray that the people who heard the Word of God at the program will have changed lives.\nIn the Lord,\nYour Brother,\nPastor 8* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-our-strength-pastor-8-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thank our Lord God that He has kept me and my family safe. I am deeply thankful for the love and mercy of God our Father.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy family is doing well by the grace of God. We pray together as a family and study the Bible together.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/IMG%5F20231225%5F122627.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePlease keep praying for our spiritual growth so that God\u0026rsquo;s will can be fulfilled in our lives. Pray for our ministry. We are praying that in the new year God will open new doors for us when He takes us to a new place.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Is Our Strength - Pastor 8 Update January 2024"},{"content":"Hello dear family in Christ!\nI praise God for His amazing grace in our lives and ministry. God has been using you all for many years as you take part in the mission work that is happening here. Your prayers and support have been a great encouragement and helped us move forward to do the work that God has appointed us to do. I can clearly see that through the Word of God, we are growing personally and also the ministry is bearing fruit. There are now new church plants in different locations. God is doing amazing things in our personal life and also in the ministry field.\nCamp for Children and Young Adults\nWe had great time ministering to young men and children at the camp. We all know that we are living in an evil world and are surrounded with sin. Many young men are addicted to drugs, pornography and all kinds of bad things. They are attached to this world. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ. Only the Gospel of Christ has power to break that blindness and allow us to see the true light.\nThe Calvary Bible Institute students also got the opportunity to serve at the camp for children, teens and young adults. 500 people came! Many gave their lives to Jesus and surrendered their lives to Him. It is a great joy to see young men coming to Jesus. We got to share the Gospel and encourage them with the Word of God. As Jesus said, \u0026ldquo;there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents.\u0026rdquo; We are thankful for God\u0026rsquo;s great Salvation. Keep praying for these young men and children.\nFood Distribution\nMany different places in the Word of God speak about sharing your food with the hungry. When we do, the Bible clearly says that we do it unto the Lord.\nSo as a church, we stepped out with young men believers from our new church plant to serve God. We gave food to the people on the streets and shared the Gospel with them and then prayed for them. It is really amazing to see how God cares for each person on the streets. We are not the only people who do food distribution. There are many groups that help the hungry people who live on the streets. I praise God that at times He uses even unbelievers to feed homeless people. What a graceful God we serve.\nCalvary Bible Institute Outreach\nWe had a great time during this semester\u0026rsquo;s outreach. It is a holiday season in our state when relatives get together to celebrate festivals in their home villages and tribal areas. We prayed and moved forward to have a couple of young adult meetings in 3 different locations in our state during this season.\nWe went to each village and had prayer walks there. We invited the young men who we met while we were walking to the young adult meeting in their area. It was a good time to reach young men and also to share about the Bible college. It was also a great opportunity for the students to share their testimony and the Word of God.\nWomen’s Conference\n(My Wife\u0026rsquo;s Women\u0026rsquo;s Ministry Update)\nHello! Greetings to everyone. By God\u0026rsquo;s grace, He gave me the opportunity to share with you about the women\u0026rsquo;s conference which we are conducting every-other month. God is blessing us more and more by guiding us how to lead and conduct women\u0026rsquo;s ministry. This time we were really blessed to hear from sister J* at the conference. All of the women were blessed to hear her testimony and from the Word of God. All of the women attending the women\u0026rsquo;s conference are inviting their family and friends.\nI am so grateful to each one of you for your love, prayers, and support for our women\u0026rsquo;s ministry. Through this fellowship, we are growing in the Word. The women are having so many changes in their lives and families. Through their prayers, their husbands are changing and coming toward Christ. We have some activities to encourage them to grow more in learning and reading the Word of God like Bible quizzes, and memory verses. We are able to share with each-other and pray for each other. We are looking forward to more growth in the women\u0026rsquo;s spiritual lives. Please continue to pray for all of the women. Most of them are single mothers.\nWeekly Bible Study on the Pastoral Epistles\nEvery Wednesday we have Bible study on the pastoral epistles. Right now, I am teaching from 1 Timothy. This Bible study is only for the men who were sent out to plant churches and the staff who are serving at the Calvary Chapel here in the city. We gather together to glorify God through fellowship with one another, to study God’s Word, and also to pray for each other. In Hebrews 10 we are told to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works and to not neglect to meet together. It is really helping us to understand more about serving God. We are very thankful to God for His Word.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nPray for my family to have good health. Pray for our students. They are now in their villages reaching the unreached with the Gospel. Pray for brother C*. He is serving in M*. 6 people are attending the Sunday worship service at his new church plant. Pray for brother AV*. He is serving in B*. Pray that the people there grow more in their understanding of the Word of God. Pray for brother A*. He is serving in M*. Pray that the people there also grow more in their understanding of God\u0026rsquo;s Word. Pray for brother P*. We are planning to pray and send him out to the place God has called him to. Pray for N* village. We did a Gospel outreach in this village. A few people gave their lives to Jesus. We are facing a lot of persecution in this village, but we are still continuing to have Bible study there. Before we went to this village, the people had never heard about Jesus. Pray for the men’s ministry. Pray for women’s ministry. Pray for the health of L*, S*, and La*. Thank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gods-amazing-grace-pastor-6-update-january-2024/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHello dear family in Christ!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI praise God for His amazing grace in our lives and ministry. God has been using you all for many years as you take part in the mission work that is happening here. Your prayers and support have been a great encouragement and helped us move forward to do the work that God has appointed us to do. I can clearly see that through the Word of God, we are growing personally and also the ministry is bearing fruit. There are now new church plants in different locations. God is doing amazing things in our personal life and also in the ministry field.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God's Amazing Grace - Pastor 6* Update January 2024"},{"content":" “And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”\nPHILIPPIANS 1:9-11\n2023 closed with one of our family’s greatest privileges. By God’s providence, our family was able to fly to the US and support the wedding of our friends and missionary partners, Luke and Hannah Buescher. I (Matt) was the best man, Noelle was a bridesmaid, Emma, Madeline, and Charlotte were flower girls, and Noah was a ring bearer. Unfortunately, because her adoption wasn’t finalized, Apio remained behind. During our trip, she has been in the loving care of our wonderful friends, Alan and Shillah Ocen.\nLuke is loyal, faithful, fun, and inspirational. Luke has been my best friend for nearly two decades, and we have served the Lord together in three countries in many capacities. He inspired me to become a missionary and has been my example of what it looks like to follow Jesus. Luke’s bride, Hannah, is his ideal match. She served Christ for four years as a missionary to an Indian reservation in Montana as a grade school teacher. Hannah represents the joy and kindness of Jesus to everyone who comes across her path. During her six-month stay in Uganda, her intentional friendship with everyone challenged Noelle and me to new areas of growth. Despite being in Uganda for six years, I met a handful of people for the first time who already knew Hannah and considered her to be their close friend! May God bless their partnership.\nOur family’s time in the US has blessed us with the opportunity to visit many of our friends and family and to communicate what God is doing in Uganda with many people. The hospitality and care we have received has been immeasurable. We have reconnected with old friends, made new friends, and reunited with our families. God has truly blessed us with a strong home team.\nThank you for your care. Even though it is altogether too short, our time with you has touched our hearts. May God bless each of you.\nIn Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-december-2024/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ, having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePHILIPPIANS 1:9-11\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20231209%5F162907-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e2023 closed with one of our family’s greatest privileges. By God’s providence, our family was able to fly to the US and support the wedding of our friends and missionary partners, Luke and Hannah Buescher. I (Matt) was the best man, Noelle was a bridesmaid, Emma, Madeline, and Charlotte were flower girls, and Noah was a ring bearer. Unfortunately, because her adoption wasn’t finalized, Apio remained behind. During our trip, she has been in the loving care of our wonderful friends, Alan and Shillah Ocen.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update - December 2024"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****USA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\nPRAISE REPORTS:\n- The last two months of working closer together has been a total blessing. - There has been much fruit in our walks, and we are growing together in the Lord All that the Lord allowed us to do in 2023. (For more on that please sign up for our newsletters)\nPRAYER REQUEST: - Please pray for our son Andy, who remains homeless, struggling with mental illness and drug addiction issues. For his salvation, as well as willingness to receive the help that we are trying to offer. - Please pray for our finances, as we are in need of monthly supporters to help us sustain our involvement with SGWM and CCSG . - Please pray for the increased counseling ministries the Lord has allowed Jenn and I to be involved in. - Pray we would always point people to Jesus and be really good listeners.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\nPray for the 28 villages where we are hosting Christmas Outreaches throughout S. Asia. Pray for many who hear the gospel to give their hearts to the Lord. Pray for the students of our CBI campuses as they have returned home to their villages that they would be bold witnesses and share all they have learned from the Word.\nPray for our family for vision and wisdom as we plan for 2024 and that the Lord would direct our steps and use our time most effectively as we expand the kingdom of God.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n- Please continue to pray for my parents’ health. Especially pray for healing for my dad, or an accurate diagnosis and treatment. Please pray also for my mom’s health.\n- Please pray for our nursing home ministry, that God will encourage the believers and that those who have never truly accepted Jesus as their Savior will come to know Him personally.\n- Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.Please pray that God will use us for His glory.\nThank you so much for your prayers! God bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n- Please pray for Nirmala to stay strong during her Hindu brother’s wedding.\n- Please pray for the Christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.\n- Please pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health. He has been having a lot of tests and doctor appointments. Please pray that the doctors will be able to diagnose and treat him.\n- Please continue to pray for my mom’s health and complete recovery.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - Yorba Linda, California\n- Please pray for vision for the year 2024 for our family and our ministry - Please pray for wisdom, direction, and provision from the Lord in regards to traveling for missionary care this year - Please pray that the Lord would do great things through SGWM this year!\nLove in Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email BlogMexico\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHere are my prayer requests for this month:\nPRAISE— almost 100 kids received gifts this last Saturday and it was the most joyful event! Thank you to Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and Calvary Chapel Escondido for coming out and blessing our kids. For many it will be the only gift they receive.\n- For the safety and health of my mom who lives alone and has Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s. For me to trust God and know that He will take us one step at a time and connect us with help for her. - For continued recovery and good health for Nena, Pastor Federico’s wife, who just had her thyroid taken out, and that the cancer will not return. - For the Lord to open a door for me to start ministering to the moms of the kids in the afterschool program. That they would desire to seek the Lord, and ultimately come to faith in Christ. - God’s blessings to all of you and… For a new cook in our afterschool program. Our cook\u0026rsquo;s last day is December 22 as she is pregnant and we have no one as of yet.\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n- Pray that God can raise 10 men here in Moyobamba to be part of the church. - That these men are faithful and humble. - Thankful for God\u0026rsquo;s provision - Thankful for people in the church stepping up to serve.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray for those who hear the Gospel during the Christmas program.\n- Pray that God will prepare me for my preaching.\n- Pray for new people to attend the Christmas program and continue to attend.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers. S.K. (2)\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray for my family, for good health.Pray for our students; now they are in their villages reaching out to the unreached with the Gospel.Pray for C, as he is serving. Right now, 6 people are attending his Sunday worship service (a new church plant).\n- Pray for A, who is serving.\n- Pray for people to grow more in their understanding of the Word of God.\n- Pray for An., who is serving.\n- Pray for the people to grow more in their understanding of the Word of God.\n- Pray for P; we are going to pray and send him out to the place where God has called him.\n- Pray for the previously unreached village, Nars., that we have reached out to with the Gospel. A few of the people there gave their lives to Jesus. We are facing a lot of persecution from the village but are still continuing the Bible Study.\n- Pray for our Men’s Ministry.\n- Pray for our Women’s Ministry.\n- Pray for L.L., for her good health.\nThank you! God bless you,Worker 6\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please continue to pray for the believers.\n- Please continue to pray for the situation in our state.\n- Please continue to pray for open doors in new places for the Gospel.\n- Pray for my good health.\nIn the Lord,\nYour brother,\nPastor 8 and family Worker 10\n- Please pray for our Christmas outreach, that many people will be able to come and that the minds of many will be changed.\n- Pray that when we celebrate Christmas, no trouble will come, and that we will be able to celebrate Christmas in a good way and that many people will have a change of heart.\n- Pray for me, that God will open many doors for me this Christmas, so that many souls will be saved.\n- Pray for my health, as my stomach is not healed yet. Pray that I will soon be on the mend.\nThank you! Worker 10\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nThank God that He has kept us safe until now, and is fulfilling our every need!\nPrayer requests:\n- Please pray for our Christmas Outreach, and those who hear the Gospel through it. We are sharing the good news in villages where the name of Jesus has not yet reached. During this, we are showing the Jesus Film, distributing New Testaments, and going to every door and praying.\n- Please pray for protection during the Christmas program in every way. Around 400 people are expected to attend the Christmas lunch.\n- Please pray that God heals my mother soon.\n- Please pray for my wife\u0026rsquo;s health as well. She has thyroid problems; may God heal her.\n- Please pray that God fulfills every one of our needs.\n- Please pray for our South Asia Administrator’s father, who is ill; may God heal him.\n- Please pray for our church to grow more in the Word of God.\nMerry Christmas to all of you. May this Christmas bring spiritual and physical happiness to you and your families.\nMay God bless you greatly! Worker 11 Worker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for our outreach ministries.Please pray for the Christmas program with the children in the slum.Please pray for the Christmas program with those who have come to faith in Jesus from the tribes in our area; we are expecting more than 150 people.\n- Please pray for the Christmas program in the village where I live. We are expecting 200 people. Also pray for those who are preparing part of the program, as they are non-Christian.\n- Please pray for God’s protection over us and all of the programs, and that many souls will be saved.\nThank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers! - Worker 12\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for\u0026hellip;\n- Please pray that the teachers and students who heard the Gospel preached in the morning school assembly will put their faith in Jesus.\n- The anti-Christian government has come into power in our state. Please keep us in your prayers, that we will be His bold witnesses.\n- During this Christmas season, pray that the Lord would give us many opportunities to preach the Gospel to the lost souls around us.\nThanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15 Worker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n- Please pray for my children to grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.\n- Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing.\n- Please pray for the village ministry in our local area. May the villagers grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word.\n- Worker 16\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise Report:\n- We are doing well. Our CBI students had a great time doing a conference in the midst of young people on the northern part of Nepal which is unreached area. - People were calling for admission for the coming semester. - Students were invited to different churches to teach.\nHere are the prayer requests for this month:\n- Please pray for our good health. - Please pray for the Christmas outreach that many people would come to Christ. - Please pray for the students who are in their home churches that they may do well in ministry. - Please pray for local outreach ministries around our community in this season.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\n- Please pray for the slum ministry.\n- Please pray for the Leper Colony outreach.\n- Please pray for those who have heard the Word in the youth meetings.\n- Please pray for the families in the house fellowships.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray that God will save many who hear the Gospel during the Christmas program.\n- We started a new church; pray that God will bring more people to our church.\n- Pray that God will use us, so that many unreached people will come to our church.\n- Pray for brother H to repent and come back to the ministry again.\n- May God give us His strength to share His love to the unreached.\n- We are sharing the Gospel daily in our place; pray that God will choose and bring people to our church for further spiritual growth.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\n- We have invited many people during this time; pray that everyone will be able to come.\n- Pray for those who are attending our outreach program; that those who do not believe in the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior will believe in Him.\n- Pray that our outreach program will go well.Pray for the people of our area.\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita Milan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please keep us in prayer as we head to the mountains to host a conference and hike in remote places to share the Good News.\n- We will also be hosting a Christmas Outreach with our church and inviting the community to come; pray that many will come to know Christ.\nThank you,\nMilan\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for the conference we will be hosting.\n- Please pray for the various ministries; women’s fellowship, youth fellowship, children’s fellowship, and a mid-week house fellowship.\nBlessings!\nRaju - Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-jan-2024-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****USA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/69e6e699-0bd4-47c0-bc44-7e75297f9de2.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePRAISE REPORTS:\u003cbr\u003e\n- The last two months of working closer together has been a total blessing.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- There has been much fruit in our walks, and we are growing together in the Lord  All that the Lord allowed us to do in 2023. (For more on that please sign up for our newsletters)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePRAYER REQUEST: \u003cbr\u003e\n- Please pray for our son Andy, who remains homeless, struggling with mental illness and drug addiction issues. For his salvation, as well as willingness to receive the help that we are trying to offer.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Please pray for our finances, as we are in need of monthly supporters to help us sustain our involvement with SGWM and CCSG .  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Please pray for the increased counseling ministries the Lord has allowed Jenn and I to be involved in. - Pray we would always point people to Jesus and be really good listeners.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JAN 2024 PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nMy family and I hope you had a blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year! Life is never easy, and I’m not sure how 2023 went for you, (hopefully well) but they do say that you can tell if someone is a pessimist or an optimist by how they treat the New Year. An optimist stays up until midnight on New Year’s Eve, to WELCOME IN the New Year. But a pessimist stays up until midnight to make sure the OLD YEAR LEAVES!\nLife is hard, yet God is always moving both in the struggles and the victories of life. This past year has not been easy for anyone, yet God has once again been faithful. We not only had a fruitful year, but in December we were featured in the worldwide online edition of the Calvary Chapel Magazine.\nAn excellent article on our church and ministry was written, titled, “Mexico Calvary Chapel serves as a church planting sending hub!” If you have the time, I believe you would be edified and encouraged to read it. You can access the article digitally through the link below or go to their website at “CalvaryChapelMagazine.com,” and search articles and the title of the article should come up!\nCalvary Chapel Magazine\nAs we move into 2024, I am happy to share some good news with you! As the year begins, we have been honored and blessed to send out my good friends, Mario and Mari Vega as our next church planters. (Thank you Lord, #39) Mario and Mari are long time servants in our church and both of them completed our 2-year church planting class with excellence.\nA couple years ago, we sent this gifted couple out as part of a church planting core team to assist a planter who was church planting in a local city. After helping that church get established, I asked my friends to come back and join our church for a season so they could be raised up and sent out to plant their own church!\nI am happy to announce the official grand opening of Calvary Agua Caliente (Hot water) located in South Tijuana. This new church plant is located in one of the nicer colonies (areas ) in Tijuana called Aguas Calientes! (Around the corner from where the large Tijuana stadium is located along with Tijuana’s first division soccer team, Los Xolos) They have been witnessing and sowing faithfully in that community for six months. Their weekly evangelism outings and weekly mid-week Bible study have proven to be very fruitful.\nAt their sending weekend service at our church, we not only sent out Mario, Mari, and their two daughters, but a core team of eight adults that feel called to assist them in this great work. Their plan is to begin Sunday services in the next week or two. (Please pray for the right building, centrally located and reasonably priced!)\nAlthough the focus of our ministry is and always has been our local church, Calvary Rosarito, it is such a blessing that He has allowed our missions program to be a sending hub of church planting. After planting three 1rst generation church plants, and seven 2nd generation church plants in 2023, this will be our 39th first generation church plant. Thank you Lord!\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for the privilege and honor of serving as your missionaries here in Mexico. It is through your financial partnership that God meet’s our physical needs, and through your prayers that God meet’s our spiritual needs. We love you and give thanks for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God would bless our new church plant, Calvary Agua Caliente in Tijuana.\n#2- Pray that God will bless our church, as we gear up with several new ministry projects and Bible studies in 2024!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for wonderful Christmas outreaches with many professions of faith!\n#2- Praise God for God’s faithfulness and guiding Hand to make it through 2023!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-january-2024-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/5-200x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMy family and I hope you had a blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year! Life is never easy, and I’m not sure how 2023 went for you, \u003cem\u003e(hopefully well)\u003c/em\u003e but they do say that you can tell if someone is a pessimist or an optimist by how they treat the New Year. An optimist stays up until midnight on New Year’s Eve, to WELCOME IN the New Year. But a pessimist stays up until midnight to make sure the OLD YEAR LEAVES!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family January 2024 Missions Update"},{"content":"Hi everyone! It feels like forever since I last updated you all. I can assure you that I did not fall off the grid. I am alive and well and still serving the Lord till He returns! Thank you all for your prayers and support. I hope you all had a great Christmas and kept in mind Who we celebrate!\nIt’s been a pretty busy season with the holidays and so many different events happening here at CC Saving Grace but I’ve been so happy to be able to spend some time with my family and church family. With all this busyness, God has been teaching me quite a few things. I want to share two things with you all.\nFirst, throughout this month I’ve had the opportunity to sit and talk with sisters and encourage each other in the Lord. One thing has become clear to me, we must depend on Him for all of our needs. I know that we constantly say that in the church, and it is a truth. We really must depend on God! But hearing different people’s circumstances and even taking into account my own, I’m seeing that people are depending on God in different ways than I am, and that is so cool. Generally we should depend on Him, but specifically, we should depend on Him in our finances, our relationships, our pain, and our worries. We can depend on Him in anything. The only way we learn how to depend on Him in different trials in life is by going through them so that we see how much we weren’t depending on Him before! This is why I know God is intentional, He knows what I lack and He is faithful to help me because He knows that I cannot do it by myself. God comes through, and I see that in the lives of my brothers and sisters around me.\nFor I, the Lord your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, \u0026lsquo;Fear not, I will help you.\u0026rsquo;\nIsaiah 41:13\nI love this verse, because it reminds me that I have a God who walks with me. If I am holding His hand, then I will be okay. It’s easy to worry when so many things around us seem uncertain. Or in my case, when the future seems uncertain. I know one thing for sure, He loves me and I love Him, so I will serve the Lord no matter what. But when I put my focus only on the future, I get a bit worried. I have no fear in being honest! I have a heart for the lost everywhere and I want to live my life watching people get saved, but when I think about being sent in the long run, I have no idea where that is and I would really love to! But God has been reminding me through studying and through people, to not worry. He knows how things will play out and that’s all that matters. For now, He is preparing me and working in me. So I see that I shouldn’t be so focused on the future, I should remain in the present and see that God is doing a great work right now!\nBeing confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.\nPhilippians 1:6\nMTS! Throughout my time here in the Missions Training School, I have been able to learn so much, from the preaching classes, to our missions classes, and even being around my fellow students. I see that each of them are so willing to give up everything to go and follow what God has called them to do, and I am grateful for their sacrifice because it keeps me in that same mindset. One thing that has been on my mind throughout being here, is dying to self. In studying the book of Acts we see how Paul did not count his life as his own. He lived for Christ and was so willing to die for Him. With our teaching class I’ve had the opportunity to study more in the book of Philippians. I see how the Lord is growing me in the area of studying, applying, and then teaching. I rely HEAVILY on Him because I’m not very comfortable with public speaking, but it is necessary, so I keep on! I have enjoyed the studying part. God’s Word is so deep and has so much in it. I am soaking it all in. I love how He teaches me and shows me different things from His Word. Every time I study I am amazed at how good God is and how we can have joy in any circumstance because He provides it.\nThe Scriptures are shallow enough for a babe to come and drink without fear of drowning and deep enough for theologians to swim in without ever touching the bottom.\nUnknown\nI thank you all for your prayers and for always reaching out to me. I am so grateful to have such encouraging and loving brothers and sisters in Christ. I love you all and I am always here for you guys! I am always praying for you.\nIn His Love,\nAlani\nPrayer Requests For God’s strength and wisdom throughout my time here as a student. For His will to be done in my life. Praise Reports I get to be home for a couple of weeks and fellowship with my family and church family! God has been teaching me so much! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-dependable-god-rangel-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi everyone! It feels like forever since I last updated you all. I can assure you that I did not fall off the grid. I am alive and well and still serving the Lord till He returns! Thank you all for your prayers and support. I hope you all had a great Christmas and kept in mind Who we celebrate!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s been a pretty busy season with the holidays and so many different events happening here at CC Saving Grace but I’ve been so happy to be able to spend some time with my family and church family. With all this busyness, God has been teaching me quite a few things. I want to share two things with you all.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Dependable God - Rangel Update December 2023"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family,\nMERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR !! We would like to thank all of you for blessing us with your prayers and support of our family and for the ministry in Uganda. This year has seen many ministry opportunities arise in our church and in the community. It has been exciting to see God move in the hearts of the Ugandan people. As a church we have enjoyed meeting together both in church and in fellowships to pray, worship, and fill ourselves with the teaching of God’s Word. We look forward to this coming year to see what God has in store. You are in our thoughts and prayers as we enter this new year. God Bless You this holiday season as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus!\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPrayer Requests Pray for God’s direction for Arise Christian Fellowship and all the ministries in 2024 Pray for more opportunity to share Jesus in Uganda as well as South Sudan. Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for USA Citizenship. Pray for us to raise our children for the Lord, balancing home and ministry. Pray about joining our support team in this upcoming year. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-year-in-review-2023-kanyike-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year-\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eMERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR !!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe would like to thank all of you for blessing us with your prayers and support of our family and for the ministry in Uganda.  This year has seen many ministry opportunities arise in our church and in the community.  It has been exciting to see God move in the hearts of the Ugandan people. As a  church we have enjoyed meeting together both in church and in fellowships to pray, worship, and fill ourselves with the teaching of God’s Word. We look forward to this coming year to see what God has in store. You are in our thoughts and prayers as we enter this new year. God Bless You this holiday season as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Year in Review 2023 - Kanyike Update December 2023"},{"content":"Merry Christmas to you all! May the peace and grace of our Lord Jesus be upon you and may His joy fill your heart. God bless you all. Have a blessed wonderful season of Christmas. It\u0026rsquo;s our prayer that the Lord would make you channels of His salvation to many lost souls during this season.\nMany events took place last month. We know that it is a busy time for everyone, therefore we will share briefly about some of them. I was invited to share the Word in a three-day meeting in a big city church for their church anniversary. I preached for those three days on \u0026ldquo;The Purpose of the Church.\u0026rdquo; The people were challenged. Many made commitments to live their lives to bring glory to the Lord.\nI was also invited to share the Word in a school in the morning school assembly on \u0026ldquo;Thanksgiving Day.\u0026rdquo; Most of the teachers are non-Christians. The Gospel was preached to the teachers and students. Pray that the teachers and students would put their faith in Jesus.\nOne of our church members who is from a Hindu background had a birthday celebration and house dedication ceremony. Their Hindu relatives and Hindu friends from the village were invited, so we had the opportunity to preach the Gospel. In our area, we are not allowed to openly preach the Gospel. Occasions like this give us opportunities to preach the Gospel.\nWe had State elections in our state and in four other states as well. Previously we had a government in our state that favored democracy. Now the government that is anti-Christian has come in power. The same government is in power in the central government as well. This government wants to make our country a Hindu nation. They are making public statements on TV like this, \u0026ldquo;Muslims and Christians have to come back to Hinduism because they were originally Hindus. If they don\u0026rsquo;t become Hindus, they won\u0026rsquo;t be allowed to live in our country.\u0026rdquo;\nWe praise the Lord because He reigns in the kingdom of man. The church is established by the Lord and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Please keep us in your prayers that we will be His bold witnesses. Pray also that during this Christmas season, He will give us many opportunities to preach the Gospel to the lost souls around us.\nThank you for being a valuable partner in the ministry of the Gospel through your prayers and financial support.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/merry-christmas-pastor-15-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMerry Christmas to you all! May the peace and grace of our Lord Jesus be upon you and may His joy fill your heart. God bless you all. Have a blessed wonderful season of Christmas. It\u0026rsquo;s our prayer that the Lord would make you channels of His salvation to many lost souls during this season.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/4135cb56-0824-494b-a08c-6d779532eace.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Sharing-the-Gospel.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMany events took place last month. We know that it is a busy time for everyone, therefore we will share briefly about some of them. I was invited to share the Word in a three-day meeting in a big city church for their church anniversary. I preached for those three days on \u0026ldquo;The Purpose of the Church.\u0026rdquo; The people were challenged. Many made commitments to live their lives to bring glory to the Lord.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Merry Christmas! - Pastor 15 Update December 2023"},{"content":"Hello dear pastors, partners, and leaders. Greetings from our church!\nI thank God that He has kept me safe. I also want to thank you for always praying for us. I hope that you will be blessed after reading this update and continue to pray for us.\nI had a very encouraging and heart-refreshing time with the visiting pastors.\nI want to express my gratitude to God that He has given me the opportunity to work in an organization where we feel like we are members of the same family! It was a very joyful time meeting with the pastors who came from America in November. We talked about how we can further the Gospel of Jesus. God filled our hearts with new enthusiasm through which we could carry the news forward with enthusiasm and force. We all shared the testimonies of our lives with each other. After hearing each other\u0026rsquo;s testimonies; we were greatly encouraged and looked forward to expanding the work of God. I thank God that we had this beautiful meeting and also that it happened in a very safe manner.\nA widow woman was thrown out of her village and threatened to be raped and killed because of the Name of Jesus Christ.\nA woman from our church is named DD*. She has three small children. Previously, her husband died suddenly. She is raising her children by farming on her own and by working in other people\u0026rsquo;s fields.\nAbout eight years ago, my father and I went to her village on a bicycle. At that time we told her about the Lord Jesus Christ. Right then, she believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and started coming to the house of God. Since then, she has been coming to church. She also brings her daughter who is now about 15 years old. Her daughter is also a very good believer and sometimes leads worship in our church.\nWe used to go to her village once a week and have fellowship, until 3 years ago. But the upper caste people in her village opposed us. They gathered a lot of people to stop the church. They wanted to kill me and my dad. But someone warned us, \u0026ldquo;Today they are planning to kill you. Do not go to the village.\u0026rdquo;\nBecause of the warning, we did not go to the village to have a worship service that day. But the people came to this woman\u0026rsquo;s house and threatened her. They said, \u0026ldquo;If you do not stop following Jesus Christ, we will do bad things to you and throw you out of the village.\u0026rdquo;\nThis poor woman stopped having church fellowship at her home, but comes to our church every Friday and Sunday and also participates in prayer. Please pray for her. She has been thrown out of her house because she is a widow who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of this, she has built her own hut in a field. She lives their with her three children. I gave them an audio Bible this week so that they can always listen to the Word and worship and pray. May God bless their family.\nA woman who is in pain and has weak bones is still preaching the Gospel.\nI want to share with you about my mother. She is about 65 years old. She always has pain in her waist, knees, legs and hands. For this reason, I took her to a bigger city in November so that she could get good treatment. They tested her and found out that her bone density is very low. Because of this, she will have to take injections every day for one and a half years. She also often needs to take pain medicine.\nHer bones are weak, but she is still young in faith and in the work of God. While we were in the big city, when I saw that she was in a lot of pain, I gave her pain medicine. About a half hour later, I saw that she was preaching the Gospel of Lord Jesus Christ to women her age. This was a great joy for me. I also see that when our church is over, she talks with the women, counsels them, tells them about the Lord Jesus Christ, and prays for them all. Please pray for her that God will heal her and fulfill every need for her treatment.\nI am continuing to distribute audio Bibles!\nI thank God that He arranged for some audio Bibles for our church. In order to get them, I drove about 300 km (186 miles) by motorbike and brought them back. Most of the people in our church are illiterate. They are very excited to learn the Word of God. I gave an audio Bible to a another family and I want to give more. I also gave Bibles to two believers who had been attending our church for about 8-10 years. They had been learning God\u0026rsquo;s Word but did not know how to read and write. I gave them audio Bible so that they can listen and understand well. Please pray that God will make more audio Bibles available so that I can give them to the uneducated people. The people who gave me the audio Bibles are now reluctant to give them to me. Because of the increase in persecution, many pastors have hidden their New Testaments. Some pastors have left their New Testaments at our house because they know that we are not afraid and will distribute them. So now we have 1,500 New Testaments. Please pray that we can distribute the New Testaments before Christmas.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that our Christmas program and Christmas outreach will happen without opposition. Please pray that my mother\u0026rsquo;s health gets better. Please pray that it is possible for us to have children. We got a medical check-up done in a bigger city. All of the tests came back normal, except that my wife has a thyroid problem. May God heal her. Please pray for our South Asia Admin\u0026rsquo;s father who is ill. May God heal him. Please pray for our church to grow more in the Word of God. Please pray that God fulfills our every need. Thanks for your Christian love, precious prayers, and partnership in the Gospel!\nGod bless you all!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-testing-of-faith-produces-patience-pastor-11-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello dear pastors, partners, and leaders. Greetings from our church!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/December-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God that He has kept me safe. I also want to thank you for always praying for us. I hope that you will be blessed after reading this update and continue to pray for us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/December-6.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI had a very encouraging and heart-refreshing time with the visiting pastors.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI want to express my gratitude to God that He has given me the opportunity to work in an organization where we feel like we are members of the same family! It was a very joyful time meeting with the pastors who came from America in November. We talked about how we can further the Gospel of Jesus. God filled our hearts with new enthusiasm through which we could carry the news forward with enthusiasm and force. We all shared the testimonies of our lives with each other. After hearing each other\u0026rsquo;s testimonies; we were greatly encouraged and looked forward to expanding the work of God. I thank God that we had this beautiful meeting and also that it happened in a very safe manner.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Testing of Faith Produces Patience - Pastor 11 Update December 2023"},{"content":"Greetings to all of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am very blessed by the Lord\u0026rsquo;s mercy! I am very excited to share the works of the Lord with you!\nI thank the Lord that He is making the ministry that He has given me fruitful. I see those who have newly joined in the Lord growing in the Word of God. They have love for the Lord and stand firm in their faith in every situation.\nEvery Sunday we are reading through the Book of Romans. In chapter 14 verse 1, it is written, \u0026ldquo;Take into your company the one who is weak in the faith.\u0026rdquo;\nBecause the church here is becoming stronger day by day, there are many people in the church whom the Lord has prepared through me. They are also doing the ministry of the Gospel along with their other work. Because of this, new people are coming to the church and are getting connected.\nWe are thinking of renting a room for the new fellowship that we have started. This would help the believers in that place not to have difficulty coming to church or have to travel far to go to church. We have found a church hall nearby in which no fellowship is going on. This week we will talk to the owner about renting it.\nFor several years I have been going to different districts to do ministry. The Lord has used me in those places. This was able to happen because there are many ministers ready in the church here who handle their responsibilities very faithfully in my absence. Last month I was able to go to the mountains for ministry twice. My vision in 2024 is to go to all the 13 districts where the Gospel of the Lord has not reached.\nPrayer Requests:\nWe are having a Christmas program on December 17th in an area that is about 150km from the area I live. On December 18-20 we plan to do outreach ministry. We are planning to have a Christmas program with children in the slum. We are having a Christmas program with only those who come to faith from the mountain tribes and speak the mountain language on December 22. We are expecting more than 150 people. I am planning a Christmas program in the village where I live. We are expecting about 200 people. We are preparing a Christmas dance. All of those invited are non-Christian. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection over us and all of the programs!\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nPastor 12*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praise-god-for-his-marvelous-works-pastor-12-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. I am very blessed by the Lord\u0026rsquo;s mercy! I am very excited to share the works of the Lord with you!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG-20231003-WA0003.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG-20231103-WA0011.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI thank the Lord that He is making the ministry that He has given me fruitful. I see those who have newly joined in the Lord growing in the Word of God. They have love for the Lord and stand firm in their faith in every situation.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praise God for His Marvelous Works! - Pastor 12 Update December 2023"},{"content":"Praise God for our second team that came from Calvary Rosarito! It was an all-ladies team who did a ladies conference here at Calvary Conexion Mexico. They did a two-day conference called “Women in War.” It was an amazing conference with multiple speakers, activities, games, food, and an awesome program for the kids learning about the armor of God. It was also such a blessing to have ladies come from 3 other local churches and 2 ladies accept Jesus as their Savior at the end of the conference! After the conference, the ladies helped us paint our new church building and did an amazing detailed painting on the children’s classroom wall!\nAs mentioned in our last newsletter, we have officially moved to our new church building! It was a big step of faith since our new building wasn’t completely finished. We didn’t have any bathrooms, nothing covering the windows, and no running water. Now, praise God, we have a functioning bathroom (not yet finished though), running water, and all the windows are covered! By having the windows covered, it has made a huge difference with it being winter time. We have hit as low as 33°F at night. Lord willing we will be able to insulate and seal the church soon. Not only for the cold, but also the bugs!\nWe are also so proud of a couple in our church named Dennis \u0026amp; Salvador. They have been through a lot in their relationship, and they have grown and matured so much in this year that they have been attending our church. Dennis had been trying to get close to God again in her relationship, but the church she was going to previously just turned a blind eye towards the things that her and Salvador were doing. Like living together without being married, leading a marriage Bible study whilst not being married, still doing catholic traditions while going to a Christian church and claiming to be Christian, etc. Dennis was the first to join our church with her kids, then Salvador started coming a few weeks later. With everything that they were learning at our church studying the Bible verse by verse, they decided to do the right thing and get married! So we have officially had our first wedding here at Calvary Conexion Mexico! God is good! (Big thank you to Kristy for taking their wedding pictures!) This is just one of the many testimonies that we have heard from our congregants. God is really transforming lives here in Calpulalpan. People are learning so much, because in the few Christian churches that are here, none of them study the Bible verse by verse as we do at Calvary.\nAs we began our Christmas celebrations here at the church, we first had a Christmas party for everyone who has been serving at the church. It was a fun party with games, delicious tamales, ponche, white elephant gift exchange, and a special mug gift for all of them. We are so grateful for all of them and for all that they have done. Everything that we have accomplished here at Calvary Conexion Mexico is thanks to God and all of them. It would not have been possible without them. We also had 3 Christmas movie nights at the church which was sweet! Click here for more photos\nWe also got to have an awesome youth Christmas party. It was such a blast having the youth from Calvary Cocoyoc join us for the party! We are very grateful that they made the drive out to celebrate together with our youth. It was such a fun time with lots of games, special Christmas message, a piñata, food, snacks, and more. Click here for more photos – Click here for a video\nWe are excited for our upcoming Christmas concert and also our Christmas Eve service. There will be photos in our next newsletter!\nNow we would like to give a very special thank you to all of you! Thank you to all of you who have prayed for us through the good and hard times. Also a big thank you to all of our financial partners who have partnered with us through this first year of our ministry! None of this would have been possible without you all. All of this spiritual fruit that is being harvested here is yours as well! We would like to ask all of you to consider and pray about becoming a financial partner with us if you aren’t already, and if you are, to consider and pray about continuing to partner with us to further the Gospel here in Calpulalpan in this next year. Whether it is a one-time gift, monthly, or yearly gift, every gift counts no matter the amount. Thank you once again for all you have done, we are praying for you and your family! God bless.\n6 Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7 Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.\n2 Corinthians 9:6-8\nPrayer Requests: Provision to finish the bathrooms at the new church Provision to fence in all the property that the new church is on For protection over the church building and property Provision for our family as we go into a new year with changes in our financial partners For wisdom in choosing and planning the Bible studies, activities, and events for 2024 for the church For wisdom and guidance from God as we plan to start the Church Planting Class next year For wisdom and provision for a big youth event that we are planning for summer 2024 Praise Reports: That we have moved to the new church building on the property that was donated to the church and are no longer paying rent That our family was able to move to a better, cheaper house that is still close to the church That we have a working bathroom at the new church building That we have an amazing group of servants at our church That God has provided for our every need this year on the mission field ESPAÑOL\n¡Gloria a Dios por nuestro segundo equipo que vino del Calvario Rosarito! Fue un equipo exclusivamente de mujeres el que realizó una conferencia de mujeres aquí en Calvary Conexión México. Hicieron una conferencia de dos días llamada “Mujeres en guerra”. Fue una conferencia increíble con varias que compartieron, actividades, juegos, comida y un programa increíble para que los niños donde aprendieron sobre la armadura de Dios. ¡También fue una gran bendición que mujeres vinieran de otras 3 iglesias locales y 2 mujeres aceptaran a Jesús como su Salvador al final de la conferencia! Después de la conferencia, las hermanas nos ayudaron a pintar el nuevo edificio de nuestra iglesia e hicieron una pintura increíblemente detallada en la pared del salón de clases de los niños.\nComo mencionamos en nuestro último actualizacion, ¡nos hemos mudado oficialmente al nuevo edificio de nuestra iglesia! Fue un gran paso de fe ya que nuestro nuevo edificio no estaba completamente terminado. No teníamos baños, nada que cubriera las ventanas y no teníamos agua corriente. ¡Ahora, alabado sea Dios, tenemos un baño que funciona (aunque aún no está terminado), agua corriente y todas las ventanas están cubiertas! Tener las ventanas cubiertas ha hecho una gran diferencia siendo invierno. Hemos tenido temperaturas tan bajas como 1C por la noche. Si Dios quiere, pronto podremos sellar bien la iglesia. ¡No sólo para el frío, sino también para los bichos!\nTambién estamos muy orgullosos de una pareja de nuestra iglesia llamada Dennis y Salvador. Han pasado por muchas cosas en su relación y han crecido y madurado tanto durante este año que han estado asistiendo a nuestra iglesia. Dennis había estado tratando de acercarse a Dios nuevamente, pero la iglesia a la que iba anteriormente simplemente hizo la vista gorda ante las cosas que ella y Salvador estaban haciendo. Como vivir juntos sin estar casados, dirigir un estudio bíblico matrimonial sin estar casados, seguir practicando tradiciones católicas mientras van a una iglesia Cristiana y afirman ser Cristianos, etc. Dennis fue la primera en unirse a nuestra iglesia con sus hijos, luego Salvador comenzó llegando unas semanas después. Con todo lo que estaban aprendiendo en nuestra iglesia estudiando la Biblia versículo por versículo, decidieron hacer lo correcto y ¡casarse! ¡Así que oficialmente hemos tenido nuestra primera boda aquí en Calvary Conexión México! ¡Dios es bueno! (¡Muchas gracias a Kristy por tomar las fotos de su boda!) Este es solo uno de los muchos testimonios que hemos escuchado de nuestros congregantes. Dios realmente está transformando vidas aquí en Calpulalpan. La gente está aprendiendo mucho, porque de las pocas iglesias Cristianas que hay aquí, ninguna estudia la Biblia versículo por versículo como lo hacemos en el Calvary.\nCuando comenzamos nuestras celebraciones navideñas aquí en la iglesia, primero tuvimos una fiesta Navideña para todos los que han estado sirviendo en la iglesia. Fue una fiesta divertida con juegos, deliciosos tamales, ponche, intercambio de regalos de elefante blanco y una taza de regalo especial para todos ellos. Estamos muy agradecidos por todos ellos y por todo lo que han hecho. Todo lo que hemos logrado aquí en Calvary Conexión México es gracias a Dios y a todos ellos. No hubiera sido posible sin ellos. También tuvimos 3 noches de películas navideñas en la iglesia, ¡lo cual fue genial! Haga clic aquí para más fotos\nTambién tuvimos una increíble fiesta de Navidad para jóvenes. ¡Fue genial tener a los jóvenes de Calvary Cocoyoc uniéndose a nosotros para la fiesta! Estamos muy agradecidos de que hayan hecho el viaje para celebrar junto con nuestros jóvenes. Fue una fiesta muy divertida con muchos juegos, un mensaje especial de Navidad, una piñata, comida y botanas y más. Haga clic aquí para ver más fotos – Haga clic aquí para ver un vídeo\nEstamos emocionados por nuestro concierto de Navideño y también por nuestro servicio de Nochebuena. ¡Habrá fotos en nuestro próximo actualizacion!\n¡Ahora nos gustaría darles un agradecimiento muy especial a todos ustedes! Gracias a todos los que habéis orado por nosotros en los momentos buenos y difíciles. ¡También muchas gracias a todos nuestros socios financieros que se han asociado con nosotros durante este primer año de nuestro ministerio! Nada de esto hubiera sido posible sin todos ustedes. ¡Todo este fruto espiritual que se está cosechando aquí también es tuyo! Nos gustaría pedirles a todos ustedes que consideren y oren para convertirse en socios financieros de nosotros si aún no lo son, y si lo son, que consideren y oren para continuar asociándonos con nosotros para promover el Evangelio aquí en Calpulalpan en este el próximo año. Ya sea que se trate de una donación única, mensual o anual, cada donación cuenta sin importar el monto. Gracias una vez más por todo lo que has hecho, ¡Estamos orando por ti y tu familia! Dios los bendiga.\n6 Pero esto digo: El que siembra escasamente, también segará escasamente; y el que siembra generosamente, generosamente también segará. 7 Cada uno dé como propuso en su corazón: no con tristeza, ni por necesidad, porque Dios ama al dador alegre. 8 Y poderoso es Dios para hacer que abunde en vosotros toda gracia, a fin de que, teniendo siempre en todas las cosas todo lo suficiente, abundéis para toda buena obra;\n2 Corintios 9:6-8\nPeticiones de Oracion: Provisión para terminar los baños de la nueva iglesia Provisión para cercar toda la propiedad en la que se encuentra la nueva iglesia. Para protección del edificio y la propiedad de la iglesia. Provisión para nuestra familia a medida que avanzamos hacia un nuevo año con cambios en nuestros socios financieros Por sabiduría al elegir y planificar los estudios Biblicos, actividades y eventos para el año 2024 para la iglesia. Para obtener sabiduría y guíanza de Dios mientras planeamos comenzar la clase de plantación de iglesias el próximo año. Por sabiduría y provisión para un gran evento juvenil que estamos planeando para el verano de 2024. Reportes de Alabanza: Que nos hemos mudado al nuevo edificio de la iglesia en la propiedad que fue donada a la iglesia y ya no pagamos renta. Que nuestra familia pudo mudarse a una casa mejor y más barata que aún está cerca de la iglesia. Que tenemos un baño que funcione en el nuevo edificio de la iglesia. Que tenemos un grupo increíble de siervos en nuestra iglesia. Que Dios ha provisto para todas nuestras necesidades este año en el campo misionero ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-very-merry-christmas-de-la-cruz-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise God for our second team that came from Calvary Rosarito! It was an all-ladies team who did a ladies conference here at Calvary Conexion Mexico. They did a two-day conference called “Women in War.” It was an amazing conference with multiple speakers, activities, games, food, and an awesome program for the kids learning about the armor of God. It was also such a blessing to have ladies come from 3 other local churches and 2 ladies accept Jesus as their Savior at the end of the conference! After the conference, the ladies helped us paint our new church building and did an amazing detailed painting on the children’s classroom wall!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Very Merry Christmas - De La Cruz Update December 2023"},{"content":"Hello family, friends, and fellow co-laborers in the faith,\nWhat an amazing and fruitful year “2023” has been! Full of twists and turns in the ministry, in our family, and in our own personal relationship with Jesus. Yet, God has remained true, amazing, faithful, patient, forgiving, and merciful with us!\nFamily life\nCelebrating Birthdays\nBiblical Counseling\nMy new office and counseling room is taking shape! (those are gifts for the children\u0026rsquo;s ministry in the black bags!) We have had a lot of requests for Biblical Counseling this season! Thankful to God, Claudia and I have about 7 additional people helping us!\nBilingual Women’s Study\n“Women of Worth \u0026amp; Purpose.” Equipping and discipling ladies to be equipped for every good work, God has prepared beforehand for them to walk in.\nChurch Planting Visits and Conferences\nPaul got to visit The Rock Calvary Chapel in Port Charlotte, Florida. Pastor Aaron Smith and his wife Robbyn were wonderful hosts! That\u0026rsquo;s the Sunday service in the photo above.\nThe 2023 Mexico Pastors and Leaders Conference in Mexicali gave me the privilege of saying hello to Pastor Hassan Villegas (CC Acapulco), Pastor Lucho Garcia and wife Nori from Calvary Gracia Lima, Peru! And Pastor John Barrilaro of CC Mexicali, the place where Claudia and I met doing missions work when John and Laurie started back in 1995!\nI had the pleasure of connecting with my former pastor David Rosales and his wife Marie at a the Pastors and Leaders conference in Mexicali! Claudia and I were part of Calvary Chapel Chino Valley from 1995-2006.\nNewlife Rehab clinic\nMy friend Hector was rescued from the streets by his sisters a year ago and brought to the rehab clinic in 2022. He was born again through the verse by verse Bible Study I get to do in the clinic every Tuesday night! I had the privilege of baptizing him earlier this year. He went to be home with the Lord in October and I was honored to share the eulogy at his memorial service.\nMen’s Ministry\nPastor Mike and Pastor Ted watching the football game! We find that sports and food are a great way to reach men! Next to me is my new friend Gerardo. Next to him is Mario Vega, our next church planter!\nStaff\nPatio Ministry\nEdgar was part of our life group and has gone with me to the rehab clinic and the youth prison to share his Christian testimony. Salvador has a great heart to worship God and will be accompanying me to the Rehab clinic in 2024!\n“2024” plans if the Lord wills:\nBilingual Women\u0026rsquo;s Ministry missions trips and Paul’s mission trips:\nMission trips:\nHelp host a women’s retreat in Morelia, June 20-24,2024\nLocal one-day conferences: Ensenada, Otay, and Tijuana.\nHost a women’s retreat in Lima, Peru!\nPaul’s trip to Morelia, Oct 4-8, and the privilege of sharing at the retreat.\nPrayer requests:\nWomen’s Bilingual Bible Study: Continued vision, table leaders, women who attend to be equipped and discipled.\nRehab: Fresh vision and more committed and faithful men to accompany Paul.\nBiblical Counseling: counselors guided by the Holy Spirit and counselees strengthened in the Lord.\nOne-day conferences in March and October. Topics, workshops, and hearts ready to be taught.\nFamily: Lydia’s upcoming wedding, Poiema heading to Peru to finish her second semester, Cristian finishing high school and future plans, Natalie finishing her first year as a high school science teacher while getting her Master’s, Benjamin’s future plans and as for Paul and myself: Keep Jesus first, our relationship second, family and ministry.\nPraising God, for all of our family, friends, and co-laborers in the faith. Thank you for partnering with us, believing in us, reaching out to us, praying, financially giving so that the ministries we are serving in can be encouraged, poured into, and have all they need, to fulfill God’s calling and good works He has prepared for them. This is your spiritual fruit as well. Merry Christmas and a very blessed and prosperous new year, spiritually, and physically.\nThe best is yet to come!\nUnitedinChrist,\nBoubion Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/united-in-christ-boubion-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello family, friends, and fellow co-laborers in the faith,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat an amazing and fruitful year “2023” has been! Full of twists and turns in the ministry, in our family, and in our own personal relationship with Jesus. Yet, God has remained true, amazing, faithful, patient, forgiving, and merciful with us!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFamily life\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/unnamed-19.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/unnamed-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCelebrating Birthdays\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/unnamed-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/unnamed.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBiblical Counseling\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/unnamed-3.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMy new office and counseling room is taking shape! (those are gifts for the children\u0026rsquo;s ministry in the black bags!) We have had a lot of requests for Biblical Counseling this season! Thankful to God, Claudia and I have about 7 additional people helping us!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"United in Christ - Boubion Update December 2023"},{"content":"The Tippie\u0026rsquo;s in Peru\nChristmas 2023 Newsletter:\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/winter-update-tippie-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Tippie\u0026rsquo;s in Peru\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChristmas 2023 Newsletter:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Screen-Shot-2023-12-21-at-12.04.52-PM.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"Winter Update - Tippie December 2023"},{"content":" Hello from Oaxaca! It’s been a long time since our last update so we’ll just fill you in on what’s been going on the past couple of months. Things are going really well down here and we love serving the Lord here in Oaxaca.\nA few months ago, Jon was invited to share at a church in the mountains, about 3 hours away from Oaxaca City. Since then, we have taken a team to do a VBS for the kids, and now some of the men from our church rotate going on Sundays, including Jon. They leave after church and make the drive up, spend time with some of the church body over a meal, teach a church service, and make the 3-hour drive back home. It’s a long day for them but they all really seem to enjoy it and have the desire to pour into the people there. This church is different than Calvary Chapel but now they have men teaching them verse by verse with sound doctrine.\nIn October we were able to be in California to celebrate our granddaughter’s 1st birthday with family. We also had opportunities to spend time with some of you while we were there. Jon shared with Calvary Chapel Saving Grace’s young adults, he had the opportunity to spontaneously share the gospel invitation at two events (Calvary SouthOC and Calvary Chapel South LA), and Jon and I got to share our missionary testimony with a mission’s class. We had hoped to see more people but we were all hit with sickness throughout the trip.\nThe men’s and women’s ministry started the book of Colossians. We continue to meet on the same night, have a time of worship together, and then break off into men’s and women’s groups. I teach the ladies and absolutely love it. Jon has some great guys who rotate teaching the men so that he can focus more on his Sunday sermon and online classes that he’s been taking through Moody. He continues to teach in Spanish and has improved so much. It’s amazing to see! He also has a church planting class that he teaches once a week, which is really helping build some of the men up who will hopefully one day plant churches in and around Oaxaca.\nWe are still going to the casa hogar (orphanage) once a month. This month is the 2-year anniversary since the first time we went with a team from Calvary South OC. It’s such a blessing to be able to go and spend time with the kids and staff. We have really built great friendships with all of them.\nJonny and Noah have really grown and changed. They are more outgoing (such shy guys) and have built some great friendships with some of the youth in the church. Please pray for their Spanish. They understand almost everything but are still shy about speaking. They are also playing with the worship team for one song this Sunday, while the kids from church sing. This will be their first time in front of everyone. Jonny plays drums and Noah plays the guitar.\nLast Sunday we had 4 people take the step of faith and get baptized. It was so amazing to witness and we plan on doing another baptism soon for those who weren’t able to this time.\nThank you for your continued prayers and support for our family and the ministry here in Oaxaca. You all are a part of what the Lord is doing down here and we couldn’t do it without you!\nAs we close out 2023 and are about to celebrate the birth of Christ, let us not forget HIM in all of it. Not just at Christmas time, but every day. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. We love you and miss you. If you would like to visit us, let us know. Also, for more frequent updates you can check out our Instagram and Facebook pages or send us a text. We always love hearing from you.\n“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” - Isaiah 9:6\nJon, Allison, Jonny, and Noah\nPS…scroll through the pictures above.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/brechtel-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F1296.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F1474.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F2069.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F2163.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F0955.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F2064.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/515a91f4-1e0d-42d2-8410-58d84f5b0e8f.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F1022.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F2067.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F1485.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F1523.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F1857.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F1492.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F1854.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F0961.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F0752.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F2287.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F2276.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F2268.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F2255.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F2168.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F2178.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F2162.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F9797.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello from Oaxaca! It’s been a long time since our last update so we’ll just fill you in on what’s been going on the past couple of months. Things are going really well down here and we love serving the Lord here in Oaxaca.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA few months ago, Jon was invited to share at a church in the mountains, about 3 hours away from Oaxaca City. Since then, we have taken a team to do a VBS for the kids, and now some of the men from our church rotate going on Sundays, including Jon. They leave after church and make the drive up, spend time with some of the church body over a meal, teach a church service, and make the 3-hour drive back home. It’s a long day for them but they all really seem to enjoy it and have the desire to pour into the people there. This church is different than Calvary Chapel but now they have men teaching them verse by verse with sound doctrine.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Brechtel Update December 2023"},{"content":" Hi y’all! Happy almost Christmas! Man, I can’t believe the weeks go by SO fast! It has been about a month this my last update, and let me tell y’all, it has been a BUSY past couple of weeks. I’m excited to share with you guys what the Lord has been doing in and through me. Thank you for taking the time, may you be blessed!\nTouching Lives\nAnd the trips to Mexico continue! Early Saturday morning, together with the Calvary South OC Team and Anchored Relief Team, we traveled down to Tijuana, Mexico. We went to minister alongside Mexico Chaplains, as well as the Tijuana Police Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education Program (D.A.R.E.). There were over 200 kids here, some enrolled in the Youth Chaplain program, but others coming from the worst areas in Tijuana because of gang participation, drugs, and violence. On this specific outreach, I got asked to share my testimony with the youth. Part of me was excited, as always when I get to share about how the Lord has transformed me, but the other part of me was nervous- they’re so young, what if I say the wrong thing?\nLuckily, I was continued to be lifted up in prayers from friends and family and the Lord was able to speak through me! During these moments of sharing my testimony, it always makes me think of Paul. How he had such a radical transformation, and throughout his years, he would be in front of magistrates and kings! It reminds me of the boldness and the courage that he had when he would speak and how he knew that the Holy Spirit would be with him. It amazes me how God continues to touch lives with my story as well. That day, more than 120 kids professed Christ and received a Bible for the first time! I was in awe. I couldn’t believe it but it continued to remind me how BIG and GOOD our God is! And to continue to be bold and confident because of Him!\nAt the Pulpit\nThe week of Thanksgiving, I had the opportunity to head back down to my home church, Calvary South OC and spend time with my friends and family there. A day before the service, I get a text from Christine, one of the Pastor’s wives, and she asked me if I was available to share my testimony of God’s faithfulness this past year. I didn’t need too much time to think about it- but without knowing what I was actually going to do, I said yes! Are you starting to see a pattern here in how the Lord is working through me… yeah, it gets better.\nI wanted to draft a 2-3 minute speech in case I start talking too much and go over (typical me). I called Debbie (another Pastor’s wife) and asked for feedback and what needed to be changed. She was so sweet, and kindly she said, “Mayra, you are exhorting the church too much, we need to tone it down.” Ha, tone it down. Okay. And so I did. I wrote another speech and finally felt a little ready. The next day, I show up to service and I’m told I’m going to speak in front of the whole congregation- at the pulpit. YUP! You read that right. At the pulpit. Thankfully, I had my amazing cousin and friends with me- and once again, lifting me up in prayer and growing in confidence that the Spirit of God was going to move through me. And like always, He did!\nCheck out this link and fast forward to 23:00 to hear a recap of God’s faithfulness this past year, Living Thankful.\nMissions Training School\nOn top of all these amazing experiences, school continues on as we start School of Ministry and School of Discipleship. During these classes, we are being reminded of what it actually means to follow Jesus, how to follow Him, and to count the cost of following Him. It has been a thought provoking class to say the least. Reminding me that Jesus’ path wasn’t one of success, fame, or even popularity. It was one that led to the cross. One that led to His death, resurrection, but also, it was an ultimate gain, for us! As His disciple, as His follower, I too must follow that path. To die to myself- my feelings, my emotions, my desires, my wants. And to be FULLY surrendered to a life after Him + His Kingdom.\nWe also started our teaching series through the book of Philippians on Wednesdays. This is probably my favorite part of the week so far! I LOVE studying the Word of God, and now I’m able to practice my gift of teaching with fellow students. I knew the letter of Philippians was going to be a challenge- Paul was in chains and writing about REJOICING! I knew the Lord was going to be working and speaking to me through it, and I was as ready as I could be. It has been so sweet continuing to see how the Spirit of God moves through me and allows me to see Scripture in ways I had never seen it before.\nPraise Reports\nMore than 120+ kids came to Christ during the Outreach! I was able to share my testimony in Mexico and at my home church, double blessing! We finished off a great year of School and ready to be refreshed for what this next year may bring! Prayer Requests\nPlease pray for the Youth Chaplains, for those who are continuing on in the 6-week Discipleship program and for their hearts to be moved. Please pray that I continue to trust in the Lord and His provision. I know He is faithful! Please pray for the students- may we have a time of rest and be refreshed by next year! If there is anything I can be praying for you, please reply back to this email. God is so faithful and He continues to hear the prayers of His children. May you all have a blessed Christmas this year and be reminded and filled of the best gift ever- Jesus Christ!\nNow may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.\nROMANS 15:13\nEternally Grateful,\nMayra Alejandra\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/be-bold-confident-solorzano-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F3063.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHi y’all! Happy almost Christmas! Man, I can’t believe the weeks go by SO fast! It has been about a month this my last update, and let me tell y’all, it has been a BUSY past couple of weeks. I’m excited to share with you guys what the Lord has been doing in and through me. Thank you for taking the time, may you be blessed!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Mexico1123.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTouching Lives\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd the trips to Mexico continue! Early Saturday morning, together with the Calvary South OC Team and Anchored Relief Team, we traveled down to Tijuana, Mexico. We went to minister alongside Mexico Chaplains, as well as the Tijuana Police Drug and Alcohol Resistance Education Program (D.A.R.E.). There were over 200 kids here, some enrolled in the Youth Chaplain program, but others coming from the worst areas in Tijuana because of gang participation, drugs, and violence. On this specific outreach, I got asked to share my testimony with the youth. Part of me was excited, as always when I get to share about how the Lord has transformed me, but the other part of me was nervous- they’re so young, what if I say the wrong thing?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Be Bold + Confident - Solorzano Update December 2023"},{"content":" I hope this season of life has been one filled with joy and gratitude as we exit Thanksgiving and find Christmas upon us. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t take the time to slow down then I can often miss the important things the Lord has placed right in front of me. So much has been going on and it’s so easy to be so consumed with tomorrow that I miss out on today. Planning and preparation is needed, but Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Just one verse before He tells us, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The remedy for my busy and distracted heart is always more of Jesus. I pray in this season that He would help you to keep your focus upon Him and that He would help you to find joy and rest in the midst of all the chaos that life can bring.\nIt can be so easy to get caught up in what needs to get done that my focus can easily begin to drift. It’s so easy to be distracted with all the good things that come up. The Lord is continuing to show me the areas that I can be moved (Acts 20:22-24), and is continuing to teach me to trust Him and take me to new heights. As always, sanctification can be a much slower process than we might hope for or like, but He is not in a hurry and He tells us not to despise the day of small things (Zech. 4:10). I want to be able to say, like Paul, “but none of these things move me…” (Acts 20:24). The Lord is at work, and no matter what I might feel He is making me new each day, and He will continue to take me from grace to grace. I am excited for all the He is going to do!\nThings back in Sonoma County…\nAs you know I recently passed off the middle school group over to a family and it’s a blessing to see how the Lord is progressing the group already. It’s been growing a lot and I’m excited to see the growth that takes place as the Lord uses Mike and his wife Leslie! Please be praying for them as they continue to oversee the Middle School youth group! It’s been a whirlwind of a season. Time is short before our departure and January 17th is approaching rapidly. Between work, teaching, serving in other capacities at church, and trying to be intentional with the time I spend with family and friends it has been somewhat overwhelming. Even in the face of feeling overwhelmed I know the Lord is with me and using this time and season to prepare me for what’s to come. I’m thankful for His strength and renewal and I want to have a trusting, learning heart to receive what He is teaching me in this season. It’s all prep, and Jesus said, “he who is faithful in little will be faithful in much.” Please pray that I would be faithful and finish well. Last week I had two speaking engagements, both were a first for me, and one of them was my first Sunday message up at Calvary Chapel Willits. It was such a blessing to see some longtime friends and family in the Lord, and what a blessing to see the growth that is taking place since they planted it around 7 years ago. I got to share on our purpose as the church to go and make disciples. Please pray that the Lord would continue to provide them with opportunities to be a bold and shining light in a dark place. Every Wednesday we have missionary training with one of our pastors to prepare Andy (the guy who’s also going to Peru) and I before we head out. This has been a blessing and has provided a lot of practical reminders to help prep us for when we leave and how to get ready to go.\nPeru-bound!\nRight now I’m working on getting all of my paperwork ready to apply for a visa in Peru. Documents need notarization and to be apostilled (that’s a new one for me: it’s kind of like an international notary). Outside of some of those practical things for immigration, I’m trying to take time where I can to get my belongings packed up and sold/donated before I leave. I’ll be keeping some things, but much will go, and I will be trying to pack as lightly as I can when I go. I’ve got a lot to do, please pray that the Lord would continue to clear my path and make clear to me what doesn’t need to get done that I’ve unnecessarily added onto my plate. Please pray that I would finish well!\nHere’s what’s left to do:\na few different cabinet/construction style projects\npassing on or selling anything that I’m not taking (or putting what is staying in storage)\ngetting everything else filled out and returned in time before we leave (all the legal documents for immigration)\nclearing out my residence and getting it ready for rent/sale (minor construction involved there)\ngetting any final things that need to be packed and ready to leave\nHow to get involved…\nMy greatest need is prayer! Would you please pray with and for me and for the ministry the Lord has set before me?\nThat Jesus would always remain my greatest priority—especially when busyness and necessity wants to draw me away from the secret place\nThat I would be intentional in my times of prayer and seeking Him\nThat I would have eyes to see the needs He would have me fill and how I can get others involved\nThat I would have His heart in all He sets before me\nTo finish things well\nTo enjoy time with loved ones before I leave\nFor continued financial provision\nThat I would notice and utilize discipleship opportunities\nThat I would be a blessing and help to the ministry in Trujillo\nThank you so much for your prayers and financial support! I cannot express how appreciative I am! It’s amazing to see what the Lord has been doing and I just want to thank you for being a part of it.\nAs the Lord leads you, if you feel led to partner with me financially, the greatest need is for monthly support. One-time gifts are always appreciated and are also a huge help as there are a lot of upstart costs and other things that can come up. Thank you so much!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/movement-ahead-voisin-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/E17D28AC-F31E-420A-8A08-0519FAB088E6-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI hope this season of life has been one filled with joy and gratitude as we exit Thanksgiving and find Christmas upon us. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t take the time to slow down then I can often miss the important things the Lord has placed right in front of me. So much has been going on and it’s so easy to be so consumed with tomorrow that I miss out on today. Planning and preparation is needed, but Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:34, “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Just one verse before He tells us, “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The remedy for my busy and distracted heart is always more of Jesus. I pray in this season that He would help you to keep your focus upon Him and that He would help you to find joy and rest in the midst of all the chaos that life can bring.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Movement Ahead - Voisin Update December 2023"},{"content":"God spoke this word in my heart. The Holy Spirit says \u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t be afraid for I am with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.\u0026rdquo;\nOur group is small in number, but we are not losing our hope in Christ. We are trusting in Jesus during all of our difficult circumstances so that we can rejoice in the Lord.\nI thank God for His wonderful work in my life. I am blessed by His grace and abundant blessings in my life and ministry.\nI have been working in the Eastern part of the country and holding Calvary Chapel church services. I preach the Gospel among the unreached people here and in some areas near a bordering country. I spend a lot of my time preaching and sharing the Gospel. While sharing the Gospel, I personally meet and share the Gospel with people who have never heard the Gospel.\nThe newest update about my church is that two people accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Praise God for this wonderful work in the ministry! Pray that the man who accepted Jesus as His Savior can also come to church and grow spiritually as I lead and teach the Word of God.\nWe are also doing some children\u0026rsquo;s ministry and in-home Bible study.\nThanks be to our God! I would also like to thank you all, the entire team of Saving Grace World Missions, and all those who are supporting the ministry. Thank you for coming alongside me and my family and raising us up in Christ both physically and spiritually.\nPastor Majhiya\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sharing-with-the-unreached-pastor-majhiya-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGod spoke this word in my heart. The Holy Spirit says \u0026ldquo;Don\u0026rsquo;t be afraid for I am with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur group is small in number, but we are not losing our hope in Christ. We are trusting in Jesus during all of our difficult circumstances so that we can rejoice in the Lord.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God for His wonderful work in my life. I am blessed by His grace and abundant blessings in my life and ministry.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sharing With the Unreached - Pastor Majhiya Update December 2023"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.\u0026rdquo;\n(John 15:19 NKJV)\nCalvary Chapel J* (above)\nPreaching the Gospel has been becoming increasingly harder all around the world. This is true in our country as well. The news came that some Christians were put in jail and treated disrespectfully in the state where our brother Nikesh\u0026rsquo;s family is serving. After hearing this, I made my way to meet with pastor Nikesh\u0026rsquo;s family to be with them, encourage them, spend time in prayer with them and have a time of sweet fellowship with them. We had a great time there.\nCalvary Chapel H*\nOn our way back to the capital, we visited pastor Laxman\u0026rsquo;s family and the church members there (above). We spent time in prayer with them. We always love to visit with them and pray together.\nYouth Inductive Bible Study\nWe had a great time with the youth at our church in the capital (above). We taught them the Inductive Bible Study Method to help them better understand the Word of God.\nChurch House Fellowship\nOne of our Calvary Bible Institute students, Bikal, shared from the Word in a house fellowship (above). It is always a pleasure to see our dear ones growing in and falling in love with God\u0026rsquo;s Word and maturing in the Lord.\nGod Is at Work through Short-Term Missions!\nShort-Term Mission Team\nLast month, we had a short-term mission team visit. We had great quality time with them. We would like to thank those who sent the short-term mission team to our country to expand God\u0026rsquo;s work here. Sometimes God can use a short-term mission trip for people to receive His vision. At the same time, God might draw people towards Him through the trip as well. During the short-term mission, we come out of our comfort zone and experience the need of Gospel while we serve God. Short-term missions are important and worthwhile.\nSaturday Worship Service at Calvary Chapel H*\nPastor Jeff shared from the Word (above). It was a wonderful and blessed time.\nChildren Ministry at Calvary Chapel H*\nWe invited only children. But the children\u0026rsquo;s mothers also came and attended the whole program. It was a great opportunity for us to share the Good News with them.\nWe are thankful to sister Leah for her heart and courage for the children! We are so encouraged having seen her enthusiasm for God\u0026rsquo;s work. We have seen her vigor and are encouraged to serve alongside her.\nMarriage Conference at H* (above)\nMarriage Conference at Our Church in the Capital\nWe had a blessed and wonderful time at the marriage conference (above). We would like to thank the short-term team for great and relevant teaching.\nOutreach Ministry at Lepers Colony (above)\nWe had a great time of outreach and worship with our dear ones at the Lepers Colony. We are thankful to sister Ali for sharing her testimony at the outreach. It really touched hearts.\nMinistry in the Slum\nIt was not an easy thing to enter as a new person into the slum area. However, after a while the slum area became a place filled with an aroma when the team saw God\u0026rsquo;s presence and the need for ministry there.\nChurch Youth Ministry\nIt was good to have brother Derek to share from the Word and encourage the youth in our country (above).\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/short-visits-pastor-prakash-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. 20 Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Short Visits - Pastor Prakash Update December 2023"},{"content":"Dear friends and family,\nChristmastime is here! And as you know, with the holiday season also comes a very busy and bustling time. With mine and Geoff’s wedding around the corner, the days have been especially packed with wedding preparations amidst our missions training school at the church. Though there have been very overwhelming moments in time, my heart brims full of joy and awe in the Lord to see where He has brought us thus far. I am so excited to begin a new life with Geoff and am so grateful for everyone who has come alongside to support us and help with wedding/marriage preparations.\nIn November, I felt so blessed as my mentor and older sister threw a bridal shower for me. I enjoyed every moment of it and am so grateful to everyone who attended and helped. I felt so loved by my family and church family, God is so good!\nThanksgiving was pretty special this year because I was able to celebrate it with my church family, Geoff’s family, and my own family all in one day! In the morning a friend at church invited all the missions training school students over to her house for a Thanksgiving breakfast!\nThen afterwards Geoff, his roommate, and I traveled up to Geoff’s parents’ house for Thanksgiving dinner and my family met us there from Mexico! It was so surreal to see our families come together for the first time and we had an amazing dinner and dessert of course;)\nMinistry Updates\nI am currently going through my second year of MTS (missions training school) at my church. We have a pretty packed schedule of classes, homework, and ministry opportunities. On the first Thursday of every month we have been going to 2 colleges in Fullerton to evangelize and pray for the students. This has been challenging as most students tend to be running in between classes and too busy to sit and talk, but the Lord has been blessing this evangelism ministry incredibly. Please pray that the Lord continues to bring more students to us who are willing to engage in gospel conversations.\nIn the beginning of November I attended CC Golden Springs’ Missions Conference and Pastors \u0026amp; Leaders Conference. It was such a blessing to go meet people from all over and get to hear the different speakers. Geoff and I got to meet the director of the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Okinawa, Japan, and his wife as well. They were super kind and helpful to answer our many questions about life and ministry in Japan. It was also super exciting to hear how the Lord was using their bible college to train up both foreigners and Japanese nationals to plant churches in Japan. Praise God!\nGeoff and I are going with a team on a vision tour to Japan in February to see the ministries there and seek the Lord in confirming our calling to serve as long-term missionaries there. If you would like to help support our trip financially you can click the button at the bottom of this page. We will be traveling January 29th and returning on February 9th. We still have about $1,000 left to raise for the trip and any contribution would be a huge blessing! Please especially keep the team in prayer, for our preparations and time there.\nI’m so excited for this upcoming year! Thank you all for reading this update and supporting me, I appreciate all of you so much. A quick practical update: As Geoff and I will be getting married next month, we will be combining our newsletters into one. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions!\nLove you all and have a merry Christmas!\u0026lt;3\nIn Christ,\nLydia Boubion\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sleigh-bells-wedding-bells-boubion-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChristmastime is here! And as you know, with the holiday season also comes a very busy and bustling time. With mine and Geoff’s wedding around the corner, the days have been especially packed with wedding preparations amidst our missions training school at the church. Though there have been very overwhelming moments in time, my heart brims full of joy and awe in the Lord to see where He has brought us thus far. I am so excited to begin a new life with Geoff and am so grateful for everyone who has come alongside to support us and help with wedding/marriage preparations.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sleigh Bells \u0026 Wedding Bells - Boubion Update December 2023"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nLast month I got chance to organize a one-day youth meeting. God helped the youth to gather there. 200 youth came to the meetings. It was a great time with them to learn the Word of God and worship the Lord.\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for my children to grow in Lord’s fear and knowledge. Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problem the world is facing. Please pray for the local village ministry. May they grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blessed-in-ministry-pastor-16-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WhatsApp-Image-2023-11-20-at-8.58.24-AM-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/WhatsApp-Image-2023-11-20-at-8.58.23-AM-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month I got chance to organize a one-day youth meeting. God helped the youth to gather there. 200 youth came to the meetings. It was a great time with them to learn the Word of God and worship the Lord.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessed in Ministry - Pastor 16 Update December 2023"},{"content":" Youth Conference\nWhat a wonderful youth conference we had this past month! I would like to give thanks to God for His provision and His favor upon me as I lead our District Youth Community. This was the first time we invited our country\u0026rsquo;s Calvary Bible Institute Director, Pastor Anand. He taught verse-by-verse. Many of the students from CBI were able to join this conference. They sang for the youth and encouraged them to come to the Bible college. I was also able to teach to the youth committee members, choir team, volunteers, and some pastors. Approximately 500 young adults attended this 3-day conference. The pastors taught on the theme \u0026ldquo;The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Knowledge.\u0026rdquo; We thank you for praying for and supporting us to reach this generation and equip them to lead the church in the future. Glory to God!\n2023 Calvary Bible Institute Graduation\nWe were so blessed to graduate 10 students from our Bible College this year. It is a great joy to be a part of their lives. We are so encouraged to raise up young people in this Bible college. We want to invest our lives into the students\u0026rsquo; lives. We are thankful to all of the people who partner with us. I was reminded that I am blessed to have graduated 8 years ago. It was a wonderful time in my life.\nKeep praying for these young people to have a blessed time with God. We were able to send 2 students from our area to CBI. They graduated this year. We hope that they will be doing great things for the Lord in the future.\nPlease keep us in your prayers. We are heading to the mountains in December to host a conference and hike to remote places to share the good news. We will also be hosting a Christmas outreach with our church and inviting the community to come. Pray that many will come to hear the Christmas Story and know Christ.\nThank you,\nMilan\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/reaching-this-generation-pastor-milan-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/YouthConf.Milan%5F.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/YouthConf1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYouth Conference\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a wonderful youth conference we had this past month! I would like to give thanks to God for His provision and His favor upon me as I lead our District Youth Community. This was the first time we invited our country\u0026rsquo;s Calvary Bible Institute Director, Pastor Anand. He taught verse-by-verse. Many of the students from CBI were able to join this conference. They sang for the youth and encouraged them to come to the Bible college. I was also able to teach to the youth committee members, choir team, volunteers, and some pastors. Approximately 500 young adults attended this 3-day conference. The pastors taught on the theme \u0026ldquo;The Fear of the Lord is the Beginning of Knowledge.\u0026rdquo; We thank you for praying for and supporting us to reach this generation and equip them to lead the church in the future. Glory to God!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Reaching this Generation - Pastor Milan Update December 2023"},{"content":"Thanks be to God! He has done wonderful things in and through my life. God has blessed me and the ministry abundantly.\nI am serving in a northern mountainous area. As I am serving at the Calvary Chapel here, God is bringing an increase to our church. Currently, we are having fellowship in two places. One place lies in a valley and the other is on top. God is working in these areas. I am blessed that He is using us.\nThis year, a Calvary Chapel group visited us and shared the Gospel in the majority of the villages here. We were privileged to share the Gospel through various means, including programs and children\u0026rsquo;s ministry. Many have heard the Gospel and are believing in Jesus. One person with kidney failure is also coming to church along with his family. I want to thank the Calvary Chapel team for helping minister in our area.\n\u0026ldquo;Eyes has not seen, nor ear has heard, nor have entered into the ears of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.\u0026rdquo;\n1 Cor. 2:9\nCurrently, there is at least one church in every village in the northern of a certain region of our country. The Gospel has been preached in many ways. But the current church needs proper teaching of the Word of God. My wife and I are praying and making plans for the same.\nIn December of this year, we are hosting a youth and pastors\u0026rsquo; conference at a church there. We have been praying for this for a long time. The Calvary Chapel team is also coming to this conference. This village is at a higher altitude than our village. Reaching there is a challenge. It is also the place of my in-laws\u0026rsquo; house.\nCurrently, my wife and I are serving in the church at the top of the mountain. Each week we have a women\u0026rsquo;s fellowship, a youth fellowship, a children\u0026rsquo;s fellowship, and a mid-week house fellowship. I also visit the church in the valley and my in-laws\u0026rsquo; church for the ministry of the Word.\nI thank all of you for helping us.\nBlessings,\nPastor Raju and Srijana\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gods-faithfulness-pastor-raju-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThanks be to God! He has done wonderful things in and through my life. God has blessed me and the ministry abundantly.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/raju.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am serving in a northern mountainous area. As I am serving at the Calvary Chapel here, God is bringing an increase to our church. Currently, we are having fellowship in two places. One place lies in a valley and the other is on top. God is working in these areas. I am blessed that He is using us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God's Faithfulness - Pastor Raju Update December 2023"},{"content":"Praise the Lord,\nI hope that all of you are doing well by the grace of God. By your prayers, we are also doing well. I thank God for his faithfulness and love. I request all of you to keep praying for us so that we may serve the Lord fervently.\nPray that God\u0026rsquo;s will and plans be fulfilled in future. I have put everything in God\u0026rsquo;s hands and am waiting and praying and remaining steadfast. I ask you all to pray for me to have open doors to minister in new areas, places and villages.\nI thank God for the wonderful time that we spent in another state with the other SGWM pastors. It was really a motivational and encouraging meeting. Every morning we had a morning devotion together. We read from the book of Proverbs and each one shared.\nI thank God because He fulfilled my desires during the trip out of state. I had the desire to be able to go to that state sometime in my life. This was my first journey to that state.\nI would like to thank those of you who helped financially to make our trip successful. May the Lord bless you and fulfill all of your needs!!!\nEvery day I pray for the hands who are helping us financially and supporting us in our ministry. May the good God bless all of you abundantly!!!\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease continue pray for the believers. Please continue pray for the situation in our state. Please continue pray for open doors in new places to share the Gospel. Pray for me to have good health. In the Lord,\nYour Brother,\nPastor 8* and Family\n\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praising-god-for-his-blessings-pastor-8-update-december-2032/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope that all of you are doing well by the grace of God. By your prayers, we are also doing well. I thank God for his faithfulness and love. I request all of you to keep praying for us so that we may serve the Lord fervently.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePray that God\u0026rsquo;s will and plans be fulfilled in future. I have put everything in God\u0026rsquo;s hands and am waiting and praying and remaining steadfast. I ask you all to pray for me to have open doors to minister in new areas, places and villages.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praising God for His Blessings - Pastor 8 Update December 2032"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family,\nIt always gives me great joy to be able to share with you all that our Lord is doing! Thank you for your faithful prayers and for joining with me in the Kingdom work that is happening here in South Asia. Your prayers and words of encouragement give me the strength to continue moving forward as we take ground for the Gospel.\nThe days here have been long and busy. That has provided great opportunities to reach many people for God. I am seeing how the Lord has allowed me to have fellowship with families through their children.\nI have been building a relationship with a particular family through their son, K*. I regularly visit his home and often I help tutor this young boy. Sometimes we even play games. These meetings have been great because while I am there, I am also able to meet his parents and family and share God’s Word with them. By building these relationships and gaining their friendships, the families see that I care about them. They give me opportunities to minister to them and share with them about Jesus.\nI am so happy that God is sending me to the people who live in very remote areas and who usually don’t have visitors from the cities. They realize there is someone who wants to visit them, talk to them, and not expect anything from them. For the first time, they are experiencing the love of God. Whenever we go to these villages, the children recognize us and become so happy. We can see how much they love us as they run to us. God is definitely building this relationship with the people. We are teaching them based on their age. They are learning about Jesus, Sunday school songs, and memory verses from the Bible. We usually finish the time with some snacks and fellowship. I am seeing how they are growing in knowledge of God and it blesses me to see them invite and bring their friends to join us.\nYour Attractive Heading There is a great woman named Pr* that I met at the bus station recently. She was a homeless widow who was staying at the bus station with a few of her things because she had nowhere to go. God impressed on my heart to talk to her. I learned that she did have property in her name, but that because she is a widow and no one is with her, some local politicians and government authorities took her property forcefully. She had no help or power to fight against them, so she was left with nothing.\nHowever, she did not give up. She fought with the government officer a little bit and was now given a temporary room to stay in. When she found this room, she invited me over and wanted to make me some food. It was an emotional moment because when I saw her for the first time it was at the bus station where no one wanted to talk to her. However, because she is a believer, she has a desire to share her life with people. This allowed me to witness God’s goodness in her life. She is alone in life, a widow with no family. She is completely dependent on God. He is making her alive every single day! He is the One that is protecting her and providing for her. It is a big blessing to see how God cares about widows and people who are abandoned by society. It is a beautiful reminder that He never forgets people or abandons them.\nOne thing that makes me really happy in my ministry is when I find young men and women who are non-believers. After sharing the Gospel with them, they are open to reading the Bible. Then, because they are clearly spending time reading the Bible, we have some great fellowship as I share and explain to them more about God’s Word. It is an honor to explain it to them and tell them that what is written is for them, and for me, and for all of humanity. I have a beautiful time with them.\nMany times I travel very far on my motorcycle. There are many days when I cannot even get water to drink. But when I meet people like these who are very open to the Gospel and to God’s Word, it is like finding pearls in the dirt. The difficulties become so small. I am finding many pearls for God’s Kingdom. I am excited for all of the men and women I am encountering in my ministry. I am thinking of them, praying for them, and following up with them. God has been doing great things in this ministry and I want to keep going forward.\nMeeting with the children and finding these men and women is worth the tiredness and long days. The struggles are taken away when I consider what God is doing. My soul is filled with so much joy that God gives me. I am refreshed and want to continue to move forward and continue to find these rare pearls in these far villages. God’s desire is that none perish but that all come to a saving knowledge. I am seeing how He is working and pursuing His people.\nThank you for joining me on this journey as we labor together for God’s kingdom, and as we seek all of the hidden pearls He is preparing.\nGod bless,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/pearls-in-the-dirt-pastor-7-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt always gives me great joy to be able to share with you all that our Lord is doing! Thank you for your faithful prayers and for joining with me in the Kingdom work that is happening here in South Asia. Your prayers and words of encouragement give me the strength to continue moving forward as we take ground for the Gospel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMG%5F2833.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe days here have been long and busy. That has provided great opportunities to reach many people for God. I am seeing how the Lord has allowed me to have fellowship with families through their children.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pearls in the Dirt - Pastor 7 Update December 2023"},{"content":" “So I will restore the years the swarming locusts have eaten.”\nJoel 2:25\nRestoring the Years Part 1 With the passing of mine and Benjamin’s birthdays and the upcoming Christmas and New Year, we realize that God has blessed us a lot during this year. At the beginning of 2023, we went through our worst financial crises ever to the point that it looked like we might have to leave Cambodia permanently. God provided in mysterious and miraculous ways and we were able to have a most blessed visit to the USA for the first time since before Covid.\nFor me personally, God is restoring the years in relation to my health and weight. Growing up, my relationship with food (overeating/stress-eating) wasn’t good and I had asthma so I couldn’t exercise enough and developed a weight problem. Between 2000-2003 while serving in Cambodia as an English teacher/missionary, God took away my asthma and I was able to exercise and so I lost enough weight during that season to run a half-marathon here in Cambodia. However, in 2003 upon returning to the USA I got sick for the first time with my chronic brain disorder and between the medicine and the ensuing depression, I started to regain the weight that I lost and more, and this continued for 20 years. Finally, God provided all the tools (a smartwatch/calorie counting app from friends and know-how from Benjamin) and I have started an effective but sustainable lifestyle change in regards to, diet and exercise. So far, I have lost 25 pounds since October 21! I still have a long way to go so please pray for stamina in this process to lose the weight and then keep it off over the long-term.\nRestoring the Years Part 2 Between 2004 and 2015 my brain-disorder symptoms were healed enough for me to live without medicine, but then since it came back in 2015, I have needed medicine and went through years of being minimally functional yet with severe depression in which I could just do the minimum to survive. As a result of this and other factors, I wasn’t able to actively raise the funds we needed and so we have fallen behind financially. Here are some areas that need to be restored.\nBenjamin’s Christian High School Tuition is our largest unavoidable expense by nearly triple. In meeting this expense, we are unable to fund other important needs on this list and we are uncertain if we can meet the projected increases over the next 3.5 years. Housing Upgrade: Our current two-bedroom apartment is getting too small for us, has maintenance issues, and we are in a losing battle with cockroaches. Also Benjamin’s bedroom doesn’t have a window and he needs more space. Benjamin’s Launch Fund: Benjamin will have to return to the USA after graduation in 3.5 years and will need housing, transportation, and set-up funds at that time. Retirement/Savings: Most of our senders are older than us so we are concerned that they will not be able to support us in our senior years. We want to continue to minister as long as we are able and don’t want to be a burden on anyone during our senior years. Resume Family Vacations: Because of Benjamin’s tuition and our financial crises, we haven’t been able to take any family vacations for around 1.5 years. This is especially important while Benjamin is still with us. Transportation: Our 1997 Toyota Camry has a slipping transmission and is on secondhand tires. We need to be able to maintain it as needed and potentially replace it in a few years. Ministry Funds: There are so many needs and exciting ministry opportunities in Cambodia that we would like to pursue when God provides sufficient funds to meet our needs and expand our ministry impact. 1. Resume International Fishers evangelistic/apologetics video production etc. 2. Help launch Light Association’s training/publication/resource ministries including to people with mental illness and their families. 3. Help expand Hope Ministry’s impact in two impoverished Cambodian communities. 4. Continue to volunteer and support Precious Women’s work with at-risk Cambodian women. 5. Expand our support of Bethel Grace Mission’s work with impoverished Cambodians who live in graveyards. 6. Encourage and equip local churches even more. Ministry Update We have been very busy since our last update in the middle of October. Kayo and I continued our volunteer-work at Precious Women. Kayo did administrative work, led staff devotions, and taught the clients (young at-risk women) life skills lessons including “Hope in Christ.” I helped with video production and led devotions.\nKayo continues to lead the women’s ministry at the international church and led an over night women’s retreat. I preached twice, helped with Chinese Bible Study and led the men’s ministry.\nI also continue to serve as the English editor for Light Times Magazine, the only Christian magazine in Cambodia. We have a new issue coming out this month so things will get busier with that.\nI also am preparing to start teaching Apologetics/Evangelism at another Cambodian seminary founded by Korean missionaries starting this week.\nDecember is the month in which we must renew our Cambodian visas so please pray for wisdom and favor in this high-stakes process. Gathering all the documents each year feels like taking on another job.\nWe wish you a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/restore-the-years-record-family-december-2023-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“So I will restore the years the swarming locusts have eaten.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJoel 2:25\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/IMAGE-2023-12-05-090842-edited.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"restoring-the-years-part-1\"\u003eRestoring the Years Part 1\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the passing of mine and Benjamin’s birthdays and the upcoming Christmas and New Year, we realize that God has blessed us a lot during this year. At the beginning of 2023, we went through our worst financial crises ever to the point that it looked like we might have to leave Cambodia permanently. God provided in mysterious and miraculous ways and we were able to have a most blessed visit to the USA for the first time since before Covid.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Restore the Years - Record Family December 2023 Update"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\n“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”\n1 Peter 5:10\nLast month we all suffered from a viral fever. My wife especially suffered and was seriously ill for almost 25 days. Because of that she was quite weak physically. However, God in His mercy, healed all of us and restored our strength. We express our heartfelt thanks to God almighty for His abundant grace, and that He protected our lives and provided for our needs. We appreciate for your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\nFor the past several months, Christians in our country have been going through many challenges and trials because of the religious nationalism agenda by the ruling party. In November there are elections in 5 states of our country. We are praying and hoping for a change in our government, so that believers may have the freedom to worship and to share their faith.\nI was privileged to be invited to a Central Synergy Summit. We had a wonderful discussion about the growth and failures of missions in the central area of our country. I also led a session on challenges and solutions in the mission field in practical ways. We had very effective discussions. During the summit, I ran into a first fruit from my ministry, SA* (right). He is a wonderful man and is now doing ministry with his family. I also met three other friends (pictured below) who all are doing ministry in different parts of the central area of our country. I was so pleased to see them after such a long time.\nIn October, we completed our 3rd semester of CBI. Because of the election in our state, we are starting our 4th semester on November 20th. As a family we participate in all the church activities and visit families to testify about the Lord and pray for them. We also take the CBI students on home visitation as part of their practical training.\nPrayer Requests:\nKindly pray for the upcoming election. May good leaders come to power, so that all of the believers may have freedom to worship and share about Jesus\u0026rsquo; love. Please pray for SA* (a first fruit of my ministry) and the friends that I saw at the summit. Pray that God will use them effectively for His kingdom. Kindly pray for the growth of our church. Please pray that we may get suitable land for our church. Kindly pray for me and my family\u0026ndash;may the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-god-of-all-grace-will-strengthen-you-pastor-3-update-december-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 Peter 5:10\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month we all suffered from a viral fever. My wife especially suffered and was seriously ill for almost 25 days. Because of that she was quite weak physically. However, God in His mercy, healed all of us and restored our strength. We express our heartfelt thanks to God almighty for His abundant grace, and that He protected our lives and provided for our needs. We appreciate for your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The God of All Grace Will Strengthen You - Pastor 3 Update December 2023"},{"content":"As of the time in which I write you this update, we are 58 days from getting on a plane and moving our life to Japan. We are 75% funded as far as our recurring monthly needs are concerned, so please pray about partnering with us financially. And to all of you who have gotten behind us, and have helped to encourage and get us to this point, thank you and may the Lord bless you mightily for your commitment and care for us.\nHello, this is Alishia Root, and I am about to become a missionary wife. It has taken roughly 6 years to arrive at the gate of launching out as full-time missionaries. It\u0026rsquo;s been a time spent learning about culture and learning how to be ministry workers. The days have been full of change, adaptation, and reconstruction as we grow in our understanding of God’s heart for the unreached. The part we as the church are to play, as both goers and senders, in fulfilling the great commission. And most importantly growing in our understanding of His gracious love for us personally.\nThis is the analogy I use to illustrate and understand the life of a missionary … Remember the first time you wanted to tackle a big roller coaster? There was promise of thrill and some unknowing apprehension, but it seemed fun, so why not? So you get in line, and the line is rather long. You wonder if you will get to the ride head before the day is over ( I equate this to the waiting period of a young missionary), but it is moving so you just settle in and move along inch by inch. At some point the coaster is on top of you, and people are screaming. Then your time comes, you sit down willingly, and you get strapped in (those straps for a missionary are the prayers of the saints). And you start climbing that hill, click…Click…CLICK, up it goes. At this point there are all sorts of feelings and emotions, some excitement, some apprehension. Then you reach the top and whoosh down. You plunge into the places the ride is going to take you (or in this case the Holy Sprit). And then you get off and you realize you kind of want to do it all again.\nMy idea of what missions is, and what a missionary is tasked with, has grown and the weight of the task ahead has sunk in. Along with the size of the task ahead, my understanding of God’s sovereignty and hand leading has grown as well. I find myself looking back to all the trials and moments of growth that not just the last 6 years, but a lifetime, has prepared me for, all leading up to this moment. I think about the way my dad taught me as a young girl to use chopsticks in a game of picking up peas. Or how the reserved and pragmatic nature of Jeff’s parents, trained him up in a mindset very similar to the Japanese mind. I have thought of the ways the Lord has allowed me to experience a level of culture shock moving from rural Montana with its “Montana time” (if you know, you know) to the fast-paced scheduled out calendar of being an intern at a busy California church.\nI have been blessed to love lives of people that serve the Lord all over this planet. I have been blessed with experiences I never expected to have. I have seen not just my husband, but other young missionaries learn to be missionaries, pastors, and ministry workers. There have been friends made. There have been moments that the Lord’s voice has been so sure. There has been fellowship in a depth that amazed me. There has been learning to support others and learning to be a wife that holds up a husband that has expectation on him.\nAnd there has been costs to be paid. For every life I have been given the joy to love, I now place at Jesus’ feet as I will be separated by an ocean. There has been ministry lessons that have broken my heart. And personal trials that have brought me to my knees. But learning to be on your knees is the posture required of every missionary, so I rejoice in the lessons and shaping of Jesus.\nSo, it’s all led up to this point. We are strapped onto this rollercoaster and clicking up that hill. Please pray for all we have ahead of us.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/at-the-apex-root-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs of the time in which I write you this update, we are 58 days from getting on a plane and moving our life to Japan. We are 75% funded as far as our recurring monthly needs are concerned, so please pray about partnering with us financially. And to all of you who have gotten behind us, and have helped to encourage and get us to this point, thank you and may the Lord bless you mightily for your commitment and care for us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"At the Apex - Root Update November 2023"},{"content":" My times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me.\nPsalms‬ ‭31‬:‭15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬\nWhen David wrote this psalm he was being chased by Saul and his army. Although his life was at risk he trusted in God. He trusted that his life was in God\u0026rsquo;s hands. God showed me through this psalm that I needed to trust that my life is in God’s hands. He knows when my time on this earth will come to an end.\nAfter what I experienced in Israel I have been healing from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). I have been clinging to God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to give me the strength I need. What I love about God’s Word is that no matter what we are going through, His Word speaks directly to our circumstances. When the Lord put Psalm 31 in my heart He also reminded me of the heroes of the faith, how they got persecuted for their faith. The question that came to mind at the time was “are you ready to count the cost?” Being in the safe room, not knowing if my life was going to be taken away put things into perspective as to the calling God has placed in my life. I know that I know that I know that I am called to missions but God had to put my faith to the test because there will come a time where I am serving overseas and I will be facing hard situations and I have to be firm, armored up, and grounded in Him and His Word, to be ready to count the cost just as the heroes of the faith did.\nI couldn’t help but think of the sweet season I had in Israel before the war broke out, how God was giving me the desires of my heart and now I am in a season of refinement, being pressed on every side and God is saying “Can you praise me like you praised me when everything was going good?” Like whoa, that truly does hit deep. But just as David says in Psalm 42\u0026hellip;\u0026ldquo;But I will keep on hoping for your help; I will praise you more and more”\nThankful\nI am beyond thankful for my church and the leadership. They have been able to counsel me through what I have been going through. I am also thankful that God chose me to go through this because I know He will use it for His glory in the future.\nIndonesia\nAs I have mentioned before, a team of us from the church will be going to Bali and Java, Indonesia in February. This will be an awesome opportunity to seek God as we scout out the land and are able to connect with local missionaries there. We will be visiting villages in Java for two days and a missionary who has started a work there will be showing us around and his ministry. These villages are considered unreached and as most of you know my heart is for the unreached. We will then be in Bali for the remainder of the trip.\nThe cost of this trip is $1800. If you feel led in anyway to partner with me you can use the link below and keep me and the team in your prayers as this may be a potential location God leads us to move there.\nMissions Training School\nIt has been sweet to be back and keep getting trained with my church. It is a new year and we have new students who are interested in missions. The harvest is plenty and the labors are few but it is awesome that our family is growing and I pray for more labors to want to go to the ends of the earth for God\u0026rsquo;s glory. We continue to have our Wednesday class where missionaries all over the world come and visit and share their story. We also just started up our preaching class again which is my favorite because I get to study God\u0026rsquo;s Word, learn more, and teach it.\nAs you all recall, I was Tim’s (one of the pastors) assistant, it was on pause when I left to Israel but as of now that season has ended. I was beyond blessed by this role and the many things I learned. On the other hand I am now Debbie’s (the senior pastor\u0026rsquo;s wife) assistant. As I continue to pray about a job that pays, God continues to shut that door and open other doors of serving. God loves to stretch my faith when it comes to finances but He always meets my needs:) What a sweet preparation for when I do go to the mission field overseas.\nPraise Reports\nPraise God for His Word that’s sweet to the soul in times of trial Praise God for the leadership at my church Praise God for a new year of MTS and the new students Praise God for the opportunity to get to go to Indonesia Prayer Request\nPray that God continues to strengthen me and fill me with His peace as I keep having anxiety attacks Pray for my time with my family, I will be visiting them in a couple of weeks for the holidays Pray for our team who is going to Indonesia ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/times-of-testing-after-israel-campos-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy times are in Your hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, And from those who persecute me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePsalms‬ ‭31‬:‭15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen David wrote this psalm he was being chased by Saul and his army. Although his life was at risk he trusted in God. He trusted that his life was in God\u0026rsquo;s hands. God showed me through this psalm that I needed to trust that my life is in God’s hands. He knows when my time on this earth will come to an end.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Times of Testing After Israel - Campos Update November 2023"},{"content":" And to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.\nJOB 28:28\nI can’t think of anything that arouses more questions than human suffering. Everyone has asked God why they are experiencing pain in their life, but who has ever cried out to God in complaint of why God would allow them to have their needs met? It’s not surprising that the book of Job has more questions than any other book of the Bible, with a grand total of 330 (compared to the 160 questions in the entire book of Psalms).\nThis month, God blessed us with one of the most impactful moments I have experienced in our School of Discipleship. The eyes of our students were opened as we studied through the book of Job and contemplated the theology of suffering. At the heart of the animistic worldview of tribal Africa is witchcraft, and at the heart of witchcraft is the belief that nothing happens by accident. The belief that behind every success was a sell-out to a spirit, and behind every difficulty was an angry spirit who was most likely manipulated by a devious person. But this month, I had the privilege of watching God use the story of Job to chop at the roots of this destructive, false worldview. One of the book’s intentions is to remove suffering from the category of retribution: “Who did what to deserve what’s happening?” and put it into the category of God’s wisdom: “What is God trying to accomplish through allowing this in my life?” It was beautiful to watch ministers settle in the goodness of God’s power over pain.\nIn Christ,\nMatt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd to man He said, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJOB 28:28\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/20220815%5F0733262.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI can’t think of anything that arouses more questions than human suffering. Everyone has asked God why they are experiencing pain in their life, but who has ever cried out to God in complaint of why God would allow them to have their needs met? It’s not surprising that the book of Job has more questions than any other book of the Bible, with a grand total of 330 (compared to the 160 questions in the entire book of Psalms).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update November 2023"},{"content":"“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, \u0026lsquo;All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.\u0026rsquo; Amen.”\n‭‭Matthew‬ ‭28‬:‭18‬-‭20\nIt is always awesome to do what the Jesus says. Though people have been doing it for ages, it is not enough. So, we also love to have this kind of activity in our ministry. Thank you all who had been praying for us, because we could not have done this without prayer. To God be the glory!\n\u0026ldquo;In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit\u0026rdquo;\nWe love to share the Gospel. It is only the Gospel that has the power to bring people to Christ. During the last couple of months, we have been sharing Christ. People came to Christ and are excited to follow the Lord publicly. These people came to Christ because our Bible College students love to share Christ together with us whenever they get a chance. These people are new in Christ want to live for Christ now. Please keep praying for them that they they may grow in His Word and grace. We believe that these young people may share Christ to their families and friends. So please pray that God may pour His Spirit upon them.\n\u0026ldquo;Go Therefore\u0026rdquo;\nWe love to go and do outreach to share Christ. We also love to invite people who do not know Christ. Last month we invited non-Christian people. More than 100 people showed up! Thank God! All of this happened only through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Bible College students sang Gospel songs, performed skits, and danced. I shared the Gospel from Gospel of John Chapter 1. After this event, we made some good connections with neighbors and young people. These people started to come to the Bible College Compound. Please pray that they may come to know Christ.\n\u0026ldquo;Teaching Them to Observe All Things that I Have Commanded You\u0026rdquo;\nMy wife, Usha, has been a great help in our Calvary Bible Institute and Calvary Chapel. Thank you all who have been praying for her. Now it is not only I that teach, but now Usha also teaches the women. She is a great cook, so we call her “The Best Chef of in Our Country”. Now she is teaching the women as well with the power of Holy Spirit. She is the mother of 2 boys, but still she loves to be busy in God’s work. Usha loves to talk with people. She is a good counselor and friend to the women. Last week, she invited a bunch of friends from the church and encouraged them from Word of God. They also played games and prayed together. Please pray that these ladies may grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word and grace daily.\nThank you,\nAnand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-great-commission-pastor-anand-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, \u0026lsquo;All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.\u0026rsquo; Amen.”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Great Commission - Pastor Anand Update November 2023"},{"content":" Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\n- Brian\u0026rsquo;s brother passed away recently. Please pray for Brian, his family, the Kanyike children, the church (he played a big part ), and the family business that he managed. So many people were touched by him . - Praise God for the teams that were just here. Pray for much fruit from their time and ministry. - Pray for Brian and Jill to get caught up and back into the normal routine after the team and the funeral. - Pray for Jill as she broke a tooth while the team was here and will be having 2 root canals done soon. - Pray for the children to finish school well as they only have 1 month left. - Pray for Jill and Liana as they finish the year of school as well. - Pray for Uganda as the US embassy has issued a high terrorism alert for the country . - Pray that the Kanyike children will be called soon for their citizenship interview. - Pray for all the ministries taking place at Arise Christian Fellowship and for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\nThank you prayer warriors for your faithful prayers and love for us.\n- Please pray for the coming Christmas party and outreaches. - Continue praying for our sports ministry as the first phase comes to a close. - We praise God this school year was successful! Please pray for our 800+ students as they are away for break. Pray for those who will be persecuted by their own families. - Please pray God goes before us as we continue the immigration issues. We praise God for all the open doors we have had to share His Gospel in America. Please continue praying for the few teachings both Vincent and I have this month.\nThank you!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email BlogUSA\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n- Praise God for a wonderful and fruitful time in S. Asia this past month. - Pray for the semester break in S. Asia and for the various Christmas Outreaches planned that people would come to hear the good news for the first time and turn to the true and living God! - Pray for Heather as she shares the Word on Dec. 7th for Women\u0026rsquo;s Christmas Dinner. - Pray for Breanna\u0026rsquo;s health and for healing from head cold and cough that have been lingering for several weeks. - Pray for a key leader that is Hindu and that God would draw her to Himself.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n- Please continue to pray for my dad’s healing and complete recovery. Pray that the new medication and treatment will work for him, and that God will give us wisdom.\n- Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\n- Please pray that God will use us for His glory.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n- Please pray for the new treatment they are trying for my dad.\n- Please pray for our brothers and sisters suffering persecution.\n- Please pray for the children’s ministry and nursing home ministry that I am a part of.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nHi Friends, Here are our prayer requests for our family and ministry!\n- That God would provide good jobs for our children, Grace and Daniel! - That God would help us reach our community through our Christmas events and outreaches! - For God\u0026rsquo;s blessing on our church plant to South Tijuana in December. (Calvary Agua Caliente)\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nJenna Pepin – Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico\n- Pray for the rest of my time with my family and our travels home in early December. - Pray for the health of my family: both our general day-to-day house and for continued healing in my neck and shoulder. - Pray for all of the Christmas activities at all of our Culiacán churches, that many people would be reached with the Gospel. - Pray for our continued ministry with the quarter, that God would open doors and continue raising up new believers in that community. - Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s continued direction in regards to the future ministry of me and my family.\nJenna Pepin - Email Blog\nDavid and Michelle Mullins - Loreto, Mexico\nPrayer Request: David’s mother is dying of liver failure. She is currently living with us in Loreto, Mexico 🇲🇽. We are praying she will be well enough to travel 1/2-1/9/24 to meet her 8-month-old great-granddaughter and celebrate blessings after Christmas with her grandchildren in Las Vegas.\nThank you for your prayers 🙏🏽\nBlessings,\nDavid and Michelle Mullins - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello here on my prayer requests for the month of December:\n- CONTINUED blessings and good health for my mom who lives alone and has Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s. God is so good he has been taking care of her like he always does. I am with her two days per week. - For an afterschool program for the junior high age kids. We need the Lord to raise up people with a heart for these kids. This is an urgent prayer request as we lose the kids at this age to the world and some, unfortunately to drugs. - For the Lord to use me to minister to the moms of the kids in our afterschool program. I’m not sure how to do this—maybe open my home for a discipleship class? I would like the the Lord’s guidance in this. - Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n- Prayer that the people who attend Calvary Moyobamba would dedicate time in their mornings to read the Bible and spend time with God. - Prayer for wisdom and discernment on those that are interested in coming from afar to help Calvary Moyobamba. - Prayer for continual unity of the team. And thankfulness to God for the unity.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for the upcoming election, that a good leader will come to power, so that all believers will have freedom to worship and share about Jesus’ love.\n- Please pray for S.A., a first fruit of my ministry, and some friends of mine, that God will use them effectively for His kingdom.\n- Please pray for the growth of our church.\n- Please pray that we will find suitable land for our church.\n- Please pray for me and my family, may the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nWorker 3 Worker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray:\n- Please pray that I will be able to reach the families through the children I am working with.\n- Please pray for all of the men and women I am able to share God’s Word with in my ministry.\nThank you, Worker 7\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please continue to pray for the believers here.\n- Please continue to pray for the situation in our state.\n- Please continue to pray for open doors in new places for the Gospel.\n- Please pray for my good health. - Once again, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your partnership. May our loving God bless you abundantly!\nIn the Lord,\nYour brother,\nPastor 8 and family Worker 13 - 10/40 Window\n- Please continue to pray for our ministry here in the village.\n- Pray that God will open more doors for us here.\nGod bless you all for your prayers! Worker 13\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n- Please pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge.\n- Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing.\n- Please pray for the village ministry in our local area. May the villagers grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nWorker 16\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise Report:\n- Thank you everyone for praying for us. Last month we were able to do a youth conference where we were able to share about Word of God. There were 500 young people in this conference. We have invited them in our Bible College for study. - Thank you for praying, we had a blessed time in graduation. We were able to graduate 10 students. 5 boys, and 5 girls.\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for our good health. - Please pray for the students doing a youth conference in Himalaya that it may be blessed. - Please pray that God may bring new students in the coming new semester. - Please pray for the Christmas outreach that people may come to Christ. - Please pray for all the students who are in semester break that they may serve where they are with what they have learned.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\n- Please pray for the children’s ministry, that the Lord will work in the hearts of the children.\n- Please pray for the leper ministry and the slum ministry.\n- Please pray for the women’s fellowship and prayer and fasting.\n- Please pray for the youth meetings.\n- Please pray for the families in the house fellowships.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n- Our ten students are graduating; please pray that they will go and preach the Gospel and proclaim the Word of God. We want to see many more Calvary Chapel churches in our nation, where many more people are unreached.Pray that God will protect, guide and lead the new graduates.\n- Pray for the leprosy colony ministry.\n- Pray for my wife’s women’s ministry.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\n- Pray for our good health.\n- Pray for those who we visit and those who call us for prayer, that we can win them to Jesus Christ.\n- Please pray for God to give us wisdom and knowledge to share the Gospel with people.\n- Pray for the church family members’ health.\n- Pray for the people group we work with.\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita Milan Pariyar – Nepal\nWe thank you for praying and partnering with us to reach this generation and equip them to lead the church in the future. Please keep us in prayer as we head to the mountains in December to host a conference and hike in remote places to share the Good News. We will also be hosting a Christmas Outreach with our church and inviting the community to come, so pray that many would come to hear the Christmas story and know Christ.\nThank you,\nMilan\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for the different ministries in our church.\n- Please pray for the conference we will be hosting in December.\nBlessings!\nRaju - BlogAbhishek and Lacey – 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n- We were able to host one of our good friends from the States, who belongs to CCSG. He stayed in our home for one week, And he taught at the CBI on Church History! We had a great time of fellowship with him. - A dear Pastor friend, his wife, and daughter were just here for one week. The Pastor was able to teach at the CBI for their last week of school. Three of the students graduated, and we all had a graduation for them. It was a great time of seeing this family after a long time, and to be encouraged by them! Prayer Requests:\n- The CBI semester just finished, please pray for all staff and students during this time as it’s now break time. Please pray for wisdom and vision during this break time for us all. - Lacey is now in her 9th month of pregnancy. Please pray for for a normal and healthy delivery. - Please pray for some of our family members who are not following Christ, to turn to Him. - Please pray for Lacey to continue to learn the local language and cultural adaption, and for our marriage, and ministry within the local church.\nThank you family for partnering alongside us, and waging war on our behalf in prayer,\nGod bless you, Abhishek and Lacey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-dec-prayer-update-4/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Monthly-Missionary-Prayer-Requests-300x232.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Brian\u0026rsquo;s brother passed away recently. Please pray for Brian, his family, the Kanyike children, the church (he played a big part ), and the family business that he managed. So many people were touched by him .  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Praise God for the teams that were just here. Pray for much fruit from their time and ministry. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Brian and Jill to get caught up and back into the normal routine after the team and the funeral.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Jill as she broke a tooth while the team was here and will be having 2 root canals done soon.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for the children to finish school well as they only have 1 month left.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Jill and Liana as they finish the year of school as well.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Uganda as the US embassy has issued a high terrorism alert for the country .  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray that the Kanyike children will be called soon for their citizenship interview.   \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for all the ministries taking place at Arise Christian Fellowship and for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM DEC PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Hello to you all, family and friends!\nI’m excited to be in the middle of the holidays, spending more time fellowshipping and thanking God for His grace towards us. Praise God for this country, for our provisions, and for the freedom to fellowship in His name; I pray that these opportunities always point us back to Him, and the greater purpose of love that is always behind His giving and taking away! I haven’t written a newsletter in some time, and as always, there are praises to report and prayer requests. The Lord has given me eyes to see His sovereign hand working all things for His glory, and I’m excited to share these insights with all of you.\nMISSIONS TRAINING SCHOOL\nMTS has kicked off, and so far it’s been exciting and fruitful. I’m grateful for the individuals that we get to hear from, men and women serving all over the world, living out the same love and passion that we have to reach the “ends of the earth”; we have true fellowship with them in the gospel. We’ve had workers in the field come in and share from South Asia, South America, and the Middle-East, most recently. In all the variety of their ministries and settings, a common theme between all of them that stood out to me was humility. They were all individuals who had their own directions and prerogatives in life, with missions not even on their radar; but God grabbed a hold of their hearts and showed them a greater purpose, the same purpose He has for every one of us; to know Him AND to make Him known.\nIn addition to the classes and numerous ministry service opportunities that the school is providing, I am also preparing for a vision tour that was mentioned in my previous newsletter. The vision tour will be to Bali, Indonesia, and it will provide myself and the team with a first-hand experience of what the work of missions looks like in a completely foreign culture. From weather, language, and food to social customs and expectations, I fully expect to be shocked and to learn a lot. Seeking the Lord, His will, and His heart for the people of Southeast Asia will be the central goal of the trip, and I can’t ask enough for prayer for our team, in preparation and in spiritual fortitude, as the trip is being planned for February!\nSHARING THE GOSPEL, HERE AND NOW\n“They will come and will declare His righteousness to a people who will be born that He has performed it.” (Psalm 22:31)\nI mentioned in the previous newsletter that I have had and continue to get opportunities from the Lord to live out the gospel here and now. As much as I plan, pray, and look to the future, to the foreign lands that have NEVER even heard the name of Jesus, there is also a purpose to where I am right now, and the same is true for you! There are good works that the Lord has set aside for here and now, and these have become more evident, the more that I die to self and act off of faith and not off of feelings. I have been able to take steps like these in going to the college outreaches through the church, and on certain weekends, to beaches in Orange County. This is a process, and I’m making mistakes left and right, but there is nothing greater than walking in God’s will, with no confidence in myself to make anything miraculous happen, but full confidence in Him. He always meets us right where we step out, perhaps we feel fear or uncertainty, but we still step in faith! It is His will that we give as freely as we have received. With that in mind, I have one invaluable gift to offer to absolutely anyone that I encounter; rather, God has an invaluable gift to offer through me, and that is the good news of Jesus Christ and His work on the cross! The cross is where Jesus performed His amazing love!\nThe conversations that I have had the privilege of being a part of have been incredible. I’ve spoken with individuals from all kinds of backgrounds, religiously, socially, etc.; I had a 40-minute dialogue with a kind and intelligent Muslim man named Zach. He is new to his faith in Islam, and though he has basic foundational knowledge of it, he was interested in hearing what the Bible says about who Jesus really is; I had the honor of sharing just that with him, as the Spirit gave me the words to work with him through his many deep and earnest questions. I hope to meet him again soon at the next outreach to Fullerton JC! Check out Pastor Nick’s podcast and YouTube channel ( Convinced Ministries; Instagram: @askingconvinced) for this interview soon to come, and a lot of other great content, all glory to God. At Laguna Beach, Carter (a brother and a partner in the gospel) and I got the opportunity to spend a couple hours talking with a homeless woman named Barbara. Though very scarred by her past and spiritual abuse, she was friendly, alert, engaging, and gentle in dialogue. Simply seeing that two young men cared for her, and enjoyed her company was a testament to how beloved she is, to Jesus and to us, and it’s our prayer that she recognizes that, and that we get to see her again.\nWith these as just a couple examples of some of the opportunities that the Lord has sovereignly provided, my joy and confidence is in simply casting the seed (the gospel), and seeing the Lord do exactly what He wills when He wills, then getting me out of the way so He can continue HIS work; He knows what He’s doing, with or without us! It’s His loving heart that He should desire for us to be a part of it.\nThank you to all of you who prayed after reading the last newsletter; the Lord answered, and continues to answer. Should any of you feel led to partner with me, in prayer, financially, or in serving the Kingdom, please reach out!\nPRAISE REPORTS\nMTS starting strong and already revealing God’s heart for us to be equipped for His work. For the Lord speaking clearly regarding what my next steps are in the near future. For the awesome divine appointments that have taken place while witnessing. PRAYER REQUESTS\nFor Zach to keep seeking the truth about Jesus, and for godly men and women to be available to minister to him; myself included, Lord willing! For Barbara to know how loved she is, and always has been; that she would let go of the lies and look to Jesus. For more love and boldness in seeking and taking up opportunities to share the gospel. For the teams going to Japan and Indonesia to seek the Lord’s will in the coming months, and to trust His sovereignty. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-has-performed-it-brzezinski-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello to you all, family and friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’m excited to be in the middle of the holidays, spending more time fellowshipping and thanking God for His grace towards us. Praise God for this country, for our provisions, and for the freedom to fellowship in His name; I pray that these opportunities always point us back to Him, and the greater purpose of love that is always behind His giving and taking away! I haven’t written a newsletter in some time, and as always, there are praises to report and prayer requests. The Lord has given me eyes to see His sovereign hand working all things for His glory, and I’m excited to share these insights with all of you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He has performed it! - Brzezinski Update November 2023"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.\u0026rdquo;\nMark 16:15\nThanks be to God! Praise God! During these past two years, our CBI has produced many more faithful students. They learned the Word of God. They experienced how to work in a field of carnal places. They learned how to serve. They learned how to preach the Gospel. They learn how to plant Biblical churches and teach the true doctrine of the Bible.\nJesus\u0026rsquo; life and teachings in His Word and ministry also taught us how to be faithful. He commanded His disciples to go to the ends of the world and preach the Gospel of Christ.\nNow our ten students are already ready to go and to do that task for the Kingdom of God. Our ten students have graduated. The field is empty without servants of God. Pray that the harvest is ready because the workers are few. Our ten graduate students can go and preach the Gospel and proclaim the Word of God. We want to see many more Calvary Chapel churches planted in our nation. There are many more people that are unreached. Pray that God will protect them, guide them, and lead them through His spirit.\nDuring the end of the CBI semester, all of the teachers and our beloved students spent a beautiful time together (above). We went on a hike to a place called the white house that is near our CBI. It took only a 16km (10 mile) hike by foot to get there. We spent this time with the students.\nAnother way that God is doing a wonderful work is through technology and social media. I have been busy on social media. Through social media I teach, preach, and train others from the Word of God. Through the help of social media, five students have come to CBI and have already graduated.\nJesus said, \u0026ldquo;if you do not speak, then the rocks will speak on behalf of you\u0026rdquo;. I thought that I could not speak frequently like others could, because I cannot speak fluently. But God can use me like a rock who cannot speak. God uses me through social media to speak the true Word of God, and fight against cults and wrong teachings of Biblical doctrines.\nAs I mentioned above, five students came to CBI through social media. God is reaching this generation through social media where we can teach, preach, proclaim and train people in the Word of God. As I experienced while working for many years with this generation, we can use technology to help bring them into church as well as to our Bible school. Also, through social media a huge crowd can hear the Word of God. They can hear the Gospel of Christ. Then they will know what it means to get salvation and how they can be saved.\nEvery Sunday, my beautiful wife is also teaching a verse-by-verse Bible study at a women\u0026rsquo;s fellowship. She physically meets them, teaches them, and trains them. Before she taught them eschatology (about the end times, from Genesis to Revelation). Now she is teaching them through the book of Revelation.\nWe are doing Bible study at the leprosy colony (above). By the grace of God, everyone is growing day-by-day. By the grace of God, we are feeding God\u0026rsquo;s Word to them. We already finished 1st Samuel. Now we are teaching them from the book of 2nd Samuel.\nThank you for your support and prayers for us.\nThank you so much for supporting us, praying for us and raising us up. May God bless each one of you and your families and those in Saving Grace World Mission.\nGrace and peace,\nYour faithful servants,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/go-into-all-the-world-pastor-rabi-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMark 16:15\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG-20231115-WA0011.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"Graduation\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG-20231115-WA0011.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks be to God! Praise God! During these past two years, our CBI has produced many more faithful students. They learned the Word of God. They experienced how to work in a field of carnal places. They learned how to serve. They learned how to preach the Gospel. They learn how to plant Biblical churches and teach the true doctrine of the Bible.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Go Into All the World - Pastor Rabi Update November 2023"},{"content":"Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nI am doing well by God’s grace. Hope you are also doing well! Thank you for your prayers and support!\nBy God’s grace our Bible college is nearing the end of this semester. We have only a few weeks left. The students are doing great as they continue to study and learn the Word of God!\nLast month I was invited to the southern Bible College campus to teach. They had just begun their semester. I taught the book of Genesis. Although the students came from Christian families, most of them did not really know their Bible. So, I was grateful to God to have the opportunity to teach them about Creation. Even though the students did not know much about the stories and doctrines, I could see the eagerness in them to learn. That is why they were there.\nAt first the students did not ask many questions because (as I they told me later), they were a bit intimidated when they were informed that a teacher from another state was coming to teach them. But as the Lord helped us to bond well. They slowly began to open up, while bringing up thoughtful questions from the Bible which God helped me to answer.\nWhen it was time to leave, I noticed one of the student\u0026rsquo;s tear-filled eyes. They call sometimes just to let me know that they miss me. It means a lot to me even though we were only together for a short time. This provides a good opportunity for the Lord to use me to continue to serve them even while far from them. I trust that God will help me minister to them whenever they have needs.\nIn one of the states of our country, Christians are being attacked and killed. Hundreds of Christians have lost their homes and their lives! Furthermore over 300 churches have been burned down. The government has not been taking any serious action to stop this persecution because the government is anti-Christian. Many believe that the government is actually behind this persecution. Last month all the churches of our city held a peaceful rally in support of our brothers and sisters of that state. We also signed a petition which is being sent to the President appealing for action to be taken.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that I may continue to be mightily used by God. Please pray for my health, as I depend on medications to prevent me from sneezing nonstop every morning due to some kind of allergies Please pray that all the students God has entrusted to me will grow in their faith and be prepared for the future ministry that God has in store them. Pray for the upcoming rally in my city organized by all the churches to help the Gospel be preached and heard by many. God bless,\nPastor 9\n\\* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/called-according-to-his-purpose/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am doing well by God’s grace. Hope you are also doing well! Thank you for your prayers and support!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy God’s grace our Bible college is nearing the end of this semester. We have only a few weeks left. The students are doing great as they continue to study and learn the Word of God!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG-20231018-WA0001.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/IMG-20231018-WA0001.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month I was invited to the southern Bible College campus to teach. They had just begun their semester. I taught the book of Genesis. Although the students came from Christian families, most of them did not really know their Bible. So, I was grateful to God to have the opportunity to teach them about Creation. Even though the students did not know much about the stories and doctrines, I could see the eagerness in them to learn. That is why they were there.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Called According to His Purpose - Pastor 9 Update November 2023"},{"content":"Dear friends and family,\nI often question myself wondering, will I ever go on the field? Will I be able to complete the call the Lord has placed on my life? Well, we are getting one step closer to that goal of going to Japan. First let me start with some life updates: Lydia and I finally have a date for our wedding, I got a new job at St. Jude Hospital, and we are going on a vision tour!\nI’M GETTING MARRIED!\nWe are getting married on January 6th of next year, only a month away! It’s been stressful getting prepared for the big day. To balance our school at our church, plus job, and preparing for a vision tour has been a lot to handle. Through it all we have amazing friends and family helping us every step of the way. I am so blessed by each and every one of you who helped us get to the place we are right now.\nNEW JOB!\nI am still working at Starbucks for two days, but I have begun working as an administrator for the radiology department at St Jude. I’ve learned so much already and the doctors have taken me under their wings and helped me to understand all the medical terms to succeed at my job. Typically, my job consists of sending out results to other doctors’ offices and taking calls. I find that the job has allowed me to connect to others in a way I couldn’t before at Starbucks due to the fast-paced environment there.\nNEW YEAR NEW CHAPTERS\nThe internship is now progressing into missions training School. When I say school from here on, I mean the missions training I am doing in the church. For this new year I am overseeing the booth ministry. I will be looking to work myself out of the job if you will. My prayer is that I can take the things I’ve been given and give them to other people. The pastors have given me so much opportunity to grow in leadership. I am so thankful for the leadership’s heart wanting to see me grow in Christ.\nNext, I am beginning the hard road of learning language and continuing my studies in the Scriptures. Lydia and I are going to be using an online program called “Japanese Pod 101,” it’s a program that works you through modules of Japanese. I have to be honest I am quite intimidated by learning Japanese, I barely learned English, and I am taking on another language. It’s quite daunting to say the least.\nNew Things Same Calling\nAnd finally, the Japan trip. We will be going for a week at the end of January. It isn’t a very long time but the prayer is that it is only the start. Our goal there is to go and see the land that the Lord has called us to and get solid confirmation. We are looking to also grow relationships there as well. We have a few connections in Osaka. We hope to partner with them as well a possible connection in Okinawa. We hope to get a taste of the culture and learn how we can be planted there.\nIn conclusion, there is so much opportunity the Lord has given to be trained up and to prepare to be sent out. Please be praying for Lydia and me as we prepare for a new chapter in our lives and continue in the school that the Lord would allow us to grow in His ways and be sent out.\nThank you for all your support and prayers, we couldn’t do it without each of you. You guys are such a blessing.\nGeoff Hamano\nPrayer requests:\nTo grow in relationship with the Lord To be fully funded for the Japan trip To learn the Japanese language well ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-day-weve-all-been-waiting-for-hamano-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI often question myself wondering, will I ever go on the field? Will I be able to complete the call the Lord has placed on my life? Well, we are getting one step closer to that goal of going to Japan. First let me start with some life updates: Lydia and I finally have a date for our wedding, I got a new job at St. Jude Hospital, and we are going on a vision tour!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Day We’ve All Been Waiting For - Hamano Update November 2023"},{"content":"Skateboarding, dancing, and sharing the love of Jesus at school assemblies. Hosting a missions conference that connected and encouraged over 400 people from South America and all over the world. “Invading” a jungle city with eighty people, to make some noise and help our friends plant a Bible-teaching, grace-filled church in an area full of apostasy and loosely practiced religious traditions.\nThose are a few things we’ve been graced with doing since we’ve written you last! The end of September and all of October were eventful to say the least. Please enjoy photos and captions of some highlights.\nRacquell, Amalia, and I are grateful for your prayers and partnership in this work in Peru. On a personal level, I feel very humbled to be part of this work. Paul said of himself and his ministry, “To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ…” (Ephesians 3:8 NKJV). I resonate with Paul on this, it is truly a GRACE that God has given us to be His ambassadors and specifically to be used in these capacities in South America.\nBelow are some pictures of our time in Moyobamba. It took a 19-hour bus ride and some motion sickness medicine to get us there.\nFor many South Americans, Jesus was “a good man.” Others will even acknowledge His death on the cross as payment for their sin. But many, when I ask them, do not know where they are going when they die. Or they believe they will be in heaven because their “good outweighs their bad,” essentially. The name of Jesus is known, but He is often believed to be only an option, or a piece of salvation. He is even known as “Savior,” to some, but not as “Lord” to most. Our family, then, gets to represent to others what it means to follow Jesus, to be His disciples, and to know and walk with Him. It is a joy to share the love of Jesus here.\nJust some of our friends who came for the Comisionado missions conference in Trujillo. It was a weekend full of great teaching focusing on John 20:21 and fellowship with friends from all over South America and other parts of the world. It was a big task, but we had so much help putting this conference on!\nIt’s our prayer that souls be saved and strengthened through the fellowship of our local church, Calvary Trujillo. And that leaders be trained, discipled, and sent out of CBI Peru—planting Bible-teaching churches all over South America and beyond. In just these past four short months living in Trujillo, we have gotten to see some of that. We have not been alone. Thank you for praying with us and for us, for encouraging us in the ministry God has graced us with, for supporting us financially, and also for those who have come and helped us.\nOur prayer for YOU, and those we serve in South America, is really what Paul prayed for the Ephesians. We encourage you to read and pray Ephesians 3:14-21 with us, that the love of God in Christ would be KNOWN and STRENGTHEN MANY.\nHere are some specific ways to pray for us:\nDivine appointments as we connect with locals here in Trujillo. Wisdom as we house hunt for a new place to live. We’ve been sharing a house with two other couples for a few months, but need to find a new place by January. Our prayer is to rent or buy a home or apartment with enough space for our family, and another married couple. Continued financial provision as we prepare for things like appliances and a car. Boldness and courage to press on. Wisdom as Racquell and I learn how to be parents of a one-year old, living in Peru. We love you all so much and thank you for partnering with us. Through your prayers and generous financial support, you have made this ministry possible for us, and we want to let you know that this is the fruit of your labor as well. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support, you can do so by clicking on the financial button below or mailing your support check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203\nYorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note “Stratton” in memo*\nTo check out the ministry we are serving with, please click the link below or find us on Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube:\nCalvaryperu.com\nBy the grace of Jesus and for His glory,\nThe Stratton Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gracias-for-this-grace-stratton-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSkateboarding, dancing, and sharing the love of Jesus at school assemblies. Hosting a missions conference that connected and encouraged over 400 people from South America and all over the world. “Invading” a jungle city with eighty people, to make some noise and help our friends plant a Bible-teaching, grace-filled church in an area full of apostasy and loosely practiced religious traditions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThose are a few things we’ve been graced with doing since we’ve written you last! The end of September and all of October were eventful to say the least. Please enjoy photos and captions of some highlights.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gracias for this GRACE! - Stratton Update November 2023"},{"content":"It is great to be back from an extremely fruitful trip to the Middle East and North Africa! I wanted to extend my thanks to you all for praying for Isaac and I. Our families were loved and taken care of while we were away, and our time in the two countries we went to was much needed.\nI’ll be honest, I really don’t like traveling. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love getting to see our missionaries on the field, but this trip included 8 airplanes, with flight lengths ranging from 1 hour to 11 hours; we barely made our final connecting flight home (unlike our luggage, which had to be shipped to us the next day!); and, as is typical, I got a stomach sickness in the middle of our trip that hindered some of the ministry we planned on. But when I think of what our missionaries go through and what they have given up to get the gospel to the unreached, those things all become minor inconveniences.\nBecause it is illegal to be missionaries in the countries we went to, we can’t say where we were or show pictures of our workers’ faces (so below, you’ll get a few food pics, one of my favorite parts of traveling!). But the time spent with them was so valuable– sharing their struggles and spiritual burdens with them, helping them develop vision and plans for their ministry moving forward, and just giving them a little taste of home that was refreshing to their souls. Thank you so much for your prayers and for sending me!\nWe would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/were-back-garcia-family-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt is great to be back from an extremely fruitful trip to the Middle East and North Africa! I wanted to extend my thanks to you all for praying for Isaac and I. Our families were loved and taken care of while we were away, and our time in the two countries we went to was much needed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’ll be honest, I really don’t like traveling. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love getting to see our missionaries on the field, but this trip included 8 airplanes, with flight lengths ranging from 1 hour to 11 hours; we barely made our final connecting flight home (unlike our luggage, which had to be shipped to us the next day!); and, as is typical, I got a stomach sickness in the middle of our trip that hindered some of the ministry we planned on. But when I think of what our missionaries go through and what they have given up to get the gospel to the unreached, those things all become minor inconveniences.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We’re Back! - Garcia Family Update November 2023"},{"content":" It sounds pretty ironic doesn’t it? Oxymoron to be exact- broken and filled. Those two shouldn’t go together in a sentence. But that is exactly how I felt during this outreach. As a team, we took over the church in Los Angeles- Hope Central Watts. Due to few laborers, the pastors and leaders are always busy in ministry and don’t have the chance to sit back, enjoy worship, the message, or fellowship with one another. My assignment for the day was to translate. If you’ve kept up with my past newsletters from my time at School of Missions, I was often translating, so this wasn’t anything new for me.\nHowever, it was very different this time. I mentioned a couple times that while in Mexico, I was highly dependent on the Spirit of God to move through me. I had never publicly done translations, let alone one with the Word of God! But for some reason this morning on Sunday the 29th, I came into it a little over confident. I felt prepared and well equipped from having to do it frequently over the past couple of months, that I didn’t feel the need to seek God about it. It was during worship however, during Good Good Father by Chris Tomlin, that I just broke down. I couldn’t stand. I started to weep and weep. In that moment I didn’t know what was happening- all I could see was me, a vessel, being broken down. Completely shattered into pieces. I leaned into the feeling and I surrendered.\nI remember clearly in that moment seeing God as my Good Father. He was reminding me to fully rely on Him at all times no matter what the circumstances are. And to be honest with you, as I was with God, I wasn’t fully dependent on Him then. I was leaning on my own strength, my own ability, my own experiences. But God, in His abounding grace, kept showing me that I am of better use as a broken vessel for Him, to then be filled with HIS Spirit and used for HIS glory. I was reminded to take my eyes off myself and instead have a heart of worship and fix my eyes on Jesus. He is the only one worthy of praise! As Paul said, if there is one thing I can boast in, I will boast in Jesus Christ and His finished work on the cross! “He who glory, let him glory in the Lord,” (2 Corinthians 10:17).\nThus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord.”\nJEREMIAH 9:23-24\nMini Mission Field\nAs a part of the Missions Training Program, we also get the chance to evangelize at college campuses and this month we went as a team to California State University Fullerton. While walking around I noticed everyone seemed to be in their own little world. AirPods in. Heads down. Eyes locked in on phone screens. Everyone was very much alive, but yet felt and looked dead. It gave me zombie vibes. It was heartbreaking to see but that was our mini mission field for the day and I was up for the challenge.\nMy friend Alani and I walked around campus for a bit. We had a couple of good chats about life after death, testimonies of some leaving the Catholic Church, being agnostic, as well as some discussions with Atheists who are to no surprise, Psychology majors. After a couple of hours, I was scouting people to see who would be up for an interview and there was a boy sitting by himself at the lunch tables. I mustered up the courage to talk to him and here is a short clip of my conversation with Nicolas- Nicolas and I at University of California Fullerton\nThere is a difference between religion and relationship. For most religions, including some Christians, there is a list of things that you believe you have to do in order to gain favor and receive love from God. Religion is boasting in the things that I’ve done, that I can do, and that I will do. It is telling God, “look at all I’ve done for you, am I accepted now? Can you love me now?” A true relationship, will cause a change from within- a metamorphosis. Jesus Christ changed that all for me. He gave me a new life.\nWe are saved by grace, through faith alone (Ephesians 2:8). If you believe in your heart and confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, you will be saved (Romans 10:9). All by faith, no dead works. May we not get entangled with the spirit of religion, of the flesh, of works, but rather continue to run towards the throne of grace and there find true freedom.\nA God of grace makes His invisible grace visible by sending His people of grace to reflect His grace to people who need grace.\nPAUL DAVID TRIPP\nFully Trust in God\nThis past week and a half was busy as we got to attend the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference, as well as the Calvary Chapel Association Pastors and Leaders Conference. They were both truly a blessing and we all left feeling refreshed and encouraged! Half way through the conference, my friend Michelle and I had a chance to speak with a Missionary couple from Calvary Chapel Kochi in Kerala, India. The Pastor, Anthony d’Silva, and his wife, Hyacinth, were born in India and were raised Catholic- all thanks to Thomas, one of the disciples, for obeying Jesus’ command to go into the world and share about the Kingdom of God! I was excited to hear that there is a little bit of light in this dark part of the 10/40 window.\nIt all started one evening in 1997, while working in Jordan, Anthony was invited to a prayer event. For the first time in his life, even as a Catholic, Anthony opened up the Word of God and it started to speak to him. He encountered God in this moment and surrendered his life to Jesus. Seeing his heart for God- a man offered to send them to the USA to study at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta, California. It was here that Anthony and Hyacinth decided to take a leap of faith. He quit his job of many years, left their country and family behind, and fully trusted in God. They stayed in California for two years and then went back to India to teach and preach the Bible. As new missionaries, the first two years was indeed challenging for them. They had no support and were living off of their savings. It wasn’t until one day, Calvary Bible Fellowship reached out to them and decided to fully fund and support them. Since then, they have been faithful to their ministry in India for 21 years and have been happily married now for 46 years. This story truly touched my heart and I hope that it touches yours as well!\nPraise Reports\nOfficially more than one month into Missions School- it has been filled with everlasting memories, beautiful experiences and also trials that have been strengthening! We are all filled and recharged from both the Missions and Pastors \u0026amp; Leaders Conferences! Got to see friends and family from my home church, it is always a blessing! Prayer Requests\nPlease pray for Hope Central Watts- for more laborers to serve in the church and for many more people to come to their new location! Please pray for Nicolas and his best friend Eric- as he is dealing with heavy depression and suicidal thoughts. Please keep Missionaries in your prayers- in South Asia, Middle East, North Africa- any place the Lord puts on your heart. Please pray for our trip down to Tijuana this Saturday with Calvary South OC- I will be sharing my testimony with the Youth Chaplains! Thank you friends for taking the time out of your day and read what the Lord is doing in my life! He truly is SO good and deserves ALL the praises and glory! It is always a hard prayer to pray, but probably my favorite one to pray- I pray for God to check our hearts and may it break for what breaks His. I pray, if you are broken right now, that you may know that God can fill you and restore you. May we surrender all to Him!\nFor you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;\nyou will not be pleased with a burnt offering.\nThe sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;\na broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.\nPSALM 51:16-17\nMay His grace abound in your Spirit \u0026lt;3\n– Mayra Alejandra\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-broken-spirit-filled-vessel-solorzano-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/brokenvessel.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt sounds pretty ironic doesn’t it? Oxymoron to be exact- broken and filled. Those two shouldn’t go together in a sentence. But that is exactly how I felt during this outreach. As a team, we took over the church in Los Angeles- Hope Central Watts. Due to few laborers, the pastors and leaders are always busy in ministry and don’t have the chance to sit back, enjoy worship, the message, or fellowship with one another. My assignment for the day was to translate. If you’ve kept up with my past newsletters from my time at School of Missions, I was often translating, so this wasn’t anything new for me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Broken \u0026 Spirit-Filled Vessel - Solorzano Update November 2023"},{"content":" “Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”\n1 Timothy 6:12 (NKJV)\n“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”\nPhilippians 3:12-14\nTime can move so quickly! I am so thankful that the Spirit of God does an amazing work within His people and that we are ever being changed and molded into the likeness of our Savior. Day by day He is making us new, and I look forward to seeing what He has in store for tomorrow! No matter where you find yourself today, especially as we move toward eternity, make Christ your aim! Run after Him with the strength He will provide! Time is short, let’s be about His business!\nPeru (Part 2)\nFrom power outages, to worship nights, to church planting, my time in Peru was a whirlwind! CBI Kauai was also there with us. Between all of us, we had a lot to do, and the Lord gave us the wisdom and ability to get it all done; and with time to spare. A few of the guys and I from the Saving Grace team were working on getting the new church banner up for Calvary Trujillo. We had a lot of help from Calvary Trujillo students as well as Kauai. This thing was huge! Almost 10 feet high by 50 feet long! After that I helped with the new coffee shop that was set up in the patio area (right under the overhang we helped install this past May). I even got to do some cabinet-work. The Lord knew what we needed and He helped us to get it all done!\nEach morning a pastor would share a morning devotional with us to start the day. These devos were a great preparation for what came with the conference. One of the devos that stuck out to me the most was on Acts 20:24 where Paul writes, “but none of these things move me…” He knew he was headed to Jerusalem to be bound and he continued anyway. What moves me? This has been a constant reflection since I heard it, and the Lord has been working away on me that I might be able to say as well, “but none of these things move me.” Please pray that I would be so rooted in Jesus.\nGetting to serve there alongside the students, staff, and the other short term teams was a huge blessing. Seeing their hard work, tenacity, and joy in the face of many obstacles and trials was an incredible thing. Be encouraged church, there are a lot of young people that want to see this world affected for the Lord. He’s doing an incredible work, and the growth that is taking place is a beautiful thing to see.\nWhat’s next?\nI am excited to say that this January, Lord willing, I will be heading to Peru to serve alongside Calvary Trujillo and CBI Peru. I have an incredible opportunity to serve and learn the ropes of helping run a Bible College. An opportunity to disciple and help raise up the next generation of church planters, pastors, missionaries, and to see them sent out wherever the Lord calls them. I am excited to see all that the Lord has in store, and to be able to grow in the call He’s placed on my life. Jesus is coming soon! Let’s be busy and about His business! This whole world needs to hear and I won’t be satisfied, I won’t stop, until I’ve walked in all that He has for me this side of eternity! It’s not just me going, but the Lord has stirred in the heart of a good friend to come as well. Please pray that we would stand firm and be faithful in all that He has set before us.\nHow to Get Involved\nThank you for partnering with me in prayer! It has been a long time in waiting for the Lord to reveal what’s next, and I’m excited to go! This season, in many ways, has been surreal and bittersweet as I will miss my family (biological and spiritually speaking) a whole lot. This life is a vapor and where Jesus leads I must follow! Would you please continue to pray for me? To be faithful, to fall more in love with Jesus, and to make disciples well? Would you pray for me that I would follow His leading in all things, and that His Spirit would provide the wisdom, strength, and grace needed for all that He is calling me to? I need His strength, His guidance, and His wisdom. I know He will provide all that is needed, and I look forward to seeing how He does it!\nIf you would like to get involved by partnering with me financially, there’s a link below to help make that possible. Thank you for your support!\nIn Christ,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/are-you-ready-part-2-voisin-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/C9FD660F-036D-4CA6-8435-BAD30DAF3245-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 Timothy 6:12 (NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Are You Ready: Part 2 - Voisin Update October 2023"},{"content":" “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.”\n2 Corinthians 9:8\nA big highlight of last month was the team that came out from Maryland. The brother of our director’s wife and several members of his church came and taught \u0026ldquo;Resolving Everyday Conflict\u0026rdquo; to our staff and students. Everyone I talked to said it was one of the most practical and helpful seminars they had ever attended. It was a treat, too, to watch the team interact with the 180 widows in our widows program during the conference they hosted at Calvary Chapel Gulu. Some of these women have been my personal friends for years, and it was precious to see them blessed by another member of the body of Christ. It is proof of Christ’s love when people come from thousands of miles away to simply wash the feet of someone they have never met, give them gifts, or encourage them with a good meal and a special message. It always fills my heart! I pray that God allows more and more people to come and see what He is doing here and what their partnership with us is doing in His name.\nAs we prepare to return to the US from Dec-Jan 15th, it is easy for me to feel overwhelmed in the planning process. I think of the calendar from our last visit and remember that every day was full of doctor’s appointments and travel arrangements, lunch dates, and dinner plans, names, phone numbers, and reminders for everything. In the midst of it all, it didn’t feel too busy because God gave enough strength for each moment as it came. Those plans seemed to come about on their own somehow. But now, as I sit, with three weeks before our flight, there are mostly empty days on the calendar. There are so many people whose names I want to write on those empty days.\nIf we haven’t arranged a time to see you when we are in Colorado during December or Nebraska in early January, would you let us know some dates that would work for you? We would love to meet up for coffee or a meal to catch up, just Matt or I if that works best, or even with the kids in tow. We don’t want to miss a chance to see you face to face, to hear how you are, to encourage you and be encouraged. In these troubling times, we need each other.\nPlease pray with us that: The final class of the year would go well, and each student would have a peaceful break over Christmas.\nOur travel to the USA would go smoothly.\nLuke and Hannah’s wedding plans would come together as they work it out from here, and the day’s events would go smoothly.\nWe would be able to visit with our families and each of our supporters.\nIn Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2 Corinthians 9:8\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/20231013%5F130052-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA big highlight of last month was the team that came out from Maryland. The brother of our director’s wife and several members of his church came and taught \u0026ldquo;Resolving Everyday Conflict\u0026rdquo; to our staff and students. Everyone I talked to said it was one of the most practical and helpful seminars they had ever attended. It was a treat, too, to watch the team interact with the 180 widows in our widows program during the conference they hosted at Calvary Chapel Gulu. Some of these women have been my personal friends for years, and it was precious to see them blessed by another member of the body of Christ. It is proof of Christ’s love when people come from thousands of miles away to simply wash the feet of someone they have never met, give them gifts, or encourage them with a good meal and a special message. It always fills my heart! I pray that God allows more and more people to come and see what He is doing here and what their partnership with us is doing in His name.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update - October 2023"},{"content":" “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven”\nEcclesiastes 3:1\nDear Friends and Family,\nThis past month has been the definition of this passage in Ecclesiastes for us as a ministry and as a family. Let me start with the ministry.\nFor the ministry it was both a time of planting and a time of reaping. It started with the arrival of Paul. Paul is a Nigerian by birth but has spent much of his life in Russia. It was in Russia that he got born again and began to serve in the ministry. Recently Russia revoked his visa and he returned to Nigeria. Missions was still on his heart and he came to visit FRM’s ministries in Uganda and South Sudan. After spending some time at both, he will be helping out the ministry at Canaan Farms in Uganda.\nNot too long after Paul arrived we received Dmitry and Mark. Mark has been serving alongside FRM for a very long time and Dmitry is only 20 years old. Dmitry feels very called to teaching God’s Word at this young age. After spending some time with him, Brian gave him the opportunity to share at Arise. It was Dmitry’s first time teaching in English. He is Russian. The teaching was amazing and what really made it amazing is that his English appeared to have an Ugandan accent. This made it clearer for the English speakers and easier for the translator to understand when translating. I believe God has great things in store for this young man.\nMark and Dmitry were here to be part of a larger team that was coming to teach at a conference in Masindi and at the chaplain refresher course in South Sudan. I have to say these men were used by God to help me in all the preparations and work that I had to get done to host so many people at once. I am so grateful for them and the timing in which they arrived.\nA week after Mark and Dmitry arrived we received a team of 27. It is one of the largest teams we have had. They were divided into 3 groups, 2 that would begin in South Sudan for the chaplain refresher and 1 that would begin in Masindi for the Pastor/ Teacher conference. The first night they were all at the guest house, Brian and I held a cultural debrief with them and shared about security, health, and what to expect with the differences in culture. The team was very responsive and asked a lot of questions which is always a good thing. We prayed for the many ministries they’d be doing and for the opportunities that would arise as a result of those ministries.\nThe teams set off, with two of them flying on MAF to South Sudan and one driving a van to Masindi. The team in Masindi held a pastor/leader conference. Many Pastors from all around the area came. The women on the team held a women’s conference as well. Some of the team served at a new church plant in the village. They were a great encouragement to all that came. In Sudan, the team ministered to the chaplains who have been serving on the front lines and all around South Sudan. Some of the team members were able to interview and get updates from the chaplains. There were over 300 chaplains as well as other local church leaders who attended the refresher conference. The women on the team held a women’s conference as well. About halfway during their time in Africa they switched places before returning to Kampala.\nThis now brings me to another part of Ecclesiastes… A time to be born and a time to die. It is with great sorrow and tears that I write that we have lost Brian’s brother Augustine Serugga. He was more than Brian’s brother but Brian’s best friend, right hand man, the children’s closest uncle—bringer of weekend treats. He was 9 years younger than Brian and healthy so it is beyond shocking and painful. He was at our house on a Tuesday helping with food for the team returning.\nOn Wednesday he did not come for mid-week service because he was not well. The doctor said he had malaria and needed to rest. On Thursday morning he said he was already feeling much better. On Thursday evening after we sent off all of the team, we received the call that he had died. He leaves behind a widow and 4 daughters. He was so involved in every detail of our life, church, the parents, business, and so many others\u0026rsquo; lives. We know the Lord is in control but pray as the gap he leaves is huge and the pain is great. Pray for Brian as he grieves. He saw him as the next generation he was raising up, not just as a brother but as his child in Christ. On the day of the burial, the wife of Brian’s other brother, Fred, gave birth to a baby girl.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us and for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. Please pray for Brian and his family as they go through this very painful time of mourning. Pray for Augustine’s widow and daughters. Pray for wisdom and guidance for the way forward. Pray for the team that was just here. Pray that the Lord blesses them for their ministry. Also many of the team got malaria while here and 2 got very ill once returning home. Please pray for the health of the team. Pray for all of the people who were reached by the team. Pray for those who came to know the Lord and for those who have known the Lord a long time to have been refreshed. Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eEcclesiastes 3:1\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month has been the definition of this passage in Ecclesiastes for us as a ministry and as a family. Let me start with the ministry.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor the ministry it was both a time of planting and a time of reaping. It started with the arrival of Paul. Paul is a Nigerian by birth but has spent much of his life in Russia. It was in Russia that he got born again and began to serve in the ministry. Recently Russia revoked his visa and he returned to Nigeria. Missions was still on his heart and he came to visit FRM’s ministries in Uganda and South Sudan. After spending some time at both, he will be helping out the ministry at Canaan Farms in Uganda.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update - November 2023"},{"content":"Dear Family in Christ,\nThere has been a standard set by our Lord Jesus Christ that we must love as He has loved the disciples. Daily it has been our constant prayer to love one another, care for another, encourage one another and, if God wills, die for a greater cause in serving the brethren. Below are a few testimonies of how God has graciously allowed us to visit our brothers at various mission fields to join together in their new journey, joy, suffering and tribulation. Brace yourself to see what it is like to travel with us for about 2,000 kms around in two states.\n1st Stop - Two Villages that are Strongly Anti-Christian\nThese two strongly anti-Christian villages have attacked many who have come there. One time they even plotted to catch and attack us and almost beat us! Both villages warned us not to come and talk about Jesus. In the past, they burned a pastor alive when he came to preach the Gospel! SINCE THEN NO CHRISTIAN HAS DARED TO GO THERE AND TALK ABOUT JESUS AGAIN. They also burn Bibles. So it has remained unreached since then. I have already told in a couple of my letters how God led me to that village to begin His work there. No government, no religious authorities, no skeptics, no scientists, no philosophers, or no book burners have ever been able to stop the work of the Word of God.\nPraise God, we have now started a Bible Study in that village, and 4 people are attending! They come very secretly, while hiding their Bibles. I even have to hide my Bible from anyone seeing it when I go there. Please pray that everyone in these two villages comes to know Jesus. Yes, they rejected Him, but one day He will be the Cornerstone.\nIn my last newsletter, I shared about a woman named K* who is 23 years old. Her husband has caused her a lot of suffering. Because he would not allow her to have the food she needed during her pregnancy, she became so malnourished and full of infection that she had to be hospitalized. After she conceived, because her husband would not allow her to eat what she needed, she actually became so hungry that she ate sand. She was readmitted to the hospital. The doctor said her life was in danger because her womb was so infected. Our church tried to help her all through this difficult time while praying for her and strengthening her with the Word of God. God amazingly healed her form from all of the infection just as He promised in His Word! Now she has been blessed with a beautiful baby girl! She has come to believe in Jesus and has accepted Him as her personal Savior! She asked to have her baby dedicated during our church service. I am so blessed to see how happy her family is now. We are even having our Bible study in her home each week in this village!\n2nd Stop—An Ancient City\nThis Ancient City is recognized as one of the best heritage cities of our country. It is 150 km away from the state capital. It is also the second largest city in the state. It took nearly 4 hours for us to get there. This is where one of our dear brothers— Pastor 7 labours and serves in the region. He received us with utmost love and affection, the love of Christ was reigning our hearts. This mission field is scores of villages where the Gospel of Christ has never been preached. All these villages are heavily involved in witchcraft, black magic and sorcery. Our hearts leaped out for joy upon hearing the great things the Lord has been doing through this humble servant.\nWe then were introduced to a sister in Christ who gave her life for the service of the Gospel. Though she’s in her 40’s, she never ceases to take every single opportunity to share the Gospel with anyone and everyone. She has been accused, questioned and mistreated for being a witness of Christ by fanatical groups. Nothing stops her from spreading the Good News of our Lord. Even though she is older than most people who attend college, she is even ready to join our institute to study God\u0026rsquo;s Word. God-willing she will join us next semester in unpacking the treasures of the Word. We then bid them farewell until next time. It was a time of great importance for all of us because we were reminded that we are not alone in this great task the Lord has given us. He is there but we need each other too.\n3rd Stop- An Unreached Village Area Where Our Friend was Sent to Minister\nSeventy-five percent of the people in this district are tribal. Thus the majority of city people will communicate in a tribal language. This language has no script and is sustained on spoken words. This is literally a no-man’s land. Traveling to the area, it was so distressing to not see even one Christian community. All these communities, villages, and people are untouched by the Gospel and have no witness to the power of grace. It is to this unreached people group that our brother C* has been called. Brother C* is a man of faith, prayer and servitude. We were more than happy to come alongside him in word and deed.\nWe then visited a school where children are being taught English and mathematics everyday. It was a joy to see the kids grow— providing schooling is one of the doors of outreach to the villages. The village of K* needs to be under strong consideration. There’s a temple. There is also a stone they worship. Every year a feast is celebrated by offering goats and sheep in front of this stone. The blood is spilled throughout the village land. Sometimes even human children are sacrificed without people knowing about it. May Lord help in each and every possible way to expand the mission in and around these villages.\n4th Stop: Serving in the Village with Brother A*\nAnother sudden blow hit one of our dear brothers, A*. A few weeks ago, brother A*, was on his way to a nearby railway station to drop off his brother-in-law. When they were about to do a J-turn, an out of control bus (that had been hit by a car), came from the other road and hit this bike. Immediately, they all were thrown through the air and fell next to the road.\nBrother A*’s leg was heavily injured and broken. Without any delay, he was taken to a nearby hospital and doctors conducted a medical evaluation of his leg. He was then taken to the surgery department. His leg was fractured and he was told not to walk for another two months.\nAll throughout this period, God was protecting A*’s life. We were so glad to see and encourage our brother who has been affected with a sudden accident. While visited with A*, his father gave a testimony of God’s goodness over A*’s life. Brother A* had not smiled for a long time, until we came to see him. We do not always know how God works and even sometimes miraculously functions His will. Nonetheless, all things work together for good for those who love Him. A lesson can be learned from the words of Jesus Christ, that He\u0026rsquo;s the greatest friend who has laid down his own life for his friends.\n5th Stop - Sent Out to Serve God in the Village\nBrother AV* is serving in our neighboring state, where God has called him. It was a great joy to see him working hard and teaching people the Word of God. I was able to see his ministry and got an opportunity to teach in his church. He is serving in a village where there are a lot of idol worshipers and black magic. Please pray for him and for the ministry.\nWomen\u0026rsquo;s Ministry and Conference: My Wife\u0026rsquo;s Update\nHello dear family! I thank God for His grace and mercy over all of us. I am really thankful to God for His amazing grace in moving forward with women’s ministry. Thank you for your prayers and support! It is such a great joy to serve the women in and outside the church! I am learning and teaching the Word of God to them. Please be in prayer for me to be more equipped to teach women by learning and obeying God\u0026rsquo;s Word increasingly. Also, please pray for the special needs of many of the women who are single parents.\nGod put it in my heart to teach and have fellowship with them every other month. Through this they can learn, grow and be strengthened to endure the suffering they endure in their daily lives. Most of the sisters that are married have husbands who beat and harass them. They are domestically abused for choosing Christ and attending fellowship. Even though the cost is high, the Lord is strengthening them to take a stand for the truth; and to lead their families to saving faith.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nPlease pray for my family and I to grow more in the Word of God, and that we will be in good health. Pray for the Bible college students and the staff. Pray for K* and her baby Pray for our upcoming outreach in the month of December Pray for our students who are going to be graduating this semester to obey God\u0026rsquo;s calling on their lives. Pray for a good means of transportation for Brother C* and Brother A, since travel is very difficult as there are no transportation facilities. Pray for our brothers who are sent out to serve in the different areas where God has called them. Pray for Sister R* and Sister A*s\u0026rsquo; families. Pray that we find a new place to move our campus as our landlord told us to vacate this place. Pray for the construction of our ministerial building. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s will in our upcoming state elections in November. Thank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/as-i-have-loved-you-pastor-6-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Family in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere has been a standard set by our Lord Jesus Christ that we must love as He has loved the disciples. Daily it has been our constant prayer to love one another, care for another, encourage one another and, if God wills, die for a greater cause in serving the brethren. Below are a few testimonies of how God has graciously allowed us to visit our brothers at various mission fields to join together in their new journey, joy, suffering and tribulation. Brace yourself to see what it is like to travel with us for about 2,000 kms around in two states.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\"As I Have Loved You\" - Pastor 6 Update November 2023"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Partners, and Leaders!\nOnce again I want to thank our Lord Jesus Christ that God has kept me and my father alive until now, so I am sending you our update.\nBeaten and Mocked for Believing in the Lord Jesus, but Still Preached the Gospel\n2 weeks ago, when we were going to a village to attend a Bible study as we do daily, some men followed us. They found out that our Christian fellowship was going on in a certain village. After we left the village, those men, along with about 100 other people went to the village and vandalized it. They forced the people to sing Hindu devotional songs. Many of the people who were new believers sang the songs.\nOne of believers there was a woman named R*. I have mentioned her many times to you in my newsletters and prayer requests. She was beaten and abused by the people who vandalized the village. Still, she did not bow down. Instead, she preached the Gospel in front of the bigoted people. The Hindu fanatics made fun of the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ and threatened R* with death.\nThey are pressurizing the people of the village to build a Hindu temple there, saying that everyone should worship in it and that those who will not worship in it will be killed. Long ago, our state was called the \u0026ldquo;graveyard of Christians\u0026rdquo;. There has been peace here for a few years. Now, we are concerned that our state is going to become the graveyard of Christians again. Please pray that God gives protection to me, my parents, and my wife and that the church family becomes stronger in their faith.\n1 Day of Each Month Is Dedicated to Intercessory Prayer from Morning to Evening!\nThank God that He is truly a gracious and loving Lord and provides for our every need. God is advancing all of us day by day in the knowledge of His Word. He is burdening us to pray for other sisters and brothers. I always thank God that He has given me such a church and for supporters who are always attentive to our needs and praying for us day and night. That is why we all decided to find one day in each month when we could all gather together from morning to evening and for intercessory prayer.\nAll of us spend time together in prayer and worship of the Lord from morning till evening on the first Friday of every month. In the evening we have dinner together. Because of this, people in our church are growing stronger in their faith and learning to depend on God while also praying for others. It feels great to hear their prayer requests and that God has given them the burden of preaching and spreading the news of Jesus. Many people from the church are going to other villages and sharing the news and bringing new believers to our church. We are also praying for them day and night and always encouraging them with the Word.\nPraise Points:\nPraise God that He has kept me safe. Praise be to God! A wonderful work has been done through your prayers. In my last update, I asked for prayer for a lady named P*. Her husband had kept her under house arrest, but through your prayers she has started coming back to worship! Praise be to God! S* was suffering from a very strange disease in which his hands would burst on their own and bleed. Because of this, the people of his village despised him. God has now cured him about 90%. He is doing much better and is doing electrical work. Praise God, the people of our church are deeply understanding God\u0026rsquo;s Word and persevering in the face of persecution. Prayer Requests:\nPlease pray for the safety of R*. Pray that God will protect her from all of the anti-Christian people who attacked her and her village. Please pray that our Sunday fellowship does not interfere with our Friday Bible study fellowship. Please pray that the logistical problem with the banks be solved as soon as possible. Please pray for me, my wife and my family. Everyone is suffering from a cold and fever. May God heal us. Please pray for P*. She has a skin problem and has been undergoing treatment for about 2 years but is not getting cured. Please pray for R*, he has been paralyzed for about 22 years and has been coming to our church for about 15 years. May God heal him. Also pray for A*. He has also been coming to our church for about 22 years but he is mentally handicapped. Please pray about our outreach plans for this coming December. Like we do every year, we want to do a lot of outreach to tell the Gospel in the areas where the name of Jesus Christ has not reached. We currently have about 1,500 New Testaments. We hope to distribute them, show the Jesus movie on projectors in rural areas, distribute blankets to the poor and widows, etc. If it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, please pray that He gives us protection and fulfills our every need. Thanks for your prayers, love, and partnership in sharing the Gospel.\nGod bless you!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/is-our-state-becoming-a-graveyard-for-christians-again-pastor-11-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Partners, and Leaders!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnce again I want to thank our Lord Jesus Christ that God has kept me and my father alive until now, so I am sending you our update.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBeaten and Mocked for Believing in the Lord Jesus, but Still Preached the Gospel\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2 weeks ago, when we were going to a village to attend a Bible study as we do daily, some men followed us. They found out that our Christian fellowship was going on in a certain village. After we left the village, those men, along with about 100 other people went to the village and vandalized it. They forced the people to sing Hindu devotional songs. Many of the people who were new believers sang the songs.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Is Our State Becoming a Graveyard for Christians Again? - Pastor 11 Update November 2023"},{"content":" Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.\nMatthew 11:28-30\nAs we endeavor to be more Christ-like in our lives, I’m reminded of Matthew 11:28-30. In those verses Jesus tells us that His burden is light, He doesn’t put a heavy weight upon us. In fact, in Him, we find rest and relief from the weight of this world, it’s the opposite of a burden. As ministers of Christ, how can we emulate Christ by not being a burden on those we’re ministering to? And beyond that, what can I do to relieve the burdens of those around us?\nI often think about this question, not because I view myself as an incredible burden currently, although I’m sure I have my moments, but because of a conversation that we had with a missionary years ago. One of our friends gave us the contact information of a veteran missionary in Japan. He had been there several years, had an effective ministry in Japan and the Philippines, and had come from our denomination, so we were excited to connect with him over the phone. The missionary was great and very helpful, but the first thing he said to us has stuck with me four years later. He said “I hope you come to Japan and serve, but I don’t really have a place for you in my ministry. The minute you land at the airport here in Tokyo, you are a burden to me or my team. I don’t say that to discourage you, it’s just the reality of the situation. You don’t speak the language, you can’t rent an apartment or set up utilities. A national will have to take you to every government appointment and help you accomplish the simplest of tasks.”\nThe Holy Spirit used the bluntness of his comments to teach me a valuable lesson that day. We had not yet started our missions training at SGWM and we didn’t realize how childlike we would become in our adopted culture. We viewed ourselves as a blessing, called of the Lord, coming to help the people of Japan. That conversation cured us of that notion and we decided that night, while talking to each other, to do whatever we could to shorten the amount of time we would burden the Japanese church. We knew we couldn’t eliminate it all together (the law prohibits foreigners from being able to do somethings without a Japanese guarantor), but we could reduce the weight and length that they would have to carry for us. Thus, we began three years of cross-cultural training and internship, language learning, and growing spiritually before we left for Japan. Please pray for us to be a blessing and not a burden in any way to those in Japan.\nPlease also pray about partnering with us financially. Our sending organization has a policy that we have 80% of our monthly needs funded before we can go so that we don’t become a financial burden on the indigenous church. They are wonderful, loving, Christian people, and if they saw we were struggling to make ends meet, they would help us any way they could. We don’t want to ever put them in that situation, but especially not when we’ve just arrived. We are currently at 50% of our monthly needs, so please consider coming alongside us to get to our monthly goal. At the same time, we don’t want to be a burden to any of you, so please give prayerfully and within your means. No amount is too small or insignificant, The Lord will bless and multiply it. If you already partner with us, thank you so much, it means the world to us. It is incredibly humbling to have people believe in your calling and want to get behind you. The ‘financial partner’ link is at the bottom of this letter.\nThank you all for your prayers and support.\nPrayer requests:\nFor the Lord to provide everything we need (financial, visa, moving logistics, etc.) for our move to Japan. For Jeff as he teaches the midweek service at the church. For Alishia’s health and strength as she ministers and works each day. For the team going to Japan with us for a few weeks in January, and the planning of the trip. For Alishia’s US citizenship process, that the timing would work with our departure. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/unburdening-ourselves-root-update-november-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCome to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My \u003cstrong\u003eburden\u003c/strong\u003e is light.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew 11:28-30\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we endeavor to be more Christ-like in our lives, I’m reminded of Matthew 11:28-30. In those verses Jesus tells us that His burden is light, He doesn’t put a heavy weight upon us. In fact, in Him, we find rest and relief from the weight of this world, it’s the opposite of a burden. As ministers of Christ, how can we emulate Christ by not being a burden on those we’re ministering to? And beyond that, what can I do to relieve the burdens of those around us?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Unburdening Ourselves - Root Update October 2023"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn October we had another blessed month here in Mexico. Daniel and Grace are both staying busy studying and working hard in their college courses, and Sarah is once again teaching online school full time this year. On the ministry side of things, we had a full month which included local ministry and missions trips, and in this update, I want to tell you about an amazing mission’s trip God let me take to Las Vegas!\nWe all know what Sin City is famous for– gambling, sin, and plenty of other vices. But it is in this world-famous city that God has called our church in Mexico to reach through our “Sending Hub” ministry of church planting. Last month I was blessed to travel to Las Vegas with my two church planting assistants, Dan Valdez and Mario Medrano, and a future church planter named Jason Toscano.\nWe had multiple destinations planned for this quick three-day visit, and while the slick advertising slogan claims “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” I am happily going to break that rule with this update. I would like to share with you the four main highlights of this fruitful trip!\nOur first stop was visiting my good friend Fernando Serrano and his home Bible study. You might remember that Pastor Fernando and his family served at our church as full-time staff for over ten years. And while Fernando has been serving for a season at an established church while leading their Spanish ministry, the time has now come for Fernando to plant his own church.\nFernando invited me to teach his weekly home Bible study and I was blessed to teach a message out of Mark chapter 2, I titled “Friend of Sinners!” As this is a Spanish Bible study, I was challenged to teach the sermon in Spanish, which I stepped out in faith and did. God really touched our hearts while we were seeing his amazing group of saints. Yes, the worship was amazing and there was an atmosphere full of love, but (best of all) this large house was packed out with over 60 adults preparing to join Pastor Fernando and his upcoming step of faith!\nWe also were blessed to visit my good friend Derek Rosario and his “Fit to Serve” Christian cross fit gym. Derek has become a great friend of mine over the past four years. He has sponsored and pioneered several “Fit to Serve” workout outreaches and classes at not only our church in Rosarito, but also in several of our church plants.\nDerek has also trained up with me through my online church planting course I offer for future American church planters. Derek leads an amazing ministry and the hope is that some day in the future, he can not only plant a church himself out of his gym, but start up a new “Sending Hub” of churches that are planted along with a Christian cross fit gym!\nWhile in Vegas we were also blessed to visit two of our church planting partners. Pastor Gregg Seymour is an amazing friend that pastors Calvary Chapel Red Rocks in Vegas. From the beginning of his church plant five years ago, Gregg has consistently and generously partnered with us through supporting church planting. I was also able to make a new friend, Pastor Wayne Rispalje of Calvary Chapel Sonrise that is the longest tenured Calvary Chapel pastor in Las Vegas, and also a church planting partner with us.\nOur final stop was to see my good friend Rick Arcotta and his ministry. Rick had been beaten up and trashed by different churches over the years, so he decided to start a home Bible study in his garage five years ago. As that home study grew, Rick and I came in contact three years ago and after meeting and talking, he asked me to be his spiritual covering as he moved forward. In response, I gave Rick a bunch of things that I needed him to accomplish if I was to be his pastor and for his home study to develop into one of our church plants. I am happy to say that after three years, all of that hard work and preparation has been done with excellence.\nOur team got to be there with his home Bible study that now numbers around 80 adults as I ordained Rick as an official church plant. I am proud to officially welcome Calvary Chapel New Zeal Las Vegas and Pastor Rick as our newest church plant. They already partner with us by supporting church planting, and they host their own weekly church planting class with twelve students.\nThis trip to Las Vegas was very exciting and encouraging for me. When our family moved to Mexico over 21 years ago, I would have never dreamed that God would use our ministry to encourage and plant churches up in the good ole US of A! But our God is the God of the impossible! Our God is a God who is always able to do more than we could ask or think!\nSo thank you Lord Jesus and THANK YOU to our amazing friends and co-laborers. It is an honor and a blessing to serve the Lord with you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- Pray that God would bless my church planting trips to Florida (USA) and Morelia (Mexico) in November!\n#2- Pray that God will bless our preparations for our Christmas outreaches and events.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a great trip to visit our church plant in Peru! (South America, my first visit there)\n#2- Praise God for His continued blessing and provision for our family, ministry, and church plants.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-november-2023-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/393962836%5F664599795454329%5F5776111649891596813%5Fn-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e               In October we had another blessed month here in Mexico. Daniel and Grace are both staying busy studying and working hard in their college courses, and Sarah is once again teaching online school full time this year. On the ministry side of things, we had a full month which included local ministry and missions trips, and in this update, I want to tell you about an amazing mission’s trip God let me take to Las Vegas!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family November 2023 Update"},{"content":" “And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws near.”\nLuke 21:28\nFrom South America to Southern California. COMISIONADO: Conferencia De Misiones Sudamerica We left for Peru September 28th and came back October 7th. One of the most touching things about this trip for us was seeing our youngest son and seeing where he’s been attending school and where he has felt called to by God to be a missionary.\nWhen we landed in Peru, we hit the ground serving and preparing for the upcoming conference. Seeing how we all came together, worked at creating a great environment for the conference, and the end transformation was amazing. Serving with the students and locals, we developed a bond with them that just coming and attending the event wouldn’t quite have developed. We got to hear the young student’s and staff’s stories and testimonies on how the Lord brought them there and how God was moving in their lives. There were many people there from all over South and Central America.\nWe had the opportunity to attend and see the newest one-year-old church plant, Calvary Buenos Aires in Trujillo. It was very impacting in that many who attend are from Venezuela. They were so warm, open, and happy in welcoming us into their church. God is doing such a work in South America.\nMissions Training School and Southern California Once we got back to Southern California, we prepared ourselves for the start of Missions Training School. It was so great to reconnect with many of the students from Calvary School of Missions. We are getting used to the new packed schedule. We have classes Monday nights on cross-cultural training, Tuesday nights we had classes on evangelism, and Wednesday we have been starting Hermeneutics: the art of how to study of the Bible. We were hosting a Life Group at our house on Wednesday nights which has now ended and will be beginning Bible studies at church on Eschatology: the study of the end times.\nAnother awesome thing God has been doing in our lives is we have been given the leadership over the Welcome Team ministry of our church. Sven has such a vision for this and is excited to see the fruit from creating a welcoming environment for our church.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ve been loving opening up our house every other Friday night to praying for the Nations. It’s been a great turn out every time and Carrie was so blessed this last prayer time because it was also on her birthday. What a great birthday party to gather with believers and intercede for the nations of the world, especially during these scary, unrestful times.\nSVEN’S CORNER “And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: \u0026rsquo; How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!\u0026rsquo;”\nRomans 10:14-15\nI was so encouraged to see the work that the Lord is doing in Peru and the rest of South America. God is moving! There were at least 600 attendees at the pastor’s conference. I got to meet so many amazing men of God who are dedicated to planting churches all over South America and the rest of the world. The Lord reminds us that we are servants, and servants, serve, wherever, however. I was excited to be able to help serve the awesome pastors and make sure they had a great environment to absorb the Word. Isn’t that what church planting is all about? Being willing to do anything and everything. We should never be caught up in “our ministry” or “my role in the church.” We should all be willing to serve in any capacity. Yes, that means things like dumping water in the toilets after the electricity goes out in the city and they are close to overflowing. Or painting murals and hanging spotlights so that the attendees can see them at night after they leave the compound. Re-painting the bathrooms so the school and conference have a fresh coat of paint for people to look at. Cooking meals for 500 people so that everyone gets fed for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Picking up garbage on the dirt roads outside of the school so that the attendees have a pleasant experience walking to the gate. There was so much to do in preparation for the conference and just as much during it. I loved every minute of it. There is no fellowship like like-minded work fellowship, just brothers and sisters working together to accomplish what needs to be done for things to run successfully.\nFor many of the pastors and their wives this the one time a year when they get to come together and get fed the Word and fellowship with one another. We wanted to do everything we could to make it as fruitful a time as possible for them. Many of them have very small teams, some are just alone, the pastor and his family. So, this is a very special time for them.\nAt night, a few other guys and I were assigned security in and around the campus. James and I patrolled the outside perimeter of the compound and directed traffic, helped guests as they arrived, etc. Peru has other ideas when it comes to parking and driving. As long as there is no car in front of you, you can do whatever you want I guess, that includes running me over.\nThe conference was very fruitful. I got to sit in some sessions during the day and learned much more about church planting and what God is doing in each church there in Peru and the rest of South America. A new church plant in Moyobamba, Peru was launched the week after the conference. After the conference was over, the church planting seminar began for the students of CBI Peru and CBI Kauai (who came to Peru to serve as we did). We also stayed to attend as well. Pastor Trent, Pastor Hugo, and Pastor Corey taught those amazing classes. Every time I hear about the “Purpose of the Church” I learn something new. Our time flew by there. Many got sick, including Carrie and I, but that is to be expected on the mission field in a foreign country. At least half of the 30 students from Kauai got very sick. We call it “throwing up and throwing down,” some did both at the same time. Was that TMI?\nI am excited to see what the Lord is going to do next. School has officially begun; I will share more on that in the next newsletter. We are in full swing now, making our preparations for our trip to Japan in January, which will be here before we know it.\nPraise Reports Peru conference and trip was a success. Made many friendships and the Lord spoke to all. School started off without a hitch and we are falling into the routine well. Sven and our son and son-in-law had an wonderful time at the men’s conference in October. We bought our first plane ticket to Japan on January 15th. Carrie had an amazing birthday. Thanks to everyone who reached out and sent their love to her. Prayer Requests For supporters in prayer and finances. For the Holiday season on whether we’d be able to visit some of our friends and family before the busy New Year and vision tours. For the vision tours: Japan and Indonesia and possibly Middle East. We are budgeting and scheduling things out. For God’s guidance. Our daughter has a pretty bad cold right now. Please pray for her healing and ability to take care of her 2-month old baby. For our health. For our teeth which we are getting treatment for. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/scary-times-vanrenterghem-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draws near.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLuke 21:28\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"from-south-america-to-southern-california\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom South America to Southern California.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/CE9CE194-C7E1-45F0-A8E5-03440F0762E1-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch3 id=\"comisionado-conferencia-de-misiones-sudamerica\"\u003eCOMISIONADO: Conferencia De Misiones Sudamerica\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe left for Peru September 28th and came back October 7th. One of the most touching things about this trip for us was seeing our youngest son and seeing where he’s been attending school and where he has felt called to by God to be a missionary.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Scary Times - Vanrenterghem Update October 2023"},{"content":"MONTHLY PRAYER REQUESTS****AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\n- The team from the States has had a very fruitful mission trip so far. Please pray as some of them have malaria. Pray also for the evangelism and outreach they plan to do in Kampala before leaving. - Pray for Brian and Jill as they host the team and handle the logistics involved. - Pray for all those who have and will hear the Gospel. Pray many get saved and will continue discipleship at church. - Pray for the Kanyike children to get called soon for their citizenship interview.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nHello everyone, Thank you all so much for your love and support. We are so blessed by your prayer support.\nPraise God with us that:\n- I (Matt) have been able to get a 36-month visa, and we are almost done getting the visas for Noelle and the kids. - One of our neighbors got saved this past Sunday after visiting church with us.\n- Our family\u0026rsquo;s health has improved since we moved to the city.\nPlease pray with us that:\n- God would bring comfort and provision to the family of Omony Felix, a young pastor who was attending our school who passed away suddenly last week from a severe case of malaria. Felix left behind a young wife, a two-year-old daughter, and an unborn baby due in December. - God would give us wisdom and knowledge as we cover the post-exilic books of Scripture (Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther) in our School of Discipleship this month. - God would use a team visiting from the US this month in powerful ways. They will be teaching our pastors how to resolve everyday conflict, minister to the various groups of widows in our widows program, and preach in multiple churches and prisons.\nGod Bless You,\nThe Harris Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\nHi Prayer Warriors,\n- Please pray as Vincent teaches at the CCA Missions conference at Calvary Chapel Golden Springs November 4th. - Pray for the ministries back home in Midigo as we are in the States. - Please pray for our trip to Texas and other doors God is opening. Pray for the Spiritual warfare.\nThank you!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email BlogUSA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\n- Please pray for Jenn and I as we are in South Asia ministering to workers and their wives throughout this country. - Please pray for our son, Andy, who has had a miraculous change of heart and is reaching out for help. Pray the Lord would open the doors for him to be able to get the help that he finally wants. - Pray for continued strength, focus, and attentiveness to the Lord\u0026rsquo;s voice as we finish up this year in walking in the calling He has placed on our lives.\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n- Pray for our upcoming trip to Nepal and S. Asia in November. Pray for time of teaching in several locations to be equipping. Pray we would be a great encouragement to all of the nationals on the front lines. - Pray for two new church plants in Nepal to grow and for many to come to know Jesus. - Pray as we raise up more laborers to be sent out that God would give wisdom and bless those we are pouring into.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n- Praise the Lord for a safe and healthy delivery! Our daughter, Christie Brielle, was born on October 5, and everything went very well.\n- Please pray for my dad’s health, that God will heal him and restore his health completely.\n- Please pray for the persecuted believers in South Asia.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n- Please pray for father’s health. Pray for a quick diagnosis and for complete healing and strength.\n- Please pray for the children’s ministry I am working with; pray that God will bring many children to the Lord, and that the kids’ clubs will have enough workers.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - Yorba Linda, California\n- Please pray for Joel, as he is currently on a missionary care trip to spend time with our workers in the Middle East and North Africa. Pray for a safe and fruitful time, and a smooth trip home\nLove in Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nHi friends, here are the prayers for Mike and Sarah Vincent, and Calvary Rosarito!\nPrayer Requests!\n- Good jobs for our children, Grace and Daniel! - That God would bless our upcoming church plants in Las Vegas and South Tijuana. - For God\u0026rsquo;s blessing upon our church\u0026rsquo;s Christmas events and outreaches.\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nJenna Pepin – Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico\nThank you for loving on us and praying for us. It means so much!\nFor our ministry, please pray for all of these upcoming events:\n- October 28, statewide men\u0026rsquo;s conference with help from Calvary Rosarito - October 29, 1st official service in our 9th church plant, Calvary Santa Fe - Nov. 2-6, Mission trip to the Kuáre, an unreached tribe. We will be visiting EVERY home to take a census and distribute food and clothing, then showing the Jesus film in a sister language that many will understand. (If you wish to contribute to this project, please let me know.) - Nov. 11, statewide Calvary women\u0026rsquo;s conference. We are expecting women from 16 different Calvary churches, plus visitors. - Nov. 12, anniversary service in Calvary Culiacán North, celebrating 8 years and 10 church plants! This is our annual \u0026ldquo;family\u0026rdquo; reunion - all 10 churches will participate!\nPersonally, please pray for:\n- Sammy\u0026rsquo;s relationship with the Lord, his ministry as a children\u0026rsquo;s teacher, and his schooling at Freedom Project Academy - Ruby\u0026rsquo;s work/school, her participation in Church Planting school and the worship ministry, and continued emotional healing from her difficult past - Complete healing from my neck injury - I am still living in pain, dependent on meds, and doing physical therapy 5 days/week - My involvement in the worship team and teaching ministry on Wednesdays - Protection and provision for our 2 upcoming trips (Kuare, Nov. 2-6 and Ohio, Nov. 18 - Dec. 4) - Health for me and my children (we\u0026rsquo;ve all been battling with stomach issues for 2 months now)\nTHANK YOU!!! Jenna Pepin - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHere are my prayer request for this month:\n- For my mom who lives alone and suffers from Parkinson’s that God would keep her healthy and accident free. Also that he would give her a good friend. - For Elena Acosta, Pastor Federico‘s wife who has thyroid cancer. She will have her thyroid taken out on October 24. We are praying for a good outcome. - For an afterschool program to reach the junior high age, kids who age out of our current afterschool program. We are in need of staffing and funds. - For much-needed, wisdom, and knowledge of God’s Word in the day-to-day.\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nThank you SGWM family, we deeply appreciate your prayers. We are traveling back to Peru today and are very excited to get home and jump back into the ministry that the Lord has called us too!\n- Pray for SOM (School of Ministry)\n- Pray for us as we disciple our new believers Pray for discernment for correcting leadership, and eliminate things that are not functioning - Pray for Stalyn who graduates in May 2024 - Pray for Daisy\u0026rsquo;s sciatic nerve that is acting up and giving her pain! - Praying for clear vision for 2024\nThank you from our hearts, Craig and Daisy - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n- Thanks to God for our first church service on Sunday the 15th. Lots of people came, and are hungry for more of the Word. - Pray that my team and I stay dependent on God, unified, and continue in love. - Praise God for His provision financially. - Praise God that some people were saved and plugged into the church.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Continue to pray for the state in our country where there are thousands of believers fleeing persecution. Pray that God will intervene in the situation.\n- Please pray for the L family, that God will increase their passion for ministry.\n- Please pray for the indigenous pastors and for their ministries, that God will use them.Kindly pray for the growth of our church.Please pray that we will find suitable land for our church.\n- Kindly pray for me and my family, that the Lord will use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,Worker 3 Worker 4 - 10/40 Window\n- Please pray that we will be able to begin Bible-teaching in different villages, as there are many who are eager to learn the Word of God.\n- Please pray for our leaders as they minister to newcomers.\n- Please pray for my marriage, my visa to Israel, and for provision for a youth retreat in November.\n- Please pray that we will be able to reopen school, as well as relocate to a place where we have better land; I would like the Lord to make things really clear to me.\nThank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ,Pastor W.J. Worker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray for me and my family, for good health and that we will grow more in the Word of God.\n- Pray for the CBI students and staff.\n- Pray for K and her baby\n- Pray for our upcoming outreach in the month of December.\n- Pray for our students who are going to be graduating this semester, that they will obey God\u0026rsquo;s call.\n- Pray for good transportation for brother C, as travel is difficult.\n- Pray for God’s provision for brother A.\n- Pray for our brothers who are sent out to serve in different locations where God has called them.\n- Pray for sister R and sister A’s families to be built.\n- Pray that we will find a new place to move our campus; our landlord told us to vacate this place.\n- Pray for our ministry building construction.\n- Pray for our state level political elections coming up in November. Pray for God’s will.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 6\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray that I will continue to be used by God mightily.\n- Please pray for me as I have some kind of allergy, and I sneeze non-stop every morning for some time if I don’t take the medicines.\n- Please pray for all of the students whom I minister to, that they will grow in their faith and be prepared for the future ministry that God has for them.\n- Pray for the upcoming meeting in my city organized by all of the churches, so that the Gospel message can be preached and heard by many.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you all! Worker 9\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPraise Points:\n- Praise God that He has kept me safe up to now.\n- Praise be to God, a wonderful work has been done through your prayers! In my last prayer request list, I had asked for prayer for a lady named P. Her husband had kept her under house arrest, but through your prayers she has started coming back to worship!\n- Praise be to God! S was suffering from a very strange disease in which his hands would burst on their own and bleed. Because of this, the people of his village despised him. But, God has now cured him 90%. His hands are healing, and he is able to do electrical work.\n- Praise God, the people of our church are deeply understanding God\u0026rsquo;s Word and persevering in the face of persecution!\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for the safety of R.D., that God would protect her from all anti-Christians.\n- Please pray that our Sunday fellowship does not interfere with our Friday Bible study fellowship.\n- Please pray for me, my wife and my family. Everyone is suffering from a cold and fevers; may God heal us.\n- Please pray for P; she has a skin problem and has been undergoing treatment for about 2 years but is not getting cured.Please pray for R; he has been paralyzed for about 22 years and has been coming to our church for about 15 years. May God heal him. Also pray for A. He has also been there for about 22 years, but he is mentally challenged.\n- In the coming December, like every year, we want to do a lot of outreach to share the Gospel where the name of Jesus Christ has not reached. We currently have about 1500 New Testament books. We plan to distribute them, show the Jesus movie on projectors in rural areas, and distribute blankets to the poor and widows, etc. If it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, pray that God will grant us protection and fulfill all of our needs.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership and participation in spreading the Gospel!\nGod bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for\u0026hellip;\n- Please pray for the brothers and sisters in the area of our country who are being badly persecuted, the thousands who have fled their state and are living in the forest.\n- Please pray for H’s parents and family members. He was 26 years old and went to be with the Lord last month due to liver cancer.\nThanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15 Worker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n- Please pray for the state election that will be held on the 7th and 17th November - Please pray for the bible college student that they may grow in the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word - Please pray for our safe travel to south India in the last week of the month - Pray for our children that they may grow in the Lord and for their studies\nWorker 16\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nHere are the prayer requests for this month:\n- Please pray that God will pour out His Spirit upon those who recently came to Christ.\n- Please pray for those who heard the Gospel through our recent outreach. Please pray that the people who came will come to know Christ.\n- Please pray for the ladies my wife ministers to, that they will grow in God’s Word and grace daily.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-nov-prayer-update-4/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMONTHLY PRAYER REQUESTS****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- The team from the States has had a very fruitful mission trip so far. Please pray as some of them have malaria. Pray also for the evangelism and outreach they plan to do in Kampala before leaving. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Brian and Jill as they host the team and handle the logistics involved.   \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for all those who have and will hear the Gospel. Pray many get saved and will continue discipleship at church.   \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for the Kanyike children to get called soon for their citizenship interview.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM NOV PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Hi you guys!\nI know I haven’t written to you all in a while, so I’m excited to share everything that’s going on!\nI had the opportunity to go to Trujillo, Peru and serve alongside my brothers and sisters from Calvary Trujillo and CBI Peru for the missions conference, “Comisionado/Commissioned”. I’m so glad I was able to go on this trip. There was part of me that didn’t want to leave home again after being away for 6 weeks in Mexico for The School of Missions. This trip to Peru showed me that God is at work in South America and there are people, especially young people who have an urgency to go and preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a lack of sound doctrine in South America and God is using His servants to go evangelize, disciple, and plant churches that teach the Bible verse-by-verse.\nI was able to build great friendships while I was there which I didn’t expect. My Spanish isn’t the best so I didn’t know if I could build any kind of relationship. I decided I was going to use any Spanish that I knew. With this, I was able to sit and talk to students and staff and hear how they got saved, how they got to Trujillo, and what the Lord is doing in their life now. I was so blessed to hear how God is moving in their lives and their heart to serve God.\nI was also in awe of all the connections there are in the Church. I saw a sweet friend of mine and was able to catch up. We had an awesome time hearing what God is doing and we were able to encourage and pray for each other.\nI give thanks to God that I got to know my sisters in Christ some more. Such special ladies that the Lord is using so mightily!\nWhat now? With much prayer and many tears, I have decided to continue on in the calling that I believe God has placed on my life. During the School of Missions I wrote to you guys explaining a conviction I had when I heard about the unreached and preaching the Gospel. Going to do cross-cultural missions in these hard places of the world is no easy task. I can’t just go right now thinking I’m going to change things and everyone is going to be saved. Although God can work through that, it is not a wise decision. Being sent takes time and training. Therefore, I will be going through the SGWM Missions Training School. I will be training for one year with Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in hopes of being sent out in the future. This year I will be focusing on learning more about cross-cultural ministry and being equipped for that. This week marks my third week of being here. God has been challenging me as well as teaching me. Our classes are great times of getting deep into God\u0026rsquo;s Word, learning about different religions, and learning all about missions in general. I can’t wait to see what else the Lord teaches me throughout my time here.\nTo close, I’d like to thank all of you for your constant support. Although I am away from home (though not too far), I can feel the love from my family and my family in Christ. I am so grateful to have such caring people in my life. The Lord in His kindness continues to show me that if I am dependent on Him, He will always show up for me. I truly have a friend in Jesus and throughout my time here, I have felt that immensely.\nI am always praying for you guys and ask that you would also keep me in your prayers… if you have any questions or prayer requests, I would love to chat with you!\nIn His love,\nAlani\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/busy-about-gods-business-rangel-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi you guys!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI know I haven’t written to you all in a while, so I’m excited to share everything that’s going on!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI had the opportunity to go to Trujillo, Peru and serve alongside my brothers and sisters from Calvary Trujillo and CBI Peru for the missions conference, “Comisionado/Commissioned”. I’m so glad I was able to go on this trip. There was part of me that didn’t want to leave home again after being away for 6 weeks in Mexico for The School of Missions. This trip to Peru showed me that God is at work in South America and there are people, especially young people who have an urgency to go and preach the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a lack of sound doctrine in South America and God is using His servants to go evangelize, disciple, and plant churches that teach the Bible verse-by-verse.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Busy About God's Business - Rangel Update October 2023"},{"content":"We thank God so much for your life, because you have been a great blessing to Mexico partnering with us in His work. Working together has been great and we clearly see the hand of God in it. Thank you for your support in prayer and finances. Without a doubt, the Lord will reward you for everything He has done here in Mexico!\nWe want to share with you great news that will lead us to advance in God’s plan to fulfill the great commission in Mexico and in the world!\nAs you know, God has called us to plant churches with the goal of making disciples in all nations. We have been doing this for 8 years in Culiacan, Mexico. The initial vision was to plant 4 churches in the North, South, East, and West of the city. This vision has already been fulfilled much further as God has led us to plant 10 churches which are growing and prospering. The big question is, “what’s next?” The vision has grown to plant churches in Mexico and the world, and the decision we have just made will take us there!\nFor almost 3 years, we have been praying and asking for advice about the possibility of taking the leadership of a church in Mexico that God has used in a great way. After applying Proverbs 11:14 (in the multitude of counselors there is safety) praying, and seeking the face of God, we want to confirm that we are taking this great step of faith that will undoubtedly be a great challenge and at the same time be a great opportunity to advance in God’s plan.\nThe church we will be leading is Horizonte Ensenada. For many years, I have developed a deep friendship with Pastor Juan Domingo; we have prayed together for this beloved church in Mexico. The proposal is to be the senior pastor of the Horizonte Ensenada church, to lead the church in the Word of God, in the Calvary Chapel vision, and in planting churches. In addition, I will take the leadership of the bible institute, along with the great team of directors and staff that we have.\nAnother important point is that I will not leave the leadership of the churches in Culiacan. We will move to live in Ensenada, but I will continue to travel once a month to Culiacan to host our monthly meeting with the pastors and church planters, and to teach at the Sunday services. I will continue to foster churches and we will continue to plant more through our Church Planting School. All the church plants, including Calvary Culiacan Norte (the church I have been directly pastoring), are ready for this step. Each church has its team of pastors trained and ready to move forward in the vision.\nWe know the challenge that this represents, but we clearly see the hand of God in it. Pastor Juan and his wife Tania have been very loving and attentive, trusting that God will work through my wife and me.\nI was in Horizonte a few days ago. I taught at the two Sunday services and I met the great group of faithful servants who gave me a wonderful welcome and are very willing and expectant for what is to come. I thank God very much for Pastor Juan Domingo and all the staff of Horizonte. I understand that this is a step of faith for them. It encourages me a lot to see the great potential that exists in this beloved church that has the desire to serve God with all its heart. I am also very grateful for the team of pastors and church planters in Culiacan. They are undoubtedly servants of God who are committed to His work. It has been great to see them grow and advance in God’s plan.\nThe plan is the following: On November 1st, in the meeting with all the staff of Horizonte, I will be taking the leadership of the church, but it will not be until the first Sunday of January that it will be made official to the entire church. It will be done this way to carry out a smooth transition and that the church does not feel the change very strongly. I will be moving to Ensenada from this day on and will be traveling to Culiacan frequently. My wife and children will remain in Culiacan until mid-December so Joy can finish her ballet school and then they will move to Ensenada.\nBECAUSE OF THIS I ASK YOU PLEASE NOT TO SHARE THIS NEWS YET.\nPlease help us to pray fervently about this:\n• For the churches and pastors of Culiacan, especially Calvary Culiacan Norte. For this change and for them to continue working, fulfilling the great commission and planting churches\n• For the Calvary Horizonte Ensenada church and all the staff, for this transition, for them to adapt to change and for a genuine revival that shows hunger for His Spirit and His word\n• For Pastor Juan and his wife Tania, may God give them times of refreshing and strengthen their health\n• For our family, especially for Brenda and our children Joy and Judá, may they adapt to the change and God give them new friends, it has not been easy for them, especially for Joy, but she is willing to do it for God.\n• For a house to live in Ensenada, house rents are very high, but we know that God will provide\n• For our finances needed for this change\nThank you very much! If you have any questions you can call me or send me a message.\nBlessings from Mexico,\nPastor Hugo, Brenda, Joy, and Judá Limón\n+526671880061\nlimonhugo@gmail.com\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/weve-made-a-great-decision-limon-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe thank God so much for your life, because you have been a great blessing to Mexico partnering with us in His work. Working together has been great and we clearly see the hand of God in it. Thank you for your support in prayer and finances. Without a doubt, the Lord will reward you for everything He has done here in Mexico!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe want to share with you great news that will lead us to advance in God’s plan to fulfill the great commission in Mexico and in the world!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We’ve made a GREAT DECISION! - Limon Update October 2023"},{"content":"Africa! To some it may sound scary, dangerous or full of disease. But to us, it is the first place we traveled overseas 15+ years ago where the Lord opened our eyes to the great needs in the world both spiritually and physically and it forever has our hearts. It was in Midigo, Uganda (a 95% Muslim community) where we fell in love with the people and beauty of Africa in the midst of some of the most extreme poverty and spiritual darkness on earth and God called us to GO!\nThis summer, after many years focusing on Asia, an open door for our family to return to Africa was made possible. Where do we even start….\nGather Them All\nWe were requested to host a conference for the entire church! As hundreds filled the sanctuary at CC Midigo, praises filled the room, Bond was able to share the Word on the theme “Answering the Call of God.” God has a call on each one of our lives and it is up to us to say YES and obey whether we are a school teacher, farmer, business person, or pastor.\nHeather was able to share with the ladies as part of the Women’s Fellowship. There is something about the simplicity of teaching under a tree with chickens walking through the time of study that makes us smile. The women were eager to grow and not settle for mediocre, but they just need instruction and thankfully God’s Word has it all for us!\nBreanna and her classmates had focused on Africa and raised funds to minister to the children at the school in Uganda. We hosted an outreach and Breanna was able to see all of the hard work she had put forth, bless other children. The kids all heard about God’s great love for them, His beautiful purpose for their lives, we played games, prayed for them and got to give them a snack and soda which is a rare treat! The fun part was they invited Breanna to be a part of the dance team for the school assembly and without any prompting she joined in and wowed the kids with her moves! In addition, Breanna got to distribute school supplies to many children and give outdoor equipment for the school. As her parents, we were so overjoyed to see her engage in so many ways with the kids and to represent her own school and the Lord well.\nGod’s Word Never Fails\nWhat started as discipleship classes many years ago, blossomed into a School of Ministry and has now become a Bible College that is equipping men for ministry. Bond was able to spend his days and any free time he had instructing and teaching the book of Daniel. It was exciting to meet the new class and next generation of leaders that will serve the Lord and be sent out. Equipping people in the Word is our passion and to be able to do that in a region that is moving the needle and taking ground for Christ is absolutely remarkable. Please pray for the bible college students, missionaries, pastors and leaders that are serving in the bush!\nWith our African summer coming to a close, we turn our hearts and sights to the fall. We will be heading to Nepal in November and then flying to S. Asia to close out the year. We will be teaching the students at two CBI campuses, meeting with all of the national pastors, hosting graduation ceremonies, scouting new areas for future church plants, lifting up the arms of our brothers and sisters who serve in unreached areas and sharing good news along the way. These regions have endured tremendous persecution in recent days and we must be careful in what we share while we are away, so please pray for a fruitful time and that we would finish 2023 well for God’s glory!\nWe marveled at God’s faithfulness as we sat down to share just a snippet with you from our African summer. There are students, bible college grads, pastors, women and children who have turned from darkness to light. There are churches and villages and remote regions where there was not one Christian and now the light of Jesus is now shining and churches are thriving causing radical change to communities. You are a part of that! Your partnership, prayers, financial support and encouragement make it all possible. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!\nWith Love,\nBond, Heather and Breanna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/returning-to-our-first-love-gaona-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfrica! To some it may sound scary, dangerous or full of disease. But to us, it is the first place we traveled overseas 15+ years ago where the Lord opened our eyes to the great needs in the world both spiritually and physically and it forever has our hearts. It was in Midigo, Uganda (a 95% Muslim community) where we fell in love with the people and beauty of Africa in the midst of some of the most extreme poverty and spiritual darkness on earth and God called us to GO!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Returning To Our First Love - Gaona Update October 2023"},{"content":"“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”\n‭‭ Esther‬ ‭4‬:‭14‬ ‭\nI am writing this update with a heavy heart knowing all that has been happening in Israel. As you all know, the devastation has caused many lives to be lost since Israel was attacked. First and for most I want to thank you all for your prayers. You have no idea how much your prayers helped me in a time like this. I am now back in the States.\nWhen Israel was attacked, the students and I heard about it Saturday morning and we found out that people from the church who we had met were called in to fight. We began to pray for them and for the nation. After we got done with prayer Pastor Steve, who is the head of CBI, showed us a bomb shelter near the house so if in any case something were to happen near our location (as we were 45 minutes from the Lebanon border and about 3 hours from Gaza), we knew where to go. Through this whole situation Steve was keeping us well informed with updates and he insured us we were safe. He has lived in Israel for many years and has faced similar situations like these before and I trusted his leading and guidance.\nOn the second day of war, the girls moved in with Steve and his wife at their house and the boys decided to stay in the house we were all living in. Me and another girl stayed in Steve\u0026rsquo;s safe room that was in his house. A safe room is a structure that is strong enough to provide safety against catastrophic events. The newer houses have safe rooms built in, as this is common in areas like these. Below is a picture of the safe room.\nIn the first couple of days of the war breaking out, the Lord showed me my life is not my own, that I was bought at a price; that if something were to happen, I needed to trust Him and that He was in complete control. As more days passed, the Lord began to show me, I was right where he wanted me to be and what He needed me to do was to intercede for His people, for His nation and that’s exactly what I did.\nThat is where Esther 4:14 comes in. When I read that scripture and read the ending “…yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” God spoke to my heart, in a time like this being in the midst of a war, I was in Israel to be used by Him through prayer. There was such authority and boldness in my prayers that could only have come through the Holy Spirit; this was a very special time for me.\nIn the Safe Room\nOn a Wednesday night we went to a prayer meeting to a pastor\u0026rsquo;s (one of Steve’s friends) house that was 30 minutes away from home. Within 20 minutes of our arrival, the sirens went off and we all went to the safe room. You can image the amount of thoughts that went through my mind as I sat in this room with 20 people. News had gone out that the North was under attack by armed ultralight aircraft carrying armed terrorists; which we later found out that it was a false report. As I sat there without my phone, all I could think about was my mom and the last message I sent her was “I love you,” but I wanted to say it one more time and I couldn’t. Then I thought about the pastor who was teaching and going through the Word of God as we sat in this room, “I want to be as strong in the faith as this guy. How can he be so calm? How can he be teaching God’s Word right now when someone can potentially come for all of us? Just a day ago he got pulled from serving in the war.” Man, in that moment I wanted to have the faith he had, the peace he had. After about 30 minutes of being in the room, Steve decided that we were all going to leave and drive back home, he had peace that everything was good and he was right because when we got home we found out the news had given a false report.\nI will never forget being in the safe room and walking in with my pastry (silly to think about now) in my hand as there was no time to go get my Bible or phone when the sirens had gone off. There\u0026rsquo;s so much that I want to write and tell you all about, but the big picture that the Lord painted for me is: (1. the lack of faith I have in Him, (2. how much I hold my life dear to myself because I have all these plans I want to do in regards to missions, and (3. how I need to let go of those plans because that might not be what God has for me.\nI do thank the Lord for allowing me to to go through this because I can have compassion for those who go through circumstances like these and this will be used to prepare me for missions overseas.\nA Song I Wrote After Being in the Safe Room\nSomething that I love doing is writing songs/poems and I was inspired to write a song the day after being in the safe room. Here is a part of it:\nBut what will it take for me to trust your ways\nWhat will it take for me to fix my eyes on you\nWhat will it take to let go, let go\nI’m broken before you\nPlease take my hand and never let go\nGod I need you, God I need you\nMay your Spirit give me the rest I need\nMay your Spirit lead me to you\nMay your Spirit calm my mind\nGod I need you\nI\u0026rsquo;m thankful I got to participate in bringing snacks to the soldiers. Steve\u0026rsquo;s wife and I had a conversation with one of the men who was telling us how grateful he was for people coming by and dropping off food and other needs. What took me by surprise was that he knew we were Christians. How awesome is that! May we be known for our love for others.\nBack in the States\nI am now back in the States and it has been difficult being back which doesn’t come by surprise as I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. There were many sleepless nights in Israel where I could hear helicopters, gun shots, and other sounds, and now being away from that it has given my mind clarity to process all that has happened. I am thankful for the Lord protecting me through all of this and for all of you who kept in touch with me.\nPraise Reports\nPraise God for allowing me to be in Israel Praise God for keeping the staff, students, and I safe Praise God I made it home safely Prayer Request\nPray for Israel Pray for Steve and his family as they continue to help and serve the Israel military Pray that I would have the peace that surpasses all understanding as I adjust to being back in the States ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/in-the-midst-of-a-war-campos-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n‭‭ \u003cstrong\u003eEsther‬ ‭4‬:‭14‬ ‭\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am writing this update with a heavy heart knowing all that has been happening in Israel. As you all know, the devastation has caused many lives to be lost since Israel was attacked. First and for most I want to thank you all for your prayers. You have no idea how much your prayers helped me in a time like this. I am now back in the States.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"In the Midst of A War - Campos Update October 2023"},{"content":" And the things that you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.\n2 Timothy 2:2\nChristian Apologetics/Evangelism Class I had a wonderful time with my Apologetics/Evangelism class students during our two-week intensive class. The students studied hard, listened intently, asked good questions and worked hard to complete a reading log, two tests, a video script, and recorded their own video during the short class. We covered obstacles to faith like “I don’t need God.” “God doesn’t exist.” “The Bible isn’t true.” “Jesus didn’t really live, die, and rise from the dead.” “What about my unsaved ancestors?” and more. Two of my students said that before the class when someone would ask them a challenging question about the truth of Christianity that they would just walk away but now they both finally feel more confident to answer. These students serve in local churches and will be future Christian leaders so please pray that they will remember, apply, and teach others what they have learned in the class.\nAnswered Prayers Over Visa Stress During my lunch break from teaching Apologetics, I got a desperate call from my neighbor/Christian friend. He told me that due to a problem with his visa documents, his visa was rejected at the airport and the only way to keep him from getting deported and separated from his family was for me rush to the airport before noon and sign a guarantee letter for him with the government. I did that and he was able to get a one-month visa.\nA couple of weeks later, he asked me for some more advice and help. I checked with the company that helps me prepare the documents for my own visa just before a four-day Cambodian holiday so that I could get information to help my friend. The information my visa agent gave me made me very uncertain about whether or not my own family would be able to renew our visas in December or not (and be forced to leave Cambodia). All this stress combined with my exhaustion from teaching the two week class, made me start having difficulty sleeping. So, I put out a prayer request on Facebook on a Friday. By Sunday my stress level dropped and I could sleep normally again. On Tuesday, I got confirmation from the Immigration Dept. via my visa agent that we have the right documents to renew our family’s visas in December. My friend is still in process with his visa situation, but it looks like everything is in order with his paperwork as well. Thanks everyone for praying for us whether or not you know what we are going through at the moment. Your prayers make a huge difference!\nOther Ministries Please continue to pray for Precious Women Organization and Light Association as we continue to help and support these Cambodian founded and led Christian organizations that are reaching out to other Cambodians. We also partner with other local ministries and churches as we can.\nFamily Update We are doing well. Kayo has some exhaustion/minor health issues so please keep her in prayer. Benjamin is doing well in school, extracurriculars, and weight lifting. He keeps growing and eating us out of house and home so please pray for our grocery bill :–).\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\nPhonm Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/able-to-teach-others-also-record-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnd the things that you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2 Timothy 2:2\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"christian-apologeticsevangelism-class\"\u003eChristian Apologetics/Evangelism Class\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IMAGE-2023-10-23-101259.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI had a wonderful time with my Apologetics/Evangelism class students during our two-week intensive class. The students studied hard, listened intently, asked good questions and worked hard to complete a reading log, two tests, a video script, and recorded their own video during the short class. We covered obstacles to faith like “I don’t need God.” “God doesn’t exist.” “The Bible isn’t true.” “Jesus didn’t really live, die, and rise from the dead.” “What about my unsaved ancestors?” and more. Two of my students said that before the class when someone would ask them a challenging question about the truth of Christianity that they would just walk away but now they both finally feel more confident to answer. These students serve in local churches and will be future Christian leaders so please pray that they will remember, apply, and teach others what they have learned in the class.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Able to Teach Others Also - Record Update October 2023"},{"content":"Hi friends \u0026amp; family! I pray that this newsletter finds you well- wherever you are in the world and in any condition your heart may be during these times. It has been a whirlwind the past couple of weeks for me. From readjusting back to a busy work schedule, to taking yet another leap of faith and moving 40 miles more inland California to continue in the SGWM Missions Training School. We are officially one week in and we are running right out the gates! No time to waste!\nMay His Kingdom Come\nAs I’ve said from the beginning- I want to be truly transparent and honest with y’all. I have written and re-written this newsletter over and over again through the past three weeks. I confess my heart was hardening towards the evil, lies, and deception of this world. The funny part about all of this is that in my last post, I specifically talked about how blind, lost, captive and dead I was myself. And yet, three weeks go by, and I forget God’s goodness, God’s mercy, God’s unending love, and I myself, am not able to be long-suffering and give others the same grace.\nI asked God to give me love for His people, to be more and more like Jesus. And yes, my heart remains broken for the world, for the lost, for the blind, for the unsaved- but it is not filled with hate and resentment because God loves ALL people. He wishes that ALL people come to a full repentance to Him. To know Him individually. To be a part of His kingdom. But the truth is, there is a warning, a line that we do not want to cross. After so many “no’s” given to God, after rejecting His truth so many times, there is also the judgement of God. For God’s “Spirit shall not strive with man forever” (Genesis 6:3).\nThe grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus… But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display His immense patience as an example for those who would believe in Him and receive eternal life.\n1 TIMOTHY 1:14-16\nIt’s Time to Wake Up\nI attended a three-day Muslim Conference, in which my eyes were opened to the deception of the Qur’an, the book of Islam. After the event, I had so many questions running through my mind and so I decided to read through it myself. I also had an opportunity to evangelize at a Mosque in Anaheim and was able to speak to a gentleman named Moe over the truth about Jesus in the Qur’an. It was sad to see that I knew more Surah verses than he did, yet, he was reluctant to carry a conversation with me. Which is similar to many Roman Catholics, who only hear the Word of God preached on a Sunday, but never open and read it for themselves. There was also a lady named Nadia, with her two daughters, asking for money outside the mosque. I had the privilege to pray over her and share the Good News about Jesus Christ with her family. I pray they both come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior!\nI found myself asking Jesus the same question the disciples asked Him, why were they born blind? And He answered, “it was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). For such a time as this, many will be given sight thanks to the grace, mercy, and unending love of our Heavenly Father. This is happening now so that many that are born blind since birth- those in Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and others, will receive sight. The conflict happening right now in the Middle East, is not only spreading to the West, but is also causing many to wake up and seek the true and living God.\nThere is an urgency NOW! John the disciple said it best, “I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest” (John 4:35). May we open our eyes, as believers, and see that the harvest is ready to be picked! The time is NOW! There is no more time to waste. Now is the time to pray- for your friends, for your loved ones, for the nations. Pray for miracles. Pray for visions and dreams. Pray for the works of God to be displayed in all people. May we pray always and not lose heart (Luke 18:1). May we not give up. May God find faith on this earth when He returns (Luke 18:8)!!\nAnd do this, understanding the present time: The hour has already come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.\nROMANS 13:11-12\nSend Out Laborers\nA couple of weeks ago, I was blessed to share my testimony of my time at Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) with the Singles Ministry, FocusGen. I had a completely different message to share, talking more about missions in general, but the Spirit led the message and shared the truth about how I struggled with impatience. After reading The Strategy of Satan, about three weeks into the school, I knew that my impatience was simply unbelief. The second I received vision about my calling and my purpose, I was ready to take off running and leave to the ends of the earth immediately! God however, wanted to teach me a lesson of true unwavering faith and continual growth in my trust in Him, and in Him alone. To be more like Jesus every day. To be long-suffering, in the same way He was with me.\nGoing back again to the previous newsletter- I was reminded of the importance of sharing our testimonies about what God has done and currently is doing in our lives. It isn’t for my own benefit or because I’m boasting in myself, but rather it is to share about the goodness and greatness of God. To share about the many prayers that were answered and how everything is for His glory. I truly take none of the credit, but I’m grateful to be a witness of His work. We prayed to the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers (Matthew 9:38), and in doing so, many of my friends are stirred up and are growing a heart for reaching the Unreached. What a blessing!\n“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,\nbecause he has anointed me\nto proclaim good news to the poor.\nHe has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives\nand recovering of sight to the blind,\nto set at liberty those who are oppressed,\nto proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”\nLUKE 4:18-19\nPraise Report\nMany students are continuing on with Missions Training School! Praise God! I officially moved to Yorba Linda and am all settled in. Many of my friend’s hearts are growing for the lost \u0026amp; unsaved, I can see the Lord moving through them! Prayer Requests\nPlease pray for a smooth transition of jobs- for the doors that need to be opened to be opened. Please join me in prayer for Israel, for Palestine, for the USA, for ALL the nations- for their eyes to be opened and for them to experience the fear of the Lord. Please keep the students in your prayers when we come to mind- may we grow in wisdom and boldness to share the Gospel with those around us. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.\nHEBREWS 10:24-25\nThere will be a time and a place when there will be no more tears. No more pain and suffering. No more death. We as Christians, as believers, we have a hope. WE have an eternal promise. And thankfully after three weeks of reflecting and continuing to seek God- He taught me to be filled with grace. I pray you cry out to Him if you are feeling anxious, fearful or isolated during difficult times! He hears you. He sees you. He is a good good Father \u0026amp; He answers the prayers of His children. If there is anything weighing your heart, please reply back, I would love to pray for you.\nMay His presence fill your inmost being \u0026lt;3\n-Mayra Alejandra\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/growing-in-grace-solorzano-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi friends \u0026amp; family! I pray that this newsletter finds you well- wherever you are in the world and in any condition your heart may be during these times. It has been a whirlwind the past couple of weeks for me. From readjusting back to a busy work schedule, to taking yet another leap of faith and moving 40 miles more inland California to continue in the SGWM Missions Training School. We are officially one week in and we are running right out the gates! No time to waste!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Growing in Grace - Solorzano Update October 2023"},{"content":"Dear brothers and sisters in Christ! Thank you so much for partnering with us in the work of the Gospel through your prayers and financial support.\nWe believe that you are aware of the persecution Christians are facing in our country. In one of the northeast states of our country, more than three hundred churches have been destroyed and burnt. More than one hundred people have been killed, and thousands of Christians have fled to neighboring states. Thousands others are living in forests to save their lives. The government in that state and the central government are anti-christian. For the last five months the violence has continued, but the government is doing nothing to stop it. Everywhere in our country Christians are organizing peaceful rallies in protest of the violence toward the Christians. We also had a peaceful rally organised in our town by all of the churches in support of our brothers and sisters in that state. Please pray for our brothers and sisters.\nSometimes we don\u0026rsquo;t understand why things happen the way they do. But we know that the Lord is in control and that all things work together for good to them that love God. H*, a 26 year old young man who stood with our son at the time of his persecution and arrest by the police, was serving the Lord faithfully when he went to be with the Lord last month due to cancer in his liver. This was heart breaking. He was not able to get better medical treatment due to financial problems. Please pray for his parents and family members.\nWe are going to finish the third semester of our Bible school this month. The students are doing well in their studies. The church ministry is also blessed by the Lord. God is adding new believes to the church. I will be finishing teaching the book of Genesis.\nLast month we had a church picnic. This was the first time that we as a church went somewhere for a picnic. We had blessed time together.\nWe appreciate your prayers and financial support.\nWe appreciate your prayers and financial support.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/bear-ye-one-anothers-burdens-pastor-15-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear brothers and sisters in Christ! Thank you so much for partnering with us in the work of the Gospel through your prayers and financial support.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/WhatsApp-Image-2023-09-01-at-10.22.17-AM-1-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IMG-20230813-WA0042-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe believe that you are aware of the persecution Christians are facing in our country. In one of the northeast states of our country, more than three hundred churches have been destroyed and burnt. More than one hundred people have been killed, and thousands of Christians have fled to neighboring states. Thousands others are living in forests to save their lives. The government in that state and the central government are anti-christian. For the last five months the violence has continued, but the government is doing nothing to stop it. Everywhere in our country Christians are organizing peaceful rallies in protest of the violence toward the Christians. We also had a peaceful rally organised in our town by all of the churches in support of our brothers and sisters in that state. Please pray for our brothers and sisters.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bear Ye One Another's Burdens - Pastor 15 Update October 2023"},{"content":"Dear friends and family, God has blessed us with an opportunity for a short visit to America, and we are pleased to announce that we will be home for Christmas! Our beloved friend and missionary partner, Luke Buescher, is marrying Hannah Struttman in December. Noelle and I both have the honor of being on the bridal team.\nIf the LORD wills, we will be in Colorado for the whole month of December and in Nebraska for the first half of January. We would love to meet with as many of you as possible. Please email me at mattharris9000@gmail.com or send me a WhatsApp at +256786200602 to schedule our time with you.\nPlease pray that God will protect us on the journey and provide for our travel expenses. Please pray for Luke and Hannah as they begin their new life together. Please pray that God will use our time in America to bless our family and the American church. May God bless you, and may we see each other in person soon, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now.”\nPHILIPPIANS 1:3-5\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/home-for-christmas-harris-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"dear-friends-and-family\"\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod has blessed us with an opportunity for a short visit to America, and we are pleased to announce that we will be home for Christmas! Our beloved friend and missionary partner, Luke Buescher, is marrying Hannah Struttman in December. Noelle and I both have the honor of being on the bridal team.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf the LORD wills, we will be in Colorado for the whole month of December and in Nebraska for the first half of January. We would love to meet with as many of you as possible. Please email me at \u003ca href=\"mailto:mattharris9000@gmail.com\"\u003emattharris9000@gmail.com\u003c/a\u003e or send me a WhatsApp at +256786200602 to schedule our time with you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Home For Christmas! - Harris Update October 2023"},{"content":"Got you! I knew the title of this newsletter would pique your curiosity and cause you to click. The title actually does have relevance to it, and will make more sense at the end.\nThe Invasion\nEighty-five people among Calvary Trujillo, Calvary Bible Institute Kauai, and the Moyobamba team spent a week together mainly focusing on 3 events here in the Peruvian jungle city, Moyobamba. The events were a free kids festival, free hot dogs to the community, and a free Christian concert. The purpose of the events was to serve the local people, connect with them, and let them know about the church plant. After all, we have a building and it is ready for church service! It’s only missing people.\nThe Turn-Out\nWe invited a ton of people to come to our events! From handing out flyers, to the cars waiting at red lights, to passing out invitations to people at the main square, many in the city knew about us and our mission. What I didn’t know is how many people would show up. As the day approached, and I went to the grocery store with my chamo Johann (chamo means bro in Venezuela), I was sure that 500 hot dogs would be more than enough food! Better to have too much left over rather than not enough, right? Well…\nWhen I arrived at the Coliseum 30 minutes before the events started, there were already about 20 people that came in and were waiting. About an hour later there were about 100 people. And then hundreds. I don’t know how many in total, and quite frankly, it doesn’t matter. But I do know that we ran out of hot dogs, and Mario (one of the leader from Calvary Kauai) went and bought much more. Even though the Coliseum (where we hosted) is a huge place, one side was fairly full of Moyobambinos.\nMost that came heard the gospel, and were received with love and prayer. It was a sweet night of fellowship and worship. And all of it was used to introduce the Calvary Moyobamba team and me, the pastor, as well as invite them to our first service.\nFirst Sunday Service, the Big Day\nAfter 2 full busy work days of construction and painting at the church with the Calvary Trujillo team, the building was ready for service!\nThe guys from Calvary Trujillo had lots of physical labor cut out for them (on the second floor), from carrying up buckets of sand, to mixing concrete, to installing a water tank. Now the kids for Sunday School have a safety wall by the staircase. And the whole church has water! By the way, we like to have fun too, hence the picture!\nOur first church service on Sunday, October 15 was spectacular. The worship was passionately pointed to God, I had such concentration on the sermon, Luke 1:1-4, and we had quality conversations with people afterwards. Also, we were able to give several people bibles that came to service, with the condition that they have to read them every day.\nOther Notes\nToday (Wednesday) I will be teaching Genesis, starting with 1:1. It has been raining, but may that not stop people from coming to receive the Word of God!\nI am grateful for the support and guidance of my Pastor Cory. He has discipled me, answered a lot of my questions, and loves me.\nWe were sent out by Calvary Trujillo October 1st and have received many verses and messages of encouragement from them. They pray for us and are part of this work in Moyobamba.\nThank you so much for your prayers and support! All of this preparation and investing became a reality. And it is only the beginning.\nPraise Reports\nHundreds of people were able to hear about Jesus in Moyobamba\nThere was unity and servant-hearted people from Kauai and Trujillo that God used to be part of this church plant\nOur friendships with the local people here\nFinancial support\nPrayer Requests\nMay God and only God always be glorified in Calvary Moyobamba\nThat the Lord will highlight people we can disciple one-on-one\nMay more and more people come to repentance and be reconciled with God\nFinancial support for a mototaxi and a future discipleship house for young Moyobambino Christians\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/500-hot-dogs-making-noise-weakland-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGot you! I knew the title of this newsletter would pique your curiosity and cause you to click. The title actually does have relevance to it, and will make more sense at the end.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Invasion\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEighty-five people among Calvary Trujillo, Calvary Bible Institute Kauai, and the Moyobamba team spent a week together mainly focusing on 3 events here in the Peruvian jungle city, Moyobamba. The events were a free kids festival, free hot dogs to the community, and a free Christian concert. The purpose of the events was to serve the local people, connect with them, and let them know about the church plant. After all, we have a building and it is ready for church service! It’s only missing people.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"500 Hot Dogs Making Noise - Weakland Update October 2023"},{"content":"Hello Friends!\nI pray you are all doing well! I wanted to use this update as a time to both ask for prayer, and to extend my gratitude! Next week, I am traveling with my friend Isaac (who is a pastoral intern at our church) to two countries that will remain unnamed, as they are “sensitive countries” (countries that are not open to the gospel). Our goal there is to visit with our SGWM workers in those countries, get a good firsthand look at the works there, and minister to them in love. This is what we call a “missionary care” visit, and something I love to do as the Director of Missionary Care with SGWM!\nI am so thankful because it is the partnership and prayer of people like YOU that allows me to be able to go on these trips and minister to our workers! It means so much to them, and is so important over all, for them to be visited by their pastor, especially as I was heavily involved in raising some of these workers up in discipleship. Without your prayers and support, that wouldn’t be possible!\nFinally, would you pray with us for a few things?\nFor safety, health, and most of all, fruitfulness for Isaac and me on this trip. We want to be huge blessings to our workers in these countries during this trip For our families back at home. Isaac and I both have young children, so please keep our wives in prayer as they manage the household without us for a couple of weeks, and that our families are loved and cared for while we are gone For the Lord’s financial provision for us. A large portion of my salary consists of support from generous financial partners (some people call them “donors”), just like our international missionaries around the world. The continually rising costs of things like rent and food make it tough for large families like ours! The Lord is always EXTREMELY faithful to provide! So pray for His continued provision for our family. If you would like to be a part of our work as senders with SGWM by becoming a financial partner with us, you can do so following the instructions below We would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thank-you-for-sending-me-garcia-family-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI pray you are all doing well! I wanted to use this update as a time to both ask for prayer, and to extend my gratitude! Next week, I am traveling with my friend Isaac (who is a pastoral intern at our church) to two countries that will remain unnamed, as they are “sensitive countries” (countries that are not open to the gospel). Our goal there is to visit with our SGWM workers in those countries, get a good firsthand look at the works there, and minister to them in love. This is what we call a “missionary care” visit, and something I love to do as the Director of Missionary Care with SGWM!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thank You For Sending Me! – Garcia Family Update October 2023"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ!\nThis year, our country has received average monsoon rains since the start of the season on June 1. Average monsoon rains are usually good for the farmers but the uneven distribution this year has created new worries.\nGod is so faithful to us! He provides for our needs and protects us under His mighty wings. We were physically ill this past month. We appreciate your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\nWe had blessed potluck gathering together with the CBI students and prayed for the situation in a certain state of our country. (For many months, this state has been under massive violence between a largely Hindu people group and a predominantly Christian people group. Because of that, many homes and churches belonging to the Christian people group have been burnt.)\nThere is a family from a different area that is very passionate about ministry. We used to meet frequently and share with each other about what was happening in our ministries. Recently, he gave me a surprise visit. It was immense joy to meet him after 7 years!\nA friend of mine gave me an opportunity to teach some indigenous pastors about the “great Commission of Jesus\u0026quot; and motivate them to reach out to the community with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am happy that I could contribute some in their lives.\nIn our church we celebrated “Teacher’s Day”. It is good to remember the teachers\u0026rsquo; contributions to individuals. Also, by God’s grace our Sunday school children are growing in the Lord. Every Sunday they recite Bible verses from memory in at church. We continued to participate in all the church activities. We also visited some families to testify about the Lord and prayed for them.\nPrayer Requests:\nDo continue to pray for the state in our country that is in a state of violence against the Christian people group. May God intervene in the situation. Please pray for the family who came to visit me. May God increase their passion for ministry. Please pray for the indigenous pastors who I was able to share with. Pray for their ministry and that God may use them. Kindly pray for the growth of our church. Please pray that we may get suitable land for our church. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-our-protector-pastor-3-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis year, our country has received average monsoon rains since the start of the season on June 1. Average monsoon rains are usually good for the farmers but the uneven distribution this year has created new worries.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod is so faithful to us! He provides for our needs and protects us under His mighty wings. We were physically ill this past month. We appreciate your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Our Protector - Pastor 3 Update October 2023"},{"content":" I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil – this is God’s gift to man.\nECCLESIASTES 3:12-13\nLife has not slowed down much since moving into the city two months ago. The Terebinth School of Discipleship is still proceeding with its study week, class week, and off weeks each month. Church and extra ministry opportunities continue to find their way onto the calendar with seldom any pictures to remember them by, but loads of praise because of what God is doing. Homeschooling has taken a slightly different look now that we have a schoolhouse to separate the noise of housework, meetings, and phone calls. On a typical day, I (Noelle) can lead each of the four schooling children through the state-required subjects and probably give them an extra-curricular lesson by lunch at 1 p.m. Of course, life itself is the classroom of our family.\nWe are still trying to balance what our schedule should look like now that drive time is not an issue and that our family has had good health these past two months; with our only case of malaria being Matt, after he had spent a night in Adak. Since moving to town, we have had many invitations to serve, organize programs, join group activities, and other events. We carefully consider each one. A few that we have added to our schedule have been a weekly Reading Hour for neighbors of all ages, hosted by our director’s family next door, and supplemental reading help as often as possible during play hours. These and Matt’s new college schedule are enough to fill the cracks of time freed up by our lack of sickness. As we settle here in town, work in the ministry, and get involved in our new community, we pray that our roles and commitment in each area will continue to deepen, develop, and produce fruit for the Lord. We are excited for this season of growth for our family.\nPraise God that: – Our family has enjoyed a new season of health.\n– We discovered a gluten intolerance in Noelle, which was the source of many physical discomforts and even emotional challenges.\n– We have started good relationships with some of our new neighbors.\nPlease pray with us over the following: -These new relationships with our neighbors, that God would use us as a light for them, that they would see Him and be drawn to His salvation.\n-The many new opportunities to serve and reach others, that God would lead and strengthen us for any good work He has for us.\n-Omony Felix, a young student in the Terebinth School, suddenly passed away this week due to kidney failure. Please keep his family in your prayers.\nIn Christ, Matt, Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/20230901%5F152422.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil – this is God’s gift to man.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eECCLESIASTES 3:12-13\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/20230825%5F122556.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLife has not slowed down much since moving into the city two months ago. The Terebinth School of Discipleship is still proceeding with its study week, class week, and off weeks each month. Church and extra ministry opportunities continue to find their way onto the calendar with seldom any pictures to remember them by, but loads of praise because of what God is doing. Homeschooling has taken a slightly different look now that we have a schoolhouse to separate the noise of housework, meetings, and phone calls. On a typical day, I (Noelle) can lead each of the four schooling children through the state-required subjects and probably give them an extra-curricular lesson by lunch at 1 p.m. Of course, life itself is the classroom of our family.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Update September 2023"},{"content":"Autumn has arrived in Montana, and as the seasons change on the calendar, they are changing for us as well. September was spent by getting things in order, and then mailing away applications for our Japanese visas. As well as planning our move and the trip we are leading for other prospective missionaries. We are very excited to take the next step in what we feel called to, and we are so thankful that the Lord continues to lead us down that path. It’s of course a bit scary giving up everything we’ve worked for over the years to follow the Lord, but He has blessed us every step of the way, and we wouldn’t change a thing.\nI (Jeff) returned this week from a short-term missions trip to Peru. My friend, Henry, and I were able to join a team from Saving Grace World Missions in California and another from CBI (Calvary Bible Institute) Kauai in Hawaii, that served at CBI Peru as they hosted the Calvary South America Missions Conference. The week leading up to the conference was spent preparing the campus for the influx of the hundreds of people that would be attending the conference, as well as preparing meals and getting to know the students. The trip was both challenging and invigorating, and I’m so glad that I was able to go.\nThe conference itself was a huge success. It was well attended, there were no major hiccups, and the message was clear and well communicated. The goal was to encourage those who attended, that they were commissioned by God to fulfill the Great Commission, even though they come from a less affluent part of the world. To let them know that God wants to use them to reach their home countries, but He can also make a way for them to go to the least reached peoples around the globe. Please pray for all those who came, as well as their churches as they return with this message, and share it with their congregations.\nAs it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”\nRomans 10:15\nAlishia was busy while I was gone, with both work and ministry. She is helping with a women’s bible study at the church, providing childcare so that mothers are able to attend. She also has a new job cleaning houses for a friend from church and spends time each week meeting with people and encouraging them. Please continue to pray for us to make connections and bless those around us.\nI’m going to be teaching the mid-week service at church until the end of the year. Each Wednesday we’ll be looking at the life of David and learning from his character. Please pray for me as I prepare and teach each week, it’s amazing to get to grow my gifting with this opportunity.\nIf you’d like to hear more about our calling to Japan, have any questions for us, or would like to become part of our sending team, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Please consider joining us in what God is doing in Japan, there is a link at the bottom that will take you to our giving page.\nPrayer Requests\nFor the mid-week church service that I’ll be teaching. For provision and guidance as we plan our move to Japan. For Alishia’s citizenship process to go quick and smooth. Praise for a great trip to Peru and all the Lord did during the conference. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/change-is-in-the-air-root-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAutumn has arrived in Montana, and as the seasons change on the calendar, they are changing for us as well. September was spent by getting things in order, and then mailing away applications for our Japanese visas. As well as planning our move and the trip we are leading for other prospective missionaries. We are very excited to take the next step in what we feel called to, and we are so thankful that the Lord continues to lead us down that path. It’s of course a bit scary giving up everything we’ve worked for over the years to follow the Lord, but He has blessed us every step of the way, and we wouldn’t change a thing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Change is in the Air - Root Update September 2023"},{"content":" God has been abundantly good. I remember when Pastor Mike Vincent and I came to Culiacan to pray for the city and ask God what he wanted to do in this beautiful city of a million inhabitants with so much need for churches that taught verse-by-verse the whole counsel of God.\nI could clearly understand the vision that God was showing us: in order to reach this great city, 4 churches were needed in each cardinal point, in the North, South, East, and West. At that moment the vision really scared me, how were we going to do it? But I was sure that God would do it.\nThat’s how we started and from the first day we started the first church I clearly communicated to all the people that we would be a church that would plant churches. Soon I realized that the vision that I had understood from God was really just part of the master plan that God had in mind for the city. I am sure that at that moment God did not show me more because I would have lacked faith to believe it. Now, I see it more clearly. We are about to send our church plants numbers 9 and 10! The seed is planted and bearing a lot of fruit, so, without a doubt, more church plants will be sent in the coming years since it is no longer a single church that is planting churches, but the churches that are being planted are in turn planting more churches. They have the vision in their hearts and this results in a great harvest for the Lord.\nIn addition, we are already working on 2 more church planting projects for next year. One of them in particular gives me great joy because it is a church that will be planted by a church that was planted by another church that was planted by our church! That is, Pastor Trent Douglass sent my pastor Mike Vincent, Pastor Mike sent us, we sent Pastor Valerio, Pastor Valerio sent Pastor Antonio, and Pastor Antonio will be sending this new church next year, Glory to God!\nI also want to share with you that I am full of joy because I just returned from Peru. I went to serve in the Missions Conference at Calvary Trujillo with my pastor friend Cory Kilgus. It was a great blessing to see that God used my life to encourage and train many churches in many countries in the vision of church planting. I was teaching at the conference alongside pastors Mike Vincent, Trent Douglass, Luis Sánchez, Cory Kilgus, Don McClure, Lloyd Pulley, and Wade O’Neill. Additionally, I taught on Sunday at Calvary Trujillo and we sent the future Calvary Moyobamba church planting team to the jungle of Peru, and finally, I taught at a church planting seminar at CBI Peru. What a great group of students passionate about serving the Lord in all nations.\nI want to thank you who are reading this letter for all your support in prayer and finances; we really consider you a very important part of our team and together we are serving our Lord. All this fruit is yours too because without your help we could not achieve it.\nPlease continue to pray for our family, for the new church plants, for our finances, for Culiacan, and especially pray for us because we are looking for sponsors for our family, if you want to partner with us, please let us know. Also we are in the process of making an important decision where we believe God is leading us to advance even further in his work and in planting churches throughout Mexico and the world. I will keep you informed of that situation.\nWith love,\n– Pastor Hugo, Brenda, Joy, and Judá Limón\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/church-plants-9-and-10-ready-to-be-sent-limon-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/361578139%5F215788218107255%5F8885975576903905371%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/375448702%5F172441569206798%5F3928960164176423157%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGod has been abundantly good. I remember when Pastor Mike Vincent and I came to Culiacan to pray for the city and ask God what he wanted to do in this beautiful city of a million inhabitants with so much need for churches that taught verse-by-verse the whole counsel of God.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Imagen1-300x198.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI could clearly understand the vision that God was showing us: in order to reach this great city, 4 churches were needed in each cardinal point, in the North, South, East, and West. At that moment the vision really scared me, how were we going to do it? But I was sure that God would do it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"CHURCH PLANTS #9 AND #10, READY TO BE SENT! - Limon Update September 2023"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Dear partners, thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well; God has kept us safe.\nLast month, I had the opportunity to visit the hospital, and I prayed for two brothers, as they were ill and admitted to the hospital.\nAlso last month, the members of all of the churches in the city organized a peaceful protest rally in support of persecuted Christians in a certain area of our country. Persecution began in that area in May, and since then, more than 300 churches have been burned and many Christians have been killed. Thousands and thousands of Christians have fled to a neighboring state, and and thousands are living in the deep forests to try to save their lives. The government in our country is not doing anything to bring peace in that state.\nWe had an outing with our church members. We had a good time with them in worship, prayer, and fellowship.\nI have finished teaching Ephesians. Now, I am teaching Philippians in our Calvary Bible Institute.\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for my children, that they will grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problem the world is facing. Please pray for the village ministry of our local area, that they will grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. Please pray for our church members, that they will grow in the Word of God. Please pray for the state in our country where thousands of Christians are undergoing persecution. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thank-you-for-your-prayers-pastor-16-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Dear partners, thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well; God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month, I had the opportunity to visit the hospital, and I prayed for two brothers, as they were ill and admitted to the hospital.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thank You for Your Prayers! - Pastor 16 Update October 2023"},{"content":"I greet you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! I hope you are well! By the grace of the God, my health is good now. Last month, I had dengue fever, and I was very ill. Now I am feeling better, thanks to your prayers.\nGod has used me to preach the Gospel in various places since I wrote last.\nChurch Ministry\nDuring the last two or three months, many new families have accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior! They keep coming to church. It is very difficult for them to come church because of their relatives and the pressure of the Hindu community. Some of them have a very difficult time; we are not even able to go and pray in their homes, but the Lord is helping them to grow in His love. He is slowly opening doors for them.\nWe are still doing fellowship in the same way we previously had fellowships, in three different places. There are seven to eight families who are ready to publicly show their commitment to follow Jesus. We are waiting for the right time for us to be able to hold that service.\nWe have also been conducting an online Bible study for a long time, in which about fifteen people participate. They are preparing for the ministry of the Gospel. By the grace of God, these people are growing in the Word of God. Keep remembering them in your prayers.\nOutreach Ministry\nIn our state, there are more than sixteen thousand villages and thirteen districts. Until now, the Gospel has only reached 20% of the people. The remaining 80% are deprived of the Gospel. The Lord has given me the vision of church planting here. My heart is that the Word of God will reach every village and district. In these eight or nine years of ministry, we have reached more than five hundred villages in this area. The people call this area the \u0026ldquo;land of the gods\u0026rdquo;. You can imagine why we need to work hard and reach every single place. I cannot do this by myself. That is why we are training the local people, so that they can be useful vessels for sharing the Gospel.\nA few months ago, we were able to go to visit my parents\u0026rsquo; village with some of my fellow brothers. I told them to share the Gospel and pray with the people there. It was such an amazing experience! Many people were filled with God\u0026rsquo;s Word. He used them mightily. We were also able to show some of the villagers a Christian movie. The movie was in our local dialogue. The most beautiful thing was that we got to pray right in front of the Hindu temple.\nSlum Children\u0026rsquo;s Ministry\nWe are continuing to go into some of the slums, where many children have been abandoned by our society, since they are poor and have a low standard of living. We go there with limited resources and try to educate the children. We show them a motivational video, draw with them, and have fun together. We hope to help them not feel about themselves like they are \u0026ldquo;garbage\u0026rdquo;. As God says, \u0026ldquo;you shall love your neighbors as yourself\u0026rdquo;.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me to be used for the kingdom of God and to reach places where the Gospel of God has not reached.\n2. Pray for the growth of the church, and that we will grow more in the Lord. Please also pray our church to be registered if it is God’s will.\n3. Please pray for our outreach ministry and for those who come with me. Please pray for our protection and safety. We cannot drive easily because of the difficult roads.\n4. Pray for our slum ministry, that the Word of God reaches the people and changes their lives.\n5. Pray for our prison ministry. There are many prisoners who are innocent but are in prison. Pray for their release. Also pray for those who have heard the Word of God. May the Lord deliver them so that they will be able to live a normal life.\nThank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers!\nPastor 12*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gods-word-is-working-mightily-pastor-12-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI greet you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ! I hope you are well! By the grace of the God, my health is good now. Last month, I had dengue fever, and I was very ill. Now I am feeling better, thanks to your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod has used me to preach the Gospel in various places since I wrote last.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IMG-20230410-WA0003-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/IMG-20230610-WA0008-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChurch Ministry\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the last two or three months, many new families have accepted the Lord Jesus as their Savior! They keep coming to church. It is very difficult for them to come church because of their relatives and the pressure of the Hindu community. Some of them have a very difficult time; we are not even able to go and pray in their homes, but the Lord is helping them to grow in His love. He is slowly opening doors for them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God's Word Is Working Mightily - Pastor 12 Update October 2023"},{"content":"Meet the SGWM Staff!Saving Grace World Missions could not be what it is today without faithful, Spirit-filled Jesus followers who are committed to making this passion for missions a reality. Every person involved is integral to its development, maintenance, and effectiveness. Let’s take a moment to meet those who keep the gears moving.Pastor Trent Douglass is founder and President of SGWM. His role is quite diverse and involves providing leadership, training, direction, new vision, and care for both the staff and our missionaries. He also leads our Calvary School of Missions, along with his wife Debbie, and helps run our missions intern program where he teaches and disciples SGWM interns weekly. Pastor Tim Pappas is Director of our Calvary School of Missions as well as our Intern Program. He is also highly involved with missionary care and travels often to visit various missionaries. His part is integral to the success of CSOM and the students who join the program and for those who go on to join the internship. He spends a lot of time investing into these students and does a great job with the help of his wife Jenn who also helps lead the School of Missions.Pastor Joel Garcia is Director of Missionary Care which includes making sure all our missionaries administrative and pastoral needs are being met. Because of his role, he is given the opportunity to travel a few times a year to give personal care to our workers all over the world.Heather Gaona is Director of National Workers. God has used her and her husband to help start several schools for the training and development of church planters all over the world. They have raised up and know personally many of our national workers. They frequently visit these pastors and their schools and host conferences for our workers in various locations. Heather is our liaison between our national workers and partnering churches state side as well as the home office.Stacy Cook is our Financial and Administrative Director and she has been a huge asset to our team. She accepted this position after 20 years of helping run a family business and we are so grateful for her organizational skills and her love for God’s people and His work! It’s an understatement to say that she is devoted to seeing our missionaries succeed. Lydia Boubion is one of our newest employees for SGWM and she is an amazing assistant to Stacy. She helps onboard new missionaries, sends out their newsletters, and makes sure they get all the info and resources they need.Serena Keeler is our newest employee and is administrative assistant to Stacy as well. She helps with inputting bills, graphics and other secretarial tasks. She provides great support for our team in the office. Jana Sandbulte and her sister Joni Houser are our SGWM staff that work out of state. They work remotely from Indiana and help with processing newsletters for all our South Asia Workers. Joni also helps process PO’s and with other financial duties. They are definitely a dynamic duo!Each and every one of the staff members have a deep love for our missionaries and a huge heart to reach the world through world evangelization and church-planting. Please keep all our staff members in your prayers as they support our frontline workers.Update from the FieldPastor Anand has been faithfully serving in Kathmandu, Nepal for many years. Father of 2, he and his wife of 15 years, Usha, have a huge heart to train up and send church planters out to reach the most unreached peoples of the world. After being introduced to Calvary Chapel and being trained, he planted CC Nakhu and has been faithfully pastoring this church for 9 years. In 2017 they opened their first Calvary Bible School and since then they have graduated 40 students. These students study the Bible verse by verse and do outreach weekly in surrounding villages which include slums and a leper colony. They also take the students on an in-countrymissions trip every semester. This past semester they partnered with CC West Grove and took all students to East Nepal to help serve at a youth conference as well as do outreach, evangelism and visit one of their church plants.Pastor Anand has several pastors helping him run the school. Pastor Prakash is Anand’s assistant at the school. Pastor Rabi and well as Pastor Pradeep are both helping to teach the students through the Bible.Please pray for the 28 students enrolled now that they would be trained in the word and that they would be stirred to church plant as God leads.Keeping with their vision to reach as many people as possible with the gospel, they also have a weekly radio program teaching the word of God to all of Kathmandu Valley. Pastor Anand and his other pastors are doing an amazing job pastoring and raising up the next generation of church planters. Please pray for them as they faithfully teach the word of God. Please pray they can continue this work and that God would continue to use their willing hearts to expand His kingdom in one of the most unreached areas of the world. Calvary School of Missions and SendingThis year\u0026rsquo;s Calvary School of Missions is right around the corner and we are anticipating another amazing summer filled with new adventures. This 6-week summer program held in Rosarito, Mexico has been used as a catalyst for many to find their way to full- time work doing cross-cultural ministry and church planting. This past year we have had the privilege to see 4 of our CSOM graduates move full time to the middle east where they have started language and culture studies. After going through the school and then our internship program, it was awesome to finally send them out as a team. Another one of our CSOM graduates who went through our intern program has been living in this same country for over a year now. He has recently returned state side as he is getting married. He and his new wife, also a CSOM graduate and intern, will return to this middle eastern country to continue their studies in Arabic and learning culture. This team of 6 will be joined by another one of our CSOM graduates in October making the team 7. Each of them have a passion for church planting amongst the most unreached peoples of the world and we are blessed to partner with them as they step out in faith to see what God will do. We are also praising God that one of our graduates who interned with us has also moved to South Asia and is partnering with one of our church plants there where her husband is an assistant pastor. It’s thrilling to see the culmination of our vision for the School of Missions to send out workers to the most unreached countries of the world and we are excited to see what God is going to do with each of these missionaries\u0026rsquo; lives.\nAnd we believe that God has many more whom He is calling to the field and we are looking forward to playing a part in their journey to GO! Please continue to pray for this year\u0026rsquo;s School of Missions and that God would give these students a heart for the most unreached peoples of the world. Thank you for your continued love and support!2022 Calvary School of MissionsWe ask that you would prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with SGWM. Financial partners are crucial to help operating costs at the SGWM home base, allowing us to serve missionaries worldwide. Donate to SGWMSGWM.com | 714-993-4801 To read more about the Calvary School of Missions please read the Calvary Chapel Magazine Spring 2023 edition, pages 16-22.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/spring-summer-2023-sgwm-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/1a61eae7-1194-4e96-b12e-11479ce14923.jpg\"\u003eMeet the SGWM Staff!\u003cstrong\u003eSaving Grace World Missions could not be what it is today without faithful, Spirit-filled Jesus followers who are committed to making this passion for missions a reality. Every person involved is integral to its development, maintenance, and effectiveness. Let’s take a moment to meet those who keep the gears moving.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/a139250e-0e69-4fe4-829a-22f8439286fb.jpg\"\u003ePastor Trent Douglass is founder and President of SGWM. His role is quite diverse and involves providing leadership, training, direction, new vision, and care for both the staff and our missionaries. He also leads our Calvary School of Missions, along with his wife Debbie, and helps run our missions intern program where he teaches and disciples SGWM interns weekly. \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/ce3eb39a-17fa-46a5-b6bb-3590c5bec246.jpg\"\u003ePastor Tim Pappas is Director of our Calvary School of Missions as well as our Intern Program. He is also highly involved with missionary care and travels often to visit various missionaries. His part is integral to the success of CSOM and the students who join the program and for those who go on to join the internship. He spends a lot of time investing into these students and does a great job with the help of his wife Jenn who also helps lead the School of Missions.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/c1e8623e-8b5e-4c5a-9f8d-fa9efcaccb61.jpg\"\u003ePastor Joel Garcia is Director of Missionary Care which includes making sure all our missionaries administrative and pastoral needs are being met. Because of his role, he is given the opportunity to travel a few times a year to give personal care to our workers all over the world.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/efa87ae5-c42d-4ced-afab-f2e7b655c558.jpg\"\u003eHeather Gaona is Director of National Workers. God has used her and her husband to help start several schools for the training and development of church planters all over the world. They have raised up and know personally many of our national workers. They frequently visit these pastors and their schools and host conferences for our workers in various locations. Heather is our liaison between our national workers and partnering churches state side as well as the home office.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/a87f4b68-494d-4e8d-9e06-1564c471905d.jpg\"\u003eStacy Cook is our Financial and Administrative Director and she has been a huge asset to our team. She accepted this position after 20 years of helping run a family business and we are so grateful for her organizational skills and her love for God’s people and His work! It’s an understatement to say that she is devoted to seeing our missionaries succeed. \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/c9095a83-09db-4c68-b166-57ba984d45d2.jpg\"\u003eLydia Boubion is one of our newest employees for SGWM and she is an amazing assistant to Stacy. She helps onboard new missionaries, sends out their newsletters, and makes sure they get all the info and resources they need.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://imgssl.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/8e15a9d2-6f71-4ebc-9912-6f199646cdfb.jpg\"\u003eSerena Keeler is our newest employee and is administrative assistant to Stacy as well. She helps with inputting bills, graphics and other secretarial tasks. She provides great support for our team in the office. Jana Sandbulte and her sister Joni Houser are our SGWM staff that work out of state. They work remotely from Indiana and help with processing newsletters for all our South Asia Workers. Joni also helps process PO’s and with other financial duties. They are definitely a dynamic duo!\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/45c4b74e-1271-41ee-be42-f49f899547ed.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://imgssl.constantcontact.com/letters/images/1101116784221/S.gif\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/d039e524-aa62-42a8-b364-3b0e7187ac6e.jpg\"\u003eEach and every one of the staff members have a deep love for our missionaries and a huge heart to reach the world through world evangelization and church-planting. Please keep all our staff members in your prayers as they support our frontline workers.\u003cstrong\u003eUpdate from the Field\u003c/strong\u003ePastor Anand has been faithfully serving in Kathmandu, Nepal for many years. Father of 2, he and his wife of 15 years, Usha, have a huge heart to train up and send church planters out to reach the most unreached peoples of the world. After being introduced to Calvary Chapel and being trained, he planted CC Nakhu and has been faithfully pastoring this church for 9 years. In 2017 they opened their first Calvary Bible School and since then they have graduated 40 students. These students study the Bible verse by verse and do outreach weekly in surrounding villages which include slums and a leper colony. They also take the students on an in-country\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/ca102d06-17eb-4117-bdf2-eea226a4273f.jpg\"\u003emissions trip every semester. This past semester they partnered with CC West Grove and took all students to East Nepal to help serve at a youth conference as well as do outreach, evangelism and visit one of their church plants.Pastor Anand has several pastors helping him run the school. Pastor Prakash is Anand’s assistant at the school. Pastor Rabi and well as Pastor Pradeep are both helping to teach the students through the Bible.Please pray for the 28 students enrolled now that they would be trained in the word and that they would be stirred to church plant as God leads.Keeping with their vision to reach as many people as possible with the gospel, they also have a weekly radio program teaching the word of God to all of Kathmandu Valley. Pastor Anand and his other pastors are doing an amazing job pastoring and raising up the next generation of church planters. Please pray for them as they faithfully teach the word of God. Please pray they can continue this work and that God would continue to use their willing hearts to expand His kingdom in one of the most unreached areas of the world. \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/a9440fac-604c-47bb-ac7a-b6fbdb41e217.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/9473786a-b110-4667-8a63-a7e02d672521.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/2cfe530c-450a-4a58-a04c-01ce4ee73d9a.jpg\"\u003eCalvary School of Missions and SendingThis year\u0026rsquo;s Calvary School of Missions is right around the corner and we are anticipating another amazing summer filled with new adventures. This 6-week summer program held in Rosarito, Mexico has been used as a catalyst for many to find their way to full- time work doing cross-cultural ministry and church planting. This past year we have had the privilege to see 4 of our CSOM graduates move full time to the middle east where they have started language and culture studies. After going through the school and then our internship program, it was awesome to finally send them out as a team. Another one of our CSOM graduates who went through our intern program has been living in this same country for over a year now. He has recently returned state side as he is getting married. He and his new wife, also a CSOM graduate and intern, will return to this middle eastern country to continue their studies in Arabic and learning culture. This team of 6 will be joined by another one of our CSOM graduates in October making the team 7. Each of them have a passion for church planting amongst the most unreached peoples of the world and we are blessed to partner with them as they step out in faith to see what God will do. We are also praising God that one of our graduates who interned with us has also moved to South Asia and is partnering with one of our church plants there where her husband is an assistant pastor. It’s thrilling to see the culmination of our vision for the School of Missions to send out workers to the most unreached countries of the world and we are excited to see what God is going to do with each of these missionaries\u0026rsquo; lives.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Spring/Summer 2023 SGWM Newsletter"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nSummer has come and gone, and as we move into the fall, my calendar is full of travels visiting our church plants. One of my more recent goals that God has given me, is to attempt to plant a church that is a sending hub in all of the major continents! We are presently attempting to get a young Ugandan pastoral student over to Mexico to train him and send him back in 2024. (Please pray for the visa process!) But last year, my dream began to become a reality, when we received two interns from South America.\nAt the end of September, I was blessed to take my first trip to visit our church planter in Peru named Lorenzo! (As you are reading this update, I am probably still there!) You might remember that we sent Lorenzo out to begin his church (Calvary Punta Piedra) at the beginning of the summer after a year of training. Lorenzo’s church is now meeting in a school and averaging 30 to 40 in weekly attendance after just three months.\nOn this week long trip, the plan is to stay three days in the Peruvian Capital of Lima (Population over 11 million) where I will teach the Sunday service at the new church plant. We will then get the privilege of participating in the very first beach baptism of this church.\nWhat an honor that is, and I can’t wait to participate in this. Our mission’s team also plans on spending an extra day or two there in Lima to spend time with and bless Lorenzo and his family of five.\nAnother main purpose of this trip is to fly up to the North of Peru to a major city called Trujillo where my good friend Cory Kilgus pastors a church and has a Bible college. Cory has become a good friend of mine and has caught the vision to turn his church into a sending hub. Cory has also participated in our church planting conferences, and he now hosts an amazing yearly missions conference of his own.\nI was blessed to be able to teach at the conference along with my pastor Trent Douglass and our church planter Hugo Limon. The theme of this year’s conference wa`s Commissioned (Comisionado) and I had the honor of teaching about church planting. (What a surprise!)\nI am looking forward to this conference for a number of reasons. #1- We have three gifted young ladies from our church that attend the Bible Institute there and I am excited to see them. #2- Cory will be sending out his own church planter at the end of the conference. And #3- Our generous church is donating 80 of my new books (The Sending Hub) to each Senior Pastor that is in attendance. Pray that as these Pastors who are flying in from all over South America read the books and catch the church planting vision that God has given us.\nIt is such an honor to follow in the footsteps of the great Apostle Paul. After Paul planted many churches on his 1st missionary journey, Paul told his partner Barnabas this in Acts 15:36, “Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.” And that is exactly what we get to do on these types of mission’s trips.\nBut just as Paul and Barnabas didn’t do their work alone, we don’t do our work alone either. We have been SENT OUT by our local church family and by you, my precious supporters and ministry partners. It was at the start of our ministry 21 years ago that God gave me the theme verse for our missions work. It is found in 1st Corinthians 3:6, where Paul says: “I planted Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.”\nThis verse talks about the partnership that Paul had with his friends, and Almighty God. Paul’s great missionary work was a team effort, and ours is too! So THANK YOU! Thank you for your love, prayers, and financial support. I feel honored and blessed to do this great missionary work with you as my partners and friends!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless our trip to visit our new church plant, Calvary Punta Piedra in Lima, Peru.\n#2- Please pray that the 80 books we are giving out at the conference will help the South American pastors catch the vision of reaching their countries through planting churches!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a great trip to visit our church plant in Hermosillo!\n#2- Praise God for God’s continued blessing and provision for our family, ministry, and church plants.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-october-2023-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/maxresdefault-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSummer has come and gone, and as we move into the fall, my calendar is full of travels visiting our church plants. One of my more recent goals that God has given me, is to attempt to plant a church that is a sending hub in all of the major continents! We are presently attempting to get a young Ugandan pastoral student over to Mexico to train him and send him back in 2024. \u003cem\u003e(Please pray for the visa process!)\u003c/em\u003e But last year, my dream began to become a reality, when we received two interns from South America.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family October 2023 Missions Update"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\n- Thank you for praying for Jill. Her shingles are almost cleared. Pray for the effects to go away completely. - Pray for the women in Jill\u0026rsquo;s bible study to grow and for those who are not saved (2 Muslims and 1 alcoholic) to continue to come and for the Lord to touch their hearts. - Pray for the children to stay healthy as they keep passing coughs around. Pray for Brian to be well. - Please continue to pray the children would get called for their citizenship interview. - Many visitors are coming through the guest house from now till end of October. Pray for their time in Uganda and Sudan to be fruitful and for all the arrangements to come to pass smoothly. - Also please pray for safety as there have been a couple of terrorist attempts around Kampala the last 2 weeks.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nHello everyone, Thank you so much for your partnership with us in the Gospel!\nPraise God with us that:\n- Many people received salvation through a crusade that one of our students held! - God provided a beautiful new home for our family!\nPlease join us in prayer that:\n- God will continue providing for each of the pastors in our school. - That Noelle and I would have a wonderful 10th anniversary! - That God would fully fund our soccer outreach.\nGod Bless You,\nThe Harris Family - Email BlogUSA\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n- Pray for the new churches that have been planted in S. Asia and Nepal. Pray God would bring many new believers and the churches would grow in the Word and many would hear for the first time. - Pray for the CBI campuses in S. Asia and Nepal for each of the students as they are being equipped in the Word daily. Pray for the teachers and for the Lord to do a mighty work. Pray for protection and for confirmation for next steps in ministry for those who are graduating. - Pray for us as we plan to travel this Fall to teach, strengthen, and visit new locations for ministry in the 10-40 window.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n- My baby is due very soon. Please pray for a safe and healthy delivery and baby, and that God will help us to choose a good name for her.\n- Please continue to pray for my dad’s health and recovery.\n- Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n- Please continue to pray for my father’s health and recovery.\n- Please pray for the Christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.\n- The after-school children’s ministry that I work with is starting up again. Please pray for the children’s salvation and growth in the Lord.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - Yorba Linda, California\n- Pray for a fruitful trip for Joel to the Middle East and North Africa at the end of October and early November - Pray for continued strength and vision for raising our family and serving in ministry\nLove in Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests!\n- Jobs for our college age children Grace and Daniel! - God\u0026rsquo;s blessing on Mike on his four trips visiting our church planters over the next two months. (Santa Barbara, Lima Peru, Las Vegas, Punta Gorda Florida)\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello and thank you so much for your prayers for me and the people of Mexico. Here are my prayer requests for this month:\n- For my mom, health and safety as she lives alone and suffers from Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s. - For the parents of the children in the afterschool program to come to Christ. - An afterschool program to reach the junior high kids. They age out of the afterschool program at age 12. We need more staff. - For our pastor’s wife, Elena, who was just diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Pray for funds, comfort, wisdom, and understanding in all of this.\n- Deanna Jevas - Email Blog\nBrian \u0026amp; Brittany De La Cruz - Calpulalpan, Mexico\n- Calvary Conexión México is doing well, praise God! We would like to ask for prayer for the upcoming missions team coming to Calpulalpan from Calvary Rosarito. They will be starting the construction on the property that was donated to the church. Pray for sufficient funds to complete the project, for safety for everyone involved in the construction, and for the children’s outreach that they will be doing.\nThank you! God bless!\n- Brian \u0026amp; Brittany De La Cruz - Email BlogSouth America\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n- Prayer that the 70+ people coming to Moyobamba for a mission trip. That the trip is organized, unified, the gospel shared, and that the people of Moyobamba know that Calvary Moyobamba is a place of truthbound love. - Pray for our friendships with the locals, that we disciple them and they have a hunger for God\u0026rsquo;s Word and will in their lives.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nThank you for praying with me for these souls!\nPraise reports:\n- The Lord continues to open doors for ministry, meeting new people and sharing the Gospel with them.\n- I continue to see fruit in the new believers and an eagerness to know the Lord.\nPrayer requests:\n- I am looking to move closer to the village I minister in; pray that I can find a good place and for favor with the landlord.\n- Please pray for the believers I am shepherding to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus.\n- Please pray for continued open doors to minister to the youth.\n- Please pray for the young man I recently met, A, to open his heart to the Lord and be raised up to serve Him.\n- Please pray for full restoration of my mother’s health, for stronger lungs and the ability to walk without the help of a walker.Please pray that God would bring my helpmate.\nThank you, Worker 7\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for G.N. who is demon possessed.\n- Please pray for S.; she is only 5 and has swelling in her lungs.\n- Please pray for G. and his health problem.\nIn the Lord,\nYour brother,\nPastor 8 and family Worker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPraise Points:\n- Thank God, another believer in our church publicly showed faith in Jesus this month.\n- Thanks to the Lord for the rain; the farmers were able to cultivate the rice paddies.\n- Thanks to God, He is providing for all of our needs.\n- Thank God for giving me good health in spite of the heat. I did not have any major disease.\n- Thank you Lord for strengthening the believers in their faith and for giving them strength to face persecution.\n- Thank God that P began attending church again after her family prevented her from coming last month.\nPrayer requests:\n- Please pray for G.N. who is demon possessed.\n- Please pray for S.; she is only 5 and has swelling in her lungs.\n- Please pray for G. and his health problem.\n- A brother lives near our village and has mouth cancer. He believes in God and has also publicly shown his commitment to follow Jesus. Right now, his condition is critical. A few days ago he needed blood, and another friend and I donated blood for him.\n- Please pray that God will increase our church in the knowledge and faith of His Word.\n- Please pray for our country, that God will bring goodwill and love here. And that God will bring peace to those who are spreading hatred in the name of religion.\n- Please pray for R., who has been disabled for almost 21 years, and also for A., who has been mentally ill for almost 24 years. May God heal both of these believers.\n- Please pray for the believer in our church, P. Her husband has locked her in her house so that she cannot come to church. May God release her soon.Please pray for the heat here to go down. Due to the heat, my wife, my family an I have prickly heath. There are frequent power cuts, so we are not able to sleep well at night. Because of the crowd in our church, it is very hot during church. May God give us quick relief from the heat.\n- Thank you for your prayers, support and Christian love and for sharing the Gospel. God bless you and your family very much. Please pray that God fulfills all our needs.\nGod bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray for me to be used for the kingdom of God and to reach places where the Gospel of God has not reached.\n- Pray for the growth of the church, and that we will grow more in the Lord. Please also pray for church registration if it is God’s will.\n- Please pray for our outreach ministry and for those who come with me; please pray for our protection and safety because we cannot drive easily because of the difficult roads.\n- Pray for our slum ministry, that the Word of God reaches the people and changes their lives.\n- Pray for our prison ministry. There are many prisoners who are innocent but are in prison. Pray for their release, and also for those who have heard the Word of God, that the Lord will deliver them so that they will be able to live a normal life.\nThank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers! - Worker 12\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n- Please pray for my children, that they will grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.\n- Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing.\n- Please pray for the village ministry of the local area, that they will grow in the Word of the Lord.\n- Please pray for the church members, that they will grow in the Word of God.\n- Please pray for our area.\n- Worker 16\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for those who heard the Gospel through our students’ ministry in the village.\n- Please pray for all of our CBI students as they grow more in His Grace and in His Word.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\n- There are fanatic Hindu groups trying to destroy the church building in the east. Please pray for the situation.\n- The same groups are trying to begin a religious war. Pray that God will intervene in every situation.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n- This years’ students will be graduating soon. Please pray that God will mightily use them and bring changes to the churches in our country.\n- Please pray for brother Harka, a former student, who is doing ministry now. Pray that God will bless and provide for him.\n- Please pray that God will give us a baby.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\n- I\u0026rsquo;m currently planning to go to a nearby country to share the Gospel.\nThank you!\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita Milan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray for my family and our health.\n- Pray for our church family and the new believers, that they will grow in the Word.\n- Pray for Godly wisdom as I am leading the church as well as leading the district youth community. This month we are having a youth conference October 22-25.\n- Pray for the people in my area.\n- Pray for the surrounding village people who are following false gods; pray that they will find the true God and hear the Gospel.\nThank you,\nMilan\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\n- Please pray for strength and wisdom for me as I teach a two-week intensive Apologetics class at a Cambodian Bible school from Sept. 25 to August 6. - Please pray for Light Association, the organization I volunteer for, to raise funds so that we can provide trainings on a variety of much needed topics to Cambodian churches and organizations, including mental health. - Please pray for our regular ministries/ministry partners in Cambodian (Precious Women organization, Bible Schools, ministries to Chinese, a Cambodian church and the international church. - Please continue to pray for our health and strength.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email BlogEurope\nDoru and the Pavel’s – Romania\nGreetings,\nPlease lift us up in prayer regarding our migration to a new support platform. While we navigate out of the SGWM system into a new one there are many challenges ahead and many uncertainties to our mission.\nBlessings and Prayers, Doru and the Pavel’s - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-prayer-oct-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Thank you for praying for Jill. Her shingles are almost cleared. Pray for the effects to go away completely.   \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for the women in Jill\u0026rsquo;s bible study to grow and for those who are not saved (2 Muslims and 1 alcoholic) to continue to come and for the Lord to touch their hearts.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for the children to stay healthy as they keep passing coughs around. Pray for Brian to be well.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Please continue to pray the children would get called for their citizenship interview.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Many visitors are coming through the guest house from now till end of October. Pray for their time in Uganda and Sudan to be fruitful and for all the arrangements to come to pass smoothly.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Also please pray for safety as there have been a couple of terrorist attempts around Kampala the last 2 weeks.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM OCT PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"By Claudia Boubion\nHello family, friends, and fellow co-laborers,\nI want to start off by thanking everyone who has, is, and will be holding us up in prayer!\nWow! God is amazing indeed! He continues to equip folks here in Mexico and beyond!\nI am blessed to share with you our new Bilingual Women’s study called, “ Women of Worth and Purpose” (Mujeres de Valor y Propósito)\nOur key verse is Ephesians 2:10\n\u0026ldquo;For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.\u0026rdquo;\nWhy? Because every woman is valuable and has a purpose in God’s kingdom here and beyond ‘til we see Him face to face. My heart is simply to equip them, whether they’re 13 or 113 years old, to fulfill their calling for every good work God has prepared for them to step into and glorify Him with. We promote HIM, not ourselves, which is a very good place to be!\nHere’s a question or two:\nWhat good works should a Christian woman or man do? What good works are you presently walking in and fulfilling? Because if you are, that’s great! You’re fulfilling your part in His plan of redemption! And, if not, why not? Time is of the essence! Jesus is coming soon! May He find us tending to His kingdom business.\n(We know that good works do not save or make you more or less approved before God. It’s simply out of love, faith, and obedience that you are! Our approval, acceptance, and favor come from repentance over our sin and believing in Jesus Christ alone to forgive all our sinful actions past, present, and future. That’s great news!\nAll this to say, God has allowed and redirected me to begin a new women’s study. Here’s the catch: it is a bilingual women\u0026rsquo;s study, the first ever at Calvary Rosarito! September 26th was our first meeting. It was great to see new faces, new leaders, and a new enthusiasm.\nOur first meeting was a great blessing! We will be studying the book of Psalms, I got to teach Psalm 1 in Spanish. My translator Dannya was a blessing.\nWe’re so thankful for you as you partner with us prayerfully and monetarily, this is YOUR eternal fruit as well!\nPoiema is currently attending Calvary Bible Institute and was very busy this week preparing for a large Church Planting conference in Trujillo, Peru!\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for leaders\u0026rsquo; unity, guidance, and love for the ladies God brings. Future leaders with the same heart and commitment as the group grows My trip to Morelia, Oct 4-8, I have the privilege of sharing at the retreat. For Poiema to grow in her faith and vision for her future as she works at CBI Peru. And provision for expenses. She returns in November. Wisdom and energy for Paul as he teaches Tuesdays at a rehab clinic, directs the 1pm church planting class on Mondays, oversees Biblical Counselling, and his work with the staff and the executive board. ONE in Christ\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/equipped-and-equipping-boubion-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBy Claudia Boubion\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello family, friends, and fellow co-laborers,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI want to start off by thanking everyone who has, is, and will be holding us up in prayer!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWow! God is amazing indeed! He continues to equip folks here in Mexico and beyond!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am blessed to share with you our new Bilingual Women’s study called, “ \u003cstrong\u003eWomen of Worth and Purpose\u003c/strong\u003e” \u003cem\u003e(Mujeres de Valor y Propósito)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur key verse is \u003cstrong\u003eEphesians 2:10\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Equipped and Equipping - Boubion Update September 2023"},{"content":"Dear Team and Family in Christ,\nThank you so much for your faithfulness in praying for me and for all the work that our Lord is doing. Please know that your prayers are the fuel for us to continue in the Kingdom work the Lord has set before us. God has been so faithful! He continues to open doors to visit new villages and meet new people\u0026ndash;new people who need to hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nAs I am visiting new villages and regularly returning to other villages, the children that I meet are really on my heart. There have been many opportunities to build relationships with the parents of the children, to get to know them and build trust. Because of that, the parents feel comfortable and allow me to minister to their children as well. There are times when I visit these families and the adults are busy working on the farm and are not able to meet with me. At those times, the parents let their children participate in the children’s ministry. We take the time to introduce them to Jesus and share stories from the Bible with them.\nI recently met a young boy who really stood out to me. When I first saw this boy (left), I could see he was strongly influenced by Hinduism. He was wearing tika and bottu on his face. These markings represent having much faith in an idol. They are an outward sign that the person believes in a particular god and is showing reverence towards it. He seemed to keep a distance, because he knew that I was not Hindu and that I was from a different religion. My heart broke for this boy. With love, we invited him to gather with us and join the rest of the children. However, he continued to keep a distance from us. I am praying to have an opportunity to explain to him about the true and living God.\n“Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” 1 John 5:21\nIn Hinduism, there are many reasons why people offer sacrifices to their gods. Sometimes they offer a sacrifice because it is a special occasion, like a festival or celebration. Sometimes if there is an illness, loss of crops, or a situation that is not going well in the home, the people will offer a sacrifice to try to win favor with the gods or goddesses and please them. Based on their financial status, they will sacrifice sheep, goats, or even chickens. The families who have very little money, will spend a whole lot of their wages to make a 2-3 day trip to a temple to offer a sacrifice to an idol who will do nothing for them. Their children are learning to bow down to these false gods, worship them, and seek their favor and protection. Influenced by their parent’s idolatry, the children do whatever their parents tell them to do. Since the parents are in total darkness, they are passing on their idolatry to the next generation.\nI feel great compassion and urgency to tell them about the true and living God\u0026ndash;the Creator of the universe. If the enemy is actively working to keep these adults and their children in darkness, how much more should I be telling them about Jesus?!\nJudges 2:10 says “…another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.” Just like the generation in the book of Judges who did not know God, this generation that I am working with in the villages has forgotten to seek the true and living God. The Lord is using me to tell them about Him and to tell their children.\nEven if there is much darkness, I have much hope and faith in what God can do. Last Christmas I met a young girl in the 10th grade named S*. She believed in Jesus at a young age and wanted to begin going to church when she was in 4th grade. Her parents did not want to discourage her, so they accompanied her to church. During this process, the entire family became born-again! Today I am ministering to her parents. This family is incredibly faithful. The entire village they live in is back-slidden and choose not to go to church or have an active faith in God. But this family attends church every Sunday and continues to grow spiritually. Because this young girl had a heart for the Lord, the entire family has now been saved. It is important to minister to the entire family, to seek out every soul from very young to very old and tell them about Jesus. God wants to open their eyes and save every generation.\n“To open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me”\nActs 26:18\nThank you for praying with me for these souls!\nPraise Report:\nThe Lord continues to open doors for me to do ministry and meet new people and share the Gospel with them. I continue to see fruit in the new believers\u0026rsquo; lives and an eagerness to know the Lord. Prayer request:\nI’m looking for a place to move closer to the villages where I minister. Pray that I can find a good place and for favor with the landlord. Pray for the believers who I’m shepherding to grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Pray for continued open doors to minister to the youth. Pray for the young man I recently met, Arjun. May he open his heart to the Lord and be raised up to serve Him. Please pray for the full restoration of my mothers health\u0026ndash;for her to have stronger lungs and ability to walk without the help of a walker. Pray that God would bring me a helpmate. In Christ,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/from-darkness-to-light-pastor-7-update-october-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Team and Family in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/67798ef1-08fc-48e9-8587-f69f59af2025-272x300.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank you so much for your faithfulness in praying for me and for all the work that our Lord is doing. Please know that your prayers are the fuel for us to continue in the Kingdom work the Lord has set before us. God has been so faithful! He continues to open doors to visit new villages and meet new people\u0026ndash;new people who need to hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"From Darkness to Light - Pastor 7 Update October 2023"},{"content":" A couple of Fridays ago I was teaching on Mark 13 to my middle schoolers, just asking them if they were really ready for Jesus to come back. Many said no, and the Lord got them thinking about it in ways they hadn’t before or hadn\u0026rsquo;t in a while. A big question for me lately is, “am I ready for Jesus to come back?” My oh my has He been doing a work in my heart with that one. It’s been a very busy season of life, but I feel like it’s been a fairly productive one too. It\u0026rsquo;s been amazing to see the Lord\u0026rsquo;s provision and strength as I\u0026rsquo;ve been dealing with work, ministry, and some big transitions as I prepare to go to Peru. Many things have been weighing on my heart regarding family and other practical needs that need tending before I would leave for Peru. Many of those big things are being provided for as we speak, and I am looking forward to all that the Lord is going to do.\nPERU\nThe Lord has certainly provided for this go-around to Peru, your prayers and financial support are such a blessing! As I am currently in country and have been up to a lot the last two days, this update will be a segue into a special second edition coming soon to an email near you. Already I see the Lord doing much to prepare my heart and mind for the challenges that may come and I am beyond grateful for how the Lord has been giving me the grace to deal with it well. On Saturday morning it became clear there would be a couple snags as I headed down to join the team en route to Peru. An early delay brought about a flight carrier and connection change so I ended up meeting the team in Lima rather than at LAX. I honestly had a fair amount of time to spare and even with delays and some other curve balls, the Lord caused me to meet up with the team from Saving Grace almost right after they checked their bags. Prior to that I got to meet an elderly gentleman by the name of Jeff. We had a great conversation, but outside of me sharing what I was up to, I didn’t get to talk with him more about the Gospel. He’s an American ex-pat who lives in Thailand with his wife and adopted daughter and couldn’t speak more highly of the Thai people. With that he expressed that he felt he aligned most with Buddhist ideals and beliefs, and kindly emphasized he was not a Christian. As I was trying to find a pause to share and at least give a few Gospel thoughts to hopefully spark some eternal thinking about what would happen when he died, and point him to a loving Savior, there was a call to prep for boarding. Any chance I had may have disappeared as I didn’t see him again long enough to share. Please pray that the Lord world bring more Christians to share the Gospel with him and that he would have a heart to hear the Lord’s call!\nAfter meeting up with the team in Lima around 10pm California time, we boarded our flight 2 hrs later and got into Trujillo around 5:30am Peru (Texas) time. So far it’s been a sweet but busy couple days. Many familiar faces and lot\u0026rsquo;s of new ones as we’ve also been joined by CBI Kauai. Please be praying for our teams and the outreach that will be happening in the midst of the big church planting conference coming later this week! There’s a lot to do, but with the Lord and many of his hands I know He will see us through. He is up to something good, and I\u0026rsquo;m excited! With that I think it\u0026rsquo;s time for me to go to bed! Hopefully I will be doing a workout bright and early! Prior to my part 2, feel free to add me on Facebook or Instagram for some behind the scenes looks at what the Lord is up to down here in Péru.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nMiddle School while I’m in Peru (Miss them already)\nTime in Peru, to bring refreshment for students and pastors who are serving and attending the conference\nFor teams to stay bold in the Lord and for his hand of protection during service and outreach\nTeam unity\nHearts to be stirred for missions\nLaborers for the harvest is plentiful…\nRelationships with students and staff to grow\nfor the Lords will to be done!\nP.S. If you’re wondering how you can get involved with what the Lord is doing, I will be giving some more info about that on part 2.\nThank you for your prayers and God bless you!\n- Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/are-you-ready-pt-1-voisin-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/8F263E8F-0F1F-46F7-ADAA-4882B201C25F-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA couple of Fridays ago I was teaching on Mark 13 to my middle schoolers, just asking them if they were really ready for Jesus to come back. Many said no, and the Lord got them thinking about it in ways they hadn’t before or hadn\u0026rsquo;t in a while. A big question for me lately is, “am I ready for Jesus to come back?” My oh my has He been doing a work in my heart with that one. It’s been a very busy season of life, but I feel like it’s been a fairly productive one too. It\u0026rsquo;s been amazing to see the Lord\u0026rsquo;s provision and strength as I\u0026rsquo;ve been dealing with work, ministry, and some big transitions as I prepare to go to Peru. Many things have been weighing on my heart regarding family and other practical needs that need tending before I would leave for Peru. Many of those big things are being provided for as we speak, and I am looking forward to all that the Lord is going to do.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Are You Ready (Pt.1) - Voisin Update September 2023"},{"content":"Hello to all my family and friends! I\u0026rsquo;m excited to be writing this newsletter and to be sharing the incredibly exciting things that the Lord is doing in my life, post CSOM. I can attest that He has been faithful to continually show me my great need and desire for His constant presence. There have certainly been trials in this season, but I praise and thank Him for them, as they perpetually lead me to understand more and more just how sovereign God truly is. While in an abandoned tower on the Baja beach front, I felt the Lord give me a passage of Scripture to work through with Him. The passage, in Genesis 32, is where Jacob becomes Israel, and it has been an awesome reminder as of late. Just as he was given a limp, a thorn in the flesh, with which he had to walk for the rest of his life, that same blow brought him to the place of pure faith in God and God alone to fulfill the promise given to him by God. I pray to welcome the thorns in the flesh as they come, inasmuch as I cease from catching heels and instead have faith in God to fight my battles.\n“How pleased would you and I be to go halting all our days with such a weakness as Jacob had, if we might also have the blessing that he thus won!”\n– Spurgeon\nIN THE NEAR FUTURE\nStarting next month, I will be joining the Missions Training School (MTS) at CC Saving Grace. It can be thought of as a continuation of the training that started at the Calvary School of Missions, with a lot more opportunities to learn and serve in many aspects of ministry, and to connect with the body of the church. MTS will provide more classes, and even teaching opportunities, as well as opportunities for leaning into the Lord’s direction for my life in going about His work. In addition to starting MTS, I am also excited to be joining a team going to Japan for a vision tour in late January 2024! A vision tour to Indonesia is being planned as well, directly to follow the tour to Japan. These kinds of opportunities are an incredible gift from God, as we seek not only His heart but also His will for the unreached. More on both of these trips will be shared with you all in the coming weeks!\nI don’t have a specific country, region, or people group on my heart, but rather I know that I want to be used to be a witness to Christ to the ends of the earth. With that in my heart, whether or not I feel called to a specific country upon stepping foot on the ground, I know that God is going to use these vision tours to teach me and show me so many things that I’ve yet to learn or even consider. The prayer is that He breaks our hearts with what breaks His, and leads us into fulfilling these words of Jesus; “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another,” (John 13:34).\nIN THE MEANTIME\nThere is a ministry at CC Saving Grace called Convinced, led by Pastor Nick. Going every Thursday to either Fullerton JC or to Cal State Fullerton, he is looking to take the gospel to any and all on these campuses, and it is a work of the Holy Spirit. I had the honor of accompanying him this past week, and though I confess to having a fleshly spirit of timidity in these circumstances, I have complete faith that we receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon us to be witnesses to Christ (Acts 1:8). I’ve never felt such a calling to be bold in my faith here and now. It is one thing to look with excitement, fear, and faith in where God is leading me to spread the gospel throughout the world, but it is another thing to admit that He also has a mission field right before me, right here among the secular campuses of universities in Southern California. I share this in part to hopefully spark the same conviction that God has been speaking to me, but also so that you who read this hold me accountable! My spirit is surely willing, but my flesh is incredibly weak, so I beseech and ask that you beseech the Lord of the harvest to send workers into HIS harvest field (Matthew 9:37-38); where He guides, He provides. Engaging in discourse with these souls on these campuses is not man against man, or our values and beliefs against theirs; it is the God of the living universe reaching out to the lost whom He so loved, and, “… we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us;” (2 Corinthians 5:20).\nThank you all for your prayers and support. I feel led to share one last thing, and I know it’s a truth that is for myself just as much as anyone else right now. Our service to the Kingdom of heaven is not accomplished in spite of undesirable circumstances or painful trials; rather, it should be elevated by such things, as God manifests His great strength in our great weakness.\nPRAISE REPORTS\nThe season that I have been called in to; immediate opportunities to share the gospel. The next steps that God has been faithful to provide. The unchanging truth that we can have peace in the midst of storms. PRAYER REQUESTS\nFor every student and staff member of MTS to be in prayer and to be prepared going into next month. For everyone going on the vision tours to Japan and Indonesia to trust in God’s timing and will throughout each respective process. For the hearts of any and all who we will encounter on the college campuses to be good and fertile ground, ready to receive the good news of Jesus Christ. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/pleased-with-such-a-weakness-brzezinski-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello to all my family and friends! I\u0026rsquo;m excited to be writing this newsletter and to be sharing the incredibly exciting things that the Lord is doing in my life, post CSOM. I can attest that He has been faithful to continually show me my great need and desire for His constant presence. There have certainly been trials in this season, but I praise and thank Him for them, as they perpetually lead me to understand more and more just how sovereign God truly is. While in an abandoned tower on the Baja beach front, I felt the Lord give me a passage of Scripture to work through with Him. The passage, in Genesis 32, is where Jacob becomes Israel, and it has been an awesome reminder as of late. Just as he was given a limp, a thorn in the flesh, with which he had to walk for the rest of his life, that same blow brought him to the place of pure faith in God and God alone to fulfill the promise given to him by God. I pray to welcome the thorns in the flesh as they come, inasmuch as I cease from catching heels and instead have faith in God to fight my battles.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pleased with such a weakness… - Brzezinski Update September 2023"},{"content":" In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,”\n‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭1‬:‭13\nBeloved Brothers and Sisters,\nI have been praying for you all. When I consider you all, I am filled with joy because you have come alongside me and I am extremely grateful!\nGalilean Wedding\nHave any of you watched the movie Before The Wrath? If you haven’t, I recommend you do. One of the guys who comes out in the movie taught our first block of class; Life of the Messiah, his name is Jay. When I heard he was teaching I was excited because I had seen the movie and knew who he was. He stayed with us for two weeks. His teaching through the gospels opened my eyes to view the Scripture in a way I always desired to but never knew how to. The last day he was here, he taught about the Galilean wedding. I wish I can go into detail about it but that would require a lot of writing. I will tell you what lit my face up.\nI had already known about the Galilean wedding because of the movie, but in Jay\u0026rsquo;s teaching he elaborated in things the movie doesn’t talk about. One of those things was that at the time of betrothal the bridegroom gives the bride a gift. The gift can be jewelry, any gift that symbolizes she is married because for a year the bridegroom and bride are not together. He then shared Ephesians 1:13, he shared how in other scriptures Paul knew about the Galilean wedding because he spent time with the apostles. Well when he read Ephesians 1:13, I nearly jumped out of my seat and said “the Holy Spirit is our wedding ring” but I didn’t say anything, instead, my face said it all. It all clicked. This may not make sense if you didn\u0026rsquo;t know that at the Last Supper Jesus was referencing a Galilean wedding to his apostles who would have understood clearly what Jesus was talking about. Jesus gave you and I a wedding ring which is His Holy Spirit, we are His bride! We have said I do! He will come back for His bride! He is preparing a room for us (John 14:2)! Only our Papà in Heaven knows the time Jesus can come for His bride and I so eagerly wait to be united with my bridegroom!:)\nDesires of My Heart\nThe Lord has placed desires in my heart that I am seeing being fulfilled here. Let me run you through a few of them. I always wanted to learn the Bible in its full context and the background of the text. What I mean by that is knowing the culture at that time, knowing the history of the time, being able to put myself in the character\u0026rsquo;s shoes, what they could have been thinking, their living situation and not using chapter breaks (which helps with context). All those things, I am learning here, it has blown my mind because I am seeing the scriptures from a simple way. Let me leave this nugget with you for the next time you’re studying the Bible; don’t ask why, ask what is it for:). Another desire I am seeing fulfilled was that I always wanted to memorize scripture but I wouldn’t keep myself accountable. For our group devotionals we have to memorize a scripture once a week and we have each other to keep ourselves accountable. I have challenged myself to memorize the book of 1 John. I have been wanting to memorize this book since summer and I am now getting to it. Another desire is evangelizing. We have been reading two books; Tactics and In the Footsteps of Prophesy. I have been learning a lot through these books in which I can apply when I evangelize.\nI have never seen God’s will play out so clearly in my life and Him fulfilling the desires of my heart. As cheesy as this may sound the Lord makes me smile and giddy through all this. Not only is He my source of joy but He is my everything.\nUpdate\nI am at 70% in the goal of being able to visit the missions team after CBI Israel and my plane ticket to go back home. The ticket to fly to where the missions team is located is $300 and the plane ticket back home is $900. Please be praying for the Lord\u0026rsquo;s provision and wisdom if I should still visit the missions team.\n* EXCITING NEWS*\nIn February of next year a group of us are planning on taking a vision tour to Bali and Jakarta Indonesia. If you recall a couple months ago I shared with you all, my heart for Bali. The importance of taking this vision tour is to know if this is a location God is calling me long term and I won’t know until I go check out the place.\nIn the first pic, behind us is a model of Jerusalem from the old days. The second pic, is of a septuagint Leviticus scroll which is part of the Dead Sea Scrolls that were found in Qumran in 1947. I was also able to see a replica of the Isaiah Scroll (the real copy is sealed and protected elsewhere). It was so neat to be able to see all that was found in Qumran. It’s crazy to consider that even with such evidence people still deny the Word or deny there is a God.\nBiblical Dinner: I learned what it meant to be the guest of honor and all that it would entail. I learned the customs of those times and how some still practice it. This has opened my eyes to view the scripture in a detailed way. Now when I go back and read about when Jesus went to Matthew\u0026rsquo;s house or when he went to the Pharisees house or the Last Supper, I will have in mind what that would entail.\nPraise Report\nPraise God I am in the Holy Land and I am learning so much Praise God He is fulfilling the desires of my heart Praise God for taking care of me Prayer Request\nPray for the vision tour to Bali and Jakarta Pray that in moments when I miss my church, my leadership, family \u0026amp; friends that the Lord would fill me Pray for open doors to share the gospel with the Jews ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-gave-me-a-wedding-ring-i-said-campos-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭1‬:‭13\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeloved Brothers and Sisters,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have been praying for you all. When I consider you all, I am filled with joy because you have come alongside me and I am extremely grateful!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGalilean Wedding\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHave any of you watched the movie Before The Wrath? If you haven’t, I recommend you do. One of the guys who comes out in the movie taught our first block of class; Life of the Messiah, his name is Jay. When I heard he was teaching I was excited because I had seen the movie and knew who he was. He stayed with us for two weeks. His teaching through the gospels opened my eyes to view the Scripture in a way I always desired to but never knew how to. The last day he was here, he taught about the Galilean wedding. I wish I can go into detail about it but that would require a lot of writing. I will tell you what lit my face up.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He Gave Me A Wedding Ring \u0026 I Said.. - Campos Update September 2023"},{"content":"“ Follow Me, and I Will Make You Fishers of Men”\nFishers of Men in the Mountains\nIt is always exciting to share about what God is doing through our Bible College students. God had been raising up these young people so wonderfully that they are sold out for Jesus. They have been studying God’s Word. They are not only studying, they want live it out.\nWe opened up opportunities for all our students to serve in a remote area during their recent semester break. A couple of days later, some of the students came to my room and said, \u0026ldquo;Can we go to that village? God has been speaking to our hearts about those villages again and again.\u0026rdquo; So we sent them.\nThey stayed in that village for a month and shared the Gospel door-to-door. They made young friends and invited them to church and to have tea. They also encouraged the church youth and took them in different villages to share Christ. Now people they invited have started coming to the church. Even one famous witch doctor is now coming to church! To God be glory!\nFishers of Men in the Plains\nSome Bible College students wanted to go to a flat area where the Gospel had not yet reached. It is so easy to physically reach people in the plains, but it is very hard to reach in their hearts. The people who live in the plains are very influenced by the Hindu religion. They are extremely hard-hearted towards the Gospel.\nSome of our students went to the plains to share Christ. They kept on being persistent, believing that God can change hearts and that someday, in God’s timing, the the people they shared with will receive Christ. They went from village to village sharing the Gospel. They became light and salt in the mist of the Hindu people, though the people were close-minded toward the Gospel. We believe that what is done for Christ will never be in vain.\nFishers of Men and Women in the Capital\nTogether, the Bible college students and staff love to go to share Christ around the city. We go to the city, share Christ, and invite people to our Bible study. The students are learning to share Christ every time we go.\nSome of the people have shown up at our Bible study. One man came to Bible study and the next week he brought his whole family. They all gave their lives to Jesus! OH ! What a joyful moment!\nNow our students are more excited to go share Christ more\u0026ndash;all around the city, highways and byways. They are sharing Christ with all of the drug addicted people, store keepers, ex-prisoners, policemen, shepherds, etc. Doing this makes them realize how privileged they are to know Christ and have relationships with the one true God.\nPlease pray for all our CBI students as they may grow more in His Grace and and in His Word….Amen.\nAnand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/fishers-of-men-pastor-anand-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“ Follow Me, and I Will Make You Fishers of Men”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFishers of Men in the Mountains\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/image-300x254.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is always exciting to share about what God is doing through our Bible College students. God had been raising up these young people so wonderfully that they are sold out for Jesus. They have been studying God’s Word. They are not only studying, they want live it out.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe opened up opportunities for all our students to serve in a remote area during their recent semester break. A couple of days later, some of the students came to my room and said, \u0026ldquo;Can we go to that village? God has been speaking to our hearts about those villages again and again.\u0026rdquo; So we sent them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Fishers of Men - Pastor Anand Update September 2023"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Leaders and Church Families!\nGreetings from our church to all of you! I hope you all are well by the grace of God. My wife, mom, dad and I are all well by the grace of God. We remain engaged in serving and praying to God day and night. I thank God that the people of our church are growing day by day in the Word of the Lord and in prayer. They are facing every kind of persecution with stability and determination. I am currently teaching from the book of Genesis during our Friday Bible study at my church. We recently finished Romans during Sunday fellowship, so I am now teaching from 1 Corinthians on Sundays. Throughout the week, in each village I go to for home church or Bible study, I repeat what I taught during that week\u0026rsquo;s Friday Bible study and also what I preached on Sunday.\nThe wife of the man who tore the Bibles and threw them into the river was baptized.\nThank God that He is helping the people of our church grow in His knowledge. Several months ago,, I shared about a man who became a believer and was baptized after tearing the Bibles and throwing them into the river. This time his wife accepted the Lord and was baptized. It had not rained much here for about 2 years and there were not any floods. But I thank God and you all for yours prayers\u0026ndash;there was some rain here, which caused a flood. I was able to baptize her in the flood water!\nThis woman\u0026rsquo;s husband is a farmer. A few years ago, when we went to his village and distributed Bibles, he collected all of the Bibles and threw them into the river. But later, when we shared the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and came in prayer, he accepted Jesus. When we went to his house and started having fellowship there, the people of his village began to hate him and distanced themselves from his family, calling him a Muslim. The people of his village stopped talking to him. He used to work in the fields of the village people, but now the people of the village have sent him out of their fields also. Yet this brother\u0026rsquo;s family did not lose faith. He continued to encourage his wife to believe in Jesus and she too believed and was baptized this month. Thank God that now the whole family comes to Friday Bible study and is learning God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nPraise points:\n1. Thank God another believer in our church was baptized this month.\n2. Thanks be to the Lord for the rain, so the farmers could plant rice.\n3. Thanks be to God for providing all of our needs.\n4. Thank God for giving me good health despite the heat. He did not let me get any major disease.\n5. Thank the Lord for strengthening the believers in faith and giving them the strength to face persecution.\n6. Thank God that Pi* started attending church again after her family stopped her from coming last month.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for the family of my friend a former Bible college student, H*, who went to be with the Lord last week. About 2 months ago, my wife and I went to meet him at his house. That same day, he found out that he had end-stage cancer. Another brother (above) lives near our village. He has mouth cancer. His name is R*. He believes in God and has been baptized. Right now his condition is very critical. A few days ago he needed blood, so I and another friend of mine donated blood. Please pray for those who are having difficulty in sending monthly support. Please pray that God will increase our church in the knowledge and faith of His Word. Please pray for our country. May God give goodwill and love to the people here. May God give peace so that people will quit fighting and spreading hatred in the name of spreading religion. Please pray for R* who has been disabled for about 21 years and also for A* who has been mentally ill for almost 24 years. May God heal them both. Please pray for the believer of our church whose name is Pu*. Her husband locked her in the house so that she cannot come to church. May God release her soon. Please pray for it not so be so hot here. Because of the heat, my wife, my family and I got prickly heat. There are also frequent times of no electricity, due to which we are not able to sleep well at night. Also, because of the crowd, it is very hot in the church. May God give us quick relief from the heat. Thank you for your prayers, support and Christian love and for sharing in the gospel.\n\nGod bless you and your family very much.\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/serving-the-lord-day-and-night-pastor-11-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Leaders and Church Families!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/September-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from our church to all of you! I hope you all are well by the grace of God. My wife, mom, dad and I are all well by the grace of God. We remain engaged in serving and praying to God day and night. I thank God that the people of our church are growing day by day in the Word of the Lord and in prayer. They are facing every kind of persecution with stability and determination. I am currently teaching from the book of Genesis during our Friday Bible study at my church. We recently finished Romans during Sunday fellowship, so I am now teaching from 1 Corinthians on Sundays. Throughout the week, in each village I go to for home church or Bible study, I repeat what I taught during that week\u0026rsquo;s Friday Bible study and also what I preached on Sunday.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Serving the Lord Day and Night - Pastor 11 Update September 2023"},{"content":"Hi Friends and Family!!\nBack in the States for a couple of months now. We haven’t been living in Southern California for long but already we have gained some amazing friends and love being a part of the church here. We\u0026rsquo;ve been opening up our house as often as possible to prayer groups, bible studies, and fellowship. We have been blessed by most of our family being nearby and living in the state. We would have never thought that possible, due to them living in multiple states before the move was even contemplated.\n“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed,”\nPsalm 127:3-5\nThe family has multiplied. We gained two new members in one month. The beginning of July we added sweet little Adeline Mae Crenshaw, in which we mentioned in the last update. She’s growing and developing into the sweetest granddaughter. In a beautiful wedding at the end of July, Jorden was added to the family. Jorden and Aleah are called to serve our Father in the Middle East.\nSeeking and preparing for what the Lord has for us in world missions is our focus now. With that focus, we are going to be beginning the Missions Training School which starts in October. The training is a commitment of at least a year here in Souther California. As students we’ll be doing many things; here’s some highlights: we’ll be doing outreaches (inner-city, at college campuses, and neighborhoods), classes (on many subjects such as cross-cultural training, evangelism, and church planting), and teachings (we’ll be learning and practicing how to teach the Word of God). There will be more but this is a little bit of what will be happening this next year.\nWe are excited to be able to head down to Peru Sept. 23- Oct. 7th for the Church Planting Conference and classes at Calvary Bible Institute. We are going to be serving and assisting wherever the need is for this conference, that has grown to over 500 attendees from all over. The Whosoevers will be performing and many pastors will be speaking. Our desire is to make connections and learn from this conference the vision of planting churches and missions. Also, they’ll be sending out a few missionaries and a church plant to the Amazon. Another great blessing in going, is we are getting to see our youngest son, Joshua, who has been attending/living at the CBI Peru campus for the last two semesters. Please pray for our health, unity, and provisions still needed of all who attend.\nRecently, we got to participate and be in support of our missionaries here are Saving Grace World Missions. The walk-a-thon was a big success. People came out to support and donate towards the Middle East, Pakistan, Uganda, India, and Nepal. Sven and I walked and raised what we could. Almost $180,000 was raised overall!! Praise the Lord!\nThe Lord willing, we are in the process of finalizing our plans to travel to Japan at the beginning of 2024. We are planning on going on a vision tour that a team from our church are going on but also leave a few weeks earlier to travel, just us, to pray over Japan and where the Lord would have us. We definitely have a leaning on where He is directing us to live but we will be asking for God to confirm to us our calling and direction in this. It will be our first big step in faith and in God confirming His calling to go there.\n“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”\nMatthew 28:18-20\nSven’s Corner As Carrie and I are back from Mexico now, I have had a good amount of time to reflect on all that the Lord did during that time and what it meant for our future. The Japan vision tour is approaching fast, and I am excited about all that the Lord may reveal on that trip. An eventual long-term move to a location in Japan is the goal of all of what we believe the Lord is preparing us for. Part of that is a church planting training in Peru. As I continue to surrender to the Lord daily: our plans, goals, ambitions, desires, even my very life. The real work the Lord is continuing to do is on the inside. Some things are easy, aren’t they? Providing we take God at His Word. For example, Matthew 28:18-20 is self-explanatory, the reason why Christians have such a hard time following the call of the Great Commission is because they think it is optional and/or are waiting for a specific call to go! Except, God already gave the call to go right? There, as His last command before He ascended. There are many words spoken by the Lord that are not hard to understand, just not popular in today’s Christian culture. Which does not have the Bible as the center authority within its theology or practices and it’s also accepting of the rewriting of Christianity. What saddens me the most is that because the Church is ignoring vast passages of the Word of God, the Church is missing out on what God has for her. The disdain for holding onto Eschatology is very prevalent also. But I digress. As part of graduating from the School of Missions, we each were given a wonderful gift by the leadership. The two book series by Nik Ripken “The Insanity of God” and the follow-up book “The Insanity of Obedience”. Both were amazing gifts and life-changing. I have mentioned a few books here that I would love for you to read, please add these to your reading list.\nIf you take the time to read about what is going on outside of the four walls of the USA or your own first-world country, I pray that you may be moved with compassion like Jesus is and see the plight of a world that has not had a chance to accept or reject Him. The devastation and hopelessness that people face in other countries apart from God. “The Insanity of God” is the kind of book that will open your heart to these things, if you allow the Lord to do so. The only reason why you would not be moved is if you have no heart for the lost at all, but of course, if you love the Lord that is impossible because Jesus loves all people, and He has a heart for all of them. As the true church of God, His Body, His Bride, we must have the heart that He has, how else can we say that we love Him? Friends, we are told, not asked, if need be, to lay down our lives for our God. Yes, going on the mission field can be scary. Staying home can be scarier. Have the audacity to pray, “Lord am I called to stay?” The safest, best place for you and I to be is smack in the dead center will of God. No matter where on the planet God calls you to. In the meantime, as you pray over your own life and the availability you want to give to the Lord to use your life, please continue to pray for us as we prepare to go.\nPrayer Requests/Praise Reports Peru Church Planting Conference: travel, provision, health, learning, and that our hearts will be open to all the Lord would have for us. Partners/senders who want to pray and support us financially in reaching the Lost. Again thanking God for our beautiful, healthy grandbaby. God gave such a great wedding for Aleah and Jorden. And prayers over their marriage and next steps to the mission field. For all the donations/provisions for the missionaries at Saving Grace World Missions in the Walk-a-Thon. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-great-calling-vanrenterghem-september-2023-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi Friends and Family!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBack in the States for a couple of months now. We haven’t been living in Southern California for long but already we have gained some amazing friends and love being a part of the church here. We\u0026rsquo;ve been opening up our house as often as possible to prayer groups, bible studies, and fellowship. We have been blessed by most of our family being nearby and living in the state. We would have never thought that possible, due to them living in multiple states before the move was even contemplated.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Great Calling - Vanrenterghem September 2023 Update"},{"content":" “Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”\nEphesians 4:12 NLT\nThe past month has been full and blessed and we look forward to a full and blessed October as well.\nEquipping the Saints\nI will be teaching another round of a two week intensive Christian Apologetics class at Cambodia Bible Institute from September 25 to October 6. Please pray for wisdom and strength for myself, the staff, and the students during this class.\nI continue to preach at the international/interdenominational church around once a month to around 400 people from more than 30 nations. This church includes everyone from missionaries to non-Christians who are open to the Gospel. I also have started/am leading the men’s ministry there. Our first meeting was on October 9 and despite heavy rains and flooding, 13 men from 8 different nations attended and were blessed by the prayer, fellowship, and teaching. I continue to help with the ministry to the Chinese there and help lead a verse-by-verse Sunday School/Bible Study in English and Chinese with the Chinese pastor. Kayo also started and leads the women’s ministry there too.\nI also have started to lead the devotions at Precious Women Organization about once a month. Kayo also leads the devotions there on a regular basis.\nBuilding Up the Body\nI have been volunteering as the English Editor for Light Times Magazine with Soksan and Linat since 2017. They are wonderful friends and Christian siblings. Now, I am excited that LAFH (Light Association for all Families Healthier-English translation of the official/registered organization name) is developing the organization behind the magazine.\nYou can see the vision and activities of the Light Association organization in the diagram above. One of the areas that I am most excited about is the Mental and Spiritual Wellness area. Mrs. Linat is a trained mental health counselor and trainer. I am a trained Christian apologist and I also have a testimony of how God has blessed, restored, and protected me through the past 20 years of mental health challenges. Even though we are now a small organization of only three people and limited resources, God has given us great impact, unity, and synergy together to minister to the mental and spiritual needs of a broad range of people-both Cambodians and expats. We may also be able to equip churches, families, and organizations in Cambodia to better minister to the spiritual and mental health needs of people who need help but are often marginalized for various reasons. For those of you that know my testimony in this area, this is truly a “Beauty for Ashes” opportunity!\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/equipping-the-saints-building-up-the-body-september-2023-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEphesians 4:12 NLT\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe past month has been full and blessed and we look forward to a full and blessed October as well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEquipping the Saints\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI will be teaching another round of a two week intensive Christian Apologetics class at Cambodia Bible Institute from September 25 to October 6. Please pray for wisdom and strength for myself, the staff, and the students during this class.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Equipping the Saints, Building Up the Body - September 2023 Update"},{"content":" And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.\nHebrews 10:24-25\nDear Friends and Family,\nRecently we have been blessed with fellowship, much needed fellowship. As full time missionaries, sometimes it can get lonely. As you minister to others and others come to you for discipleship and counsel sometimes you long for someone that you can share with and be encouraged by.\nIn Northern Uganda we have friends that we rarely get to see but when we do, it is always encouraging and seems as if no time has passed. Our fellowship is sweet because we are in similar situations with our marriages (multicultural) and our ministries. We all have churches and minister to people who are have spiritual and physical needs. Also our children are similar in age so there is fellowship in the struggles parents face as our kids face different adolescent issues. Recently we were able to meet in Kampala and catch up on all that’s been going on in our lives, the children were able to play and we had time to pray together.\nAnother great time of fellowship we had was with a small team from the USA. I know Heather and pastor Bond from my home church and they have served often in Africa and Asia. Their team was serving in a couple different areas around Uganda but they also were able to come and serve alongside us one weekend. Our common love for missions and raising up others to serve the Lord brought about great times of fellowship and prayer. Brian was able to enjoy pastoral encouragement spending time talking and listening to 2 other pastors. Pastor Bond shared with Arise Christian fellowship on Sunday. His message was called, “Saved life, Wasted Life” based on the story of Lot. It was something the congregation needed to hear and I believe something I had been praying about personally. While it is amazing to be saved, may we never forget to share that salvation with those around us. They also asked me to share my testimony and calling to Africa with their team. It always amazes me how far God has brought me and how I can so clearly see His hand in every step that has brought me to where I am, even in the most difficult steps.\nFellowship doesn’t always have to take place in person. We have been encouraged by those who send us notes, emails or give us a call. It is always a blessing to hear that someone is praying for you and the people you minister to. Fellowship is a two way street so we are also encouraged when we hear about other peoples’ ministries and are given the opportunity to pray for them. Recently one of the supporters for Arise Christian Fellowship reached out to us to ask the church to pray for their son who was ill. We shared with the church and everyone from the Sunday service to the Sunday school made it a mission to pray for them. Liana is still praying for him every night. We were able to send some of their prayers and words of encouragement back to the family. We pray their son is recovered and they have been blessed.\nHaving true fellowship with other believers is an amazing experience every Christian should be experiencing. As a missionary the hardest part of fellowship is saying goodbye when it is time to leave or to be left. It is always bittersweet. You mourn for the loss of specific fellowship but as you leave or send people off there is the excitement of, “what next Lord?” For the last year we have had the sweetest fellowship with Sasha and Sveta. They came from Russia to do pastoral training in South Sudan. Their time here was very fruitful and they blessed us personally with friendship. They became a part of the Arise Christian Fellowship Family as well as Calvary Chapel Cush in South Sudan. They touched so many lives with the love of Christ while they were here. This past month we had to say goodbye to them as they move on to the next mission God has for them. We know that wherever they end up will be blessed by having them.\nWe are thankful for the fellowship we have with all of you who are both far and near. We are thankful those of you who reach out to us through various means and pray for us. We are thankful for those who reach out to us to share what is happening in their lives and ministries and who ask us to pray for them.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us and for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. Please pray for all the missionaries serving in Uganda. Pray that they have times of fellowship with one another and with those from their home churches. Pray for the teams that recently came through. Pray their time will continue to bear fruit even after they have gone. Pray for the upcoming teams that will be serving in South Sudan and in Uganda. Pray all the details will come together and they will be directed by the Lord Pray for Sasha, Sveta, and Taya as they prepare for the next mission God is calling them to. Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnd let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eHebrews 10:24-25\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecently we have been blessed with fellowship, much needed fellowship. As full time missionaries, sometimes it can get lonely. As you minister to others and others come to you for discipleship and counsel sometimes you long for someone that you can share with and be encouraged by.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update - September 2023"},{"content":" Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.\nProverbs 14:34\nIt has been two years since we started Yalwak Manyen (New Generation) Sports Academy, an after-school soccer outreach for kids in Adak village, where we used to live. What sprang up as a way to give kids the gospel, structure, and an outlet for energy continues to influence and impact families in the community.\nWe began this soccer ministry during the lockdowns when children of all ages were kept from school, the primary source of structure and discipline in their lives. The youth were becoming more restless and unruly, even to the point where young boys in our village were setting up roadblocks to stop motorcyclists to beat and rob them. God gave us the vision to start this soccer outreach, which almost immediately affected our community. Kids used to rush away from home to get into mischief with their friends; instead, they would stick around to fetch water, sweep the compound, or help dig in the garden. They used to come home whenever they pleased; now, they go home when their mothers asked. They had no outlet for energy and were becoming a nuisance to the whole community, but now they were becoming an honor to their families. But what was more instrumental in this change was hearing the gospel preached to them. They brought it home to their families, and people began to have hope again.\nNow, after two years, the method hasn’t changed much. Coaches Kizito and Kenneth arrive to a horde of waiting children. They open the storage room door, and the kids quickly carry the box of uniforms, a sack of soccer balls, and stacks of cones out onto the field. They do warm-ups and exercise, practice different moves and techniques, and play mini-soccer matches, resulting in characteristic loud cheers when someone gets a goal. Then, Coach blows the whistle, and the kids swarm the field, competing to gather the cones and gear and huddle together to finish their time with devotions. Coach Kizito presents a Bible story, explains it, and asks questions. They memorize and review Bible verses and then pray together, heading home just as the evening sun begins to cast shades of gold on the grasses and trees.\nWe’ve seen many times how the child begins acting differently at home; the family is intrigued by this change and begins attending church. Over time, the whole family is changed, and even the fathers begin to taper off their drinking habits and take care of their families. The entire community notices this change, and it is a beautiful testimony to God’s love and ability to redeem. It’s hard to say exactly what things are a result of the soccer outreach or how far-reaching the message has been since only God can see the hearts. Between the soccer kids themselves and the coaches checking up on the families of each child and sharing the gospel during visits, we have some idea of the numbers. It has been reported that among 50 families whose children have participated in the football outreach over the two years, about 150 adults and children have either rededicated their lives to the Lord or have been saved for the first time. Out of the 56 children in the Little’s League, at least 50 profess to know Christ, and in the Youth League (ages 16-25), 6 out of the 14 have been saved.\nWe have hopes to further the stability of this program. By God’s grace, we were able to purchase five acres of land in the community, flatten it, and propagate grass for regulation-size soccer fields. We were also able to build a grass-roofed house for our head coach and his family to stay in while they maintain the property. We aim to develop the land further by creating a latrine, changing rooms, and a roofed area for shade and protection from the rain. We want to keep a good supply of equipment on hand, such as balls, cones, uniforms, and shoes. Most importantly, we hope to restart our Youth League, which had to be canceled due to a lack of equipment.\nPraise God with us that: God has been moving through Yalwak Manyen in our community. Many souls have been added in our village. Please join us in prayer that: God would raise a generation of strong believers in Adak Village. God would provide $500.00 a month to support this outreach. God would keep our coaches and their families healthy and strong for the work He has for them. In Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-august-2023-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRighteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProverbs 14:34\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/20230811%5F1841132-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt has been two years since we started Yalwak Manyen (New Generation) Sports Academy, an after-school soccer outreach for kids in Adak village, where we used to live. What sprang up as a way to give kids the gospel, structure, and an outlet for energy continues to influence and impact families in the community.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG-20230831-WA0000-1024x767-1-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe began this soccer ministry during the lockdowns when children of all ages were kept from school, the primary source of structure and discipline in their lives. The youth were becoming more restless and unruly, even to the point where young boys in our village were setting up roadblocks to stop motorcyclists to beat and rob them. God gave us the vision to start this soccer outreach, which almost immediately affected our community. Kids used to rush away from home to get into mischief with their friends; instead, they would stick around to fetch water, sweep the compound, or help dig in the garden. They used to come home whenever they pleased; now, they go home when their mothers asked. They had no outlet for energy and were becoming a nuisance to the whole community, but now they were becoming an honor to their families. But what was more instrumental in this change was hearing the gospel preached to them. They brought it home to their families, and people began to have hope again.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family August 2023 Update"},{"content":" Thank you, prayer partners and financial supporters, for your continued prayers and support. I want to apologize for not connecting with you for so long. I was going through emotional pain. My younger sister, who was next to me, hanged herself to death. I was so close to her. This was a big shock for me and for my parents as well. Because of the sorrow, my parents became ill. My father (right) is still undergoing medical treatment. It was not easy for me to teach and preach the Word to the believers, when I myself was broken in my heart. Thanks be to God who has helped me to overcome this sorrow and take care of my parents.\nSince my parents are not well, I have to take over all the family responsibilities. I am doing the farming since it is the rainy season (the time we grow rice).\nThe church members are doing well. Some church members are the only believers from their family. They are being pressured by their family members to not attend Sunday services. One of these is S*. He has stopped coming to church on Sundays, but goes with me to visit other believers\u0026rsquo; families during the middle of the week. I am also evangelizing a family. None of them have yet put their faith in Jesus.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for my parents to be healed. Please pray for S* to stand firm in his faith and that his family members would also be saved. Please pray that the Holy Spirit will help the family I am witnessing to trust Jesus for their salvation. Please pray for me to grow in the Lord and do the ministry with the power of the Holy Spirit. Co-workers in Christ,\nPastor 2*\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/relying-on-god-during-my-sorrow-pastor-2-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG%5F20230906%5F102145-217x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank you, prayer partners and financial supporters, for your continued prayers and support. I want to apologize for not connecting with you for so long. I was going through emotional pain. My younger sister, who was next to me, hanged herself to death. I was so close to her. This was a big shock for me and for my parents as well. Because of the sorrow, my parents became ill. My father (right) is still undergoing medical treatment. It was not easy for me to teach and preach the Word to the believers, when I myself was broken in my heart. Thanks be to God who has helped me to overcome this sorrow and take care of my parents.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Relying on God During My Sorrow - Pastor 2 Update September 2023"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy Word.\u0026rdquo;\nPsalms 119:114\nThanks to be God, He has brought wonderful students to our Calvary Bible Institute! This semester, God brought talented students to our CBI. When I see them, I rejoice in Christ because they are eager to learn the Word of God. Some of them are skilled in the field of music; they know how to play the guitar and how to write and sing songs. Some are skilled in playing sports as well. Many of them have a heart to serve the Lord, even though they do not know what will happen in the future. If we can train them well, I think we will be able to do a lot of work for the Lord in our country. When I see the students, I can tell that they are understanding everything I teach them. Their hearts want to know \u0026ldquo;Who is the Real Jesus?\u0026rdquo; One class of our dear students is going to graduate soon; pray that God will mightily use them and bring positive changes into the churches of our country.\nThis semester, I am teaching the Gospel of Mark and the Book of Acts. Our dear students are eager to learn about how to preach the Gospel to unreached people.\nIn our church, we already finished the book of Colossians. Now we are beginning the book of 1 Thessalonians. Our believers are learning and growing day by day.\nMy beautiful wife, Mahima\u0026rsquo;s sister\u0026rsquo;s daughter is also studying in our CBI. It was through this daughter that my wife and her whole family came to Christ. She came to CBI to study, and now she has also publicly showed that she is following Jesus. Now, she is a first semester student in our school. Before coming to CBI, she was planning to go to Japan. We talked with her and asked her to join CBI, and now she has joined us.\nOur dear brother Harka already graduated from our Calvary Bible Institute. He is in the ministry now and is serving the Lord. He has had a difficult time, but he has been able to feed his family by working with making small furniture. He left his home area to do ministry in a new area. When Harka came to CBI, he knew the importance of study. After he graduated he joined a college in his area. He did a great job there and got good grades. Now, he also would like to get a bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degree someday, but is looking after his family and two small children. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s will to be done in this. Harka is doing Gospel outreaches every month and visiting new areas.\nMy beautiful wife is also doing online Bible Study. She is now teaching the book of Revelation. She finished the book of Genesis and the book of Daniel. Pray that God will give us a baby. We have been married for 5 years. Pray that God will help us to do treatment, or that He will provide a nice job for my wife so that she can be busy during the day. May God provide for us and help us to have a baby who would also grow up to do God\u0026rsquo;s ministry.\nWe are ding Bible study in the leprosy colony. By the grace of God, everyone is growing in the Lord day by day. By His grace, we are doing this and feeding them with the Word.\nThank you so much for supporting us, praying for us and raising us up! God bless every entire family at Saving Grace World Missions!\nGrace and peace,\nYour faithful servants,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-hope-is-in-the-lord-pastor-rabi-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Thou art my hiding place and my shield: I hope in thy Word.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePsalms 119:114\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/IMG%5F20230809%5F140833.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThanks to be God, He has brought wonderful students to our Calvary Bible Institute! This semester, God brought talented students to our CBI. When I see them, I rejoice in Christ because they are eager to learn the Word of God. Some of them are skilled in the field of music; they know how to play the guitar and how to write and sing songs. Some are skilled in playing sports as well. Many of them have a heart to serve the Lord, even though they do not know what will happen in the future. If we can train them well, I think we will be able to do a lot of work for the Lord in our country. When I see the students, I can tell that they are understanding everything I teach them. Their hearts want to know \u0026ldquo;Who is the Real Jesus?\u0026rdquo; One class of our dear students is going to graduate soon; pray that God will mightily use them and bring positive changes into the churches of our country.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our Hope Is in the Lord - Pastor Rabi Update September 2023"},{"content":"After 21 hours of traveling, I made it to Israel Tuesday night! When my head hit the pillow that night, suddenly I realized I was in Israel and I was going to be here for 3 months. I have known this but my mind had been too busy preparing for the trip that I had not processed I was leaving the country. I began to miss everyone, my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ. In that moment, as I laid in bed the only thing that brought me comfort was the sheets I was wrapped in, that a dear friend gave me before leaving. Those sheets were a piece from home I had with me and I was grateful for them. May seem silly but it was what I needed in that moment.\nMissions Training Outside Of The Classroom\nThe few days that I have been here the Lord has been showing me things I have learned from being a missions student at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. The first thing the Lord showed me was when I was taking the train to get to the house I was going to stay at; a Jewish girl sat next to me and one other student and she began to talk to us and ask us what we were doing here. I began to look around and some men were staring at us as we discussed about bible school. I then remembered all that Pastor Rob has taught us on missions. He has said that we need to read the room, we need to see what people are doing, if people are quiet then we need to be quiet, whatever they are doing we need to do, so that we do not stand out as a foreigner, though we may look like one, we do not want to act like one. We need to be careful about what we talk about and what we share with others. The second thing the Lord showed me was, the difficulty it’s going to be, being away from family and friends and the dependency one has to have on the Lord. The third thing the Lord showed me was, compassion for those who are missionaries; what I am doing in Israel does not compare to the long term calling a missionary has but the Lord gave me a glimpse of how hard it can be doing it alone and not having people you know around you. He also showed me how important it is to have relationships with the missionaries my church has sent out and the importance in interceding for them. Lastly, language is crucial to know in order to minister to people.\nMy mindset through this all has been the mindset of a missionary. I am no longer in a classroom learning about it. I am now in the field, hands on learning and applying all that I have learned. I am in Israel not for vacation. I am here because I am in training. God continues to put me in places of preparation for long term missions and it can be uncomfortable but I find fulfillment that I am God\u0026rsquo;s vessel. I am His bondservant ready and available to be used by Him.\nJERUSALEM\nOn Thursday we took a trip to Jerusalem. We walked around and saw various locations. We will be back here to get the tourist side of it, which I am stoked about.\nPraise Reports\nPraise God I made it safely to Israel Praise God for all that He is showing me and preparing me for long-term missions Praise God for Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and the church body Prayer Request\nPray for the mission team I will be visiting after CBI Israel as they are facing heavy opposition from the enemy Pray for my brother\u0026rsquo;s ex wife as she lost her dad Friday morning, that through this she would come into relationship with the Lord Pray that I would take any opportunity I get to serve, to take initiative and put myself out there as I tend to lean on being an introvert in new settings ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-blue-sheets-that-brought-me-comfort-campos-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfter 21 hours of traveling, I made it to Israel Tuesday night! When my head hit the pillow that night, suddenly I realized I was in Israel and I was going to be here for 3 months. I have known this but my mind had been too busy preparing for the trip that I had not processed I was leaving the country. I began to miss everyone, my friends, my brothers and sisters in Christ. In that moment, as I laid in bed the only thing that brought me comfort was the sheets I was wrapped in, that a dear friend gave me before leaving. Those sheets were a piece from home I had with me and I was grateful for them. May seem silly but it was what I needed in that moment.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Blue Sheets That Brought Me Comfort - Campos Update August 2023"},{"content":"Calvary Bible Institute Fall Semester 2023\nOur new semester has begun. Praise God for having all amazing students. As usual God has brought students from the four directions of our country. We always have heartfelt gratitude toward our Heavenly Father to have more young people join our Calvary Bible Institute, teach them from the Word of God and equip them to advance the Kingdom.\nOur Bible Church in the Capital\nAnd let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.\nHebrews 12:24-25 NKJV\nIt is always a great joy and blessing to come together as the body of Christ and worship our Almighty God and to share our love with each other in His Body.\nCalvary Chapel J* Worship Service (right)\nPreaching the Gospel has always been with much difficulty, everywhere in the world. Our country is filled with many religions. Lately, some religious leaders are trying to evoke a religious war targeted against the Christianity. They say that their aim is to expel all of the Christians from our country. The eastern part of the country has been a main target. They have been trying to destroy the newly built Church there.\nThe J* area is mostly filled with temples where brother Nikesh\u0026rsquo;s family is serving. The local people have reported against Gospel preaching at the police station. Preaching is restricted. In spite of the restrictions and persecution the work of the Lord has continued.\nCalvary Chapel H*\nThe Lord is at work. The church is gradually growing. New families are coming. Brother Laxman\u0026rsquo;s family is serving at H* faithfully, even though they are going through some difficulties and financial hardships.\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-working-pastor-prakash-update-september-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCalvary\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eBible Institute Fall Semester 2023\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur new semester has begun. Praise God for having all amazing students. As usual God has brought students from the four directions of our country. We always have heartfelt gratitude toward our Heavenly Father to have more young people join our Calvary Bible Institute, teach them from the Word of God and equip them to advance the Kingdom.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/image%5F6483441.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOur Bible Church in the Capital\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Is Working - Pastor Prakash Update September 2023"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nHello everyone, Thank you so much for all of your continued prayer support for the work that God is doing here.\nYou can praise God with us that:\nThings are still going well at the pastoral school. More and more people are coming to Christ in our church here. Our family has been able to move into the city, which should improve our health.\nPlease join us in prayer for:\nThe leadership seminar that Matt will be teaching this weekend. The pastoral classes that will be in session next week. The baptisms that will be happening at our church in a few weeks. Our community relations in our new neighborhood, as well as back in our village, that the love of Christ would pour through us and draw them to Him. Our neighbors in Adak, and their whole family.\nThe father (unsaved) was killed by one of the sons last week. Pray that they would all come to repentance.\nGod Bless You,\nThe Harris Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\nWe want to first praise the Lord! The container has finally reached and is such a blessing!!!!!\nThank you for all your prayers!\nPlease be praying for: *Pray for the economic hardship in Uganda and the negative Islamic culture especially in Yumbe, our district. It is resulting to a spiritual darkness of increased prostitution, theft/thuggery, witchcraft and sorcery. Pray God will soften their hearts as we continue to share the Love of Christ! *Pray for our growing Bible college that the students may be transformed by the Word! That they will be used to rise up, evangelize the community of Midigo and be a great blessing for the ministry. *Pray for our travels to the States for the conferences that we will be encouraged, poured unto, rest have open doors to share while we are there. *Every year that passes by we are seeing the need for a Christian secondary school that will transform the youths and raise godly leaders and servants for Midigo. We praise God for our preschool and Elementary school doing well. The community is crying out for us to build the High School. Please pray with us! \\* Pray for the spiritual and financial needs of the church. *Pray that God may use the sports ministry as we begin the season in September. For the gospel to be preached and discipling will take place.\nThank you!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email BlogUSA\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\nPraise God for a fruitful time to Uganda, Africa. God did exceedingly abundantly more than we could have imagined. Thank you for praying!\nPray for the new students and semesters at CBI\u0026rsquo;s in Nepal and S. Asia which started this month. Pray for the teachers to have wisdom and be filled with the holy spirit to lead and teach.\nPray for the students to understand and apply God\u0026rsquo;s Word as they are further prepared for ministry. Pray for Bond as he teaches Acts at CBI Peru the first week of September. Pray for clear communication / translation. Pray as we continue to invest and raise up others to be sent to the mission field.\nPray for God\u0026rsquo;s leading and timing. Pray for Breanna as she starts 3rd grade and that she would continue to grow and love Jesus!\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for a healthy and safe baby and delivery for us in early October.\nPlease pray for God to meet all the financial needs of the workers in South Asia.\nPlease pray for the safety of the workers in South Asia, and for the believers in their churches.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for God to give me wisdom in ministry decisions.\nPlease pray for God to use me in after-school children’s ministry that is beginning in September.\nPlease pray for my father’s health.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n#1- That God would bless our two new church planters (Alex in Colombia and Lorenzo in Peru) as they begin their new church plants! #2- That God would strengthen our new batch of church planting students! #3- That God would provide jobs for our children who are in college! (Grace and Daniel)\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nDavid and Michelle Mullins - Loreto, Mexico\nPrayer Request:\nHurricane Hillary hitting Loreto, Mexico. Please pray for Calvary Loreto church, it\u0026rsquo;s congregation and the people living in surrounding areas without adequate shelter.\nThank You❣️\nBlessings,\nDavid and Michelle Mullins - Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests 1. That we will always make our relationship and time with Jesus #1 2. For a new women\u0026rsquo;s study that Claudia is be developing to reach new ladies that aren\u0026rsquo;t in a small group! 3. For Poiema as she studies and serves abroad! This is a big step of faith! 4. For Lorenzo \u0026amp; Rocio and their family to stand firm and unified in their calling to plant Calvary Puente Piedra! For their nascent core team that is forming. For people from all classes and cultures to feel welcomed and loved as they join the church!\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello and thank you for praying for me. Here are my request for this month:\n1. Continued prayers for my mom who lives alone and suffers from Parkinsons. I am thankful to God for keeping her accident free and in good spirits. 2. For a revival in this Colonia. For the parents of the kids to come to Christ and attend our church. (a few of the parents are attending with their children. Praise the Lord for this, and quite a few kids are coming by themselves to the services). 🙏🏻🙌🏻 3. For much-needed wisdom for me in running the soup kitchen/afterschool program and children’s ministry.\n“The Lord bless you, and keep you, the Lord, make his face shine upon you, and be gracious to you, the Lord look upon you with favor and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24–25\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nShilo and Racquell Stratton - Peru\n\\* Wisdom (James 1:5-6) specifically in the area of how we spend our time and resources. Also in the area of parenting.\n\\* Compassion (Matthew 9:36)\n\\* Discernment and boldness, especially for Shilo (myself). I want to prove the things that are excellent, and do them (Philippians 1:10). \\* That our taxi drivers and other strangers who we share the gospel with would have EARS to HEAR! We must believe that there is a harvest (John 4:35)\n\\* That God would strengthen the Body of Christ here in Trujillo, in their inner men, to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge. (Ephesians 3:16-19)\n\\* That Calvary Chapel churches and CBI schools would be planted and flourish all throughout South America and all over the world. (Matthew 16:18).* That there would be humility and oneness of mind here with the team of staff, so we can attempt great things for God and reach as many souls with the gospel as possible. (1 Peter 3:8)\nThank you for praying. Aloha and mucho amor from Trujillo, Peru.\n- Shilo and Racquell Stratton - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\nPrayer that we can find a church building in Moyobamba, an apartment for the 2 girls on the team. Prayer that God can draw people that we can disciple and train up for church planting.\nPraise God for the support and love of Calvary Trujillo. Praise God for this talented and servant-hearted team of 4!\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nMr. S.S. has requested for us to pray for his wife’s good health. Also, pray that God will increase his faith.\nPlease pray for all our CBI students, that God will give them wisdom and knowledge to understand the Word.\nKindly pray for the growth of our Church.\nPlease pray that we will be able to find suitable land for our church.Kindly pray for me and my family\u0026ndash;may the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nPlease pray for a new believer family U and A (husband \u0026amp; wife). Both are not doing well physically. Pray that God will heal them completely.\nD. is a new believer who has been coming to our church. However, he is an alcoholic; kindly pray that God will deliver him from this.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nWorker 3 Worker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray:\nFor Gospel seeds to land on good soil and take deep roots.\nFor God’s continued guidance in ministry opportunities.\nTo find a place closer to the area of ministry.\nFor good health and safe driving conditions.\nThank you, Worker 7\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for G.N.; she is demon possessed.\nPlease pray for S; she is only five and is having swelling in her lungs.\nPlease pray for G’s health.\nIn the Lord, Your brother,\nPastor 8 and family Worker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nOne believer in our church. Her husband began locking her in her house on days when there was church so she could not come. Then, she used to talk with us on her phone to pray with us, but now he has taken her phone away. Please pray for her; we have not been able to have contact with her for 1 month. Pray that God will take care of her and save her body and soul.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership and participation in spreading the Gospel!\nGod bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nI was suffering from dengue fever. Please pray for my complete recovery.\nThank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers!\n- Worker 12\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nI would like to thank you all for your continuous prayers for us and my ministry. God bless you all. We also pray for you. We thank you for your love, Lord.\nThere is a small market here where people from all different villages come to shop, and there is also a center where people get together and do many things. This is the area we evangelize in. We are praying that we can begin a fellowship in this place and that we can begin a service with my friends in the area. Please pray that in the time ahead, we can rent a house and serve there, too.\nPlease pray for the people of the village that I live in. Pray that they will change their minds and God will open the eyes of those in darkness and help them believe in the one True God. The forces of darkness are still here and doing a lot of work. There are programs planned to be held here for Hindu false gods and goddesses in the days ahead, that are very dark. Pray that God brings them far from such work.\nGod bless you all for your prayers!\nWorker 13\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for the Umaknt family, they are not well, that God may heal them. Please pray for the Manipur that God my bring peace.\nPlease pray for the Bible college students that they may grow in the Word of God.\nWorker 16\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise Report:\nThank you all prayer warriors for praying for us. God has brought 12 new students in first semester now we have all together 30 students. Praise the Lord.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our good health. Please pray for upcoming outreaches where students will be going to different parts of Kathmandu city to share the gospel. Please pray for the 10 graduating students in November that God may show them where they need to serve. Please pray that God may pour His continuous Spirit upon all the CBI staff to teach the students.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPlease pray for our church—for all of the believers’ spiritual growth, good health and also growth in number.\nPlease pray that God will provide a property for our church.\nPlease pray that God will bring up more mature leaders in our church.Please pray for CBI—for all teachers and students, for wisdom and good health. May this semester be blessed.\nPlease pray for both of our new church plants. Pray that God will bring more people to His Church, and that the Church will be established.\nThere are fanatic Hindu groups who are trying to destroy the church building in a certain area; so please pray for the situation.\nThe same groups are trying to instigate a religious war. Please pray that God will intervene in every situation.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nWe are doing well. Please pray for us to be able to have a baby soon, in God’s timing. We have already been married more than five years married. Please pray that God will provide for us.\nPray that God will give me the strength to fulfil his plans in my life. Also pray that God will provide me with good health to serve Him.\nPray for our church to grow from day to day in God\u0026rsquo;s Word.Pray for the believers in our church, that God will provide them with good health and give them jobs to live during this economic crisis condition of the country.\nPray God will provide my wife with a good job so that she will not worry so much about having a baby.This semester I am teaching the book of Acts and the Gospel of Mark to our beloved students.\nPray that they will understand what I teach them and that they will apply it to their hearts as God guides them.\nPray for all of our dear students as well as our staff, that God will protect them from different diseases that are spreading in the area right now, like Dengue Fever and eye diseases that are going on around us.\nPray for brother H’s ministry to be fruitful and that God will provide for all his needs.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPray that God will help our church family to grow in His grace.\nMay God pour out His Spirit to teach the Word of God to the church.Please pray for our building needs.\nPlease pray that the Lapu villagers will come to Christ.\nBlessings!\nRaju - BlogAbhishek and Lacey – 10/40 Window\nHere are our prayer requests for the month of September.\n1. Please pray for our families\u0026rsquo; salvation. 2. The CBI semester has started and A* is teaching the Gospel of Luke. 3. Please pray for A*\u0026rsquo;s eyes, he is having eye strain and for his over all health. 4. L* is 6 months pregnant, please pray for her and baby\u0026rsquo;s health and strength. 5. Please pray for a young pastor from the North, who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer, he is now in the hospital receiving chemotherapy. 6. Please pray for us to have wisdom as we are deciding which vehicle to purchase that is within our budget. 7. Please pray for L* as she is learning the local language and culture. Please pray for our cross-cultural marriage, that we would display the Gospel to each other and those around us through our marriage.\nThank you family for partnering alongside us, and waging war on our behalf in prayer,\nGod bless you, Abhishek and Lacey\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nWe\u0026rsquo;ve now been back in Cambodia for two weeks after a blessed trip to the USA. We have resumed our regular ministries. Please pray for Light Times magazine as they have had to delay their latest issue due to lack of funding. This is the only Christian magazine in Cambodia. Please pray for Precious Women Organization, especially Phany and Lida, as they are in the process of expanding the ministry. Please pray for wisdom to reach out and minister to men from the Middle East and Africa who are living in Cambodia. Please pray for preparations to teach an Apologetics/Evangelism class at a Cambodian Bible School next month. Please pray for Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s school and wisdom as he looks to future education and career paths.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-sep-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/dbe54dc7-e334-474f-b7f1-a5a39df0e585.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello everyone, \u003cbr\u003e\nThank you so much for all of your continued prayer support for the work that God is doing here.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYou can praise God with us that:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThings are still going well at the pastoral school. \u003cbr\u003e\nMore and more people are coming to Christ in our church here. \u003cbr\u003e\nOur family has been able to move into the city, which should improve our health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM SEP PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nAugust is always one of the months that I look forward to the most, because we get to host our annual church planting conference. At the start of August we hosted our 8th annual church planting conference with the title, The Sending Hub! The definition of a sending hub is “A church that plants churches, that plant other churches!” The goal of this conference was to inspire pastors and leaders to get involved in the great missions work of planting churches.\nThis year’s conference was our largest yet, with over 650 guests in attendance. Among those, we had 50 Senior Pastors in attendance and over 80 different churches represented. This conference was unique in that we had 24 workshops available that covered every aspect of church planting.\nWe also had 8 main plenary speakers that taught on the main aspects of church’s being sending hubs of missions and church planting. Many of my best friends and church planters taught, including Hugo Limon, Aaron Smith, Fernando Serrano, Wes Bentley, Bruce Zackary, and Cory Kilgus. As we have moved forward with this great calling that God has given us, I have seen the Holy Spirit begin to spark a fire of revival with other churches that are catching this same vision.\nA special highlight for me was that this conference marked the official release of my new book, The Sending Hub! It was exciting to see so many come over to my book table and not only purchase the book, but ask me to write them a personal message of encouragement inside the front cover. By the end of the weekend, we sold 400 copies of the book in English!\nSpeaking of the book, just last week, we finally got the book up on Amazon! On Amazon, the book can be purchased in both English or Spanish versions as a hardback, paperback, or digitally for a kindle or tablet! (To find the book on Amazon, simply search for “The Sending Hub”)\nDuring the church planting conference, (and also the following weekend at our main church services) our church was blessed to send out our 37th church plant! My good friend Alex Misac moved up to Rosarito from Colombia over a year ago to train up in our church planting program! Alex left his friends, family, and his country and he took a huge step of faith to serve the Lord and our church family, all the while completing our church planting class. Alex did above and beyond everything I asked of him, and he graduated with excellence.\nWe were blessed to send Alex to a large (over a million people) city in the north of Colombia called Barranquilla. Alex already has a church planting team waiting for him there to start this great work. And like all of our church planters, Alex doesn’t feel called to just plant a church, but to plant a church that plants other churches!\n#1- That God would bless our new batch of church planting students. (We have 40 enrolled in our Fall 2023 semester classes)\n#2- That my book the Sending Hub would be an effective tool in sharing the message of reaching the world through church planting.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a blessed 2023 church planting conference!\n#2- Praise God for our 37th church plant, Calvary Barranquilla Colombia with Pastor Alex.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-september-2023-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/355842136%5F10160885014814208%5F9056355435070620184%5Fn-240x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e              August is always one of the months that I look forward to the most, because we get to host our annual church planting conference. At the start of August we hosted our 8th annual church planting conference with the title, The Sending Hub! The definition of a sending hub is \u003cem\u003e“A church that plants churches, that plant other churches!”\u003c/em\u003e The goal of this conference was to inspire pastors and leaders to get involved in the great missions work of planting churches.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family September 2023 Missions Update"},{"content":"Wherever people come from, they are often called by their city/state/country. For example, a person from the city of Boulder is a boulderite. A person from Colorado is a coloradoan (or a fairly new name is a coloradical). People from Peru are peruvians or in Spanish “peruanos”.\nHave you heard of a Moyobambino before? It is not a vegetable nor a species of plant. It is not a hamburger that you order at the restaurant Good Times either. The team of Calvary Moyobamba will be Moyobambinos, because we will be living there!\nThe Church Building\nOn the quest to rent a church building month by month, after many appointments, conversations, prayers, and navigating through Moyobamba, one place stood out to us. This place has the space, the feel of church, it’s an ideal location, and has a quiet street next to it. We met up with the renter the second to last day of our week trip and signed the contract! Calvary Moyobamba is going to be a place that teaches sound doctrine and loves the people with God’s love. We are excited and we see God orchestrating it all.\nI have decided to teach the book of Mark the Sunday services that will start in October. The idea is to get a concrete understanding of who Jesus is. He has radically transformed my life. By His Word being preached, He can transform the lives of others by His power. Jesus came to serve. Jesus stood against religious bullies. Jesus had compassion on the multitudes of people. Jesus was and is a brilliant teacher to His disciples and others. And He gave His life so that others may have eternal life. There is no one like Jesus in the history of the world! Please pray that the people of Moyobamba can desire to know Him and be conformed to Him.\nWe also found an apartment for Mili and Gina (the two girls pictured above), who are committed to helping for 6 months! They are happy and will be a huge blessing.\nThe invasion\nWe are thankful to have Pastor Cory, Calvary Trujillo, and a Calvary team from Kauai come alongside us the second week of October to help us start the church plant. There will be over 100 people on this trip. Ahsu! (means “oh my!” in Peruvian slang). Our objectives are to let people know there is a church plant and invite them to church. There will be a concert, a barbeque in a park, kids events, evangelism, and much more! I will be coordinating much of this. Please pray!\nConnecting with the Locals\nOur second to last day was my favorite day. We were able to take a little break and spend time with some local people. We drank coffee, played games, got to know each other, and prayed. Wesley, Pamela, and Karen are excited for the church plant and want to meet up again when we come back. Karen specifically expressed interest in being discipled in the Bible. She is now part of our Friday Zoom prayer group and is very receptive of God’s Word. Pamela is coming to Trujillo in September for the church planting conference, and wants to learn more of God’s ways. She is looking for the next step in her life. Wesley is looking for community and told us he will intentionally not go to his high school graduation because he is turned off by the party scene. Pray that God can use Yenry, Mili, Gina and I to point them to the Bible and that they can be part of Calvary Moyobamba.\nOne way to be part of this work\nOne way to support us is by giving financially month by month. We are about 60% funded. The funds will be invested in discipling the locals, serving the community, being able to pay rent throughout the years, make trips to other jungle communities from time to time, materials for the church, and much more. At the bottom of this newsletter is where you can give.\nPraise reports\nPraise God that we have a church building!\nPraise God for Yenry, Mili, and Gina. They are so helpful and have many talents that I lack.\nPraise God for our friendships with some of the people in Moyobamba and the quality time we spent.\nPraise God that He is with us and in a masterful way putting everything together\nPrayer requests\nPray that God continues to convict people in Moyobamba of sin and receive Jesus as their Lord and Savior.\nPray that the team and I can stay humble and sensitive to God.\nPray that we can go the next step with our friends in Moyobamba and disciple them.\nPray for financial support\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/have-you-heard-of-a-moyobambino-weakland-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWherever people come from, they are often called by their city/state/country. For example, a person from the city of Boulder is a boulderite. A person from Colorado is a coloradoan (or a fairly new name is a coloradical). People from Peru are peruvians or in Spanish “peruanos”.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHave you heard of a Moyobambino before? It is not a vegetable nor a species of plant. It is not a hamburger that you order at the restaurant Good Times either. The team of Calvary Moyobamba will be Moyobambinos, because we will be living there!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Have you heard of a Moyobambino? - Weakland Update August 2023"},{"content":"Well, the heat has been turned up here in Loreto with average temperatures well over 100 degrees daily. We are so blessed to be able to continue to serve our Lord and Savior here in Loreto, Baja Sur Mexico.\nWe had another great time this summer being able to do beach baptisms in the Sea of Cortez. 5 members of Calvary Loreto made the step of obedience and were baptized in front of our church body right there at our local beach. This is such an amazing opportunity to do this right after Sunday’s service as there are hundreds of people just walking by asking us what is going on and we get to explain the message of salvation along with inviting them to Calvary Chapel Loreto.\nCalvary Loreto was able to take 20 people to the annual church planting conference at our sending church Calvary Rosarito. Even though the van broke down and it took over 30 hours to get there everyone arrived at God’s perfect timing. This was a time of great encouragement for all. To be taught about why it is so important to model after the book of Acts and plant churches to reach the lost. Once we returned, we went right to work with the start of our 2nd semester in our church planting class. Pastor Elmer leads this weekly class while David and Elmer’s wife Crystal assist. Not only did every man return from the first semester but we have 4 new people attending this semester. Please keep all these students in prayer as they fulfill the calling that God has given them.\nAs it started getting too hot outside for our toddlers and volunteers, we needed to move our infants/toddlers inside to a cooler location. Thankfully for the faithful supporters, we were able to purchase a new 1-ton air conditioner to cool them off while their parents could be fed the Word of God. We are now up to (14) infants/toddlers at every Sunday and Wednesday’s service. Please pray for more volunteers to help hold these precious babies that the Lord has entrusted us with.\nPastor Elmer finished up the book of John a few weeks back and is now teaching verse by verse through the book of Romans. While Pastor David is still teaching verse by verse in the book Exodus on Wednesdays. It is truly amazing to watch these 2 men be obedient to their calling and to see the Holy Spirit use them week after week to teach and reach those in Loreto with truth and love. We are so blessed to serve God here at Calvary Loreto Baja Sur Mexico. We couldn’t do this without your prayers and financial support.\nPastor Elmer and his wife Crystal, David and I thank you all for your prayers and continued financial support. We couldn’t do it without faithful supporters like you. You ALL are helping to do the work of the\nministry here in Loreto, Mexico. This is your spiritual fruit also and we are so blessed to be able to serve our Lord and Savior here. Thank you for helping to do the work of the ministry here in Loreto, Mexico.\nMATTHEW 28:19-20\nGo therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.\nIf you are not currently a financial supporter and the Lord has put it on your heart to come alongside us to do the work of the ministry, please go to https://sgwm.com, click on the drop-down menu, and click Find a Missionary. Then scroll down to Mullins Family and click on our picture, there is a tab at the bottom left that says, \u0026ldquo;Become a financial supporter”. Once you are there you can put in all your information.\nPRAYER PETITIONS\n1) Please pray for our current \u0026amp; future children’s ministry volunteers that they serve in gratitude with a joyful heart while always expressing the love of Jesus.\n2) Pray for our hearts to remain focused on our first love\n3) Pray for our Calvary Loreto’s staff to have discernment while spreading the gospel and being united as one body in Christ throughout our church family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/serving-in-the-heat-of-the-summer-mullins-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell, the heat has been turned up here in Loreto with average temperatures well over 100 degrees daily. We are so blessed to be able to continue to serve our Lord and Savior here in Loreto, Baja Sur Mexico.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe had another great time this summer being able to do beach baptisms in the Sea of Cortez. 5 members of Calvary Loreto made the step of obedience and were baptized in front of our church body right there at our local beach. This is such an amazing opportunity to do this right after Sunday’s service as there are hundreds of people just walking by asking us what is going on and we get to explain the message of salvation along with inviting them to Calvary Chapel Loreto.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SERVING IN THE HEAT OF THE SUMMER - Mullins Update August 2023"},{"content":"Peru! August has been a BIG month for us!\nPoiema chose to attend CBI (Calvary Bible Institute) in Trujillo, Perú so I accompanied her as this is a rather BIG step for anyone who has not traveled on a passport! If you’re wondering why people consider Bible Institutes instead of traditional secular universities… it has a lot to do with God’s calling. The universal Christian Church needs workers who know their Bible and want to serve in ministry. Remember that the first universities in the U.S. were started to equip \u0026amp; train and produce ministers and pastors! However, we still have a need for pastors, church planters, and missionaries!\nPoiema is now in an exciting place full of adventure and new people. Pray for her!\nVisiting Church Planter Lorezo Ruiz in Peru!\nWhen Poiema and I went to Peru, we had the privilege of visiting our friend Lorenzo Ruiz and his family who live outside of Lima. I planned it so that we arrived in Lima on Wednesday and left Friday so that we could enjoy a few days visiting him and his familia!\nIn 2022, Lorenzo joined our church planting training school at Calvary Rosarito. He left his wife Rocio and their 3 boys Brayan (12), Angelo (10) and Andriu (7), and came all the way from Calvary Ventanilla outside of Lima, Peru to train with us for one year. I told him we were hoping to visit him and he insisted we stay with him a few days at his house. He said, “Pastor Pablo, I know you Americans are different…. and you like your privacy when you travel… but, I really want you to stay at my house!” Of course, hospitality is a beautiful quality and I discovered that hospitable people like the Ruizes want to be inconvenienced on your behalf to show you their love. Isn’t that beautiful?\nThey fell in love with Poiema and now she is family! I told her, from now on, she must stay with them a couple days whenever traveling through Lima!\nIt is a great privilege to encourage church planters!\nI talked with Lorenzo about his plans and vision for these difficult inaugural months. He is basically starting from zero going to a bustling suburb of Lima 15 min from his house. I got to hear and see first hand his plan in action. I gave him words of encouragement and faith as I saw him full of contagious enthusiasm!\nOne of the coolest things I saw was a living room full of family and friends that want to follow Lorenzo to Calvary Puente Piedra to assist in the work and be trained. I told him, that is the sign that you are a good leader! You have people wanting to follow!\nThank you!\nFinally, Lorenzo and I want to thank all who of you from CCSG that donated funds to Lorenzo in June when we had our ministry update barbecue at the Groves! Finances are always a need and a great blessing. He sends a special thanks to Mike Vincent for the great mentoring and training he got at Calvary Rosarito!\nAlso, thank you to those who have been so generous in supporting the Boubions financially! My wife and I were so blessed by your generosity. We have already put those funds to good use supporting our women’s ministry as well as the expenses for visiting and blessing church planters like Lorenzo in Puente Piedra, Peru!!\nClaudia’s Trip to Her Birthplace!\nClaudia and my daughter Natalie visited family in Guadalajara, Jalisco while I was in Peru.\nThey spent their whole time visiting her aunts and uncles and cousins. Her tia (aunt) Araceli accompanied them everywhere including a visit to Guanajuato and San Miguel Allende (two colonial Silver Cities)\nPrayer Requests:\nThat we will always make our relationship and time with Jesus #1 For Poiema as she studies and serves abroad at CBI, Peru with Pastor Corey Kilgus! Pray for God’s provision and faith! For Claudia, as she develops a new women\u0026rsquo;s study designed to teach them how to study the Bible verse by verse and teach others! And, to reach the hundreds of women who aren’t being discipled and choose the right day and time for it! For Lorenzo \u0026amp; Rocio and their family as they start Calvary Puente Piedra! For the core team that is forming. For people from all classes and cultures to feel welcomed and loved as they join the church. For my daughter Lydia and future son in law Geoff Hamano as they prepare for a wedding! For my kids Cristian, Ben and Natalie. To love and walk closer to God! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/visiting-peru-boubion-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"peru\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePeru!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAugust has been a BIG month for us!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePoiema chose to attend CBI (Calvary Bible Institute) in Trujillo, Perú so I accompanied her as this is a rather BIG step for anyone who has not traveled on a passport! If you’re wondering why people consider Bible Institutes instead of traditional secular universities… it has a lot to do with God’s calling. The universal Christian Church needs workers who know their Bible and want to serve in ministry. Remember that the first universities in the U.S. were started to equip \u0026amp; train and produce ministers and pastors! However, we still have a need for pastors, church planters, and missionaries!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Visiting Peru! - Boubion Update August 2023"},{"content":"Greetings in the Name of Jesus Christ!\nI am delighted to inform you that through your prayers and by the grace of God, we are doing well. I would like to thank you for your concern. I am faithfully doing my devotions and Bible study.\nI am also doing church ministry, home visiting, praying in homes, and outreach ministry where I share the Gospel and pray for the sick.\nThis week, I visited three families who invited me to come because they have physical problems. I shared the Word of God with them and encouraged them to believe in Jesus\u0026rsquo; name, and then I prayed for them. This Sunday, one of the families attended church!\nPlease continue to pray for our ministry here and the situation in our state these days. It is very difficult to serve the Lord because of persecution!! Please remember my wife and my two children in your prayers so that we will be fully equipped for ministry.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for G.N.*, who is demon-possessed. Please pray for S*; she is only five years old and has swelling in her lungs. Please pray for G*\u0026rsquo;s health problem. In the Lord,\nYour Brother,\nPastor 8* and Family\n\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/standing-firm-in-gods-word-pastor-8-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in the Name of Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am delighted to inform you that through your prayers and by the grace of God, we are doing well. I would like to thank you for your concern. I am faithfully doing my devotions and Bible study.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG%5F20230820%5F110720.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am also doing church ministry, home visiting, praying in homes, and outreach ministry where I share the Gospel and pray for the sick.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG%5F20230816%5F165825-300x286.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis week, I visited three families who invited me to come because they have physical problems. I shared the Word of God with them and encouraged them to believe in Jesus\u0026rsquo; name, and then I prayed for them. This Sunday, one of the families attended church!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Standing Firm In God's Word - Pastor 8* Update August 2023"},{"content":"Jai Masih ki (Praise the Lord) to all of you!\nThanks be to the Lord as He has kept us all safe until now and has blessed us all. I am so grateful to the Lord that He has provided for all of my needs and has kept my health good. How we thank Him for the church building construction that is still going on and will soon be completed! Thank you so much for continuing to pray for us!!\nPraise the Lord that currently 12-13 people come to my church! Three of them are non-believers, but all of them also come to church on Sundays. I am very happy that the parents who used to forbid the youth in the village to come to church are not stopping them now! Thanks be to the Lord, He changed their hearts! So now they are all able to come to the church!!\nRecently, I met a family from a village, named P*. I have asked for prayer for this family before, because they seem to be slowly coming to God. I shared the Gospel with this family. One of the family members is a person named V*. He has a wife and two small children. Every three or four days I visit them.\nOne time their neighbors came while I was there. They came while I was in prayer. Two more neighbors also came and were listening. The neighbors sat near us while I preached the Gospel of the Lord. Then, the neighbors started asking me, \u0026ldquo;Why do you come here? Why are you taking them away from their deities?\u0026rdquo;\nI thanked Lord in my heart and told them, \u0026ldquo;I have come to tell you that people should know the truth, and know the true Lord. Those who are believing in superstition should also know the truth of the Lord and should not live their lives in darkness.\u0026rdquo;\nThe Lord comforted and took care of the believing family I was visiting while they were in deep sorrow. The family said to their neighbors, \u0026ldquo;Why are you saying these things?\u0026rdquo;\nWe talked a lot, I told them all about the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Gospel. Please pray for their neighbors to come to know the Lord. Also pray that the believing family doesn\u0026rsquo;t turn away from Jesus Christ. The neighbors told me not to come to the village again. Pray that at the right time, the Lord will give me courage so that I can go back.\nAnother thing happened recently, I met a brother a few weeks ago. He was wearing a cross around his neck. He came with a friend of mine, and we sat talking. There were two more people with him. While we were talking, my eyes fell on his neck, and I saw the cross.\nI asked him, \u0026ldquo;Why are you wearing this around your neck?\u0026rdquo; He told me that he used to believe in Jesus Christ. He also explained that he does not agree with what the villagers believe, so he wears the cross. I thanked the Lord and preached the Gospel to him. I shared my testimony with him. There were two other people with him who were listening to everything. I said to him, \u0026ldquo;The Lord is powerful, and He will save you, but you must believe!\u0026rdquo; I told him many things. I also explained the Gospel further to him, so that the others who were there would also be able to understand. The one with the cross necklace gave me his number. I said that I would call him every other day. Now, I am encouraging him through phone call conversations to fully come back to Jesus. The other two who were with him asked many questions, and the Lord helped me to answer all of them. Thank God! He has truly made a connection with these people so they can hear the Gospel.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for the brother who was a believer, but had quit attending fellowship with the circle of believers. Pray that he will return to the faith. Also pray for the two other people who heard the Gospel of Lord while I talked with him. May the Lord turn their hearts toward Him. Pray for the family in the village that I regularly visit. Pray that they will grow in the Lord. Also pray that the neighboring family, who is opposing them and forbidding me to come, will have changed hearts. Pray for me. Pray that there will not be any opposition in the places where I go to visit and meet people, so that I can preach the Gospel and people will be open to the Gospel. Pray for the youth of my village to walk according to the Word of the Lord. Pray for their relatives to also come to know the Lord soon. Pray for the area I live and work in. Pray for all of the leaders who belong to the Hindu political party and for those who do not want the Lord\u0026rsquo;s kingdom to spread. Pray that their hearts will be changed by the Lord. Pray that the Lord will speak to those to whom I have preached the Gospel and change their hearts so that they will come to faith in Him. Pray for me as I go different places to preach the Gospel. May the Lord strengthen and bless me in the ministry He has given me so that many souls can be saved. Pray for my health. My health is slowly improving. May God heal me completely, so that I can do ministry well. Amen.\nPraise the Lord!\nThank you!\nPastor 10*\n\\* Names and faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gods-strength-in-the-face-of-opposition-pastor-10-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJai Masih ki (Praise the Lord) to all of you!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks be to the Lord as He has kept us all safe until now and has blessed us all. I am so grateful to the Lord that He has provided for all of my needs and has kept my health good. How we thank Him for the church building construction that is still going on and will soon be completed! Thank you so much for continuing to pray for us!!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God's Strength in the Face of Opposition - Pastor 10* Update August 2023"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments.”\nPsalm 133:1-2\nDear Co-laborers with Christ,\nThe Lord has been doing great things as He continues to open great and effective doors. I am very thankful for your continued prayers and love as we co-labor in the furtherance of the Gospel.\nThis past month was great because I was able to do ministry with a brother that is dear to me. When I was in Bible College, all my leaders poured their hearts into me. They shared their experience and knowledge of the Bible with me. I am so thankful for all the unity and faithfulness shown to me by my leaders and how God equipped me through them. Now the Lord has provided me with the opportunity to do the same toward others who also desire to serve in ministry. I am reminded of 2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” This is because C*, who was one of my students at one of the Bible Colleges I taught at, now has a heart that is ready to leave his home and move to a different district to begin ministry. Before starting his ministry, he wanted to visit and observe the village ministry I am doing.\nWe visited a backslidden family and spent time ministering to them and reminding them of the importance of being in church and in fellowship. It is so important for all believers to be in communion with God daily; whether we have been walking with the Lord for a few days or many years. We encouraged them, shared God\u0026rsquo;s Word with them, and prayed for them. It was great too for this family to hear C*’s testimony and see that another man who fears God took the time to visit and minister to them.\nWe also visited a sister who is a new believer and encouraged her as well. She is very interested to learn about Jesus, but sometimes feels hesitant to read her Bible because of lack of knowledge and understanding, However, I shared how it is good to make time to study God\u0026rsquo;s Word daily and not only open it up on Sundays. We continued in fellowship with her and teaching her worship songs so she can include them in her devotional time with God.\nIn the past few months I have been visiting these children, hoping to grow and establish friendships with them. I have been trying to learn their names, become familiar with their families, and see where they are with their studies and classes. I am basically growing in relationships with them to help to plant seeds of the Gospel in their hearts. As they learn songs and the Word of God, I pray that their little hearts will be very big to receive God!\nGod is always faithful and good. I am thankful to have been able to share these ministry moments with my dear brother, C*, who I know will be used in a powerful way by God to impact His Kingdom. I also pray that the people we visit will be transformed by the Word of God and that as they grow in knowledge of our Lord, that they will find comfort and hope deep in their hearts.\nPlease Pray:\nFor Gospel seeds to land on good soil and take deep roots. For God’s continued guidance in ministry opportunities. To find a place closer to my area of ministry. For good health and safe driving conditions. God bless,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/all-to-the-glory-of-god-pastor-7-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePsalm 133:1-2\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Co-laborers with Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Lord has been doing great things as He continues to open great and effective doors. I am very thankful for your continued prayers and love as we co-labor in the furtherance of the Gospel.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"All to the Glory of God - Pastor 7* update August 2023"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Partners, and Leaders!\nGreetings to all of you from our church\nThank you for your help and support. With your help and support, the Good News is being taken to a place where it has not reached before. Neither have outsiders seen it, but now, with your prayers and help, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is reaching there. People are believing and devoting their lives to the Lord!\nBecause of her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, she was first beaten. Then her Bible was taken away and she was put under house arrest.\nHello dear friends, like I often do, I want to share with you the life testimony of a believer of my church. My heart starts crying after listening to her testimony. Eight years ago, a woman named P* came to our church. In the beginning, she came only to pray, but slowly after she heard the Gospel of the Lord and she started believing. She got baptized about 6 years ago. She started bringing her husband to church as well and made great strides in her faith and in the Word of God.\nBut her husband was threatened by the people of his village. They said \u0026ldquo;You have converted. You will be thrown out of the village.\u0026rdquo; Her husband got scared and started trying to prevent his wife from attending church. But she still went to church and took much of God\u0026rsquo;s Word to heart by attending Bible studies. She also started telling people the Good News of Jesus Christ. Then, her husband started always beating her and preventing her from reading the Bible at home. Even then she did not stop reading the Bible. Her husband took her Bible and left it at someone else\u0026rsquo;s relative\u0026rsquo;s house. Still the poor thing didn\u0026rsquo;t stop coming to church. Then her husband began locking her in the house on the day when there was a church. So she would talk to us on her cell phone and we prayed together. In the end, her husband also took her phone from her.\nPlease pray for her. We have had no contact with this lady for almost 1 month. May God take care of her and save her life and soul. Right now I do not have photo of this sister. As soon as she comes to church I will take her picture and share it with you.\nWe had a very good time of fasting and prayer all day!\nThanks be to God and thank you all for your prayers for my family and the church! Our churches are making great strides in the Word of God and in prayer. In our church on Friday August 4th, we had a day-long fast. It was a time of prayer and listening to the Word. Together we prayed for the whole world. We especially prayed for the places where the Gospel has not reached, that peace can be established in the whole world, and for God to give protection to the pastors, etc.\nIt was very nice and exciting to hear from V* Aunty. The women in our church listened very carefully and thanked God as she shared through online video. For the first time, they got a chance to learn many new things by listening to the Word from her. And in the end, we bid everyone farewell after having dinner.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray For P*. May God help her come back to church. Please pray R*. He has been a believer for about 10 years. He has been handicapped since childhood. May God heal him. He is now 22 years old. Pray for S*. He is suffering from a very strange disease. May God heal him also. Pray for a widow woman who always comes to church. Her son is 22 years old. He is insane. Please pray that the believers in our church can grow deeper in the Word of God and to spread the Gospel even more. Please pray for rain in our area. Due to lack of rain, the hand pumps are drying up. There is also extreme heat. There are signs that there will be famine in the coming days. Please pray that God keeps peace all over our country. Lately there have been riots and fighting between Hindus and Muslims. Pray that God will keep our church safe from all kinds of problems. Thank you for your prayers, for your love for Christ, and for sharing in the work of the Gospel.\nGod bless you!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/faith-tested-by-fire-part-2-pastor-11-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Partners, and Leaders!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you from our church\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your help and support. With your help and support, the Good News is being taken to a place where it has not reached before. Neither have outsiders seen it, but now, with your prayers and help, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is reaching there. People are believing and devoting their lives to the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Faith Tested By Fire - Part 2 - Pastor 11* Update August 2023"},{"content":" Hello friends and family!\nWe wrote to you last when we had just landed in Trujillo at the end of June. Since then, we’ve moved into a new place! We live in a nice neighborhood with a small park, a few small grocery stores, and pharmacies all within walking distance. And we’re not too far from the church and Bible institute.\nIn the short time that we’ve been here, we’ve been acclimating to the city and trying to learn as much as we can. We’re like babies in a world we’re not really used to. It’s been six years since Racquell and I have been in Peru! We have a lot to learn and relearn.\nIn this area, God has been speaking to me (Shilo) His words to Peter on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus had just died on the cross, resurrected, and appeared to His disciples afterward. This instance specifically, He came to restore Peter and give him direct instruction on what he was to do after Jesus’ ascent. Before Jesus could even walk away, Peter was already asking about other people’s responsibilities. To this Jesus responded: “…what is that to you? You follow Me!” (John 21:22).\nThese words are actually painted on a wall here at church now. And I’m reminded when I look at them, yes, we are new here. Yes, I could be doing this thing, or that thing, instead of what I am doing. But rather than comparing myself to others, or questioning my own ministry and responsibilities, the words from Jesus to me are: “Shilo, You follow Me!” Friends I encourage you, God is calling you to the same thing, before anything else, Jesus says to YOU, “You follow Me!”\nRacquell and I have gotten a lot of opportunities right away to serve here with Calvary Trujillo and Calvary Bible Institute Peru. They are both growing ministries, with great teams of leaders and helpers. And there is a lot of work to be done. Pray that the Lord of the harvest would send more laborers!\nA main responsibility Racquell and I have here is hosting and planning for visiting teams and pastors. Since moving, we’ve had three teams of short term mission trips from the USA come to Calvary Trujillo. The first was from our sending church, Calvary Chapel Lihue, then a team from Calvary Chapel Modesto, California, and most recently a team from Calvary Chapel Dothan, Alabama. During their visits we got to serve together with kids festivals/outreaches, street-witnessing, a medical clinic, and construction projects here on campus. Each team was so special and we were blessed by their hard work, their encouragement, and their like-mindedness – they all came to serve, with the goal of obeying the Great Commission and seeing the name of Jesus lifted up in this city and all over the world.\nIn other news, our semester has started! Most of our students have arrived, and classes have begun. This is exciting as Racquell and I start our first semester with CBI Peru. We have students from the US, Italy, Columbia, Chile, Mexico, Honduras, Bolivia, Peru and Germany. Please pray as we work together this semester! That we would be of the same mind, and that we would walk in the Spirit. The theme this semester at CBI is “Commissioned.”\nOur prayer also is for the students to realize their calling to Jesus’ commission (Matthew 28:18-20), not just here in Trujillo, but all over the world. We would love to see Calvary Chapels and Calvary Bible Institutes planted all over South America, and beyond.\nSomething a bit more personal that the Lord has encouraged us with recently is these words of Jesus to His disciples: “And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life” (‭‭Matthew‬ ‭19‬:‭29‬).\nWe’ve left a lot of these things to serve Jesus here in Perú. But we were reflecting as a couple recently, how many people have loved and cared for Amalia at the Bible College and church. Between students, staff and other new friends, our little girl is well loved.\nThe day after this conversation, another staff member from CBI was talking about what a blessing Amalia is to her. She has nieces around Amalia’s age who she misses, and she feels that as she’s given up time with them to serve the Lord, He has blessed her with a niece in Amalia. It brought tears to Racquell’s eyes as she got to share how much we already feel like family with everyone here, and know that Amalia is going to grow up so loved by the people around her these “tios” and “tias” in the faith. On top of her family in the States, who also love her so much!\nAgain, it costs to follow Jesus. But just yesterday we heard Pastor Drew McIntyre say, “It costs you today to follow Jesus. But it will cost you more later, if you choose not to follow Him.” Rather than thinking about other people’s responsibilities or circumstances…what’s it to ya? Jesus is simply calling us to follow Him.\nThank you for taking the time to read some of the things we’ve been doing since moving! It has been an adjustment, and it is tough at times, but friends, it is worth it to follow Jesus.\nIt is truly a joy to be here. We love the people, especially the family in Christ we have gained in living here. There’s a lot more to share than could fit on this short newsletter, but we can always be reached if you respond to this email, a phone call, through iMessage, Messenger or WhatsApp.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nPray for our taxi drivers. We take at least two, sometimes up to five or six taxi rides a day between all of us. The drivers almost always ask us where we are from, and why we are here. Probably because Shilo has light skin and blue eyes. Plus we’re still awkward and new in terms of cultural stuff…and our Spanish isn’t great. But pray for their salvation! We share the gospel with or invite almost every single driver we’ve had to church. Some have really been interested. Eduardo is one who you can specifically pray for. Pray for the people of Trujillo, and South America in general. Pray for CBI and Calvary Trujillo! God is doing amazing things with the students and church. We could write a whole newsletter just on all the specific things going on here. You’ve just gotten a taste. Pray for our family’s health! Racquell and I have each gotten sick in one way or another about 4 times in the 8 weeks we’ve been here. Amalia has, too. Our bodies are adjusting, but the flu, strep throat, fevers, colds – can and have been just another thing that slows us down and distracts us. Pray for our visas – we are applying for a change from “Tourist” to “Religious.” It is a process, as you can imagine. Pray for our pastors, Cory, Jaime, and Joaquin, and the rest of the leadership here. PRAISE REPORTS:\nJesus is building His Church all over the world. Lives are being changed right here in Trujillo. We are learning things daily about Peruvian culture. God is working on our hearts. We’ve heard the call from Jesus to “Follow Me.” And by the grace of God, we are doing that. We love you all so much and thank you for partnering with us. Through your prayers and generous financial support, you have made this ministry possible for us and we want to let you know that this is the fruit of your labor as well. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support, you can do so by clicking on the financial button below or mailing your support check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203\nYorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note “Stratton” in memo*\nTo check out the ministry we are serving with, please click the link:\nCalvaryperu.com\nBy the grace of Jesus and for His glory,\nThe Stratton Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/whats-it-to-ya-stratton-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG%5F8252-300x168.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe wrote to you last when we had just landed in Trujillo at the end of June. Since then, we’ve moved into a new place! We live in a nice neighborhood with a small park, a few small grocery stores, and pharmacies all within walking distance. And we’re not too far from the church and Bible institute.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the short time that we’ve been here, we’ve been acclimating to the city and trying to learn as much as we can. We’re like babies in a world we’re not really used to. It’s been six years since Racquell and I have been in Peru! We have a lot to learn and relearn.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What's it to Ya? - Stratton Update August 2023"},{"content":" Here in northwest Montana, summer is starting to fade and fall is fast approaching. I wanted to take some time and update you on what our summer was like and what we have planned for the fall.\nAfter spending January through April in Japan, May in California, and June in Montana, July was spent with Daphne at my parents’ farm in Nebraska. We always enjoy our time there; the pace of life is slow and we get to have experiences unique to rural America. While the cliché of the dimwitted, more harm than help, farm hand is proven true by my efforts; I look forward to the opportunity to do farm-work every time we’re there. We were able to experience county fairs, summer storms, hay harvest, and livestock wrangling. The time went by quicker than I would have liked, but it was sweet while it lasted.\nWe extended our time there by a week when my grandmother passed away at the start of August. While we will miss her and the prayers she faithfully lifted up for us, we are thankful to have spent an afternoon with her a few weeks prior to her passing. She was ready to be with her Lord and it wasn’t so much a time of sadness as a time of thankfulness for her and her life. It gave us an opportunity to see the entire family, some we wouldn’t have gotten to see otherwise so we were very thankful for that.\nWe are now back in Montana and have a busy fall ahead of us. At the end of September, I’ll be going to Peru with a team to help facilitate a missions conference. I have also been given the opportunity to teach at our church here in Whitefish. We are also praying about attending a conference in November, as well as continuing to build our prayer and support team. Please keep us in your prayers for all of these events.\nOur departure date for Japan is January 29, 2024. This will be our long-term move and we’ll have a lot of preparation ahead of us to get ready. We’ll be getting our visa and housing sorted out in the next few months as well as deciding what to take with us and what to ship over later. It will also be a short-term trip for several other people that feel called to Japan as well. Alishia has been working hard planning that trip and we are excited to see what kind of team the Lord is building. We are also working on getting Alishia’s US citizenship, please pray that it goes smoothly.\nIf you’d like to hear more about our calling to Japan, have any questions for us, or would like to become part of our sending team, please don’t hesitate to reach out. Please consider joining us in what God is doing in Japan, there is a link at the bottom that will take you to our giving page.\nPrayer requests:\nFor Jeff’s trip to Peru in September. For provision and guidance as we plan our move to Japan. For Alishia’s citizenship process to go quickly and smoothly. Praise for a wonderful summer with Daphne and all the family that we were able to see. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/whats-on-the-horizon-root-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG%5F0728-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHere in northwest Montana, summer is starting to fade and fall is fast approaching. I wanted to take some time and update you on what our summer was like and what we have planned for the fall.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter spending January through April in Japan, May in California, and June in Montana, July was spent with Daphne at my parents’ farm in Nebraska. We always enjoy our time there; the pace of life is slow and we get to have experiences unique to rural America. While the cliché of the dimwitted, more harm than help, farm hand is proven true by my efforts; I look forward to the opportunity to do farm-work every time we’re there. We were able to experience county fairs, summer storms, hay harvest, and livestock wrangling. The time went by quicker than I would have liked, but it was sweet while it lasted.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What’s On the Horizon - Root Update August 2023"},{"content":" “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”\nJohn 14:27 (ESV)\nHey fam,\nI pray that this update finds you well, and that your lives are being more and more measured in the peace that only He can provide. For many of us, this season has been turbulent and uncomfortable—to say the least. I pray this passage would be an encouragement to you in that season. My mind goes to a quote by C.H. Spurgeon, it goes something like this, “I have learned to kiss the wave that slams me into the Rock of Ages.” For me, this is a reminder to trust in His sovereignty in this season, and to recognize where He is drawing me closer to Him in the midst of my pain and sufferings. 1 Peter 4:19 says, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), His lovingkindness never fails, and we serve such an amazing God. He is trustworthy and worthy of my praise—even in the midst of my greatest trials and struggles. I pray that you would cast your every care on Him knowing that He cares for you, and that His love for you is beyond measure—it was displayed at Calvary, and His work for you upon that cross has brought a security of an everlasting kind. Peace He leaves with you…\nMiddle School:\nAs far as this last month has left me, there are a few things to report and update you about! Middle School has been going well. We have a solid core group of kids that are pretty amazing. I’m blessed by them constantly, and they’re pretty good about making me laugh too. This last month we had a lot go on, we had our Middle School Summer Camp where I took three of our middle school boys down to SoCal for a joint Calvary Summer Camp and it was a blast! The theme was “Living Water” out of John 8:37-38, and God was doing an amazing work in the hearts of the students and leaders who attended. Hearts were being set free and callings were made known—praise the Lord! Please pray for my boys that they would draw ever closer to Jesus and His heart for them, and that the truths they learned that week would only deepen and not fade. Lord willing, there will be an opportunity to do more camps like that in the future!\nThe week after camp we took our students for a joint trip to Hurricane Harbor (a six flags water park) and we had a blast! It was a great way to spend a hot day! Back at home we just said farewell to one of our leaders who is going off to college. We’re excited for her, but also bummed to not have her while she’s at school. Other than that, we’ve had an addition to our leader team and are still plugging away through the Gospel of John.\nPrayer for MS:\nPlease pray for the Middle School group!\nThat the Lord would help me to delegate well to my leaders, and that we would pour into those kids with our utmost as we receive from the Lord.\nThat those kids would begin to seek the Lord for His calling on their lives (even at their age)!\nThat they would fall madly in love with Jesus, and that He would empower us by His Spirit to minister effectively and unapologetically according to His heart and Word.\nWhat’s next?\nFantastic news: my tickets are purchased and I am all set to go to Peru for the South American church planting and missions conference! I am going down with an SGWM team to help work and prepare for the conference!\nPrayer for Peru:\nPlease pray for me, that my heart would be ready to receive from the Lord whatever He’s wanting to speak to me during that trip.\nThat He would continue to hone and provide vision for what’s to come.\nThat He would use me and the team to be a blessing and encouragement to the school and those at the conference while we’re there!\nThat He would give clarity on timing for when I am to go (still hoping for January).\nIf you feel led to partner with me financially as I prepare for going out long term, there is a link below where you can do that.\nThank you so much for your partnership prayerfully and financially,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/my-peace-i-leave-with-you-voisin-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/E424D0E4-440C-4EE3-9FA9-C7E2146FAEAC-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn 14:27 (ESV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHey fam,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI pray that this update finds you well, and that your lives are being more and more measured in the peace that only He can provide. For many of us, this season has been turbulent and uncomfortable—to say the least. I pray this passage would be an encouragement to you in that season. My mind goes to a quote by C.H. Spurgeon, it goes something like this, “I have learned to kiss the wave that slams me into the Rock of Ages.” For me, this is a reminder to trust in His sovereignty in this season, and to recognize where He is drawing me closer to Him in the midst of my pain and sufferings. 1 Peter 4:19 says, “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good.” His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:22-23), His lovingkindness never fails, and we serve such an amazing God. He is trustworthy and worthy of my praise—even in the midst of my greatest trials and struggles. I pray that you would cast your every care on Him knowing that He cares for you, and that His love for you is beyond measure—it was displayed at Calvary, and His work for you upon that cross has brought a security of an everlasting kind. Peace He leaves with you…\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My Peace I Leave With You… - Voisin Update August 2023"},{"content":" “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:14\nDear Friends and Family,\nThis past month brought us to another season in Uganda. Its not the rainy season or the dry season, it’s the soccer season! In Uganda, soccer, or as it\u0026rsquo;s called here, football, is almost everyone’s favorite pastime. Schools have soccer teams, businesses have soccer teams, the police have soccer teams, churches of every faith have soccer teams and even the various market places here in Uganda have soccer teams. Whether they play it themselves or they watch it from the sidelines, football is a national pastime. This time of year is when the local teams are in their playoffs or tournaments.\nArise Christian Fellowship has its own football team. It is made up of young men, most of whom received salvation through the market ministry. They are registered in the local area with the Kampala market teams. Our church is just a couple of streets above one of the largest markets in Kampala and one of the larger slum areas. Right now our playoffs are happening every Wednesday. Since soccer matches always draw large crowds, and the playoffs even larger crowds, we see this as a chance for outreach. Church members attend the games to support our team and then during breaks or half time, they mingle with the crowds and find opportunity to share Christ with others.\nThe team themselves are not slacking when it comes to sharing their faith. The pray and share devotions during practice and before games. They also share Jesus with other teams they play against or practice with, always inviting them to join in their times of fellowship and prayer. While many people respond positively to the Gospel message not everyone does. Sometimes there is a tough resistance against our attempts at evangelism and some attitude given to our players for being Christian. Despite any negative attention the team and church members might endure, they continue to love football and to love sharing their faith. We pray for more opportunities like this and for those who hear the gospel to come to know Jesus personally as well as to go to a solid Bible teaching church.\nI know I talk about the youth at the church quite often but the truth is they make up the majority of our church. Actually, in Uganda the youth make up the majority of the whole population. 77% of the population are under 25 years old. When I think of this I think of Jesus telling His disciples to let the children come to Him and I always think about the verse that says to train children in the way they should go and when they are old they won’t depart from it. The world as a whole is trying to teach children a way they should go and in Uganda, culture and tradition is still so strong, teaching the children the way they want them to go. As a church we are trying to reach out as much as possible to the children, the teens, and the young adults to point them to Jesus so His way to go fills them and protects them from all these paths that lead to no where.\nAt church we have a very strong Sunday school. The Sunday school teachers don’t just teach on Sunday but they have meetings down in the slums where most the kids come from. The assistant pastor has a Bible club in the area where he lives. Our teen and young adult leader has Bible studies on Saturday. The youth group also meets during the week to play games and to watch a Christian movie. Luke enjoys it especially when they organize themselves to play basketball. He is hoping to get them to play more, mostly because he loves basketball but also because they get out into the community more like the soccer team. Through the youth ministry we recently had a couple of youth who had been coming for a while who expressed their interest in getting baptized.\nTalking about youth, I have to share something very sad that happened recently, involving our family. A couple of Sundays a go I noticed my brother in-law was not at church. Brian told me that one of their cousins who lives near by lost their child. Their child was abducted walking home from school and he was found to have been sacrificed (beheaded). Yes, child sacrifice is still a thing here. My brother in-law had gone to help the family make arrangements and to talk with police since obviously the child’s family was overcome with grief. My kids always think I’m being overprotective but I think this was a wake up call for them. The incident was in the local paper. They have caught the woman who was responsible. Please keep the family in prayer and continue to pray for Uganda that these horrible traditions would end and the children of Uganda would be safe.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us and for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. Please pray for the soccer ministries at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for the evangelism and discipleship that is taking place during the playoffs. Pray for the Sunday school and Youth leaders as they minister to the kids in the church and in the community. Pray for my kids to be a light amongst the youth they interact with during their activities. Pray for all the new believers and those recently baptized to continue to grow in the Lord. Pray for Brian’s family as they mourn for the child that was sacrificed. Pray for safety for all the children of Uganda. Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"let-the-little-children-come-to-me\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Let the little children come to me,\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eand do not hinder them, for the kingdom\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eof heaven belongs to such as these.”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew 19:14\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month brought us to another season in Uganda.  Its not the rainy season or the dry season, it’s the soccer season!  In Uganda, soccer, or as it\u0026rsquo;s called here, football, is almost everyone’s favorite pastime. Schools have soccer teams, businesses have soccer teams, the police have soccer teams, churches of every faith have soccer teams and even the various market places here in Uganda have soccer teams. Whether they play it themselves or they watch it from the sidelines, football is a national pastime. This time of year is when the local teams are in their playoffs or tournaments.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update - August 2023"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nThis is monsoon season. Farmers are busy in their fields. People mostly cultivate rice here. Because of that our state is known as “the rice bowl of our country.” On the other hand, the heavy rain has caused havoc in many places. Many people have lost their lives in floods. Despite all this, God is so faithful to us. He provides for our needs and protects us under His mighty wings. We appreciate your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\nOn June 3rd, after summer vacation, we reopened our CBI. Four more students have joined us. This semester, I am teaching the Gospel of Mark and translating for Church History class.\nI got the privilege to lead the program for a birthday party. It was amazing.\nIn our local church services, I am still teaching from the Gospel of Matthew. By God’s grace, one of the Sundays we invited a new believer. (He is a colleague of my wife in school). He felt wonderful and blessed. We are hoping that he will join our church in the near future. In addition, we participated in all of our church activities. We also visited some families to testify for the Lord and prayed for them.\nPrayer Requests:\nMr. S* has asked us to pray for his wife to have good health. Also, pray that God may increase his faith. Please pray for all of our CBI students. Pray that God may give them wisdom and knowledge to understand the Word. Kindly pray for the growth of our church. Please pray that we may be able to get suitable land for our church. Kindly pray for me and my family. May Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/by-gods-grace-pastor-3-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is monsoon season. Farmers are busy in their fields. People mostly cultivate rice here. Because of that our state is known as “the rice bowl of our country.” On the other hand, the heavy rain has caused havoc in many places. Many people have lost their lives in floods. Despite all this, God is so faithful to us. He provides for our needs and protects us under His mighty wings. We appreciate your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"By God's Grace - Pastor 3* Update August 2023"},{"content":"Hello Everyone!\n\nJai Christ! (Praise the Lord!)\nMay God bless you all! Thank you for your prayers and for your love that you have for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you also for helping us financially. God bless you all. We are all fine. We pray for you all.\nThank God! This month He has given me the opportunity to meet many people. As you know, we are doing ministry in the village area in the North. There are people of different castes living all around, and among them I am doing service.\nThis month, God gave me the opportunity to go to a new village. Before reaching that village with my friend, I prayed to God, \u0026ldquo;Dear God, when I reach this village today, give me a person to reach out to - so I can explain your promise; so I can tell your love.\u0026rdquo;\nAs we came near the village, we saw an old man sitting in the way, feeding his cow. We greeted the old man and asked about how he was doing. As we started talking to him, we could tell from his face he was very sad. So I said, \u0026ldquo;Uncle, is there something wrong?\u0026rdquo;\nThen he told me about the situation that he is in. He said, \u0026ldquo;I live in the village that we are close to. No one listens to us. My house is about to collapse. What should I do, son?\u0026rdquo; He continued talking like this on and on.\nI said \u0026ldquo;Uncle, I want to talk to you about something.\u0026rdquo; and I shared with him from the Word of God. I told him, \u0026ldquo;If no one in this world will listen to you, then there is only the One True God - The person who listens to you and loves you.\u0026rdquo;\nWe prayed for him. He then thanked us and took us to his home to have tea.\nWhen we reached his house, the condition of his house was very bad. It was about to collapse. The wife had propped the house up with sticks so that it does not fall on her. We prayed for her.\nThen I told my friends that if we can help people like them, it is a good thing. You also please pray for them. Here are some photos of them, so that you can pray for them to get saved.\nThank God that He has so many different ways of working. We all know that God has worked in different ways in my life from time to time.\nA few months ago I prayed for a woman and she was healed. She used to go to a Catholic church that she did not like to go to. When I met her, I told her to read the Bible verse-by-verse according to the doctrine of Calvary Chapel. I told her how we teach and we learn this way at Calvary Chapel. She liked it.\nWhen she was healed through prayer, she called 11 more women to her house so that we could pray for them and share the Word with them.\nShe invited me to her house and I prayed for many people and they started getting healed.\nThe next week she called about 25 to 30 women. Now we have started a fellowship at her house. Everyone meets once a week and we pray and share the Word with them.\nI am praying for these families. That the Word of the Lord will grow in their hearts, and that the work of the Lord will be done in their midst.\nI am thanking God for the different ways He is working!\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for the ministry here in the North. Please pray for the villages in this area that we visit. May more doors open like the ones I shared, and may doors open through the doors that God has already opened. Pray that I continue to be able to meet with the people that I shared about, so that I can continue to lead them forward in the Word of God. Pray for all of the villages in our area that speak our native language - pray that there will be a church in each village someday. Pray for the sister who has opened her house for the Word of God and to have fellowship. She wants to have fellowship their always. Also pray for the other women who are listening to the Word. Thank you all for praying for us. God bless you.\nPastor 13*\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-works-in-amazing-ways-pastor-13-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Everyone!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJai Christ! (Praise the Lord!)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMay God bless you all! Thank you for your prayers and for your love that you have for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you also for helping us financially. God bless you all. We are all fine. We pray for you all.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank God! This month He has given me the opportunity to meet many people. As you know, we are doing ministry in the village area in the North. There are people of different castes living all around, and among them I am doing service.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Works in Amazing Ways! - Pastor 13 Update August 2023"},{"content":" “However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”\nJOHN 16:13-14\nThe night before Jesus died on the cross He discussed the future with His disciples and one of the main topics in their conversation was the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus explained to them that the role of the Holy Spirit was to illuminate and glorify Himself. This is a very important message for Ugandan Christians to understand as many “funny” things are done through “the filling of the Spirit.” Recently I witnessed the Holy Spirit in action when four people stood up during the announcements at church and declared that they had come that day in order to accept Jesus and be born again!\nIn 2021 I became one of the pastors of Calvary Chapel Gulu, and it has been so exciting to see God moving in and through our church more. But it has been hard to be involved with the church family while we are living so far away. We are thankful for God\u0026rsquo;s blessing of placing our new home very close to the church, and with the time we will save from the commute we will be able to be more involved. Among other things, we are specifically looking forward to creating new believer classes that will help new converts become grounded in their faith.\nLast month our team was blessed to be trained in a holistic approach to ministry called Community Health Evangelism or “CHE” for short. CHE is designed to help a community recognize their own physical and spiritual deficits/needs and work together to solve them using what resources they already have. This method is being employed in every continent of the world and is having tremendous impact in communities in areas of health and hygiene, how to raise families, business ventures, agriculture and animal husbandry, and many other things. It is even being used to plant thousands of churches. After finishing our training, a few of us had the privilege to tour Northern Uganda and even South Sudan to see other groups of people who were implementing CHE. We believe that we will incorporate this into our Bible college curriculum, and we are excited about how the Holy Spirit will use it to transform communities around us!\nPlease continue praying with us that: We will be able to fully adopt our daughter Apio Cynthia. God will bless our transition into a new home and community. Many people here will be touched by God’s Holy Spirit and will come to a saving belief in Jesus. God will give us boldness to preach and represent Him. In Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-july-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/20230101%5F093431%5F2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“However, when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJOHN 16:13-14\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/20230226%5F1021112-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe night before Jesus died on the cross He discussed the future with His disciples and one of the main topics in their conversation was the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus explained to them that the role of the Holy Spirit was to \u003cem\u003eilluminate and glorify\u003c/em\u003e Himself. This is a very important message for Ugandan Christians to understand as many “funny” things are done through “the filling of the Spirit.” Recently I witnessed the Holy Spirit in action when four people stood up during the announcements at church and declared that they had come that day in order to accept Jesus and be born again!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update July 2023"},{"content":"“For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account. Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God. And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”\nPhilippians 4:16-19\nReading the above passage with fresh eyes, I realize that it is actually an encouragement from Paul, a missionary, to his senders. Another way to say this is, “You all faithfully met my needs…Therefore the fruit that comes through my ministry will be credited to your heavenly account …..and God will supply all your needs!” This perfectly describes how Kayo, Benjamin and I feel about our senders and loved ones in the USA and Japan.\nWe just returned to Cambodia from the USA. Our time was so full and blessed that we were not able to visit everyone we wanted to in person. We were blessed and encouraged in so many ways! Now, we are back in Cambodia. We have pretty much overcome jet-lag, gotten our apartment etc. reopened and restocked, and are starting to serve in our various ministries here. For example, I will preach this Sunday at the international church and help with the Chinese ministry. Kayo and I will both soon resume our regular work with Precious Women Organization. Benjamin will start high school (year 9) at Hope International School. Looking ahead, I will teach a two-week intensive Apologetics class at a Cambodian Bible school the end of next month so I need to start preparing for that along with other ministries that will resume and start soon.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for opportunities for me to evangelize and disciple a man from the Middle East who is here in Cambodia as an international student.\nPlease pray for Light Times Magazine, the only Christian magazine in Cambodia, they had to delay the printing of their most recent issue because of lack of funding. This is a valuable ministry and also they provide the legal basis for my Cambodian visa renewal.\nPlease pray for Benjamin as he starts school and for continued provision for his education.\nPlease pray for wisdom and provision regarding our funding from Japan. The Japanese Yen has lost between 20-25% of its value over the past 2 years against the US dollar. Cambodia’s economy is based on the US dollar. This means the sacrificial donations of our Japanese senders have been greatly devalued. Meanwhile, our expenses, (mainly Benjamin’s education), continue to rise. We have already done everything we can to cut expenses and have already looked into part-time employment in Cambodia (but right now that door doesn’t look promising and it would reduce our ability to minister effectively here).\nPlease pray for wisdom, peace, and grace as God has placed us in the unique position of ministering to and alongside so many Christians from so many cultures/nations (this is the easier part) and denominations (evangelicals with a broad range of perspectives on secondary doctrinal issues–this is the more challenging part). We are blessed that there is a beautiful unity of the Body of Christ in Cambodia and beyond. It seems that God has called us to work in the joints (between the bones = denominations) (Ephesians 4:16). Please pray that there won’t be any arthritis…:).\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/back-on-the-field-in-cambodia-record-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“For even in Thessalonica \u003cstrong\u003eyou sent aid once and again for my necessities.\u003c/strong\u003e Not that I seek the gift, \u003cstrong\u003ebut I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.\u003c/strong\u003e Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus \u003cstrong\u003ethe things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice,\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003ewell pleasing to God\u003c/strong\u003e. And \u003cstrong\u003emy God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.\u003c/strong\u003e”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Back on the Field in Cambodia - Record Update August 2023"},{"content":"Greetings in the Name of Jesus,\nFirst, I would like to thank God for His endless mercy and love which has rested upon us. Truly God is a faithful God! Every day we experience His goodness in our lives. Wow! How wonderful He is!\nI thank God for the good family which He has given to me. We are devoted to serve God faithfully. For the past twenty-four years in my faith journey, He has never left me nor let me lack anything. During these past years, so many struggles came in my life, but my God was with me.\nI thank God because He has chosen me to be a minister of His holy Name. Today, God has given me a small congregation (above). All of the believers are doing well. Please always pray for them so that they may grow in the Lord.\nIt is really good for me when I teach the Word of God verse-by-verse in my church. I also do personal Bible study. From Monday through Saturday, I spend time preparing my message for the next Sunday. Right now, I am preaching from the Gospel of Mark.\nEvery evening my family comes together for devotions. First, we have prayer and worship, then we read the Bible. At the end, we pray for different prayer requests. So please pray for my family so that we may continuously move further in the ministry.\nSpecial thanks to the hands who are helping me financially. May the Lord bless them abundantly.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for brother G*. He heard the Word of God. He has a physical problem. May God deliver him soon. Please pray for brother T*. Sometimes he has trouble with an evil spirit and a paralysis problem. Pray for our church\u0026rsquo;s building (picture right). In the Lord,\nYour Brother,\nPastor 8* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-faithful-pastor-8-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in the Name of Jesus,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, I would like to thank God for His endless mercy and love which has rested upon us. Truly God is a faithful God! Every day we experience His goodness in our lives. Wow! How wonderful He is!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God for the good family which He has given to me. We are devoted to serve God faithfully. For the past twenty-four years in my faith journey, He has never left me nor let me lack anything. During these past years, so many struggles came in my life, but my God was with me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Faithful - Pastor 8 Update August 2023"},{"content":"A biblical understanding of just these two words is far-reaching. It clearly is because, the authority rests on God to help us make the move in going everywhere He leads. All authority is His alone. It is on His authority we trust Him in everyplace He sends us.\nSo much so, that this commandment has reverberated in our souls that we waited upon the Lord and sought His heart to lead us wherever He wills after finishing the school semester. After much waiting, the Lord in His grace, has opened doors to J*, one of the main cities in a state which has been hostile to the Gospel. As soon as the meetings had been scheduled, all the staff, along with the students sat in prayer, intercession, and pleading with God to save souls in the areas in and around J*. The Lord, in His provision, has provided for the needs of each and every one. It was decided in the counsel of the Lord, that all of us must be divided into two teams. One team was sent via train to travel for 20 hours; alternatively, another team was sent via car to travel for 15 hours. Thanks be to God, that both of our teams have reached their areas safely. Brethren, there was a warm welcome upon reaching our destination, which is worth sharing with you all. As the team, who came via train, reached J* railway station, we saw a group of welcomers waiting for our team to arrive with a bouquet and with lots of love! This left all of our team in great surprise (even the passengers, too), because this was something unplanned and unexpected. Assuredly, the love of Christ reigned all our hearts.\nSet-Apart Youth Meeting at J*\nA church is located in the deep forests of J*. This also happens to be the church of one our students. All of our team members were in preparation with prayer and intercession and the day had finally come to start the meetings. The very first day, there was a turnout of 50 young adults, coming from nearby neighborhoods and villages. A choir from the church led us all in praise and worship which was a blessing. Then one of our brothers, P K*, was asked to share his testimony with the young adults. He alluded to the fact that not only should young adults have a testimony but should share it with the world. To do that, it should be our focus daily to be set-apart from the world and preach the Word to this dying world. Truly, truly all of the young adults were blessed to hear the importance of a Word-driven life of a Christian. It was then time for preaching and teaching. The sermon was given by Brother A* about the difference between a true worshipper and a false worshipper taken from the example of Mary and Judas in Mark 14. The message was thought-provoking and helped the young adults to examine what kind of worshipers they are. We pray, that the Word which was planted may bring a harvest in due season. We wrapped up the 1st day with a luncheon as a family in Christ.\nThere was much expectation and excitement among the youth, about what they would witness in the final day of youth meeting. God didn’t let them down. He used us individually and collectively as a team in all the activities involved and games played. Activities were divided as such: that they would seek, search, find, and know the Word of God. I shared the Word of God about not following the pattern of this world, but instead being transformed by the Word of God. It was another pressing message, for the youth, to be set-apart for God and His will. At the end, we had a thought-provoking questionnaire session with young adults. Many questions were asked regarding faith, baptism, sin, Christianity, and many more. We were so blessed to have such a great opportunity to answer, counsel, and mentor the young adults. We pray, that all these young people may grow more in grace and the knowledge of Christ.\nPastors’ Meeting\nThe area where we are in the south, is entirely different from J* when compared to the geographical, demographical, and cultural aspects. Since we began praying for guidance about whether or not to go to J*, we all had in mind the pros and cons of doing ministry in a state hit by persecution. We always prayed for the persecuted disciples in that location, but never got to witness the reality of it until we went, and gathered to see and hear the cost of being a witness for Christ there. Local pastors, along with our staff and students had a fruitful time of fellowship. I shared the word from 2 Tim. 1. The word was timely which was titled “ not ashamed of the Gospel-in times of suffering”. It was so encouraging that the Word of God edified the body of Christ. Then, pastors got to share their personal experiences working in the field. Some of the stories are heartbreaking and disturbing to go through. All of our students who sat there, were very moved in their hearts upon hearing the testimonies of the co-workers. We thank the Lord, that He gave us the opportunity to come along with fellow brothers in Christ and we pray and hope that the fellowship may be a soothing aroma to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith.\nRanital Youth Meetings :\nWe wrapped up our schedule in J* by conducting Youth meetings in R*. R* is a vast neighbourhood in the heart of the city of J*. It’s a predominantly T* speaking neighbourhood, where many T* moved to J* for livelihood reasons long ago. We believe that meeting with young people from this community is an open door from God, himself. All the 3 days that we ministered there, we felt as if we were our “home away from home”. Praise and worship was done in our home language T*! The Word was preached in T* and testimonies were given in T*! Truly, truly, it is beautiful to see, the brothers in Christ come in love and worship the Lord. The main theme for these meetings was to set a call upon the young people, to be set-apart from this world and turn back to God. Brothers from R*, want our team to visit them again. May the Lord help us in wisdom and love, in ministering to our brothers in this community.\nMy Wife\u0026rsquo;s Update\nI’m so thankful to God that He’s opened doors for me to minister in the women’s conference and children camp.\nWomen\u0026rsquo;s Conference\nBy the grace of God it was a blessing to see 60 ladies join in the women’s conference. God led me to conduct this conference in a new way to share and lead. We had worship, action dances, games and sermons. Since there were many young women present, I preached about the characteristics of Godly women, daughters, and mothers. God strengthened me, so that I could preach with confidence before many women.\nThey very much liked the sermons which I preached using illustrations through action songs about Ruth, Hanna, and Sarah from the Bible. May the seed which was sown work in their hearts. Upon finishing the conference, I was told by many of the women, that it is a new and blessed experience to learn through action songs along with the Word of God. I am really grateful to God that He gave me courage to share the Word of God. It has been such a blessed time to have been able to get connected with many families and make new friends as well.\nChildren\u0026rsquo;s camp\nI would like to take this opportunity to share about children\u0026rsquo;s camp. More than 50 kids joined who came from nearby villages from J*. We taught them many Bible stories, games, and action dances. Similarly we made them play a treasure hunt. It was very interesting and fun. We gave them gifts to encourage and bless them. We also provided snacks and lunch for the kids. They enjoyed being in the presence of God. We are so blessed to see them grow. God has a great purpose in each and everyone’s life. He works through us in different ways and in different places to bring glory to His name. I never knew I could do all this, but God is amazing. He chose Moses and David and He chose me to do both the women\u0026rsquo;s conference and children\u0026rsquo;s camp.\nWe are really thankful to God for his provision and his protection over us.\nT* Village Ministry Update\nWe are very thankful that you are praying for us and the ministry that we are doing here. I am very happy to share what’s happening in the village. Before we shared about a women named K*. I shared in my last news letter that she is in the dangerous situation. She’s pregnant and is having a lot of health problems. In the beginning of her pregnancy, the doctor told that she will die because she ate sand and stones. Her health condition became very serious. She told me that she prayed to God for the first time for the help. God amazingly healed her and brought her out of the hospital. GOOD NEWS! God has blessed her with beautiful baby girl. Its a great joy. In the midst of a lot of struggles, finally God has filled her life with joy and blessed her. Thank you all for praying.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nPray for N*. She has cancer in her stomach. Pray for M. He has blood clots in brain. Our upcoming semester starts in the month of August. Please pray for it. Pray for our new church plants in M*, T*, K*, and N*. Pray for me to grow in the knowledge of Christ. Pray for A* and her family to have peace. Pray for our church\u0026rsquo;s ministries: 1) Men’s Bible Study 2) Young Adults Bible Study, 3) Sunday School Ministry 4) Women’s Ministry Pray for our upcoming youth conference on July 28th. Pray for our upcoming women’s conference planned for September 19th. Thank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/go-therefore-pastor-6-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA biblical understanding of just these two words is far-reaching. It clearly is because, the authority rests on God to help us make the move in \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003egoing\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e everywhere He leads. All authority is His alone. It is on His authority we trust Him in everyplace He sends us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/pic-5-300x187.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSo much so, that this commandment has reverberated in our souls that we waited upon the Lord and sought His heart to lead us wherever He wills after finishing the school semester. After much waiting, the Lord in His grace, has opened doors to J*, one of the main cities in a state which has been hostile to the Gospel. As soon as the meetings had been scheduled, all the staff, along with the students sat in prayer, intercession, and pleading with God to save souls in the areas in and around J*. The Lord, in His provision, has provided for the needs of each and every one. It was decided in the counsel of the Lord, that all of us must be divided into two teams. One team was sent via train to travel for 20 hours; alternatively, another team was sent via car to travel for 15 hours. Thanks be to God, that both of our teams have reached their areas safely. Brethren, there was a warm welcome upon reaching our destination, which is worth sharing with you all. As the team, who came via train, reached J* railway station, we saw a group of welcomers waiting for our team to arrive with a bouquet and with lots of love! This left all of our team in great surprise (even the passengers, too), because this was something unplanned and unexpected. Assuredly, the love of Christ reigned all our hearts.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Go Therefore! - Pastor 6 Update August 2023"},{"content":" This past month we celebrated God’s faithfulness to this work. He has granted us 10 years of serving in Acapulco. To celebrate, we had a special service given by Pastor David Rosales. After a fantastic message, we had a great time of fellowship with some delicious pozole (Mexican stew).\nWe look forward to what the Lord still has in store.\nRancho Poiema Pastor Cesar invited me to teach my apologetics course for a week at Rancho Poiema which is in Baja California. It’s a ministry that prepares and trains future pastors and leaders. The goal is to raise them up with the intention of sending them out to start a new work, which is something I absolutely love. We were able to send a couple, Johnny and Litzy, who just graduated and will be serving in our youth ministries.\nReaching the Youth As most of us can see, Satan is after the youth and has been gaining a lot of ground. We decided to make a more serious effort to reach them. So that no one gets lost in the crowd we divided them by age so that we can minister to them in a way that’s personal and at their level. Please pray for our youth leaders as they minister to a difficult generation. I must add that all three of these youth ministers feel the call to eventually plant a church. I’m on board!! We just had a youth retreat with over 40 young men and woman present. It went amazing!!\nChildren’s ministry We celebrated KIDS DAY!! It was a great time! The kids learned that Jesus came to save the lost and is the BEST and ONLY real super hero!! We will be having our VBS in August. We are praying that the local children will come. We covet your prayers for this event.\nPastors Conference The annual pastors’ conference is coming up in October. It will be in Baja California. These conferences are always such a blessing. They encourage and edify God’s servants. It’s a tough job and it’s a real blessing to be surrounded by others who can identify with each other and pray together. But it’s not an easy expense for many pastors. The flight alone is above their income so I ask you would to please consider and pray about sponsoring one of our church planters. We have 4 pastors that could use your help. If the Lord puts it on your heart please reach out to us. A roundtrip ticket is around $350.00\nThe 70 -Men’s Discipleship and Women’s ministry We had the honor of having Pastor Angel from Clavary Chapel Monrovia share with our men and church. He knows how to stir us up.\nLocal Outreach The Lord has called us to go to the nations and that’s exactly what we aim to do. The Mission trip to Teloloapan in Guerrero went AMAZING!! Thank you for the prayers! We were able to give out food bags, medicine, clothes, toys, and the Gospel!! The local pastor said that the Love of Christ was poured out over the people. We are so proud of the team that went!\nFurther Outreach There is no doubt that Mexico is in need of more servants but at the same time we cant ignore our own calling to serve all nations . Lili called to serve in the middle east. If you would like in more information clic the following link. /rabiella/\nPrayer Please pray for the youth! We are asking for a revival!\nPlease pray for wisdom for our leadership. There is so much we would like to do, like open a drug rehab, more churches, and orphanages, etc but we need the Lord to lead every decision.\nPlease pray for our upcoming VBS and men’s and women’s retreats.\nThank you for your financial support! We are eternally grateful to you and ask the Lord to bless you double fold! “May the Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/10-years-already/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/10-blue.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month we celebrated God’s faithfulness to this work. He has granted us 10 years of serving in Acapulco. To celebrate, we had a special service given by Pastor David Rosales. After a fantastic message, we had a great time of fellowship with some delicious pozole (Mexican stew).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe look forward to what the Lord still has in store.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/colage-resize.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"rancho-poiema\"\u003eRancho Poiema\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePastor Cesar invited me to teach my apologetics course for a week at Rancho Poiema which is in Baja California. It’s a ministry that prepares and trains future pastors and leaders. The goal is to raise them up with the intention of sending them out to start a new work, which is something I absolutely love. We were able to send a couple, Johnny and Litzy, who just graduated and will be serving in our youth ministries.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"10 years already!!! - Villegas Update August 2023"},{"content":"Hello friends!\nIt has been a busy summer for us! On top of holding the fort running the SGWM and CCSG home office and staff in the absence of many of our leaders during the summer School of Missions, the focus for Joel has been teaching and preaching. Since returning from Israel, which was the focus of our last newsletter, Joel’s teaching schedule has consisted of:\nCo-teaching a class in June with Pastor Trent through 1 Timothy Young Adults group every Thursday night through the book of Romans Teaching the church through 1 Peter every Wednesday night during this July and August A monthly Bible study for our church’s husbands and fathers through the book of Proverbs Teaching a couple of our internship classes Filling in on a Sunday morning for our pastor who became sick on Saturday night Teaching a session at our church’s youth camp in July Teaching for the young adults group and then three Sunday morning services the following weekend at Calvary Chapel The Rock in Santa Rosa, CA at the end of July In the midst of this, Joel and Amy got to help with our church’s VBS in July, which was a major success!\nThis summer has also been filled with lots of missionary care, meeting with missionaries who are in town on furlough, and doing zoom calls with missionaries in need of pastoral care and wisdom.\nIn all of this, the center is God’s word. Every teaching, every interaction, every missionary care meeting, every counseling session, all of the homeschooling that Amy faithfully plugs away at with the kids, is founded not on our own wisdom, but on God’s word. What a privilege to serve Him in this way!\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/called-to-preach-garcia-family-august-2023-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt has been a busy summer for us! On top of holding the fort running the SGWM and CCSG home office and staff in the absence of many of our leaders during the summer School of Missions, the focus for Joel has been teaching and preaching. Since returning from Israel, which was the focus of our last newsletter, Joel’s teaching schedule has consisted of:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCo-teaching a class in June with Pastor Trent through 1 Timothy\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eYoung Adults group every Thursday night through the book of Romans\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTeaching the church through 1 Peter every Wednesday night during this July and August\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eA monthly Bible study for our church’s husbands and fathers through the book of Proverbs\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTeaching a couple of our internship classes\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFilling in on a Sunday morning for our pastor who became sick on Saturday night\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTeaching a session at our church’s youth camp in July\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTeaching for the young adults group and then three Sunday morning services the following weekend at Calvary Chapel The Rock in Santa Rosa, CA at the end of July\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG%5F3003.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IMG%5F6077.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the midst of this, Joel and Amy got to help with our church’s VBS in July, which was a major success!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Called to Preach – Garcia Family August 2023 Update"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”\nJohn 8:36\nBrothers and Sisters in Christ,\nThank you for your steadfast prayers. Knowing that you pray for me brings much comfort to my heart.\nThe Lord gave me an opportunity to share the Gospel with a new man who has been searching for God. He previously became a member at a church that professes to be Christian but is not correctly teaching the Bible. In this church there is a heavy focus on tithing and what God can do for people. This man has been through a lot in his life. Because of all of his hardship, he has been tithing most of his wages to his church thinking that God will give him blessings. He is the main provider for his family, including his parents. Even though his parents have been telling him this thinking is not correct, he is very stubborn. He continues to give his money and neglect the needs of his family. He believes that if he gives more to God, God will bless him and give more to him.\nMy heart was filled with compassion for this man, and I shared the Gospel with him. I told him that God does not require any money from him, but instead wants a relationship with him. The man listened. Because he feels a loyalty to his church and pastor, he said he would think about my words. His parents shared with me that he is in despair. Because he gives so much of his money away, he sometimes doesn’t have enough money to have food to eat or provide for the family. This man has been carrying around a great burden. He is trying to pay God, when God is the One who has paid it all for him. God wants this man to give Him all his burdens, so that he can be completely free in Christ. I am praying for more opportunities to meet with this man and to share what God’s Word truly says.\nFor the past few months, I have been visiting a family that recently moved to an area that is about 30 minutes from my home. They were in this area only temporarily because they work in construction. They were only here to work on a construction project. This family had a great heart to allow me to come into their home and teach them the Word of God. During this time, I was able to witness how God was opening their eyes to His truth. They even began to invite others to join them for Bible study. It brings me joy to hear them ask questions and to see their curiosity about who God is. I learned that their construction project was over and that they would be moving back to their town. I was sad to see them go, and they were sad as well. They shared with me that they will miss our gatherings together and that they hope that we will be able to meet again.\nIt was a great blessing for me that they knew the family that moved in after them. They are also here for a construction project. Because the first family shared about me with them, they were also excited to meet with me and start to study the Bible. I am thankful to see how God is moving in these hearts. I pray that the first family will remain steadfast, and that this new family will have a great desire for the Lord as well.\nAt the end of June, I had the great privilege and honor to visit the village of one of my former students. I was invited to share at a three-day conference there. I taught some essential Christian doctrine, such as: \u0026ldquo;What is sin?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;How sin entered the earth.\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;How sin separates us from God\u0026rdquo;. I also shared about why Jesus was born, His death and resurrection, fellowship with God in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament, and the Holy Spirit and how He resides in us. I was blessed to see the people come and sit very eagerly to hear about the Word of God. After each day of teaching, we went door to door and ask the people how we could pray for them.\nMany shared their struggles and hardships. As we prayed with them, we also shared with them about the Living Hope we have in Jesus Christ. We also invited them to attend our conference teachings. We took the time to love on them with God’s love and have fellowship with them. To travel to this area from my house took me 15 hours by train and 2 hours by bus. I was completely blessed to have been given the opportunity to serve the Lord in this way. I am asking the Lord for more and more opportunities to share with people in this way. My heart is humbled to know that God uses us to increase His Kingdom.\nI continue to see God moving and I know that it is because of the faithful prayers of all of you, God’s saints. Thank you for your faithfulness and commitment to move the Gospel forward.\nIn Christ,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/free-indeed-pastor-7-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn 8:36\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBrothers and Sisters in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your steadfast prayers. Knowing that you pray for me brings much comfort to my heart.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image4.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image2-300x225.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Lord gave me an opportunity to share the Gospel with a new man who has been searching for God. He previously became a member at a church that professes to be Christian but is not correctly teaching the Bible. In this church there is a heavy focus on tithing and what God can do for people. This man has been through a lot in his life. Because of all of his hardship, he has been tithing most of his wages to his church thinking that God will give him blessings. He is the main provider for his family, including his parents. Even though his parents have been telling him this thinking is not correct, he is very stubborn. He continues to give his money and neglect the needs of his family. He believes that if he gives more to God, God will bless him and give more to him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Free Indeed - Pastor 7 Update August 2023"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nSummer is here and last week we had our most amazing Vacation Bible School (VBS) ever, and in this update I want to tell you all about it. One of the signs of a healthy church is that it has families that have young children that are raising their kids in the ways of the Lord in the local church. And one of the most fun and effective ways that we do this, is through our summer VBS week.\nThis summer we had nearly 200 children signed up along with 40 teens, parents, and church staff committing to serve these wonderful little ones throughout the week. The theme of our summer camp this year was “Keepers of the Kingdom” which is a brand new curriculum put out by one of my favorite Christian organizations, “Answers in Genesis”! In this summer curriculum, each child was taught how to stand strong in today’s battle for truth in an age appropriate manner.\nOur church was blessed to provide these children with a snack and lunch each day, along with a summer camp themed t-shirt. But to be honest, a major focus of the week was FUN FUN FUN! And there’s not a doubt that this summer’s VBS program set a world record for the most smiles! Every child had a blast, played with their friends, and got tired out with the fun activities and sports that they participated in throughout the day. But most importantly, each one of these precious little ones learned the truth of how they can be part of God’s Kingdom through salvation. They were also taught each day on the importance of the armor of God!\nWhen our children’s pastor Oliver gave me the update on the week, I was so happy to hear that over 20 of these children made first time professions of faith that week. In Matthew 19:14, Jesus said “Let the little children come unto me” and there is nothing more important than giving children the opportunity to come to Him. I am so proud that our children’s ministry staff made the decision to present these precious little ones with the message of salvation. (Our teachers present the message of salvation in their weekly Sunday School classes as well!)\nOne of the highlights for me as a pastor was to see our Legends ministry in action. Our church has a bible study group we call the Legends which consists of our 55 and over English speaking friends that live here in Mexico and call Calvary Rosarito their church home. These “seasoned” saints served joyfully, and also kicked in financially to make this our most amazing week ever. They were also active in serving the children lunch and their daily snacks.\nOn another note, thank you for your prayers for my book, “The Sending Hub!” Because of your prayers, the English version of the book arrived here in Mexico just in time to have it at our yearly church planting conference that will be held next weekend. The book looks great, and I am excited to send one to you in the next month or two free to thank you for your faithful partnership over the years.\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for your partnership with our family and ministry. God has truly done much more than we could ever ask or think. And all of the spiritual fruit that we have been blessed to witness, is yours! We love you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless our upcoming church planting conference on August 4th and 5th!\n#2- That we would be able to print and publish the Spanish version of the book (Un Centro Enviador) soon and get it in the hands of the Spanish speaking world.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for an amazing Vacation Bible School and the children that professed faith in Jesus for the first time!\n#2- Praise God for the printing and publishing of the book, “The Sending Hub!”\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-august-2023-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/364136270%5F686082543556864%5F7972879091953415892%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSummer is here and last week we had our most amazing Vacation Bible School \u003cem\u003e(VBS)\u003c/em\u003e ever, and in this update I want to tell you all about it. One of the signs of a healthy church is that it has families that have young children that are raising their kids in the ways of the Lord in the local church. And one of the most fun and effective ways that we do this, is through our summer VBS week.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family August 2023 Missions Update"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nAbout a month ago the Kanyike family had covid. Everyone recovered well except Brian. Pray for him as he is still struggling with lingering symptoms and fatigue.Pray for Jill as she plans and prepares for teams coming later this year for the chaplain refresher course. Pray for the children to do well in school. Pray also for their hearts to be committed to the Lord. Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship as they are having some ministry leader changes. Pray for the Lord to lead and direct. Pray for the Arise outreach soccer team. It is the time for the final playoffs, which draw much larger crowds. Pray for opportunities to evangelize and for many church members to get involved. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nHello everyone,\nThank you so much for your continued prayer support.\nPraise God with us that:\nGod has provided for us to purchase and renovate a home in Gulu city. Our daughter Apio is growing in academic comprehension. We are making great progress towards having our school accredited.\nPlease join us in prayer that:\nWe would be able to finish processing our NGO permit so that we can renew our visa\u0026rsquo;s. God would grant us success with the adoption process. The pastors in our school would be thoroughly equipped to interpret God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nGod Bless You,\nThe Harris Family - Email BlogUSA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\nPRAISE REPORTS:\nPraise God Tim \u0026amp; Jenn are able to spend the rest of the summer at CSOM (Calvary School of Missions ) together Praise God He continues to confirm our calling together as a couple Praise God for the unity we have in marriage and ministry as a couple. PRAYER REQUEST:\nPlease continue to pray for our son, Andy, that God would heal his mind Please continue to pray for us and the remainder of this year’s Calvary School of Missions. Please pray that our ears would be acutely tuned to the voice of God and His leading in ministry. We have exciting new ministry news to share in our next newsletter. All for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\nPlease pray for our time in Uganda this month to be sweet, fruitful, encouraging, healthy, safe, and glorifying to God! Pray for protection against sickness (malaria) and specifically for Breanna who is swallowing pills for the 1st time. Pray for our time with the national pastors and missionaries. There is constant persecution and we are hoping that our coming will be a great encouragement.\nBlessings, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease continue to pray for my parents’ health. Especially pray for healing for my dad, or an accurate diagnosis and treatment.\nPlease pray also for my mom’s health.\nWe have a baby due in early October. Please pray for the baby to be healthy and for a safe delivery.\nPlease pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\nPlease pray that God will use us for His glory.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for the Christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.\nPlease pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health. He has been having a lot of tests and doctor appointments. Please pray that the doctors will be able to diagnose and treat him.\nPlease continue to pray for my mom’s health and complete recovery.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - Yorba Linda, California\nThank you all for your prayers! It means the world to us that you read these and pray for our family!\nPlease pray for Joel’s upcoming travel to the Middle East and North Africa this Fall, that the Lord would bring all of the details together and the Lord would use him on that trip\nPray for our continued spiritual growth, for us to stay surrendered to the Lord Pray for God’s continued provision for our family\nPray that the Lord would give wisdom as Joel and the team prepare travel plans for 2024\nLove in Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email BlogMexico\nJenna Pepin – Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico\nJenna Pepin and family (Ruby and Sammy)\n1. Please pray for a complete healing for my neck and shoulder that were severely injured in a car accident early in June. 2. Please pray for all of the graduates of our church planting schools here in Culiacán who will be traveling to Rosarito in August for the church planting conference there. 3. Please pray for my daughter, Ruby, to adjust to her new life in Culiacán, especially the heat, and that my son, Sammy, would adjust to his new school starting August 28. 4. Please pray for our ministry to the Kuáre, an unreached ethnic group in Nayarit, and for the students from Calvary School of Missions who will be traveling there with us August 10-13. 5. Please pray for the four new churches that are in the process of being planted in our city, and for all of the new pastors that will be directing them. 6. Please pray for the new counseling ministry we have started at our church, that God would bring us all the people that need counseling and that our team of counselors would have the wisdom to give them good, godly, biblical council so that their lives can be transformed.\n7. Please pray for my transition from women\u0026rsquo;s ministry to counseling, and for continued wisdom in deciding when to move to Calpulalpan.\nJenna Pepin - Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n- Maintain the priority of our devotional time with Jesus\n- Poiema preparing to go to Bible college in Peru. All that it entails: emotionally, financially, spiritually, and physically. - Ministry: love God’s people and love our neighbor God’s way: grace, mercy, and forgiveness.\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello fellow saints and servants of the Most High! Here are my prayer requests for this month:\n1. For my mom who suffers from Parkinson’s and lives alone—this is my biggest prayer request for this month, for her physical, spiritual and emotional health. Her name is Kathy. 2. For a revival in this little Colonia, Pedregales de Santa Julia, that hearts would be softened towards the things of the Lord. 3. For the parents of the kids in the afterschool program to come to Christ so that the children could live in a healthy and safe environment.\nThank you so much for your prayers for me and for the people of Mexico.\nDios te bendiga! ❤️\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\nPrayer requests\nGrowing in discernment. Confirmation to some for being part of the Moyobamba team Financial support\nThank you guys! Love you all. I see the Lord putting this church plant all together! A little over 2 more months.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nI will be traveling to share the Word at two different places. Please pray that the Lord will speak and that the people will be saved.\nPray that I will fully recover from my illness. Please pray that the Lord will give me a clear vision over what the future holds for me.\nThank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ,Pastor W.J. Worker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for N., who has cancer in her stomach.\nPray for M; he is having blood clots in brain.\nOur upcoming semester begins in the month of August; please be praying.\nPray for our 4 new church plants.\nPray for me to grow in the knowledge of Christ.\nPray for A and her family to have peace.\nPray for CCH ministries:\nmen’s bible study young adults bible study Sunday school ministry women’s ministry. Pray for our upcoming youth conference on July 28.\nPray for our upcoming women’s conference held on September 19.\nThank you! God bless you,Worker 6\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nThe Lord has been opening doors to new ministry opportunities in different villages, and I am starting to see the new believers desiring to grow in God’s Word.\nPlease pray:\nI am praying for more opportunities to meet with a man in our area who has heard wrong doctrine. I want to share more about what God’s Word truly says with him.I am thankful to see how God is moving in the hearts of a family here, and I pray that they will remain steadfast and have a great desire for the Lord.I had the opportunity to visit a village 17 hours away and share the Gospel there, where one of my former students lives. I am praying for more and more opportunities to share with people in this way, and my heart is humbled to know that God uses us to increase His Kingdom.\nThank you, Worker 7\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for my family so that we will continuously move further in the ministry.\nPlease pray for brother G; he has heard the Word of God. He has some physical problems. Please pray that God will deliver him soon.Please pray for brother T. Sometimes an evil spirit gives him a paralysis problem.\nPray for the church building.\nOnce again, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your partnership.\nMay our loving God bless you abundantly!\nIn the Lord,\nYour brother,\nPastor 8 and family Worker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that I will continue to grow in my spiritual life and the knowledge of God.\nPlease pray that I will be used mightily by God.\nPlease pray for the young children and youth of my city with whom I am involved, that they would stand firm in their faith at this age when Satan tries to distract them.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you all! Worker 9\nWorker 10\nPrayer Requests:\nAs you all know, my health has been bad for 3 months. I thank God that during this time He took care of me. The problem in my stomach has gotten worse, and the doctor has given me more medicine for 15 days and I have to go to the doctor again after that. Please pray for whatever problem is happening in my stomach. May God heal me.\nPray for our area, it is raining a lot here in the mountains, which causes landslides.\nPray that God will take care of the people here in the mountains during this time, and save the people from every danger.\nPray for the young people in my village who are believers. Pray that they will grow in the Word of God. And may God change the hearts of those who don’t know the Truth.\nPlease pray that God will help me to know what to do about my health, and that He will give me courage and strength to fight the diseases that are in my body.\nThank you! Worker 10\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray that God fulfills all our needs.\nPlease pray for those in our church to be strong in faith instead of things.\nPray for a believing lady of our church whose name is P. Her husband has become insane a few days ago. Her family members are persecuting her mentally and blaming her, that her husband has gone insane because she believed on Jesus.Please pray for one woman believer, P. She has been tortured very badly by her family, and they are preventing her from coming to church. Now, they are forcefully taking her on a Hindu pilgrimage.\nPlease do pray—in our area, persecution has begun on a pastor. Just a few days ago, 10 to 12 people beat up a pastor and put him in jail on false charges.\nPlease pray for me\u0026ndash;I want to organize a pastors’ meeting and invite all of the local pastors and try to bring them all together at one table. Almost all of the pastors are afraid because of the persecution that has begun in our area.\nPlease pray for a sweet baby who is suffering from seizures. He is about 10 months old.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership and participation in spreading the Gospel!\nGod bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPray for the area where we are serving. Pray for the villages and the people here to be changed by God, to know the One true God.\nPray for our believing brothers who are from many villages and many places in this area. In the villages, those who believe in the Lord are treated differently. They are not treated well and they face many difficulties.\nPray for the church services we hold in our area. We have also begun a new home fellowship in a new place. Pray for God’s Word to transform the people, and for them to stand for God.\nThank you so much everyone for praying for us!\nGod bless you!\nWorker 13\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for\u0026hellip;\nPlease pray for those who are affected by the monsoon rains, as there are devastating floods and landslides.\nPlease pray for the new session at CBI, and the 8 students we have this year.\nThe new believers.\nPlease pray for H, who has been diagnosed with cancer.\nPlease pray for a newly married couple who both come from Hindu families and have been forsaken by their families.\nThanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,Worker 15 Worker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge.\nPlease pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing.\nPlease pray for the village ministry in our local area. May the villagers grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nPlease pray for sister S; she has been admitted to the hospital for vomiting. Please pray for her healing.\nPlease pray for the students, that they will have a good understanding of the Word.\nWorker 16\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise report:\nThank you all prayer warriors, God has blessed us tremendously last month. Our student who had gone as a missionary to East Nepal has brought a good report. He was a blessing to the pastor in East Nepal in his ministry. He has been teaching, sharing gospel, and doing children\u0026rsquo;s ministry.\nWe see this young guy is being prepared for the ministry powerfully wherever he will be. Thank you all for praying for the new students, many new students have signed up for this semester. Our trip was blessed in West Nepal, we have seen a lot of hope in this unreached area.\nHere are the prayer requests for this month:\n1. Please pray for our good health. 2. Please pray for the starting of our new semester. 3. Please pray for all our staff that we may teach this semester with the power of Holy Spirit. 4. Please pray for upcoming outreach with our students in our community. 5. Please pray for our radio program that God may save many souls.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPlease the new work begun by a couple of church leaders we trained and raised.\nPlease pray for the women’s fellowship and prayer and fasting.\nPlease pray for the youth meetings.\nPlease pray for the families in the house fellowships.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nIn the days ahead, I will be teaching the students. Pray that God will provide me with good health and wisdom to teach them.\nPray that God will strengthen us in every moment, and we will walk by faith to trust Him in every difficult situation.\nMay God help our churches to grow and our ministry to be effective and fruitful.\nPlease pray that God will provide us with a baby. We have been waiting for years.\nPlease pray for the leper colony, that God will provide for them while I am doing Bible study with them every week.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email BlogAbhishek and Lacey – 10/40 Window\nHere are our prayer requests: 1. Please pray for the salvation of our family members who are not followers of Jesus. 2. Please pray for the Bible college semester that will be starting in just a few days and for Abhi as he will be teaching the students from the Gospel of Luke. 3. Please pray for Lacey to continue to learn the local language and culture here in S.A. 4. Please pray for the health of our baby. Lacey is now 20 weeks pregnant, by Gods grace! 5. We are currently in monsoon season! Constant rains and flood. Please pray for Abhi, he has been suffering with a headache for a few days now, possibly from this weather. 6. Please pray God would give us wisdom in choosing the right car to purchase that would be useful for our family and the ministry and please pray God would provide the finances that are still needed.\nThank you for your partnership in prayer for us!\nGod bless you, Abhishek and LaceyEurope\nDoru and the Pavel’s – Romania\nPlease lift the Pavel family in prayer for the following items:\nThat God\u0026rsquo;s Word is embraced among our youth and that the experiences they have had with the Holy Spirit propel them further into Christ and His call to obedience and faith. For our health as a family. Safety through the heat. Healing for Tasha’s foot. Spiritual health as circumstances wound us. For our financial health as utilities and food are getting very expensive.\nBlessings and Prayers, Doru and the Pavel’s - Email Blog\nJohnny and Brenna Varga - Pécs, Hungary\nPlease pray: 1. July 27th: Johnny is traveling to do the sound work for an outreach concert in another town. There is a new church plant there and this is a way for the church to connect with the community. Pray for new relationships to be built that will be ongoing. Pray for hearts to be soft to the gospel. And pray for all those involved with the church plant for vision, strength, and courage from the Lord to press into the work before them! 2. Prayer for Johnny’s visa interview appointment in August. Pray for a favorable outcome, that he will be able to get a visa to visit the states. 3. Pray for vision and wisdom for our team as we prepare for the coming fall season—women’s ministry, men’s ministry, home fellowships, youth groups and more. 4. Pray for Johnny and I as we navigate the coming season. For the Lord’s leading, wisdom, strength, and help.\nThanks for your prayers!\nMuch love, Johnny and Brenna Varga - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-august-prayer/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAbout a month ago the Kanyike family had covid. Everyone recovered well except Brian.  Pray for him as he is still struggling with lingering symptoms and fatigue.Pray for Jill as she plans and prepares for teams coming later this year for the chaplain refresher course. Pray for the children to do well in school. Pray also for their hearts to be committed to the Lord. Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship as they are having some ministry leader changes. Pray for the Lord to lead and direct. Pray for the Arise outreach soccer team. It is the time for the final playoffs, which draw much larger crowds. Pray for opportunities to evangelize and for many church members to get involved. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM AUG PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and for your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nLast month I got the chance to share the Word of God during two different birthday parties and prayed for the people there.\nMy wife and I also visited a family in a village and prayed for them. The daughter-in-law who lives with the family is expecting a baby. She has been throwing up and not able to eat anything. Because of this, she is very ill and upset. She needed council along with medical treatment. I took my wife there (she is nurse) to give the woman some counselling. We had a nice time with her and prayed for the family. Last month, together with my family, we visited that same family again and had the fellowship with them. We had Bible study and prayed for them.\nOn July 3rd our new session of the Bible Institute started. We have 4 new students (above). We do not have the facility to accommodate more students.\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge. Please pray that the Lord would intervene in the problem the world is facing. Please pray for the village ministry of the local area. Please pray that the people will grow in Lord Word. Please pray for sister S* to be healed. She has been admitted in the hospital because of vomiting. Please pray for the students to have good understanding of the Word. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/growing-in-the-truth-pastor-16-update-august-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and for your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/WhatsApp-Image-2023-07-17-at-12.21.09-PM.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/WhatsApp-Image-2023-07-17-at-12.21.08-PM-300x169.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month I got the chance to share the Word of God during two different birthday parties and prayed for the people there.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Growing in the Truth - Pastor 16* Update August 2023"},{"content":" You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.\nMatthew 5:14\nDear Friends and Family,\nIn Uganda the short rainy season is almost over. This season follows our very hot season when everything dries up and turns brown and dusty. Now with the short season of rain we have had everything has come back to life and it is very green. Flowers are everywhere you look and you can smell them in the air. The dry season was about 4.5 months it has only rained on and off for 6 weeks. It amazes me how quickly the rain can make a difference and restore life. This somehow speaks to me about how our witness of Christ can be that life-giving water to someone who desperately needs it.\nArise Christian Fellowship began as an outreach to the market people, mostly men, many of whom have almost nothing and often turn to substance abuse to numb their pain. The life-giving water of Christ and His salvation have changed so many of these people\u0026rsquo;s lives and like the vegetation after the rain, they are also beginning to bloom and grow. These men are now the ones who are initiating outreaches and going to the market and streets of Kampala to evangelize.\nRecently two of our guards, Fred and Jacob, who attend our church when on duty and attend local churches in their villages when they are at home, began to reach out to their communities with a joint effort from Arise and their home churches. This has resulted in many new believers. Through discipleship, Brian is helping these men to disciple those they lead to Christ. We are thankful to our supporters who donated Bibles and tracts to give out towards evangelism and discipleship. At Arise we have offered various studies on discipleship and evangelism. Soon we are praying to begin a new study on what we believe and how to share it. We hope these men and maybe even some of those who they are discipling would come and be a part of it. It has been exciting as a church to see men and women get saved, grow in their relationship with the Lord and then go out into the world whether here in Kampala or even further, we have a handful of members in Dubai/Abu Dabi and South Sudan, sharing their faith with others and helping them to grow.\nAnother evidence of growth this rainy season has been marriage and births. I think just about every month I could write about the newly engaged and married and then about the new babies. Our church is definitely a young church. The believers are young in their faith as well as in age. I am thankful for the number of marriages that are taking place. In Uganda it is so common for men and women to live together and have children but never actually get married. This is mostly due to the fact that most Ugandan parents still require a dowry which is often way more then a young couple could ever afford. As people grow in the relationship with the Lord the emphasis on dowry or at least unachievable dowry is reduced and couples are able to marry instead of live in sin. Children in Uganda are definitely seen as a gift from the Lord and most families are large. This is probably from the history of sickness and war which has left Uganda with a high infant mortality rate. Having many children also means many hands to work. A man with many children is considered wealthy. At Arise we have more than double the number of children and babies than adults. We praise God and are thankful that we have the opportunity to raise up the next generation of believers.\nLaylee wanted to give a testimony about prayer in this newsletter. Laylee raises bunnies, they are probably her best friends. Recently one of her bunnies gave birth and died the following day. She was devastated, especially after we told her the babies would most likely die because they were too little for us to hand feed. She said she prayed for a miracle for those baby bunnies. That night, very late, we received a call from one of the off duty guards. He told us that one of his son’s rabbits had just given birth. He wanted to know if he could quickly come get Laylee’s baby bunnies to bring to that mother so she could also feed them. The babies all survived.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry here in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us and for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. Please pray for the ministries at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for the evangelism and discipleship that is taking place. Pray for the new marriages at Arise. Pray that the couples would cling to the Lord as they learn to serve Him together. Pray for all the new babies and for all the children at Arise. Pray for their parents and for the church body to help raise and guide them as Christians. Praise God for answered prayer and that He reveals Himself in so many ways. Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/kanyike-update-july-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eYou are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eMatthew 5:14\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Uganda the short rainy season is almost over.  This season follows our very hot season when everything dries up and turns brown and dusty.  Now with the short season of rain we have had everything has come back to life and it is very green. Flowers are everywhere you look and you can smell them in the air.  The dry season was about 4.5 months it has only rained on and off for 6 weeks.  It amazes me how quickly the rain can make a difference and restore life.  This somehow speaks to me about how our witness of Christ can be that life-giving water to someone who desperately needs it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Kanyike Update July 2023"},{"content":"Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I thank God for your prayers and support!\nIt is Monsoon season, farmers wait for this to cultivate their field. It is supposed to be a joyful season, but it is very devastating in the North. There are floods and frequent land-slides in the mountains. Cities and villages in the plains are flooded, many people have died and so much economic loss has happened.\nWe have started a new session of our Bible School. We have eight students; four students who started last year and four new students. This semester the students are being taught: Proverbs, Gospel of Mark, Prison Epistles, Pastoral Epistles, Hebrews, Attributes of God, Church History and Homiletics. I am teaching Hebrews and homiletics. On Sundays, I have been teaching from Genesis. Thus far I have covered chapter 41 of Genesis in Sunday Services. I am blessed by being taught by the Holy Spirit before teaching to His people in the classes or in church.\nOne of the former students of our Bible Institute in the North has been serving the Lord faithfully in spite of persecution. He is pastoring a small fellowship. Last month he had pain in his stomach and went to the doctor. He got some medical tests and found that he has a stone in his kidney and a cyst in his liver. He had to go to the capital for the further tests to diagnose the cyst. The doctor told him that he has cancer. He has to take chemotherapy for 1 ½ years. Please pray for him.\nWe thank the Lord for adding new souls to our fellowship. Two new families from Hindu backgrounds are coming regularly to our Sunday Service. One of the families is made up of only a husband and wife. They are newly married. Both of them have been forsaken by their families because of their faith in Jesus. They are going through tough times. We talked to a Christian sister who owns a house in the city where no one is living. She has agreed to let them live there for free. Praise God- Jehovah Jireh!\nLast month my wife and I were invited to preach the Word in a “Men and Women” conference. Two sessions were combined for men and women and one session was divided. My wife shared the Word to the women\u0026rsquo;s group in the divided session. I shared the Word in both combined sessions and also in the men\u0026rsquo;s group. My topic was “Men and Women after God\u0026rsquo;s Own Heart”.\nMy wife shared “Partaker of God’s blessing”. She shared from Ruth’s life. Praise God that the Lord used both of us and people were blessed.\n\nThank you so much for being partners in the ministry through your financial support and prayers. We do pray for you and your families. God bless you!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/men-and-women-after-gods-own-heart-pastor-15-update-july-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I thank God for your prayers and support!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is Monsoon season, farmers wait for this to cultivate their field. It is supposed to be a joyful season, but it is very devastating in the North. There are floods and frequent land-slides in the mountains. Cities and villages in the plains are flooded, many people have died and so much economic loss has happened.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Men and Women After God's Own Heart - Pastor 15* Update July 2023"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Partners, and Leaders!\nGreetings to all of you from my church! May God bless you and your family very much, because you guys are always praying for us and always ready to meet our needs. By the grace of God, there are now house churches running in 8 villages. Last week I went to the North and met my co-workers. It was wonderful to hear how God is working through them. God is adding people to their ministry day by day. Thank God!\nA Servant of God Suffered Persecution and Suffering\nI thank God that He has given me the opportunity to meet a faithful servants and his family in the North. He graduated from our Bible Institute in 2019 during the lock-down. He went through a lot of persecution together with Pastor 9*. But thank God for his faith and patience. He suffered in the name of our Risen Lord Jesus Christ and remained faithful in sorrow.\nWhen persecution came, many pastors stopped calling, meeting and talking to him, but he remained faithful. Now he is independently sharing the Gospel in his village. He is running a Sunday fellowship and 15 to 20 people come each week. Some servants of the Lord give them a tenth of their income. I was very excited to meet him. My wife was also very excited to hear his testimony.\nA Woman Takes Care of 3 Children Despite not Having a Husband!\nI thank God that He gave me the opportunity to meet a family who is very poor but strong in faith. When I went to the North last week, I met a woman who had 3 children. The father left the family. Earlier that woman used to live in a slum area with her 3 children. When my sister went there and shared the Gospel, she shared about how God took our family out of a similar slum and garbage dump. So that poor woman believed in God. Still, because of not having a husband, she used to pick up garbage day and night to sell it. But then my sister took her to her house and gave her a room to stay in. She introduced her to many Christian brothers and sisters. Different people started giving her jobs of washing dishes and cooking in their homes. They gave her a salary along with food. Through an American family, 1 of her children, who was handicapped, got leg surgery. Also, all of the children are now able to go to a very good school. God is also arranging for the payment of their school fees. Now she always listens to the Word of God and lives in the company of believers.\nI Had a Great Time with my Friends and Wife’s Relatives!\nI thank God that God gave me the opportunity to go to the North last week. Meeting friends is a great blessing. We went to visit many places in the mountain area with friends. I got the chance to learn many new things. I also got the chance to meet with my wife\u0026rsquo;s relatives. It was a great time to get to know them better and spend time with them.\nI also preached the Gospel to her relatives. My wife\u0026rsquo;s mother\u0026rsquo;s younger brother is a Jehovah\u0026rsquo;s Witness. My wife\u0026rsquo;s mother\u0026rsquo;s elder brother is a staunch Hindu. When I was sitting with him, he started telling me about his deity. Later I shared the Gospel with him. He did not believe at that time, but I believe that one day he will surely accept the Lord.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that God fulfills all of our needs. Please pray for the people of our church to be strong in faith. Pray for a believing lady of our church whose name is Pi*. Her husband became mentally ill a few days ago. Because of this, her family members torture her mentally and blame her. They are saying that her husband became mentally ill because she is a believer. Please pray that one of my believing women\u0026rsquo;s name is Pu*. She has also been tortured very badly by her family members. They are preventing her from coming to church. They are forcefully taking her on a pilgrimage. Please pray. Now in our area also, persecution has started on pastors. Just a few days ago, 10 to 12 people beat up a pastor and put him in jail on false charges. Please pray. I want to organize a pastors\u0026rsquo; meeting. I want to invite all the local pastors and try to bring them all together to one table. Almost all of the pastors are scared because of the persecution that has started. Please pray for this cute baby (above) that is suffering from fits. He is about 10 months old. Thank you for being a part in spreading the Gospel.\nGod bless you!\nPastor \u0026amp; Mrs. 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/faith-tempered-by-fire-pastor-11-update-july-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Partners, and Leaders!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/pic-1-239x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you from my church! May God bless you and your family very much, because you guys are always praying for us and always ready to meet our needs. By the grace of God, there are now house churches running in 8 villages. Last week I went to the North and met my co-workers. It was wonderful to hear how God is working through them. God is adding people to their ministry day by day. Thank God!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Faith Tempered by Fire - Pastor 11 Update July 2023"},{"content":"Since we arrived in January, our family and the church has been growing and moving in great ways. God has completely blown our expectations out of the box. Right now at Calvary Conexion Mexico, we have switched to doing 2 services on Sundays because the service was starting to get really crowded. There are about 35-40 people coming to our Sunday services, and there has been a new person, couple, or family almost every week recently.\nThere has been many people who have visited and helped us on our journey of starting the church here in Calpulalpan. First we would like to give a big thank you to Ron and Kristy Struska. They not only helped us move down with all of our belongings, but they stayed a couple of extra weeks here to help us get the church building ready!\nWe also had the blessing of having some friends come to visit us. Due to them being missionaries in a country where it is illigal to be Christian and to start a church, we can not mention their names nor show their faces in the photo. But it was a blessing for the church to be able to hear their testimony and for them to share how they were called to the mission field. They also challenged the church to examine their own lives to see what God is calling them to. Another blessing was to have the Rojas family come to visit us for that Sunday. This is Pastor Sergio, his wife Elena and their two daughters from Calvary Cocoyoc in Mexico City.\nIn April we started a men’s and women’s Bible study on Tuesdays. There was about 10 women and 8 men average for every study. Between this study, pillars class, inductive Bible study, and the Calvary Chapel Distinctives classes that we have been giving, it has all been a big blessing and tool to disciple people.\nIn May we had a “Pray over the property” day. We invited everyone from the church to meet us at the property that is in the process of being donated to the church. A few people brought food and we started with a short devotional and worship. Then we split up and walked around the property praying for what the future holds. After the time of prayer, we asked a few people to share what God spoke to them when they were praying. We ended it with a delicious meal and time of fellowship. (click here for more photos).\nAt the beginning of July we had our first conference at Calvary Conexion Mexico! It was a “Fundamentals of the Faith” conference. We had multiple pastors who came to speak for the conference including: Pastor Mike Vincent and Pastor Mario Medrano from Calvary Rosarito; Pastor Gerson Hernandez from La Semilla; Pastor Tony Carranza from Calvary Maranatha Mazatlan. It was great to have our sending Pastor there and get to meet the congregants of the church. We had many people share with us what a blessing the fundamentals conference and church planting conferences at Calvary CDMX and Capilla Calvario Tulancingo were and that they learned a lot.\nThe Sunday right after the conference we had the blessing of having Pastor Mike and Pastor Hugo Limon share for our Sunday service. Then right after the services we went to one of the brother’s from the church house for our first baptisms! Praise God there were 6 people who were baptized! We are so proud of them and the step of faith that they took in their lives. (Click here to see more photos)\nWe also want to give a big thank you to Pastor Carlos Oliveros and Robin for coming to visit with us! It was such a blessing for our family and for our church to have them here in Calpulalpan. We showed them some of the local touristic locations like the pyramids, ruins, historical centers, and museums in and around Calpulalpan. Pastor Carlos also shared at our servants\u0026rsquo; meeting. He gave an awesome message about what it means to serve and how it is important to have our hearts in the right place. He even gave some examples and did some illustrations with the people. Pastor Carlos also shared for our Sunday service, where we also had the people serving in different areas putting into practice what they learned.\nPrayer Requests: For wisdom and guidance to raise up leaders within the church For the students to be faithful and continue to learn in the classes For funds for the repairs of the storage shed and to put a fence around the property For the current midweek Bible studies – Inductive Bible study; Calvary Chapel Distinctives study; Music classes; and the Youth Group Praise Reports: That the midweek Bible studies have been fruitful and people are learning a lot That people have come forward to start serving during our Sunday services That there has been about 20 people who have accepted Jesus as their Savior since we started Thank you for taking the time to read what God is doing here in Calpulalpan! We want to give you a sincere thank you for your time, prayer, and financial support! This fruit here in Calpulalpan is your fruit as well. Thank you for being partners in this ministry with us! God bless you!\nLove,\nBrian, Brittany, Joshua, and Kimberly De La Cruz\nESPANOL:\nDesde que llegamos en Enero, nuestra familia y la iglesia han estado creciendo y moviéndose de gran manera. Dios ha hecho mucho mas de lo que esperamos. En este momento en Calvary Conexión México, hemos cambiado a tener 2 servicios los Domingos porque el servicio estaba empezando a estar muy lleno. Hay alrededor de 35-40 personas que vienen a nuestros servicios Dominicales, y recientemente ha habido una nueva persona, pareja o familia casi todas las semanas.\nHa habido muchas personas que nos han visitado y ayudado en nuestro camino de iniciar la iglesia aquí en Calpulalpan. En primer lugar, nos gustaría dar las gracias a Ron y Kristy Struska. ¡No solo nos ayudaron a mudarnos con todas nuestras pertenencias, sino que se quedaron un par de semanas más aquí para ayudarnos a preparar el edificio de la iglesia!\nTambién tuvimos la bendición de que unos amigos vinieran a visitarnos. Debido a que son misioneros en un país donde es ilegal ser Cristiano y comenzar una iglesia, no podemos mencionar sus nombres ni mostrar sus rostros en la foto. Pero fue una bendición para la iglesia poder escuchar su testimonio y compartir cómo fueron llamados al campo misionero. También desafiaron a la iglesia a examinar sus propias vidas para ver a qué los está llamando Dios. Otra bendición fue que la familia Rojas viniera a visitarnos ese domingo. Este es el Pastor Sergio, su esposa Elena y sus dos hijas de Calvary Cocoyoc en la Ciudad de México.\nEn Abril comenzamos un estudio Bíblico para hombres y mujeres los Martes. Hubo alrededor de 10 mujeres y 8 hombres en promedio para cada estudio. Entre este estudio, la clase de pilares, el estudio Bíblico inductivo y las clases de distintivos de Calvary Chapel que hemos estado dando, ha sido una gran bendición y una herramienta para discipular a las personas.\nEn Mayo tuvimos un día de “oración por la propiedad”. Invitamos a todos los miembros de la iglesia a reunirse con nosotros en la propiedad que está en proceso de donación para la iglesia. Algunas personas trajeron comida y comenzamos con un breve devocional y tiempo de adoración. Luego nos separamos y caminamos por la propiedad orando por la voluntad de Dios por ese lugar. Después del tiempo de oración, les pedimos a algunas personas que compartieran lo que Dios les habló cuando estaban orando. Terminamos con una deliciosa comida y un tiempo de compañarismo. (Haga clic aquí para más fotos).\n¡A principios de julio tuvimos nuestra primera conferencia en Calvary Conexión México! Fue una conferencia de “Fundamentos de la Fe”. Tuvimos varios pastores que vinieron a hablar para la conferencia, incluidos: el Pastor Mike Vincent y el Pastor Mario Medrano de Calvary Rosarito; el Pastor Gerson Hernández de La Semilla; Pastor Tony Carranza de Calvary Maranatha Mazatlan. Fue genial tener a nuestro Pastor enviado allí y conocer a los congregantes de la iglesia. Muchas personas compartieron con nosotros la bendición que fueron la conferencia de fundamentos y las conferencias de plantación de iglesias en Calvary CDMX y Capilla Calvario Tulancingo y que aprendieron mucho.\nEl domingo inmediatamente después de la conferencia tuvimos la bendición de tener al Pastor Mike y al Pastor Hugo Limon compartiendo nuestro servicio Dominical. Luego, justo después de los servicios, ¡fuimos a uno de los hermanos de la casa de la iglesia para nuestros primeros bautismos! ¡Alabado sea Dios, hubo 6 personas que fueron bautizadas! Estamos muy orgullosos de ellos y del paso de fe que dieron en sus vidas. (Click aquí para ver más fotos)\n¡También queremos dar las gracias al Pastor Carlos Oliveros y Robin por venir a visitarnos! Fue una gran bendición para nuestra familia y para nuestra iglesia tenerlos aquí en Calpulalpan. Les mostramos algunos de los lugares turísticos locales como las pirámides, ruinas, centros históricos y museos en Calpulalpan y sus alrededores. El Pastor Carlos también compartió en nuestra reunión de siervos. Dio un mensaje impresionante sobre lo que significa servir y lo importante que es tener el corazón en el lugar correcto. Incluso dio algunos ejemplos e hizo algunas ilustraciones con la gente. El Pastor Carlos también compartió para nuestro servicio Dominical, donde también tuvimos a las personas que sirven en diferentes áreas poniendo en práctica lo aprendido.\nPeticiones de Oracion: Por sabiduría y guíansa para levantar líderes dentro de la iglesia Para que los alumnos que sean fieles y sigan aprendiendo en las clases Para fondos para las reparaciones de la bodega y para poner un cerco alrededor de la propiedad Para los estudios Bíblicos actuales entre semana: estudio Bíblico inductivo; estudio de Distintivos de Calvary Chapel; Clases de música; y el Grupo de Jóvenes Reportes de Alabanza: Que los estudios Bíblicos entre semana han sido fructíferos y la gente está aprendiendo mucho Que la gente se ha presentado para comenzar a servir durante nuestros servicios Dominicales. Que ha habido alrededor de 20 personas que han aceptado a Jesús como su Salvador desde que empezamos ¡Gracias por tomarse el tiempo de leer lo que Dios está haciendo aquí en Calpulalpan! ¡Queremos darle un sincero agradecimiento por su tiempo, oración y apoyo financiero! Esta fruta aquí en Calpulalpan es tu fruta también. ¡Gracias por ser socios en este ministerio con nosotros! ¡Dios lo bendiga!\n– Brian, Brittany, Joshua, and Kimberly De La Cruz\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-working-in-mighty-ways-de-la-cruz-update-july-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSince we arrived in January, our family and the church has been growing and moving in great ways. God has completely blown our expectations out of the box. Right now at Calvary Conexion Mexico, we have switched to doing 2 services on Sundays because the service was starting to get really crowded. There are about 35-40 people coming to our Sunday services, and there has been a new person, couple, or family almost every week recently.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God is Working in Mighty Ways! - De La Cruz Update July 2023"},{"content":"“The Bible cannot be trusted because it has many different translations throughout the years.”\nThis claim has been used by many people who are not that interested in the message of the Bible because they say it has errors and is unreliable. Yet if you open up a modern Bible, go to the book of Isaiah, and compare it with the translation of this 2000 plus year old replica scroll that I saw in the Bible Museum, the translations are almost the exact same! Below is a link that can be copied and pasted into a search engine. It shows the version the Jews used before Christ compared with the version we use in churches today. Enjoy!\nhttp://dss.collections.imj.org.il/chapters_pg\nMy cousin Daniella was my tour guide in the nation\u0026rsquo;s capital. I stayed in a house with an 18th century bathtub. The Bible Museum was one of my many stops in the U.S. for my 2.5-week trip. If you are ever in the Washington D.C. area, I highly recommend checking it out! I wanted to bring a sleeping bag and stay the night there, because there was so much biblical archaeology and history that wooed my eyes and aligns with God’s Word. When I go to the jungle and teach the bible to those in Moyobamba and those in the tribes further out, I can trust 2 Timothy 3:16 which says “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness”. The teachings in the Scriptures are inspired by God, not invented by religious men.\nThe other east coast stop was in Harrisonburg, Virginia. When I was sharing at Horizon Christian Fellowship church, I pretended that I thought I was in Lynchburg, a city nearby. I said, “it’s good to be here in Lynchburg with you all.” Not many people laughed. An awkward start to my presentation.\nPastor Ronny Breen invited me to share about the church plant in Moyobamba. Us at Calvary Bible Institute Peru have a special relationship with him, because he taught us the book of Jonah and James, and gifted us ice cream at our graduation ceremony.\nAfter I shared about my calling and the mission, several people hugged me, prayed for me, and encouraged me. It was awesome fellowship. I also received enough financial donations to be able to buy 100 Spanish bibles! Pray that the people of Moyobamba read them and know God more. Interestingly enough, I later read Philippians 1 in my devotions, and could understand the apostle Paul better when he said in verses 3-5 “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy,for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now.”\nMost of my time, however, was spent in my home state Colorado. It was nice to be there in the summertime because I could do more in the mountains and not defend myself against the cold. I was able to spend quality time with most of my family. This was precious because I don’t know when is the next time that I will see them.\nSadly, my nephew Rafael died one day before his birth back in the beginning of June. This was heartbreaking for my family. I was never able to meet him in person like I was anticipating. Thankfully, I will see him again in heaven. And THAT is worth rejoicing in!\nI went on a camping trip with my Dad and Stepmom. I missed the Rocky Mountains! After hours of casting, I was finally able to land this brown trout. We cooked him over the fire and ate him with butter, salt, and lemon on top of crackers!\nA couple reflections from my time in the mountains…\nColorado is so pretty. There are so many adventures to endeavor and beauty to explore. I have had some wonderful memories and lots of happiness there. But I am convinced that God has called me to Pastor a church plant in Moyobamba. There isn’t anything more excellent in one’s life than being in the Father’s will.\nGod teaches through His Word and can teach through nature. When fishing, I had to be tactful, patient, and determined. As Jesus called the disciples to be fishers of men, these are some of the same qualities to be applied when we disciple others. When I go to Moyobamba in October, I want to be prayerful and intentional when looking for young men to teach the Bible to and invest in. Don’t worry, I won’t throw a net over people.\nIt is okay to pray for little things. One of my favorite animals is a bear. I have only seen one once in my life. I simply asked God if I could see a bear in the mountains. The next day, a little black bear darted across the road. It climbed a tree, then went down and skipped down the green mountain hills. A cool sight to see! Thank you God for answering that little prayer! I ask you Lord that I see pink river dolphin when I go to the jungle.\nPraises to God\nQuality time with my family The generosity of Horizon Christian Fellowship Church The Bible Museum and all the evidence in favor of the Bible My nephew Rafael’s salvation His teachings in the Word and in nature Prayer requests\nGrowing in discernment. Confirmation to some for being part of the Moyobamba team Financial support ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/farewell-colorado-until-weakland-update-july-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“The Bible cannot be trusted because it has many different translations throughout the years.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis claim has been used by many people who are not that interested in the message of the Bible because they say it has errors and is unreliable. Yet if you open up a modern Bible, go to the book of Isaiah, and compare it with the translation of this 2000 plus year old replica scroll that I saw in the Bible Museum, the translations are almost the exact same! Below is a link that can be copied and pasted into a search engine. It shows the version the Jews used before Christ compared with the version we use in churches today. Enjoy!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Farewell Colorado until… - Weakland Update July 2023"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!\u0026rdquo;\nPsalm 46:10 (NKJV)\nAs pastors and leaders of His church all around the world, we work faithfully in any and every circumstance, but it is God Himself who makes the ministry grow. Praise God for the wonderful ministries that He has entrusted us with on this earth!\nIt is a great joy to worship our God with His church! A couple of leaders were trained and raised. Together we got the vision and decided to start a new work. Now we are seeing the fruit of the church.\nEvery Wednesday the women of our church fast and pray together for the church and all our ministries.\nThree weeks of each month our teens and young adults meet together. They worship together and study God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nEvery week our church has house fellowships. We visit the believers of our church, study from the Word, listen to their problems and about what is going on in their lives, encourage them in the Lord and pray for them. Whenever we have a house fellowship, the believers\u0026rsquo; families who live nearby also come to the respective location.\nWe have been praying for brother Rabindra\u0026rsquo;s area. It is the district that is next to the capital. We have been praying to start a new church plant there. A couple of months ago we started a Bible study there. Brother Rabindra, one of the leaders of our church in the capital, is leading that Bible study at his home. Some people from the neighborhood are also attending the Bible study.\nBrother Laxman has been pastoring this church. God is at work through His Church and it is growing.\nBrother Nikesh\u0026rsquo;s family went to a place outside of the capital and started a new work there. God is at work. People are attending the church regularly and it is growing. It is a great joy to see God\u0026rsquo;s work all around!\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-exalted-among-the-nations-prakash-update-july-23/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePsalm 46:10 (NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs pastors and leaders of His church all around the world, we work faithfully in any and every circumstance, but it is God Himself who makes the ministry grow. Praise God for the wonderful ministries that He has entrusted us with on this earth!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/image.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is a great joy to worship our God with His church! A couple of leaders were trained and raised. Together we got the vision and decided to start a new work. Now we are seeing the fruit of the church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Exalted Among the Nations! - Prakash Update July 23"},{"content":" ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/tippie-family-update-july-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Screen-Shot-2023-07-19-at-11.50.20-AM-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"Tippie Family Update July 2023"},{"content":" One thing I feel the Lord has been impressing upon my heart more and more lately is to be faithful. My hope is that I have been, but there are always things to grow in, and I pray the Lord helps me to be a faithful witness of His until He returns or calls me home. Be faithful in the little things—you’ll reap a harvest (Gal. 6:9), don’t despise the day of small beginnings (Zech. 4:10). If we are faithful in little, then we will be faithful in much (Luke 16:10). Lord, make us faithful in all things, and all for Your glory!\nSummer With the Middle School\nSo far we’ve already been able to do two of our events; mini golf and laser tag and arcade at Epicenter! The kids are having a great time, and during our weekly study we’re going through John. This week we’re in John 7, and I’m excited to see what the Lord is going to do. Later this month we have our Summer Middle School Camp and so far it’s looking like we’re going to have around 5 students coming. It’s a joint Calvary camp and the theme is going to be Living Water! Please be praying that the students would taste and see that He’s good and that they would come to Him as their Savior\nWhat’s Next\nIn the last couple of updates I’ve been mentioning that there is an exciting opportunity ahead and I appreciate your prayers! It’s clear now that the Lord had other plans in my going to Peru. As I got to serve in Trujillo, the Lord began to stir in my heart towards joining the Bible college there to serve and learn how to help run and even plant a Bible college in the future. The Lord is doing a great work in South America and I have an exciting opportunity to be a part of it. Training up the next generation of pastors, church planters, and missionaries has been on my heart, since shortly after I began my first year of Bible college, and I am excited to be able to pursue going. As of right now we are praying about and moving toward my going in the beginning of the year in 2024. There is a lot changing and moving with the Bible college in Trujillo, it’s growing, and I am really looking forward to what the Lord is going to do there.\nPlease pray for me for wisdom—on how best to prepare and get ready to go early next year. I’m currently trying to learn Spanish as much as I can on Duolingo (there’s no replacement for being immersed in a culture and it’s language). I’m also going to start working on a good working budget for my time there. The plan is to start with a 6-month trip in the hopes of being a part of the work there long-term. I know the Lord will lead and guide! Prior to going in 2024, my hope is to attend the Calvary Church Planting and Missions Conference (September 28-30; the trip is Sep. 23-Oct. 2) that will be held at the Bible College in Trujillo. It’s going to be a sweet time and an amazing opportunity to get an idea and pulse on what the Lord is doing in Peru and South America as well!\nPrayer and Needs\nThat projects at home for the benefit of my family would be completed soon.\nCompleting other tasks I said I would complete.\nMy dad\u0026rsquo;s health and recovery (motivation and strength).\nThat I would be faithful in the ministries that the Lord has placed in my care.\nThe right people to help take over those ministries in the long-term.\nThat transition would go smoothly and without discouragement for the middle schoolers\n\u0026gt;Conference\nThe Lord’s provision to attend the conference.\nI will be getting my airfare separately and then joining a SGWM team for a week.\nAirfare currently is ~$700-900, and the cost of room and board is about $240\nFavor with the team and students—that we would be a blessing as we help work the conference and minister to the students and staff’s needs there.\n\u0026gt;6 Month Start in Peru\nWisdom for the staff and myself moving forward on long term plans.\nProvision and getting the budget worked out\nFavor with all involved and that the work there would grow abundantly and for the glory of His name!\nThank you for all of your prayers and support,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-is-faithful-voisin-update-july-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/F19A875C-A9FE-4832-A938-39585A8D36F3.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne thing I feel the Lord has been impressing upon my heart more and more lately is to be faithful. My hope is that I have been, but there are always things to grow in, and I pray the Lord helps me to be a faithful witness of His until He returns or calls me home. Be faithful in the little things—you’ll reap a harvest (Gal. 6:9), don’t despise the day of small beginnings (Zech. 4:10). If we are faithful in little, then we will be faithful in much (Luke 16:10). Lord, make us faithful in all things, and all for Your glory!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He Is Faithful - Voisin Update July 2023"},{"content":" “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”\nJOB 1:21\nThe month of June was like a roller coaster with sickening stomach drops and fast paced excitement.\nOn Monday June 12th our community was rocked by the death of Esther Latim, the 15 year old daughter of Fred Latim, our Sr. Pastor at Calvary Chapel Gulu. Esther was a very kind and intelligent girl who was friends with everyone, including my daughters, and she was even the champion debater (for her division) in all of Northern Uganda. Her life came to an end due to a battle with a bacterial infection and malaria, with the lifelong condition of sickle cell. Pastor Fred, along with his wife Evelyn and their many children, are a blessing to everyone. They are an example to us for humility, grace, mercy, and thoughtfulness. I can honestly say I have never met a more humble and meek man than Pastor Fred. Please pray for their family as they go through this season.\nDuring that same time God providentially answered our prayers in startling ways. After much prayer and consideration, Noelle and I decided to move our family away from the Village of Adak, to the nearby city of Gulu, for the sake of longevity on the field. On Wednesday, June 7th we sent out a request to you all for your help to make that happen. Amazingly only 4 days later, we received a message from a dear friend who wanted to support us with a loan to purchase the house we were praying for. That evening I got in touch with a lawyer to help us purchase the court owned property. When he went to inspect the property the following day he found that three other people had already brought contractors to the site and were intent on competing to buy it. When we heard that news we scrambled to get a few thousand dollars together to place a 10 day “holding fee” on the house while we awaited the wire transfer from the States. In a dramatic series of events, our lawyer got them to accept the terms of a holding fee merely hours before another buyer came in with an offer to buy the property in cash! After a week of waiting for us, the pressure was too much for the selling team and our lawyer received a call that they were tired of waiting and were going to sell the house to a buyer who was there in person with cash in hand. When they were reminded of the contract they had signed and stamped, the representatives of the court who were selling the house reluctantly honored their agreement to wait for two more days; but they did tell the other purchaser to come back early in the morning on Thursday to buy the property as soon as our agreement had expired. With a flood of excitement the money finished transferring on Tuesday night and we were able to purchase the property by Wednesday afternoon! It is evident that God’s hand went before us through the whole process, and we are confident that we are moving in His will. We are now renovating the place, and we believe we will move in within the first half of August.\nThe loan was not the only support we received, and we want to thank each of your for the great generosity you have shown our family as we make this move toward longevity. May God richly bless each of you. Please be aware that anything given toward the property project is being used to renovate the house and repay the home loan.\nIn Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJOB 1:21\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/20230609%5F143626.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe month of June was like a roller coaster with sickening stomach drops and fast paced excitement.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/20230616%5F114404.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn Monday June 12th our community was rocked by the death of Esther Latim, the 15 year old daughter of Fred Latim, our Sr. Pastor at Calvary Chapel Gulu. Esther was a very kind and intelligent girl who was friends with everyone, including my daughters, and she was even the champion debater (for her division) in all of Northern Uganda. Her life came to an end due to a battle with a bacterial infection and malaria, with the lifelong condition of sickle cell. Pastor Fred, along with his wife Evelyn and their many children, are a blessing to everyone. They are an example to us for humility, grace, mercy, and thoughtfulness. I can honestly say I have never met a more humble and meek man than Pastor Fred. Please pray for their family as they go through this season.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update June 2023"},{"content":"By Claudia \u0026amp; Poiema Boubion\nSharing with you our dear family, friends and co-laborers, what amazing things God is doing here in Rosarito, Mexico and beyond!\nFirst things first, priorities, priorities! Devotional time is a must on the mission field!! Meaning your alone time with Jesus one on one in His Word the Bible. Wherever you find yourself living or serving God, make Jesus first, and everything else will fall into place. Matthew 6:33\nWhat 3 things do you encourage a new believer to do to encourage their devotional time with Jesus, their first love? I tell them start with prayer, first ask Him to forgive you for any wrong-doing, then ask God to help you understand His word, choose a book of the Bible to read consistently, and grab a notebook and pen because you are showing God you are ready to hear from Him and then live it out.\nNow think, what does your devotional time with Jesus look like? If you are, praise God, if not, why not? I encourage you to start now, no time to waste!\nMoving on toour Women’s Monday night Spanish Bible Study. I have the privilege of co-laboring with these 10 ladies. Our heart is to help the women grow in their faith and relationship with Jesus Christ and raise future leaders amongst them. We have women between the ages of 16-75 and beyond. God is good!\nConcluding with, our church planting pastor’s wives.After visiting a church planting conference, a year ago I saw our pastors spending time with the church planting pastors, but what about the wives of these pastors? So the Lord stirred my heart to do something about it. I have made it a point to spend time individually with the pastor’s wife each time I visit a church plant, pray for them and keep in contact through text. Recently, I visited both Calvary Maranatha in Mazatlan, Sinaloa and Camino Viviente in Morelia, Michoacan. Sitting with these ladies and other pastors’ wives I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and talking with, was of great encouragement to me, as I pray I was to them.\n1 Thessalonians 5:11\nI have sooooo much more to share, but this is all for now. As I began in my update. Our devotional life is of utter importance to stay strong, encouraged, motivated, hopeful, forgiving, merciful, gracious, and fearless for the Lord till He comes again.\nPoiema’s time to share:\nIn Youth ministry earlier this year in February, I had the opportunity to start helping and serving with the youth. The youth (specifically the youth girls) have been on my heart for some time and I’m very thankful for the opportunity I have to serve them. In the past few months I have been able to start and lead a small bible study going through some chapters from the book of Proverbs all through the YouVersion Bible App. I was then able to host a girls\u0026rsquo; night hangout at my house, which was a lot of fun. We were able to get closer with one another through group games (also thanks to the fact that we weren’t in a huge space, nobody was able to hide in a corner!) and at the end we were blessed to have a small devotion and a time of worship! Serving in greeting for our youth group before every service, as well as putting together the group’s activity calendar, sums up everything I do. Right now we’re trying to put together a girls\u0026rsquo; small group where we will study the book “Lies Young Women Believe.” I am praying that a study like this would be a catalyst for discipleship and spiritual growth in the life of these girls as well as for revival in our youth group!\nChildren’s Ministry\nAs for my work in the children’s ministry I am a teacher in the second service for the 3-4 year olds. It has been such a blessing and honestly such a learning curve for me having to lead a large group of children with the attention span of 5 seconds. Despite their short attention spans and their young ages, I have learned not to take for granted my role in these kids’ lives! For some of them, my class is the first place they’ll learn or even hear about God. I pray every week for the children in my class that we would be able to instill in them the knowledge that God does exist and that He loves them!\nFuture plans in Peru\nAs many of you know, in 2022 I graduated from high school here in Rosarito, and for the past few years I have been praying for God’s guidance in my life regarding my next steps. And for the past couple months I believe God has revealed to me what those next steps are. So through many answered prayers and God’s specific confirmation towards this direction, I am confident to say, Godwilling that I will be attending bible college at CBI Peru in Trujillo. Please pray for me during this time as it is quite the step of faith for me and unlike anything I have ever done before. I am so incredibly excited for what God is going to do these next few months!\nPraise reports:\nGod is answering our prayers concerning our children’s futures\nGod is providing in different ways for ministry and family needs.\nGod is opening doors for ministry in exciting places\nPrayer requests:\nKeep our priorities straight “Jesus first,” marriage, and children to grow and stay strong\nPoiema preparing to go to Bible College in Peru: mentally, emotionally, physically, financially and spiritually.\nLove God’s way: with grace, mercy, and forgiveness.\nOnce again we could not be here or do what God has called us to do without your love, prayers, and support.\nThis is your fruit as you co-labor with us \u0026rsquo;til Jesus returns.\nOne in Christ,\nBoubion Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/its-all-about-us-boubion-update-july-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBy Claudia \u0026amp; Poiema Boubion\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSharing\u003c/strong\u003e with you our dear family, friends and co-laborers, what amazing things God is doing here in Rosarito, Mexico and beyond!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFirst things first\u003c/strong\u003e, priorities, priorities! Devotional time is a must on the mission field!!  Meaning your alone time with Jesus one on one in His Word the Bible. Wherever you find yourself living or serving God, make Jesus first, and everything else will fall into place. \u003cstrong\u003eMatthew 6:33\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What Are the Ladies Up To? - Boubion Update July 2023"},{"content":"We hope you had a wonderful 4th of July.\nThis year has been a beautiful display of God\u0026rsquo;s grace and power. Jenn and I continue to be amazed at God\u0026rsquo;s grace and how through His power He allows us to participate in His plan for the gospel to go out to the whole world. (Mark 16:15)\nAs the director of missionary equipping here at Saving Grace World Missions, Tim\u0026rsquo;s role has many facets. Missionary care has been one of the main thrusts of the last six years, the way it looks changes frequently and has expanded into much more than we ever imagined.\nJenn has been able to join Tim in partnering in the ministry of missionary care more and more each month. Lately we have been able to be involved in field care for missionaries. We both got to go to a country we shall call South Asia for security reasons. This is a “closed country” but God does not believe in “closed countries”!! We were able to be there to assist in establishing one of our CSOM graduates to her new home and life as a full-time missionary.\n- TJ in S. Asia -\nA few months later, Tim got to travel with a team of pastors to relocate and establish four other missionaries in their new home in a Muslim country we shall not name for security reasons as well. This trip had a double blessing in it, one was that Tim got to see exactly where our team is planted. To be able to walk the streets they walk, smell the smells they smell, taste the food they eat, and yes, hear the sounds they hear. One of which is the demonic Islamic call to worship which echoes throughout the country several times a day.\nThis is of great benefit as we continue to minister to them having at least a little bit of a picture of where they are.\nLocal Mosque - 11 million lost in Islamic Worship\nWe have poured into these Calvary School of Missions graduates over the last four years. They shared how meaningful and valuable it was to them for us to be by their side as they permanently moved to other countries in the heart of the 10/40 window, leaving all of the comforts of America behind to further the gospel.\nOTHER WAYS WE HAVE GOTTEN TO SERVE MISSIONARIES THIS YEAR:\nConnecting with and caring for missionaries through technology. Counseling opportunities. Jenn has been consistently discipling the intern girls along with overseas counseling to some women on the field. Housing missionaries on furlough or preparing to go to the field. Providing transportation (rides and the use of our vehicle). Inviting them in our home for meals. Hosting events for them at our home. Ongoing intern care and discipleship. We love Missionary Care \u0026amp; Hospitality, Jenn describes it as a \u0026ldquo;heartfelt blessing\u0026rdquo;! We love blessing the missionaries when they pass through on furlough, providing housing, fellowship, and encouragement while they are are being refreshed.\n\u0026ldquo;Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another; not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord; rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation, continuing steadfastly in prayer; distributing to the needs of the saints, given to hospitality\u0026rdquo; - Romans 12:10-13\nThe sacrifices our sisters and brothers make for the furtherance of the gospel is very humbling. While we bless them with fellowship, shelter, and encouragement, they ultimately bless us more! Jenn said she gets so fired up each time she meets with them to hear what God has been doing on the mission field in 🇵🇪 🇺🇬 🇲🇽 🇷🇴 and beyond!\nUPCOMING:\nAs we are only a few days away from launching the fifth Calvary School of Missions, there has been much to do. We will share more on that with you in our next newsletter, along with some very exciting news of ministry opportunities for Jenn and I.\nWe want to close by thanking you all so much for your faithful friendship, love, and prayers throughout the years.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for the 2023 Calvary School of Missions and for us as we get to lead this wonderful work of God Please pray for Tim as he leads a team to Perú late September/early October to help host the 2nd annual Calvary Chapel Missions Conference in South America Please pray for our son Andy as he is still missing and desperately needs Jesus Please pray for wisdom as we navigate the rest of this year. The calendar for missionary care and equipping is quite full and opportunities are not lacking. We love you all so much and thank you for being behind us. Through your generous financial support, you have made this ministry possible for us and we want to let you know that this is the fruit of your labor as well. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support, you can do so by clicking on the financial button below or mailing your support check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203\nYorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note \u0026ldquo;Pappas support\u0026rdquo; in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-beautiful-display/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe hope you had a wonderful 4th of July.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis year has been a beautiful display of God\u0026rsquo;s grace and power. Jenn and I continue to be amazed at God\u0026rsquo;s grace and how through His power He allows us to participate in His plan for the gospel to go out to the whole world. (Mark 16:15)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the director of missionary equipping here at Saving Grace World Missions, Tim\u0026rsquo;s role has many facets. Missionary care has been one of the main thrusts of the last six years, the way it looks changes frequently and has expanded into much more than we ever imagined.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Beautiful Display!! - Pappas Update July 2023"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nFor the past year I have been diligently working on a major project, and as it comes to completion I wanted to share this project with you. For over 5 years now, I have had people encouraging me to write a book about the church planting missions work that God has been doing through our church! I continually put these people off because I am not a writer, but I did tell my friends I would pray about it.\nA little over a year ago, I felt God telling me that this book project was His will so I began writing and writing and writing. Over the past year, this little book has nearly come into existence. The title of the book is “”THE SENDING HUB!” For those of you that don’t know, a sending hub, is a church that PLANTS OTHER CHURCHES!\nAfter talking with friends in the ministry and our church staff, we have nailed the format down to 25 chapters. The book has three major focuses. #1- The book is the story of our family’s journey to Mexico and our missions work. #2- The book is the story of our church planting missions work, and how God used our church to be a sending hub. And #3- The book is designed to encourage pastors and other believers to get excited about the missions work of church planting.\nIt took me eight months to complete the rough draft, and then the editing process began. Thankfully, I had six gifted friends that have been reading through the manuscript and helping me out with suggested edits. Those editors included my friends, Hugo Limon, Lydia Boubion, Pablo Boubion, Doc Miles, Sharon Putnam, and my pops Mark Vincent. Thankfully, there suggested edits were spot on, and many of them will be appearing in the finished copy of the book.\nMy book is not only going to have an English version, but it is going to have a Spanish version as well. To begin, only hard copies will be available, but as we are using Amazon’s book distributors to print the book, there will be a time when we make the digital copy of the book available through Amazon as well.\nAs we presently approach publishing time, I want to give you some really good news. I am going to send all of our financial supporters a free copy of the book to thank you for helping us make this idea of the sending hub a reality!\nI do have a couple important prayer requests as we quickly approach our printing date. Prayer request #1- Is that the editing and translating is completed in early July so we can go to print. Prayer Request #2- is that the book is ready and available in time for our big church planting conference that will be held on August 4th and 5th!\nOnce again I want to thank you for your partnership over these past 21 years on the mission field of Mexico. It is through your prayers that God meet’s our spiritual needs, and through your financial partnership that God meet’s our physical needs. We love you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would help me finish the book and the printing process will go smoothly!\n#2- For God’s blessing upon the preparation of our annual church planting conference. (August 4th and 5th)\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for three missions trips in June to visit our church plants!\n#2- Praise God for 17 new believers baptized in our monthly June baptisms.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-july-2023-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e               For the past year I have been diligently working on a major project, and as it comes to completion I wanted to share this project with you. For over 5 years now, I have had people encouraging me to write a book about the church planting missions work that God has been doing through our church! I continually put these people off because I am not a writer, but I did tell my friends I would pray about it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family July 2023 Missions Update"},{"content":"Hi friends and family!\n\nI am back in Yorba Linda! I was extremely blessed to have been able to spend time with my family. Leaving them this time prior to other times was hard. My time there felt like it was slipping out of my hands and the days were coming sooner when it was time for me to leave. Something God showed me in the midst of being there was that it is so important to cherish those precious moments with your loved ones and not take it for granted because you never know if that will be your last time. This made me appreciate my time with them and love on them, especially my mom because I adore her and we have such a close relationship.\nMy brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing.\n~ ‭‭James‬ ‭1‬:‭2‬-‭4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ ~\nOn my drive back to Yorba Linda I had a time of allowing God to speak to me. In the quietness, I looked over to my right as I drove passed a field and God reminded me of His promise from Matthew 13:8. Well, since being back it has been a time of full dependency on Him in two areas. First, that I am away from my family and two that His promise isn’t going to be fulfilled over night. Oh, how I would love for His promise to be fulfilled in me already but, there is a process. The process is sanctification and growth and it is very refining to say the least, but it has caused me to run to the Lord so quickly. I try not to get frustrated in the fact that I want to have the sanctification and growth a 10 year old devoted Christian has as I am coming to my 3 years of being a Christian. So silly. But thank God for His grace! God\u0026rsquo;s work takes time and I need to be patient to not rush it.\nOn another note, School Of Missions is starting in a couple of days and I am so excited! It is crazy that my season of being Pastor Tim’s assistant is coming to an end now that CSOM is starting. Working at the office has been a blessing. Throughout these months I have been able to connect with the CSOM students, pray for them and help them through the process of completing tasks. I have had some amazing conversations with the girls and I am so eager to see them all face to face.\nTHANK YOU ALL, for your prayers and partnering with me financially. I am at 36% out of 100 from my goal. School of Missions is paid off! WOW! God is so faithful and I have faith CBI Israel and the vision tour to the Middle East (to be with the missions team my church sent out a few months ago) will soon be paid off as well.\nPraise Reports\nPraise God for his continual provision Praise God for allowing me to spend time with my family Praise God for giving me the strength to remain sober Prayer Requests\nPray that I would see God’s goodness in the midst of trials Pray for safe travels as we drive to Mexico Pray for the students that they would be fully surrendered to God and His plans Pray for the staff that we would be yielded to the Holy Spirit and serve wholeheartedly ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-call-to-dependency-campos-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi friends and family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am back in Yorba Linda! I was extremely blessed to have been able to spend time with my family. Leaving them this time prior to other times was hard. My time there felt like it was slipping out of my hands and the days were coming sooner when it was time for me to leave. Something God showed me in the midst of being there was that it is so important to cherish those precious moments with your loved ones and not take it for granted because you never know if that will be your last time. This made me appreciate my time with them and love on them, especially my mom because I adore her and we have such a close relationship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Call to Dependency - Campos Update June 2023"},{"content":"Dear friends and family,\nThe past couple months have held quite a lot in them for my life here in Yorba Linda. I knew I was heading into a heavily busy season of life, and though it’s been challenging, I’m learning really valuable lessons.\nWait, Hold On a Moment Due to how busy my life gets, I often feel overwhelmed in the midst of it. And I forget why I’m doing all of it in the first place. But the Lord slows me down and beckons me to sit still with Him.\nWhen you are so busy with ministry, you tend to be more susceptible to falling into the routine of it. And when serving God becomes routine, your heart can grow hard, and even bitter. I started to find that this was happening to me.\nBut praise the Lord, God is so faithful to hear our cries for refreshment and respond. For me, it is helpful to remind myself that if I just work and serve without prioritizing quiet time with the One I am serving, the works I do become pretty counterintuitive and pointless.\nIt’s easy to get caught up in the stress of all my tasks and responsibilities and so I take myself back to the Bible passage about Mary and Martha. Where Jesus told Martha, “ My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42). At the end of the day, there is only one thing worth being concerned about, and that is pausing to sit at the feet of Jesus.\nVisitor from Mexico Now that I’ve shared what the Lord has shown me in the midst of my busyness, I’d like to share just a few special moments from the busy season.\nFirst, Hugo Limon, a pastor from Culiacán, Mexico, visited our church at the end of April. He has planted almost 10 churches in Mexico since 2015, and he actually joined our missions organization (Saving Grace World Missions) last year.\nIt was so awesome to hear what the Lord has been doing in his ministry in Mexico and how the Lord has stirred his heart to even figure out a way to send church planters to the Middle East! Hugo is such a gifted and humble guy, and it was such a blessing to hear him share his testimony at a house gathering one of our pastors held for him.\nHope Central Watts Outreach The next thing I want to share is a little trip I took in May with a team from my church to Hope Central Watts, a church in Los Angeles. We went over to do a “church takeover” to relieve some of the congregants from serving on a Sunday. My roommate Tori and I ran the children’s ministry class and taught “Noah’s Ark.”\nI loved this short trip, the church reminded me of the church I grew up in because it was a small, Spanish-speaking church. I really can’t wait to go back this month and get to know some of the congregants a little more this time.\nDessert Gathering for the Roots Before I wrap up this long update, I want to lastly share about a dessert gathering my church had for my friends Jeff and Alishia Root. They are a couple called to serve in Japan and Lordwilling, I, Geoff, and another couple at my church will be sent out to serve there with them too one day.\nAt their dessert gathering, Jeff and Alishia shared about their recent 3-month vision tour to Japan where they visited different Christian churches there. The Lord confirmed to them to go to Osaka and serve alongside another missionary couple at Abide Osaka church.\nIt was so amazing to hear about their trip and be stirred again for the spiritual needs in Japan. Japan is about the size of California and yet their population is about 125 million! And of all those people, less than 1% are Christian.\nJeff and Alishia are planning to move long-term to Japan in the new year and we are planning to have a 2-week vision tour thee in early Spring. Please pray for both these trips.\nAnd Now You’ve Reached the End Thank you so much for reading my update- I know it was a long one this time! I love you all so much and thank you especially to those of you who have reached out to me lately, I really appreciate you guys. As I’ve mentioned in this newsletter, it’s been an intensely busy season lately and so thank you for your patience with me! I’m hoping things will slow down a bit more in September when I’m on break from the internship. Until next time! God bless.\nSincerely,\nLydia Grace\nPraise Reports:\nI got to visit my sister in Sacramento for a few days in June\nI\u0026rsquo;m almost done with my first year of the SGWM internship\nThe Lord is helping me grow in my weak areas\nPrayer Requests:\nThat I would serve with the right heart and through the Lord\u0026rsquo;s strength\nFor God\u0026rsquo;s guidance in my next steps\nThat I would keep growing in patience and contentment in Christ\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/wait-hold-on-a-moment-boubion-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe past couple months have held quite a lot in them for my life here in Yorba Linda. I knew I was heading into a heavily busy season of life, and though it’s been challenging, I’m learning really valuable lessons.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"wait-hold-on-a-moment\"\u003eWait, Hold On a Moment\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDue to how busy my life gets, I often feel overwhelmed in the midst of it. And I forget why I’m doing all of it in the first place. But the Lord slows me down and beckons me to sit still with Him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Wait, Hold On a Moment - Boubion Update June 2023"},{"content":"Hi\nJai Masih ki! (Praise the Lord!)\nThanks be to the Lord. He has kept you and all of us safe. Give thanks that the Lord has blessed us all. I am thankful that the Lord chose me for the ministry and to witness to people so that they can be saved.\nThank you for your continued prayers for us. Nowadays 8-9 people who did not come to church before, because of fear of their family members, are now coming to my church. They are now coming to church every Sunday. Thanks to the Lord. The Lord worked in their hearts.\nThis is a testimony of a believer of my church. He had heard the Gospel long ago, but he did not believe in the Lord completely. When I came to my village and preached the Gospel of God, and he attended every Sunday service.\nWhen he shared his testimony with me, I started praying for him from that day onward.\nThat brother had started preparing for government job after graduating from high school. There were many problems in his house, about which he was very worried. He used to pray to God every day that he would be able to pass the civil service exam. But his efforts failed 4 or 5 times. Afterward, his family members started forbidding him to go to church. Then I explained to them, that God will fix everything, I told them, \u0026ldquo;If you have faith in the Lord, the Lord will very soon answer your prayer.\u0026rdquo;\nBecause he believed that the Lord would definitely answer his prayers one day, he read the Bible everyday. Before reading the Bible, he would pray to God everyday. After a long time, God answered his and our prayers. He was selected to have a job in the forest guard. He thanked God. Last Sunday, he testified in church about how God worked in his life. He has also thanked God through a video. Today he is very happy. He tells those in his home about how God has worked in his life. Pray that his family members may also believe in Jesus through him.\nI am very happy that the Lord has answered all of our prayers. May this village be won for God in the time to come. Amen\nThere is a village named T*. Some time ago, we went to meet a person there whose name is J*. He knew about my church and used to tell me \u0026ldquo;You have left your deities. This is not a good thing.\u0026rdquo; Something similar happened that day too. There were 2-3 other people with him. He said the same thing again about us all becoming Christians.\nThen I told him, \u0026ldquo;We have not done anything wrong, we just want to know the truth.\u0026rdquo;\nThen he started asking \u0026ldquo;What is the truth?\u0026rdquo;\nIn this I again thanked God inside and shared the Gospel with him. The people who were with him started asking many questions, I answered them. In the end, he said, \u0026ldquo;This is all a lie, you are misleading people from our gods. You have to stop this work.\u0026rdquo;\nI did not argue with him much. I prayed for him in my heart, that God may change his heart and that I will be able to talk to him again, so that he can know the truth.\nYou also please pray for them, that God will change the lives of these people who heard the Word, so that they can know the truth.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for our church. Pray that the believers in my village grow in the Word so that their families may come to faith through their lives Pray for our village. Pray that in the coming times this village may be won for God. Pray that the people I have preached the Gospel to may believe in God. May God change their hearts. Pray for the 4 people who warned me not to mislead people when I shared the Gospel with them. May God change their hearts so that they may know the truth. Pray for my ministry and life. May God will reveal His plan to me and open new doors. May the Lord give me new people and a new plan for my life so that so that everyone may come to faith. Pray for the church building which is currently in progress to be completed soon so that we can fellowship there. Material is not available in the crusher plant and it is expensive to bring material from other places. Please pray for my health. My health has been bad for 3-4 months. I have had no improvement. I have infection in my stomach which did not get better even after I went to the doctor 4-5 times. Pray that God heals me. Pray for my area. It is raining a lot right now. There is a lot of danger everywhere. May God protect everyone in this situation. Amen\nPraise the Lord\nThank you\nPastor 10*\n\\* Names and faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thankful-to-the-lord-pastor-10-update-july-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJai Masih ki! (Praise the Lord!)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks be to the Lord. He has kept you and all of us safe. Give thanks that the Lord has blessed us all. I am thankful that the Lord chose me for the ministry and to witness to people so that they can be saved.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your continued prayers for us. Nowadays 8-9 people who did not come to church before, because of fear of their family members, are now coming to my church. They are now coming to church every Sunday. Thanks to the Lord. The Lord worked in their hearts.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thankful to the Lord - Pastor 10 Update July 2023"},{"content":"Hello Everyone!\n\nJai Christ! (Praise the Lord!)\nThank you for praying for me and my ministry. Thank you for constantly lifting me up in your prayers.Thank you for helping financially. May God bless you all. Thank you so much for the great love you have for us.\nAs you know, in the area where we are ministering, the people have only one thought: that this place should be made an only Hindu area. In such a situation, when we preach the Gospel to people, they get angry. They say, \u0026ldquo;You are doing wrong.\u0026rdquo; But, we know that we are sharing about the Holy God and the Living God. We want them to be able to get rid of the evil power over them and accept their sins before God. But people here do not want to listen to us.\nSome of our brothers, who are pastors, are also working in different areas here. Just now, I met a brother. His name is N*. I told him that we can do the work of evangelism in this area by being in one accord. Even though we are connected with different ministries, our work is the same. We can spread the Gospel in the same way where the Gospel has not reached the villages, and open the eyes of the people from darkness and bring them to the Lord.\nSome time ago, God gave me a chance to meet some of my old friends who used to study in the same school with me. We were all in the same class. God can make anything happen during ministry, but I never thought that we would ever meet again and talk like this! But when God is working nothing is impossible with Him!\nWhen we were in school, I used to preach Gospel to all of the students in our free time, because that was the time that I came to know about the Lord. I used to tell people in class at school, \u0026ldquo;God loves you so much. He wants us all to be saved. If we repent from our sins and go before Him, He will forgive us.\u0026rdquo;\nI was able to meet with some of these same old friends from the past. We had good fellowship together. I again told them about the Lord Jesus Christ, as I used to tell them in school. Today God gave me another chance, to tell them again! R* is close to accepting Christ as Savior in his life and turning his mind from his sins. Every day I talk to him on the phone and visit also. I am praying to God that the lives of these two brothers will be saved and that the lives of their families can be saved through them.\nhank God! God gave me a chance to meet a brother pastor who is currently serving in a nearby city. He came near our house. Then we went nearby to a beautiful place in the forest where there is peace. We sat down and sang a couple of songs of praise to the Lord and encouraged each other. S* was also there, who is from our area, but doing ministry in a different place. He asked me, \u0026ldquo;Very bad treatment was done to you here, wasn\u0026rsquo;t it? \u0026quot; We talked about what happened at that time and prayed for each other. We prayed that God, who is here, will open more and more doors wherever the Word of the Lord has not yet been spoken.\nWe are hoping to meet there twice a week and share about how God is working in different ways in the different areas that we are serving in. Then we will pray for each other and the areas we are working in.\nThank you for praying for S* and N* and their families who live near us. Thank God that in the last 2 weeks, their families were the only ones from the city at the bottom of the mountain that came to our area. They camped where our church is being built by God. They spent the night and painted the church. Pastor 12* who is from here but serving the Lord at the bottom of the mountains and his brother also came with them.\nThanks to those who visited our area. We talked about how we can do many things, and gathered people around. At night they showed a movie that was in our local language to gather more people and make them excited. We had dinner together and so that together we could glorify and praise the Lord and pray together. Afterward we kept meeting and were able to share the word of God.\nMany times when we tell the Good News to people in our area, they do not want to listen because it is us who tell them. When someone new from another place comes, they become interested. They think these people are coming from some other land and will teach us. I pray that in the coming time that God will save more and more people and bring them and we can glorify God and come together in our church building.\nThank you all for praying for us. God bless you.\nPastor 13*\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praise-the-lord-pastor-13-update-july-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Everyone!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJai Christ! (Praise the Lord!)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for praying for me and my ministry. Thank you for constantly lifting me up in your prayers.Thank you for helping financially. May God bless you all. Thank you so much for the great love you have for us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-20230630-WA0010.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/IMG-20230630-WA0000-300x193.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs you know, in the area where we are ministering, the people have only one thought: that this place should be made an only Hindu area. In such a situation, when we preach the Gospel to people, they get angry. They say, \u0026ldquo;You are doing wrong.\u0026rdquo; But, we know that we are sharing about the Holy God and the Living God. We want them to be able to get rid of the evil power over them and accept their sins before God. But people here do not want to listen to us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praise the Lord - Pastor 13 Update July 2023"},{"content":"Monthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\n- There was a rebel attack in Western Uganda that led to the death of 43 people, mostly children. Please pray for their families and for the church there. Pray for safety.\n- There are currently 5 chaplains receiving medical care in Kampala for various sicknesses and one a serious injury. Pray for healing.\n- Pray for Liana and Jesse who are both suffering from a severe flu. - Pray for the ministries at Arise Christian Fellowship as they plan and prepare for the 2nd half of this year.\n- Pray for Jill as she homeschools.\n- Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nMay God bless you for your prayer support.\nThis month we can rejoice together that:\n- God has opened a way for my family to relocate to the city.\n- God is bringing a team from the US to train our team on Community Health Evangelism.\n- God has provided the means for us to pursue the adoption process of our daughter Apio Cynthia.\nThis month please pray with us that:\n- God will bring comfort to Fred Latim, the Sr. Pastor of Calvary Chapel Gulu, and his family as they lost their fifteen year old daughter named Esther on the 13th of June.\n- God will bring encouragement and truth to the pastors in our school as our team travels to each of their homes this month to visit them and their families.\n- God will provide the rest of the funding for our family to move from the village of Adak to the city of Gulu.\n- God will grant us wisdom and expedience in the adoption process of our Ugandan daughter.\nGod Bless You,\nThe Harris Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\n- Pray for the 5 new Muslim converts. For their safety and boldness. - Pray for the container clearance. The container is finally in Africa working it’s way to Uganda but there is a hold-up on one paperwork. Please pray for the details. - We are now beginning the roofing on the Koinonia community center and library. - Pray for all the church fellowships and ministries, that God will continue to strengthen us as we grow deeper in Him. - Pray for our Bible college students as they do their finals and break for summer. - Continued prayers for our nursery and primary school.\nThank you!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email BlogUSA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\nPRAISE REPORTS 1. Jenn was able to join Tim on trip to South Asia that was 2 weeks long focused on missionary care and teaching of in country workers. 2. For those who prayerfully and financially support us 3. Jenn has been able to stay healthy\nPRAYER REQUEST. 1. Pray for our re-adjustment as we come back. 2. Wisdom and God\u0026rsquo;s heart for Tim as he prepares to teach at a conference in Mexico next month. 3. Our son Andy who is homeless and struggling in many ways.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\n- Praise God for a fruitful time teaching and serving at Calvary Bible Institute Peru. The team did amazing and God blessed all the outreaches and our time with the students and church. Pray for all the invites, tracts, and seeds planted that many more would come to Christ and visit Calvary Trujillo.\n- Pray for many student recruitment trips and church planter visits throughout South Asia in the months of June and July, that God would lead to the exact people He desires to be equipped and used to reach many more for Christ.\n- Pray for the new work in Pakistan and for God\u0026rsquo;s hand of protection and blessing as a new Hindu tribe is being reached out to.\n- Pray for the planning of our trip to Uganda this summer and for all the preparations. Pray for our time to be guided and intentional for God\u0026rsquo;s glory. Pray we would be a blessing to missionaries, workers and many friends that we love dearly there.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n- Please pray for the salvation of two of the residents in our Bible Study at the assisted living facility. Though they know much about God, pray that they will fully surrender their hearts to God and belief in the truth of His Word, and receive Him in their hearts.\n- Please continue to pray for my parents’ health. Especially pray for healing for my dad, or for a medication that will be effective without worse side effects. Please pray also for my mom’s recovery from diverticulitis.\n- We have a baby due in early October. Please pray for the baby to be healthy and for a safe delivery.\n- Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\n- Please pray that God will continually strengthen our faith and service for Him.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\n- Please pray for the Christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.\n- Please pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health. He has several physical problems including double vision. The doctors have not yet been able to find out what is causing them.\n- Please pray for my mom’s health, as she is in the hospital with diverticulitis.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - Yorba Linda, California\n- Praise God Joel got approval to go on a trip to the Middle East and North Africa in the Fall! Pray that the Lord would help in arranging all of the details\n- Pray for the continued growth of the kids in the Lord\n- Pray for Joel and Amy to have vision and strength for the various ministries they lead in their local church\nLove in Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email Blog\nGary and Tina Barrow - Truckee, California\nWe have been here pastoring Calvary Chapel Truckee for almost 3 years now. We’ve faced many challenges and difficulties, many we never dreamed would be something we would face in ministry. But God has been so very faithful, and I believe we’re right where God wants us as a church.\nPlease pray…\nWe’re in need of a worship leader/assistant pastor at the church. Currently Gary is carrying all of the teaching and administration of the church. It’s been a heavy, and at times, an overwhelming responsibility. But again, God has been so very faithful. We trust that with your prayers, God will raise up an assistant that is like minded and has a heart to serve God’s people.\nPlease join us in praying for a fresh out pouring of God’s Spirit on Calvary Chapel Truckee.\nWe’ve been praying about starting a preschool to reach out to the town of Truckee. We need wisdom and vision on how the Lord would have us do this.\nWe have just returned from Israel and it seems that God has opened up amazing doors for ministry there for us. We have an open do to reach out to youth in a Palestinian controlled area. God has also opened a door for us to minister to special needs kids in Israel. We’re praying and asking God to show us how He would have us walk through those doors.\nGary is planning on traveling with Pastor Trent to the Middle East later this year. We’re asking the Lord to show us how He’d have us be part of the ministry there also.\nWe’re planning for Hungarian summer camps again this year. During one of the camps last year, a woman approached Gary and ask if he knew who she was? She showed him a picture of the 2 of them from a camp Gary did 13 years earlier. She said she gave her heart to the Lord during that camp and Jesus changed her life. She’s now living for Jesus, married to a christian man and serving in her church. Last year we saw 64 of 93 kids come to the Lord in 2 summer camps. We’re asking the Lord for even more souls this year.\nGary is teaching a class and continues to arrange teachers for the colleges we have in the 10/40 window. Please continue to pray that God would raise up believers to take the Gospel and saturate that area. Gary would like to lead a team later this year to visit the college and encourage the students through block classes. We’re asking God for the right timing for a trip.\nWith all the many overseas opportunities now opening up to us, we’re asking God to show us how to serve faithfully here at Calvary Chapel Truckee, and how to balance that with the many open doors abroad. We believe the Lord is leading us into greater fields of harvest. We’re asking the Lord for wisdom and direction.\nWe want to thank you for your prayers. If you have any questions, we welcome your emails and will respond to them promptly.\n- God bless,\nGary and Tina Barrow - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nHi friends, here are the prayers for Mike and Sarah Vincent, and Calvary Rosarito!\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God will bless our 36th church plant to Peru with Pastor Lorenzo at the end of May!\n#2- That God would give us favor as we attempt to purchase our facility!\nPraise Reports?\n#3- For our daughter Grace to find a job in Hesperia where she is finishing up college.\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nRon and Kristy Struska – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Report:\n- Praise God that we made it to Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala, Mexico, where our daughter, Brittany, and her husband, Brian are going to plant a church (Calvary Conexión México). There were some bumps along the way with our 24-foot trailer, but we made it here safely!\n- We’d also like to give him praise for the two outreaches we were able to do along the way in Culiacán \u0026amp; Morelia, as well as serve a little at and/or fellowship with several other church plants and pastors along the way.\nPrayer Requests:\n- For wisdom to know how to best use our time to help get the church building ready for Calvary Conexión México.\n- For the Lord to prepare the hearts of the children and their parents to be open to the gospel. We will be having a big outreach for kids here in Calpulalpan. There will be games, songs, a Bible lesson, craft, as well as prizes and backpacks to give away! We even plan to do some games with the parents and give away some prizes for them as well.\n- For finances, as we are having some trouble with our local Mexican bank, and we have a lot of funds that we are currently not able to access (and may not be able to access for months until some paperwork gets taken care of).\n- For a safe return trip home to Rosarito, trailer in tow, early to mid-February.\nBlessings!\nRon \u0026amp; Kristy Struska - Email Blog\nJenna Pepin – Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico\nCalvary Culiacán North will be implementing some BIG changes this year. Pray that the result is a stronger, more effective church and a huge harvest of souls. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s continued direction in confirming both my role and the timing for Sammy and me to join the Calpulalpan project. Pray for Sammy\u0026rsquo;s education as we will be trying out some new schooling options over the next 6 months. Jenna Pepin - Email Blog\nDavid and Michelle Mullins - Loreto, Mexico\nPrayer Request:\n- Michelle: Chronic Pain. After two failed back surgeries, I deal with daily Chronic Sciatica pain\n- Prayer for Healing or Relief/Endurance to continue working on our growing children\u0026rsquo;s ministry and supporting our women and staff/volunteers with wisdom, love, and hope as we continue to grow, teach and share Christ’s love and His word with new believers. - Protection over our church and future church planters as we experience physical, mental, and spiritual attacks from the evil one.\nThank You❣️\nBlessings,\nDavid and Michelle Mullins - Email Blog\nJon and Allison Brechtel - Oaxaca, Mexico\nPrayer requests:\n• we are praying for specific places to start bible studies which could be future church plants. We have a few locations that we are praying about. • pray for the growth of our congregation spiritually and for the new people who have started attending. • pray that God would send more laborers into the harvest here in Oaxaca. People who are on fire for the Lord and want to serve Him.\nGod bless!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah - Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n1. Our son\u0026rsquo;s continued healing \u0026amp; recovery 2. Develop meaningful friendships with our neighbors \u0026amp; reach them with the gospel! 3. Guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit in our weekly afterglow. 4. Biblical Counseling ministry: God\u0026rsquo;s leading 5. Discipleship for new believers: God\u0026rsquo;s leading\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello here on my prayer requests for the month of July:\nPRAISE REPORT: Laura and Jose are doing much better. Thank you for your prayers. The Lord is restoring them and bringing healing to their marriage.\n1. For my mom who lives alone and suffers from Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s, that God will continue to bless her and fill her with his joy and peace, and that he would bring her godly friendships!\n2. For the parents of the 40 kids that we serve in the afterschool program/soup kitchen here, that God would use the kids here to reach their parents for Christ.\n3. For godly men and women to be raised up from our church to serve in the different areas of need: nursery, cook in the soup kitchen, coordinators for the children’s ministry, and Sunday, school teachers\n4. For marriages that are under attack, for restoration. (Ana and Steve.)\n5. That God would continue to use me for His glory, and that I will continue to die to myself and live for others!\nThank you so much for praying for me and the people in Mexico. Dios te bendiga (God bless you.)\nDeanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nHey SGWM FAMILY, thank you for your faithfulness to keep us missionaries in your prayers!\n*Pray for our exploratory trip up the Peruvian coast scouting out places to plant a new church so we have a place to send our graduating students to do their internships and practice! - July 14 -21 with 24 people. - Safety, health, and freeness of Dengue fever that is going crazy in Peru right now!\n*Pray for our new incoming international students to the School of Ministry in Huacho.\n*Pray for our new women\u0026rsquo;s dorms *Pray for the next 3 groups coming to Huacho this summer! Focus is evangelism!\n*Pray for Daisy and Craig\u0026rsquo;s health, strength, and ability to stay the course!\nThank you from our hearts, Craig and Daisy - Email Blog\nCory \u0026amp; Danielle Kilgus- Calvary Chapel Trujillo \u0026amp; CBI Peru\nThank you so much for your continued prayer!\n- Please pray for our upcoming semester at CBI Peru. We will have 23-25 full time students, are biggest semester yet. Our semester theme is \u0026ldquo;Abide\u0026rdquo; as apart from Jesus can nothing, and when we abide in Him we bear much fruit.\n- Please pray for Calvary Trujillo and Calvary Buenos Aires, Peru. We are transitioning as we sent a group of about 20 to plant a church in another part of town, and it has been great to see God work. We have several outreach events coming up, and God is opening up new doors in our community with the universities, rehab centers and firefighters.\n- Please pray for our family as received Isabela into our home about a month ago. She is 4 and a special girl. We took her on her first family vacation this month, and she calls us \u0026ldquo;mama\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;papa\u0026rdquo; now. She likes to run up to us and kiss us, and tells we are \u0026ldquo;lindo\u0026rdquo; (Nice). Pray for continued integration, as there are rough spots as well.\n- Please pray for another church we hope to plant in October with another graduate of CBI Peru in the jungle city of Moyobamba. We are hosting the CC Missions conference for South America and CBI Kauai is joining us to serve at the conference and then help us do an invasion of Moyobamba.\nThank you and we really do appreciate your faithfulness to pray.\nThank you from our hearts, Cory and Danielle - Email Blog\nShilo and Racquell Stratton - Peru\n- Pray for our minds, that we would not be anxious or stressed regarding preparing to move and actually being sent. That we would have the goal and mission in mind of making disciples. Of serving Christ and no one else. Of making His name famous and not our own. And generally for clear thinking. That we’d hold fast to sound doctrine.\n- Pray for our spirits, that we’d serve God without fear and in absolute surrender. That we’d lay aside sins and things that easily ensnare us. That we’d put on God’s armor.\n- Pray for our bodies, that we’d be strong and that God would ward off any infections, diseases, or accidents from us prior to and on the field. Especially for baby Amalia. I (Shilo) think I’ve got a food allergy that my doctor and I are currently trying to figure out.\n- Pray for PERÚ, for the country as a whole. Latin America is full of false doctrine, prideful religiosity or cultural Catholicism and dangerous governments. Peru’s presidency just underwent some drastic sudden changes, and the country is not at peace.\n- Shilo and Racquell Stratton - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n- Prayer that as I go to the U.S. June 22-July 13, I will be able to connect with several churches to receive their prayers and financial support.\n- Prayer that I grow as a leader and Pastor in teaching the Wednesday services at Calvary Trujillo.\n- Prayer that God can confirm to three people who are considering helping Yenry and I with the church plant in October.\n- Thanks to God for the sweet fellowship with those at CBI Peru and Calvary Trujillo. - Thanks to God for choosing a nobody like me to be part of His purposes and that I can know His love.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n- Pray for my ministry, that God will give me wisdom and understanding.\n- Pray for my family, that they will grow in the Word of God.\n- Pray for my church members, that each one may grow in the Lord.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers. S.K. (2)\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Fervently pray that God will work in the hearts of the new families that we visited; that someday they will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ!\n- The weather is so hot now, a very high 42° (107 degrees Fahrenheit)! It is so hard for people to attend our very hot church building. Kindly pray. Also, pray for the growth and needs of our church.\n- Please pray for me and my family; that Lord may use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nWorker 3 Worker 4 - 10/40 Window\n- I will be traveling to share the Word at two different places. Please pray that the Lord will speak and that the people will be saved.\n- Recently, I was very ill and bedridden for over a week. Please pray that I will fully recover soon.\n- Please pray that the Lord will give me a clear vision over what the future holds for me.\nThank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ,\nPastor W.J. Worker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray that we grow more in preaching the Gospel.Pray that the people in the village see Christ.\n- Pray for the many broken families.\n- Pray for Brother S* from the village. He has gone through a broken marriage.\n- Pray for our outreach to the central part of the country.\n- Pray for our interns who are in the field.\n- Pray for the T* village church plant.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 6\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nThe Lord has been opening doors to new ministry opportunities in different villages, and I am starting to see the new believers desiring to grow in God’s Word.\nPlease pray:\n- Those I am meeting with are not baptized. Pray that as I teach them about baptism, they would have a good understanding and that God would prepare their hearts to want to receive baptism.\n- Pray for traveling safety. The distance is far to these villages (93 miles by motorcycle). I usually return at night, and the weather is not good for motorcycle riding.\n- Pray for open doors for future ministry. The villages that I have been visiting are along the highway, but I desire to go to the inner villages which are considered tribal and in extreme idolatry, very dark.\n- Please pray that God will use me to bring light to these dark villages.\nThank you, Worker 7\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for our work in the Gospel to further, and for God to continually provide.\n- Pray for sister P’s husband, who is a drunkard. Pray that God will change the brother.\n- Please pray for both of my children and their bright futures. They have a birthday on June 21 together.\n- Pray for me, that my sugar level will be normal.\nOnce again, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your partnership. May our loving God bless you abundantly!\nIn the Lord, Your brother,\nPastor 8 and family Worker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray that I will continue to grow in my spiritual life and the knowledge of God.\n- Please pray that I will be used mightily by God.\n- Please pray for the CBI students, that God would use them right now as they share the Gospel to their friends and family during this summer break.\n- Please pray for the young children and youth of my city with whom I am involved, that they would stand firm in their faith at this age when Satan tries to distract them.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you all! Worker 9\nWorker 10\nThanks be to the Lord that God has kept you and us together, and thanks be to the Lord who blesses each and every one of us, and saves us from every danger! Thank you also to those who continuously pray for us!\nPrayer Requests:\n- Pray for our church, that all who are believers will go deeper into the Word of the Lord. Pray for our village, that in the times ahead this village may be won for God. - Pray that all of the people that I have preached the Gospel to will believe in God. May God change their hearts.\n- One of the people who I narrated the Gospel of the Lord to warned me not to mislead people. There were 3 other people with him. Pray that God will change their hearts and they will know the truth.\n- Pray for my life, that God will reveal His plan to me and open new doors.\n- Pray for my church building, which is currently in progress, to be completed soon so that I can fellowship there.\n- Please pray for my health, which has been bad for the past 3-4 months. I have not seen any improvement even after 3-4 visits to the doctor.\n- Pray for me, that the Lord will heal me and take care of whatever expenses are incurred.\nThank you! Worker 10\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n- Please pray that God meets each and every need of ours.\n- Please pray for our church. The heat is so fierce that we often have to finish our services early.\n- Please pray that God enables me to safely take my wife on a journey to visit her mother\u0026rsquo;s side of the family this month.\n- Please pray for rain here. Due to the lack of rain, all the rivers and streams have dried up, so I am not able to baptize the new believers. The baptism tank which we had built in the church is broken.\n- Please pray for S*. May God heal him from whatever strange disease he is suffering from.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership and participation in spreading the Gospel!\nGod bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for my complete recovery.\n- Pray for my landlord, that I can be on good terms with him and that God will change his heart.\n- Pray for our church growth and Bible study, for more people to attend.\n- We have been praying for the church land for a long time\u0026ndash;pray that God will reveal His plan for this place. I have been doing ministry in these places for 8 years. Pray that God fulfills this vision of ours.\n- Many of the new people who come to the church are illiterate. Please pray that God gives them the power to understand so that they can be stronger, and also pray for audio Bibles for them to be available to me somewhere.\nThank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers!\n- Worker 12\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\n- Please continue to pray. We are living in the mountains. Now, in our state they are not allowing the Gospel. Please pray that God will open a door so that this anti-conversion law will soon be gone and that we will be able to share the Gospel in freedom.\n- We started some home fellowships. Pray for these families. They are new in Christ, so please pray they will stay with their faith.\n- Continue to pray for those who are serving in the ministry here. A few days ago, a pastor got in trouble for working in one of the villages. He started a fellowship there and then the village people got angry. They tried to find out what mission the pastor is with. I also got a call from the police because they are finding out again where these things are happening. They want stop fellowships and churches. But we know that God is great! He can do anything. Pray that God will open their eyes so that they can see the truth.\n- Please continue to pray for our ministry here and for the believers to stay strong in their faith.Pray for our new building construction to be able to be finished soon. May God provide the funds for finishing the building work so that we can gather there for prayer and for many activities.\n- Pray for our safety when we share the Gospel. May God give us knowledge and wisdom so that many people can come to Christ.\n- Continue to pray for village people who are priests. May God open their eyes so that they can come out from the darkness and see the light of the Gospel that can save their lives from sin.\nThank you so much everyone for praying for us! God bless you!\nWorker 13\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for\u0026hellip;\n1) Please pray for the new believers.\n2) Please pray for God’s protection on our daughter’s life, as she recently got a job and moved to the UK.\n3) Please pray for the persecution in the churches in our area.\nThanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15 Worker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n- Please pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge.\n- Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing.\n- Please pray for the village ministry in our local area. May the villagers grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word.\n- Please pray M* (the niece of one of our students). She is suffering from Chickenpox.\n- Please pray for our state believers, as they are facing persecution.\nWorker 16\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise Report:\n- Thank you everyone for praying for us. God had blessed last month so much. Our students had gone as missionaries to a hilly area where they shared the gospel door-to-door. God has used these young guys in the mist of young people in the village.\nHere are the prayer requests for this month:\n- Please pray for our good health.\n- Please pray for our students who have gone to outreach in East Nepal, that God may use them powerfully.\n- Please pray for the upcoming semester that God may bring students to our Bible College.\n- Please pray for our trip to west Nepal as we will be visiting students who will be starting Church in coming days.\n- Please pray for our radio program that God may save many souls.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\n- Pray that we will continue to serve the Lord further.\n- Please pray for the new family who has been attending our church and the brother who recently committed his life to Jesus.\n- Pray that the Lord will raise someone up to lead a church that we visited on a mission trip.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for our health, so that we can be physically fit and do ministry fruitfully.\n- Please pray that God will help us to have a baby.\n- Please pray that the believers in our church will grow spiritually and that God will bring new people into our church.\n- Please pray for the believers we visit in the leper colony. Pray that God will provide them with good health and that they will grow spiritually. Also pray that the people around the leper colony will come into our Bible Study where we fellowship together.\n- Please pray for all of the needs of our church.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\n- We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n- We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes in our fellowship. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n- Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n- Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita Milan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\n- Pray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.\n- Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n- Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\nThank you,\nMilan\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n- Please pray for those who heard the Gospel in an open event; please pray that they may come to church and find Jesus.\n- Pray that God will strengthen us (me and my wife) with His wisdom and knowledge for the ministry of God.\n- Please pray for the CC Lapu church building.\n- Pray for God to guide the church and all members in a loving and godly way.\n- Pray that my father and mother also will to come to Christ.\nBlessings!\nRaju - BlogAbhishek and Lacey – 10/40 Window\nPraise Reports: - Praise God He was able to make a way for me to move to South Asia, and provide everything my husband and I needed for our wedding. - Praise God we were able to find a home to rent that is walking distance from the Bible College where my husband is teaching almost every day. Prayer Requests: - Please pray for both of our families, especially for the salvation of those who are not walking with Jesus. - It has been two months since we have been married, please pray for our cross-cultural marriage. - Please pray for the Bible college and the Church that we are involved with and serving alongside. - Please pray the rent of the Church that we are serving alongside here in S.A. would be provided for monthly. - Please pray we would grow in discipline in every area of our life.\nThank you family for partnering alongside us, and waging war on our behalf in prayer,\nGod bless you, Abhishek and Lacey\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nDear Prayer Partners,\nThank you so much for your faithful prayers! We were going through a financially uncertain time for several months but God miraculously provided the funds we needed from unexpected places that made it possible for us to not only visit California this summer (June 6 to August 2) but also to visit family and senders in Missouri (July 28 to July 12).\n1. Please pray that God will bless and guide us as we connect and reconnect with our loved ones in the USA. We haven’t been able to visit the CA since 2019 or Missouri since 2017. May God also provide opportunities to connect with others we may not have met before. 2. Please pray for health, strength, safety, and favor throughout our trip with everyone we meet. We have received a lot of blessings already. 3. Please pray that we will be well prepared as we pause ministries here in Cambodia and then shift gears so that we can bless and encourage those we meet in the States. 4. Please pray for wisdom and provision regarding our long-term financial needs. We have been blessed that our short-term needs have been met, but we still have some significant long-term needs (for example, Benjamin’s education) that have not been fully met yet.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email BlogEurope\nDoru and the Pavel’s – Romania\nGood day everyone,\nPlease lift our family in prayer for health and endurance. The last few weeks have been difficult with ear infection for our youngest who is recovering, strep throat, and different symptoms on a daily basis. We ask for wisdom for the doctors who are helping us and everyone who needs their assistance.\nLift up our youth who are growing deeper in the lord and opening their hearts to the weight of sin they are learning to look for and uproot. We are also preparing to have a prayer walk for our community this coming weekend and we would love to see the Lord work and express his Holy Spirit in wonderful ways.\nOur church also has a dearly loved sister who is in the process of identifying what type of cancer she is dealing with, so we ask the Lord to heal her, provide closeness and unity within our congregation.\nPlease pray for my wife’s (Tasha) safety as she is working abroad and is dealing with some foot problems and missing the family.\nBlessings and Prayers, Doru and the Pavel’s - Email Blog\nJohnny and Brenna Varga - Pécs, Hungary\nPlease pray:\n1. For our women’s Bible study groups that are going on now. Pray for the women participating, that they will grow deeper rooted in Christ and in understanding of God’s word as we do a study “Glimpses of Jesus” in the Old Testament together. Brenna is leading a group of ten young women, with nine different countries/cultures represented in the group. Pray for wisdom and discernment in leading. 2. For Johnny as he continues to work on his thesis \u0026amp; prepare for final state exam, pray the Lord will lead him and help him through to the end. 3. Pray for continued divine wisdom, strength, clarity, \u0026amp; rest for our church leadership. 4. Pray for our marriage, that we may continue to grow in love for the Lord and one another.\nMuch love, Johnny and Brenna Varga - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-jul-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMonthly Prayer Requests****AFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- There was a rebel attack in Western Uganda that led to the death of 43 people, mostly children. Please pray for their families and for the church there. Pray for safety.\u003cbr\u003e\n- There are currently 5 chaplains receiving medical care in Kampala for various sicknesses and one a serious injury. Pray for healing.\u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Liana and Jesse who are both suffering from a severe flu. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for the ministries at Arise Christian Fellowship as they plan and prepare for the 2nd half of this year.\u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Jill as she homeschools.\u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JUL PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" I hope that last month you got at least a glimpse of how great our trip to Peru was. I’m so thankful for all that the Lord has done. This summer has a lot in store, and I’m looking forward to what the Lord is going to do. My goal right now is to rest in His goodness and be faithful where He’s planted me in this season. We serve a good God who always comes through, and supplies all of our needs. What a good God who knows what we have need of before we ask it!\nSummer This summer there is a lot going on. Mainly with the middle schoolers, but between friends, family, ministry, and work, it is busy indeed. For middle school we’re going to be doing a couple of events a month and we have our summer camp coming up and I’m getting excited for that! Last week we took the middle schoolers to a local mini golf course and had a great time! We’re currently going through the book of John and are going to pick up in John 7 this coming Friday. Please pray for the students, that they would draw near to Jesus, and that they would run hard after Him.\nMissions As far as missions is concerned, I will not be going to Uganda this time around, but am hoping to go to at least one upcoming conference this Fall. Please pray for the team from the Rock going to Uganda late July—it’s going to be a sweet time for them, and I’m excited to see what the Lord is going to do with their time there. Please continue to pray for wisdom and guidance as there are some opportunities on the horizon! I’m excited to see what the Lord will do and trust that He will put me right where He wants me. In the meantime I will be seeking to finish some things up here at home to be ready to go when the Lord says to.\nHow to Get Involved As opportunities arise, I will definitely let you know as there will be needs that come up. Until then, if you would please partner with me in prayer, that would be incredible! I am so thankful for your prayers and support and I am thankful to have your help in that way. I pray that your heart would be encouraged and strengthened in your faith!\nUpdates on Dad While we were in Peru, my dad had to go back into the hospital because his incision became infected. Good news though, as of yesterday, his surgical wounds are healed! He’s been doing a lot of physical and occupational therapy and is working really hard. If you would please pray for his heart to be encouraged in this season and to see what the Lord has for him to do in all of this, that would be much appreciated! His doctor told him he would have a 50% chance of being able to go back to work, and my dad is eager to see that happen. It’s undoubtedly a long road toward recovery, but the Lord is good, and whatever comes I know He will sustain my family in the midst of it all. Your prayers are beyond appreciated.\nPlease pray for me that I would manage my time well. That I would serve faithfully in every aspect of life, that He would continue to give me the mindset and drive needed to get done what’s needed—and that the name of Jesus would be glorified in all I do!\nThank you all so much, much love,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/rest-in-his-goodness-voisin-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2104D72C-4BE9-4324-B764-7BCE3D25A005.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI hope that last month you got at least a glimpse of how great our trip to Peru was. I’m so thankful for all that the Lord has done. This summer has a lot in store, and I’m looking forward to what the Lord is going to do. My goal right now is to rest in His goodness and be faithful where He’s planted me in this season. We serve a good God who always comes through, and supplies all of our needs. What a good God who knows what we have need of before we ask it!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rest in His Goodness - Voisin Update June 2023"},{"content":"Hello family! I want to begin by saying it was a pleasure celebrating another Resurrection Sunday with my Saving Grace family! I am so thankful to be praising with you all, the One who made a public spectacle of sin and death by rising on the third day; and because of that, the tomb is empty and we are full! To those of you who joined us for our Easter breakfast, I am thankful for the opportunity to have helped fill your bellies. It has been a tremendous blessing how God has used my passion for cooking to serve my brothers and sisters in the Lord. As a brother had told me, so much fellowship takes place around the dinner table, and it’s a joy to fill the plates and create those opportunities. The idea has been put on my heart of using this as a ministry opportunity overseas, especially regarding the highly relational Muslim culture I’m praying about serving in.\nFor our mission studies I continually try to add new cuisines to my skill set, and three of our last four studies I made Middle Eastern dishes. I love how it has me shop at Fresh Choice, a Middle Eastern market, and has given me the opportunity to connect with a Lebanese woman while picking out grape leaves, and with a Palestinian checker by responding to his Arabic greeting in Arabic. Besides the cooking I have been blessed with the stewardship of our Middle East care team in place of our dear brother who will is now on the field! I’m so happy to be organizing a monthly family meeting where we talk to “Dad” on behalf of our dear brothers and sisters breaking ground on this amazing new work. Prayer is so powerful for the empowerment of God’s angelic armies, and we want to support them as best we can considering the spiritual strongholds over this part of the world. I also am excited to see how God moves through this stewardship regarding my own calling to the Muslim people.\nOur departing brothers and sisters had a yard sale to get rid of more of their belongings and earn some money in the process, and it has stoked my own fire to do likewise. I’ve had thirty plus years of things I’ve acquired in a small storage unit and have begun clearing it out. I cannot justify paying rent for things I cannot hold onto, especially with what I’m feeling called to do. I’m looking forward to further downsizing and hopefully making some money in the process, especially to help clear up some credit card debt which is certainly an obstacle to any further steps.\nRegarding daily life, work has been good! It’s definitely a blessing to be at a company which is so lenient with requesting time off for any and all trips I take, the last of which was Israel just a few weeks ago! It was amazing to spend the time touring the Holy Land and to have the Bible open up to me in new and marvelous ways! There were definitely special moments with the Lord and with the team that I’ll have to share in my next update. As for special moments here at home, God gave me such a sweet word in my morning devotions. I got caught up reading Esther (too good to put down) and stopped about five chapters later, finishing in chapter 8. Then right after I had the Messianic Psalm 110 where something struck me profoundly, and that was, yet again, the message to GO! Psalm 110 describes how Christ will judge among the nations at His second coming, and Esther 8 says:\n“The couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the king’s command. And the decree was issued in Shushan the citadel.”\n‭‭Esther‬ ‭8‬:‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬\nIf the couriers had not gotten the message to the Jews in time, they would not have known that they could defend themselves from their impending doom; and the king hastened them. Christ our king, in his final commandment and great commission, tells us to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observes all things that He has commanded us. When we know that people are dying without Christ and going to hell every second this Old Testament story is a great illustration of how dire the situation really is. People across the globe, especially in the 10/40 window, need to know that there is a means of deliverance from their impending doom. Just this morning in my quiet time I had a vision of an ominous shadowy figure, mostly amorphous but with a distinguishable evil grin and clawed hands. It was flying through the air and parallel to innumerable Muslims on their faces praying, as if eager to snatch them. After praying for the people I saw a veiled skeleton looking up and disintegrating, with the veil falling to the ground. My first impression was the fate of the people, but then I felt the Lord tell me it meant that death is fading and the veil will fall.\nPrayer Requests\nThat the light of the gospel would tear through the darkness of the Islamic stronghold, and that the veil would indeed fall That the Lord would bless the roots being placed in the Middle East, and that I would be sensitive to the guidance of His Holy Spirit for the perfect will He has for me That I would be diligent and faithful with all the stewardship He has blessed me with here and now That the Lord would provide, should He desire me to go to Peru in September, to help with and attend the mission conference Praise Reports\nI’m an uncle! My sister Nicole and brother-in-law Arron had a precious little boy named Maddox (also please pray for their salvation, that God would use parenthood to draw them near) The fifth year of the Calvary School of Missions is about to begin! (Please pray for full surrender from the students, clear direction from the Lord regarding missions, and blessing and refreshment for the saints who will be assisted and served) I will be in the wedding of a dear brother who moved to the east coast. (Please pray for all to go according to plan and for a blessed time of fellowship and reuniting) ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/faithfully-present-albano-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello family! I want to begin by saying it was a pleasure celebrating another Resurrection Sunday with my Saving Grace family! I am so thankful to be praising with you all, the One who made a public spectacle of sin and death by rising on the third day; and because of that, the tomb is empty and we are full! To those of you who joined us for our Easter breakfast, I am thankful for the opportunity to have helped fill your bellies. It has been a tremendous blessing how God has used my passion for cooking to serve my brothers and sisters in the Lord. As a brother had told me, so much fellowship takes place around the dinner table, and it’s a joy to fill the plates and create those opportunities. The idea has been put on my heart of using this as a ministry opportunity overseas, especially regarding the highly relational Muslim culture I’m praying about serving in.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Faithfully Present - Albano Update June 2023"},{"content":" Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”\nLuke 24:46-47\nFelicidades! Thank you for opening our newsletter! We’ll catch you up on some things from the past two months, and include prayer requests and pictures below, as always!\nWE WRITE TO YOU FROM OUR NEW HOME IN TRUJILLO, PERÚ!\nBy the grace of God, we flew in this past weekend and are staying at our pastor’s house for a month to get acquainted with the city and the ministries here at Calvary Trujillo and CBI Perú. Soon we will move to a shared house with our own rented quarters.\nThank you all for encouraging us, praying for us, and supporting us through our time in the States these past few months! A lot of things needed to happen for us to get where we are currently.\nBig praise reports: our flights were very affordable, our daughter Amalia’s passport came in time, and our sister-in-law Andrea got to fly with us and help make traveling with a baby and all our bags go smoothly.\nThe month of May was full of new partnerships, and fun with family and friends in Southern California. So many great memories as we enjoyed our “lasts” of many things in America for a while. We were also blessed to attend the internship class with Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in our time in SoCal. There we hung out with future/current missionaries, prepare and teach 15 minute messages from the Bible, and participate as students in a class through the Book of Acts. The internship really helped us stay focused during our time in America.\nWe also got to share at the church we grew up in, MVCF, in San Diego and host a dessert gathering to share more specific details about the work we’re endeavoring to do in Perú! Thank you to those who came and asked such great questions! MVCF also joined in a special way by praying over us and sending us out the Sunday before we left. This church really played a huge part in both mine and Racquell’s childhood and youth group ages, so continuing that connection now is a huge privilege for us.\nWe also had an opportunity to meet new friends and share at Calvary Chapel Escondido, in California. The Lord has been giving us with great connections and amazing people who have encouraged us and spurred us on. Thank you, friends, new and old!\nWe’re especially excited to be in Trujillo now, because a team from Calvary Chapel Lihue (Hawaii) will be visiting in just a few days! It will be great to reconnect with them in Perú…kind of like two worlds colliding for our family! We’re praying it is a sweet time and that God uses this trip mightily in the lives of those coming, and the lives that they impact while they’re with us in Perú. We’ll work alongside them a lot in the next couple weeks, with construction projects at the CBI campus and in local outreaches.\n“ Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem””(Luke 24:46-47 NKJV). Friends, the saving message of Jesus hasn’t changed, and His commission yet remains for the Church to obey. As the work began in Jerusalem and spread through the earth these past two millennia, Jesus is continuing His work of saving souls TODAY, using the Church as His ambassador.\nRacquell and I are praying that Jesus uses our lives mightily for His name here in South America. That many disciples are made and Bible teaching churches are planted throughout the world. People need to hear the gospel.\nIn months past we’ve updated our newsletters with our financial status…and we want to share that thanks to many of your generous ongoing monthly support and one time donations, we can afford to live in Trujillo with our basic needs covered! We will continue to update you with specific needs as they come.\nWe know that those who give are taking a step of faith along with us. Thank you for your generosity and faith in God in this area. We hope to be a blessing to people in Trujillo and beyond, on your behalf. Really, we’re an extension of the Body of Christ reaching from all over the globe, to continue the church planting and disciple making movement in South America.\nPrayer Requests for our family:\nFor our BODIES, MINDS, AND SPIRITS: We need to press on and continue with love by the Holy Spirit. STARTING WELL in our new home and with the ministries here in South America Praise Reports:\nWe’ve been FOCUSED. God is giving us great friendships and partnerships. We’ve been BOLD in sharing the gospel. WE MADE IT TO PERU! Ways to get involved:\nPray for us. We will need ongoing prayerful support as we settle into our new home country. Join our Care Team. It’s a group of people that meets once a month in Kauai to pray for us specifically. Tell a friend or family member. Help share the vision that the Lord has given us with people or churches you know. It takes an army of people to send a missionary out! If you know anyone who is interested in partnering with missionaries who are church planting, we’d love to connect with them! Become a financial partner. God has been providing immensely for us to take this big step of faith, and you can help us to be a blessing to more people. To check out the ministry we are serving with, please click the link:\nCalvaryperu.com\nBy the grace of Jesus and for His glory,\nThe Stratton Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/crash-landed-stratton-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThen He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLuke 24:46-47\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/Straochogus.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFelicidades! Thank you for opening our newsletter! We’ll catch you up on some things from the past two months, and include prayer requests and pictures below, as always!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Crash Landed! - Stratton Update June 2023"},{"content":"One of the greatest honors that we have as missionaries, is to share with you what the Lord is doing with His Church in the place that we will be serving. While we couldn’t possibly share with you everything going on in the Japanese church, because we witnessed just a small part of it, we are excited to share the stories that we were privileged to see and hear during our trip.\nAlishia sat down with her friend, Shiho, while we were in Osaka and recorded an interview. Most of us don’t have any experience with living in a culture where you don’t personally know any other Christians. Where family pressure makes it difficult to accept what is viewed as a foreign religion, it\u0026rsquo;s not suitable for a respectable Japanese person. Where the spiritual supports (sometimes crutches) of being surrounded by a body of believers is absent in your desire to walk with the Lord. So, we are excited to introduce you to Shiho and some of her testimony in this video.\nhttps://youtu.be/C_A5FGMcZQ4\nAs we return to Japan, we hope to be able to create more of these videos. Sharing with you more of Shiho’s story as well as the stories of other Japanese Christians. There are hundreds of these stories in Japan, each one beautiful and unique and encouraging in their own way. The Church in Japan is small, but it is not insignificant. Be praying for the believers there to be powerful witnesses to those around them, and be blessed by the testimonies of what God is doing there.\nWe are preparing for our return to Japan in Montana at our church. As soon as our monthly support is in place, we are ready to go. In the meantime, we will be leading a short-term missions trip for the church this fall, as well as a trip to Japan for prospective co-laborers this winter. Please pray for us and those that go on these trips with us. We will be in Nebraska with Daphne for July, and we’re very excited for that time as well.\nPrayer requests:\nFor the church in Japan and the believers there. For the Lord to provide for our financial needs. For our trips this fall and winter. For Daphne and our time with her this summer. For our Japanese language learning. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/meet-a-japanese-christian/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOne of the greatest honors that we have as missionaries, is to share with you what the Lord is doing with His Church in the place that we will be serving. While we couldn’t possibly share with you everything going on in the Japanese church, because we witnessed just a small part of it, we are excited to share the stories that we were privileged to see and hear during our trip.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Meet a Japanese Christian - Root Update June 2023"},{"content":" As temperatures start to cool and fall arrives in Mazatlan, we start welcoming back friends from areas in the US and Canada that are escaping their icy cold winters. It is also time to prepare and re-start many of our mid-week ministries for our English speaking community at Calvary Maranatha.\nBut, this year, while friends started arriving, I was preparing for something new.\nIn December, following the Lord’s recent promptings, I made new plans to return to California. Over the past years, my visits back to the US were typically just a few weeks at a time to see family and renew my visa. But, this time the plan was to stay longer. My hope was that this longer home stay would provide added time to reconnect with family and friends, a chance to visit a variety of local churches and support teams as well as being available to help my mom as her rehabilitation continued from a bad fall she had in August.\nSaying goodbye was difficult!\nThese past years serving alongside Pastor Tony and Angela Carranza have been filled with lots of amazing and fulfilling experiences. I’m grateful to have been a part of the variety of ministry provided at Calvary Maranatha…conferences, missions teams, outreaches, bible studies, vacation bible schools, plus all our weekly church events.\nWhat an amazing time these past 5 years have been! I am so thankful for all that I have learned and especially for each person on the Maranatha ministry team. I will always be honored and grateful to be part of the team that makes the name of Jesus famous in Mazatlan!\nMy final Sunday before traveling back to California Pastor Tony presented me with a plaque of appreciation while the Pastors and church body prayed for me, sending me out with their blessing and the Lord’s protection.\nNew things in the New Year\nDuring my stay in California, I’ve had the opportunity to spend time over at the Saving Grace World Missions headquarters in Yorba Linda. The Pastors and staff have been so helpful providing wise counsel, prayer and encouragement as I navigate this time of change.\nI’ve had the opportunity to attend various bible and missionary intern classes provided at the headquarters. What an encouragement it has been to be around so many young people excited to pursue their purpose of serving the Lord in this world.\nThese classes have provided me with a rich time of learning that has challenged and replenished me as I have been adjusting life back in the states. In addition to classes, I’ve been blessed to come alongside and mentor a few young gals during their final months of preparation before leaving for their field assignments.\nMeet my friend Macey!\nMacey has graduated from the Calvary School of Missions hosted by SGWM in Rosarito Mexico, and has been serving in the mission’s internship program at SGWM’s headquarters. I’ve enjoyed getting to know her and have had fun sharing experiences from my years serving in Mexico. I’ve been encouraged by Macey’s commitment and pursuit after all the Lord has for her as she prepares for her field assignment.\nReconnecting with good friends!\nI’ve appreciated the unrushed time I’ve had to visit with old friends, meet new ones and connect with ministry partners in Orange County. It has been great to be back at my church home in Irvine, Voyagers Bible Church. The VBC church family who prayed for me when I was entering the mission field 8 years ago, have welcomed me back with open arms. In addition to Sunday services, I’ve been able to join into the women’s bible study on Tuesday mornings. What a joy it has been to study God’s word together with these women, many of whom have been a vital part of my prayer support team since I started serving in Mexico.\nReturning to Mazatlan, but not on my own…\nAt the end of April, I was blessed to lead a team from Voyagers Bible Church down to Mazatlan. As I introduced the VBC team to my church family at Calvary Maranatha, I felt like I was introducing distant relatives at a family reunion. What a joy it was to make these introductions realizing that the VBC group was seeing the fruits from their support and prayers for me over the years.\nWe all had a great time with Pastor Tony as he toured us around the Calvary Maranatha ministries in Mazatlan. We had an opportunity to be involved several midweek evening events and Sunday church and baptism service at centro, as well as visiting a few church plant locations, and having an opportunity encourage and pray with several pastors and church planting students. In addition, the VBC team provided all the paint and supplies need to help transform the exterior of Maranatha Centro.\nWhat a rich and action packed time we were able to spend together. The VBC team’s investment of their time, finances and skills made a great impact on my heart and a lasting impression on the Calvary Maranatha church family in Mazatlan.\nNew Opportunities…\nThis summer I am excited to share that I will be joining in with the Calvary School of Missions.\nClasses and training will take place in Mexico from July 9th- August 20th and will involve multiple levels of hands-on experiences and biblical training from Calvary Chapel pastors and missionaries currently serving on the field.\nI am honored to be serving as this year’s Director of Outreach as well as participating in the daily class program provided.\nDuring these weeks, I am confident that the Lord is going to use this rich opportunity of training and serving together to guide us toward the paths He has next for us!\nAs His word says:\nTrust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6\nThank you for your continued prayers and support!\nPlease join me in prayer for:\nThe continued ministry of Calvary Maranatha, Mazatlan and their future church plants God’s wisdom and knowledge as I follow on His paths. Health and provision through this time of learning. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-season-schipke-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/hole-of-hope-3.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs temperatures start to cool and fall arrives in Mazatlan, we start welcoming back friends from areas in the US and Canada that are escaping their icy cold winters. It is also time to prepare and re-start many of our mid-week ministries for our English speaking community at Calvary Maranatha.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut, this year, while friends started arriving, I was preparing for something new.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn December, following the Lord’s recent promptings, I made new plans to return to California. Over the past years, my visits back to the US were typically just a few weeks at a time to see family and renew my visa. But, this time the plan was to stay longer. My hope was that this longer home stay would provide added time to reconnect with family and friends, a chance to visit a variety of local churches and support teams as well as being available to help my mom as her rehabilitation continued from a bad fall she had in August.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Season - Schipke Update June 2023"},{"content":" And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. Ephesians 6:18\nDear Friends and Family,\nWe want to thank you all for your prayers. I know many of you have expressed concern about what has been happening in Sudan. The fighting there continues but we are very far from Sudan and safe in Uganda.\nWhile we are far away and safe, there have been many missionaries and even chaplains who have been stuck in Sudan and have had trouble getting out and to safety. Thankfully the Lord has provided for us to be able to help in different ways. One of the ways was to help one of the South Sudanese chaplain guards and his family to get to safety. Abraham is one of the chaplains who came to help us with security after our robbery in 2019. Due to covid he and the other chaplains ended up spending many months in quarantine with us in Uganda. That time of quarantine brought us all close together. Abraham had been in Sudan serving near Dafur when the fighting broke out. His wife was north of Khartoum about to deliver a baby. Via Facebook he was able to keep us informed of what was happening up until he was finally able to secure transport out of the danger area and to his wife. Here are some of his communications.\nA praise report on top of thanking the Lord for Abraham’s safe escape from the danger zone, is that once he was reunited with his family, his wife gave birth to a healthy baby girl.\nAnother praise report from Sudan is the safe rescue of an American pastor and his mission team that happened to be in Sudan when the fighting broke out. Many of you know that I have been babysitting a little boy called Jesse, until he can join his family in the States. The pastor and mission team were from his families’ church. The team had been on a missions trip elsewhere in Africa and had only intended to be in Sudan 2 days before heading back to the USA. Fighting broke out and that 2 days turned into 13 days. Miraculously, they were able to get help from an Arab tv station that put them in their van and got them to the coast where they were able to board a ferry to the safety of Saudi Arabia. We thank the Lord for their deliverance and for the many others who have been able to get to safety. We continue to pray for those who are still trying to get out and for the fighting to stop.\nIn Uganda we have been safe from fighting but many people have been affected by the rainy season. This time of year is what we normally call the small rainy season but this year the weather has been severe. It has been raining almost nonstop and many places have flooded. This has caused roads to wash away and many accidents to occur due to the deep holes in the roads that become hidden when covered with water. It also has increased the cases of malaria due to an abundance of mosquitos. Pray for the rain to stop and for health and safety for the people of Uganda.\nArise Christian Fellowship has not been untouched by the sicknesses brought on by this rainy season. It is with a very sad and heavy heart we tell you of the passing of Evat. It was just over a year ago I was writing of his marriage and the birth of his child. A very brief but deadly sickness took him at his home. Many members of the church traveled the 6+ hours to his families village for the funeral and burial. We celebrate the fact that he is with the Lord but we mourn his loss here to his wife, baby, and all who knew and loved him.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry to the people of Uganda and Sudan.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee and Liana\n**PRAYER REQUESTS\n**- We are so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us and for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda.\n- Please pray for an end to the fighting in Sudan and for the evacuation of those who are in the fighting danger zones.\n- Pray for Abraham and his family to remain safe and for their new baby girl.\n- Pray for the missionaries who have been evacuated from Sudan to recover from the things they have seen and experienced.\n- Pray for the rains in Uganda to let up and for people to be safe from sickness and on the dangerous roads.\n- Pray for the Family of Evat and for Arise Christian Fellowship as they mourn his loss.\n- Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview.\n- Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\n- Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-family-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"and-pray-in-the-spirit-on-all-occasions-with-all-kinds-of-prayers-and-requests\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnd pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eEphesians 6:18\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe want to thank you all for your prayers.  I know many of you have expressed concern about what has been happening in Sudan.  The fighting there continues but we are very far from Sudan and safe in Uganda.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile we are far away and safe, there have been many missionaries and even chaplains who have been stuck in Sudan and have had trouble getting out and to safety. Thankfully the Lord has provided for us to be able to help in different ways.  One of the ways was to help one of the South Sudanese chaplain guards and his family to get to safety.  Abraham is one of the chaplains who came to help us with security after our robbery in 2019.  Due to covid he and the other chaplains ended up spending many months in quarantine with us in Uganda.  That time of quarantine brought us all close together.  Abraham had been in Sudan serving near Dafur when the fighting broke out.  His wife was north of Khartoum about to deliver a baby.  Via Facebook he was able to keep us informed of what was happening up until he was finally able to secure  transport out of the danger area and to his wife. Here are some of his communications.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Family Update - June 2023"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Partners, and Leaders\nGreetings to all of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! I thank God the Father Lord Jesus Christ that until now God has kept me safe and that He is using me in my state. Even though people are being persecuted all over our country, there is very little persecution in my state. In our place, only the people of the village and neighborhood persecute us. We do not have any kind of problem with the law or political leader. This is all an answer to your prayers. Because of your prayers, people are having a deeper understanding of God\u0026rsquo;s Word and have surrendered everything to God. By the grace of God many villages have church fellowships and Bible studies.\nGod has given an American a unique heart for my city!\nToday, I am going to share the testimony of a man who left his country and came to my district for the sake of the Gospel of the Lord and to serve God. The man\u0026rsquo;s name is S*. He is from a country in Central America. Nowadays, the pastor lives in our city with his wife on a tourist visa. They are teaching people how to spread the Gospel. They try their best to teach in our language. He runs a home church in a village, and travels with his wife on a motor bike. Despite the unbearable heat, he does not hesitate to do the work of the Lord. His wife is always suffering from some or the other disease like a stomach ache, fever etc., yet both of them are engaged in the work of the Lord. I met him at a local pastors\u0026rsquo; meeting and invited him to my wedding. He came to my wedding even though it was summer and prayed for our marriage to be blessed.\nA man suffering from strange disease from birth dedicated his life to the Lord!\nI thank God that God provided Audio Bibles which I was able to give to many people who needed them and to whom I was led to let them listen to the Word of the Lord. I want to share the testimony of one more of the today. His name is S*. I have sent newsletters and prayer requests about him many times. He has been coming to our church for about 12 years. He is suffering from a very strange disease. His hands and feet start bursting on their own and blood starts coming out. His nails also become very big and hurts when bitten. I tried many places to get him treatment and took him to many hospitals so that he could be cured but he could not recover as much as he should have. He recovered a little with treatment at a hospital. The treatment was very expensive, so I helped him financially get some more treatment. Because of this disease, many people hated him. They were afraid to even talk to him lest this disease would spread to them as well. The poor thing tried to commit suicide several times. But I thank God that He gave me the opportunity to understand through the Word of God that He loves him very much. Last week, I gave him an audio Bible because he does not know how to read or write. He has never went to school. Ever since I gave him an Audio Bible, he always carries it with him day and night and listens to the Word of God.\nOur day of fasting prayer ended after dinner!\nI thank God that by faith my church is getting stronger day-by-day in faith and in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. Because of the name of the Lord, they are persecuted day by day, yet their faith does not break and they are getting absorbed in the Lord. We planned for many days for fasting prayer. So our whole church family organized a fasting prayer meeting on June 2nd. 30 to 35 people came. We all together prayed for the whole world from morning till evening. We offered prayers for the missionaries who are imprisoned and suffering for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the believers to be steadfast in their faith and to be wise in the Word of God, for the church to be strong in persecution, and that the Good News can reach every corner of the earth etc.\nFrom morning to evening we prayed in many ways. We prayed all together, and also prayed in small groups. Having fellowship with God and with people was a reason for us to be very excited. We arranged dinner for them before they went home in the evening. I thank God that everything went well.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that God meets each and every need of ours. Please pray for our church. The heat is so fierce that we often have to finish our services early. Please pray that God enables me to safely take my wife on a journey to visit her mother\u0026rsquo;s side of the family this month.. Please pray for rain here. Due to the lack of rain, all the rivers and streams have dried up, so I am not able to baptize the new believers. The baptism tank which we had built in the church is broken. Please pray for S*. May God heal him from whatever strange disease he is suffering from. Thanks for your love, prayer support, and partnership in the Gospel.\nGod bless you all,\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/growing-in-gods-word-pastor-11-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Partners, and Leaders\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ! I thank God the Father Lord Jesus Christ that until now God has kept me safe and that He is using me in my state. Even though people are being persecuted all over our country, there is very little persecution in my state. In our place, only the people of the village and neighborhood persecute us. We do not have any kind of problem with the law or political leader. This is all an answer to your prayers. Because of your prayers, people are having a deeper understanding of God\u0026rsquo;s Word and have surrendered everything to God. By the grace of God many villages have church fellowships and Bible studies.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Growing in God's Word - Pastor 11 Update June 2023"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nLast month we got a chance to visit a different state with family. We had a good time meeting with cousins. We were able to have fellowship with them and share the Word with them.\nWe also got the chance to visit a blind hostel run by Swedish Missionaries. There are about 200 students there. Some live there as resident students. Others, who are from nearby villages, go back to their homes after school. It was our privilege to spend time with them and pray for them. The manager shared a testimony about God\u0026rsquo;s provision for the blind school. During Covid, they did not have any funds for the school, but the staff stayed without getting a salary and the local people raised some money to feed the students. Now, a Swedish mission has been helping financially for last two years to run the school. Praise God for such committed Christian workers who Christian worked without receiving a salary.\nSince the Bible Institute is closed for summer brake, we are focusing on church ministry. We do home visitation in the evenings since during the day it is very hot.\nIn the morning we are cataloging the books of our Bible Institute library. The new Bible Institute session will start the first week of July.\nSince schools are out for summer break, we had a VBS that was attended by around 400 children!\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge. Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing. Please pray for the village ministry in our local area. May the villagers grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word. Please pray M* (the niece of one of our students). She is suffering from Chickenpox. Please pray for our state believers, as they are facing persecution. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praise-the-lord-pastor-16-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/WhatsApp-Image-2023-05-24-at-10.42.25-AM-1-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month we got a chance to visit a different state with family. We had a good time meeting with cousins. We were able to have fellowship with them and share the Word with them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praise the Lord - Pastor 16 update June 2023"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\n“And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you” (Galatians 3:29).\nWe are so grateful to the Lord for His promises in the Word; that by faith, we become part of God’s promise!\nGod is so faithful that He provides our needs and protects us under His mighty wings. We appreciate you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We do remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May our great God bless you with everything you need and good health.\nLast month, we celebrated my wife and my daughter\u0026rsquo;s birthdays. In both of the celebrations, family and friends came for the fellowship. It is amazing that, God helped them to grow in the Word! And He has kept them healthy.\nMy daughter participated in VBS for 10 days. It was wonderful to learn God’s Word! By God’s grace, she got a prize for perfect attendance and 2nd place in the Bible quiz competition (right). She was awarded as the Bright Star of the class! There were approximately 350 children in the VBS.\nWe visited many non-Christian’s families, to build friendships and show them the love of Christ. Many of them have responded well.\nPrayer Requests:\nFervently pray that God will work in the hearts of the new families that we visited; that someday they will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ! The weather is so hot now, a very high 42° (107 degrees Fahrenheit)! It is so hard for people to attend our very hot church building. Kindly pray. Also, pray for the growth and needs of our church. Please pray for me and my family; that Lord may use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/grateful-for-the-lords-promises-pastor-3-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you” (Galatians 3:29).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are so grateful to the Lord for His promises in the Word; that by faith, we become part of God’s promise!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/My-Wife-Celebrated-her-birthday-with-her-friends-150x150.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGod is so faithful that He provides our needs and protects us under His mighty wings. We appreciate you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We do remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May our great God bless you with everything you need and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Grateful for the Lord's Promises - Pastor 3 Update June 2023"},{"content":"Hello friends and family. Here is a quick update this month.\nMy friend Pastor Alfredo of San Rafael, Peru is the chief leader of his people, the Aents (or Awajun). San Rafael is one of many jungle communities in mid-north Peru. Alfredo, being the first pastor of his people, has the heart to share the gospel with all of them and equip male leaders. He invited certain Aents men to come to San Rafael for a conference for a few weeks to study the Bible, with the hope that they will eventually be pastors and teach their people back in their communities. Nine of these men made sacrifices by leaving their families and banana farms to come to San Rafael and learn more about what the Word of God says.\nNorth of Moyobamba on the map is San Rafael, the yellow dot with the white star. North and northwest from there towards Ecuador are where the Aents people are spread out into different communities.\nThe problem is that Pastor Alfredo hasn’t been able to find any bible teachers to come to his conference. He has been praying that God would send teachers for 7 or so years (I can’t remember the exact number). Then he crossed paths with Pastor Cory, my pastor from Calvary Trujillo.\nRewinding a month, I was in Moyobamba with a team for a missions trip there and then to San Rafael. Pastor Alfredo happened to be in Moyobamba with his son. I read Nehemiah chapter 8 one morning, right before meeting with Pastor Alfredo. Verse 8 talks about the priests explaining God’s Word to the people of Israel, and says, “They read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and gave them sense, so that the people understood the reading.”\nShortly after reading this, I met with Pastor Alfredo and he told me how he planned a conference, but couldn’t find anyone to come and teach some bible classes. Later I mentioned all of this with Pastor Cory and connected Nehemiah chapter 8 with Alfredo’s dilemma. These jungle men needed someone to explain to them and help them understand God’s Word. Next thing you know, Pastor Angel (of Calvary Buenos Aires Trujillo) and I were jungle bound 3 weeks later!\nWe had company on our taxi ride to San Rafael! Pastor Angel and I headed to the rural jungle community of San Rafael May 2 and 3.\nWhen we arrived in San Rafael after crossing the river on a boat and then a bumpy taxi ride, 10 students eagerly awaited us. I taught a class called the Inductive Bible Study right away. It’s a class that uses tools like observation, interpretation, and application to better understand each verse of the Bible. Angel taught 1 Timothy in the late afternoon session, which was appropriate seeing that many of the Aents aspire to be pastors and teach their people one day.\nI specifically emphasized in this session that as a Pastor, we have to give people the Word of God, not our opinions.\nThe classes went a lot slower than we expected, one reason being that we used Pastor Alfredo as a translator from Spanish to Aents. It was kind of funny because I would say a sentence in Spanish and everyone gave me a blank stare. Then when Alfredo translated, I could see the light bulbs click based on the expression of their faces, and many “aha!” moments.\nIt was cool to see almost every student arrive on time to their classes, with their Bible and notebook open, ready to learn. They were very humble and teachable.\nThe students were very thankful that we came, and some have been praying for years that someone would come and teach them the Bible. One man named Elias, who lives about 3 days away from San Rafael, said he was so desperate to learn, that he tried to invite some Jehovah\u0026rsquo;s witnesses to disciple him at one point. Praise the Lord that never came through! The students have such a burden to teach their communities the Word of God. When I plant Calvary Moyobamba in October, I want to be intentional about making a few trips a year to teach and invest further in these men, possibly with Pastor Cory and Pastor Angel.\nHenry (to my right) asked for prayer that he would serve God faithfully. He asked great questions and was one of the best students.\nPastor Cory has invited Pastor Alfredo and 5 other Aents men to come to our Inductive Bible Seminar in Trujillo in August, as well as the church planting conference in September. Alfredo happily accepted the gracious offer. These are great steps to further disciple the Aents men.\n\nThank you for the financial support to allow me to go on this trip. And thank you for taking time to read this letter! I am thankful for you all! I will send another update in June.\nPraise Reports\nPraise God we made wonderful friendships with the Aents men. Praise God for Pastor Cory and Calvary Trujillo’s prayers and my relationship with them. Praise God that Angel wants to involve his church in missions more. Praise God for the hunger of God’s Word the Aents students had. They want more! Praise God that Alfredo is in the process of building a bigger building to host more bible teaching sessions. Prayer Requests\nPray that the Aents men can be patient and diligent with their time in the Bible. It’s more difficult because they have it in Spanish, and it’s not their first language. Pray for God to call more people to help with the church plant in Moyobamba in October. Prayer for financial support. Prayer for me growing in leadership, organization, and communication. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/teaching-those-of-the-peruvian-amazon-jungle-weakland-update-may-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family. Here is a quick update this month.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy friend Pastor Alfredo of San Rafael, Peru is the chief leader of his people, the Aents (or Awajun). San Rafael is one of many jungle communities in mid-north Peru. Alfredo, being the first pastor of his people, has the heart to share the gospel with all of them and equip male leaders. He invited certain Aents men to come to San Rafael for a conference for a few weeks to study the Bible, with the hope that they will eventually be pastors and teach their people back in their communities. Nine of these men made sacrifices by leaving their families and banana farms to come to San Rafael and learn more about what the Word of God says.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Teaching those of the Peruvian Amazon Jungle - Weakland Update May 2023"},{"content":" We arrived in California on June 6 and have spent the last few days getting over jet-lag. We had a smooth trip. It is a blessing to be able to visit the USA after four years away! We will spend June 28-July 12 in Missouri. We will return to California and stay here until we return to Cambodia on August 1. We look forward to connecting with as many of our beloved friends, relatives, and senders while we are here in the USA both in-person or even online. Please feel free to contact us at darryl@sgwm.com.\nThe last couple of months in Cambodia were full but blessed as we wrapped up our ministries there before coming to the USA. I continued working with Light Times Magazine, Kayo and I also worked with Precious Women Organization. Kayo continues her work as a board member and administrative volunteer, and I helped them produce videos and lead devotions. I continue to mentor a Cambodian pastor and another missionary. We also continue to partner with the international church to minister to expats and Cambodians. Kayo successfully completed her first round of leading the women’s ministry, helped with the communication system, and she also helped the worship team. I spoke a couple of times, helped with the Chinese ministry, and started laying the groundwork for a men’s ministry. I have a couple of projects to work on while I am here but I have a lot of flexibility and free time available to connect with people here.\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/now-visiting-the-usa-record-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/352918324%5F612072324042564%5F3505325339703391742%5Fn-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe arrived in California on June 6 and have spent the last few days getting over jet-lag. We had a smooth trip. It is a blessing to be able to visit the USA after four years away! We will spend June 28-July 12 in Missouri. We will return to California and stay here until we return to Cambodia on August 1. We look forward to connecting with as many of our beloved friends, relatives, and senders while we are here in the USA both in-person or even online. Please feel free to contact us at \u003ca href=\"mailto:darryl@sgwm.com\"\u003edarryl@sgwm.com\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Now Visiting the USA! - Record Update June 2023"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThis month I had one of my busiest travel months ever, as I was blessed to visit 6 of our church plants. One of the great blessings of being involved in church planting, is we get to follow in the footsteps of the great Apostle Paul. After Paul planted churches, he went back and revisited them to encourage them. We hear this heart of Paul in acts 15:36, “Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.”\nIn this update, I want to take you along with me on these trips so we can celebrate together the great things God has done. The month of May began as I flew down to La Paz (South Baja) with a team of four pastors from our church. CCLa Paz is one of our older church plants at nearly ten years old. We were blessed to encourage their church and to host a conference on church planting. But one of the main reasons we were visiting them is that they are preparing to plant two new churches themselves this year. (Churches planted by our churches are called 2nd generation church plants) It was a blessing to meet and encourage these courageous future church planters as they prepare to step out in faith.\nStraight across the Baja peninsula is a cute little town called Todos Santos. 5 years ago, one of our church plants (CCRancho Libertad, mentioned below) planted this church along with a men’s discipleship home (rehab) in this sleepy little village. I was honored and blessed to teach at their Sunday service, and they had about 80 in attendance at their bilingual church. To see our 2nd generation church plants flourishing swelled up my heart with thankfulness.\nIn the middle of the month, I was able to travel up to Yucca Valley to teach at a conference titled “Raising up the Next generation!’ Many don’t know that directly after college I moved out to Yucca Valley where I got my first teaching and coaching job at Yucca Valley High School. During my three years living out in the desert, my home church was CC Joshua Springs, the church I was able to share at on this trip! Thank you Lord for allowing me to return to the desert to encourage the believers there.\nAt the end of the month, a team of six of us traveled to the Sonora Desert to visit two of our church plants. The state of Sonora is south of Arizona, and 10 years ago we planted a church there in a little town called Kilometer 57! We were blessed to visit and encourage the saints there, provide a delicious meal, and remind them of God’s love for them.\nWe continued our travels driving an hour north to San Luis Rio Colorado (a border town to Arizona) to visit our 4 year old church plant in that town of half a million inhabitants! The Pastor told us that our presence there was like cold water flowing in a parched desert! We hosted a church planting conference there and encouraged them in this worthy missions endeavor. Thankfully, all four of the churches that we visited agreed to start up their own church planting classes in order to help them raise up leaders and future church planters!\nMy month ended by teaching at one of our local church plants, CC Libery Ranch located in La Mision. (30 minutes south of us) This thriving church isn’t only reaching their community, but they have planted two churches of their own as well. Presently their ministry is building a shelter for battered women, so please keep that worthy project in your prayers!\nFinally, this month I was featured on a podcast where I was able to lay out our ministry’s vision for reaching the world through church planting. If you would like to give it a listen, you can find it on Spotify, and search for the “Cultivate Church planting network”.\nOnce again I want to thank you for your partnership over these past 21 years on the mission field of Mexico. We feel honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with us as your missionaries through your prayers and finances. We love you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless our new church plant to Lima Peru! (Church Plant #36)\n#2- That God would provide a job for our daughter Grace, as she has moved to the states to finish up her college.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for our 36th church plant to Lima Peru with Pastor Lorenzo Ruiz!\n#2- Praise God for our 2 new 2nd generation church plants that will be sent out through CC La Paz this year!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-missions-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/348573313%5F5923896124388467%5F7254286101126893652%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis month I had one of my busiest travel months ever, as I was blessed to visit 6 of our church plants. One of the great blessings of being involved in church planting, is we get to follow in the footsteps of the great Apostle Paul. After Paul planted churches, he went back and revisited them to encourage them. We hear this heart of Paul in acts 15:36, \u003cem\u003e“Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family Missions Update - June 2023"},{"content":"“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.”\nIsaiah 61:1\nDear Family \u0026amp; Friends in Christ,\nI want to thank you so much for your prayers. I am confident that because of your prayers, God has been moving and opening doors for ministry because He loves the people of this nation. I have much joy in sharing all that our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has been doing!\nThe ministry of Jesus was to heal the broken-hearted by restoring them to Himself, and this is what I have been witnessing. I visited a young man who is living a very broken life. He lives outside of the village because he is lower caste, and he has an addiction to alcohol. His daily wages are very small and he chooses to waste the wages on alcohol. He also has a very broken relationship with his parents because his parents are also addicted to alcohol. I have seen how this has been very destructive in their home and life. I am very thankful God gave me the opportunity to meet them and share with them about God and how much He loves them. As I shared the Gospel with this young man, I told him how much the Lord loves him. This young man is attempting to heal his heart through alcohol, but I shared with him that in the Word of God we can find the solution to everything because we find healing there. I am praying for this man and his family. As I continue to visit them, I am praying that the Word of God will transform their hearts and minds.\nIn one of the villages that I have been visiting during the past six months, I have been so blessed to see how God is transforming the people there! There was a back-slidden family who had not attended church for more than two years. They did not have a good understanding of God’s Word. The church that they attended did not properly teach the Bible. Instead, they taught the church members to place their focus on tithing and on what God could do for them. It has been wonderful to see God working and how interested in God\u0026rsquo;s Word this family has become! When I first met this man and his family, they would often say that they were busy or make other plans for Sunday and not be available for Sunday service.\nHowever, now I have seen so much growth in their lives. They are eager to receive me on Sundays, and they have said they will not make other plans. They now put Sunday fellowship as a priority. I am blessed to see them growing and asking so many questions about the Lord and the Bible. After our teaching time, we spend time going over their questions and I am seeing changes in them. It is also really amazing to see them invite other family members to their home for church service! These sheep are bringing other sheep, and my heart is really blessed by all God is doing.\nI am seeing God’s faithfulness through the people I am ministering to. They are all from the lowest caste and feel very rejected and unloved by society. As I share the Gospel, they are discovering the true and living God that loves them and does not see caste or economic status. The ground is level at the cross, and they are learning that they are perfectly loved by the Creator of the universe. They are learning that only Jesus Christ can heal their broken hearts.\nThank you for your prayers, my friends and family. I ask that you would please continue to pray.\nPrayer Requests:\nThose I am meeting with are not baptized. Pray that as I teach them about baptism, they would have a good understanding and that God would prepare their hearts to want to receive baptism. Pray for traveling safety. The distance is far to these villages (93 miles by motorcycle). I usually return at night, and the weather is not good for motorcycle riding. Pray for open doors for future ministry. The villages that I have been visiting are along the highway, but I desire to go to the inner villages which are considered tribal and in extreme idolatry, very dark. Please pray that God will use me to bring light to these dark villages. God bless,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-healing-the-broken-hearted-pastor-7-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIsaiah 61:1\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Family \u0026amp; Friends in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI want to thank you so much for your prayers. I am confident that because of your prayers, God has been moving and opening doors for ministry because He loves the people of this nation. I have much joy in sharing all that our great Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, has been doing!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Healing the Broken-Hearted - Pastor 7 Update June 2023"},{"content":"Brian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nPray for Jill as she is recovering from amoeba and giardia.\nPray her stomach heals completely. Luke and Laylee are still trying to get the hang of doing school online. Pray that they will catch on and enjoy it. Pray for them to grow closer to Lord. Pray for Liana and Jill as they continue traditional homeschooling. Pray for her behavior and Jill\u0026rsquo;s patience. Pray for the little boy Jill babysits.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nDear friends,\nThank you so much for your encouragement, your love, and your concern.\nPraise God with us that:\n- We have officially began the adoption process of our daughter Apio Cynthia. - Jesus ministers are continually growing in the knowledge of His word at the School of Discipleship. - That Matt\u0026rsquo;s parents have graced us with an extended visit.\nPlease pray with us that:\n- God will bless the adoption process and give us favor in the eyes of the system. - God\u0026rsquo;s Holy Spirit would continue to grow our church leaders in Christian maturity. - Matt\u0026rsquo;s parents would be blessed through their time visiting their grandkids. - Our family would have the strength and health we need to serve God well.\nGod Bless You,\nThe Harris Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\nPray for the 5 new Muslim converts. For their safety and boldness. Pray for the container clearance. The container is finally in Africa working it’s way to Uganda but there is a hold-up on one paperwork. Please pray for the details. We are now beginning the roofing on the Koinonia community center and library. Pray for all the church fellowships and ministries, that God will continue to strengthen us as we grow deeper in Him. Pray for our Bible college students as they do their finals and break for summer. Continued prayers for our nursery and primary school.\nThank you!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course. The second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email BlogUSA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\nPRAISE REPORTS 1. Jenn was able to join Tim on trip to South Asia that was 2 weeks long focused on missionary care and teaching of in country workers. 2. For those who prayerfully and financially support us 3. Jenn has been able to stay healthy\nPRAYER REQUEST. 1. Pray for our re-adjustment as we come back. 2. Wisdom and God\u0026rsquo;s heart for Tim as he prepares to teach at a conference in Mexico next month. 3. Our son Andy who is homeless and struggling in many ways.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\nPraise God for a fruitful time in Peru this month. The Gospel was preached in several outreaches and Bond was able to share good time with the students in CBI Peru. God is pouring out His Spirit and it is beautiful to see and be a small part.\nPraise God for healing Bond after open heart surgery. He is doing better than doctors ever expected.\nPray for the students in Nepal and S. Asia as they return to their villages to share the good news, disciple others and teach the Word. Pray for open doors, boldness and strength to continue to share all they have learned this past year.\nPray for God\u0026rsquo;s favor as we plan to return to Africa this summer and will purchase flights and make plans in the coming weeks.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for the salvation of two of the residents in our Bible Study at the assisted living facility. Though they know much about God, pray that they will fully surrender their hearts to God and belief in the truth of His Word, and receive Him in their hearts.\nPlease continue to pray for my parents’ health. Especially pray for healing for my dad, or a medication that will be effective without worse side effects.\nPlease pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\nPlease pray that God will continually strengthen our faith and service for Him.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for the christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.\nPlease pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health. He has several physical problems including double vision. The doctors have not yet been able to find out what is causing them.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - Yorba Linda, California\nThank all for praying for us! Please pray that Joel would have an effective trip to Israel, that he is able to grow as a Bible teacher through it and be an effective leader and teacher on the trip.\nPray for the Lord’s guidance on where Joel should be traveling next for missionary care, and that the Lord would open the right doors.\nPray that the Lord would provide more monthly financial partners as the costs of housing and food for a large family are rising.\nLove in Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email Blog\nGary and Tina Barrow - Truckee, California\nWe have been here pastoring Calvary Chapel Truckee for almost 3 years now. We’ve faced many challenges and difficulties, many we never dreamed would be something we would face in ministry. But God has been so very faithful, and I believe we’re right where God wants us as a church.\nPlease pray…We’re in need of a worship leader/assistant pastor at the church. Currently Gary is carrying all of the teaching and administration of the church. It’s been a heavy, and at times, an overwhelming responsibility. But again, God has been so very faithful. We trust that with your prayers, God will raise up an assistant that is like minded and has a heart to serve God’s people.\nPlease join us in praying for a fresh out pouring of God’s Spirit on Calvary Chapel Truckee.\nWe’ve been praying about starting a preschool to reach out to the town of Truckee. We need wisdom and vision on how the Lord would have us do this.We have just returned from Israel and it seems that God has opened up amazing doors for ministry there for us. We have an open do to reach out to youth in a Palestinian controlled area. God has also opened a door for us to minister to special needs kids in Israel. We’re praying and asking God to show us how He would have us walk through those doors.\nGary is planning on traveling with Pastor Trent to the Middle East later this year. We’re asking the Lord to show us how He’d have us be part of the ministry there also.We’re planning for Hungarian summer camps again this year. During one of the camps last year, a woman approached Gary and ask if he knew who she was? She showed him a picture of the 2 of them from a camp Gary did 13 years earlier. She said she gave her heart to the Lord during that camp and Jesus changed her life. She’s now living for Jesus, married to a christian man and serving in her church. Last year we saw 64 of 93 kids come to the Lord in 2 summer camps. We’re asking the Lord for even more souls this year.\nGary is teaching a class and continues to arrange teachers for the colleges we have in the 10/40 window. Please continue to pray that God would raise up believers to take the Gospel and saturate that area. Gary would like to lead a team later this year to visit the college and encourage the students through block classes. We’re asking God for the right timing for a trip.\nWith all the many overseas opportunities now opening up to us, we’re asking God to show us how to serve faithfully here at Calvary Chapel Truckee, and how to balance that with the many open doors abroad. We believe the Lord is leading us into greater fields of harvest. We’re asking the Lord for wisdom and direction.We want to thank you for your prayers. If you have any questions, we welcome your emails and will respond to them promptly.\n- God bless,\nGary and Tina Barrow - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nHi friends, here are the prayers for Mike and Sarah Vincent, and Calvary Rosarito!\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God will bless our 36th church plant to Peru with Pastor Lorenzo at the end of May!\n#2- That God would give us favor as we attempt to purchase our facility!\nPraise Reports?\n#3- For our daughter Grace to find a job in Hesperia where she is finishing up college.\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nRon and Kristy Struska – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Report:\nPraise God that we made it to Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala, Mexico, where our daughter, Brittany, and her husband, Brian are going to plant a church (Calvary Conexión México). There were some bumps along the way with our 24-foot trailer, but we made it here safely!\nWe’d also like to give him praise for the two outreaches we were able to do along the way in Culiacán \u0026amp; Morelia, as well as serve a little at and/or fellowship with several other church plants and pastors along the way.\nPrayer Requests:\nFor wisdom to know how to best use our time to help get the church building ready for Calvary Conexión México.For the Lord to prepare the hearts of the children and their parents to be open to the gospel. We will be having a big outreach for kids here in Calpulalpan. There will be games, songs, a Bible lesson, craft, as well as prizes and backpacks to give away! We even plan to do some games with the parents and give away some prizes for them as well.\nFor finances, as we are having some trouble with our local Mexican bank, and we have a lot of funds that we are currently not able to access (and may not be able to access for months until some paperwork gets taken care of).\nFor a safe return trip home to Rosarito, trailer in tow, early to mid-February.\nBlessings!\nRon \u0026amp; Kristy Struska - Email Blog\nJenna Pepin – Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico\nCalvary Culiacán North will be implementing some BIG changes this year. Pray that the result is a stronger, more effective church and a huge harvest of souls. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s continued direction in confirming both my role and the timing for Sammy and me to join the Calpulalpan project. Pray for Sammy\u0026rsquo;s education as we will be trying out some new schooling options over the next 6 months. Jenna Pepin - Email Blog\nDavid and Michelle Mullins - Loreto, Mexico\nPrayer Request:\nMichelle: Chronic Pain. After two failed back surgeries, I deal with daily Chronic Sciatica pain\nPrayer for Healing or Relief/Endurance to continue working on our growing children\u0026rsquo;s ministry and supporting our women and staff/volunteers with wisdom, love, and hope as we continue to grow, teach and share Christ’s love and His word with new believers.\nProtection over our church and future church planters as we experience physical, mental, and spiritual attacks from the evil one.\nThank You❣️\nBlessings,\nDavid and Michelle Mullins - Email Blog\nJon and Allison Brechtel - Oaxaca, Mexico\nHuge Praise Report:\nOur first grandbaby was born in late October, and she is happy and healthy, along with our son and daughter in law.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for continued unity in the church, and that the Lord would continue raising up men to be leaders. We have an amazing church body here and are so blessed by their hearts to serve Him. 2. Jon is now teaching in Spanish on Sundays, which is a huge step of faith and obedience. Please pray for continued growth for all 4 of us in our Spanish. It\u0026rsquo;s such a blessing to be able to communicate with everyone here. Please especially pray for Jonny and Noah to practice it.\nThank you for praying for the work that the Lord is doing in Oaxaca. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t do this without the covering of prayer. God bless!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah - Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n1. Our son\u0026rsquo;s continued healing \u0026amp; recovery 2. Develop meaningful friendships with our neighbors \u0026amp; reach them with the gospel! 3. Guidance and leading of the Holy Spirit in our weekly afterglow. 4. Biblical Counseling ministry: God\u0026rsquo;s leading 5. Discipleship for new believers: God\u0026rsquo;s leading\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello and thank you for praying for me! Here are my prayer requests for this month:\n1. For my mom who lives alone and suffers from Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s, that God will continue to bless her and fill her with his joy and peace. 2. For the parents of the 40 kids that we serve in the afterschool program/soup kitchen here, that God would use the kids here to reach their parents for Christ.\n3. For godly men and women to be raised up from our church to serve in the different areas of need: nursery, cook in the soup kitchen, and Sunday school teachers\n4. For marriages that are under attack, for restoration. (Laura and Jose, Ana and Steve.)\n5. That God would continue to use me for is glory, and that I will continue to die to myself and live for others!\nThank you so much for praying for me and the people in Mexico.\nDios te bendiga (God bless you).\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\n*Please pray for us as we will be hosting 5 teams this summer, and 3 students who will be coming as well to help us! *Pray for our health and for the needs of our full-time interns! *Pray for Craig\u0026rsquo;s eyesight which is continually getting worse, and his hearing too! *Pray for our trip in July up the coast of Peru with our interns, seeing where the Lord is leading us to plant a church with our interns who feel called to plant a new work! *Praise: Jharold just graduated from CCBC Cajamarca, and Stalyn just finished his first semester at CCBC-C\nThank you from our hearts, Craig and Daisy - Email Blog\nCory \u0026amp; Danielle Kilgus- Calvary Chapel Trujillo \u0026amp; CBI Peru\nThank you so much for your continued prayer!\nPlease pray for our upcoming semester at CBI Peru. We will have 23-25 full time students, are biggest semester yet. Our semester theme is \u0026ldquo;Abide\u0026rdquo; as apart from Jesus can nothing, and when we abide in Him we bear much fruit.\nPlease pray for Calvary Trujillo and Calvary Buenos Aires, Peru. We are transitioning as we sent a group of about 20 to plant a church in another part of town, and it has been great to see God work. We have several outreach events coming up, and God is opening up new doors in our community with the universities, rehab centers and firefighters.\nPlease pray for our family as received Isabela into our home about a month ago. She is 4 and a special girl. We took her on her first family vacation this month, and she calls us \u0026ldquo;mama\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;papa\u0026rdquo; now. She likes to run up to us and kiss us, and tells we are \u0026ldquo;lindo\u0026rdquo; (Nice). Pray for continued integration, as there are rough spots as well.\nPlease pray for another church we hope to plant in October with another graduate of CBI Peru in the jungle city of Moyobamba. We are hosting the CC Missions conference for South America and CBI Kauai is joining us to serve at the conference and then help us do an invasion of Moyobamba.\nThank you and we really do appreciate your faithfulness to pray.\nThank you from our hearts, Cory and Danielle - Email Blog\nShilo and Racquell Stratton - Peru\nPray for our minds, that we would not be anxious or stressed regarding preparing to move and actually being sent. That we would have the goal and mission in mind of making disciples. Of serving Christ and no one else. Of making His name famous and not our own. And generally for clear thinking. That we’d hold fast to sound doctrine.\nPray for our spirits, that we’d serve God without fear and in absolute surrender. That we’d lay aside sins and things that easily ensnare us. That we’d put on God’s armor.\nPray for our bodies, that we’d be strong and that God would ward off any infections, diseases, or accidents from us prior to and on the field. Especially for baby Amalia. I (Shilo) think I’ve got a food allergy that my doctor and I are currently trying to figure out.\nPray for PERÚ, for the country as a whole. Latin America is full of false doctrine, prideful religiosity or cultural Catholicism and dangerous governments. Peru’s presidency just underwent some drastic sudden changes, and the country is not at peace.\n- Shilo and Racquell Stratton - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\n1. Praise God that he confirmed Yenry to come help me plant the church. There are now 2 on the team! 2. Praise God I have a good relationship with my Pastor Cory. He has wonderful insight, he prays for me, and is here to help. 3. Praise God that there are several people in Moyobamba that want to be part of the church plant.\n1. Pray for a sound mind. I have been attacked a lot as of recently, and want the Lord to have victory and rule. 2. Pray that the Lord can confirm to more people to be part of the team. There are three ladies that are praying and considering helping for 6 months. 3. Pray for the wisdom of who to invite to the discipleship house in Moyobamba. Also where to have it.\nThanks for the prayers. Love you all!\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nPray for my ministry, that God will give me wisdom and understanding.Pray for my family, that they will grow in the Word of God.\nPray for my church members, that each one may grow in the Lord.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers. S.K. (2)\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nMy wife’s uncle went to be with the Lord due to cancer. Kindly pray for God’s comfort for the grieved family.\nPray for our church Sunday School children, that God will give them wisdom and knowledge in their schooling.\nPlease pray for the Christians in our state, for strengthening of their faith in Jesus. In this difficult time, pray that God will take care of His people. At the same time, pray that the fanatical group who is persecuting may come to know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\nThese days, the temperature is very high, about 108° F; it is very difficult to sit in the church, kindly pray. Also pray for the growth and needs of our local church.Kindly pray for me and my family, may the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nWorker 3 Worker 4 - 10/40 Window\nI will be traveling to share the Word at two different places.\nPlease pray that the Lord will speak and that the people will be saved.\nRecently, I was very ill and bedridden for over a week. Please pray that I will fully recover soon.\nPlease pray that the Lord will give me a clear vision over what the future holds for me.\nThank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ,\nPastor W.J. Worker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for all of the students and the staff. May the Lord’s hand be upon each and every one.\nPlease pray for the old age home ministry. Pray that the Lord will provide for all needs and give us the grace to be carriers of His light and love among the hopeless.\nGod opened the door for us to minister to a pregnant mother in a village with medical needs, fruit, and proper food. Please pray that she will come to know the One true name of God and accept Him as her Lord. Please also pray for her health and the health of the baby, that they will have good nourishment and growth.\nPlease pray for a tribal community we visited in a neighboring state during the Christmas season. A church has been started there! Please pray for the servant who ministers there and pray for all of their needs to be fulfilled, so that the light of the truth may shine upon many people and communities in the area through this tribal community.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 6\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nThe Lord has been opening doors to new ministry opportunities in different villages, and I am starting to see the new believers desiring to grow in God’s Word.\nPlease pray:\nFor those hearing the Gospel to be saved and new believers to grow and desire more of God’s Word.\nFor faithful men that can be raised up in these villages.Wisdom on how to divide my time between different villages.God’s guidance as I plan to put teachings online in another language.\nMy mother’s health, that her lungs will be fully restored, and she will be able to move freely without a walker. Pray for complete healing to her body.\nFor my future marriage\nThank you, Worker 7\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that our ministry will be fruitful.Pray for my physical healing; my sugar levels have been increased.\nPray for all of the believers, for the strong faith and spiritual growth.Please continue to pray for H and Y.\nThey are brother and sister and have mental weaknesses.\nPray for the persecution in our state.\nOnce again, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your partnership. May our loving God bless you abundantly!\nPastor 8 and family Worker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that I will continue to grow in my spiritual life and the knowledge of God.\nPlease pray that I will be used mightily by God.Please pray for the CBI students, that God would use them right now as they share the Gospel to their friends and family during this summer break.\nPlease pray for the young children and youth of my city with whom I am involved, that they would stand firm in their faith at this age when Satan tries to distract them.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you all! Worker 9\nWorker 10\nThanks be to the Lord that God has kept you and us together, and thanks be to the Lord who blesses each and every one of us, and saves us from every danger! Thank you also to those who continuously pray for us!\nPrayer Requests:\nFirst of all, pray for the villages in our area, where some people are against the people of God; pray for God to change their hearts.Pray for the leaders here who are members of the anti-Christian party, who do not want the kingdom of God to come. Pray for those leaders, that God will change their hearts.\nPray for the believers of my church, that they will be strong in the Word.\nPray for my life, that God opens new doors for me so that I can share the Gospel of God to all of the people in my area.The government has a record of our mobile phone number to keep an eye on us because of our Christianity. Pray that God will help us and will bring those who belong to the anti-Christian government group into faith.Pray for the believers in my village who are students; pray that they can change their lives with the blessings of God.Pray for my mom’s health.\nPray for some of our believers who want to publicly show their faith in Christ; pray that God will prepare them completely.Pray for our region, that God will change the hearts of all the people here and walk in God’s path.\nThank you! Worker 10\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray that God will give good health to my wife. The weather is very hot for her here.\nPlease pray that God heals Raju from paralysis. His father and brother have taken him to the hospital so that he can get “foot clips” made for him to walk.\nPray for the elections that are about to be held in our country; may God give us a good leader who will fulfill God’s will.\nPlease pray for my mother’s health.In the last week of June, I have to take my wife to visit her mother. Pray that God will fulfill all of the needs with that.Please pray that all of the believers in our church will keep their faith during persecution. May God give them wisdom and knowledge, and help them grow in their knowledge of Him.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership and participation in spreading the Gospel!\nGod bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 12 - 10/40 Window\nThank you for praying for my health. Last week, the doctor did another test and found a lipoma and I had surgery this week, which was successful. Thank you for praying!Prayer Requests:Please pray for my complete recovery. I will have to take medicines for a few more days to heal the wounds, as I am still feeling pain.Pray for my landlord, that I can be on good terms with him and that God will change his heart.Pray for our church growth and Bible study, for more people to attend.We have been praying for the church land for a long time\u0026ndash;pray that God will reveal His plan for this place. I have been doing ministry in these places for 8 years. Pray that God fulfills this vision of ours.Many of the new people who come to the church are illiterate. Please pray that God gives them the power to understand so that they can be stronger, and also pray for audio Bibles for them to be available to me somewhere.\nThank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers!\n- Worker 12\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nWe visited some brothers and school friends, and I shared the Gospel with them. Please continue to pray that God will open their hearts.Continue to pray for our ministry here in the villages.Pray that in our village, many people will be saved and come to know Jesus.Pray that God will open many doors for His Word, so that we can share with people who are living in darkness.I am thinking about doing a camping worship night. I want to invite my believer brothers and new brothers, so that we can spend time together and encourage them from the Bible and testimonies. Please pray that God will provide everything.\nThank you so much everyone for praying for us! God bless you!\nWorker 13\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for\u0026hellip;\n1) Please pray for the new believers.\n2) Please pray for God’s protection on our daughter’s life, as she recently got a job and moved to the UK.\n3) Please pray for the persecution in the churches in our area.\nThanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15 Worker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for my children that they may grow in Lord’s fear and knowledge. Please pray that the Lord would intervene for the problem the world is facing. Please pray for the village ministry of local area that they may grow in Lord Words. Please pray Mahi she is 1.3 year old she is suffering from chickenpox. Please pray for Chhattisgarh believer as they are facing persecution.\nWorker 16\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise Report:\nThank you all prayer warriors. We were able to finish this last semester very well. We are able to send some students to a different part of the country as missionaries.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our good health. Please pray for the students as they have gone to their home for a semester break, that God may use them powerfully in His ministry. Please pray for some students as they have gone to a different area of the country where there are no churches, as they want to share the gospel and start a Bible study. Please pray for our CBI staff as we will be traveling to a different part of the country to visit students and recruiting students. Please pray that God may bring new students to CBI in this upcoming semester.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\n1. Please pray for all CBI Nepal students that have gone back home, for their time in ministry during the break.\n2. Four of the CBI students have completed their studies; pray that God will give them vision and guide them with His Holy Spirit in His ministry.\n3. Please pray for our church leaders; we are planning a one-day leaders’ conference and will also be doing church visits in two places. Pray that God will arrange everything well.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our health, so that we can be physically fit and do ministry fruitfully.Please pray that God will help us to have a baby.Please pray that the believers in our church will grow spiritually and that God will bring new people into our church.Please pray for the believers we visit in the leper colony. Pray that God will provide them with good health and that they will grow spiritually. Also pray that the people around the leper colony will come into our Bible Study where we fellowship together.Please pray for all of the needs of our church.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\nWe have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus, praise the Lord!\nWe conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes in our fellowship. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\nPraise God for safety and protection during this time!\nRemember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita Milan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\nPray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\nPray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\nThank you,\nMilan\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for those who heard the Gospel in an open event; please pray that they may come to church and find Jesus.\nPray that God will strengthen us (me and my wife) with His wisdom and knowledge for the ministry of God.Please pray for the CC Lapu church building.Pray for God to guide the church and all members in a loving and godly way.\nPray that my father and mother also will to come to Christ.\nBlessings!\nRaju - BlogAbhishek and Lacey – 10/40 Window\nPraise Reports:\nPraise God He was able to make a way for me to move to South Asia, and provide everything my husband and I needed for our wedding. Praise God we were able to find a home to rent that is walking distance from the Bible College where my husband is teaching almost every day. Prayer Requests:\nPlease pray for both of our families, especially for the salvation of those who are not walking with Jesus. It has been two months since we have been married, please pray for our cross-cultural marriage. Please pray for the Bible college and the Church that we are involved with and serving alongside. Please pray the rent of the Church that we are serving alongside here in S.A. would be provided for monthly. Please pray we would grow in discipline in every area of our life. Thank you family for partnering alongside us, and waging war on our behalf in prayer,\nGod bless you, Abhishek and Lacey\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nDear Prayer Partners, Thank you so much for your faithful prayers! We were going through a financially uncertain time for several months but God miraculously provided the funds we needed from unexpected places that made it possible for us to not only visit California this summer (June 6 to August 2) but also to visit family and senders in Missouri (July 28 to July 12). 1. Please pray that God will bless and guide us as we connect and reconnect with our loved ones in the USA. We haven’t been able to visit the CA since 2019 or Missouri since 2017. May God also provide opportunities to connect with others we may not have met before. 2. Please pray for health, strength, safety, and favor throughout our trip with everyone we meet. We have received a lot of blessings already. 3. Please pray that we will be well prepared as we pause ministries here in Cambodia and then shift gears so that we can bless and encourage those we meet in the States. 4. Please pray for wisdom and provision regarding our long-term financial needs. We have been blessed that our short-term needs have been met, but we still have some significant long-term needs (for example, Benjamin’s education) that have not been fully met yet.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email BlogEurope\nDoru and the Pavel’s – Romania\nGood day everyone, Please lift our family in prayer for health and endurance. The last few weeks have been difficult with ear infection for our youngest who is recovering, strep throat, and different symptoms on a daily basis. We ask for wisdom for the doctors who are helping us and everyone who needs their assistance. Lift up our youth who are growing deeper in the lord and opening their hearts to the weight of sin they are learning to look for and uproot. We are also preparing to have a prayer walk for our community this coming weekend and we would love to see the Lord work and express his Holy Spirit in wonderful ways. Our church also has a dearly loved sister who is in the process of identifying what type of cancer she is dealing with, so we ask the Lord to heal her, provide closeness and unity within our congregation. Please pray for my wife’s (Tasha) safety as she is working abroad and is dealing with some foot problems and missing the family.\nBlessings and Prayers, Doru and the Pavel’s - Email Blog\nJohnny and Brenna Varga - Pécs, Hungary\nPlease pray: 1. For our women’s Bible study groups that are going on now. Pray for the women participating, that they will grow deeper rooted in Christ and in understanding of God’s word as we do a study “Glimpses of Jesus” in the Old Testament together. Brenna is leading a group of ten young women, with nine different countries/cultures represented in the group. Pray for wisdom and discernment in leading. 2. For Johnny as he continues to work on his thesis \u0026amp; prepare for final state exam, pray the Lord will lead him and help him through to the end. 3. Pray for continued divine wisdom, strength, clarity, \u0026amp; rest for our church leadership. 4. Pray for our marriage, that we may continue to grow in love for the Lord and one another.\nMuch love, Johnny and Brenna Varga - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-jun-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePray for Jill as she is recovering from amoeba and giardia.\u003cbr\u003e\nPray her stomach heals completely. Luke and Laylee are still trying to get the hang of doing school online. Pray that they will catch on and enjoy it. Pray for them to grow closer to Lord. \u003cbr\u003e\nPray for Liana and Jill as they continue traditional homeschooling. Pray for her behavior and Jill\u0026rsquo;s patience. \u003cbr\u003e\nPray for the little boy Jill babysits.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JUN PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Great Time on a Mission Trip\nA true mission trip is not all about fun. We need to put aside our comfort zone and get ready to face the peoples\u0026rsquo; problems and serve them every possible opportunity. There are plenty of challenges, hardships, and different kinds of difficulties; yet it is always filled with the great blessings at the end! That part of doing ministry is so rewarding, that it ignites our desire to serve the Lord even more.\nCalvary Chapel H*\nAs pastors, we lead people to the Lord, disciple them, raise them for service to the Lord. When we see the fruits in their ministry, it brings great joy to our hearts and fills our eyes with tears of joy!\nA new family has been attending Calvary Chapel H* for two months. Brother Dipak accepted the Lord Jesus as his Savior. It was great to see people coming to the Lord!\nHoly Communion (above)- We had a sweet time of a Holy Communion Service at Calvary Chapel H*.\nVisiting Believers\u0026rsquo; Homes\nWhen we do mission trips, we love visiting believers (above) from our church and hearing their testimonies, finding out their current situations, and spending time in prayer with them!\nThis family (above) lives in the middle of the jungle, around 20 kilometers away from Calvary Chapel H*. It takes one hour and 45 minutes for them to get to the bus station. We had an opportunity to visit them, see their difficult situation, and pray for them. It was heartbreaking! When a member of that family gets sick, they have to physically carry them as there is no provision of an ambulance.\nMeeting with the local pastors: on this trip we visited two pastors who are good friends of mine. As we shared about our Bible School and IBS method, they became interested in sending their youth. They also want us to have an IBS conference in their area in the near future and invite other church leaders. The man on my left side (above) is the president of an organization of 22 pastors of different churches.\nN* Church Visit\nI used to write about this church in the past. The pastor of this church\u0026rsquo;s son and three of his daughters used to attend our church in the capital. The pastor is getting older.There is no one who wants to lead the church after him. We tried to encourage and raise up a leader for couple of years, but no one appeared. Then we put it in the Lord’s hands, because we also have not be able to send someone there to look after the church. Still, that church is in our prayers. May God raise someone up!\nCalvary Chapel J* Mission Trip\nWe visited the church and had a one day IBS conference.\nThe conference at Calvary Chapel J* was blessed. People really liked the IBS method. We hope that the churches there will send their people to our Bible Institute and organize an IBS conference in future.\nBrother Rabindra from our church in the capital, who graduated previously from Calvary Bible Institute, is teaching IBS (above). He is leading a Bible study in his home town.\nI had a great time with pastor Indra, the president of J* United Pastors. He really liked the IBS method and is interested in sending people in future to Calvary Bible Institute.\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-great-time-on-a-mission-trip-prakash-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGreat Time on a Mission Trip\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA true mission trip is not all about fun. We need to put aside our comfort zone and get ready to face the peoples\u0026rsquo; problems and serve them every possible opportunity. There are plenty of challenges, hardships, and different kinds of difficulties; yet it is always filled with the great blessings at the end! That part of doing ministry is so rewarding, that it ignites our desire to serve the Lord even more.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Great Time on a Mission Trip - Prakash Update June 2023"},{"content":"The Lord is doing so many amazing things here at Calvary Loreto, Baja California Sur in Mexico. We are so privileged to be able to serve our Lord here in Loreto, Mexico. Pastor Elmer teaches verse by verse in the Gospel of John every Sunday and David teaches in the book of Exodus on Wednesday nights. We continue to offer the message of Salvation at every service ensuring that everyone that attends gets the opportunity to receive it. Along with the entire congregation knowing that their guests will always hear the message of Salvation at every service.\nThe Children\u0026rsquo;s Ministry continues to be a huge blessing for us as we are well over 40 children every service. We are currently teaching them at their grade levels with a curriculum provided by Calvary Church in Costa Mesa. There are now 3 separate classes: babies, young children, and our youth every Sunday and Wednesday. This takes a small army of volunteers every week, but the Lord has been faithful and continues to provide us with an amazing group of volunteers that are gifted to teach each of the children’s groups weekly. There is nothing more special for me than when we make house visits and see the children’s projects/crafts that are made on Sundays hanging in their homes. As soon as we walk in the children grab us and want to show me their work. We have one little boy that takes a while every week to do his project and when his mom comes to get him, he says I can’t leave mommy I want to finish my project for you. When I hear this my heart just melts.\nOur youth class has just moved from the outside to our new indoor youth room as it’s beginning to be too hot to be outside and learn. This room was completed earlier this year and with the heat coming we needed to move the class indoors. Please keep them in your prayers that we can raise funds to get an air conditioner for this room in the hotter summer months. This class is a real treat to watch as these children learn and apply God to their lives and homes. Our future generations of believers will be walking with the Lord. It is so humbling to see their young lives transformed by Christ right before our eyes.\nWe had the pleasure to host and serve alongside a team from Southern California last month. They were here for one week and did so much to encourage us along with serving the entire church body. One thing they were able to do was an outreach in one of the local neighborhoods. We were able to invite neighbors back to one of the church member’s house to share a free meal which was the best Birria tacos. Once they were there, we were able to have fellowship and invited them to Calvary Church Loreto. To be able to sit with people while having a meal along with showing them the love of Christ is one of the most amazing things to see. We were so blessed by this day in so many ways. When the teams were out walking the neighborhoods, they were able to visit houses and pray for people’s individual needs along with praying for spiritual awakening in our town.\nThe team was also able to host a Marriage Date night where we served dinner and watched the movie “Courageous”. We had over 15 couples in attendance for this life-changing evening. Once the movie was finished the men were able to sign and commit their lives to all those present that they would be the Spiritual Leaders of their households. That they would be the Men God created them to be.\nBut as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15\nIn February, Calvary Loreto was able to start our church planting classes. This class will lift servant leaders in the local church and also equip Ministry leaders along with those that feel called to plant churches and share the gospel message. We follow the book of Acts as the model that God has laid out for us. These students commit to a minimum of 2 years to be raised and to be open to where God wants them to go. We also had the privileged last month of our sending Church, Calvary Rosarito coming and doing our first Annual Church Planting Conference.\nPastor Mike led this conference explaining to everyone what the Bible tells us about being a sending Hub. We are extremely overwhelmed to see how the Holy Spirit is working through these students to glorify the kingdom of God throughout Mexico and the World. God has a mighty plan for these future church planters. Please keep them in prayer along with Pastor Elmer for wisdom as he teaches this class every week.\nPastor Elmer and his wife Crystal, David and I thank you all for your prayers and continued financial support. We couldn’t do it without faithful supporters like you. You ALL are helping to do the work of the ministry here in Loreto Mexico. This is your Spiritual fruit also and we are so Blessed to be able to serve our Lord and Savior here. Thank you for helping to do the work of the Ministry here in Loreto Mexico\nMATTHEW 28 19-20\n19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age,\nIf you are not currently a financial supporter and the Lord has put it on your heart to come alongside us to do the work of the ministry, please go to https://sgwm.com, click on the drop-down menu, and click Find a Missionary. Then scroll down to Mullins Family and click on our picture, there is a tab at the bottom left that says,” Become a financial supporter”. Once you are there you can put in all your information.\nPRAYER PETITIONS\nPlease Pray that all the servant leaders to be united as one body in Christ to give them the strength to continue to serve our Lord and Savior at Calvary Loreto\nFor Protection for the Pastors and the Church Planting class that they are protected by the Full Amor of God\nPray that all the people going to the Church Panting Conference in Rosarito are able to raise funds and to get there safely\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/being-blessed-at-calvary-loreto-mullins-update-may-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Lord is doing so many amazing things here at Calvary Loreto, Baja California Sur in Mexico. We are so privileged to be able to serve our Lord here in Loreto, Mexico. Pastor Elmer teaches verse by verse in the Gospel of John every Sunday and David teaches in the book of Exodus on Wednesday nights. We continue to offer the message of Salvation at every service ensuring that everyone that attends gets the opportunity to receive it. Along with the entire congregation knowing that their guests will always hear the message of Salvation at every service.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Being Blessed at Calvary Loreto - Mullins Update May 2023"},{"content":" “But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”\nMatthew 13:8\nSaturday night I looked back to a word someone shared with me because the Lord had been reminding me of it for the past few days. The person had shared with me that God planted the seed of the gospel in me and that when Jesus waters it with His word, His comfort, His freedom, His power that a field will be exploding with different fruits and flowers. Well, Sunday morning comes and the pastor taught on Matthew 13, the parable of the sower. The Holy Spirit clearly showed me verse 7 was accurate in my walk with God, which says “And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them” but that verse 8 was what He had in store for me. God confirmed the word the person gave me with this scripture and in that moment I wanted to cry and get on my knees.\nThese past days, the Holy Spirit has been doing a work in me, empowering me and helping me see through the lens of God. I have been overflowing with joy and excitement. The only way I can describe what I am going through is like when I first came to Christ! All things new! A new work lays ahead. I cannot wait! I am grateful to bring you all along. I am so blessed by you all dearly!\nI am currently in my hometown raising support for School of Missions and Cbi Israel. I can’t thank you enough for partnering with me financially and in prayer. I am at 19% out of 100 from my goal. I still got quiet a long way to go but I trust God will provide and I am grateful He already is. Being in my hometown, I have been able to reconnect with people and churches. I was able to preach the gospel to my cousin Edgar and even though he is not ready to receive Christ I was grateful God gave me an opportunity to share about Him. I had a devine appointment with a former coworker who is a non believer when I went to the grocery store. I was able to share about Jesus and it was a confirmation for him because his cousin had recently shared specific things I said to him which blew his mind. Praise God! God is so awesome! I am grateful in the ways He uses me.\nAttending Compass has been new and exciting, my cousin Lucy attends this church and she has been connecting me with the church body. Twin Lakes was where I got baptized. Kyle, the young adult pastor always surprises when I visit because he remembers my name and I take it to heart. Twin Lakes along with Regeneration were the chuches God lead me to after wanting to leave the catholic church they were both an answer to prayer. Regeneration was the small community I needed at that time and I am grateful for pastor Matt and his wife DeAnna.\nPraise Reports\nPraise God for the 19% for School of Missions and CBI Israel Praise God for the new work the Holy Spirit is doing in me Praise God for all the people I’ve been able to connect with Prayer Request\nFor Gods continued provision For my cousin Edgar to be drawn to God and His word For God to give me an opportunity to share the gospel with other family members For Regeneration to have a smooth transition in moving and reconstructing in there new spot due to the church being affected by a flood ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-field-of-fruits-flowers-campos-update-may-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“But others fell on good ground and yielded a crop: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMatthew 13:8\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSaturday night I looked back to a word someone shared with me because the Lord had been reminding me of it for the past few days. The person had shared with me that God planted the seed of the gospel in me and that when Jesus waters it with His word, His comfort, His freedom, His power that a field will be exploding with different fruits and flowers. Well, Sunday morning comes and the pastor taught on Matthew 13, the parable of the sower. The Holy Spirit clearly showed me verse 7 was accurate in my walk with God, which says “And some fell among thorns, and the thorns sprang up and choked them” but that verse 8 was what He had in store for me. God confirmed the word the person gave me with this scripture and in that moment I wanted to cry and get on my knees.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Field Of Fruits \u0026 Flowers - Campos Update May 2023"},{"content":" “God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.”\nPSALM 68:6\nThis month we were blessed with a visit from my (Matt’s) parents, Brian and Tammy Harris. After having their first tickets canceled when the world shut down in 2020, and their second tickets canceled when my father had a severe case of COVID in 2021, their trip felt long overdue. Although we had little chance to break from the routine of work and school that our life revolves around, our time together was precious. It was wonderful to show them our Ugandan church family, the pastoral school, the farming enterprise, and all of the great people we have been sharing our life with. But really my Mom and Dad spent most of their time simply being with their grandkids!\nWe visited many people with my parents, including our sister church 2 hours away. While we were there God allowed me to minister with a sermon, and my parents ministered through song.\nGod Bless You All! Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-may-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/IMG-6853.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“God sets the lonely in families, he leads out the prisoners with singing; but the rebellious live in a sun-scorched land.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePSALM 68:6\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month we were blessed with a visit from my (Matt’s) parents, Brian and Tammy Harris. After having their first tickets canceled when the world shut down in 2020, and their second tickets canceled when my father had a severe case of COVID in 2021, their trip felt long overdue. Although we had little chance to break from the routine of work and school that our life revolves around, our time together was precious. It was wonderful to show them our Ugandan church family, the pastoral school, the farming enterprise, and all of the great people we have been sharing our life with. But really my Mom and Dad spent most of their time simply being with their grandkids!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update - May 2023"},{"content":"Dear Family in Christ,\nI hope you all are doing well. I am continuously remembering you all in my prayers. I am very thankful to God for every thing that He is doing. I am also very thankful for your prayers and support. We praise God and thank Him when we pray for you. You have been such a great encouragement to us in building the kingdom of God. “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”\nI am very excited to share the things that God is doing here in South Asia. I hope this will encourage you and lead you to pray more for the work that is going on.\nUpdate on the College\nGod, in His mercy, has helped us successfully finish the semester. We have wrapped up our semester classes as of 16th of May. In addition to that, our CBI is filled with thanksgiving toward our God, for helping us through the process of registering our own property for a campus building in the city. Praise God, that He has been with us in all the documentation process. We pray that He who has begun a work within us, will bring it to completion.\nThe students are very grateful and thankful to God that He is teaching them a lot of things from the Word of God! It really makes us happy when we hear from them that the Word of God is working in their lives; that they understand it\u0026rsquo;s truths; and that it sets them free from sin. They focus on sound doctrine and hold to sound teaching. Whenever I talk to the students, they share what God has been saying to them and how He is touching their hearts to reach out the lost! They are praying for Him to reveal the place where they need to go to preach the Gospel after they finish the whole academic training. God has placed a burden in our hearts to reach the states that speak this language and beyond and to raise up the next generation of pastors and leaders.\nInterns Are Being Sent\nGod’s vision is our vision. It is His heart, to make disciples. When the opportune time comes, God, the Holy Spirit, commissions the disciples and sends them wherever the workers are needed. Two graduates, namely Brother A*and Brother C*, have been sent out for the harvest.\nBrother A*, has been faithfully serving with his home church (his father pastors a few churches) in P* district. He’s been praying to reach out to nearby villages, towns, districts by organizing youth meetings and pastors\u0026rsquo; conferences in the coming season. His heart is to see the Word spread, whatever the cost. We are rejoicing to see what God has planned for many of these young churches!\nBrother C* has been fasting and seeking the Lord’s direction. The Lord has clearly spoken to his heart that he must go, where the name of the Lord is unknown. A week ago, we at our Calvary Chapel, prayed over Brother C* and sent him. He’s now working in the field to make more connections for the church plant in the H* region. We are praising God, that He has been stirring up the minds of the disciples to start a new work in unreached locations!\nThe Students\u0026rsquo; Local Outreach\nAs a part of our curriculum, we have been helping our students to get involved in outdoor evangelism. In that process, most of our students have been able to share the Word of God in public spaces more freely. We have been ministering, in parks (above), busy markets, shopping malls etc. They’re all going to practically apply whatever they have heard and put the Word in action.\nChapel Talks at Calvary Bible Institute\nChapel talks play a vital role in a student’s lives to enrich and enhance their preaching and teaching skills. Every day during the semester, we take time for chapel talk. We give a portion of Bible verses from a book of the Bible. They prepare all week and then get the opportunity to teach that Word of God for 30 minutes during the evenings. We train them to teach the Bible, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse. We are seeing the growth of our brothers in rightly dividing the Word of truth. In an age of nonsensical preaching, we help our brothers to carefully handle the Word of God, and to correctly communicate with the people of God. All of our brothers have been doing a great job in inculcating their commitment to preaching and teaching of God’s Word!\nYouth Meeting in G*\nGod’s plan for each and every one is mighty and powerful. When we see it unfold, it looks like a great piece of work to save one soul, which will then spread to save many. Last year when Brother A* came to the school of worship for the first time, he had little interest in learning the Word. But after a year, the Spirit of God eventually moved his heart to come to the Bible Institute. We were very glad to see him back. Since then, he started to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. He then suggested to his dad, who is a pastor, to conduct young adult meetings. We ministered in that village; one day for young adult meetings, and then a couple of days for open-air meetings. There are already many false teachings that have been affecting churches, in and around this village. They were very interested to learn more of the Word. We are going to plan many village meetings, youth conferences, and pastors meetings to educate, empower and build the body of Christ.\nOpen Air Gospel Meeting\nI Praise God for using us to share the Word of God in different churches in our states. Recently, we got invited by a pastor from a village, to come and teach the Word in the outdoor meetings that he’s conducting. A year ago I preached in the same place and people were encouraged by the Word of God. Again this year we got invited to share at the meetings.\nThis village is heavily affected by false doctrine and a lot of superstition. Even inside the church, very lawless things are happening. The challenging thing here in our country is to bring them out of fear of shame. You know that in our area we have a culture of shame. People trust Jesus and give their life to God, but they do not stop doing the wrong (Hindu things) they have been doing. For example, they have the fear of superstitious things, the fear of black magic, and the fear of curses. They have more fear of the Hindu culture, than of God. It is like they do not want to pay the cost to live for God. So even in many churches, even pastors do not say NO to those kinds of things. They are too afraid that the people will quit coming to church if they confront them. When I was in that village, I got to encourage that pastor to take up the Word of God and rebuke those things. Because this church belongs to God, not to us. He paid the price for the sinners. I shared with the pastor in the village, that we are not called to please people, but God.\nOn the day I was preaching in the meeting, I addressed these issues about backsliding and falling back into the false religious things. On that day, God revealed that there are many people who are still in this situation. We need to work hard to reach them, and show them the love of God, and to rightly teach the Word! For many people do not know that we have a spiritual life that we are to grow more in and come closer to God. It is really heartbreaking to see people who are in the bondage of superstition and don\u0026rsquo;t even realize it! People need to know that Jesus has come not only to cleanse the sinners and save them, but also to break their chains of bondage to sin. So on that day God spoke to all the people about needing this transformation. Romans 12:2.\nThere is more work here in our country! We need many faithful servants of God who are devoted to teach the right doctrine and show the love of God. I think that is why God has placed a burden in our hearts to equip and train young men to send out to reach those people for God so they don’t perish! I want you all to pray that God could use us more to raise up men to do the work.\nT* Village Ministry\nI hope you are praying for this village, because we are seeing the fruit every week when we visit them. We now have four families that are attending both the Bible study on Fridays and the Sunday worship service every week! There are also many challenges that we are facing. God has been faithfully leading us in those times of struggle.\nRecently, we went door to door in that village preaching the Gospel. A lady asked us why we are coming to the village every week and sharing about someone. They rejected us and said, \u0026ldquo;We have our own gods. We are not in the need of any other!\u0026rdquo; The Christians who are in that village are living in fear. But the Bible study is giving strength to live the life of God during difficult times.\nPeople are really showing hatred towards the pastor and Christians because of what’s happening (because false teachers and pastors are focusing only on money, rather than a burden to preach the Gospel)\nThere is a man from a Muslim family. Every week we have been meeting with him to tell him the Gospel. His family opposes him coming to Jesus. He is living in fear of coming to Christ because he is afraid of his family rejecting him and what they might do to him. Pray for this person! He is lame.\nYouth Ministry and Future plans.\nYouth at our Calvary Chapel, are involved in various outreaches to help share the love and grace of our Lord Jesus through word and deed. In the upcoming season, we are all set for a youth conference in the month of July, which will help the youth to know their purpose in Christ. Along with that, we are also going to plan free food distribution programs for the homeless, twice a month! It’s a good way to express the love of Christ through the preaching of the Word and also serving in our neighborhood.\nJ* Outreach\nThe time has come for all of us here in our Calvary Bible Institute to make use of all God’s grace and wisdom to spread the Word in near and far. It is with so much faith, that we are stepping into the new work that God has started in the city of J*. We will be ministering from 24th of May to 4th of June during which many youth meetings, pastors meeting, kids camp, village outreaches, evangelism are going to be held. We are so excited for this open door! We are hopeful that God will open many hearts to the Word and make them taste the goodness of God toward each one of them attending. It is also a great time for our students to be involved in outdoor ministry to use the Word of God in a practical way, so they can also learn to be ready to do ministry after finishing the lecture phase. This also helps us to recruit students for the Bible school. So be praying for this outreach.\nOur Calvary Chapel Church Update\nI cannot stop thanking God for the things that he’s doing in our church. People are being equipped to truly understand the Word of God. Every week we hear amazing testimonies from the church families. It really encourages a lot of us to move forward. Our Good Friday service and Easter Sunday Resurrection worship services went really well and were blessed.\nGod is doing amazing things through women’s Bible study. In our church most of the women are from Hindu backgrounds and were tortured by their husbands! Being in the Word really sustains them in faith and helps them to be strong. Children \u0026rsquo;s ministry is also going on every week and kids are growing in the Lord. As they are being raised in broken families and disturbed situations, the Word of God is playing a major role in their lives.\nWe are also reaching out to our local community from our church by serving among the aged women who were abandoned by their children in nursing homes. We are going to those homes and caring for them by sharing the Word of God. Spending time with them gives a lot of joy to them and for us, too. Praise God that he’s using our church to reach out to our community and heal the broken-hearted and comfort.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nPray that we grow more in preaching the Gospel. Pray that the people in the village see Christ. Pray for the many broken families. Pray for Brother S* from the village. He has gone through a broken marriage. Pray for our outreach to the central part of the country. Pray for our interns who are in the field. Pray for the T* village church plant. Thank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blessed-in-ministry-pastor-6-update-june-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Family in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you all are doing well. I am continuously remembering you all in my prayers. I am very thankful to God for every thing that He is doing. I am also very thankful for your prayers and support. We praise God and thank Him when we pray for you. You have been such a great encouragement to us in building the kingdom of God.  “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessed in Ministry- Pastor 6 Update June 2023"},{"content":"Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nI thank God for you all as you continue to pray for me and support me financially.\nI am doing good by God’s grace. Right now, we are having summer break for the Bible Institute students. They have finished their first year, and have one more year left to complete the Bible Institute. It gets really hot here in the summer. The temperature usually gets up to 110⁰ F during the day, so its really hard to go outside in the afternoon this time of year. Therefore, we have a longer summer break than winter break. In the winter the students only get a 2-3 week break.\nDuring this past school year, I have seen all of the students grow so much in their knowledge of the Word and in their knowledge of the Lord. Some of them already had good Bible knowledge, while some did not even know how to read or write properly. But by the end of the school year, with our continued efforts and by His grace, I rejoice to see all of them doing really well. I see that this knowledge of the Word has caused them to love the Lord even more as they spend more time praying and studying the Word by themselves. They also have the heart to reach out to their friends and family members who are not saved. I believe that right now they are witnessing to them as they are back in their homes. I am in touch with them through phone calls.\nI have also been teaching children (above) from the Bible each week for over a year. I am blessed to have this opportunity to lead them in their spiritual journey while most of their friends are enjoying a worldly life. They love the Lord. I am so glad that they do not give in to peer pressure as they stand for the Lord and live out what they have been learning.\nA few weeks ago, I was invited to preach at a medical college’s chapel in my city. The topic of my message was “Living for Christ”. I had a positive response from the students. There were about 40 students. They told me that they were really blessed by the good solid teaching of the Word. They told me that most of the teaching that they hear is prosperity teachings. At the end, the student leader thanked me saying, “Thank you for presenting the truth without sugarcoating it.” A few of them told me that they would love to visit my church so I gave them the address. I plan to follow up with them and get in touch with them.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that I continue to grow in my spiritual life and the knowledge of God. Please pray that I will be used mightily by God. Please pray for the Bible school students. May God use them right now as they share the Gospel with their friends and family during this summer break. Please pray for the children and teenagers of my city with whom I am involved. May they stand firm in their faith at this age when Satan tries to distract them. Blessings,\nPastor 9\n\\* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/living-for-christ-may-update-from-pastor-9-in-the-10-40-window/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God for you all as you continue to pray for me and support me financially.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am doing good by God’s grace. Right now, we are having summer break for the Bible Institute students. They have finished their first year, and have one more year left to complete the Bible Institute. It gets really hot here in the summer. The temperature usually gets up to 110⁰ F during the day, so its really hard to go outside in the afternoon this time of year. Therefore, we have a longer summer break than winter break. In the winter the students only get a 2-3 week break.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Living for Christ- Pastor 9 Update May 2023"},{"content":" A lot has happened this last month, and I’m grateful for all that the Lord has done! As many of you know the Lord provided for me to go to Peru! What an amazing time it was. I got to meet so many amazing people, and come to find out, see many I hadn’t in a while. During our time there we were involved with many different things. We were able to do outreach, be a part of chapels for the Bible College, meet and interact with the students, attend Calvary Trujillo, and do lots of construction. Overall the Lord provided for an amazing time and opportunity.\nPeru We arrived May 11 and got settled in. Each team member got to share a devotional (and depending on the day) teach a chapel for CBI Peru. Our work was clearly cut out for us and it was a joy to be a part of what the Lord has been doing in Trujillo, Peru. During classes, our team would work on meal prep or construction. We were able to help put in a new water tank to supply the campuses water needs. Our first night we got to have some Peruvian donuts called Picarones (they’re delicious—give them a try). One of my favorite things was getting to meet the students and serve alongside them. Our first day there, a good friend and I went with some locals from the church and passed out flyers to invite people to an outreach in the park we were having the next day—it was a blast! This was the school’s last week of classes and they made it their outreach week before graduation—it made for a busy week indeed.\nOutreach\nWe were able to do 4 different outreaches, all of which had a skit for the kiddos, games, some prizes and crafts, and a whole lot of Jesus and the Gospel. We got to partner with 3 different churches, and got to help bring the love of Jesus to some amazing kids in different communities. One of my favorite things to see was the skit that these CBI students put on—it was really well done and set up perfectly to share the Gospel and our need for Jesus. Only one thing can overcome darkness, and that’s Jesus. So many kids attended, and some with their families, and many gave their lives to Jesus. Please pray that they continue to attend church, get in the Word, and learn about their Savior who loves them and died for them!\nConstruction\nNot only did we get to help put up the new water tank, but we also got to help get the framing started for a big outdoor pergola off of their main eating area. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun, and I’m glad to have worked with the team, and with the staff and students as well. I know they have a team coming this summer that will help them with even more.\nBible College\nOne of the main things we got to help with was one of our pastors teaching a class to the CBI students on missions and church planting. This was a sweet time, getting to hear reminders of what I got to learn back in the School of Missions in 2020. What an exciting thing to get to hear about what the Lord is doing in the lives of these students and interns as they’re getting ready to go out and church plant themselves! It was such a blessing to be around a bunch of young people on fire for the Lord and ready to go wherever He calls them. Their graduation took place our last Thursday there, and it was a blessing to see the hard work and accomplishments of the students recognized in front of the church, students, and their family and friends. I didn’t know it until our trip got closer, but two people I knew from my time at CSOM were graduating that night, and it was such a cool thing to see. Please pray for all of the graduates as some are getting ready to go out and others are returning to intern.\nBack in the Northbay\nNow it’s back to Middle School and home life while prepping and praying for what’s next. Please pray for continued vision, and provision for what the Lord is doing and where He is wanting to take me. I know He has a good plan and purpose and I am excited to see what He has in store.\nA quick update on my dad, while we were in Peru he actually needed to go back into the hospital due to an infection where they had initially done surgery, but praise the Lord they did not need to operate again and he is back home. Please pray for his continued recovery and that the Lord would provide strength, healing, and rest for him. 2023 has been a wild ride, but I’m thankful for all that the Lord has done and is doing.\nThank you for all of your prayer and support!\n- Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/picarones-and-the-gospel-voisin-update-may-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/406A5084-6629-4145-B198-85866B2E6FD1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA lot has happened this last month, and I’m grateful for all that the Lord has done! As many of you know the Lord provided for me to go to Peru! What an amazing time it was. I got to meet so many amazing people, and come to find out, see many I hadn’t in a while. During our time there we were involved with many different things. We were able to do outreach, be a part of chapels for the Bible College, meet and interact with the students, attend Calvary Trujillo, and do lots of construction. Overall the Lord provided for an amazing time and opportunity.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Picarones and the Gospel - Voisin Update May 2023"},{"content":" Thank the Lord for His grace to finish the second semester of our Bible Institute. This semester the students were taught 1\u0026amp;2 Samuel, Ezra \u0026amp; Nehemaih, Luke, Acts, Romans and 1\u0026amp;2 Corinthians. All the classes went smoothly.\nWe did not face any opposition from the Hindu fanatical groups that are very active in our area. There is so much persecution in our state. There is especially persecution around our town, but it has not been in our town. However, two weeks ago, a church service was attacked in a town that is just about a mile away from our church. These fanatical groups put women in the front. The women attack with wooden rods.\nLast month, one man was baptized in our church. This man\u0026rsquo;s parents became Christians about 13 years ago. They are members of our church. Before, this man had not accepted Jesus, but he started coming to church for the last two years with his parents. Slowly, he grew in his knowledge of the Lord and put his faith in Jesus. He got baptized last month. The Lord blessed him with a wife who is also a new believer from the same tribe.\nA new family has started coming to our Sunday fellowship. This family moved to our town recently, since the husband and wife both got jobs in our town.\nEven though we are not able to preach Gospel openly, the Lord gives us opportunities to do personal evangelism. We are renovating our house and we hired some people to do the work. We are thankful to the Lord that we are able to share the Gospel with them.\n\nPastor 3* (our co-worker in Christ) has started building a place of worship by faith (right). lease pray that God provides for its completion.\nWe are doing well by God\u0026rsquo;s grace. Our daughter (left) is in England working as a registered nurse.\nThank you for being partners in the ministry of the Gospel through your prayers and financial support. We remember you in our prayers.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/finding-grace-in-these-uncertain-times-pastor-15-update-may-2023/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG-20230330-WA0005-300x226.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank the Lord for His grace to finish the second semester of our Bible Institute. This semester the students were taught 1\u0026amp;2 Samuel, Ezra \u0026amp; Nehemaih, Luke, Acts, Romans and 1\u0026amp;2 Corinthians. All the classes went smoothly.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe did not face any opposition from the Hindu fanatical groups that are very active in our area. There is so much persecution in our state. There is especially persecution around our town, but it has not been in our town. However, two weeks ago, a church service was attacked in a town that is just about a mile away from our church. These fanatical groups put women in the front. The women attack with wooden rods.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Finding Grace In These Uncertain Times -Pastor 15 Update May 2023"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family!\nWe pray you are all doing well. Thank you so much for taking the time to read our updates, pray for, and support us! It means the world to us.\nI (Joel) returned from a fruitful trip to Israel a couple of weeks ago. It was great to learn from our trusted guide and my pastor, Trent, to get a better grounding on the locations where the Bible took place. There is new significance to every story we covered as we receive greater context for the stories of Scripture. I also had the privilege of leading a LOT of worship at various locations, as well as doing some teachings.\nThe best part of this trip, however, was doing missionary care. I got to room with a worker we sent to the Middle East about a year ago and we shared great fellowship and prayer together talking through how the past year has been for him. In addition, we were also joined by two couples who we had just sent to serve alongside of him about a week prior to the trip. I got to talk through a lot of things with them as well and offer them pastoral care.\nOn the family side, things are going well. We are all mourning the loss of Amy’s sweet, godly grandmother Jean, who is with the Lord now, free of pain, and having left a legacy of righteousness with all of us here. In the midst of that, we had reason for joy as well as we celebrated Jude and Clara’s birthdays, which are about a week apart. Maggie is in the initial stages of getting braces, so please pray for provision for that and for the Lord to be her strength, as that process can be intimidating for a kid. The kids have been enjoying art classes and swimming lessons, and the boys will be doing baseball through the city again soon.\nWe also continue to lead our Young Adults Ministry. Amy also helps lead and teach a monthly group for moms at our church called Inspired Motherhood. And Joel has taken up a volunteer position on the board for the kids’ charter school. Please pray for the Lord’s strength in all of these endeavors, that we would do all things well, for His glory, and only in the power of His Spirit! Thank you all for your prayers.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/what-a-trip-garcia-family-update-may-2023/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe pray you are all doing well. Thank you so much for taking the time to read our updates, pray for, and support us! It means the world to us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI (Joel) returned from a fruitful trip to Israel a couple of weeks ago. It was great to learn from our trusted guide and my pastor, Trent, to get a better grounding on the locations where the Bible took place. There is new significance to every story we covered as we receive greater context for the stories of Scripture. I also had the privilege of leading a LOT of worship at various locations, as well as doing some teachings.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What A Trip! – Garcia Family Update May 2023"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Partners, and Leaders\nGreetings to all of you from my church! I thank you and God that God is great, living and gracious. He is the one who makes the impossible possible! I was married last month. God helped everything to be done very nicely and orderly. God helped me more than I had imagined!\nBy the grace of God, house churches are now running in 9 villages. In these house churches, we have Bible study, worship, prayer etc. On Sundays we have fellowship at our house. During Sunday fellowship, I am teaching every verse from the book of Romans. About 60 to 70 believers and new seekers come. I also have a Bible study at my home on Fridays which is attended by 20 to 30 very established believers. On Fridays, I teach from the book of Genesis.\nI am teaching from the book of Romans in my church on Sundays. Through this, God is filling the people of my church with wisdom and knowledge. They are learning many things about faith and giving God\u0026rsquo;s Word first place in their lives.\nThank God! For a long time, I have been working toward and praying about getting audio Bibles for my church. God arranged for me to get 12 pocket audio Bibles. I want to thank you for your help with this! To bring the Bibles, I traveled about 300 kms (186 miles) there and back on my bike. God helped me in every way so that I could reach my home safely with the audio Bibles. There are 60 to 80 illiterate believers in my church who need audio Bibles. But I was only able to get 12 audio Bibles. For this reason, I am giving audio Bibles to the people in whose house everyone is illiterate, or in whose house no one will read the Bible to them. Below are some small testimonies of those to whom I am giving audio Bibles.\nTestimonies of Some of the People Who Received the Audio Bibles 1. Ministry begins at homes.\nMy mother is very enthusiastic to listen to the Word of God. She does not know how to read or write at all, yet she talks very well with all the believers of the church. She comes and teaches them the Word of God. She keeps on telling everyone all the words she remembers after listening to them. She squealed with joy as I gave the audio Bible to her. Currently she is listening to her audio Bible all day long.\n2. Even a hoard of devils could not defeat single women- You must have heard about this sister many times. She is very strong believer. She worked very hard to be able read the Word of God. She even started taking classes so that he could learn to read and read the Word of God. But her mother-in-law quarreled a lot with her and chased away the teacher who used to come to teach her to read. Because she believed in God, she was persecuted a lot. The people of the village were about to kill her, but because of your prayers, God kept her alive. As I gave her the Audio Bible, she thanked God.\n3. Weak in body but strong in faith\nR* is a person with a disability. He is 21 years old. 60% of his body is disabled. He cannot speak clearly, but he can hear and understand everything. Together with him, live his mother, father, brother and grandmother. All of them believe in God with all their body, mind, and wealth. Ever since he was 14 years old, his mother used to carry him and bring him to the church. He believed in Jesus after hearing the Word of God and was baptized 4 years ago. His family is very poor financially but very forward in hospitality. His father and mother raise cows and the milk that comes out of the cows is all that nurtures the house. R* used to get bored living alone at home, but since I gave him the audio Bible, he has been listening to the Word of God all day long!\n4. The person who donates everything for the church despite having nothing\nI thank God for this brother. He believes in God, I shared about him in an update before. He collected the New Testaments that I distributed among the people of his village and threw them into the river. He hated God very much. But God chose him, so he believed and got baptized. Today he donates many things to the church. His wife is also a very good believer. She wants to get baptized. Because the river is dry, we are waiting for rain so that she can be baptized. When I gave the audio Bible to his family, he was very happy. He continues to listen to the Word with his family.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that God gives good health to my wife. It is very hot here for her. Please pray that God heals Raju from paralysis. His father and brother have taken him to the hospital so that he can get foot clips made to help him walk. Pray for the elections that are about to be held in our country. May God give us a good leader who will fulfill God’s will. Please pray for me. There are a lot of expenditures in being married. May God help me to meet them. Please pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s to have good health.. In the last week of June, I am planning to take my wife to visit her mother. May God will fulfill all financial needs for this. Please pray that everyone, who became believers through my ministry, keeps their faith during persecution. May God give them wisdom and knowledge and help them learn. Thank you for your prayers, help, and support for the furtherance of the Gospel.\nMay God bless you, your family and your children abundantly!\nGod bless you all,\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/faith-comes-by-hearing/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Partners, and Leaders\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/May-1-244x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you from my church! I thank you and God that God is great, living and gracious. He is the one who makes the impossible possible! I was married last month. God helped everything to be done very nicely and orderly. God helped me more than I had imagined!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the grace of God, house churches are now running in 9 villages. In these house churches, we have Bible study, worship, prayer etc. On Sundays we have fellowship at our house. During Sunday fellowship, I am teaching every verse from the book of Romans. About 60 to 70 believers and new seekers come. I also have a Bible study at my home on Fridays which is attended by 20 to 30 very established believers. On Fridays, I teach from the book of Genesis.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Faith Comes by Hearing"},{"content":"Greetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nWe thank God for His mercy and grace. Through His mercy and grace, we can come to Jesus anytime and call Him Abba Father. We have experienced God’s protection and provisions in our daily life. We would also like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\nIn our family devotions we have been studying from Epistle of II Corinthians. It is so good to know that the Apostle Paul dealt with many issues in the early churches. Similar scenarios are found in today’s church as well. Yet we need to stand strong in the Word and we should be ready to teach whenever we get opportunities.\nLast month, we had good Easter fellowship at our church as well as with our family. However, at the end of the month, we had sad news in our family. One of our uncles went to be with the Lord. He was suffering with cancer.\nThese days we are arranging our CBI Library. As a family, we are visiting two new Hindu families to encourage them and have friendship.\nOur Sunday school children are memorizing Bible verses. Every week they get the opportunity to recite them in church.\nPrayer Requests:\nKindly pray for God’s comfort in our grieving family, since our uncle passed away. Pray for our church\u0026rsquo;s Sunday school children. May God give them wisdom and knowledge in school. Please pray for our state\u0026rsquo;s Christians to be strengthened in their faith in Jesus. During this difficult time, may God take care His people. At the same time, pray that the fanatical group may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Lately the temperature is very high. It is 42° Celsius (107 Fahrenheit). I is very hard to sit in the church. Kindly pray for us. Also pray for the growth and needs of our local church. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/experiencing-gods-protection-and-provision/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe thank God for His mercy and grace. Through His mercy and grace, we can come to Jesus anytime and call Him Abba Father. We have experienced God’s protection and provisions in our daily life. We would also like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\u003cstrong\u003eExperiencing God's Protection and Provision\u003c/strong\u003e"},{"content":" I greet you all in the name of Jesus Christ.\nI thank God for his blessings on my family. We are doing well by His grace. We are absolutely fine by your prayers. Thank you for your prayers.\nMy kids\u0026rsquo; school test results were very good. My both kids will go into the next grade. My daughter is going into kindergarten 1 and my son will be going into fifth grade. Please keep my family in your prayers.\nMy ministry is also going fine. The believers are doing well. They are continuing in fellowship. Last month we celebrated palm Sunday and Easter joyfully.\nLast month, God also used me in another area where I held a meeting together with a family (right). It was a blessed trip. All Glory and honor I give to my Lord.\nSpecial thanks to the hands and families who are supporting me financially. May God bless you with all His riches from the Heaven. Thank you so much for your prayers, care, and love.\nSome Important Prayer Requests:\nKindly pray my ministry to be fruitful. Pray for my healing. My blood sugar level has been high. Pray for our church building. Pray for all of the believers to be strong in their faith and grow spiritually. Please continue pray for H* and Y*. They are brother and sister who both have mental trouble. Pray for those who are being persecuted in our state. In the Lord,\nYour Brother,\nPastor 8* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/continuing-in-fellowship/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG-20230502-WA0020-300x248.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI greet you all in the name of Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God for his blessings on my family. We are doing well by His grace. We are absolutely fine by your prayers. Thank you for your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy kids\u0026rsquo; school test results were very good. My both kids will go into the next grade. My daughter is going into kindergarten 1 and my son will be going into fifth grade. Please keep my family in your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Continuing in Fellowship"},{"content":" “You are My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you. Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”\nISAIAH 41:9B-10\nPray for us as we begin the adoption process for our daughter Apio Cynthia!\nIn April of 2021, soon after our return to Uganda from our furlough in the States, we began fostering a girl from our village. We had known Apiyo Cynthia (nicknamed Ah-peach-ay) since we officially moved to Uganda in 2018, when she was 8 years old. At the start we had thought she was an orphan because she appeared malnourished and severely neglected, not even knowing her real name. We found over time that she was simply rejected from the community. Once we found out she had a family, we tried many times to help reconcile her to them through various means to no avail. We even left provision so that if schools opened up again when we were visiting the States, she could be enrolled as soon as possible (schools were closed for 2 years due to the very lengthy lockdown here). When we returned from our furlough, we began finding her on our porch after dark, sometimes as late as 11PM. We continued trying to reconcile her to her family while looking for options of where she could go that would take better care of her. When we heard rumors that she could be in mortal danger from a relative, we got permission from the officials concerned to keep her in our home until a better living situation was decided.\nSince then it has been a true labor of love to teach and train her in every aspect of life. Late nights, long days, and many prayers have brought her from the desperate small form peaking through our window, to the energetic, dreaming teenage girl she is now. It has now been two years, and Apiche is a daughter to us and a sister to all our children. After much prayer and careful consideration of the present situations, we have officially begun the process for legal adoption. There are a few serious obstacles in the way of successful adoption in this instance, but we look to the Lord to make a way, since we know He loves her even more than we do.\nPlease pray: – For our lawyer to be “crafty as a serpent but innocent as a dove”, knowing how to bring the facts but not portraying anything untrue.\n– For the judges to consider all the present factors and judge in favor of Apiche.\n– That God would provide the finances necessary for the legal process.\n– For speed and honesty during this process.\n– For her family to turn to the Lord.\n– For Apiche’s heart to be soft toward the Lord and eagerly listen for and obey His voice.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-april-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“You are My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you. Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eISAIAH 41:9B-10\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePray for us as we begin the adoption process for our daughter Apio Cynthia!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/20230121%5F1941422.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn April of 2021, soon after our return to Uganda from our furlough in the States, we began fostering a girl from our village. We had known Apiyo Cynthia (nicknamed Ah-peach-ay) since we officially moved to Uganda in 2018, when she was 8 years old. At the start we had thought she was an orphan because she appeared malnourished and severely neglected, not even knowing her real name. We found over time that she was simply rejected from the community. Once we found out she had a family, we tried many times to help reconcile her to them through various means to no avail. We even left provision so that if schools opened up again when we were visiting the States, she could be enrolled as soon as possible (schools were closed for 2 years due to the very lengthy lockdown here). When we returned from our furlough, we began finding her on our porch after dark, sometimes as late as 11PM. We continued trying to reconcile her to her family while looking for options of where she could go that would take better care of her. When we heard rumors that she could be in mortal danger from a relative, we got permission from the officials concerned to keep her in our home until a better living situation was decided.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family - April 2023"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nI hope that you and yours had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday! Our church had a fantastic Easter week and in this update I want to tell you all about it. The theme of our Easter week was Living Hope (Esperanza Viva) and my main Bible text was taken from Luke chapter 24 and the message from the angels at the empty tomb that Jesus has risen and He is alive!\nAt Calvary Rosarito, we love to make Easter a week-long celebration. We do that by having daily devotions during the week that teach about the important events in Jerusalem of Jesus’ final week alive. Of course this culminates in Good Friday where we worshipped with a concert. Our worship team (along with my son Daniel) led us into God’s presence as we remembered the cross and the love that Jesus has for us!\nAt the weekend services we had plenty of fun activities for the entire family. This included a delicious food court, themed photo booths, and a super fun clown show for the kids featuring an amazing professional clown family (Vida Clown) who attend our church.\nThe focus of the weekend were our church services, and we were blessed to host our largest (post-covid) crowd in 3 years! Nearly 1600 friends joined us live for our Easter services and 50 of them were first time visitors. We also had about 20 first time professions of faith, and it never get’s old seeing people respond to God’s free offer of salvation through Jesus Christ.\nFor me personally, this Easter was a family affair. We not only had my parents in town with us, but also my daughter Grace who moved out a few months ago up to the US to get a job and lives with Sarah’s mom in Hesperia. (Our first child to fly the coup.) It was a blessing to have all of us together (including Sarah’s parents, Ted and Diane, and Mitch and his family) for a Easter family lunch after service.\nThe truth that Jesus is alive is a truth that changed the history of the world! And in my Easter teaching, I reminded our church of five reasons that the resurrection brings us a living hope, and I wanted to share these reasons with you as well!\n#1- The resurrection reminds us that we no longer have to fear death. #2- The resurrection allowed us to receive the Holy Spirit. #3- The resurrection reminds us that there is glory and crowns on the other side of the crosses (trials) of life. #4- The resurrection reminds us that in the same way Jesus resurrected, we will too! And #5- The resurrection reminds us that Jesus is alive!\nOnce again I want to thank you for your partnership over these past 21 years on the mission field of Mexico. It is through your prayers that God meet’s our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God meets our physical needs. We love you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless my May church planting trip to La Paz! (South Baja)\n#2- That God will bless our 2 new 2nd Generation church planters being sent out through our church plant in La Paz.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for an amazing and fruitful Resurrection Celebration!\n#2- Praise God for His goodness and kindness to our family and ministry!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-may-2023-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/340473176%5F138001349201966%5F1939722958796617309%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI hope that you and yours had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday! Our church had a fantastic Easter week and in this update I want to tell you all about it. The theme of our Easter week was Living Hope \u003cem\u003e(Esperanza Viva)\u003c/em\u003e and my main Bible text was taken from Luke chapter 24 and the message from the angels at the empty tomb that Jesus has risen and He is alive!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family May 2023 Missions Update"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nI am having a great time and am satisfied in ministry to the places, villages and houses that God has been sending me to for the past few months.\nThese are villages and homes that nobody want to go to. The people\u0026rsquo;s lifestyle is in debauchery. They are illiterate. Most of the time, they have no job. If they have a job, it is a job that everyone hates (for example: cleaning drainage and toilets, or as cleaners in a bar or restaurants etc.). These people live outside of the village. All of them belong to the lowest cast of society.\nNo one wants to meet with or talk to them. Nobody wants to shake their hand. Basically, they don\u0026rsquo;t know what love is. They have no idea and have never experienced how it feels. It touches their heart if someone loves them unconditionally. Both men and women who live in this kind of atmosphere became alcoholics. They do not have enough money to go to a wine shop to buy alcohol, so they usually buy local, man-made alcohol in their villages and streets. This type of alcohol is super unhealthy to their bodies. Along with that, tobacco is like their chewing gum. They will have tobacco in their mouth almost 15 hours a day. They are extremely addicted to these life killing habits.\nThey cannot afford houses with concrete, so they build houses with rocks, mud, hay, straw, and tarpaulin covers. Some of the houses that I am visiting do not even have a door at the entrance, as you see in the picture. They live in complete darkness with unhygienic surroundings.\nApart from who they are, what they do for a living, and how unhygienic they are, when I saw them, I was moved with compassion.\nI remember the situation I was in, when God took hold of my hand and pulled me out of this world. I asked God to give me the knowledge to preach the Gospel in simple language with simple examples so that they can understand about Jesus and why He was on the earth two thousand years ago. While I sit with them and shake their hands, I understand that these people are loved by God to the utmost\u0026ndash;even though they are the least recognized by the earthly society. I know that I have a responsibility to take the Gospel to them. I am asking them to not drink alcohol at least one time a week, on the day when they know that I will be coming to meet with them and talk about Jesus, so that their minds will be clear during the time of sowing the seeds.\nPraise report: The Lord has been opening doors to new ministry opportunities in different villages! I am starting to see the new believers desiring to grow in Gods Word.\nPlease Pray for These Requests:\nFor those who are hearing the Gospel to be saved, and for the new believers to grow and desire more of God\u0026rsquo;s Word. For faithful men to be raised up in these villages. For wisdom on how to divide my time between different villages For God\u0026rsquo;s guidance as I plan to put teachings online in the local language. For my mother to have complete healing to her body. Please pray that her lungs will be fully restored and for her to be able to move freely without a walker. For my future marriage Thank you all!\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-opening-new-doors/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am having a great time and am satisfied in ministry to the places, villages and houses that God has been sending me to for the past few months.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/20230308%5F180500-300x186.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/image0-300x225.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese are villages and homes that nobody want to go to. The people\u0026rsquo;s lifestyle is in debauchery. They are illiterate. Most of the time, they have no job. If they have a job, it is a job that everyone hates (for example: cleaning drainage and toilets, or as cleaners in a bar or restaurants etc.). These people live outside of the village. All of them belong to the lowest cast of society.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Is Opening New Doors!"},{"content":"“He is not here; for He is risen, as He said…” Matthew 28:6 Dear friends and family,\nHE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED! This past month we had a very nice time preparing for celebrating Jesus’ death and resurrection. As we prepared there were other new beginnings taking place amongst our church members as well.\nRecently, two of our church members, Wilbur and Leona, announced to the church their intentions of getting married. In Uganda the process of getting married is quite long. Of course there is the normal courtship / dating time. When the man wants to take the relationship further he doesn’t ask the girl to marry him, he has to ask the father and uncles. This is called the visitation. At the visitation the man will go with who ever would be his bestman and one of his uncles. They will meet with the male heads of the girl\u0026rsquo;s family and there they will discuss dowry and whether the family believes the match is acceptable. The man normally comes with some gifts to show his seriousness about the marriage proposal and his ability to pay dowry. After the families come to an agreement, then the man may ask the girl officially to marry him. After the girl accepts his proposal they then publicly announce their intentions to the church.\nThe reason behind this is twofold. First because the government requires at least three weeks of gazetting before a marriage so that if anyone knows of a reason the couple shouldn’t get married then there is time for it to be revealed and dealt with. Secondly, the couple will rely heavily on friends, family, and church members to cover the costs of the dowry and wedding expenses. The church announcement will then kick off wedding meetings about once a week where money will be raised to cover these costs as well as the planning of events.\nBefore the actual wedding, the couple will have an introduction. The introduction is a huge event, sometimes even bigger than the wedding. It is where the two families are officially introduced, the dowry is paid and the girl is “given” to the man and his family. It is very colorful and sometimes even involves a lot of acting, dramas and comedy. During this event sometime before the girls is handed over, after the gifts are given and dowry paid, the boy is required to eat a whole chicken. Wilbur and Leona this past month completed all the visitation, church announcement and Introduction, now we are looking forward to their wedding.\nStarting with Palm Sunday the passion week was filled with activities and outreaches to make people aware of what the meaning of Easter is and what Jesus did for them so they could be saved. On Palm Sunday, palms are being waved all over. You see them in church being waved as we sing Hosanna and as Brian teaches about the triumphal entry but you’ll also see them decorating the front of businesses or tied to motorcycle taxis. With Uganda being a somewhat Christian nation this time of year is played out openly and in the streets. On Good Friday, many different churches come together and reenact the procession of the cross, literally in the streets. The cross is carried from one end of the city to the next. This year we saw it 2 times on the roads of Kampala.\nAt Arise Christian Fellowship we celebrated Good Friday and Easter Sunday with services at church as well as visitations to the needy families in our church to deliver chickens. The chickens are raised and sold by some of our church members so it blesses both the giver and the receivers.\nOn Good Friday, Brian taught about the last supper and Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. Together as a church body we took communion and reflected on what Jesus’ death meant for us. On Easter morning we celebrated Christ\u0026rsquo;s resurrection. The second largest religion in Uganda is Islam. Currently they are celebrating Ramadan just as openly and passionately as Christians celebrate Easter. Brian shared major differences between their\u0026rsquo;s and our celebrations with the #1 being the foundation of Christianity and our hope, the resurrection of Christ. No other religion has that evidence or hope. Along with the message of Christ’s resurrection the church celebrated through special music and performances from the youth. We ended the celebrations with a light meal together.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him, **_ Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana_**\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us and for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. Please pray for Wilbur and Leona as they take the steps to finalize their marriage. Pray for the many young married couples in our church to build their marriages on the truth of God’s Word. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship as they continue to reach out to the market place and surrounding communities. Pray for those who have recently received Christ to grow in understanding and in a personal relationship with Him. Continue to pray for Luke and Laylee as they learn to navigate online school. Pray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-april-2023/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"he-is-not-here\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“He is not here;\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003efor He is risen,\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eas He said…” Matthew 28:6\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"he-is-risen-he-is-risen-indeed\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHE IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month we had a very nice time preparing for celebrating Jesus’ death and resurrection. As we prepared there were other new beginnings taking place amongst our church members as well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecently, two of our church members, Wilbur and Leona, announced to the church their intentions of getting married.  In Uganda the process of getting married is quite long.  Of course there is the normal courtship / dating time.  When the man wants to take the relationship further he doesn’t ask the girl to marry him, he has to ask the father and uncles.  This is called the visitation.  At the visitation the man will go with who ever would be his bestman and one of his uncles.  They will meet with the male heads of the girl\u0026rsquo;s family and there they will discuss dowry and whether the family believes the match is acceptable. The man normally comes with some gifts to show his seriousness about the marriage proposal and his ability to pay dowry. After the families come to an agreement, then the man may ask the girl officially to marry him. After the girl accepts his proposal they then publicly announce their intentions to the church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update - April 2023"},{"content":"\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\n- Pray for Jill as she is recovering from amoeba and giardia. Pray her stomach heals completely. - Luke and Laylee are still trying to get the hang of doing school online. Pray that they will catch on and enjoy it. Pray for them to grow closer to Lord. - Pray for Liana and Jill as they continue traditional homeschooling. Pray for her behavior and Jill\u0026rsquo;s patience. - Pray for the little boy Jill babysits.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nThank you all so much for your continued prayer support\nThis month we can praise God for the following:\n- Our Church, Calvary Chapel Gulu, has grown in unity through some adversity and we are being \u0026ldquo;re-envisioned\u0026rdquo; with God\u0026rsquo;s mission for us. - My brother Michael who has been in China for 10 years has just received his firstborn son into the open world! - God has provided for us to get some needed work done on our house.\nThis month please pray with us over the following:\nOur family has been struggling with the tropical health issues that are common in Africa. I am applying to further my education at Moody Bible Institute which will require strength and resources. Our students will have a different pace of class this month which will focus on personally reflecting on the Gospel. Please pray that God brings unity and openness as we open ourselves to His work.\nGod Bless You,\nThe Harris Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\nPray for the 5 new Muslim converts. For their safety and boldness. Pray for the container clearance. The container is finally in Africa working it’s way to Uganda but there is a hold-up on one paperwork. Please pray for the details. We are now beginning the roofing on the Koinonia community center and library. Pray for all the church fellowships and ministries, that God will continue to strengthen us as we grow deeper in Him. Pray for our Bible college students as they do their finals and break for summer. Continued prayers for our nursery and primary school.\nThank you!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth MinistriesIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.Pray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.Pray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya: Pray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA: Pray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.The first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course. The second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email BlogUSA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\nPRAISE REPORTS 1. Jenn was able to join Tim on trip to South Asia that was 2 weeks long focused on missionary care and teaching of in country workers. 2. For those who prayerfully and financially support us 3. Jenn has been able to stay healthy\nPRAYER REQUEST\n1. Pray for our re-adjustment as we come back. 2. Wisdom and God\u0026rsquo;s heart for Tim as he prepares to teach at a conference in Mexico next month. 3. Our son Andy who is homeless and struggling in many ways.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - USA, Asia, and Africa\nPray for Bond\u0026rsquo;s full recovery from open heart surgery. He is doing great, but is still not able to drive or lift things. Pray that his new heart would work amazing and he would be restored to full health and better than ever. Pray for us as we lead a team of 15 to Peru from May 10th - 20th to serve alongside CBI Peru and CC Trujillo. Pray for Bond as he will be teaching a class at the college. Pray for the team as we prepare for outreach and to minister in new areas where there is a recent church plant. Pray for salvation for the lost and encouragement for the saints as they serve tirelessly! Pray for the students who are studying in S. Asia and Nepal. Pray that they would be challenged by God\u0026rsquo;s Word and get a burden to see the Gospel go forth in unreached areas. Pray for men to be raised up and for churches to be planted. Pray for outreach weeks in May as they travel to areas where there is no gospel witness. Pray for a new work in Pakistan in a new tribal area where a church building has been given over for use. Pray for the preparations of launching a new location and that many would come to know Jesus and be taught the Word in that place.\nThank you for your prayers, Bond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for the salvation of two of the residents in our Bible Study at the assisted living facility. Though they know much about God, pray that they will fully surrender their hearts to God and belief in the truth of His Word, and receive Him in their hearts.Please continue to pray for my parents’ health.Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.Please pray that God will continually strengthen our faith and service for Him.\nThank you so much for your prayers! God bless you,Paul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for the christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.Please pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health. He has several physical problems including double vision. The doctors have not yet been able to find out what is causing them.\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - Yorba Linda, California\nThank all for praying for us!\nPlease pray that Joel would have an effective trip to Israel, that he is able to grow as a Bible teacher through it and be an effective leader and teacher on the trip.\nPray for the Lord’s guidance on where Joel should be traveling next for missionary care, and that the Lord would open the right doors.\nPray that the Lord would provide more monthly financial partners as the costs of housing and food for a large family are rising.\nLove in Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email Blog\nGary and Tina Barrow - Truckee, California\nWe have been here pastoring Calvary Chapel Truckee for almost 3 years now. We’ve faced many challenges and difficulties, many we never dreamed would be something we would face in ministry. But God has been so very faithful, and I believe we’re right where God wants us as a church.Please pray…We’re in need of a worship leader/assistant pastor at the church. Currently Gary is carrying all of the teaching and administration of the church. It’s been a heavy, and at times, an overwhelming responsibility. But again, God has been so very faithful. We trust that with your prayers, God will raise up an assistant that is like minded and has a heart to serve God’s people.Please join us in praying for a fresh out pouring of God’s Spirit on Calvary Chapel Truckee.We’ve been praying about starting a preschool to reach out to the town of Truckee. We need wisdom and vision on how the Lord would have us do this.We have just returned from Israel and it seems that God has opened up amazing doors for ministry there for us. We have an open do to reach out to youth in a Palestinian controlled area. God has also opened a door for us to minister to special needs kids in Israel. We’re praying and asking God to show us how He would have us walk through those doors.Gary is planning on traveling with Pastor Trent to the Middle East later this year. We’re asking the Lord to show us how He’d have us be part of the ministry there also.We’re planning for Hungarian summer camps again this year. During one of the camps last year, a woman approached Gary and ask if he knew who she was? She showed him a picture of the 2 of them from a camp Gary did 13 years earlier. She said she gave her heart to the Lord during that camp and Jesus changed her life. She’s now living for Jesus, married to a christian man and serving in her church. Last year we saw 64 of 93 kids come to the Lord in 2 summer camps. We’re asking the Lord for even more souls this year.Gary is teaching a class and continues to arrange teachers for the colleges we have in the 10/40 window. Please continue to pray that God would raise up believers to take the Gospel and saturate that area. Gary would like to lead a team later this year to visit the college and encourage the students through block classes. We’re asking God for the right timing for a trip.With all the many overseas opportunities now opening up to us, we’re asking God to show us how to serve faithfully here at Calvary Chapel Truckee, and how to balance that with the many open doors abroad. We believe the Lord is leading us into greater fields of harvest. We’re asking the Lord for wisdom and direction.We want to thank you for your prayers. If you have any questions, we welcome your emails and will respond to them promptly.\n- God bless,\nGary and Tina Barrow - Email BlogMexico\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests? #1- For my church planting trip and conference in Loreto at the end of March! #2- Preparation for our next church planter being sent out to Peru in May! #3- For the Spirit (and gifts) to move in our afterglow services!\nThanks for your prayers, Mike and Sarah Vincent - Email Blog\nRon and Kristy Struska – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Report:\nPraise God that we made it to Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala, Mexico, where our daughter, Brittany, and her husband, Brian are going to plant a church (Calvary Conexión México). There were some bumps along the way with our 24-foot trailer, but we made it here safely!\nWe’d also like to give him praise for the two outreaches we were able to do along the way in Culiacán \u0026amp; Morelia, as well as serve a little at and/or fellowship with several other church plants and pastors along the way.\nPrayer Requests:\nFor wisdom to know how to best use our time to help get the church building ready for Calvary Conexión México.\nFor the Lord to prepare the hearts of the children and their parents to be open to the gospel. We will be having a big outreach for kids here in Calpulalpan. There will be games, songs, a Bible lesson, craft, as well as prizes and backpacks to give away! We even plan to do some games with the parents and give away some prizes for them as well.For finances, as we are having some trouble with our local Mexican bank, and we have a lot of funds that we are currently not able to access (and may not be able to access for months until some paperwork gets taken care of).\nFor a safe return trip home to Rosarito, trailer in tow, early to mid-February.\nBlessings!\nRon \u0026amp; Kristy Struska - Email Blog\nJenna Pepin – Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico\nCalvary Culiacán North will be implementing some BIG changes this year. Pray that the result is a stronger, more effective church and a huge harvest of souls. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s continued direction in confirming both my role and the timing for Sammy and me to join the Calpulalpan project. Pray for Sammy\u0026rsquo;s education as we will be trying out some new schooling options over the next 6 months. Jenna Pepin - Email Blog\nDavid and Michelle Mullins - Loreto, Mexico\nPrayer Request:\nMichelle:\nChronic Pain. After two failed back surgeries, I deal with daily Chronic Sciatica pain\nPrayer for Healing or Relief/Endurance to continue working on our growing children\u0026rsquo;s ministry and supporting our women and staff/volunteers with wisdom, love, and hope as we continue to grow, teach and share Christ’s love and His word with new believers.\nProtection over our church and future church planters as we experience physical, mental, and spiritual attacks from the evil one.\nThank You❣️\nBlessings,\nDavid and Michelle Mullins - Email Blog\nJon and Allison Brechtel - Oaxaca, Mexico\nHuge Praise Report:\nOur first grandbaby was born in late October, and she is happy and healthy, along with our son and daughter in law.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for continued unity in the church, and that the Lord would continue raising up men to be leaders. We have an amazing church body here and are so blessed by their hearts to serve Him. 2. Jon is now teaching in Spanish on Sundays, which is a huge step of faith and obedience. Please pray for continued growth for all 4 of us in our Spanish. It\u0026rsquo;s such a blessing to be able to communicate with everyone here. Please especially pray for Jonny and Noah to practice it.\nThank you for praying for the work that the Lord is doing in Oaxaca. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t do this without the covering of prayer.\nGod bless!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah - Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n1. Growth in personal and corporate holiness\n2. Thanksgiving for the miracle of restoration in my eldest son!\n3. For the Holy Spirit’s guidance in matters involving church discipline\n4. Church planting class involvement and teaching; for growth of students\n5. For God to show us who to disciple\n6. New Life rehab clinic weekly bible study; for the patients to be saved\n7. Much wisdom for helping the needy\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Poiema, and Cristian - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello and thank you for praying for me! Here are my prayer requests for this month:\n1. For more servants to be raised up, who are called to serve in different ministries. At present, we need a male to head up the single adult men’s group over 18, a cook for our after-school program, teachers for our nursery, and two teachers in the after-school program. 2. Much needed wisdom in ministering to the parents of the children in the afterschool program. 3. A reliable vehicle for me at a reasonable price. (My car died yesterday, so I am currently without a vehicle)! 4. For my mom who suffers from Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s, that she would be well emotionally, physically, and spiritually. 5. For the teacher training that I am currently giving every Sunday morning before service to the teachers at Calvary Chapel Tijuana, and will also be doing here at Calvary Chapel Pedregales, for direction and guidance from the Holy Spirit. 6. Healing in my right arm—shoulder and the elbow. I injured it in a volleyball game. It’s been two months, and the pain is still there\n- Deanna Jevas - Email BlogSouth America\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nPray for fruit from our evangelism efforts over the past few months. Pray for our expansion of our school of ministry to bilingual classes, and female living facilities. Pray for the two men from Texas who will be interns over the summer! Pray for our two full time female interns from Texas who will be coming to serve in August! Pray for our Surf-dream trip, we will be selecting several surfers in our church to go surf 5 of Peru\u0026rsquo;s famous surf spots and evangelizing the surf communities along the way! This is a two-fold mission trip to scout out places along the northern coast of Peru to plant a new church! Please pray for our divided heart to go help Craig\u0026rsquo;s dad after the loss of his wife of 65 years, which was Craig\u0026rsquo;s mom! Pray for our ongoing projects helping families around our church who were affected by the rains and floods from the last cyclone!\nThank you from our hearts, Craig and Daisy - Email Blog\nCory \u0026amp; Danielle Kilgus - Calvary Chapel Trujillo \u0026amp; CBI Peru\nThank you so much for your continued prayer!\nPlease pray for our upcoming semester at CBI Peru. We will have 23-25 full time students, are biggest semester yet. Our semester theme is \u0026ldquo;Abide\u0026rdquo; as apart from Jesus can nothing, and when we abide in Him we bear much fruit.Please pray for Calvary Trujillo and Calvary Buenos Aires, Peru. We are transitioning as we sent a group of about 20 to plant a church in another part of town, and it has been great to see God work. We have several outreach events coming up, and God is opening up new doors in our community with the universities, rehab centers and firefighters.Please pray for our family as received Isabela into our home about a month ago. She is 4 and a special girl. We took her on her first family vacation this month, and she calls us \u0026ldquo;mama\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;papa\u0026rdquo; now. She likes to run up to us and kiss us, and tells we are \u0026ldquo;lindo\u0026rdquo; (Nice). Pray for continued integration, as there are rough spots as well.\nPlease pray for another church we hope to plant in October with another graduate of CBI Peru in the jungle city of Moyobamba. We are hosting the CC Missions conference for South America and CBI Kauai is joining us to serve at the conference and then help us do an invasion of Moyobamba.\nThank you and we really do appreciate your faithfulness to pray.\nThank you from our hearts, Cory and Danielle - Email Blog\nShilo and Racquell Stratton - Peru\nPray for our minds, that we would not be anxious or stressed regarding preparing to move and actually being sent. That we would have the goal and mission in mind of making disciples. Of serving Christ and no one else. Of making His name famous and not our own. And generally for clear thinking. That we’d hold fast to sound doctrine.Pray for our spirits, that we’d serve God without fear and in absolute surrender. That we’d lay aside sins and things that easily ensnare us. That we’d put on God’s armor.\nPray for our bodies, that we’d be strong and that God would ward off any infections, diseases, or accidents from us prior to and on the field. Especially for baby Amalia. I (Shilo) think I’ve got a food allergy that my doctor and I are currently trying to figure out.\nPray for PERÚ, for the country as a whole. Latin America is full of false doctrine, prideful religiosity or cultural Catholicism and dangerous governments. Peru’s presidency just underwent some drastic sudden changes, and the country is not at peace.\n- Shilo and Racquell Stratton - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\nThanks for your prayers. God has answered so much! Thanks to God for confirming to a guy to help me plant Calvary Moyobamba. Thanks to God that many people in Moyobamba are excited for the church plant. Thanks to God we have grown in our friendships with several locals in Moyobamba, including Pastor Alfredo\u0026rsquo;s son. Thanks to God there was unity between the team in the recent church plant. Thanks to God we helped the continual construction of Pastor Alfredo\u0026rsquo;s church in San Rafael, where he wants to host bible teachers teaching to men who are hungry for the Word and want to bring it back to their communities. I am overwhelmed with His guidance and confirmation.\nPraise be to Him!\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nPray for my ministry, that God will give me wisdom and understanding.\nPray for my family, that they will grow in the Word of God.\nPray for my church members, that each one may grow in the Lord.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers. S.K. (2)\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our state’s Christians, for their faith in Jesus to be strengthened. In this difficult time, pray that God will take care of His people. At the same time, pray that the fanatical group will come to know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\nThese days, the temperature is very high, about 108 degrees Fahrenheit. It is very difficult to sit in the church, kindly pray. Also pray for the growth and needs of our local church.\nKindly pray for me and my family, that the Lord will use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nWorker 3 Worker 4 - 10/40 Window\nI will be traveling to share the Word at two different places. Please pray that the Lord will speak and that the people will be saved.\nRecently, I was very ill and bedridden for over a week. Please pray that I will fully recover soon.Please pray that the Lord will give me a clear vision over what the future holds for me. Thank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ,\nPastor W.J. Worker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for all of the students and the staff. May the Lord’s hand be upon each and every one.Please pray for the old age home ministry. Pray that the Lord will provide for all needs and give us the grace to be carriers of His light and love among the hopeless.God opened the door for us to minister to a pregnant mother in a village with medical needs, fruit, and proper food. Please pray that she will come to know the One true name of God and accept Him as her Lord. Please also pray for her health and the health of the baby, that they will have good nourishment and growth.Please pray for a tribal community we visited in a neighboring state during the Christmas season. A church has been started there! Please pray for the servant who ministers there and pray for all of their needs to be fulfilled, so that the light of the truth may shine upon many people and communities in the area through this tribal community.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 6\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nI praise God that He has been leading me to new opportunities to share the Gospel with those who have not heard it before!\nPlease pray: For the seeds to fall on good soil and bear much fruit.For wisdom on how to divide the time in the villages I am doing ministry in, and possibly moving closer to the villages.\nFor opportunities to raise “Timothy’s” in villages.\nFor God’s leading on possible land to plant a church.For my mother’s health. Pray for the restoration of her lungs and that she would be able to move without a walker.\nFor my future marriage.\nThank you, Worker 7\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease continue to pray for the two new families we visited and shared the Gospel with. Both of the families are going through physical and demonic problems. May God work powerfully in their lives.\nSister L. S. has a baby due soon; please pray for a safe delivery.H. and Y. are brother and sister, and they are both having the same physical and mental problem.\nEspecially pray for the persecution in our state.\nOnce again, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your partnership. May our loving God bless you abundantly!\nPastor 8 and family Worker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for me, that I will continue to grow in the Word of God.Pray that God will continue to use me here.\nPray for my country, as persecution is increasing. Pray that the work of the Gospel will also increase.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you all!\nWorker 9\nWorker 10\nThanks be to the Lord that God has kept you and us together, and thanks be to the Lord who blesses each and every one of us, and saves us from every danger! Thank you also to those who continuously pray for us!\nPrayer Requests:\nFirst of all, pray for the villages in our area, where some people are against the people of God; pray for God to change their hearts.\nPray for the leaders here who are members of the anti-Christian party, who do not want the kingdom of God to come. Pray for those leaders, that God will change their hearts.Pray for the believers of my church, that they will be strong in the Word.\nPray for my life, that God opens new doors for me so that I can share the Gospel of God to all of the people in my area.\nThe government has a record of our mobile phone number to keep an eye on us because of our Christianity. Pray that God will help us and will bring those who belong to the anti-Christian government group into faith.\nPray for the believers in my village who are students; pray that they can change their lives with the blessings of God.\nPray for my mom’s health.\nPray for some of our believers who want to publicly show their faith in Christ; pray that God will prepare them completely.\nPray for our region, that God will change the hearts of all the people here and walk in God’s path.\nThank you! Worker 10\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray that my marriage will go well, and that God will fulfill every need.\nPlease pray that my close friends will be able to come to my wedding.\nPlease pray that the believers in our church will understand the Word of God more deeply.\nPlease pray that my mother\u0026rsquo;s back pain will be cured.\nNext month, after my marriage, I will travel to another city to get audio Bibles. Pray that God will provide protection for me while I am getting the audio Bibles.\nAnother believer would like to publicly show he follows Jesus this month. Pray that God will protect us during the service. There are some Hindu fundamentalists in our village who are always trying to persecute us; pray that God will give them peace in their hearts.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership, and participation in spreading the Gospel!\nGod bless you all! Worker 11 Worker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nMy back pain is a little better. Please continue to keep me in your prayers!\nPlease pray for our church and for God’s presence in our hearts and for all of our needs.Please keep our prison ministry in your prayers.\nI thank God that He has opened more opportunities for us in far away villages. Please pray that God strengthens us even more to go there and prepares the way for us to go there. Also pray that God fulfills all of our needs.Please keep praying for the people and places where we minister.\nThank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers! - Worker 12\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPlease continue to pray for our ministry here in the mountains, and for the believers here around the area.\nI am visiting many new friends and families in the area; pray that God will give opportunities to share the Gospel with them.\nThese days there is much heavy monsoon rain, which makes it very difficult to go anywhere. Please pray for our safety.\nPlease continue to pray for this area. Many priests live here, and I am praying that God will open their hearts to hear His Word, and that they will know God.\nThank you so much everyone for your love in Christ!\nGod bless you! Worker 13\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for\u0026hellip;\n1) Please pray for those who heard the Gospel through our outreach.\n2) Please pray for God’s protection on our daughter’s life, as she recently got a job and moved to the UK.\nThanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for my children that they may grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. Please pray that the Lord would intervene in the problem the world is facing. Please pray for the village ministry of the local area that they may grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s words. Please pray for brother J and his family that they may grow in Lord. Please pray for the believers in our state, as they are facing persecution.\nWorker 16\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for the village areas where we find believers without pastors, like sheep with no shepherds. Please pray that the Lord will send forth laborers.\nPlease pray for our good health.Please pray for the students in our CBI, that they may grow daily in His Word.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPlease pray for those who accepted Jesus at the medical camp/Gospel outreach. Praise God! My His Spirit lead them to His church!\nPlease pray for the ministry at the Leper colony.Pray for the various house fellowships and children’s meeting.\nPraise God for the co-leaders who are faithfully serving the Lord according to their gifts.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for brother H’s ministry to be able to reach unreached people.\nPlease pray that more unreached people around the leper colony will come to our Bible Study.\nPlease pray for my wife to have a baby if God does not choose to provide a good job for her, so people do not gossip.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\nWe have found the opportunity to share with others about Jesus, praise the Lord!\nWe conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes in our fellowship. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\nPraise God for safety and protection during this time!\nRemember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita Milan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\nPray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.\nPray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\nPray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\nThank you,\nMilan\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for those who heard the Gospel in an open event; please pray that they may come to church and find Jesus.\nPray that God will strengthen us (me and my wife) with His wisdom and knowledge for the ministry of God.\nPlease pray for the CC Lapu church building.\nPray for God to guide the church and all members in a loving and godly way.\nPray that my father and mother also will to come to Christ.\nBlessings!\nRaju - BlogAbhishek and Lacey – 10/40 Window\nPraise Reports:\nPraise God He was able to make a way for me to move to South Asia, and provide everything my husband and I needed for our wedding. Praise God we were able to find a home to rent that is walking distance from the Bible College where my husband is teaching almost every day.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for both of our families, especially for the salvation of those who are not walking with Jesus. It has been two months since we have been married, please pray for our cross-cultural marriage. Please pray for the Bible college and the Church that we are involved with and serving alongside. Please pray the rent of the Church that we are serving alongside here in S.A. would be provided for monthly. Please pray we would grow in discipline in every area of our life.\nThank you family for partnering alongside us, and waging war on our behalf in prayer, God bless you, Abhishek and Lacey\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nLast month we were facing a financial famine due to unexpected expenses from various directions. God heard our prayers and has provided financial miracles from unexpected sources! Because of these blessings we will be able to visit my (Darryl\u0026rsquo;s) family in Missouri for the first time since 2017 including a brother whom I have not seen since 2015. Please pray for wisdom in planning out time in Missouri. There are still a lot of schedule/logistical issues to figure out. Please pray for wisdom, logistics, scheduling, and transportation for our time in California. We need to make the most of our time in both places. Please pray for the various ministries we partner with: Precious Women Organization, Light Times Magazine, local bible schools, and the international church. Please pray for the right time and wisdom in resuming the production of apologetics/evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language. Now that our short-term financial needs have been met, please pray for provision for our long term needs (saving for Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s launch in the USA in four years and long term savings for when our senders retire/pass away).\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email BlogEurope\nDoru and the Pavel’s – Romania\nGood day everyone, Please lift our family in prayer for health and endurance. The last few weeks have been difficult with ear infection for our youngest who is recovering, strep throat, and different symptoms on a daily basis. We ask for wisdom for the doctors who are helping us and everyone who needs their assistance.\nLift up our youth who are growing deeper in the lord and opening their hearts to the weight of sin they are learning to look for and uproot. We are also preparing to have a prayer walk for our community this coming weekend and we would love to see the Lord work and express his Holy Spirit in wonderful ways.\nOur church also has a dearly loved sister who is in the process of identifying what type of cancer she is dealing with, so we ask the Lord to heal her, provide closeness and unity within our congregation.\nPlease pray for my wife’s (Tasha) safety as she is working abroad and is dealing with some foot problems and missing the family.\nBlessings and Prayers, Doru and the Pavel’s - Email Blog\nJohnny and Brenna Varga - Pécs, Hungary\nPlease pray:\n1. For our women’s Bible study groups that are going on now. Pray for the women participating, that they will grow deeper rooted in Christ and in understanding of God’s word as we do a study “Glimpses of Jesus” in the Old Testament together. Brenna is leading a group of ten young women, with nine different countries/cultures represented in the group. Pray for wisdom and discernment in leading. 2. For Johnny as he continues to work on his thesis \u0026amp; prepare for final state exam, pray the Lord will lead him and help him through to the end. 3. Pray for continued divine wisdom, strength, clarity, \u0026amp; rest for our church leadership. 4. Pray for our marriage, that we may continue to grow in love for the Lord and one another.\nMuch love, Johnny and Brenna Varga - Email Blog\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-may-prayer-update-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Pray for Jill as she is recovering from amoeba and giardia. Pray her stomach heals completely. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Luke and Laylee are still trying to get the hang of doing school online. Pray that they will catch on and enjoy it. Pray for them to grow closer to Lord. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Liana and Jill as they continue traditional homeschooling. Pray for her behavior and Jill\u0026rsquo;s patience. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for the little boy Jill babysits.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM MAY PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" These past two months in California have been an absolute blessing. Some of our biggest prayer requests from our previous newsletter were: that we’d be focused, that we’d cultivate new and old meaningful partnerships and friendships, and that we’d be bold in sharing the gospel. I can confidently say that by the grace of God, He’s been granting these prayers.\nSince moving, we’ve had the opportunity to meet with our friends at Saving Grace World Missions, the organization who is helping send us out to the mission field. At SGWM’s Preaching and Teaching classes, Racquell and I share 15 minute messages that we’ve prepared beforehand (once from Philippians and twice now from the Book of Jonah). The critiques and feedback we’ve gotten from pastors there will only continue to help us sharpen the gifting of teaching we see God has charged both Racquell and I with. We’ve also gotten to sit in on other Bible \u0026amp; Apologetics classes and times of missionary testimonies. All these things have helped us maintain that focus that we’ve been praying for!\nFor the most part, our schedule has been full of meeting with friends and family, as well as pastors and church boards who want to know more about the ministry and support us. As I’m writing this, Amalia is playing in her own play chair, smiling and laughing like a big girl. She’s six months old now with two teeth to show for it. For these things, we praise Jesus.\nBeing so connected with family here has also been great. As an aside — Family, you know who you are. THANK YOU for helping Racquell and I with places to stay, cars to drive, and many meals to eat while we are raising support and continuing to prepare for our big move. Thank you for your surrender to God and sacrifice in this way too. We know that the idea of us moving (and taking Amalia with us) isn’t the easiest cross to carry. May it be a joy and noble duty for you, as it is for us. Surrendering to God and obeying His will.\nWe want to share a verse of Scripture with you from the Book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah lived in exile with the Jews in the Assyrian Empire, until God called them out of there to rebuild the city of Jerusalem. After moving to Jerusalem, he was very passionate about the work of protecting the city from its enemies by rebuilding the wall around it. Nehemiah knew this was a task too great for one man.\nAs I’ve been reading through Nehemiah, I’ve loved seeing his heart to rally the troops around the goal and accomplish it by the grace of God. He said of the work, “So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work” (Nehemiah 4:6). They had only been working on the wall a short time, and had already built up the wall to half its height, because they worked together.\nFriends and family, you have had a mind to work! Racquell and I are excited to share that we are currently at 54% of our needs met on a monthly basis for our budget while living in Perú, and 100% met in regards to one time MOVING costs! Thank you for those who have given!\nIf you catch what we’re saying, there is a great work ahead of us in South America, where we’ll help with Calvary Trujillo and Calvary Bible Institute. Many lives have been changed, people have placed their faith in Jesus, been baptized, and are now being taught and making other disciples. The church body is growing and reaching the local community. The Bible Institute is growing with many students applying and desiring to be trained up, to change the world with the love of Christ. And we need your help to get there! We’re over halfway!\nPrayer Requests for our family:\nFor our BODIES, MINDS, AND SPIRITS: We’re a little sick right now. We’ve noticed our attitudes have been off these past few days. Discontentment and impatience are hitting us. We need to press on and continue with by the Holy Spirit. Praise Reports:\nWe’ve been FOCUSED. God is giving us great friendships and partnerships. We’ve been BOLD in sharing the gospel. It’s May and we’re at 54% of our monthly Peru living expenses. Ways to get involved:\nPray for us. We will need ongoing prayerful support as we prepare to move and settle into our new home country in June. Join our care team. Our care team is a group of people that meets once a month in Kauai to pray for us specifically. Tell a friend or family member. Help share the vision that the Lord has given us with trusted people or churches you know. It takes an army of people to send a missionary out! If you know anyone who is interested in partnering with missionaries who are church planting, please connect us with them! Become a financial partner. God has been providing immensely for us to take this big step of faith, however, we are still in need of more monthly supporters as we need 80% ongoing monthly support before we can move. To check out the ministry we are preparing to serve with, please click the link:\nCalvaryperu.com\nBy the grace of Jesus and for His glory,\nThe Stratton Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-mind-to-work/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG%5F0686.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese past two months in California have been an absolute blessing. Some of our biggest prayer requests from our previous newsletter were: that we’d be focused, that we’d cultivate new and old meaningful partnerships and friendships, and that we’d be bold in sharing the gospel. I can confidently say that by the grace of God, He’s been granting these prayers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince moving, we’ve had the opportunity to meet with our friends at Saving Grace World Missions, the organization who is helping send us out to the mission field. At SGWM’s Preaching and Teaching classes, Racquell and I share 15 minute messages that we’ve prepared beforehand (once from Philippians and twice now from the Book of Jonah). The critiques and feedback we’ve gotten from pastors there will only continue to help us sharpen the gifting of teaching we see God has charged both Racquell and I with. We’ve also gotten to sit in on other Bible \u0026amp; Apologetics classes and times of missionary testimonies. All these things have helped us maintain that focus that we’ve been praying for!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Mind to Work"},{"content":"Greetings to all of you from me and my wife!\nI am very thankful to God and to all of you for praying for me from the beginning to find a life partner, who would join me in spreading the Gospel of God. Our God is the great Almighty, who has answered my prayer and given me such a wife. She has come to serve God with me. She has left every facility and is living with us in the village.\nI thank God the Father that there was no problem of any kind during our wedding ceremony. God made everything easier than we thought. By the grace of God, our relationship is going very well.\nThank God the Father! God is great! He has given us another new village where we can take the Gospel. 2 people have become believers there. This village is about 60 kilometers away from our house. It is a very backward and poor. Children roam without any clothes. They do not go to school. Most of the men here are unemployed. Those who work spend their money on alcohol. We run the church in the open place. Pray that God keeps us safe us from opposition and that many souls will be saved there.\nPlease pray for all of the churches and Bible studies that are going on in different villages Monday through Saturday. May God enrich the people of the villages with His knowledge and strengthen them in their faith.\nThank you for your prayers, Christian love, and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you.\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-great/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you from me and my wife!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/DSC%5F0107.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/IMG-20230413-WA0005-135x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/DSC%5F0151-224x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am very thankful to God and to all of you for praying for me from the beginning to find a life partner, who would join me in spreading the Gospel of God. Our God is the great Almighty, who has answered my prayer and given me such a wife. She has come to serve God with me. She has left every facility and is living with us in the village.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Great!"},{"content":" “These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”:\n“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”\nREVELATION 3:7-8\nHello family and friends!\nI am praying that you all have been well and that the Lord has been revealing Himself, His faithfulness, and love to you all! I am beyond thankful for your continued support and partnership in reaching this dark world with the light and truth of Jesus Christ. In this last month, since being back from my travels, I have been trudging right along with my missions internship at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. God truly is so faithful to bring open doors for the future and new opportunities for the present. I cannot wait to share some of these things with you all!\nJoining a New Prayer Group Something I joined about two months ago that as been a blessing to me spiritually, is a once a month prayer meeting for the national christians and missionaries in the South Asia area. Coming together with other believers to lift up our brothers and sisters to the Lord, to hear of their challenges, and also their victories in Christ has been very amazing and eye opening. I am thankful for the hope that Jesus is bringing to this region and ask that you also would be committing this area to prayer as God puts it on your heart.\nCollege Outreach Evangelism Another opportunity that I have gotten through my internship is to go to a local college and evangelize once a month with a group. It has been exciting and encouraging to see the Spirit of God at work in the hearts and lives of these students. Some are opposed to the idea of Jesus, but others are very open as they ask questions and consider the seriousness of what truth is and where their eternal destination will be. A few have even come to faith and turned their hearts to their Savior Jesus Christ. Many students we talk to are christians or go to church; there are even students that meet for Bible studies once a week. This has also been a time of personal growth in learning how to share confidently and articulately who Jesus is, why we need Him, and other truths found in the scriptures.\nRegion of the World on My Heart If you recall a few months back, I mentioned that the Lord has been leading me to a specific region of the world. God has been so faithful to confirm this unreached area, which is Southeast Asia. This place has truly grown in my heart and I have loved researching these people groups, their cultures, and the languages. The Lord has even opened doors for me to interview and have meetings with missionaries in these countries, as well as talk with nationals. I am praying about possibly going to this area sometime in the fall and I’m so excited for what the Lord has in store for the future.\nCSOM Leadership God is so good and I am so grateful to announce that I am fully funded for this summer’s leadership position at the Calvary School of Missions. I want to thank each and every one who financially supported me. It truly means so much and I cannot wait to show you all the fruit of your contributions in just a few months as we make our way to Mexico.\nOther Pictures From This Month Praise Reports:\nA fruitful month full of prayer, evangelism, and new opportunities The Lord is touching the hearts of the students we talk to at the college outreach God has confirmed my calling to Southeast Asia and opened exciting doors for the future Through all your support and the Lord’s provision, I am fully funded for the School of Missions My friends made it safely to the Middle East and my other friends make it back safely from Japan Prayer Request:\nPlease pray for the national christians and missionaries in South Asia Please pray for the students of Fullerton College, that the Holy Spirit would fall upon them and lead them to truth Please pray for Southeast Asia and that God would lead me there with the right people at the right time Please pray for the upcoming Calvary School of Missions students and us leaders Please pray for all my friends who moved to the Middle East, that the Lord will give them strength and grace in this adjusting season Thank you for taking the time to read this update and for joining in on the work that God has called me to! It is such a beautiful gift to realize that the Lord doesn’t need our help in fulfilling His plans, but because of His love, He wants us to take part in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth! I would greatly appreciate your continued partnership with me in prayer as the Lord continues to prepare me for cross-cultural ministry, as well as through financial support, if you feel led to give. Any amount of a one-time or monthly donation is an absolute blessing for future mission trips and eventually for being sent out as Saving Grace World Missions requires 80% monthly funding before moving to the field. It means so much to me, thank you all!\nFor His glory,\nMacey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/open-doors-and-new-opportunities/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”:\u003cbr\u003e\n“I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eREVELATION 3:7-8\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello family and friends!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Open Doors and New Opportunities"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.\u0026rdquo;\nProverbs 22:6 (NKJV)\nWe read in the book of Daniel that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were well trained in the ways of the Lord from their childhood. When the time came for them to stand for their faith in a foreign land\u0026ndash;away from their country, family and community\u0026ndash;they were able to stand for their faith in the Lord. So can be true for us today also. If we start training our young ones, not just once a week at church, but also at our home.\nCC Charis in J*\nPastor Nikesh’s son, Yabesh is leading worship.\nCC Charis in J*\nYabesh invites his school friends to the Worship Service.\nCC Charis H* House Fellowship\nHouse Fellowship; this is what makes churches in our country grow. We, the leaders of the church, go house to house to the believers\u0026rsquo; homes for visitation, prayer, and Bible study. Also when we hear that they are sick or going through difficult situations, we go to them and encourage from the Word and pray. This makes the church stronger and grow. Praise God for such dedicated church leaders!\nOutreach to the Childrem at CC Charis H*\nPastor Laxman invites the neighborhood children sometimes and shares the Gospel with them.\nCC Charis H* Saturday Worship Service.\nCharis Bible Church in the Capital Worship Service\nAs a pastor of a church, it is such a great joy for me to see the dear believers growing and maturing in their faith. The gospel was preached to them. They were baptized and taught from the Word continually. Now they are growing and maturing in the Lord. It is such an honorable job that Lord has entrusted us with.\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/it-is-great-to-see-young-ones-in-ministry/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProverbs 22:6 (NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe read in the book of Daniel that Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were well trained in the ways of the Lord from their childhood. When the time came for them to stand for their faith in a foreign land\u0026ndash;away from their country, family and community\u0026ndash;they were able to stand for their faith in the Lord. So can be true for us today also. If we start training our young ones, not just once a week at church, but also at our home.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\u003cstrong\u003eIt Is Great to See Young Ones in Ministry!\u003c/strong\u003e"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nLast month, we got the chance to visit a family. We conducted a meeting along with a Bible Institute student. They got the chance to lead the meeting and shared the Gospel to those that were there. As the students are learning at the Bible Institute, they are also getting chances to preach during house visitation.\nWe also visited brother J* last month. We had fellowship with him and prayed for him. A few months ago he had an accident. While he was on his way to work, a truck hit him from behind. He was under the truck. He badly injured his arm, legs, and internal organs. He was in critical condition. He was admitted into the hospital for some months. Churches and we were praying for him. God heard our and the church\u0026rsquo;s prayers and God saved him.\nBrother J* lost his right leg in the accident. Now he is home. He has two kids. Please pray for him and his family.\nLast month, my kids had their school exams. They did well. My daughter scored 2nd in the class and my son scored 3rd in the class. Thank you for your prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for my children to grow in the Lord’s fear and knowledge. Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing. Please pray for the village ministry in our local area. May the people grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word. Please pray brother J* and his family to grow in Lord. Please pray for our state\u0026rsquo;s believers, as they are facing persecution. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/continuing-in-fellowship-and-love-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/WhatsApp-Image-2023-02-15-at-9.34.13-AM-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/WhatsApp-Image-2023-02-15-at-9.34.14-AM-2.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month, we got the chance to visit a family. We conducted a meeting along with a Bible Institute student. They got the chance to lead the meeting and shared the Gospel to those that were there. As the students are learning at the Bible Institute, they are also getting chances to preach during house visitation.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Continuing In Fellowship and Love"},{"content":"Greetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nWe are thankful to the Lord for His protection and provisions in our everyday lives. Also, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\nIn our family devotions, we have been studying 2nd Corinthians. It is so good to know that the Apostle Paul dealt with many issues in the early churches. Similar scenarios are found in today\u0026rsquo;s churches as well, yet we need to stand strong in the Word. We should be ready to teach whenever we get opportunities.\nLast month one of our church believers got married. God provided for all of their needs. My daughter finished her final exams in 9th grade and was promoted into 10th grade with an 82%.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our state\u0026rsquo;s Christians to be strengthened in their faith in Jesus. In this difficult time, may God take care His people. At the same time, pray that the fanatical group may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. These days the temperature is very high 42° (107 degrees Fahrenheit). It is very hard to sit in church. Kindly pray for us. Also pray for the growth and needs of our local Church. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/standing-strong-in-gods-word/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are thankful to the Lord for His protection and provisions in our everyday lives. Also, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Standing Strong in God's Word"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.\u0026rdquo;\nMARK 10:45 (NKJV)\nBy the grace of God, we are doing ministry. God has given us the vision to raise many more young people up in Christ.\nWe are doing ministry according to that calling. One of the brothers God brought us to our Calvary Bible Institute is Harka. His life was very terrible when he was without Christ. He drank alcohol and his behavior was totally bad.\nHe always behaved like an addict. He was losing his life. He lost everything he earned from the work he did in another country. He was involved in bad things also. While his life was totally the worst and dark, he met my friend Pastor Bishnu. Pastor Bishnu witnessed to Harka. Then I met with Harka on Facebook, while he was at a Bible college in a neighboring country. He always watched my sermons on Facebook. He and I talked through facebook chat.\nThen Harka came to the Calvary Bible Institute where I was teaching. Harka had accepted Christ only three months before. When he first came to the Bible Institute, he always asked crazy question like, \u0026ldquo;Why do you all laugh?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Why do women come here to study if God does not allow women to be pastors?\u0026rdquo; But within three months, he was totally converted to Christ.\nHe worked hard to study God\u0026rsquo;s Word. He learned the English language too. He performed the best in every subject in Bible college. Through him, three sisters joined our Calvary Bible Institute. Now, they are going to graduate soon.\nHarka has now planted a Calvary Church in a new place in the western part of the country. While he was ministering, he lost his 10 year old daughter. She was a lovely child. All of the church family loved her so much. As a child, she always wondered about what is heaven like. She always told everyone in her village area, \u0026ldquo;When we die, we directly go to heaven.\u0026rdquo; She shared the Gospel at such a young age. During the time of her death, you and all of the believers prayed for Harka to stand strong in his faith in Christ.\nAfter Harka graduated, he returned to his village and finished high school. He shared with me about his hopes to get a bachelors degree in college, but now he is doing a job cutting wood to help provide for his family. He has a beautiful wife, a son and a daughter.\nHarka left his village and his father and mother to do ministry in new places. Earlier we went to the area (that Harka has now moved to) and shared the Gospel. During that time we found a home and contacted the house owner. Harka is now renting that house for his family and church. There are now 11 members in his church. Pray for Harka\u0026rsquo;s ministry to reach the unreached people.\nGod loves people who are lepers. So, we also love them, teach them, equip them and love to serve them. Pastor Anand and I, as well as our dear students, are doing Bible study with them every Friday. Our students are learning and practicing: \u0026ldquo;How to preach,\u0026rdquo; How to serve,\u0026quot; \u0026amp; \u0026ldquo;How to have fellowship.\u0026rdquo; By the grace of God, we are teaching the book of 1st Samuel every Friday. Altogether, 15 to 20 people attend our Bible study. Please pray for more unreached people around the leper colony to come to our Bible study. God is using me to train the believers who are lepers and to raise them up in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. I am doing ministry at the leper colony also. I also have a home church service every Saturday online, as well as a gathering fellowship with brothers and sisters.\nBy the grace of God, this semester I am teaching the Gospel of John. I love to teach my dear students. They also enjoying learning. In my home church, I am teaching Philippians. I love to teach and equip others through the book of Philippians. Paul taught the great lesson of how to have joy in Christ in every pitiful condition. We counted the word \u0026ldquo;Joy\u0026rdquo; 19 times. It was great to rejoice in Christ. Paul rejoiced in Christ even when he was prison. He also prayed for and encouraged his fellow brothers and sisters. We also should do that in Christ\u0026ndash; raise up others and encourage them and uplift them in Christ during the hard times in ministry.\nMy beautiful wife is also helping me and helping with Calvary Bible Institute. She raises up young and old women in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. She is teaching Bible Study where many sisters and mothers from different churches gather online. She already finished teaching Genesis during the last year and a half, by going through every chapter and every verse . Now she is teaching Daniel every week on Sunday. Pray for her to be able to have a baby. Pray that if she does not have a baby, God will provide a job for her. Others do not like that she has free time only. They will gossip. So to stop gossip, she needs to have a nice job.\nThank you so much for supporting us, praying for us and uplifting us. May God bless every family of Saving Grace World Mission.\nGrace and peace,\nYour faithful servant,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/uplifting-each-other-in-the-lord/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMARK 10:45 (NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/received%5F1635560116890381.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBy the grace of God, we are doing ministry. God has given us the vision to raise many more young people up in Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are doing ministry according to that calling. One of the brothers God brought us to our Calvary Bible Institute is Harka. His life was very terrible when he was without Christ. He drank alcohol and his behavior was totally bad.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Uplifting Each Other in the Lord"},{"content":" First off! We are so very grateful for all of our supporters. You guys have been faithful to the Lord and this ministry and we have been able to accomplish a lot. Secondly, we apologize for the delay in sending out our newsletter. These past few months have been intense (in a good way). Stacy and I spent some time at the Calvary Bible College in Ensenada. I taught a block course on one of my favorite subjects, apologetics. It was a 3-hour class, Monday- Friday and Stacy taught the women on campus and helped with their open house.\nMen’s Conference While in Baja, the Calvary Chapel Association of northern Mexico (which I\u0026rsquo;m blessed to be a part of) put together a men’s conference and I was one of the honored speakers. We had over 400 men in attendance.\nChurch plant #4 By the grace of God, we officially planted Calvary Chapel Jardin. Pastor Luis Felipe and his wife Erika have been faithful to the Lord and His saints. We are so excited to see what the Lord has in store. God is so good!\nCalvary Chapel Acapulco in Israel We can’t believe it! We were able to make a trip to the Holy Land! This was the first time for everyone in our group. This was a dream come true for our Acapulco natives. The biggest blessing for us on that trip was being able to see the joy of the Lord in each one of our members.\nWomen’s Breakfast This past month the women’s ministry put together a breakfast for the ladies with a special message given by Toni Schork. It was on Psalm 34:8 “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the Woman that trusteth in Him.” Two women gave their lives to the Lord that day and many left very blessed.\nCalvary Chapel Monrovia visit We were super delighted to have CC Monrovia visit us. This small group did BIG things. Apart from helping with projects at every church plant, they evangelized to the community with beautiful results. They also cleaned, did a puppet show, encouraged people in the ministry, and gave a class on addiction.\nCalvary Chapel Iguala…. coming soon….if the Lord allows it! We are prayerfully considering opening another church in the city of Iguala. This town has a reputation for being the most corrupt of them all. It’s about three hours north of us. This would be a huge blessing. Pastor Julio and his family have a calling for that part of the state and not many are willing to go. Please pray for them! We are also planning a mission trip with Pastor Julio to the town of Teloloapan, Guerrero at the end of June (photo included). We will be evangelizing, giving kids classes, helping with medical needs, and giving needy families bags of food. Our goal is 120 bags of food. We have saved enough for 62 bags. We just need 58 more. Each bag costs about $14 dollars.\nMen’s Ministry It’s so encouraging to see these men committed to Christ. We have been going through an intense discipleship program equipping them for the work of the ministry. If the Lord allows it, some of these men will be sent out to start a new work.\nCarlos Needs Prayer Carlos is an engineer who fellowships at our church and has been out of work. We hired him at the church to do construction and repairs. He has done a great job for the last seven months. While working with an electric saw, he cut his hand so severely that he needed surgery. We are helping out as much as we can. If you have it in your heart to help, any amount is appreciated.\nBlessed is the man that trusteth in Him!! Thank you again to those who have stood by us and helped us in the ministry! We appreciate your prayers. We know that there is power in prayer and we ask that you would continue to cover us! Please pray for Hassan. He is extremely fatigued and dealing with a bit of depression. The enemy loves to bring discouragement, however, we know greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world. We trust that the Lord will bring him out of this for His glory.\nWe also are grateful to those who help support us financially. We know that every good gift and every generous act of giving comes from the FATHER. May He bless you in abundance with love, peace, and joy! There is a link below if you want to give. God bless!!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-so-so-good/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/prayer.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/WhatsApp-Image-2023-03-23-at-5.39.10-PM-edited-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst off! We are so very grateful for all of our supporters. You guys have been faithful to the Lord and this ministry and we have been able to accomplish a lot. Secondly, we apologize for the delay in sending out our newsletter. These past few months have been intense (in a good way). Stacy and I spent some time at the Calvary Bible College in Ensenada. I taught a block course on one of my favorite subjects, apologetics. It was a 3-hour class, Monday- Friday and Stacy taught the women on campus and helped with their open house.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God is So, So Good!!!"},{"content":" Life so often presents its challenges, and the Lord allows trials to come our way. He teaches, He binds up, He restores the years the locusts have eaten, and He always makes a way. The enemy would seek to use such things to shipwreck us, but we serve a God who will use all things for His glory and make beauty from the ashes. My hope and prayer for you is that you would press deeply into Jesus in whatever season of life you find yourself—whether that be a season of breaking down or of binding up. It’s so worth it and the reward He gives is greater than anything this world has to offer. Eternal life forever more—thank you Jesus! I pray this past Easter left you praising our Risen King, finding hope in the midst of hardship, and eagerly awaiting His return!\nThank you so much for your prayers, you have no idea how much it means to me. I’m so thankful that we serve a loving God who hears us, and what amazing power He has. Ministry is never just the doing, but it’s the flow of action from relationship with Jesus. That we would literally be Jesus’ hands and feet, and that others would taste His salty savor as we live out the life He’s placed before us. I could not do any of what I do without your prayers—so thank you.\nUpdate On My Dad\nAs I write this I’m in a coffee shop in San Francisco, and to give you all an update, my dad just had a spinal fusion on his upper spine. I’m so grateful to say that the surgery went very well! His spine was compressing and even beginning to cause some bruising on his spinal cord so it was needed. So many of you were praying and sending love and encouragement and I’m so appreciative! The Lord hears, and what a blessing that is. There’s still a long road ahead to recovery, it was definitely a major surgery, and with that there will be some challenges. If you think to pray, as of right now, it’s looking like they will try to recommend him to an acute rehab for him to get some more physical therapy and other practical tools to help him as he transitions from the hospital to home. He was able to get up and walk around today, but he is in a fair amount of pain. Prayers for the Lord’s mercy and His grace to endure for him would be much appreciated. We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome so thank you very much for your prayers!\nMiddle School\nAs for Middle School, it’s going well. We have a core group that’s been coming weekly and other kids who just come on Sundays, but the Lord is feeding His kids. It’s amazing to see how much they know about the Bible already! Our greatest prayer need here is just that the Lord would give wisdom and His grace to disciple these kiddos well in the knowledge of His Word and what it means to love, follow, and live for Jesus.\nWhat’s Next?\nMy hope is to be going to Peru on May 10th with our team from the Rock. The plan is to be there through the 20th and we will get to do ministry with the Bible College there and help teach how to do outreach as well as do outreach ourselves. It’s going to be an awesome opportunity to get to know family in the Lord, but make Jesus known, and get some future church planters and missionaries fired up for where the Lord is leading them! In that, my ability to go may change depending on my dad’s recovery.\nHow to Get Involved\nPrayer Requests:\nMy dad and his recovery:\nthat he would be unhindered in that progression that he would gain new strength and be able to get back to work—do things he used to Middle School:\nthat the Lord would guide me as I lead my team and the kids that they would grow into disciples on fire for Jesus Provision for Peru:\nDad’s health well enough for me to go provision to go as well (As of right now my need is $1,000) If you’d like to partner with me, prayer is the greatest need, and if you’d like to partner with me financially here is a giving link for our trip: https://cctherock.churchcenter.com/giving/to/peru-missions-trip\nThank you so much! God bless you,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-god-who-sees/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/D5CF237C-8EDF-41C4-A41A-1166B68D01F9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLife so often presents its challenges, and the Lord allows trials to come our way. He teaches, He binds up, He restores the years the locusts have eaten, and He always makes a way. The enemy would seek to use such things to shipwreck us, but we serve a God who will use all things for His glory and make beauty from the ashes. My hope and prayer for you is that you would press deeply into Jesus in whatever season of life you find yourself—whether that be a season of breaking down or of binding up. It’s so worth it and the reward He gives is greater than anything this world has to offer. Eternal life forever more—thank you Jesus! I pray this past Easter left you praising our Risen King, finding hope in the midst of hardship, and eagerly awaiting His return!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The God Who Sees"},{"content":"Greetings from my country! Thank for your precious prayers for our ministry!\nThank for your prayers for my health. I am taking some medication for my back pain. I had an x-ray and ultrasound, and both reports came back normal.When I drive for a long time, I start hurting a lot. Since I have been taking medicine and doing physical therapy, though, I feel a little bit better. The doctor advised me to have an MRI if I do not feel better after two weeks of medication. Please keep me in your prayers.\nChurch Ministry\nI have been teaching 2 Corinthians during Sunday services. God is blessing us greatly. It has been amazing to see how the believers are growing in God’s Word. Some of them are helping with ministry. God has opened many new avenues of ministry for us. We have shared the Gospel with many people. Some of them have begun coming to our church. Last month, two families gave their lives to the Lord!\nThere used to be only young adults and teens in our church. But lately, older people have also begun coming to church and giving their lives to Jesus. It is so encouraging for me to see their faith in God. Even though they do not know how to read the Word of God, they are so strong in their faith. Please keep them in your prayers. I am looking for audio Bibles for them so that they can hear the Word of God every day.\nWe have been having an online Bible Study for the last three years. Through this, God has been helping us grow in His Word. It gives all of us the opportunity to understand the Bible well. It is for one hour in the evenings. At the end, they also give ideas on how I can preach better. We did the Bible study with 10-12 people in the church. God is using them in an amazing way. We also hold a weekly Bible study on Wednesdays, going through the book of Exodus.\nPlease pray for our church. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s presence in the people\u0026rsquo;s hearts and for all of our needs to be met.\nPrison Ministry\nI was learning about Paul’s time in prison. Even when he was in jail, he spread the Gospel among those who were in Rome. God put it in my heart to visit the jail and share the Gospel there. But the question was how to accomplish it. I met some other people who were interested in jail ministry, so we made a plan to get permission from the government to go to the jail. We received permission to go there under the rules of the jail. It is a very sensitive place. So carefully, under their rules, we started to teach the inmates some education and social things\u0026ndash;and of course the Good News. We are thinking of how we can only do Christian activities there, so we wrote a letter to the police commissioner.\n\nPlease keep this prison ministry in your prayers.\nEvangelism\nBy the grace of God, I had the opportunity to visit some different places. We went where very few people think to go. The villages are in places where there has only been a way for transportation to get there for a few years. In some of the places, there is still no road. I wish to go and preach the Gospel of God in those places, and that people will be saved. The villages are very far from my home-town. It takes a whole day to reach the area. We have to travel on several hundred kilometers of unpaved roads. If you have a heart to preach the Gospel, then, with God, you can overcome any obstacle.\nFor many years, we have gone to these places so that we can have good relationships with the people. Because of this, we have become good friends with them, and people invite us to their homes as well. Years ago, we introduced ourselves as travelers because many people go to those places for trekking and hiking. We also shared the Gospel among the people. We got positive results from many people. We also had opportunities to pray for people who were possessed by evil spirits and God healed them.\nIn every village, you definitely find two or three temples. This gives you an idea of ​​the darkness the villagers live in. I thank God that through this village visitation, more doors have been opened for us. Please pray that God strengthens us even more to go there, that He prepares the way for us to go there, and that He fulfills all of our needs to go there.\nPlease keep praying for these places and the people there!!!\nThank you so much for lifting us up in your prayers!\nPastor 12*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/proclaiming-the-good-news/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from my country! Thank for your precious prayers for our ministry!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank for your prayers for my health. I am taking some medication for my back pain. I had an x-ray and ultrasound, and both reports came back normal.When I drive for a long time, I start hurting a lot. Since I have been taking medicine and doing physical therapy, though, I feel a little bit better. The doctor advised me to have an MRI if I do not feel better after two weeks of medication. Please keep me in your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\u003cstrong\u003eProclaiming the Good News\u003c/strong\u003e"},{"content":"Dear friends and family,\nLast month was definitely a busy one for me! With Easter on the horizon, there was a lot to be done leading up to April. Though life in the SGWM (Saving Grace World Missions) internship can be overwhelming at times, I’m so grateful for the opportunities that it brings, as well as the people I get to serve alongside. Let me share a couple moments of this past month with you.:)\nEvangelism Ministry\nOur church has multiple evangelism opportunities every month and I’ve chosen to mainly take part in the “complex outreach.” For the complex outreach, we go around the building complex where our church is located and visit each business owner. It’s a way to reach out to our neighbors, let them know that we’re here and praying for them as well. Most of them can’t stay to chat for long due to their busy working hours, but it has been so cool to just get to know them bit by bit and be able to slowly grow relationships.\nThere is also a door-to-door outreach our church does twice a month as well, and in March we mainly went around inviting neighbors to our Easter event. Talking to strangers is always more intimidating in my head than it is in real life haha.\nWorking at Saving Grace World Missions\nI love my job at SGWM! My responsibilities here are gradually increasing so that’s exciting for me. This past month we started onboarding a new missionary to our organization and so I\u0026rsquo;ll be helping a lot to make sure we get certain information from them, and that they get certain information/training from us. It’s so exciting to be a part of this side of their missionary journey.\nVOR Women’s Day\nThis past month I also had the opportunity to serve at a women’s event with the Voice of the Refugees. This Women’s Day event was a day of fun and relaxing pampering for Afghan and Arab refugee women here in Southern California. It was such a blessing to be part of this event of serving and loving on these women. The VOR event had different “pampering stations” such as pedicures, manicures, and facials. I got to give facials in a relaxing “candle lit” quiet room with about eight other women. This was a lot of fun and the refugee women had a good time too. I would definitely recommend coming to help out at this event if you’re able to, they put it on every year in March.\nThank you so much for reading another one of my monthly newsletters! Your support means so much to me and I really appreciate all your messages and prayers. I’m so grateful for this chapter of life I’m in and am happy to be able to share it with you all as well. I hope you all had a wonderful Easter!\nUntil next time,\nLydia Boubion\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/ministry-in-march/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month was definitely a busy one for me! With Easter on the horizon, there was a lot to be done leading up to April. Though life in the SGWM (Saving Grace World Missions) internship can be overwhelming at times, I’m so grateful for the opportunities that it brings, as well as the people I get to serve alongside. Let me share a couple moments of this past month with you.:)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ministry in March"},{"content":"Dear Family in Christ,\nI praise God for what He has been doing. Thank you so much for partnering with us in the Gospel!\nBehold! A Great Multitude\n“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,”\n‭‭Revelation‬ ‭7‬:‭9‬ ‭\nThe Calvary Chapel Conference, which was conducted in the month of January at was a \u0026ldquo;heaven-come-down\u0026rdquo; experience. All of us could witness that moment on the earth for a few days. Brethren came from all over our country and fellowshipped with each other; it was truly a blessing. It is one of the many instances where we truly experienced the meaning of the word “koinonia”. We felt encouraged that we and our brothers share many things in common: our faith, our love, our heart, and our mind—because we share one Lord, one Spirit and one baptism. Not only are we one in all of the above-mentioned things, we all share the same sufferings and trials, which eventually serve a purpose to conform the body of Christ into fullness and holiness.\nPraise Report\n“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain.\u0026quot;\n‭‭John‬ ‭15‬:‭16‬a\nIt is with a great unspeakable joy, that we share in the call or the commandment to GO AND BEAR fruit. When we do God’s work in God’s way, the consequence of this God-honoring ministry is that the fruit will remain and be a source of blessing to many.\nDuring the past Christmas season, we visited a tribal community in a neighboring state. Our hearts were burdened by seeing the dysfunctional families with children. That community has the history of opposing Christianity and ministers of Christ for a long time. Sadly, all of the men in the community were addicted to marijuana and country liquor. Many even lost their lives before their 30’s or 40’s. There are almost 30 widows in the small community. It was a devastating reality. We shared the love of Christ, through saree (clothing) distribution. Not only that, the Word of Christ was preached. We came back with hopeful and grateful hearts that God had opened a new door for us to minister to the community and have been expectant of fruit since then.\nWe have now gotten an update about the fruit. Many accepted Christ! The people in the community permitted local ministers of the Word to preach and teach and also gave land to build a church facility for the believers! The work has already been started. We rejoice at what the Lord is doing in the hearts of the people in that community. Please pray for the servant who ministers there. Pray for all their needs to be fulfilled, so that the light of truth may be shone upon many people and communities around through this tribal community.\n“And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”\n‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25‬:‭40‬\nA few days ago, we were led to minister in a certain village. The Lord has been slowly opening doors to minister\u0026ndash;one soul at a time. We recently got to visit a sister, who is a pregnant mother. Her story is a story of rejection, orchestration, and tragedy. She is ruthlessly treated by her family, and has not been provided her with basic pregnancy needs. Since she could not get enough care and food, she started to eat dirt and stones. Her situation got worse and she was taken to the hospital. Stones had formed in her stomach.\nGod opened doors for us to minister to this sister\u0026rsquo;s medical needs, and to provide fruit and proper food for her. Please pray that she may come to know the one true God and accept Him as her Lord. Please also pray for her health and the health of her baby (to have good growth and nourishment).\n40 Days of Cottage Prayer Meetings\nThe Lord, in His grace, has helped us initiate a spiritual awakening among the church members to gather everyday for 40 days, since there are 40 days of prayer and fasting in the season of Resurrection Sunday. We got to visit each and every family and spend time in worship and the Word and fellowship. It has been a great time of encouragement to be bonded and blessed. May these prayer meetings be a blessing to everyone who is part of them. Pray also, as we are approaching Good Friday fellowship and Resurrection Day.\nEnlarging of Tents\nDecisions and choices play a very important role in fulfilling the great commission. They can either help fuel the growth or even stop the spread. We believe, with all of our hearts, that God has a great plan for our city. It is high time to take action to help spread the message of God’s salvation from a strategic location like ours. God, in His mercy, has opened a door for us to buy a plot of land for the extension of the Bible institute. It is with a great burden that we are imploring to God, that He will provide each and every need for this task to be fulfilled for His Name and glory.\nA Day of Rest and Fellowship\nThe Lord provided for everyone to have a day of rest and fellowship. We all got to spend a day, from morning till evening, in a resort where we played cricket and did recreational activities. We all took some time and got into the water to enjoy the summer weather in a swimming pool. It was refreshing and relaxing. The Lord blessed our hearts and souls with some very much needed rest and joy.\nUpcoming Ministry Plans\nNursing Home Ministry\nThe youth from our Church have been so fruitful in their ministry, that they are now ministering to many old women in a nearby nursing home. Please pray that Lord will provide all of the needs for this and for His grace to be upon us to be carriers of His light and love among these hopeless people.\nUrban Missions\nPraise God! He has been so gracious to all of us by keeping us safe and healthy during this summer season. We are planning to spread the love of Christ, through organizing a water supply project near our church. Since the temperatures are going to get much worse, it will be a great time to be a witness for Christ this season.\nMissions Outreach\nAs we mentioned before, we are heading to the central part of the country for our semester outreach. There are many different ministries we are all going to be involved in, including:\nA 2-day long pastors meeting Youth meetings Worship teachings Evangelizing in workplaces Prayer walks Village outreaches Kids camp Please pray for all of the students and staff. May the Lord’s hand be upon each and everyone.\nThank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/behold-a-great-multitude/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Family in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI praise God for what He has been doing. Thank you so much for partnering with us in the Gospel!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBehold! A Great Multitude\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e‭‭Revelation‬ ‭7‬:‭9‬ ‭\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\u003cstrong\u003eBehold! A Great Multitude\u003c/strong\u003e"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nI am here with great news about how God is working with His servant in the midst of darkness!\nThe first thing is that last month, I was blessed by a motorcycle for the ministry! It is a huge blessing to me because the rural villages, where I am going, do not usually have public transportation. Prior to this blessing, I traveled in buses to reach the villages and autos (small rickshaws). It was very time consuming to reach my destinations. Also, in the evening, I was not able to get any vehicle to take me back to my home or even to a junction or local town where I could reach a highway to be able to get private transportation. Getting the motorcycle saves me so much time that I am able to reach many more villages than before. I am also able to spend more time with the people to preach the Good News and teach the Word to believers.\nIn one of the villages that I have been visiting for last three months, there is an old man. He is one of very few believers of that village. He gave me his tiled house (above) to use for God\u0026rsquo;s glory\u0026ndash;to run a church on Sundays and anytime that I visit that village. I have been using it to welcome children after school to teach them about God. I also have been having Sunday worship in it. It did not have electricity, so I worked with few people to get electricity into it (left). The children are learning some stories from the Bible, Christian songs, and how to pray. The adults are learning the Word of God.\nI have now been visiting seven villages every week. I am teaching Sunday services in five villages, with at-least two families in each village. It is such a great joy to meet new people in this journey and help them understand about: the Creator, Creation, Sin, the Holiness of God, the sin nature of man, how God reconciled humanity to Him with His grace, and the need for you and I to believe and accept Jesus Christ as our personal Savior. A few months ago, I had no idea at all about how to talk to these people. Their lives are very distant from technology and they mostly depend on agriculture for their livelihood. But, I asked God to give me wisdom to reach these people and villages with His Good News with simple language and examples that can help them understand about who Jesus is and why He was on this planet two thousand years ago. God has really blessed me with the wisdom to talk to these people who have had their own gods for ages. Every person and every household has their own gods and idols in their villages and houses. It is a big challenge to me to help them understand their need (for a Savior).\nAll I am doing is going to the villages, meeting new people there repeatedly, and preaching the Truth. I am giving them the raw Gospel, that\u0026rsquo;s it. The rest of the work belongs to the Holy Spirit. I am praying for them.\nPlease pray that I am able to travel to many more villages, because there is totally darkness everywhere. It is my responsibility to bring the light\u0026ndash;the Gospel that changes their lives forever!\n\u0026ldquo;How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, \u0026ldquo;How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!\u0026rdquo;\nRomans 10:14-15\nGod bless,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-working-in-the-midst-of-darkness/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am here with great news about how God is working with His servant in the midst of darkness!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20230218%5F173817-225x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe first thing is that last month, I was blessed by a motorcycle for the ministry! It is a huge blessing to me because the rural villages, where I am going, do not usually have public transportation. Prior to this blessing, I traveled in buses to reach the villages and autos (small rickshaws). It was very time consuming to reach my destinations. Also, in the evening, I was not able to get any vehicle to take me back to my home or even to a junction or local town where I could reach a highway to be able to get private transportation. Getting the motorcycle saves me so much time that I am able to reach many more villages than before. I am also able to spend more time with the people to preach the Good News and teach the Word to believers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\u003cstrong\u003eGod Is Working in the Midst of Darkness!\u003c/strong\u003e"},{"content":" Greetings from Mexico,\nAt the end of March, I had the privilege of leading a small team of 6 to join me visiting our two-year-old church plant in Loreto! Loreto is one of the main cities in the state of South Baja. (The smallest state in Mexico) Loreto is famous for its rugged desert beauty, with towering mountain ranges on one side and beautiful beaches and crystal clear water on the other. The famous Marine Diver Jacque Cousteau famously called the Sea of Cortez “the Worlds Aquarium!”\nAnd yes, we did enjoy the white sand beaches and we got to snorkel and see the beautiful tropical fish, the focus of this trip was ministry! Two years ago we sent out a wonderful couple from our church who had graduated from our church’s 2 year church planting program. Pastor Elmer and his wife Crystal were two of my favorite people. They came from a raw and devastating background, but God saved them right there at the church. Year after year they got more involved until they took the leap of faith to join up with our staff and church planting program.\nAfter assisting a friend to start a church in a nearby community, they were sent out in the middle of Covid 800 miles south to plant a church in Loreto. And in just two years, God has done amazing things. They not only have a healthy and growing church, in January they started their own much needed church planting program. Loreto and South Baja is filled with small fishing communities, with many of them not having a single Christian church.\nThe purpose of our missions trip was to encourage (and spoil) our church planters and build up their local church. We traveled south to fire up their church with the great calling of being a sending hub of missions and church planting to South Baja and beyond. On Saturday evening, our team was blessed to host a church planting conference. We were pleasantly surprised when over 40 of their congregation came out to join us. A special highlight for me was doing a Question and Answer time with this Spirit-filled group, and their questions showed me that they have caught the vision to plant chuches.\nOn Sunday, our team hosted worship and my brother Mitch led us in a set of Spirit-filled worship. This was a special treat for their church, as they still don’t have a faithful worship leader, so please keep that in prayer. The title of my sermon was “God’s Plan for Missions” and it was taken from Acts 13 when Paul and Barnabas were sent out from their church in Antioch on their first missionary journey. The highlight for me was after the sermon I presented the message of salvation, gave an altar call, and we got to witness two first-time professions of faith. There is nothing better than seeing God bring new spiritual life and hope to hurting and broken souls.\nWhat I realized in this trip was how missions work is mutually beneficial to both the sending church and the receiving church. Our friends here in Loreto raved again and again about how blessed they were with our visit. But truly we were the ones most blessed. For me as the sending Pastor, to see my friends who I have poured into and raised up out on the mission field doing the work of the ministry and loving people brings me so much joy.\nI am so thankful for the blessing that God has given me to pastor a church that is a sending hub of missions and church planting. I am also immensely grateful to you, our precious ministry partners. The great missions work going on here is truly a team effort. And that reminds me of the Bible verse that God gave our family as the theme of our ministry when we first moved here to Mexico nearly 21 years ago. Paul the Apostle wrote this in 1st Corinthians 3:6, “I planted, Apollos watered, BUT GOD gave the increase!” Thank you ministry partners, and THANK YOU GOD!\nWith much love from Mexico,\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless our special Easter Resurrection services and community outreach!\n#2- That God would bless my missions trip at the end of April to visit our church plants in La Paz!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for the fruitful missions trip to Loreto!\n#2- Praise God for His blessing and provision for our family!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Mail directly to: Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-april-2023-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/12-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/339107254%5F1255691025381407%5F1448637407105363576%5Fn-3.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt the end of March, I had the privilege of leading a small team of 6 to join me visiting our two-year-old church plant in Loreto! Loreto is one of the main cities in the state of South Baja. \u003cem\u003e(The smallest state in Mexico)\u003c/em\u003e Loreto is famous for its rugged desert beauty, with towering mountain ranges on one side and beautiful beaches and crystal clear water on the other. The famous Marine Diver Jacque Cousteau famously called the Sea of Cortez “the Worlds Aquarium!”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family April 2023 Missions Update"},{"content":" Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our LORD, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever Amen.\nHEBREWS 13:20-21\nThe importance of thorough discipleship stuck out to me last weekend. It was my daughter Emma’s turn to go on an outing with me, and before getting ice-cream we spent a few hours evangelizing door to door with our church, Calvary Chapel Gulu. Emma, myself, and our head pastor, Fred Latim, sat in the yard of a local political leader with the gentleman and his Muslim friend. The politician is a Christian who publicly claims Christ and was very eager to talk to us about Jesus, but he didn’t know that Muslims worshiped a different god, he didn’t know the difference between any of the groups that proclaim the name of Jesus, and he couldn’t tell me why God allowed Jesus to die on the cross! The darkness of ignorance is vast when even sincere Christian leaders are severely underdeveloped.\nJesus reached the world through 12 disciples, three of whom stood out as His inner circle. We have followed His example in our school. Although we have 40 students between two classes who will study through the whole counsel of God’s Word, the real discipleship happens with the 6 alumni who have been appointed as Discipleship Group Leaders.\nOur group leader’s development comes through teaching, modeling and coaching. As graduates from the program they have already been taught through the whole Bible. On top of that, as I mentioned in our January update, we meet for one week of every month to prepare for class by studying the upcoming text together, and praying together. During the class weeks they are busy guiding devotions and leading discussions on the passages we are covering. They also practice teaching and receive feedback during one-on-one meetings.\nThe impact has been tremendous. Every month I receive testimonies from these six men of how their development is affecting their lives, their families, and their churches. I was taken back two weeks ago during two meetings I had with one of them who is old enough to be my grandfather. In both meetings he couldn’t hold back his tears as he thanked me for being in his life. He told me that I was the first person to “father” him, the first person who took the time to direct, correct, teach, and mentor him. Another of these men has doubled his influence through leading the School of Ministry at his church! I believe that these testimonies are a result of the bond that we have formed as we pursue the LORD together. As we delight ourselves in Him, the LORD continues to give us the desire of our hearts.\nPlease pray for these six men who have given their lives to disciple others in Christ:\nWalter Owor Peter Ocaya Mark Olak George Acaye Denis Olara Richard Okot May God richly bless you,\nMatt and Noelle \u0026amp; Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-march-2023-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/20220815%5F102229%5F2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow the God of peace, who brought up from the dead \u003cstrong\u003ethe great Shepherd of the sheep\u003c/strong\u003e through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our LORD, \u003cstrong\u003eequip you in every good thing to do His will\u003c/strong\u003e, \u003cstrong\u003eworking in us that which is pleasing in His sight\u003c/strong\u003e, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever Amen.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHEBREWS 13:20-21\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe importance of thorough discipleship stuck out to me last weekend. It was my daughter Emma’s turn to go on an outing with me, and before getting ice-cream we spent a few hours evangelizing door to door with our church, Calvary Chapel Gulu. Emma, myself, and our head pastor, Fred Latim, sat in the yard of a local political leader with the gentleman and his Muslim friend. The politician is a Christian who publicly claims Christ and was very eager to talk to us about Jesus, but he didn’t know that Muslims worshiped a different god, he didn’t know the difference between any of the groups that proclaim the name of Jesus, and he couldn’t tell me why God allowed Jesus to die on the cross! The darkness of ignorance is vast when even sincere Christian leaders are severely underdeveloped.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family - March 2023 Update"},{"content":"Hello family and friends!\nOut of all my newsletters this has got to be the one I am extremely excited to share.\nFirst and foremost, I want to announce that I have been accepted to Calvary Bible Institute in Israel! I am beyond thrilled to study more of God\u0026rsquo;s Word, grow in knowledge, and deepen my relationship with God. Secondly, I have an opportunity to go to School of Missions this summer as a leader. Last year\u0026rsquo;s leaders are already taking off to the Middle East to live there long term with the goal of planting a church. It is amazing what God is doing through my church. With them leaving, it leaves me as the only Spanish speaker. Church leadership could really use my help in Mexico and this would be a great opportunity for me to grow in leadership. There is also an unreached tribe in Mexico that we will be visiting and bringing them the gospel. They have their own dialectic and very few speak Spanish. These two opportunities cost but I know I serve a great God who makes the impossible possible. I have witnessed His provisions time and time again. Thirdly, after I finish CBI Israel, Lord willing I will have the opportunity to spend a week with the team who is taking off to the Middle East.\nIf all goes accordingly, these are the dates I would be leaving and the cost,\nSchool of Missions: July 9- August 20 $2000\nCBI Israel: August 29-November 21 $3275, with your support I was able to give a deposit of $300.\nBe with the Missionary Team in the Middle East: November 21-28 $500\nOn another note, it has been two months since I started my job at the church office. I am beyond grateful. Like I mentioned in my last newsletter, it is not a paid position but I love the fact that I get to work with one of the pastors. I also get to see the hard work of what it takes to run a church. Man, let me tell you, it is hard work. It makes me appreciate my pastors more because they pour so much into my life and the rest of the interns and congregation. It is such a blessing and honor to be part of a church where the pastors care for you, make time for you and feed you God\u0026rsquo;s Word. I have never experienced this before.\nWoman’s event at Voice of Refuges: At this event we pamper Afghan and Arab woman. We give them manicures, pedicures and facials. It’s an awesome opportunity to love on them and share the gospel. I was able to connect with two Afghan woman, Sarma and Laila, who are muslim. I will be meeting with them in hopes to build a relationship.\nMeet my new friend Ivan. He is a student at Fullerton College where our church goes to evangelize. I have had a few encounters with Ivan and I truly believe God is working in his heart. He is not ready to surrender his life to the Lord but I am so thankful that God has created this opportunity where I am able to share about Jesus with Ivan every time I see him.\nPraying over the team who is moving to the Middle East. We all gathered at the Pastor\u0026rsquo;s house and the team was able to share with us their story about how they got called to missions. (For security purposes their faces are not shown.)\nFor our last life group meeting, Macey and I cooked one of my favorite dishes, flautas.\nPraise Reports\nGod\u0026rsquo;s confirmation to go to CBI Israel God\u0026rsquo;s provision of using others to give the deposit for Israel The Holy Spirit continuing to give me boldness and confidence in evangelizing and sharing Jesus with others, this is absolutely my favorite Prayer Request\nFor God to provide for School of Missions and CBI Israel For Ivan, that he may come to realize his need for a Savior For all the seeds that are being planted in the college students lives For Sarma and Laila, hoping I can build a friendship and be culturally sensitive so I may have an open door to share Jesus with them ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/steps-of-faith/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello family and friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOut of all my newsletters this has got to be the one I am extremely excited to share.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst and foremost, I want to announce that I have been accepted to Calvary Bible Institute in Israel! I am beyond thrilled to study more of God\u0026rsquo;s Word, grow in knowledge, and deepen my relationship with God. Secondly, I have an opportunity to go to School of Missions this summer as a leader. Last year\u0026rsquo;s leaders are already taking off to the Middle East to live there long term with the goal of planting a church. It is amazing what God is doing through my church. With them leaving, it leaves me as the only Spanish speaker. Church leadership could really use my help in Mexico and this would be a great opportunity for me to grow in leadership. There is also an unreached tribe in Mexico that we will be visiting and bringing them the gospel. They have their own dialectic and very few speak Spanish. These two opportunities cost but I know I serve a great God who makes the impossible possible. I have witnessed His provisions time and time again. Thirdly, after I finish CBI Israel, Lord willing I will have the opportunity to spend a week with the team who is taking off to the Middle East.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Steps of Faith"},{"content":" AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\n- Rainy season has begun in Kampala. Pray for safety as the roads are flooded, hiding the very deep pot holes. Pray for Jill as she has had a virus with high fevers and is having some autoimmune issues Luke and Laylee are still trying to get the hang of doing school online. Pray that they will catch on and enjoy it. - Pray for Liana and Jill as the continue traditional homeschooling. - Arise Christian Fellowship has finished going through the whole New Testament. Pray as they begin back in the Gospels on Sunday mornings through the book of Mark. Pray for Arise as they prepare for the services and activities leading up to Easter. - Pray for the guest house renovation to be finished quickly and safely. The Kanyikes are still awaiting news on the children\u0026rsquo;s citizenship please pray they hear soon. - Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nDear friends and family,\nThank you so much for your encouraging prayers on our behalf.\nPraise God that:\n- Our ministry partner Luke Buescher has been cured of Lymes Disease and has rejoined us on the field. - He is continuing to bless the teaching of His Word in our school and our churches.\nPlease Pray That:\n- God will give us the wisdom and resources necessary to officially adopt our daughter Apio Cynthia. - For my (Matt) endeavor to enroll in higher learning at Moody Bible Institute.\nIn Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\nPray as the rain season is coming. We are hoping to invest in our farm to produce enough food for the over 700 students we feed 3 times a day.\nPray for more laborers as God keeps opening more door for us to share the gospel.\nPray for our contain that will be reaching Uganda soon. That God would have favor over us in the clearance and taxes.\nPray for the Bible college students as they go for their first missions trip.\nWe praise God for finishing all the walls of Koinonia community center.\nPray for provision as we start the roofing.\nWe praise God for the amazing Women\u0026rsquo;s conference we had. Around 200 women came from 7 different churches, and even a group of Muslim women came. God moved!!!!\nThank you!\nIn Him, The Aniku’s - Email\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass\nNORTH AMERICA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Yorba Linda, California\nPRAISE REPORTS\n1. Jenn was able to join Tim on trip to South Asia that was 2 weeks long focused on missionary care and teaching of in country workers. 2. For those who prayerfully and financially support us 3. Jenn has been able to stay healthy\nPRAYER REQUEST\n1. Pray for our re-adjustment as we come back 2. Wisdom and Gods heart for Tim as he prepares to teach at a conference in mexico next month 3. Our son Andy who is homeless and struggling In many ways\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - Yorba Linda, California\nThank all for praying for us!\nPlease pray that Joel would have an effective trip to Israel, that he is able to grow as a Bible teacher through it and be an effective leader and teacher on the trip\nPray for the Lord’s guidance on where Joel should be traveling next for missionary care, and that the Lord would open the right doors\nPray that the Lord would provide more monthly financial partners as the costs of housing and food for a large family are rising\nLove in Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia Email - Blog\nGary and Tina Barrow - Truckee, California\nWe have been here pastoring Calvary Chapel Truckee for almost 3 years now. We’ve faced many challenges and difficulties, many we never dreamed would be something we would face in ministry. But God has been so very faithful, and I believe we’re right where God wants us as a church.\nPlease pray…\nWe’re in need of a worship leader/assistant pastor at the church. Currently Gary is carrying all of the teaching and administration of the church. It’s been a heavy, and at times, an overwhelming responsibility. But again, God has been so very faithful. We trust that with your prayers, God will raise up an assistant that is like minded and has a heart to serve God’s people.\nPlease join us in praying for a fresh out pouring of God’s Spirit on Calvary Chapel Truckee.\nWe’ve been praying about starting a preschool to reach out to the town of Truckee. We need wisdom and vision on how the Lord would have us do this.\nWe have just returned from Israel and it seems that God has opened up amazing doors for ministry there for us. We have an open do to reach out to youth in a Palestinian controlled area. God has also opened a door for us to minister to special needs kids in Israel. We’re praying and asking God to show us how He would have us walk through those doors.\nGary is planning on traveling with Pastor Trent to the Middle East later this year. We’re asking the Lord to show us how He’d have us be part of the ministry there also.\nWe’re planning for Hungarian summer camps again this year. During one of the camps last year, a woman approached Gary and ask if he knew who she was? She showed him a picture of the 2 of them from a camp Gary did 13 years earlier. She said she gave her heart to the Lord during that camp and Jesus changed her life. She’s now living for Jesus, married to a Christian man and serving in her church. Last year we saw 64 of 93 kids come to the Lord in 2 summer camps. We’re asking the Lord for even more souls this year.\nGary is teaching a class and continues to arrange teachers for the colleges we have in the 10/40 window. Please continue to pray that God would raise up believers to take the Gospel and saturate that area. Gary would like to lead a team later this year to visit the college and encourage the students through block classes. We’re asking God for the right timing for a trip.\nWith all the many overseas opportunities now opening up to us, we’re asking God to show us how to serve faithfully here at Calvary Chapel Truckee, and how to balance that with the many open doors abroad. We believe the Lord is leading us into greater fields of harvest. We’re asking the Lord for wisdom and direction.\nWe want to thank you for your prayers. If you have any questions, we welcome your emails and will respond to them promptly.\n- God bless,\nGary and Tina Barrow- Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests?\n#1- For my church planting trip and conference in Loreto at the end of March! #2- Preparation for our next church planter being sent out to Peru in May! #3- For the Spirit (and gifts) to move in our afterglow services!\nThanks for your prayers, Mike – Email Blog\nRon and Kristy Struska – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God that we made it to Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala, Mexico, where our daughter, Brittany, and her husband, Brian are going to plant a church (Calvary Conexión México). There were some bumps along the way with our 24-foot trailer, but we made it here safely!\n-We’d also like to give him praise for the two outreaches we were able to do along the way in Culiacán \u0026amp; Morelia, as well as serve a little at and/or fellowship with several other church plants and pastors along the way.\nPrayer Requests:\n-For wisdom to know how to best use our time to help get the church building ready for Calvary Conexión México.\n-For the Lord to prepare the hearts of the children and their parents to be open to the gospel. We will be having a big outreach for kids here in Calpulalpan. There will be games, songs, a Bible lesson, craft, as well as prizes and backpacks to give away! We even plan to do some games with the parents and give away some prizes for them as well.\n-For finances, as we are having some trouble with our local Mexican bank, and we have a lot of funds that we are currently not able to access (and may not be able to access for months until some paperwork gets taken care of).\n-For a safe return trip home to Rosarito, trailer in tow, early to mid-February.\nBlessings!\nRon \u0026amp; Kristy Struska– Email Blog\nJenna Pepin – Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico\nCalvary Culiacán North will be implementing some BIG changes this year. Pray that the result is a stronger, more effective church and a huge harvest of souls. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s continued direction in confirming both my role and the timing for Sammy and me to join the Calpulalpan project. Pray for Sammy\u0026rsquo;s education as we will be trying out some new schooling options over the next 6 months. Jenna Pepin Email - Blog\nDavid and Michelle Mullins - Loreto, Mexico\nPrayer Request:\nMichelle: Chronic Pain. After two failed back surgeries, I deal with daily Chronic Sciatica pain\nPrayer for Healing or Relief/Endurance to continue working on our growing Children\u0026rsquo;s ministry and supporting our women and staff/volunteers with wisdom, love, and hope as we continue to grow, teach and share Christ’s love and His word with new believers.\nProtection over our church and future church planters as we experience physical, mental, and spiritual attacks from the evil one.\nThank You❣️\nBlessings,\nMichelle Mullins Email - Blog\nJon and Allison Brechtel - Oaxaca, Mexico\nHuge Praise Report:\nOur first grandbaby was born in late October, and she is happy and healthy, along with our son and daughter in law.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for continued unity in the church, and that the Lord would continue raising up men to be leaders. We have an amazing church body here and are so blessed by their hearts to serve Him. 2. Jon is now teaching in Spanish on Sundays, which is a huge step of faith and obedience. Please pray for continued growth for all 4 of us in our Spanish. It\u0026rsquo;s such a blessing to be able to communicate with everyone here. Please especially pray for Jonny and Noah to practice it.\nThank you for praying for the work that the Lord is doing in Oaxaca. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t do this without the covering of prayer.\nGod bless!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah Blog - Email\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, MexicoPlease\nPray:\n1. Growth in personal and corporate holiness\n2. Thanksgiving for the miracle of restoration in my eldest son!\n3. For the Holy Spirit’s guidance in matters involving church discipline\n4. Church planting class involvement and teaching; for growth of students\n5. For God to show us who to disciple\n6. NewLife rehab Clinic weekly Bible study; for the patients to be saved\n7. Much wisdom for helping the needy\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian – Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello and thank you for praying for me! Here are my prayer requests for this month:\n1. For more servants to be raised up, who are called to serve in different ministries. At present, we need a male to head up the single adult men’s group over 18, a cook for our afterschool program, teachers for our nursery, and two teachers in the afterschool program.\n2. Much needed wisdom in ministering to the parents of the children in the afterschool program.\n3. A reliable vehicle for me at a reasonable price.\n4. For my mom who suffers from Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s, that she would be well emotionally, physically, and spiritually.\n5. For the teacher training that I am currently giving every Sunday morning before service to the teachers at Calvary Chapel Tijuana, and will also be doing here at Calvary Chapel Pedregales, for direction and guidance from the Holy Spirit.\n6. Healing in my right arm—shoulder and the elbow. I injured it in a volleyball game. It’s been two months, and the pain is still there\n- Deanna Jevas – Email Blog\nBond and Heather Gaona - Asia, Africa, USA\nPraise\n- Bond had open heart surgery and it went well with no complications.\nPray for quick and proper healing for Bond\u0026rsquo;s heart. Pray against infection. Pray for him as he comes home and for continued recovery as the process will take many weeks.\nPray for us all of us to be healthy with no colds or flus as we have had several rounds the past two months and can\u0026rsquo;t afford for Bond to get sick while recovering.\nPray for our schedule and those helping to carry the ministry load as Bond recovers.\nPray for each students in CBI campuses in Asia to fall more in love with God and His Word and have a desire to reach their communities and villages for the Gospel.\nPray for our preparations and for provision for upcoming trips to Peru and Uganda. Doctors said Bond should be good to GO!\nWe thank God that He still has plans to use us. Thank you for praying for us and with us!\nBond, Heather and Breanna – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for the salvation of two of the residents in our Bible Study at the assisted living facility. Though they know much about God, pray that they will fully surrender their hearts to God and belief in the truth of His Word, and receive Him in their hearts.\nPlease continue to pray for my parents’ health.\nPlease pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts and faith.\nPlease pray that God will continually strengthen our faith and service for Him.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for the Christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.\nPlease pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health. He has several physical problems including double vision. The doctors have not yet been able to find out what is causing them.\nPlease pray for my sister who is making major life decisions. Pray that she puts God first and makes godly decisions.\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nUrgent Prayer:\n1. Put Peru on your prayer chains, we are in a state of emergency! They impeached the president two weeks ago for firing the congress and trying to be a dictator and the vice president assumes the office, so the people don\u0026rsquo;t want the same political party and want new elections, but they are rioting and looting in the stores, burning down factories! We are safe in Huacho, and a ways away from Lima, but they shut down all main highways, public transportation and schools for the rest if the week! They are talking about Marshall law if it continues and the curfew will go into place and shut down public meetings!\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nCory \u0026amp; Danielle Kilgus- Calvary Chapel Trujillo \u0026amp; CBI Peru\nThank you so much for your continued prayer!\nPlease pray for our upcoming semester at CBI Peru. We will have 23-25 full time students, are biggest semester yet. Our semester theme is \u0026ldquo;Abide\u0026rdquo; as apart from Jesus can nothing, and when we abide in Him we bear much fruit.\nPlease pray for Calvary Trujillo and Calvary Buenos Aires, Peru. We are transitioning as we sent a group of about 20 to plant a church in another part of town, and it has been great to see God work. We have several outreach events coming up, and God is opening up new doors in our community with the universities, rehab centers and firefighters.\nPlease pray for our family as received Isabela into our home about a month ago. She is 4 and a special girl. We took her on her first family vacation this month, and she calls us \u0026ldquo;mama\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;papa\u0026rdquo; now. She likes to run up to us and kiss us, and tells we are \u0026ldquo;lindo\u0026rdquo; (Nice). Pray for continued integration, as there are rough spots as well.\nPlease pray for another church we hope to plant in October with another graduate of CBI Peru in the jungle city of Moyobamba. We are hosting the CC Missions conference for South America and CBI Kauai is joining us to serve at the conference and then help us do an invasion of Moyobamba.Thank you and we really do appreciate your faithfulness to pray.\nThank you from our hearts, Cory and Danielle - Email Blog\nShilo and Raquell Stratton - Peru\nPray for our minds, that we would not be anxious or stressed regarding preparing to move and actually being sent. That we would have the goal and mission in mind of making disciples. Of serving Christ and no one else. Of making His name famous and not our own. And generally for clear thinking. That we’d hold fast to sound doctrine.\nPray for our spirits, that we’d serve God without fear and in absolute surrender. That we’d lay aside sins and things that easily ensnare us. That we’d put on God’s armor.\nPray for our bodies, that we’d be strong and that God would ward off any infections, diseases, or accidents from us prior to and on the field. Especially for baby Amalia. I (Shilo) think I’ve got a food allergy that my doctor and I are currently trying to figure out.\nPray for PERÚ, for the country as a whole. Latin America is full of false doctrine, prideful religiosity or cultural Catholicism and dangerous governments. Peru’s presidency just underwent some drastic sudden changes, and the country is not at peace.\n- Shilo and Raquell Stratton - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\nThat God would call others to Moyobamba for the church plant\nPerseverance and continual joy through the busyness of Calvary Trujillo and CBI Peru\nPraise to God for His preparation in my life for Pastoring.\n- Andrew Weakland | Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nLast month we were facing a financial famine due to unexpected expenses from various directions. God heard our prayers and has provided financial miracles from unexpected sources! Because of these blessings we will be able to visit my (Darryl\u0026rsquo;s) family in Missouri for the first time since 2017 including a brother whom I have not seen since 2015.\nPlease pray for wisdom in planning out time in Missouri. There are still a lot of schedule/logistical issues to figure out.\nPlease pray for wisdom, logistics, scheduling, and transportation for our time in California. We need to make the most of our time in both places.\nPlease pray for the various ministries we partner with: Precious Women Organization, Light Times Magazine, local bible schools, and the international church.\nPlease pray for the right time and wisdom in resuming the production of apologetics/evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language.\nNow that our short-term financial needs have been met, please pray for provision for our long term needs (saving for Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s launch in the USA in four years and long term savings for when our senders retire/pass away).\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands, Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog -\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\nPray for my ministry, that God will give me wisdom and understanding.\nPray for my family, that they will grow in the Word of God.\nPray for my church members, that each one may grow in the Lord.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers. S.K. (2)\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our state’s Christians, for their faith in Jesus to be strengthened. In this difficult time, pray that God will take care of His people. At the same time, pray that the fanatical group will come to know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\nPlease pray for Mrs. K. Both of her kidneys are 80% damaged. Every other day she has dialysis, and her condition is critical.\nContinue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church.\nContinue to pray for our CBI students and staff, for their good health and the smooth functioning of the CBI.\nKindly pray for me and my family, that the Lord will use us for the expansion of His kingdom.Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nWorker 3 Worker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for traveling safety.\nPlease pray that the Lord will provide a partner for me, as I am getting older.\nThank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ,\nPastor W.J. Worker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nWe are in need of sound preachers and teachers to fill people with the knowledge of God.\nThankfully, God is sending laborers for His field to our CBI; we are prayerfully waiting for them to study the Word of God with more awe and reverence this new year.\nOne of our brother’s has been ordained as a teaching pastor at the new church plant, and another brother has been ordained as a youth pastor. We are grateful to God that He has been gracious enough to lead our brothers’ lives and are eagerly awaiting to see what the Lord is going to accomplish through their lives.\nLast week, we had the dedication service for our new hall, which was really blessed. There are still some needs in the hall; please be praying that God will provide and bless the church.\nIn a city like ours, the mission field is everywhere your eye can see. May the Lord give us grace to be the carriers of His love and mercy.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 6\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nI have now been visiting five villages and am working on visiting many more during the weekdays. Please pray that God will open doors to enter different villages and give me opportunities to share with the people who don’t know our Lord.\nThank you, Worker 7\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nDuring the last two weeks, we visited two new families, and shared the Gospel with them and gave them New Testaments. Both of the families are going through physical and demonic problems. May God work powerfully in their lives.\nSister L. S. has a baby due soon; please pray for a safe delivery.\nH. and Y. are brother and sister, and they are both having the same physical and mental problem.\nPlease pray for our church building.\nEspecially pray for the persecution in our state.\nOnce again, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your partnership. May our loving God bless you abundantly!\nPastor 8 and family Worker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for me, that I will continue to grow in the Word of God.Pray that God will continue to use me here.\nPray for the teenagers who I teach the Word to every week; right now, they are having school final exams.\nPray that they will do well on their exams and glorify God.Pray for my country, as persecution is increasing.\nPray that the work of the Gospel will also increase.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you all!\nWorker 9 Worker 10\nThanks be to the Lord that God has kept you and us together, and thanks be to the Lord who blesses each and every one of us, and saves us from every danger! Thank you also to those who continuously pray for us!\nPrayer Requests:\nFirst of all, pray for the villages in our area, where some people are against the people of God; pray for God to change their hearts.\nPray for the leaders here who are members of the anti-Christian party, who do not want the kingdom of God to come.\nPray for those leaders, that God will change their hearts.Pray for the believers of my church, that they will be strong in the Word.\nPray for my life, that God opens new doors for me so that I can share the Gospel of God to all of the people in my area.\nThe government has a record of our mobile phone number to keep an eye on us because of our Christianity.\nPray that God will help us and will bring those who belong to the anti-Christian government group into faith.\nPray for the believers in my village who are students; pray that they can change their lives with the blessings of God.\nPray for my mom who had surgery.\nPray for some of our believers who want to publicly show their faith in Christ; pray that God will prepare them completely.\nPray for our region, that God will change the hearts of all the people here and walk in God’s path.\nThank you! Worker 10\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that my marriage will go well, and that God will fulfill every need.\nPlease pray that my close friends will be able to come to my wedding.\nPlease pray that the believers in our church will understand the Word of God more deeply.\nPlease pray that my mother\u0026rsquo;s back pain will be cured.\nNext month, after my marriage, I will travel to another city to get audio Bibles. Pray that God will provide protection for me while I am getting the audio Bibles.\nAnother believer would like to publicly show he follows Jesus this month.\nPray that God will protect us during through the service.\nThere are some Hindu fundamentalists in our village who are always trying to persecute us; pray that God will give them peace in their hearts.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership and participation in spreading the Gospel!\nGod bless you all!\nWorker 11 Worker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for the growth of the church, that God will increase these people here more and more in the knowledge of His Word and use them for His glory. Pray that new people who have come to Christ will know God better and be more aware of their faith and grow in it.\nPray for the marriage of Worker 11 and his new wife, that God will prepare both of them, and also their families. Especially pray for his new wife’s family, as they are all unbelievers and will be making the arrangements.\nTwo families have newly come to faith in Jesus. Please pray for them, that God will give them the strength to understand and know Jesus Christ better and recognize His power and follow Him and continue to grow in Him as well.\nI am still taking medicine for my back pain. Last month, the doctor did an x-ray and ultrasound, and the reports are normal. The doctor has given me some medication for a few weeks. Please pray for God to heal me completely.\nLast week, God gave me the opportunity to go to another district and preach the Gospel. By His grace, I went to some villages and met a lot of people and preached the Gospel to them. Please pray that the seed that was sown in their lives will take root and that they will know that the Lord Jesus Christ is the true God, and that He will release them from their darkness.\nPray also for our weekly Bible study, that God will strengthen His people in His Word, through this study. Pray that they will go to different places to be witnesses for God.\nThank you for your prayers for our ministry! - Worker 12\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPlease continue to pray for the area where we are doing ministry.\nPray that God will give us more opportunities to share His Word.\nPlease pray, as it is not easy to share the Gospel in this area where we are living.\nPlease pray as we begin our church building construction.\nPray that everything goes well.\nPray for three brothers who just came to Christ; also pray that God will bring more people to Himself.\nThank you so much everyone for your love in Christ!\nGod bless you! Worker 13\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for\u0026hellip;\n1) Please pray for those who heard the Gospel at the Christmas outreach.\n2) Please pray for God’s protection on our daughter’s life, as she recently got a job and moved to the UK.\nThanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15 Worker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Request\nPlease pray for my children as they are writing their annual exam, that God may give them wisdom.\nPlease pray for bible college student that they my grow in Lord.\nPlease pray for sister D, she is suffering from back pain please pray for her healing.\nPlease pray for brother J for his healing.\nWorker 16\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise Report:\nThank you for last month prayer, God had been teaching our students as well as they are growing in His Word and they have been spending lot of time sharing the gospel around Kathmandu valley.\nHere are some prayer request for this month:\nPlease pray for our good health.\nPlease pray for our students of our Bible college that they may grow daily in His Word.\nPlease pray that our students may know their calling as they will be graduating.\nPlease pray for the students, in this semester break they want to go different villages to serve the people and lead them to Christ.\nChoudhary Family - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPlease pray for those who accepted Jesus at the medical camp/Gospel outreach. Praise God! My His Spirit lead them to His church!\nPlease pray for the ministry at the Leper colony.\nPray for the various house fellowships and children’s meeting.\nPraise God for the co-leaders who are faithfully serving the Lord according to their gifts.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email - Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for Mahima’s health; since last month, she has not been feeling well—she is suffering from a cold.\nPray for my health also, that I will be physically fit and able to serve God well.\nPray that God will provide a refrigerator and cooking materials for our church.\nPray that God will provide a way for us to have infertility treatment.\nPray that our church believers will be stable everywhere they are.\nPlease pray for brother Harka’s ministry, that God will provide for him.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\nWe have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus, praise the Lord!\nWe conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes in our fellowship. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\nPraise God for safety and protection during this time!\nRemember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita Milan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\nPray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.\nPray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\nPray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\nThank you,\nMilan\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for the fellowship that is about to start in L.B. We are planning to start a fellowship there, which is separate from our other church on the mountain. There is a need for a pastor to lead the converts.\nPray for our church, where there is a need for a church building. Pray for provision and guidance.\nPray for God’s guidance and strength for me and my wife. We are leading churches in two areas.\nPray for my wife, Srijana. She has a migraine. It is very difficult for her during the cold weather season.\nThis month, the CCP team arrived and shared the Gospel in the village areas. Pray that the people will respond to the Gospel and know Jesus.\nBlessings!\nRaju - BlogAbhishek and Lacey – 10/40 Window\nPraise Reports:\nPraise God He was able to make a way for me to move to South Asia, and provide everything my husband and I needed for our wedding.\nPraise God we were able to find a home to rent that is walking distance from the Bible College where my husband is teaching almost every day.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for both of our families, especially for the salvation of those who are not walking with Jesus.\nIt has been two months since we have been married, please pray for our cross-cultural marriage.\nPlease pray for the Bible college and the Church that we are involved with and serving alongside.\nPlease pray the rent of the Church that we are serving alongside here in S.A. would be provided for monthly.\nPlease pray we would grow in discipline in every area of our life.\nThank you family for partnering alongside us, and waging war on our behalf in prayer.\nGod bless you, Abhishek and Lacey\nDoru and the Pavel’s – Romania\nGood day everyone,\nPlease lift our family in prayer for health and endurance. The last few weeks have been difficult with ear infection for our youngest who is recovering, strep throat, and different symptoms on a daily basis. We ask for wisdom for the doctors who are helping us and everyone who needs their assistance.\nLift up our youth who are growing deeper in the lord and opening their hearts to the weight of sin they are learning to look for and uproot. We are also preparing to have a prayer walk for our community this coming weekend and we would love to see the Lord work and express his Holy Spirit in wonderful ways.\nOur church also has a dearly loved sister who is in the process of identifying what type of cancer she is dealing with, so we ask the Lord to heal her, provide closeness and unity within our congregation.\nPlease pray for my wife’s (Tasha) safety as she is working abroad and is dealing with some foot problems and missing the family.\nBlessings and Prayers, Doru and the Pavel’s - Blog - Email\nJohnny and Brenna Varga - Pécs, Hungary\nPlease pray:\n1. For our women’s Bible study groups that are going on now. Pray for the women participating, that they will grow deeper rooted in Christ and in understanding of God’s word as we do a study “Glimpses of Jesus” in the Old Testament together. Brenna is leading a group of ten young women, with nine different countries/cultures represented in the group. Pray for wisdom and discernment in leading.\n2. For Johnny as he continues to work on his thesis \u0026amp; prepare for final state exam, pray the Lord will lead him and help him through to the end.\n3. Pray for continued divine wisdom, strength, clarity, \u0026amp; rest for our church leadership.\n4. Pray for our marriage, that we may continue to grow in love for the Lord and one another.\nMuch love, Johnny and Brenna Varga - Blog - Email\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-apr-prayer-update-3/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Rainy season has begun in Kampala. Pray for safety as the roads are flooded, hiding the very deep pot holes. Pray for Jill as she has had a virus with high fevers and is having some autoimmune issues Luke and Laylee are still trying to get the hang of doing school online. Pray that they will catch on and enjoy it.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Liana and Jill as the continue traditional homeschooling.  \u003cbr\u003e\n- Arise Christian Fellowship has finished going through the whole New Testament. Pray as they begin back in the Gospels on Sunday mornings through the book of Mark. Pray for Arise as they prepare for the services and activities leading up to Easter. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for the guest house renovation to be finished quickly and safely. The Kanyikes are still awaiting news on the children\u0026rsquo;s citizenship please pray they hear soon. \u003cbr\u003e\n- Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM APR PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" “ And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.\u0026quot;\nPhilippians 4:19\nSince the second half of 2022, our family’s finances have been getting tighter and tighter (for context see our last two updates at www.sgwm.com/record). At one point, our financial situation looked so bleak that we thought that we might have to leave the field by June due to a lack of funds. On top of that, we had a lot of unexpected expenses and upcoming travel expenses. It looked like we would just barely be able to visit California this summer but we would not be able to visit Missouri. But God had other plans and through the miraculous generosity of donors we know personally and even those whom we have never met, God has supplied enough funding for our immediate needs (car repairs/medical expenses, etc.) and travel to California (June 6-August 1) with a trip to Missouri (June 28-July 12)! We have never experienced miraculous provision like this before! We are truly grateful to God and all those who have made and continue to make it possible for us to serve as missionaries in Cambodia.\nNow that our immediate needs have been met, we can focus our prayers on our long-term needs: funds to launch Benjamin into his life in the USA in 2027 and savings for us to be able to continue ministering after our senders retire or pass away.\nMinistry Update\nI finished teaching an eight-week Christian Foundations Sunday school class at the international church. We discussed essential apologetics topics such as the existence of God, the truth of the Bible, and the Resurrection. The students were from China, Ethiopia, Fiji, the Netherlands, Tajikistan, and the USA/Japan. We had a great time and the students want me to offer another class after the USA trip or next year. I also preach in the main service about once a month. I continue mentoring a younger Cambodian pastor and have spoken on faith and leadership over the past couple of months at his Cambodian church. I continue editing the English for Light Times Magazine, the only Christian magazine in Cambodia. I also have been helping Precious Women Organization produce videos of their clients and staff in the Cambodian language with English subtitles. Lord willing, I will be able to start producing apologetics/evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language as I have in the past in the near future.\nKayo continues to serve as a board member/administrator at Precious Women Organization. She also leads the women’s ministry at the international church. She is applying for a part-time job to offset Benjamin’s increasing educational and other long-term expenses.\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/miraculous-provision-and-usa-trip-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“ \u003cem\u003eAnd my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.\u003c/em\u003e\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilippians 4:19\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince the second half of 2022, our family’s finances have been getting tighter and tighter (for context see our last two updates at \u003ca href=\"https://www.sgwm.com/record)\"\u003ewww.sgwm.com/record)\u003c/a\u003e. At one point, our financial situation looked so bleak that we thought that we might have to leave the field by June due to a lack of funds. On top of that, we had a lot of unexpected expenses and upcoming travel expenses. It looked like we would just barely be able to visit California this summer but we would not be able to visit Missouri. But God had other plans and through the miraculous generosity of donors we know personally and even those whom we have never met, God has supplied enough funding for our immediate needs (car repairs/medical expenses, etc.) and travel to \u003cstrong\u003eCalifornia (June 6-August 1) with a trip to Missouri (June 28-July 12)\u003c/strong\u003e! We have never experienced miraculous provision like this before! We are truly grateful to God and all those who have made and continue to make it possible for us to serve as missionaries in Cambodia.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Miraculous Provision! (And USA Trip Update)"},{"content":" “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.”\n1 Corinthians 14:1-3 (ESV)\nThat is exactly what the Lord has given an opportunity for. The Rock has had two retreats in the last 3 weeks (that I’ve been a part of), and God is up to something good. It’s a privilege to play a role in helping disciple our middle schoolers and play a part in discipleship and being part of our young adults as well. The Lord is faithful, and I am thankful for the opportunities He’s given me and I want to make the most of them. This season of life has been crazy, and difficult, but rewarding. It amazes me how God can take trials and difficulties and bring about something for our good and His glory. This season has been a crucible, but He is ever purging the dross—and for that I am grateful. I am thankful for His careful watch, and the comfort of His Spirit. I pray that whatever season you find yourself in right now that you cling to Jesus, sit at His feet (Luke 10:38-42), and cast your care upon Him (1 Peter 5:7). Nothing is too big for our God, and He delights in our faith—it’s so much more precious to Him than gold that is tested by fire (1 Peter 1:6-9).\nThe theme of the middle school retreat was “Life in Light of Eternity.” Since I began teaching them last year, I’ve been praying that the Lord would help me to teach them what it means to be a disciple and have a proper foundation of trust in Jesus. One that He can continue to build upon as they grow. We began with a series on discipleship, then understanding the difference and importance between the Old and New Testament, and since then we’ve been making our way through the Gospel of John. These kids ask some amazing questions. They’re hungry for knowledge and truth and it amazes me how biblically literate they are. All of that to say, our hope with this retreat was to help equip these middle schoolers to be able to live their lives looking forward to eternity, and I believe the Lord helped us to do that. We had 3 main sessions with lots of fun, food, and good hang outs mixed in. Our snow trip got canceled, but the Lord opened the door for us to stay elsewhere and keep our retreat going. Our first session, a visiting pastor from another church taught on John 10 and Jesus being the Good Shepherd. Saturday night we touched base on a closeness of relationship with Jesus in Philippians 3, and Sunday I got to teach on John 15 where I shared that living for Jesus begins and continues with being with Jesus—seeking Him first and above all else. I pray that the Lord will continue to grow them in the knowledge of His Word and teach them how to do all for His glory—bearing fruit for His name. Thank you for your prayers, we couldn’t have done it without them.\nLast weekend we took all the young adults up to Tahoe and man was there a lot of snow. The fellowship was a huge blessing, the sessions were blessed (teaching us to fight sin, and rest in the powerful work of Jesus that has caused us to be dead to sin, but alive in Christ). It was a needed weekend for me. It was nice to get away for a few days and allow the Lord to speak through His Word, and it was an amazing reminder of what a fresh start we have in what Jesus has done for us at the cross. I am dead to the power of sin over me, and alive to God in Christ and now a slave to righteousness. Man, what a powerful reminder! The question presented that weekend was, “Will I agree with what God says about me?” Will I run the race that He’s set before me? I don’t know about you, but my answer is yes!\nGetting Ready\nNext on the docket is our Peru missions trip. I’m excited to go and see what the Lord will do. We are going to have an awesome opportunity to focus on outreach and help teach some Bible College students how to outreach. Many of them seem hopeful to get out, church plant, and make disciples! Lord willing we can aid them in that process!\nWith some smaller trips coming up, I have a great opportunity to get the middle schoolers involved with helping the teams prep for going on their trips. This coming week we are going to help prepare some care packages and letters for our high school trip to southern California where they are going to partner with a ministry that does a lot of outreach. Please pray that the Lord stirs in their heart for seeking and saving the lost and taking the Gospel to the nations.\nAnother trip to come is for Uganda. I’m praying and hoping to go to Uganda with the Rock this summer! Would you please pray that the Lord’s will would be done and that He would open and shut doors for whatever His will is for me in that. I will get you details as they come.\nPrayer Requests:\nLeading middle school and team well\nPacking party with students for So Cal trip\nPeru:\nteam unity\ntravel mercies\nprovision\nsafety\nopen doors for the Gospel\nfor the Lord’s will to be done\nUganda:\nwisdom and provision Personal:\nto seek the Lord above all else\nto truly rest in Him and to trust Him in all things\nmy dad’s health, hoping to have a spinal fusion surgery by the end of this month (runs a risk of becoming severely paralyzed without it)\nThank you so much for your prayers and all you do,\n- Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/retreat-but-no-surrender/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 Corinthians 14:1-3 (ESV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1168AA83-7D19-4F0D-AF91-DE8B5D4BB9BB.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat is exactly what the Lord has given an opportunity for. The Rock has had two retreats in the last 3 weeks (that I’ve been a part of), and God is up to something good. It’s a privilege to play a role in helping disciple our middle schoolers and play a part in discipleship and being part of our young adults as well. The Lord is faithful, and I am thankful for the opportunities He’s given me and I want to make the most of them. This season of life has been crazy, and difficult, but rewarding. It amazes me how God can take trials and difficulties and bring about something for our good and His glory. This season has been a crucible, but He is ever purging the dross—and for that I am grateful. I am thankful for His careful watch, and the comfort of His Spirit. I pray that whatever season you find yourself in right now that you cling to Jesus, sit at His feet (Luke 10:38-42), and cast your care upon Him (1 Peter 5:7). Nothing is too big for our God, and He delights in our faith—it’s so much more precious to Him than gold that is tested by fire (1 Peter 1:6-9).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Retreat, But No Surrender!"},{"content":"I greet you all in the name of Jesus Christ.\nBy the grace of God, I am doing well. I am extremely thankful for your concern, prayer, and love for us. By your prayers, my family is doing well. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Especially pray for my kids\u0026rsquo; school exams which start tomorrow. May God give them wisdom.\nBy the grace of God, my ministry is also going fine. I thank God because He is using me as a useful vessel for His kingdom. All of the believers in our church are doing well. Please pray for each one of them to be steadfast in their faith.\nI am so thankful for the hands who are helping me financially. May God bless you all abundantly!!\nWe have started having fellowship with other believers every evening through google meet. I am teaching every evening from the Gospel of John.\nI am also hosting weekly fasting prayer and weekly home prayer meetings. On Sundays, I am preaching from the Gospel of Mark.\nIn my personal devotions I am going through the book of Jeremiah.\nPrayer Requests:\nTwo weeks ago, we visited two new families. We shared the Gospel with them and gave them new testaments. Both of the families are going through physical and demonic problems. May God work powerfully in their lives. Sister L* is expecting a baby soon. Pray for her to have a safe delivery. H* and Y* are brother and sister who have similar physical and mental problems to each-other. Please pray for them. Pray for our church. Especially pray about the persecution in our state. Regards\nPastor 8* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/by-gods-grace-5/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI greet you all in the name of Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG%5F20230226%5F095310.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBy the grace of God, I am doing well. I am extremely thankful for your concern, prayer, and love for us. By your prayers, my family is doing well. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Especially pray for my kids\u0026rsquo; school exams which start tomorrow. May God give them wisdom.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG%5F20230226%5F102233.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBy the grace of God, my ministry is also going fine. I thank God because He is using me as a useful vessel for His kingdom. All of the believers in our church are doing well. Please pray for each one of them to be steadfast in their faith.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"By God's Grace"},{"content":" We, together with our Calvary Chapel church family, celebrated Christmas this year in an open area outside of the church. Many people, including our neighbors, attended the program. We got the opportunity to share the love of God and the reason for Christmas with them. It was a joyful moment to share the Gospel to the people from our community who attended. People from all backgrounds and ethnic groups were present. Most of them heard the Gospel for the first time. This season became not just a moment of celebration, but also an opportunity to share the Gospel of Christ. We are praying that all the people who gathered may believe in Jesus Christ.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that those who heard the Gospel in our open event may come to our church and find Jesus. Pray that God strengthens us (me and my wife) with His wisdom and knowledge for the ministry of God. Please pray for our church building. Pray for the leading of God to guide the church and all of its members in a loving and godly way. Pray that my father and mother also may come to Christ. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-moment-of-celebration-and-opportunity/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/April-2023-2-300x219.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe, together with our Calvary Chapel church family, celebrated Christmas this year in an open area outside of the church. Many people, including our neighbors, attended the program. We got the opportunity to share the love of God and the reason for Christmas with them. It was a joyful moment to share the Gospel to the people from our community who attended. People from all backgrounds and ethnic groups were present. Most of them heard the Gospel for the first time. This season became not just a moment of celebration, but also an opportunity to share the Gospel of Christ. We are praying that all the people who gathered may believe in Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\u003cstrong\u003eA Moment of Celebration and Opportunity\u003c/strong\u003e"},{"content":"Dear Partners, Pastors and Leaders,\nGreetings to all of you from our church! I thank you all and God from the bottom of my heart that you always take care of the members of the body of Christ and that you are constantly engaged in prayer and meet our needs. In the last week of January, there was a great persecution on our church and our church’s believers, which I will describe below. By the grace of God and your prayers, everything is back to normal.\nAn uneducated family was kept under house arrest for 10 days to break their faith in Lord Jesus Christ. They were tortured physically and mentally to testify against us!\nWhen we study the Acts of the Apostles, we learn that wherever the Gospel reaches people who believe in Jesus, there is also the work of Satan. Similarly, in the last week of January, persecution came upon us and our church. A political leader complained about us to the center. So a team was formed by the government to keep people from our church under house arrest for 10 days. They were tortured mentally and physically so that they would give false testimony against us. But none of them gave false testimony against us. Their faith was also not broken. They told the team of police investigators, \u0026ldquo;We believe in the Lord Jesus Christ by our own will. Whether we die or live, we will not leave Jesus Christ.\u0026rdquo;\nThe team also came to our house. During the time that they were there, I was away in another state at an SGWM conference. My father was at home. My father shared his testimony with the police investigators, but he did not allow the investigators to enter our home\u0026rsquo;s gate. The investigators left threatening that they would put people in jail.\nThe very next day, it was in the newspaper that we are associated with a group of terrorists. For this reason, a team was sent by the central government to investigate us. But I thank God and all of you for your prayers. The team, which was sent by the Central Government, did not return here again. Still, the believers of our church were put under a lot of pressure to give false testimony against us. But they did not. I thank God that on the first Sunday of March, they reached the Sunday service through the jungle, bowing down to the people of the village.\nIt was great to go to the high mountains and fellowship with the people there.\nI thank God for giving me the opportunity to go to the North in February. I got to travel around in 2 states there and spend time with my colleagues and friends. I especially thank God that we went to many new places that it was almost impossible to go to because there was no road. We had to hike through the mountains. God gave me the courage and strength through which I could go to the villages and preach the Gospel to the people.\nMany strict laws have been implemented in both of the states against spreading the Gospel. Because of this, many pastors are running restaurants, cafes and guest houses instead of preaching the Gospel. I really enjoyed visiting with the people there. It warmed my heart to see their hospitality.\nGod also gave me the opportunity to deliver the Word of God in Pastor 12*\u0026rsquo;s church. God gave me the opportunity to meet my old neighbors also, among whom we were once again able to share the Word of God. I thank God that He used me in the North as well. Always pray for the ministry in the North, that the name of God is spread faithfully. Please also pray for the pastor of the church I went to for about 18 years. There is a conversion (witnessing) court case against them. Pray that he is released from this court case.\nIn March God opened another new village to evangelize.\nAll things work together for good to those who love God!\nIn January, when the newspapers published my father\u0026rsquo;s testimony, many people read it. Many fanatics opposed us. But many others also heard it who were hungry and thirsty for God. Among them is one man who after searching, came to know that there is a church at our house. He came to our Sunday service and requested that we start a weekly fellowship in his village. So we started a fellowship there. He is like other believers here, who came to know Christ when they went to a big city. They go back and forth for work. Thank you for your prayers. Now, by the grace of God, house churches have been established in 10 villages. We go there every week for prayer, worship and Bible study.\nA Special Point of Thanksgiving and Prayer Request!\nI am very happy to tell you that God has given me a wife who will be helpful in furthering the kingdom of God with me. The area where I serve is a very unreached place. No pastor wants to come here. People make up lies and many different excuses to not serve the Lord here. But I thank God that He has given me a wife who will serve with me in my field. I have known my wife for 5 years. We have been dating for a year. He sister and brother-in-law are believers in who live in the same home with her and her mother. Her mother does not believe in God. Still God spoke to her mother\u0026rsquo;s heart, and her mother agreed for us to get married. She even assisted in our legal (court) marriage as a witness for her daughter. Our court marriage happened very smoothly. Her family members, especially one named P* helped a lot with it.\nPlease pray for our marriage reception which will be hosted by my wife\u0026rsquo;s family members in the North. All of my wife\u0026rsquo;s relatives will come. Pray that everything goes well.\nPlease pray for our planned marriage ceremony and marriage reception at my house. Pray that God fulfills our every need. About 200 people will come. Everyone in my house does ministry. But by faith, I have invited many friends, relatives and believers who have been praying for my marriage for almost 10 years. Please pray that everything goes well.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that my marriage goes well. May God fulfill our every need.\nPlease pray that my close friends are able to come to my wedding.\nPlease pray that the believers in our church will understand the Word of God more deeply.\nPlease pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s back pain to be cured.\nPray. Next month, after marriage, I am going to another city close by to get audio Bibles. May God give me protection when I get them.\nPray. Another believer wants to be baptized this month. May God protect us while we baptize.\nThere are some Hindu fundamentalists in our village also who are always trying to torture us. May God give them peace in their hearts.\nThank you for your love, prayers and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you all,\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thanks-be-to-god-4/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Partners, Pastors and Leaders,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/April-Pic-1-300x198.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you from our church! I thank you all and God from the bottom of my heart that you always take care of the members of the body of Christ and that you are constantly engaged in prayer and meet our needs. In the last week of January, there was a great persecution on our church and our church’s believers, which I will describe below. By the grace of God and your prayers, everything is back to normal.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thanks Be To God!"},{"content":"Medical Camps With Gospel Outreaches\nJesus healed people, but He never left without sharing the Gospel. We are to follow His pattern. There are so many people with physical needs. If we try to meet their needs without sharing the Gospel, it does not make sense in ministry.\nLast month we had three medical camps together with Gospel outreaches in the different parts of our country where our churches are located.\nMedical Camp/Gospel Outreach in the Capital\n(Feb 18-19)\nLast month, we had the great blessing of a visiting medical team. The team was able to treat over 200 patients at this medical camp (above), including non-believing neighbors we had invited from the area around our church in the capital city. Over 100 nonbelievers came to this medical camp. We had a great opportunity to share the Gospel. After seeing the doctor, a person had to go through the Gospel station. There we shared the Gospel and prayed for them. 7-10 people accepted Jesus. Praise God for that! May His Spirit lead them to His Church!\nMedical Camp \u0026amp; Gospel Outreach #2\nAs we did in the capital, we also organised a medical camp and Gospel outreach at our church in the central part of the country. Around 220 people were treated. Some accepted Jesus as their Savior.\nMedical Camp at our church in the South East\nOver 200 people were treated. Many non-believers came from the local area and heard the Gospel along with receiving medical treatment.\nChildren\u0026rsquo;s Ministry\nAt the end of the medical camps, we had children\u0026rsquo;s ministry in the school area in front of our church. We sang songs, danced and shared testimonies. We also gave some gifts to the kids.\nGospel Outreach \u0026amp; Hygiene Kit Distribution at the Leper Colony\nWe went house-to-house at the Leper colony during the outreach. After we were finished, we invited everyone to gather together. We sang some Gospel songs, danced, and shared testimonies. We distributed hygiene kits at the end. They are some of our dear ones, we visit them as often as possible.\nIt was amazing to see that the doctors from our medical team were carrying some medicine in their backpacks, looking for the opportunity to help and bless people. And it was so! Thank God for such ministers!\nProgram at Our Church: As the church is growing and maturing, our second generation young ones are testifying that Jesus is their personal Savior in public. We are very glad to see them grow in the Lord!\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/following-jesus-ministry-pattern/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMedical Camps With Gospel Outreaches\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJesus healed people, but He never left without sharing the Gospel. We are to follow His pattern. There are so many people with physical needs. If we try to meet their needs without sharing the Gospel, it does not make sense in ministry.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month we had three medical camps together with Gospel outreaches in the different parts of our country where our churches are located.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Following Jesus' Ministry Pattern"},{"content":"We have been very blessed over the years to serve our Savior here in Mexico. It is you who support us to whom much of the gratitude goes for the opportunities God has afforded us here in this great country we call our home. As world events continue to darken the horizon, we know that our King is coming and His bride is waiting for the ultimate redemption. These things do not shake us, so we continue forward to the finish line. With these things in mind, we want to give you a quick update on ministry in Mexico and some things you can be praying for.\nOur school of ministry, “Exodus”, has been progressing slowly. In the last year we have had 3 men complete the program. Our hope is that we would have up to 12 men living at the school and working through the discipleship program. We offer room and board, 3 college level bible studies during the week and an opportunity to learn a trade. We have a missionary family that is currently teaching the men how to become mechanics, through their ministry, Manos 1855. They are also leading our marriage group for Calvary Playas. Our desire is to train the men spiritually and then give them a trade that might free them up to have a better income while increasing their freedom to serve the Lord or go plant a church. Please pray for more students!\nOur fellowship at Calvary Playas continues to grow and we have been praying for a new building. Our children’s ministry has grown to the point where we have our youth outside on Sundays and need to build a divider in a classroom to accommodate the kids and their ages. The area we are living in has become expensive so we are praying for His provision as we possibly take a big step of faith in the coming year to relocate the church. Please pray for a location.\nWe have a youth outreach March 25th, we will have about 50-70 kids coming and we are praying for these kids to commit their lives to Christ. From April 17-21st our fellowship will be heading out to Hermosillo on a mission trip to minister to the community and to the body of believers there as well. We have a women’s retreat coming up and a youth retreat. Please also keep church plant, Calvary Esperanza in prayer, as they just celebrated their first year anniversary. We are excited to see our brothers and sisters serve the Lord faithfully and by the power of His grace. Thank you for your love and continued support.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/eyes-on-the-prize/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe have been very blessed over the years to serve our Savior here in Mexico. It is you who support us to whom much of the gratitude goes for the opportunities God has afforded us here in this great country we call our home.  As world events continue to darken the horizon, we know that our King is coming and His bride is waiting for the ultimate redemption. These things do not shake us, so we continue forward to the finish line. With these things in mind, we want to give you a quick update on ministry in Mexico and some things you can be praying for.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Eyes on the Prize"},{"content":" God has been so good. After planting 7 churches in Culiacan and seeing that each one has been growing and moving forward, this past January we sent our first church plant out of our state, Calvary Conexión México in the state of Tlaxcala, very close to the Mexico City.\nThis church is being planted by Pastor Bryan de la Cruz and his family. They are doing a great job and they have already started gathering on Sunday and are reaching out to people from the local community.\nIn February, I had the opportunity to visit them to encourage them and teach the word of God. I always find beginnings exciting. I enjoy seeing how the Lord is building His church through a group of believers committed to the vision of planting churches that reach communities and make disciples in all nations.\nCalvary Conexión México has the vision of becoming a sending hub for church planters, first in central Mexico and then throughout Latin America and the world. Please, pray for them.\nI want to take this opportunity to tell you a little about a family of church planters who have a great testimony. They are the team of our church plant number 7, Calvary Patria, here in Culiacan, Mexico.\nPastor Juan Carlos and his wife Silvia arrived at Calvary Culiacan North 6 years ago. At that time they were not believers and their marriage was destroyed. They asked for marriage counseling and the Lord restored their marriage in a surprising way. Months later their children also began to congregate in our church and the whole family attended church planting school. During this time, we discovered the great talent for preaching that God had given to Juan Carlos, Silvia, and her daughter Alejandra. They quickly grew spiritually and became the best preachers of our church.\nIn November of last year, we sent them to plant Calvary Patria in the building where they have a family business and God has blessed them greatly. A few months after they started, they already have a group of 50 constant adults and they continue to grow; glory to God!\nAt the beginning of February, I had the opportunity to attend the Calvary pastors’ conference in central Mexico. It was a great blessing to have fellowship with great friends and encourage each other.\nI also want to share that at the end of February we attended the church planting conference at Calvary Maranatha Mazatlán. I had the honor of teaching the Word along with other pastors like Pastor Mike Vincent. It was a great blessing for me and for the more than 50 people of the churches of Culiacan that accompanied us.\nFinally, I want to thank you for all your support in prayer, finances, and visits. We are a team that works together for the Lord.\nThank you for continuing to pray for our family, for the church planters, and for the new church plants this year.\nBlessings\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/we-started-the-year-planting-our-church-number-8/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGod has been so good. After planting 7 churches in Culiacan and seeing that each one has been growing and moving forward, this past January we sent our first church plant out of our state, Calvary Conexión México in the state of Tlaxcala, very close to the Mexico City.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/2-819x1024-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis church is being planted by Pastor Bryan de la Cruz and his family. They are doing a great job and they have already started gathering on Sunday and are reaching out to people from the local community.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\u003cstrong\u003eWE STARTED THE YEAR PLANTING OUR CHURCH NUMBER 8!\u003c/strong\u003e"},{"content":"Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nI hope you are doing well! Thank you for your prayers and support.\nI am doing good by God’s grace. I am teaching 1st \u0026amp;2nd Corinthians at our Bible school. They students are doing great. I can see the improvement in them. When they first started, some of the students did not know anything about the Bible at all. And couple of them even had hard time with reading. I thank God that He has helped them grow! They have improved a lot in their reading and understanding of the scriptures. I am blessed and thankful to God that He has chosen me to be the part of this ministry\u0026ndash;where I can invest in the lives of these young men and in future watch them start their own churches.\nAt the end of January, I had the opportunity to attend a conference in the South. It was really good to meet all of the pastors from all different parts of our country. We had a blessed time as we shared with each other about what God is doing in our ministry. Things are getting harder in our country when it comes to sharing the Gospel. People are getting more hostile and persecution is increasing. But, I thank God that the work is spreading. Just as Paul says in second Timothy, the Word of God is not bound/chained. At the conference, I was also reminded that the our main purpose is to church plant. To teach those who we disciple that they need to teach the same to those who they disciple. So that they can start their own church and so on.\nPrayer Requests: Pray for me to continue to grow in the Word of God. Pray that God will continue to uses me here. Pray for the teenage children whom I teach the Word each week. Right now they are taking their school final exams. Please pray that they will do good in their exams and glorify God. Pray for my country. Persecution is increasing. Pray that the Work of the Gospel will also increase. Blessings,\nPastor 9\n\\* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/investing-in-young-lives/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG%5F20230318%5F094317-300x222.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you are doing well! Thank you for your prayers and support.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am doing good by God’s grace. I am teaching 1st \u0026amp;2nd Corinthians at our Bible school. They students are doing great. I can see the improvement in them. When they first started, some of the students did not know anything about the Bible at all. And couple of them even had hard time with reading. I thank God that He has helped them grow! They have improved a lot in their reading and understanding of the scriptures. I am blessed and thankful to God that He has chosen me to be the part of this ministry\u0026ndash;where I can invest in the lives of these young men and in future watch them start their own churches.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Investing In Young Lives"},{"content":"Greetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nWe express our heartfelt thanks to God Almighty for His protection and provision in our lives every day. Also, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May our good God meet all of your needs and bless you with good health.\nThe Bible says,\n“So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, \u0026lsquo;On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.\u0026rsquo;\u0026quot;\nGenesis 22:14.\nGod is so faithful to us! He has fulfilled His promise and blessed us with a new house. Thank you so much for all of your prayers!\nBy God’s grace, our new home is finished! We had a dedication ceremony for it on February 5. I testified of how God has been faithful to us, and how it is amazing to experience His provisions.\nLast month, I was privileged to meet with and encourage a family with whom we used to have fellowship six years ago. I was very happy find that they are growing in the Lord.\nIn the same month, a government officer visited me, named Mr. V.*. He is a believer. We had a great time encouraging each other and praying together.\nThis semester, I am teaching the books of Ezra and Nehemiah to the CBI students. Every Saturday, we also take the students for home visitation as part of their practical training.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for the Christians in our state to be strengthened in their faith in Jesus. In this difficult time, may God take care of His people. At the same time, pray that the fanatical group may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Please pray for Mrs. K. Both of her kidneys are 80% damaged. She has dialysis every other day, and her condition is critical. Continue to pray for the growth and needs in our local church. Continue to pray for our CBI students and staff. Please pray for them to have good health and for the smooth functioning of our college. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-will-provide/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe express our heartfelt thanks to God Almighty for His protection and provision in our lives every day. Also, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May our good God meet all of your needs and bless you with good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Will Provide"},{"content":" The month of February was a busy and exciting month for us! We established a Care Team, had a moving sale, taught at CBI Kauai for their Missions class, MOVED from Kauai to California for a time of transition, AND Amalia turned 4 months old!\nWe experienced many “lasts” or “not for a whiles.” One of those “lasts” was actually a first and last time meeting with our Care Team in our home base of Kauai. We ate dinner, prayed, and worshipped with them. We also got to share more specifics about the ministry with Calvary Trujillo, CBI Peru, and general things about the country of Peru. It was very encouraging to meet with our team before leaving, knowing that they will be praying for us every step of the way, and meeting with us once a month over Zoom to pray with us. If YOU are on Kauai and are interested in joining us once a month, contact Trevor or Carissa Tadiarca for more details! We are so blessed already by our friends who are partnering with us in this way.\nSaying a hui hou (see you later) to our home church, CC Lihue, and all of our Kauai family was extremely bitter sweet. Pastor Bruce Baumgartner shared, “While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set Barnabas and Saul apart for Me for the work to which I have called them.” Then, when they had fasted, prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away…” (Acts 13:2-3). There were many tears, laughs, and hugs shared but we are comforted in the will of the Lord.\nMoving means downsizing. You’re probably familiar with that. Racquell and I were blessed to live with family, the Ochoas (Racquell’s brother, our sister-in-law, and their baby boy) for the majority of our time on Kauai. They and some other friends helped us think through what to sell/donate, and put on a garage sale. Despite the pouring rain, the Lord blessed us with a lot of visitors and buyers, and we were able to sell or donate most of our belongings we no longer need. Praise God! Thank you, Kauai family, for helping us MOVE!\nWe’re also excited to share that we are currently receiving 31% of our monthly budget! Saving Grace World Missions require that we be 80% funded on a monthly basis prior to departing. We’re nearly halfway there.\nThank you for those of you who have graciously given one time gifts to contribute to our part in this great task of making disciples of all nations. Thank you also to those of you who are signed up to give on a monthly basis. Our family is preparing to move to South America and be involved in foreign missions for the long haul. We’re excited and grateful for you to be along for the ride with us! We are partners in this work together, with Jesus as our Master, Commander, Shepherd, and God.\nWith that in mind, Racquell and I love hearing from our friends (who doesn’t?). If you’ve got a praise report, prayer request, nugget of wisdom or encouragement, some advice, questions, or want to tell a story, please reach out to us. You can message us on WhatsApp or Messenger, text us, or respond to THIS email. It will come straight to our inbox.\nSince flying back to the mainland, we’ve had lots of opportunities to share the gospel with folks and also share about the work we’re preparing to be a part of in Peru. We’ll share more about that next time! Here’s an Amalia update pic and a few final thoughts for you in the meantime:\nPrayer Requests for our family:\nFocus in this short transition time here in California, waiting for our time to go (hopefully the beginning of THIS June) Meaningful partnerships and friendships to be forged, and for old ones to flourish and rekindle BOLDNESS as we share Jesus with people in San Diego 80% funding by June Praise Reports:\nWe are all three in good health and are encouraged by God to press on. We’ve got plenty of family and friends who are housing us, welcoming us and reminding us of the aloha we had back on Kauai. God is blessing the ministries in Peru, to say the least. God is still faithful and unchanging (Psalms 36:5; Hebrews 13:8) To check out the ministry we are preparing to serve with, please click the link: Calvaryperu.com\nBy the grace of Jesus and for His glory,\nThe Stratton Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/full-send/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Perf-pic-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe month of February was a busy and exciting month for us! We established a Care Team, had a moving sale, taught at CBI Kauai for their Missions class, MOVED from Kauai to California for a time of transition, AND Amalia turned 4 months old!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe experienced many “lasts” or “not for a whiles.” One of those “lasts” was actually a first and last time meeting with our Care Team in our home base of Kauai. We ate dinner, prayed, and worshipped with them. We also got to share more specifics about the ministry with Calvary Trujillo, CBI Peru, and general things about the country of Peru. It was very encouraging to meet with our team before leaving, knowing that they will be praying for us every step of the way, and meeting with us once a month over Zoom to pray with us. If YOU are on Kauai and are interested in joining us once a month, contact Trevor or Carissa Tadiarca for more details! We are so blessed already by our friends who are partnering with us in this way.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Full Send"},{"content":" I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.\nPsalm 138:2\nDear Friends and Family,\nThis month Arise Christian Fellowship celebrated completing the New Testament on Sunday mornings. The church began just over 8 years ago. It began as an outreach to the market people. This was no easy task as many of them suffered from alcoholism and drug abuse. When the ministry first began there, Brian was actually advised by the local officials to run away because it was too dangerous. God had other plans and within a short time there was a Bible study meeting under a tree outside of the market with 20—30 men and a study meeting in a little shop with market women.\nAfter hearing a teaching on Baptism, Brian was asked how they could be baptized. We began to look for someplace nearby that they could get to on their own and we saw a sign with a pool on it. When we talked to the owner it turned out she was a Christian and was very happy to let us use the pool for a baptism. We then asked if she would ever rent out her restaurant on Sunday for a church service and she was actually very excited to do so.\nThe church began the day of the baptism. The next Sunday we began the book of John. While we have had some guest speakers, special occasions and the time off during covid, Brian has taught book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse just like Isaiah 28:10 says, “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.” and Acts 20:27, “ For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.”\nThe week after finishing the book of Revelation, we celebrated and reflected on all the Lord has done and taught us as a church. We had a afterglow with times of worship, times of prayer and of testimony. One of our worship leaders shared with us the testimony of how recently both his children fell sick at the same time and his daughter who is 3 almost died, needing blood transfusions. He shared how it was scary but he knew the church was praying for them and helping them when they needed help. He rejoiced that now the children are both well and in church. We had quite a few visitors. 2 were construction workers who have been helping with the renovation of the guest house and 1 was the husband of a lady who has been attending on her own. All 3 of them accepted the Lord that day. We are excited to see what the Lord has next as we continue to teach and study His Word.\nSince finishing the Book of Revelation, Brian has been praying about where he should teaching from on Sundays. He has decided to teach through the book of Mark. Many of the people in our church, who have been there since the beginning, have been serving in various ministries around the church and in the community. We are now beginning to raise up the next generation of “servants” or ministers. Mark shows Jesus as our servant king, so what better way to begin this next step of discipleship. Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for.\nUganda is both north and south of the equator. Where we live is just 35 minutes North of the equator. This causes the seasons to be very mild and the hours of daylight and night time to be almost equal. The weather stays pretty consistent with just one rainier season and one hotter season. Our hotter season begins in December and ends around Easter. Because of this, we consider this time Summer. The school year ends at the beginning of December and begins in February. This means schools have only just begun for this year. My kids also just started their new years. Luke and Laylee are now in middle school. I wanted them to have more experience with structure and how to use a computer so I have enrolled them with an on line Christian school called Liberty University Online Academy. We have had a few technological challenges but are slowly getting the hang of it. Having to spend less time teaching them as freed me up to spend more time focusing on schooling Liana. She has some behavioral challenges that make learning difficult for her so she really needs the one on one attention. I would definitely ask for prayer as we all navigate this new school year and online experience.\nAnother exciting event happened this month. Our 3rd God-child was born. A little sister was born to our other God children, Israel and Lindiwe. Her name is Keziah Jean. She was born in the States so we cannot wait for her to come so we can meet her in person. Congratulations to her parents, Greg and Jo Clarkson.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry here in Uganda!\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS We are so thankful for the many ways the Lord has blessed us and for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda.\nPlease pray for the men and women who are being raised up to serve in the church and in the community.\nPray for Arise Christian Fellowship as they begin the Book of Mark. Pray for those who have recently received Christ to grow in understanding and in a personal relationship with Him.\nPray for all the children who have recently returned to school. Pray for Luke and Laylee as they learn to navigate online school. Pray for Liana and Jill as they attempt to overcome Liana’s learning challenges.\nPray for the Kanyike children to get called for their citizenship interview.\nPray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\nPlease prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-march-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eI will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePsalm 138:2\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month Arise Christian Fellowship celebrated completing the New Testament on Sunday mornings.  The church began just over 8 years ago.  It began as an outreach to the market people. This was no easy task as many of them suffered from alcoholism and drug abuse. When the ministry first began there, Brian was actually advised by the local officials to run away because it was too dangerous.  God had other plans and within a short time there was a Bible study meeting under a tree outside of the market with 20—30 men and a study meeting in a little shop with market women.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update - March 2023"},{"content":" As we started our journey to Calpulalpan we scheduled multiple stops with various Pastors, friends and church plants from Calvary Rosarito along the way. As we crossed into the first state, Sonora, we stopped in San Luis Colorado where we got to have lunch with Pastor Asuncion (Pastor of Capilla Calvario San Luis Colorado) and his family. We also got to visit with our friends Lalo \u0026amp; Linda and their kiddos.\nOn our second day of the journey we set off for Hermosillo we had to go through a check point. Unfortunately we were pulled into a secondary revision area where they made unload about 25% of the trailer. When they finally came over to check our belongings, the officer let us go and only charged us the minimum tax price which was 7000 pesos (about 380 dlls). These taxes have to be paid when you are moving from a border city to the south of Mexico. This can only be avoided by getting a moving permit in Tijuana which we did not know about. We unfortunately were stuck at the check point for about 3.5 hours. Thankfully we still made it to the church service at Calvary Hermosillo! Pastor German invited Brian to teach, and Brian, Brittany, Kristy, and Pastor German led worship together. It was such a blessing to talk with Pastor German and his wife Mari about how the church is going and what their struggles and blessing have been in this first year of their church plant.\nAfter Hermosillo we drove just over 7 hours to Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa. We made it there right at dinner time and were able to go out to eat with Pastor Ramon and his wife Susi. He is the Pastor of Calvary Chapel Los Mochis. It was a blessing to hear about how their church is going and how it was for them to start their church.\nFrom Los Mochis we had a short 3 hour drive to Culiacan where we were able to leave the trailer at Calvary Culiacan Norte. Big shoutout and thank you to sister Maritza for opening her house for us to stay while we were there! We stayed in Culiacan for about 4 days. Brian was able to share his testimony with the youth group on Saturday at Calvary Culiacan Norte. He was encouraging the youth with his/our story as we were traveling to Calpulalpan. On Sunday we went to Calvary Culiacan Norte where Pastor Hugo, and the Pastors from their church plants, prayed over us. It was kind of like another sending Sunday. Brian, Brittany, and Kristy were also able to help with worship that morning. From there we went to Calvary Patria, where Brian was given the privilege of sharing the message. Praise God there were 3 professions of faith at Calvary Patria. Then we went out to Calvary Villa Juarez. Here Brian was also able to give the message for their church service, where there were 2 professions of faith. While Ron, Kristy, Brittany, a a group of servants from the Calvarys there in Culiacan did an outreach for the kids at the park across the street from the church. It was a big blessing for us and for the kids there in Villa Juarez! There were about 85 kids who heard the Gospel and received backpacks (Thank you to Phil \u0026amp; Melinda Struska for putting over 300 backpacks together to bless the churches here in Mexico!).\nAfter Culiacan we had a short drive to Mazatlan where we only stayed a day. Praise God we were able to bring some donations for them from Rosarito. A pulpit, electric drum set, and a communion table were all brought to them. It was sweet to visit with Pastor Tony and his wife Angela. As always it was encouraging to hear their story on how it was for them to start there church and what they have learned over the years. The encouraged us a lot and prayed over us as we continued on our journey.\nFrom Mazatlan we had about a 6 hour drive to Guadalajara where we stayed one night just to break up the drive to Morielia. After the 4 hour drive to Morelia, we arrived at Calvary Camino Viviente where they were waiting for us with lunch! So sweet! That evening Brittany and Kristy were able to share their testimonies and do worship for the ladies Bible study. The next day we went back to the church to prepare for the outreach that afternoon. It was a crazy amazing outreach! There were more kids than we had expected. We had 80 kids and all of them got to hear the Gospel and also receive a backpack. Praise God! That evening we went out to dinner with Pastor Luis Areyzaga, his wife Delia, their kids and a couple other people from the church. It was a big blessing to see and start this relationship with them. Because of how close, distance wise, we are to each other, we plan on doing events and outreaches together in the future, and also be there to talk, encourage, and pray for one another! ( Here is a video that they made from our time there)\nAfter Morelia we drove the rest of the way to our destination, Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala; which was only about a 4 hour drive. We decided that we wanted to spend some fun time together as a family before settling into Calpulalpan. So we decided to go to a camping park, that is about 30 minutes outside of Calpulalpan, and stayed 2 nights. It was sweet to spend this time together with Brittany’s parents before then returned to Rosarito. Here Joshua did ziplining for the first time, and Brittany was able to try out some rock wall climbing. There was also a pool, bowling, playground for the kids and a couple restaurants that were really good! Here are two posts with more photos and videos – FIRST – SECOND.\nOnce our time was up at the park we drove into Calpulalpan and we were able to get an airbnb for all of us to stay at. A few great things happened in those first two weeks! 1: God provided a house for us to live in that is very spacious and affordable for our family. Plus it is only about 3 blocks away from the property that was donated to the church. 2: Ron and Kristy helped us so much at getting Calvary Conexion Mexico ready for our first informational meeting! 3: Praise God that even though Eduardo has a lot of health issues, Elizabeth, Eduardo, Kevin, and Aldrin were all able to make it here to Calpulalpan safely by plane from Tijuana. 4: Praise to God, we had an amazing outreach here in Calpulalpan! There were about 110 kids and 25 adults that came to the outreach. Which is amazing for never doing an outreach here before and not knowing what to expect! (Click here for a link with more pictures). But Praise God it went well and all of them got to hear the Gospel and receive backpacks as well! Once the outreach was over we invited all of them to come to our first informational meeting at Calvary Conexion Mexico.\nPrayer Requests:\nFor our family to get settled into our new house For construction to go smoothly and quickly at church For God to open the hearts of the people in Calpulalpan to receive the Gospel For Kevin \u0026amp; Aldrin to be able to find jobs to support their family For God to continue to work with Eduardo’s health because he has kidney failure. So that he can out of the Hospital, be stable and stay at home. Praise Reports:\nWe made it to Calpulalpan safely and were able to do so much and bless many people on our way down That Ron \u0026amp; Kristy were willing to stay 2 weeks more here in Calpulalpan to help us get the church ready to receive people That Brian’s family arrived safely to Calpulalpan That God provided a minivan for our family As always thank for all your love, support and prayers! Please let us know how we can be praying for you!\nFear the Lord, you his holy people,\nfor those who fear him lack nothing.\nThe lions may grow weak and hungry,\nbut those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.\nPsalms 34:9-10\nESPAÑOL:\n¡Hemos Llegado! Cuando comenzamos nuestro viaje a Calpulalpan, programamos múltiples paradas con varios pastores, amigos e iglesias plantadas por calvary Rosarito en el camino. Cuando cruzamos al primer estado, Sonora, nos detuvimos en San Luis Colorado donde almorzamos con el Pastor Asunción (Pastor de Capilla Calvario San Luis Colorado) y su familia. También pudimos visitar a nuestros amigos Lalo y Linda y sus hijos.\nEn nuestro segundo día de viaje fuimos hacia Hermosillo y tuvimos que pasar por un punto de revision de la aduana. Desafortunadamente, fuimos llevados a un área de revisión secundaria donde descargaron aproximadamente el 25% de nuestras cosas del remolque. Cuando finalmente vinieron a revisar nuestras pertenencias, el oficial nos dejó ir y solo nos cobró el precio mínimo de impuestos que era de 7000 pesos (unos 380 dlls). Desafortunadamente, nos quedamos alli en el punto de revision durante aproximadamente 3.5 horas. ¡Lo bueno que aún llegamos al servicio de la iglesia en Calvary Hermosillo! El Pastor German invitó a Brian a enseñar, y Brian, Brittany, Kristy y el Pastor German dirigieron la alabanza juntos. Fue una gran bendición hablar con el pastor Germán y su esposa Mari sobre cómo va la iglesia y cuáles han sido sus luchas y bendiciones en este primer año de la plantación de su iglesia.\nDespués de Hermosillo manejamos poco más de 7 horas hasta Los Mochis en el estado de Sinaloa. Llegamos justo a la hora de la cena y pudimos salir a comer con el pastor Ramón y su esposa Susi. El es Pastor de Calvary Chapel Los Mochis. Fue una bendición escuchar cómo va su iglesia y cómo fue para ellos comenzar su iglesia.\nDesde Los Mochis tuvimos un viaje corto de 3 horas hasta Culiacán, donde pudimos dejar el remolque en Calvary Culiacan Norte. ¡Un gran saludo y gracias a la hermana Maritza por abrir su casa para que nos quedáramos alli mientras estuvimos en Culiacan! Nos quedamos en Culiacán por unos 4 días. Brian pudo compartir su testimonio con el grupo de jóvenes el sábado en Calvary Culiacan Norte. Estaba animando a los jóvenes con su/nuestra historia mientras viajábamos a Calpulalpan. El Domingo fuimos a Calvary Culiacan Norte donde el Pastor Hugo y los Pastores de sus iglesias plantadas oraron por nosotros. Fue como otro Domingo de envío. Brian, Brittany y Kristy también pudieron ayudar con la alabanza esa mañana. De allí fuimos a Calvary Patria, donde Brian tuvo el privilegio de compartir el mensaje. Alabado sea Dios hubo 3 profesiones de fe en Calvary Patria. Luego salimos al Calvario Villa Juárez. Aquí Brian también pudo dar el mensaje para el servicio de la iglesia, donde hubo 2 profesiones de fe. Mientras que Ron, Kristy, Brittany, un grupo de siervos de los Calvarys de Culiacán hicieron un alcance para los niños en el parque al otro lado de la calle de la iglesia. ¡Fue una gran bendición para nosotros y para los niños de Villa Juárez! Hubo alrededor de 85 niños que escucharon el Evangelio y recibieron mochilas (¡Gracias a Phil y Melinda Struska por juntar más de 300 mochilas para bendecir las iglesias aquí en México!).\nDespués de Culiacán, tuvimos un viaje corto a Mazatlán, donde solo nos quedamos un día. Alabado sea Dios, pudimos traer algunas donaciones para ellos desde Rosarito. Les trajeron un púlpito, una batería eléctrica y una mesa de comunión. Fue de bendicion visitar al Pastor Tony y su esposa Angela. Como siempre, fue de mucho animo escuchar su historia sobre cómo fue para ellos comenzar allí la iglesia y lo que han aprendido a lo largo de los años. Nos animaron mucho y oraron por nosotros mientras continuamos nuestro viaje.\nDesde Mazatlán tuvimos un viaje de aproximadamente 6 horas a Guadalajara, donde nos quedamos una noche solo para dividir el viaje a Morielia. Después del viaje de 4 horas a Morelia, llegamos a Calvary Camino Viviente donde nos estaban esperando con el almuerzo. ¡Tan dulce! Esa noche, Brittany y Kristy pudieron compartir sus testimonios y hacer la alabanza para el estudio Bíblico de las damas. Al día siguiente volvimos a la iglesia para prepararnos para el alcance de esa tarde. ¡Fue un alcance increíble! Había más niños de los que esperábamos. Fueron como 80 niños y todos pudieron escuchar el Evangelio y también recibieron una mochila. ¡Alabado sea el Señor! Esa noche salimos a cenar con el Pastor Luis Areyzaga, su esposa Delia, sus hijos y un par de personas más de la iglesia. Fue una gran bendición ver y comenzar esta relación con ellos. ¡Debido a lo cerca que estamos el uno del otro, en cuanto a la distancia, planeamos hacer eventos y evangelizar juntos en el futuro, y también estar allí para hablar, animarnos y orar unos por otros! ( Aquí hay un video que hicieron de nuestro tiempo allí)\nDespués de Morelia manejamos el resto del camino a nuestro destino, Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala; que era sólo alrededor de 4 horas en carro. Decidimos que queríamos pasar un rato divertido juntos en familia antes de instalarnos en Calpulalpan. Así que decidimos ir a un parque para acampar, que está a unos 30 minutos de Calpulalpan, y nos quedamos 2 noches. Fue bonito pasar este tiempo junto a los padres de Brittany antes de regresaran a Rosarito. Aquí Joshua se lanzo en la tirolesa por primera vez, y Brittany pudo probar un poco de escalada en paredes rocosas. También había una piscina, boliche, un parque infantil para los niños y un par de restaurantes que estaban muy ricos. Aquí hay dos publicaciones con más fotos y videos – PRIMERO – SEGUNDO.\nUna vez que se acabó nuestro tiempo en el parque, manejamos hasta Calpulalpan y pudimos conseguir un airbnb para que todos nos quedáramos. ¡Ocurrieron algunas cosas maravillosas en esas dos primeras semanas! 1: Dios nos proveyó una casa para vivir que es muy espaciosa y económica para nuestra familia. Además, está a solo 3 cuadras de la propiedad que fue donada a la iglesia. 2: ¡Ron y Kristy nos ayudaron mucho a preparar a Calvary Conexion México para nuestra primera reunión informativa! 3: Gracias a Dios, aunque Eduardo tiene muchos dificultades de salud, Elizabeth, Eduardo, Kevin, y Aldrin llegaron a salvos a Calpulalpan en avion desde Tijuana. 4: ¡Alabado sea Dios, tuvimos un alcance increíble aquí en Calpulalpan! Había alrededor de 110 niños y 25 adultos que asistieron al alcance. ¡Lo cual es asombroso por no haber hecho nunca un alcance aquí antes y no saber qué esperar! (Haga clic aquí para ver un enlace con más fotos). ¡Pero alabado sea Dios, salió bien y todos pudieron escuchar el Evangelio y también recibieron mochilas! Una vez que terminó el alcance, los invitamos a todos a venir a nuestra primera reunión informativa en Calvary Conexión México.\nPeticiones de Oracion:\nPara que nuestra familia se instale en nuestra nueva casa Para que la construcción se realice sin problemas y rápidamente en la iglesia Para que Dios abra los corazónes de la gente de Calpulalpan para recibir el Evangelio Para que Kevin y Aldrin pueden encontrar trabajo para ayudar a su familia Para que Dios siga obrando en la salud de Eduardo que tiene insuficiencia renal y que pueda salir del hospital, estar estable y en su casa. Reportes de Alabanza\nQue llegamos a Calpulalpan a salvos y pudimos hacer mucho y bendecir a muchas personas en nuestro camino hacia el sur Que Ron y Kristy estaban dispuestos a quedarse 2 semanas más aquí en Calpulalpan para ayudarnos a preparar la iglesia para recibir personas Que la familia de Brian llegó bien a Calpulalpan Muchas gracias por todo su amor, apoyo y oraciones! ¡Háganos saber cómo podemos orar por usted!\nTemed a Jehová, vosotros sus santos,\nPues nada falta a los que le temen.\nLos leoncillos necesitan, y tienen hambre;\nPero los que buscan a Jehová no tendrán falta de ningún bien.\nSalmos 34:9-10\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/we-made-it/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/326855343%5F724443419386388%5F7899238339120655250%5Fn-1-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/326464263%5F1721418021587153%5F8520167319589359315%5Fn-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/327614784%5F716331316566781%5F4639607029781690035%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/326577342%5F704492571285353%5F8911897194185891142%5Fn-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs we started our journey to Calpulalpan we scheduled multiple stops with various Pastors, friends and church plants from Calvary Rosarito along the way. As we crossed into the first state, Sonora, we stopped in San Luis Colorado where we got to have lunch with \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/asuncion.ramirez.3910\"\u003ePastor Asuncion\u003c/a\u003e (Pastor of \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ccsanluisriocolorado\"\u003eCapilla Calvario San Luis Colorado\u003c/a\u003e) and his family. We also got to visit with our friends Lalo \u0026amp; Linda and their kiddos.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We Made It"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nI hope you all are doing well!\nI was so happy to meet with brothers from the North who work along with me with our mission in my country. I was very moved with the challenges they have in their ministry locations and the persecution that they are going through. How God is sustaining them in their lives is amazing, especially during this season.\nDuring the January conference, I got the opportunity to share what I am doing and about the many places I have been visiting to plant churches. It was so encouraging for me to have everyone pray for me that day. I was so blessed to be able to attend the classes on \u0026ldquo;The Purpose of the Church\u0026rdquo; and to have fellowship with the team that traveled so far to meet us.\nChildren whom I am visiting regularly contacted me through a video call (above) when I was away for few days. My heart goes out to them when I see how they think of and miss me. I want me to share more time with them and to teach them Sunday school lessons from the Bible.\nGod is opening great opportunities to reach people who live in obscure places. I have started house fellowships and I am organizing churches on Sundays.\nI have now been visiting five villages. I am working on visiting many more during the week days. Please pray that God will open doors to enter into different villages and give me opportunities to share with people who don\u0026rsquo;t know our Lord.\nLove you all!\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-opening-great-opportunities/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you all are doing well!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20230228%5F203701.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/IMG-20230122-WA0010-300x282.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI was so happy to meet with brothers from the North who work along with me with our mission in my country. I was very moved with the challenges they have in their ministry locations and the persecution that they are going through. How God is sustaining them in their lives is amazing, especially during this season.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the January conference, I got the opportunity to share what I am doing and about the many places I have been visiting to plant churches. It was so encouraging for me to have everyone pray for me that day. I was so blessed to be able to attend the classes on \u0026ldquo;The Purpose of the Church\u0026rdquo; and to have fellowship with the team that traveled so far to meet us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\u003cstrong\u003eGod Is Opening Great Opportunities\u003c/strong\u003e"},{"content":"Greetings to the body of Christ in the name of our Lord!\nGlory to God, the Father, through Christ, who has chosen us to be partakers in the expansion of His Gospel near and far! Grace and peace to each and every heart who reads and gives Glory to God in the Highest by reading this newsletter.\nChristmas was never meant for the festivities, lights, trees, Santa Claus, etc. We could go on and on. As the body of Christ, we are to be very cautious that the message and focus should never be diverted from Christ. Keeping that in mind, we prayed and sought the Lord\u0026rsquo;s wisdom to direct our ways in celebrating the season of advent this year.\n\u0026ldquo;The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,\u0026rdquo;\n‭‭Acts‬ ‭1‬:‭1‬ ‭\nWe, as disciples, ought to follow the Lord\u0026rsquo;s example of first doing, and then teaching. Wherever God led us during the Christmas season, we not only shared the love of Christ by distributing material needs, but also preached the God\u0026rsquo;s truth for their souls.\nOutreaches and Evangelism\nN* Outreach:\nEver since brother P* began laboring in this community, God led him to have a Christmas outreach arranged. We prepared food for the community, preached the Christmas message, and distributed blankets because winter has begun here. Children, women, and the elders of the community were so encouraged that the new work, which had been initiated had taken momentum to bring the kingdom of God from above.\nK* Christmas Outreach\nSince all of the K* community members are migrant workers from neighboring states, it is their custom to celebrate Christmas in a grand way in their villages back home. God opened a door to stage a big celebration which included blanket distribution and a community dinner. The Christmas message was preached that indeed Christ is the reason for Christmas and the priceless gift from God the Father to every soul.\nGospel Trip\nIt has always been our burden to visit our friends and family in both of the states that speak our language after Covid. God, in His providence, encouraged us and provided all of our needs for traveling about 2,000 km to sharing the love and message of Christ. During this trip, we were able to meet many new families, including unbelievers and Catholics. We went to many different areas. At our final destination, we had planned our Christmas outreach among tribals. They have always been in opposition to the truth and hostile towards Christianity. But we are so thankful to God that we found favor with the villagers. We preached the Word of Christ and distributed sarees to the women in the community. Never, ever before have the villagers come forward to be prayed for in all these years\u0026ndash;but for the first time ever, they came forward to be prayed over with their families. God filled our hearts with peace and joy. We are hopeful that we will see them again, and that a new work will begin in and around the region.\nOne of the many things we learned by traveling through all of the cities, villages and different areas is that there is lack of workers and also a lack of biblical churches. Our hearts are filled with grief that our people are perishing without the knowledge of God.\n\u0026ldquo;My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.\u0026rdquo;\nHosea 4:6a\nVerily, verily, more than the need for sound churches, we are in need of sound preachers and teachers to fill people with the knowledge of God.\nChristmas Eve Service at Our Church in the City\nDuring our Christmas caroling, the final part of our Christmas outreaches, we had the opportunity to spend Christmas with people in our church\u0026rsquo;s families and their extended relatives. It all went so grandly that God\u0026rsquo;s name was magnified in all the activities that we as a church had done in the communities. Then we ended our Christmas season by worshiping the Lord in the Christmas Eve service. The church was packed, and new people came to the church to celebrate the birth of Christ. We thank God for the prayers answered, doors opened, and Gospel preached to the heathen.\nAs a church, we prayed, put faith in the Lord for the upcoming year and for what our Lord has in store. We all gathered for the New Years service with a renewed faith and hope that He will build His Church and the Gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.\nOur classes for the next semester will be starting the 2nd week of February. We have already exceeded the limit for the number of students. Thankfully, God is sending laborers for His field, and we are prayerfully waiting for them to study the Word of God with more awe and reverence this new year.\nIt is a joy to share with you that brother P* has been ordained as a teaching pastor at the new church new plant in Y*, and brother A* has been ordained as a youth pastor in C*. We are grateful to God that He has been gracious enough to lead our brothers\u0026rsquo; lives and we are eagerly awaiting to see what the Lord is going to accomplish through their lives.\nNew Church Plant Opening Service\nWe are really thankful to God that He placed a burden in our hearts towards the new area to reach out to the lost and needy. Brother P* has been ministering in the area for 2 years. Now, God has opened the door to have Sunday worship services. He has blessed us with a hall, free of cost to use for gatherings! So, we cleaned the hall and made arrangements to begin Sunday worship service. Last week, we had the opening dedication service in the hall. It really blessed us so much to see people coming from different areas. Every Sunday we have worship service there and every Wednesday we have Bible study.\nThere are still have some needs in the church hall (above). Please pray that God will provide our needs and bless the church.\nCalvary Bible Institute Update\n\u0026ldquo;Therefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers.\u0026rdquo;\nEphesians 1:15-16\nThe church in Ephesus is an exceedingly vibrant church that not only accepted the Gospel but was also bold to share their faith with the Gentiles around them. Similarly, we at Calvary Chapel hear of your faith and love for all the saints. We never cease to give thanks to God for your never-ending generosity for the propagation of knowledge about Christ, our Lord.\nCommencement of a New Semester\n\u0026ldquo;Behold, I will do a new thing, Now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.\u0026rdquo;\nIsaiah 43:19\nGod promised that He will do a new thing among His people. We are all His handiwork, and He is always ready to do new things through those who love and obey His commandments. We believe that the very reason He chose all of us is to do new things. Therefore, His name will be glorified and the Gentiles may be drawn to the light. It is with that living hope we began a new semester this February, and we cannot wait to see what God has in store for us in the coming season! We have two new students, and God has laid it on our hearts to pour out ourselves in service to our brethren.\nCBI Ministries\nChapel Talk\nOne of the ways to enhance the preaching and teaching skills of our students is to highly encourage them to teach, so that they can grow in the art of teaching. In this chapel talk teaching session, we assess their gifts and give suggestions for better ways for them to make the text understandable to the audience. It has been a great blessing to see our brothers grow and help them to be ready in season and out of season.\nLocal Outreach Tuesdays\nWe have prayed over and came forward with a new initiative this semester: to send out our students every week to local outreaches in nearby areas. Along with continuous teaching throughout the week, our brothers are burdened to share the Light among the darkness. Our brothers have already reached out and we received good tidings from this labor. May Our Lord open more doors and hearts to disciple one soul at a time\nPark Ministry and Street Gospel\nIn a city like ours, the mission field is everywhere the eye can see. As, Zinzerdorf once said, every heart with Christ is a missionary and every heart without Christ is our mission field. Our mission field is huge and vast. Our brothers and us are being prepared for the upcoming season of reaching out to those in the parks and streets with the Gospel. Usually, parks and streets are places where young adults and teens come to hang out. Where sin is increased, grace is increased all the more. May the Lord, give us grace to be the carriers of His love and mercy.\nSemester Missions Outreach\nOur tents are going to be enlarged. God, Himself is going to enlarge the territories of Kingdom of God in our nation. God, miraculously opened a door to minister in the central part of the country. The seed was sown. Now, it has started to work. We were invited again to serve in one of the cities. We are so filled with hope that He has chosen this city for a great harvest in the coming days.\nBelow are the few ministries that all of us are planning to be involved in.\nPastors Conference (Preparing them through the right Word of God) Youth Meetings Village Evangelism Outreach (Preaching gospel to the unreached.) 2 Day Long Pastor Meeting Worship Teachings Evangelism In the Workplace Prayer Walks Village Outreaches Prayer Requests\nPray for our church\u0026rsquo;s to be transformed into more of His image and to do His purpose. Pray for unity and love in our church Pray for our new church plant in K* God has blessed us with a hall for the church plant. Please pray for God to provide all of our needs there. Pray for upcoming outreach in the central part of country Pray for the Calvary Bible Institute students Thank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sharing-the-gospel-near-and-far/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to the body of Christ in the name of our Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGlory to God, the Father, through Christ, who has chosen us to be partakers in the expansion of His Gospel near and far! Grace and peace to each and every heart who reads and gives Glory to God in the Highest by reading this newsletter.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eChristmas was never meant for the festivities, lights, trees, Santa Claus, etc. We could go on and on. As the body of Christ, we are to be very cautious that the message and focus should never be diverted from Christ. Keeping that in mind, we prayed and sought the Lord\u0026rsquo;s wisdom to direct our ways in celebrating the season of advent this year.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sharing the Gospel Near and Far"},{"content":" AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for the Kanyikes as they are still dealing with the aftermath of their robbery.\n2. Continue to pray for Jill and the children as they homeschool, especially Liana.\n3. Pray for the Kanyikes to hear from immigration in the USA for the children\u0026rsquo;s citizenship. 4. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Thank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and the people of Uganda\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nThank you so much for your continued commitment to the furtherance of God\u0026rsquo;s Kingdom.\nPraise God that:\n- Our family got to have a time of recuperation and envisioning during the month of December.- We have finished building our pastoral school so that we can apply for accreditation.\n- For the churches that are being blessed through growing in their understanding of God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nPlease pray that:\n- Our family stays strong and healthy as we serve God here.- Our bible college can become accredited.\n- God would continue blessing His people with the knowledge and application of His Word as they turn away from man made traditions.\nIn Christ,\nMatthew, Noelle and Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\nWe praise God for the faithfulness He has seen us through in 2022. It was a year of testing and we are excited to start seeing the fruit!\nGod has big plans for this year. He has already begun fulfilling our vision! We praise Him for the YWAM team that came and the beginning of our second semester of Bible College. Please continue to pray for the students.\nOur container has finally left the church parking lot and is on its way to Uganda!!!! Please pray for all the details, travel and taxes till it reaches us! The building Koinonia community center and library continues on its way! Continue to pray for all the church members to stay focused on God and God alone, all for His glory!\nThank you, The Aniku’s - Email\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass NORTH AMERICA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California, USA\nPRAISE REPORTS\n1. Jenn was able to join Tim on trip to South Asia that was 2 weeks long focused on missionary care and teaching of in country workers. 2. For those who prayerfully and financially support us 3. Jenn has been able to stay healthy\nPRAYER REQUEST:\n1. Pray for our re-adjustment as we come back 2. Wisdom and Gods heart for Tim as he prepares to teach at a conference in mexico next month 3. Our son Andy who is homeless and struggling In many ways\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nGary and Tina Barrow - Truckee, California\nWe have been here pastoring Calvary Chapel Truckee for almost 3 years now. We’ve faced many challenges and difficulties, many we never dreamed would be something we would face in ministry. But God has been so very faithful, and I believe we’re right where God wants us as a church.\nPlease pray…\nWe’re in need of a worship leader/assistant pastor at the church. Currently Gary is carrying all of the teaching and administration of the church. It’s been a heavy, and at times, an overwhelming responsibility. But again, God has been so very faithful. We trust that with your prayers, God will raise up an assistant that is like minded and has a heart to serve God’s people.\nPlease join us in praying for a fresh out pouring of God’s Spirit on Calvary Chapel Truckee.\nWe’ve been praying about starting a preschool to reach out to the town of Truckee. We need wisdom and vision on how the Lord would have us do this.\nWe have just returned from Israel and it seems that God has opened up amazing doors for ministry there for us. We have an open do to reach out to youth in a Palestinian controlled area. God has also opened a door for us to minister to special needs kids in Israel. We’re praying and asking God to show us how He would have us walk through those doors.\nGary is planning on traveling with Pastor Trent to the Middle East later this year. We’re asking the Lord to show us how He’d have us be part of the ministry there also.\nWe’re planning for Hungarian summer camps again this year. During one of the camps last year, a woman approached Gary and ask if he knew who she was? She showed him a picture of the 2 of them from a camp Gary did 13 years earlier. She said she gave her heart to the Lord during that camp and Jesus changed her life. She’s now living for Jesus, married to a Christian man and serving in her church. Last year we saw 64 of 93 kids come to the Lord in 2 summer camps. We’re asking the Lord for even more souls this year.\nGary is teaching a class and continues to arrange teachers for the colleges we have in the 10/40 window. Please continue to pray that God would raise up believers to take the Gospel and saturate that area. Gary would like to lead a team later this year to visit the college and encourage the students through block classes. We’re asking God for the right timing for a trip.\nWith all the many overseas opportunities now opening up to us, we’re asking God to show us how to serve faithfully here at Calvary Chapel Truckee, and how to balance that with the many open doors abroad. We believe the Lord is leading us into greater fields of harvest. We’re asking the Lord for wisdom and direction.\nWe want to thank you for your prayers. If you have any questions, we welcome your emails and will respond to them promptly.\nGod bless,\nGary and Tina Barrow - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests?\n#1- For God\u0026rsquo;s blessing on our new (2023) church planting classes! #2- Strength for the staff and body of the church!\nPraise Reports? #1- Praise God for our 36th church plant! (Calvary Connection Mexico) #2- Praise God for a blessed Israel tour!\nThanks for the prayers, Mike – Email Blog\nRon and Kristy Struska – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Report:\n- Praise God that we made it to Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala, Mexico, where our daughter, Brittany, and her husband, Brian are going to plant a church (Calvary Conexión México). There were some bumps along the way with our 24-foot trailer, but we made it here safely!\n- We’d also like to give him praise for the two outreaches we were able to do along the way in Culiacán \u0026amp; Morelia, as well as serve a little at and/or fellowship with several other church plants and pastors along the way.\nPrayer Requests:\n- For wisdom to know how to best use our time to help get the church building ready for Calvary Conexión México.\n- For the Lord to prepare the hearts of the children and their parents to be open to the gospel. We will be having a big outreach for kids here in Calpulalpan. There will be games, songs, a Bible lesson, craft, as well as prizes and backpacks to give away! We even plan to do some games with the parents and give away some prizes for them as well.\n- For finances, as we are having some trouble with our local Mexican bank, and we have a lot of funds that we are currently not able to access (and may not be able to access for months until some paperwork gets taken care of).\n- For a safe return trip home to Rosarito, trailer in tow, early to mid-February.\nBlessings!\nRon \u0026amp; Kristy Struska– Email Blog\nJenna Pepin – Culiacán, Mexico\nCalvary Culiacán North will be implementing some BIG changes this year. Pray that the result is a stronger, more effective church and a huge harvest of souls. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s continued direction in confirming both my role and the timing for Sammy and me to join the Calpulalpan project. Pray for Sammy\u0026rsquo;s education as we will be trying out some new schooling options over the next 6 months. Jenna Pepin - Email - Blog\nJon and Allison Brechtel - Oaxaca, Mexico\nHuge Praise Report:\n- Our first grandbaby was born in late October, and she is happy and healthy, along with our son and daughter in law.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for continued unity in the church, and that the Lord would continue raising up men to be leaders. We have an amazing church body here and are so blessed by their hearts to serve Him. 2. Jon is now teaching in Spanish on Sundays, which is a huge step of faith and obedience. Please pray for continued growth for all 4 of us in our Spanish. It\u0026rsquo;s such a blessing to be able to communicate with everyone here. Please especially pray for Jonny and Noah to practice it.\nThank you for praying for the work that the Lord is doing in Oaxaca. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t do this without the covering of prayer.\nGod bless!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah - Blog - Email\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n1. Growth in personal and corporate holiness\n2. Thanksgiving for the miracle of restoration in my eldest son!\n3. For the Holy Spirit’s guidance in matters involving church discipline\n4. Church planting class involvement and teaching; for growth of students\n5. For God to show us who to disciple\n6. NewLife rehab Clinic weekly Bible study; for the patients to be saved\n7. Much wisdom for helping the needy\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian – Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHere are my prayer requests for this month. Thank you so much for praying, it is by far the best that anyone can do for me! Jeremiah 33:3\n1. For more staffing in our after-school program/soup kitchen. We have lost two teachers and our cook. Two are getting married and one is having a baby. 2. For the Lord, to raise up servants to minister to the kids who age out of the afterschool program. (This is junior high age kids). I would love to see a separate afterschool program for them, that they could have our church as a safe place for them to come and hang out and learn life skills. This is a huge burden on my heart, but we are in desperate need of staffing. 3. A new, (used) vehicle for me at a good price. Mine is on its last leg. I would like a Toyota RAV4 as it is easy to get in and out of. 4. For my 82-year-old mom, she lives alone in San Diego and has Parkinson’s. I also take care of her and she is needing more and more care and it’s getting more difficult. Also, I don’t know what we are going to do when she will no longer be able to live alone. Need wisdom!\n- Deanna Jevas – Email Blog\nBond, Heather Gaona - S. Asia and USA\nPlease Pray:\n- Pray for the new semesters at CBI in Nepal and S. Asia. Pray for the new students to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. Pray for Bond as he teaches weekly classes remotely for clear communication, connection with the students and translation. Pray for God to move mightily and raise up another crop of church planters. - Pray for our new church plants w/ Laxman and Nikesh. Pray people would come to learn the Word of God and people would be saved. Pray that they would be encouraged. - Pray for physical issues for both Bond and Heather. We are have tests and treatment plans, but ultimately would love God\u0026rsquo;s healing so we can serve Him unhindered.\nMany thanks, Bond and Heather Gaona – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\n1. One of the nursing home/assisted living residents in one of the Bible Studies passed away, and another is very discouraged and in the hospital. Please pray for strength and encouragement for her, and also for the salvation of two of the residents in the assisted living Bible Study. Pray that God will open their eyes and hearts fully to His truth.\n2. Please continue to pray for my parents’ health.\n3. Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia, and that God will strengthen their hearts.\n4. Please continue to pray for me to manage my time wisely, according to God’s priorities.Thank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease pray for the Christians in South Asia that are going through persecution.\nPlease pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s health. He has several physical problems including double vision. The doctors have not yet been able to find out what is causing them.\nPlease pray for my sister who is making major life decisions. Pray that she puts God first and makes godly decisions.\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nUrgent Prayer:\n1. Put Peru on your prayer chains, we are in a state of emergency! They impeached the president two weeks ago for firing the congress and trying to be a dictator and the vice president assumes the office, so the people don\u0026rsquo;t want the same political party and want new elections, but they are rioting and looting in the stores, burning down factories! We are safe in Huacho, and a ways away from Lima, but they shut down all main highways, public transportation and schools for the rest if the week! They are talking about Marshall law if it continues and the curfew will go into place and shut down public meetings!\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCory \u0026amp; Danielle Kilgus- Calvary Chapel Trujillo \u0026amp; CBI Peru\nThank you so much for your continued prayer!\nPlease pray for our upcoming semester at CBI Peru. We will have 23-25 full time students, are biggest semester yet. Our semester theme is \u0026ldquo;Abide\u0026rdquo; as apart from Jesus can nothing, and when we abide in Him we bear much fruit.\nPlease pray for Calvary Trujillo and Calvary Buenos Aires, Peru. We are transitioning as we sent a group of about 20 to plant a church in another part of town, and it has been great to see God work. We have several outreach events coming up, and God is opening up new doors in our community with the universities, rehab centers and firefighters.\nPlease pray for our family as received Isabela into our home about a month ago. She is 4 and a special girl. We took her on her first family vacation this month, and she calls us \u0026ldquo;mama\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;papa\u0026rdquo; now. She likes to run up to us and kiss us, and tells we are \u0026ldquo;lindo\u0026rdquo; (Nice). Pray for continued integration, as there are rough spots as well.\nPlease pray for another church we hope to plant in October with another graduate of CBI Peru in the jungle city of Moyobamba. We are hosting the CC Missions conference for South America and CBI Kauai is joining us to serve at the conference and then help us do an invasion of Moyobamba.Thank you and we really do appreciate your faithfulness to pray.\nThank you from our hearts, Cory and Danielle - Email Blog\nShilo and Raquell Stratton - Peru\nPray for our minds, that we would not be anxious or stressed regarding preparing to move and actually being sent. That we would have the goal and mission in mind of making disciples. Of serving Christ and no one else. Of making His name famous and not our own. And generally for clear thinking. That we’d hold fast to sound doctrine.\nPray for our spirits, that we’d serve God without fear and in absolute surrender. That we’d lay aside sins and things that easily ensnare us. That we’d put on God’s armor.\nPray for our bodies, that we’d be strong and that God would ward off any infections, diseases, or accidents from us prior to and on the field. Especially for baby Amalia. I (Shilo) think I’ve got a food allergy that my doctor and I are currently trying to figure out.\nPray for PERÚ, for the country as a whole. Latin America is full of false doctrine, prideful religiosity or cultural Catholicism and dangerous governments. Peru’s presidency just underwent some drastic sudden changes, and the country is not at peace.\n- Shilo and Raquell Stratton - Email Blog\nAndrew Weakland - Peru\nPraise reports:\n1. Thanks to God that I have been able to grow in teaching the Word of God, in preparation to be a Pastor. 2. Thanks to God that I have grown in leadership, such as leading mid week services as well as mission trips and evangelism.\nPrayer requests:\n1. Prayer that God calls and puts together a team for Moyobamba. 2. Prayer that God takes the veil off those in Moyobamba and those around Moyboamba, so they can live in the New Covenant and the grace of God. 3. Prayer that when we go on a mission trip to Moyobamba in the beginning of April, that we can make friendships with people who will later be part of Calvary Chapel Moyobamba.\n- Andrew Weakland - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.Three out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nWe have much to be thankful for and also much to need of prayer.\nPraise!:\nThank God for helping us to figure out our mission budget for 2023. It was looking like we were going to be forced from the field for lack of funds in June but God came through and the budget balance (on a knife\u0026rsquo;s edge).\nAside from all the above trials, marriage, family, and ministry are thriving here. I just finished teaching apologetics/evangelism at a local seminary, I am teaching a Christian Foundations Sunday school class at an international church, continue editing for Light Times magazine, and helping make videos for Precious Women Organization. I also, am mentoring a Cambodian pastor and teaching at his church from time to time. Kayo has started at thriving women\u0026rsquo;s ministry at the international church and ministering at Precious Women Organization, which evangelizes and retrains women who work at karaokes, bars, and beer gardens.\nPrayer Requests:\nOur financial reserves are getting low and we are trying to rebuild them. However, every time we try to save money something happens that takes away the savings and more. For example, our printer/copier died but we can\u0026rsquo;t replace it and so it is inconvenient for ministry, our car needed two tires this month and will need two more next month, our car has urgently needed a wheelbearing replacement and serious suspension work since November but we haven\u0026rsquo;t been able to do it yet. Now we can only drive 10-20mph. Our rice/pressure cooker caught on fire and we had to replace it, and last night Kayo\u0026rsquo;s tooth filling fell out so we have to take care of that today.\nBy faith we purchased airtickets to CA for June-August because we couldn\u0026rsquo;t visit since 2019. Please pray for all the logistics for our time in CA (transportation, housing, clothing/supplies etc.). We haven\u0026rsquo;t been able to visit my family in Missouri since 2017 and that was a short visit. However, given the above circumstances, it is not looking promising for us to be able to visit Missouri this time either even thought we really need to.\nThanks for your prayer cover! Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog -\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n1. Pray for my ministry, that God will give me wisdom and understanding.\n2. Pray for my family, that they will grow in the Word of God.\n3. Pray for my church members, that each one may grow in the Lord.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nS.K. (2)\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nBy God’s grace, we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers. Here are some of our prayer concerns this month:\nPlease pray for the Christians in our state, for the strengthening of their faith in Jesus. In this difficult time, may God take care His people. At the same time, pray that the fanatic anti-Christian group may know the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\nI met one of my friends that I have not seen in 15 years, at the conference campus. I was very sad to find out that both of his kidneys are not functioning. He is surviving through dialysis, twice a week. Please pray for a healing touch for him.\nPlease pray for my wife’s uncle; he is going through treatment for cancer.\nPlease pray for Mrs. K. Both of her kidneys are 80% damaged, and every other day she is undergoing dialysis. Now her condition has become is critical. Do continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church. Do continue to pray for our CBI students and staff, for their good health and the smooth functioning of our college.\nKindly pray for me and my family; may the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nWorker 3\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\n1. Please pray for traveling safety.\n2. Please pray that the Lord will provide a partner for me, as I am getting older.\nThank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ, Pastor W.J.\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests :\nWe are in need of sound preachers and teachers to fill people with the knowledge of God.\nThankfully, God is sending laborers for His field to our CBI; we are prayerfully waiting for them to study the Word of God with more awe and reverence this new year.\nOne of our brother’s has been ordained as a teaching pastor at the new church plant, and another brother has been ordained as a youth pastor. We are grateful to God that He has been gracious enough to lead our brothers’ lives and are eagerly awaiting to see what the Lord is going to accomplish through their lives.\nLast week, we had the dedication service for our new hall, which was really blessed. There are still some needs in the hall; please be praying that God will provide and bless the church.\nIn a city like ours, the mission field is everywhere your eye can see. May the Lord give us grace to be the carriers of His love and mercy.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 6\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nI have been traveling a lot these days, to reach several villages in my area. Now, I am organizing church services on Sundays in five villages, but I want to go to many more places where there are no churches or pastors.\nPlease be praying for that.\nThank you, Worker 7\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Once again, I thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your partnership. May our loving God bless you abundantly!\n2. Please pray for M.S., who is unable to walk and is being affected by some kind of black magic.\n3. Please pray that God will provide us with a church building.\nPastor 8 and family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPray that God would continue to use me for His glory.Pray for all of the people who have heard the Gospel message during this Christmas season to put their faith in Jesus.\nPray that our church will continue to grow in the Word and in number.\nPray for the Bible School students to continue to grow in the Word and in His knowledge.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you all!\nWorker 9\nWorker 10\nThanks be to the Lord that God has kept you and us together, and thanks be to the Lord who blesses each and every one of us, and saves us from every danger! Thank you also to those who continuously pray for us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. First of all, pray for the villages in our area, where some people are against the people of God; pray for God to change their hearts.\n2. Pray for the leaders here who are members of the anti-Christian party, who do not want the kingdom of God to come. Pray for those leaders, that God will change their hearts.\n3. Pray for the believers of my church, that they will be strong in the Word.\n4. Pray for my life, that God opens new doors for me so that I can share the gospel of God to all of the people in my area. 5. The government has a record of our mobile phone number to keep an eye on us because of our Christianity. Pray that God will help us and will bring those who belong to the anti-Christian government group into faith.\n6. Pray for the believers in my village who are students; pray that they can change their lives with the blessings of God.\n7. Pray for my mom who had surgery. She is now taking liver medicine; pray for her to get well soon.\n8. Pray for some of our believers who want to publicly show their faith in Christ; pray that God will prepare them completely.\n9. Pray for our region, that God will change the hearts of all the people here and walk in God’s path.\nThank you!\nWorker 10\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPraise Report\nI thank God that He has kept me safe this whole month. Last month, an investigation team was formed by the central government. They came to investigate us, comparing us with the point of view of Naxalism. Thank God, the investigator left after making inquiries and has not come back since! The newspaper also did not publish anything against us again. These are answers to your prayers.\nPrayer Requests\n1. I have just come to the north of my country to have a court marriage; pray that the court marriage can be done soon. After that, I will go back to the ministry, and then on April 12 come back to the north for the wedding.\n2. Please pray, as we will have a wedding ceremony in the bride’s area on April 12, and a wedding ceremony in my home area on April 20. Pray that God will give us the strength to prepare well and fulfill every need.\n3. Some anti-Christian fundamentalist people are planning to harm the church in many ways, after they read about our church in the newspaper. Please pray that God will make them peaceful.\n4. Pray for my mother’s health and healing; she always has back pain.\n5. Pray for the believers in my church to have a deeper understanding of the Word of God.\n6. Pray that God will protect some believers who want to publicly show they follow Jesus next month.\nThanks for your prayers, Christian love, partnership and participation in spreading the Gospel!\nGod bless you all!\nWorker 11\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n1. I thank God. For these last few months, God has given us opportunities to go to different places. He has opened doors for the Gospel, and in these few months, by the grace of God, we have distributed a lot of New Testaments to people\u0026ndash;more than 500 people. So thanks be to God! Also, together we were able to go to some jails as well. In the jails we also distributed many New Testaments to the prisoners, and also gave them to the Superintendent of Police and other staff!\n2. I thank God that He opened the way for us to go to the prison, and there I had the opportunity to lead worship with them and teach them from the Word of God. Many prisoners gave their lives to the Lord. So, I thank God that even after being put in jail, they were able to know God. I hope that when they are released from jail, they will be able to live normal lives among the people.\nPrayer requests:\n1. Please pray for our church people, that they will grow in the Word of God, and also pray for those who are not able come to church because of family pressure and persecution.\n2. Pray for us, that we could meet some of the unsaved family of the believers in our church, and that we can share with them about Jesus and develop good relationships with them.\n3. Please pray for the new believers, that they will stand for their faith and be strong in Christ, and understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word as well.\n4. Please pray that God would provide a way for us to get audio Bibles; many are illiterate in the church. They would be able to listen to the Word on an audio Bible.\n5. We have been praying for a long time that God would provide us land in the right place, so that in that place we can glorify and praise Him better and without hindrance.\n6. Please pray for D\u0026rsquo;s marriage, that God will make all the arrangements for the marriage. The date of her marriage has been set for April 13. Also pray for her family, that God will prepare this family completely through this marriage, and that He will stand with sister D, because this is the first Christian wedding in her family. Please pray for her.\n- Worker 12\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\n1. Please continue to pray for the area where we are doing ministry.\n2. Pray that God will give us more opportunities to share His Word.\n3. Please pray, as it is not easy to share the Gospel in this area where we are living.\n4. Please pray as we begin our church building construction. Pray that everything goes well.\n5. Pray for three brothers who just came to Christ; also pray that God will bring more people to Himself.\nThank you so much everyone for your love in Christ!\nGod bless you!\n- Worker 13\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for…\n1) Please pray for those who heard the Gospel at the Christmas outreach.\n2) Please pray for God’s protection on our daughter’s life, as she recently got a job and moved to the UK.\nThanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Request\nPlease pray for my children, that they will grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.\nPlease pray that the Lord will intervene in the problem the world is facing.\nPlease pray for the village ministry, that they will grow in the Word of the Lord.\nPlease pray for the CBI students, that they will grow in God’s Word.\n- Worker 16\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise Report:\nThank you to all of the prayer warriors! This semester has been a blessing because God has brought 11 new students to our CBI, and now we have 28 students.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our good health.We will be hosting a lot of teams to come and serve in Nepal this semester. May God give us strength and wisdom to host them and serve with them.\nPlease pray that God will help one young student to study God’s Word and serve the Lord.\nWe will be doing outreach in a different part of the city. Please pray that God will fill us with His Spirit and give us boldness to share the Gospel.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPlease pray for those who heard the Gospel at the Christmas outreach!Pray for the ministry at the Leper colony.\nPray for the various house fellowships and children’s meeting.\nPraise God for the co-leaders who are faithfully serving the Lord according to their gifts.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email - Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my physical health.\n2. Please pray for our church to grow, and that God will bring people into our church.\n3. Please pray that we will be able to give birth to a child; we are still waiting for God’s perfect timing.\n4. Pray that Mahima’s Sunday online Bible Study will be fruitful, and that many more mothers and sisters from all over the world will join and listen to her Bible study.\n5. Pray that God will provide my wife with a good full-time job; she is searching for a job.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and partnership.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes in our fellowship. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\nThank you,\nMilan\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\nI thank God that my marriage was held successfully this month. He has given me a good wife.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that we, as a husband and wife, will be a good example while ministering here.\n2. Pray for our church building.\n3. Pray for those who heard the Gospel during the Christmas season.\n4. Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance in our lives.\n5. Pray that new believers will be added to our church.\nBlessings! Raju - Blog\nDoru and the Pavel’s – Romania\nWe have been back in Romania for about 4 months now and after a year away we are eager to dive deep into the relationships we started making before we left. Our main prayer request is that the Lord pour his spirit into the young people of our church. This year we will have three major events that include public prayer, outreach and evangelism. This will be the first attempt for our church youth experience bringing their faith to the “front lines”.\nPray along with us for their encouragement, bravery, faithfulness and sustaining steadfastness to the commandments and precepts of the Lord. Along with these exciting events we’re also asking for health and unity. Our church is going through the passing of the guard and this means our older generation is going home to be with the Lord from various illness and their bodies expiring. As a small church even 2-3 of these losses impacts the church in a massive way. We are also asking for prayer for our eldest daughter who is going to Liberty University and who will need scholarships to pay for the majority of her tuition. She has done her part to be diligent and timely to get those in but we ask for favor from the Lord.\nBlessings and Prayers,\nDoru and the Pavel’s - Blog - Email\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-mar-prayer-update-3/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease Pray:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1. Pray for the Kanyikes as they are still dealing with the aftermath of their robbery.\u003cbr\u003e\n2. Continue to pray for Jill and the children as they homeschool, especially Liana.\u003cbr\u003e\n3. Pray for the Kanyikes to hear from immigration in the USA for the children\u0026rsquo;s citizenship. \u003cbr\u003e\n4. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Thank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and the people of Uganda\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM MAR PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Hello family and friends!\nThank you for your continued partnership!\nWith my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.\nPsalms‬ ‭119‬:‭10‬-‭11‬\nGod has put a deep, burning desire in my soul for His Word. I could relate to the psalmist, wanting to hide God\u0026rsquo;s Word, delighting in it, and meditating on it. Which brings me to God using that desire to evangelize. When I went to evangelize at a college outreach, me and a couple of others went up to Jehovah\u0026rsquo;s Witnesses. We were able to go back and forth backing up our statements with Scripture. The Lord gave me a clear picture of Matthew 4 when He was in the wilderness and the devil twisted Scripture as Jesus answered with Scripture. That is the way I saw the conversation with the Jehovah Witnesses, they referenced Scripture but it was twisted. The more I want to reveal the truth with Scripture to people the more I want to sit and study the Bible. This has made me consider going to Calvary Bible Institute in Israel in the fall as part of my internship. The program is three months and the cost is $1500 plus the plane ticket. This would be such an awesome opportunity to further my Bible knowledge. This is something I have to be in continual prayer about and see if God opens the door.\nLast month I was offered a position at the church to be the assistant of one of the pastors and I said yes. This was not the job I was looking for, as it\u0026rsquo;s all volunteer work and I have yet to find a paying job but God knows why He wanted me to take it. So far, it has been amazing. I’ve been learning administration work and as Calvary School of Missions approaches and we\u0026rsquo;re receiving applications, I will be in charge of emailing the students and making sure everything is up to date with the information that has to be turned in.\nPraise Reports\nGod’s continued faithfulness \u0026amp; provision Being able to search the Scriptures to defend my faith The pastors and the pastors\u0026rsquo; wives have been pouring into my life This place is starting to feel like home Prayer Requests\nFor God to confirm if I should go to CBI Israel To continue to be bold in evangelizing that I may reach others with the gospel That I may serve God faithfully in the new role I have at the church office For the CBI students who are considering School of Missions I would greatly appreciate your continued partnership with me in prayer as the Lord continues to prepare me for cross-cultural ministry and leads me to a certain part of the world and people group. If you feel led to make a one-time or monthly donation to my missions account for future mission trips and eventually for being sent out, that would mean so much to me. Saving Grace World Missions requires 80% monthly funding before moving onto the field, so any amount would be a huge blessing as I start this process by faith for whatever the future might look like.\nGod bless you,\nAraceli\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-fire-in-my-soul/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello family and friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your continued partnership!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWith my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePsalms‬ ‭119‬:‭10‬-‭11‬\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod has put a deep, burning desire in my soul for His Word. I could relate to the psalmist, wanting to hide God\u0026rsquo;s Word, delighting in it, and meditating on it. Which brings me to God using that desire to evangelize. When I went to evangelize at a college outreach, me and a couple of others went up to Jehovah\u0026rsquo;s Witnesses. We were able to go back and forth backing up our statements with Scripture. The Lord gave me a clear picture of Matthew 4 when He was in the wilderness and the devil twisted Scripture as Jesus answered with Scripture. That is the way I saw the conversation with the Jehovah Witnesses, they referenced Scripture but it was twisted. The more I want to reveal the truth with Scripture to people the more I want to sit and study the Bible. This has made me consider going to Calvary Bible Institute in Israel in the fall as part of my internship. The program is three months and the cost is $1500 plus the plane ticket. This would be such an awesome opportunity to further my Bible knowledge. This is something I have to be in continual prayer about and see if God opens the door.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Fire In My Soul"},{"content":"Hey everyone! Welcome to the March newsletter sent from Trujillo, Peru!\nThe semester has started and the institute is full of students taking notes and learning from the Word of God here at Calvary Bible Institute Peru.\nSome of the students have sacrificed a lot, such as sleep and 45-minute bus rides in order to study all 50 chapters of Genesis. I am tremendously blessed to be able to serve them, and one of the ways is by preparing food with other interns in the kitchen. It has been a season of joy. This has been one of my main takeaways through my devotion time in the book of John. As we receive God’s Word, the work of joy naturally comes out. John 15:11 Jesus tells his disciples “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” I have noticed in myself calmness and even smiling despite the business and the amount of workload. Despite being challenged and stretched more than ever, God has faithfully guided me in His grace. It’s part of being prepared to be a pastor.\nSomething that has become more and more certain is that I cannot see myself doing anything else in life that is apart from preaching and teaching the Word of God. It brings out a passion in me, and I know it is one of the best things I can give to others. The Word of God has completely transformed my life, and I have seen it have that same effect here in Trujillo. I am very thankful to be able to teach throughout 2nd Samuel in the mid-week services at Calvary Trujillo.\nFrom April 3-9 we are Moyobamba bound! This semester I’m leading a group of 15 back to the jungle city. One of our objectives in this trip is to serve and connect with the people that we already know in the city. Some of these people we are going to meet up with in Moyobamba may eventually be some of the first attendees of Calvary Moyobamba.\nThis trip, we are also planning on going into the jungle and serving Pastor Alfredo’s church in San Rafael. This is the community we’ve worked with before. We are also excited to meet with people in Moyobamba and try to start a weekly prayer group through zoom.\nCurrently, we are fundraising by selling lunch to the church on Sunday, as well as making marcianos (like popsicles) to sell to people in public places.\nPraise reports\nWith the help of Pastor Cory, I have been able to grow in teaching the Word of God. The team that is going to Moyobamba in April for a week has been diligent with fundraising and prayer. They have wonderful attitudes and are working hard. God has given me lots of joy and grace in the midst of business. Prayer requests\nThat I would be continually trusting and resting in God. For growth in leadership Partnership from others to want to join in this work of God: both prayerfully and financially. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/stretched-with-joy/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey everyone! Welcome to the March newsletter sent from Trujillo, Peru!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe semester has started and the institute is full of students taking notes and learning from the Word of God here at Calvary Bible Institute Peru.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/WhatsApp-Image-2023-02-07-at-9.19.44-AM.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSome of the students have sacrificed a lot, such as sleep and 45-minute bus rides in order to study all 50 chapters of Genesis. I am tremendously blessed to be able to serve them, and one of the ways is by preparing food with other interns in the kitchen. It has been a season of joy. This has been one of my main takeaways through my devotion time in the book of John. As we receive God’s Word, the work of joy naturally comes out. John 15:11 Jesus tells his disciples “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.” I have noticed in myself calmness and even smiling despite the business and the amount of workload. Despite being challenged and stretched more than ever, God has faithfully guided me in His grace. It’s part of being prepared to be a pastor.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Stretched with Joy"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/missionstrainingschool/","summary":"","title":"MISSIONS TRAINING SCHOOL"},{"content":" Missions Interns For many CC Saving Grace Missions Interns, 2023 is the year that they finally get to go. When we started the School of Missions in 2019 we couldn’t predict that there would be a massive hiccup in our sending plan…Covid. But God knew. And He has always had a plan in all of it. When Covid hit we actually had workers on the field that were evacuated by the government and had to come off of the field immediately. Since then, we have been waiting for borders to re-open in the 10/40 window so that those who feel called can be sent.\nThis year we have 10 of our interns planning to move and live full time in the 10/40 window. These are exciting times, and we would love your prayers for all of these precious world changers. After the first year of the School of Missions, five of our seven students expressed a desire for further training. We had a basic framework for a missions internship, but a lot of what we have today for the students developed during that first year. All five of those first interns will be full-time workers on the field this year! The internship is designed for those who feel called to full-time missions. So every year since that first year we have given students who feel called to full-time overseas missions the opportunity to join the internship program.\nThe internship is a one-year commitment and includes training in the Word, in practical ministry, and in leadership, all in a local church context. We try to give them opportunities to serve in just about every ministry. We want to give them an overall understanding of what it means to plant a church, and so we seek to expose them to as many ministries as possible so that they have a fuller understanding of what it takes to run these different ministries. We also give them opportunities to lead different ministries. Some have helped run our Children’s Ministry, some have led Life Groups, and some have been personal assistants to our pastors. We can confidently say that they have seen the inner workings of the church and that they understand what it takes to plant a church.\nEquipping in the Word Another huge part of the internship is that they have class every Wednesday for three and a half hours. The Missions Internship Class is where they get a lot of their missions training as Pastor Trent teaches through the book of Acts. They also are taught by missionaries who come home on furlough here as well. Each student is required to prepare a 15-minute message from a book of the Bible weekly. Then they share that teaching in front of a pastor who graciously critiques them in their content and delivery. Students agree that this is one of most challenging and best parts of the class. When they are done with that book of the Bible, they are very familiar with it. This gives them confidence in their Bible literacy as well as prepares them for future ministries where they will be teaching. The growth we see in their teachings is evident. Besides class on Wednesdays, they serve at church on Sundays, attend a Life Group and have a class on Monday nights with Pastor Rob who is teaching them through a book about being a missionary. Some of them also hold a job, which means they are very busy while going through the program.\nWhat Does it Take for Them to be Ready to GO? When a student discovers where they are called to go, they begin to pray through that with the pastors and fellow students. When there is confirmation, the student begins to make plans to move full-time to the field. A large part of the process is gathering partners. What this means is they begin to look for friends and family who may want to be a part of their sending team, whether that’s through finances or prayer or both. We believe it’s extremely important for each of them to have a care team that meets regularly to pray for them and be the liaison between them and the church and their supporters. Communication is such a huge part of the success of their mission, and having a care team is an essential part of that. As the interns begin to move towards transitioning to the mission field, they will meet with people regularly to share their vision and give people the opportunity to partner with them in their venture of faith.\nThey also spend time learning about the country they feel called to, researching the cost of living there, looking into language school, finding places to rent, and researching the state of the church in that area. All students who have confirmed where they feel called to go will make plans for a “Vision Trip,” a trip in which they go to that destination country with a team, including a pastor, to “spy out” the land and pray.\nAt Saving Grace World Missions, starting the intern program has been the perfect next step for School of Missions graduates, and we are so honored to be a part of each of these students’ lives. We look forward to this next summer’s School of Missions and we hope to receive more interns who feel called to GO! It is a great privilege to be a part of their journey and we look forward to seeing many people mobilized to reach the most unreached people of the earth!\nWe ask that you would prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with SGWM. Financial partners are crucial to help operating costs at the SGWM home base, allowing us to serve missionaries worldwide.\nTo read more about the Calvary School of Missions please read the Calvary Chapel Magazine Spring 2023 edition, pages 16-22.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/winter-2023-sgwm-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/1c858c4c-cad6-47a0-960b-857250941ca6.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"missions-interns\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMissions Interns\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor many CC Saving Grace Missions Interns, 2023 is the year that they finally get to go. When we started the School of Missions in 2019 we couldn’t predict that there would be a massive hiccup in our sending plan…Covid. But God knew. And He has always had a plan in all of it. When Covid hit we actually had workers on the field that were evacuated by the government and had to come off of the field immediately. Since then, we have been waiting for borders to re-open in the 10/40 window so that those who feel called can be sent.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Winter 2023 SGWM Newsletter"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn February of this year, I had the privilege and blessing of leading a tour of 72 from our church to the Holy Land of Israel! Originally, this trip had been planned for 3 years ago, until Covid spoiled our plans. But when we finally got to travel on my fourth trip, we realized the wait was worth it and I want to tell you all about it!\nThis popular trip is called “the Footsteps of Jesus” tour because the focus of the 10 day journey is primarily to visit the spots where Jesus lived and ministered. We began the journey in the area around the modern day city of Tel Aviv. Although Jesus didn’t spend much time there, many other great Bible believers did. We spent our first day enjoying the spots where Bible heroes from Jonah to the Apostle Paul witnessed some of their greatest victories!\nFrom there we traveled north where we spent the next three days in the small towns and villages around the Sea of Galilee. We were blessed to tour two of the most ancient synagogues that remain from the days of Jesus! (Capernaum and Magdalena) We also enjoyed a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, which is always a trip highlight. But probably the most exciting time was studying the Sermon on the Mount on the same mountain where Jesus gave that amazing teaching found in Matthew Chapters 5 to 7. I was able to give our group 30 minutes to read through the sermon alone, and then time meditate on the words of our Savior while gazing down at the Sea of Galilee..\nWhen I talked to my friends on the tour, most of them mentioned that their highlights were the baptisms in the Jordan River. We had many friends get re-baptized, but the highlight for me was baptizing 4 of my friends from church for the very first time. But one testimony truly stood out above all the rest. We had a lady from our church who invited her sister on the trip who was not a Christian. While in Israel, one of our ladies shared the Gospel with her, she was born again, and then baptized the next day. To baptize a one day old believer in the Jordan River is something that I will never forget.\nWe were also able to visit the historic site of Cana where Jesus turned the water into wine for His first miracle. (John Chapter 2) Cana is now an Arab Village and we were able to visit the local Christian church there and encourage the pastor who is laboring there amongst the Palestinian Muslims. Fortunately, they also have a beautiful wedding chapel there at the site, and I was able to help 8 of the couples renew their wedding vows. There were smiles and tears all around as our entire team was able to witness that.\nThe final four days of our tour were spent in Jerusalem. We visited the Temple Mount and the various churches that stand over the spots where our Lord spent His final days. A special blessing in Jerusalem for me was getting our group a private access to the Garden of Gethsemane. We had that Garden all to ourselves for one hour, and we not only got to study the Scriptures there, but spend some private time in prayer.\nOur trip ended with a visit to the Garden Tomb. This spot stands outside of the city gates, and has a direct view of the spot where many Bible Scholars believe was Golgotha (the place of the Skull) where our Lord was crucified. But praise God the story didn’t end there. There is an ancient tomb found there carved out of the rock, which is the historic site of the empty tomb. Each of our tour members were able to enter in, and (surprise) the tomb is still empty! To worship and take communion overlooking the empty tomb is a memory that none of us will soon forget.\nI love going to Israel and I am sure I will travel there again, but in two years (2025) I intend to take a different Biblical tour called “The Footsteps of Paul”. This life changing trip through Turkey, Greece, and Italy traces Paul’s church planting journeys in the 1st century throughout the Roman Empire. This trip will be a Calvary Rosarito AND FRIENDS tour, and I would love for you my friend to join me.\nFinally, I want to thank you for choosing to partner with us and support our family as your missionaries. It is through your prayers that God meet’s our spiritual needs, and through your financial gifts that God meet’s our physical needs. So thanks again!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless my upcoming missions trips to visit our church plants.\n#2- That God would bless our two summer church plants targeting Peru and Colombia.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for the 60 students enrolled in our church planting classes.\n#2- Praise God for a blessed trip to Mazatlan to teach at our friends church planting conference.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Mail to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-march-2023-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/328696593%5F1227951318114370%5F2740510502072734588%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn February of this year, I had the privilege and blessing of leading a tour of 72 from our church to the Holy Land of Israel! Originally, this trip had been planned for 3 years ago, until Covid spoiled our plans. But when we finally got to travel on my fourth trip, we realized the wait was worth it and I want to tell you all about it!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family March 2023 Missions Update"},{"content":"Dear friends and family,\nI have made it to Yorba Linda, California! These past 2 months have gone by so fast with all of the business of a new life. Moving felt like I was tossed into a whirlwind as I ran around for a bit, trying to get used to new schedules and responsibilities. But 8 weeks later, I’ve found my steps align to a steadier tempo. God is so good to me, He has provided all of my needs seamlessly and answered many prayers. Let me share a little bit about what I’ve been up to in my life here in Yorba Linda.\nSGWM Internship\nI have now joined the Saving Grace World Missions internship at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. I am taking 3 classes right now in the internship- one on cross-cultural missions, one on Ephesians, and one focusing on the historical study of Acts. The internship class also requires me to create a 15-minute bible study every week and present it to be critiqued. I definitely have a lot of areas to improve in but I really enjoy it!\nMy New Job!\nAt the end of last month, the Lord provided a job for me! I’m super excited to share that I’ve been brought on as the new administrative assistant for the Saving Grace World Missions office. My primary job is to onboard new missionaries to our organization and help them through that process. I am also helping out current missionaries with any questions or technical issues they run into. The job involves a lot of communication and problem solving and I love it! It is so exciting to be a part of the amazing work of ultimately spreading the gospel to the world. I’m learning so much about the practical side of what it means to be sent out onto the mission field.\nRed Light on Japan Trip\nThere were a lot of ups and downs for me these past weeks and one of the disappointments was realizing I wouldn’t be able to go on the Japan vision trip after all. Unfortunately different aspects of the plan just fell through very suddenly and within a very short amount of time, preventing me from going. I know things always happen for a reason though, and I trust in God’s timing. I know I’ll be able to go one day when the time is right. For now though, I can keep focusing on the mission’s internship, as well as wedding planning:)\nGrateful to be Here\nDespite the business and craziness of life, I am so happy to be here and working with the people around me. The Lord is definitely growing me as I stretch myself out a bit more than before. Thank you so much for your prayers, God has taken very good care of me and provided for all my needs. I look forward to updating you next, this year definitely has a lot to hold.\nDinner at Life Group bible study!\nPraise Reports:\nI got a job at Saving Grace World Missions! I got a bike! I’ve joined a women’s discipleship group for the intern girls Prayer Requests:\nFor Geoff’s and my relationship and life/wedding plans and provisions That my love and trust in the Lord would deepen That I would be able to maintain my relationships well in the midst of a busy schedule ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/into-the-whirlwind/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have made it to Yorba Linda, California! These past 2 months have gone by so fast with all of the business of a new life. Moving felt like I was tossed into a whirlwind as I ran around for a bit, trying to get used to new schedules and responsibilities. But 8 weeks later, I’ve found my steps align to a steadier tempo. God is so good to me, He has provided all of my needs seamlessly and answered many prayers. Let me share a little bit about what I’ve been up to in my life here in Yorba Linda.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Into the Whirlwind"},{"content":" “…choose this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”\nJOSHUA 24:15\nThis month I (Noelle) want to share with you some of what life looks like for our kids.\nTime has flown by since we left the USA with two baby girls. Three more children have been given to us from the Lord and our ministry has grown as a result. I think the idea that raising children is discipleship was instilled in us when we were in our parents’ homes. Almost everything we do with our kids is purposely developing them for the Lord. I won’t to go into detail on our house rules and parenting philosophies, but I’ll do my best to show you what being a “missionary kid” looks like for ours at this stage of their lives:\nTheir day starts with breakfast and family devotions at the table. They memorize verses, read a portion from the Bible as well as the Voice of the Martyrs magazine, and we all pray together before Matt goes off to work. They meander through their tasks of morning hygiene and chores, then usually look through story books or start drawing pictures before school-time officially starts. Our wonderful friend and housekeeper, Gladys, comes at 9 to pick up Noah and Charlotte. They play next door with Gladys’s neice, who is about a year younger than Charlotte, while Apio, Emma, Maddie and I finish as much homeschooling as we can before lunch. The beauty of homeschooling is that you can be flexible and slow down or speed up as needed with each child. Currently Emma and Maddie are both working through various subjects in either 1st or 2nd grade. Noah and Apio are both working slowly through 1st grade (even though Noah is not yet 5, he insists on having lessons).\nSchool normally ends by lunch time. Then, depending on the weather, the kids might crowd on the couch and have me read books to them or clamber outside and onto our water-tower “playground” with neighbor friends. There was a time when all the neighbor girls would do chanting games similar to Ring-Around-The-Rosie, I think that has phased out, and they now play “Family” or they go around finding soda bottles, the plastic rings of which they’ve looped together to make long ropes. When they’re not make-believing or scavenging for treasures, they’re playing football (soccer). Many times one or two of our kids would come in from playing outside because the laughs of a few kids was at their expense, typically involving hair-pulling or hitting (a common “game” for most kids here). The change among them all was immediate once we started the Football Academy. When they started playing as a team on the field they started treating each other like friends off the field. That was a welcome and prayed-for change.\nToward evening I send the neighbor’s to their own homes to bathe, and our kids come in to do the same. Living in the village requires almost daily showers since most of their playing involves the simple nature around them. We finish the day the same way we started it: singing, verses and prayer, though there’s normally a little dancing involved this time.\nThroughout the week our kids take part in a few activities that I believe will help prepare them for serving the Lord in the future. One is a Homeschool Co-Op which we recently joined, and I also teach in. Other homeschooling Westerners join up once a week and share a class. This helps my kids remember how to relate with other kids of similar backgrounds and culture, and also how to learn from someone other than their own parents. They also take turns going on outings with Matt and me. On a weekly rotation Matt takes the kids with him on an errand. Matt reads to them and they eat something nice together. We also rotate through which child joins me in my weekly visits to neighbor’s homes. Since Charlotte is now out of “baby phase”, taking her to people’s houses is not such a daunting task. One at a time I take the kids with me to go and either encourage a believer or evangelize to an unbeliever. My current strategy is to walk down the footpath and visit the house furthest away (up to 1 kilometer), then the next week visiting the one that’s closer, and then the next one and so on. This is an exciting thing for me, but just like I complained every time my mom would take me to visit her little grandmas in the nursing homes, my kids complain to me too. One day they’ll see the special lessons learned, just like I did.\nEven with this longer update, I feel as though I’m only showing you a very tiny piece of our lives on the mission-field. As you pray for the work God is doing here in Uganda, please remember to pray for our kids as they continue to grow in body, mind, and spirit. I am encouraged, despite tantrums, fights and complaining, when I overhear my kids playing “secret school” inside a blanket tent, whispering Deuteronomy 6:4-6 “…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength…” Pray for these beautiful little missionaries.\nThanks for all of your prayers, love and support Matt, Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-february-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“…choose this day whom you will serve… But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJOSHUA 24:15\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20230222%5F195354%5F2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis month I (Noelle) want to share with you some of what life looks like for our kids.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/20230226%5F155006.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTime has flown by since we left the USA with two baby girls.  Three more children have been given to us from the Lord and our ministry has grown as a result. I think the idea that raising children is discipleship was instilled in us when we were in our parents’ homes. Almost everything we do with our kids is purposely developing them for the Lord. I won’t to go into detail on our house rules and parenting philosophies, but I’ll do my best to show you what being a “missionary kid” looks like for ours at this stage of their lives:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update - February 2023"},{"content":"Greetings to all of you in the Name of Christ.\nFirst of all, I thank our living God that He has kept me and my family safe. I also thank God for all of His blessings.\nMy Family\nI want to share about my family with you. They are growing in the Lord. We have family prayer together every evening. My son leads us in prayer and worship, then he leads in taking turns reading Psalms. After that, we take turns praying for different things. Please especially pray that both my children keep growing in the knowledge of God.\nMy Church\nBy the grace of the Lord, all of the believers in my church are doing good in the Lord. Pray for each and every believer to continue to grow in their faith and in the knowledge of the Lord.\nLast Sunday, a new family came to believe in Jesus. The name of that brother is Pramod. He is a mental patient. He comes to church/prayer with his wife, but they are afraid of their own family and society. They are coming to prayer without telling the rest of their family. Please pray for him. May God give complete deliverance to this brother and may this family become a witness of God to their family and society.\nI will not be able to send updated photos due to the condition of our state. Do especially pray about the persecution that is happening in our state.\nIn January, the Lord helped me to be able to attend a conference in another state. Pastor Trent gave a very beautiful teaching on the very important subject \u0026ldquo;The Purpose of the Church.\u0026rdquo; I was very blessed by the teaching. May God use His servant more in His power.\nMy special gratitude to those who made the financial arrangements for my travel and food on the way. May God fulfill all of your needs with the wealth of His grace.\nI would also like to request prayer that a church building will be able to be constructed on my land.\nOnce again, I am very grateful from the bottom of my heart to those who support me financially every month. May my loving God bless you abundantly!!!!\nRegards\nPastor 8* and Family\n\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/grateful-to-the-lord-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you in the Name of Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst of all, I thank our living God that He has kept me and my family safe. I also thank God for all of His blessings.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMy Family\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI want to share about my family with you. They are growing in the Lord. We have family prayer together every evening. My son leads us in prayer and worship, then he leads in taking turns reading Psalms. After that, we take turns praying for different things. Please especially pray that both my children keep growing in the knowledge of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Grateful to the Lord"},{"content":"February 2023 - Learning How to Counsel Folks! Biblical Counseling Ministry\nClaudia and I have jumped into the Biblical Counseling ministry since last year (2022) and it seems to have snowballed! Most folks see counseling from a secular psychology perspective, whereas the Biblical counselor uses the Word of God to help folks turn to God first for the things we struggle with. This does not replace the need for doctors or negate the reality of mental illness and the trauma and scars many of us have, but ultimately we believe these things are the result of the “Fall” described in Genesis chapter 3.\nFurthermore, we believe and have seen that the inspired Word of God is sufficient to help people work through their problems. Check out our ministry’s subtitle from 2 Timothy 3:16-17\n\u0026ldquo;Every scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for showing mistakes, for correcting, and for training character, so that the person who belongs to God can be equipped to do everything that is good.\u0026rdquo;\n2 Timothy 3:16-17\nThe more we are involved in counseling folks, the more the work looks like DISCIPLESHIP! This is exactly what Jesus commanded at the end of his earthly ministry! Check out what he said at the end of Matthew’s Gospel:\n“Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything that I’ve commanded you. Look, I myself will be with you every day until the end of this present age.”\nMatthew 28:19-20 (CEB)\nA simple example of how this works in Marital Counseling. If you have been married, you know that your spouse can never meet all your needs. However, God can and does! We point people to Jesus who IS perfect, and has promised\n“to NEVER leave us nor forsake us”\n(Hebrews 13:5b)\nSo ultimately, our goal as Biblical counselors is to help people grow in their Christian walk and relationship with Jesus. When God becomes first in your life, the other things are now in their proper place and priority.\nPrayer Requests:\nThanksgiving! For the generous sponsorship our youngest children received to attend the CCSG Spring youth retreat! Wisdom, patience and strength for Claudia and I as we lead the Biblical Counseling ministry at Calvary Rosarito! Our church planting school’s 62 students (Claudia and I are mentors) The folks at NewLife rehab center where we visit every Tuesday. God to strengthen our communities to be healthy places where folks make friends and flourish and grow. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/learning-how-to-counsel-folks/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"february-2023---learning-how-to-counsel-folks\"\u003eFebruary 2023 - Learning How to Counsel Folks!\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/IMG-20230214-WA0002-272x300-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBiblical Counseling Ministry\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eClaudia and I have jumped into the Biblical Counseling ministry since last year (2022) and it seems to have snowballed! Most folks see counseling from a secular psychology perspective, whereas the Biblical counselor uses the Word of God to help folks turn to God first for the things we struggle with. This does not replace the need for doctors or negate the reality of mental illness and the trauma and scars many of us have, but ultimately we believe these things are the result of the “Fall” described in Genesis chapter 3.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Learning How to Counsel Folks!"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear partners, for your prayers and partnership. We are praying for your families and for your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nLast month, our daughter suffered with pneumonia. She was admitted in the hospital for three days. Now, my daughter is fine. Please pray for both of our children to stay healthy and grow in Lord.\nLast month, I had the opportunity to visit a church in a village and share the Word of God with the people there. The church is 15 km from town. It is in a large village. The church I visited used to be filled with new believers, but now it was not full. I talked with the local pastor about the decreased number of believers. He said that since the persecution stared, many people have stopped coming to church. Please pray that the new believers will grow strong in their faith.\nOur second semester at CBI started after Christmas break. Now the students are being taught 1\u0026amp;2 Samuel, Ezra \u0026amp; Nehemiah, the Gospel of Luke, Acts, Romans, and 1\u0026amp;2 Corinthians. The students are enjoying learning these books.\nI am teaching 1 \u0026amp; 2 Samuel, and have just finished teaching 1 Samuel. I learned so much from 1 Samuel while teaching it. I especially learned from the lives of Samuel, Saul, Jonathan, and David. I am excited to learn more from 2 Samuel and to teach it to the students. Please pray for me to have godly wisdom, and understanding, and that I will be guided by the Holy Spirit as I prepare to teach the book.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for my children to grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.\nPlease pray that the Lord will intervene in the problems the world is facing.\nPlease pray for our village ministry. May the believers grow in the Word of the Lord.\nPlease pray for the CBI students to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nBlessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/growing-in-gods-word/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear partners, for your prayers and partnership. We are praying for your families and for your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month, our daughter suffered with pneumonia. She was admitted in the hospital for three days. Now, my daughter is fine. Please pray for both of our children to stay healthy and grow in Lord.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Growing in God's Word"},{"content":"– Garcia Family Update February 2023 – Hello Friends \u0026amp; Family!\nThese last few months have been a sweet time of ministry. The Lord has really been confirming what I believe to be His main calling on my (Joel’s) life: to teach the Word of God! This specific calling plays into every role He has me in, from leading worship to being Director of Missionary Care here at SGWM.\nThe opportunities for me to teach have been plentiful. Right now, I am teaching our young adults group weekly through Romans. I was privileged to preach for three Sunday mornings at our church through the book of Jude recently. I am co-teaching a class at my church with our Senior Pastor through the prison epistles right now. In a couple of weeks, Amy and I will join a young adults group in northern California as I teach all of the sessions at their retreat; this group is led by Bond and Heather Gaona, who is a fellow SGWM board member with me! I will get to teach a session at my church’s youth camp in a few weeks, and I will also get to teach a Sunday morning at the church of a friend I met on my recent Nepal trip in just about a month. Notice that some of these teaching opportunities have come through missions connections! This has all taken a lot of hard work studying, but it is so awesome to walk in what God has called me to.\nI’m so thankful to God for all of these opportunities, but for me, teaching goes so far beyond local church ministry. My role as Director of Missionary Care means that I get to meet often with our missionaries, and in that role God has called me to continually give them encouragement from His Word to help guide them and to help them persevere on the field. I also get to spend a lot of time teaching some of our missions interns who are heading to the field soon, to help prepare them for decades of ministry ahead of them!\nAn exciting new development for me has been that I get to go to Israel at the end of April with our church! The purpose of this trip is threefold:\n1. I will help lead the team as my pastor is traveling separately, and I will help share the load of teaching at different sites there with him, as well as leading worship\n2. This trip will serve to further educate me as a Bible teacher. I went to Israel on a short trip a couple of years ago (we actually got back to the U.S. from that trip just days before the COVID shutdown). That trip was kind of a “mini” trip tacked onto a Middle East vision tour, so this next trip I go on will be a deeper dive in the area of the world I spend so much time teaching about!\n3. Finally, a number of our missions interns will be on this trip who are heading directly from there to establish their roots in the 10/40 window! That means this trip will serve as a sort of “send off” for them. I’ve grown really close to some of these young men and women, and actually was on the Israel trip with them back in 2020! So this feels really “full-circle” for our friendship. I am so excited that I get to send them off no longer as a leader in their internship, but now as their pastor and Director of Missionary Care for them! I wish I could post pictures from our last trip of them and tell you their names, but for security purposes and the sensitive nature of where they will be serving, I will have to refrain. Here’s a picture of me from Caesarea from 2020 instead :)\nOur family is doing great. Our three oldest just finished their first “season” of basketball, which was awesome and made me so proud! Amy is also doing amazing home-schooling the kids and doing ministry, including co-leading a group for moms at our church called “Inspired Motherhood.” I’ve also taken on a role as a board member for the charter school my kids are enrolled in, so please be in prayer for all of those things!\nThank you all so much for your prayers! It means the world to us.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/preach-the-word/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"-garcia-family-update-february-2023-\"\u003e– Garcia Family Update February 2023 –\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello Friends \u0026amp; Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese last few months have been a sweet time of ministry. The Lord has really been confirming what I believe to be His main calling on my (Joel’s) life: to teach the Word of God! This specific calling plays into every role He has me in, from leading worship to being Director of Missionary Care here at SGWM.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe opportunities for me to teach have been plentiful. Right now, I am teaching our young adults group weekly through Romans. I was privileged to preach for three Sunday mornings at our church through the book of Jude recently. I am co-teaching a class at my church with our Senior Pastor through the prison epistles right now. In a couple of weeks, Amy and I will join a young adults group in northern California as I teach all of the sessions at their retreat; this group is led by Bond and Heather Gaona, who is a fellow SGWM board member with me! I will get to teach a session at my church’s youth camp in a few weeks, and I will also get to teach a Sunday morning at the church of a friend I met on my recent Nepal trip in just about a month. Notice that some of these teaching opportunities have come through missions connections! This has all taken a lot of hard work studying, but it is so awesome to walk in what God has called me to.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Preach The Word!"},{"content":"Dear Sponsors,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nThe Bible teaches that God\u0026rsquo;s sovereignty is an essential aspect of who He is\u0026ndash;that He has supreme authority and absolute power over all things.\n“ Furthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan”\nEphesians 1:11\nWe thank God that every situation in my family is under His control. At the same time, we value your sacrificial financial support and earnest prayers. Be assured that we have been praying for you all. Once again, I thank everyone for your partnership in the ministry.\nLast month, we had a wonderful time of fellowship during the conference (above). The theme of the conference was “Church Responsibility.” The teaching was absolutely mind-boggling, but at the same time it was very sad to realize that the Church has failed to do its responsibility. Thank you, Pastor Trent for your teaching and passion.\n\nThank God that I got the privilege to share about the ministry and prayer requests on behalf of pastor 15 and his wife at the conference (above). My wife and daughter (right) want to say, \u0026ldquo;Thank you for the lovely gift hamper.\u0026rdquo; Also, my daughter got the opportunity to recite memory verses in church.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for the Christians in our state to be strengthened in their faith in Jesus. May God take care of His people during this difficult time. At the same time, please pray that those in the fanatical groups may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. I met with a friend who I had not seen for 15 years at the conference (right). I was very sad to find out that both of his kidneys are not functioning. He is now surviving by getting dialysis twice a week. Please pray for a healing touch on his body. Please pray for my wife’s uncle (right). He getting cancer treatment. Continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church. Continue to pray for our CBI students and staff to have sound health and for our college to run smoothly. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-in-control-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Sponsors,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/My-daughter-reciting-Bible-a-memory-verse-at-church.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe Bible teaches that God\u0026rsquo;s sovereignty is an essential aspect of who He is\u0026ndash;that He has supreme authority and absolute power over all things.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“\u003c/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eFurthermore, because we are united with Christ, we have received an inheritance from God, for He chose us in advance, and He makes everything work out according to His plan”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is in Control"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family,\nGreetings to all of you in the sweet name of the Lord Jesus Christ!\nI thank God that He has kept me safe this whole month. Last month, an investigation team was formed by the central government that came to investigate us, by comparing us with a terrorist/insurgent group. But, thank God, they left after making inquiries and have not come again. Also, the newspaper did not publish anything bad about us again. All these are answers to your prayers.\nI thank the Almighty God specially that He has given me good health. And thank God that He is using me to fulfill His purpose. In January, where I do ministry, I didn\u0026rsquo;t see the sunlight for almost 2 weeks due to a very dense fog. Because of this, it got very cold. Many people are dying due to the cold. Due to the dense fog many road accidents are happening. Still, God has saved me and my family members. So, I thank God and also thank you who always keep praying for us.\nA Successful Effort to Bring All of the Pastors on One Stage\nIn present times, persecution is increasing day by day. Many churches are being vandalized. People who obey God are being beaten up. Women of pastors\u0026rsquo; families are being abused. Pastors and Christians are being jailed because of false accusations against them. Just a few days ago, there was an incident of a pastor being locked up in the police station after being falsely accused. Some people from an organization working against Christians bribed a policeman so they could enter the police station. They then beat up the pastor and kept on beating him till they started crying loudly. When I saw all these things, God spoke to me to hold a meeting with the pastors of all the local churches, so that we can unite and help each other during the coming persecution.\nWe called all of the pastors and held a meeting, Many decisions were made. They appointed me and one of my friends as the coordinators of the posters of the entire district of churches for 1 year.\nTogether, we also decided to make a Christmas Carol Festival. We worked together to put on the festival. We invited the pastors of all the churches. The people who had practiced Christmas programs for their churches were invited to come there and compete. The one who did the best won a prize. Around 12-13 churches participated in the competition. God gave me the chance to lead this whole competition. The youth of my church also performed dance, songs and drama. Glory be to God, our church is very happy to have won the third prize!\nVery Good Fellowship with Young People\nI had a great of fellowship with a young man from my church. Some other pastors and I had planned to organize a huge youth meeting on January 9th. Through this, all of the youth of the churches would come and get to know each other. They would be immersed in the Word of God, because in present day many youth/young adults are falling away from God. However, due to very cold weather and financial problems, the big meeting could not be held.\nI thank God that I called the youth/young adults of my church and had very nice fellowship with them. We studied the book of Daniel. I also showed a movie about Daniel to them so that the life of Daniel would be imprinted in their mind.\nStarting on January 1st, because of heavy fog the sun did not come out. Because of this, it was very cold. Some of my church’s youth could not reach the church. Only 7 youth came to the youth meeting. To warm them, a fire was prepared by burning coal so that they could keep themselves warm. We all had lunch together and then everyone went to their homes.\nPrayer Requests:\nI was engaged in prayer for many days for God to give me a wife who can further God\u0026rsquo;s work with me. It gives me great joy to share that God has given me a fiance who is a believer through Calvary Chapel and dedicated to God. I have just arrived in the North to have a court (legal) marriage. Please pray that my court marriage can be done soon. After that, I will go back to my state to do ministry. Then, on April 12, I will come back to the North to have my wedding. Our wedding ceremonies/receptions are planned on April 12th in the North and on April 20th in my home state. May God give us strength to prepare everything well and may God fulfill every financial need. Some Hindu fundamentalists are planning to break up/harm our church in many ways, after reading about our church in the newspaper. May God give them peace. Please pray that my mother\u0026rsquo;s health problem is cured. She always has pain in her back. Pray for the believers in my church to have a deeper understanding of the Word of God. Pray that God will protect some more believers who want to be baptized next month. Thank you for your prayers, Christian love, support and participation in the Gospel.\nGod bless you all!\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-almighty-god-has-kept-me-safe/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you in the sweet name of the Lord Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God that He has kept me safe this whole month. Last month, an investigation team was formed by the central government that came to investigate us, by comparing us with a terrorist/insurgent group. But, thank God, they left after making inquiries and have not come again. Also, the newspaper did not publish anything bad about us again. All these are answers to your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our Almighty God Has Kept Me Safe"},{"content":"hello lovely family!\n“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”\n2 Timothy 2:1\nI want to start off by saying that Bryan and I are so incredibly thankful for you and your loving support through prayer as we are continuing in a life devoted, to go into the world and proclaiming the saving good news of Jesus Christ.\nWe are so excited to share with you what the Lord has been doing in our lives since our last update at the School of Missions 2 months ago! So much has happened and the Lord is teaching us both so much together and individually.\nWe started a missions-focused internship! We have started a mission-focused internship with Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda, California (the same church that held the School of Missions!) Through this internship we are learning how a church practically runs a church plant and what it takes to keep one running. It’s specifically equipping us to be full-time missionaries overseas, with church planting. By taking cross-cultural studies and experience during visions tours and missions/outreach trips. There are also classes that are teaching us how to teach with expository preaching and how to rightly divide the word of God. Specifically for missions, they run an organization that supports missionaries in sending them out, it has been so rewarding to get this insight, administratively!\n\u0026ldquo;For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”\nJames 1:4\nThrough this step of faith, His Word and the presence of the Lord has been our firm foundation. What joy it is to have assurance in His will and faithfulness! Also, transitioning into service with Saving Grace has been such a blessing as well; the pastors, congregation, and other interns have been incredibly welcoming and loving!\nWe have gotten the amazing blessing of being part of the work in the Middle East! About 7 of the SGWM interns are committed to following the will of the Lord in their calling to the Middle East. Bryan and I have gotten to pray with them and get to know these faithful soldiers in the Gospel, such a blessing!\nBe praying for these individuals (one of them is my sister!). The spiritual warfare and financial step of faith these young people are taking is great! There are 2 newly married couples, 1 guy, and 3 ladies in this team.\nSupport Praying is essential and the most important to fight against the spiritual and emotional conflict! Please support by praying for\nBoldness to fully surrender to the will of the Lord for the nations and for our lives. always and always. There is a vision trip coming up in March to go to Israel and Jordan! Please pray for wisdom and direction: there will be a financial need for both of us, also for our jobs to allow for the time to go Praises for an amazing home to stay in! Bryan and I to grow deeper and deeper together and deeper with with Lord together For the Lord to speak to us for direction in the unreached people groups Prayer for new baby on the way! WHOOHOOO Crenshaw Baby! Bryan and I are expecting a little one on the way! Praise Jesus! As of this week I am 10wks pregnant. We so happy about this huge blessing in our lives! Bryan and I are praying for provision from our Father in heaven, which we know He will faithfully do as He has always done. We are also praying for the safety and health of the baby, praise the Lord that the baby healthy and growing!\nFinally, we would love specific prayer as we learn what it means to be parents, but even parents who love the Lord and teach baby to love and trust Him our true Father in heaven.\nAnd thank you so much to those family and friends who have been supporting us through prayer and fasting, we appreciate you more then you know!\nLove you so dearly!\nBryan, Kayla \u0026amp; Plus One!\nBryan and I love and miss you all dearly, please feel free to contact us, we love to hear from beloved family!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/rightly-dividing-the-word-of-truth/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ehello lovely family!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2 Timothy 2:1\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/1st-intern-class.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI want to start off by saying that Bryan and I are so incredibly thankful for you and your loving support through prayer as we are continuing in a life devoted, to go into the world and proclaiming the saving good news of Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth"},{"content":" Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”\n- Hebrews 13:5-6 (NKJV)\nIt can always be so easy to look at what we don’t have or what we think we need and grow weary or discontented. We live in a culture where everything is always pulling for our attention and demanding a response. In a culture like that, what a blessing to know we have a God and Savior who cuts right through it all, Who’s faithfulness, grace, and love is there for the taking, will we choose it? I know that’s something I must constantly check in my heart. The Lord is so good, ready to provide our every need, and He wants to be our contentment. He wants to be the fulfillment of our need. There is nothing greater than His love, and nothing greater than knowing and loving Him.\nSince Last Time\nThere’s a lot going on right now, lot’s of fun, and lot’s of discipleship. We’ve had multiple Bible studies going on, Home Fellowship Groups, great teachings, and fellowship on Sunday’s. There is always much to be done, and I am thankful for the opportunities the Lord has given. Middle School is going great! We’ve been having about 8-12 kids show up consistently and they’ve been growing a lot. Their Biblical literacy blows my mind, and I am so excited to see what the Lord is going to do in their hearts and minds. Recently we did a joint event with our high schoolers at a trampoline park and we had a great time jumping and doing so ropes style courses, and a great time to connect with the students too. The week after that we had our Cereal Party Movie Night and watched Prince of Egypt and got to discuss those events from Scripture as well! These kids have a great attention span and learning more and more each time we meet. This last week we picked back up into our study of John and looked at Jesus and his interaction with the Samaritan woman at the well, and how Jesus “needed” to go through Samaria (v.4); there were clearly a lot of people that needed His good news, and He started with her.\nWhat’s Next?\nNext on the docket is a trip to Peru in May! I’m approved and excited to get to serve the Lord in South America. We will get to partner with a CBI in Peru and get to do outreach and ministry for this 10 day trip. I’m excited to see all that the Lord will do in and through us during our time there. This summer we will also have a missions trip we will be doing to Uganda to partner with ministries there as well. I am excited to see what the Lord will do!\nPrayer Requests:\nMiddle School:\nThat I would be focused on making disciples of Jesus with our Middle Schoolers\nFor my team and I that we would be discerning, prayerful, and filled with the Lord’s love and wisdom\nThat the students would have ears to hear what the Lord is saying through His Word\nFor our Middle School Winter Camp coming up in 2 weeks\nFor hearts to be prepared\nFor traveling mercies\nThat their faith would be bolstered and that they would run after Christ\nPeru:\nPreparation of the team and I’s hearts as we get ready to go to Peru\nProvision for I and the rest of the team to go (I have a remainder of $1,300 due)\nThat the Lord’s will would be done, and that our hearts would be aligned to His will\nUganda:\nProvision and preparation for our upcoming trip to Uganda as well if that is the Lord’s will for me to go. For me personally:\nMy family is going through a very difficult season right now\nRecently dealing with the death of someone close to our family\nMy dad’s health is not doing great at the moment:\nHe needs a spinal fusion soon (within a month)\nThat everything would get taken care of to be cleared in all of his pre-ops\nFor my family to have the Lord’s grace, mercy, comfort, peace and strength to endure in this time\nFor those who feel led to give toward any of the missions trips coming up, you can click the giving button below.\nhttps://cctherock.churchcenter.com/giving/to/peru-missions-trip\nThank you all so much for your prayers and support, In Christ,\n- Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-my-helper/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- Hebrews 13:5-6 (NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/799B43F5-070E-4BBA-A273-AD6254940951.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt can always be so easy to look at what we don’t have or what we think we need and grow weary or discontented. We live in a culture where everything is always pulling for our attention and demanding a response. In a culture like that, what a blessing to know we have a God and Savior who cuts right through it all, Who’s faithfulness, grace, and love is there for the taking, will we choose it? I know that’s something I must constantly check in my heart. The Lord is so good, ready to provide our every need, and He wants to be our contentment. He wants to be the fulfillment of our need. There is nothing greater than His love, and nothing greater than knowing and loving Him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord is My Helper"},{"content":"Hello family and partners in the gospel! It’s been far too long since my last newsletter. God has been doing so much and I will have to catch you up in subsequent correspondences as to keep this one a modest length. So let me dive in and catch you up on the more pertinent parts of these last several months.\nThis past April I was blessed with the opportunity to take a vision tour to the Middle East where we have finally broken ground on what I am confident will be an amazing new work of the Spirit, following the success of the work in south Asia. While we were there, we got to spend a good amount of time with one of the few evangelical churches in one of the few “Christian“ cities of the country. I put it this way because Christian is a label given to any non-Muslim faith, so Christianity there includes Catholicism, Orthodoxy, et cetera. These denominations are in fact against what the evangelical church is doing, even to the point of notifying secret police, nevertheless God is moving through them.\nJust while we were there, a group of ours got to meet an imam living with his large family in the middle of the desert. That local church has been developing a relationship with him, and after six years our team was blessed to witness him accept an Arabic Bible from their translator who himself is a Muslim born believer. What a beautiful thing to witness, and what amazing things God could do through this man, a mosque leader, and this Bible. This is how it’s done. These people are extremely relational, their society functions as a close-knit community. This calling, as our beloved worker in North Africa says, is not a sprint it’s a marathon. Who knows if reaching just one man in six years could produce an Arabic Billy Graham. We need to be faithful to plant our seeds, trusting that others will water, and to allow God to bring the increase.\nWhile that group was there in the desert visiting with the imam, the rest of us got to visit some sweet Iraqi refugee families. The first I visited was right across the street from the church. They lived very modestly with bare minimum furnishings. As is custom, the mother eager to feed us, bringing a large platter of dolma, which are stuffed grape leaves, as well as stuffed potatoes, onions and tomatoes. It had such a perfect sourness, supposedly a characteristic of the Iraqi style. Now her husband hosts a weekly Bible study out of their home, an amazing and encouraging thing to see in this part of the world. They had one child, at least with them, a daughter named Rose. She works at a stationary store, but prior to that worked for a baker who hardly paid her for days often lasting twelve hours. As non-citizens they are legally not able to work, putting them at the mercy of abusing employers. A book I read, Defying Isis, really put my visit with them into perspective. Isis came into Iraq in 2015 and either killed or drove out multitudes of Christians, which may very well have been part of this family’s story.\nNow a ways north of this city there is a retreat center, where we had the opportunity to worship, pray and wait on the Lord in a beautiful garden. I chose a short little wall overlooking a small city a few miles below us, and near the one small road leading into it. As I sat there I saw a bus drive by with a few teenage girls at the window. They were wearing hijabs, head coverings, beginning their journey of concealment as a Muslim woman. I pictured this as a prison bus, likely taking them to the mosque in that town where the call to prayer was about to sound. When it sounded, this was my first time hearing it on our trip, and instantly a strange vision came to me. This town had many buildings with many windows, and all at once I saw black hooded figures, women in full burkas, jumping from every visible window as if to their deaths. It was an interesting thing to visualize, I didn’t know how to feel about it, at least not until we worshiped at the local church later that night. They opened worship with two small girls and a small boy, and I couldn’t make out anything other than “Yesu,” Jesus. These children were worshiping Jesus. But what really struck me, and brought the prior visions full circle, were the little girls. These little girls, in their context, could easily be those teenage girls beginning their life of bondage, ultimately being led to their deaths by a false, manipulative religion. But they’re not. They’re free. They are loved by, and love, the One who came to die for them; and it showed so beautifully in the way that they were loved by His body there in that church.\nThe Lord has been continuing to encourage me in this calling through scripture and conversations within the body. Several of us were taking Arabic lessons with a brother in the Tuesday night Arabic Bible study at church, and he made promising remarks about be sounding like a native of where I’m seeking to go. Our prophetic prayer last month was also quite encouraging, as I was envisioned preaching and teaching among a slew of other visions. This continues to align with the call I felt to teach in Mexico, and with the same couple’s words from last year. And praise God I have been receiving increasingly better remarks regarding the preaching portion of our internship. For a while I felt like Gideon, feeling like I needed more and more confirmation regarding this call, but through encouragement from the body and scripture I believe God has given me enough to act upon in faith. One passage that stands out to me is found in the amazing hall of faith of Hebrews chapter eleven:\n8 By faith Abraham, when he was called [by God], obeyed by going to a place which he was to receive as an inheritance; and he went, not knowing where he was going. 9 By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land, as in a strange land, living in tents [as nomads] with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise. 10 For he was [waiting expectantly and confidently] looking forward to the city which has foundations, [an eternal, heavenly city] whose architect and builder is God.\nHEBREWS 11:8-10 AMP\nGod has never once given me a specific location, but I cannot deny the burden He has put on my heart regarding the Muslim people. Along with the uprooting and the amazing circumstances which brought me to and kept me in this special body, I cannot help but see God’s hand in all of it. I will be going on an Israel trip with our church in April, where I pray God would open the scriptures to me like never before. In March there is also an intense overseas security training in North Carolina which our two couples moving this spring and more will be attending. I believe this training will be of utmost significance, and I would love to take it with a good portion of those I am praying to live with on the field. This trip/training would total about $1800, and the remaining payment for Israel is $700. I would love if you would join me in prayer for God to provide should He desire me to be there for this training. And if the Lord so leads you to provide a one-time or recurring monetary gift, there is a giving link button below! Thank you so much for reading and praying, if there is anything you’d would like to ask me, be it prayer or a question, fell free to reach out!\nPraise Report\nGod is moving in the Middle East! God is continuing to confirm His call on my life! Seven to eight moving to Middle East this year! Prayer Requests\nThat God would strengthen and embolden believers in Middle East God’s provision for the team moving to the Middle East God provision for that which He desires me to be a part of Continued growth in the Word and the wielding thereof ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/by-faith/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello family and partners in the gospel! It’s been far too long since my last newsletter. God has been doing so much and I will have to catch you up in subsequent correspondences as to keep this one a modest length. So let me dive in and catch you up on the more pertinent parts of these last several months.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past April I was blessed with the opportunity to take a vision tour to the Middle East where we have finally broken ground on what I am confident will be an amazing new work of the Spirit, following the success of the work in south Asia. While we were there, we got to spend a good amount of time with one of the few evangelical churches in one of the few “Christian“ cities of the country. I put it this way because Christian is a label given to any non-Muslim faith, so Christianity there includes Catholicism, Orthodoxy, et cetera. These denominations are in fact against what the evangelical church is doing, even to the point of notifying secret police, nevertheless God is moving through them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"By Faith"},{"content":"(Español Abajo)\nPraise God we had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s together with our families! It was sweet for all of us to be together, especially because we don’t know when or if we will all be together next Christmas. The cherry on top was that Brittany’s brother, William, drove down from Glendale, AZ to celebrate with us.\nWe were so blessed during our sending weekend at Calvary Rosarito! At all three of the services Brian was given the opportunity to share about a few verses (John 12:24-26) that God used to confirm our calling to plant a church in Calpulalpan. Praise God we were able to sell t-shirts with our church’s name, and sell food to raise funds for our trip to move down and start the church. We are so grateful for the people who came up to us and encouraged us, supported us financially, and prayed for us. Talk about feeling loved! It was definitely hard and sad to say goodbye to our friends, family, comfort, security, stability, and more. On the other hand we have had so many people encouraging us that God will do great things through His work in Calpulalpan. God has continued to confirm our family’s calling through so many things and we are confidant that we are doing God’s Will for our lives.\nI (Brittany) said goodbye to my Chick-Fil-A job on December 30th. I had been working there for almost 5 years and have been so blessed to work there. I gained many friends, had a wonderfully flexible schedule to allow me to do ministry, had caring leaders who invested in me to become a better leader/person, never had to worry about getting Sundays off, had awesome Christmas parties and other outings, and many more things! I felt like I should give something to some of my closest co-workers and leaders so I decided to write them each a letter. I think I wrote about 20 personalized letters. Each had a different Bible verse and my contact info for if they ever had any questions about the Gospel, our ministry, or would like to let me know how to pray for them. Thank you Chick-Fil-A Mile of Cars, my coworkers, and to the owner of the restaurant – Michael Gonzalez!\nWe also had the opportunity to go to the missions conference at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa during our last week before moving down to Calpulalpan. The theme of the conference was “Open Door” and we were so blessed to hear different stories of missionaries from around the world! It was a blessing to attend the conference along with Pastor Mike Vincent, Pastor Dan and Pastor Pete from Calvary Rosarito! It was especially nice to catch up with some friends we have not seen in a while, like Michelle Talaski and David \u0026amp; Karen Wilson! It was very encouraging to hear Pastor Brian Kelly‘s testimony of the work he and his wife Lynne have done over the years all over the world!\nAfter the conference in Costa Mesa, Brian, Kimmy and I (Brittany) got to drive up to Yorba Linda, CA where we got to visit all of our Saving Grace and School of Missions family. Big thanks to Pastor Trent for letting us share about Calvary Conexión Mexico with your church! It is always a huge blessing to gather with fellow missions and church planting-minded people. Also big shoutout to Pastor Tim \u0026amp; Jen Pappas to letting us crash at their house for the weekend!\nAfter visiting with our friends and family stateside, we returned to Mexico to finish packing the trailer and say goodbye to more friends and family. Thank you so much to everyone who came out to send us off and pray for us. We love you all and miss you already!\nPrayer Requests:\nFor safe travels driving and moving down to Calpulalpan For Brian’s family who will be flying out on January 22nd Lord willing to join us For Eduardo’s health insurance and treatment to transfer smoothly For us to be able to find and purchase a vehicle for our family For the outreaches and church visits to go well on our way down For God to continue to provide for us financially as none of us have a job with stable income For things to run smoothly at Connections House while Ron \u0026amp; Kristy will be traveling with us Praise Reports:\nThat we are packed and fit into the truck and trailer That Ron got the permits for the truck and trailer to drive it down south That God has provided a small group of people/churches to partner with us financially for at least the first year of our time on the field That Ron \u0026amp; Kristy are willing and able to drive us down, such a big blessing! “And those who know Your name will put their trust in You;\nFor You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.”\nPsalms 9:10\nUna Despedida Agridulce ¡Alabado sea Dios, tuvimos una Navidad y un Año Nuevo maravillosos junto con nuestras familias! Fue dulce para todos nosotros estar juntos, especialmente porque no sabemos cuándo o si estaremos todos juntos la próxima Navidad. Lo mejor fue que el hermano de Brittany, William, condujo desde Glendale, AZ para celebrar con nosotros.\n¡Fuimos tan bendecidos durante nuestro fin de semana de envío en Calvary Rosarito! En los tres servicios, Brian tuvo la oportunidad de compartir unos versículos (Juan 12:24-26) que Dios usó para confirmar nuestro llamado a plantar una iglesia en Calpulalpan. Gracias a Dios, pudimos vender camisetas con el nombre de nuestra iglesia y vender comida para recaudar fondos para nuestro viaje para mudarnos y comenzar la iglesia. Estamos muy agradecidos por todas las personas que se acercaron a nosotros y nos animaron, nos apoyaron financieramente y oraron por nosotros. ¡Hablando de sentirte amado! Definitivamente fue duro y triste despedirnos de nuestros amigos, familia, comodidad, seguridad, estabilidad y más. Por otro lado hemos tenido tantas personas animandonos que Dios hará grandes cosas a través de Su obra en Calpulalpan. Dios ha seguido confirmando el llamado de nuestra familia a través de tantas cosas y estamos seguros de que estamos haciendo la Voluntad de Dios para nuestras vidas.\nYo (Brittany) renuncié mi trabajo en Chick-Fil-A el 30 de diciembre. Estuve trabajando allí durante casi 5 años y he sido muy bendecida de trabajar allí. Hice muchos amigos, tenía un horario maravillosamente flexible que me permitía servir en el ministerio/iglesia, tenía líderes bondadosos que invirtieron en mí para convertirme en un mejor líder/persona, nunca tuve que preocuparme por tener los domingos libres, tuve increíbles fiestas navideñas y otras salidas, y ¡muchas cosas más! Sentí que debía dar algo a algunos de mis compañeros de trabajo y líderes más cercanos, así que decidí escribirles una carta a cada uno. Creo que escribí unas 20 cartas personalizadas. Cada uno tenía un versículo diferente de la Biblia y mi información de contacto por si tenían alguna pregunta sobre el Evangelio, nuestro ministerio, o quisieran decirme saber cómo puedo orar por ellos. ¡Gracias Chick-Fil-A Mile of Cars, mis compañeros, y el dueño del Restaurante – Michael Gonzalez!\nTambién tuvimos la oportunidad de ir a la conferencia de misiones en Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa durante nuestra última semana antes de mudarnos a Calpulalpan. El tema de la conferencia fue “Puerta Abierta” y fuimos muy bendecidos de escuchar diferentes historias de misioneros de todo el mundo. ¡Fue especialmente agradable asistir a la conferencia junto con Pastor Mike Vincent, Pastor Dan y Pastor Pete de Calvary Rosarito. Tambien en la conferencia pudimos reunirnos con algunos amigos que no hemos visto en mucho tiempo, como Michelle Talaski y David \u0026amp; Karen Wilson! ¡Fue muy animante escuchar el testimonio del Pastor Brian Kelly sobre el trabajo que él y su esposa Lynne han realizado a lo largo de los años en todo el mundo!\nDespués de la conferencia en Costa Mesa, Brian, Kimmy y yo (Brittany) manejamos hasta Yorba Linda, CA donde pudimos visitar a toda nuestra familia Saving Grace y la escuela de Misiones de Calvary. ¡Muchas gracias al pastor Trent por permitirnos compartir sobre Calvary Conexión México con su iglesia! Siempre es una gran bendición reunirse con personas de mentalidad de plantar iglesias y missiones. ¡También muchisismas gracias al Pastor Tim y Jen Pappas por dejarnos quedar el fin de semana en su casa!\nDespués de visitar a nuestros amigos y familiares en los Estados Unidos, regresamos a México para terminar de empacar el tráiler y despedirnos de más amigos y familiares. Muchas gracias a todos los que vinieron a animarnos y orar por nosotros. ¡Los amamos a todos y ya los extrañamos!\nPeticiones de Oracion:\nQue todo nos va bien en el camino a Calpulalpan Por la familia de Brian que van a ir en avion a alcanzarnos el 22 de Enero primero Dios Para que el seguro médico y el tratamiento de Eduardo se transfieran sin problemas Que podemos encontrar y comprar un carro para nuestra familia en Calpulalpan Que los alcances y visitas a las iglesias nos va bien en el camino a Calpulalpan Que Dios puede continuar de proveer financieramente para nuestra familia ya que ninguno de nostros tiene un trabajo con salario fijo Que las cosas van bien con los equipos en Connections House ya que Ron y Kristy nos van llevar a Calpulalpan con todas nuestras cosas Reportes de Alabanza:\nQue ya empacamos todo y todo cabe en el trailer de Ron Que a Ron le dieron sus permisos para llevar su camioneta y trailer al sur Que Dios proveio un grupo pequeño de personas/iglesias que nos van a apoyar financieramente por lo menos por el primer año en el campo misionero Que Ron \u0026amp; Kristy nos van a manejar hasta Calpulalpan, que bendicion! “En ti confiarán los que conocen tu nombre,\nPor cuanto tú, oh Jehová, no desamparaste a los que te buscaron.”\nSalmos 9:10\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/bittersweet-goodbyes/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e(Español Abajo)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePraise God we had a wonderful Christmas and New Year’s together with our families! It was sweet for all of us to be together, especially because we don’t know when or if we will all be together next Christmas. The cherry on top was that Brittany’s brother, William, drove down from Glendale, AZ to celebrate with us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/326752562%5F3304670956441520%5F5694218039599730918%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/326698004%5F1374899989979869%5F8043349925749524108%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/325244917%5F714209096994458%5F8655912206288269739%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/327006102%5F1193252668063109%5F5546817699376189975%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/327052183%5F680983303729515%5F9167309302585955470%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/327053146%5F548543767216147%5F6953024646730944640%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe were so blessed during our sending weekend at \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/calvaryrosarito\"\u003eCalvary Rosarito\u003c/a\u003e! At all three of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWel7PgmeXg\"\u003eservices\u003c/a\u003e Brian was given the opportunity to share about a few verses (John 12:24-26) that God used to confirm our calling to plant a church in \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com.mx/maps/place/Calpulalpan,+Tlax./@19.5824329,-98.5801836,14z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x85d1cdd8ea3d609d:0x645a3460adde1651!8m2!3d19.5850371!4d-98.5666054\"\u003eCalpulalpan\u003c/a\u003e. Praise God we were able to sell t-shirts with our church’s name, and sell food to raise funds for our trip to move down and start the church. We are so grateful for the people who came up to us and encouraged us, supported us financially, and prayed for us. Talk about feeling loved! It was definitely hard and sad to say goodbye to our friends, family, comfort, security, stability, and more. On the other hand we have had so many people encouraging us that God will do great things through His work in Calpulalpan. God has continued to confirm our family’s calling through so many things and we are confidant that we are doing God’s Will for our lives.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bittersweet Goodbyes"},{"content":" AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nHAPPY NEW YEAR!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for the holiday season as crime is very high right now.\n2. Pray for the Kanyikes as they are stilll dealing with the aftermath of their robbery.\n3. Pray for the guest house as it is very busy right now. Pray for the Kanyikes to be able to host and manage everything they are doing well.\n4. The Kanyikes are taking care of some other children, 3 of them, through out the holidays. Pray for all the children to get along and be blessed.\n5. With the holidays approaching, pray for the ministry opportunities the Kanyikes and Arise Christian Fellowship have.\n6. Continue to pray for Jill and the children as they homeschool, especially Liana.\n7. Pray for the Kanyikes to hear from immigration in the USA for the children\u0026rsquo;s citizenship. 8. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and the people of Uganda In Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris - Uganda\nThank you so much for your continued commitment to the furtherance of God\u0026rsquo;s Kingdom.\nPraise God that:\n- Our family got to have a time of recuperation and envisioning during the month of December.\n- We have finished building our pastoral school so that we can apply for accreditation.\n- For the churches that are being blessed through growing in their understanding of God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nPlease pray that:\n- Our family stays strong and healthy as we serve God here.\n- Our bible college can become accredited.\n- God would continue blessing His people with the knowledge and application of His Word as they turn away from man made traditions.\nIn Christ,\nMatthew, Noelle and Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Uganda\nWe praise God for the faithfulness He has seen us through in 2022. It was a year of testing and we are excited to start seeing the fruit! God has big plans for this year. He has already begun fulfilling our vision! We praise Him for the YWAM team that came and the beginning of our second semester of Bible College.\nPlease continue to pray for the students. Our container has finally left the church parking lot and is on its way to Uganda!!!!\nPlease pray for all the details, travel and taxes till it reaches us! The building Koinonia community center and library continues on its way! Continue to pray for all the church members to stay focused on God and God alone, all for His glory!\nThank you, The Aniku’s - Email\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.Pray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.Pray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course. The second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass NORTH AMERICA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California, USA\nPRAISE REPORTS\n1. Jenn was able to join Tim on trip to South Asia that was 2 weeks long focused on missionary care and teaching of in country workers. 2. For those who prayerfully and financially support us 3. Jenn has been able to stay healthy\nPRAYER REQUEST.\n1. Pray for our re-adjustment as we come back 2. Wisdom and Gods heart for Tim as he prepares to teach at a conference in mexico next month 3. Our son Andy who is homeless and struggling in many ways\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nGary and Tina Barrow - Truckee, California\nWe have been here pastoring Calvary Chapel Truckee for almost 3 years now. We’ve faced many challenges and difficulties, many we never dreamed would be something we would face in ministry. But God has been so very faithful, and I believe we’re right where God wants us as a church.\nPlease pray…\nWe’re in need of a worship leader/assistant pastor at the church. Currently Gary is carrying all of the teaching and administration of the church. It’s been a heavy, and at times, an overwhelming responsibility. But again, God has been so very faithful. We trust that with your prayers, God will raise up an assistant that is like minded and has a heart to serve God’s people.\nPlease join us in praying for a fresh out pouring of God’s Spirit on Calvary Chapel Truckee.\nWe’ve been praying about starting a preschool to reach out to the town of Truckee. We need wisdom and vision on how the Lord would have us do this.\nWe have just returned from Israel and it seems that God has opened up amazing doors for ministry there for us. We have an open do to reach out to youth in a Palestinian controlled area. God has also opened a door for us to minister to special needs kids in Israel. We’re praying and asking God to show us how He would have us walk through those doors.\nGary is planning on traveling with Pastor Trent to the Middle East later this year. We’re asking the Lord to show us how He’d have us be part of the ministry there also.\nWe’re planning for Hungarian summer camps again this year. During one of the camps last year, a woman approached Gary and ask if he knew who she was? She showed him a picture of the 2 of them from a camp Gary did 13 years earlier. She said she gave her heart to the Lord during that camp and Jesus changed her life. She’s now living for Jesus, married to a Christian man and serving in her church. Last year we saw 64 of 93 kids come to the Lord in 2 summer camps. We’re asking the Lord for even more souls this year.\nGary is teaching a class and continues to arrange teachers for the colleges we have in the 10/40 window. Please continue to pray that God would raise up believers to take the Gospel and saturate that area. Gary would like to lead a team later this year to visit the college and encourage the students through block classes. We’re asking God for the right timing for a trip.\nWith all the many overseas opportunities now opening up to us, we’re asking God to show us how to serve faithfully here at Calvary Chapel Truckee, and how to balance that with the many open doors abroad. We believe the Lord is leading us into greater fields of harvest. We’re asking the Lord for wisdom and direction.\nWe want to thank you for your prayers. If you have any questions, we welcome your emails and will respond to them promptly.\nGod bless,\nGary and Tina Barrow- Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n#1- Protection for the many whose houses have been damaged by the storms/ flooding.\n#2- That our group of 72 leaving for Israel on January 31st, will make it to Israel, without any problems.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nRon and Kristy Struska – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God that we made it to Calpulalpan, Tlaxcala, Mexico, where our daughter, Brittany, and her husband, Brian are going to plant a church (Calvary Conexión México). There were some bumps along the way with our 24-foot trailer, but we made it here safely!\n-We’d also like to give him praise for the two outreaches we were able to do along the way in Culiacán \u0026amp; Morelia, as well as serve a little at and/or fellowship with several other church plants and pastors along the way.\nPrayer Requests:\n-For wisdom to know how to best use our time to help get the church building ready for Calvary Conexión México.\n-For the Lord to prepare the hearts of the children and their parents to be open to the gospel. We will be having a big outreach for kids here in Calpulalpan. There will be games, songs, a Bible lesson, craft, as well as prizes and backpacks to give away! We even plan to do some games with the parents and give away some prizes for them as well.\n-For finances, as we are having some trouble with our local Mexican bank, and we have a lot of funds that we are currently not able to access (and may not be able to access for months until some paperwork gets taken care of).\n-For a safe return trip home to Rosarito, trailer in tow, early to mid-February.\nBlessings!\nRon \u0026amp; Kristy Struska– Email Blog\nJenna Pepin – Culiacán, Sinaloa Mexico\nCalvary Culiacán North will be implementing some BIG changes this year. Pray that the result is a stronger, more effective church and a huge harvest of souls. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s continued direction in confirming both my role and the timing for Sammy and me to join the Calpulalpan project. Pray for Sammy\u0026rsquo;s education as we will be trying out some new schooling options over the next 6 months.\nEmail - Blog\nJon and Allison Brechtel - Oaxaca, Mexico Huge Praise Report:\n-Our first grandbaby was born in late October, and she is happy and healthy, along with our son and daughter in law.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for continued unity in the church, and that the Lord would continue raising up men to be leaders. We have an amazing church body here and are so blessed by their hearts to serve Him. 2. Jon is now teaching in Spanish on Sundays, which is a huge step of faith and obedience. Please pray for continued growth for all 4 of us in our Spanish. It\u0026rsquo;s such a blessing to be able to communicate with everyone here. Please especially pray for Jonny and Noah to practice it.\nThank you for praying for the work that the Lord is doing in Oaxaca. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t do this without the covering of prayer.\nGod bless!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah\nBlog - Email\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n1. Growth in personal and corporate holiness\n2. Thanksgiving for the miracle of restoration in my eldest son!\n3. For the Holy Spirit’s guidance in matters involving church discipline\n4. Church planting class involvement and teaching; for growth of students\n5. For God to show us who to disciple\n6. NewLife rehab Clinic weekly Bible study; for the patients to be saved\n7. Much wisdom for helping the needy\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian – Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nGreetings from south of the border! Here are my prayer requests for this month.\n1. I have a huge burden for the kids who age out of the after school program! (12 years old). They are at risk for drugs, gangs, and unwanted pregnancies. So my prayer is that God raises up workers, servants, and finances to have an afterschool program for Jr. Highers. 2. A new (used) vehicle at a good price. My car is on its last leg, and I\u0026rsquo;m too old for breaking down on the side of the road! 3. For the Holy Spirit to fill us all at Calvary Chapel Pedregales and for a revival here in this little community. Thanks so much for your continued prayers for me and the people of Mexico.\n-Deanna Jevas – Email Blog\nBond, Heather Gaona - S. Asia and USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for multiple scouting trips in Nepal to visit several areas where our students come from to see about future church plants.\n2. Pray for Christmas Outreaches throughout S. Asia. They will happen from mid-December through Christmas. There will be 20+ locations and inviting unbelievers to come and hear the Christmas story and the Gospel and share a meal at some of the locations. Pray for a time of salvation.\n3. Pray for the new students being recruited for the CBI campuses in S. Asia for the coming semester that will start in late January / February.\nBlessings and many thanks,\nBond, Heather and Breanna – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for those in the nursing home ministry I am a part of; that God will encourage the residents and be near to them. Please especially pray for one of the residents who was very involved in our Bible study, but now is feeling down and wanting to die. We are not sure about her and a couple of other people in the Bible study’s salvation. Pray that God will open their eyes and hearts fully to His truth.\n2. Please continue to pray for my parents’ health.\n3. Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia.\n4. Please continue to pray for me to manage my time wisely, according to God’s priorities.\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for God to lead me, as I am seeking more opportunities for evangelism. Praise God He has given me a new opportunity with children’s ministry!\n2. Please continue to pray for my Dad\u0026rsquo;s health and for the doctors to have wisdom. He has some upcoming appointments in January that we hope will help to find the cause and treatment.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nUrgent Prayer:\n1. Put Peru on your prayer chains, we are in a state of emergency! They impeached the president two weeks ago for firing the congress and trying to be a dictator and the vice president assumes the office, so the people don\u0026rsquo;t want the same political party and want new elections, but they are rioting and looting in the stores, burning down factories!\nWe are safe in Huacho, and a ways away from Lima, but they shut down all main highways, public transportation and schools for the rest if the week! They are talking about Marshall law if it continues and the curfew will go into place and shut down public meetings!\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCory \u0026amp; Danielle Kilgus - Calvary Chapel Trujillo \u0026amp; CBI Peru\nThank you so much for your continued prayer!\nPlease pray for our upcoming semester at CBI Peru. We will have 23-25 full time students, are biggest semester yet. Our semester theme is \u0026ldquo;Abide\u0026rdquo; as apart from Jesus can nothing, and when we abide in Him we bear much fruit.\nPlease pray for Calvary Trujillo and Calvary Buenos Aires, Peru. We are transitioning as we sent a group of about 20 to plant a church in another part of town, and it has been great to see God work. We have several outreach events coming up, and God is opening up new doors in our community with the universities, rehab centers and firefighters.\nPlease pray for our family as received Isabela into our home about a month ago. She is 4 and a special girl. We took her on her first family vacation this month, and she calls us \u0026ldquo;mama\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;papa\u0026rdquo; now. She likes to run up to us and kiss us, and tells we are \u0026ldquo;lindo\u0026rdquo; (Nice). Pray for continued integration, as there are rough spots as well.\nPlease pray for another church we hope to plant in October with another graduate of CBI Peru in the jungle city of Moyobamba. We are hosting the CC Missions conference for South America and CBI Kauai is joining us to serve at the conference and then help us do an invasion of Moyobamba.\nThank you and we really do appreciate your faithfulness to pray.\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nShilo and Raquell Stratton - Peru\nPray for our minds, that we would not be anxious or stressed regarding preparing to move and actually being sent. That we would have the goal and mission in mind of making disciples. Of serving Christ and no one else. Of making His name famous and not our own. And generally for clear thinking. That we’d hold fast to sound doctrine.\nPray for our spirits, that we’d serve God without fear and in absolute surrender. That we’d lay aside sins and things that easily ensnare us. That we’d put on God’s armor.\nPray for our bodies, that we’d be strong and that God would ward off any infections, diseases, or accidents from us prior to and on the field. Especially for baby Amalia. I (Shilo) think I’ve got a food allergy that my doctor and I are currently trying to figure out.\nPray for PERÚ, for the country as a whole. Latin America is full of false doctrine, prideful religiosity or cultural Catholicism and dangerous governments. Peru’s presidency just underwent some drastic sudden changes, and the country is not at peace.\n- Shilo and Raquell Stratton - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our various ministries in Cambodia for strength, wisdom, and impact. Precious Women Organization, Light Times Magazine, teaching apologetics at a local seminary, and reaching out to and equipping many foreigners from dozens of countries in partnership with an international church\nPlease pray for our upcoming summer trip to the USA (SoCal). We have not been able to visit the US since 2019. Also, please pray for provision and favor for the California part of the trip and that we can also visit family and senders in Missouri.\nPlease pray for our son Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s education. 1. We can continue to afford his tuition at a Christian school here. 2. That his faith will be strengthened as he evangelizes a classmate/friend who has been deceived by atheism.\nThanks!\nGod Bless!\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n1. Pray for my ministry, that God will give me wisdom and understanding.\n2. Pray for my family, that they will grow in the Word of God.\n3. Pray for my church members, that each one may grow in the Lord.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nBlessings,\nWorker 2\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPlease Pray:\nPlease pray for the Christians in our state. May their faith be strengthened in Jesus. In this difficult time of persecution, may God take care of His people. At the same time, pray that the fanatical group will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\nSo far, we have been living in a rented house. By God’s mercy, one of our relatives gave us a piece of land. We began the construction work, but still have needs to be able to finish the work. Please pray for God to provide all of our needs.\nPlease pray for Sister L; she is 6 months pregnant but not getting any help from her in-law\u0026rsquo;s family, who she lives with.\nContinue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church.\nContinue to pray for our CBI students and staff to have sound health and for the smooth functioning of our college.\nKindly pray for me and my family, that the Lord will use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nGod bless you.\n3 and Family\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\n1. Please pray that the Lord will speak to the hearts of many through our outreach this month. 2. Please pray for traveling safety.\n3. We are expecting to make the purchase of the sound equipment this month. It has been out of stock for the past few months. We are hoping that it will be available this month.\n4. Please pray that the Lord will provide a partner for me, as I am getting older.\nThank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ, Worker 4\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPraise reports :\nPraise God that He has helped all the graduates successfully finish the training.\nPraise God for providing a new vehicle for the ministry, which will help in the expansion of the Kingdom of God. Praise God for providing a house to have worship service in a certain area we work in.\nPraise God for His faithfulness for every need which is met, every prayer which has been answered, and pouring out His grace to continue this work for the whole year.\nA sister, A, who has been attending our fellowship was going through a financial crisis. Ever since, she started to grow in the Word, the Lord was ministering to her heart, and a new house has been sanctioned for them by the grace of God. Seeing her grow in God, her unbelieving husband started to physically abuse her. Please be praying that God will open her husband’s heart for the Gospel.\nThank God for healing sister M, who has been suffering with PCOD. Please be praying as she is barren, and may our God open her womb.\nPraise God that He opened doors for the kids to be enrolled in a nearby school (since they were all illiterate), and may they continue to lead their lives with good education.\nDuring covid lockdown, one family has been badly affected. All of the family members were ill, and as our brother P ministered to that family, they have been healed and now know the greatness of our God who rejoices in showing mercy to the merciless. Praise the Lord!\nChurch prayer requests\nAlthough we have been blessed with an old house to run the service in, there is still need of electricity to continue the service. Please pray that God will meet this need, so that we are able to worship Him without any interruption.\nPlease be praying that God will provide needs for that church, such as 15 chairs, etc.\nPlease be praying for a family in “T”, that God will open a door to start a Bible study with a family, and then use that family to reach the people in the community.\nPray for “P”\u0026rsquo;s spiritual life, that he will be faithful to the Lord and His Word.\nPlease pray for ”P’”s family, brothers, sisters and brother-in-laws’ salvation, and that God would bring them to Christ.\nPray for our safe travels for Gospel outreaches.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 6\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\n1. Praise the Lord, the Christmas outreaches went amazing! Please pray for the children and adults who heard the Gospel, that they would come to know Jesus.\n2. Pray for a place to gather, worship and learn the Word of God. I am in the process of starting a church with my team. Please pray that God will guide my footsteps.\n3. My mom\u0026rsquo;s health is much better than in the past few months. She is getting better and better to the point where she no longer needs oxygen at all during the day. She has a little bit of shortness of breath and low oxygen saturation, but she is comfortable. This is the greatest physical miracle I have seen in my life! Please continue to pray for her respiratory system.\nThank you, Worker 7\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for M.S., who is unable to walk and is being affected by some kind of black magic.\n2. Please pray that four of our young brothers and sisters would be able to be married.\nOnce again, I would like to thank you all for your valuable prayers and support!\nMay God bless you in your work and families!\nPastor 8 and family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPray that God would continue to use me for His glory.\nPray for all of the people who have heard the Gospel message during this Christmas season to put their faith in Jesus.\nPray that our church will continue to grow in the Word and in number.\nPray for the Bible School students to continue to grow in the Word and in His knowledge.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you all!\nWorker 9\nWorker 10\nThanks be to the Lord that God has kept you and us together, and thanks be to the Lord who blesses each and every one of us, and saves us from every danger! Thank you also to those who continuously pray for us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. First of all, pray for the villages in our area, where some people are against the people of God; pray for God to change their hearts.\n2. Pray for the leaders here who are members of the anti-Christian party, who do not want the kingdom of God to come. Pray for those leaders, that God will change their hearts.\n3. Pray for the believers of my church, that they will be strong in the Word.\n4. Pray for my life, that God opens new doors for me so that I can share the gospel of God to all of the people in my area. 5. The government has a record of our mobile phone number to keep an eye on us because of our Christianity. Pray that God will help us and will bring those who belong to the anti-Christian government group into faith.\n6. Pray for the believers in my village who are students; pray that they can change their lives with the blessings of God.\n7. Pray for my mom who had surgery. She is now taking liver medicine; pray for her to get well soon.\n8. Pray for some of our believers who want to publicly show their faith in Christ; pray that God will prepare them completely.\n9. Pray for our region, that God will change the hearts of all the people here and walk in God’s path.\nThank you!\nWorker 10\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n1. Please pray for the fog to go away and the sun to come out so that we can move freely.\n2. Please pray for this month’s conference and our friends’ wedding to go well; pray that all of the guests coming to the conference and wedding will reach there safely.\n3. Please pray about my upcoming marriage. I want to get married in February, but the bride’s mother wants us to be married on April 13 at her home. Before that, in February, the court wants us to get married. My family members want us to get married on April 20 in their church. Pray that God will take care of everything.\n4. Please pray that my mother’s health will be better.\n5. Pray for the persecuted Christians in many states.\n6. Pray that my church will grow more in the knowledge of the Lord.\nThank you all for participating in the good news.\nGod bless you all!\nWorker 11\nWorker 12 - 1040 Window\nPrayer requests:\n1. Please pray for my friend’s wife who was put in prison.\n2. Please pray for the various Bible studies/home fellowships.\n3. Please pray for my health, that God will make me well. One side of my waist is hurting a lot for a long time, and I have seen many doctors and also done ultrasound and x-ray but the report is coming normal. There is also a small, painful lump there now. So the doctor has said that I should have an MRI, which is very expensive here. Pray that God makes arrangements and remedies for me, because my pain has increased a lot, so pray that God makes everything good.\n4. I want to put a new battery in the motor bike because it is very old, and the bike does not start sometimes. Due to this, I have a lot of trouble to start it, and also change the tires in it because they are also very old.\nPlease pray that God will take care of all these things, so that I can go back safely to the places I visit which are far away from where I live. Worker 13 - 10/40 Window\n1. Please continue to pray for our ministry here, that God will open more doors for the Gospel.\n2. Please continue to pray for our believers, that they will keep the faith.\n3. Please pray, as the people in our state government made a new law that Christians are not allowed to share the Gospel, and if they see someone sharing the Gospel, the Christians will be in trouble. Please pray for the government workers, that God will open their eyes that they will see truth.\n4. Please pray for safe travels for us to the conference; also pray for a good gathering with all of the pastors and brothers.\n5. Please continue to pray for our church building construction. We want to finish the work soon so that we can begin to fellowship there with different activities.\nThank you so much everyone for your love in Christ! God bless you!\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease pray for…\n1) Please pray for those who heard the Gospel at the Christmas outreach.\n2) Please pray for God’s protection on our daughter’s life, as she recently got a job and moved to the UK.Thanks for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 15\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nThank you for your prayers!\nPlease pray for my children, that they will grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.Please pray for the CBI students and their studies.\nPlease pray for my state, as persecution is increasing day by day.\nPlease pray for church believers to grow in the Lord.\nPlease pray for the people whose homes we shared God’s Word at; pray the Lord would save them.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and family\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our good health.\nPlease pray for the safe travel for the students who will be coming to CBI.\nPlease pray for this semester CBI, that we may have a blessed time with the students.\nPlease pray for all the outreaches in this semester that we may have a great harvest.\nThank you for your prayers and support\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPlease pray for those who heard the Gospel at the Christmas outreach!\nPray for the ministry at the Leper colony.\nPray for the various house fellowships and children’s meeting.\nPraise God for the co-leaders who are faithfully serving the Lord according to their gifts.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email - Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the unreached whose homes we visited and shared the Gospel in.\n2. Pray for those who heard the Gospel preached at our open air program.\n3. Pray that many more people will come to Jesus through our sharing of the Gospel.\n4. Pray that I can proclaim the Name of Jesus in the midst of people in the city area of (D), by openly preaching. Pray they will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.\n5. Pray for our safe journeys and for our ministry to be fruitful.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and finances.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes in our fellowship. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\nThank you,\nMilan\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\nI thank God that my marriage was held successfully this month. He has given me a good wife.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that we, as a husband and wife, will be a good example while ministering here.\n2. Pray for our church building.\n3. Pray for those who heard the Gospel during the Christmas season.\n4. Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance in our lives.\n5. Pray that new believers will be added to our church.\nBlessings! Raju - Blog\nDoru and the Pavel’s – Romania\nWe have been back in Romania for about 4 months now and after a year away we are eager to dive deep into the relationships we started making before we left. Our main prayer request is that the Lord pour his spirit into the young people of our church. This year we will have three major events that include public prayer, outreach and evangelism. This will be the first attempt for our church youth experience bringing their faith to the “front lines”.\nPray along with us for their encouragement, bravery, faithfulness and sustaining steadfastness to the commandments and precepts of the Lord. Along with these exciting events we’re also asking for health and unity. Our church is going through the passing of the guard and this means our older generation is going home to be with the Lord from various illness and their bodies expiring. As a small church even 2-3 of these losses impacts the church in a massive way. We are also asking for prayer for our eldest daughter who is going to Liberty University and who will need scholarships to pay for the majority of her tuition. She has done her part to be diligent and timely to get those in but we ask for favor from the Lord.\nBlessings and Prayers,\nDoru and the Pavel’s - Blog - Email\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-feb-prayer-update-3/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://files.constantcontact.com/6a03dbae301/3977759c-be79-4bc6-a189-c6b16af6ab03.jpg\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHAPPY NEW YEAR!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease Pray:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1. Pray for the holiday season as crime is very high right now.\u003cbr\u003e\n2. Pray for the Kanyikes as they are stilll dealing with the aftermath of their robbery.\u003cbr\u003e\n3. Pray for the guest house as it is very busy right now. Pray for the Kanyikes to be able to host and manage everything they are doing well.\u003cbr\u003e\n4. The Kanyikes are taking care of some other children, 3 of them, through out the holidays. Pray for all the children to get along and be blessed.\u003cbr\u003e\n5. With the holidays approaching, pray for the ministry opportunities the Kanyikes and Arise Christian Fellowship have.\u003cbr\u003e\n6. Continue to pray for Jill and the children as they homeschool, especially Liana.\u003cbr\u003e\n7. Pray for the Kanyikes to hear from immigration in the USA for the children\u0026rsquo;s citizenship. \u003cbr\u003e\n8. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM FEB PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”\nJOSHUA 1:8\nWith this update I wanted to tell you about the crucial and unique part of our ministry that we call “Study Week.\u0026quot;\nThe Terebinth School of Discipleship (soon to be Terebinth Bible College) teaches pastors and church leaders through the entirety of Scripture. Every month our students gather from all over the Northern region of Uganda at our facilities for one week of classes. They come in on a Sunday night after they have taught their congregations that morning, they study through one or more books of the Bible (depending on the length of the book), then return home after their exams on Saturday. After three years each student will have read through 2-3 times, attended lectures on, and tested out of every passage of God’s Word! In all of this they learn how to interpret Scripture with Scripture, with an emphasis on the fact that all of it highlights the Gospel of man being reconciled to God through the life, death, resurrection, ascension and soon return of Jesus Christ. On top of that they are all equipped on different topics, including weddings/marriage, running funerals, shepherding, preaching, evangelism etc. We currently have two classes, both nine months into their journey.\nAs you can imagine this is a huge task that requires a team of dedicated people. We have 6 Discipleship Group Leaders who oversee the student’s discipleship directly, 3 pastors with other work in the organization who come in to lecture a little bit each teaching week and 3 missionaries (including me, Matt).\nEvery month these leaders gather all day for an entire week to prepare before teaching. We call this time “Study Week” and it has been the core of our school. From 9am to 5pm we sit together pouring over God’s Word, bouncing ideas back and forth, reading commentaries, planning lessons, and enjoying mutual edification. We read, we talk, we pray, we laugh and we are blessed. The Study Week is at the heart of our work because it keeps God’s opinions and directives above our own.\nPraise God with us that:\nOur family has been strong and healthy. He is moving in our midst, edifying His flock. Please join us in prayer that: God’s name will be glorified in everyone’s sight through the healing/equipping of His saints for the overseeing of His flock. For our students as they are currently making their way through the historical books of the Old Testament. God would make His shepherds strong and courageous to stand on truth. Please be advised that our sending organization, Saving Grace World Mission, will soon be switching to a new online-giving platform in this New Year, which will affect ALL recurring donations. We will keep you updated throughout the transition.\nIn Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle Harris \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/january-2023/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJOSHUA 1:8\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/20230101%5F093431%5F2-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWith this update I wanted to tell you about the crucial and unique part of our ministry that we call “Study Week\u003c/strong\u003e.\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"January 2023"},{"content":"January has been a fun month for the Stratton family! We have been blessed with so much love, support and aloha from our home church, Calvary Chapel Lihue. They have really come around us as a family in an incredible way. Recently God has been blessing us with many divine appointments and times to share the gospel with new friends and also to share about the Great Commission and reaching the lost for the sake of Christ.\nWe’ve gotten a few opportunities to share briefly at CC Lihue and other fellowships, and announce our dessert gatherings (where we share more information and pray for Peru). We’ve scheduled them around the island of Kauai to share what the Lord has been doing in our hearts, as well as what He has been doing in Perú through Calvary Trujillo and the Calvary Bible Institute. If you’re on Kauai, come eat dessert and pray with us!\nWe’ve also continued serving with the Young Adults ministry at our church as we have started the New Year! It has been a blessing to be a part of that ministry and serve alongside of friends to minister the young adults of Kauai. It’s sweet to come back together after the holidays as many friends left island for to visit family and are now back. We’re starting a new study in 1 Peter currently.\nLast weekend, I (Shilo) got to cruise up to Koke’e State Park to attend a men’s retreat with our church, where the drive was foggy and rainy, and we slept in cabins in the mountains. We didn’t have water or electricity for most of the weekend, but where we lacked in amenities, the Lord blessed us all the more in good food, fellowship, and powerful times of worship and Bible study. The theme of the weekend was DISCIPLESHIP, and one thing that the Lord showed me was that before I am a disciple of anyone else, or a member of any church or group, an employee at such and such company, or have any other man-given title, or anything… I am a disciple of the Lord, Jesus the Messiah. He is my Rabbi (Teacher), my Master, and I simply ought to follow Him.\nWe as disciples of Jesus often refer to ourselves as “the Church,” or “believers,” or “Christians.” Those are great, and true, but the reality is that those terms are used only a handful of times in the New Testament, while the term “disciple” or “disciples” is used over two hundred times. So I ask you, are you a disciple of Jesus? Is He your Lord? Follow Him.\nI do also want to share this Scripture with you, it’s been special to our hearts for a while and especially as of late. The context is of course Jesus discussing His own ministry and Self and purpose with the religious leaders of His day. Many of whom didn’t understand or want to understand what it meant to “follow Him.” The dialogue in this whole chapter is great, we encourage you to read it. But the verse we want to share is:\nJohn 10:27, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me…”\nIf you hear Jesus’ voice, you are His sheep! He knows you, and you follow Him! What awesome truths. If you feel you’re not hearing His voice, then listen by reading His word, the Bible. God speaks clearly through His word. Follow Him. You won’t regret it.\nWe are continuing to prepare for our very near departure from Hawaii back to the mainland for a short time by selling our things and doing a lot of downsizing. We are excited to spend a few months in California before launching to Peru full time in the early summer!\nPlease pray for the logistics of our move, including selling/donating and packing our things, purchasing flights, being sent out from our church, etc.\nPray for our friends and families, as these big steps are difficult in some ways and our emotions are many.\nPlease continue to pray for the health and safety of baby Amalia (she had her first cold this month).\nPray also for the ministries of Calvary Trujillo and Calvary Bible Institute Peru. God is doing amazing things, many disciples are being made and growing in the grace and knowledge of Jesus. God is raising up leaders to continue to impact South America and beyond, but not without difficulties and opposition.\nIf you would like to pray for some people who are currently in Trujillo, doing the work of the ministry now, by name: for Cory and Danielle K, Andrew, Santiago, Joaquin and Ruth, and many more. That list will likely grow…we’re not in Peru yet.\nLastly, please pray for Peru as a nation. There is some social and governmental unrest, pray that it would be resolved quickly and well.\nIf you have prayer requests, any questions or comments, please feel free to respond to this email. We love hearing from those who read our newsletters. Send us a message! Thank you for taking time with us as we share about preparing for Peru!\nThank you for your prayers and support. If you would like to partner with our family in furtherance of the gospel please consider donating through this link. We do have one time costs we’re expecting here soon, and could use monthly partners especially.\n\nBy the grace of Jesus and for His glory,\nThe Stratton Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/jesus-says-my-sheep-hear-my-voice/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJanuary has been a fun month for the Stratton family! We have been blessed with so much love, support and aloha from our home church, Calvary Chapel Lihue. They have really come around us as a family in an incredible way. Recently God has been blessing us with many divine appointments and times to share the gospel with new friends and also to share about the Great Commission and reaching the lost for the sake of Christ.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Jesus says, “My sheep hear My voice…”"},{"content":" “Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”\n1 Samuel 17:45\nVisit to the USA\nAs each new year started since 2019, we kept asking ourselves, “Is this the year that we can visit our loved ones in the USA or Japan?” In 2021 and 2021, the answer was “No.” Finally, in 2022 we could visit Japan for the first time since 2018. Finally, the doors have opened for us to visit the USA! We have booked tickets to arrive in California (Los Angeles/San Bernardino/Orange County areas) between June 6 and August 1. Lord willing, we want to also travel to Missouri (St. Louis area) but we are waiting for some more doors to open for that trip. We are looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible. We also need to take care of some legal/banking business things while in the USA as well.\nPlease contact us by e-mail or Messenger if you think you might be able to meet us so that we can start thinking about our schedule. We may not be able to contact you because the contact information we have for many of you may be out of date or buried in 4-year-old emails. We are available to meet individually or in groups etc.\nMinistry Update\nMinistry in Cambodia has gotten increasingly busy and fruitful. From December 22 to February 9, I have been teaching Christian Apologetics every Thursday morning at a Cambodian seminary founded by Korean missionaries. On December 31, I spoke on “True Joy in the Midst of Suffering” at a local Cambodian church’s New Year’s/Christmas celebration. I continue to co-teach the Chinese ministry’s English/Bible class at the international church, and on January 22, I preached on Isaiah 28 “Christ the Cornerstone” at the main service. I also continue to edit English articles for Light Times Magazine and help produce and edit videos for Precious Women Organization.\nKayo has been busy with Precious Women Organization as a board member, leading devotions for the staff and clients, helping with administrative work, and preparing and organizing Precious Women’s booth for the Centennial Celebration (see photo above). As many as 30,000 Cambodians and foreign Christians and non-Christians gathered for the event (FEBC Australia). Special guests/speakers included the Prime Minister and other top government officials. She also is busy in planning, organizing, and starting the Women’s ministry at the international church.\nFinancial “Goliath” Situation\nFor a few years now, our monthly donations have not met our monthly expenses but God provided enough one-time donations/stimulus to keep our account balanced. However, since COVID, the one-time donations/stimulus have not been able to keep up with our monthly expenses. At its worst, our financial reserves/savings were draining at a rate of around $1,500 per month. Our accounts are now at an 18-year low and so we must take action.\nTo correct this problem, so far, we have been able to raise $400 monthly and cut our expenses by around $550 monthly by getting cheaper health insurance. These provisions and the fruitfulness of our ministries encourage us that God wants us to continue serving in Cambodia. We still need to raise/cut/earn (locally through part-time work) approximately $550 (or more) monthly in order to continue our ministry in Cambodia. There are drawbacks to cutting expenses further or attempting to earn more money here in Cambodia in terms of our effectiveness in ministry here. We also recognize and are grateful for the fact that many of our most faithful senders have already maxed out their capacity to give. Right now, we don’t see any open doors in any direction so we can only LOOK UP!\nPlease pray for wisdom and provision from whatever sources God wants to provide. This is a “Goliath” situation and so ultimately, only God can make a way for us. He has brought us through even more serious trials than this and so we trust Him to carry us through this trial as well!\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/upcoming-visit-to-the-usa/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/327034017%5F1234670870817888%5F2101953736954019729%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 Samuel 17:45\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVisit to the USA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs each new year started since 2019, we kept asking ourselves, “Is this the year that we can visit our loved ones in the USA or Japan?” In 2021 and 2021, the answer was “No.” Finally, in 2022 we could visit Japan for the first time since 2018. Finally, the doors have opened for us to visit the USA! We have booked tickets to arrive in California (Los Angeles/San Bernardino/Orange County areas) between June 6 and August 1. Lord willing, we want to also travel to Missouri (St. Louis area) but we are waiting for some more doors to open for that trip. We are looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible. We also need to take care of some legal/banking business things while in the USA as well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Upcoming Visit To The USA!"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn January of this year I had a once in a lifetime experience, and in this update I wanted to tell you all about it. I had the great honor and blessing of teaching from the pulpit of my hero in the ministry, Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa! (The founder of the Calvary Chapel movement of churches)\nFor many years, our family attended the yearly Calvary Chapel Missions Conference hosted at the bible college in Murrieta. It was at those conferences that I got to meet Pastor Chuck a couple times. A few years ago, the conference was moved to the church campus of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, and this year, they invited me to teach on my favorite topic, Church planting!\nThe focus of this year’s conference was “An Open Door”. Each speaker was asked to share about open doors that God has opened up in their local missions area. I based my talk on the church planting sending hub found in Acts 13 where Paul and Barnabas were sent out from the church in Antioch to travel on their first church planting journey!\nI began my talk by reminding the listeners of the great Church Planting Heritage that Pastor Chuck left us. There were probably close to 100 church plants that came out of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, especially in those early days. And although Pastor Chuck sent his planters out in a much different way than our ministry does today, those early church plants were wildly successful. I consider it a great honor and privilege to follow in his footsteps as we continue this great work of church planting.\nDuring my teaching I shared the testimony of what God has been doing in our church planting movement over the past 15 years. I was also blessed to introduce Brian De La Cruz who came up to the conference with me and is our newest church planter being sent out the week before to Mexico City.\nWhen I get the privilege to share at other churches or conferences, my goal is not to get them to support what we are doing, but to encourage them to do the work of church planting themselves. The church planting class that I developed and have used for the past 15 years at our church is designed to be easily replicated in any local church. Presently we have 13 different churches that are using our church planting curriculum in their own local church setting.\nAfter the conference teaching, Pastor Brian Broderson (Senior Pastor of CC Costa Mesa) came up and we had a round table question and answer time focused on church planting throughout the world! It was great to hear how God is moving through church planting not only in Mexico, but all over the globe.\nNot only did they allow me to talk about church planting, but they allowed our team to host a church planting table. I traveled to the conference with my church planting assistant (and new Calvary Rosarito Assistant Pastor) Dan Valdez, along with two of our new church planters. (Brian De La Cruz and Pete Sanchez ) At that table, we were able to encourage the attenders of the conference to develop their own church planting school in their local churches.\nTo help churches do that, we offer them all of our church planting materials free of charge. We also invite those that want to learn more, to attend our annual church planting conference which will be held this summer in Rosarito on August 4th and 5th.\nFinally, there is a little administrative change I want to let you know about. After over 20 years here in Mexico, we have a new US address! We will be saying goodbye to the old PMB W-304 address, and our new address is below! (So if you ever send us notes or letters through good old fashion snail mail, please update your records.)\nMike Vincent\n4630 Border Village Rd. N #283\nSan Ysidro, Ca. 92173\nFinally, I want to thank you for choosing to partner with us and support our family as your missionaries. We love sharing about the great things that God is doing here, because this is your spiritual fruit.\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless the Israel tour I am leading at the start of February!\n#2- That God would bless our new church planting class, starting in February!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God that our church planting team headed to Mexico City has arrived safely!\n#2- Praise God for the opportunity to share at the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to: Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries: Give\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/february-2023-vincent-family-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn January of this year I had a once in a lifetime experience, and in this update I wanted to tell you all about it.  I had the great honor and blessing of teaching from the pulpit of my hero in the ministry, Pastor Chuck Smith of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa! \u003cem\u003e(The founder of the Calvary Chapel movement of churches)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/323056195%5F1327852788035000%5F4409370749516449516%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor many years, our family attended the yearly Calvary Chapel Missions Conference hosted at the bible college in Murrieta. It was at those conferences that I got to meet Pastor Chuck a couple times. A few years ago, the conference was moved to the church campus of Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, and this year, they invited me to teach on my favorite topic, Church planting!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"February 2023 Vincent Family Missions Update"},{"content":" “Let your eyes look straight ahead,\nAnd your eyelids look right before you.\nPonder the path of your feet,\nAnd let all your ways be established.”\nPROVERBS 4:25-26\nHello family and friends!\nPrayerfully the first month of 2023 has been well for you. It has been a busy, but blessed month for me as I am continuing to keep my eyes on the Lord and see His hand moving so evidently in my personal life and as I prepare for the future. As always, thank you so much for your partnership in prayer and finances. It means more than you know; not only in my life, but much more importantly to the Lord as we all actively take part in His work.\nI started out the new year by joining Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in a week of prayer and fasting in which we all took that time in different ways to seek the Lord and truly give Him the first part of this year to set the tone for the rest of the year to come. God grew me in that week and spoke to my heart by reminding me that I must continually rely on His strength because I can’t do anything lasting or fruitful apart from Him! Staying focused on the goal at hand of reaching the world for Christ’s sake is so important to me. I am so eager for what the Lord has planned for my future, but He is also reminding me that I must enjoy the process along the way because it is essential for fruitful and long-lasting ministry overseas. This is why I am “reaching forward to those things which are ahead” (Philippians 3:13) and reminding myself that all the Lord has me doing in this season is for that ultimate purpose.\nOne of the events we had during the week of prayer and fasting is what we call, “Secret Church” in which we have a prolonged time of worship, prayer, and Bible study that lasted until midnight. It is to emulate what a secret church meeting might look like in the persecuted countries of the world. We do this to remember and intercede for our brothers and sisters facing hardships because of their faith. It was such an impactful time and left me so grateful for the freedoms we have here to worship and share our love for the Lord openly.\nI recently went out with a team to Fullerton College for an evangelism event. It was an amazing experience in learning how to better share the Gospel! We met many Christians which was encouraging, as well as others who were Jehovah’s Witness’, Catholic, atheist, etc. Praise God that one man named Bryan gave his life to the Lord and it was an amazing and emotional moment for him! Please be praying for him to get plugged in at the church and start growing in his walk with the Lord. Please pray for the seeds planted and watered in the lives of the others we had the opportunity of talking with.\nPraise Reports:\nGod is speaking to me more and leading me to a specific region of the world Our weekly classes on culture, teaching the word, as well as ministry at Saving Grace has been fruitful A man gave his life to the Lord at our evangelism event at Fullerton College Prayer Requests:\nPlease pray for protection for our brothers and sisters around the world in persecuted countries Please pray for Bryan who gave his life to the Lord at Fullerton College Please pray for all those we got to share the gospel with at Fullerton College Please pray for the Lord to continue equipping me for the future and speaking to me on the country, timing, etc Please pray for the Lord to provide financial support for future missions trips He opens the doors for me to go on Thank you for taking the time to read this update and for joining in on the work that God has called me to! It is such a beautiful gift to realize that the Lord doesn’t need our help in fulfilling His plans, but because of His love, He wants us to take part in spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth! I would greatly appreciate your continued partnership with me in prayer as the Lord continues to prepare me for cross-cultural ministry, as well as through financial support, if you feel led to give. Any amount of a one-time or monthly donation is an absolute blessing for future mission trips and eventually for being sent out as Saving Grace World Missions requires 80% monthly funding before moving to the field. It means so much to me, thank you all!\nFor His glory,\nMacey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/focusing-on-the-goal/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Let your eyes look straight ahead,\u003cbr\u003e\nAnd your eyelids look right before you.\u003cbr\u003e\nPonder the path of your feet,\u003cbr\u003e\nAnd let all your ways be established.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePROVERBS 4:25-26\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello family and friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrayerfully the first month of 2023 has been well for you. It has been a busy, but blessed month for me as I am continuing to keep my eyes on the Lord and see His hand moving so evidently in my personal life and as I prepare for the future. As always, thank you so much for your partnership in prayer and finances. It means more than you know; not only in my life, but much more importantly to the Lord as we all actively take part in His work.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Focusing on the Goal"},{"content":"Greetings friends and family!\nIt’s a blessing to be able to connect with you all again and share a report from these last few months! Since my last update, I have joined Saving Grace World Missions as a missionary. My updates will be sent out on a monthly basis. I am thankful that you take the time to read these updates and your prayers for the requests at the end of this letter are very much appreciated. This is an aspect of missions that I am learning the importance of. Missionaries need people involved in their lives that are outside of their mission field. Your encouragement, prayers and friendship minister to me and remind me that I am not alone and spur me to continue forth.\nTo quickly catch up with those of you who are new, I have been in Trujillo, Peru, for 3.5 years. In my time here, there have been a lot of transitions. What started as a desire to start an English club, turned into serving at Calvary Chapel Trujillo with Pastor Cory Kilgus, leading me to become a student at Calvary Chapel Bible Institute Peru, where I received a calling to be a Pastor and was sent on mission trips to the jungle. Now I am leading a team to plant a church in that same jungle in Moyobamba, Peru.\nMoyobamba is a city about 18 hours by bus from Trujiilo. There are approximately 60,000 people that live there, with coffee plants, chocolate plants, and banana trees right outside the city. I will lead a team out there at the end of September to plant a Bible teaching church (which are either few or none). Our heart is to share the true gospel with all. We will be sent out by Pastor Cory, other Calvary Chapel pastors, and Calvary Chapel Trujillo.\nPastor Alfredo is a jungle pastor 2 hours from Moyobamba and has connections to many communities who want to know more about God from the Bible. We have given them Bibles and plan to visit them in June.\nThis December I was able to return to Colorado and spend the holidays with my family. I met my 2-month- old nephew for the first time. I got him to half-smile at me, which brought lots of joy to my heart. My time in the U.S. was also used to meet up with other Pastors and churches to build friendships and share about the Moyobamba church plant. It was an edifying time, and several young adults said they were stirred up and were considering missions in their life. Pastor Chris from Calvay Chapel Tooele in Utah encouraged me with his testimony about how the gospel has reached hundreds of people in a predominantly Mormon area where he has lived for ten years. May the Lord do that same work in the Peruvian jungle, where there are lots of legalism, rules, and religion and little knowledge on who Jesus actually is.\nOne thing that has helped to solidify my calling was when a Christian man whom I respect in many ways challenged me and advised me not to do a church plant any time soon. I appreciated his good intentions and bluntness, and I left our meeting re-examining what I thought God made very clear. After scripture reading and lots of specific prayer, I am convinced that even though I am young (29 years old) don’t yet have a super team of elders, and even though I don’t know much Hebrew and Greek, God did indeed call me to plant here and has given me lots of evidence pointing to that. Primarily through Joshua 3, where Joshua and the Israelites crossed the Jordan river and entered the Promise Land. When I was praying in Moyobamba, the Lord brought me to that verse and it felt like He said this verse is for the city of Moyobamba and what He’s calling me to do.\nI am excited to be back as an intern at the Calvary Bible Institute campus in Trujillo. In the next few months I will be teaching the book of Proverbs at the Institute, as well as teaching in some of the mid week church services, leading a Bible study, gardening, and other ministry duties. I am continuing to grow in my calling by taking that Church Planting class through Calvary Trujillo.\nPraise reports\nThat I had quality time with many people in Colorado I am now with my brothers and sisters in Christ again in Peru There are many people in Trujillo and Moyobamba that desire to know more about Jesus and His Word Prayer requests\nWisdom and provisions in building a team to be sent out with me in September to Moyobamba Diligence in preparation for the Proverbs class I will be teaching in March at the Bible Institute in Trujillo, Peru Financial partnership ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/18-hours-closer-to-the-next-destination/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings friends and family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s a blessing to be able to connect with you all again and share a report from these last few months! Since my last update, I have joined Saving Grace World Missions as a missionary. My updates will be sent out on a monthly basis. I am thankful that you take the time to read these updates and your prayers for the requests at the end of this letter are very much appreciated. This is an aspect of missions that I am learning the importance of. Missionaries need people involved in their lives that are outside of their mission field. Your encouragement, prayers and friendship minister to me and remind me that I am not alone and spur me to continue forth.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"18 Hours Closer to the Next Destination"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.\u0026rdquo;\nLuke 2:10 NKJV\nDecember was a great season of Christmas outreaches for our church family. God showed us the open doors, so we got the opportunity to hold four outreaches in different areas of the capital city. We had a great time of sharing Christ. So many people heard about \u0026ldquo;Why Christ Came to this World.\u0026rdquo; Our whole family was greatly involved in sharing the Gospel\u0026ndash;even the children were amazing in distributing Gospel tracts to those who came to them. Praise God for the Christmas season!\nPeople were listening to the Gospel program from their rooftops, along the road, and from the open air shops.\nAll of the believers, including the children, were busily distributing Gospel tracts. We distributed over 1500 Gospel tracts. Praise God for that!\nWe invited many friends and relatives to our church Christmas program. It was a good time to preach about Christ! Over 100 nonbelievers attended the program.\nWe had other Christmas outreaches in the East. Altogether, we did 11 outreaches.\nCalvary Chapel South East Outreach Last month, during the Christmas season, God led us to do many Gospel outreaches. I had been thinking of doing church visits after Christmas. However, God showed us the Gospel needs in the C.J. area, in the southeast of our country where the new Calvary Chapel has been planted. That part of the country is filled with orthodox Hindus and Muslims. Churches are very, very rare. It is very difficult to preach the Gospel in that area. We had been praying about how to reach that area with the Gospel. As the answer to our prayers, God helped us realize, \u0026ldquo;Why not share the Gospel during the Christmas season?\u0026rdquo; And we said, \u0026ldquo;Yes, let\u0026rsquo;s do that!\u0026rdquo;\nPastor Nikesh (from the Calvary Chapel in the area) invited some of the local people where we planned the Gospel outreach. Many, many people were gathered. People from the rooftops of surrounding houses and people passing by on the road heard the message and received Gospel tracts also! We were able to distribute around 400 Gospel tracts. In response to the outreach, some people showed up at Calvary Chapel the following week for Christmas. Praise God for that! God willing, we pray that we will have even larger outreaches next year.\nCalvary Chapel Central Outreaches Like we did in the South East, we were able to do five Gospel outreaches in the surrounding areas of the Calvary Chapel in the central part of the country.\nOur First Central Outreach\nThis picture was taken at the first outreach. The elderly man in the chair used to be in the Nepali army. As we began the program, an elderly man was staring at us from the rooftop of his house across the road, in the blue house. After listening a while, he came with his wife and stayed until the end. When he left the program, he asked for more tracts, and said he would share with his family members also. People who were walking down the road, people who were listening from their rooftops, and also some people who came next to us, all heard the message.\nAfter we finished the third outreach with a little sadness, we headed to our next outreach location. On the way, we saw people sitting on the ground. There were other people working on the roadside. So, we thought, \u0026ldquo;Why not take this opportunity to share the Gospel with them!\u0026rdquo; We sang Christmas songs, shared the Gospel, and distributed over 200 Gospel tracts. People responded positively!\nFinally, we did the fifth outreach near the Calvary Chapel in the area. People were listening to us from their rooftops, their open shops, and the road.\nWe pray that the Holy Spirit will speak to the hearts of whoever heard the Gospel message, and draw them to Himself. Amen!\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/christs-gospel-is-for-all-people/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLuke 2:10 NKJV\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecember was a great season of Christmas outreaches for our church family. God showed us the open doors, so we got the opportunity to hold four outreaches in different areas of the capital city. We had a great time of sharing Christ. So many people heard about \u0026ldquo;Why Christ Came to this World.\u0026rdquo; Our whole family was greatly involved in sharing the Gospel\u0026ndash;even the children were amazing in distributing Gospel tracts to those who came to them. Praise God for the Christmas season!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Christ's Gospel Is for All People"},{"content":"Praise the Lord! Happy New Year to you all!\nGod\u0026rsquo;s goodness and faithfulness sustained us and gave us another year to do the work of the Gospel. We pray that this year 2023 would be the year of God’s blessings for us all. May the Lord shower His love and grace on us all! I would also like to thank you all for partnering with us in the work of the Gospel through your continued prayers and sacrificial financial gifts. We look forward for your continued partnership this year as well.\nWe are doing well spiritually though sometimes not doing too good physically. Still, the Lord by His grace has been giving us strength to do the work He has called us to do. Not only He gives us strength to do the ministry, but He opens the doors for the ministry.\nAs I have shared with you, in our state persecution of Christians is severe. In November and December it was even worse. Thousands of new believers in Jesus have been beaten very badly and driven from their villages. Their belongings have been looted. Their houses demolished and their agriculture fields have taken by the village people. In spite of this persecution and opposition, the Lord opens doors for us and gives us the boldness to preach the Gospel.\nSometimes the Lord brings individuals on our way and gives us the opportunity to share the Gospel with them. One evening, as I was coming back home on my scooter from a shopping center, a young man asked me for a ride. He had to catch a bus and the bus stand was five minutes’ drive. I gave him a ride to the bus stop. While I was driving, I was prompted by the Holy Spirit to share the Gospel with him, but I thought, \u0026ldquo;How I can share the Gospel to him in just few minutes?\u0026rdquo;\nI was trying to ignore the Spirit of God, but the man began to talk to me. He asked me about my work and I told him that I am a pastor. He did not know what a pastor is. I told him that I am a Christian priest.\nHe said, “Oh, yes! On the 25th you have Christmas.” I asked him if he knew why we celebrate Christmas and he didn’t know that. So, I shared about the purpose of Christ coming, His death and resurrection in three minutes. I dropped him where he had to catch the bus and asked him if would like to know more about Jesus. With his consent, I gave him a copy of the New Testament (I always keep one or more copies rapped in gift pack with me).\nWe visited a government school with the head teacher\u0026rsquo;s permission to do an awareness program. We performed some skits to teach the students about personal hygiene. After the program, we distributed fruit to the students and then they were sent to their class rooms. As the students were in their class rooms, we had tea with the teachers. While we were having tea with the teachers, some of us went to the class rooms and sang Gospel songs and shared the Gospel with them.\nWe had a Christmas out-reach program for the children, which was attended by more than 60 non-Christian children. We shared the Gospel with them through a story, songs and skits. We played games with them and distributed snacks and gifts.\nWe also visited an nursing home with groceries and fruit. We were also given the opportunity to share the Gospel with them. We spent some time talking with the individuals and thus we could show the love of Christ to them. Many people visit them and give them groceries, but no one gives their time to them. When we spent time talking to them personally, they opened themselves to us. Some of them wept as they were touched by the love we showed them. The manager of the nursing home was so happy and asked us to revisit. He said, “Don’t bring any thing, but please visit us again.”\nI had the privilege to be the chief guest in a Christmas program of a Christian hospital in the city. Many city officials and politicians were also invited. More than a thousand people were there. The Lord gave me this privilege to share the Gospel at this big gathering. I was given 15-20 minutes to share and I shared from Luke 19:10. I shared about the triple ‘S’ that is 1) Son of man, 2) Seeker and 3) Savior. Basically I shared two things: first \u0026ldquo;What is Christmas?\u0026rdquo; – God became the Son of man; secondly, the \u0026ldquo;What is the purpose of Christmas?\u0026rdquo; – 1) to the seek the lost and 2) to save the lost. The Lord helped me to finish my teaching in time. Please pray for those who heard the Gospel.\nOur daughter got a job in the UK. She left our country on December 20th. We were sad that she could not be with us for Christmas, but were happy that she got the job she wanted. Please pray for God’s protection on her life.\nThank you for your prayers for us and the ministry. We pray for you all. May the dear Lord bless you richly!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sustained-by-gods-goodness/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord! Happy New Year to you all!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/IMG-20221211-WA0008-300x188.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGod\u0026rsquo;s goodness and faithfulness sustained us and gave us another year to do the work of the Gospel.  We pray that this year 2023 would be the year of God’s blessings for us all. May the Lord shower His love and grace on us all!  I would also like to thank you all for partnering with us in the work of the Gospel through your continued prayers and sacrificial financial gifts. We look forward for your continued partnership this year as well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sustained by God's Goodness"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nFirst of all, I thank my living God because He has protected me and my family throughout the last year. I am thankful to God for all of His blessings.\nIt gives me great pleasure to write to you that my family and I are growing in the Lord, and we are dedicated to doing the work of the Lord. Thank you all for your love and prayers. When I see my children doing worship, prayer and Bible study it makes me very happy. That is what we try to do in our home, so that our children walk with the Lord every day.\nWe request that you all continue to keep us in your prayers. Our ministry and all of the believers in our church are doing well. Some of them are new. Please pray that none of the new believers will turn back because of the increase in persecution in our state, but that they will stay in the faith.\nI humbly request that you pray that God\u0026rsquo;s house will be able to be built on my own land. Please pray that God will enable the construction work of the building. Through your prayers, I received my share in the land. This is a wonderful testimony in my life, because we had been praying for the distribution of this land for 3 years. God answered this prayer. On June 21, 2021, God helped in the division of the field of land. I dedicate this land to the service of God.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for M.S., who is unable to walk and is affected by some kind of black magic. Please pray for our young brother and sister who are able to be married. Once again, I would like to thank all of the hands who are helping us financially. May God bless you in your work and families!\nRegards\nPastor 8* and Family\n\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thanking-god-for-his-blessings/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/IMG-20230105-WA0006-199x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst of all, I thank my living God because He has protected me and my family throughout the last year. I am thankful to God for all of His blessings.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt gives me great pleasure to write to you that my family and I are growing in the Lord, and we are dedicated to doing the work of the Lord. Thank you all for your love and prayers. When I see my children doing worship, prayer and Bible study it makes me very happy. That is what we try to do in our home, so that our children walk with the Lord every day.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thanking God for His Blessings"},{"content":"I want to thank all of you for your efforts in supporting us. This first outreach program went better than I even expected! As I began to plan the outreach program, I wanted to use the funds wisely and completely for nonbelievers—mostly to reach villages where there are no churches or pastors for the people in the local communities. As a result, I decided to go to a village that is an hour and a half from my city. We tried to reach the beautiful children there. None of them are believers. Their families are in severe idolatry. However, I was able to reach them through a sister who is gifted in teaching Sunday School. She has been trying to teach the children there about Jesus for the last few months. Almost every child wears a thread or small idol on their neck or wrist, which was tied on by a Hindu priest or parent to try to protect the children from evil sight and black magic.\nOur 1st Day Of Outreach As I went to this new village, I was welcomed into their community with flowers, which surprised me. Then we introduced ourselves to each other. Then, the children in the Sunday School started to tell memory verses they had learned from the Bible, like Psalm 23:1 and other great verses. After that, we helped the children to participate in a skit of Jesus’ birth. Each child had a role in the skit, and as they\nparticipated, they were hearing about Jesus’ birth for the first time. Even though we didn’t have any costumes with us, it went very well.\nI had also brought my laptop to show them a video of the Nativity. They enjoyed watching the video, and then we sang some Christian children’s songs with motions. Then, I led a couple of games with balloons for fun. In the first game, the children have to blow up the balloon until it bursts, and in the second balloon game, they have to sit on a blown up balloon until it bursts. Finally, we cut the cake and sang Happy Birthday to Jesus and distributed the cake to all of the children and their families! We used a local government school building as a platform to do the whole program. Afterward, we gave the teacher supplies to distribute to the children, so that each child will receive the following: an English alphabet set, 1 pencil eraser and sharpener, a blue and black pen, and a slate and slate pencil or two note books, and a sketching pen set.\nThis is the program we followed in every village and with every child—Enter the village, tell about Jesus’ birth and the reason He was born, play games with balloons, distribute school supplies, do a skit of Jesus’ birth, show the Jesus’ birth video on the laptop, and finally celebrate Jesus’ birthday with cake. Then, we would say goodbye to the children and move to another village.\nWhile doing the programs with the children, some of their parents also came to see and hear what we were teaching the children, so I believe they also heard the Gospel in a very simple and clear way.\nThank you all once again!\nDay 1 Outreach Program (Part 2) After reaching out to 20 to 30 children in a village, I went to a neighboring village where I expected about 20 more kids. Surprisingly there were more than 40 to 50 children who participated in the celebration for Jesus\u0026rsquo; birthday.\nI used the same pattern once again with these children, but my laptop was not big enough this time to show the movie of Jesus\u0026rsquo; birth because there were so many kids. In this village, I really felt like I wished I had a projector with a big screen and a microphone with a sound box because some people were standing to see what was happening. If I would have had a big screen, I would have showed the movie to all of them, and at the end I would have been able to explain the Gospel to them. Anyhow, so many children were blessed who participated in this program. At one point, I wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to control them while I was distributing stationary items and cakes.\nWhat I came to understand through this children outreach ministry is that all of the older generations (the children\u0026rsquo;s uncles and aunts etc.) somehow knew about Christianity, but they are so opposed to it. So if some of these kids grow up continuing to listen about Jesus Christ and stories from the Bible, within a few years there will be a good church in these communities.\nThis is A* who is studying 7th grade. She is in the second village that I visited. She is a Hindu girl, but she came to me and asked\n\u0026ldquo;Brother, how should I pray to Jesus? Should I stand or bow or kneel?\u0026rdquo;\nSo I said, \u0026ldquo;It doesn\u0026rsquo;t matter how your posture looks when you pray, but tell me this\u0026ndash;Why do you want to pray to Jesus?\u0026rdquo;\nSo she said \u0026ldquo;It has been a couple years that my parents are not living together. I live with my mother in a different village. My brother lives with my father in this village and whenever I have holidays I come to visit my father. But my father never comes to see my mother. So I wanted to pray to Jesus to bring my mother and father together.\u0026rdquo;\nAfter hearing her story, I felt tears in my eyes because I knew how it scars a child to have a single parent when all of their friends and others children have both parents. Since I studied in a residential school, most of my childhood was without my parents. So I felt so close to her issue so I encouraged her and told her that I will be praying about her family.\nI was very satisfied to meet these types of children and to introduce Jesus to them in their lowest circumstances. This child is super smart, very humble and believing in Jesus, that someday Jesus will bring her family together in unity. I wish I could meet her once again and strengthen in her belief upon Jesus Christ.\nDay 2 Outreach Program: One of the believers from a church invited all of their relatives for Christmas some of whom are non believers and some are believers. So I attended that house fellowship church and preached the Word of God. I followed the outreach pattern with the kids and encouraged them to come to church every Sunday. I was able to meet kids here who are living with a single parent once again and strengthened them in spiritual things and prayed for their financial problems.\nAll of the kids and their parents were so happy to see the balloon games, cake cutting, and the distribution of stationary items. More than that, the children got introduced to Jesus and they experienced His love towards them.\nDay 3 Outreach Program In this village we went to, most of the people live in huts. After reaching there, we sent out a call to all the children. They appeared slowly. I used the same pattern with these children also.\nSome of the children probably held a slate for the first time. The first thing I had them practice on the slate is what I had written on the slate (Love you Jesus) after I gave them the stationary items.\nI was so blessed to plant seeds of hope in these little hearts and to give them a few items they need for their education like note books, slate, sketch pens etc., and show them the movie of Jesus\u0026rsquo; birth and celebrate Jesus\u0026rsquo; birthday.\nDay 4 Outreach Program We have a gas station that is run by the government in our hometown. Prisoners work there under authority and security. My father knows a prisoner who has been working there for the last few years. I told my father that I would like to meet that prisoner and celebrate Christmas with him. So my father helped me meet him. When I met him, I explained my heart for the prisoners. He said \u0026ldquo;Since it is a festival, nobody will say anything. You can bring a few cool drinks, disposal cups and cakes. I am going to invite my officer who is a deputy jailer to cut the cake.\u0026rdquo;\nSo I did as he said. The officer who got invited by the jailer introduced himself to me. I asked his name and added his name in a prayer before the cake cutting. Then 2o to 25 prisoners who work there gathered and participated in the celebration. Since they do not have much time to leave their jobs, I wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to take their picture altogether.\nThe prisoner who my father knows told me before I left that he wants to give me an ID card after he is released from jail. This way, I can go into the jail with government permission and spread the Good News. So I am praying for his release.\nIt was a happy thing to meet the prisoners and their officers and show them the love of Christ. The officer fed the cake to the jailers and jailers fed the cake to officers and I saw equality.\nThere are no ups and downs at the foot of the cross we all are one I was so happy to see the love of Christ made them equal on that day.\nDay 4 Outreach Program (Part 2) When my mother was hospitalized for more than 4 months in a government hospital, these pharmacists became good friends of mine. They would ask how my mother was doing when I went to the pharmacy. They have seen hundreds and thousands of Covid patients dying in that hospital.\nSo I went to that pharmacy on Christmas with a cake and soft drinks. I told them that my mother is alive and doing well because of her God and that today is the day that He came to the earth for all of us. Then they welcomed me inside the pharmacy and allowed me to have fellowship with them. All of them are serious idolaters, but I used my mother\u0026rsquo;s testimony to talk about our Lord. Now, I have more access to them to talk about God and what they have to do in response to the Gospel.\nThis Christmas season and the funds you guys sent helped me reach them with a great testimony. They know it is a miracle for someone who was admitted in an unconscious condition and to come alive and go home from the Covid ward after four months. So they believe it is only God who can do that.\nGod bless,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thanks-be-to-god-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI want to thank all of you for your efforts in supporting us. This first outreach program went better than I even expected! As I began to plan the outreach program, I wanted to use the funds wisely and completely for nonbelievers—mostly to reach villages where there are no churches or pastors for the people in the local communities. As a result, I decided to go to a village that is an hour and a half from my city. We tried to reach the beautiful children there. None of them are believers. Their families are in severe idolatry. However, I was able to reach them through a sister who is gifted in teaching Sunday School. She has been trying to teach the children there about Jesus for the last few months. Almost every child wears a thread or small idol on their neck or wrist, which was tied on by a Hindu priest or parent to try to protect the children from evil sight and black magic.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thanks Be To God"},{"content":"Dear Friends,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\n“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” (1 Corinthians 1:19)\nMany times, we fall because we trust in our own wisdom and our own ideas. But we should remember this all becomes nothing without God. We need to have complete trust in the Lord. In the same way, I have had many shortcomings, but we thank God that He reminds us through His Word and helps us to move forward. At the same time, we acknowledge that our ministry partners are sacrificially praying and supporting our ministry. We uphold each one of you in our daily prayers and thoughts. Once again, I thank everyone for your partnership in the ministry.\nIn the state we live in, Christians are going through massive persecution. Hindu fanatic groups are threatening to force them to denounce their Christian faith and convert to the Hindu religion. If they refuse to denounce their faith, they threaten that the Christians will have to leave their villages or face dire consequences, even death. Many Christian tribal villagers were gravely assaulted and beaten with bamboo canes, tires, rods, etc. Many people had to be hospitalized with injuries, like a fractured collar bone, fractured wrists, etc. We all are living in fearful situations, but God is helping us to reach out to people in many ways.\nIn the past month, we were fully engaged with Christmas celebrations. On December 11, we had a wonderful Christmas program (above) with non-Christian children, and it was immensely joyful to involve the children in different activities.\nOn December 12, 13 and 14, we went Christmas caroling (above), and shared about Jesus by going door-to-door. We got very good responses from the people.\nOn December 17, as a church we celebrated Christmas on our church premises (above).\nOn December 22, we celebrated Christmas in the nursing home (above), followed by Christmas Eve and Watch Night services. Eventually, we had the great privilege of sharing the Gospel through Christmas caroling in the nursing home and showing Christ’s love.\nLast Month, my wife’s school organized a Christmas program (above) and canteen day. She was a part of the organizing team. For her, it was a good time to teach the students how to interact with people.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for the Christians in our state. May their faith be strengthened in Jesus. In this difficult time of persecution, may God take care of His people. At the same time, pray that the fanatical group will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. So far, we have been living in a rented house. By God’s mercy, one of our relatives gave us a piece of land. We began the construction work, but still have needs to be able to finish the work. Please pray for God to provide all of our needs. Please pray for Sister L; she is 6 months pregnant but not getting any help from her in-law\u0026rsquo;s family, who she lives with. Continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church. Continue to pray for our CBI students and staff to have sound health and for the smooth functioning of our college. Kindly pray for me and my family, that the Lord will use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/complete-trust/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” (1 Corinthians 1:19)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMany times, we fall because we trust in our own wisdom and our own ideas. But we should remember this all becomes nothing without God. We need to have complete trust in the Lord. In the same way, I have had many shortcomings, but we thank God that He reminds us through His Word and helps us to move forward. At the same time, we acknowledge that our ministry partners are sacrificially praying and supporting our ministry. We uphold each one of you in our daily prayers and thoughts. Once again, I thank everyone for your partnership in the ministry.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Complete Trust"},{"content":"Praise the Lord\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Dear supporters and prayer partners, thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your families and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nIn November, we got an opportunity to visit a family with one of our students. The student led prayer, and we had good fellowship with the family.\nAlso in November, we visited a school and organized doing some social work with them. We taught the children how to be healthy, and my wife taught the girls how to lead healthy lives.\nLast month, we conducted a Christmas program where we invited children.\nWe shared the Gospel and distributed gifts to them. About 60 children gathered from different religions.\nWe had Christmas caroling in a different area, where we visited with students and church people. We shared the Good News with them. Thank God\u0026ndash;some people from the community came for prayer and shared their prayer requests with us!\nWe also visited the nursing home, where we sang songs and shared the\nGood News with them and prayed for them.\nPrayer Request s: Please pray for my children, that they will grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. Please pray for the CBI students and their studies. Please pray for my state, as persecution is increasing day by day. Please pray for church believers to grow in the Lord. Please pray for the people whose homes we shared God’s Word at; pray the Lord would save them. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sharing-jesus-love/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise the Lord\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Dear supporters and prayer partners, thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your families and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/WhatsApp-Image-2022-11-18-at-9.37.10-AM-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn November, we got an opportunity to visit a family with one of our students. The student led prayer, and we had good fellowship with the family.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sharing Jesus' Love"},{"content":"Happy New Year! I hope you had a blessed Christmas season!\nBy God’s grace, we also had a wonderful Christmas season. We had organized a few Christmas programs to share the Gospel with non-Christians, and everything went well by God’s grace.\nOne evening, we had a program for children. We invited children from the neighborhood and friends of the children from our church. So many non-Christian children attended the program! We performed a few skits and a dance, taught them action songs, and shared the Gospel message. We also had a fun time—we played games and distributed gifts and snacks. I believe that the Word that is being planted in their hearts right now will bear fruit one day.\nFor three nights, we had carol singing. The people of our church gathered and visited different Christian homes, sang Christmas songs, shared a brief message, and then prayed for each family. At a few places, while we were singing carols in front of the Christians’ homes, many non-Christians who were passing by stopped to hear the songs. As a result, we had the opportunity to preach the Gospel to them. Some unbelievers came to us and shared their problems and sought our prayers.\nHowever, there were also some who were filled with hatred and did not want us to be there. Overall, it was a blessing to share the Gospel and pray for those who came seeking prayer.\nOne day, we, along with some of our church members, went to the nursing home in our town. We sang Christmas songs and then shared the Gospel message with them and distributed fruit and groceries as a Christmas gift.\nEvery year in our town, all of the Christian churches gather together and conduct a Christmas rally. This year, we had the Christmas rally in the afternoon on December 18th. We went around the town singing and proclaiming the Gospel. It is always encouraging to join this group every year and see all of the churches sharing the Gospel.\nPrayer Requests: Pray that God would continue to use me for His glory. Pray for all of the people who have heard the Gospel message during this Christmas season to put their faith in Jesus. Pray that our church will continue to grow in the Word and in number. Pray for the Bible School students to continue to grow in the Word and in His knowledge. Blessings,\nPastor 9\n\\* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/by-gods-grace-4/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHappy New Year! I hope you had a blessed Christmas season!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy God’s grace, we also had a wonderful Christmas season. We had organized a few Christmas programs to share the Gospel with non-Christians, and everything went well by God’s grace.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/IMG-20230106-WA0006.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/IMG-20221211-WA0007-300x163.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne evening, we had a program for children. We invited children from the neighborhood and friends of the children from our church. So many non-Christian children attended the program! We performed a few skits and a dance, taught them action songs, and shared the Gospel message. We also had a fun time—we played games and distributed gifts and snacks. I believe that the Word that is being planted in their hearts right now will bear fruit one day.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"By God's Grace"},{"content":"\u0026quot; How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?\nAnd how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!\u0026quot;\nRomans 10:14-15 NKJV\nThis verse reminded me that I am a preacher of the True, Living God. At any cost, I should preach the Word of the Living God. God told my heart to preach His Word and share His Gospel to the unreached houses of villagers. While praying, we made a plan to do this task. We prayed and made a plan to preach to the people in at least 50 unreached houses in the area where our graduated student had already started a new church.\nWe went there and saw a blessing come from our Almighty Lord. We spent 3 months there altogether. Ten people are coming to his newly planted church. We also spent time with our dear brother and his family.\nWe gathered together and made a plan to share the Gospel house to house in two teams. One team went to the north and another to the south. During a two day period, we shared with the people in at least 50 houses about Jesus Christ . We shared the Gospel with 85 adults and 4 children altogether . We faced a lot of difficulty sharing the Gospel house to house, because we could not find many people at home on the first day. We met some people in homes, some in fields, some on the roadside, some feeding their sheep, goats etc.\nW e experienced a lot. They need Christ in their lives. Where we shared, the people are many different races . I n one area the people allowed us to share the Gospel and listened it also, they were shaken their body while they were listening and said \u0026ldquo;Please leave here.\u0026rdquo; They could not hear it. They said that their God would be angry at them.\nIn another area, while we preached and shared the Gospel, one old man kept watching me. I thought why is this old man watching me over and over again? We went to him while he was sitting in the area for feeding animals. We asked him, have you heard about Jesus? He replied to us with his charming face and told us that he used to listen about Jesus on the radio. He got happy and said to us \u0026ldquo;Please give me the book.\u0026rdquo; We gave him the book (Bible).\nI asked him, \u0026ldquo;Can you read?\u0026rdquo; He said that he can. I invited him to come to the church plant. He told me that he cannot move well or walk to get to the church. I told Harka follow up with this old man and start a Bible study with him. I prayed with him. He became very happy and asked us to please come again and again.\nAnother day big amazing things happened. We shared the Gospel to those in each house. Among them was one house where we found the temple of a false god. The people trust that by worshiping this god their sicknesses will be removed. We shared the Gospel in that house to a false god devotee brother and his mom. We left a Gospel tract with them. After some time, while we were sharing the Gospel in each house, that brother started following us. We thought, \u0026ldquo;now we are in a trap\u0026rdquo; because this man is following us.\nWhile we went to 3 houses, the man continued to follow us and stopped his bike. He asked us \u0026ldquo;Can you tell me what you are sharing and giving tracts about? I want to listen to it.\u0026rdquo;\nWe became so fearful. We thought \u0026ldquo;This man is spying on us. He will take us to prison by claiming false things about us.\u0026rdquo; I gave let brother who is planting a church there share the Gospel with this man . He shared from the Bible from Genesis to Revelation for about 15 minutes.\nThe man told us, \u0026ldquo;Preach the knowledge, do not be afraid. I love to learn knowledge.\u0026rdquo; He asked us to share the Gospel to each person in his village. I also shared the Gospel of Christ with him through my testimony video. He accepted it and told me \u0026ldquo;I believe it.\u0026rdquo; He said that he will also plan to visit the church.\nThe man asked me two questions: 1.) He wondered how he could know if he will be able to go abroad? He has the desire to leave the country and earn money for a living. 2.) How can he be sure that he will not be shaken?\nWe just replied \u0026ldquo;Believe in Jesus and His amazing work.\u0026rdquo; Please pray for him. Please also pray that God will open the door to locked unreached people and houses. When we visited there, the total number of houses we found was 400. Pray for Harka to be able to do ministry there and to reach the unreached 400 homes.\nWe also shared in another place. For 3 days until night time, me and Mahima preached the Word of God in 32 houses altogether where there are many more people who are unsaved.\nNever in the history of that place has any person or church tried to preach open preaching in the crowded city of the Dang market place . For the first time, God gave me the grace to open preach there with help of one of our Bible college students. We had dances and singing. At the end, I proclaimed the Word of God, sharing the Gospel and challenging them to accept Jesus as their Savior.\nWe also visited an area where two of our students are studying in Bible school. That place was remote. Our students came and studied. We felt very blessed from them where no road, no electricity and no other facilities were.\nWe also celebrated Christmas Eve as well as Christmas day.\nThank you so much for sending us, praying for us and supporting us.\nGrace and Peace,\nPastor Rabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sharing-the-good-news/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026quot; \u003ca href=\"http://14.how/\"\u003eHow\u003c/a\u003e \u003cem\u003ethen shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnd how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!\u0026quot;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRomans 10:14-15 NKJV\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Proclaiming the Good News"},{"content":"Dear friends and family,\nThe busiest time of the year, or so they say. That was an understatement for the internship as we went into Christmas break. The beginning of the month was filled with anticipation for the season and for my girlfriend to come spend time with me on my birthday. I’m not much of a birthday celebration kind of a guy, but this one was a special one to say the least. As we spent the day together, I asked Lydia to marry me. She said yes!! I am filled with such joy and excitement for the Lord to grow us in preparation to be wed. The day was so perfect, the sun was shining and there were clear skies. Lydia always loves the sunlight glimmering through the trees. It reminds her of how the Lord brings life to things when the sun illuminates the dark leaves. Reminded of this image I chose to go to the Huntington Library. I found a perfect spot with the trees intertwined with one another and I popped the question.\nLater, Lydia and I had an opportunity to go Christmas caroling in Brea. It was such a fun time spreading the love of Christ through song. I took video that later turned into a short update the church produced about their evangelism ministry. During the event it was so cool that a few people from the street joined us to sing alongside. It kind of reminded me what the body of Christ is all about. We are all connected through Christ, and we are all called to show the love of Christ to all. Furthermore, it reminded me of the true meaning of why Christ came down to earth. It wasn’t because we needed to get more comfortable in our security of tremendous grace, it was for those who are lost.\nSomething that also transpired is I got my old job back at Starbucks again. Although I am still looking for another full-time job, I am so blessed to have a job that is flexible and has pretty good pay. I’ve started up conversations with my co-workers and am really praying for the opportunity and courage to share what God has done in my own life and what Jesus can do in theirs. For if I can’t do it in my backyard of the States, how could I do it on the field? My goal is to tell others of the full gospel message and I pray that the Lord would teach me to do it wherever I am.\nFinally, a new year is quickly approaching us. With that, it brings new opportunities. I am looking to go on a vision tour to Japan and I am going to need to raise $3,400 for a two-week trip. My purpose in going is to scope out the land seeing if it is truly a place the Lord is calling me to bring the gospel message to. During that time, I will be experiencing the culture firsthand and be working with a few missionaries already there, learning from them while also praying through the entire trip. If you aren’t able to give, I ask that you begin praying that the Lord would provide, and His will be revealed on the trip. So many things are happening this next month I can’t wait to share with you. The couple that my fiancé and I want to partner with are coming to California, and there is also a prayer and fasting week for our entire church. Stay tuned for more.\nThank you so much for partnering and praying alongside this amazing calling I have on my life. The opportunities that the Lord has given me is also your fruit as well. So once again you have my thanks!\nBlessings,\nGeoff\nPrayer Requests\nFor the new chapter in Lydia’s and my life. That God would lead us to where He wants us to go For the internship that I would grow in the Lord and learn the Scripture to give to others For the filling of the Holy Spirit Praise Reports\nI got a job Lydia said yes to my proposal I am gaining steam towards the trip to Japan ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-new-chapter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe busiest time of the year, or so they say. That was an understatement for the internship as we went into Christmas break. The beginning of the month was filled with anticipation for the season and for my girlfriend to come spend time with me on my birthday. I’m not much of a birthday celebration kind of a guy, but this one was a special one to say the least. As we spent the day together, I asked Lydia to marry me. She said yes!! I am filled with such joy and excitement for the Lord to grow us in preparation to be wed. The day was so perfect, the sun was shining and there were clear skies. Lydia always loves the sunlight glimmering through the trees. It reminds her of how the Lord brings life to things when the sun illuminates the dark leaves. Reminded of this image I chose to go to the Huntington Library. I found a perfect spot with the trees intertwined with one another and I popped the question.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A New Chapter"},{"content":"Hello. Jai Masih ki! (Praise the Lord!)\nI hope you are all doing well. Thank you for praying for me and for my ministry hear in the North. Thank you also for helping me through financial support. God bless you all.\nI hope you all had a great Christmas. We also celebrated Christmas out hear in the village. We invited people from all around and had a gathering in our new church building. We invited many people, but a lot of people did not come because now they are scared.\nOur state government made a law that no one can accept a different religion because they want to make our state a Hindu state. They fought a very long time to make this law and now they won. Now the government is making big posters about it. The Hindu people started rallying in the roads. They are saying that that Christians are bringing Christianity in, so the Hindus are all trying to stop the Gospel from soaring in our state.\nBecause of this, a many Christian brothers who we invited to our Christmas celebration did not come. Please continue to pray for my ministry here in the Northern mountain villages and pray that the believers may be strong in their faith. We had a great time with the young adults and children. They were so happy and did a dance. We gave them a gift. Thank you so much for the funds for the Christmas outreach. God bless you all\nWe invited some new young adults to the Christmas program. When I was sharing the Gospel they liked to hear it so much that they said \u0026ldquo;We are hearing the truth for the first time in our life. Thank you so much for telling us about Jesus.\u0026rdquo;\nThen I told them, \u0026ldquo;If you want, repent from your sins right now. God will forgive you and He will give you new life.\u0026rdquo;\nThey were so happy and said \u0026ldquo;We really want except Jesus in our lives.\u0026rdquo;\nThose brothers gave their lives to Jesus Christ. Please continue pray for these brothers. One of their names is Anand* and the other is Sunil*. Please continue to pray for these young people. God bless you all.\nI want thank you all who are praying for me and my ministry in the North. God bless you.\nPrayer Requests: Please continue to pray. We are living in the mountains. Now, in our state they are not allowing the Gospel. Please pray that God will open a door so that this anti-conversion law will soon be gone and that we will be able to share the Gospel in freedom. We started some home fellowships. Pray for these families. They are new in Christ, so please pray they will stay with their faith. Continue pray for those who are serving in the ministry here. A few days ago, a pastor got in trouble for working in one of the villages. He started a fellowship there and then the village people got angry. They tried to find out what mission the pastor is with. I also got a call from the police because they are finding out again where these things are happening. They want stop fellowships and churches. But we know that God is great. He can do anything. Pray that God will open their eyes so that they can see the truth. Please continue to pray for our ministry here and for the believers to stay strong in their faith Pray for our new building construction to be able to be finished soon. May God provide the funds for finishing the building work so that we can gather there for prayer for many activities. Pray for our safety when we share the Gospel. May God give us knowledge and wisdom so that many people can come in Christ. Continue to pray for village people who are priests. May God open their eyes so that they can come out from the darkness and see the light of the Gospel that can save their lives from sin. Thank you so much everyone who is praying for us. Thank you so much for your love in Christ. God bless you all. Thank you so much once again that you guys are helping us through ministry support and for your love.\nThank you so very much. God bless you all. Continue to pray for us.\n\nPastor 13*\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/hearing-the-truth-for-the-first-time/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello. Jai Masih ki! (Praise the Lord!)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you are all doing well. Thank you for praying for me and for my ministry hear in the North. Thank you also for helping me through financial support. God bless you all.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/IMG20221229151524.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/IMG20221229152745-300x175.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you all had a great Christmas. We also celebrated Christmas out hear in the village. We invited people from all around and had a gathering in our new church building. We invited many people, but a lot of people did not come because now they are scared.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hearing the Truth for the First Time"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nNovember has been a challenging month for me in the process of finding out what God has for me in regards to a church plant.\nI taught in a church for 3 to 4 months prior to the conference. To make the long story short, I am not willing to be part of it anymore. I have a couple of families who have come alongside me to start a new work for God. So, I started a Bible study in one of the believer\u0026rsquo;s houses. We are also visiting those who are sick and trying to comfort them with God\u0026rsquo;s Word and our presence in their houses.\nI never thought that being a pastor was this busy. I think that coordinating with people is a big thing. Everybody has a different mind set and everybody wants to be shown on stage. I am asking God to please help me in this. I am the youngest one here and am not married. I am trying to get everyone on the same page. It is so hard. But when it comes to the Word of God, my team is saying to me \u0026lsquo;You have preached so well, your explanation was so good and understandable.\u0026rsquo;\nThe Word of God is the weapon. I treasure your prayers during this church planting journey.\nPlease continue to pray for me and the ministry I am doing for God. My past experience, since graduating from Bible college, has been so different than this. I use to be a ministry worker at Bible colleges in several different places of the country. My ministry was investing the Word of God into students\u0026rsquo; lives, taking care of them while they were sick, and observing them on the campus learning new songs for worship and new languages. But now, I am dealing mostly with elders and with almost all age groups.\nMerry Christmas to you all. Someday I want to celebrate our Savior\u0026rsquo;s birthday with all of you!\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-teaches-my-hands-4/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/20221127%5F201716-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNovember has been a challenging month for me in the process of finding out what God has for me in regards to a church plant.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI taught in a church for 3 to 4 months prior to the conference. To make the long story short, I am not willing to be part of it anymore. I have a couple of families who have come alongside me to start a new work for God. So, I started a Bible study in one of the believer\u0026rsquo;s houses. We are also visiting those who are sick and trying to comfort them with God\u0026rsquo;s Word and our presence in their houses.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\u003cstrong\u003eHe Teaches My Hands\u003c/strong\u003e"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Supporters and Leaders,\nI thank God and all of you for your participation in spreading the good news of the birth of Jesus. Because of your prayers and support, we have been able to use a variety of methods and tools to spread the Gospel including:\nDistributing New Testaments Distributing Kids Comics that share about Jesus Distributing Biscuits Sharing the Gospel through Action Songs Showing the Jesus Film on a projector Sharing through worship songs Assembling together to pray for the healing of the sick Providing Christmas lunch This year, through our Christmas outreaches, the Lord Jesus Christ has also been born in the lives of rural, illiterate and religion-hungry people! I want to express my gratitude to God and to all of you. By your help and support and especially by your prayers, we have spread the Gospel to 6 new villages and some old villages as well. Some friends of mine and I distributed more than 500 New Testaments, and also comics that share about Jesus and biscuits to small children. We also showed the movie of the Lord Jesus Christ on a projector in 3 new villages.\nIn every village where we went with the Gospel, the people welcomed us very well. Some made us lunch and some made all of us supper. It swelled my heart to see people\u0026rsquo;s hearts open to hearing the Gospel. With your prayers and help, we will take the Gospel to villages that people may not even think of going to.\nThe Gospel reached people who did not know who Jesus Christ is. \u0026ldquo;Is this the name of an object? Or is it a person\u0026rsquo;s name? Or is it the name of the Lord?\u0026rdquo;\nThank God that the name of Jesus reached these ears for the first time and God changed hearts. About 20 more people received the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior! Praise God, one of them who accepted the Lord Jesus Christ was also baptized. By the grace of God we have also been invited to do weekly fellowship in 2 new villages!\nBlessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness because they will be satisfied! Let me tell you in detail about one of these outreaches in a new village where people were moved by the hunger and thirst to hear the Gospel. The name of this village is S*. It is about 25 km away from our house. When my team and I reached there, the people welcomed us very well. They gave us places to sit and took us to a nice place where around 200 to 300 people could sit.\nAs soon as we reached there, a brother from my team started singing in the microphone and playing the guitar. Many school children came. The adults from the whole village also came to see. We all sang Christmas carols and shared the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. We taught action songs to the children and distributed comics that share about Jesus to the children. We distributed New Testaments to the adults. Around 200 to 300 people including children came. After getting permission from the school teacher, we went to the school class and taught action songs to the children. We also showed the Jesus movie on a laptop. At the end, we distributed biscuits to the children. Afterward, the people of the village prepared lunch for all of us. There were 10 of us, and they fed all of us well. 5 new people accepted Jesus Christ. They invited us to do weekly worship in their village. All of this was possible by the grace of God and your prayers.\nSpiritual and worldly food for 400 people! I thank God that, like every year, this year God helped us when we went to new villages to do outreach, evangelism, Bible distribution, and healing meetings. We invited people from each place to come to our church. We also told them that they could bring their relatives and friends.\nLast year on December 25th, the news media came to our Christmas lunch because of the huge crowd. So this year we had our Christmas lunch on December 20th so that the people who are anti-Christian and the media would not know about it. Glory be to God, everything went well this year. Around 400 people and children came, participated in the worship, heard the Gospel of God, saw the dances by the Sunday school children of our church, saw a lot of activities, and finally went home after having lunch. It took almost 3 hours to feed the people due to the huge crowd. Many new people promised that they will continue come to Sunday services to come to know God deeply.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray that those who have heard the Word may one day receive the Lord. Please pray. On December 27th, all of the local churches are doing a Christmas program together. Arrangements have also been made for dance, drama and song competition. God may bring revival among the youth. I have been given the chance to lead this program, please pray that I lead it well. A youth meeting is being organized to take place on January 9th. Almost all of the youth of the church plan to come. Last time, about 150 people came. This time more people are expected than that. Pray that God will bless every one, provide the finances, and give wisdom to all of us so that we can organize this meeting well. Pray for our country. Persecution is increasing every day. Please pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health. Please pray for my marriage. My family and I want me to be married in February. May God fulfill our every need. Thanks again for your partnership in the Gospel!\nGod bless you!\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/world-changing-outreach/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Supporters and Leaders,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Jan-2023-1-300x158.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God and all of you for your participation in spreading the good news of the birth of Jesus. Because of your prayers and support, we have been able to use a variety of methods and tools to spread the Gospel including:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDistributing New Testaments\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDistributing Kids Comics that share about Jesus\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eDistributing Biscuits\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSharing the Gospel through Action Songs\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShowing the Jesus Film on a projector\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSharing through worship songs\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eAssembling together to pray for the healing of the sick\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eProviding Christmas lunch\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Jan-2023-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch4 id=\"this-year-through-our-christmas-outreaches-the-lord-jesus-christ-has-also-been-born-in-the-lives-of-rural-illiterate-and-religion-hungry-people\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis year, through our Christmas outreaches, the Lord Jesus Christ has also been born in the lives of rural, illiterate and religion-hungry people!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Jan-2023-4-300x174.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI want to express my gratitude to God and to all of you. By your help and support and especially by your prayers, we have spread the Gospel to 6 new villages and some old villages as well. Some friends of mine and I distributed more than 500 New Testaments, and also comics that share about Jesus and biscuits to small children. We also showed the movie of the Lord Jesus Christ on a projector in 3 new villages.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"World Changing Outreach!"},{"content":" AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nHAPPY NEW YEAR!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for the holiday season as crime is very high right now.\n2. Pray for the Kanyikes as they are stilll dealing with the aftermath of their robbery.\n3. Pray for the guest house as it is very busy right now. Pray for the Kanyikes to be able to host and manage everything they are doing well.\n4. The Kanyikes are taking care of some other children, 3 of them, through out the holidays. Pray for all the children to get along and be blessed.\n5. With the holidays approaching, pray for the ministry opportunities the Kanyikes and Arise Christian Fellowship have .\n6. Continue to pray for Jill and the children as they homeschool, especially Liana.\n7. Pray for the Kanyikes to hear from immigration in the USA for the children\u0026rsquo;s citizenship.\n8. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and the people of Uganda\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached,\nRob Douglass - Email Blog\neote.org\nNORTH AMERICA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California, USA\nPraise God:\n-Andy showed up for a few days after thanksgiving.\n-Jenn and I celebrated three years of marriage November 23\n-Praise God for this time of the year where everyone is a little more open to hearing about our Savior Jesus Christ\nPlease Pray:\n1. For divine appointments during this holiday season to introduce people to our Lord Jesus\n2. For financial support to help with Jenn\u0026rsquo;s trip to India\n3. For Andy to show back up at Christmas time\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n1. Church (and me) are being sued by someone trying to steal one of our parking lots, and it looks like the case is going to trial. Please pray for protection and justice to prevail.\n2. That God would bless our Christmas outreach events and services.\n3. That God would bless our upcoming sending weekend when we send out church planters Brian and Brittany De La Cruz to plant outside of Mexico City!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nJon and Allison Brechtel - Oaxaca, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n1. Church (and me) are being sued by someone trying to steal one of our parking lots, and it looks like the case is going to trial. Please pray for protection and justice to prevail.\n2. That God would bless our Christmas outreach events and services.\n3. That God would bless our upcoming sending weekend when we send out church planters Brian and Brittany De La Cruz to plant outside of Mexico City!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Tijuana, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n1. Growth in personal and corporate holiness\n2. Thanksgiving for the miracle of restoration in my eldest son!\n3. For the Holy Spirit’s guidance in matters involving church discipline\n4. Church planting class involvement and teaching; for growth of students\n5. For God to show us who to disciple\n6. NewLife rehab Clinic weekly Bible study; for the patients to be saved\n7. Much wisdom for helping the needy\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian – Email Blog\nBond, Heather Gaona - S. Asia and USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for multiple scouting trips in Nepal to visit several areas where our students come from to see about future church plants.\n2. Pray for Christmas Outreaches throughout S. Asia. They will happen from mid-December through Christmas. There will be 20+ locations and inviting unbelievers to come and hear the Christmas story and the Gospel and share a meal at some of the locations. Pray for a time of salvation.\n3. Pray for the new students being recruited for the CBI campuses in S. Asia for the coming semester that will start in late January / February.\nBlessings and many thanks,\nBond, Heather and Breanna – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for those in the nursing home ministry I am a part of; that God will encourage the residents and be near to them.\n2. Please continue to pray for my parents’ health.\n3. Please pray for the safety of all the workers in South Asia.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for God to lead me, as I am seeking more opportunities for evangelism. Praise God He has given me a new opportunity with children’s ministry!\n2. Please continue to pray for my Dad\u0026rsquo;s health and for the doctors to have wisdom. He has some upcoming appointments in January that we hope will help to find the cause and treatment.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nUrgent Prayer:\n1. Put Peru on your prayer chains, we are in a state of emergency! They impeached the president two weeks ago for firing the congress and trying to be a dictator and the vice president assumes the office, so the people don\u0026rsquo;t want the same political party and want new elections, but they are rioting and looting in the stores, burning down factories! We are safe in Huacho, and a ways away from Lima, but they shut down all main highways, public transportation and schools for the rest if the week! They are talking about Marshall law if it continues, and the curfew will go into place and shut down public meetings!\n2. Pray for Stalyn as he goes to CCBC Cajamarca January 3rd.\nThank you from our hearts,\nDaisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for wisdom, provision, and open doors for our upcoming trip to the USA next summer. We haven\u0026rsquo;t been able to visit since 2019.\n2. Please pray for our new partnerships and ministries to Cambodians and expats in Cambodia. We need a lot of wisdom and grace.\n3. Please pray for our long-term ministries to continue to flourish for example, my apologetics/evangelistic video ministry has slowed down a lot since COVID ended for various reasons beyond my control. Please pray for wisdom.\n4. Please pray for wisdom and provision for our finances during this globally uncertain time.\nThanks!\nGod Bless!\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n- I thank God that Nepal took me safely and brought me back.\n- I thank God and you people that now my mother\u0026rsquo;s health is slightly better than before.\n- Thank God that we and my church family are being kept safe.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my complete recovery.\n2. Please pray that in December about 6 old villages and 5 new villages are trying to spread the gospel. May God protect us all and fulfill all financial needs.\n3. Pray that 500 New Testaments are needed for Christmas outreach. God help us to remedy this.\n4. Pray that every requirement is fulfilled for my marriage and if God willing it can happen in February.\n5. Pray Friday Bible Study there are many illiterate people may God help them to understand better.\n6. Pray for my marriage.\nI appreciate your prayers and Christian love.\n\nGod bless you,\n11\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for the furtherance of the Gospel this Christmas season\n2. Please pray for my children that they may grow in Lord’s Fear and knowledge.\n3. Please Pray for the Bible College Student and Their Studies.\n4. Please pray for my State as Persecution is increasing day by day.\n5. Please pray for Church Believers that they may grow in Lord.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n16 and family\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise God:\n-Thank you, prayer warrior for praying for us. It was awesome—our conference last month was so blessed and wonderful. We were able to see so many friends and have fellowship with them.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for our students, as they are in their villages serving the Lord; God may use them powerfully in their communities.\n3. Please pray as we will be traveling to west Nepal as some of our student want to start a church there in the days ahead.\n4. Please pray as we are going to be doing a conference and some outreach in west Nepal.\n5. Please pray for safe travel, as we will be traveling to our last student’s area to see the area, visit and pray with them.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPraise God:\nBy God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers. For this month I would like to share some of the prayer concerns.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Do continue to pray for the completion of our house construction. God may provide all our needs.\n2. Do continue to pray for the growth and need of our local Church.\n3. Do continue to pray for our CCBI students and staff for their sound health and smooth functioning of our college.\n4. Kindly pray for me and my family, may Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\n5. Please pray for Catholic families in our church, that God may change them completely.\nThank you so very much for your prayers!\nGod bless you.\n3 and Family\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise God:\n-Praise God for granting so many opportunities to share the Gospel during this Christmas season!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for all those who have heard the Gospel.\n2. We still have some more places to share the Gospel, please pray for that as well and God would draw people to His Kingdom.\nThank for your prayers!\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna – Email Blog\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please continue to pray that our church believers would grow in the Word of God. Please pray that they would see the real depths of love that God has for them from the ages.\n2. Also, please continue to pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health. May God heal her lungs completely. Please continue to pray for her respiratory system.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n7\nWorker 12 - 1040 Window\nI am going good by God\u0026rsquo;s Grace. Thank you for your precious prayers!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray also for our weekly Bible study. May all of the people who come to our Bible study understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word better and grow more in God. Also pray that more people can join this Bible study.\n2. Also pray for our Sunday church. Pray that new people are able to come to our church and listen to the Gospel so that they can be saved. Please also pray that the people who are being persecuted in the churches in our country today be strong in their faith and stand up for God.\n3. Pray also for the new families of those who have come to faith, understand God\u0026rsquo;s Words better and grow more in God.\n4. Pray also for our prison ministry. For a long time, we have been preaching the Gospel among the inmates in prison. We are getting very good results there. Many people have started reading the Bible. Pray that more and more prisoners give their lives to the Lord.\n5.Please pray for my health. May God keep me well. One side of my waist has been hurting a lot for a long time. I have seen many doctors and also had an ultrasound and x-ray but the report came back normal. The doctor has said that I should have an M.R.I. done, which is very expensive here. Pray that God makes arrangements and remedies for me, because my back pain has increased a lot. Pray that God makes everything good.\n6. Please pray. We need some bookshelves for church. We also need some mats for sitting on for Sunday church. Pray that God can provide all of these needs of the church, so that God may be glorified through them.\n7. I want to put a new battery in my motor bike because it is very old and the bike does not start sometimes. Because of this, I have a lot of trouble starting it. I also need to change the tires because they are also very old. Please pray that God will take care of all of these things, so that I can go back safely to the places I visit, which are far away from where I live.\nThank you so much,\n12\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for the outreaches we are doing in a certain area (D).\n2. Pray that many more people will come to Jesus through our sharing of the Gospel.\n3. Pray that I can proclaim the Name of Jesus in the midst of people in the city area of (D), by openly preaching. Pray they will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.\n4. Pray for our safe journey and for our ministry to be fruitful.\n5. Pray that many will be saved through the New Year\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and finances.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our ministry in the New Year.\n2. Please pray for all of our safety, as there are many accidents happening on the roads.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give my wife, V, good health.\n4. Please pray for God’s protection as the radicals are targeting Christians in our area.\n5. May the Lord help us to be humble in our hearts and follow His footsteps in everything that we do\nThank you for your prayers!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for those who hear the Gospel through the upcoming year.\n2. Please pray that I may continue to grow in Him and in His knowledge and be used by God.\n3. Pray for my health, as I have been on medication for the last few months for allergies, as I am still trying to figure out what I am allergic to.\n4. Please pray for the Calvary Bible Institute students, that they would be equipped for the work of the Gospel.\n5. Please pray for the youth and school children to whom I am ministering, that they would stand for God and be the light in the darkness around them.\n6. Please pray a certain brother and the believers in his church, that they would continue to grow spiritually and stand firm in their faith as they are going through persecution.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\n9\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nHappy New Year!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please continue to pray for our ministry here in the mountain area.\n2. Please pray for the villages here, that God will open more doors for us to share His Word with them.\n3. It is not easy to share God’s Word here in the district that we live in. Please continue to pray that God will change the people’s hearts here.\n4. Please pray for our believers here; that they will grow in God’s Word and stay strong.\n5. Please pray for my family and my needs; may God provide them.\nThank you so much everyone for your love in Christ! God bless you!\nGod bless you,\n13\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n-Praise God that He has helped all the graduates successfully finish the training.\n-Praise God for providing a new vehicle for the ministry, which will help in the expansion of the Kingdom of God.\n- Praise God for providing a house to have worship service in a certain area we work in.\n- Praise God for His faithfulness for every need which is met, every prayer which has been answered, and pouring out His grace to continue this work for the whole year.\n-A sister, A, who has been attending our fellowship was going through a financial crisis. Ever since, she started to grow in the Word, the Lord was ministering to her heart, and a new house has been sanctioned for them by the grace of God. Seeing her grow in God, her unbelieving husband started to physically abuse her. Please be praying that God will open her husband’s heart for the Gospel.\n-Thank God for healing sister M, who has been suffering with PCOD. Please be praying as she is barren, and may our God open her womb.\n-Praise God that He opened doors for the kids to be enrolled in a nearby school (since they were all illiterate), and may they continue to lead their lives with good education.\n-During covid lockdown, one family has been badly affected. All of the family members were ill, and as our brother P ministered to that family, they have been healed and now know the greatness of our God who rejoices in showing mercy to the merciless. Praise the Lord!\nChurch Prayer Requests:\n1. Although we have been blessed with an old house to run the service in, there is still need of electricity to continue the service. Please pray that God will meet this need, so that we are able to worship Him without any interruption.\n2. Please be praying that God will provide needs for that church, such as 15 chairs, etc.\n3. Please be praying for a family in “T”, that God will open a door to start a Bible study with a family, and then use that family to reach the people in the community.\n4. Pray for “P”\u0026rsquo;s spiritual life, that he will be faithful to the Lord and His Word.\n5. Please pray for”P”’s family, brothers, sisters and brother-in-laws’ salvation, and that God would bring them to Christ.\n6. Pray for our safe travels for Gospel outreaches.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\n6\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray the New Year\n2. We have found the opportunity to share with others about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n3. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n4. Please pray for our health and safety.\n5. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nHappy New Year!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for my community to know the difference from the Truth and the false teachings\n2. Our church believers to grow in their faith\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\n5. Please pray for my family and me, that we will remain healthy.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for my ministry, that God will give me wisdom and understanding.\n2. Pray for my family, that they will grow in the Word of God.\n3. Pray for my church members, that each one may grow in the Lord.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nBlessings,\n2\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray that the Lord will speak to the hearts of many through ourteaching.\n2. Please pray for safety as I travel over two thousand miles to share the Word in different places.\n3. We are expecting to make the purchase of the sound equipment this month. It has been out of stock for the past few months. We are hoping that it will be available this month.\n4. Please pray that the Lord will provide a partner for me, as I am getting older.\nThank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ,\n4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray that my wife and I will be a good example while ministering here.\n2. Pray for our church building.\n3. Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance in our lives.\n4. Pray that new believers will be added to our church.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nThanks be to the Lord that God has kept you and us together, and thanks be to the Lord who blesses each and every one of us and saves us from every danger! Thank you also to those who continuously pray for us!\nPlease Pray:\n1. First of all, pray for the villages in our area, where some people are against the people of God; pray for God to change their hearts.\n2. Pray for the leaders here who are members of the anti-Christian party, who do not want the kingdom of God to come. Pray for those leaders, that God will change their hearts.\n3. Pray for the believers of my church, that they will be strong in the Word.\n4. Pray for my life, that God opens new doors for me so that I can share the gospel of God to all of the people in my area.\n5. The government has a record of our mobile phone number to keep an eye on us because of our Christianity. Pray that God will help us and will bring those who belong to the anti-Christian government group into faith.\n6. Pray for the believers in my village who are students; pray that they can change their lives with the blessings of God.\n7. Pray for my mom who had surgery. She is now taking liver medicine; pray for her to get well soon.\n8. Pray for some of our believers who want to publicly show their faith in Christ; pray that God will prepare them completely.\n9. Pray for our region, that God will change the hearts of all the people here and walk in God’s path.\n10, Pray for my brother who has exams in December; that his exams will go well with God’s blessings.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you\n10\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for God to open the hearts of those who hear the Gospel during the New Year.\n2. Please pray that we will find a permanent home to live in and use as a church building. We are still in a rented house.\n3. Please pray for brother R; he is a good and strong believer and is applying for a good job. Pray that he will get it.\n4. Please pray for sister P and her husband and two children. Both of her children have developmental problems. May God completely deliver that family.\n5. Please pray for the persecution in this area, and for all of the churches.\n6. Please pray that my ministry will be fruitful and that I will be a faithful servant in God’s vineyard.\n7. Please pray for my family.\n8. Kindly pray for my parents and extended family; they are still in the world. May God call them to Himself.\nOnce again, I would like to thank you for your valuable prayers and support!\nMay God bless you,\n8 and Family\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping\n\u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time.\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-jan-prayer-update-3/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/kanyike-prayer-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHAPPY NEW YEAR!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease Pray:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Pray for the holiday season as crime is very high right now.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. Pray for the Kanyikes as they are stilll dealing with the aftermath of their robbery.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. Pray for the guest house as it is very busy right now. Pray for the Kanyikes to be able to host and manage everything they are doing well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JAN PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" I thank God for His plans in my life. He is constantly using me for His glory. Since we have rented a new house, many new people have started coming to the fellowship. Now we are not only worshiping together on Sundays, but also on other days people come and fellowship.\nWe are praying that in the future we will also be able to start a Bible study school. So that the local believers can share Gospel with their own people, we have started having Bible study three days a week. I am praying that God will give us people in this ministry who will give themselves for the Gospel of God. Some people already help me a lot in this ministry. By your prayers, God is doing a very good work through us here.\nI evangelize not only in this city, but also in other districts. Many people listen to God\u0026rsquo;s Word and many also despise it. The so-called \u0026ldquo;religious freedom law\u0026rdquo; has come into effect in our state. The government has strengthened the law even more. For example: If a person gives a gift to someone, and then someone complains to the police that the person was trying to convert someone to Christianity through the gift. If the person who gave the gift is found guilty, they would go to prison for up to 10 years. Day by day the Gospel in our state is getting harder to share, but I thank God that many people are coming to God even during this difficulty.\nWe are making new plans so that we can reach many people with the Gospel. We are preparing people from the church. We have an hour long Bible study every evening. Though this study, many people are being blessed. Many basic Bible teachings are being taught to them book-by-book.\nI met some Christian social workers. They invited me to come with them to the prison and teach there. When I went there for the first time, I was very scared. People become very fearless after going to jail and it is very difficult to talk to them. But we teach them different games every time so that they concentrate better. I also teach them Christian songs. There are many people who are also trapped in being convicted wrongly and live in despair. We have a wonderful opportunity to encourage them with the voice of God and pray with them. Because of this, there are many prisoners who have started reading the Bible. We cannot take our phones in the jail, so we do not have any photos inside.\nPrayer Requests: Pray for more people to join our Bible study and be blessed by it. Pray for the new people who come to the faith to grow in the Word of God and know deeply about the their Savior. Pray for our country. May God give the leaders here wisdom and knowledge so that everyone can know that He has salvation. Pray also for our prison ministry. May the inmates come to know the Lord better and dedicate their lives to Him. Also pray for the jailer\u0026rsquo;s heart to change so that he may know God too. Pray for the ministry here and also for all of the needs of the church. May God fulfill them so we can be more powerful witnesses for Him. Thank you,\nPastor 12*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/for-gods-glory/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IMG20221204131321-300x196.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God for His plans in my life. He is constantly using me for His glory. Since we have rented a new house, many new people have started coming to the fellowship. Now we are not only worshiping together on Sundays, but also on other days people come and fellowship.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are praying that in the future we will also be able to start a Bible study school. So that the local believers can share Gospel with their own people, we have started having Bible study three days a week. I am praying that God will give us people in this ministry who will give themselves for the Gospel of God. Some people already help me a lot in this ministry. By your prayers, God is doing a very good work through us here.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"For God's Glory"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family,\nLoving greetings in Jesus name. Many things have changed for us over here. The things that we see in the Bible in regards to what Jesus said to His disciples according to Matthew 10:16 and 17. Many have made schemes and tried to pull us in front of councils, however according to the verses, He has been enabling us at the hour to speak by the power of the Holy Spirit and things are changing. It looks like the book of Acts is being played out again. In the midst of all the opposition, God has made a way for us to go ahead and share the Gospel.\nA few opportunities in which I was privileged to share the Word in the month of November:\nA friend of mine invited me to go with him to a worship concert. I accompanied him and the leader asked me to share the Word the following day. Many people were convicted and surrendered their lives. The worship teams rededicated their lives to the Lord. Praise be to God alone!\nThe 14th of November is celebrated as Children\u0026rsquo;s Day. The day before that, I was invited to a mainline central church to share the Word. At the time of the alter call, people made a commitment to the Lord. Even the pastors stood up. After the service, the pastors said, \u0026ldquo;This is what we need for our organization\u0026rdquo;. Later they started to recommend me to different pastors. Now I am getting more opportunities to share at different churches as well as different events. Praise be to God alone!\nOn the 17th I went to one of the largest Christian gatherings in Asia. It was a Methodist center, where over a million people had gathered. This year marked the 100th year since it started. I was in the crowd, some people went near to the stage and spoke to the Bishop and the superintendents and all of a sudden I heard my name being announced. They wanted me to lead worship. In the past hundred years there had never been a time of worship. This was an opportunity that God gave me to glorify His name.\nThis was the place where my parents met for the first time after their parents had arranged their marriage together. My mothers father was one of the pioneer missionaries who stood with the people who started these meetings. My mother took care of the missionary who started them until his last breath. I was named after this missionary. Now I was privileged to lead worship. What an opportunity the Lord gave me to glorify His name!\nFive years ago on the 22nd of November, my grandma went to be with the Lord. We arranged a open air meeting and gathered people in her honor. Anyone is welcome to come and hear the Word. The Lord brought many people and we were able to share the Gospel.\nI was privileged to do much more. However, I thought to keep things short and hence have mentioned a few. I hope you are blessed. Thank you all for your earnest prayers and passion towards the Lord\u0026rsquo;s work. God bless!\nYours in Christ,\nPastor 4\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praise-be-to-god-alone/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLoving greetings in Jesus name. Many things have changed for us over here. The things that we see in the Bible in regards to what Jesus said to His disciples according to Matthew 10:16 and 17. Many have made schemes and tried to pull us in front of councils, however according to the verses, He has been enabling us at the hour to speak by the power of the Holy Spirit and things are changing. It looks like the book of Acts is being played out again. In the midst of all the opposition, God has made a way for us to go ahead and share the Gospel.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praise Be to God Alone"},{"content":"Jai Masih ki (Praise the Lord),\nI thank God who has kept me safe and blessed me.\nIn August 2021, my younger sister got really sick. She had severe pain in her stomach. She was sick for about 5 months. By last December she was doing better. Then this April she got sick again. We went to many different hospitals for her treatment. They could not find out what was wrong with her. All her test reports came back normal.\nShe was admitted in the hospital for many months. In May she died. This shook us all. We went through so much pain and emotional and mental suffering. She was married and has a son who is 4 years old.\nI have three more sisters. Two of them are older than me and one is the youngest. I loved the sister who died. I was the only one who took her to doctors. She lived with us since she got sick. Thanks to our Lord who gave us His peace to overcome this pain.\nRight now, in my church I am teaching from Corinthians. In my personal devotions I am studying form the book of Romans.\nGod opened a new door to a family in my own village. I noticed a man named Hari. He always looked depressed. When I asked some of the villagers about it, they told me that he is always downhearted because his family is going though a hard time. He is always worrying about it.\nWhenever I saw him, I always would pray in my heart for him and that God would give me an opportunity to share the Gospel with him. One day, I was working on my farm and this brother came to me. We started talking. Then, he started sharing about himself. I told him that I would pray for him right there and I prayed for him. The next day when I saw him, I asked him how he was doing. He told me that he was doing good now. Then I shared the Gospel with him. He told me that this is all new for him. He used to think that church is just a place where people who are facing problems go, so that the pastor can pray for them.\nPrayer Requests: Pray for my ministry. May God give me wisdom and understanding.\nPray for my family. May they grow in the Word of God.\nPray for each of my church members to grow in the Lord.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 2*\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gods-peace-overcomes-the-pain/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJai Masih ki (Praise the Lord),\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God who has kept me safe and blessed me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn August 2021, my younger sister got really sick. She had severe pain in her stomach. She was sick for about 5 months. By last December she was doing better. Then this April she got sick again. We went to many different hospitals for her treatment. They could not find out what was wrong with her. All her test reports came back normal.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\u003cstrong\u003eGod's Peace Overcomes the Pain\u003c/strong\u003e"},{"content":"Dear Sponsors,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nJehovah Jireh “The Lord will Provide”. Definitely, God is our provider. As a family, we experience this every single day. We thank the Lord for His favor in our lives. At the same time, we acknowledge our ministry partners who are sacrificially praying for and supporting our ministry. We uphold each and every one of you in our daily prayers and thoughts. Once again, thank you everyone for your partnership in the ministry.\nWe have set aside time for learning God’s Word. It penetrates our hearts and minds, and helps us walk with Jesus in our daily lives.\nLast month, my wife took her students to a nursing home. She got the opportunity to share about the love of Jesus there and pray for the residents.\nAlso, as a Calvary Chapel family, we hosted an awareness program at a government school. It was wonderful time to motivate and encourage the children.\nThis semester I am teaching book of Ezra and Nehemiah to the CBI students. At the same time, every Saturday, I take the students for home visitation as part of their practical training.\nPrayer Requests: My sister-in-law has depended on an artificial cardiac pacemaker for 8 years. In January she is going to have an operation to replace her device. Please pray that the operation is successful. Please pray for sister Lilly. She is 5 months pregnant, but she is not getting any cooperation/needed support from her in-laws/family. Please pray for our Christmas outreach to be successful. Please continue to pray for the completion of our house construction. May God provide all of our needs. Continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church. Continue to pray for our CBI students and staff to have good health and for smooth functioning of the Institute. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n\\* Names and Faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-our-provider/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Sponsors,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJehovah Jireh \u003cem\u003e“The Lord will Provide”.\u003c/em\u003e Definitely, God is our provider. As a family, we experience this every single day. We thank the Lord for His favor in our lives. At the same time, we acknowledge our ministry partners who are sacrificially praying for and supporting our ministry. We uphold each and every one of you in our daily prayers and thoughts. Once again, thank you everyone for your partnership in the ministry.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Our Provider"},{"content":" \u0026ldquo;And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.\u0026rdquo;\n-Hebrews 11:6\nIt fills my heart with awe and joy to realize that God wants to be with me. How wonderful that God wants to bless me for simply believing that He wants me nearer. God smiles down when I smile up! These truths and many more touched us as our school studied through the book of Hebrews in November. As always, our leaders gathered for one week to dwell on our text and prepare ourselves for the two consecutive cohorts of church leaders that gathered the next two weeks. And as always God blessed our time together with growth in the grace and knowledge of Him. Sometimes I can’t believe that God has set me apart as a teacher of His Word and a Shepherd of His flock, we are blessed to serve Him.\nGod also gave us great opportunities to spread the Gospel during the month of November. First each of our classes studied door-to-door evangelism alongside the book of Hebrews and then went out to apply what they learned. Through that God saw fit to add more than 30 souls to our family! And secondly our soccer ministry “Yalwak Manyen Sports Academy” (New Generation) hosted a village wide youth tournament that had more than 3,000 people in attendance hear the Gospel, many of whom confessed Christ! We are so excited to continue watching God grow that ministry.\nWith Love, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-november-update-3/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/20221113%5F102156%5F2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-Hebrews 11:6\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt fills my heart with awe and joy to realize that God wants to be with me. How wonderful that God wants to bless me for simply believing that He wants me nearer. God smiles down when I smile up! These truths and many more touched us as our school studied through the book of Hebrews in November. As always, our leaders gathered for one week to dwell on our text and prepare ourselves for the two consecutive cohorts of church leaders that gathered the next two weeks. And as always God blessed our time together with growth in the grace and knowledge of Him. Sometimes I can’t believe that God has set me apart as a teacher of His Word and a Shepherd of His flock, we are blessed to serve Him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family November Update"},{"content":"Hello Dear Family,\nMerry Christmas to you all. Yes, God has been doing a great work in us and through us to reach out to the lost. I thank you for your prayers and support.\nDuring the Christmas season, we have a great opportunity to reach out to people and show the love of Christ. We are planning to have Gospel outreaches in 5 different locations. Two in the city, 2 in villages, and 1 in a tribal area. Pray that those who listen will see Christ and experience His love. We are going to preach the Gospel to them.\nAs I was meditating on the Word of God and thinking about reaching out to the lost, God reminded me of this verse: “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the Gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God”. Only the true Gospel of Christ has power to unveil the minds of unbelievers and open their eyes. So, we are going to take the Gospel to the places where Satan has been enthroned. Our schedule starts on December 7th and lasts until December 25th. We will be travelling to many different places and many different districts. Almost 20 different districts! Please pray for our travels. We are very thankful for a vehicle that God has provided. We have been praying for 3 years for a vehicle. God amazingly provided it in His timing! We are praising God for His provision.\nBible Institute Student Outreach During School Break God works in many amazing ways. It is with that assurance and faith that we started work in a village nearby. I mentioned this village in my previous newsletter. There is hostility and strong enmity towards the Gospel in this village. God, in His plan, once again led us to this village, after the semester was over.\nBefore entering the village, we prayed over the village, proclaimed God’s authority and cried out for God’s protection. As soon as we entered the village, we followed the example of the Lord’s ministry by going two-by-two in every direction of the village. The Lord, in His grace, opened up the hearts of a few. Those few accepted the Gospel and invited us to visit their homes. We all evangelized in the village for 4 hours. When all of us except for two, had arrived to our meeting place, the news had already spread all over the village that Christians were in the village proclaiming the Gospel. Many of the people gathered together and were plotting to confront us. As the final two, were about to reach our meeting point, people ran behind our brothers to confront them. But our brothers outran them and reached the meeting place. From there, we all could drive away from that village. After we went a short distance, we stopped by at a temple. We sat there and again prayed for the village. God, revealed to us while we prayed that the enemy is enthroned in that village, but God who is far greater than the enemy, is going to topple down the same enemy from the throne and going to rule over the hearts of the people in the village. Then, we had to take another route to exit the village than the usual route.\nPark Evangelism: The next day, we went to a park nearby. We followed the same method of evangelizing, two-by-two, in the park. All of us, shared the Gospel with many of the people. At the end, one of our brothers, did open-air preaching in the park where many got to hear the Word of God. We pray that the seeds which were sown, will bear fruit in due time for His glory.\nHospital Ministry: The very next day, we went to the largest hospital in our city. There we prayed, helped, and served the patients. We took a hold of every opportunity to share the love of Jesus to the patients who are unloved, hopeless and homeless.\nPrayer Walk: We serve and do ministry in the city. We were also led to walk for over 22 miles in the city and pray over the houses and communities here. We evangelized all the way. We were filled with hope and faith that God would one day bring each and every one to the knowledge of His son, Jesus Christ.\nFood Distribution: The final day, we prepared dinner, and made packages of the food to distribute to those without food and to the homeless. We were not only prepared to give food, but also to share love of Jesus by sharing the Gospel.\nCalvary Bible Institute Update God, in His rich mercies, helped all of our staff and students successfully complete this semester. It is a sheer joy to see the students mature and grow in the grace and knowledge of our Savior. Fervent zeal to reach the lost has been manifest in all of the students. The staff are also being prepared for the harvest which is to come through this labor. Each and every teaching, every book, every session so magnified the truth in God’s Scripture that all of us here are day-by-day being made complete for every good work and also be called as men of God to faithfully and rightly divide the Word of Truth.\nWhat we especially feel blessed about at the Institute is the fellowship that the students have. The fellowship they have with God through their diligent study of the Word and continuous prayer life, and also their fellowship with one another as they are getting to know each other and love one another. A wide range of Biblical teachings from the Old Testament and New Testament are being helpful for all of us to be well acquainted with the whole counsel of God. It is with great anticipation we cry unto the God of the harvest to send more workers for our fields, where there is an unprecedented lack of Biblical knowledge.\nPastors\u0026rsquo; Conference \u0026ldquo;God’s Grace\u0026rdquo;\u0026ndash;this is the reply given by all of our students when we asked them for feedback about the pastors conference in a nearby country. It has been a dream-come-true moment for us to be able to comprehend the meaning for the words: \u0026ldquo;No man has ever seen or no man has ever heard for the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.\u0026rdquo; Some of our students never even imagined in their dreams that God would cause them to set foot in a different country. The teachings by visiting pastors, meeting the body of Christ in the nearby country, eating the country\u0026rsquo;s pork meat, having fellowship with one another, experiencing the unusual cold weather\u0026ndash; the list goes on and on. Brethren, nothing is in vain. Each and every little detail God has prepared serves a purpose. We believe that it is just the beginning of our lifetime mission to see every nation, every tribe and every tongue worship the One true God.\nWhile we were staying there, we saw co-workers from different parts of the world. Our brothers felt great comfort in their hearts\u0026ndash;knowing that they are not alone in this battle which we wage with unseen principalities and the power of this world. The truth which was proclaimed in the teachings has enabled all of us to keep running the race and pressing towards the mark and reach unto those things which are in the future. Even though our nations, languages, cultures, and traditions vary so much, Christ is whom we all have in common. We are all made one in Him, who has given Himself a ransom for whomsoever believes in Him.\nGraduation Seven students recently graduated during the conference. We rejoice at their devotion and commitment to Christ. They firmly believed that a good work has been started by God within them, and that it is He who will bring a glorious end to that good work which He began. We are filled with hope to see the fruit in the coming days and that this little flock will be faithful to the Lord and bring in more souls for the expansion of Kingdom of God.\nOur brothers are going to be spread in different directions all over in 2 different states in this coming season. All of the things, which God has taught them while they were in the Bible Institute will be used as they are in field. Especially the effects of false teachings that have been ransacking the lives of the sheep in the states. The work, now for our brothers will be to teach the sheep at a higher level the truth revealed in the divine scriptures in their houses, villages and cities. We expect great things and also do great things because we serve a God who is great. Though the seed which has been sown in our hearts is small, we believe our God will bring increase in due time and that the fruit in both the states would be unfathomably more.\nYouth Bible Study Youth at our Calvary Chapel church plant are another set of wonderful souls, that God has bestowed to us. The eagerness and earnest desire to ponder on the Word of God has been steadily increasing in their souls. As of now, they are being taught from the Gospel of Mark by brother A*. A few of the youth have already started to minister in word and deed in a nearby old-age home. They are also using every opportunity to bear witness for the Word of God and testimony of Lord Jesus Christ. We are praying and preparing our minds and hearts to do more evangelism in our communities in the coming year and to let ourselves shine and do good works for the Glory of the Father, who is in heaven.\nMore evangelism that is going on includes: street witnessing, track distribution, park evangelism, prayer walks, in-home Bible studies, college outreach and more. We believe, the unreached are our neighbors next-door, our neighborhood, our community and our city. Our prayer is to reach our city and a nearby city. May God pour out His grace unto each and every youth in the church to be a vessel for His Word and good works which He has prepared before the foundation of the world.\nWomen\u0026rsquo;s Bible Study On Wednesdays, our regular women’s Bible study is playing a very significant place in those who attends\u0026rsquo; lives. During it, they can learn, grow and be strengthened to endure the suffering they go through in their daily lives. Most of these sisters\u0026rsquo; husbands beat and harass them. They go through domestic abuse for choosing Christ and coming to the fellowship. Even though the cost is high, the Lord is strengthening them to take a stand for the truth and to lead their families to saving faith.\nSunday School Most of the kids at our Sunday School come from broken, disturbed families. Church is where these beautiful kids are loved, cared for and taught about Christ. All of the kids are actively taking part in Sunday school activities. We praise God that their day-to-day commitment is firm in Christ as they are growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ.\nOne of Our Graduate\u0026rsquo;s New Church Plant At the new church plant in Y*, Sunday worship service has started in the evenings, through which the Lord graciously added 5 families to our church. The book of Psalms is being taught in the evening service. Since a new work has been started here in this community, more work needs to be done regarding teaching the basics of our faith, so that a strong foundation will be laid in this church. They are being edified in the matters of love, grace and forgiveness to each other. Evidently, the Word is working in their hearts and transforming their souls. Please pray that God will open more doors to reach the heathen with the saving faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nA Testimony of God’s Miraculous Works A sister named P*, who is a family member of a church member, was pregnant and admitted to the hospital in a critical condition. Doctors gave up on her, saying that there were complications in the baby\u0026rsquo;s growth and confirmed that the baby had already died in the mother’s womb. The condition was so severe that even the mother’s life was be in danger. As soon as we received the call, we prayed and reached out to the hospital and interceded for God’s help in this critical situation. God, In His rich mercies heard our prayers and miraculously healed both the mother and the baby. We thank God that He has shown grace upon this family.\nN* Slum God laid upon our brother P*’s heart to reach out to the people in N*. Initially, the people were non-responsive and reluctant towards the Gospel. As soon as they were shown love by some acts of kindness in times of need (like blanket distribution), they invited brother P* to start a Bible study with a Christian family in the slum. This fellowship of one family has now increased to 6 families. Brother P* is ministering them with the Word every Thursday.\nThe kids in the slum are uneducated. So everyday brother P* is teaching 15 of the children. Please pray for the kids to grow in the Word of Christ and for the families who attend the fellowship. Your prayers are also needed for our Christmas outreach in this slum which is to be conducted on the December 10th.\nK* Bible Study Every Monday, we meet with families to build homes on the foundation of the Word of God. Through these meetings, we pray that men will be reached and be drawn closer to God. Many men are addicted to alcohol and physically abuse the sisters who attend the meetings. These meetings are also to strengthen our sisters, and that through them, their husbands will come to know about God and come to Christ.\nAlso, on Fridays, Bible exposition on the Gospel of Mark is being taught to help those who listen to know the servant nature of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nPraise Report Praise God that He has helped all of the graduates successfully finish their training. Praise God for providing a new vehicle for ministry which will help in the expansion of the Kingdom of God Praise God for providing a house to have worship service in Y* Praise God for His faithfulness for every need which is met, every prayer which has been answered, and pouring out His grace to continue this work for the whole year A sister named A*, who has been attending to our fellowship, was going through a financial crisis. Ever since she started to grow in the Word, the Lord was ministering to her heart. A new house was made available to her family by the grace of God. Seeing her grow in God, her husband started to physically abuse her. Please pray that God will open his heart to the Gospel.\nThank God for healing sister M*, who has been suffering with PCOD. Please pray for her to be able to have a child.\nPraise God, that He opened doors for the kids to be enrolled in a nearby school (since they were all illiterate). Please pray that God continues to provide them good education.\nDuring the covid lockdown, one family was badly affected. All of the family members were ill. Our brother P* ministered to that family. They are now healed and know the greatness of our God who rejoices in showing mercy to the merciless.\nChurch Prayer Requests Although we were blessed with an old house in which we could hold services, we still need electricity to continue the services. Please pray that God will meet this need, so that we can worship Him without any interruptions. Please pray that God will provide the needs for the church such as 15 chairs etc. Please pray for a family in T*. May God open the door to start a Bible study and use this family to reach the people in this community. Pray for brother P*\u0026rsquo;s spiritual life. He wants to be faithful to the Lord and His Word. Please pray for P*\u0026rsquo;s family, brothers, sisters and brother-in-laws’ salvation. May God bring them to Christ. Pray for our travel for the Gospel outreaches. Thank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/great-opportunities-to-show-the-love-of-christ/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Dear Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMerry Christmas to you all. Yes, God has been doing a great work in us and through us to reach out to the lost. I thank you for your prayers and support.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the Christmas season, we have a great opportunity to reach out to people and show the love of Christ. We are planning to have Gospel outreaches in 5 different locations. Two in the city, 2 in villages, and 1 in a tribal area. Pray that those who listen will see Christ and experience His love. We are going to preach the Gospel to them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Great Opportunities to Show the Love of Christ"},{"content":"Praise the Lord for His faithfulness. It is by His goodness and faithfulness that we are still alive and doing the work of the Gospel. I would also like to thank you all for your continued prayers for us and for the ministry of the Gospel. Our special thanks to all of you who are sacrificially supporting us financially.\nWe are doing well spiritually, though sometimes not doing too good physically. But still the Lord, by His grace, is giving us strength to do the work He has called us to do. He not only gives us strength to do the ministry, but He opens up doors for the ministry. As I have shared with you, in our state persecution of Christians is severe. We are not allowed to bury new believers who die. Even if we bury the dead, when the Hindus come to know that Christians have buried a new believer’s dead body, they come and excavate the body. In spite of these persecutions and oppositions, the Lord opens doors for us to preach the Gospel.\nOne of our relatives bought a new car. The day he bought the car he took sweets and snacks for the workers at the car showroom. There are more than fifty workers and all of them gathered there by the car at the time of delivery. I was also invited to pray for the new car before it was taken out of the showroom. I had the opportunity to share the Gospel for fifteen minutes. None of the men and woman who works at the car showroom is a Christian. All of them listened to the Gospel silently and I prayed for the workers before I prayed for the car. In Ephesians 5:16 the Scripture says, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” The Hindi translation says, \u0026ldquo;Consider every opportunity precious.\u0026rdquo; The Lord gives us each opportunity and we should not let it go.\nIn our Calvary Bible Institute, the second semester has started. During this semester, the students are taught I and II Samuel, Ezra and Nehemiah, the Gospel of Luke, Acts, Romans, and I \u0026amp; II Corinthians. The men are doing well and enjoying their time in the Word. I am teaching my favorite book\u0026ndash;the book of Romans. I am always blessed when I read this book. It is a great encouragement in our weaknesses and challenge to live Christian lives. It explains the Gospel that: \u0026ldquo;Christ died for the ungodly\u0026hellip; God exhibited his love towards us while we were yet sinners\u0026hellip; For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son\u0026hellip; We are justified by His blood, we shall be saved.\u0026rdquo;\n“Who shall separate us from the Love of Christ?” What a great question! This is answered in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”\nLast month, we were able to attend a pastors conference in our neighboring country. It was a time of refreshment and encouragement. Each day, for three days, we had three sessions in which various pastors taught the Word. The theme for the conference was “Seeing Jesus.” We were encouraged to follow Jesus in our Christian walk and in our ministry.\nThe believers in our fellowship have been protected by the Lord, meanwhile Christians are being persecuted everywhere in our state and also there are many car accidents. Though some of the Christians in our fellowship have had accidents, the Lord has saved them and kept them alive. Two young women had accidents twice in two weeks. One of them broke 2 of her teeth. A pastor from another church, who is our neighbor, lost both of his parents on the same day in an accident last week. His parents were in a scooter and a pickup truck hit them and both of them died at the scene. Every day people are losing their lives in accidents. Please continue to lift us up in your prayers.\nThank you for being a part of the ministry of the Gospel.\n\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/every-opportunity-is-precious/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord for His faithfulness. It is by His goodness and faithfulness that we are still alive and doing the work of the Gospel. I would also like to thank you all for your continued prayers for us and for the ministry of the Gospel. Our special thanks to all of you who are sacrificially supporting us financially.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IMG-20221114-WA0027-271x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are doing well spiritually, though sometimes not doing too good physically. But still the Lord, by His grace, is giving us strength to do the work He has called us to do. He not only gives us strength to do the ministry, but He opens up doors for the ministry. As I have shared with you, in our state persecution of Christians is severe. We are not allowed to bury new believers who die. Even if we bury the dead, when the Hindus come to know that Christians have buried a new believer’s dead body, they come and excavate the body. In spite of these persecutions and oppositions, the Lord opens doors for us to preach the Gospel.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Every Opportunity Is Precious"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nOctober was a month of refreshing! Refreshment from the Word of God, seeing my old friends, making new friends, traveling to my favorite place, having fellowship with my co-laborers and eating delicious food with all of the saints at the conference.\n5 years ago, I graduated from CBI in a nearby country. It was such a happy moment for me to be part of the graduation ceremony of my students in whose lives I was able to invest my time and studies\u0026ndash;just like my pastors and leaders did in my life! Students who graduated told me \u0026ldquo;Thank you for everything!\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Thank you for your time.\u0026rdquo; These things that they said blessed me so much.\nMeeting my co-laborers all over from my country and a nearby country and Saving Grace\u0026rsquo;s team was amazing, It was just a few days of fellowship, but it was definitely needed and useful for me to move forward in this race. Everyone has a unique experience of ministry in their lives and hometowns. It was so inspiring and encouraging to hear all of their ministry stories and to learn from their experiences.\nI came back with so many gifts that I had received from the U.S team and beloved ones. Every gift is a precious gift to me and every time I see them, it is a reminder of all of your love through our Lord!\nThank you all for your love and support!\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-month-of-refreshing/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOctober was a month of refreshing! Refreshment from the Word of God, seeing my old friends, making new friends, traveling to my favorite place, having fellowship with my co-laborers and eating delicious food with all of the saints at the conference.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IMG-20221104-WA0001.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/IMG-20221027-WA0019-300x200.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e5 years ago, I graduated from CBI in a nearby country. It was such a happy moment for me to be part of the graduation ceremony of my students in whose lives I was able to invest my time and studies\u0026ndash;just like my pastors and leaders did in my life! Students who graduated told me \u0026ldquo;Thank you for everything!\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Thank you for your time.\u0026rdquo; These things that they said blessed me so much.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Month of Refreshing"},{"content":"I beg your forgiveness for the delinquency of this update. Life has been crazy and there’s so much to share!\nSince May… Since my last update in May we have had some extremely happy news that fast tracked some things we had been praying about for quite a while; we found out that I am pregnant with our second child! We had been praying for several months about God’s timing for us to move back down to Southern California and the Lord spoke to Isaac that we would be back in SoCal before our next baby came. When we learned the happy news, it caused us to pray all the more fervently and God made it clear that we would be transitioning back down in August/September.\nWhen we announced that we would be moving back, unbeknownst to us, it confirmed to the youth pastor at our home church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, who had been praying about moving on to another church, that it was time for him to move on and hand the ministry over to Isaac. This has allowed Isaac to come on staff at our church and fully devote himself to the work of the ministry. It has been such a blessing to witness God’s work in Isaac’s life as a leader in the church and teacher of the Word and to see him continue to grow in the gifting God has given him.\nThe move has allowed me to be more involved in the work of Saving Grace World Missions, including going into the office one day a week.\nTogether, Isaac and I are discipling the youth leaders and students. We’ve already had so many fun opportunities with the youth group including a Halloween outreach, starting a boys accountability group, a girls’ prayer meeting, and an upcoming girls’ Bible study in January. As we await the arrival of our son, Theodore, we are blessed to devote time together to the ministry that God has entrusted to us.\nHalloween Outreach Calvary Chapel Truckee Since we moved away from Truckee, God has been doing so many things. There has been a lot of stripping away of what it was before; many core families moved on to other churches for various reasons. It is now quite small and it seems that God is clearing the way to do a new work. Please pray for Pastor Gary and his family as they plow the fields and continue to wait on God for the harvest in His timing.\nThank you! Thank you for your continued support of our family and the ministry that God has called us to. We are still indeed of your financial support and prayers.\nPlease pray for God’s will and direction in leading the youth group at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and in reaching our community.\nPlease pray for a healthy conclusion to this pregnancy in February 2023 and a healthy postpartum season.\nIf you would like to reach out and get together for coffee or tea, I would love to meet up and reconnect now that we are back in the SoCal area.\nMay God bless and keep you in this holiday season as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!\nWith love,\nHope, Isaac, Fletcher, and Theo\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/better-late-than-never/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI beg your forgiveness for the delinquency of this update. Life has been crazy and there’s so much to share!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"since-may\"\u003eSince May…\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince my last update in May we have had some extremely happy news that fast tracked some things we had been praying about for quite a while; we found out that I am pregnant with our second child! We had been praying for several months about God’s timing for us to move back down to Southern California and the Lord spoke to Isaac that we would be back in SoCal before our next baby came. When we learned the happy news, it caused us to pray all the more fervently and God made it clear that we would be transitioning back down in August/September.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Better Late Than Never"},{"content":" EUROPE\nZully Ruano – Mallorca, Spain\nPlease Pray:\n1. We have many atheists\u0026rsquo; families coming to our school, so we are praying that the Lord would use us as a reflection of His love for them and that they would come to know the Lord.\n2. We are planting seeds in the life of our students, so we ask for continual prayers for their lives and God\u0026rsquo;s work in their sweet little hearts.\n3. Please pray for our Christmas season at the school, it\u0026rsquo;s a great opportunity to share the gospel to our students and their families. Many have never heard or really paid attention to the real reason why we celebrate Christmas, so this is an amazing opportunity.\n4. For God\u0026rsquo;s provision for the school in every sense of the word :)\n5. We are in need of more help, specifically for another teacher and more teacher\u0026rsquo;s assistants.\n6. Personally, for me continual strength and wisdom to be a good witness and leader at the school. 7. I\u0026rsquo;m praying for my parents to come visit me and it has been quite difficult for that to happen but there is a plan for them to come in February. Please pray that it actually happens!\nThank you for your prayers! They definitely make a difference in the work God is doing here in Spain.\nGod bless you,\nZully – Email Blog\nAFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nPrayer Needs:\n1. The Kanyikes had the home broken into while they were sleeping. The police believe it\u0026rsquo;s someone they must know and trust. Pray fir them as they are devastated and Jill and children are not sleeping well. Pray for provision to replace the computers and phones that were stolen.\n2. Thank you for praying for Evelyn and Shiella\u0026rsquo;s mom. It has been very up and down but she is now doing much better. Please pray as she is being released into home care but will still need much attention and rehabilitation. Pray for healing and provision as the bill is continually growing.\n3. Uganda is still in the midst of an Ebola outbreak. Pray for it to get under control and for no need of lockdown.\n4. Continue to pray for Jill and the children as they homeschool, especially Liana.\n5. Pray for the Kanyikes to hear from immigration in the USA for the children\u0026rsquo;s citizenship.\n6. Pray for the chaplains who have been coming through the guest house needing medical care.\n7. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris\nPraise God:\n-Our 9 years of peaceful marriage.\n- Some of Noelle\u0026rsquo;s family got to come and visit for the month of October.\n- We finished building our school campus allowing us to start moving forward on accreditation.\n- Please pray that, God is continuing to bless the teaching of His Word to the pastors in our program who are being taught through the entirety of Scripture.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. God blesses a soccer tournament that we are hosting this week as a crusade style outreach.\n2. Our family will find some R\u0026amp;R in this coming holiday season.\n3. God would use our pastors conference that is taking place next week to encourage His sheep in His grace.\nWe thank God for your prayers over our family.\nIn Christ, Matthew, Noelle and Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Midigo, Uganda\nPraise God:\n-The school farm has harvested 10 bags of beans already! The chickens are now giving us 10 trays of eggs per day!\n-Our women and men fellowships continue to grow. This month the men challenged us ladies by showing up early and taking our spot under the tree. We are ready for next month! Let the challenge continue!\n-Koinonia Community center is now at beam level!!!\n-Container has now been fumigated and ready to ship. Please continue to pray for the details and provisions ahead.\n-I praise God for my results of my current blood work! Not only is my cholesterol normal, but my bloodwork for diabetes was right in the middle of normal! More testimony to share as God opens doors for the community outreaches. Vincent and I are feeling younger everyday as the Lord strengthens us and heals our bodies.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Pray for the Bible College. We are in the last 2 weeks of our first semester. The amount of grading has been crazy, but God is faithful. It is a blessing reading all their papers but even more, seeing their lives go deeper and changing every day. What a privilege we have to be part of this journey.\n2. The boys asked for prayer as they start to learn instruments for worshiping God.\n3. Pray for all the children to be safe during the holidays. Pray for their families as they prepare for the next school year.\n4. Pray for the upcoming Christmas programs and outreaches. May He be glorified, and His Word spread forth throughout the whole community and beyond!\nThank you for your prayers and love!\nIn Him,\nThe Aniku’s - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California, USA\nPraise Reports and Answered Prayer:\n- Wedding for our other Nathan went great and it was a beautiful ceremony\n- Perú mission was a huge success and God was greatly glorified\n-Word is getting out on the streets in south county that we are looking for Andy and reports of him have been trickling in.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please continue to pray for our son Andy, pray he would surrender to the Lord Jesus and accept help.\n2. Please pray for good decisions as we enter into this very busy Holiday season and that we do not lose sight of the fact that people matter more than any outreach or special event.\n3. Please pray for wisdom in upcoming travel arrangements for missionary care\n4. Guidance for Jenn as it is on her heart delete a group here at the church\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Needs!\n1. That our children Grace and Daniel will finish their college semester\u0026rsquo;s out strong!\n2. For Sarah and her new teaching job!\n3. God\u0026rsquo;s blessing upon our church\u0026rsquo;s Christmas Outreach Events!\n4. God\u0026rsquo;s blessing on our next church plant near Mexico City! (End of December, Brian and Brittany church planters)\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Tijuana, Mexico\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Growth in personal and corporate holiness\n2. Thanksgiving for the miracle of restoration in my eldest son!\n3. For the Holy Spirit’s guidance in matters involving church discipline\n4. Church planting class involvement and teaching; for growth of students\n5. For God to show us who to disciple\n6. NewLife rehab Clinic weekly Bible study; for the patients to be saved\n7. Much wisdom for helping the needy\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian – Email Blog\nBond, Heather Gaona - S. Asia and USA\nPraise God:\n- Praise God for an amazing time in Nepal gathering everyone from Asia together for a conference and time of encouragement in the Word.\n- Praise God for the many who heard the good news through the outreaches last month. Pray for seeds that were planted to be watered and grow and many would come to Jesus in the days ahead in S. Asia.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Pray as the pastors and pastor\u0026rsquo;s wives return home to their villages in S. Asia, that those who need to get restarted after covid would continue with the fire and vision the Lord gave them while at the conference.\n2. Pray for the recent grads and new grads that they would not loose heart and would stay faithful to evangelize and teach the Word of God, that many would be saved and discipled.\n3. Pray for the 12 students at the S. Asia campus as they will be heading out on outreach to 3 locations to share the gospel from Nov. 14 - 26. Pray that many would come to Christ.\n4. Pray for the Christmas outreaches as we will begin to plan them next week throughout S. Asia in 20+ locations. Pray that God would bless the pastors as they seek to reach new people for Jesus.\n5. Pray for the scouting trips that Pastor P and Pastor A have planned in Nepal for new areas to plant churches during the semester break. As well, they will be scouting village locations for medical outreach in February and will be doing that in the coming weeks. Pray the Lord leads to the exact locations where He wants us to invest in.\nBlessings and many thanks,\nBond, Heather and Breanna – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPraise God!\n- Praise God that my neck pain is better!\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please continue to pray for my parents’ health.\n2. Please pray that my children will grow up to love God with all of their hearts, and that He will reveal Himself to them.\n3. Please pray for the nursing home/assisted living ministry that I am a part of; that God will give me words of encouragement to say that speak truth and wisdom from His Word.\n4. Please continue to pray for me to manage my time wisely, according to God’s priorities.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for God to lead me, as I am seeking more opportunities for evangelism. Praise God He has given me a new opportunity with children’s ministry!\n2. Please continue to pray for my dad\u0026rsquo;s health and for the doctors to have wisdom. He has been having lightheadedness, nausea, and vomiting for the past weeks and the doctors continue to run tests and have not found a cause.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for the end of our semester in the School of ministry!\n2. Please pray for fruit from all our visits while we were on furlough.\n3. pray for our health, and to raise up more workers for the ministry!\n4. Pray for our trip to Trujillo for the conference by SGWM \u0026amp; The Whosevers!\n5. Pray for housing for women that will be attending the school of ministry early 2023\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for wisdom, provision, and open doors for our upcoming trip to the USA next summer. We haven\u0026rsquo;t been able to visit since 2019.\n2. Please pray for our new partnerships and ministries to Cambodians and expats in Cambodia. We need a lot of wisdom and grace.\n3. Please pray for our long-term ministries to continue to flourish for example, my apologetics/evangelistic video ministry has slowed down a lot since COVID ended for various reasons beyond my control. Please pray for wisdom.\n4. Please pray for wisdom and provision for our finances during this globally uncertain time.\nThanks!\nGod Bless!\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n- I thank God that Nepal took me safely and brought me back.\n- I thank God and you people that now my mother\u0026rsquo;s health is slightly better than before.\n- Thank God that we and my church family are being kept safe.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for my complete recovery.\n2. Please pray that in December about 6 old villages and 5 new villages are trying to spread the gospel. May God protect us all and fulfill all financial needs.\n3. Pray that 500 New Testaments are needed for Christmas outreach. God help us to remedy this.\n4. Pray that every requirement is fulfilled for my marriage and if God willing it can happen in February.\n5. Pray Friday Bible Study there are many illiterate people may God help them to understand better.\nI appreciate your prayers and Christian love.\nGod bless you,\n11\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for the furtherance of the Gospel this Christmas season\n2. Please pray for my children that they may grow in Lord’s Fear and knowledge.\n3. Please Pray for the Bible College Student and Their Studies.\n4. Please pray for my State as Persecution is increasing day by day.\n5. Please pray for Church Believers that they may grow in Lord.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n16 and family\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise God:\n-Thank you, prayer warrior who had been praying for us. It was so awesome to tell that last month Calvary Chapel Pastor Conference was so blessed and wonderful. We were happy to see so many friends and have a fellowship with them. We happened to see our local Pastor from Nepal and hear the testimony about a conference which they had never attended and was blessed.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for our student as they are in their village serving the Lord, God may use powerfully in that community.\n3. Please pray as we will be traveling to west Nepal as some of our student want to start Church in coming days.\n4. Please pray as we are going to do some conference and outreach in west Nepal.\n5. Please Pray for safe travels as we will be traveling to our final student area to see the area, visit and pray with them.\n6. Please pray for the Christ outreach in different areas that God may prepare the hearts of the people to receive Christ.\nThank you for faithfully praying\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPraise God:\nBy God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers. For this month I would like to share some of the prayer concerns.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Do continue to pray for the completion of our house construction. God may provide all our needs.\n2. Do continue to pray for the growth and need of our local Church.\n3. Do continue to pray for our CCBI students and staff for their sound health and smooth functioning of our college.\n4. Kindly pray for me and my family, may Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\n5. Please pray for Catholic families in our church, that God may change them completely.\nThank you so very much for your prayers!\nGod bless you.\n3 and Family\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise God for His constant faithfulness!\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for all CBI Nepal new graduates for their ministry that God would give them clear vision and they would seek after His will.\n2. Please pray for the new semester starting on February 2023 that God would bring plenty of new students.\n3. Please pray for brother Laxman- pastor at CC Hetauda and Nikesh pastor at CC Janakpur that they would get good jobs. - Pray that they do the gospel work more and more and God would draw people to His Church.\n4. Please pray for the spiritual growth of Charis Bible Church believers and also God would bring so many new and neighboring people to His Church for their salvation.\n5. Please pray for the Church property for Charis- land for the Church.\nThank for your prayers!\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna – Email Blog\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please continue to pray that our church believers would grow in the Word of God. Please pray that they would see the real depths of love that God has for them from the ages.\n2. Also, please continue to pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health. May God heal her lungs completely so that she can breathe normally.\n3. I am travelling to a neighboring country for a conference. Please pray that I will be strengthened, encouraged, and refreshed with the Word of God once again and with the fellowship of the beautiful saints!\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n7\nWorker 12 - 1040 Window\nI am going good by God\u0026rsquo;s Grace. Thank you for your precious prayers!\nPrayer Needs:\n1.Pray for our upcoming Christmas to go well by the grace of God and that there are no hindrances of any kind. Lately, many Hindus that hate Christians are planning to destroy Christmas.\n2. Pray that the new people who come to our outreach this Christmas will hear the Gospel of God and that God will change their mind-set. Pray that they will come to know that Jesus Christ is our Savior, that He came into the world for the forgiveness of our sins.\n3. Pray also for our weekly Bible study. May all of the people who come to our Bible study understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word better and grow more in God. Also pray that more people can join this Bible study.\n4. Also pray for our Sunday church. Pray that new people are able to come to our church and listen to the Gospel so that they can be saved. Please also pray that the people who are being persecuted in the churches in our country today be strong in their faith and stand up for God.\n5. Pray also for the new families of those who have come to faith, understand God\u0026rsquo;s Words better and grow more in God.\n6. Pray also for our prison ministry. For a long time, we have been preaching the Gospel among the inmates in prison. We are getting very good results there. Many people have started reading the Bible. Pray that more and more prisoners give their lives to the Lord.\n7. Please pray for my health. May God keep me well. One side of my waist has been hurting a lot for a long time. I have seen many doctors and also had an ultrasound and x-ray, but the report came back normal. The doctor has said that I should have an M.R.I. done, which is very expensive here. Pray that God makes arrangements and remedies for me, because my back pain has increased a lot. Pray that God makes everything good.\n8. Please pray. We need some bookshelves for church. We also need some mats for sitting on for Sunday church. Pray that God can provide all of these needs of the church, so that God may be glorified through them.\n9. I want to put a new battery in my motor bike because it is very old and the bike does not start sometimes. Because of this, I have a lot of trouble starting it. I also need to change the tires because they are also very old. Please pray that God will take care of all of these things, so that I can go back safely to the places I visit, which are far away from where I live.\nThank you so much,\nPastor 12\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Pray for our pre-Christmas program, that many unreached will hear Jesus’ Name and be saved.\n2. Pray for our ministry to be fruitful and people to come to church.\n3. Pray our believers to be strong and preach Christ.\n4. Pray my wife is able to get a good job.\n5. Pray that my wife’s Sunday Bible study will go well and that many more will join in prayer and Bible study.\n6. Pray that our health will be good and physically strong so that we can serve God.\nThank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and finances.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for the Christmas outreach planned, and for God to open hearts to Him.\n2. Please pray for all of our safety, as there are many accidents happening on the roads.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give my wife, V, good health.\n4. Please pray for God’s protection as the radicals are targeting Christians in our area.\n5. May the Lord help us to be humble in our hearts and follow His footsteps in everything that we do\nThank you for your prayers!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for those who hear the Gospel through the Christmas outreaches planned.\n2. Please pray that I may continue to grow in Him and in His knowledge and be used by God.\n3. Pray for my health, as I have been on medication for the last few months for allergies, as I am still trying to figure out what I am allergic to.\n4. Please pray for the Calvary Bible Institute students, that they would be equipped for the work of the Gospel.\n5. Please pray for the youth and school children to whom I am ministering, that they would stand for God and be the light in the darkness around them.\n6. Please pray a certain brother and the believers in his church, that they would continue to grow spiritually and stand firm in their faith as they are going through persecution.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 9\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please continue to pray for our ministry here in the mountain area.\n2. Please pray for the villages here, that God will open more doors for us to share His Word with them.\n3. It is not easy to share God’s Word here in the district that we live in. Please continue to pray that God will change the people’s hearts here.\n4. Please pray for our believers here; that they will grow in God’s Word and stay strong.\n5. Please continue to pray for our church building construction, that God will provide some funds and we will be able to finish the work before Christmas. I am praying that we will be able to celebrate this Christmas in the new building.\n6. Please pray for my family and my needs; may God provide them.\nThank you so much everyone for your love in Christ!\nGod bless you,\n13\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for the Christmas outreach we are planning, that many will come to Jesus!\n2. Pray for our church to grow more in love and unity.\n3. Pray for our new church plant in the village.\n4. Pray for Brother P’s church plant to grow.\n5. Pray for our student B; he is ill and his liver is infected.\n6. Pray for chairs; we need to buy 30 chairs for the church and also 2 more sound speakers and cables. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s provision.\n7. Pray for my family’s good health.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\n6\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for our Christmas outreaches\n2. We have found the opportunity to share with others about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n3. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n4. Please pray for our health and safety.\n5. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for our Christmas outreaches; that many will come to Christ.\n2. Pray for my community to know the difference from the Truth and the false teachings\n3. Our church believers to grow in their faith\n4. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n5. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\n6. Please pray for my family and me, that we will remain healthy.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for the upcoming Christmas outreaches, that many will be saved.\n2. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n3. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nBlessings,\n2\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. I would like to ask you to please be praying for our Christmas outreaches1. Please pray for our students\n2. Please pray for new believers\n3. Please pray for our safety.\nThank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ, 4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n-I thank God that my marriage was held successfully this month. He has given me a good wife.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Pray that we, as a husband and wife, will be a good example while ministering here.\n2. Pray for our church building.\n3. We are planning to reach many through the Gospel during this Christmas season. Pray that God will guide us well.\n4. Pray for God’s wisdom and guidance in our lives.\n5. Pray that new believers will be added to our church.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nThanks be to the Lord that God has kept you and us together, and thanks be to the Lord who blesses each and every one of us and saves us from every danger! Thank you also to those who continuously pray for us!\nPrayer Needs:\n1. First of all, pray for the villages in our area, where some people are against the people of God; pray for God to change their hearts.\n2. Pray for the leaders here who are members of the anti-Christian party, who do not want the kingdom of God to come. Pray for those leaders, that God will change their hearts.\n3. Pray for the believers of my church, that they will be strong in the Word.\n4. Pray for my life, that God opens new doors for me so that I can share the gospel of God to all of the people in my area.\n5. The government has a record of our mobile phone number to keep an eye on us because of our Christianity. Pray that God will help us and will bring those who belong to the anti-Christian government group into faith.\n6. Pray for the believers in my village who are students; pray that they can change their lives with the blessings of God.\n7. Pray for my mom who had surgery. She is now taking liver medicine; pray for her to get well soon.\n8. Pray for some of our believers who want to publicly show their faith in Christ; pray that God will prepare them completely.\n9. Pray for our region, that God will change the hearts of all the people here and walk in God’s path.\n10, Pray for my brother who has exams in December; that his exams will go well with God’s blessings.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n10\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for God to open the hearts of those who hear the Gospel through the Christmasoutreaches.\n2. Please pray that we will find a permanent home to live in and use as a church building. We are still in a rented house.\n3. Please pray for brother R; he is a good and strong believer, and is applying for a good job. Pray that he will get it.\n4. Please pray for sister P and her husband and two children. Both of her children have developmental problems. May God completely deliver that family.\n5. Please pray for the persecution in this area, and for all of the churches.\n6. Please pray that my ministry will be fruitful and that I will be a faithful servant in God’s vineyard.\n7. Please pray for my family.\n8. Kindly pray for my parents and extended family; they are still in the world. May God call them to Himself.\nOnce again, I would like to thank you for your valuable prayers and support!\nMay God bless you,\n8 and Family\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping\n\u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time.\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-dec-prayer-update-3/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eZully Ruano – Mallorca, Spain\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Zully-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease Pray:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. We have many atheists\u0026rsquo; families coming to our school, so we are praying that the Lord would use us as a reflection of His love for them and that they would come to know the Lord.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. We are planting seeds in the life of our students, so we ask for continual prayers for their lives and God\u0026rsquo;s work in their sweet little hearts.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM DEC PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"It is always a blessing to share what is happening and guess what will happen according to the promises of God. So many thanks to all our seniors who lead us, teach us, and show us how to follow Jesus.\n\u0026ldquo;Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”\n-1 Corinthians 11:1\nImitators as prayer warriors: We all know that the only thing the disciples of Jesus asked Him to teach was how to pray. We all believe that prayer is so important. We see that Jesus prayed, His disciples prayed, and all men of God pray. We also pray. We love to pray and we love to join together in prayer.\nIt is awesome to see our students have prayer meetings every Friday. These Bible Institute students have learned as the 1st century church did. We love to say they not only pray but also thank God for how He answered their prayers. These students have learned to wait upon the Lord and go share the Gospel. These students have sold themselves for Christ and carry their crosses and kneel down so that Nepalis may come to Christ. Thank you all so much who join us in prayer to win people for Christ.\n“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.\u0026rdquo;\nMatthew 9:38\nImitators as Gospel preachers: Jesus preached “the kingdom of Heaven”. We appreciate our students\u0026rsquo; love to go out and preach the Gospel. They have seen how dark the world is. They have seen how people are lost. They have seen that people are sheep without a Shepard. They have gone to the Leprosy colony to share Christ and also to the city square. They use Gospel songs and Gospel folk dances. Through songs and dance these students have learned to share the Gospel. They were rejected by many and accepted by many. They know that the servant is never greater than the master. We appreciate your prayers as they preach the Gospel.\n“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.\u0026quot;\nRoman 1:16\nImitators of Jesus\u0026rsquo; Love: As Christ left heaven for the sinners of this world, our student had to forsake this world to love God and the people of the community. So many Nepali young people go to work abroad chasing their dream, but we thank God that we have students who want to love God and serve the people of Nepal. We believe that these things happen only because of the Spirit of God living in us. Our students have seen the urgency to share Christ in the mist of their people. This has happened because Christ\u0026rsquo;s love compels them to serve Him. Despite the discrimination of the caste system (because the majority of people in the community are Hindu), the students love to tell people of every caste about God. As Christ has emptied Himself for us, our students have also learned to empty themselves and as Christ became a servant, they have also become servants.\n“And above all things have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins.\u0026quot;\n1 Peter 4:8\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for us to have good health. Please pray for our students as they are in their villages serving the Lord. May God use them powerfully in their communities. Please pray for us as we will be traveling to west Nepal. Some of our students want to start a church there in the future. Please pray. We are going to do a conference and outreach in west Nepal. Please pray for us to have safe travel. We will be traveling to our students home area to see the area, visit, and pray with them. Please pray for an outreach that we will be doing in a different area. May God prepare the hearts of people to receive Christ. Thank you,\nAnand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/imitators-of-christ/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt is always a blessing to share what is happening and guess what will happen according to the promises of God. So many thanks to all our seniors who lead us, teach us, and show us how to follow Jesus.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-1 Corinthians 11:1\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eImitators as prayer warriors:\u003c/strong\u003e We all know that the only thing the disciples of Jesus asked Him to teach was how to pray. We all believe that prayer is so important. We see that Jesus prayed, His disciples prayed, and all men of God pray. We also pray. We love to pray and we love to join together in prayer.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Imitators of Christ"},{"content":"Dear Sponsors,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\n“God doesn’t see outward righteousness, rather He sees inward righteousness.” Pastor Joel said, while he was teaching from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5. It is always good to be reminded again and again, so that we may not move away from God, but rather experience God’s mighty wings covering us.\nIn addition, we thank each one of you for your earnest prayers and financial assistance for the expansion of God’s kingdom. Because of your financial help, we could move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, job and businesses. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\nIn our family devotion we have been learning the Bible verse-by-verse and trying to follow the footsteps of Jesus in our daily walk. Our Sunday school children are telling their memory Bible verse in the church.\nLast month we began renting a new building for CCBI (left). I am teaching the students and at the same time taking them on home visitation as part of practical training.\nI was blessed to attend and become an eye witness of the conference in a nearby country. It was an amazing feeling to travel by flight for the first time in my life. Thank you so much for such arrangements.\nMy wife wanted to say, “Thank you so much for your lovely gift and for being a channel of blessing for me. I was in need of apron but I never knew that God would provide it in this way. However, God knows my need and provides for me”.\nPrayer Requests: Continue to pray for the completion of our house construction. May God provide all of our needs. Continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church. Continue to pray for our CCBI students and staff and for their sound health. Please also pray for the college to run smoothly. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n\\* Names and Faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/therefore-will-i-give-thanks-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Sponsors,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Blessed-fellowship.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Sunday-school-children-245x300.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“God doesn’t see outward righteousness, rather He sees inward righteousness.”\u003c/em\u003e Pastor Joel said, while he was teaching from the Gospel of Matthew chapter 5. It is always good to be reminded again and again, so that we may not move away from God, but rather experience God’s mighty wings covering us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn addition, we thank each one of you for your earnest prayers and financial assistance for the expansion of God’s kingdom. Because of your financial help, we could move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, job and businesses. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Therefore Will I Give Thanks"},{"content":"“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…” Matthew 28:19-20\nDear Friends and Family,\nHappy 60th Independence Day to Uganda! Uganda received independence from England 60 years ago. One of the lasting influences from those days is the freedom of religion, specifically Christianity. Uganda is by name a Christian country and the ability to share the gospel openly, anywhere is a privilege most countries do not have. After saying all of this, the truth is Christianity in Uganda is “a mile wide but only an inch deep” as the saying goes. Ugandans are very traditional and most Christianity is mixed with witchcraft and other traditional beliefs and practices. Uganda is a country where human sacrifice, especially child sacrifice, still takes place. As missionaries in Uganda while it is easy to share the gospel it is a more challenging task of discipling people in obeying and following God’s Word above all else.\nThis month we have had the privilege of helping others who we have been discipling to begin their ministry of discipleship of others. Recently, two of our church members moved to other areas outside of Kampala. They have tried commuting on Sundays to come to church at Arise but during the week they began Bible studies at home. These Bible studies have really grown and the people seem hungry for God’s Word and to grow in their knowledge and relationship with Him. We recently had a get together at Arise Christian Fellowship with these Bible studies and with the members of our church for a baptism. Everyone came to service where we worshipped together and Brian taught on baptism and the importance of discipleship and being in fellowship. After church we had the baptism of 54 people and a small meal together to celebrate each persons decision to follow Christ\nAt Arise we have had various activities and outreaches taking place for the youth. On Saturdays we have youth group, on Sundays we have Sunday school, during the week there are various community youth outreaches and on Wednesdays we have been showing a Christian movie. During the most recent school holiday we had a worship camp. During this time the worship team taught the youth all about why and how to worship and provided music lessons for those interested. Through these youth activities we have had quite a number of youth ask to be born again and to be baptized, including our own daughter, Liana. During the church baptism we were privileged to be able to baptize this next generation od believers. We pray that they would continue in the way of the Lord and not depart from it.\nBrian and I have been blessed to also help out other ministries around Uganda and South Sudan. Fort Portal, Uganda and Nimule, South Sudan are like second homes or families to us. This past month the assistant pastor and his wife from Fort Portal returned from their furlough in the states. We have known them for many years, we did their premarital counseling and are the god parents to their children. We enjoyed our time with them praying and looking forward to what God has in this next season of ministry for them.\nOn that same note the Russians returned this past month as well. We were so happy to have them back with us. This time around though they are not to be with us in Kampala but we prayed for and commissioned them to go work with the church in Nimule. Sasha will be pastoring as he disciples and raises up a national pastor. Arise Christian Fellowship has another missionary already there called Ivan, who leads the worship team. He is excited to have some fellow missionaries from “Uganda” join him . I look forward to travelling both to Fort Portal and Nimule sometime soon to be a part of what God is doing through these faithful ministers.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPrayer Requests We thank the Lord for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. Pray for Arise Christian fellowship as they disciple and raise up future teachers and disciplers. Please pray for the men of Arise who are reaching their communities through bible study and home fellowships. Pray for the youth of Arise who have made public commitments to Christ and for the 54 people who were baptized. Pray for Greg and Jo Clarkson and all of the ministry team at Calvary Chapel Fort Portal. Pray for Sasha and his family as the minister in Nimule South Sudan. Pray for Uganda as they enter their 60th year of independence. Pray for continued religious freedom and for many people to truly come to Christ. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-14/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you…” Matthew 28:19-20\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/kanyike/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2022/11/FB%5FIMG%5F1665305067794.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHappy 60th Independence Day to Uganda!  Uganda received independence from England 60 years ago.  One of the lasting influences from those days is the freedom of religion, specifically  Christianity.  Uganda is by name a Christian country and the ability to share the gospel openly, anywhere is a privilege most countries do not have.  After saying all of this, the truth is Christianity in Uganda is “a mile wide but only an inch deep” as the saying goes.  Ugandans are very traditional and most Christianity is mixed with witchcraft and other traditional beliefs and practices.  Uganda is a country where human sacrifice, especially child sacrifice, still takes place.  As missionaries in Uganda while it is easy to share the gospel it is a more challenging task of discipling people in obeying and following God’s Word above all else.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":"“Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.” Psalm 126:5 NKJV\nWe are in a new season of life and ministry now in Cambodia. It took a while to get going because of a two-week non-Covid sickness for Benjamin and myself but now we are all healthy and are getting into the new season.\nI have been active in editing English articles for the bilingual Light Times Magazine. I also wrote an article for the upcoming issue entitled, “How Can We Give the Gift of Life-Long Faith to Our Children?” I also helped connect the founder Soksan with a major international Christian magazine/website that invited him to be a freelance writer, but I am not sure if he has the time or energy to pursue that direction or not.\nI continue to help Precious Women Organization to make videos of the testimonies of their staff and clients in Khmer with English subtitles. These videos are quite inspiring. Here is one of the two videos we have finished so far.\nhttps://youtu.be/9JZPhoLUYMY\nI have not been able to produce or release any new Apologetics/Evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language since my last update. However, God arranged a divine appointment for me to meet another Christian media ministry here in Cambodia at a local coffee shop. They took copies of all of my old videos (56 total!) and scripts in the Cambodian language and they will distribute them to their audience! Distributing videos on social media has become less fruitful since Covid ended here.\nI am also gearing up to teach Apologetics again starting in December at a local seminary sponsored by Korean missionaries. Kayo and I are also considering opportunities to reach out to, equip, and encourage other expats through the international church.\nKayo continues to be very active in various roles at Precious Women Organization. She is also active in the worship team at church. Benjamin continues to do well as an eighth grader at a Christian international school.\nWe are also looking forward to visiting the USA next summer. I will probably start making plans in January. Right now, I am in the process of renewing our Cambodian visas. Please pray for a smooth path in this process.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-new-season/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.”\u003c/em\u003e Psalm 126:5 NKJV\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/11/2022-11-16-09.17.30.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are in a new season of life and ministry now in Cambodia. It took a while to get going because of a two-week non-Covid sickness for Benjamin and myself but now we are all healthy and are getting into the new season.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have been active in editing English articles for the bilingual Light Times Magazine. I also wrote an article for the upcoming issue entitled, “How Can We Give the Gift of Life-Long Faith to Our Children?” I also helped connect the founder Soksan with a major international Christian magazine/website that invited him to be a freelance writer, but I am not sure if he has the time or energy to pursue that direction or not.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A New Season"},{"content":"This was the first time that all of us South Asia Calvary Chapel pastors and leaders came together for a conference. Praise God! It was really a wonderful time sitting together and pondering in the Word\u0026ndash;getting closer to Jesus. God is growing us in Asia. It is great to see the saints being trained and equipped for new ministry.\nPastors\u0026rsquo; Conference and Graduation Pastors Conference: not only were there Calvary Chapel pastors, but we also invited pastors from the four corners of our country. They really appreciated the teaching. They are falling in love with the verse by verse Bible study.\nGraduation: We had a wonderful experience of graduating students from two countries. I pray that God will use all of them for His work.\nBrother Rabindra from Charis Bible Church also graduated this year. We are thankful to God and pray that God would use him more than before!\nWhenever we meet our brothers and sisters in the Lord at the Leper Colony they are always happy and cheerful. We were able to distribute some of their daily needs. More importantly, we had a fun time singing and dancing with them in the Lord.\nHouse fellowship- We had brother R* from a nearby country for the conference and he stayed a couple more days. I had an opportunity to take him to one of our house fellowships. Our believers there were really happy to hear brother R.* sharing from the Word.\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna and Eutychus\n*Names and faces have been omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-gives-the-increase/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis was the first time that all of us South Asia Calvary Chapel pastors and leaders came together for a conference. Praise God! It was really a wonderful time sitting together and pondering in the Word\u0026ndash;getting closer to Jesus. God is growing us in Asia. It is great to see the saints being trained and equipped for new ministry.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"pastors\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePastors\u0026rsquo; Conference and Graduation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/image%5F6483441-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/FFE72069-F10B-4708-ADF1-D20EB0761B9A-300x225.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePastors Conference:\u003c/strong\u003e not only were there Calvary Chapel pastors, but we also invited pastors from the four corners of our country. They really appreciated the teaching. They are falling in love with the verse by verse Bible study.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Gives the Increase!"},{"content":"Hello Friends \u0026amp; Family!\nIt is hard to explain how amazing the experience I had in Nepal last month was. I met the men I know and pray for constantly who are my modern-day heroes of the faith. They serve the Lord is South Asia and the Middle East, I read their stories, I pray with them on Zoom, I talk about them all the time, and I finally got to meet with them in person, many of them for the very first time. It was an incredible feat for my friends Bond and Heather to get all of these men to Nepal for a conference, but it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever gotten to be a part of.\nOur 7-day trip was filled! I got to teach six times, saw beautiful views of the Himalayas, rode on a motorbike (a whole different experience in Nepal!), ate amazing food, and most importantly, got to fellowship with and encourage my South Asian and Middle Eastern brothers in Christ. This was missionary care at its finest. Here are some pictures for you all! I wish I could show you more, but for security purposes I have tried to keep our national workers out of the pictures as much as possible.\nThank you all so much for your prayers! It means the world to us.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/fruit-in-nepal-garcia-family-update-november-2022/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends \u0026amp; Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is hard to explain how amazing the experience I had in Nepal last month was. I met the men I know and pray for constantly who are my modern-day heroes of the faith. They serve the Lord is South Asia and the Middle East, I read their stories, I pray with them on Zoom, I talk about them all the time, and I finally got to meet with them in person, many of them for the very first time. It was an incredible feat for my friends Bond and Heather to get all of these men to Nepal for a conference, but it was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever gotten to be a part of.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Fruit in Nepal – Garcia Family Update November 2022"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family!\nGreetings to all of you from my church! Thank God that He is always protecting me and my family and the people of my church every step of the way and fulfilling our each and every need. I also want to thank you for always praying for us. Through your prayers, God is doing wonders here. God is using me and my family members extensively for His kingdom.\nAlthough God gives us some stories every day of the month to share with you, I want to share only two or three stories out of them, that will glorify God.\nExplaining According to Their Understanding I thank God for giving me a chance to visit the village again that I shared about in the previous newsletter. The people of this village are very hospitable. They invited us to come back to their village. We all went to their village again. Last time we went, 2 people accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. The people heard the Word of God with great zeal and enthusiasm. No child or young adult is educated in this village.\nWhen the British ruled our country, their ancestors were brought captive by the British people from South Africa, since then these people have settled here. There are a lot of kids here who never go to school. We taught them action songs and also explained the story of Zacchaeus through puppetry. They were listening intently to the story through the puppets. Later, he was answering the question about Zacchaeus very quickly.\nThen I distributed apples for the children to eat. Many of these children are malnourished. Two months before I went there a child died from malnutrition. No government leader or non-profit organization wants to go to this village. All the men of this village work all day long, drink alcohol at night, and beat their children and their wife. Thank God that the Word of God has reached this village. People are slowly coming to faith and God will soon change them physically and mentally.\nVery Nice Hospitality by a Widowed Woman Thank God that the month of October has really been a season of many blessings. We have preached the Good News of God in many places and met many people. We were also provided for by many people. One of them is a widow. Her husband died about 10 years ago. She has a daughter and two sons living in her house. She received the Lord and was baptized about 5 years ago. Church used to run in her neighborhood every Monday. Due to persecution (when the high caste people there threatened them), they had to close. They had also planned to kill us but God saved me and my Dad.\nThis widow invited us to her house to have fellowship. We went to her house and she called her friends. We prayed for all of them and shared the Word of God. Despite being financially poor, she prepared food for us on a wood stove and fed us all. Some upper caste people came and watched us carefully but due to the crowd, they could not say anything to us. I thank God that He is protecting us and making the people of the church strong in their faith and growing them in the Word.\nPastors\u0026rsquo; Conference I had a wonderful time at the conference with fellow pastors. God gave me the opportunity to visit a nearby country.\nThank God that He gave a time in which all of us pastors could meet and worship God. My heart swelled when I was able to see my friends and fellow pastors after 3 years. Spending time with them was indeed a blessing with a lot of enthusiasm and zeal with which to grow the ministry more abundantly. At the same time, I want to thank God and you also for helping us so that we could travel around the nearby country well. God bless you all. Thank you very much.\nChristmas Outreach Those who did not hear will hear; those who did not see will see.\nPlease pray. Like every year for Christmas outreach, staring the first week of December, we are trying to spread the message of Jesus Christ from village to village where the name of Jesus Christ has not been mentioned yet. We are planning to go to those villages and preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\nTo evangelize, we distribute New Testaments, show the Jesus movie on a movie projector, show plays, and preach over loudspeakers. On Christmas Day, December 25, about 300 to 400 new people come and we preach the Gospel to them as well as cook for and feed them. We also distribute blankets to many poor people who live on the road and distribute sarees and blankets to widows. Please pray that if the Lord wills for us to do all this, He will meet our every financial need. Above are some photos from last year\u0026rsquo;s Christmas outreaches.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray. We are planning to start Christmas outreaches the first week of December. May God meet our needs. Please pray for my mother. She is always sick. May God heal her. Pray for my marriage. My parents want me to get married as soon as possible. Pray that if God wills, we can get married in February. May God provide every financial need for my marriage. Pray that the people of our church may persevere and understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word more deeply. Pray. I need 500 New Testaments for our Christmas outreaches. Please pray God would provide us with them. Thank you for your help, prayers and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you all!\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/explaining-according-to-their-understanding/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/November-4-300x182.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you from my church! Thank God that He is always protecting me and my family and the people of my church every step of the way and fulfilling our each and every need. I also want to thank you for always praying for us. Through your prayers, God is doing wonders here. God is using me and my family members extensively for His kingdom.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Explaining According to Their Understanding"},{"content":"The Boubion family has been in Mexico serving at Calvary Rosarito for 16 months. Do you know what the Paul the Apostle says to the Ephesian church?\nFor we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.\nEphesians 2:10\nSo, God actually “prepared” good works for us to do for Him! What a great honor!\nHere are a few photos of our family’s ministry activities the last month!\nBaptizing new Believers!\nSign up to receive Lydia’s newsletters here!\nVisiting Church Plants\nIt is a great blessing to encourage pastors, their families and their congregations! In the last year we have visited church plants in Ensenada, Hermosillo, Monterrey, Chihuaha, Culiacan, Mazatlan, Mexico City, Tulancingo and even Guatemala.\nWe live in a fallen world! Bones break, cars are smashed, pets die! But God is always with us and is always faithful!\nThanks for your prayers! If you want to follow more frequent ministry family news ‘friend’ me on facebook: Paul Octavio\nThere is a lot happening here! One of the exciting things happening is my wife Claudia discipling several ladies every week! At Calvary Rosarito possibly half the church are new believers. These saints need to be discipled. We are part of a great church where new people get saved every week, baptized and taught the word verse by verse. Our biggest need is to provide discipleship for these dear saints!\nPrayer Requests\nFor good health and lots of energy! Our kids to develope more Spanish fluency Direction for the counseling minstry A strong marriage \u0026amp; be an example to other families. For the Church Planting school \u0026amp; students God’s direction and wisdom for helping the poor Miracles of healing and provision for the sick Weekly Bible study at a rehab clinic God’s guidance with the English speaking staff prayer meeting ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/why-serve-god/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Boubion family has been in Mexico serving at Calvary Rosarito for 16 months. Do you know what the Paul the Apostle says to the Ephesian church?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEphesians 2:10\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo, God actually “prepared” good works for us to do for Him! What a great honor!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere are a few photos of our family’s ministry activities the last month!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Why serve God?"},{"content":"Dear friends and family,\nThis last month has been such a blessing, things have not gone according to plan, but the Lord was in it every step of the way. During one of our interns’ classes, we looked over Psalm one. pointing out we must be like a tree planted by the river like our leaves revealing the life that is given by the father. Let me catch you up.\nThe Journey of Patience:\nPreparing for South Sudan was a challenge. My role was to shoot videos and take pictures. I questioned whether I was going along the right path of preparation. I spent countless hours looking over tutorial videos and looking at diverse ways to shoot videos leading up to the trip. I did not know there was going to be even more than what I saw on the upcoming day of departure.\nThe day of our flight I got a call, my heart fell to my stomach as I saw who it was. It was my boss, Rob. He called to inform me that there were some complications on getting some missionaries out of their location (as our plan was to meet them as a focus of our trip). They could not come at all; my initial reaction was why. Yet, the craziest scenario happened.\nGod you are so good:\nAs the moment seemed to slow down and the feeling of defeat seemed to trickle in, the Lord met me there at that moment and reminded me that there was a wedding to go to that very day. My fellow interns and friends Branden and Nancy were getting married that very day. I thought of my girlfriend Lydia, we talked about our hopes of attending the wedding together and we needed to surrender it to the Lord.\nLong story short, I called her as she lived in Mexico near the border and there was enough time to get her and attend the wedding. I was so grateful to hear that we got to attend the wedding. It was such a sweet time of joy and it felt like the Lord truly blessed us.\nThen challenge struck:\nAs it is nearing the end of the year and we have been in the new year of the internship at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. It has been nothing but exciting. I found a rhythm of sorts that I can do both ministry and the internship. Until a few days ago…\nThe Story Board Reader, I write to you with a sad heart that I may need to change jobs once again due to funds being short and there is not enough to sustain my payroll in Ends of The Earth Ministries. I will be forced to go back into the workforce unless I can find support. My job is reaching a very crucial point because we have struck gold with the tasks I have been working on. For the last 3 months, I have been trying to find the perfect way to place missionary training that we so desperately needed. As I have looked to become a missionary, I have come against so many questions that I have found answers using Rob Douglass’ teachings.\nWe look to build a course that no matter where you are in the process of becoming a missionary to already being on the field, it can encourage and impact you! Friends, I ask that you prayerfully consider supporting me. If the Lord leads you to do so there is a secure giving link down at the bottom of the page.\nThank you so much for reading this and coming alongside me in meaningful prayer. If you have any questions, please contact me.\nBlessings,\nGeoff\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/not-mine-but-yours/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis last month has been such a blessing, things have not gone according to plan, but the Lord was in it every step of the way. During one of our interns’ classes, we looked over Psalm one. pointing out we must be like a tree planted by the river like our leaves revealing the life that is given by the father. Let me catch you up.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Not Mine But Yours"},{"content":"Dear friends and family,\nAs my time here in Mexico draws to a close the Lord shows me the fruits of this year. I remember when I had first joined staff at Calvary Rosarito I struggled to keep up with people and took an excruciating amount of time to learn how to do the tasks I was given. However, the Lord kept me faithful and now almost a year later much has changed. I’m able to use my creativity in the media ministry and even be in charge of creating a podcast for the church. I’ve improved in the livestream ministry- going from constantly making rocky mistakes to finding a more streamlined process of doing things. For much of the year I struggled with thoughts of being a burden on that ministry due to how slow I was learning. But over time the Lord showed me that the greatest value is found in faithful endurance rather than talent.\nDuring a prayer meeting at the beginning of the year, I had a personal prayer request to be like the tree planted by the river in Psalm 1. The idea being that I wanted prayer for being rooted in the Word and not shaken when life gets overwhelming. However, the Holy Spirit spoke to me that day through a pastor who highlighted a different part of that verse to me. I’d never really thought about it before but the pastor brought to my attention the part that says the tree “brings forth fruit in its season.” The fruit of the tree is not brought forth immediately when rooted, but rather it comes over time. Fruit requires faithfulness and steadfastness.\n“But his delight is in the law of the Lord,\nAnd in His law he meditates day and night.\nHe shall be like a tree\nPlanted by the rivers of water,\nThat brings forth its fruit in its season,\nWhose leaf also shall not wither;\nAnd whatever he does shall prosper.”\n~ Psalm 1:2-3 ~\nThe culture we live in today seems to be all about immediate gratification to our efforts and desires. Like a microwave we want the quickest path to results. It seems like today’s technology wires our brains to expect immediate results and get frustrated or impatient when the signal buffers or we see the dreaded word: “loading…” The wait is irritating. Yet how interesting it is that in life it seems the longer we wait, the greater the reward. The more we keep working at something, the greater the gratification. The longer we remain faithful, the more growth we see when we glance back.\nLooking Ahead I’m so excited for the new year! Many of you know in January I will be moving to Orange County to join the missions internship at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. This internship prepares people who want to be sent out to do long term cross-cultural missions. My heart is to be sent out with a church planting team to Japan one day and so I’m very excited about this internship. I also love Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and its people, I can’t wait to be back with them again! 🙂\nTo close I just want to say thank you so much for reading these newsletters. I love receiving all your messages and replies to them, they mean a lot to me. I’m also very grateful for your prayers, let me know how I can pray for you as well! I look forward to writing you again soon💛\nSincerely,\nLydia Boubion\nHelping record the church planting class and filming the service for the livestream!\nPraise Reports! Answered prayer of finding a godly woman to confide in and receive biblical counsel from Special moments with my siblings in my remaining time at home More progress on the church planting book Prayer Requests: Wisdom and diligence in editing the church planting book That my love for God and people would keep growing For my move in January (housing, job, etc.) ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/is-it-worth-the-wait/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs my time here in Mexico draws to a close the Lord shows me the fruits of this year. I remember when I had first joined staff at Calvary Rosarito I struggled to keep up with people and took an excruciating amount of time to learn how to do the tasks I was given. However, the Lord kept me faithful and now almost a year later much has changed. I’m able to use my creativity in the media ministry and even be in charge of creating a podcast for the church. I’ve improved in the livestream ministry- going from constantly making rocky mistakes to finding a more streamlined process of doing things. For much of the year I struggled with thoughts of being a burden on that ministry due to how slow I was learning. But over time the Lord showed me that the greatest value is found in faithful endurance rather than talent.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Is it Worth the Wait?"},{"content":" And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.\nGALATIONS 6:9\nTwo major things happened this month. The first thing was that my (Noelle’s) Mom was finally able to visit Uganda. After more than 5 years on the field, it was so good to be able to show her in person everything we’ve been doing, and meet our community and those we work alongside. She stayed for a whole month, praise God, and brought with her 3 of my older nieces and a friend. 12 people living under the same roof made our home practically burst at the seams, but all the housework work, play, and ministry seemed to get done smoothly nonetheless. Without them I would not have been able to finish all the work on my end in preparation for the big celebration, which is the second major thing that happened in October.\nAfter nearly 8 years of teaching through the Bible, Terebinth School of Discipleship finally has an official campus. For several years we as a couple have been dreaming and drawing pictures of what this project could look like. When we arrived back in Uganda after our furlough in 2021, we were given the green light from our director to start putting those dreams on the ground. Now a full year since the shovels hit the dirt, we have a beautiful school campus ready for the current and future classes of church leaders. All of this is in effort to officially accredit the school. The location was officially opened on October 18th 2022 with a very grand opening ceremony that had around 1,000 people in attendance, from our staff and students, to all 180 of our widows to the neighboring community even to the political leaders! It was also utilized for its first teachings as our church leaders studied the book of Deuteronomy that same week. It was powerful to stop and consider all that God has done around our team. We hope and pray that Jesus will continue to be exalted through the use of this campus and that he will guide us through the accreditation process to prevent our students from having any future problems from the government.\nMay God richly bless you for all of your support through this process! The journey has been long, the route hasn’t been easy but together, we have persevered and with your prayers we have truly seen a harvest for the kingdom. We are excited to show you what God has accomplished here, and we are also excited to hear what God is doing around you there.\nHere is a link to a video showing the Grand Opening ceremony of the new Terebinth Ministries school campus.\nhttps://youtu.be/IYivCw0GoFo\nIn Christ!\nThe Harris Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/october-2022/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2022/11/20221029%5F1653102.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGALATIONS 6:9\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2022/11/20221030%5F182215%5F4.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTwo major things happened this month. The first thing was that my (Noelle’s) Mom was finally able to visit Uganda. After more than 5 years on the field, it was so good to be able to show her in person everything we’ve been doing, and meet our community and those we work alongside. She stayed for a whole month, praise God, and brought with her 3 of my older nieces and a friend. 12 people living under the same roof made our home practically burst at the seams, but all the housework work, play, and ministry seemed to get done smoothly nonetheless. Without them I would not have been able to finish all the work on my end in preparation for the big celebration, which is the second major thing that happened in October.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"October 2022"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn this update I wanted to tell you about one of the main activities of our church’s missions program. That focus is making follow up visits to visit our church plants and the church planters that we have sent out. We get this model from the Apostle Paul and his church planting journeys in the book of Acts.\nAfter Paul and Barnabas planted churches on their first missionary journey, they returned to their sending home church of Antioch to give an update on all that God had done. After a short time in Antioch, Paul was ready to once again travel throughout the Roman Empire.\nPaul had the urge to not only plant more churches, but to also visit the churches that he and Barnabas had already planted. We find an important verse about this in Acts 15:35, where we read… Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.”\nWhen a church is a sending hub, they also need to take on the responsibility and care of the friends that they send out. One of the most effective ways to do that is by visiting church plants on missions trips. In October, we had four missions’ teams that were sent out and I want to tell you about each one of them!\nI was blessed to lead the first small team that we sent out to visit our church plants in Mazatlan! We had a small group of church staffers that went to visit Pastor Tony Carranza and his family! While there, I was blessed to teach their Sunday service and host their church planting course that has 16 students all praying and hoping to be sent out one day.\nWe also brought down my friend and church staffer Chris (who leads our church’s lighting ministry) along with 700 dollars worth of lighting equipment that he installed in the church while we are there!\nLater on that month, my friend (and CCR Pastor) Carlos Oliveros led a team of 18 to visit our church plant in Loreto! After just a year and a half, this church now averages 150 adults every Sunday in this town of 30,000!\nThis team was sent down with the finances and tools they needed to do 8 separate building projects and they did a great job upgrading the church’s facility! They also built the church a brand new beautiful stage!\nThe following week we were blessed to send out a team of 16 women, for a women’s only missions trip to our 5 year old church plant in Monterrey! (A large Mexico state south of Texas) This team of gifted ladies hosted a children’s ministry workshop, evangelized door to door in the streets, and hosted a women’s conference.\nThe ladies told me that their trip highlight was the several local ladies that they got to lead to faith in Jesus Christ!\nAt the end of the month, our young adults pastor David Mendoza led a team of 13 on fire college age students to visit our church plants in Culiacan! This energized group hosted a young adults conference where all six of our Culiacan church plants came together for worship, encouragement, and fellowship! The leaders were also blessed to teach at several of our 2nd generation church plants on Sunday!\nEach one of our 40+ congregants on these trips chipped in with their trip costs to raise money for their ministry projects and our church was also honored to give a large financial gift to support each event and work project on these trips. I love to brag about the Lord’s generosity and how our church sends out 18% of our total budget to support missions and church planting. A chunk of those funds are sent out every time we send out a short term missions teams!\nBy the end of the calendar year, our church will have taken 15 of these church planting trips visiting our church plants and encouraging our church planters. If you have never been on a church planting trip I highly recommend it. And by the way, our church’s mission’s trips are open to everyone! (And yes, that includes you!)\nFinally, I want to thank you for choosing to partner with us and support our family as your missionaries! We love sharing about the great things that God is doing here, and we share it with you because this is your spiritual fruit. We thank God for you and love you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless our 2 remaining missions trips to Mexico City and Loreto!\n#2- That God would provide for the needs of our family, church friends, and the church!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for four blessed church planting missions trips in the month of October.\n#2- Praise God for the 13 baptisms we had in October!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/31264/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this update I wanted to tell you about one of the main activities of our church’s missions program. That focus is making follow up visits to visit our church plants and the church planters that we have sent out. We get this model from the Apostle Paul and his church planting journeys in the book of Acts.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2022/11/311520314%5F10160308851929208%5F3684410661258963653%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter Paul and Barnabas planted churches on their first missionary journey, they returned to their sending home church of Antioch to give an update on all that God had done. After a short time in Antioch, Paul was ready to once again travel throughout the Roman Empire.\u003c/p\u003e","title":""},{"content":" AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nUrgent prayer request\n- The mom of Evelyn and Shiella has had 2 mini strokes and has continued bleeding on her brain. Pray for complete healing. Pray for provision for all the medical bills. Evelyn and Shiella are like the Kanyike\u0026rsquo;s own children, and Evelyn is the worship leader for Arise Christian Fellowship.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. There is currently an Ebola outbreak in Uganda. Pray for safety and for it to come to an end quickly.\n2. The FRM guesthouse is having some construction and repairs done. Pray it goes quickly, without complication.\n3. Pray for the Kanyike children to get called soon for their USA citizenship interview.\n4. Pray for Jill as she has just begun a new Bible study on the Word of God.\n5. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian fellowship.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nMatthew and Noelle Harris\nWe thank God for your prayers over our family.\nPraise God:\n-Our 9 years of peaceful marriage.\n-Our 5 children.\n-Noelle’s mother, 3 nieces and a friend arriving safely to visit us.\n-The great progress in the Discipleship school, both in the students and in the new site construction.\nIn Christ, Matthew, Noelle and Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Midigo, Uganda\nPraise Report:\n- We are harvesting our first crops of beans for the 900 children at our school!\n- Our 700 chickens have started laying eggs! We pray they add even more so we can give the children a balanced diet.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Pray for our 7th graders sitting for the government exams.\n2. That God would continue to pour out His grace over us.\n3. Pray for our Bible College, hospital and sports ministry. God has us doing big things so the attack is also heavy.\n4. Pray as the spirit will lead you.\nThank you for your prayers and love!\nIn Him,\nThe Aniku’s - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn November, myself and a small team of Americans, will be meeting with our African missionaries in South Sudan. We are looking forward to hearing all that God has done and asking the Lord for clear direction on how best to minister to the Koma in 2023. Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support, and for partnering with us to see the Gospel reach those who have never heard.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for the Koma people to be open and receptive to the Gospel and for the missionaries reaching them.\n2. Pray for our November meeting, that God would speak through veteran missionaries to encourage and send new national missionaries to finish the great commission.\n3. Pray for protection and wisdom. There has been intense spiritual warfare as we seek to continually reach these tribes, who are hearing the Gospel for the first time.\n4. Pray for financial provision to establish an emergency communication system, and finances for construction equipment that will enable us to develop the airstrip so that a plane can land in any weather.\n5. Pray that God would move on the hearts of more African missionaries to join our team in reaching every part of the Koma community.\nGod Bless You!\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached,\nRob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise God:\n- For a blessed church planting trip to visit our church plants in Mazatlan! - For good health for the past 6 months!\nPrayer Needs:\n1. That God would bless our children and their college studies!\n2. For God\u0026rsquo;s help as we have Sarah\u0026rsquo;s father Ted moving in to live with us!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Tijuana, Mexico\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Biblical counseling ministry\n2. Vision, direction for my children’s plans\n3. Thanksgiving for miracle and answered prayer forMy son!\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian – Email Blog\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California, USA\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for our son\u0026rsquo;s wedding that I have the privilege of officiating\n2. As I lead a seven-person team to Peru to serve at their church planting conference at the beginning of November.\n3. Our son, Andy who is still missing, homeless and struggling with many issues.\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for my parents’ health.\n2. I have been having pain in my neck for about a month; please pray that God will heal it or that I will find out the cause and how to treat it.\n3. Please pray for my children, as we have begun a new school year.\n4. Please pray for the nursing home/assisted living ministry that I am a part of; that God will give me words of encouragement to say that speak truth and wisdom from His Word.\n5. Please pray for me to manage my time wisely, according to God’s priorities.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for God to lead me, as I am seeking more opportunities for evangelism.\n2. Please pray for my dad\u0026rsquo;s health and for the doctors to have wisdom. He has been having lightheadedness, nausea, and vomiting for the past few weeks and the doctors are running tests. Thank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nBond, Heather Gaona - S. Asia and USA\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Pray for our time in Nepal to be an encouragement. Pray as we teach the Word, gather Pastors \u0026amp; Leaders and invest in lives that God would do a great work.\n2. Pray for the students who will be returning to their villages throughout Asia campuses in November, especially for the new graduates that will start new bible studies, that they would be bold and have great faith to reach the lost in their villages.\n3. Pray for our family to be able to effectively minister to the ever-growing number of national pastors, leaders and students that is amazing.\n4. Pray for Heather for healing from physical heart issues that she has been having.\nThank you for your prayers,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for the end of our semester in the School of ministry!\n2. Please pray for fruit from all our visits while we were on furlough.\n3. pray for our health, and to raise up more workers for the ministry!\n4. Pray for our trip to Trujillo for the conference by SGWM \u0026amp; The Whosoever!\n5. Pray for housing for women that will be attending the school of ministry early 2023\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nThanks for your prayers. We are all healthy now.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for our partnership with the Precious Women organization. Kayo has been serving as a board member, devotion leader, and administrative helper for several years now. I (Darryl) have just resumed helping them make videos (after a 2-year pause for Covid).\n2. Please pray for my apologetics/evangelistic video ministry. Please pray for wisdom in selecting and researching new topics. Also, pray that the new and older videos will continue to be viewed on social media so that they equip and impact Cambodian believers and non-believers.\n3. Please pray for developing in-person partnerships with other missionaries here in Cambodia. Please pray for Light Times Magazine, especially for their finances. I serve as an English editor for them, and they make a great impact but always struggle to raise the funds they need for printing and equipment.\nThanks!\nGod Bless!\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for my mother. She has been having headaches for a long time and pain in her shoulder and back. The pain is not getting better even with treatment. May God heal her. Last week, her own sister, who lived in our neighborhood, died. Because we are Christians, our neighbors didn’t allow my mom to see her sister and replied to her with insults. No one (in our village) talks to us, everyone is at enmity with us. It is the same way for all of our church believers with the people who live around them.\n2. Please pray that the believers of my church be able to understand the Word of God more deeply.\n3. Pray that God strengthens the people of my church in their faith and protects them from all kinds of trouble and persecution.\n4. Pray that if the Lord wills, our church may be registered.\n5. Please pray. Last month in the village where our church used to run on Mondays, the upper caste people were waiting to kill us. So, we stopped having church there and were trying to start it again in another village. But the upper caste people went and threatened the people of the other village also. Because of this, there is no church in that village right now. Some people from there still come to our house on Fridays for Bible study and Sundays for church fellowship. Pray that God gives peace to the people there and that God talks to those who are persecuting, that they too can receive the Lord.\n6. Pray that God give peace to our neighbors and those who are the political leaders of our village who hate us, may God give peace to them too.\n7. Pray. There are still many villages in my state where people have not yet heard the name of Christ. Pray that those people can also hear the name of Jesus Christ and that God uses me abundantly for His pleasure.\nThank you for your prayers, Christian love and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you,\n11\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please continue to pray that our church believers would grow in the Word of God. Please pray that they would see the real depths of love that God has for them from the ages.\n2. Also, please continue to pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health. May God heal her lungs completely so that she can breathe normally.\n3. I am travelling to a neighboring country for a conference. Please pray that I will be strengthened, encouraged, and refreshed with the Word of God once again and with the fellowship of the beautiful saints!\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n7\nWorker 12 - 1040 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Pray for the ministry here, that God will save more people and enlarge his kingdom.\n2. Pray for A, who was possessed by an evil spirit, that God will heal her completely and help her to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s grace.\n3. Pray for me, as I am going to a new village; pray that the Lord will use me there for His glory and fulfill all of my traveling needs.\n4. We have been praying for land for our church for a long time; pray that God will fulfill it and God will be glorified in this place.\n5. We need a guitar for our church because the old guitar we have is not working well; please pray that God will provide a new one.\n6. Once or twice a month, we feed all of the people of the church because some believers come to church from far away. Due to not having enough large serving utensils, we have to rent utensils; pray that we can buy some new utensils for church.\n7, Pray for sister D, who publicly showed her commitment to Jesus some time ago; pray that she will grow more in the Lord and in His Word. This sister is a nurse in a hospital.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n12\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for the International Pastor’s Conference October 24-26 in Nepal.\n2. Please pray for the safe journey of rest of the pastors and leaders from within the country and outside.\n3. Please pray for the Calvary Chapel Bible College Graduation Ceremony in October 26.\n4. Please pray for the financial crisis of Pastor Laxman Nepal- CC Hetauda and Pastor Nikesh Thapa- Janakpur.\n5. Please pray for the spiritual and numerical growth of Charis Bible Church.\nThank for your prayers!\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna – Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Needs:\n1. God gave me the opportunity to share the Gospel with 500 people—may God protect them and give them lives according to His will.\n2. Please pray that we will be able to have a baby in God’s time, My wife really wants to have a baby. Please pray for my wife’s ministry as she teaches and serves in Bible Study.\n3. One of our Bible School graduates is planting a church. Please pray for him and for his financial support. He is going to a very crowded area, where we could not find any churches. Please pray that God will provide him with all of the things he needs, both physically and spiritually.\n4. May God protect me and give me good health to serve Him and help me to be always a faithful servant.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise God:\n- Huge Thank You\u0026rsquo;s for the prayer covering: we have finished this semester of Bible college by the Grace of God. God has kept us and blessed us this semester with a Wonderful time with the students.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for us for safe travels as we will be traveling to different parts of Nepal for outreaches during this semester.\n3. Please pray for the upcoming semester, that God may bring student for Bible college.\n4. Please pray for our Christmas outreach which we have to prepare for in the coming days.\n5. Please pray for the students as they will be leaving for their Church during this semester break; that God may use them by filling them with His Spirit.\nThank you for faithfully praying\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray that the Lord will give my wife, V, good health.\n2. Please pray that our new students this year will be prepared for the work of the Gospel and pray for God’s protection as the radicals are targeting Christians in our area.\n3. May the Lord help us to be humble in our hearts and follow His footsteps in everything that we do.\nThank you for your prayers!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nBy God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers.\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Do continue to pray for the completion of our house construction. God may provide all our needs.\n2. Do continue to pray for the growth and need of our local Church.\n3. Recently we have shifted our Bible College to a new rented house. Please pray that in new building we all may feel free to Praise and Worship God.\n4. Kindly pray for me and my family, may Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\n5. Please pray for Mahima Anthony (a-15-year old girl) he is suffering with high blood sugar.\n6. Please pray for Rachel (my sister-in-law) in October month she is going to replace her pacemaker (Artificial cardiac).\nThank you so very much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n3 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Pray for me and for the other teachers, that we will be blessings and good teachers to the Bible school students.\n2. Pray for the students, that they will also grow in the Word and be well-equipped to be used to expand the kingdom of God in their home areas.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 9\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\n**\nPrayer Needs:**\n1. Please pray for my wife to be able to transfer her job as we have applied, so that we may stay together.\n2. Please pray for the kids; they’re not doing well.\n3. Please pray for kids so that they will grow in Lord and their studies.\n4. Please pray for the Bible Institute students and their study.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n16\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please continue to pray for our ministry here in the mountain area.\n2. Please pray for the villages here, that God will open more doors for us to share His Word with them.\n3. It is not easy to share God’s Word here in the district that we live in. Please continue to pray that God will change the people’s hearts here.\n4. Please pray for our believers here, that they will grow in God’s Word and stay strong.\n5. Please continue to pray for our church building construction, that God will provide some funds and we will be able to finish the work before Christmas. I am praying that we will be able to celebrate this Christmas in the new building.\n6. Please pray for my family and my needs; may God provide them.\nThank you so much everyone for your love in Christ! God bless you!\nGod bless you,\n13\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Pray for our church to grow more in love and unity.\n2. Pray for our new church plant in the village.\n3. Pray for Brother P’s church plant to grow.\n4. Pray for our student B; he is ill and his liver is infected.\n5. Pray for the conference in our country, that it would be blessing to all and everyone would be refreshed and have safe travels.\n6. Pray for chairs; we need to buy 30 chairs for the church and also 2 more sound speakers and cables. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s provision.\n7. Pray for my family’s good health.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\n6\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Needs:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with others about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Please pray for our health and safety.\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for my family and me, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\nThank you,\nMilan - Blog\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nBlessings,\nWorker 2\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray for our students\n2. Please pray for new believers\n3. Please pray for our safety.\nThank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ,\n4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray that all the believers of our church will learn the Word and be filled with His knowledge and wisdom and become doers of the Word also.\n2. Please pray for me, that God will help me to grow spiritually more and more every day of my life.\n3. Please pray for the need of a church building for our church.\n4. Please pray that God would add new numbers to the Church members.\n5. Please pray that by the means of social works through our church, we will be able to reach out to the people.\n6. I am getting married this November; please keep me in your prayers.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nThanks be to the Lord that God has kept you and us together, and thanks be to the Lord who blesses each and every one of us and saves us from every danger! Thank you also to those who continuously pray for us!\nPrayer Needs:\n1. First of all, pray for the villages in our area, where some people are against the people of God; pray for God to change their hearts.\n2. Pray for the leaders here who are members of the anti-Christian party, who do not want the kingdom of God to come. Pray for those leaders, that God will change their hearts.\n3. Pray for the believers of my church, that they will be strong in the Word.\n4. Pray for my life, that God opens new doors for me so that I can share the gospel of God to all of the people in my area.\n5. The government has a record of our mobile phone number to keep an eye on us because of our Christianity. Pray that God will help us and will bring those who belong to the anti-Christian government group into faith.\n6. Pray for the believers in my village who are students; pray that they can change their lives with the blessings of God.\n7. Pray for my mom who had surgery. She is now taking liver medicine; pray for her to get well soon.\n8. Pray for some of our believers who want to publicly show their faith in Christ; pray that God will prepare them completely.\n9. Pray for our region, that God will change the hearts of all the people here and walk in God’s path.\n10. Pray for my brother who has exams in December; that his exams will go well with God’s blessings.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n10\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Needs:\n1. Please pray that we may be settled permanently, that God would provide a home for us and for the church building. We are still in a rented house.\n2. Please pray for brother R; he is a good and strong believer. He applied for a government job; may God provide that work to him. He is a welder.\n3. Please pray for sister P and her husband and two children. They are new believers and both of the children are mentally and physically weak. May God completely deliver that family\n4. Please pray for the persecution in this area, and for all of the churches here.\n5. Please pray for my fruitful ministry and that I will be a faithful servant in God’s vineyard.\n6. Please pray for my family.\n7, Kindly pray for my parents and my family members who are still in the world; may God call them for Himself.\nOnce again, I would like to thank you for your valuable prayers and support!\nMay God bless you,\n8 and Family\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are\nmistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping\n\u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time.\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-nov-prayer-update-3/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/kanyike-prayer-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUrgent prayer request\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n- The mom of Evelyn and Shiella has had 2 mini strokes and has continued bleeding on her brain. Pray for complete healing. Pray for provision for all the medical bills. Evelyn and Shiella are like the Kanyike\u0026rsquo;s own children, and Evelyn is the worship leader for Arise Christian Fellowship.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Needs:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. There is currently an Ebola outbreak in Uganda. Pray for safety and for it to come to an end quickly.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM NOV PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"There was so much that happened over the summer that we felt it necessary to recap for a moment before we launch into this fall and winter season.\nBigger Than Ever\nNow to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21)\nCalvary School of Missions (CSOM) 2022 was bigger than ever. With over 18 students, 6 leaders, 20 plus teachers and guest speakers, we are reminded of Ephesians 3:20-21 and yet again taught the all important lesson of not limiting God. Class Picture 2022There is no possible way in newsletters to do justice to and bring God all the glory due His name for what He did this summer so we sincerely invite follow-up communication. Please engage with us! We would love to share more with you via telephone, video chat, or personal discussions over food or coffee. Having said that, we will try to give you a snapshot of what God allowed us to be a part of. As you can imagine, this was no small task; months and months and months of preparation went into this year including scheduling and interviewing potential students, teachers, and guest speakers, preparing curriculum and outreach opportunities, assembling a leadership team, organizing logistics of food, shelter, transportation, and much more. It is exhausting to even think of, let alone execute.\nBy God’s grace, on July 10, we were ready to go and had a beautiful send off from our home church and church planting hub, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. Words cannot express how grateful we are to be part of a body that understands the importance of the evangelization and discipleship of all nations and whole heartedly gets behind the Calvary School of Missions.\nWe sent out several newsletters over the summer and don’t want to revisit things we already wrote about so we invite you to view our blog and see those past posts.\nWonderful Opportunities\nTim got to teach at several churches in Culiacan as well as at the first ever missions conference at Calvary Chapel Culiacan. The title of the conference was Mexico and Beyond and it was exciting for the students and staff to be part of church planting history. Pastor Hugo Limón allowed us to basically take over the church and run the whole conference and what a blessing it was as Pastor Hugo, Pastor Trent, Pastor Rob and Pastor Tim taught on the purpose of the church and the great need to reach the unreached nations of the world with the Gospel.\nFruit of the Ministry\nAs we return home and try to wrap up CSOM 2022, so much is yet to be done. We will bore you with those details another time, but we wanted to share that there is much fruit from the last four years of CSOM. It is yet to be seen what God will do in the lives of the young men and women that joined us this year, but we have eight students from years gone by that are on a path to be in the Middle East by spring 2023. There is a great work going on in a country we choose not to disclose for security purposes where God has opened up an incredible opportunity to start a base for church planting in the Middle East. These CSOM (Calvary school of missions) interns are currently in the process of transitioning to this country to begin language lessons and cultural immersion. We can\u0026rsquo;t believe God is allowing us to have a front row seat to see what He is going to do in the Muslim nations through CSOM. Another one of the interns will be moving to South Asia to join the work God has allowed us to be part of there and two others will be heading for Japan.\nTim and I are so blessed to be part of the Great Commission, serving together, supporting the youngsters in their callings, and training them up! Especially being able to serve alongside each other. We are happy to be home in our home church body, however, I ( Jenn ) especially enjoyed meeting more of our church body in Sinaloa, Mexico. While traveling and visiting the many church plants, I was reminded of 1 Corinthians 12:12-14.\nMeeting new sisters and building the relationships already established was so heartfelt. Words can’t express how in awe I was to meet so many sisters in Christ and to see what our Great Lord has been doing in their lives and in the abundance of His blessings around their communities. We were far away from home, but being with our brothers and sisters, I felt as if I was home! Below are just a few pics of some things we got to do.\nMissionary care \u0026amp; many church plants visitedCC Agauruto Women\u0026rsquo;s Conference\nCSOM Ladies 2022****Prayer Requests\n1. Please pray for Tim as he leads a team to Perú, November 1 through November 9 to help host the first ever Calvary Chapel missions conference in South America\n2. Please pray for our son, Andy as he is still missing and desperately needs Jesus\n3. Please pray for wisdom in our ending of this year and beginning of next. The calendar for missionary care and equipping is quite full and opportunities are not lacking.\nWe love you all so much and thank you for being behind us. Through your generous prayer and emotional and financial support, you have made this ministry possible for us and we want to let you know that this is the fruit of your labor as well. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially or increase your already generous support, you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or by mailing your support check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203\nYorba Linda, CA 92886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory, Tim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/catching-our-breath-and-launching-forward/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere was so much that happened over the summer that we felt it necessary to recap for a moment before we launch into this fall and winter season.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBigger Than Ever\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNow to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.\u003c/em\u003e (Ephesians 3:20-21)\u003cbr\u003e\nCalvary School of Missions (CSOM) 2022 was bigger than ever. With over 18 students, 6 leaders, 20 plus teachers and guest speakers, we are reminded of Ephesians 3:20-21 and yet again taught the all important lesson of not limiting God. \u003c/p\u003e","title":"Catching Our Breath and Launching Forward"},{"content":"Greetings to you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I thank God for your prayers and support!\nWe are reaching the end of this year\u0026rsquo;s first semester of our Calvary Bible Institute. The students are doing really well in their study of the Word of God. I think that I mentioned in one of my updates that they are diligent (not intelligent) students of the Word. Sometimes when I visit them in their free time, I see them studying and discussing theological questions, which makes me really happy.\nThe Lord has been opening new doors for the ministry. In recent months, God gave me opportunities to get in touch with local Christian teens and young adults from different churches in my town. Last month, one local church teen/young adult group invited me to their church to share the Word of God. I thank the Lord for these teens and young adults who He has given me to help grow in the Lord and in His Word.\nDuring the last week of September, all the churches in our town organized a 3 day conference. This was another opportunity for me to connect with the teenagers and young adults of different churches, since we were all part of the worship choir. I am praying that God will raise up this generation who are willing to stand for Christ. Since I am involved with local Christian teens and young adults, they see me as an example. I am thankful that they come to me with their Biblical and spiritual questions and that during their time of need they come to me seeking spiritual guidance. God has opened the door for these teens and young adults to trust me and come to me when they are low and need spiritual uplifting.\nOne of the brothers with whom I grew up at the church, now has his own church in his village. He lives quite far from where I am right now. If I took a train, it would take me more than 24 hours to reach his village.\nHe has started Bible study from the book of Genesis on Fridays for the believers of his church. I am grateful that he gave me the opportunity to teach at his Friday Bible study a couple of times. It is encouraging to see new believers learning for the first time about creation and the fall of man. Most of these believers are from villages. Many of them do not know how to read or write. We try to keep it simple when we teach them, so that they can understand.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray that I may continue to grow in the Lord and in His knowledge and be used by God. Pray for my health. I have been taking medication for the past few months for allergies. I am still trying to figure out what I am allergic to. Please pray for the Bible Institute students to be equipped for the work of the Gospel. Please pray for the teenagers, young adults and school children whom I am ministering to, to stand for God and be the light in the darkness around them. Please pray for the brother and the believers in his church, who I mentioned above, to continue to grow spiritually and stand firm in their faith. They are going through persecution. Blessings,\nPastor 9\n\\* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-riches-of-his-glory/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I thank God for your prayers and support!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are reaching the end of this year\u0026rsquo;s first semester of our Calvary Bible Institute. The students are doing really well in their study of the Word of God. I think that I mentioned in one of my updates that they are diligent (not intelligent) students of the Word. Sometimes when I visit them in their free time, I see them studying and discussing theological questions, which makes me really happy.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Riches of His Glory"},{"content":"\nTypical Folklore Mexican dance at our Noche Mexicana\nFiesta Mexicana in Calvary Acapulco\nMen’s Retreat This past month we had our men’s retreat “A man decided.” It was focused on being a man that has decided to serve Jesus with everything. So many people have superficial faith with very little action. Our emphasis was on truly committing to Christ and serving God in your marriage, family, church, and in evangelism. We have 32 men ready to turn Acapulco upside down!\nBuilding Update The bid to purchase the building has gone back and forth. After much prayer, we were not able to go forward. We believe the timing isn’t right. So for now we will wait on the Lord and trust His wisdom.\nBilingual Service For the very first time in over 9 years, we decided to open a bilingual study at the first service. There is a group of Canadians that have joined our fellowship and we wanted to serve them. This has opened a huge door and more and more people are coming.\nVBS Galaxy Express: Where you will discover the greatness of God. What a huge blessing it was to have VBS this year! It was on the GREATNESS of GOD. He undoubtedly showed His greatness. There were many obstacles, like our electricity going out, and apart from there being no light, there was extreme heat. That did not detour our kids or staff. Just like the red sea parting, we saw how the Lord made a way where there was no way. Someone we don’t know donated a generator making everyone see how BIG our God is.\nFiesta Time Every year we celebrate Mexico’s Independence Day as a church. It’s a night full of worship, fun, and family. Some of the best food ever was found under our roof. We had prizes for those with the best traditional outfit and for the best dish made. Tamales won by a mile. We had activities for the kids too. This event is an outreach as our congregants invite others from all around.\nSaying Good-bye Pastor Jose and his family have been with us for the past two years but the Lord has now called them to serve in the state of Chihuahua. They will be taking over an existing Calvary Chapel as the current pastor has also been called to return to the States. Although they will be missed God has raised great leaders in our church to take over their responsibilities. Please keep them in your prayers.\nWelcome Aboard Marian has been a faithful servant here in Calvary for over 8 years. She does practically everything but preach. Marian is an elementary teacher for a Christian school and she has been working on staff part-time. However, our ministry requires her full-time. By faith, we asked her to work with us full-time. This has freed me up to attend to the sheep and not worry about the day-to-day operations. We hope to find a supporter that could help keep her on staff. She is worth every peso. Please keep her in your prayers.\nSenior Pastors Conference This year the pastor’s conference will be held in Rosarito Mexico. This conference is always a refreshing moment for all of us. As you know, we have 3 senior pastors from the churches we planted. This trip is financially impossible for them. The airfare was $400 us dollars round trip per person. We put it on our credit card. If you feel led to support a pastor please send us a message. Thank you!\nCalvary Chapel Jardin Our prayer is to plant another church before the new year. Luis Felipe and his wife Erika have been preparing themselves for the big move and the time has finally come. This church will be located on the north side of Acapulco. He currently teaches a discipleship class and a young adult group. She runs our bookstore and their kids help with children’s ministry. It is always hard letting go of faithful leaders, but we are confident the Lord will use them in a mighty way.\nMen’s and Women’s studies The 70 is an intense discipleship for men. I am currently discipling 17 men. Our goal is to raise leaders and church planters. As always we generally start off with 25-30 men but only half survive. Stacy just finished teaching Kay Smith’s book, PLEASING GOD. They took a trip to the movies to celebrate. She is now going through Chuck Smith’s WHY GRACE CHANGES EVERYTHING.\nAMOR in Action We love our elderly home! It is a ministry that can be emotionally and physically exhausting, but it also fills us with such joy to be the arms and feet of Jesus. To bring smiles to a group that might feel forgotten, to love on them, and share a meal and the Word of God. Our group is growing and our church is learning what it means to serve others.\nPrayer and Praise Please pray for:\nFor wisdom For Protection, both physically and spiritually. For souls to be saved We are so thankful to God for His faithfulness. He has brought us through some tough storms and it just strengthens us to know He is by our side. We are thankful for all of you who faithfully pray for us and those of you who are able to support us financially.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-chapel-acapulco-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/villegas/wp-content/uploads/sites/130/2022/10/7.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTypical Folklore Mexican dance at our Noche Mexicana\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFiesta Mexicana in Calvary Acapulco\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"mens-retreat\"\u003eMen’s Retreat\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month we had our men’s retreat “A man decided.” It was focused on being a man that has decided to serve Jesus with everything. So many people have superficial faith with very little action. Our emphasis was on truly committing to Christ and serving God in your marriage, family, church, and in evangelism. We have 32 men ready to turn Acapulco upside down!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary Chapel Acapulco update"},{"content":"Hello, dear team,\nIt is always nice to write to you about what is happening here with me and about the ways God is working among us, as we are growing as a spiritual family and church.\nWe have been doing a lot of house visitations for various reasons. Some are prayer meetings of thanksgiving. Some are birthdays. Some are different gatherings! Whatever the reason is, we are meeting and giving glory to God for what He is doing in our lives.\nOne of our church members was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is about 60 years old and uneducated. For this reason, I took a lot of time to talk to her doctors and was involved a lot in helping her to the point of having an operation and getting chemotherapy. We have been visiting her regularly as a church family to comfort her and show the love that is in the Bible.\nPlease continue to pray that our church believers would grow in the Word of God. Please pray that they would see the real depths of love that God has for them from the ages. Also, please continue to pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health. May God heal her lungs completely so that she can breath normally. I am travelling to a neighboring country for a conference. Please pray that I will be strengthened, encouraged, and refreshed with the Word of God once again and with the fellowship of the beautiful saints!\nWith love for you all and prayers,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/encouraging-others-to-know-jesus-love-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello, dear team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/IMG-20220830-WA0005.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20220930%5F140138-300x176.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is always nice to write to you about what is happening here with me and about the ways God is working among us, as we are growing as a spiritual family and church.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have been doing a lot of house visitations for various reasons. Some are prayer meetings of thanksgiving. Some are birthdays. Some are different gatherings! Whatever the reason is, we are meeting and giving glory to God for what He is doing in our lives.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Encouraging Others to Know Jesus' Love"},{"content":"Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man. Luke 21:36 Dear Friends and Family,\nThis has been a very interesting time in Uganda, our family and the world. It seems only fitting that recently Brian started the book of Revelation. He did not start it because of the events taking place in the world but it is literally where he is teaching by going book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse through the Bible. It has been a interesting study for the church as many of them have ever done more than skim through the pages and decide it was too difficult to understand or too scary to read. I believe now through hearing teaching on it, instead they are now expectant and excited.\nEvery week after church there are deep conversations about the Book of Revelations but also world events and how they all relate. I know even at home with the children the conversation and questions continue. One Sunday after church Luke said, “These things would make a great movie”. That inspired us to restart our movie night at church, which had been shut down since covid. We are currently showing the Left Behind series. While it is fiction, many of the events seem similar to some of the events happening in the world today and it has been eye opening for people that Jesus really is coming back soon for His church and they need to be ready. Before the movie we share a bit what is going to happen and review for newcomers what has already taken place. After the movie the Gospel is given. So far we have had one young man named Wilson ask to get saved. We are praying that many more will make the decision to not be left behind.\nOn Sundays, if someone has a testimony we often will let them share. This past Sunday Luke out of the blue said he had something to share. I was a bit of a testimony of how he shared Christ with a friend who doesn’t believe in God but really turned into an evangelistic message on the realities of hell and how it is our unbelief, not God, that sends us there. I know the Book of Revelation and the subsequent conversations and movie have made these truths so real to him. It was a proud mommy moment to hear him share these truth with the church.\nIf learning about tribulations has not been enough then seeing and hearing about them has really shown us they are all around us. I wrote a while back that FRM had held a refresher course for the chaplains. After that we learned of about 15 who had various sicknesses and injuries. They were sent down on the bus to us in Uganda to receive proper treatment. The night they arrived you would not have know the seriousness of some of the ailments. They were happy, social and almost immediately upon arrival broke into praise and worship. It turned out many of them were very ill with Hepatitis. Thankfully the type they had is very treatable and we expect a full recovery.\nOne of the chaplains was suffering from 2 old bullet wounds where the bullets had remained in, one in his head and one in his leg. The doctors were able to operate to remove the bullet in his head but they said they could not remove the one in his leg but they cleaned the area very well. One of the chaplains has been suffering from the effects of chemical warfare for years. He was here being treated for some new symptoms. Another of the chaplains had an injury to his eye that required a lens transplant. He was very blessed because the doctor who performs that surgery is only in the country 3 days a month and happened to be here just at that time. Another chaplain thought he had a slipped disc or some sort of back problem and it turned out he had a small benign tumor pressing on his back. Praise God they were able to remove it without any complications. The last chaplain came a bit later when Wes Bentley saw an injury on his leg that looked very infected. It turned out that he came just in time as it was tetanus. We are so blessed to be here at the guest house not just ministering to the lost of Uganda but to the heroes of the faith serving God on the front lines of both spiritual and physical battles.\nAt Arise Christian Fellowship one of our members, Robert, had his own trial recently. His home is in the slums near the market place where people live very crowded together. Someone nearby left their iron on and it caused a fire. We praise the Lord that Robert and his family were not home when it happened so no one was hurt but everything was burned. When things had cooled down and he and his wife were walking around they found their Bible scorched but not destroyed. It reminded me of in 2 Cor. 4:8-9 “We are hard pressed on all sides, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” He was very thankful when we were able to give him a new unscorched Bible, though he says he will always keep the other one as a reminder of God’s faithfulness.\nThank you for praying for us and the people we are blessed to serve.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee and Liana\nPrayer Requests We thank the Lord for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. Pray for Arise Christian fellowship as they go through the book of Revelation. Pray that they would truly be ready for Christs return. Pray that the staff and church would be stirred up to share Christ with others. Please pray for the many chaplains who have been treated for sickness and injury recently. Pray for Jill and the children as they have all had a bacterial stomach infection. Pray for Robert and his family, as well as any other who were affected by the fire in the slums near the marketplace. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-13/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"be-always-on-the-watch-and-pray-that-you-may-be-able-to-escape-all-that-is-about-to-happen-and-that-you-may-be-able-to-stand-before-the-son-of-man-luke-2136\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBe always on the watch, and pray\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003ethat you may be able to escape all that is about to happen,\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eand that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man.\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eLuke 21:36\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis has been a very interesting time in Uganda, our family and the world. It seems only fitting that recently Brian started the book of Revelation. He did not start it because of the events taking place in the world but it is literally where he is teaching by going book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse through the Bible. It has been a interesting study for the church as many of them have ever done more than skim through the pages and decide it was too difficult to understand or too scary to read. I believe now through hearing teaching on it, instead they are now expectant and excited.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":"by Lydia Boubion on October 12, 2022 Leave a comment\nDear friends and family,\nAnother month has passed by with both its blessings and difficulties. First of all, I want to say that I am so grateful to live in Tijuana, Mexico. It has been such an indescribable blessing to serve on full time staff at Calvary Rosarito church. Thank you to those of you who follow me and keep me in your prayers.\nThe month of September brought a few fun events to Calvary Rosarito! On the 15th, our church put on a Mexican Independence Day celebration! I had such a great time going and being immersed in the traditional side of Mexico. They had mariachi, folklorico, and of course, lots of food!\n¡Día de la Independencia!\nThroughout the month it was also a blessing to be able to visit my friends and family in California! Everytime I visit my church in Yorba Linda I get so energized and excited to be around that church family. Being around like-minded people pursuing the Lord’s call to missions is such a joy for me. I also was blessed to visit my cousin and grandparents again and spend some time with them on that trip.\nVisiting family:)\nConnecting Through Language In other news, I’m continuing to grow in my Spanish abilities, praise God! I hung out at the beach with one of the ladies from our life group and it was such a beautiful time! We listened to each other share about God’s grace and love in our lives through various difficult circumstances. It was so encouraging to hear her heart of love and gratitude towards our Savior. What a blessing it was to connect during our conversation, especially in the language of this country! Language can be such a discouraging barrier when moving to a foreign country, so I’m so grateful the Lord has grown me a lot in this area.\nMy friend Tanya and I at the beach The Hiding Place A day later I got to close off September by attending an amazing women’s retreat with our church! The theme of this year’s retreat was called, “My Hiding Place.” The passage of Scripture we studied that weekend was Psalm 32. David wrote this psalm after he had confessed to God his sin with Bathsheba. It is a psalm that shows us how to enter the Hiding Place, which is the Lord. When you confess your sins to God and repent, you are making Him your hiding place. I walked away from that retreat super encouraged and affirmed in God’s forgiveness towards me! But I also left feeling so much freedom and peace inside after forgiving someone else I had struggled with bitterness towards for too much time. In that retreat, the women and I learned about forgiveness and that when we bring our struggles to the Lord, we are hiding ourselves in Him. Forgiveness is the key into the Hiding Place.\n“Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him.”\n– Psalm 32:10 –\nCalvary Rosarito Women’s Retreat 2022\nOpen Doors! The month of September also brought some amazing news for Japan! As I have mentioned in previous updates, I am planning to go with a team on a 2-week vision tour to Japan. For a while we were praying and waiting for Japan to fully open to foreign travelers. And a few weeks ago they finally did! Though the team had originally been hoping to do the trip this year, due to the reopening taking longer than expected to happen, they are now planning a trip in the Spring of 2023. Lordwilling, I will be going for 2 weeks in April next year so please pray for the provisions and preparations that will go into that trip. If the Lord puts it on your heart to help support my trip financially, I have a secure giving link at the bottom of this page! I would love to talk more about this trip with you and if you have any questions about it, please feel free to reach out to me!\nThat’s about it for this month’s update! Thank you so much for supporting me and reading these newsletters! I love you all so much, I’m excited to share more with you about what the Lord does in the following months. May God bless you as you make Him your Hiding Place💛\nSincerely,\nLydia Boubion\nPraise Reports!\nI had a refreshing time at the women’s retreat Japan is fully open to foreign travelers again I got to visit my family and friends Prayer Requests:\nFor my move to California in a few months (housing, job, etc.) That I would find a good mentor to confide in and receive godly counsel from For my remaining time with my family and church in Mexico (that I would finish my commitments well and enjoy the time I have left living with my family) ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/31148/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003ca href=\"/lboubion/author/lboubion/\"\u003eLydia Boubion\u003c/a\u003e on \u003ca href=\"/lboubion/2022/10/12/where-are-you-hiding/\"\u003eOctober 12, 2022\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/lboubion/2022/10/12/where-are-you-hiding/#respond\"\u003eLeave a comment\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/lboubion/wp-content/uploads/sites/170/2022/10/20220930%5F143846.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnother month has passed by with both its blessings and difficulties. First of all, I want to say that I am so grateful to live in Tijuana, Mexico. It has been such an indescribable blessing to serve on full time staff at Calvary Rosarito church. Thank you to those of you who follow me and keep me in your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":""},{"content":" I greet you all in the name of Christ Jesus.\nI hope that you all are doing well. I am doing well by God\u0026rsquo;s grace. I have seen the faithfulness of God throughout my entire life. Though sometimes in life I have gone through struggles, His mercy is sufficient for me. From the time I became a believer until now, He has continuously led me. All glory and honor I give to my amazing Lord.\nI thank God for the beautiful family that he has given to me. I am so excited because my family loves God so much. Together, we show our devotion to the Lord through family prayer and Bible meditation. I want to give a big heartfelt thanks to everyone at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace for keeping my family in prayer regularly.\nNowadays, I am studying the book of Psalm. Our God is truly a God of worship. He is worthy to be praised and worshiped.\nIn Sunday service, I am preaching from the Gospel of Mark and in another place I am teaching from the book of James. My ministry is going well and I am doing house visitation, prayer meetings in homes, and conducting fasting prayer also.\nOne new family has been coming to our church fellowship for five months. They were previously idol worshipers. When they understood the Word of God they asked me, \u0026ldquo;Sir, what can we do to our idols?\u0026rdquo;.\nI said to them \u0026ldquo;What you think?\u0026rdquo;.\nThey told me \u0026ldquo;We believe in God. We feel His power in our lives. We cannot deny Him.\u0026rdquo; The same day the family bound all of their idols and put them into the river. They are growing spiritually day-by-day.\nSome Important Prayer Requests: Please pray that we may be able to settle in a permanent home. May God provide a home for us to live in and a church building. We are still living in a rented house. Please pray for brother R*. He is a good and strong believer. He applied for a well-paying government job. May God provide the work to him. He is a welder. Please pray for Sister P*, her husband and her two children. They are new to our fellowship. Both of their children are mentally and physically weak. May God deliver their family completely. Please pray for the persecution in our state and for all of the churches here. Please pray for my ministry to be fruitful. Please also pray for me, so that I can be a faithful servant in God\u0026rsquo;s vineyard. Please pray for my family. Kindly pray for my parents and family members- they are still in the world. May God call them for Himself. Special Thanks I would like to thank everyone who is helping and supporting us financially. May God bless you all abundantly.\nKind regards,\nPastor 8* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praise-god-from-whom-all-blessings-flow/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/20220731%5F101854%5Fmfnr-300x287.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI greet you all in the name of Christ Jesus.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope that you all are doing well. I am doing well by God\u0026rsquo;s grace. I have seen the faithfulness of God throughout my entire life. Though sometimes in life I have gone through struggles, His mercy is sufficient for me. From the time I became a believer until now, He has continuously led me. All glory and honor I give to my amazing Lord.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Supporters, and Church Family!\nGreetings to all of you from my family and church! Thank God that He is fulfilling every single one of my family and I\u0026rsquo;s needs. Everyone is safe from trouble.\nIt is through love that people will know that we are disciples of Jesus. Thank God that He has put me in a place where 99% of people are illiterate and there are many villages and communities where the name of Jesus Christ has not yet reached.\nI am going to tell about a village where we have been going for about 5-6 years. 100% of the people there are completely illiterate and poor. However, seeing their love, it seems that even the educated and rich have nothing in comparison to them.\nThey live in a village where people of other castes will not go. The people of this village are despised by people of other castes. In this village, if a friend comes to visit, he neither will drink tea nor eat biscuits at his friend\u0026rsquo;s house, due to which these people felt very bad. That\u0026rsquo;s why I took my sister and her friends to them. They hugged these people, shared their lives with them, and preached the Good News of God, and taught action songs to the children. When the people of these villages saw the love of Christ through my sister and her friends and heard the Good News, two people gave their lives to the Lord. We gave biscuits to about 50 children.\nWhen all of the villagers saw that our group was talking nicely with them and even hugging them, about 20 of the villagers\u0026rsquo; families together donated the supplies and made lunch for me and my sister\u0026rsquo;s friends. They fed us well, and we went with them some distance on foot towards their homes. The people requested us to come again to their village with the whole team. Thank God that people in this village are growing more in the Word of God.\nA Destroyer of New Testaments was Baptized. We all know Paul\u0026rsquo;s story very well. First, he persecuted Christians and wanted to end Christianity. Then, the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him and his life changed. Similarly, this story is about a person who was against Christ. He hated the books and the religion of Jesus Christ. This brother\u0026rsquo;s name is A*. He is a farmer.\nOnce, we distributed New Testaments to his whole village. When this brother saw that the \u0026ldquo;new rule\u0026rdquo; (Bibles) had been distributed in his village, he collected all the \u0026ldquo;new rules\u0026rdquo; and threw them in the river.\nBut the Lord Jesus Christ came in his wife\u0026rsquo;s dream at night and said that what your husband did is not good. For this reason, the next day he came to church and asked for forgiveness. We told him the Gospel and he started following the Lord by believing in Jesus Christ. His wife was also troubled a lot by an evil spirit. We prayed and the Lord Jesus Christ healed her. A* has been coming to Bible study and learning God\u0026rsquo;s Word verse-by-verse, for almost 1 year. He got baptized this month. House church takes place in his house every Wednesday.\nFor the first time in 10 years, someone from our organization came to meet me. Thank God! For the first time, 2 people who are from our organization came to my house. They stayed with us for about 3 days. All this was a matter of great pleasure for me. We went to visit 4 villages during their visit.\nIn one of the villages, Uncle 5* (right) shared the Word of God. In another village and during our Friday Bible study, Pastor 1* (above) shared the Word of God. God also arranged for a new movie projector. We had a great time with them; they encouraged us a lot by the Word.\nThe zeal of my heart is to go where the name of Jesus has not been heard. I thank God that He gave us a chance in a village to preach the Word and Gospel of Jesus Christ in that village and also that God has provided a new movie projector.\nAfter repairing the sound system and generator, we went to a village to show a movie where people watched the movie with great pleasure. It was starting to rain and the clouds were also roaring. We prayed together that it would not rain until the movie was over. God listened to the prayer and did the same! About 150 to 200 people watched the movie to the end. Afterward, I preached the Gospel. After listening to the Gospel, the people went to their respective homes. As soon as we loaded all the stuff on the taxi (the movie projector, sound system, and generator etc.), it started raining. We returned home by taxi after praising the Lord.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for my mother. She has been having headaches for a long time and pain in her shoulder and back. The pain is not getting better even with treatment. May God heal her. Last week, her own sister, who lived in our neighborhood, died. Because we are Christians, our neighbors didn\u0026rsquo;t allow my mom to see her sister and replied to her with insults. No one (in our village) talks to us, everyone is at enmity with us. It is the same way for all of our church believers with the people who live around them. Please pray that the believers of my church able to understand the Word of God more deeply. Pray that God strengthens the people of my church in their faith and protects them from all kinds of trouble and persecution. Pray that if the Lord wills, our church may be registered. Please pray that just as God has arranged for the projector, God can also arrange for a sound system and projector screen. Please pray. Last month in the village where our church used to run on Mondays, the upper caste people were waiting to kill us. So we stopped having church there and were trying to start it again in another village. But the upper caste people went and threatened the people of the other village also. Because of this, there is no church in that village right now. Some people from there still come to our house on Fridays for Bible study and Sundays for church fellowship. Pray that God gives peace to the people there and that God talks to those who are persecuting, that they too can receive the Lord. Pray that God give peace to our neighbors and those who are the political leaders of our village who hate us, may God give peace to them too. Pray. There are still many villages in my state where people have not yet heard the name of Christ. Pray that those people can also hear the name of Jesus Christ and that God uses me abundantly for His pleasure. Thank you for your prayers, Christian love, financial support, and partnership for the Gospel. God bless you all!\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/those-who-have-never-heard-are-listening/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Supporters, and Church Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you from my family and church! Thank God that He is fulfilling every single one of my family and I\u0026rsquo;s needs. Everyone is safe from trouble.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"it-is-through-love-that-people-will-know-that-we-are-disciples-of-jesus\"\u003eIt is through love that people will know that we are disciples of Jesus.\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/November-1-300x295.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank God that He has put me in a place where 99% of people are illiterate and there are many villages and communities where the name of Jesus Christ has not yet reached.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Those Who Have Never Heard Are Listening!"},{"content":" For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.\nEPHESIANS 5:31-32\nAlong with all the day-to-day things happening in life and ministry, September brought our 9th wedding anniversary. We are thankful to have shared so much of our life together, and we don’t take for granted the peace God has helped establish in our home. To celebrate, we prepared a candlelight dinner for our family and shared the story of our relationship with our kids.\nBoth of us were raised in Christian, homeschooling families, and were deeply touched by the stories of missionaries and martyrs that our parents read to us as children. We both felt the Lord calling us to be missionaries at young ages. When we met as teenagers we were fast friends and after a few years we started intentionally dating. Since we were already close friends, it seemed only natural that things would “work out” between us; but as we prayed about the future, sought the Lord, and had direct conversations about our callings as individuals, any doubt that this could be a mistake disappeared. Our callings aligned, our yoke was equal, and each of us had heard from the Lord that this was His will. And here, after 13 years of friendship, 9 years of marriage, and even 5 children, we are still in the hands of our Lord.\nAll we can do is praise Him for His leading in our lives, and His love that has covered a multitude of youthful blunders. We live with daily conviction of God’s calling on our roles: to be a loving and caring leader as husband and father, to be honoring and trustworthy as wife and mother. When we look back at “our story”, we see that it is only a small part of God’s huge story for the world and for His glory. But even the smallest parts of God’s story are beautiful and worth praising Him for.\nPraise God for: Our 9 years of peaceful marriage. Our 5 children. Noelle’s mother, 3 nieces and a friend arriving safely to visit us. The great progress in the Discipleship school, both in the students and in the new site construction. Please pray: For the health and well-being of our visitors while they are with us. For our visitors to be a light and a blessing in our community. For the salvation and healing of our neighbor who was beaten to near death for stealing. For the finishing touches on the new school site to be completed for the Grand Opening ceremony in two weeks. God Bless You Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-september-2022-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEPHESIANS 5:31-32\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/IMG%5F1814.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAlong with all the day-to-day things happening in life and ministry, September brought our 9th wedding anniversary. We are thankful to have shared so much of our life together, and we don’t take for granted the peace God has helped establish in our home. To celebrate, we prepared a candlelight dinner for our family and shared the story of our relationship with our kids.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family September 2022 Update"},{"content":"Our co-leaders play important roles in the Church!\nAs the apostle Paul often mentioned in his letters, his co-laborers were a blessing in ministry. The same is true in our day.\nIt is so often thought that the once-a-week church service and good preaching make churches grow. However, there are some other meetings as well that play important roles in church growth. Praise God for the co-leaders that are faithfully serving the Lord according to their gifts.\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/co-laborers-in-christ/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOur co-leaders play important roles in the Church!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the apostle Paul often mentioned in his letters, his co-laborers were a blessing in ministry. The same is true in our day.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is so often thought that the once-a-week church service and good preaching make churches grow. However, there are some other meetings as well that play important roles in church growth. Praise God for the co-leaders that are faithfully serving the Lord according to their gifts.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Co-Laborers in Christ"},{"content":"Dear Sponsors,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\n“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”\n1 Samuel 7:12\nIn our family devotions, we have been studying the Bible verse-by-verse and trying to follow the footsteps of Jesus in our daily walk.\nIn this semester at Calvary Bible Institute, I am teaching the book of Exodus. I lead the student\u0026rsquo;s evening devotions and sometimes take the students for house visitation in order for them to have practical experience. God also gave me the privilege to share the Word of God at a birthday event.\nPrayer Requests: Do continue to pray for the completion of our house construction (right), that God may provide all of our needs. Do continue to pray for the growth and need of our local Church. Do continue to pray for our Calvary Bible Institute students and staff for their sound health and for smooth functioning of our college. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n\\* Names and Faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blessed-in-ministry-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Sponsors,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/House-visitation-with-the-students.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Sharing-the-Word-in-an-event-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, “Thus far the Lord has helped us.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 Samuel 7:12\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn our family devotions, we have been studying the Bible verse-by-verse and trying to follow the footsteps of Jesus in our daily walk.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this semester at Calvary Bible Institute, I am teaching the book of Exodus. I lead the student\u0026rsquo;s evening devotions and sometimes take the students for house visitation in order for them to have practical experience. God also gave me the privilege to share the Word of God at a birthday event.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessed in Ministry"},{"content":"Culiacan, Mexico, September 2022\nThese last weeks have been such a blessing. God has done great things and his work continues to grow in Culiacan and Mexico.\nWe began the month of August traveling to Rosarito to visit our sending church, Calvary Rosarito. I had the privilege of teaching at the Wednesday service, at the church planting conference, at the Sunday meeting, and sharing a bit in the church planting class on Monday.\nThe church planting movement continues to grow extensively in Mexico, and we are grateful to God that we are part of it with already 7 churches planted and number 8 in a couple of months, praise God.\nAt the church planting conference, God encouraged us to continue with this great project that is in His heart. More than 60 people traveled to Rosarito to attend this conference, which has been a great blessing year after year.\nUpon returning to Culiacan, we were accompanied by Pastor Trent Douglass and the students from the SGWM School of Missions. They were a great blessing to Culiacan and the churches here. Also, we had our first mission’s conference here in Calvary Culiacan titled Mexico and Beyond. At this conference I had the privilege to teach, and to see how God spoke to many hearts calling them to missions and church planting all over the world.\nOn the 5th of September we started classes in our church planting school with more than double the number of students compared to last year, almost 100 students in two campuses here in Culiacan. We are very excited about what God will do in this new generation of church planters.\nAfter almost 15 years working in a steel company, God called me to be in the ministry full time. It was a difficult step to take, but each time the call was louder and clearer. So I spoke with my boss and resigned. September 15 was my last day with this company. I know that God provides when you are in His will, and without a doubt we are in it. We will continue to preach the Word verse by verse, reaching the lost, making disciples, planting churches, and training and shepherding church planters. We thank God very much for all those who have been called or will be called to support His work in Culiacan.\nPrayer Requests:\n• For future church planters who have church planting projects for this year and the upcoming one.\n• For the students of the church planting school, that they continue to be trained in this great work.\n• For the finances for our family, now that I am in the ministry full time, may God call sponsors to support his work in Culiacan.\n• For the missions conferences in Peru in November where I will have the privilege of teaching at the Calvary Bible Institute there.\n• For the 7 churches of Culiacan, may they continue to grow, may God keep, bless, and protect the pastors and their families.\nThank you for being part of what God is doing here. If you receive this newsletter, it is because we consider you part of it.\nBlessings,\nPastor Hugo, Brenda, Joy, and Judá Limón.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-has-been-so-good/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCuliacan, Mexico, September 2022\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese last weeks have been such a blessing. God has done great things and his work continues to grow in Culiacan and Mexico.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/limon/wp-content/uploads/sites/169/2022/09/1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe began the month of August traveling to Rosarito to visit our sending church, Calvary Rosarito. I had the privilege of teaching at the Wednesday service, at the church planting conference, at the Sunday meeting, and sharing a bit in the church planting class on Monday.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"GOD HAS BEEN SO GOOD!"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn this update I wanted to tell you an amazing story (or three) about some Godly young friends of mine and the amazing calling that God has placed on their lives! This young couple is going to be our next church planters and in this update I wanted to tell you all about their stories!\nBrian De La Cruz and his family joined our church when Brian was only 9 years old when they arrived from Puebla Mexico! Brian grew up at our church, and began serving at a young age! Eventually, when his family decided to move back to South Mexico for economic reasons, we asked the family if our staff could adopt and raise Brian at the church! After the parents said yes, we moved Bryan into our church’s intern apartment (at our old building) and we happily received the youngest church intern in church history at only 16 years old.\nWe paid for Brian’s next three years of high school, while he served at the church in the evenings. During that time, Brian was trained up in the ministry, completed the early version of our church planting school, and became one of our church’s worship leaders.\nDuring those same years we had a new missionary family move into Rosarito from Wisconsin named the Struska’s. While they were serving full time at another ministry, this family quickly found a home at our church and they were great servants. This family of four joined us with a 10 year old daughter (Brittany) and a 7 year old son (Will). Their children became friends with our children and the other missionary kids on staff, while the parents quickly became some of our most trusted servants. They eventually joined our full time staff as well.\nEventually Brian and Brittany met in the youth group at church, and struck up a friendship that eventually blossomed into love! Shortly after that, these two faithful young believers were married and began serving the Lord together.\nWhen the opportunity arrived to be an assistant Pastor at one of our new local church plants, Brian and Brittany stepped out in faith and served there on full time staff for a number of years. During that time, they also had two children. But it was during that time, that God began to stir Brian and Brittany’s heart for church planting.\nThey also heard an opportunity from our church planter in Culiacan (Hugo Limon), that someone had donated a large piece of land for a church plant in a city called Calculalpan. (Located about an hour from Mexico City in the state of Tlaxcala) Last year, Brian and Brittany went on a church planting vision tour of this city with Hugo, where God confirmed that He was calling them to church plant there!\nIt was at that time, that Brian and Brittany resigned from their ministries at the church plant to come back home to Calvary Rosarito to spend a year training up with us, serving on staff, and re-taking the church planting course! Just last week, I was able to sit and have lunch with them and hear about the great calling that God has placed on their lives.\nMexico City (and its surrounding areas) is the 2nd largest city in the world, and this is the first church plant we will have planted in that area! I am planning to visit this area with them in the next few months for my own church planting vision tour, and then we are planning on having their sending service at our church in December. Shortly after that, the DeLaCruz family will leave everything behind and move to begin this venture of faith.\nSeeing Brian and Brittany talk excitedly about their church planting vision with their two young children in tow, reminded me of Sarah and I and our church planting move here to Mexico over 20 years ago! I believe that God has a great calling on this couple, and I can’t wait to see what God is going to do through this, our 35th church plant! Please keep them in your prayers.\nFinally, I want to thank you for choosing to partner with us and support our family as your missionaries! It is through your prayers that God meet’s our spiritual needs, and through your financial partnership, that God meet’s our physical needs. We thank God for you and love you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless Brian and Brittany as they prepare to move and church plant in December.\n#2- That God would help Sarah and I as we recently moved her father Ted down to live with us here in Mexico.\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for the 50+ students we have enrolled in this semester’s church planting classes.\n#2- Praise God for a blessed visit in September to our church plant in the state of Chihuahua!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-october-2022-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this update I wanted to tell you an amazing story \u003cem\u003e(or three)\u003c/em\u003e about some Godly young friends of mine and the amazing calling that God has placed on their lives! This young couple is going to be our next church planters and in this update I wanted to tell you all about their stories!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2022/09/288272626%5F5212580538850033%5F2580372645949019757%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBrian De La Cruz and his family joined our church when Brian was only 9 years old when they arrived from Puebla Mexico! Brian grew up at our church, and began serving at a young age! Eventually, when his family decided to move back to South Mexico for economic reasons, we asked the family if our staff could adopt and raise Brian at the church! After the parents said yes, we moved Bryan into our church’s intern apartment \u003cem\u003e(at our old building)\u003c/em\u003e and we happily received the youngest church intern in church history at only 16 years old.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family October 2022 Missions Update"},{"content":"Jai Masih Ki! (Praise the Lord!)\nThanks to the Lord that He has kept us together. Thank the Lord who blesses each and every one of us, and saves us from every danger! Thank you also to those who continually pray for us!\nPlease Pray: First of all, pray for the villages in our area, where some people are against the people of God; pray for God to change their hearts. Pray for the leaders here who are members of the anti-Christian party, who do not want the kingdom of God to come. Pray for those leaders, that God will change their hearts. Pray for the believers of my church, that they will be strong in the Word. Pray for my life, that God opens new doors for me so that I can share the Gospel of God to all of the people in my area. The government has a record of our mobile phone number to keep an eye on us because of our Christianity. Pray that God will help us and will bring those who belong to the anti-Christian government group into faith. Pray for the believers in my village who are students; pray that they can change their lives with the blessings of God. Pray for my mom who had surgery. She is now taking liver medicine; pray for her to get well soon. Pray for some of the believers in our church who want to publicly show their faith in Christ; pray that God will prepare them completely. Pray for our region, that God will change the hearts of all the people here and walk in God’s path. Pray for my brother who has exams in December; that his exams will go well with God’s blessings. Thank you! In Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n\\* Names and faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thank-you-for-your-prayers/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJai Masih Ki! (Praise the Lord!)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks to the Lord that He has kept us together. Thank the Lord who blesses each and every one of us, and saves us from every danger! Thank you also to those who continually pray for us!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/picture-300x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"please-pray\"\u003ePlease Pray:\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFirst of all, pray for the villages in our area, where some people are against the people of God; pray for God to change their hearts.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePray for the leaders here who are members of the anti-Christian party, who do not want the kingdom of God to come. Pray for those leaders, that God will change their hearts.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePray for the believers of my church, that they will be strong in the Word.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePray for my life, that God opens new doors for me so that I can share the Gospel of God to all of the people in my area.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThe government has a record of our mobile phone number to keep an eye on us because of our Christianity. Pray that God will help us and will bring those who belong to the anti-Christian government group into faith.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePray for the believers in my village who are students; pray that they can change their lives with the blessings of God.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePray for my mom who had surgery. She is now taking liver medicine; pray for her to get well soon.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePray for some of the believers in our church who want to publicly show their faith in Christ; pray that God will prepare them completely.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePray for our region, that God will change the hearts of all the people here and walk in God’s path.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePray for my brother who has exams in December; that his exams will go well with God’s blessings.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you! In Him,\u003cbr\u003e\nPastor 3* and Family\u003cbr\u003e\n\\* Names and faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thank You for Your Prayers!"},{"content":" EUROPE\nBrenna Varga - Pécs, Hungary\nPlease Pray:\n1. For our women’s Bible study groups that are starting for fall semester. Pray for the women participating, that they will grow deeper rooted in Christ and in understanding of God’s word as they study through the book of Colossians together. Pray for Brenna for wisdom and discernment and she lead’s her group.\n2. For Johnny as he goes through his last semester of school (electrical engineering), pray the Lord will lead him and help him through the writing of his thesis and other class work.\n3. Pray the Lord will provide a solution for our church childcare space, which has been outgrown.\n4. Pray for our marriage, that we may continue to grow in love for the Lord and one another.\nThank you for your prayers!\nMuch love,\nJohnny and Brenna - Email Blog\nAFRICA\nMatthew and Noelle Harris\nWe thank God for your prayers over our family.\nPraise God:\n-The pastors and church leaders have continued growing in the knowledge of God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\n- We have recently been able to start new Schools of Ministry in 2 of the Calvary Chapels here in Gulu.\n- Noelle’s mom and a few of her family members will be visiting us this month\nPlease Pray:\n1. The visit of Noelle’s family, that they would maintain good health and be blessed by what God is doing here.\n2. The Discipleship School building project, which is nearly completed, and the opening ceremony next month.\n3 The new Youth Division of our Soccer Academy, which is aimed at the young men of our community.\n4. Our family, that we would have strength, rest, and health both physically and spiritually, as we continue the work that the Lord has given us.\nIn Christ,\nMatthew \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family - Email Blog\nAniku Family - Midigo, Uganda\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for the container! Loading and shipping.\n2. Pray for the school. We praise God the chicken are starting to lay eggs and we are harvesting our first crops. Pray God will provide for the extra 10 archers, making the farm 30 archers to farm for the 900 students.\n3. Pray for the sports ministry. Our season starts this month. We pray for a fruitful year of witnessing and sharing the gospel as we travel all over the country.\n4. Pray for health and safety.\n5. Pray as we send one of our local church members to medical school. The hospital has been in need of a doctor.\nThank you for your prayers and love!\nIn Him,\nThe Aniku’s - Email Blog\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nPraise God:\n-We thank the Lord for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda.\n-We are thankful for the many people who come through Uganda and South Sudan each year who desire to share the love of God with the people.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for the pastors and leaders in Masindi as well as the chaplains who came for the refresher course.\n2. Pray for the team members who came through to not only have ministered but they left being ministered to as well. Pray for those who had malaria to be completely healed.\n3. Pray for the Russians who have now returned to Russia. Pray for their ministries and for their country.\n4. Pray for Blessing’s wife and son as they grieve for him. Pray for the church to be a comfort to them.\n5. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\n6. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached,\nRob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nBond Heather and Breanna - Africa, Asia and USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for Heather as she is having some health issues and needs healing and wisdom on next steps.\n2. Pray for Bond as he teaches Missions Conference on Sept 23 - 25 and that many would be stirred to reach the nations\n3. Pray for Bond\u0026rsquo;s weekly teachings into our campus in S. Asia. Pray for good connection, electricity to work and that they would be equipped for ministry.\n4. Pray for our travels to Nepal. Pray for the schedule, for all who will be gathering together and for it to be a fruitful time together with church planters from throughout Asia\nMany thanks,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise God:\n- Praise God for the 50+ students we have enrolled in this semester’s church planting classes.\n-Praise God for a blessed visit in September to our church plant in the state of Chihuahua!\nPrayer Requests!\n1. That God would bless Brian and Brittany as they prepare to move and church plant in December.\n2. That God would help Sarah and I as we recently moved her father Ted down to live with us here in Mexico.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Tijuana, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n1. Biblical counseling ministry\n2. Vision, direction for my children’s plans\n3. Thanksgiving for miracle and answered prayer for My son!\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian – Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nPraise God:\n-Praise God that He has given me new roles and increased responsibilities and opportunities to serve Him! I have taken on the role of Ministry Pastor here at our church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. Please pray for wisdom and vision as I oversee the ministries of our church!\n-Praise God that He is giving me opportunities to teach! On top of teaching our Young Adults group weekly, I have the opportunity to teach at our upcoming Men’s Retreat, multiple times during an upcoming trip to Nepal, and a couple of Sunday mornings at the church after that filling the pulpit for our Senior Pastor while he is away on a trip to Peru. Pray for the anointing of the Spirit for those times and for the time and diligence to study.\n-Praise God that He is opening doors to travel again! Along with one of our SGWM board members, Heather Gaona and her husband Bond, SGWM missionaries Aaron and Jena Garcia, and my friend and church’s Youth Director Isaac Douglass, I am traveling to Nepal in mid-October to represent SGWM, meet ALL of our national workers from South Asia and the Middle East, and put on a conference for all of them to encourage them in their ministries! Pray for strength, guidance, and the Spirit’s filling to represent Him and His Word well on that trip, and for Amy and the kids as they will be home without me for 10 days.\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara - Email Blog\nL.O. - Intern with SGWM\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my family\u0026rsquo;s salvation.\n2. Please pray for the salvation of my patient and her whole family who are Hindu and Agnostic believers.\n3. Currently I am at 53% of my on-going monthly support and I need 80% in order to move to South Asia in December. Please pray God would raise up more people to partner alongside my future husband and I so that we can reach our goal of 80%.\n4. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s grace to enable me to be a learner. As I will be moving to South Asia soon and getting married and partnering with my soon to be husband in life, church, ministry. I will be learning the native language and how to live and minister in that culture.\nThank you for your friendship and financial partnership. I am grateful for you.Our aim is to make His name known among the nations.\nGod bless you,\nL - Email\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California, USA\n**\nPraise Report**\n-Praise God Tim gets to officiate the wedding and has been able to do biblical premarital counseling with them\n-Praise God he has strengthened Jenn as she has worked full-time since the day she got back from Mexico. We\u0026rsquo;re thankful for the much-needed income\n-Praise God for our good health\n-Praise God for His guidance and the opportunities He gives us\nPrayer Report:\n1. Please pray for our faithfulness to what God has entrusted us with\n2. Please pray for the salvation of Jenn\u0026rsquo;s boys Andrew and Stanley\n3. Please pray for Jenn\u0026rsquo;s oldest son Nathan and his fiancé Austins wedding in October.\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my parents’ health.\n2. I have been having pain in my neck for about a month; please pray that God will heal it or that I will find out the cause and how to treat it.\n3. Please pray for my children, as we have begun a new school year.\n4. Please pray for the nursing home/assisted living ministry that I am a part of; that God will give me words of encouragement to say that speak truth and wisdom from His Word.\n5. Please pray for me to manage my time wisely, according to God’s priorities.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for God to lead me, as I am seeking more opportunities for evangelism.\n2. Please pray for my Dad\u0026rsquo;s health and for the doctors to have wisdom. He has been having lightheadedness, nausea, and vomiting for the past few weeks and the doctors are running tests. Thank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our last leg of our fund-raising trip, we have one more church to share with and the CCBC in Twin Peaks as well.\n2. Pray for health and provision.\n3. Pray that the SOM needs will be met, and our interns remain faithful!\n4. Pray for us to return home to Peru safe and sound\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 14 and Family\nPrayer Requests\n1. Please pray for upcoming changes to our ministry and family life.\n2. Pray for wisdom in the “when/where/how” we need to answer this next month.\n3. Pray for wisdom in the team we need to build as we move forward in reopening the Bible training center.\n4. Pray for more co-laborers to come alongside us in monthly support. We’ve had to update our budget this summer and realise we’re in serious need.\n5. Pray for the opportunity to purchase a motorcycle for our family. A need recently arose with the changes in our family. We’re looking at buying something in the next month while a special discount offer is going on across the State.\nThank you for interceding on our behalf and lifting up the Lord’s work in our country\nGod bless you,\n14 and family\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We spent from the middle of June to the beginning of August in Japan; we visited churches there. After we returned from there, please pray for fruit from those visits.\n2. Now that we are all recovered, we are restarting our previous ministries (apologetics/evangelistic videos, magazine editing, video production, ministry to Chinese living in Cambodia, and helping Precious Women organization). There are also new opportunities and partnerships on the horizon. All of these things are good things, and we thank God for these open doors. Please pray for wisdom to keep all of these small projects in balance.\nThanks!\nGod Bless!\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nWorker 11 – 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n-Thank God that God is keeping me and my family safe from every trouble, trouble and trouble.\n-Thank God that my friends came from the South and God kept them safe and we were encouraged by them.\n-Thank God that my younger sister and some of her friends have come to our house to accompany us to the ministry and preach the gospel, counselling, teaching action songs to children and through drama about the Lord Jesus Christ telling.\n-Thank God that God arranged for a new movie projector. And may God also arrange a sound system to use the projector, a projector screen and a mike for preaching the gospel in the days to come.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Kindly pray that people may remain stable in all kinds of persecutions.\n2. Pray that there are a lot of outreaches to be done in these days; may God protect us and spread the gospel to as many people as possible.\n3. Pray that God provide employment in my area because many believers are migrating from our area to big cities for employment.\n4. May God bring the resurrection to all our little house churches and that people may be steadfast and strong in the faith and in the word of the Lord.\n5. Pray that in our Bible study about 99% of the people who come illiterate can understand the word of the Lord more deeply.\n6. Pray that for our local pasters here that God will give unity among the people of every organization so that we all can face the coming persecutions together.\n7. Pray that in the coming days that during our conference, God will fulfill every need of theirs.\n8. Pray that my church can be registered so that in the coming days, we can get help from it in case of persecutions.\nThank you!\nGod bless you for your prayer, support and Christian love.\n11\nWorker 12 - 1040 Window\nPraise God:\n-A new family accepted Lord Jesus Christ.\n- I thank God because we have started two new house churches in New Place and now we are running three house churches.\n-Every Friday, I and some of my colleagues started the prison ministry, this is the biggest jail in Uttarakhand, in which there are many young people who are in jail for some reason or the other, I thank God for teaching those people.\n- Got the opportunity We did a medical camp in our village which benefited many people and got well done by the mercy of the Lord.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Many newcomers have heard the gospel, praying for them to speak and communicate with the living Word of God from their hearts.\n2. Some new families have come to Christ to pray for them to grow and glorify God\u0026rsquo;s words even more.\n3. I am sifting the house from here praying that God will guide me and give all the arrangements and financial support because the rent of the new house is too high for me.\n4. Praying the tires of the bike are too old and have to be replaced every day one has to go far away for the ministry by bike itself and without bike it is not possible to go to different places. Thank you so much for your prayers and Love.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 12\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise God!\n-The new semester of Bible College has started.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the spiritual revival at Charis Bible Church Kathmandu Nepal.\n2. Pray that local people around the Church come to know the Lord Jesus and come to the Church for fellowship and Service.\n3. Please pray for CC Hetauda and CC Janakpur that people around the may know the Lord and come to The Church.\n4. Please pray for good health and study of CC Bible College Nepal.\n5. Please pray for upcoming Pastor’s conference and graduation program in Nepal- pray for the safe journey of all our guests from within Nepal and out side of Nepal.\nThank for your prayers!\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna – Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for upcoming Pastor\u0026rsquo;s conference to be successful; God may do a mighty work in Nepal.\n2. Pray for the up-coming graduation for our dear students. May God give them vision to do ministry.\n3. We share gospel to unreached people they might me save and accepted Jesus.\n4. Pray our Dear brother Harka who graduated and now is doing ministry in his church plant in a new area. May God provide his financial needs, and that people will hear gospel and accept Jesus as their savior.\n5. Pray our believers will grow and those that left come back.\n6. Pray God will help our health to be produce our child. The doctor couldn\u0026rsquo;t do anything, so we left to work. May God provide in His own time.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise God:\n- Thank you, prayer warrior for praying for us. God had been changing life our Bible college students, because of His Word. During the coming days we are expecting a great harvest.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for the upcoming South Asia conference in Nepal.\n3. Please pray for the people who will be traveling for the South Asia conference.\n4. Please pray for the students; that God may speak with them continuously in this last month of the semester.\nThank you for faithfully praying\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray that the Lord will give my wife, V, good health.\n2. Please pray that our new students this year will be prepared for the work of the Gospel and pray for God’s protection as the radicals are targeting Christians in our area.\n3. May the Lord help us to be humble in our hearts and follow His footsteps in everything that we do.\nThank you for your prayers!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPlease Pray:\n1. By God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers.\n2. Do continue to pray for the growth and need of our local Church.\n3. Please continue to pray for our Bible School.\n4. Kindly pray for me and my family; may the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayers!\nGod bless you.\n3 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me and for the other teachers, that we will be blessings and good teachers to the Bible school students.\n2. Pray for the students, that they will also grow in the Word and be well-equipped to be used to expand the kingdom of God in their home areas.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 9\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my children, that they will grow in the knowledge and fear of the Lord.\n2. Please pray for God’s wisdom and strength to take care of my children and learn His Word.\n3. Please pray for the Bible College students, that they will grow and learn the Word of God.\n4. Please pray that the Bible College will run smoothly.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n16\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for this upcoming season, that my desire would be the desire of all the youngsters in the church as I seek to disciple them. The school break for them will be a great time to focus on the growth of their spiritual lives.\n2. My mother is doing a little better than previous months, but still requiring oxygen. God has been so faithful in providing her medical needs this past year; please continue to pray for her complete healing.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n7\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please continue to pray for our ministry here in the mountain area.\n2. Please pray for the villages here, that God will open more doors for us to share His Word with them.\n3. It is not easy to share God’s Word here in the district that we live in. Please continue to pray that God will change the people’s hearts here.\n4. Please pray for our believers here, that they will grow in God’s Word and stay strong.\n5. Please continue to pray for our church building construction, that God will provide some funds and we will be able to finish the work before Christmas. I am praying that we will be able to celebrate this Christmas in the new building.\n6. Please pray for my family and my needs; may God provide them.\nThank you so much everyone for your love in Christ!\nGod bless you,\n13\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for our church to grow more in love and unity.\n2. Pray for our new church plant in the village.\n3. Pray for Brother P’s church plant to grow.\n4. Pray for our student B; he is ill and his liver is infected.\n5. Pray for the conference in our country, that it would be blessing to all and everyone would be refreshed and have safe travels.\n6. Pray for chairs; we need to buy 30 chairs for the church and also 2 more sound speakers and cables. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s provision.\n7. Pray for my family’s good health.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\n6\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with others about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Please pray for our health and safety.\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves\nmore.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. For me, that I will grow in the Word and in the knowledge of the Lord and be His bold witness.\n2. That the Lord will open the hearts of the people whom I have shared the Gospel with.\n3. For my church’s growth, that more and more people will be saved and be added to the church.\n4.For God’s wisdom and strength to do the work of the Gospel.\n5. For my family members to grow in the Word.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nBlessings,\nWorker 2\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our students\n2. Please pray for new believers3. Please pray for our safety. Thank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ,\n4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray that all the believers of our church will learn the Word and be filled with His knowledge and wisdom and become doers of the Word also.\n2. Please pray for me, that God will help me to grow spiritually more and more every day of my life.\n3. Please pray for the need of a church building for our church.\n4. Please pray that God would add new numbers to the Church members.\n5. Please pray that by the means of social works through our church, we will be able to reach out to the people.\n6. I am getting married this November; please keep me in your prayers.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nThanks be to the Lord that God has kept you and us together, and thanks be to the Lord who blesses each and every one of us and saves us from every danger! Thank you also to those who continuously pray for us!\nPlease Pray:\n1. First of all, pray for the villages in our area, where some people are against the people of God; pray for God to change their hearts.\n2. Pray for the leaders here who are members of the anti-Christian party, who do not want the kingdom of God to come. Pray for those leaders, that God will change their hearts.\n3. Pray for the believers of my church, that they will be strong in the Word.\n4. Pray for my life, that God opens new doors for me so that I can share the gospel of God to all of the people in my area.\n5. The government has a record of our mobile phone number to keep an eye on us because of our Christianity. Pray that God will help us and will bring those who belong to the anti-Christian government group into faith.\n6. Pray for the believers in my village who are students; pray that they can change their lives with the blessings of God.\n7. Pray for my mom who had surgery. She is now taking liver medicine; pray for her to get well soon.\n8. Pray for some of our believers who want to publicly show their faith in Christ; pray that God will prepare them completely.\n9. Pray for our region, that God will change the hearts of all the people here and walk in God’s path.\n10, Pray for my brother who has exams in December; that his exams will go well with God’s blessings.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n10\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping, \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time.\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-oct-prayer-update-3/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrenna Varga - Pécs, Hungary\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Varga-Brenna-150x150.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease Pray:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. For our women’s Bible study groups that are starting for fall semester. Pray for the women participating, that they will grow deeper rooted in Christ and in understanding of God’s word as they study through the book of Colossians together. Pray for Brenna for wisdom and discernment and she lead’s her group.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. For Johnny as he goes through his last semester of school (electrical engineering), pray the Lord will lead him and help him through the writing of his thesis and other class work.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM OCT PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Hey Friends!\nThank you for taking the time to read this update! It has been awhile since I have sent out an update, and the Lord has been doing a lot in our lives and ministry, so below is a short video as well as some bullet points for you all to pray over. Thank you so much for your Gospel partnership!\nPraise God that He has given me new roles and increased responsibilities and opportunities to serve Him! I have taken on the role of Ministry Pastor here at our church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. Please pray for wisdom and vision as I oversee the ministries of our church! Praise God that He is giving me opportunities to teach! On top of teaching our Young Adults group weekly, I have the opportunity to teach at our upcoming Men’s Retreat, multiple times during an upcoming trip to Nepal, and a couple of Sunday mornings at the church after that filling the pulpit for our Senior Pastor while he is away on a trip to Peru. Pray for the anointing of the Spirit for those times and for the time and diligence to study. Praise God that He is opening doors to travel again! Along with one of our SGWM board members, Heather Gaona and her husband Bond, SGWM missionaries Aaron and Jena Garcia, and my friend and church’s Youth Director Isaac Douglass, I am traveling to Nepal in mid-October to represent SGWM, meet ALL of our national workers from South Asia and the Middle East, and put on a conference for all of them to encourage them in their ministries! Pray for strength, guidance, and the Spirit’s filling to represent Him and His Word well on that trip, and for Amy and the kids as they will be home without me for 10 days. We also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/garcia-family-update-september-2022/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for taking the time to read this update! It has been awhile since I have sent out an update, and the Lord has been doing a lot in our lives and ministry, so below is a short video as well as some bullet points for you all to pray over. Thank you so much for your Gospel partnership!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/kTymHJTyW6Y?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise God that He has given me new roles and increased responsibilities and opportunities to serve Him! I have taken on the role of Ministry Pastor here at our church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. Please pray for wisdom and vision as I oversee the ministries of our church!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise God that He is giving me opportunities to teach! On top of teaching our Young Adults group weekly, I have the opportunity to teach at our upcoming Men’s Retreat, multiple times during an upcoming trip to Nepal, and a couple of Sunday mornings at the church after that filling the pulpit for our Senior Pastor while he is away on a trip to Peru. Pray for the anointing of the Spirit for those times and for the time and diligence to study.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise God that He is opening doors to travel again! Along with one of our SGWM board members, Heather Gaona and her husband Bond, SGWM missionaries Aaron and Jena Garcia, and my friend and church’s Youth Director Isaac Douglass, I am traveling to Nepal in mid-October to represent SGWM, meet ALL of our national workers from South Asia and the Middle East, and put on a conference for all of them to encourage them in their ministries! Pray for strength, guidance, and the Spirit’s filling to represent Him and His Word well on that trip, and for Amy and the kids as they will be home without me for 10 days.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the link below:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Garcia Family Update – September 2022"},{"content":"Hello friends and family!\nThank you so much for tuning in for another monthly update from Peru! I’m so excited to share what God has done and is doing this month! Watch the video below for the update.\nPraise Reports:\nEverything is in order, ready to leave for the jungle in just 2 weeks! I feel like my devotional time with the Lord is growing deeper as I’ve been here, thank you so much for praying. We have had a lot of opportunities to share the Gospel recently, so praise the Lord for that! Prayer Requests:\nThe upcoming jungle trip: a) prayer for team unity, b) safe travels (18 hour bus ride away!), c) open hearts for the gospel while we are there, and d) that we can be an encouragement to the local church body out there. the work here in Trujillo: that God will be moving in big ways to bring people to Him! The kids in Huanchaco that we have been ministering to: that they will be committed to the Lord and on fire for Him! Thank you all so much for praying and supporting me! Just knowing that I have this amazing support of prayer as I do what God is calling me to do is so wonderful.\nDios te bendiga (God bless you)!!\nIn Him,\nAcacia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/into-the-amazon/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you so much for tuning in for another monthly update from Peru! I’m so excited to share what God has done and is doing this month! Watch the video below for the update.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/PBO473870l4?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePraise Reports:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEverything is in order, ready to leave for the jungle in just 2 weeks!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eI feel like my devotional time with the Lord is growing deeper as I’ve been here, thank you so much for praying.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWe have had a lot of opportunities to share the Gospel recently, so praise the Lord for that!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/EF630F7F-9F17-417D-8D1E-8A07F4EB5F27.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/C6AF8056-1488-44D4-BC8C-7722732A44F2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/375DDB00-749D-4032-BCBE-8C6F6F1A0399.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/64E5C278-FD28-4DDF-89B9-49F6393D46A3.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/F244C235-D459-4293-8143-693B888BB6AD.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/4C590EED-14AA-40C4-85CA-0984F1FC1485.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/3A97CCAB-08CC-4EB0-911F-7E7FF2C35ACD.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/C0F4027F-764E-4D9C-B2E7-16DA145D9E8E.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/3A8936DC-83CB-4E47-8786-6509295164B5.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Into the Amazon"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nI am happy to write to you about the many things that God has been doing in the ministry here.\nI am continuing to teach on Sundays from 1st Corinthians. I am about to finish chapter 2.\nWe had a marriage celebration at the church. The bridegroom is from our church, so it was a good time to have all of us attending the marriage and spend time as a church family on that special day.\nI have been visiting so many houses of those who are desiring to have prayer meeting in their homes. Through this, I am trying to reach their family members, friends and relatives who have not experienced the grace of God yet!\nWe are also personally visiting a few homes to comfort families who have lost their dear ones, and to help them heal their broken hearts with the Word of God.\nOnce again, I am so grateful to my leaders who taught me the Word of God in such a way that changed my life. Now, I am seeing how believers are responding to verse by verse teaching from the book of Corinthians. It is totally amazing to see people coming to church regularly and listening carefully while I am preaching.\nDuring the month of October, we are going to have government holidays for over a week for those who are in school/education for the biggest festival of our state, Dussehra. There are a few children and toddlers in the church. This would be a great time for me to invite them to church during the week to teach them about God from the Bible and maybe have more time of fellowship and worshiping our Lord. Pray for this upcoming season. May my desire also be the desire of all the youngsters in the church, and may the holidays be great days to focus on spiritual life growth for them. I have not announced this yet in church, but this is my thought of using their holidays for God\u0026rsquo;s glory.\nMy mother is doing a little better than she was in previous months but she is still in need of supplemental oxygen 24/7. A year has already passed, since my mother was admitted into the hospital on September 6th, 2021. God has been so faithful in providing for her medical needs. Please continue to pray for her complete healing.\nThank you everyone,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/commit-thy-works-to-god/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am happy to write to you about the many things that God has been doing in the ministry here.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/IMG-20220807-WA0004.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/IMG-20220818-WA0001-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am continuing to teach on Sundays from 1st Corinthians. I am about to finish chapter 2.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe had a marriage celebration at the church. The bridegroom is from our church, so it was a good time to have all of us attending the marriage and spend time as a church family on that special day.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Commit Thy Works to God"},{"content":"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Colossians 3:16\nDear Friends and Family,\nThe summer of mission teams is coming to an end. It has been quite a busy and fruitful season for ministry in Uganda and in South Sudan. It has been a blessing to have the guesthouse continually full of people, with fellowship and worship happening all the time.\nThis past month was the chaplain\u0026rsquo;s refresher course in South Sudan. We had around 30 people from many different places come through to help teach and encourage the chaplains that came for the refresher. Over 300 hundred chaplains turned up. Many have been on the front lines facing extreme conditions. This time is set aside for them to continue their training as well as to give them a time of rest and spiritual renewal or fill up. It gives them an opportunity to share what the Lord has been doing in their area of ministry and testify of the things they have seen and done. It is also a time when they can receive medical care and checkups that might not be available where they have been.\nBesides spending time in South Sudan with the chaplains, the team also spent time with Canaan Farms in Masindi. There they hosted a large Pastors/Leaders conference as well as a women\u0026rsquo;s conference. Some of the team were also able to visit and minister at the school, Sanctuary of Grace, while they were there. The focus of the pastor/leader conference, as well as the refresher course, was the End Times. The theme of the Women\u0026rsquo;s conference was Wake Up and Cast Off (Live in the Fullness of Love).\nFor some of the team, it was a reunion with us as they had been here before. A couple of the team members used to live here and minister with us. For other team members, it was their first time, and we enjoyed getting to know them. The world is really small when it comes to missions. I met a family who lived and ministered in Europe when I did and were close friends with a couple who I had served with in Austria and Albania. For the most part, though it was such a large team, everything went smoothly, though we had one lost passport (it was found) and about a dozen cases of malaria. We praise God how he is able to work every detail out and make not just a team but a family out of strangers in Christ.\nThis was our last month with the Russians who had been staying with us. Sasha, Sveta and their baby, Taya were with us for about 3.5 months. They very much became part of our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship and part of our family, we already miss them so much. While they were here we also had 6 other Russians come through. One couple, a pastor and his wife, came just for 2 weeks and the others for a month. The wife of the pastor said many things that have stayed with me and encouraged me with my ministry here as well as to continue to pray for Russia.\nOne evening when we were talking about the following week of ministry, I was talking about evangelism in the marketplace and the slums and she was surprised. She asked if we could just go into public places and neighborhoods and share openly about Christ with strangers. I told her yes that that is actually part of our ministry and how the church started. She looked at me and said, “that sounds like a beautiful fairytale”. On the day the couple were to leave the husband had gone to the market with the evangelism team and she attended my women’s study. When her husband returned and she realized it was almost time to leave she broke into tears. She said that though they had been here shortly she felt at home, like the home of her youth in Russia, not the Russia of today, and asked us to remember to pray for Russia.\nAmong the other four Russians that were here were a pastor who has come a couple times before to teach the chaplains and Natasha who used to be a missionary here with us. She came with her daughter and 8 year old granddaughter. All of the Russians took part in the Masindi conferences and in the refresher course in South Sudan. They also spent time with Arise and Natasha and her family joined in with our worship team. As the Russians prepared to go back, the church laid hands on them and prayed for them and their country.\nLastly, I wanted to share that a beloved member of our church, one of the original men from the market, has passed away. His name was Blessing. He was hit by a large vehicle while riding his motorbike home form the market. He has left behind his wife and 3 year old son. Please pray for his family and for the church as we grieve his untimely death, though we are confident he is rejoicing in the presence of the Lord.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nWe thank the Lord for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. We are thankful for the many people who come through Uganda and South Sudan each year who desire to share the love of God with the people. Please pray for for the pastors and leaders in Masindi as well as the chaplains who came for the refresher course. Pray for the team members who came through to not only have ministered but they left being ministered to as well. Pray for those who had malaria to be completely healed. Pray for the Russians who have now returned to Russia. Pray for their ministries and for their country. Pray for Blessing’s wife and son as they grieve for him. Pray for the church to be a comfort to them. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-12/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLet the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eColossians 3:16\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe summer of mission teams is coming to an end. It has been quite a busy and fruitful season for ministry in Uganda and in South Sudan. It has been a blessing to have the guesthouse continually full of people, with fellowship and worship happening all the time.\u003cbr\u003e\nThis past month was the chaplain\u0026rsquo;s refresher course in South Sudan. We had around 30 people from many different places come through to help teach and encourage the chaplains that came for the refresher. Over 300 hundred chaplains turned up. Many have been on the front lines facing extreme conditions. This time is set aside for them to continue their training as well as to give them a time of rest and spiritual renewal or fill up. It gives them an opportunity to share what the Lord has been doing in their area of ministry and testify of the things they have seen and done. It is also a time when they can receive medical care and checkups that might not be available where they have been.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":"Dear Pastor, Leaders, Supporters and Church Family,\nThank God that He is truly great, living, gracious and mighty. He makes the impossible possible and keeps everyone out of trouble.\nHow God Saved Us From Being Killed or Imprisoned by a Phone Call \u0026quot; As a lion drags the wicked into his bush, so does the wicked lie in ambush; He keeps ambush to catch the day, he drags the day into his net, and then captures it.\u0026quot;\nPsalm 10:9\nI thank God that He is really great, loving, and ever loving. Every Monday, there is a house church which we started about two or three years ago. About 10 people were baptized there. Many others also come to hear the Gospel. As I was preaching from the book of Acts about how God\u0026rsquo;s work was progressing, there was a lot of opposition. The same thing happened when we preached from Acts here also.\nWhen we used to go to our house church every Monday, some upper caste people used to watch us attentively. When they inquired about us, they came to know that we are preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of this, they became angry and misguided the people of the village against us. In the beginning of the month of August on Monday, they were waiting on our way to the village to kill me and my father.\nBut some good people of the village came to know that they were waiting on the way to kill us. They then went and told the people of our house church. Right when we were about to leave on Monday to preach at the house church, a call came from the village. They told us everything, and told us not to come.\nI thank God for saving us from getting killed, beaten, or going to jail. The fellowship there is still going on. The people there who are established believers have all been continuing to have fellowship together, studying the Word of God verse by verse. All of us, together, have decided that we will start the house church again in a certain village that is next to that village.\nGod Has Given an Evangelist Who, Even at the Risk of Her Life, Preaches the Gospel! I thank God that He is strengthening my church members in their faith and in the Word of God. Ever since we started Bible study and started preaching the whole Bible without leaving out a single word, the people of my church are understanding deeply and preaching the Gospel very well. Through them, many new people come to our church.\nOne such woman from my church, who I have shared about many times in prayer requests and newsletters, is R*. She is completely illiterate. I tried to educate her, but his mother-in-law protested a lot. She very firmly narrates the Word of God and all the news in the village.\nThis month, she went to the bank for some business. There she recited the Word of God among the ladies and the staff. The security guards of the bank saw her t preaching the Gospel. Because of this, they harassed her and took away everything from her, including her bank passbook and ID card. Later, after many requests, the bankers returned her bank passbook and ID card and warned that she may never come to the bank again. Thank God that they didn’t call the police.\nShe is even now continuing to preach the Gospel with steadfastness and adding so many new people to our church. Please will all of you pray that God will use this sister more and may she continue to preach the Good News with steadfastness. Our house church goes on at her house every Tuesday, please pray that it will always keep going.\nI Had a Very Nice Time at a Medical Refresher Camp Thank God that He gave me the opportunity to attend a medical refresher camp for 3 days. This training is very beneficial for me because of the area in which I serve. The people here are very illiterate. They do not know anything about physical health. 50% of village women have child birth at home, because they have a wrong belief that if they go to the hospital, the doctor will replace their son with a daughter. Rural women do not know anything about cleanliness. They do not keep their children clean, nor do they cook food properly. Because of this, they get sick and go to the local practitioner doctor. Even when they have a viral fever the doctor treats them by injecting antibiotics and charges them thousands of rupees.\nIf someone is bitten by a snake, people go straight to witchcraft. If they were bitten by a non-poisonous snake, then they are okay. But many times, because the snakes are poisonous, they die before being able to see a doctor. For this reason, I always run awareness campaigns among the villagers, so that people can understand and go directly to the doctor.\nBy receiving training, I learned a lot about medical things. I also learned how to do many tests including blood pressure, blood sugar, temperature; to check for malnutrition, and anemia; to perform eye examinations; and to tie crepe bandages. Whenever I go to rural areas to host church services, I continuously teach people health, along with the Bible, so that people\u0026rsquo;s bodies can be helped as well as their souls saved. Many people listen to my words, follow them, and remain safe from disease.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for the pastors of the North. During the first week of August, I met with them. May God give them protection and also provide pastor 12* with land or a house for God\u0026rsquo;s church. Pastor 12\u0026rsquo;s landlady stops his Sunday services and prevents believers from entering his house. He has been talking to many people to find another place to rent, but he is not finding a place for the church. Whenever the police arrest people while their is a church service, they also take action against the landlord.This is why no one wants to rent a room to Christians. Pray that the Lord will provide a house, land, or rented room if it is God’s will. Please pray and pray for the members of our church. May God give them protection. Especially pray on Mondays (for the Monday church service). Some upper caste people of the village where the church used to run are persecuting those who believe in Jesus. Please keep praying that our church can be registered. Please pray. There are many Hindu festivals during these few months. During them, Hindu people have processions. Processions keep attacking many churches. Please pray this month for two churches that were attacked and their pastor. The pastor was badly beaten and is in the hospital. Some pastors from the south are planning to come to visit. May God protect them. Please pray for my little sister. She is coming to my house for about 3 weeks with some of her friends. We are planning to preach the Gospel together in more than 10 villages. May God fulfill our financial needs and may He help us all keep away from evil people. Please pray for my area. It is getting very hot here. The electricity is cut off at any time. May God arrange for an inverter and battery. Thanks for your Christian love, support, prayers, and partnership in the Gospel.\nGod bless all!\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-my-deliverer-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastor, Leaders, Supporters and Church Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank God that He is truly great, living, gracious and mighty. He makes the impossible possible and keeps everyone out of trouble.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"how-god-saved-us-from-being-killed-or-imprisoned-by-a-phone-call\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow God Saved Us From Being Killed or Imprisoned by a Phone Call\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026quot; \u003cem\u003eAs a lion drags the wicked into his bush, so does the wicked lie in ambush; He keeps ambush to catch the day, he drags the day into his net, and then captures it.\u003c/em\u003e\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Is My Deliverer"},{"content":"Hello everyone,\nAnother great month of serving the lord has passed. I am currently housecleaning, working in the office, assisting Nick Ramos in evangelism, outreaches, and events, and maintaining the church. I help with the kitchen and assist in different ministries. My housecleaning business has been going well. I am building my clientele and learning to clean more efficiently. I enjoy cleaning, and it gives me the opportunity to pray and continue to grow in service. Please pray that I will have the opportunity to share the Gospel with people and be diligent in the work to represent Christ well.\n“Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.” And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him”\nLuke 8:39\nThis upcoming month I will be going home to Bradley, California, to be with my family and work alongside my dad in the plumbing business. I hope to serve the Church of my hometown in Lockwood, CA. I will return to Yorba Linda on October 1st. This verse was about a demon-possessed man told to return home and be a witness of Jesus. This verse spoke to me since I will be returning home and given an opportunity to share with family all that God has done.\nThis upcoming year I will be doing another year of the internship and continue serving Calvary Chapel, Saving Grace.\nI am in the season of praying for the unreached and global missions. I am called to go, and eventually, the Lord will send me, but for now, I will continue in the internship, grow in God’s word and serve to reach the community I am in. I am still fired up for Jesus. He has saved me from so much bondage, and God has been answering prayers beyond my understanding!\nPlease connect with me if you would like to hear more about the ministry and the work that God is doing. I am very interested in hearing how you all are and how I can pray for you. Also, pray as I hope to go to India and Israel next year in 2023.\nCleaning Tip:\nI learned along the way: Vinegar is an amazing cleaning solution: Just add soap, water, and some tea tree oil, and you have your own all-purpose cleaner. You can use vinegar and water to clean your mirrors. This is not harmful to your health and is cost-effective.\n“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people” – Ephesians 6:18 Praise Reports: My Brother in Christ’s mother is doing well to recover from surgery A few of my sisters in Christ are getting married Pray Requests: My finances and visa for India and Israel A safe trip with my parents as I return home This upcoming year to be fruitful for the Kingdom In Christ, Toria ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/have-you-been-cleansed/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello everyone,\u003cbr\u003e\nAnother great month of serving the lord has passed. I am currently housecleaning, working in the office, assisting Nick Ramos in evangelism, outreaches, and events, and maintaining the church. I help with the kitchen and assist in different ministries. My housecleaning business has been going well. I am building my clientele and learning to clean more efficiently. I enjoy cleaning, and it gives me the opportunity to pray and continue to grow in service. Please pray that I will have the opportunity to share the Gospel with people and be diligent in the work to represent Christ well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Have you been Cleansed?"},{"content":"A Rocky Start I must admit the beginning of August took an unfortunate turn over here in Northern Baja. My parents had been away celebrating their 25th anniversary in Mexico City while I was at home looking after my younger siblings. I remember I was just about to go to bed when my brother came over urgently with a phone in his hand. Pretty soon, I heard the news that there had been some criminal activity near the entrance of San Marino, the community in which we live. Apparently, the drug cartel was causing terror by setting cars ablaze and creating roadblocks in Tijuana and other neighboring cities.\nWe always knew about the huge cartel history of Mexico, but being here in person while it was going on was definitely a whole different feeling. Admittingly, for me, it was a bit scary at first because it was an experience I had never faced before. However, the Lord was with us, and He brought my parents home safely the next day. It was truly a blessing to go to church that night because, despite the terror, the church body faithfully showed up to fellowship and hear the Word of God together. It doesn’t matter what is going on in the world, the salvation message will still be preached, and I’m blessed to be a part of a church that is faithful to that call.\nWhat Else Happened in August? One exciting event that happened this past month was that Calvary Rosarito put on its annual church planting conference! I had attended this conference for the past 2 years, but this year I was able to be a part of the huge “behind-the-scenes” team that puts it on every year. Wow! Let me tell you, preparing to host 1,000 people at our church for a 2-day conference takes a lot of work! It was quite an exhausting week, but I was so so blessed to play a small part in running such an amazing conference. It is so awesome to see what God is doing through this church planting movement in Mexico and beyond.\nAnother beautiful thing to witness this month was our church’s annual beach baptisms! We do baptisms at the end of every month at Calvary Rosarito, but only once a year do we have them at the beach. So after service on the last August Sunday, the church headed down to the beach to watch 20 believers get baptized. That day, there were so many people getting baptized that 3 pairs of our pastors were baptizing each person simultaneously! I can’t tell you how incredible it was to watch one person after the other keep going forward to make that public dedication to the Lord. The weather was also great because it wasn’t scorching hot and the water was perfect!\nBack to Life as Usual It is so awesome to be a part of the work God is doing here in Rosarito. I’m still working on the church planting book with Pastor Mike Vincent, and this month I was actually able to start working on the cover design! Though I’m not doing the actual graphic designing (I definitely don’t have that gifting, haha), I had the opportunity to brainstorm some ideas to give as a guide to the design team here at our church. It was so fun to get creative, and I’m excited that another part of this book project is progressing.\nThank you so much for taking the time to read another update of mine! I really appreciate all the responses and messages from you guys. They mean a lot to me. I’m so grateful for your support and prayers for my family and me as we’re down here in Mexico. Also, so many of you wished me happy birthday this month! Thank you so much! It’s such a blessing hearing from you all💛\nI’m so excited for these next few months. It’s such a blessing to have the life we do in Christ. I can’t wait to update you about what happens next!\nGod bless,\nLydia Boubion\nPraise Reports: The Lord is teaching me to be content in Him alone! I had a great birthday!:) The book project is progressing more! Prayer Requests: That my greatest delight would be in the Lord and His Word For all the people working on the church planting book, we would work with diligence and wisdom 📸More August Moments:\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/ministry-amidst-terror/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"a-rocky-start\"\u003eA Rocky Start\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI must admit the beginning of August took an unfortunate turn over here in Northern Baja. My parents had been away celebrating their 25th anniversary in Mexico City while I was at home looking after my younger siblings. I remember I was just about to go to bed when my brother came over urgently with a phone in his hand. Pretty soon, I heard the news that there had been some criminal activity near the entrance of San Marino, the community in which we live. Apparently, the drug cartel was causing terror by setting cars ablaze and creating roadblocks in Tijuana and other neighboring cities.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ministry Amidst Terror"},{"content":"You know, in Mexico, most folks believe that everything in the US works great. But the other day, I saw the strangest sight at the church in Yorba Linda! Two guys named Tim and James were working on the landscaping. Tim was digging hole after hole, while James immediately filled them up! I asked, “what in the world are you doing?” Tim responded, “well, I dig the holes, Paul drops in the chile plants, and James puts the dirt back in… but Paul wasn’t here this week….”\nHello, co-laborers in the faith, friends, and family!\nOn July 6th, 2021, we arrived in Mexico. So many things have transpired since that eventful day. We needed to come as learners, not “know-it-alls,” because there were going to be so many changes, and there were! It’s been a year and 2 months…\nWe have had:\nGraduations, deaths, health issues, restored relationships with family, our 25th anniversary, family emergencies, ministry opportunities, new relationships, and traveling to many church plants within the country. God has been faithful to see us through the process of helping us settle down here in Mexico and not look back.\nThis summer is our one-year anniversary since we were sent from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in 2021. Where to start? Many know that God called Paul and me to Mexico 20 years ago. Sufficed to say that if your calling is true, it won’t leave you even after 20 years! It took a long time to prepare and leave the US, but that was how God prepared us.\nHere are some highlights of recent activities\nA word from Poiema:\nPoiema: In the past year of living in Mexico, so many things have happened! Just two months ago, I graduated from Santillana Del Mar Instituto Bilingüe and turned 18. I have met so many great people and have made so many new friends! During this summer, I got to serve at a compound that hosted missionary teams for 5 weeks. Living in Mexico has been such an incredible experience, and I’m so grateful to live here.\nBarbecue Gathering at the Grove’s\nBeach Baptisms!\nHome Bible study\nMany teaching opportunities!\nThere is so much more to say! God is working as you partner \u0026amp; pray for us, communicating and giving of your resources in various ways. Thank you for your labor of love unto HIM.\nPrayer requests:\nFor all of our children, God guides them as they make decisions concerning their future.\nFor ministry opportunities and know where to continue to best serve the LORD together and individually\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/uprooted-and-replanted-indeed/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eYou know, in Mexico, most folks believe that everything in the US works great. But the other day, I saw the strangest sight at the church in Yorba Linda! Two guys named Tim and James were working on the landscaping. Tim was digging hole after hole, while James immediately filled them up! I asked, “what in the world are you doing?” Tim responded, “well, I dig the holes, Paul drops in the chile plants, and James puts the dirt back in… but Paul wasn’t here this week….”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Uprooted and Replanted Indeed!"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThis past month our church was blessed to host our 7th international church planting conference, and I am excited to tell you all about it! The title of this year\u0026rsquo;s conference was GO, and it was based on the great commission our Lord Jesus left us in Matthew 28! And the GOAL of this conference was to encourage and empower leaders to GO out and reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through church planting.\nThis year we had an amazing lineup of main speakers that I believe was our best yet! Our main teachers included seasoned veterans like Wes Bentley (Director of Far Reaching Ministries), Don McClure (one of the founders of the Calvary Chapel Movement), and David Zamora, who Pastors one of our church planting partners, Living Way Christian fellowship in Fontana! And our conference wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be complete without some of the church planters we have sent out sharing the word. This year we heard from Hugo Limon (Culiacan), Tony Carranza (Mazatlan) , and Donny Aldana (Surprise Arizona) !\nEach of these men gave spirit-filled teaching that uplifted and encouraged those in attendance. Speaking of attendance, this year, we had over 600 people show up for this free conference! I always leave these conferences feeling like I have attended a much-needed family reunion. So many of the church planters we have sent out fly in and join us, and it brings tears to my eyes to see them all grown up spiritually and doing an amazing job leading their local churches!\nI was blessed to kick off the conference by giving teaching based on the church of Antioch in Acts 13. When you talk about church planting, the Antioch church is the gold standard as they sent out Paul and Barnabas on their church planting journeys. One of the main reasons God has prospered our ministry so much in this area is the church planting school that He has given us. Each year, more and more of our friends commit to using our materials to teach their servant leaders how their church can be a sending hub of church planting!\nThe entire philosophy of our church planting ministry is to freely share what God has freely given us. I am blessed that through our church\u0026rsquo;s generosity, we are able to not only make this large conference free of charge, along with all of the meals and materials, but we also make all of our church planting materials free of charge to anyone interested!\nGetting back to the conference, besides the main teachings, we had 18 workshops that were informative and well attended! The most popular workshops are always our ladies\u0026rsquo; workshops, and I am so thankful for my wife, Sarah, that always does a great job leading her workshop!\nOne of the highlights of the conference each year is we invite our guests to join us as we send out a new church plant together. At this year\u0026rsquo;s conference, we were blessed to send out my good friends Jose Luis and Sarah to the church plant in Ensenada. For two years, this young gifted couple and their three boys have made the one-hour drive north to our church to serve and complete our church planting program!\nIt was a great honor to send them and their 12-person core team out to plant their church in the key city of Ensenada! Located just 40 miles south of us, Ensenada is one of the largest cities in our state of North Baja (Population 600,000), and I believe that this church plant will soon be a sending hub of church planting to the surrounding areas.\nFinally, I want to thank you for choosing to partner with us and support our family as your missionaries! We love to share about all that God is doing here because that is your spiritual fruit. We know that in these difficult times, it\u0026rsquo;s not easy to support missionaries. Yet you have stayed faithful in your partnership with us, and we thank God for you!\nCon mucho Amor de Mexico (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless the preparation of our upcoming Israel trip in January of 2023!\n#2- That God would lead our newest group of church planters that began classes in August! (15 new students enrolled this semester!)\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a successful and blessed church planting conference!\n#2- Praise God for our 34th church plant! (Calvary Chapel Familia, Ensenada Baja)\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with \u0026ldquo;Vincent support\u0026rdquo; in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail it directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission\u0026rsquo;s website, click on the \u0026ldquo;become a financial partner\u0026rdquo; button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in \u0026ldquo;Vincent\u0026rdquo; in the \u0026ldquo;purpose of gift\u0026rdquo; section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-september-2022-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/298060956%5F10160200562894208%5F6103753980023124800%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month our church was blessed to host our 7th international church planting conference, and I am excited to tell you all about it! The title of this year\u0026rsquo;s conference was GO, and it was based on the great commission our Lord Jesus left us in Matthew 28! And the GOAL of this conference was to encourage and empower leaders to GO out and reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ through church planting.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent family September 2022 Missions Update"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ\u0026rdquo; Philippians 1:5-6 Our Bible College began this month. God has brought many young students from the four corners of our country. We are excited to spend time teaching and sharing blessings to each other from God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\n\u0026ldquo;And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.\u0026rdquo;\nRomans 8:28\nGod is good all the time! God loves His church. He makes it grow and mature through whatever circumstances we might have to go through.\nIt is such a wonderful blessing to see people coming to God\u0026rsquo;s Church. I’m thankful to our God for these two brothers, Laxman and Nikesh, and for their faithful work for God\u0026rsquo;s kingdom. Even though they are going through hard times and financial crisis, yet they are faithful for Christ. Praise God!\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-who-has-begun-a-good-work-in-you-will-complete-it/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"heading\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;For your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"philippians-15-6\"\u003ePhilippians 1:5-6\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG-ff6990dcc7d6e180d1589e9f250d1313-V.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur Bible College began this month. God has brought many young students from the four corners of our country. We are excited to spend time teaching and sharing blessings to each other from God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He Who Has Begun a Good Work in You Will Complete It."},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s been a minute since we posted online! Security issues, technical issues, and inexcusable excuses have kept us at bay from sharing publicly. We\u0026rsquo;ve made our way around the US giving personal updates, but we know there are many of you who were still left in the dark. We apologize for the long absence. We look forward to reconnecting and updating you all on a more regular basis. Here is the latest on our happenings this past year!\n2022… Have you ever thought you were standing on solid ground, only to have the carpet pulled out from under you? That\u0026rsquo;s how we felt in February when we returned home. We came to the US and made huge headway regarding using the property for our ministry. Meetings were had, relationships solidified, and communication and understanding pushed us forward. We felt like we had reached the top of a mountain after a long uphill battle. We returned home ready and excited to move forward until that \u0026ldquo;mountain\u0026rdquo; crumbled, and we were left farther back than where we started.\nThe past five months have been a slow process of communicating, waiting, moving lives and living accommodations, more waiting, more communicating, and finally/occasionally taking small steps forward. The Lord is really stretching us and increasing our faith in this season. We are willing and available for whatever the Lord desires of us. If we are to leave that campus, We Trust Him. If we are to stay, We Trust Him. Both options are difficult, but the Lord never called us to \u0026ldquo;easy.\u0026rdquo; We have been on the rented property for 5 years since this July. It has been harder than we ever imagined since the first day we arrived. Rarely has it gotten easier, but we have grown a lot in endurance and faith. The Lord has been faithful and has done mighty and powerful things through the lives of students who have passed through. Churches have been (and continue to be) planted by many of those men; Pastors have been equipped, and brothers have been raised up and called to ministry. Even some women have been equipped and started bible studies in their villages. We believe that the Lord has greater work still to be done. We want to be part of it. So we trust in His time and wait for doors to be opened that no man can shut!\nThe waiting process has not made us idle but rather has opened doors to new opportunities that have been longed for and needed.As building plans and welcoming students were put back on hold, I had the opportunity to visit some of our fellow workers.There is so much I could write, but to be brief and highlight: I met with staff and interns in our southern region to encourage and exhort them; met students; shared the Word in the Sunday service; visited families of our staff. We live in a very relational culture, so meeting families, being available, and doing life with one another are extremely important. One example is visiting the sick mother of one of our staff. He has been through deep waters caring for his sick mother and continuing in the ministry. It was a blessing to come alongside him and pray over him in this trial. Another highlight was visiting an old student who hadn\u0026rsquo;t completed his course. He returned to his church halfway through and has faithfully led his congregation in the absence of his father (the previous pastor), who passed away while he was a student. Seeing this very young man lead so faithfully in such simple village conditions was pride for us. My wife felt like a mother to him (his mother passed many years ago) during his school days, and she was so blessed to meet his wife and see him again.\nOne story to paint the picture of this little church:\nWe were only there for a night, but he arranged a worship service for me to share the Word late in the evening. The church is in a very remote area, and there is a possibility of persecution, especially at the sight of foreigners. We took his local car so as not to draw attention to our out-of-state plates. We also showed up after the service started late in the night. My wife sat down on the floor in the back with the other woman while I was introduced to teaching. It was a very simple church with brick walls, a tin roof, no a/c, no chairs, and no frills. The believers were simple and earnest, eager to hear the Word of God in simplicity and wholeness. Our old student was taught the Calvary Chapel style of teaching (chapter by chapter, verse by verse) and was reminded again as I taught. I was able to exhort and counsel him in teaching his congregation the whole counsel of God\u0026rsquo;s Word. Many came to us to be prayed over, and this young man and his wife were so encouraged by our visit and the willingness to do life with them, even if just for a night.\nWe came home for a month and had a lot to pray over concerning the direction of our ministry. Do we move the Bible school to a new location? When do we open the school?Should we put the school on hold and focus on visiting our other schools and workers across the country?\nAs time continues on, some of this has been answered for us- seasons take their course. Plans continue to change, and so far, there has been no finality in our direction. We just remain faithful and available and take opportunities as they come.\nIn May, I traveled again to visit our only school that was currently running. I came alongside our leader there as he took the students for outreach. It was a wonderful time being with the students, seeing them use their gifts, and putting into practice what they had learned that semester.\nIn July, my wife and I traveled stateside for important events and necessary work. It was a brief trip as we left the kids back home with my parents. We praise God they did well while we were away!\nWe had an opportunity to be in Mexico to pour into students who feel the same call to GO. It was a wonderful time to be with like-minded believers and encourage them to follow in His faithfulness.\nIn September, I will be traveling to visit our fellow workers in the North. I have longed to visit him for many years and am so thankful to have the opportunity finally! In October, I will be traveling to another country in South Asia for a leadership conference. Please be praying for these upcoming travels. Pray for safety over the journey, fruitful time during my visits, and safety over my wife and children as they stay back and continue in their daily schedules.\nOur Sojourn continues!\nPRAYER REQUESTS\n*Please pray as the Lord leads you concerning the land for our bible training center. Pray over the location, the timing for opening, the relationship with the owners of our current campus, our staff on the campus, and keeping it maintained until we know what to do with it.\n*The greatest need for our family right now is financing. We need to raise an additional $800 a month to cover our family\u0026rsquo;s cost of living and be able to minister to those the Lord has called us to.\nWe have depleted both our personal savings and ministry savings this past year with our travels. In just 5 months since returning from the US, we\u0026rsquo;ve traveled across the state more times than we\u0026rsquo;ve kept count; we\u0026rsquo;ve traveled around the southern part of the country twice; we\u0026rsquo;ve left the country twice. We are thankful for the ministry the Lord has called us to in these travels, and we are trusting He will continue to provide for the opportunities He sets before us. When we were stateside last year, some asked if we needed financial support, but we turned them to others more in need as we were financially stable. Little did we know all the Lord had in store when we returned! On top of additional travel, there has been a sizable increase in daily living costs. Here are some of the things we\u0026rsquo;ve had to increase in our budget since the start of this year: grocery and household needs, electricity, insurance, gas/transportation, maintenance (household and car), and school fees for three kids.\nWe know the rest of the world is facing the same struggles, especially in the West, as prices have skyrocketed! We know Jesus is coming soon. Until He comes, we press on and into the One who has called us. Not alone but with a team of laborers from different walks of life who partake in various ways of this calling. We know He will provide more laborers to come alongside in what He has called us to, where He has called us. Are you one of them?\n*Please intercede on behalf of our workers across the country. Many are facing persecution within their families and villages. So many are facing health issues and physical trials. A few have had relatives, more specifically mothers, who have been sick, one even passing away suddenly without warning. Parents on the field figure out their children\u0026rsquo;s education and pressure them to succeed in school.\nPray for the Pastors of churches who deal with so much sin and apathy within their congregations. Pray for them to be bold in their preaching, gentle as doves, approachable but immovable when truth must be contended for.\nPray for many of our young pastors who need wives and for the Lord\u0026rsquo;s hand in working out those arrangements. Pray for the wives of Pastors and Leaders to be helpmates, women of righteousness, and covered in spiritual armor to protect against incessant attacks of the enemy both on body and mind as well as spirit.\nLastly, pray for unity among us all and encouragement in the face of great loneliness. One of the greatest spiritual tactics of the enemy in these parts is to make us feel alone, unheard (or misunderstood), and uncared for. We know these are great lies, but they come in stealth form.\nMany blessings to you and love from our family,\nThe Baby\u0026rsquo;s\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/re-entering-the-world-wide-web/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s been a minute since we posted online! Security issues, technical issues, and inexcusable excuses have kept us at bay from sharing publicly. We\u0026rsquo;ve made our way around the US giving personal updates, but we know there are many of you who were still left in the dark. We apologize for the long absence. We look forward to reconnecting and updating you all on a more regular basis. Here is the latest on our happenings this past year!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Re-entering the world wide web!"},{"content":" AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for Laylee as she has some type of skin infection. She is getting a month\u0026rsquo;s treatment then will be reevaluated.\n2. This past month many visitors have come through the guest house and Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the ministry and outreaches that have taken place. Pray for the new believers to continue coming to church.\n3. Pray for Jill and the children as they continue homeschooling. Pray especially for Liana as paying attention and obeying is a struggle for her.\n4. Pray for the soccer outreach team at Arise as the soccer season has begun. Pray they would reach many people for Christ during their games.\n5. Pray that the Kanyikes would hear from US immigration soon about the children\u0026rsquo;s citizenship\n6. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course. The second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nBond Heather and Breanna - Africa, Asia and USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for each of the campuses in S. Asia as all the students have returned. Pray for the teachers for wisdom and for the students to grow greatly in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. Pray for Bond as he teaches online classes into the S. Asia campus.\n2. Pray for travel arrangements for fall and for coordination of many who will travel from 15 locations to come to Nepal. It will be the first time since the pandemic that everyone is gathered in one location. We need pray covering for every detail.\n3. Pray for Breanna as she starts 2nd grade. Pray that she would grow in the Lord and in her studies.\nMany thanks,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Report:\n1. For a fantastic church planting conference with over 600 in attendance!\n2. For the privilege of sending out our 34th church plant to Ensenada!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. That God will bless our new church plant in Ensenada, Calvary Chapel Familia Ensenada\n2. That our 2 new church planting students from Peru and Colombia will complete their studies and be send out to plant a church that is a sending hub to reach their countries.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nL.O. - Intern with SGWM\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my families Salvation.\n2. Please pray I would be able to purchase my plane ticket to South Asia soon.\n3. Please pray for on-going monthly, financial and prayer partners for My soon to be husband and me\n4. Please pray for me as I prepare to move to South Asia and get married and join my soon to be husband in ministry and language learning.\n5. Please pray for my marriage.\nThank you for your love and partnership in the Gospel!\nGod bless you, - Email\nL\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California, USA\nPraise Report: -Praise God over all the team has stayed healthy\n-Praise God we were able to visit so many church plants\n-Praise God for His protection in our travels\n-Praise God for His provision to meet our needs\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for wisdom as Tim directs the Calvary School of Missions\n2. Please pray for Jenn\u0026rsquo;s son Andy to become willing to receive help\n3. Please pray for God to continue to give us the gifts we need to lead these 18 young world changers\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my mom to be completely well and delivered from her illness.\n2. Please pray for my family, that God will use us for His glory.\n3. Please pray that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit and that we will honor Him in all we say and do and will be used of God to minister to others.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my mom’s complete recovery in every way. Praise the Lord for her recovery so far!\n2. Please pray for my health and strength.\n3. Please pray for me, as I am trying to begin working with children’s ministry in our area.\n4. Please pray for our financial support. Thank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our ongoing expenses that exceed our expectations.\n2. Pray for provision, strength, health, wisdom and discernment!\n3. Pray for our time during our furlough raising support and seeing our son Ryan which we hadn\u0026rsquo;t seen in almost 2 years!\n4. Pray for our SOM interns who are running the church, teaching, and for them to be diligent in their studies!\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 14 and Family\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for upcoming changes to our ministry and family life.\n2. Pray for wisdom in the “when/where/how” we need to answer this next month.\n3. Pray for wisdom in the team we need to build as we move forward in reopening the Bible training center.\n4. Pray for more co-laborers to come alongside us in monthly support. We’ve had to update our budget this summer and realize we’re in serious need.\n5. Pray for the opportunity to purchase a motorcycle for our family. A need recently arose with the changes in our family. We’re looking at buying something in the next month while a special discount offer is going on across the State.\nThank you for interceding on our behalf and lifting up the Lord’s work in our country\nGod bless you,\n14 and family\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for us as we resume existing ministries and start new ministries after we spent the summer in Japan, visiting churches there. We need wisdom about what opportunities to pursue and how to balance everything.\n2. Also, please pray for God to keep all the doors open so we can visit the USA next summer. We haven\u0026rsquo;t been able to visit loved ones since 2019.\nThanks!\nGod Bless!\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nPraise God:\n-Thank God that he has saved us from every trouble and is fulfilling our needs in spite of the inflation.\n-Thank God that God saved me and my father from getting killed and going to jail once again. Every Monday there is a house fellowship going on in a village, some upper caste people of that village were waiting on the way planning to kill us. But when someone saw this, he went and told them all where the house fellowship used to go, they phone called us and told us that don\u0026rsquo;t come here now, people are waiting to kill them, so they themselves are running the house fellowship in the village.\n-Thank God that in September some people from the South are coming to visit.\n-Thank God that I was in Dehradun for 1 week and had a great time with friends there.\n-Thank God that after a lot of effort, he was able to arrange 200 New Testament.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that on Monday where there is fellowship, God keep the believers safe, and may God give peace to those who are planning to kill us.\n2. Pray that my old bike can be sold so that I can buy beds, mattresses and get some construction done for the visiting guests.\n3. Pray some of my friends are coming from South God keep them safe and they have a good time with us.\n4. Pray that our Sunday fellowship and each day\u0026rsquo;s fellowship with a different village may help people grow in faith and understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word more deeply. Many illiterate people also come in Bible study; may\nGod help them to understand words more deeply.\nThank you!\nGod bless you all for your prayer, support and Christian love.\n11\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise God!\n-The new semester of Bible College has started.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the good health and wisdom for all of us ; College Staffs and Students throughout the semester.\n2. Please pray for Charis Bible Church, Kathmandu Nepal (CBCKN) for the growth, good health for all Charis families, Church property.\n3. Please pray for CC Hetauda and CC Janakpur for all believers that they may grow in the Lord, more people may come to Christ.\n4. Please pray for Pastor Laxman CC Hetauda and Pastor Nikesh- CC Janakpur, as they are serving in the new locations from Kathmandu and it’s hard to find jobs in their areas, they are facing lots of challenges in their family and financial difficulties.\nThank for your prayers!\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna – Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for my good health to be physically fit so I can do God\u0026rsquo;s ministry.\n2. This semester in Bible school I am teaching from the Book of Matthew and Hosea. Please pray our students can understand it and be solid in the Word of God.\n3. Pray that our church grows and is fruitful.\n4. Pray for Mahima and me as we do treatments for one year. We have spent a lot for the treatment without children so far. We stopped treatment and we are waiting God to do it.\n5. Pray God can use us in various ways to preach Christ in midst of the people.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise God:\n- Thank you, for praying for us, God had brought the students from a new area of Nepal where we haven’t ministered ever. We see that God has opened the door for that area.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for upcoming Pastors Conference in Nepal.\n3. Please pray for ongoing Bible college; that the students may know His Word.\n4. Please pray for outreaches in Leprosy colony and close by community.\nThank you for faithfully praying\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray that the Lord will give my wife, V, good health.\n2. Please pray that our new students this year will be prepared for the work of the Gospel, and pray for God’s protection as the radicals are targeting Christians in our area.\n3. May the Lord help us to be humble in our hearts and follow His footsteps in everything that we do.\nThank you for your prayers!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPlease Pray:\n1. By God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers.\n2. Do continue to pray for the growth and need of our local Church.\n3. Please continue to pray for our Bible School.\n4. Kindly pray for me and my family; may the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n3 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, as this last week I was not really well and had high fever but now I am much better, just have weakness. Please pray that I can recover well.\n2. Pray for me and for the other teachers, that we will be blessings and good teachers to the Bible school students.\n3. Pray for the students, that they will also grow in the Word and be well-equipped to be used to expand the kingdom of God in their home areas.\n4. Please pray that we will be able to find a good place nearby for the Bible school.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 9\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my wife’s transfer, that we may be able to stay together and serve the Lord.\n2. Please pray for my children, that they will grow in the knowledge and fear of the Lord.\n3. Please pray for God’s wisdom and strength to take care of my children and learn His Word.\n4. Please pray for the Bible College students, that they will grow and learn the Word of God.\n5. Please pray that the Bible College will run smoothly.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n16\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for a possibility for a new house fellowship opening up.\n2. Please pray for the churches that I share at; I am truly happy to be busy studying and writing sermons for different churches, house fellowships and other occasions for people. 3. Please continue to pray for my mother and my ministry.\nThank you for your prayers!\n7\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please continue to pray for our ministry in this area.\n2. Please pray that God will open more doors and bring more fruit.\n3. Please pray for the people here in the mountains, that God will open their eyes and they will believe in Christ.\nThank you so much everyone for your love in Christ! God bless you!\nGod bless you,\n13\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please be continuously praying for the work here.\n2. Pray for our family to grow more in Christ and be strong in our faith.\n3. Pray for our staff to grow more in the knowledge of Christ and to be in unity.\n4. Pray for church unity.\n5. Pray for the students.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\n6\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for the ministry here, that God will save more people and enlarge his kingdom.\n2. Pray for me, as I am going to a new village, pray that the Lord will use me there for His glory and fulfill all of my traveling needs.\n3. We have been praying for land for our church for a long time; pray that God will fulfill it and God will be glorified in this place.\n4. Once or twice a month, we feed all of the people of the church because some believers come to church from far away. Due to not having enough large serving utensils, we have to rent utensils; pray that we can buy some new utensils for church.\nThank you for your kindness!! 12\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with others about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Please pray for our health and safety.\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\n3. Pray that the rest of my family members will accept Jesus.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nBlessings,\nWorker 2\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our students\n2. Please pray for new believers\n3. Please pray for our safety.\nThank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ, 4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n-Praise God! He provided finances for the renovation of a temporary church building, and the work is well-done.\n-Praise God! Five persons publicly showed that they follow Jesus last month!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my spiritual growth. Pray that we will be able to set a time for Bible Study at church.\n2. Please pray for my parents. They are not believers yet and have been troubling me about doing ministry. Pray that they will know Jesus soon.\n3. Please pray that God will provide the materials for a Gospel outreach in my village.\n4. Please pray for financial needs.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers. Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my mom, who needs surgery.\n2. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n3. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n4. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n5. Please pray for financial support.\n6. Please pray for God’s presence and strength in my life, so that I can face all hard situations!\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n10\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are\nmistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-sept-prayer-update-3/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/kanyike-prayer-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease Pray:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Please pray for Laylee as she has some type of skin infection. She is getting a month\u0026rsquo;s treatment then will be reevaluated.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. This past month many visitors have come through the guest house and Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the ministry and outreaches that have taken place. Pray for the new believers to continue coming to church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM SEPT PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (Isaiah 52:7)\nThis verse reminds me how to be bold in Christ in all circumstances of our lives. We should preach our Living God to un-reached people. We should share our living hope to dead souls who have never heard anything about Jesus Christ. We share, we proclaim, and we declare our Savior\u0026rsquo;s salvation to many more dead people who were dying having not heard until now about our Savior Jesus.\nIn the midst of a very crowed city, we three brothers in Christ from different churches shared and proclaimed our Lord Jesus to dead souls. By the mercy and grace of God, we were able to distributed 500 tracts and we personally met each person and told about our Savior. This was a blessed time for me. While we were sharing the Gospel, the police disturbed me, saying \u0026ldquo;Do not say anything about Jesus.\u0026rdquo; They turned to show me their temple and suggested that I leave. I slowly moved and went to other side of the road and began again to preach Christ. Many more crowds of people listened to my voice. I was looking at them, and they were thinking about their lives. Please pray for these 500 people. May God protect them and give them life according to His wish and plan.\nThis semester we had 25 students altogether. One student attended through my facebook site. The student\u0026rsquo;s father had heard and watched my videos beginning in 2017. He sent his son to our Bible College. Praise God! He is doing amazing work through my social site! Another student came from an area near Mt. Everest. We had been praying for 2 other students for a very long time. Years had passed. Now, God brought them in our Bible school! I mentioned about them before. You all prayed for them and sent some relief items for them during the lock-down. Before, they were living in caves and the forest and slowly they began living in huts. God has now brought these two students to our Bible college. Pray that God will use both of them in mighty ways in their respective villages.\nMy beautiful wife is also engaging in the mission field. She has been teaching Bible study from Genesis. Now, she is going to be finishing Genesis soon. She took about 6 months to finish this book. Every week on Sunday she is teaching from Viber. Other women and sisters are now requesting she teach from the book of Daniel and Revelations. Pray for her. She is ready to teach them and serve them. She needs a baby also. Pray for her to be able to have a baby in God\u0026rsquo;s time. We already asked the doctor. The doctor could not do anything. We also couldn\u0026rsquo;t afford treatment, because the cost of treatment is very high. We are leaving it in God\u0026rsquo;s hands.\nAnother important update is about our student who already graduated from Bible college. His name is Harka. He is now planting a church. Please pray for him, as he is planting a church very far from the capital city. This is a place where there are many people crowded together and there is not any churches that we have found. Especially pray for him, that God may provide him financial support to settle there. He has his own family including a wife and two children. He needs support both financially and spiritually to settle and live there. Please pray that God may provide him all things he needs.\nThis semester, I am teaching through the book of Matthew and the book of Hosea to our students. Please pray that God may provide protection over me and give me good health to serve Him and be always His faithful servant.\nPeace and Grace.\nYour faithful servant\nPastor Rabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/bringing-the-good-news-to-those-who-have-never-heard/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHow beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (Isaiah 52:7)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis verse reminds me how to be bold in Christ in all circumstances of our lives. We should preach our Living God to un-reached people. We should share our living hope to dead souls who have never heard anything about Jesus Christ. We share, we proclaim, and we declare our Savior\u0026rsquo;s salvation to many more dead people who were dying having not heard until now about our Savior Jesus.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bringing The Good News to Those Who Have Never Heard"},{"content":"Praise Report: I thank God that some people were baptized. Thank you for your prayers. It went well. We traveled 20 miles to the place where we had the baptism because there is no river around here. Some new families have come to faith recently. These people are progressing in the Word of the Lord. There are some more people who want to be baptized. We are waiting for the right time to baptize them. I am very thankful for God\u0026rsquo;s protection. I was traveling on my motor bike. Suddenly, a bull came running in the road and collided with my bike, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t hurt anything and I am safe. I am very grateful to all of you who pray for our ministry and stand behind us as prayer warriors. We need your prayers very much. Especially in these days because many churches are being persecuted by the people here. The largest part of our country is in the north where seventy percent of the population lives. The least amount of Christians are here. In many places Christians are working in small groups, but there are still many areas where the Gospel of God has not reached.\nGod has been growing His church here. People from different places are accepting the Lord. I get opportunities to preach in different areas of my state and for some people who have come in faith. Two or three times each month I have to travel 60-70 kilometers to share the Word. I am very accustomed to doing this. I know that the Lord will establish churches in more places in the future.\nThere are now 40-50 people in our church. Most of these people have been baptized. Currently when we fellowship, we have divided ourselves into three groups. We fellowship in different places during the week, because it is not possible to meet together. My landlady does not allow more people to gather in my room. Recently some churches nearby have been closed and many pastors have been put in jail. So, my landlady is very scared. So we gather in small groups. For a long time we have been praying that we would be able to have our own land and be able to register our church organization soon, because of the number of believers in our church.\nWe started an online Bible study during COVID. It continues to this day. Many people who can\u0026rsquo;t attend church or live far away have the opportunity to attend and get inspired by the Word of the Lord. Through this, many new young people also join and are blessed. One day of the week, the Bible study teaching has been given to Mrs. V who has been teaching from 1 Samuel. It has been really amazing for the young girls who are very blessed. God is preparing local people who will be involved in this ministry in the future.\nPrayer Requests: That those who were baptized may grow in the grace of God. For the new believers to know God more and stand firmly in the Lord during the troubles that society gives. Some people are getting ready for baptism- may God lead us in the right timing, so that these people can be baptized. Pray for the churches of our country who are going through persecution and are being split up because of opponents. For our ministry that is going on in different houses. For the faith of the people to take root in God and be able to face adversaries. For us to be able to glorify God in other places of the North also. For church land and registration. That people can learn the Word of God deeply during our online Bible study. God bless,\nPastor 12*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/grateful-to-the-lord-2/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"praise-report\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise Report:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG20220612145620-300x196.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eI thank God that some people were baptized. Thank you for your prayers. It went well. We traveled 20 miles to the place where we had the baptism because there is no river around here.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSome new families have come to faith recently. These people are progressing in the Word of the Lord.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThere are some more people who want to be baptized. We are waiting for the right time to baptize them.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eI am very thankful for God\u0026rsquo;s protection. I was traveling on my motor bike. Suddenly, a bull came running in the road and collided with my bike, but I didn\u0026rsquo;t hurt anything and I am safe.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG20220717111913.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG20220731115856-275x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am very grateful to all of you who pray for our ministry and stand behind us as prayer warriors. We need your prayers very much. Especially in these days because many churches are being persecuted by the people here. The largest part of our country is in the north where seventy percent of the population lives. The least amount of Christians are here. In many places Christians are working in small groups, but there are still many areas where the Gospel of God has not reached.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Grateful to the Lord"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nSo many things are happening in ministry!\nI have been teaching the young girls in the church new songs, music and about how worship in the church should look. They are enjoying the new songs, and the meaning in the songs. The instruments and singing are becoming in tune with new sounds. I also explained to them that worship should not just occur at the church building, but it should be their life style!\nThe other believers also enjoy worshiping the Lord with new songs. I am slowly training them not to sound like gentiles (the world) when we gather and worship but we should be decent and in order in the fellowship.\nWhile sharing the Word of God during the first month, I taught them some basic fundamental Christian principles from the Bible. It has now been almost 6 weeks. I have started to teach verse-by-verse from the book of 1st Corinthians. I was amazed at how the believers took it. It was like me at Bible College! I had never known about verse-by-verse teaching prior to Bible college. Now it is the same way with the believers here in the church. They love the way we are studying the Bible. The beauty is that they were amazed at how much they can learn the Word of God by studying the Bible verse-by-verse in depth. I am so glad that they are really able to taste the Word of God through this recipe. I am about to finish up the 1st chapter in 1st Corinthians. I am teaching about unity and how we ought to love one another and how we should have the same testimony as Christians in this society!\nI teach 2 times on Sundays. From 10 AM to 12:30 PM, I share at a church in the city which is close to my home. From 7 to 9 in the evening, I share at a church in a village that is about 16 miles away. We are praying to start a church in another place also. Right now, we are waiting to hear from that family who is planning to host us and open their house for church fellowship.\nI have great satisfaction to see how God is using me in this ministry and believers are learning the Word of God. They are on their way to become more mature disciples, instead of believers with stunted growth.\nSo please pray for these churches. I am truly happy for being busy in studying and making sermons for different churches on Sundays and for house fellowships, birthdays and different occasions during the week. It\u0026rsquo;s so joyful to me to watch how God is filling these believers with His Word and speaking and ministering to their hearts and mine.\nLove you all!\nPrayers\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/my-heart-shall-rejoice/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo many things are happening in ministry!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/20220810%5F204022-300x191.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI have been teaching the young girls in the church new songs, music and about how worship in the church should look. They are enjoying the new songs, and the meaning in the songs. The instruments and singing are becoming in tune with new sounds. I also explained to them that worship should not just occur at the church building, but it should be their life style!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My Heart Shall Rejoice"},{"content":"A Quick Recap What a great summer it has been here in Mexico! After a fun vacation visiting my sister in Norcal for a week, I jumped into July back here in Rosarito. It was our church’s 20th anniversary, so Calvary Rosarito celebrated all month long! We put on a special event every Friday in July, such as a movie night, beach day, concert, etc. It was so amazing to reflect on how far this church has come!\nThe highlight of July for me, however, was definitely serving at the Connections House again. Connections House is a place/ministry that hosts missions teams in Rosarito. They host the Calvary School of Missions every July, which is the program that I went through back in 2020. It was such a blessing to be able to serve with them all again! I got to sit in on some of their classes and go with them on their outreaches for 2 weeks.\n**Photos from serving with the Connections House and School of Missions!** A Blessed Conversation On one of the outreaches with the School of Missions, we put on a Family Event at a park with the church “Gracia del Calvario.” When I arrived, I didn’t really have a specific job to do to help run the event, so I just figured I’d focus on meeting some of the people in the community that came. Pretty soon, the Lord gave me the opportunity to meet an elderly man who had come with his family to the park before our team had arrived. It was only by the Lord that I was able to do this, but I ended up talking with him for a whole hour in Spanish! Though I couldn’t understand everything he was saying, I was able to grasp general ideas and keep asking questions.\nTo be honest, though I have grown up in the church all my life, one thing I have always struggled to figure out is evangelizing to complete strangers. I just couldn’t understand how I could talk with someone I had never met before and naturally transitioned into the gospel. I didn’t want to force it awkwardly or give them the gospel quickly in a cold way.\nAs I was talking to this man at the park, however, the Lord showed me two answers to my questions and struggles. Sharing the gospel with a stranger will take time and faith.\nDuring my conversation, the Lord led me to first simply ask questions about his life and family. To genuinely want to listen to his story. This took time. But through it, there was a trust that was formed, and eventually, God led me to share the gospel with him, and he heard it with open ears. That was where it took faith. It takes steps of faith to ask strangers questions like, “do you know where you’ll go after you die?” But because I had stayed to listen to him for so long, he knew that I cared, and so he took the question seriously.\nIt was so amazing to meet and converse with that man that day, and I know the Lord blessed that interaction in more ways than one. Praise the Lord for His guidance and grace!\n**Park Outreach with Gracia del Calvario** What is Up Ahead With the summer coming to an end, I’m excited to continue serving on staff full-time and edit my pastor’s book on church planting. We’re aiming to finish the final draft by December. After that, Lord willing, I will go on a vision tour to Japan for 2 weeks!\nMy biggest piece of news, however, is that I will be moving back to California at the end of this year! I’ll be moving to join the internship at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda. This internship prepares people who want to be sent out to do long-term cross-cultural missions. My heart is to be sent out with a church planting team to Japan one day, and so I’m very excited about this internship!\nI’m also looking forward to seeing many of you again, and I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read these updates. Thank you so much for your messages and prayers; they mean so much to me. If you are interested in helping me raise enough funds to go on the Japan vision tour, there is a secure giving link at the bottom of this page that you can use. The trip costs $2,700, and I’ve had $1,000 for it so far!\nAgain, thank you so much for all your care and support as I’m serving here in Mexico. I’m so excited for everything yet to come. Talk to you again soon!\nGod bless,\nLydia Boubion\nPraise Reports: I got to serve with the Calvary School of Missions again! Calvary Rosarito celebrated its 20th anniversary! The Lord has brought me more clarity and guidance in this next season Prayer Requests: For the book project, I’m a part of For the Japan vision tour’s preparation and provision For my moving preparations in the next couple of months For my organization of time and priorities **More photos from the School of Missions!** ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/talking-to-a-stranger/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"a-quick-recap\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA Quick Recap\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a great summer it has been here in Mexico! After a fun vacation visiting my sister in Norcal for a week, I jumped into July back here in Rosarito. It was our church’s 20th anniversary, so Calvary Rosarito celebrated all month long! We put on a special event every Friday in July, such as a movie night, beach day, concert, etc. It was so amazing to reflect on how far this church has come!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Talking to a Stranger"},{"content":"Praise the Lord\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well.\nLast month we started Bible College in our area. By the Grace of God we have six students. Some are from our state and two are from different states. Some are newly born in Christ and some are old enough in Christ.\nLast month, I also visited the hospital and got a chance to pray for a sick person. He was suffering from pneumonia and another health problem.\nLast month my children turned four. God has been so faithful to keep them safe. God also helped us to lead them in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. They passed nursery and now they are in Kindergarten. I thank God that they are studying well and performing well in their class.\nLately, I have been studying from 1 Kings. There I am learning from King David\u0026rsquo;s life. God blessed me to learn how David was faithful in his life and how he obeyed God\u0026rsquo;s commandments in his life .\nPrayer Requests Please pray for my wife to get a transfer so that we may stay together and serve the Lord. Please pray for my children to grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. Pray for God’s wisdom and strength to take care of my children and learn His Word. Please pray the Bible College students to grow and learn the Word of God. Please pray for the Bible College to run smoothly. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/leading-others-in-gods-word/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise the Lord\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/WhatsApp-Image-2022-08-09-at-10.58.21-AM.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month we started Bible College in our area. By the Grace of God we have six students. Some are from our state and two are from different states. Some are newly born in Christ and some are old enough in Christ.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Leading Others in God's Word"},{"content":"“ Therefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are also doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11\nWe spent from June 13 to August 2 in Japan. We had a blessed time there! We were able to visit and share our ministry at more than a dozen churches (and a Bible School) all over Japan. We were also blessed to be able to spend some quality time with old friends and make new friends.\nBenjamin spearheaded two long conversations about Christianity with his non-Christian grandparents in Hiroshima. He also helped me edit some of the articles for Light Times Magazine’s first print edition since before COVID forced the magazine into online-only for more than a year. He also taught himself quite a bit of Japanese from a book and only asked Kayo’s help when he got stuck. Now that we have returned to Cambodia he has started 8th grade at Hope School.\nThere was a new openness to and interest in my Apologetics/Evangelistic materials in Japanese and English. I was able to share materials with a few individuals and the Bible school we visited. Please pray that they will be contextualized and translated into the Japanese language as needed.\nKayo was the busiest of all in Japan. She was kept busy with travel arrangements, translation, and communicating with churches, etc. Still, she had a good time with her friends and loved ones that she had not been able to see for four years.\nWe have just gotten resettled in Cambodia and are just starting to resume our ministries here. Please pray for wisdom and strength for us for this new season.\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/back-in-cambodia-from-japan/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“ \u003cem\u003eTherefore, encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are also doing.\u003c/em\u003e” 1 Thessalonians 5:11\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F1528.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe spent from June 13 to August 2 in Japan. We had a blessed time there! We were able to visit and share our ministry at more than a dozen churches (and a Bible School) all over Japan. We were also blessed to be able to spend some quality time with old friends and make new friends.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Back in Cambodia from Japan"},{"content":"Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nWe have started Bible School again here in the central part of our country. The classes are held in the same hall where we have our church service. For the students to stay, we rented out a small house near the church so that students can just walk to the classroom. We are looking for another place where the students can stay and have classes in the same place.\nRight now, we have six students living in the rented house. We have another person who lives at his house nearby and attends our classes. We have another student from one of our churches in the North who attends live online through his mobile phone. The student from the North came to faith a few years ago through one of our pastors there. He always has really good questions from the Word. He is a really good student of the Word and calls his pastor or me to ask questions. He is married and has a small child, so he could not come and live here. But since he wanted to study, he is attending the classes through audio and video calls.\nSo, this semester we have a total of 8 people attending the classes everyday. They really like the way we teach the Word of God and have been growing in the knowledge of the Lord. I have been teaching them Systematic Theology. I am really enjoying teaching this subject. I have to study a lot to teach them and studying it has been a blessing to me as well.\nPrayer Requests: Pray for me. This last week I was not well and had a high fever. Now, I am much better, but I am weak. Please pray that I will recover well. Pray for me and the other teachers to be a blessing and good teachers to the Bible school students. Pray for the students that they may also grow in the Word and be well equipped to be used to expand the kingdom of God in their places. Please pray that we may find a good place nearby for the Bible school. Blessings,\nPastor 9\n\\* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/by-thy-word-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your prayers and support!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG20220804094700-300x180.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have started Bible School again here in the central part of our country. The classes are held in the same hall where we have our church service. For the students to stay, we rented out a small house near the church so that students can just walk to the classroom. We are looking for another place where the students can stay and have classes in the same place.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"By Thy Word"},{"content":" Summer 2022 SGWM Newsletter Calvary School of Missions Edition The opportunity to serve God is one of life’s most cherished gifts and coupled with loving encouragement, the result is an explosion of passion and purpose. And so it is at the Calvary School of Missions here in Mexico. We are so blessed to be able to walk with so many young people who have a heart for the Great Commission. Almost five years ago now God clearly directed us to get involved with raising up, training up and helping young people to be sent from their home churches to the mission field. Through several confirmations, and taking a huge step of faith, we launched the Calvary School of Missions in Summer of 2019. We are now on our fourth Summer of this 6 week program and it continues to be an incredible tool in God’s hands to help these called out young people get prepared to fulfill the Great Commission in their lives.\nIt’s a common occurrence in many young people in the church today. Here’s the scene. They are sitting in their Bible teaching church, being taught verse by verse and they begin to get stirred up and awakened to the Great Commission. They believe they have found their purpose on the earth and feel a call to GO into the world and preach the gospel. So they begin to explore what it means to be a missionary and try to find a way to go. Their hearts cry is “Here am I, send me. But how Lord? Where do I start?” So they go to their churches and start to share what God is doing in their hearts. But sometimes their church isn’t involved in missions or maybe they just don’t have a vision to send people to the foreign mission field so there is not always a clear path for them to follow. Sometimes they are encouraged to get involved with a missions para-church organization or get involved with local evangelism. And sometimes, that original fire burns out and they never end up going. And those who do actually make it to the mission field don’t always have good training. In the last 25 years we have met many of these missionaries and have seen their struggles and our heart is to help them in any way we can. We also want to try to catch these called out ones before they go and help them prepare and be trained in order to go and be sent well. God has been faithful to allow us to be a part of raising these young missionaries up.\nPastor Tim Pappas (in red shirt) is the director of the School of Missions and has a heart to see young people raised up and churches planted all over the world.\nPastor Tim with some of our students. Not only does he love to serve in the school but he loves Mexico and has been coming to this country for years doing evangelism and pastoral care.\nRadical Transformation We are in our third week of the School of Missions and already the life changing power of the word of God is at work. We arrived in Rosarito, Mexico with 21 students eager to learn and hopeful for their futures. Within a few days we began to witness hearts being radically challenged, minds being changed and a sobriety for the call take root. Their dreams started to become unmovable callings. Convinced by the word of God, these students are counting the cost and praying for what God has for their futures. Since arriving at the school, the students have been able to see the heart of the church planting movement in Mexico. Twenty years ago we had the honor of sending out Mike Vincent to plant a church in Rosarito and we have seen God radically move in that ministry. So we partner hand in hand with his church, Calvary Chapel Rosarito, and have had the great privilege of coming alongside many of their 45 church plants. Because they have so many established works here in Baja California, we have been able to serve at the various churches doing evangelism, outreach, kids ministry, worship, providing meals and praying for the hurting. They learn in the classroom and then are able to use what they’ve learned in the community. Church planting is no longer just a concept in their minds, but a reality they have actually been a part of. They are getting a vision for the world and a heart for the lost and hurting and it is a privilege to be a part of their process.\nOne of the most important parts of the School of Missions is the teachings the students receive.\nFor the first week and a half, Pastor Trent Douglass, Senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and President of Saving Grace World Missions, lays the foundation to Biblical Missions and the Purpose of the Church. From there the students are blessed to receive teachings from several seasoned missionaries. Because our focus is on the most unreached people groups of the world, many of our teachers work in this area of the world. Some of our guest speakers have been Pastor Bond and Heather Gaona who church plant in South Asia, The R family working in North Africa, Pastor Rob Douglass, founder and director of Ends of the Earth Ministries working in South Sudan, Pastor EZ, President of Living Waters, Pastor Wes Bentley founder and director of Far Reaching Ministries, Pastor Cory Kilgus senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Trujillo in Peru and Director of CBI Peru, and Pastor Mike Vincent senior Pastor of Calvary Chapel Rosarito and Director of the Church Planting School at CCR. We were also privileged to hear from many national workers from all over South Asia! Each teacher has brought to the students rich teachings on culture, evangelism, compassion, the gospel, support raising and much much more. You cannot put a price tag on these teachings! They are priceless and have brought these students to a deeper understanding of God and their individual callings in this world.\nPlease continue to pray for the students as they seek God for their next steps. The quality of character in each of these students is obvious and we know and believe that God has incredible things for each of them.\nWe ask that you would prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with SGWM. Financial partners are crucial to help operating costs at the SGWM home base, allowing us to serve missionaries worldwide.\nDonate to SGWM Most Needed\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/summer-2022-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/SGWM-Banner.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"summer-2022-sgwm-newsletter\"\u003eSummer 2022 SGWM Newsletter\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F2757-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch1 id=\"calvary-school-of-missions-edition\"\u003eCalvary School of Missions Edition\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe opportunity to serve God is one of life’s most cherished gifts and coupled with loving encouragement, the result is an explosion of passion and purpose. And so it is at the Calvary School of Missions here in Mexico. We are so blessed to be able to walk with so many young people who have a heart for the Great Commission. \u003cbr\u003e\nAlmost five years ago now God clearly directed us to get involved with raising up, training up and helping young people to be sent from their home churches to the mission field. Through several confirmations, and taking a huge step of faith, we launched the Calvary School of Missions in Summer of 2019. We are now on our fourth Summer of this 6 week program and it continues to be an incredible tool in God’s hands to help these called out young people get prepared to fulfill the Great Commission in their lives.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Summer 2022 Newsletter"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family!\nThank God that He has saved me from every crisis. He is taking care of my every need. God is doing amazingly wonderful things with those I know and He is giving me the chance to preach the Gospel in new places. Church fellowships are going on in 5 villages, by the grace of God. There is also a Bible study on Friday and a fellowship on Sunday here. In the Bible study we are studying Genesis and on Sunday we are studying and preaching verse by verse from Acts. Through God, people\u0026rsquo;s faith is growing more and they are getting stronger in persecution.\nI have not shared with you a testimony from a believer for a long time. So, I prayed that the Lord would lead me to a person whom the Lord brought into the faith in a very strange way. Hearing their testimony, you will glorify God.\nHow a Hindu Priest and Temple Builder Became a Pastor and Church Builder When we read about Paul\u0026rsquo;s testimony in the Acts of the Apostles, we see the way the Lord Jesus Christ appeared to Paul. Jesus changed the life of Paul who had previously persecuted for the Lord, and Paul began to preach for the Lord. I feel happy to testify that there is only one man I know with such a testimony. He is my father. He was a temple priest and leader, when he did not know the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a small temple in our village, which had earlier been a hut. When my father became the leader of the temple, he collected a lot of donations for the construction of the temple. He also stole sand and other material from the road which was being built, to build the temple. This temple is still present in our village. After collecting a lot of donations, he used to call outside priests to perform big conventions. Millions of people used to participate in that worship.\nBut my father never got peace by doing this work. There were always fights in our home and a lack of food. Raising 6 children was not an easy thing. For this reason, my father left all of this worship. He then got into an accident while going to another state to find work. Due to a poor financial condition, he could not get the proper treatment and so his hand was damaged.\nBut, the second time he went to the other state, he started doing trash/litter work. At the same time a man from England met him. This man got my father treatment for his hand. At the same time, an elderly woman told my father about going to church. She sent him to the church in which our pastors from Calvary Chapel and Pastor 15* held many marriage conferences etc. and Amy and Diana used to go. Our family went to this church for about 18 years. Then, God called my father to go to our home village . God blessed us so much in the business we used to do. We ourselves built a church in our village through our own business. It is the church I use now.\nWhen God spoke to him to go and preach in the village, he left his business and work and went to a village and started preaching the gospel. At first, he would walk 15-20 kilometers on foot to preach the Gospel and invite those who believed to come to the church. I was studying in Calvary Chapel Bible College when someone heard the testimony of a pastor\u0026rsquo;s father who preached the Gospel on foot for 20 kilometers. He gave my father his bicycle.\nWhen I came here, after finishing Bible college, I also started preaching the Gospel by bike for 60 kms. But later, God decided to provide us with a motor bike. Now we can spread the Gospel further. We have now preached the Gospel in more than 200 villages. We are having church services in 5 villages. Some time ago, after seeing our service, some pastors from the South came who wanted to give monthly support to my father. However they refused to give him support because of their difference in Bible doctrine/principles. My Papa loves the principles of Calvary Chapel and loves to preach the Word of God verse by verse. He has now studied the entire Bible about three times.\nBible study with Pastor 9*! As I mentioned in the last newsletter we do Bible study on Fridays. The first Friday of the month we are taught Bible study by different outside pastors. Last month we invited pastor 12* from the North. This time we invited a zealous, young pastor to teach Bible study. You know the pastor very well, his name is Pastor 9*. Studying the Bible with Pastor 9* has been a great blessing to us. Our group is becoming very strong in faith by doing Bible study. Even the illiterate believers are growing in faith by hearing the Word from the Bible study. They also explain to the people of their village society through the Word of God and preach the Gospel.\nPraise Report: Praise the Lord and thank all of you! Last month I gave a prayer request about a woman whose name is R*. She had suffered a lot and you prayed. Her neighbors and villagers had made complete plans to kill her, but God saved her and gave her a new life. The church fellowship was closed at her house for almost a month and we were all praying together that the people of the church\u0026rsquo;s faith would remain stable. R*is very strong in prayer and in faith. Although she was not educated, she used to go from village to village to recite the Word of God and keep encouraging people. But thank God! 2 weeks ago the fellowship started again. They can\u0026rsquo;t openly fellowship like before, but now they worship God together in a small room. May God bless and strengthen all these people in their faith.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray! There is an anti-Christian organization working in our village. During last Sunday\u0026rsquo;s fellowship, a person from his group came and looked at our company and left. Pray that God will give them peace and they do not do anything against God. Please also pray for my to have a chance to preach the good news to them. Kindly pray continuously that my church can be registered and cc camera can be installed. Please pray for my country. There are many types of riots happening here. Trains were burnt at many places and a bus was set on fire. The government shut down the internet for about 4 days. Pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health. May God will heal her. Her hands and feet are always in pain. Thank God that He gave me a chance to preach the Good News to a village where many people are illiterate and who had not even heard the name of Jesus Christ before. In one of the families almost every person in the family is haunted by an evil spirit. Pray for a believer in my church who is suffering from a very strange disease. May God would provide the financial needs for treatment for him or even heal him. Please pray and pray for a child who is orphan and mentally ill. His aunt cares for him. May God heal this child. Last time when he was suffering from TB, the people of our organization helped pay for his treatment. Please pray for a new movie projector for my church. My old projector broke because of high surge of electricity while I was showing Jesus movie during a Christmas outreach. Thanks for your Christian love, support, prayers and partnership in the Gospel.\nGod bless you!\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/spreading-the-good-news-near-and-far/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank God that He has saved me from every crisis. He is taking care of my every need. God is doing amazingly wonderful things with those I know and He is giving me the chance to preach the Gospel in new places. Church fellowships are going on in 5 villages, by the grace of God. There is also a Bible study on Friday and a fellowship on Sunday here. In the Bible study we are studying Genesis and on Sunday we are studying and preaching verse by verse from Acts. Through God, people\u0026rsquo;s faith is growing more and they are getting stronger in persecution.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Spreading the Good News Near and Far"},{"content":" “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people,”\n1 TIMOTHY 2:1\nAs is our goal with every update, we want to share with you some of the recent events, and our future desires, with the hope that you will be able to pray more effectively, especially for our little village of Adak.\nWe were discouraged by the news that our friend, Caesar Opiro, had passed away. Caesar was one of the first people we met when we moved to Adak in early 2018. He and 2 other young men had been friends with the previous missionary, who had built the house we live in, and they hoped to establish a relationship with us as they had with him. Caesar was younger and still in high school, a bright-eyed, friendly, well-mannered, happy guy. Caesar claimed Christ but began having serious struggles when he was kicked out of school for injuring one of his classmates. We watched helplessly as his attitude changed over time, and he sank into depression, alcohol, violence, and fornication. At some point, Caesar no longer saw life as worth living and eventually found malaria as a means of escape by hiding it from his family until it was tragically too late to get treatment. Sadly, Caesar’s story is not unique. In fact, in the month of July, our village experienced too many traumatic events to be recounted in only one update. Abuse, witchcraft, addictions, betrayal, robbery, revenge, immorality, jealousy, and the like. The world is truly dark, and sin really does produce death. But what the enemy meant for evil, God is working together for good. The visible advancement of darkness in our village has strengthened our resolve for our local community outreach, “Yalwak Manyen,” New Generation Sports Academy. Together with my partners in this ministry, we evangelized Caesar’s family, who finally recognized their need for a Savior. Caesar’s mother rededicated her life to Christ, and his father and his brother became born again.\nYalwak Manyen has now been operating in our community for more than a year. On average, per season, we’ve had 40 children enrolled in our football (soccer) program, including 4 of our own children. These kids gather together with their coaches multiple times a week for Bible lessons and soccer practice. We have seen great change in all of the participants, especially in our daughter Apio. God has blessed the football ministry with 5 acres of land. When we bought the land, it was an untamed “bush” with more than 25 large termite mounds. But now, we have successfully leveled its entirety, built a small residence for the manager and his family, and we are now starting to plant grass on the first of 2 football pitches. We are developing the land in part by enlisting the help of the local young men, who have been involved in much of the village’s problems, in exchange for enrolling them in the new “youth division” of our program. We are excited to see how God works through this in the lives of Adak’s next generation.\nSpiritually, our vision for Yalwak Manyen is summarized in the phrase, “Better character for a better community.” We do this by focusing on our 3 core values: Duty – take responsibility, Discipline – develop self-control, and Diligence – always do your best. Because as our theme verse says, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” (Prov 13:44). The vision for the ministry\u0026rsquo;s physical development is that our land would be fully established, with even grass and trees for shade, a water pump and playground for the community, changing rooms and pit latrines, and even a pavilion for rain shelter. We want to do this by engaging in self-sustainability tree farming.\nPlease join us in prayer: Caesar’s family would hold fast to their new faith in Christ and be disciplined in the local church. That the community would heed the tragedy of Caesar’s death and recognize their need for a Savior. That the light of the gospel would shine brightly in this community. That God would bring self-sustaining provision for His ministry. That our family would maintain good health. Praise God: For bringing Caesar’s family to salvation. For sustaining the local church through the recent death of Pastor Charles. For the funding that has come in to continue the work on our School of Discipleship campus. That the pastors in the 2 current classes have all passed their tests through Exodus and will be joining us again this month for study through Leviticus. In His care, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle and family. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/july-2022/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercession, and thanksgiving be made for all people,”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 TIMOTHY 2:1\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/20220317%5F090054%5F2-e1649438023885.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs is our goal with every update, we want to share with you some of the recent events, and our future desires, with the hope that you will be able to pray more effectively, especially for our little village of Adak.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/20220731%5F204014%5F2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe were discouraged by the news that our friend, Caesar Opiro, had passed away. Caesar was one of the first people we met when we moved to Adak in early 2018. He and 2 other young men had been friends with the previous missionary, who had built the house we live in, and they hoped to establish a relationship with us as they had with him. Caesar was younger and still in high school, a bright-eyed, friendly, well-mannered, happy guy. Caesar claimed Christ but began having serious struggles when he was kicked out of school for injuring one of his classmates. We watched helplessly as his attitude changed over time, and he sank into depression, alcohol, violence, and fornication. At some point, Caesar no longer saw life as worth living and eventually found malaria as a means of escape by hiding it from his family until it was tragically too late to get treatment. Sadly, Caesar’s story is not unique. In fact, in the month of July, our village experienced too many traumatic events to be recounted in only one update. Abuse, witchcraft, addictions, betrayal, robbery, revenge, immorality, jealousy, and the like. The world is truly dark, and sin really does produce death. But what the enemy meant for evil, God is working together for good. The visible advancement of darkness in our village has strengthened our resolve for our local community outreach, “Yalwak Manyen,” New Generation Sports Academy. Together with my partners in this ministry, we evangelized Caesar’s family, who finally recognized their need for a Savior. Caesar’s mother rededicated her life to Christ, and his father and his brother became born again.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"July 2022"},{"content":"Our church celebrated our 20-year reunion in July! To celebrate that, our staff asked me to write a history of me and our ministry over the past 20 years they put in a video available on my Facebook page! In this month’s update, I wanted to share with you our precious ministry partners the 20-year history of our church!\nPastor Mike Vincent was born in Germany to a US army father and mother! He grew up in Orange County, where his parents were faithful members of a denominational Christian church! Mike was a good boy that was raised in the church, and when Mike became a teenager, he and his brother Mitch started a New Wave Christian band that toured churches around Orange County, giving concerts!\nAfter high school, Mike entered a Christian college to play College Basketball! It was halfway through his Bible college experience when God grabbed Mike’s heart and opened up His spiritual eyes. And it was on a Sunday morning when Mike walked forward during an altar call, gave his life to Jesus, and was born again!\nUpon graduating, Mike started leading worship with his friend Trent Douglas at an outside backyard Bible study in Trent’s parent’s home. That Bible study eventually grew from 10 to 200 young people, and we saw God make an amazing move.\nThat backyard Bible study eventually became the church Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, located in Yorba Linda, California! It was at that church that Mike met his future wife, Sarah Lancaster! It was also during those days that Mike began to feel the call to the ministry!\nMike and Sarah both had the conviction, not to date, yet God did miracle after miracle to bring them together. Eventually, Sarah talked to Mike about the great desire God had placed in her heart to be a missionary to Mexico! Mike replied, “ I LOVE Mexican food and am open to anything the Lord has, but I don’t believe I’m called to Mexico!” Sarah was hurt by that but she married Mike anyway, believing that if this was God’s will, He would change Mike’s heart!\nAfter 3 years of marriage, that’s exactly what God did! Mike woke up one Sunday morning and told Sarah, “God is calling me to Mexico!” Sarah thought Mike was kidding, but Mike was deadly serious! They eventually shared this calling with the church leadership and then began to train up to be sent out! After two long years of ministry training, this young family of four was sent out by Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in July 2002 to a church plant in Rosarito Beach, Mexico!\nI remember talking to a Pastor before we moved that told me, “Don’t church plant in Rosarito; it’s the hardest place in all of Mexico to church plant.” Yet Mike and Sarah and their two babies, Grace and Daniel, took the leap of faith and moved anyway. When they were sent out, Mike only knew three words of Spanish! (Burrito, Ba ñ o, and Taco) Thankfully, they were sent out with a small team of 5 adults, and they began the church meeting in the living room of a local house!\nAfter 6 months, the church had grown up to 12 adults, and it was time to move to their first rented room! We found two cheap small rooms on Blvd. Guerrero and rented them for 400 dollars a month at the start of 2003! That little yellow strip mall was the home of Calvary Chapel Rosarito for the next 3 years! It was in those early days that God brought Pastor Jesus and Pastor Sabino and Laura, and many other faithful saints that remain at the church to this day! In those early days, the ministry was full of outreaches and crusades, and we saw God move powerfully!\nBy 2005, the small church had grown to 60 adults, and it was time to move again! We found a large strip mall around the corner up the street that was way beyond our budget! Yet God once again did a miracle, and He provided the finances for us to move in there!\nThat strip mall was our church home for the next 7 years! It was during that time that we started to see God saving people weekly and started our monthly baptisms. We also started our church planting school and sent out our first church plants in our time there. By God’s grace, our church grew from 60 to 600 adults during that time, and once again, we found our church bursting at the seams!\nWe asked our church to begin to pray, search, and give in a quest to find a large building that would fit our growing church’s needs! At the exact same time, our facility search began, and one of the largest factories in the city closed down! God opened the door, and in 2012 we began to renovate this 15,000-square feet facility, and little by little, it began to look like a church!\nWe have now been in our beautiful church facility for 10 years, and we are celebrating our 20-year anniversary together. The work God has done in and through Calvary Rosarito is a trophy of His grace! Not only has God allowed us to be a sending hub of church planting, but one of the largest and most fruitful churches in all of Mexico! This is way more than Mike and Sarah ever dreamed about in those early days of small things.\nThe Bible teaches us in Ephesians 3:20, “Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us” Calvary Rosarito is an example of how God can use normal people that are willing to take steps of faith, and accomplish amazing things!\nThese past 20 years have been incredible and beyond my greatest dreams, but I am sure of one thing! The best is still yet to come! I love each one of you and am thankful that you are part of our church family at Calvary Rosarito!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-august-2022-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOur church celebrated our 20-year reunion in July! To celebrate that, our staff asked me to write a history of me and our ministry over the past 20 years they put in a video available on my Facebook page! In this month’s update, I wanted to share with you our precious ministry partners the 20-year history of our church!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/292227758%5F10159243949337029%5F7488295868624642499%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePastor Mike Vincent was born in Germany to a US army father and mother! He grew up in Orange County, where his parents were faithful members of a denominational Christian church! Mike was a good boy that was raised in the church, and when Mike became a teenager, he and his brother Mitch started a New Wave Christian band that toured churches around Orange County, giving concerts!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family August 2022 Missions Update"},{"content":"I decided to make it a bit more personal and share a video update with you. I am so thankful for you always being here to support me in what God is leading me. Praying abundant blessings over you.\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=28\u0026amp;v=B6WYDPyruwA\u0026amp;feature=emb_logo\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease Pray that God will lead me in the next steps to take to prepare to move to the Middle East. Pray for God would bring financial partners. Pray for the people in the Middle East that God would soften their hearts and that they would be open to the Gospel. Praise Reports:\nPraise the Lord with me as I rejoice He has given me a heart for the Middle East, that He has given me direction on where I will be going. Praise God, He is faithful to me, and He is faithful to every person, every tribe, and nation. Praise God that He will make a way when we don’t understand. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/something-big-is-happening/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI decided to make it a bit more personal and share a video update with you. I am so thankful for you always being here to support me in what God is leading me. Praying abundant blessings over you.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?time\"\u003ehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?time\u003c/a\u003e_continue=28\u0026amp;v=B6WYDPyruwA\u0026amp;feature=emb_logo\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease Pray that God will lead me in the next steps to take to prepare to move to the Middle East.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePray for God would bring financial partners.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePray for the people in the Middle East that God would soften their hearts and that they would be open to the Gospel.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePraise Reports:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Something Big Is Happening"},{"content":" Hey all! Here’s our update for July, but a quick look at the past few months. I have added photos of some of the things we’ve been up to since our last update.\nLots of things have been going on. Calvary Oaxaca turned 3 at the beginning of the year. We had a great time celebrating at a local park/lake. It has been such a blessing to see the people who attend the church grow in their walks with the Lord. We’ve had some of the same people since the very beginning of the church and lots of new people too. They all have hearts to serve Jesus and have come alongside us in amazing ways.\nIn the past months, we have celebrated Dia de Los Niños, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and other things. It’s always fun to have a reason to have a potluck and hang out together. And we had a baptism and a baby dedication! The men’s ministry just finished their study for the time and will start back up soon. The ladies finished the book of James (an amazing book of the bible) and are now doing Kay Smith’s book on Philippians.\nIn June, Hurricane Agatha hit the coast of Oaxaca pretty hard. We were able to buy bags of essentials like beans, rice, flour, etc., to take to two towns. Thank you to those who donated to this specifically because we were able to take a team of 9 people and hand out over 150 bags, plus tons of donated clothes. This was the first official mission trip for Calvary Oaxaca and Allison’s first short-term trip plus driving for that amount of time. (Jon and the boys were unable to go because of a commitment.) What a blessing it was to meet so many people who were so happy to just be loved and prayed for.\nLast weekend we had the huge honor of having Pastor Dan Finfrock come to Oaxaca to teach two days of the Inductive Bible Study class that he wrote. He travels all over the world to teach this awesome class, so it was a huge blessing to have him come to Oaxaca. An added bonus was that his translator was a young lady we met during our time in Rosarito, Andrea.\nThe biggest news is that Jon is now teaching in Spanish!!! We lost our translators over the past couple of months, and Jon really felt that this was God’s way of stretching him to take this next step. So this is also our biggest prayer request: that the Lord would continue to help Jon in this area.\nThat’s a quick version of what we’ve been up to lately. There’s also so much more we could share. Oh, that boys both finished 9th grade and are super excited (sarcasm) to start 10th grade soon. They are doing well, playing video games with friends online. Please pray for their Spanish to improve and for them to have a strong desire to learn and speak it more.\nWe have three teams coming up over the next few months, and our dear friend Frank who will be helping us for a few months, can’t wait! It’s always such a blessing to show our friends from other parts of the world all that God is doing here.\nWe will be in the states later this year to welcome our first grandbaby…a girl! Please keep Austin and McKenna in your prayers as they prepare to become parents. And send any and all grandma and grandpa name ideas to us. Haha!\nThank you for keeping us in your prayers…we sure feel them all the time. We are so grateful for all of you who are on this journey with us in prayer and financially as we serve the Lord here in Oaxaca!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah Brechtel\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-brechtels/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/1f1f332f-5317-4da3-80d8-dd3241661996.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F5962.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F6429-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F6429.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F7245.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F7361.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F7535.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F7689.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F7839.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F7894.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F7914.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F7916.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F7956-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F7978.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F7983.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F8018.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F8028.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F8035.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F8088.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F8137.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F8198.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F8224.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F8540-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F8819.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F8860.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F8965.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/IMG%5F8981.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHey all! Here’s our update for July, but a quick look at the past few months. I have added photos of some of the things we’ve been up to since our last update.\u003cbr\u003e\nLots of things have been going on. Calvary Oaxaca turned 3 at the beginning of the year. We had a great time celebrating at a local park/lake. It has been such a blessing to see the people who attend the church grow in their walks with the Lord. We’ve had some of the same people since the very beginning of the church and lots of new people too. They all have hearts to serve Jesus and have come alongside us in amazing ways.\u003cbr\u003e\nIn the past months, we have celebrated Dia de Los Niños, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and other things. It’s always fun to have a reason to have a potluck and hang out together. And we had a baptism and a baby dedication! The men’s ministry just finished their study for the time and will start back up soon. The ladies finished the book of James (an amazing book of the bible) and are now doing Kay Smith’s book on Philippians.\u003cbr\u003e\nIn June, Hurricane Agatha hit the coast of Oaxaca pretty hard. We were able to buy bags of essentials like beans, rice, flour, etc., to take to two towns. Thank you to those who donated to this specifically because we were able to take a team of 9 people and hand out over 150 bags, plus tons of donated clothes. This was the first official mission trip for Calvary Oaxaca and Allison’s first short-term trip plus driving for that amount of time. (Jon and the boys were unable to go because of a commitment.) What a blessing it was to meet so many people who were so happy to just be loved and prayed for.\u003cbr\u003e\nLast weekend we had the huge honor of having Pastor Dan Finfrock come to Oaxaca to teach two days of the Inductive Bible Study class that he wrote. He travels all over the world to teach this awesome class, so it was a huge blessing to have him come to Oaxaca. An added bonus was that his translator was a young lady we met during our time in Rosarito, Andrea.\u003cbr\u003e\nThe biggest news is that Jon is now teaching in Spanish!!! We lost our translators over the past couple of months, and Jon really felt that this was God’s way of stretching him to take this next step. So this is also our biggest prayer request: that the Lord would continue to help Jon in this area.\u003cbr\u003e\nThat’s a quick version of what we’ve been up to lately. There’s also so much more we could share. Oh, that boys both finished 9th grade and are super excited (sarcasm) to start 10th grade soon. They are doing well, playing video games with friends online. Please pray for their Spanish to improve and for them to have a strong desire to learn and speak it more.\u003cbr\u003e\nWe have three teams coming up over the next few months, and our dear friend Frank who will be helping us for a few months, can’t wait! It’s always such a blessing to show our friends from other parts of the world all that God is doing here.\u003cbr\u003e\nWe will be in the states later this year to welcome our first grandbaby…a girl! Please keep Austin and McKenna in your prayers as they prepare to become parents. And send any and all grandma and grandpa name ideas to us. Haha!\u003cbr\u003e\nThank you for keeping us in your prayers…we sure feel them all the time. We are so grateful for all of you who are on this journey with us in prayer and financially as we serve the Lord here in Oaxaca!\u003cbr\u003e\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah Brechtel\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Brechtels"},{"content":"I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\nIt is delightful to inform you that our ministry is going well. All of the believers here are doing well. I thank God because He is so good and faithful to me.\nMy family is doing well. We are fully trusting God for His amazing grace. My family and I regularly have fellowship together and read and learn together from the Word of God. Believers also join with us every evening online for fellowship.\nSome believers are persecuted by their families, but they still stand strong in their faith. They are continuing to attend our church fellowship.\nWe teach our kids from the Word of God. In the evening, my son leads us in prayer and worship. Some times we give him a chance during the Sunday service to worship God. I praise God for His mighty works.\nI want to say a special thanks to all of the CCSG pastors, staff and prayer warriors who are continually praying for us. Also, special thanks to every hand who supports us financially. May God bless you all plentifully.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for the all of the believers\u0026rsquo; growth in all spiritual things. Please pray for Sister Y*. She is being persecuted by her son and her society. Please also pray for her to have good health. Please pray for Sister P* and her husband and their two kids. They are newly coming to our church. Both of their kids are mentally ill. Pray that God will deliver them completely from the power of Satan. Please pray for my wife. She has had a severe cough for the past few months. Pray that God will heal her completely. Please pray for Sister D*. She is expecting a baby. Please pray for her child in the womb and for a safe delivery. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s provision for the construction of a church building soon. May God bless you all abundantly.\nPastor 8* and Family\n\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-so-good/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI greet you all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is delightful to inform you that our ministry is going well. All of the believers here are doing well. I thank God because He is so good and faithful to me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy family is doing well. We are fully trusting God for His amazing grace. My family and I regularly have fellowship together and read and learn together from the Word of God. Believers also join with us every evening online for fellowship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is So Good"},{"content":"We praise God for His love and His faithfulness. He has kept us safe till this day and used us for His glory. We thank you also for your continued prayers for us and for our ministry. Because of your prayers we are experiencing God\u0026rsquo;s protection over our life.\nWe don’t know if you are aware or not about what is happening in our country because the media does not publish it. Persecution on minorities is intensifying day by day in our country. Especially in our state, Christians are being persecuted. Believers of the Lord are beaten, churches are burnt. Pastors are killed. These extremist Hindu groups are even not allowing dead bodies of new believers to be buried. Last week, two such incidents happened in two different villages near our town. The dead bodies were decaying for two days in both cases. Because of the fear of radical Hindu groups, the Christians in our town did not allow these dead bodies to be buried in the Christian graveyard in our town. One dead body was taken to another town secretly and buried in a Christian graveyard before the radical groups came. The second dead body was left at the burial site of the village by the believers saying, ‘let the dogs and birds eat it.’ After this, the police dug a grave and buried the body.\nLast month, I was in a car accident. I was driving my small car on the right side of the road and a big car came at high speed from the opposite side and hit my car. I was alone in the car. My car was badly damaged, but the Lord protected me. My head was hurt, but not very bad. I was taken to the Christian hospital and the doctor told me that there is nothing to be worried about. The next day, I had to hire a crane to pick up the car and take it to the workshop.\nChurch ministry is going well. All of the believers and our co-workers are doing well in the Lord. We visit the believers in the evening because they are at home during that time. Family visitation gives us the opportunity to share the Gospel with the believers\u0026rsquo; non-Christian relatives. Rainy season has started. It is raining almost every day. Sometimes we come home after visiting families, soaking in the rain. In the past, being soaked by the rain, especially in the evening, often made me sick. So far this year, the Lord has kept me healthy. My wife has not been very well. In January she was hospitalized, and she has still been taking different medications. Please pray that the Lord will give her good health.\nThis month we started Bible College. We have six students. They are all from Hindu backgrounds. Two of them are mature believers. Please pray that these students would be prepared for the work of the Gospel and pray for God’s protection as Hindu radicals are targeting Christians in our state.\nThank you for your partnership in the ministry through your prayers and financial support.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-our-protector/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe praise God for His love and His faithfulness. He has kept us safe till this day and used us for His glory. We thank you also for your continued prayers for us and for our ministry. Because of your prayers we are experiencing God\u0026rsquo;s protection over our life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/IMG-20220628-WA0004-300x138.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe don’t know if you are aware or not about what is happening in our country because the media does not publish it. Persecution on minorities is intensifying day by day in our country. Especially in our state, Christians are being persecuted. Believers of the Lord are beaten, churches are burnt. Pastors are killed. These extremist Hindu groups are even not allowing dead bodies of new believers to be buried. Last week, two such incidents happened in two different villages near our town. The dead bodies were decaying for two days in both cases. Because of the fear of radical Hindu groups, the Christians in our town did not allow these dead bodies to be buried in the Christian graveyard in our town. One dead body was taken to another town secretly and buried in a Christian graveyard before the radical groups came. The second dead body was left at the burial site of the village by the believers saying, ‘let the dogs and birds eat it.’ After this, the police dug a grave and buried the body.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Is Our Protector"},{"content":" “No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”\nThese are some powerful words from our Lord Jesus Christ, and we take them to heart. If there was ever a time to give it all we got, it’s NOW!\nIt is so obvious that satan has been more aggressive than usual. Everything has been set up for him to rule without even needing to hide. So why should we! We have determined more than ever to hit the streets, seek the lost and proclaim the gospel with fervency, boldness, and authority, making sure it’s provoked by love and covered in grace.\nTough times ahead\nAcapulco is currently going through another crime wave. The cartel has gotten very bold in these last days and has challenged the authorities for control of the city. Please pray for our police and military. They face evil and powerful entities. Their lives are in danger on a daily basis. Many of the fellowship in our church. Apart from praying for safety, another important prayer is that the cartel heads would get SAVED! May the Lord give us open doors to minister to them.\nA special visit\nWe were so blessed and encouraged by Calvary Chapel Mexicalli, who came down to help our ministry in many ways. Pastor Juan and his wife Lorena shared in our marriage couple ministry. They gave an amazing testimony about how God can restore a marriage on the brink of destruction. During the pandemic, many marriages went through a very tough season, so this word came on time. Everyone was truly refreshed.\nCalvary Chapel Mexicalli from Baja California\nThey also brought a construction crew that WOULD NOT QUIT!!!. They visited every one of our church plants to help build much-needed classrooms for each of them. They finished every project the same day they started. They were absolute soldiers!\nCalvary Chapel Colosio\nCalvary Chapel Chilpancingo\nCalvary Chapel Zapata\nWe also had a great time evangelism. We hit the surrounding streets of each Calvary, sharing the good news. We take joy knowing the word will never return void.\nWomen’s ministry\nStacy continues to teach women’s studies here at the church. They are currently going through Kay Smith’s book, Pleasing God.(Pictured above) They brought a cake to celebrate her birthday.\nMen’s Discipleship (The 70)\nThis month I started the men’s discipleship program once again. It’s called The 70, in reference to the 70 hand-picked men made by Moses and later by Christ Himself. Men were specifically chosen for a greater call. It’s an intense four-month course made for equipping men to become leaders. Overall I’m looking to prepare the next set of pastors and church planters. It’s based on 1 Timothy 3. We go through every requirement for the deacon and elder. I usually start off with about 25-30 men but end up with around 10-12 diligent servants. It’s always a great reward to see men transformed to serve Christ faithfully.\nMiddle East Visit\nLeft to right (Me, Muhammed, Jordan, and Bryan)\nThe Lord has opened the door to the middle east. It turns out Mexicans are a perfect fit. I was able to accompany Pastor Trent Douglas from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. One of our sisters from the fellowship has the heart to minister to Muslims, and so I decided to join the team as we spied out the land and learned how we could come alongside her. It’s tough terrain, but very obvious the Lord has a plan. I believe this also helps our church be mindful of others around the world. Sometimes we can be consumed by our own needs forgetting the world is bigger than just Mexico. Muslims need Jesus just as badly.\nFacing Goliath\nOur fellowship has hit a very big obstacle.\nThis building has been home to us for the past three and a half years. In Acapulco, it’s very difficult to find an affordable building that can host a congregation with classrooms for children. Well, I recently got a phone call from the owner telling us someone wants to buy the building. This was a big blow to us all. Not only because it is home but also because we believe we are in a very strategic area. We are currently located right off the main street downtown. We always have visitors just for the simple fact that they saw our sign. Most of them end up making Calvary their home church. Also, many of our people don’t have vehicles and so being on the side of the main highway puts us right at their bus stop. This building has been a tremendous blessing with so much to offer. All that to say. WE WANT TO STAY, and we feel led to stay! Legally the owner has to allow us to give an offer. Now, this is where Goliath steps in. The owner is asking for 8.6 million pesos which comes to $340,000 U.S. dollars. We are looking into getting a loan, but even so, it’s going to take a great miracle. So please, please pray for us! Below is a short video of our beloved church.\n\u0026amp;feature=emb_imp_woyt\nVideo of our 10:00 a.m. service\nPrayer and Praise\nWe thank God for His faithfulness. We still can’t believe all that He has done.\nWe ask that you please partner with us by praying for our church and family.\nFor the Lord’s protection from the enemy and souls to be saved.\nMay we bring honor to His Name in this place. Thank you all for the love, prayers, and support.\nMany blessings\nFinancial Support\nClick here\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/hands-to-the-plow/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/handp%c2%b4low-good.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“No man, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese are some powerful words from our Lord Jesus Christ, and we take them to heart. If there was ever a time to give it all we got, it’s NOW!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is so obvious that satan has been more aggressive than usual. Everything has been set up for him to rule without even needing to hide. So why should we! We have determined more than ever to hit the streets, seek the lost and proclaim the gospel with fervency, boldness, and authority, making sure it’s provoked by love and covered in grace.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hands to the plow!"},{"content":"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen!\nMatthew 28:19-20\nDear Friends and family.\nGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan. We all are fine by the grace of God. The monsoon has started, and it is very hot and humid here these days. Everyone in the church and in our church office is fine. We are thankful to you all for your prayers, care, and support.\nReaching people in the Desert Area\nAs you know, we have an outreach mission in the desert area where we are able to reach many unreached people groups and families. We have online Bible classes in the area and also whole-day teaching activities along with a special outreach program. These people in the desert are really very disadvantaged, they lead a very tough life, and they don’t have even basic needs in life. All the time, they are struggling with their survival issues. During the summertime, their life gets tougher than ever as most of them don’t have electricity or any water supply. They have to travel many distances to get water for them to drink and also for their animals.\nTheir life does not allow them to think about anything else but their survival, but when you go to them, they are very hospitable. They give their time, listen to us, and share what they can.\nEvangelism Among Groups in Desert\nWe are reaching these areas which are very far from the city. the roads are not good, and it is not possible for the team to get back to the city. So many times, our team stays in those areas with these people. The evenings and night time is the best time for meeting with these people because it’s when they get free from their work.\nThere are some groups that we can reach again for follow-up but not all the groups. So we leave with them Audio devices with the Bible on it and any kind of helpful stuff that they can use for their spiritual growth. We have Gospels picturized (video format) that we show them, we leave some SD cards with them to put in their phones, and we pray with them, encourage them in the Lord, and share the love of Jesus Christ in the best possible way with these precious souls. Please keep the whole team in your special prayers.\nWater-Pumps project\nWe’ve also started installing water pumps at the places of different groups who travel far to get drinking water. Right now, we are working on installing 10 water pumps for different groups and families. This is a great help for them, and this also opens doors for us to reach them and share the Word of God with them.\nWe are again thankful to you for the prayers, love, and support. Please continue to pray for Calvary Chapel Pakistan’s all other ministries and activities for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/people-living-in-darkness-being-reached/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eGo therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen!\u003c/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nMatthew 28:19-20\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family.\u003cbr\u003e\nGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan. We all are fine by the grace of God. The monsoon has started, and it is very hot and humid here these days. Everyone in the church and in our church office is fine. We are thankful to you all for your prayers, care, and support.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"People Living in Darkness being Reached"},{"content":"\u0026quot; Day after day, i n the temple c ourts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.\u0026quot; -Acts 5:42\nDear Friends and Family,\nI hope you all are enjoying the summer. In Uganda, while it\u0026rsquo;s hot or warm all year, December, January and February are our summer. This time of year is kind of a combination between spring and fall. It rains on and off and we have some cool days and some very warm days. While we are not in our summer, summer in the States and Europe bring many visitors to Uganda and through the Far Reaching Ministries Guest House. We are currently preparing for a couple very large teams as well as we are currently hosting a family from Russia, who have been very involved with ministry in our church.\nBefore the Teams begin pouring in with the help of Sasha and Sveta, we have been trying to take the time to really get to know the people in our church better. It has been a blessing to get to know where people live and how many people are in their family. Most of our church comes from a near by slum area. Visiting the people in their homes blesses them as well as opens the doors to witness to the many neighbors who all live very close together with them. We have actually seen some of these neighbors come to church. Visiting the church members at home also opens our eyes to what true needs they may have. Living in a developing country like Uganda the needs can seem overwhelming, we obviously can’t meet all of them and that is not what we are here for. While personally ministering to people, as we share the gospel verbally we can also give some help to meet some pressing physical needs such as food or medical care. Sasha and Sveta have shared with us how these home visits have blessed them as much as the people who have been visited have been blessed. I believe as word has gotten round that home visits were taking place we were also specifically invited homes to visit families, meet new babies and to share a meal with some of our church members.\nAt the FRM guesthouse we have quite a few nationals who serve along side us. When we started home visits at church we also had some visits to the staff of FRM. Some of the staff we have visited in the past but for some it was the first time. It is quite interesting because we live at the guesthouse and see these people almost everyday so it seems that they are part of our family and home. In reality they actually go home to their own homes and families. Most of those who work at the guesthouse also attend Arise Christian Fellowship but through the visits we learned more about their personal ministries outside of work and church.\nThis month at the church we were able to dedicate 2 of the babies from the families visited. During the dedication we shared with the parents that the dedication is really more for them than the baby. It is their public commitment to raising their child in the ways of the Lord. At each of the dedications the church also committed to coming along side the families and children to help them in their pursuit and service of the Lord.\nAs well as visiting families, this month we were invited to come to Calvary Chapel Entebbe and share with the Sunday service there. Brian taught the service and Sahsa greeted the church in Russian and played a song of worship in Russian for them. The church has recently taken on a new pastor so it was good to meet him and to encourage him in the ministry. We are good friends with the founding pastor of the church and Brian is on the Board so we have been involved with the church for many years. We look forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do for their church in this new season.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee and Liana\nPrayer Requests\nWe thank the Lord for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda. We are thankful for the many people who come through Uganda and South Sudan each year who desire to share the love of God with the people. Please pray for the families that have been visited. Pray that they personally know the love of Christ and have been encouraged in their faith. Pray for the neighbors and family members who heard about Christ that they would come to know Him. Pray for the babies who are being born in the church, for their parents to raise them with a strong faith. Pray for the Russians who have been staying with us and for the ministry they have been doing alongside us. Pray for their country. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-11/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026quot; \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDay after day, i\u003c/em\u003e n the temple c \u003cem\u003eourts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah.\u0026quot; -Acts 5:42\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you all are enjoying the summer. In Uganda, while it\u0026rsquo;s hot or warm all year, December, January and February are our summer. This time of year is kind of a combination between spring and fall. It rains on and off and we have some cool days and some very warm days. While we are not in our summer, summer in the States and Europe bring many visitors to Uganda and through the Far Reaching Ministries Guest House. We are currently preparing for a couple very large teams as well as we are currently hosting a family from Russia, who have been very involved with ministry in our church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":"Hello Dear Family in Christ,\nThank you all for your prayers and support. Thank you for being part of what God is doing here.\nMay and June were really busy. We had great outreaches. I am excited to share what God has done.\nCalvary Chapel in the City It is really a joy to share with you about what God is doing through our church.\nI have been praying about reaching out to more people in the colony that we have been ministering in for 6 years. The God\u0026rsquo;s Holy Spirit directed us to start going to houses that we have not reached yet and have fellowship with the families there. So, I announced during our Sunday worship service that each believer should choose 3 families to take us to. They should be families they know, who have never heard the Gospel, so that we could go and have fellowship with them. This really worked and went really well. We reached 15-18 families and we are praying to continue to minister to them. Please pray for this.\nI also really want you all to pray for unity and love in our church.\nBible College We have finished our spring semester successfully, by your prayers and support. Our students went back to their villages and started conducting youth meetings and sharing the Word. The Word of God stirred up their hearts. They have started small groups and teaching the Word. It is really a joy to see them spending time on the young people. During their break time, students planned youth meetings in different towns. They are ministering. Praise God for this! We are excited for what God has for them.\n“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”\n1 Corinthians 15:58\nWe all, as brothers and sisters in the Lord, as one body, proclaim this truth over and over. We are so overwhelmingly amazed that the Lord has poured out His grace upon us to stand firm all through these years. No matter what. We share the good works that the Lord has prepared for this church here before the foundations of the world. We, as a church, are constantly encouraged through this truth to give ourselves, each and every one, “fully” to the work of the Lord, faithfully and wholly. Although many ministerial works are being served through this church, this truth encourages our hearts that each and every small work matters and counts before the eyes of the Lord. At the end of the day, Our labor in the Lord is never in vain.\nOur Calvary Chapel Church\u0026rsquo;s 7th Anniversary Celebration and Gospel Outreach And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.\nMatthew 16:18\nTruly, truly does this business of building church belong exclusively to Jesus, our Lord\u0026ndash;never to us. The thread of never-ending history of the church from the beginning of the church-age ties up to this promise of the scripture. Very little did we know about His plan and love when God sent His men to a lukewarm church in our country. Now, we could understand and fathom the decisions taken by the saints were always stirred up by the Spirit of the Lord for the furtherance of the Gospel to our beloved brethren.\nBy saying this, we continuously praise God with a heart of thankfulness and gratitude that He has sustained His church and will faithfully continue to do so until His return. The Lord was gracious on each and every little detail of the celebrations. Church believers from the two church plants gathered with one accord and one mind in Christ. Sisters from Calvary Chapel in the city voluntarily joined in preparing dinner for all the attendees. Since it was decided to have the meeting on the college campus, we also had an opportunity to share the Gospel to our neighbors in the community. It was a joyous celebration all through the end and, of course, a powerful Word by Pastor S*, from the pastors\u0026rsquo; association in the city, encouraged our hearts to keep pressing forward until the end.\nMissions Outreach in Another State \u0026ldquo;How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?\u0026rdquo;\nRomans 10:14\nOur prayers and supplications to God did include some questions like,\n“How will people of our country be saved, Lord?”\n“How are we going to reach the people in the neighboring states, Lord?\u0026quot;\nWe are always amazed to see how our prayers are answered and doors opened to all possibilities. We prayed for the Lord\u0026rsquo;s guidance and assistance to send us. Initially, we had decided to minister in 2 different locations one after the other. Lord, in His foreknowledge changed our minds to have our teams separated and sent.\nJ* Outreach We started off our journey from our city to J* which took at least 18 hours. Meanwhile, we were met by a few co-passengers with whom we shared the glorious Gospel of our God through Jesus Christ.\nAs soon as we reached J*, we then stayed at church where B*’s dad pastors the church. The very next morning we went for a prayer walk all over the locality to intercede on behalf of the people, so that they could accept the free gift of salvation of God through Jesus Christ. In the evening, we headed to a local church for a youth meeting. Many of the sisters in the church are being excommunicated from their families for accepting Christ. Even though the cost is high, they are not ashamed of the Gospel.\nAlongside with the help of B*’s dad, we traveled over 700 kilometers throughout all the surrounding districts of J*. Every meeting we attended, every word we preached brought a new awakening in the souls of the believers. For a matter of fact, there are churches in the deep jungles. The sad fact is, there are no churches that teach sound-doctrine. Some of the pastors were expressing their joy that we are the only preachers who focused on sin and repentance. This also bears so much burden on us that there will be a huge influx of youth who will be attending our Bible college to study the Word. Adding to that, all of the pastors requested us to come back and train their co-workers in the Word\nPlease pray for the future harvest in this region. May the Lord open many doors in the form of Bible-conferences, youth camps and many more to spread the Word.\nPlease pray for the many villages where there is huge scarcity of water resources and lack of knowledge about personal hygiene.\nNote: God really put it in our hearts to reach out those villages and train young pastors and leaders who are serving there. I have been praying about it and have planned to have a small mission training trip twice a year for 10-15 days. Please pray for this.\nK* Outreach: This is a district in another state. We went to a village where a lot of young people were addicted to drugs and alcohol. On the first day we went to street to share the Gospel and stood at the center of the village and proclaimed the Gospel. Some people came to us and we prayed for them. We faced persecution in that village. They told us to stop sharing. After that we went to door to door to share the Gospel and hand out the Gospel tracks. It is really amazing to see how powerful the Gospel is.\nNext day we took a loud speaker and drums. We sang songs on the main roads. Whoever we saw on the roads we went to them and shared about the love of God and prayed for them. After that the Holy Spirit of God lead us into a village. Our students prepared choreography and skits to perform an outreach program. So, we stopped at a place and started performing dances and skits which related to the Gospel.\nAlmost 30-40 people gathered. We got a great opportunity to share the Gospel and proclaimed it with the help of the Holy Spirit. Our Bible college students were lead by the Spirit of God to go and speak to them. It was really amazing to see students really touched by the Word of God and practically using the Word in others\u0026rsquo; lives. Watching them doing those things, I really felt happy and praised God.\nOne of our students talked to a group of young people who were addicted to drugs and encouraged them and prayed for them. Almost 15 young people were there. The villagers were really happy and invited us to their houses to pray and asked us to come back again to teach the Word. So please be praying for that too.\nKids Camp in K* We got to do a 3 day kids camp in the village. Almost 40- 50 kids gathered. We got to introduce Jesus to them and spent an awesome time with those little ones. It is really amazing the see how God is leading us and using the Bible college students and staff. I am really thankful to have such a great staff here who are helping equip the students and investing in their lives. It is really a blessing to have staff who are capable and men who fear God and have heart to reach out the unreached. It is a great team.\nCalvary Chapel Children\u0026rsquo;s Camp in our City \u0026ldquo;You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.\u0026rdquo;\nDuet. 6:7\nGod also led us to conduct children’s camp in our campus upon completion of the outreaches. Children from both churches were taken to the camp to be trained in the Word for 3 full days. It was a joy to see the kids playing Bible activities, songs and dances etc. On the final day, children were given toys and certificates for their active participation in all the activities. Please continuously praying for the work here.\nPrayer Requests Pray for our family to grow more in Christ and to be strong. Pray for our staff to grow more in the knowledge of Christ and to be in unity Pray for our church to have unity Pray for our upcoming semester that starts in July. Pray for our Bible college\u0026rsquo;s new building construction. The paperwork should be finished soon. Please pray for the financial needs of the registration process. Pray as we are developing a ministry through media to reach out to many. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s lead and provision for that. Pray for the students. Thank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/proclaiming-gods-truth/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Dear Family in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you all for your prayers and support. Thank you for being part of what God is doing here.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMay and June were really busy. We had great outreaches. I am excited to share what God has done.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"calvary-chapel-in-the-city\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCalvary Chapel in the City\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/1656335343547-1-300x161.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is really a joy to share with you about what God is doing through our church.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have been praying about reaching out to more people in the colony that we have been ministering in for 6 years. The God\u0026rsquo;s Holy Spirit directed us to start going to houses that we have not reached yet and have fellowship with the families there. \u003cstrong\u003eSo, I announced during our Sunday worship service that each believer should choose 3 families to take us to. They should be families they know, who have never heard the Gospel,\u003c/strong\u003e so that we could go and have fellowship with them. This really worked and went really well. \u003cstrong\u003eWe reached 15-18 families\u003c/strong\u003e and we are praying to continue to minister to them. Please pray for this.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Proclaiming God's Truth"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family,\nI thank God that, like every month, God has saved us from many kinds of sorrows, troubles and diseases. God is great, almighty and trustworthy. These days, I am preaching from book of Acts, verse by verse. Whenever I study the book of Acts, I am filled with renewed vigor and enthusiasm. If I look at our present situation and compare it with the circumstances of Paul\u0026rsquo;s time, then the present crisis is nothing in comparison to their present crisis. When I read about Paul’s life and study about his ministry, my heart fills with joy and a different kind of enthusiasm.\nWe are studying from the book of Genesis in our Bible study on Fridays. God is encouraging many people to join this study. Although many people in this Bible study are illiterate, the Holy Spirit is helping them to understand and obey words. They are starting to share the Word of God with their neighbors, village and community. Christians in my state are less than 0.5% of the population. I believe that many souls will be saved by the Lord.\n\u0026ldquo;Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days\ncome not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure\nin them\u0026rdquo;\nEcclesiastes 12:1.\nThank God that on June 1st, about 10 of us pastors organized a youth meeting together. About one hundred and fifty young people participated. They deeply understand the Word of God, worshiped together and met the youth of other churches. Many young people are moving towards worldliness. The purpose of us pastors was that the youth of each church should understand and recognize the youth of each other church so that if the Lord leads, then they will marry a Christian only. In these days, many Christian young adults are marrying Hindu boys and girls because of not getting in the right relationship. Due to this many Christian girls have gone back to the old life. They have deviated from the faith due to marrying a Hindu boy. Here, it is a male dominated area. For this reason, men put pressure on their wives to follow the orders of their husbands.\nGod Sets the Solitary in Families (Psalm 68:6a) Truly our God is very great, powerful and gracious. God always takes care of orphans and widows. I keep reading it in the Word of God everywhere like Deuteronomy 14:29, 16:11, James 1:26, and Isaiah 1:17, 23. There are many other verses by which we understand that God loves and cares for orphans, widows and foreigners very much. When I was in Bible College, I was taught by two sisters who taught at a Bible college. They encouraged me, \u0026ldquo;God has given you a heart for orphans and widows. You should open an orphanage in the future.\u0026rdquo;\nAt that time that I came from Bible college. My eldest sister has 4 kids. Her husband is mad. Her son lives in a boy\u0026rsquo;s home. It was very difficult for her to take care of 3 children and provide them education. She washed dishes, cooked, and swept houses for others for her job. For this reason, I started having my 3-year-old niece study at my home about 10 years ago and started paying for all of her school supplies, books, school fees, etc. Today, she has turned 13, and is studying in the seventh grade. She plays the small drums during our Sunday service and home church and teaches Sunday school. She has the children memorize Bible verses and teaches them action songs. She is increasing day-by-day in the Word of God and in the fear of the Lord. I am requesting you all to pray that if it is the Lord\u0026rsquo;s will, then in the future, I will be able to keep some more orphan children and move them forward in education and in the fear and Word of God.\nFaith is Incomplete Without Works! Whenever we wake up in the morning, we look at our face in the mirror and thank God that God has made us beautiful. There is one believer in our church, named Surrender (right), who, before he knew Jesus, cursed himself whenever he saw his face. His hands and feet blistered in a strange way and blood and pus came out of them. I have shared about him so many times in prayer requests. One of his wounds smells very bad. Because of this, no one wants to talk to him or even come near him. This has been going on in our church for a long time. We are praying that God will heal him soon. Lately, God has led me to help him get treatment again. Just praying is not enough for him. I thank God that I have taken him to the doctor to get him treated again. He has been taking medicine for about a month. Now his wounds have stopped smelling foul and they have stopped having pus. Please also remember this brother in your prayers that God may give him complete healing.\nOne More Village Open for Fellowship! Thank God! This month God has given an opportunity to preach the Good News in another village where no one has heard the name of Jesus Christ until today. Because the people cannot read and they also are not on social media, the name of Jesus Christ has not yet reached the ears of the people. They do not even know who Jesus Christ is. I wrote above about Surendra, who is suffering from strange disease. This village is where his elder sister lives. We took Surender to his elder sister’s house to preach the Gospel to his elder sister. When we reached there, his elder sister had called the people of the whole village to come listen to the Gospel. When I started preaching, the Lord did a great miracle there. There was a person who was suffering from an evil spirit. He suddenly started crawling on the ground like a snake and started speaking many different dialects. We all prayed for him and God healed him at that very moment. When the people around saw this miracle, they believed in Jesus Christ. The driver of the taxi in which we went also believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and took us to his home. He believed in Jesus Christ with the whole family. Lately, I see that Lord Jesus is helping us all to spread the Gospel like this in so many ways.\nMany Believers are Fleeing Because of Unemployment I thank the Lord that He called me to serve in a state where people are very poor and are in debt. The population here is very high. Because of this, the government is not able to give jobs to everyone. About 50% of the people work in big cities away from this state. Some do physical labor; some do dishes; and some work in factories. Here the government gives some grain every month to people to eat, but due to lack of jobs, people are still falling prey to malnutrition. There is also a believing family of our church, in whose home there used to be a fellowship every Monday. They also left our state and went to work in a big city due to being poor and not finding a job. Because of this, we started a fellowship in a different house. God is blessing it. The believers are engaging in the Bible study and God is helping them grow in the Word of God.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray\u0026ndash;there is a flood in the village which is affecting all of the believers outside our village. This flood usually lasts for about 3 months. Pray that God will make arrangements for all of the people to live, eat, and have clean water. Please pray for a boy named Raju (right). He is about 21 years old. He was born paralyzed. He is neither able to walk nor speak. His parents have to take care of him like a child drinking milk. His whole family accepted the Lord about 10 years ago and always keep coming to the Lord\u0026rsquo;s house. We also have a home fellowship at their house. His parents carry him in their lap despite being 21 years old. Please, all of you, remember this child in your personal prayers. Please pray! There is an anti-Christian organization working in our village. During last Sunday\u0026rsquo;s fellowship, a person from this group came and looked at who was attending and left. Pray that God will give them peace and that they will not do anything against God. Please pray that God will give me a chance to preach the Good News to them. Kindly pray continuously that my church can be registered, and that a security camera can be installed. Please pray for my country\u0026ndash;there are many types of riots happening here. Trains were burnt in many places and a bus was set on fire. The government had to shut down the internet for about 4 days. Pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health\u0026ndash;that God will heal her. Her hands and feet are always in pain. Thank God that He gave me a chance to preach the Good News to a village where many people are illiterate and who had not even heard the name of Jesus Christ. In one of the families there, almost everyone in the family is haunted by an evil spirit. Pray for a believer in my church who is suffering from a very strange disease. Please pray that God provide the financial needs for treatment or even healing. Please pray and pray for a child who is an orphan and mentally ill. His aunt cares for him. May God heal this child. Before, when he was suffering from TB, the people of our organization helped provide for his treatment. Please pray for a new movie projector for my church. My old projector broke because of a surge of electricity while I was showing the Jesus movie during Christmas outreach. Thanks for your help, love and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you all!\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/one-more-village/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God that, like every month, God has saved us from many kinds of sorrows, troubles and diseases. God is great, almighty and trustworthy. These days, I am preaching from book of Acts, verse by verse. Whenever I study the book of Acts, I am filled with renewed vigor and enthusiasm. If I look at our present situation and compare it with the circumstances of Paul\u0026rsquo;s time, then the present crisis is nothing in comparison to their present crisis. When I read about Paul’s life and study about his ministry, my heart fills with joy and a different kind of enthusiasm.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One More Village"},{"content":" AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nPlease Pray:\n1. We thank the Lord for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda.\n2. We are thankful for being able to share the Passion movie in Luganda and for the people who have chosen to follow Christ. We pray for the discipleship and growth of the Christians at Arise.\n3. Please pray for the people who attended any of our services for the passion week. Pray especially for those who came only because it was a holiday, that they would come back.\n4. Pray for the Sunday School at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for the teachers and for all the children who come.\n5. Pray for the Russians who have been staying with us and the ministry they have been doing alongside us. Pray for their country.\n6. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\n7. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nBond Heather and Breanna - Africa and Asia\n**\nPraise God:**\n-Praise God for a fruitful Mexico Missions Team trip in June. We were able to do a lot of outreaches and see many people come to Christ.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for our time teaching at Calvary School of Missions in July.\n2. Pray for the pastors who are traveling to recruit students in Asia for the fall semester. Pray for the exact people God wants to be there.\nThank you for your prayers!\nBlessings,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray as Vincent’s dad has passed away. Funerals here are very different then Americas.\n2. Pray for the team coming out.\n3. Pray for the farming season and our farm project. May it be a blessing for our over 900 students.\n4. Pray for the doctors and teachers in Uganda that are government staff. They are striking to get more income, but it is hurting the children and sick.\n5. Pray for our hospital as we are understaffed and lack the numbersof medications needed. Many have passed away.\nThank you for your love and prayers for us in Midigo!\nIn Him,\nThe Aniku Family – Emai l Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Tijuana, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n1. For my son Ben’s complete healing\n2. Taking over biblical counseling ministry\n3. Maintain a healthy schedule and not get over committed\n4. My children to learn to be led by the Holy Spirit and hear His voice!\nThanks to all for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Reports!\n-For our 20-year anniversary of the church we are celebratingthis month!\n- For 25 years marriage this month!\nPlease Pray:\n1. That God would bless our summer outreach events!\n2. That the upcoming church planting conference will be a great success!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nL.O. - Intern with SGWM\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please for the salvation of my family.\n2. Please pray for the salvation of the family that I am currently working with.\n3. Please pray for my faithfulness to complete my third year of internship that ends in August.\n4. Please pray as I prepare to move to South Asia in January 2023, that God would bring me and my future husband partners in the ministry.\n5. Please pray for me as I seek to study and learn a new language and the culture of the country I will be moving too.\n6. Please pray for my marriage.\nThank you for your love and partnership in the Gospel!\nGod bless you,\nL - Email\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nThank you for your prayers!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for continued vision for Joel as he leads the care of SGWM missionaries\n2. For our amazing missionaries serving around the world\n3. Please pray for open doors on guidance from the Lord on traveling\n3. Please pray for continued strength and wisdom in raising our four amazing little ones in the Lord’s ways\nIn Christ, - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my mom to be completely well and delivered from her illness.\n2. Please pray for my family, that God will use us for His glory.\n3. Please pray that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit and that we will honor Him in all we say and do and will be used of God to minister to others.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my mom’s complete recovery in every way and that God will give us wisdom in getting her treatment. Praise the Lord for her recovery so far!\n2. Please pray for my health and strength.\n3. Please pray for me, as I am trying to begin working with children’s ministry in our area.\n4. Please pray for our financial support. Thank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas – Tijuanna, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n1. For our upcoming summer events, vacation Bible school and graduation dinner in the first week of August, and purity conference for young girls in July. Pray for provisions, and for Church members to get involved0. Also, for the team of 30 from Calvary Mount Si in Washington who will be joining us for two weeks to help with these events.\n2. For the families of the kids in the afterschool program to come to Christ. (The Lord is bringing them little by little)\n3. Provisions to increase our staff in the afterschool program. It is growing!\n4. For an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our church and our pastor, Federico Acosta— that people would come to church. May our light shine ever so brightly in this dark neighborhood! Also, for revival!\nThank you so much for your prayers for me and the people of Mexico! Psalm 133:1\nGod bless you,\nDeanna – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our two last mission teams coming to Peru June / July\n2. Pray for all of our evangelism efforts this Summer!\n3. Pray for our furlough as we are trying to visit two states raising support and encouraging new partners and faithful partners!\n4. Pray for my parents as they are reaching 90 and their personal needs increases and our hearts are torn into two places!\n5. Pray for a new engine for the church van!\nThank you from our hearts,\nDaisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for me to continue to grow and be used by God here in my city.\n2. Please pray for my church people to also continue to grow strong spiritually and that the new believers may be added to the church as we minister to the non-Christians.\n3. Please pray for the new village church that I shared about. May they also grow in the Word and faith.\n4. Please pray for us to find committed students as we are planning to start the Bible School next month.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\n9\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPlease Pray:\n1. We are currently in Japan visiting churches and family here until August 2. Please pray for our time here.\n2. Please pray for wisdom and favor as we share with the Japanese churches.\n3. Please pray for opportunities to be a witness before Kayo\u0026rsquo;s non-Christian relatives here.\n4. Please pray for wisdom and provision as we travel and prepare to return to Cambodia.\n5. Please pray for doors to open for us to visit the USA during the summer of 2023. Our last visit was in 2019.\nThanks, and God Bless!\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. The Lord opened a new door for us in a new village. Please pray that the fellowship we began there would grow and that many more families of the village and its surroundings would be saved. Pray that the Lord will protect us and the fellowship from opposition and that if persecution rises again, the Lord will give us boldness to face it and be His witness to the persecutors.\n2. Please pray for a family we are visiting, that they would stop going to other false gods for help and believe in Jesus alone.\n3. Please pray for non-Christians who listen to our facebook messages, that the Word of God will change their lives and that they will come to the saving knowledge of the Lord.\n4. May the Lord help us to be humble in our hearts and follow His footsteps in everything that we do.\nThank you for your prayers!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Thank God that He gave me a chance to preach the Good News to a village where many people are illiterate and had not even heard the name of Jesus Christ. In one of the families, almost everyone in the family is haunted by an evil spirit.\nPlease Pray: 1. Please pray! There is an anti-Christian organization working in our village. During last Sunday\u0026rsquo;s fellowship, a person from this group came and looked at the people who attended and left. Pray that God will give them peace and that they do not do anything against God. Please also pray that God gives me a chance to preach the Good News to them.\n2. Kindly pray continuously that my church can be registered and that a security camera can be installed.\n3. Please pray for my country. There are many types of riots happening here. Trains were burnt in many places and buses set on fire. And the government shut down the internet.\n4. Pray that God will heal my mother. Her hands and feet are always in pain.\n5. Pray for a believer in my church who is suffering from a very strange disease. Please pray that God would provide for his treatment or even healing.\n6. Please pray and pray for a child who is an orphan and mentally ill. His aunt cares for him. May God heal this child. Before, when he was suffering from TB, the people of our organization helped him get treatment.\nThanks for your help, love and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you all!\nPastor 11\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Our house construction has been started (right). Please continue to pray for the house to be completed.\n2. Please for B* village’s believers to grow in their faith and fellowship. May they increase in number.\n3. Do continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church.\n4. In the upcoming school year, we want to admit a limited number of boarding students to our Pastor\u0026rsquo;s School. Kindly pray for all of the necessary resources. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayers!\nGod bless you.\n3 and Family\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray that God may bring many students in this new semester in Bible college.\n3. Please pray for upcoming semester of our Bible college that God may use us powerfully in His Word.\n4. Please pray that God may bring revival in Kathmandu city.\nThank you for faithfully praying\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for CC Hetauda that the Church there grow and matured in the Lord.\n2. Please pray for CC Janakpur that Lord would draw His elect ones to His Church.\n3. Please pray for Charis Bible Church that believers would grow in His Word, matured spiritually and practically day by day.\n4. Pray that we would be able to pay the Church by rent next month.\n5. We’re praying for the Church visiting at CC Hetauda and CC Janakpur in a week or two, please pray that God would arrange everything for that Visit and make blessed trip.\n6. Please pray for all our dear students that are in college vacation that they may have wonderful ministry and return to complete rest of their study course.\nThank for your prayers!\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna – Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\n**\nPlease Pray:**\n1. Pray for the upcoming semester that God may provide students who have hearts to do ministry.\n2. Please Pray for our health while we are doing a treatment so that we can bear our child soon in God\u0026rsquo;s time.\n3. Pray for our graduated student, Harka; now he is planning to plant a new church and doing missionary work. Pray that God may provide him with financial support to settle his family.\n4. Pray our church grows. We are visiting other people\u0026rsquo;s homes so they may also come to church.\n5. Pray that our ministry is fruitful and flourishes.\n6. Pray for Mahima\u0026rsquo;s bible study to be fruitful and for women to be engaged in the Bible study.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGrace and Peace.\nRabi and Mahima\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my family that we may continue to grow in the Word.\n2. Please pray for my relatives, that they be saved in Christ.\n3. Please pray for Sister Poonam, her Husband has left her because of Christ.\n4. Please pray for village called, Bhirai, that the whole village be saved in Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n16\nWorker 14 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our travels this month as I’m visiting different locations to encourage fellow workers and join on outreach.\n2. Pray for our workers across the country as we all experience loneliness, sickness, trials with family, trials among community and are in need of like-minded fellowship.\n3. Pray for my parents and my family’s health as rains have started and sickness goes around with climate changes.\n4. Please pray for our kids learning at a local school. Pray they adjust well, learn quickly and pick up the local language better.\n5. Pray for our financial support as cost of living has greatly increased this year.\n6. Pray for my sister as she is starting her 3rd year of nursing school, and for my brother as he is adjusting to life in a new country with his wife.\nGod Bless you,\n14 and family\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray that God will show and guide me in the steps in order to reach my goal of beginning a church in my hometown for His kingdom.\n2. Please continue to remember my mother in your prayers, that she will be able to breathe on her own without oxygen. She has been on oxygen 9 months; please pray that God will heal her lungs and increase her lung capacity.\n3. Please pray for my health and safety.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n7\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please continue to pray for our ministry in this area. Please pray that the Lord will open the people’s eyes from the darkness.\n2. Please pray for a few brothers who publicly showed that they follow Jesus a few weeks ago; please pray that they will stay with Jesus.\n3. Please pray for all of the believers from this area and for our church building construction. Pray that we will be able to complete the work there soon and begin fellowship there.\nThank you so much for your love in Christ!\nGod bless you,\n13\nWorker 8 and Family – 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for the church building construction on my land. I humbly request to you all to continually keep this subject in your prayers.\n2. May the Lord raise thousands of hands for the kingdom of God!\n3. Please pray for spiritual revival in the believer’s lives.\n4. Please pray for our health and safety\nOnce again, I would like to thank you all for your valuable prayers and support!\nMay God bless you,\n8 and Family\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for our team to grow more in the knowledge of Christ.\n2. Pray for my mother; an iron plate accidentally fell on her toes and she has broken bones in her toes. Pray for healing.\n3. Pray for the students.\n4. Pray for our outreach program in Hyderabad on May 16th. Pray for financial needs, it will cost about $350.\n5. Pray for our Bible college students’ outreach in two states. We will begin on May 23. It will cost about $500 for 15 people.\n6.Pray for my sister, she is expecting a baby the first week of June. Be praying for a safe delivery.\n7. Pray for my wife and daughter, for their health.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\n6\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for the ministry here, that God will save more people and enlarge his kingdom.\n2. Pray for me, as I am going to a certain village for a second time next month, pray that the Lord will use me there for His glory and fulfill all of my traveling needs.\n3. We have been praying for land for our church for a long time; pray that God will fulfill it and God will be glorified in this place.\n4. We need a guitar for our church because the old guitar we have is not working well; please pray that God will provide a new one.\n5. Once or twice a month, we feed all of the people of the church because some believers come to church from far away. Due to not having enough large serving utensils, we have to rent utensils; pray that we can buy some new utensils for church.\n6. Pray for sister D, who publicly showed her commitment to Jesus some time ago; pray that she will grow more in the Lord and in His Word. This sister is a nurse in a hospital.\nThank you for your kindness!! 12\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with others about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Please pray for our health and safety.\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my family and me, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as we serve in ministry together.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\n5. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for the team that visited our church last month. While they were in the area, there was great Gospel preaching, and the villagers were so happy.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\n3. Pray that the rest of my family members will accept Jesus.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers. Worker 2\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray our students\n2. Please pray for our safety.\nThank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ,\n4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray that I will be able to go further in each and every circumstance for the work of the Lord.\n2. There are places in our area that are unreached; pray that our church will take the Gospel into those places.\n3. Please pray for my family, that the rest of the family members will come to know Jesus.\n4. Please pray for the church building for our church.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers. Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my mom, who needs surgery.\n2. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n3. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n4. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n5. Please pray for financial support.\n6. Please pray for God’s presence and strength in my life, so that I can face all hard situations!\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n10\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are\nmistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-july-prayer-update-3/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/kanyike-prayer-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease Pray:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. We thank the Lord for everyone who supports us and the ministry in Uganda.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. We are thankful for being able to share the Passion movie in Luganda and for the people who have chosen to follow Christ. We pray for the discipleship and growth of the Christians at Arise.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. Please pray for the people who attended any of our services for the passion week. Pray especially for those who came only because it was a holiday, that they would come back.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JULY PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Matthew 25:23 reads: \u0026ldquo;His lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.\u0026rdquo; NKJV God’s Work at the Church Plants: Brother Laxman’s family and brother Nikesh\u0026rsquo;s family were sent from our church to start a new work in two different places; in the middle eastern part of the country, and in the far east. They were sent by faith in the Lord and they have been faithful with their calling in spite of their family needs. I am pleased to share about what the Lord has been doing through their ministry in their respective communities. The Lord has been drawing people to His Church.\nOur Church- the Lord has been working through His Church. We are praying and looking forward to start another new work in a district bordering our district. A Bible Study has already begun and we’re praying that it will turn in to a church soon!\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-who-is-faithful-over-a-few-things/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"matthew-2523-reads\"\u003eMatthew 25:23 reads:\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image%5F6483441-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch3 id=\"-nkjv\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;His lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e NKJV\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/image%5F6483441-1-300x224.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch3 id=\"gods-work-atthe-church-plants\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eGod’s Work at the Church Plants:\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBrother Laxman’s family and brother Nikesh\u0026rsquo;s family were sent from our church to start a new work in two different places; in the middle eastern part of the country, and in the far east. They were sent by faith in the Lord and they have been faithful with their calling in spite of their family needs. I am pleased to share about what the Lord has been doing through their ministry in their respective communities. The Lord has been drawing people to His Church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He Who Is Faithful Over a Few Things"},{"content":"But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them but let the boys live… So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very mighty. Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them.\nEXODUS 1:17, 20-21\nThis month I am happily satisfied and thankful for all God has done. One thing we are particularly happy about is the overturning of Roe Vs. Wade by the Supreme Court. When we first heard about the possibility of it being overturned, I was overwhelmed by a strange joy and anxiety. A joy that there was hope to change the ruling and save innocent lives and anxiety because of how wicked our country has become, which made having hope seems pointless. We gave it into God\u0026rsquo;s hands continually and decided that the day it was overturned, we would celebrate it annually as a reminder of the countless lives lost to such a wicked scheme and to celebrate the lives that will be saved through the reversal of the decision. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure why it came over to me to make donuts on Friday, but once we heard the wonderful news, I knew God simply wanted us to celebrate this victory. We will continue celebrating \u0026ldquo;Birth Day\u0026rdquo; on each 24th of June, and we will remember to keep fighting for the rest of those lives still threatened. Each child is a blessing from God, no matter the way they have come into the world.\nThis month I (Noelle) also had the opportunity to take a trip to the United States. Matt generously volunteered to keep ALL 5 kids while I went back to my home in Nebraska to see my youngest sister get married. Talk about babies who shouldn\u0026rsquo;t have been born; my sister, Ruby, is the youngest of 13 children, myself falling in at 11th place. God\u0026rsquo;s voice reassuring my parents that He would provide for ALL the children that He gave them allowed us to be born since my parents had several years of decidedly having only 2 children. I thank God that He gave them confidence in His ability and promises and that He truly did provide for all 13 of us. During my trip I got to at least say hello or give hugs to all of them, and with some, I was even able to spend a few hours catching up, hearing what God is doing in their lives. I don\u0026rsquo;t know if I ever stopped smiling for the entirety of my two-week trip. I was so glad for the opportunity to see everyone.\nSeeing my sister was truly emotional. When I left home, she was only 14 years old. Now nearly 10 years later, she is hardly the girl I knew, but she is every bit the woman I hoped she would be in her love for God and people. This was the first time I had met my new brother-in-law, Nathan, in person, and I had the opportunity to talk with him and observe his character more closely. I was not surprised to confirm that he, too, loves the Lord and has a vision for their future which reassures me that they are following God\u0026rsquo;s plan.\nFor their wedding celebration, they invited all the guests to an evening of worship at the campsite, where many stayed the night. There were some there who were not saved, who decided to stay out of respect for the celebration, and were witnesses to the beauty of Christ and the Church. I know I wasn\u0026rsquo;t the only one with wet eyes. The wedding ceremony the next morning was beautiful, though I did have a moment of sadness as I realized my dad wasn\u0026rsquo;t there to give my sister away.\nI returned home to Uganda with our good friend Lydia. Lydia\u0026rsquo;s family, the Schroetlins, played a huge part in Matt\u0026rsquo;s formative years, and they have continued to be a blessing for us in ministry and friendship. We love Lydia and are happy to be hosting her for the next 2 months as she prays about God\u0026rsquo;s plans for her future, especially regarding missions. Pray that God will speak to her during this special time away from her normal context.\nIn God’s love and grace, The Harris Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/june-2022/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBut the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them but let the boys live… So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very mighty. Because the midwives feared God, He established households for them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEXODUS 1:17, 20-21\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/20220624%5F185043%5F2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis month I am happily satisfied and thankful for all God has done. One thing we are particularly happy about is the overturning of Roe Vs. Wade by the Supreme Court. When we first heard about the possibility of it being overturned, I was overwhelmed by a strange joy and anxiety. A joy that there was hope to change the ruling and save innocent lives and anxiety because of how wicked our country has become, which made having hope seems pointless. We gave it into God\u0026rsquo;s hands continually and decided that the day it was overturned, we would celebrate it annually as a reminder of the countless lives lost to such a wicked scheme and to celebrate the lives that will be saved through the reversal of the decision. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t sure why it came over to me to make donuts on Friday, but once we heard the wonderful news, I knew God simply wanted us to celebrate this victory. We will continue celebrating \u0026ldquo;Birth Day\u0026rdquo; on each 24th of June, and we will remember to keep fighting for the rest of those lives still threatened. Each child is a blessing from God, no matter the way they have come into the world.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"June 2022"},{"content":"Greeting from our Calvary Chapel Church. I hope you all are well. I am grateful to God that He is using me with great power for His kingdom, and that many people are listening to and believing the Gospel. I have been serving here for a long time. God has chosen many people. Some of these people help me with ministry and take the Word of God to new places\nThere is a brother named P*, he has Bachelor\u0026rsquo;s degree in computer science. In 2016 he came to faith. Before that, he used to work at a company. In 2020, he married a girl from our church. God blessed them with a beautiful child. While he was working at a company, he felt that he should study the Word of God better. Starting in 2018, I discipled and taught him for three years. During these years, he has helped me a lot in ministry and with the church. I found him to be faithful.\nAll of the things I learned in Bible school, I taught him. I found him to be exceptional. God has given him a gift of learning and teaching wonderfully. Our ministry is expanding. Please pray for brother P*and his wife. May God continue to guide them in ministry.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nPastor 12*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blessed-in-ministry-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreeting from our Calvary Chapel Church. I hope you all are well. I am grateful to God that He is using me with great power for His kingdom, and that many people are listening to and believing the Gospel. I have been serving here for a long time. God has chosen many people. Some of these people help me with ministry and take the Word of God to new places\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessed in Ministry"},{"content":"Dear friends and family,\nIt’s been a while since I last wrote you in the Calvary School of Missions of 2020. What an incredible summer that was, where I received a calling to long-term cross-cultural missions! The Lord has done so much in my life since then, and one of the biggest updates is that He brought my family and me to live in Tijuana, Mexico! We moved last July, so we have just about been living here for one year.\nI’ll give you a quick recap of what I’ve been up to during the last year! Last July through August, I was able to volunteer at a house that hosts missions teams in Rosarito. It’s called the Connections House, and it is the place that hosts the Calvary School of Missions every year during those months. It was so amazing to be involved in the School of Missions again, but differently, and to understand everything the staff does for the teams.\nAfter the summer ended, I jumped right into a semester of bible college at CCBC Mexico in Ensenada! What a challenging but precious time in my life, where culture shock was hitting hard, but God was drawing me closer to Him than ever before. I learned so much in my classes there and enjoyed the breathtaking scenery of the hills in which the school was located. Not a morning passed where I didn’t wake up and was blown away by the natural beauty there.\nOnce that semester ended in December, God spoke to me very clearly that He was calling me to leave the bible college and come back down to Rosarito. So for the past 5 months, I have been a full-time staff member at Calvary Rosarito. I’ve joined the media team there and trained in videography and live streaming. Four days a week, I work at the church with my team from 8 A.M. until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. What a blessing it is to be involved in a ministry that’s a part of making an eternal impact on people’s lives! It brings me so much joy to be living the life I have in this season.\nThe main thing I do when I come in at church, however, is his work on a book project that the pastor of Calvary Rosarito is writing. He’s writing a book primarily for pastors who want to transform their church into a sending hub. A “sending hub” would be a church that sends out church planters to plant churches that plant churches, and so on. The Lord has allowed me to use my skills and passion for editing in this book project! And so Pastor Mike Vincent has recruited me to be the primary technical editor of his book. Currently, it is still in the writing process, and so the team on this book has just been doing content edits and suggestions. But yeah, that has been a super, super exciting thing to be a part of. I’m blown away that the Lord gave me this opportunity to use my passion in editing for His kingdom!\nOne last thing I want to share that I have been doing in Rosarito is attending Pastor Mike’s church planting school. I just finished my first semester at the end of May, and it was such a valuable and growing experience! In it, I learned how to prepare and present a women’s bible study every week. I also gained a lot of knowledge through the classes about the ins and outs of church planting and all the challenges and blessings that come. What a privilege it was to be a student in the school and be further prepared for the work God is calling me to one day in church planting.\nAs I continue on in the work God has called me to do here in Rosarito, I would love to invite you to partner in it with me. Your prayers for me and the ministry here would help so much as I continue to work with Mike on his church planting book especially. The content is so powerful and I wish to help produce it in the best and most clear way possible for the readers.\nThis winter I am also planning on going on a 2-week vision tour to Japan with a team and need to raise about $2,700. I would greatly appreciate any funds I can receive for this trip, and if you’re interested in financially supporting me, you can click on the secure giving link below this page. I am so excited for this trip and to see what the Lord has for me over there! Only about 1% of Japan’s entire population is Christian, and so the need for the spread of the gospel is great. My heart is to become a long-term missionary in East Asia with a church planting team, and so I’m praying about Japan.\nAnyways, that wraps up today’s newsletter! Thank you so much to those of you who took the time to read it and partner with me in the work the Lord is doing. I never imagined the incredible life God has given me! He has placed me in opportunities I could never dream of experiencing.\nTalk to you again soon,\nLydia Boubion\nPraise Reports:\nI finished my first semester of Calvary Rosarito’s church planting school! My Spanish has improved a lot! The Lord has drawn me closer to Him than ever before over the past year. Prayer Requests:\nThat God would give me aid and wisdom as I edit Pastor Mike’s church planting book For the upcoming vision tour to Japan For the salvation of those in places unreached or restricted from the gospel ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/never-imagined-id-go-this-far/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s been a while since I last wrote you in the Calvary School of Missions of 2020. What an incredible summer that was, where I received a calling to long-term cross-cultural missions! The Lord has done so much in my life since then, and one of the biggest updates is that He brought my family and me to live in Tijuana, Mexico! We moved last July, so we have just about been living here for one year.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Never Imagined I'd Go This Far"},{"content":"Dear Sponsors,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nWe are grateful to the Lord for His protection and provisions in my family. We appreciate each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial aid for the expansion of God’s ministry. Because of your financial help, we could move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, job and businesses. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\nIn our family devotion we have been learning and trying to follow the footsteps of Jesus in our daily walk. In June, schools are going to begin a new school year. My daughter is now beginning 9th grade.\nIn May, my daughter was involved in a Vacation Bible School. It was a great time to learn and to have fellowship with another church group. I got the opportunity to share the Word of God and interact with the youth group virtually.\nRecently, we started conducting Church services at B* village (above). We also visit the villagers\u0026rsquo; houses to encourage and pray for them. In this village, there are two believing families. By the grace of God, they are growing in their faith.\nPrayer Requests: Thank you very much for your prayers! Our house construction has been started. Please continue to pray for the house to be completed. Please for B* village’s believers to grow in their faith and fellowship. May they increase in number. Do continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church. In the upcoming school year, we want to admit a limited number of boarding students to our Pastor\u0026rsquo;s School. Kindly pray for all of the necessary resources. Kindly pray for me and my family. May the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n\\* Names and Faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/grateful-to-the-lord/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Sponsors,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Skit-performance-during-VBS.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are grateful to the Lord for His protection and provisions in my family. We appreciate each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial aid for the expansion of God’s ministry. Because of your financial help, we could move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the unreached. As a family we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, job and businesses. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Grateful to the Lord"},{"content":"Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I thank God for you as you continue to pray and support the ministry.\nSince last month, we have been having Sunday church services in another village (above). In that village there were a few believers. About two years ago they went through persecution and many of them turned away from the Lord, but there were a few who did not. They have been having a house fellowship. For the last two years they have been doing Sunday services by themselves. They were excommunicated from the village. But, these two families remained faithful to the Lord and they (ten members in one family and five in another) would gather together in one family and sing worship songs and study the Word. They were left by the others, and had no one to guide and teach the Word.\nIt has now been over a month since we have been going to their village every Sunday to teach them from the Bible. Each Sunday two people from our church go there to have the church service. We take turns since we also preach at our main church in the city. In our church I have been teaching through the book of Galatians, so I am planning to teach the same in this village church when it is my turn. The last couple of times I visited them, I shared from Psalms.\nIf you remember, I have been teaching Bible study to teenage children every week. It’s really encouraging to see them grow in the Word. Now they have many good questions from the Bible that sometimes I cannot give the answers to right away. It’s good! They make me think and study more. In May they had summer break. During this time they had a Vacation Bible School (VBS) at a Mennonite Church. That’s the first church we had in our city which is more than 100 years old. They started the mission work here and my grandparent’s parents came to the faith through them.\nDuring the summer time, children from all of the churches attend that VBS and learn a lot from the Bible. I went through their books and they have a really good syllabus for the VBS. I am happy to share that two of my students (pictured) got the tag “bright star” in their respective class group, which is like the best student award. I then shared with their teachers that they are my students. I am really glad to see them grow in the Word and in their Christian faith. I am thankful to God for using me to be a part in their spiritual growth.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for me to continue to grow and be used by God here in my city. Please pray for my church people to also continue to grow strong spiritually and that new believers may be added to the church as we minister to the non-Christians. Please pray for the new village church that I shared about. May they also grow in the Word and faith. Please pray for us to find committed students as we are planning to start the Bible School next month. Blessings,\nPastor 9\n\\* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/growing-in-the-truth-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ! I thank God for you as you continue to pray and support the ministry.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Village-church.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSince last month, we have been having Sunday church services in another village (above). In that village there were a few believers. About two years ago they went through persecution and many of them turned away from the Lord, but there were a few who did not. They have been having a house fellowship. For the last two years they have been doing Sunday services by themselves. They were excommunicated from the village. But, these two families remained faithful to the Lord and they (ten members in one family and five in another) would gather together in one family and sing worship songs and study the Word. They were left by the others, and had no one to guide and teach the Word.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Growing in the Truth"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nOne of the thing that I have failed to do during the last seven years is to get to know the other pastors who are doing ministry in my hometown and district. Mostly, I thought, \u0026ldquo;They do not know the Word of God properly. Most of them are not educated and did not go to a good Bible college. They love to teach prosperity teachings\u0026ndash;some unknowingly and some knowingly.\u0026rdquo; So what happened was, I built a wall between them and me. But, as we all know, knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.\nI felt that I do have a responsibility to reach out to the men of God and people who are waiting for teaching about love and an exemplary life. So, for the past few months, I have been trying to get to know them. I have been going to them to teach and preach to their congregations. Interestingly, some of them are very humble and welcomed me with a great heart. They gave me a good time to feed their flocks. However, some of them thought I would take away their flocks.\nI\u0026rsquo;m focusing on the pastors and congregations who are interested to know the Word of God. It is actually a beautiful thing to get to know some of the great men of God who are thirsty for Truth. As I read in a book, \u0026ldquo;God has sent you as a missionary to the place where you were born, so start preaching the Gospel from your neighborhood and your street.\u0026rdquo;\nIn my district their are 3 big cities and 13 towns. There are also over 1,040 villages and the second fastest growing city. So, even though I have been praying for a long time for my district, very recently I have realized that there is so much work to do in it. I am honestly praying to start a church in my hometown. My thirst is to teach the Word to people who are capable of teaching others and to see the growth of believers in the grace and knowledge of Christ. I have started doing a few things in order to work towards this.\nPlease pray that God would show me the steps and guide me in order to reach my goal for His kingdom. I am very glad that God has given me this great experience with men of God during the past seven years from 2016 to 2022. I am praying that this is the time that I will be able to actually use that experience into a God guided action.\nHopefully, I will get back to you with great ministry updates next month. I know how much you all love me and have been understanding with me during this season. I owe you all a lot for that.\nGod bless,Pastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-teaches-my-hands-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the thing that I have failed to do during the last seven years is to get to know the other pastors who are doing ministry in my hometown and district. Mostly, I thought, \u0026ldquo;They do not know the Word of God properly. Most of them are not educated and did not go to a good Bible college. They love to teach prosperity teachings\u0026ndash;some unknowingly and some knowingly.\u0026rdquo; So what happened was, I built a wall between them and me. But, as we all know, knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He Teaches My Hands"},{"content":" What a year it has been here at Calvary Loreto, BCS Mexico. On February 7th we had our first anniversary. The Lord has been doing amazing things here at Calvary Loreto’s Bilingual Church. We had a great day of fellowship and celebration after our Sunday service. Over 150 people joined us to hear the word of God, and enjoy one another’s company while sharing a meal and dessert. It has been a blessing for David and me to come alongside Pastor Elmer and his wife Crystal and to serve at Calvary Loreto.\nThank you for your prayers for our children’s ministry. Our children’s ministry has grown to over 60 children throughout the week and has outgrown our one-room classroom. We were able to build an area for our toddlers to roam and play. Thank you for your generous donations. We now have a safe and secure place for our littlest ones to enjoy their time at church while our older children can learn about God at their level of learning.\nWe were able to purchase a church van. This has been a huge blessing as now we can go around and pick up people that couldn’t make it to church on Wednesdays and Sundays. This allowed us to be able to do outreaches and youth events that were not previously possible. Thank you to all that prayed and supported us in this. It has been a blessing we use multiple times throughout the week.\nOur youth ministry is starting to explode. We have up to 20 young adults showing up to our weekly events, such as hiking, softball, beach volleyball or just hanging out and playing games. We have a devotion and share the gospel every week. We are grateful that many of our young adults serve at the church as greeters or at our outreaches and in the children’s ministry. In Loreto, there are no movie theaters, malls, libraries, or anything in their age demographics for them to do. They are our next generation and we know the Lord has big plans for them.\nAs we continue to grow we have run out of space (again!) The Lord provided for us as always by sending a team from Calvary Chapel Rosarito our sending church in March. They along with some of our church family helped knock down walls and made room for an additional 35 more seats for our Wednesday \u0026amp; Sunday services. They were also able to redo the front of the sanctuary along with adding the much-needed prayer corners where people can come and get prayer during worship. This was such a great image of the body of Christ working together to glorify God.\nNow that we have a van we are available to have monthly outreaches. These outreaches are starting to produce fruit. Our faithful servants can share the word of God with this community along with providing lunch and an opportunity to have fellowship and share the love of Jesus. Most people do not own a vehicle so on Sunday mornings we have the availability to bring a few people from the outreaches to church. Please pray for these people as we continue to pour into them that their lives are changed and they come to have a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior.\nActs 1:8 You shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all of Judea and Samaria and unto the ends of the earth. Our Judea is here in Loreto but our dream is to one day expand out into Samaria.\nDavid has started an ESL( English Second Language) class as some of the members asked David if he could teach them English. He took this as an excellent opportunity to sharpen or to learn a little Spanish too. Neighbors started noticing and wanted to join in on this FREE lesson. 1 John 4:21 “And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”\nWe have been able to use this as one more way to show the love of Jesus. We teach them phrases that they can use weekly at church like; Welcome to your church Calvary Loreto and God Bless you. David has learned Dios te Bendiga and Bienvenido a tu Iglesia. Please keep David in your prayers that the Lord will use him to grow this ministry and that he continues to show God’s love.\nMany people have taken the next step of obedience and have been baptized. This year Pastor Elmer and David have had the opportunity to baptize 32 people at Calvary Loreto’s beach baptisms. It has been so awesome to see God work through this church and our church members. At the last beach baptism, we had 120 people come out to witness these brothers and sisters showing their obedience and love for Jesus.\nWe were blessed by Calvary Chapel Chino Hills’ “Agape Ministry”. We were gifted clothing, pillowcases, and hair scrunchies. Michelle and our children’s ministry leaders were able to pray over all these blessings along with giving them out to the children at a Sunday service. We even had extra that we now can use in our year-end gift bag ministry for our children at Christmas.\nPastor Elmer, his wife Crystal, David and I would like to thank each of you for your continued prayers and support for Calvary Loreto and us individually. The work of the ministry can only be done by you coming along in prayer and your financial support.\nPrayer Requests:\nThat the Lord will provide a worship leader for us this year A youth leader is raised up at Calvary Loreto We continue to have unity and honor God in all we do All of our provisions are met In God’s perfect timing, to provide Calvary Loreto with leaders for” Celebrate Recovery” a Christ-based recovery program. If the Lord puts on your heart to financially support Calvary Loreto, Pastor Elmer, or us in any way please click on the blue “Become a financial partner” box or mail a check payable to Saving Grace World Missions with the “Mullins” in the memo. The address is 17451 Bastanchury Rd. Suite 203 Yorba Linda, Ca 92886.\n“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”\nGalatians 5:13\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/2022-update-from-calvary-loreto-bcs-mexico/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/sgwm-may-2022-photos-20-2-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/sgwm-may-2022-photos-5-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/sgwm-may-2022-loreto-yr-anniversary-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a year it has been here at Calvary Loreto, BCS Mexico. On February 7th we had our first anniversary. The Lord has been doing amazing things here at Calvary Loreto’s Bilingual Church. We had a great day of fellowship and celebration after our Sunday service. Over 150 people joined us to hear the word of God, and enjoy one another’s company while sharing a meal and dessert. It has been a blessing for David and me to come alongside Pastor Elmer and his wife Crystal and to serve at Calvary Loreto.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"2022 Update from Calvary Loreto, BCS Mexico"},{"content":"▲\nDear Family and Friends in the Gospel, This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is thumbnail_IMG_5701-1.jpg\n\u0026ldquo;I am Yahweh, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images\u0026hellip;Sing toYahweh a new song, and His praise from the ends of the earth\u0026hellip; Yahweh shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.\u0026rdquo;\nIsaiah 42:8, 10a, 13\nWe came back from the Middle East a couple of weeks ago with hearts full but minds and spirits steady, set on His glory. It is because of your labor in prayers that we were able to seek the Lord and find solace in a land where the cloud of spiritual warfare is infamous and culture bangs an uncomfortable drum.\nThere are many stories to tell, but one God has put on my heart to share:\nThere are movements happening in the Middle East that are God-glorifying and saving lives from the clutches of the Enemy! There is hope. The people who follow the country\u0026rsquo;s religion are being saved and being made disciples, but the Word of God is needed! One of our sisters shared her favorite verse, and I am sure she is truly touched by it, but she could not show us in the Word where it was located. This I think describes the need for the training and knowledge of God\u0026rsquo;s Word. This is part of why we believe, as a Team, we are called to go.\nOur Same Calling: Moving Together in spirit But the beauty and hope! I was praying through God\u0026rsquo;s heart and His leading for what good works He may have prepared for us (all of you and me) in the Middle East.\nWhen one is called to go to the unknown I am convinced that God calls His Body to go with them, in heart, mind, and spirit, as well. We are partners and members of Christ\u0026rsquo;s Body and we are running this race together! So, when considering the next step I do not take lightly the cost, recognizing it is not just mine to count but yours as well.\nWith this, I am convinced God leading me to live in the Middle East for a time, with a Team, for training and equipping to reach the people of Central Asia and simply to take a step to carry out His calling to reach the unreached wherever I may be. I\u0026rsquo;ll be moving overseas, God willing (!), in February or March.\nNow, this does rely on God\u0026rsquo;s timing and His provision, but we are taking this step of faith together by setting a date and season to leave. So, as the loved ones and friends God has moved into this calling with me, I ask for your prayers and God-given faith towards reaching many and many people so they may give Him glory in thanksgiving for His grace (2 Corinthians 4:15).\nUntil Then\u0026hellip; I\u0026rsquo;ll be traveling from home state to home state and continuing my time in the Internship, assisting Pastor Tim in Missionary Equipping at SGWM.\nBefore I leave, as God provides, I will also be taking part in a four-day crisis control training, run by former government and military personnel. We will learn how to take mental and physical prevention and in-situation measures for any type of extreme crisis emergency that may take place in the countries we will be moving to. Check it out here: https://cricon.org/.\nI\u0026rsquo;ll be taking trips to Texas and California, and I just met with the church family in Oregon. Shout out to my friends who were kind to host and tote me around in their car! May the Lord bless your labor of love (Philippians 4:11-20).\nI am incredibly thankful for all of your love and partnerships and if you would like to meet me before I leave, please connect with me via text, call, or email! My heart is to see as many as God would allow before the move. I am planning on coming on furlough when the Lord sends me, but the timing isn\u0026rsquo;t always known. I will always be here to hear your heart, encourage, and serve you as Christ has served us.\nEach of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.\n2 Corinthians 9:6-8\nPraise:\n- For provision to go on the vision tour!\n- For each one of you as dear Family and Friends\n- For His clear leading and direction for the next steps for the future\n- For His protection\n- For His kind heart to provide opportunities to catch up with family and the family of Christ\nPetition:\n- Growth in obedience and understanding of His word to be weak in Christ so He may be lifted higher in exaltation!\n- For Central Asi a: A team and wisdom are needed to proceed with making moves toward Reaching the Unreached of Central Asia.\n- The God-given ability to see and meet brothers and sisters in America\nIf you wish to partner in the Gospel as we run towards His name being made known among the Unreached you can do so by:\nPraying! This is first and foremost. God moves through the prayers of His Saints in thanksgiving Giving financially towards one of my upcoming trips or a monthly donation. I do need a consistent income of 80%/month for living costs before I am sent. Reaching out to me personally! I am available for communication if you would like to partner as a Church leader, Prayer Group, Friend, etc. To Financially partner: The button is available or you can make a check out to Saving Grace World Missions with my name in the memo at 17451 Bastanchury Rd Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886.\nFinancially Partner\nMany blessings and love from Him who is worthy of All Praise\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/may-2022-update-the-middle-east-the-future/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e▲\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"dear-family-and-friends-in-the-gospel\"\u003eDear Family and Friends in the Gospel,\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vanrenterghem/wp-content/uploads/sites/138/2022/06/thumbnail%5FIMG%5F5701-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is thumbnail\\_IMG\\_5701-1.jpg\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is thumbnail_IMG_5701-1.jpg\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;I am Yahweh, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images\u0026hellip;Sing toYahweh a new song, and His praise from the ends of the earth\u0026hellip; Yahweh shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"May 2022 Update - The Middle East + The Future"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThis month we finished our 14th year of our local church planting school and in this update, want to share with you the good news of what God is doing through this program! This year we had 43 students enrolled in our two weekly classes! (Both afternoon and evening courses)\nEach one of these students are committed to serve at our local church weekly, complete a load of homework, and prepare and present a Bible teaching every Monday to their fellow students and their pastor/mentor. They are also open to and praying about being sent out to church plant or to be part of a church planting team!\nOver the years, every one of our 34 church planters that have been sent out completed this program, and I believe that this year’s crop was our best group ever! One of the special blessings of this years class was numerous married couples taking the course together that are praying about being sent out!\nI know that the idea of a church planting school based out of a local church is a strange thing, so I wanted to let you know what we do in these classes! The students begin each 2 ½ hour class by breaking into teaching groups, where they spread out across our church campus to teach a short Bible study in a small group setting. Upon finishing their teaching, the students get critiqued and receive constructive criticism from the rest of their group. The best part of this weekly teaching practicum, is we get to literally see these students improve before our very eyes!\nDuring the final hour of the church planting class, we all gather together to be taught a topical sermon designed to equip and train them up to be sent out! These classes are taught by our staff pastors, as well as guest speakers. The classes I taught this semester included finances for the church planter, developing your CORE team, using humor and illustrations to capture your audience, and the blessings of women’s ministry! (And I was very careful on that one!)\nAfter our students graduate, our Pastors gather to talk and pray about which ones we believe are ready to be sent out. It was a great blessing to see my good friends Jose Luis and Sarah graduate from our church planting program this semester. This gifted couple, along with their three young boys, have driven north from Ensenada every week for the last few years to serve at our church and attend our church planting class! Now God is preparing them to plant a church in Ensenada, a large city of over 600,000 that is located 50 miles south of us! Please keep them and their summer church plant (Calvary Family Ensenada) in your prayers!\nOne of the most exciting aspects of our church planting program, is now we have 9 of our church plants hosting their own church planting classes! To give them a helping hand, this past year we began to professionally record all of our classes and teachings, and we have made them available to our church planters so they can use them as a resource for their own local classes!\nIn May, I was also blessed to travel up to Pomona with my good friend (and church planting assistant) Super Mario Medrano! We were part of the first ever Spanish church planting conference in Southern California! I was blessed to teach in Spanish about how any local church can start up a church planting school! The conference was fantastic, and the conference host Pastor Marvin Marroquin has agreed to start up his own church planting school in August! Please keep this new class based up in Southern California in your prayers!\nAs I drove back to Mexico, I chuckled at the irony of what God allowed me to do! He called an American with no Spanish to move to Mexico, to then go back up to America to teach in Spanish! Only God could do something as crazy as that!\nA final blessing in May was to witness many Haitian Refugee’s begin to attend our church and profess faith in Christ for the first time! We have started two Haitian life groups (home groups) and we have a couple of these gentlemen praying about joining up with our church planting program next semester! I have a dream to plant a Haitian church (speaking Creole) in Tijuana to reach the 5,000 plus Haitians that live there! Will you please keep a future Haitian church plant in your prayers?\nFinally, I want to thank you for choosing to partner with us and support our family as your missionaries! God has been so good to us, and we have been blessed to see so much spiritual fruit recently! And as we thank the Lord for that fruit, we also want to thank you our precious ministry partners. All of this spiritual fruit is yours! We love you, are praying for you, and thank God for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would raise up some Haitian men to join our church planting program and plant a church in Tijuana!\n#2- That God would bless Jose Luis and Sarah as they plant their bilingual church in Ensenada this summer!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for our 14th graduating class from our church planting program!\n#2- Praise God for the new church planting schools that we are blessed to be partnering with!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-june-2022-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month we finished our 14th year of our local church planting school and in this update, want to share with you the good news of what God is doing through this program! This year we had 43 students enrolled in our two weekly classes! \u003cem\u003e(Both afternoon and evening courses)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/284005794%5F537038121239238%5F5799046381980274137%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEach one of these students are committed to serve at our local church weekly, complete a load of homework, and prepare and present a Bible teaching every Monday to their fellow students and their pastor/mentor. They are also open to and praying about being sent out to church plant or to be part of a church planting team!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family June 2022 Update"},{"content":" ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-tippies-may-update-2022/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Screen-Shot-2022-06-02-at-2.22.49-PM-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"The Tippie's May update 2022"},{"content":" So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.\nACTS 19:9b-10\nRainy season has now come in full force and so has our school season. Our team is stepping into a busy and rewarding term of teaching God’s Word. From now on we as leaders will meet every month for one week to study and prep our classes before lecturing two weeks back to back. In the month of May we began our journey through Scripture by covering Genesis 1-11. God also blessed us with the ability to lead our church through the book of Genesis at the same time. It was amazing to see God move as even veteran pastors shared that it was as if they were reading the Bible for the first time! It is such a blessing to be used by God as a teacher and a pastor!\nThis month our school and our community suffered a great loss. My friend and neighbor, Pastor Kinyera Charles, had become a Discipleship Group Leader at our school, and to our surprise he passed away during our first day of study. Our hearts were heavy from the loss, but God comforted us as He revealed His foreknowledge of the situation, and that He was still on the throne. One of the children from Pastor Kinyera’s church had had a dream that he was soon going to be in heaven. Charles had very recently warned his wife that he would die before her, and admonished her to care for their 8 children. The day before his passing, Charles had informed his church that he would no longer be their pastor and even appointed a predecessor. We were caught by surprise, but God had a plan and a purpose.\nPraise God that: Many church leaders are being trained through the entirety of Scripture. Rainy season has come, allowing people to plant their crops. Noelle has successfully completed the second quarter of homeschooling the kids. Please Pray to God that: Pastor Charles’ widow, Grace, and her 8 children would be provided for. He would guide us as we prepare to teach Genesis 12-50 at the school of discipleship. He would give Noelle traveling mercy on her short trip to the US for her sister’s wedding, and that God would give me grace to care for all the children while she’s gone. He would bless our time with our friend who will be joining us on the field for three months as she prayerfully considers God’s plans for her future involvement in missions. In Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/may-2022/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/20220529%5F172448-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eACTS 19:9b-10\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/20220523%5F083447.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRainy season has now come in full force and so has our school season.  Our team is stepping into a busy and rewarding term of teaching God’s Word.  From now on we as leaders will meet every month for one week to study and prep our classes before lecturing two weeks back to back.  In the month of May we began our journey through Scripture by covering Genesis 1-11.  God also blessed us with the ability to lead our church through the book of Genesis at the same time.  It was amazing to see God move as even veteran pastors shared that it was as if they were reading the Bible for the first time!  It is such a blessing to be used by God as a teacher and a pastor!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"May 2022"},{"content":" AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for the Kanyike children as they all have been under the weather with flu.\n2. Pray for Jill and the kids as they home school. Pray for them to be able to balance school with being sick, having guests and ministry.\n3. Pray for the many visitors coming next month to finalize all their details with no hindrances.\n4. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship as it grows. Pray for the members to grow and mature in their relationship with Christ.\n5. Pray for Sunday School and the youth ministry as many children have returned to church. Pray for more teachers to be raised up.\n6. Pray Brian as he helps another church and pastors as they go through a difficult time.\n7. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nBond Heather and Breanna - Africa and Asia\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for our trip to Mexico as we lead a team of 20 from June 8 - 13th. Pray for a fruitful time of ministry, that we would be a blessing to the churches and ministries we serve alongside and that we would see many come to Jesus.\n2. Pray that as students return to their villages throughout S. Asia now that the semester is complete, that they would be bold and have opportunities to share the Gospel and that people would come to Christ.\n3. Pray for two who have started bible studies in Nepal, that they would be faithful and new people who come, and churches would be started.\nThank you for your prayers!\nBlessings,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for our water pump that broke. Our area is now out of water from the well depend on it.\n2. Continue prayer for spiritual oppression.\n3. Continue prayer for our school and the website we are working on. We praise God for all He is doing! There is growth in the hearts!\n4. We also praise God for our baptisms this past month!\nThank you for your prayers, support and love for us and the people of Midigo, Uganda\nIn Him,\nThe Aniku Family – Emai l Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Report:\n-This summer we celebrate 25 years of marriage and 20 years of ministry in Mexico! Thank you, Lord!\nPlease Pray:\n1. That God would bless our children (Grace and Daniel) in their college finals!\n2. That God would bless the preparation for our upcoming church planting conference! (August 5-6)\n3. For God\u0026rsquo;s blessing of our upcoming church plant to Ensenada!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for Jenn to be able to serve with Tim at the Calvary School of Missions in Mexico this summer.\n2. Please pray for continued strength, wisdom and direction from the Lord in Directing the Calvary School of Missions as well as the Missions Intern program at Saving Grace World Missions\n3. Please pray for our brains as we have begun language lessons\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn – Email Blog\nL.O. - Interning with Saving Grace World Missions\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for me as I am preparing to move to South Asia by the end of this year as a full-time worker for Gods kingdom in the Unreached.\n2. Please pray for me and my future husband, we are planning our marriage by the end of this year.\n3. Please pray for my future husband and I to have more partnership in the Gospel through finances and prayer so that we can live and serve in S.A full time.\n4. Please pray God would give me grace and enable me to learn and adapt to the South Asian culture, language and ministry.\n5. lease pray for my families salvation and for their growth in the Lord!\nThank you for your love and partnership in the Gospel!\nGod bless you, - Email\nL\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nThank you all for your prayers!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for continued vision for Joel as he leads the care of SGWM missionaries\n2. Please pray for open doors on guidance from the Lord on traveling\n3. Please pray for continued strength and wisdom in raising our four amazing little ones in the Lord’s ways\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia – Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Tijuana, Mexico\n-Thanksgiving: God has been guiding us into pastoral \u0026amp; counseling ministry\nPlease Pray:\n1. My children’s physical, mental \u0026amp; dental health\n2. Holy Spirit’s leading \u0026amp; Guidance as our children are making major life decisions (ages 23, 22, 19, 17, 16!)\n3. Guidance from the Holy Spirit for loving people and weeping with those who weep (many folks God has placed in our path are suffering from serious illness, extreme injustices, cartel violence, broken lives, poverty, etc)\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian -\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my mom to be completely well and delivered from her illness.\n2. Please pray for my family, that God will use us for His glory.\n3. Please pray that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit and that we will honor Him in all we say and do and will be used of God to minister to others.\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my mom’s complete recovery in every way and that God will give us wisdom in getting her treatment.\n2. Please pray for my health and strength.\n3. Please pray for our financial support. Thank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas – Tijuanna, Mexico\nPraise Report:\n-Easter service was beautiful, and we had most of our kids from the afterschool program and their families in attendance! We all ate together after the service, and it was a sweet time together!\n-Our new multipurpose room/soup kitchen is finished! The kids used it today for the first time!\nPlease Pray:\n1. For the Lord to open doors to start a public school here at our church. We have encountered many obstacles, But may His will be done!\n2. For the families of the kids in the afterschool program to come to Christ.\n3. Provisions to increase our staff in the afterschool program. It is growing!\n4. For an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our church and our pastor, Federico Acosta— that people would come to church. May our light shine ever so brightly in this dark neighborhood! Also, for revival!\nThank you so much for your prayers for me and the people of Mexico! Psalm 133:1\nGod bless you,\nDeanna – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nPraise Report:\n-We are blessed beyond measure and are grateful for what the Lord has done and is doing in our ministry!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for the new people getting saved, and they abide in the truth through discipleship!\n2. Pray for our school of ministry and our interns to continue strong, and for them to seek the Lord to confirm their calling.\n3. Pray for conflict solving and restoration. We continue to have spiritual warfare!\n4. Pray for times of refreshing, out pouring of the Holy Spirit!\n5. Pray for more partners in the ministry here in Huacho, that more churches would have us come and share our hearts on our furlough!\n6. Pray for our health, for our children that they would all have a full relationship with the Lord.\n7.Pray for Craig to guard his study time, and administration time in the office which he struggles with, because he would rather be out having hands on discipleship and being a life coach for many!\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our upcoming trip to visit senders and family in Japan this summer.\n2. Pray for wisdom and favor as we share our ministry and encourage Japanese churches.\n3. Pray for wisdom and open hearts as we seek for opportunities to be witnesses before Kayo\u0026rsquo;s non-Christian family members.\n4. Please pray for all the preparations in Cambodia.\nThanks, and God Bless!\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. The Lord opened a new door for us in a new village. Please pray that the fellowship we began there would grow and that many more families of the village and its surroundings would be saved. Pray that the Lord will protect us and the fellowship from opposition and that if persecution rises again, the Lord will give us boldness to face it and be His witness to the persecutors.\n2. Please pray for a family we are visiting, that they would stop going to other false gods for help and believe in Jesus alone.\n3. Please pray for non-Christians who listen to our facebook messages, that the Word of God will change their lives and that they will come to the saving knowledge of the Lord.\n4. May the Lord help us to be humble in our hearts and follow His footsteps in everything that we do.\nThank you for your prayers!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-I thank God that even after being so expensive, it is fulfilling every one of our needs.\n-I thank God that God is protecting us from every crisis, although people around want to suppress us.\n-I thank God for keeping the believers of our church safe in every persecution and growing up in faith and word of God.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Kindly pray that our church can be registered, and I can install CC camera in front of the church so that in future I can work against those who attack on charge.\n2. Please pray for my country, there is a lot of riots going on here over religion, that God keeps peace in our country.\n3. Pray that there is an organization working in our village which is doing the most important work in persecuting Christian and Muslim people. People from the same organization were trying to break the cross on our church last month. Give me the opportunity to share the gospel with them and let God change their hearts.\n4. Pray the Youth Meeting has been organized on 1st June in which about 50 - 60 youths will worship God together, and they will study the Bible. That the Lord fulfills our every financial need.\n5. Pray that we can get employment in our state because the believers of our church are moving from here to big cities due to lack of employment.\n6. Kindly pray continuously that fellowship is going on in our 5 villages, may God fill the people there with the knowledge of his word and the holy spirit and remain stable in every sorrow and persecution.\n7. Kindly pray that the church which had stopped running due to persecution last month can start fellowship again in that village.\nThank you for your prayers and for participating in the good news.\nGod bless you,\n11\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my family that we may continue to grow in the Word.\n2. Please pray for my relatives, that they be saved in Christ.\n3. Please pray for Sister Poonam her Husband has left her because of Christ.\n4. Please pray for village called, Bhirai, that the whole village be saved in Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n16\nWorker 14 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our travels this month as I’m visiting different locations to encourage fellow workers and join on outreach.\n2. Pray for our workers across the country as we all experience loneliness, sickness, trials with family, trials among community and are in need of like-minded fellowship.\n3. Pray for my parents and my family’s health as rains have started and sickness goes around with climate changes.\n4. Please pray for our kids as they start kindergarten in June at a local school. Pray they adjust well, learn quickly and pick up the local language better.\n5. Pray for our financial support as cost of living has greatly increased this year.\n6. Pray for my sister as she is starting her 3rd year of nursing school, and for my brother as he is adjusting to life in a new country with his wife.\nGod Bless you,\n14 and family\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please continue to remember my mother in your prayers, that she will be able to breathe on her own without oxygen. She has been on oxygen 9 months; please pray that God will heal her lungs and increase her lung capacity.\n2. Please pray for me, that God will begin a new work with me. Wherever I go to teach and preach, God always speaks to their hearts through His Word, and I have a burden for my own city—pray that I can reach the people and different pastors in that area to begin building relationships with them to begin what God has for me in His will.\n3. Please pray for my health and safety.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n7\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please continue to pray for our ministry in this area. Please pray that the Lord will open the people’s eyes from the darkness.\n2. Please pray for a few brothers who publicly showed that they follow Jesus a few weeks ago; please pray that they will stay with Jesus.\n3. Please pray for all of the believers from this area and for our church building construction. Pray that we will be able to complete the work there soon and begin fellowship there.\nThank you so much everyone for your love in Christ!\nGod bless you,\n13\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for all His goodness, God is good all the time!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for Charis Bible Church: - spiritual growth of all believers. - good health. - maturity in the Word and fellowship with Him. - please pray that we may be able to pay the church rent. We need to pay Nrs. 225,000 after one and half month, it’s huge amount for us to pay. - pray that God would provide church land for us.\n2. Please pray for our new Churches at Hetauda and Janakpur.\n3. We’re praying about starting new church plant at Chapagaun, Lalitpur in near future please pray for that.\n4. Please pray for all our Bible College students as they serve the Lord during vacation, for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.\nThank for your prayers!\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna – Email Blog\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for the Bible college students that they may serve the Lord with the power of the Holy Spirit.\n3. Please pray for the new semester of the Bible college that God may bring more students.\nPlease pray for our Church member that God may pour His Spirit upon them to share Christ.\n4. Please pray for us that we may lead Inductive Bible Study with New Pastors and leaders.\nThank you for faithfully praying\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPraise report:\n- We are so much thankful our God that we sent to students to their village and they are sharing Gospel and teaching Words.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for our Bible school; we need students for the upcoming semester that God may provide Us.\n2. Pray for our much beloved students which are on vacation, that they can get the opportunity to teach whatever they have already learned from the Bible School.\n3. Pray for our church and our believer\u0026rsquo;s spiritual life; they may be mature in God\u0026rsquo;s word.\n4. Pray for one of the students whose name is Harka he is ready for planting a church in the western part of Nepal. Pray that God may provide him the support to move forward on his step into , and God may provide protection over him and his family.\n5. Pray for us to be able to give birth of our child .We had a checkup, and we are taking medicine according to the doctor. The doctor told us we can bear our child. Pray that God may give us strength and His grace and mercy upon us and In God\u0026rsquo;s time we can give birth to our child.\n6. Pray our journey will be safe and secure as we go to different places of Nepal during this vaccation time.\n7. Our Social media is also growing. Pray God may provide His wisom to glorify Him.\nThank you so much for your prayers\nGrace and Peace, Rabi and Mahima – Email Blog\nWorker 8 and Family – 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for the church building construction on my land. I humbly request to you all to continually keep this subject in your prayers.\n2. May the Lord raise thousands of hands for the kingdom of God!\n3. Please pray for spiritual revival in the believer’s lives.\n4. Please pray for our health and safety\nOnce again, I would like to thank you all for your valuable prayers and support!\nMay God bless you,\n8 and Family\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for our team to grow more in the knowledge of Christ.\n2. Pray for my mother; an iron plate accidentally fell on her toes and she has broken bones in her toes. Pray for healing.\n3. Pray for the students.\n4. Pray for our outreach program in Hyderabad on May 16th. Pray for financial needs, it will cost about $350.\n5. Pray for our Bible college students’ outreach in two states. We will begin on May 23. It will cost about $500 for 15 people.\n6.Pray for my sister, she is expecting a baby the first week of June. Be praying for a safe delivery.\n7. Pray for my wife and daughter, for their health.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\n6\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for some people who are going to publicly show they follow Jesus next week. Pray that the plan will be successful, and that those who participate will become witnesses to more people.\n2. Pray for the ministry here, that God will save more people and enlarge his kingdom.\n3. Pray for A, who was possessed by an evil spirit, that God will heal her completely and help her to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s grace.\n4. Pray for me, as I am going to a certain village for a second time next month, pray that the Lord will use me there for His glory and fulfill all of my traveling needs.\n5. We have been praying for land for our church for a long time; pray that God will fulfill it and God will be glorified in this place.\n6. We need a guitar for our church because the old guitar we have is not working well; please pray that God will provide a new one.\n7. Once or twice a month, we feed all of the people of the church because some believers come to church from far away. Due to not having enough large serving utensils, we have to rent utensils; pray that we can buy some new utensils for church.\n8. Pray for sister D, who publicly showed her commitment to Jesus some time ago; pray that she will grow more in the Lord and in His Word. This sister is a nurse in a hospital.\nThank you for your kindness!! 12\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPraise Report:\n-By God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for S.T. for his salvation.\n2.. Please for our Church believe that they may grow in the fait\n3. Do continue to pray for the growth and need of our local Church.\n4. In upcoming session, we want to operate our Pastor’s School with the limited number of boarding students. Kindly pray for all the recourses.\n5. Kindly pray for me and my family, may Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\n6. Please for the God’s provisions for our house construction, by faith we have started the work.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\n3 and family\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with others about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Please pray for our health and safety.\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita - Blog\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my family and me, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as we serve in ministry together.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\n5. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for the team that visited our church last month. While they were in the area, there was great Gospel preaching, and the villagers were so happy.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray that the villagers who have heard the Gospel will receive Christ.\n2. Pray that I will be able to teach the Word, Spirit-filled.\n3. Pray that our church will be able to have a church building, and that God will provide all of the finances.\n4. Pray that the rest of my family members will accept Jesus.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers. Worker 2\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for the students in the new semester.\n2. Please pray for our safety. Thank you for your prayer and support!\nYours in Christ, 4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. May the Lord grant me open doors for Gospel outreach during this time and may our church grow spiritually.\n2. Please pray for my father and mother, that they will come to know the Lord.\n3. Please pray for the church members, that they will grow spiritually.\n4. Please pray that I will grow more and more spiritually in the Lord.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in God’s wisdom and strength.\n2. Pray for the teenage group I am teaching a Bible study to, that they will be grounded in the Word of God.\n3. Pray for the new believers in our state; they are going through persecution.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\n9\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers. Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my mom, who needs surgery.\n2. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n3. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n4. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n5. Please pray for financial support.\n6. Please pray for God’s presence and strength in my life, so that I can face all hard situations!\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n10\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” – Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping,\n“Reach the Nations…One Soul at a Time.”\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-june-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/kanyike-prayer-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease Pray:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Please pray for the Kanyike children as they all have been under the weather with flu.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. Pray for Jill and the kids as they home school. Pray for them to be able to balance school with being sick, having guests and ministry.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. Pray for the many visitors coming next month to finalize all their details with no hindrances.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JUNE PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:17\nPreparing for our Time in Japan, June 13-August 1\nThanks for praying for our home assignment in Japan this summer, (please don’t stop : ). We will be visiting more than a dozen churches in multiple cities across Japan and visiting Kayo’s family in Hiroshima. Please pray for opportunities to be a witness to Kayo’s unsaved relatives.\nKayo has been busy making travel arrangements and communicating with our senders in Japan. Please pray for continued strength and wisdom for her. I have been working on preparing a few sermons to go along with Kayo’s missions presentation for the churches we will visit. Thanks for praying for my visa to Japan it went through smoothly. Please pray for wisdom, protection, and provision over our finances as prices for some of our air tickets etc. have greatly increased. Japanese churches, while generous and faithful are also struggling financially, and the Japanese currency has been devalued against the US dollar in the post-COVID economy. This is also a concern as we are planning to visit the USA next summer.\nChristology Class\nThanks for praying for my Christology class at a local Bible School. I spent two weeks teaching the intensive class and another week on grading their intensive assignment. The class went very well, especially for my first time teaching this subject. The verse above comes from one of the passages that I taught on during the class. It is a good reminder to have peace in troubled times because Christ is holding everything together. If Christ is in control, we don’t have to be afraid or worry because we can trust Him to take care of everything. The students asked a lot of good questions in the class and were very engaged. Going forward, I will probably teach Apologetics one year and Christology the following year at this Bible school and Apologetics at another seminary.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-great-sustainer/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:17\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/photo%5F2022-05-27-09.26.33.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePreparing for our Time in Japan, June 13-August 1\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks for praying for our home assignment in Japan this summer, (please don’t stop : ). We will be visiting more than a dozen churches in multiple cities across Japan and visiting Kayo’s family in Hiroshima. Please pray for opportunities to be a witness to Kayo’s unsaved relatives.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our Great Sustainer"},{"content":"Hello Friends,\nMy greetings to all of you!\nAs I have mentioned before, everyone is not able to fit in the room where we used to have church fellowship/services, because the room is too small. We have rented a big hall (right). By the mercy of God, He has given it to us. The people who own the halls make money by renting the hall out, but they have given us a space of time to use it for this reason. There are some requirements for this hall. For example, so that we all can worship here well, we need some fans or an air conditioner and some maintenance needs to be done. I request you to kindly pray for this so that we can run the church here until we have a permanent place .God bless,Pastor 12*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-provides/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy greetings to all of you!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/IMG20220516131847-300x135.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs I have mentioned before, everyone is not able to fit in the room where we used to have church fellowship/services, because the room is too small. We have rented a big hall (right). By the mercy of God, He has given it to us. The people who own the halls make money by renting the hall out, but they have given us a space of time to use it for this reason. There are some requirements for this hall. For example, so that we all can worship here well, we need some fans or an air conditioner and some maintenance needs to be done. I request you to kindly pray for this so that we can run the church here until we have a permanent place .God bless,Pastor 12*\u003cbr\u003e\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Provides"},{"content":" Greetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nFirst of all, we express our heartfelt thanks to God Almighty for His wonderful protection and provision for my family. Secondly, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial aid for the expansion of the ministry. Because of your financial help, we could move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus. As a family, we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, job and businesses. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\nIn our family devotions, we are studying the epistle to the Romans. We are learning that “we gentiles are grafted with Jesus by faith”. Hence, as a family we have been growing in the Lord.\nDuring my visit to another state, I met a Hindu person named S.T.* (right). I was able to share my testimony of how Jesus changed my life with him and encouraged him to know about Jesus\u0026rsquo; love.\nLast month, we celebrated Palm Sunday and washed the believers\u0026rsquo; feet on Easter Sunday in our local church (left). It was a blessed time, learning Jesus\u0026rsquo;s style of serving. I also have been preaching in our local church and visiting local families to share the Gospel with them and pray for them.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for S.T.\u0026rsquo;s* salvation. Please for our church believers to grow in their faith. Continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church. In the upcoming session, we want to operate our Pastor’s School with a limited number of boarding students. Kindly pray for all of the resources for this. Kindly pray for me and my family\u0026ndash;may the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n\\* Names and Faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/29944/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Palm-Sunday-300x150.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst of all, we express our heartfelt thanks to God Almighty for His wonderful protection and provision for my family. Secondly, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial aid for the expansion of the ministry. Because of your financial help, we could move forward with the Gospel of Christ Jesus. As a family, we have been praying for you, for your family, ministry, job and businesses. May the good God bless you with all resources and good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Moving Forward with the Gospel of Jesus"},{"content":"Sorry for the delay in sending this update! We praise God for you all and for your love for the Lord and for His ministry. Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support. We appreciate you all for partnering with us in the ministry of the Gospel. Though persecution is increasing in our area, the work of the Lord is continuing to grow. Because of your prayers, the Lord is opening new doors for ministry. We know that we are weak, but the Lord is mighty. Because of your prayers, we get courage and power to progress in ministry with the power of God.\nThe Lord has opened a new door for ministry in a village that is about 20 kilometers from our home town. Two families in the village have believed in Jesus. They went through lots of persecution, but they remained faithful to the Lord. The Lord has given us this opportunity to teach them the Word and help them grow in Him.\nWe have started Sunday worship as well in this village. There are 9 people in one family and 5 people in the other family. They have all been baptized except for the grandfather. Please pray that this fellowship will grow and that many more families of the village and its surrounding area will be saved. Please also pray that the Lord will protect this fellowship and us from opposition and that if again persecution arises, the Lord will give us boldness to face it and be His witnesses to the persecutors.There a is joint family in the city, where an elderly widow lives with her older son’s widow and her two children (22 year-old son and 16 year-old daughter) and her second son and his wife and their three children. This elderly woman\u0026rsquo;s husband died when he was still young. Her older son died while he was also young. Now, her younger son is sick.\nThe family has spent so much money in his treatment, but there has been no improvement in his health. He is the provider for the whole joint family. The family is afraid that he will also die young, as the other two male members of the family have.\nThis family invites us for prayer. We have been visiting the family and sharing the Gospel with them. We came to know that they are also going to Muslims and Hindu sorcerers. So, last time we visited them we told them that our God does not share His glory with anyone else. They have to stop going to other gods and believe in Jesus only if they want to see the Lord’s work. We ask for your prayers for this family.\nWe still do Sunday Service’s message on Facebook live. We have not stopped this live message because many non- Christians listen to the messages on Facebook. Please pray for those non-Christians\u0026ndash;that the Word of God will change their lives and they will come to the saving knowledge of the Lord.\nOn Thursday night, before Good Friday, we showed the film “Passion of Christ”. For the first time we had a feet washing ceremony (right). May the Lord help us to be humble in our heart and follow His foot steps in everything that we do.\nThank you again for your prayers and financial support for the ministry.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-opening-new-doors/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSorry for the delay in sending this update! We praise God for you all and for your love for the Lord and for His ministry. Thank you for your continued prayers and financial support.  We appreciate you all for partnering with us in the ministry of the Gospel. Though persecution is increasing in our area, the work of the Lord is continuing to grow.  Because of your prayers, the Lord is opening new doors for ministry.  We know that we are weak, but the Lord is mighty. Because of your prayers, we get courage and power to progress in ministry with the power of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is Opening New Doors"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nI cannot believe a month has already gone by!\nThe most happy experience that God gave us as a family this month is a few of our friends visiting my house to check on my Mom. We had a good worship and prayer time together. My mother was so happy that they came all of the way from a different state to see her. My family and I have been refreshed by their presence. They encouraged us by saying that we all are not alone in this because hundreds of saints are praying for us.I had to take a few weeks break from the current semester because my mother had low oxygen levels once again and was suffering from severe back pain. She was admitted into the hospital once again for a couple of days. There are so many blood tests, scans, doctors fees and ambulance expenses that I had to go through once again.\nWhen I took a break for my Mom, God gave me an opportunity to teach in a different church (left) which is very far from my hometown. The pastor, who is serving there, asked me to come again for a little longer next time. He wants to gather pastors and believers from different places so they can receive knowledge from the Word of God. He said to me, \u0026ldquo;Brother, the students who are getting trained under you, will gain tremendous knowledge from the Word of God.\u0026rdquo; There are so many other things that he shared with me, but that one single statement caught my attention.I thought, \u0026ldquo;If people are really learning when God is using me, why shouldn\u0026rsquo;t I try this in my hometown?\u0026rdquo; I have thought about this before, but not about starting a specific structure. I truly got inspired and started to ask God what is His next step for me.\nIt is a happy feeling to come back to the students again. Teaching them, investing the Word of God in them, seeing them grow, getting to know them and building friendships with them\u0026ndash;it is all beautiful!\nPlease continue to remember my mother in your prayers. Please pray that she will be able to breathe on her own without needing oxygen. Mom has been on oxygen for nine months. Pray that God will heal her lungs and alveoli, and increase her lung capacity.\nOn other note, please pray that God would start a new work with me. Wherever I go to teach and preach, God always speaks to people\u0026rsquo;s hearts through His Word. I do have a burden for my city and for my hometown where I was born and grew up. Pray that I will reach people and different pastors in the area and start building relationships with them, to start what God has for me in His will.\nLove you all! Thank you for the valuable responses from some of you. I am truly blessed and comforted by them.God bless,Pastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/his-way-is-perfect/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/20220503%5F152510-300x190.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI cannot believe a month has already gone by!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe most happy experience that God gave us as a family this month is a few of our friends visiting my house to check on my Mom. We had a good worship and prayer time together. My mother was so happy that they came all of the way from a different state to see her. My family and I have been refreshed by their presence. They encouraged us by saying that we all are not alone in this because hundreds of saints are praying for us.I had to take a few weeks break from the current semester because my mother had low oxygen levels once again and was suffering from severe back pain. She was admitted into the hospital once again for a couple of days. There are so many blood tests, scans, doctors fees and ambulance expenses that I had to go through once again.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"His Way Is Perfect"},{"content":" Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.\nColossians 1:28\nAfter four years of hard work, our pastors and church leaders have finally graduated! In our time together these servants of God read through every verse of the Bible twice, studied every passage, and tested out of every book! By God’s grace we can also claim along with the Apostle Paul that we did not shrink back from declaring the whole counsel of God.\nImmediately after graduation of our second class, we began the long journey again with our third and fourth intakes. After a long, prayerful process we handpicked 55 church leaders who have been divided into two groups. They will each separate one week a month to come and study God’s Word for the next three years (unless another pandemic prolongs this class tooJ). One new feature in our school is that six alumni have been selected to come back and serve as Discipleship Group Leaders who will walk with the students on their journey of transformation. We are so excited to see the change that God’s Word will continue to have on His Church!\nPraise God that: 22 pastors completed their course through the entirety of Scripture. For the changes He has been bringing to the lives of these individuals and their churches. Please Pray that: God will give us strength to teach His Word faithfully. God’s Word will transform the lives of the 55 church leaders who have just started in our school. We are still making progress on the construction of our new school campus. In Christ, Matt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/april-2022-the-harris-family/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHim we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eColossians 1:28\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2022/05/FB%5FIMG%5F1651668526270-1024x683.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter four years of hard work, our pastors and church leaders have finally graduated!  In our time together these servants of God read through every verse of the Bible twice, studied every passage, and tested out of every book!  By God’s grace we can also claim along with the Apostle Paul that we did not shrink back from declaring the whole counsel of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"April 2022 - The Harris Family"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nWhat a blessing it was to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ once again in April! There is nothing better than to be a part of a global movement of believers representing every tongue and tribe and nation celebrating our Savior conquering the power of Satan, Sin and death through His death, burial, and resurrection!\nI love the message brought by the angels on that very first Easter morning found in Luke 24:5, Why do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen!\u0026quot; It is my prayer that you and your loved ones had a blessed time remembering that the tomb is empty, and that Jesus is alive! Our church had an amazing time celebrating this history changing event, and in this missions update I want to tell you all about it!\nOur weekend began with a Good Friday shadow play focusing on the arrest and death of Jesus! A shadow play is a drama performed behind a backlit 50 foot wide sheet and performed with actors in shadows! This wonderful evening included a live choir, the old Apostle John as the narrator, and concluded with the saving message of the Gospel. On Good Friday we were blessed to witness several first time professions of faith!\nWith the pandemic seemingly behind us, our church staff made a great effort to make Easter Sunday our largest celebration yet! That included inviting our church’s many amazing cooks to bring their best dishes to church where we had a large food court for fellowship. We had at least 20 delicious Mexico themed culinary options to choose from! (I should know, I tried nearly all of them!)\nMy brother Mitch, his wife Joy, and their kids worked hard to cook kettle corn that we offered free to each and every person in attendance! We also had a famous clown named Evangelion (who just happens to be part of our church family) to provide a fun faith-based show to the children that reminded them of the true reason for Easter.\nThe focus of the weekend was Jesus and the truth of His resurrection! I was blessed to teach the Easter story found in Luke Chapter 24! The title of my sermon was, \u0026ldquo;The Blessings of the Resurrection\u0026rdquo;, and I wanted to remind you of three blessings of Jesus’ resurrection for you! #1- The resurrection reminds us that there is victory on the other side of the trials of life. #2- The resurrection reminds us that in the same way Jesus resurrected from the dead, we will too! And #3- The resurrection reminds us that JESUS IS ALIVE!\nPersonally for me as a pastor, it has been a battle to try and get our congregants to return to church after the difficulties of covid 19! I was pleasantly surprised that we had a (post-covid) record crowd of nearly 1500 in attendance at our three weekend services. The best part of that is that many of those were first time guests that responded to the invitation to accept Christ during the altar call at the end of the service!\nOn the family side of things, our family was blessed to celebrate our precious daughter Grace’s birthday at her favorite Korean BBQ place in Tijuana! We also held our annual Church Basketball Tournament and for the first time, Daniel knocked off his old man and won the tournament! The basketball torch has now been officially passed on and Daniel is the best hoopster in the Vincent family!\nWe ended the month of April by sending out our newest church planters! Victor and Griselda Parra were born again and then baptized in our church 7 years ago! They began serving, and then 3 years ago entered into our church planting school! After graduation, Victor became one of our assistant pastors, and he and his wife have led our important welcome center ministry with excellence over the past 2 years!\nWe were blessed to send them out to plant a church we call “Calvary Los Pampanos.” (The Branches) They are literally planting this local church in their backyard, as their neighborhood in West Tijuana has over 20,000 people living there with only one small Christian church! Please keep this newest church plant in your prayers!\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for choosing to partner with us and support our family as your missionaries! It is through your financial support that God meets our physical needs, and through your prayers, that God meets our spiritual needs. We love you, are praying for you, and thank God for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That those many that professed faith during Easter will continue at our church so we can disciple them!\n#2- That God would bless our newest church plant in Tijuana, Calvary Los Pámpanos!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a fruitful Resurrection celebration during Easter!\n#2- Praise God for allowing us to send out our 33rd church plant in April!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-may-2022-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a blessing it was to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ once again in April! There is nothing better than to be a part of a global movement of believers representing every tongue and tribe and nation celebrating our Savior conquering the power of Satan, Sin and death through His death, burial, and resurrection!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2022/04/276130683%5F5479943612019725%5F5284586524416340386%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI love the message brought by the angels on that very first Easter morning found in Luke 24:5,  \u003cem\u003eWhy do you seek the living among the dead? 6 He is not here, but is risen!\u0026quot;\u003c/em\u003e It is my prayer that you and your loved ones had a blessed time remembering that the tomb is empty, and that Jesus is alive! Our church had an amazing time celebrating this history changing event, and in this missions update I want to tell you all about it!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family May 2022 Missions Update"},{"content":"Hello Dear Family in Christ,\nI hope you all are doing well. I want to thank you for faithfully praying for and supporting the work that is happening here in my country. May God bless you all and keep you safe. I have been praying for you.\n\u0026quot; The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.\u0026quot;\nActs 13:49\nIt is our Lord’s heart to spread the Word and preach it with boldness and power. One of the signs that the Lord is in our midst is that His Word spreads and the church grows. It has been so encouraging that what Lord has started in the midst of us is about to bring a long-lasting impact on everybody who is serving and also everyone who is being served.\nWe are so thankful to our Lord for opening many doors to minister in word and also in deed. Below are the few good things God started.\nCottage Prayer Meetings God has helped us start prayer meetings everyday in houses of those we have lead to the Lord, to strengthen them and encourage them grow in their lives in Christ. They have truly felt God’s comfort and love all through this difficult season. Our staff was asked to share the Word, so that they could be used to expand the Kingdom of God. The Lord stirred up the hearts of these believers to bring in and invite more of their family members and friends to listen to the Gospel.\nWednesday Bible studies have been a blessing to the church. Many of the sisters in the church are being filled with the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\nBrother A* has been leading the youth (teenagers and young adults). We are studying the Gospel of Matthew in our Saturday youth Bible study. God has been so gracious over all of the youth. They are getting to know that Jesus is King. He is still reigning. No matter what. Lately, all the brothers and sisters have had a very good time of fellowship by ordering KFC. We are hoping and believing that the Lord has great things in store for the future through this small little flock.\nPassion Week Being followers of Christ, we are commanded to remember the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. As a church, we all gathered for Good Friday and Resurrection Day. All the believers assembled on our college campus and remembered 7 sayings of our Savior on the cross. This prompted all of us to look unto Jesus. The Good Friday service was followed with dinner. It was so powerful on Resurrection Sunday to experience the joy of knowing that our Lord conquered death. We celebrated the resurrection and are eagerly waiting upon our bodily resurrection.\nOutdoor Meeting God, in His mercies has allowed us to travel to a nearby district to share the Word of God. It seemed so impossible because of power cuts (lack of electricity) and many interruptions. Nonetheless, the Lord was so powerfully manifest among us that I preached about the will of God in a Christian life in the open air. Believers really were convicted of their sins and recognized the need of having a personal relationship with our Living Lord.\nThe Lord has been so faithful in providing for the church rent for the past few months. We pray and believe that He will provide in the coming months as well. Please pray for this.\nPraise God for another young brother named V* (right) who I met in our local outreach program. He is a young man who came here for a way to make a living, from a neighboring state. He had never heard about Jesus and His glorious good news. Sadly in his state there is no presence of Christians and people are not aware of Christianity. We hope and pray that we could reach his village through this first fruit. Brother V* is filled with hope now to continue in the quest for truth which is only found in Jesus. Please pray for brother V*.\nGospel Outreach Program in Our City- May 16th In May, we are planning to do a Gospel outreach here in our city. We want to conduct an outreach program where people can come hear the Gospel on the streets. Right now, we are going out for prayer walks and sharing the Gospel on the streets. On the May 16th, we are planning to bring more people from the area we are in. Over 150 people are expected. This will be the first time we are arranging a Gospel outreach program in this new place. We are excited to see how God works in their lives and how the Holy Spirit moves. This has always been in my heart to see people worship our great King who is on the throne. I believe and proclaim this outreach will brings many to Jesus and to transform their lives.\nBible College Outreach : May 23rd - June 6th. We will be having an outreach with the students of our Bible college to go out and preach the Gospel. We are going to 2 different states that God is leading us to go preach Gospel in. In these states, people are not allowed to speak about Jesus. The students and staff will be joining in this outreach. The outreach will last 15 days. We will be preaching the Gospel on the roads, arranging youth meetings, having fellowship, sharing the Gospel door to door, doing personal evangelism, and performing dances and skits on the streets to catch people\u0026rsquo;s attention and then preaching the Gospel. We are excited about how the Holy Spirit is going to lead us and to see people come to Christ. Pray for us as we prepare for this outreach.\nOur Interns I want to share about our interns. They are fruit of our labor and the work of the Holy Spirit.\nCalled to G* - Brother A* Here is the vision of our Bible college student who is doing internship right now. After this, he will be sent out.\n\u0026ldquo;And when he found him, he brought him to Antioch. So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people. The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.\u0026rdquo;\nActs 11:26\n\u0026ldquo;Although I grew up in an orthodox catholic family, never ever was I given knowledge of Jesus Christ or taught about the significance of the Word of God. God, in His gracious plan saved a sinner like me to be a witness of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. For the past 4 years, as a new believer I always have been enthusiastic to know the truth of the Bible.\n\u0026ldquo;The Lord heard my cry to reveal Himself through the scriptures and helped me to experientially know Him through His word. What I have been taught in this training period is that I cannot be called a Christian if I am not a disciple of Jesus Christ. I am very inspired by the lives of Paul and Barnabas and similarly praying for the purpose Lord has chosen me for.\n\u0026ldquo;Lately, the Spirit of God has been laying a burden on my heart to reach the city of G*. G* was the first destination for Lord’s work in medieval missions. To make a long story short, G*s are now badly affected by Catholicism and its ritualistic religion. If the Lord permits, in His timing, I wish to see what the Lord has for me in the future. I pray that G* will play a prominent role in the coming future just like Antioch, which was the mission station for Paul and Barnabas to reach the surrounding regions. Please uphold me and my brothers as we are praying and planning to spread God’s glorious Gospel to many other people groups.\u0026rdquo;\nAbout this area: G* is a state on the southwestern coast of the country. It is the 4th smallest state by population and the smallest by area.\nReligion : Hinduism 66.08%, Catholicism 25.10%, Islam 8.33%\nCalled to go A* - Brother C* \u0026ldquo;It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else\u0026rsquo;s foundation.\u0026rdquo;\nRomans 15:20\n\u0026ldquo;Ever since I accepted Christ, I always had a deep desire for indigenous tribes. I prayed, fasted and sought for the Lord\u0026rsquo;s guidance over time. Time passed by, and God, through Christ and His mission for the lost, has encouraged my soul to seek for Indigenous tribes. As I am being trained as an intern, I believe that I am very close to my ambition to preach the Gospel where the name of Christ has never been preached or known.\nA*, is one of the districts which is very little influenced by Christ and His church. It is the district with the highest population of Indigenous tribes.\nI am beyond blessed and thankful to God that He has blessed me with a very encouraging team whom I could share my vision and burden with. Your prayers and intercession are very much needed for me as I am praying to be sent.\u0026rdquo;\nAbout this area: A* is a citywhich serves as the headquarters of the district. T* is the native language. It is located about 304 kilometers (189 mi) north of the state capital. A* is called the \u0026ldquo;gateway to the south (of the country)\u0026rdquo;.\nPopulation: 1,39,383\nLanguages : T* is the most spoken language\nReligion : Hinduism 65%, Islam 30.59%, Buddhism 2.60%, others 2.44%\nIf God puts the burden in your hearts for these people, please do not forget to pray.\nPrayer Requests: Pray for our team to grow more in the knowledge of Christ Pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s healing. An iron plate accidentally fell on her toes, and broke 3 toes. Pray for the students. Pray for our outreach program on the 16th of May. Pray for the financial needs for it. Pray for our Bible college students outreach in 2 states. We will start on May 23. Pray for my sister, she is expecting a baby and is in her 9th month. Be praying for a safe delivery. Her due date is on the 1st week of June. Pray for my wife and daughter\u0026rsquo;s health. Thank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/preach-the-word-with-boldness/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Dear Family in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you all are doing well. I want to thank you for faithfully praying for and supporting the work that is happening here in my country. May God bless you all and keep you safe. I have been praying for you.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026quot; \u003cem\u003eThe word of the Lord spread through the whole region.\u003c/em\u003e\u0026quot;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eActs 13:49\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is our Lord’s heart to spread the Word and preach it with boldness and power. One of the signs that the Lord is in our midst is that His Word spreads and the church grows. It has been so encouraging that what Lord has started in the midst of us is about to bring a long-lasting impact on everybody who is serving and also everyone who is being served.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Preach the Word with Boldness"},{"content":" Posted on May 5, 2022, by Hope Douglass\nThis month, the weather has vacillated between spring sunshine and winter storms. The daffodils turned their bright faces toward the sun only to shortly thereafter be pressed back down to the earth by an icy blanket of snow. Many forms of life are beginning to stir and shake off the winter, but the snow keeps coming, trying to postpone and forestall the inevitable spring that is beginning to dawn.\nIt is sad to feel the first sweet caresses of warmer days, only to be jostled back into the icy cold, BUT, we see the good it’s doing. The lake is steadily rising as the snow deposits melt and flow headlong into it, the hills are green as the snow releases its icy grip and the sunshine beckons the grasses toward its light, the flowers are blooming in gardens and abandoned trails alike. Though the spring feels suppressed by the winter that doesn’t know when to quit, we know that spring is here and will only harken in warmer and sunnier days.\nIn the same way, as we face challenges and discouragements in the ministry here, we have only to lift our eyes to the Lord and trust that He is working beneath the soil and the snow covering and His light will beckon in a season of growth and fruitfulness in His timing, whether we’re here to see it or not. Not only that, but the “winter” of ministry is, to steal from Paul, “a light affliction which is but for a moment [and] is working for us a far more exceeding [and] eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17). God has been changing us through the season we’ve spent here. He makes us patient, dependent, humble, bold, and provides us with the faith to endure whatever He brings us into and through.\nWe are enjoying the young adults’ ministry and have more young adults now than ever, praise God! It has been so sweet to host in our home and walk through the book of Acts together. Isaac is honing his skills as a Bible expositor, and it’s my privilege to watch him grow. Likewise, I’ve grown in hospitality, and I genuinely enjoy opening our home to our friends; we have a living room to host people it is such a sweet gift! God-willing, one day we’ll live somewhere large enough for a kitchen table for dinner parties. ***Update- We are moving into a two-bedroom house right next door to us that is large enough for a kitchen table! God is SO good!\nEaster was a sweet time of fellowship with our church. Isaac was able to teach on Palm Sunday (I was so proud of him), and we enjoyed leading worship together on Good Friday and Easter Sunday. We spent the mid-morning with our church enjoying a potluck brunch and then the afternoon as a family. We went disc golfing and had burgers for dinner, not our typical Easter traditions, but maybe a new tradition as long as we’re far from family.\nChurch invites and goodies for the neighbors\nFletcher remains our only child in children’s ministry, Brady remains our only youth, and we remain expectant that the Lord will bring more in His time.\nSadly, Fletcher and I will not be going on the mission trip to Hungary that I mentioned in my last update. We haven’t received any of his documents yet, and I don’t think they’ll make it here in time to apply for his passport. On top of that, the trip is 18 days long, which Isaac and I felt was too long to be separated after further consideration and prayer. Happily, I am able to support the team by helping manage the trip on the front end, purchasing flights, managing payments, etc. Please pray for God’s hand of protection over them and for doors to be opened and strongholds to be removed as they minister to the young people of Hungary.\nPlease continue to keep us in prayer as we wait for God to melt ice and snow in people’s hearts and herald in the spring of His salvation. We look to and wait on Him to do the work that only He can do.\nWith love,\nHope, Isaac, and Fletcher\nhiking through the train tunnels\nLobbying in our state capitol with some saints from our church\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/spring-or-winter/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/douglass/wp-content/uploads/sites/99/2022/05/IMG%5F1819.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePosted on May 5, 2022, by Hope Douglass\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month, the weather has vacillated between spring sunshine and winter storms. The daffodils turned their bright faces toward the sun only to shortly thereafter be pressed back down to the earth by an icy blanket of snow. Many forms of life are beginning to stir and shake off the winter, but the snow keeps coming, trying to postpone and forestall the inevitable spring that is beginning to dawn.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Spring or Winter?"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.\u0026rdquo;\nMatthew 28:6 (NKJV)\nOur Almighty God is a victorious God. In history, we do not find any god who is still alive. But our Almighty God, our victorious God\u0026ndash; Jesus Christ\u0026ndash;the only one, true, living, active God is alive. He has fulfilled all of the prophecy we find in the Bible.\nOur Almighty God is a victorious God. In history, we do not find any god who is still alive. But our Almighty God, our victorious God\u0026ndash; Jesus Christ\u0026ndash;the only one, true, living, active God is alive. He has fulfilled all of the prophecy we find in the Bible.\nThis semester, in Bible School, I taught the book of Luke and the book of Acts. Our students\u0026rsquo; feedback is good. My beautiful wife is teaching a women\u0026rsquo;s Bible study every week on Sunday. She is teaching the book of Genesis verse-by-verse. From every corner of world people have joined through the internet and have fellowship together. She has now reached Genesis chapter 30.\nThe women\u0026rsquo;s Bible study members online asked my wife to teach from Daniel as well as Revelations. Pray that God may give her the strength and wisdom to teach the correct doctrine from Bible. Our Youtube channel is also growing; day-by-day new people are visiting it. God may provide me the wisdom to glorify Him through the different social media I use.\nThank you so much Saving Grace and the entire team of Calvary Chapel for supporting us, raising us, equipping us, and sending us in this field of ministry where we learn new things. Though we faces difficulties, we win through the precious blood of Jesus Christ.\nGrace and Peace,\nPastor Rabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-lord-lives/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew 28:6 (NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG%5F3764.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/IMG%5F3888-300x168.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur Almighty God is a victorious God. In history, we do not find any god who is still alive. But our Almighty God, our victorious God\u0026ndash; Jesus Christ\u0026ndash;the only one, true, living, active God \u003cem\u003eis\u003c/em\u003e alive. He has fulfilled all of the prophecy we find in the Bible.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our Lord Lives"},{"content":" AFRICA\nBond Heather and Breanna - Africa and Asia\nPraise Report:\n- Praise God for a wonderful time of ministry in Peru. Our trip was timely and fruitful as we spent time at CBI Peru and CC Trujillo. God did exceedingly abundantly above in every area.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for the ministry in Nepal and S. Asia as students study the Word of God and are being equipped for the ministry.\n2. Pray for L and D as they have started bible studies in their hometowns in Nepal. Pray for many to come to Christ and for churches in these areas to be established\n3. Pray as we prepare for summer and for several missions\u0026rsquo; trip and for the Calvary School of Missions that will be starting up and we will be teaching at. Pray for many more laborers to be equipped and sent out.\n4. Pray for Heather as she teaches on April 30th for Ladies Spring Tea\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\nPraise Reports:\n-Rainy season has finally started! We are just waiting upon God to provide seeds and\nthen we will start farming for the school! As the price of food continues to rise, we see\nthe importance.\n-We received over 750 Chicks! Their breed is called layers because they lay many eggs.\nPray they grow well and give the eggs we hope for our over 900 students.\n-Vincent was chosen to give a survey and interview with British officials for FUFA. He\nwas chosen because they said, “he looked the most sober.” We know it is because of\nGod. Pray that this relationship would lead to more open doors to share the gospel!\n-Praise God we were able to get another 100 Bibles for students!Prayer Requests:\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for the testimonies and project we are working on alongside of our precious friends\nin Texas to bless the Women’s Ministry. More information to come soon.\n2. Pray for the weekly men’s prayer and discipleship named “Consistent Men”. Our prayer\nhas been for the men to step up, consistent in the Word, grow in their love for God and\nleading their homes. Just in these few weeks, we have already seen amazing growth!\n3. Pray for the Children’s Camp we are planning to have during the children’s next break.\n4. Pray for our upcoming baptisms. Pray for the hearts of those sharing their desire. This\nwill be our first baptisms since the lockdown.\n5. Continue to pray for strength and health during this very busy and fruitful season.\nThank you for all your prayers and love for us!!!\nIn Him,\nThe Aniku Family – Emai l Blog\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for all the activities that took place during the Resurrection season. Pray for much fruit to come from the ministry that took place\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for Jill\u0026rsquo;s sister who is sick with Covid.\n2. Pray for Jill and the kids as they home school. Pray for patience and understanding.\n3. Pray for the visitors at the guest house and for the plans being made for others who will come.\n4. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nMatt and Noelle Harris - Gulu, Uganda\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please continue to pray for clear direction and open doors for traveling\n2. Pray that the Lord would provide vision for enlarging how we do missionary care\n3. Pray for wisdom and energy in parenting\nThank you for praying.\nIn Christ,\nMatt and Noelle – Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Reports:\n-An amazing Easter Service Celebration with many first-time guests and professions of faith!\n-Fruitful church planting trips in April to Monterrey and Hermosillo!\nPlease Pray:\n1, God\u0026rsquo;s direction and blessing for our two kids in college, Grace and Daniel!\n2. God\u0026rsquo;s provision for our family, church, and church plants!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California\nPraise Report:\n-Thank you for your prayers and encouragement. We had a wonderful Dessert Gathering where we were able to share our story and vision. Please continue to pray for God\u0026rsquo;s direction..\nPlease Pray:\n1; Our son Andy who continues to struggle\n2. Calvary school admissions preparation are in full swing. Pray for wisdom and endurance as we prepare to launch our fourth year\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn – Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nThank you all for your prayers!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for continued vision for Joel as he leads the care of SGWM missionaries\n2. Please pray for open doors on guidance from the Lord on traveling\n3. Please pray for continued strength and wisdom in raising our four amazing little ones in the Lord’s ways\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia – Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Tijuana, Mexico\n**\nPraise Report:**\n-Thanksgiving and praise for God’s work in our family since we moved to Tijuana.\nPlease Pray: 1. For people to see Jesus in us and our marriage \u0026amp; family\n2. For all our prodigals, especially our son Ben\n3. Vision for future ministry\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my mom to be completely well and delivered from her illness.\n2. Please pray for my family, that God will use us for His glory.\n3. Please pray that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit and that we will honor Him in all we say and do, and will be used of God to minister to others.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for my mom’s complete recovery in every way and that God will give us wisdom in getting her treatment.\n2. Please pray for my health and strength.\n3. Please pray for our financial support. Thank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas – Tijuanna, Mexico\nPraise Report:\n-Easter service was beautiful, and we had most of our kids from the afterschool program and their families in attendance! We all ate together after the service and it was a sweet time together!\n-Our new multipurpose room/soup kitchen is finished! The kids used it today for the first time!\nPlease Pray:\n1. For the Lord to open doors to start a public school here at our church. We have encountered many obstacles, But may His will be done!\n2. For the families of the kids in the afterschool program to come to Christ.\n3. Provisions to increase our staff in the afterschool program. It is growing!\n4. 1. For an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our church and our pastor, Federico Acosta— that people would come to church. May our light shine ever so brightly in this dark neighborhood! Also, for revival!\nThank you so much for your prayers for me and the people of Mexico! Psalm 133:1\nGod bless you,\nDeanna – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nPraise Report:\n-We are blessed beyond measure and are grateful for what the Lord has done and is doing in our ministry!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for the new people getting saved, and they abide in the truth through discipleship!\n2. Pray for our school of ministry and our interns to continue strong, and for them to seek the Lord to confirm their calling.\n3. Pray for conflict solving and restoration. We continue to have spiritual warfare!\n4. Pray for times of refreshing, out pouring of the Holy Spirit!\n5. Pray for more partners in the ministry here in Huacho, that more churches would have us come and share our hearts on our furlough!\n6. Pray for our health, for our children that they would all have a full relationship with the Lord.\n7.Pray for Craig to guard his study time, and administration time in the office which he struggles with, because he would rather be out having hands on discipleship and being a life coach for many!\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. God\u0026rsquo;s grace upon us and the Christians in our area as persecution is increasing.\n2. The ministry, that the Lord would increase it.\n3. The believers to stand firm in their faith in the midst of persecution.\n4. The Bible school, as we are praying and planning to begin in July.\n5. Our health and God\u0026rsquo;s provision.\nThank you for your prayers!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n- There was a festival of Hindu people in our area, and Hindu people were trying to break the cross above my church with bamboo sticks, but thank God they could not break it!\n-Thank God that He has saved us all, especially the new believers who are being harassed physically and mentally by others in their homes, villages, communities and neighborhoods because of the name of Jesus Christ.\n-Thank God that He is taking care of our needs in spite of things being very expensive.\n-Thank God that about 80 people came on Good Friday and Easter; many of them heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time, and God helped us to arrange refreshments for all of them.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray that my church can be registered and cc camera installed as soon as possible if it is God’s will.\n2. Please pray for a believers in my church who has been in the faith for about 5 years. There used to be fellowship at her house, but she was very upset because the people of her village tried to kill her. But God kept her safe. Because of this, we are not entering her village right now.\n3. Pray for the believers of our church to understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word more deeply and to rely on the Lord in persecution to help them become stronger.\n4. Pray for our country, that the Lord maintains peace in our country. These days, many people are fighting because of religion. There have also been murderers in many places.\n5. Pray for some people of the people in my village who were trying to break the cross of our church on the day of the Hindu festival. They are making big plans to attack my church; may God give them peace and may their lives be changed like Saul\u0026rsquo;s life.\nThank you for your prayers and for participating in the good news.\nGod bless you,\n11\nWorker 14 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for safety over our family as we drive to different to states to visit fellow workers this month.\n2. Pray for continued health over our family.\n3. Pray for our children as they are starting homeschooling now that we have returned and started a schedule.\n4. Pray for our staff and student workers who will be returning home this month. They have been with us to prepare for the start of the school, but due to delays will be returning home. Safety for their travels and health, and for vision as they return to their villages until the start of school.\n5. Please be praying over complications with the restart of the school. Many old challenges have returned and are causing delays and possible changes to our work.\nThank you for interceding on our behalf and lifting up the Lord\u0026rsquo;s work in our country\nGod Bless you,\n14 and family\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1.Please pray for my family that we may continue to grow in the Word.\n2· Please pray for the online Bible meeting that I have been involved with, that God will use me.\n3· Please pray for my neighbor, that he will accept Jesus Christ and be saved.\n4· Please pray for my children as they are going through their final exams at school.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n16 and family\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord, my mom is continuing to recover and taking a few steps! Please continue to pray for her.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for the students and staff and resuming teaching. I believe God may use this season and experience of my life to be a blessing to many people—it gave me a bigger burden for those who don’t know the true Gospel.\n2. Please keep new believers in your prayer.\n3. Please pray for my health and safety\u0026gt;\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n7\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1.Please pray for my ministry here.\n2. Please pray for our church, and the believers in it, that they will stay with Christ and grow in His Word.\n3. Please pray that we can begin more home fellowships in different places and villages.\n4. Pray that God will open more doors to visit His people.\n5. Pray that our church building work will begin and that God will provide some funds.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n13\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise Report:\n1. Praise God for giving all our Bible College students good health throughout this semester, it was really a quality time studying and spending time from the Word.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for all the students as go for vacation and some have completed their study. Pray that God would guide them to His ministry.\n2. Please pray for CC Hetauda and CC Janakpur that God would draw people to His Church.\n3. Please pray for Charis Bible Church Kathmandu Nepal- CBCKN, for spiritual growth of the believers. Pray that God would bring so many unsaved souls in His Church.\n4. Please pray for the Church property for CBCKN.\nThank for your prayers!\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna – Email Blog\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise repor t:\n- Thank you, prayer warrior for praying for our Bible college. As this semester also we are able to finish with great blessing with the students and we are able to send in coming days\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for our trip to west Nepal for inductive Bible study.\n3. Please pray for the students as they will be in their church, they may be like salt and light with the people.\n4. Please pray that God may bring new students in coming semester.\n5. Please pray that our ex-students may start Bible study and Churches in coming days.\nThank you for faithfully praying\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for our personal ministry to be fruitful and successful.\n2.Pray that our church will grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word daily and equip our believers daily.\n3. Pray that our believers be strong in faith.\n4. Please Pray that we may have a child. We have already consulted with the doctor, and my beautiful wife is okay, but the doctor told us that her hormone level is low. We both take medicine, and my health checkup is also good. Please pray in God\u0026rsquo;s time He will provide baby for us.\n5. Pray for our bible school that all the staff and all the students are physically fit and healthy. God may provide them safe and secure.\n6. Please Pray our Dear brother H; one of the graduated students wants to plant a church but his Pastor is not allowing him at this time. Pray for his hardship in field of ministry.\nThank you so much for your prayers\nGrace and Peace, Rabi and Mahima – Email Blog\nWorker 8 and Family – 10/40 Window\n**\nPlease Pray:**\n1. Please pray for the church building construction on my land. I humbly request to you all to continually keep this subject in your prayers.\n2. May the Lord raise thousands of hands for the kingdom of God!\n3. Please pray for spiritual revival in the believer’s lives.\n4. Please pray for our health and safety\nOnce again, I would like to thank you all for your valuable prayers and support!\nMay God bless you,\n8 and Family\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for our family to grow more in Christ and to be faithful.\n2. Pray for our church to grow in unity and love.\n3. Pray for the students in Bible college.\n4. We are going to register our church and Bible College; please be praying that the process goes well.\n5. Pray for the construction of our own building for the Bible college and church. We have moved into a new building for our church service. We are in need of better sound equipment and musical instruments. Also, we are planning to continue to be online live, too, because many people are asking us to from different cities. So, please pray for all of the equipment we need for this.\n6. Please pray for a motorcycle, for the ministry.\n7. Please pray for our women’s ministry.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\n6\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for the ministry here, that God will save more people and enlarge his kingdom.\n2. Pray for A, who was possessed by an evil spirit, that God will heal her completely and help her to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s grace.\n3. Pray for me, as I am going to a certain village for a second time next month, pray that the Lord will use me there for His glory and fulfill all of my traveling needs.\n4. We have been praying for land for our church for a long time; pray that God will fulfill it and God will be glorified in this place.\n5. We need a guitar for our church because the old guitar we have is not working well; please pray that God will provide a new one.\n6. Once or twice a month, we feed all of the people of the church because some believers come to church from far away. Due to not having enough large serving utensils, we have to rent utensils; pray that we can buy some new utensils for church.\n7. Pray for sister D, who publicly showed her commitment to Jesus some time ago; pray that she will grow more in the Lord and in His Word. This sister is a nurse in a hospital.\nThank you for your kindness!!\n12\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPraise Report:\n-By God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers.\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for the K. village, there majority of people are alcoholic. God may deliver them from alcoholic habit.\n2. Please pray for the salvation of the family, whom I shared the Gospel during my native place visit.\n3. Please pray for our nation, India that God may save this country. Also, these days new believers have been persecuted in different parts of India, pray that God may strengthen them in their faith.\n4. Do continue to pray for the growth and need of our local Church.\n5. In upcoming session, we want to operate our Pastor’s School with the limited number of boarding students. Kindly pray for all the recourses.\n6. Kindly pray for me and my family, may Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\n3 and family\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Please pray for our health and safety.\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as we serve in ministry together.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\n5. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\n3. That the Lord will open the hearts of the people whom I have shared the Gospel with.\n4. For God’s wisdom and strength to do the work of the Gospel.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers. Worker 2\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. May the Lord grant me open doors for Gospel outreach during this time and may our church grow spiritually.\n2. Please pray for my father and mother, that they will come to know the Lord.\n3. Please pray for the church members, that they will grow spiritually.\n4. Please pray that I will grow more and more spiritually in the Lord.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for me, that I would continue to grow in the Lord and continue to serve Him.\n2. Pray that I will be a blessing to the people in my town.\n3. Pray for the people of our church, that they would also continue to grow and stand strong in the Word.\n4. Pray for the children who are coming to Bible study, that at this young age they would fall in love with Jesus and His Word. This month, they are also going through their final examinations in their schools; pray that they will do well in their studies and in their exams.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\n9\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers. Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us!\nPlease Prays:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n3. Pray for me, because I am making a church building. Pray that God will give me wisdom and understanding to do it correctly.\n4. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n5. Pray for me, that God will open new doors for me to share the Gospel.\n6. Please pray for God’s presence and strength in my life, so that I can face all hard situations!\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n10\nWorker 5 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray that God\u0026rsquo;s protection\n2. Pray for our neighbors, that they will come to know the Lord.\n4. Pray for my daughter who is studying nursing.\nThank you so much for the encouragement and partnership!\nGod Bless You,\n5\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time.\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-may-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBond Heather and Breanna - Africa and Asia\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Ganoa-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise Report:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n- Praise God for a wonderful time of ministry in Peru. Our trip was timely and fruitful as we spent time at CBI Peru and CC Trujillo. God did exceedingly abundantly above in every area.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease Pray:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Pray for the ministry in Nepal and S. Asia as students study the Word of God and are being equipped for the ministry.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM MAY PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Greetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nWe thank God for His marvelous protection and provision for our family! At the same time, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support for the ministry. We highly appreciate you and your partnership in the ministry. As a family we have been praying for you, for your families, ministry, job and businesses. May the good God bless you with all of your needs being met and with good health.\nI have been doing my personal devotions from the book of Isaiah. God has been teaching me that, even after failure in life, there is hope that God will forgive us and restore our lives. As a family we are growing in the Lord.\nLast month, I had the opportunity to visit my native place after being away for seven years. I had a good time visiting with my parents and the villagers there. While I was there, I also visited some Hindu families. I shared my life story with them of how Jesus saved my life and I encouraged them to know Jesus\u0026rsquo; love.\nI regularly preach in our local church and also visit local families to share the Gospel and pray for them.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for K. village where the majority of the people are alcoholics. Pray that God will deliver them from their alcoholic habits. Please pray for the salvation of a family whom I shared the Gospel with, while I visited my home area. Please pray for our nation, that God will save this country. Also, recently new believers have been persecuted in different parts of the country, pray that God will strengthen them in their faith. Continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local church. In the upcoming school session, we want to operate our Pastor’s School with a limited number of boarding students. Kindly pray for all of the resources we will need. Kindly pray for me and my family, may the Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n\\* Names and Faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/encouraging-others-to-know-jesus-love/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/Mr.-G.-family-300x151.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe thank God for His marvelous protection and provision for our family! At the same time, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support for the ministry. We highly appreciate you and your partnership in the ministry. As a family we have been praying for you, for your families, ministry, job and businesses. May the good God bless you with all of your needs being met and with good health.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Encouraging Others to Know Jesus' Love"},{"content":" “… and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you.” Romans 15:23b NLT\nI could not include the first part of this verse which reads, “But now I have finished my work in these regions.” because our work in Cambodia is not finished. Many new and exciting projects are already lining up after our return from Japan at the end of summer.\nReconnecting in Cambodia\nNow that COVID is reducing in Cambodia, we have been able to reconnect and visit with some of our Cambodian and missionary friends that we haven’t been able to visit for a long time. We have been able to reconnect with friends in Phnom Penh and even in Kampong Chhnang, where we lived between 2009-2011. We hadn’t been able to see some of our friends there for several years.\nVisiting Japan this Summer\nWe will be visiting Japan this summer for the first time since 2018. It will be good to reconnect with our friends and family there. We will spend some time in the Tokyo area, the Osaka area, Hiroshima, and other parts of Japan as doors open. We will be sharing our ministries in churches as the doors open. This means that Lord willing, we will be visiting the USA during the summer of 2023, so we look forward to seeing our friends and family there too. Please pray for all the logistics and doors to open smoothly for us, especially my (Darryl’s) visa to Japan.\nChristology Class Begins in a Couple of Hours\nI will start teaching a two-week intensive Christology course this afternoon. Normally, I teach Apologetics, so this will be my first time teaching this course. Please pray for this class to go smoothly and for my students and me to learn together. I will be able to use some of my videos as supplemental materials.\nFamily Update\nDuring April, Benjamin had some time off from school so we were able to travel to Kampong Chhnang and Battambang to see friends and also have some family time away from Phnom Penh. Kayo continues to lead the devotions at Precious Women Organization monthly. She is also getting busy preparing for our trip to Japan. After Japan, she will get more involved in other ministries here in Cambodia. It is hard to believe that Benjamin will soon be finished with 7th grade. He is doing well but sometimes, managing and juggling all the homework is a challenge for him.\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/reconnecting-in-cambodia-and-visiting-japan/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/04/IMG%5F8970-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“… and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you.”\u003c/em\u003e Romans 15:23b NLT\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI could not include the first part of this verse which reads, “But now I have finished my work in these regions.” because our work in Cambodia is not finished. Many new and exciting projects are already lining up after our return from Japan at the end of summer.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReconnecting in Cambodia\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Reconnecting in Cambodia and Visiting Japan"},{"content":" Last month, I had the opportunity to teach IBS at a small conference (left) in the East. People are hungry for the Word of God in such places of our country. The gospel is being preached and churches are being planted. Meanwhile, because of the lack of trained leaders, the churches are not being well fed and matured.\nAs I was there, I was moved by hearing the testimonies of church leaders. The leaders go across the border from time to time into another country. There they attend some sort of seminar. They teach what they learned to their churches a for couple of months and then repeat the same thing again. That is how the churches are being taught. There is really a need for the correct teaching of the Word.\nWe had a wonderful meeting with the church leaders of the area. We also talked about Bible college recruitment and planning an IBS conference in the future.\nWe also had a great time to visiting, hearing testimonies, encouraging and praying for the believers of a church plant in another area (left).\nWe had a children\u0026rsquo;s talent show (right) at our church. The children are growing and it is great to see them performing their talents for the Lord.\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/hungry-for-the-word-of-god/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image%5F50418177-300x162.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month, I had the opportunity to teach IBS at a small conference (left) in the East. People are hungry for the Word of God in such places of our country. The gospel is being preached and churches are being planted. Meanwhile, because of the lack of trained leaders, the churches are not being well fed and matured.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image%5F50424321-300x171.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs I was there, I was moved by hearing the testimonies of church leaders. The leaders go across the border from time to time into another country. There they attend some sort of seminar. They teach what they learned to their churches a for couple of months and then repeat the same thing again. That is how the churches are being taught. There is really a need for the correct teaching of the Word.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hungry for the Word of God"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nIn the month of March, I rejoined into the ministry. After experiencing a terrible season in my life, God gave me an opportunity to join with the Bible College here to teach and to be part of the current semester.\nI am teaching 1st Corinthians to the new students. It is always an awesome thing to see how the students react to the contextual verse by verse teachings. It is a great joy to get to know the students, hear their testimonies each semester, and see how God works with different hearts!\nI have also begun making videos on YouTube and Facebook; please pray that I will be able to upload the videos regularly.\nI really want to thank each one of you for your consistent prayers for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health. She is doing a lot better, but she is still on oxygen so please continue to pray for me and for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health.\nGod bless,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-sustained-me/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/PXL%5F20220317%5F033841927.MP%5F-300x176.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the month of March, I rejoined into the ministry. After experiencing a terrible season in my life, God gave me an opportunity to join with the Bible College here to teach and to be part of the current semester.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am teaching 1st Corinthians to the new students. It is always an awesome thing to see how the students react to the contextual verse by verse teachings. It is a great joy to get to know the students, hear their testimonies each semester, and see how God works with different hearts!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Sustained Me"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family,\n\nGreetings to all of you from my church family. I want to thank God, Who has protected me and my church from every disease and from all kinds of the devil\u0026rsquo;s tricks. Also, I thank God that I have been working with Calvary Chapel for ten years! Calvary Chapel has always fulfilled our needs. They have been with us like family members in every situation. You continually pray for us. I appreciate your encouragement. I wish that someone was able to come visit my area; I am a little bit sad that no one has been able to come in almost 10 years. Thank you for your wonderful love and faith in me. God\u0026rsquo;s ministry is going on in 6 villages, by the grace of God. Along with the fellowships there are also Bible studies, and God is giving wisdom and knowledge to all of these people. They are deeply understanding the Word of God. Thank you for always remembering us in your prayers and encouraging us with the Word of God all the time.\nThis is an answer to 15 years of my prayers, and it\u0026rsquo;s an incredible day! Thank God! My sister\u0026rsquo;s wedding was on February 28th. It was the answer to my family’s prayer. God met every single need, and I saw that God is truly faithful and fulfills every one of our needs beyond what we can imagine. When I went to talk about preparing for my sister\u0026rsquo;s wedding, I was thinking, \u0026ldquo;How will this marriage happen? It is too far away and there is not enough money.\u0026rdquo; No one supports my sister or parents monthly. But everything was accomplished in an orderly manner by God.\nMy sister\u0026rsquo;s new husband\u0026rsquo;s parents are Hindu, and they do not believe in the Lord. For a while they were against the marriage. But God put it on my sister\u0026rsquo;s husband\u0026rsquo;s heart, that they should be married, and he prepared for the marriage. He had attended Bible College, but, due to the lack of monthly finances, he started working in an outside industry. After he and my sister were married, he decided that they should serve the Lord and resigned from his job. Pray that God will fulfill their needs and guide their plans; may God bless them for their ministry.\nSuch a great joy that I have no words to describe it! I had an incredible time with my dearest friends in the North. It was very nice to hear their testimonies, of what has happened with them during these past 3 years and how they are serving the Lord faithfully. Their testimonies were really the reason for so much excitement for me. Even after coming under persecution, one of my dear brothers stood with the Lord and faithfully worshiped the Lord. Spending time with him, camping and traveling was a blessing to me and to him.\nNo one visited these friends for almost 3 years. Since the persecution started, many people blocked them on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp because of fear. But when I went, they liked it very much. I also made a lot of memories that I will never forget. I was so happy to see my brother\u0026rsquo;s heart, and he helped with my sister’s marriage like it was his own sister\u0026rsquo;s wedding. God bless these friends!\nTwo more people were baptized last week! Thank God that He has given me new believers. For the first time, they heard the Word through us, and now they believe in the Lord with all their heart and soul. Because fuel is so expensive, taxi fares have almost doubled; but still, these poor people come and listen to the Word of God and apply the Word of God in their lives. Lately, we have a Bible study from the Acts of the Apostles during Sunday fellowship and a Bible study from Genesis on Fridays. A lot of people believe. We thank God that the two women were baptized last week. One of the women is the mother of a boy who is suffering from a very strange disease, which I have written to you about many times. The second woman is the mother of another believer. When that believer told her mother that salvation was only through Jesus Christ, her mother believed and gave her life to the Lord and was baptized. Thank God that more than 42 people have been baptized so far!\nA huge sacrifice for the Lord! I thank God that He has given me the best church family in the world. Along with the uneducated, there are the poor, and the unemployed. They are very hungry and thirsty for God.\nWhen people come to believe in the Lord, the people of their village society hate them and separate themselves from the believers. Many believers have also been excommunicated from their communities, becoming outcasts. Being out of cast means that no one will talk to them, nor do any kind of financial transaction or provide professional services. No one will attend their marriages or funerals. Still, I am very surprised to see the faith of these believers, that they even leave their village community family for the sake of the Lord. It is not an easy thing here.\nMy church is not registered yet; pray that I can get church registration. Then, I can make a case that the cemetery here is for all Christians and not just for two families. Or else, please pray that God will provide for us enough money to buy land for a separate cemetery for my church so that those who believe in God will not face any kind of problem at the last moment before death against their entire village community family. Also, it is very important for me to register so that if I have any problems in the present or future, then I can tell them that my church is registered. Because in this matter I can\u0026rsquo;t rely on any other person except God to help me.\nPrayer requests; 1. Everyone please pray that the Lord will provide a cemetery for our church.\n2. Pray that God will help us with the registration of our church if it is His will, and that I will be able to install a security camera in our church.\n3. Please pray about the price of fuel; it is getting more expensive here every day, and about 30 to 40% of our support is going to pay for fuel.\n4. Pray that my mother will be in good health.\n5. I want to preach the Gospel at Easter time in an unreached area about 220 miles from my village. If the Lord wills, then He will help and meet our financial needs.\n6. Pray for our believers to understand the Bible more deeply.\n7. Pray for a movie projector. My projector has suddenly broken, due to an electrical power surge.\nThank you for your prayers, love, support and partnership for the Gospel!\nGod bless you all!\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/no-words-to-describe/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/9-April-2022-300x168.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to all of you from my church family. I want to thank God, Who has protected me and my church from every disease and from all kinds of the devil\u0026rsquo;s tricks. Also, I thank God that I have been working with Calvary Chapel for ten years! Calvary Chapel has always fulfilled our needs. They have been with us like family members in every situation. You continually pray for us. I appreciate your encouragement. I wish that someone was able to come visit my area; I am a little bit sad that no one has been able to come in almost 10 years. Thank you for your wonderful love and faith in me. God\u0026rsquo;s ministry is going on in 6 villages, by the grace of God. Along with the fellowships there are also Bible studies, and God is giving wisdom and knowledge to all of these people. They are deeply understanding the Word of God.  Thank you for always remembering us in your prayers and encouraging us with the Word of God all the time.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"No Words to Describe"},{"content":"\u0026quot; Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.\u0026quot; 2 Timothy 4:2\nDear Friends and Family,\nGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan, we praise God for His grace for us all and thank Him for all that He is doing in and through our lives. We all are fine, by the grace of God, and pray for our all friends and family to be safe and fine. We are also thankful to you all for the prayers, support and encouragement in all possible ways.\nPreaching the Word of God to New Generation\nIt is always on our hearts to reach, preach and teach our new generation. We see great gap between those traditional Christians majority that feels great attraction towards prosperity teaching and televangelists, and those young people who are going to universities and are more logical and rational. Since so many churches are not engaging these people very well, a large number of these young people feel that they don’t need church and their Christian teachings anymore. We’ve been always seeking opportunities to reach these groups and engage them in Bible studies with us. Our online Bible studies are going really well and those who come to those studies feel really blessed.\nA seminar on Christology\nAt the end of last month, we organized a seminar in our town on the topic of “Christology: The Way, The Truth, and The Life”. We praise God that more thank 100 young men and women came to attend that seminar It was really great blessing for them all and for our team as well. We are trying to arrange more events like this to reach and teach these young people.\nFemale group did not join us in this photo\nSpecial Fellowship with University Students\nThere are about 70 Christian students in a university in our town. They know us well, we invited them to our Christmas program last time. Now as they organized one Get-Together of all Christian students they invited me to share the Word with them. It was really blessed time for us all. We feel so blessed to share the Word with these very wonderful young men and women. We are connected with this group and we have offered them all kind of help for their Christian faith and Bible study\nMy Book-A great Help for Students\nI praise God that I was able to write my first book on Christian Apologetics. The book is being used in a couple of Bible Colleges as Text Book on this topic. I was so blessed to be invited on the Convocation of Baptist Bible College Lahore as they used my book to teach their Students on the topic of Christian Apologetics. Students were very happy to share how helpful that book was for them. I really praise God that my effort is so helpful for these young people who are going to be leaders in the church. I am working on my second book about Spiritual Discernment and Mormonism. please continue to pray for me and my this writing project.\nBrick Makers\nReaching out to the Brick Makers for all these years has been great joy and blessing for us and also for them. They live outside of town and are considered outcast of the society. We praise our Lord Jesus Christ for setting great example for us to be one with people. We cannot explain the joy that this particular ministry gives each one of our team members. It is always so joyful to minister to these wonderful people. Please continue to pray for all these families.\nNews from Desert\nWe feel so happy to share with you that a group of Hindu tribe in the desert that we have been visiting, sent us some photos and videos recently. We felt very happy seeing them singing Christian songs and a boy sharing the Word with them. We’ve been going to them during all our mission trips in the desert. Please continue to pray for our up-coming mission trip as well.\nWe are thankful to you all once again, please continue to pray for our whole team, our families and all the people we are reaching, teaching and ministering to. God bless you all!\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/preaching-the-word/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026quot; \u003cem\u003ePreach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.\u003c/em\u003e\u0026quot; 2 Timothy 4:2\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan, we praise God for His grace for us all and thank Him for all that He is doing in and through our lives. We all are fine, by the grace of God, and pray for our all friends and family to be safe and fine. We are also thankful to you all for the prayers, support and encouragement in all possible ways.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Preaching the Word"},{"content":" Stacy and I have been on an emotional roller coaster. As the Lord continues to move and open doors, we have also experienced pain and heartbreak as well.\nHere is what you missed. We were both hit by covid. Hassan stepped on broken glass and needed 7 stitches. We lost a family in our congregation, who strayed from sound doctrine and started a new church, teaching salvation by works of the law. The husband of one of our congregants was shot 7 times in broad daylight. One bullet lodged in his brain. By the grace of God he survived and is recovering slowly. The biggest heartbreak was the loss of our brother Noe.\nAt the end of January, one of our beloved brothers passed away in a horrible car accident. His life was taken by a drunk driver. Noe was an amazing servant and friend. He and his whole family served the church with excellence. He played on the worship team, his wife served (and still serves) as an usher, and the kids serve in the media studio. They would show up early and clean the sanctuary together. He was an amazing father, husband, and servant of the Lord Most High. He left a mark on us all. He will be greatly missed. Please pray for his family.\nHis grace is sufficient Even though we have gone through heartaches and pain God has still shown Himself faithful. We were able to attend a leaders conference in Cuernavaca Mexico and invited the leaders of each church plant to come along with us. The theme was “The Prodigal Church” and the speakers shared a warning not to be misled by today’s current climate of fear. All our church plants and their leaders were able to attend.\nThe great commission continues! Every 2-3 months we have baptisms and fellowship. It’s always a joy to celebrate as a church and witness the Lord’s saving grace.\nEncouraging the ladies Stacy is teaching Romans to the ladies in our church each week. She recently was invited to be the guest speaker at a Calvary in the heart of Mexico and Calvary Colosio, our latest church plant. She did an amazing job encouraging the women to keep the course. Please pray for her next speaking engagement in Tijuana for Pastor’s wives.\nChurch plants As the book of Acts says “The Lord added to them day by day those that were saved.” All three church plants have seen the Lord move within the fellowship. We are blown away to see the growth of each one. Lord willing a new church will open within the next couple of months. This will be on the north side of Acapulco. We will keep you posted. Please continue to pray for them.\nBreaking Bread Every Monday Stacy and I continue to invite new families to our house for dinner. It’s a great time for laughter and fellowship. This allows us to get to know every congregant that attends our church. As you can imagine we have a long way to go.\nLove is in the air This past Valentines’ we put together a dinner followed by a couple of teachings. It was a perfect moment to remind everyone of the importance of our first ministry, Marriage. We had 17 couples attend the event.\nWe started this newsletter with sorrow, we end it with joy. OUR KIDS: our greatest joy! We were able to have a wedding for Elijah and Bianca here in Acapulco! It was wonderful to have all our kids together!!\nPlease Pray For Our kids: Elijah, Bianca, Noah, and Micah For Our church family and church plants For safety and protection For Hassan’s upcoming trip to Jordan. Lili is also going and raising funds. For evangelism and souls to be saved For Miriam, our children’s ministry director. She was just diagnosed with breast cancer. We pray for you as well!! Thank you for your prayers and financial support. May the Lord bless you 100-fold! Philippians 4:19 “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”\nVillegas Family Support\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/ups-and-downs/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/image.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eStacy and I have been on an emotional roller coaster. As the Lord continues to move and open doors, we have also experienced pain and heartbreak as well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere is what you missed. We were both hit by covid. Hassan stepped on broken glass and needed 7 stitches. We lost a family in our congregation, who strayed from sound doctrine and started a new church, teaching salvation by works of the law. The husband of one of our congregants was shot 7 times in broad daylight. One bullet lodged in his brain. By the grace of God he survived and is recovering slowly. The biggest heartbreak was the loss of our brother Noe.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ups and downs"},{"content":"Jeremiah 31:25 says, \u0026ldquo;for I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.\u0026rdquo;\nI hear that Jeremiah was a weeping prophet, but honestly, I feel he had such faith and courage. A lot of waiting and patience!\nIn these past few months, I (Jenn) have been reflecting on the characteristics and values of the prophets and prophetesses in the Bible. I’ve been thirsting for His presence and direction in our life. Don’t misunderstand me, our life is full of God‘s blessings and He continues to allow privileges and opportunities for us to serve Him. As many of you may know, my son Andy is choosing to be homeless and living in the streets of Orange County with mental illness, alcoholism, and drug addiction, and it’s very painful for my mother’s heart to watch. I am grateful for a very supportive and loving husband and, most importantly, our Father who continues to show up. We were recently able to connect with Andy on March 19, after not seeing him for five months. I see God using this season to deepen our faith and trust in Him. Hannah \u0026amp; Sarah in the Old Testament prayed \u0026amp; prayed for years and God fulfilled the desires of their hearts. I believe God will radically save my son in His timing. His Word says that He raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap (Ps 113:7) and that the Lord is near those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit (Ps 34:18).\nAlso, while Tim was in central Mexico, I was able to water some relationships by spending time with my mom, connecting with some of the women who encourage and support me, as well as visiting with my middle son who lives in Dana Point. I had the privilege to go to Mexico and visit Calvary Chapel Homex where our friends, Eddie and Jeanette, serve. I crossed the border on foot for the 1st time and Jeanette picked me up. It was a blessing to see a woman that was saved from the dump last summer there at church.\nWalking from CA to MX\nEddie, Jeanette, and their 3 beautiful children\nCitali at Homex, rescued from drug addiction (and many other things that come along with living in the Tijuana dump) last year while we were in Mexico serving at Calvary School of Missions .\nCitali served in January at Homex\u0026rsquo;s children’s breakfast ministry. Keep praying for her and let\u0026rsquo;s pray for a women\u0026rsquo;s home. It is so needed! Women who have lived on the streets have nowhere to go after rehab.\nI also had the opportunity to serve at Voice of Refugees\u0026rsquo; (VOR) Women\u0026rsquo;s Day by watching the babies and making jewelry for the ladies. It was such a blessing to demonstrate Jesus’ love to the women and children of many middle eastern countries like Afghanistan.\nServing in the nursery at VOR\u0026rsquo;s women\u0026rsquo;s day\nMaking jewelry for the ladies while they\u0026rsquo;re being pampered\nMeet Christine, she was very intrigued and blessed by this bracelet and wanted to buy some supplies to make jewelry and sell it for income.\nSo much good is happening in our lives and in the ministries God allows us to participate in. We want to thank you all so much for partnering with us through prayer, emotional support, and your very generous financial support. We are more grateful than we could ever express. If anyone would like to hear more about what is going on in our lives, we would welcome an email, phone call, or private get together where we could share more personally with you. In a more public setting, we are having a dessert gathering on Sunday, April 24th at 6:30pm in the High School Room at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. We will share what we’ve been up to and what the Lord is doing in our lives and we would love you to come on out for delicious dessert \u0026amp; fellowship.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/refresh-the-weary-and-satisfy-the-faint/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJeremiah 31:25 says, \u0026ldquo;for I have satiated the weary soul, and I have replenished every sorrowful soul.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hear that Jeremiah was a weeping prophet, but honestly, I feel he had such faith and courage. A lot of waiting and patience!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn these past few months, I (Jenn) have been reflecting on the characteristics and values of the prophets and prophetesses in the Bible. I’ve been thirsting for His presence and direction in our life. Don’t misunderstand me, our life is full of God‘s blessings and He continues to allow privileges and opportunities for us to serve Him. As many of you may know, my son Andy is choosing to be homeless and living in the streets of Orange County with mental illness, alcoholism, and drug addiction, and it’s very painful for my mother’s heart to watch. I am grateful for a very supportive and loving husband and, most importantly, our Father who continues to show up.  We were recently able to connect with Andy on March 19, after not seeing him for five months. I see God using this season to deepen our faith and trust in Him. Hannah \u0026amp; Sarah in the Old Testament prayed \u0026amp; prayed for years and God fulfilled the desires of their hearts. I believe God will radically save my son in His timing. His Word says that He raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap (Ps 113:7) and that the Lord is near those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit (Ps 34:18).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Refresh the Weary and Satisfy the Faint"},{"content":"Dear Family and Friends in the Gospel, Time flies! The Lord has blessed the last couple of months and I am excited to update you all! I am doing something a little different this month! Click the link below to watch and hear what the Lord has been doing! Grab some snacks and enjoy\nhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/U4Cx-H6xvrw\nThe Middle East Vision Tour Pray for God’s heart and Spirit to lead and guide us as we seek His will for our lives specifically in this area of the world Pray for our Team and for Unity! Pray for Wisdom and Discernment as we interact with the land and the people Pray for His love to go forth Pray for personal direction and my involvement in the ministries in this area Praise for the funds He has provided! Praise for His covering of the trip Administrative tasks and Leadership Praise for His guidance thus far! Partnership in the Gospel Thank you for your labor in the Gospel and for partnering on my behalf! God’s graciousness and faithfulness have never lacked and I know your prayers and financial support have been His way of confirming the work being done within the Unreached.\nYour role as His church in support of those who have never heard the Gospel is vital and appreciated, I pray He blesses you with the fruit of your labor!\nI love and appreciate each one of you! You’re my family in Christ and I couldn’t ask for better partners. How great is our LORD!\n2 Corinthians 9:6-8\nEach of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.\nPetition – For Central Asia: A team and wisdom are needed to proceed with making moves toward Reaching the Unreached. Please be praying for support and partners in the Gospel.\nIf you wish to partner in the Gospel as we run towards His name being made known among the Unreached of Central Asia and the World you can do so by:\nPraying! Giving financially towards one of my upcoming trips or a monthly donation. I do need a consistent income of 80%/month for living costs. This upcoming Tour will give an idea of how much is needed. Reaching out to me personally! I am available for communication if you would like to partner as a Church leader, Prayer Group, Friend, etc. The blue button is available or you can make a check out to Saving Grace World Missions with my name in the memo at 17451 Bastanchury Rd Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886.\nMay He lead and bless!\nMany blessings and love from Him who is worthy of All Praise\nAleah Vanrenterghem\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/to-mexico-and-beyond/","summary":"\u003ch1 id=\"dear-family-and-friends-in-the-gospel\"\u003eDear Family and Friends in the Gospel,\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vanrenterghem/wp-content/uploads/sites/138/2022/04/WhatsApp-Image-2022-03-15-at-6.36.13-PM.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTime flies! The Lord has blessed the last couple of months and I am excited to update you all! I am doing something a little different this month! \u003cstrong\u003eClick the link below to watch and hear what the Lord has been doing!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eGrab some snacks and enjoy\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/U4Cx-H6xvrw\"\u003ehttps://www.youtube.com/embed/U4Cx-H6xvrw\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"the-middle-east-vision-tour\"\u003eThe Middle East Vision Tour\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePray\u003c/strong\u003e for God’s heart and Spirit to lead and guide us as we seek His will for our lives specifically in this area of the world\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePray\u003c/strong\u003e for our Team and for Unity!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePray for\u003c/strong\u003e Wisdom and Discernment as we interact with the land and the people\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePray\u003c/strong\u003e for His love to go forth\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePray\u003c/strong\u003e for personal direction and my involvement in the ministries in this area\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise\u003c/strong\u003e for the funds He has provided!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise\u003c/strong\u003e for His covering of the trip Administrative tasks and Leadership\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise\u003c/strong\u003e for His guidance thus far!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vanrenterghem/wp-content/uploads/sites/138/2022/04/benjamin-suter-1OXBhp7B3BA-unsplash.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"partnership-in-the-gospel\"\u003ePartnership in the Gospel\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your labor in the Gospel and for partnering on my behalf! God’s graciousness and faithfulness have never lacked and I know your prayers and financial support have been His way of confirming the work being done within the Unreached.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"To Mexico and Beyond!"},{"content":" Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.\n1 Peter 4:19\nIn the month of March, God allowed me (Matt) to attend a Calvary Chapel pastor’s conference in another part of Uganda. The teachings of the conference followed the book of First Peter, and focused on the theme of the living hope we believers have in our resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ. In his first letter, Peter describes how as Christians, we are exiles on the earth, awaiting our homeland. Our sojourning’s are full of difficulties and trials that God uses to purify our faith like fire. But we rejoice because we have living hope that God’s testing’s will result in praise, glory, and honor at Christ’s revelation.\nIt was nice to look at the theory of God’s testing, but the practical exam was harder than the written one… While I was away I learned that my family was undergoing serious illness. God tested us for three weeks with a variety of sicknesses. Unfortunately, among other things, Noelle and Emma both battled sepsis, a bacterial infection of the blood. They have both since healed, but Noelle’s body is still recovering. Please pray for us to have wisdom and determination as we pursue health. We are blessed to gain endurance as God takes our eyes off of this world and onto His eternal kingdom.\nIn this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.\n1 Peter 1:6-7\nIn Christ, Matt, Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/march-2022-harris-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTherefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 Peter 4:19\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2022/04/20220317%5F090054%5F2-e1649438023885.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the month of March, God allowed me (Matt) to attend a Calvary Chapel pastor’s conference in another part of Uganda.  The teachings of the conference followed the book of First Peter, and focused on the theme of the living hope we believers have in our resurrected Lord, Jesus Christ.  In his first letter, Peter describes how as Christians, we are exiles on the earth, awaiting our homeland.  Our sojourning’s are full of difficulties and trials that God uses to purify our faith like fire.  But we rejoice because we have living hope that God’s testing’s will result in praise, glory, and honor at Christ’s revelation.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"March 2022 Harris Update"},{"content":"**_And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:9-10_**\nDear Friends and Family,\nChrist Is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Soon we will be celebrating the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that you are blessed, that your faith is strengthened and your hope refreshed as you reflect on what Jesus has done for us and the future He has prepared for us. I look forward to sharing next month all that He has done through out this season as we have many things planned to let people know of Christ’s love for them.\nThis past month has been a very busy and fun time of visitors. During the severe covid times we had absolutely no visitors. This made for a very lonely guesthouse. As things began to open up we were thankful when visitors started to return. This past month we had our first big team come through. They came through to help some fellow missionaries build a house about 3 hours from where we live. We knew most of the team from their previous mission trips to Uganda and Sudan. They were able to spend a couple of days on either side of their construction mission to do ministry with us at Arise Christian fellowship. The team was from Old Paths Chapel in New York. They commented how whenever they pull up to the gates of the guesthouse they feel like they are coming home. For us whenever they come it is like having family come to visit.\nIt is amazing how the family of Christ fits together no matter where you’re from or how long you’ve known each other, you are family. While they were visiting, Pastor Harley was able to teach at the church. He taught on the Women at the Well and how Jesus finds us and meets us where we are. We can bring anything to Him because He already knows and wants to help or forgive. We also had a BBQ and a time of prayer and worship at our house after church for the team and other visitors we had staying with us, along with some of the ministry team. It was very beautiful. We were many nationalities present and again it was like a big family sharing and fellowshipping together.\nWhile Pastor Harley was teaching many of the other team members went to help out with our newly reopened Sunday School. Since March 2020 there has been no Sunday school. The president did not let churches reopen Sunday school till recently when all the students were allowed to go back to school. Before covid we often had more than 100 children present for Sunday school. As we reopen, pray for God to call and raise up more teachers. We were very thankful to have the team there to help out for the reopening. The team saw there was a need for the older children who were new to the church to have their own Bibles. We were blessed that they took a collection amongst themselves and bought them Bibles along with some extra Bibles for the children who are yet to come. Weekly we are seeing more and more children flood in. Most of the children come from a nearby slums. We try to provide them with a snack during Sunday school and a bigger bite and drink afterwards before they go home. We are thankful for a generous provider from my home church who helps with this ministry.\nAnother event that took place this past month was the Board Lords Chess tournament. Luke and Laylee have been taking chess lessons for quite awhile. Liana had just began 2 weeks before the tournament. The host of the tournament was a Christian and the day was very evangelistic. Since Brian is a pastor, they had Brian share and pray during the award ceremony. Both Brian and I had the privilege to be part of the award ceremony, presenting the winners with their awards. If you have ever seen the movie Queen of Katwe, the kids’ teacher, Christine, is in the movie and helped the real life Phiona. The chess program the kids belong to is called Dove Chess Academy. It provides lessons at schools, for homeschoolers and they reach out to children in the slums or from troubled homes, just like in the movie. We are blessed that our kids are able to be part of it.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPrayer Requests We thank the Lord for everyone who comes through the FRM guesthouse to minister in Uganda and Sudan. We are thankful for the many partners who make the ministry here possible Please pray for the lives that were touched through the New York team and for the team members as they return to the States. Pray for the Sunday School at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for teachers and for all the children who come. Pray for The Dove Chess Academy. Pray for the ministry they have to children all over Uganda from various backgrounds and faiths. Pray for them to be a witness of Christ. Pray for all the activities, outreaches and services we have planned for the Passion Week. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-april-2022/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"_andlet-us-not-grow-weary-while-doing-good-for-in-due-season-we-shall-reapif-we-do-not-lose-hearttherefore-as-we-have-opportunitylet-us-do-good-to-allespecially-to-those-who-are-of-the-household-of-faith\"\u003e**_And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGalatians 6:9-10_**\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"christ-is-risen-he-is-risen-indeed\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChrist Is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSoon we will be celebrating the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  I pray that you are blessed, that your faith is strengthened and your hope refreshed as you reflect on what Jesus has done for us and the future He has prepared for us.  I look forward to sharing next month all that He has done through out this season as we have many things planned to let people know of Christ’s love for them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update - April 2022"},{"content":"Hello Friends,\nI am thankful to God once again that I am able to describe the great works of God in your midst. I was very busy during the last few months because I traveled to share the Gospel in many different places. Some of the places were nearby but some were far away.\nMy friend and I also went to visit our ministry friends. I was very happy because it had been such a long time since had seen each other, and we glorified God. God is doing a wonderful work in these places. There are very few people who serve the Lord in these remote areas, but still God\u0026rsquo;s work is being done there. After that, I went to some other places which are very far away. The way is completely raw, but God has allowed us to go there too. During this time, most of the churches in in our country meet online and others go for personal visits to homes.\n\u0026ldquo;And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.\u0026rdquo;\n(John 8:32)\nGod is doing a wonderful work here and is using me for His kingdom. He also leads me to places where people are still infested with evil spirits and still in darkness. People are in despair, but I thank God for his living Word that frees them from this bondage. There are many curses in these places, even today; only the Word of God frees them from this curse. I am grateful to God that He takes me to places like these where I can tell people about the truth.\nWhen I read about the ministry of Jesus Christ, I found that many people were possessed by evil spirits and Jesus freed them and they followed him. I came across a girl who was similar to these possessed people in the Bible. I want to tell about this girl who was very troubled by evil spirits because of her family\u0026rsquo;s curse. The girl\u0026rsquo;s grandfather practices sorcery. When she heard the Word of God, so many evil spirits started bothering her, but God redeemed her! Now she joins with us in Bible study every day. I see that she has a hunger for God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nPaul exhorts the church in Thessalonians \u0026ldquo;that no man should be moved by these afflictions: for yourselves know that we are appointed thereunto\u0026rdquo; because these people were growing in faith and love even in tribulation. We see there how Paul was thankful to God for His faithfulness. This same word remains for our church\u0026ndash;when I see God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness in our church people, I am very happy and encouraged to see their faith in Christ. Our church is growing through the power of God, and many new people are also having fellowship with us. We have begun Bible study every evening; we have been studying the book of Matthew for about 6 months. As you know, we have been doing a fellowship in my bedroom, and there is not enough space for very many people. I am unable to invite more people to join our fellowship because we do not have enough space for everyone, so I go to people\u0026rsquo;s homes and visit them. We connect with those who live far from here through online Bible study and fellowship. These days, some Jehovah\u0026rsquo;s Witnesses people are also coming to the Lord\u0026ndash;the Lord is great because He doesn\u0026rsquo;t keep his truth hidden from anyone, and wants all to be saved! Thank God for His faithfulness and love towards His people!\nPrayer Requests Pray for the ministry here, that God will save more people and enlarge His kingdom.\n2. Pray for A*, who was possessed by an evil spirit, that God will heal her completely and help her to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s grace.\n3. Pray for me, as I go to a certain village for a second time next month. Pray that the Lord will use me there for His glory and fulfill all of my traveling needs.\n4. We have been praying for land for our church for a long time; pray that God will fulfill this and God will be glorified in this place.\n5. We need a guitar for our church because the old guitar we have is not working well; please pray that God will provide a new one.\n6. Once or twice a month, we feed all of the people of the church because some believers come to church from far away. Due to not having enough large serving utensils, we have to rent utensils. Pray that we can buy some new utensils for the church.\n7. Pray for sister D*, who publicly showed her commitment to Jesus some time ago. Pray that she will grow more in the Lord and in His Word. This sister is a nurse in a hospital.\nGod bless,\nPastor 12*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-has-done-great-things/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/IMG20220221210925-300x200.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am thankful to God once again that I am able to describe the great works of God in your midst. I was very busy during the last few months because I traveled to share the Gospel in many different places. Some of the places were nearby but some were far away.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy friend and I also went to visit our ministry friends. I was very happy because it had been such a long time since had seen each other, and we glorified God. God is doing a wonderful work in these places. There are very few people who serve the Lord in these remote areas, but still God\u0026rsquo;s work is being done there. After that, I went to some other places which are very far away. The way is completely raw, but God has allowed us to go there too. During this time, most of the churches in in our country meet online and others go for personal visits to homes.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Has Done Great Things"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThis past month I was so blessed as March was packed full of church planting adventures. The month began with our church plant in Mazatlan hosting their annual church planting conference! (Sadly I missed this conference for the first time, as I was officiating my cousin Steve’s funeral) At that conference, our ministry was blessed to send out our next two 2nd generation church plants!\nCalvary Culiacan sent out their sixth church plant, Calvary Patria (Patria means “the Fatherland” in Spanish) in Culiacan! Then next, Calvary Maranatha in Mazatlan sent out their 2nd church plant (Calvary Chapel Stone Island) a bilingual church plant 20 minutes away from their sending church! Each one of these church plants is led by an exciting young couple that graduated from our local schools of church planting!\nI was also blessed to visit two of our 1st generation church plants! My church planting assistant (Super) Mario Medrano and I have had plans fall through again and again to visit our 4 year old church plant in Monterrey! (The 3rd largest city in Mexico) This city had the most stringent rules in regards to covid, and because of that, the church was closed down for over 1 ½ years! Throughout that trial, our church planters Pedro and Amparo and their five children, have stayed strong over that time, and praise God we were able to keep supporting them financially to keep them on their feet!\nSix months ago, they re-opened the church in a new more strategic location! I traveled with a team of four, and we hosted a conference we titled “the greatest commandment!” This conference was focused on loving God, and loving your neighbors around you! We had over 50 adults in attendance and we were honored to host a Carne Asada BBQ to celebrate with them!\nThe following night, I taught their midweek service on my favorite topic, The SENDING HUB!” Our desire for our church plants is to not only plant churches, but plant churches that plant other churches! (We call that, “A SENDING HUB!”) The most exciting aspect of this trip was it was all in Spanish! That means that this gringo taught two sermons in Spanish! (And I only butchered a couple words! LOL!)\nAt the end of the month, we took another ministry team to visit our one year old church plant in Hermosillo Sonora! (The next state over from Baja) On this trip, we flew in a couple of our other church planters and we hosted the first church planting conference in the history of this great state!\nThe title of the conference was “GO” and we had a great turnout of local pastors that joined us to learn about God’s heart for church planting! Once again I was blessed to teach in Spanish, and encourage our friends in Hermosillo to reach this entire city of 1 million with Spirit filled Bible teaching churches that plant other churches!\nAfter the conference, our church hosted a church planting dinner with 10 of our church planters that had flown in. I nearly welled up with tears seeing my good friends that had all at one time been my Assistant Pastors, but have now been sent out to the mission field and are planting churches and encouraging other pastors.\nOn Sunday, I was blessed to teach at Calvary Hermosillo. It was an amazing experience to see the growing congregation in action, along with the team of 6 servants that we sent here. We ended the day hosting another all you can eat BBQ, and the fellowship was so special, that we didn’t get out of the church until after 3pm!\nYou’ve probably noticed that I love talking about the great work that God is doing here through church planting. But the reason I write about it so often is because all of this is YOUR SPIRITUAL FRUIT! As Paul the Apostle wrote in 1st Corinthians 3:6, “I planted, Apolos watered, and God gave the increase!” This verse is a reminder that together, we are separate but equal partners in the ripe harvest fields of the Lord! We love you, are praying for you, and thank God for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless the two churches we visited in March (Monterrey and Hermosillo) and that they would grow to become sending hubs!\n#2- That God would strengthen our family, marriage, and children!\n#3- That God would help me be diligent in the church planting book He has placed on my heart to write, titled “THE SENDING HUB!”\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for the two conferences we got to host in March!\n#2- Praise God for new ministry partners He is bringing us to partner in this great work!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-april-2022-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2022/04/277362011%5F670267407584318%5F7632750271363222921%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month I was so blessed as March was packed full of church planting adventures.  The month began with our church plant in Mazatlan hosting their annual church planting conference! \u003cem\u003e(Sadly I missed this conference for the first time, as I was officiating my cousin Steve’s funeral)\u003c/em\u003e At that conference, our ministry was blessed to send out our next two 2nd generation church plants!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2022/04/276972908%5F5626899937327339%5F6479838657228031933%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCalvary Culiacan sent out their sixth church plant, Calvary Patria \u003cem\u003e(Patria means “the Fatherland” in Spanish)\u003c/em\u003e in Culiacan! Then next, Calvary Maranatha in Mazatlan sent out their 2nd church plant \u003cem\u003e(Calvary Chapel Stone Island)\u003c/em\u003e a bilingual church plant 20 minutes away from their sending church! Each one of these church plants is led by an exciting young couple that graduated from our local schools of church planting!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family April 2022 Missions Update"},{"content":" AFRICA\nVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the Lord to provide and multiply for these precious hearts. Pray also for the poultry project to help their diets.\n2. Pray for the women’s tea.\n3. Pray for the Easter celebrations and outreaches.\n4. Continue praying for the container we are shipping.\nThank you for your prayers!!!!\nIn Him,\nAniku Family – Emai l Blog\nMatt and Noelle Harris - Gulu, Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for clear direction and open doors for traveling\n2. Pray that the Lord would provide vision for enlarging how we do missionary care\n3. Pray for wisdom and energy in parenting\nThank you for praying.\nIn Christ,\nMatt and Noelle – Email Blog\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship as we meet and fellowship together.\n2. Pray for the many needs within the community, physical and spiritual.\n3. Pray for our family\u0026rsquo;s health and safety\n4. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\n5. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Tijuana, Mexico\nPrayer Requests\n1. Thanksgiving \u0026amp; praise for God’s work in our family since we moved to Tijuana.\n2. For people to see Jesus in us and our marriage \u0026amp; family\n3. For all our prodigals, especially our son Ben\n4. Vision for future ministry\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California\nPraise Reports:\n1. Central Mexico trip went great, there certainly were some curveballs and Tim came back with the flu but all in all God hit a home run.\n2. Praise God for people who support us in prayer, emotionally, and financially. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t do this without them.\n3. Praise God for the really, really good relationship we have with each other and mentors we have.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for our son and his salvation and stabilization.\n2. Care team was assembled for us last month, please pray for them.\n3. Continued vision and strength as we pour into the future missionaries at our church.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn – Email Blog\nBond Heather and Breanna - USA, Asia and Africa\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our upcoming trip to Peru as we depart March 26 to teach at CBI Peru.\n2. Pray for continued open doors for ministry in Asia and Africa. Pray for churches as they are able to gather again that they would be protected from government scrutiny and that there would be an effective work as churches begin to gather again.\n3. Pray for our upcoming summer plans as many countries and needs are opening to us and we want to go where the Lord wills.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nThank you all for your prayers!\nPrayer Requests\n1. Please pray for our missionaries, that the Lord would continue to sustain them and give them continual vision for their ministries\n2. Please pray for wisdom and strength for us in raising our children in the Lord.\n3. Please pray for an opportunity for travel to open up for Joel to care for SGWM missionaries\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia – Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Reports:\n- For our two new church plants in 2022! (Morelia and Chihuahua)\n- For our new church planting courses with 50 students.\nPrayer requests:\n1. Safety in these difficult times!\n2. Wisdom for our college age children in their studies!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my mom to be completely well and delivered from her illness.\n2. Please pray for my dad and two sisters who are caring for my mom while she is ill, that God will strengthen them and give them wisdom.\n3. Please pray that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit and that we will honor Him in all we say and do and will be used of God to minister to others.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my mom’s complete recovery in every way and that God will give us wisdom in treatment.\n2. Please continue to pray for our nursing home ministry, that many will be drawn close to Jesus and encouraged.\n3. Please pray for our financial support.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas – Tijuanna, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For the parents of the 36 children in our afterschool program to come to church on Easter Sunday to see their child in a special Easter presentation that they will be presenting, and that the Lord would meet them in a special way!\n2. For the Lord to open doors to start a public school here at our church. We have encountered many obstacles, but may His will be done!\n3. Provisions to increase our staff in the afterschool program. It is growing!\n4. For an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our church and our pastor, Federico Acosta— that people would come to church. May our light shine ever so brightly in this dark neighborhood! Also, for revival!\nThank you so much for your prayers for me and the people of Mexico! Psalm 133:1\nGod bless you,\nDeanna – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nThank you all for standing in the gap in intercessory prayer!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray: for new believers!\n2. Pray for our summer outreaches!\n3. Pray for our interns and students at the School of Ministry!\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. God\u0026rsquo;s grace upon us and the Christians in our area as persecution is increasing.\n2. The ministry, that the Lord would increase it.\n3. The believers to stand firm in their faith in the midst of persecution.\n4. The Bible school, as we are praying and planning to begin in July.\n5. Our health and God\u0026rsquo;s provision.\nThank you for your prayers!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Thank God that my sister\u0026rsquo;s wedding was on last 28th and this marriage went very well and God has fulfilled every need.\n- Thank God I was able to reach my ministry well and start fellowship again.\n-Thank God that there are currently about 6 villages going on fellowship and Bible study.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that summer is starting and I need 3 wall fans and 3 stand fans for church God can fulfill.\n2. Please pray that many illiterate people who come to study the Bible can understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word more deeply.\n3. Please pray next month there is baptism service again some more want to be baptized so far about 40 people have been baptized till now.\n4. Please pray that during Easter next month, I want to do an outreach in unreached village, about 350 km from my home. People of that village are inviting since Christmas. In which I am planning to show Jesus movie and preach the gospel on loudspeaker and feed about 200 people and share new testaments . If God wills, then fulfill the financial needs.\n5.Please pray that my church can be registered and cc tv cameras can be installed.\n6. Please pray; there is a mentally ill lady next to my house whom the boys of my village keep pelting stones, and do very wrong things at times. May God save her life and let the police take her words very seriously.\n7. Please pray there can be a graveyard for my church because all the people who are coming in faith are not allowed by the people of the society to participate in any of their public things.\nThank you for your prayers and for participating in the good news.\nGod bless you,\n11\n**\nPrayer Requests**\n1. Please pray for safety over our family as we drive to different to states to visit fellow workers this month.\n2. Pray for continued health over our family.\n3. Pray for our children as they are starting homeschooling now that we have returned and started a schedule.\n4. Pray for our staff and student workers who will be returning home this month. They have been with us to prepare for the start of the school, but due to delays will be returning home. Safety for their travels and health, and for vision as they return to their villages until the start of school.\n5. Please be praying over complications with the restart of the school. Many old challenges have returned and are causing delays and possible changes to our work.\nThank you for interceding on our behalf and lifting up the Lord\u0026rsquo;s work in our country\nGod bless you,\n14 and family\nWorker 16 - 1-/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for my family that we may continue to grow in the Word.\n2· Please pray for the online Bible meeting that I have been involved with, that God will use me.\n3· Please pray for my neighbor, that he will accept Jesus Christ and be saved.\n4· Please pray for my children as they are going through their final exams at school.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n16\nWorker 7 – 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord, my mom is continuing to recover and taking a few steps!\nPrayer Request:\n1. Please pray for the new semester and resuming teaching. I believe God may use this season and experience of my life to be a blessing to many people—it gave me a bigger burden for those who don’t know the true Gospel.\nThank you for praying!\nGod bless you,\n7\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Pray for the construction of our church building. I want to finish it, but my budget is small. Please pray that God will provide a way.\n2. A few brothers want to be baptized. Pray that God will open their hearts to stay faithful to Jesus Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n13\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and Pradip we are going for a conference in East Nepal, Bara. Pray that the Holy Spirit may lead and guide us as we teach there.\n2. Please pray for CC Hetauda- Laxman and CC Janakpur- Nikesh. May God’s Spirit lead these brothers to preach the gospel and draw people to His Church.\n3. Please continue to pray for our Bible College family- all the staffs and students, may the love and unity abound.\n4. Please pray for Charis Bible Church property, may God provide in His perfect time.\nThank for your prayers!\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna – Email Blog\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise report:\n- And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.\u0026quot; As Jesus said to us as well, our Bible college students are so excited to share Christ in the midst of our community.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for our trip to visit and encourage our graduates.\n3. Please pray for our trip to share Gospel in different mountainous regions.\n4. Please pray for our Bible college students, that they may grow in His Word.\n5. Please pray for Calvary Chapel Nakhu, where we serve; that God may give us wisdom and knowledge to lead the people in His way powerfully.\n6. Please pray for revival in our Country.\nThank you for faithfully praying\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please Pray for Ukraine, that has been suffering a lot. God may protect them, care for them and give them shelter; those who are refugees.\n2. Pray for our County\u0026rsquo;s government system. Day by day Petroleum products cost are increasing due to this. all the essential things are increasing in price too.\n3. Pray our believers to be strong in the word of God.\n4. Pray our bible school\u0026rsquo;s staff and students will be safe from covid.\n5. God may provide for us His strength and we be refreshed every day and we could be able to teach our students.\n6. That all students should complete their race, and the devil cannot attack them. Pray God may provide them with wisdom and knowledge.\n7. Pray, this semester I am teaching from Book of Luke and Acts that God may use me mighty in a way to teach all the students.\n8. Our ministry to be fruitful to all who have been listening and watching from social media.\n9. Pray for our Easter program to be successful. That many more unsaved people can come to Christ and they will be saved.\n10. Please pray for our health; to be physically fit and fine.\nThank you so much for your prayers, Grace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima – Email Blog\nWorker 8 and Family – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the church building construction on my land. I humbly request to you all to continually keep this subject in your prayers.\n2. May the Lord raise thousands of hands for the kingdom of God!\nOnce again, I would like to thank you all for your valuable prayers and support!\nMay God bless you,\n8 and Family\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our family to grow more in Christ and to be faithful.\n2. Pray for our church to grow in unity and love.\n3. Pray for the students in Bible college.\n4. We are going to register our church and Bible College; please be praying that the process goes well.\n5. Pray for the construction of our own building for the Bible college and church. We have moved into a new building for our church service. We are in need of better sound equipment and musical instruments. Also, we are planning to continue to be online live, too, because many people are asking us to from different cities. So, please pray for all of the equipment we need for this.\n6. Please pray for a motorcycle, for the ministry.\n7. Please pray for our women’s ministry.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\n6\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the ministry here, that God will save more people and enlarge his kingdom.\n2. Pray for A, who was possessed by an evil spirit, that God will heal her completely and help her to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s grace.\n3. Pray for me, as I am going to a certain village for a second time next month, pray that the Lord will use me there for His glory and fulfill all of my traveling needs.\n4. We have been praying for land for our church for a long time; pray that God will fulfill it and God will be glorified in this place.\n5. We need a guitar for our church because the old guitar we have is not working well; please pray that God will provide a new one.\n6. Once or twice a month, we feed all of the people of the church because some believers come to church from far away. Due to not having enough large serving utensils, we have to rent utensils; pray that we can buy some new utensils for church.\n7. Pray for sister D, who publicly showed her commitment to Jesus some time ago; pray that she will grow more in the\nLord and in His Word. This sister is a nurse in a hospital.\nThank you for your kindness!! 12\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPraise Report:\n-By God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Do continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local Church.\n2. In upcoming session, we want to operate our Pastor’s School with the limited number of boarding students. Kindly pray for all the resources.\n3. Kindly pray for me and my family, may Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. My wife R. is not doing kindly pray for her complete healing.\n4. Please pray for all the resources for our house construction.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\n3 and family\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Please pray for our health and safety.\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as we serve in ministry together.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\n5. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 1 – 10/40 Window\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the work the Lord has set before us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please prayer for opportunities to share the Gospel\n2. Pray for our family to stay healthy.\n3. Pray for our students and staff.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\n1\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\n**\nPrayer Requests:**\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers. Worker 2\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for one of our church members. She is suffering with throat cancer and is admitted in the hospital.\n2. Please pray for my father and mother, that they will come to know the Lord.\n3. Please pray for the church members, that they will grow spiritually.\n4. Please pray that I will serve the Lord according to His will and also grow in my personal Bible study.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I would continue to grow in the Lord and continue to serve Him.\n2. Pray that I will be a blessing to the people in my town.\n3. Pray for the people of our church, that they would also continue to grow and stand strong in the Word.\n4. Pray for the children who are coming to Bible study, that at this young age they would fall in love with Jesus and His Word. This month, they are also going through their final examinations in their schools; pray that they will do well in their studies and in their exams.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\n9\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers. Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n3. Pray for me, because I am making a church building. Pray that God will give me wisdom and understanding to do it correctly.\n4. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n5. Pray for me, that God will open new doors for me to share the Gospel.\n6. Pray for one brother who I have been sharing the Gospel to; pray that he will come to Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n10\nWorker 5 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that God\u0026rsquo;s protection\n2. Pray for our neighbors, that they will come to know the Lord.\n4. Pray for my daughter who is studying nursing.\nThank you so much for the encouragement and partnership!\nGod Bless You,\n5\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are\nmistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping\n\u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time.\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-apr-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/aniku1%5F1204-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Pray for the Lord to provide and multiply for these precious hearts. Pray also for the poultry project to help their diets.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. Pray for the women’s tea.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. Pray for the Easter celebrations and outreaches.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e4. Continue praying for the container we are shipping.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your prayers!!!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Him,\u003cbr\u003e\nAniku Family – \u003ca href=\"mailto:faithinthebrokenhearted@yahoo.com\"\u003eEmai\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/aniku/\"\u003el\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/aniku/\"\u003eBlog\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMatt and Noelle Harris - Gulu, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM APR PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Dear supporters and prayer partners, thank you for your prayers and financial support! We are praying for your family and your country.\nLast month, my family and I were Covid positive, but I thank the Lord for His grace and mercy that He kept us safe and healthy.\nLast month, I began an online meeting with my extended family members (above). They are from different states and most of them are nominal Christians. I began this online Bible study so that they would really come to know the love of Jesus Christ and accept Him as their personal Savior. I praise God that now more families are joining the Bible study!\nA few days ago, I visited my neighbor. He is an older man, and he has been coughing a lot for the last few months. He was born and brought up in a Christian family, but he quit going to church a long time ago. Now, he sits on his porch all day and smokes, and he continues to cough. For the last few days, as I lay in my bed, I could hear him coughing. I could not help but think about the story of Lazarus. God put it in my heart to help this older man and also share the Gospel with him. We sent him to the hospital, but he came back without getting any treatment because he did not want to get tested for Covid. I praise God that I was able to share the Gospel message with him. He told me that he knows everything, but I told him, \u0026ldquo;Unless you accept Jesus as your personal Savior, you are not going to heaven.\u0026rdquo; I have been praying for him, that\nhe will be saved.\nPrayer Requests Please pray for my family to continue to grow in the Word. Please pray that God will use me in the online Bible meetings that I have been involved with. Please pray that my neighbor will accept Jesus Christ and be saved. Please pray for my children as they are taking their final exams at school. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/believe-on-the-lord-jesus/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Dear supporters and prayer partners, thank you for your prayers and financial support! We are praying for your family and your country.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month, my family and I were Covid positive, but I thank the Lord for His grace and mercy that He kept us safe and healthy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Capture-300x153.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month, I began an online meeting with my extended family members (above). They are from different states and most of them are nominal Christians. I began this online Bible study so that they would really come to know the love of Jesus Christ and accept Him as their personal Savior. I praise God that now more families are joining the Bible study!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Believe on the Lord Jesus"},{"content":"Praise Points: Praise the Lord! My sister\u0026rsquo;s wedding was on the 28th of last month. The marriage went very well. God has fulfilled every need! Praise the Lord! I was able to reach my ministry well and begin fellowship again! Praise the Lord! There are currently about 6 villages here where we are having fellowships and Bible studies! Prayer Requests: Please pray for us as summer is beginning. I need 3 wall fans and 3 standing fans for our church. Please pray that God will provide for our needs. Please pray for the many illiterate people who come to study the Bible to be able to understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word more deeply. Next month, there are more people who want to publicly show that they follow Jesus during a church service. Please pray for this; about 40 people have done this. Please pray during the Easter month. I want to do an outreach in an unreached village about 350 km from my home. People of that village have been inviting me since Christmas. I am planning to show the Jesus film, preach the Gospel on a loudspeaker,feed about 200 people and give out New Testaments. If God wills, pray that He will fulfill the financial needs. Please pray my church can be registered and that cc tv cameras can be installed. There is a mentally ill woman next to my house whom the boys of my village keep pelting stones at. They do very wrong things at times. May God save her life and let the police take the words very seriously. Please pray that there can be a graveyard for my church. All of the people who are coming to faith are not allowed by the people of the society to participate in any of their public things. Thank you all for your prayers and for participating in the good news!\nGod bless you all!\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praise-and-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"praise-points\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise Points\u003c/strong\u003e:\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/wedding-300x174.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise the Lord! My sister\u0026rsquo;s wedding was on the 28th of last month. The marriage went very well. God has fulfilled every need!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise the Lord! I was able to reach my ministry well and begin fellowship again!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise the Lord! There are currently about 6 villages here where we are having fellowships and Bible studies!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"prayer-requests\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests\u003c/strong\u003e:\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease pray for us as summer is beginning. I need 3 wall fans and 3 standing fans for our church. Please pray that God will provide for our needs.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease pray for the many illiterate people who come to study the Bible to be able to understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word more deeply.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eNext month, there are more people who want to publicly show that they follow Jesus during a church service. Please pray for this; about 40 people have done this.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease pray during the Easter month. I want to do an outreach in an unreached village about 350 km from my home. People of that village have been inviting me since Christmas. I am planning to show the Jesus film, preach the Gospel on a loudspeaker,feed about 200 people and give out New Testaments. If God wills, pray that He will fulfill the financial needs.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease pray my church can be registered and that cc tv cameras can be installed.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThere is a mentally ill woman next to my house whom the boys of my village keep pelting stones at. They do very wrong things at times. May God save her life and let the police take the words very seriously.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease pray that there can be a graveyard for my church. All of the people who are coming to faith are not allowed by the people of the society to participate in any of their public things.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you all for your prayers and for participating in the good news!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praise and Prayer Update"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,\u0026rdquo;\nEphesians 4:12 (NKJV)\nStudent\u0026rsquo;s Hike It was a wonderful time to hike and spend time in prayer with our dear students.\nCCBC Music Class The body of Christ is being built up. Blessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/equipping-the-saints/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;For the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEphesians 4:12 (NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"student\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStudent\u0026rsquo;s Hike\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image%5F17215489-300x203.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt was a wonderful time to hike and spend time in prayer with our dear students.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"ccbc-music-class\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCCBC Music Class\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image%5F50365185.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image%5F50414337-300x207.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image%5F50432001-300x266.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image%5F6483441.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch4 id=\"the-body-of-christ-is-being-built-up\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe body of Christ is being built up.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBlessings!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrakash \u0026amp; Muna and Eutychus\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image%5F6483441-2-300x128.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/image%5F6483441-1-300x177.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"Equipping the Saints"},{"content":" I greet you all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nPraise the Lord! God has provided me with a piece of land. It is a testimony. For three years we prayed continuously for this land to be divided between my brothers. Finally, last year, God heard and answered our prayer on June 21, 2021. We are so happy and thankful to God for this miracle!\nSometimes, we have trouble because we live in a rented house and both of our Sunday services are held in believers\u0026rsquo; homes. For this reason, we are praying for a permanent church building and residence. I humbly request that you would all keep this subject in your prayers, so that the house of God will be established as soon as possible.\nMay the Lord raise thousands of hands for the kingdom of God!\nOnce again, I would like to thank all of you for your valuable prayers and support!May God bless you all abundantly.\nPastor 8* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praying-for-the-construction-of-a-church/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG%5F20220109%5F132423-300x142.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI greet you all in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003cbr\u003e\nPraise the Lord! God has provided me with a piece of land. It is a testimony. For three years we prayed continuously for this land to be divided between my brothers. Finally, last year, God heard and answered our prayer on June 21, 2021. We are so happy and thankful to God for this miracle!\u003cbr\u003e\nSometimes, we have trouble because we live in a rented house and both of our Sunday services are held in believers\u0026rsquo; homes. For this reason, we are praying for a permanent church building and residence. I humbly request that you would all keep this subject in your prayers, so that the house of God will be established as soon as possible.\u003cbr\u003e\nMay the Lord raise thousands of hands for the kingdom of God!\u003cbr\u003e\nOnce again, I would like to thank all of you for your valuable prayers and support!May God bless you all abundantly.\u003cbr\u003e\nPastor 8* and Family\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praying for the Construction of a Church"},{"content":"Rachel Martinez March 2022 Update Click here to watch my video update!\nPhoto Dump! Westgrove Missions Conference\nMazatlán\nCuliacán\nIf you would like to partner with me financially, either on a one-time basis, or on an ongoing basis as I seek to raise the monthly support I will need to get on the field, you can give online at my secure giving link here, or write a check to SGWM with my name, “Rachel Martinez,” in the memo section, mailed to 17451 Bastanchury Rd Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886. I’ll be visiting Las Vegas the last week of March! Come out to the Thursday night service at Calvary Chapel Las Vegas on March 31st to say hello!\nI’m so grateful for all of you! Please let me know how I can be praying for you and your family.\nGrace and peace, Rachel Martinez ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-gives-the-growth/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"rachel-martinez-march-2022-update\"\u003eRachel Martinez March 2022 Update\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/wMXSLiXuCKk\"\u003eClick here to watch my video update!\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"photo-dump\"\u003ePhoto Dump!\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWestgrove Missions Conference\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-2\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-53.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMazatlán\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-4.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-7.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-10.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-11.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-19.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCuliacán\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-22.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-24.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-27.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-28.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-29.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-32.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-37.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-40.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-43.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-49.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/March-22-50.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003ch4 id=\"if-you-would-like-to-partner-with-me-financially-either-on-a-one-time-basis-or-on-an-ongoing-basis-as-i-seek-to-raise-the-monthly-support-i-will-need-to-get-on-the-field-you-can-give-online-at-mysecure-giving-link-here-or-write-a-check-to-sgwm-with-my-name-rachel-martinez-in-the-memo-section-mailed-to-17451-bastanchury-rd-suite-203-yorba-linda-ca-92886\"\u003eIf you would like to partner with me financially, either on a one-time basis, or on an ongoing basis as I seek to raise the monthly support I will need to get on the field, you can give online at my \u003ca href=\"https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=706160430CD0478\"\u003esecure giving link here\u003c/a\u003e, or write a check to SGWM with my name, “Rachel Martinez,” in the memo section, mailed to 17451 Bastanchury Rd Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886.\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’ll be visiting Las Vegas the last week of March! Come out to the Thursday night service at Calvary Chapel Las Vegas on March 31st to say hello!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Gives the Growth!!"},{"content":"For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? -Romans 10:13-15\nDear Friends and family,\nGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan. We always praise God for Calvary Chapel Pakistan. We want to thank all of you who are there for us, praying, encouraging and helping in all possible ways. For last 14 years, we have been receiving your great love and care, and it has always helped us to remain focused on serving the Lord here in Pakistan.\nChurch and Teaching Our church is going really well. We have been studying the book of Revelation for last six months, and it is really amazing to study the book with our church which is studied least here and people have so many misconceptions about the book apart from all the eschatological views.\nIn our weekly online studies in five cities now, we are studying the book of Genesis (every Tuesday, once a week). I cannot explain the joy when people contact us and say that this is the first time that they have come to know biblical teaching in the book along with many cultural facts and history to understand the book. We praise God for that all.\nThe third main thing is our weekly video teaching which is being received truly well. Along with some other recording (full courses and studies, being recorded slowly and gradually) we are recording Bible’s book overview and it is being posted on facebook, youtube and shared through some other media platforms every week. It truly is much work, and we praise God for the energy that He gives us. Thanks for your prayers. But through this update I specially want to share with you about our outreach evangelism and women ministry.\nOutreach Evangelism Desert Area: We have a wonderful brother near the desert whose main responsibility is to arrange and organize our weekly online class in his city, but God has really filled his heart to reach other people and share the Word with them. For many days every week he is traveling and reaching people with the Word. He has Bibles, song books and scriptural booklets. Thus he is reaching and teaching hundreds of people in his area.\nBrick Makers: In our own area, we have different groups of brick makers that we are reaching. We praise God for the opportunity to be with them, encourage them and teach them. Though they are so much oppressed in their lives, but spiritually they are growing and becoming stronger. We have really heart touching testimonies from these people and we give God all glory for His great work in and through our lives among all these wonderful people He loves.\nWe have some other friends working among children and other brick makers, we try to provide them with Bible study material, scriptural booklets etc. and they are reaching and teaching different groups.\nWomen Ministry We have not been updating much about Women ministry during last many months. This ministry also has been growing in an amazing way. My wife has been reaching and teaching ladies in the remote areas every week (she is doing that regularly). Now God has opened a door for her to teach to different groups of women in a very organized manner. She has volunteered herself to teach daily in a Women Bible Training Center where young Christian girls, Christian working women specially nurses, pastors’ wives, and Sunday School teachers come. We really praise God for all the wonderful ways in which he is using our lives here in Pakistan for His name’s glory.\nUrdu Bibles Every year we give hundreds of Urdu Bibles to the people who don’t even have a Bible at their home. We are thankful to you for the support for the Bibles and for all the other ministry work. Thank you very much once again, please continue to pray for us, and our upcoming mission trips to the desert area where we have whole day teaching and training. God bless you and your families.\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/reaching-the-unreached-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFor “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? -Romans 10:13-15\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan. We always praise God for Calvary Chapel Pakistan. We want to thank all of you who are there for us, praying, encouraging and helping in all possible ways. For last 14 years, we have been receiving your great love and care, and it has always helped us to remain focused on serving the Lord here in Pakistan.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Reaching the Unreached"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family!\nWe have been provoked lately regarding the power of prayer in our lives and the lives of others. Prayer is so powerful, the most powerful weapon we have as believers. As various trials have popped up in the lives of loved ones, we have been reminded of this reality.\nA few weeks ago, Amy’s dad was in a skiing accident that left him in critical condition. Through the prayers of many, he is on the road to recovery. Though things are coming along much more slowly than we’d like, we are so thankful the Lord saved him from an accident that could have been so much worse!\nJust this past week, we also learned that missionary friends of ours in Turkey were in a terrible car accident that left their three-year-old son in critical condition with a fractured skull. Through the power of prayer, he is blowing the doctors away in that what they estimated to be 3 months’ worth of progress for him happened in only 3 days! Not only that, but our friends have been provided for radically and have been sharing the gospel with the doctors.\nFinally, it has been amazing to see what the Lord is doing through the efforts of believers, and in our context, Calvary Chapels, in the Ukraine. Friends of SGWM are heavily involved on the ground there helping evacuate people and save lives. Praise God for how he moves in the worst of situations!\nOn the ministry side, Joel has helped hold the fort at SGWM headquarters in Yorba Linda while a large group was in central Mexico for two weeks. This past weekend, he had the privilege of both leading worship and preaching on one Sunday! It was busy, but a blessing to be used by the Lord in this way.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-power-of-prayer-garcia-family-update-march-2022/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have been provoked lately regarding the power of prayer in our lives and the lives of others. Prayer is so powerful, the most powerful weapon we have as believers. As various trials have popped up in the lives of loved ones, we have been reminded of this reality.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA few weeks ago, Amy’s dad was in a skiing accident that left him in critical condition. Through the prayers of many, he is on the road to recovery. Though things are coming along much more slowly than we’d like, we are so thankful the Lord saved him from an accident that could have been so much worse!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Power of Prayer – Garcia Family Update March 2022"},{"content":"Greetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nI thank God for your partnership in the ministry through your prayers and financial support.\nIn my last update I shared about how Covid was spreading throughout our community and about all the restrictions that the government was imposing. My family and some of our church members had tested positive and were quarantined. A lock down was even imposed.\nDuring the second wave in our country, hundreds of people were dying every day. I remember watching on the news that because there were long waits at the cremating place, people threw dead bodies in the river. During this time I thought that the situation would got worse in this third wave. Thank God\u0026ndash;it wasn\u0026rsquo;t so. All of the people (my family, neighbors and church members) who were affected by Corona got well. There were no complications.\nNow our ministry is going on as usual. We are having regular church gatherings with no restrictions. I am teaching the book of Galatians during Sunday services when it is my turn. I am half way done and I am really excited to preach the rest of the book.\nBy the end of last year, I had started a Bible study with some school children. They are from Christian backgrounds but do not know the Word well. So I got the opportunity to lead them in this Bible study. They are doing good and are always excited to have the Bible study. I have been seeing progress in them which really brings me joy. They want to grow in the Word and grow in their spiritual walk with Christ.\nPrayer Requests: Pray that I would continue to grow in the Lord and continue to serve Him. Pray that I will be a blessing to the people in my town. Pray that people of our church would also continue to grow and stand strong in the Word. Pray that the children who are coming to the Bible study at this young age will fall in love with Jesus and His Word. Also, this month they are taking their final examinations at school. Pray that they will do well in their studies and exams. Blessings,\nPastor 9\n\\* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thanks-be-to-god-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thank God for your partnership in the ministry through your prayers and financial support.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn my last update I shared about how Covid was spreading throughout our community and about all the restrictions that the government was imposing. My family and some of our church members had tested positive and were quarantined. A lock down was even imposed.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thanks Be to God"},{"content":"Hello, Dear Family In Christ!\nHow are you all doing? Thank God for His protection over all. Thank you all for your prayers and support. During this new year, God has greater things for all of us. I hope God has already started them in your life.\nThis new year has already been amazing. I was able to see things of God in our family\u0026rsquo;s life and ministry. I praise God for that. I want to share some things with you all, so that you will know more about how to pray for us. May it be encouraging to you that your prayers are answered and God has heard your prayers. People of God who are praying and supporting us in ministry, may you see the fruit that God has made able to come forth. One thing I want you to know is that, you are partaking in our service towards Him. It wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have happened without your prayers and support and mainly by the grace of God. May God bless you more in the work you do. I will be continually praying for you all.\n2 More Accepted Christ It is amazing and happy to see that people are coming to Christ, getting saved and turning away from their sins and from this world.\nI got to meet an amazing family. The man\u0026rsquo;s name is R*. I got to know him through his sister when he was in prison. He was in a gang that was in an attempted murder case, so they put him in prison. He became really depressed and wanted to kill himself.\nI was able to talk to him, share Gospel with him and pray over him. From that day on, he felt the love of God. He started believing in Christ and started praying in prison. He confessed his sins and gave his life to Christ. After a few days he was released. He then started coming to our church and decided to get baptized in the name Jesus. The amazing thing is that his whole family got saved and gave their lives to Christ. What an amazing God we serve and worship! The whole family was baptized. Praise God! Now they all are coming to church and regularly attending weekly Bible studies.\nYouth Meeting We have been praying to start having a youth conference every month to encourage youth in the Word of God. So, in the month of January we conducted a youth conference. It went really well. I shared the Word of God. These days, young people are struggling a lot and are in the bondage of sin. Some are not able to overcome sin, because of a lack of the Word of God. God really spoke to them that day that they are strong when they are in the Word of God. They also learned not to destroy their spiritual life and relationship with God. The Word of God is always our strength to attack the enemy. We all know when Satan came to Jesus with temptations, Jesus answered with the Word of God. So that is how we overcome the wicked one.\nAll of the young people were blessed. Some of them recommitted their lives to Christ. Some gave their live\u0026rsquo;s to Jesus. We also had some fun, played games, sang songs and had dinner together. Afterward everyone asked us when we are going to meet again. It was really amazing that young people wanted to know more about God and grow more in their relationship with Him. Keep praying for these young people to be strong and to have a close relationship with Jesus. Keep praying that these youth conferences continue to grow and to be a blessing to many.\nWomen’s Bible Study Bible study is going well by the grace of God. Women are learning a lot from the Word of God. My wife Elizabeth is doing women’s Bible study in the middle of the week. Pray that it continuously grows and is blessed. Many are attending and every week new people come. We have been able to see a change in them and their families. They were sharing testimonies about what a blessing this fellowship is. It has really blessed my heart to see them grow. My heart is to see them depending on God more to grow more and to be women of faith and in the Word.\nTestimonies from the Worship School Students We have successfully completed the Calvary Chapel Worship School Batch-1 with the Lord’s help. Personally, it was so encouraging to see how God has been helping all through the worship school. We had students from our own state and from other states as well. We had a few students who were very enthusiastic to learn what it means to Biblically worship the God of the Bible. These students not only finished the classes but also decided to enroll in our Bible college.\nStudent 1*\u0026rsquo;s Testimony\n\u0026ldquo;I have had many misconceptions and prejudices about biblical worship. I was attracted to un-biblical teachings which affected my worship of God. Despite many difficulties, I made it to the worship school. I thank God wholeheartedly because, though this worship school, God directed my life for a greater purpose and cause. Finally, I am excited for what the Lord has is store for me in the future.\u0026rdquo;Student 2*\u0026rsquo;s Testimony\n\u0026ldquo;I have always been skeptical about my faith in Jesus because of my family\u0026rsquo;s condition. I had no clue of what the Lord was about to do in my life through this worship school. I am now sure that my God wants to be known by me.\nSince then, I took a step of faith to join the Bible college school and commit myself in the studying of the scriptures. I am now more clearer than before of my identity because it has been found in Christ through the teachings in this worship school.\nI praise God for what He is doing in each one of our lives.\u0026rdquo;\nBible College Another semester has already started. We have 10 students. Amazingly God has brought His people to be trained and to equipped for His work. These people are awesome. They really have a heart to learn and serve God. Pray for them to be faithful and to learn the Word.\nNew Church Plant An update from one of our Graduates Brother P*\n“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”\nPhilippians 1:6\n\u0026ldquo;I am confident enough in the one who has chosen me to serve Him that He will help me carry it till the end. Ever since I graduated from the college, I have always been hopeful and confident that God has a place and people for me to serve. I have kept seeking the Lord’s direction and guidance for the future. I was first led to y* slum where they was a Christian family. The Lord opened the door for me to minister to this family. Not only was I allowed to have a Bible study there, but I also was allowed to minister to many other unbelievers in the slum. The Lord has been gracious. Now there are 20 people attending the Sunday service. Amidst the severe pandemic, there was a family which was severely affected in the pandemic and miraculously, the Lord healed all the family members. They are so thankful to their God who healed their bodies and are eager to know Him who is powerful enough to save their souls.\u0026rdquo;\nK* Slum God, in His mercy has gifted me a heart of connecting people as a bridge. Having this in my mind, I was standing in a bus stop and waiting for Lord’s intervention. Then, I was led to meet a young guy. We got to know each other well. He happens to be a guy from a Christian family. He asked me to have a Bible study for all the community members. The Lord has been powerful. There has been gradual growth in the fellowship. Now there are about 12 families who are attending the Sunday fellowship. There has been a huge influx of women converts in the Body of Christ. This is my prayer that men should be raised up and that they act as instruments in shaping the local communities. There are now 3 new converts who are men. They used to be drunkards. Now the are completely sold out for Christ. They are getting to know their Savior through the weekly Bible Studies.\nAn Update from Brother C*\n\u0026ldquo;It is a great joy working among the children in K* slum. Since I am already a graduate from the Bible college here, I have been full of expectation and excitement to see what God has for me in the future. The Lord answered my prayers through brother P* and I was asked to takeover the children’s ministry in the K* slum. When I first met and tried to understand them, I saw that they all had a nominal Christian upbringing but that their lives were still worldly. I asked the Lord to help me to minister to these little hearts. After I sought the Lord’s help, I taught them about the Savior, Jesus, through some action songs. I am now beyond thankful to God that are so enthusiastic about Jesus. I believe that the Lord has been working in these little hearts. There are now 18 Children attending the fellowship. I am praying to minister to the Hindu kids as well. The children were blessed with Bibles, toys, and Sunday school materials. I am earnestly praying that they would grow more in the Lord and bear fruit worthy of repentance.\u0026rdquo;\nPrayer Request s Pray for our family to grow more in Christ and to be faithful. Pray for our church to grow in unity and love. Pray for the students in Bible college. We are going to register our church and Bible College. Pray for the process to go well. Pray for the construction of our own building for the Bible college and church. We have moved into a new building for our church services. We are in need of better sound equipment and musical instruments. Also, we are planning to go online live, because many people are asking us to from different cities. Pray for us to get all the necessary equipment. Pray for a motorcycle for the ministry. Pray for the women’s ministry. Pray for my health. For the past 15 days I have been suffering with cold and cough. Thank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-will-praise-the-lord/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello, Dear Family In Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHow are you all doing? Thank God for His protection over all. Thank you all for your prayers and support. During this new year, God has greater things for all of us. I hope God has already started them in your life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis new year has already been amazing. I was able to see things of God in our family\u0026rsquo;s life and ministry. I praise God for that. I want to share some things with you all, so that you will know more about how to pray for us. May it be encouraging to you that your prayers are answered and God has heard your prayers. People of God who are praying and supporting us in ministry, may you see the fruit that God has made able to come forth. One thing I want you to know is that, you are partaking in our service towards Him. It wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have happened without your prayers and support and mainly by the grace of God. May God bless you more in the work you do. I will be continually praying for you all.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Will Praise the Lord"},{"content":"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing,\ngive thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18\nDear Friends and Family,\nThis year, so far it seems that there has been a continuing theme of prayer. According to 1 Thessalonians 5 we are to “pray without ceasing”, so this theme should not be surprising. Last month, I shared how we had started the year, after our bout of covid, with an afterglow and prayer service at church. That service inspired the wife of our media director, Esther, to take time to pray a step further. While prayer is a part of every service and ministry we have at Arise Christian Fellowship, Esther thought we needed a day set apart specifically for prayer and fasting. We have now started, on the first Saturday of the month, to have a day of prayer and fasting at the church. Whoever is able gathers at the church at 2pm, following the worship teams’ practice. The worship team members who are able to stay, open the prayer time with some worship while individuals have a time of personal prayer, reflection and repentance. After that there are organized times of prayer where the people pray for specific things such as the church, the country, world events, etc. There is also time for the people to break into smaller groups and pray for one another for whatever prayer requests they might have.\n1 Thessalonians also says to “rejoice always” and to “give thanks in all circumstances”. Throughout the time of prayer there is also times of rejoicing and of people giving thanks. The times of thankfulness I believe are so encouraging for everyone who is there. First of all it points to the One who is able to answer our prayers as well as secondly, building faith in those who are petitioning the Lord for something specific. This time of prayer is helping people to learn to draw near to God and rely on Him. It has also been a good opportunity for the church to better get to know one another and to help each other through prayer. After the time of prayer is over, around 6pm, we break the fast together. This ends the day with food and fellowship. I believe those who come leave both spiritually and physically satisfied.As we launched the monthly day of prayer and fasting, it became evident that many people in the church have amazing testimonies to share. Testimonies are our own personal experiences with God. They can often reach and encourage people in a way that they couldn’t be reached before. This month we opened up time during the Sunday service for those who had a testimony they wanted to share so they could share it with the church. The first Sunday, our missionary to South Sudan, Ivan, and his wife were there. Last year, Ivan got married during the time of the strict Covid operating procedures. Only 20 people were allowed at the wedding. Now that the COVID restrictions are relaxed, Ivan wanted to come and share his testimony with the whole church of how he and his wife met and married. His testimony was very encouraging as many people in the church want to be married but feel like it will never happen or that they are getting old. Ivan is in his 40’s and shared how while there were ups and downs in is life as a single man it was as he focused on the Lord and served Him whole heartedly that he met his wife, who was also serving the Lord. This was exactly what many of the single people needed to hear.\nAnother testimony that was shared this month was that of Bright. Over the last 2 years he has gone through much. First he was in a terrible accident where he was hit by a car while riding a small motorbike. He almost died. After he recovered from the accident he was attacked and beaten almost to death. This was during a time when people were desperate for food and money after so many lockdowns. This beating landed him in the hospital for quite a long time. There was even a point where we were not sure if he’d be able to walk. Bright shared that during these near death incidents the Lord truly made His presence known and it also convicted him of his lifestyle. He loved the Lord and was coming to church but his “wife” was not really his wife. After he was well they shared the truth of their relationship and have taken the steps to make their marriage legal. This was also a needed testimony as many people in Uganda are “married”, meaning that it is in word only not legally. This has a lot to do with not being able to afford dowry or thinking that they need an extravagant wedding. We have taught and encouraged against these false marriages but Bright’s testimony was from personal experience and I pray will be received by those who need to hear it.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the people in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPrayer Requests We thank the Lord for how He is working amongst Arise Christian Fellowship . Please pray that many people would come to our day of prayer and fasting. Pray that they would experience God answering and moving in their lives Pray for all the people who have had Covid that they would be completely healed from the lingering symptoms. Pray for Ivan and his wife as they continue to serve the Lord together and grow in their marriage. Pray for Bright and his wife as they truly walk together in marriage now. Pray for everyone who has heard the testimonies of Ivan and Bright that their faith will be strengthened. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-10/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eRejoice always, pray without ceasing,\u003cbr\u003e\ngive thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis year, so far it seems that there has been a continuing theme of prayer.  According to 1 Thessalonians 5 we are to “pray without ceasing”, so this theme should not be surprising.  Last month, I shared how we had started the year, after our bout of covid, with an afterglow and prayer service at church.  That service inspired the wife of our media director, Esther,  to take time to pray a step further.  While prayer is a part of every service and ministry we have at Arise Christian Fellowship, Esther thought we needed a day set apart specifically for prayer and fasting.  We have now started, on the first Saturday of the month, to have a day of prayer and fasting at the church.  Whoever is able gathers at the church at 2pm, following the worship teams’ practice.  The worship team members who are able to stay,  open the prayer time with some worship while individuals have a time of personal prayer, reflection and repentance.  After that there are organized times of prayer where the people pray for specific things such as the church, the country, world events, etc.  There is also time for the people to break into smaller groups and pray for one another for whatever prayer requests they might have.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":"“But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28.\nA lot of “things” are happening in the world right now. I don’t know if they are “these things” or not. : ) Regardless, I am reminded that it is always a good time to “straighten up and lift up your heads.” By lifting up our heads we will find that we are looking up to God and therefore we have reason not to be discouraged because God is greater than any problem that we could possibly face.\nFinished an Apologetics Class\nThis past week, I finished teaching, assessing, and grading for an Apologetics class I have been teaching at a Cambodian seminary. The class started in January but we had some interuptions when students caught Omicron. Thankfully, everyone recovered in time to make final videos and scripts. The students also serve in local churches on the weekends and they told me that they were using the lessons learned in those classes to help equip the churches they serve and also with their unbelieving relatives.\nPreparing to Teach Christology\nAnother Bible school, where I usually teach Apologetics, asked me to teach Christology because their regular teacher cannot fly in to Cambodia this year due to Covid restrictions. So, I am studying so I can teach this class for the first time in a two week intensive module the end of April/beginning of May. I have learned a lot during this process. There actually is a lot of overlap with Apologetics because I will be teaching on the Deity of Christ, the Trinity, heresies, and cults.\nVideo Update\nSince my last update, I released the video: If I Become Christian Will God Heal All My Injuries and Sickness?. As always, the video is in the Cambodian language. It was reasonably popular on Facebook but not so much on YouTube. I have decreased my video production to about one video per month because my teaching and other ministries are more active than during COVID.\nOmicron Seems to be Waning\nNow, all the cases of Covid in Cambodia are Omicron but the daily official numbers and unofficial reports we hear all indicate that it is decreasing. The government has indicated that they are not planning more restrictions or lockdowns so this is a relief. Now we just trust that in time, the current restrictions will be lifted.\nSummer Trip to Japan Looking More Likely\nEven though we are still not 100% sure we can go to Japan this summer, some doors are beginning to open. As of March 1, Japan opened to foreigners on business or with family in Japan (not tourists). So, I can probably get a visa. We will have to go through 3 days of quarantine, unless they lift it before then. The only remaining thing to pray for is that the churches in Japan will be ready and able to invite us. If we go to Japan this summer, we will definitely be planning to visit the US in the summer of 2023.\nFamily Update\nKayo is almost finished with her coordination work with the local international church’s worship team. She will take a rest and then look for new opportunities to serve and minister. Please continue to pray for her health as she frequently has minor sicknesses.\nBenjamin continues to do well in school and with friends. He is growing quickly and is learning a lot. He enjoys reading theology and apologetics books in his free time.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/looking-up/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” Luke 21:28.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA lot of “things” are happening in the world right now. I don’t know if they are “these things” or not. : ) Regardless, I am reminded that it is always a good time to “straighten up and lift up your heads.” By lifting up our heads we will find that we are looking up to God and therefore we have reason not to be discouraged because God is greater than any problem that we could possibly face.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Looking Up"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nYou have been hearing about how God is working in my mother\u0026rsquo;s life. It is an absolute miracle that she is alive today! For the past few days, she has been able to walk a few steps with the help of walker and oxygen. The doctors are not sure how long she will need oxygen. One doctor suggested turning off her oxygen for ten minutes every hour during the day time, which is showing me that my mom is doing a little better with her breathing. When we turn off her oxygen for ten minutes, her oxygen saturation is 58. (A normal healthy person\u0026rsquo;s saturation fluctuates between 95 to 99.) So now we know how much more she needs to get better to be lead a normal life.\nOn the other hand, in regards to my ministry, I am going to rejoin the Lord\u0026rsquo;s work starting the 1st week of March. I will be teaching 2nd Corinthians at Calvary Chapel Bible College during the current semester. I also think I am ready to make more videos through Facebook and YouTube. One thing that I have come to understand more fully during this season is that death is so quick. No doctor or technician can stop someone\u0026rsquo;s death and most people are dying without knowing Jesus as their Savior.\nI believe God may use this season and experience in my life to be a blessing to many people. This experience gave me a lot more concern and responsibility toward the people who haven\u0026rsquo;t heard the Gospel yet and those who claim that they are Christians but are living in a superstitious Christian religion, not knowing the true Word of God.\nI have also received books that are useful to my ministry. I like to read. I like to spend hours studying different authors\u0026rsquo; commentaries. For that reason, I always exhort students that unless they spend hours sitting studying and reading God\u0026rsquo;s Word they cannot stand an hour in front of the pulpit. I am so excited to start a fresh chapter in this journey.\nI love you and thank you all for being understanding with me for all these days and months and for not pressuring me while I was doing my responsibility to my family.God bless,Pastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/__trashed/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220226%5F115354-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eYou have been hearing about how God is working in my mother\u0026rsquo;s life. It is an absolute miracle that she is alive today! For the past few days, she has been able to walk a few steps with the help of walker and oxygen. The doctors are not sure how long she will need oxygen. One doctor suggested turning off her oxygen for ten minutes every hour during the day time, which is showing me that my mom is doing a little better with her breathing. When we turn off her oxygen for ten minutes, her oxygen saturation is 58. (A normal healthy person\u0026rsquo;s saturation fluctuates between 95 to 99.) So now we know how much more she needs to get better to be lead a normal life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My Cry Came Before Him"},{"content":" For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise\nHebrews 10:36\nSometimes updates are easy to write and other times they aren’t. This is one of those not-so-easy updates simply because this month was made up of the everyday, ordinary things rather than the highlights.\nYouth Group\nThank you for your prayers for the youth group that we started on January 24th! After our first meeting it was apparent that we aren’t ready to start yet. With one student and three leaders, it hardly felt like your typical youth group and everyone felt a little out of place. We are continuing to pray that God would work in our midst and give us wisdom in how to faithfully minister to the student He has placed in the ministry as we wait for more to come.\nYoung Adults\nThe young adults group has remained pretty constant and we are excited to see the Lord work in each person’s life. God has been answering prayers in the lives of the group and we feel honored to be here to walk alongside them and see the Lord’s faithfulness play out.\nThis weekend the young adults group from Calvary Chapel Santa Rosa was in Tahoe for a retreat and we were able to join them for their session on Friday night and again on Saturday. We had a wonderful time fellowshipping with old and new friends alike.\nThe Car Situation\nPraise God, we were able to purchase a 2005 Subaru Outback to replace the Outback that was totaled by the tree limb in December. We are still waiting for our Civic to be repaired but I was told that it should be done by Monday, March 7th so hopefully that will be the case and we will have two cars once again! Thank you for praying for that whole situation.\nUpcoming Trip\nI am very excited to have the opportunity to go on a mission trip to Hungary at the end of August to help run several Gospel-centered English camps. Fletcher will accompany me but Isaac will not be able to go. The trip is dependent upon receiving Fletcher’s passport in time but we need his social security card first. Please pray for the process to go smoothly and for his documents to come in time.\nThat’s pretty much it! Seasons like this one remind us that we need endurance in this race we are running. We don’t see everything God is doing and there doesn’t seem to be very much fruit, but we believe and trust that He IS working and that we just need to be faithful to continue in what He has called us to. So although this month didn’t seem very exciting, we had an opportunity to exercise endurance and we thank you for your prayers and support that encourage us to continue on.\nWith love,\nHope, Isaac, \u0026amp; Fletcher\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/enduring-in-the-will-of-god/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHebrews 10:36\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/douglass/wp-content/uploads/sites/99/2022/03/IMG%5F0752.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSometimes updates are easy to write and other times they aren’t. This is one of those not-so-easy updates simply because this month was made up of the everyday, ordinary things rather than the highlights.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eYouth Group\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your prayers for the youth group that we started on January 24th! After our first meeting it was apparent that we aren’t ready to start yet. With one student and three leaders, it hardly felt like your typical youth group and everyone felt a little out of place. We are continuing to pray that God would work in our midst and give us wisdom in how to faithfully minister to the student He has placed in the ministry as we wait for more to come.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Enduring In the Will of God"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThis past month was a busy one for me and the ministry! In February, I was blessed to travel and visit 6 of our ministry partners and update them on the great work that the Lord is doing here in Mexico! At the beginning of the month, I traveled up to central California to visit our friends at Calvary Nexus in Camarillo, Anthem chapel in Goleta, and Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara!\nLater on, in the middle of the month I got to travel with my best friend (and wife) Sarah to Florida to visit our church plant, the Rock Calvary and our church planters Aaron and Robbyn Smith in Punta Gorda Florida! Finally, at the end of the month I traveled up to my home town of Orange County and visited CCWestgrove in Garden Grove, and Living Way Christian fellowship in Fontana!\nEach one of these six churches are partners with our ministry in church planting, and many of them support our family as their missionaries as well. Visiting these churches and pastors reminded me of the great partnership we have with not only churches, but with precious friends like you that allow us to serve full time here on the mission field of Mexico!\nSadly our extended family suffered a tragic loss this month as well. My cousin Steve Wilson was always my favorite cousin growing up as we were not only the same age, but we had much of the same interests! It was always a child hood highlight when our family made the long drive north over the grapevine to visit our cousins that lived in Shafter!\nLater on, my cousin Steve played electric guitar in Mine and Mitch’s Christian band New Faith! After High School, Steve moved down to Yorba Linda to live with our family to see where our music could take us. As inevitably happens, life went on and we eventually went our separate ways, got married, had children, and started our separate careers. As a career Steve was my one cousin that chose to follow my Grandpa and Uncle into the crop-dusting business.\nOver the past 20 years, every time I would see Steve at our family gatherings, I would invite him to come down to visit our church in Mexico and we would joke about a “New Faith Reunion” as he would join me on stage and help lead our congregation in worship. For many years, that reunion was only a dream until last November. Just three months ago Steve made it down and joined my brother Mitch and my son Daniel for a weekend worship set at our church! My parents also drove down to witness that long dreamed of reunion finally take place.\nWe had such a great weekend together, Steve drove down two more times in January to join us at church here in Rosarito. Steve even began to talk about joining us full time down here when he retired. Sadly, on February 16th we got the shocking news that Steve had been killed on the job when his cross-dusting helicopter crashed!\nMy cousin leaves behind a wife, 4 children, and several grandchildren. Although the loss is painful, I was blessed to text back and forth with Steve on the final day of his life. We talked about God and prayer, and his next trip down to Mexico! One of the great blessings for me, is the love for Jesus and the church that I saw in the heart of Steve on those three final trips down to Mexico. I feel blessed and honored that the Lord allowed me and my brother Mitch to have those final visits together before He took Steve home to heaven!\nOnce again, I want to thank you for your partnership with our family here in Mexico. It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God meet’s our physical needs. We love you, are praying for you, and thank God for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would strengthen and comfort our family and help me as I lead up my cousin Steve’s funeral on March 4th!\n#2- That God would bless the 3 church plants we have planned in the rest of 2022!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for the blessed church planting partnerships with the 6 churches I was blessed to visit with in February.\n#2- Praise God for the new ministry partnerships He has brought together.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-march-2022-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2022/03/274693257%5F10159930236024208%5F4487579007069241367%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month was a busy one for me and the ministry! In February, I was blessed to travel and visit 6 of our ministry partners and update them on the great work that the Lord is doing here in Mexico! At the beginning of the month, I traveled up to central California to visit our friends at Calvary Nexus in Camarillo, Anthem chapel in Goleta, and Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family March 2022 Missions Update"},{"content":"I convey my loving greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ\nI am delighted to inform you that my family and I are doing well in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are doing our daily evening prayers and Bible study. We teach our children Bible verses and Bible stories. My son is going to finish memorizing the whole chapter of Psalm 119. Please pray that my family may grow spiritually day by day and that we may remain healthy.\nOur ministry is going well. All of the believers are doing great. On Sundays I am preaching from the Gospel of Mark. In another place, at a home prayer meeting, I am teaching from the book of James. I am doing my personal Bible study from 2 Chronicles.\nPlease pray for my ministry to be fruitful, that God will bring new people, and that the spirit of God works in the hearts of the people.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for Sister Y. She is being persecuted by her son, daughters, extended family and society. Pray that she may be steadfast in her faith. Please pray for brother M.\u0026rsquo;s healing. He has body pain and burning in his stomach. Please pray for Sister L. Her blood pressure gets very high sometimes. Pray that it becomes normal. Please pray for the construction of a church building on my land, and for the necessary funds. Please pray for the young men and women who are of marrying age. May God provide a suitable life partner for each of them. Please pray for my parents and family\u0026rsquo;s salvation. Once again I am so grateful for each hand who supports me financially. May God bless you abundantly, and bless your work and family.Regards,\nPastor 8* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-teaches-my-hands-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI convey my loving greetings in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG-20220129-WA0024-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/IMG-20220122-WA0000-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am delighted to inform you that my family and I are doing well in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are doing our daily evening prayers and Bible study. We teach our children Bible verses and Bible stories. My son is going to finish memorizing the whole chapter of Psalm 119. Please pray that my family may grow spiritually day by day and that we may remain healthy.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He Teaches My Hands"},{"content":" “So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”\n-Luke 15:20\nThis month we had the wonderful pleasure of hosting Noelle’s sister Hosanna, and her Ugandan fiancé, Abraham! It was a comfort and a blessing to see family and to share our life with them. Abraham runs a ministry in central Uganda, called World for Life, which focuses on evangelism at schools and through sports. We are so excited to officially welcome Abraham into our family when their papers go through.\nThe day we said goodbye to Noelle’s sister, we saw God’s power and intimate love. David, both my friend and the manager of our soccer ministry, and myself had just dropped Abraham and Hosanna off to wait for her flight. As we headed back, we suddenly found ourselves needing to drive around a mother and her young daughter. They were asleep in the middle of a busy street in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city. David and I pulled off the road and woke them up, attempting to convince her to rest with her child on the sidewalk, where it would at least be safer. They were in a terrible condition. They had walked bare footed for 250 miles on low rations and were completely out of energy. When we were helping her up we learned that she was an Acholi, which is the same tribe we minister to. Furthermore, she was from Kitgum, which is only two hours to the north of Gulu. We offered her a ride home. However, when she was almost to the car she violently refused to go with us because she was mentally unstable. David and I got back into the car, committed her to the LORD and continued on our journey.\nAs we were driving away we realized that the GPS had taken us on the wrong route, and that we needed to turn around. Just before reaching the correct road we saw the woman and her child again and we decided to try another time. David remained in the car so that we would appear less threatening, and the woman allowed me to pray for her. Miraculously, the God restored the woman’s mind, and when she had gained clarity she agreed to ride home with us.\nDuring the long drive we learned who the woman was and where she was from. It turned out that she was the neighbor of Peter, the pastor of a Calvary Chapel in Kitgum and our close friend. Peter arranged everything, and God brought her home to her husband and her church. Apparently she had been missing for more than two weeks, and there were many people concerned for her.\nEarlier in the day as we were still on our way to Kampala, David shared the dream he was having when I woke him up at 5am. In his dream some people alerted him to a woman in danger of drowning. He said that I woke him as he was pulling her out of the water. God pursued his lost sheep. God caused the GPS to go off track so that we could find her and her daughter. God healed her mind. Our LORD brought them home and restored them to their family. And despite weeks of harsh conditions, her child was perfectly healthy.\n“He brought me out into a broad place; he rescued me, because he delighted in me.”\n-Psalm 18:19\nGod Bless You,\nMatt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/february-2022/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“So he got up and came to his father.  But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-Luke 15:20\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220227%5F200930.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis month we had the wonderful pleasure of hosting Noelle’s sister Hosanna, and her Ugandan fiancé, Abraham!  It was a comfort and a blessing to see family and to share our life with them.  Abraham runs a ministry in central Uganda, called World for Life, which focuses on evangelism at schools and through sports.  We are so excited to officially welcome Abraham into our family when their papers go through.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"February 2022"},{"content":" AFRICA\nVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our school! We now have almost 1,000 students and are in great need for more dormitories!\n2. Pray for our new teachers. All the new staff are amazing, and we praise God for all He is doing!\n3. Pray for our family as we fly back to Midigo and pour our hearts into God’s ministry He has blessed us with.Pray for our projects, especially the farm as we pray to be self-sustaining in the years to come.\n4. Our church continues to grow especially in the hearts of those serving Him. We praise God fir the restoration He has been doing.\nThank you for your prayers!!!!\nIn Him,\nThe Aniku Family – Emai l Blog\nMatt and Noelle Harris - Gulu, Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for clear direction and open doors for traveling\n2. Pray that the Lord would provide vision for enlarging how we do missionary care\n3. Pray for wisdom and energy in parenting\nThank you for praying.\nIn Christ,\nMatt and Noelle – Email Blog\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship as we meet and fellowship together.\n2. Pray for the many needs within the community, physical and spiritual.\n3. Pray for our family\u0026rsquo;s health and safety\n4. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\n5. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course. The second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuanna, Mexico\nI AM EXTREMELY THANKFUL TO MY LORD FOR HIS CARE AND PROVIONS FOR ME\u0026ndash;I AM TRULY BLESSED!\n1. For our afterschool program / soup kitchen. We would like to expand, (more kids, more days), but need more staff! Provisions, to give a salary to the workers, for the food\u0026hellip;\n2. For more teachers who are called to minister to children for our Sunday and Wednesday night services.\n3. For God\u0026rsquo;s will in moving ahead to begin a Jr. High School here at our church. There have been many obstacles, so,\u0026hellip; if it be God\u0026rsquo;s will, He will do it!\n4. For the kids to get back in school! They are still not in classes due to Covid. Most kids are not able to do online school for lack of telephones/computers.\n5. provisions for me for dental work that I need.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nDeanna - Email Blog\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for provision, protection and wisdom as we leave for Central Mexico February 28 through March 14.\n2. please pray for financial partners as the price of everything keeps going up.\n3. Please pray for our son Andy to get help for his issues\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn – Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nThank you all for your prayers!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for clear direction and open doors for traveling\n2. Pray that the Lord would provide vision for enlarging how we do missionary care\n3. Pray for wisdom and energy in parenting\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia – Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Reports:\n- For our two new church plants in 2022! (Morelia and Chihuahua)\n- For our new church planting courses that began with 50 students.\nPrayer requests:\n1. Safety in these difficult times!\n2. A blessed Church Planting conference in Mazatlan in March!\n3. Wisdom for our college age children in their studies!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Our Son\n2. Reach our neighbors with the gospel\n3. Our new Life Group\n4. Our children\u0026rsquo;s Spanish learning\n5. God to be glorified in our marriage \u0026amp; personal witness\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my mom to be completely well and delivered from her illness.\n2. Please pray for my dad and two sisters who are caring for my mom while she is ill, that God will strengthen them and give them wisdom.\n3. Please pray that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit and that we will honor Him in all we say and do and will be used of God to minister to others.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my mom’s complete recovery in every way.\n2. Please continue to pray for our nursing home ministry, that many will be drawn close to Jesus and encouraged.\n3. Please pray for our financial support.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nThank you all for standing in the gap in intercessory prayer!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our school of ministry as it goes into its 3rd year!\n2. Pray for Ariana who was at IBC in Trujillo was asked to come home for moral reasons.\n3. Pray for Jharold who is going back to finish Bible college in Cajamarca with John Bonner.\n4. Pray for of our new believers. Isaac, Moshe, Fabiola, \u0026amp; Paul.\n5. Pray for our youth group, as we have about 10 new youth.\n6. Summer outreaches, \u0026amp; Surf camps.\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nGlory be to God that God has kept me safe in every sickness and persecution.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that my elder sister\u0026rsquo;s marriage is on 28th February, the marriage goes well and may God fulfill all our financial needs.\n2. Pray that I have just come to the north to prepare for my elder sister\u0026rsquo;s wedding. And I keep going to my friend Pradeep\u0026rsquo;s church, he runs a church in a 10×12 ft room in which about 15 to 20 believers are seated. Pray that God can provide him a big hall or big land in which he can worship God in a good way.\n3. Pray that my church can be registered, and I can install a CC camera in it.\n4. Pray for our believer to understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word more deeply.\n5. Pray for our village chief not to hate Christians but to believe in the gospel.\nThank you for your prayers and for participating in the good news.\nGod bless you,\n11\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my cousins that they grow in God’s words.\n2. Please pray for all the patients to whom we distributed the Bible that they may know Jesus Christ.\n3. Please pray for the children to whom we share the gospel that they may save.\n4. Please pray for the overall non-Christian friends to whom we share the gospel on 25th they may come to the Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n16\nWorker 7 – 10/40 Window\nPraise and Prayer\n-Praise the Lord, my mom is home from the hospital after 4 months! Please pray for complete recovery. She has been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, and they have said she will need oxygen for the rest of her life.\nThank you for praying!\nGod bless you,\n7\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nThank you for your faithful prayer cover.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me as I prepare to teach a Christology course for my first time at a local Bible school. There is so much material to digest and make comprehensible to the students.\n2. Please pray for God to open the doors for us to visit Japan or the USA this summer.\n3. Please pray for us as Omicron is spreading rapidly in Cambodia and many of our friends are getting caught up in government-required home quarantine.\n4. Please pray for wisdom for developing new videos to evangelize and equip the Cambodians in the faith.\n5. Please pray for Kayo as she winds down her responsibilities with the local church worship team, rests, and then seeks new opportunities.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin – Email Blog\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my ministry here, that God will open more doors for the Gospel.\n2. Please pray, the election is coming soon here. Pray that God brings a godly political leader.\n3. Pray for a few brothers who have come to Christ, that they will grow greatly in His Word.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n13\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise God!\n- Last month one of the brothers at Calvary Chapel Hetauda got his water Baptism.\n- Last month a new work at Janakpur has begun- Calvary Chapel Janakpur.\nPrayer Request:\n1. Please pray for CC Hetauda and CC Janakpur, people from around those Churches may come to know Jesus and come to the Church.\n2. Please pray for brother Laxman’s family; Hetauda and brother Nikesh’s family Janakpur as they serve the Lord there.\n3. Please pray for Charis Bible Church Kathmandu Nepal, that all the Church members may grow in the Lord spiritually and practically.\n4. Please pray that the Holy Spirit may draw people to Charis and the Church be filled with His elect ones.\n5. Please pray for CBCKN that the Lord may provide Church property in His time.\nCalvary Chapel Bible College:\n6. Please pray for Calvary Chapel Bible College Nepal- all the staffs, their families and all the students.\n7. Please pray that God may grant us knowledge and wisdom as we serve Him.\n8. Please pray for the good health, knowledge and wisdom for all the students that are with us in the college.\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna – Email Blog\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise report:\n- It is a great blessing to share about how God had brought Bible college students in new semester. God had brought 18 students were 8 are new and 10 are from before semester.\nPrayer requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray that God may give us wisdom and knowledge to lead Bible College.\n3. Please pray for Bible college students that God may give them understanding of the Word.\n4. Please pray for Gospel outreach in local area which will be done by Bible college students.\n5. Please pray for my family as we have lost our father last week, God may fill our life with His peace.\nThank you for faithfully praying\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPraise God:\n-God has blessed us with a wonderful year. Praise God for His wonderful work!\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Pray for our Church believers to be mature in the Word of God as well as apply the Word Daily.\n2. That our believers can show love to others in the neighborhood where they are living.\n3. Pray for all the students and Staff that their health will be secure in this covid virus time.\n4. Please remember in your prayers one of our graduate students, Harka; his daughter went to the Lord\u0026rsquo;s House.\n5. Pray Harka \u0026rsquo;s church will be peaceful in this time they lost one of daughter.\n6. Pray that Mahima and I be physically fit and fine as we consulted the doctor and taking a medicine, and that God time God will do His work in our body.\n7. Pray Our Ministry to be fruitful and we be witnesses to many others.\nThank you so much for your prayers,\nGrace and Peace, Rabi and Mahima – Email Blog\nWorker 8 and Family – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for sister Y, who is being persecuted by her son, daughters, family and community. Pray that she will be steadfast in her faith.\n2. Please pray for brother M, who has had body pain and burning pain in his stomach for some time. Pray for complete healing.\n3. Please pray for sister L., her blood pressure has been high for a long time.\n4. Please pray for the church building construction on my land. Please pray for the financial provision.\nThank you for lifting us up in your prayers\nMay God bless you,\n8 and Family\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that the people we met through distributing blankets will experience the love of God.\n2. Pray for the students, that they will be committed to the work of God and be faithful in the work they are called to.\n3. Day by day it is becoming tough, and anti-Christian groups are growing more and more to stop the spread of the Gospel. A pastor was recently arrested here, and many have been threatened not to preach the Gospel. Please pray about this.\n4. Please continue to pray for unity in our church and for us to make godly decisions.\n5. I thank God for His protection and healing in our students. Be continually praying for our students.\n6. Pray for those who have newly given their lives to Christ.\n8. Please pray for a new place for us to hold worship services. Where we are, the seats are all full and no more people would be able to fit.\n9. The work of the Holy Spirit is misinterpreted in many of the churches in our state. My team and I are praying about starting a 1-month school of worship, which we would hold during our semester break. We would train in basic music theory and biblical worship, introducing the worship leaders to Christian theology. Our vision is to bring man closer to God through the Word of God and to worship Him how He wants to be worshiped. We want to help believers learn the differences between acceptable and unacceptable worship, to worship God in spirit and in truth.\n10. God used us in various ministries in 2021, and we are praying and hoping that He will use us even more in the coming year. The School of Worship is going to begin in January. Please be praying for our needs.\n11. Please pray that every session in the School of Worship would be helpful for the students to be edified for their personal growth in knowing Christ.\n12. Please pray that our brother who is leading the youth will be filled with the Spirit of God to minister among the church youth and also the University students.\n13. Please pray for another brother, a recent graduate, who has been chosen to minister along with me as a co-worker in a new church plant we will be doing. God has provided us with land to build a church. Please pray for God’s provision in the construction.\nThank you!\nGod bless you,\n6\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Your prayers are very important to us. Please pray for those who have heard the Gospel during the Christmas outreaches, that God will work in their hearts.\n2. Pray that those who have publicly shown their faith in Jesus will grow in the Lord and be a blessing to their families. Right now, our church is growing by the mercy of God. We are praying that we will be witnesses for God.\n3. Pray that I will become even stronger and be able to build a stronger church in God’s Word. Pray that all of the needs of the church will be met.\nThank you for your kindness!!\n12\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that all those who have heard the Gospel may be saved.\n2. Please pray that the Lord would heal my wife and that her blood pressure will be normal.\nThank you for your prayers!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPraise Report:\n-By God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the salvation of all those who heard the Gospel during Christmas celebration and received the copy of New Testament.\n2. Please pray for our nation, India that God may saved this country. Also these days new believers have been persecuted in different parts of India, pray that God may strengthen them in their faith.\n3. Do continue to pray for the growth and need of our local Church.\n4. In upcoming session, we want to operate our Pastor’s School with the limited number of boarding students. Kindly pray for all the recourses.\n5. Kindly pray for me and my family, may Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom. My wife R. is not doing kindly pray for her complete healing.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\n3 and family\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\n5. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 1 – 10/40 Window\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the work the Lord has set before us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please prayer for opportunities to share the Gospel\n. Pray for our family to stay healthy.\n3. Pray for our students and staff.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\n1\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\n3. Please pray for our health and safety\nThank you so much once again for your prayers. 2\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for one of our church members. She is suffering with throat cancer and is admitted in the hospital.\n2. Please pray for my father and mother, that they will come to know the Lord.\n3. Please pray for the church members, that they will grow spiritually.\n4. Please pray that I will serve the Lord according to His will and also grow in my personal Bible study.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my mother, that she will recover, and for all of the other people of our church and neighborhood who are affected by this virus.\n2. Please pray for my grandfather, who is having a difficult time, as my grandma passed away.\n3. Please pray for all of the people who we have been giving Bibles and Gospel tracts to, and those who heard the Gospel message during the Christmas season. Pray that the Lord will work in their lives, and that we may see the fruit of this work.\n4. Pray for the persecutors, that they would know the Lord.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\n9\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers. Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n3. Pray for me, because I am making a church building. Pray that God will give me wisdom and understanding to do it correctly.\n4. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n5. Pray for me, that God will open new doors for me to share the Gospel.\n6. Pray for one brother who I have been sharing the Gospel to; pray that he will come to Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n10\nWorker 5 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that God will protect us from the present situation.\n3. Pray for our neighbors, that they will come to know the Lord.\n4. Pray for my daughter who is studying nursing.\nThank you so much for the encouragement and partnership!\nGod Bless You,\n5\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are\nmistreated, since you also are in the body.” – Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping “Reach the Nations…One Soul at a Time.”\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-mar-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/aniku1%5F1204-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Please pray for our school! We now have almost 1,000 students and are in great need for more dormitories!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. Pray for our new teachers. All the new staff are amazing, and we praise God for all He is doing!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. Pray for our family as we fly back to Midigo and pour our hearts into God’s ministry He has blessed us with.Pray for our projects, especially the farm as we pray to be self-sustaining in the years to come.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM MAR PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"We have so much to give thanks for!!\nEven through trials we can see God\u0026rsquo;s hand in our life\u0026rsquo;s!!\nThe Mission staff\nAzaff therapies.\nWe Celebrate my two son\u0026rsquo;s birthday!!\nAzaff\u0026rsquo;s therapies\nMINISTRY\nWe are so excited to have the dicipleship school of missions starting today at the mission with great people from Oregon who will be here for 10 weeks learning more about our God and Savior. Half day they will be at school and half day serving the kids what a blessing!!!\nAZAFF\u0026rsquo;S UPDATE\nOn Friday he fainted, we are waiting for MRI results and have an appointment with Neurology and with the oncologist pediatric, we are waiting on the Lord for good results, we trust in the one that can do the best for our son.\nPRAISE REPORT\nThe Mission kids are good, no sick ones!! God take care of us!!\nThe staff we have are amazing people working so hard every day serving the kids and one an other with joy!! God bless us with each one of them.\nWe got a new car!!!!!!!! From a beautiful chrurch fron Oregon, we need to import the vehicle to drive it in Mexico legally but we are so grateful to see God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness!!\nHOW YOU CAN PRAY;\nFor Azaff health. For all the expenses on the medical treatment and therapies for Azaff. For the Mission kids to keep healthy and happy. For strength on each one on staff, families and single ones. For strength in our family so many appointments and therapies we need time to rest. For God\u0026rsquo;s grace doing homeschool in the mist of every day. We thank each one of you for taking the time to bless us, pray for us and read us.\nWith so much love.\nThe Rivera Family\nMiguel, Zuri, Azaff, Abdiel, Conchita.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/rivera-family-february-2022/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe have so much to give thanks for!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven through trials we can see God\u0026rsquo;s hand in our life\u0026rsquo;s!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220213%5F121927-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220213%5F122321-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"The Mission staff\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eThe Mission staff\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-2\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220228%5F222004.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220215%5F111905.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220222%5F105917-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Azaff therapies.\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eAzaff therapies.\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220213%5F144550.jpg\"\n         alt=\"We Celebrate my two son\u0026#39;s birthday!!\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eWe Celebrate my two son\u0026rsquo;s birthday!!\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220222%5F105945-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Azaff\u0026#39;s therapies \"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eAzaff\u0026rsquo;s therapies\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-0\"\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/20220222%5F112259-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMINISTRY\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are so excited to have the dicipleship school of missions starting today at the mission with great people from Oregon who will be here for 10 weeks learning more about our God and Savior. Half day they will be at school and half day serving the kids what a blessing!!!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rivera Family February 2022"},{"content":"So far 2022 is off to a great start! Valentine\u0026rsquo;s Day has just passed and love is in the air and on the hearts of a lot of people so, naturally, we are seeking to make sure that people know of the greatest love ever; the love of God that transforms the soul through faith in Jesus Christ. Jenn and I have been having a great time every Thursday night hosting some of our church family for a mid-week life group. Conversations have been deep, the fellowship has been sweet and the focus has been on taking what we learned from God\u0026rsquo;s word on Sunday and sharing it with someone during the week.\nJenn and I continue to have the privilege of investing in the lives of 20 young adults who are interning with Saving Grace World Missions. They have come out of the Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) over the last three years and we are excited to say one of the interns is well on his way to serving in a Middle Eastern country. He just finished a three month internship in a Muslim country and is home for a brief stay before he is off to his final destination. I apologize for the cryptic nature of this information but the location in the Middle East is a sensitive one and I don\u0026rsquo;t want to jeopardize his security. I will say this though, God is doing a great work and hopefully we will see a Bible college and church plants birthed from this key location in the Middle East. Another intern is currently serving at one of our Bible college campuses in South Asia. Yet again the need for security is great and I am unable to share too many details but I wanted you all to know that the Lord is moving and teams are being built from these passionate servants of Jesus Christ who have committed themselves to the internship program in order to become better equipped to serve our Lord in the 10/40 window. It is important for you to know that this spiritual fruit will be credited to your account. Because of you, we have been able to disciple, equip, care for and love on these passionate world changers. Thank you so much for the many ways you support us in our work.\nWe started this update speaking of love, and there is something in the lives of two other 2019 CSOM graduates that we can be more specific on; we had the joyous opportunity to celebrate the wedding of Bryan and Andrea, a young couple who love each other deeply but love the Lord even more so. Jenn and I were there when they first started making “googly\u0026quot; eyes at each other at our very first school of missions and we are so glad that they ignored our no fraternization policy as the Lord brought this couple together. They are focused on and called to the Middle East as well but will be spending a season learning how to be a married couple. Please pray for them as the Lord grows them together.\nLastly, we wish to share that another exciting opportunity is in front of us as I lead a 15 person team to central Mexico for a church planting conference and to visit eight church plants. A lot of details go into preparing and leading a trip like this so please keep that in prayer. God is good and by His grace it is coming together nicely. The team departs for Mexico at the end of February and will be back in mid-March. Shortly after that we are anticipating being able to host a dessert gathering/update on all that the Lord has been doing in our lives and all of the wonderful ministry opportunities He has allowed us to engage in. We will keep you posted on that date and location as it draws nearer.\nPRAISE REPORTS:\nPraise our great God and King that –\n1) God has allowed our son Andy\u0026rsquo;s whereabouts to be known to us three times last month\n2) Jenn and I keep falling deeper and deeper in love\n3) Our friendships and personal relationships keep growing deeper\nPRAYER REQUESTS :\nPlease pray for -\nCentral Mexico trip Jenn while Tim is gone Andy to get the help he so desperately needs Again we want to thank you so much for your partnership with us as we seek to fulfill the great commission as well as reach the nations with the gospel of Jesus Christ. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or by mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 92886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/love-is-in-the-air/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo far 2022 is off to a great start! Valentine\u0026rsquo;s Day has just passed and love is in the air and on the hearts of a lot of people so, naturally, we are seeking to make sure that people know of the greatest love ever; the love of God that transforms the soul through faith in Jesus Christ. Jenn and I have been having a great time every Thursday night hosting some of our church family for a mid-week life group. Conversations have been deep, the fellowship has been sweet and the focus has been on taking what we learned from God\u0026rsquo;s word on Sunday and sharing it with someone during the week.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Love is in the Air"},{"content":"Rachel Martinez February 2022 Update “Yahweh is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1\nHello Family!\nI am so grateful to be able to share once again about the faithfulness of our God in a newsletter update. The Lord has been teaching me so much as I have been diving headlong into ministry and preparation for the mission field. Can you believe that I have been living in Yorba Linda for 9 months?!\nIt has been 9 months of incredible discipleship, study of His Word, training in ministry, and vision for the Unreached! It feels like I just arrived last month, and yet this family has been so welcoming that it feels like a home away from home.\nMinistry I have realized in a new and fresh way that I want to do full-time ministry for the rest of my life! It is my desire to be used by the Lord to tend His body and care for His Bride until His return; and while He has given me a heart to do this among the Unreached, He has given me a passion to do this wherever I am, whether it be state-side or abroad.\nI have loved serving in youth ministry at Saving Grace. It’s been such a blessing to see the gifts God has given the kids and to be able to encourage them and make space for them to use those gifts to uplift their peers! My favorite part has been our Sunday night Tozer study group where we open the floor up to discussion on the chapter we read that week. The kids have such great insights and questions to offer!\nVisit to Vegas Pastor Gregg and his wife Vikki at Calvary Red Rock were so generous to invite me to speak for a few minutes on a Sunday morning about how the Lord is moving in my life. It meant so much to me to see such a gracious church body so ready to support me as a missionary. I shared about how the Lord called me to missions; through reading His Word! In the Bible I began to see our purpose as His church, to bring the good news of Jesus to all peoples. Then, I was also being confronted with the reality of the Unreached. If this is the ultimate purpose of humanity, God’s glory among the nations, and we have been empowered by His Spirit to be this witness, how is it that nearly half the world still remains completely unaffected by the Gospel of Jesus? Something needs to change!\nI was also able to share about how I got connected with Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and the School of Missions. Perhaps the most important thing I took away from the School of Missions is the importance of church-planting, and I was able to share about how I would like to be a part of a team that plants churches in the Unreached, so that our brothers and sisters in those areas are raised up and encouraged to reach their own countrymen with the Good News.\nFinally, I was able to share about some upcoming opportunities I have to press into that call to the mission field, and some avenues that they could take should they choose to support me.\nI know you are praying for me! Thank you! I just got some brand-new prayer cards (see above) and I would be more than happy to send you a few! Let me know if you’re interested and we will make it happen. If you haven’t already, you can sign up for my monthly newsletter to stay updated on how the Lord is leading me towards the mission field. Click here to sign up! Finally, you can also support me through giving. Whether by a one-time gift to help with one of the short-term trips I have detailed below, or on an on-going basis as I prepare to raise the monthly support I will need to get on the field one day soon!\nI was totally overwhelmed with the amount of support I received from the faith family at Calvary Red Rock. The Lord very well may send me to dark places, so knowing there are people out there, just like you, who are praying for me and know where I am going brings so much comfort to my heart. If any of you from Red Rock are reading this, thank you so, so much for having me!\nShort-Term Trips Most of you may know that I am preparing to go on a few short-term trips coming up in the springtime. My team members and I have been experiencing some spiritual warfare, and we think it might be because of the work God is preparing to do with these trips! Please be praying with me for the team, that we would be steadfast and stand against the schemes of the enemy (Ephesians 6).\nThe First Trip is to Mexico We are leaving in a week! We are going to be focusing on ministering to a few brand-new church plants, and there are not words to describe how excited I am. I just know God is going to work mightily. Please be praying, as I need to have the expenses for this trip covered by the time I leave. I still need about $200, and I trust that God will provide.\nThe Other Trip is To the Middle East We will be leaving on April 28th, and it is a vision tour. We will be scouting out the land in a country that is more open to the gospel, with the hopes of sending a team in the near future to begin a work! I have about $300 left to fundraise for this trip, and I am beyond grateful for how the Lord has so generously provided.\nPriorities \u0026amp; Rest In a place where there are so many great opportunities to serve the Lord, I am learning to discern where the Lord has specifically called me to serve. It has not been easy establishing priorities, especially since they keep us busy in this awesome internship. But it has been such a crucial learning lesson for me to learn when to say “No” and when to say “Yes”. I am also learning the balance and need for rest so that my heart and soul are renewed in His streams of living water. I cannot be like a tree if I am not planted by the waters (Psalm 1:3) and my Shepherd wants to restore my soul in His green pastures and still waters (Psalm 23:2-3). He wants these things for you too. I pray that you all are renewed by the presence of the Living God.\nAmazing tree outside the youth Pastor’s house\nThe view from a trail in the area\nReports \u0026amp; Requests Praise Yahweh with me, that He is the Fountain of living waters, and He has given us water that we drink and never thirst again.\nPraise the Lord that He has blessed me with a partnering church in Calvary Red Rock.\nPraise Him that He has been blessing my time in Yorba Linda, and that He has opened the doors for these trips.\nPlease pray that the Lord would continue to provide the finances for these trips.\nPlease pray for the foster babies in our house, that they would end up safely back with their families!\nPlease pray that I would continue to be a humble learner and a vessel set apart for the work of the Lord Jesus.\nPhoto Dump I am beyond grateful for you all. May Yahweh richly bless you and your families.\nRachel\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/providence-priorities/","summary":"\u003ch1 id=\"rachel-martinez-february-2022-update\"\u003eRachel Martinez February 2022 Update\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Yahweh is my shepherd, I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/rachelmartinez/wp-content/uploads/sites/121/2022/02/Feb18-20-e1645229858264.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am so grateful to be able to share once again about the faithfulness of our God in a newsletter update. The Lord has been teaching me so much as I have been diving headlong into ministry and preparation for the mission field. Can you believe that I have been living in Yorba Linda for 9 months?!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Providence \u0026amp; Priorities"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family!\nI put together a short video for this month’s update to re-introduce our ministry. A lot of people aren’t fully aware of my role as Director of Missionary Care with SGWM and what that entails, so this video gives a short glimpse of what that means and why it’s so important!\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/let-me-re-introduce-myself-garcia-family-update-february-2022/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI put together a short video for this month’s update to re-introduce our ministry. A lot of people aren’t fully aware of my role as Director of Missionary Care with SGWM and what that entails, so this video gives a short glimpse of what that means and why it’s so important!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/1MLS54brcVo?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Let Me Re-Introduce Myself! – Garcia Family Update February 2022"},{"content":" Last month was filled with so many blessings. For the long time our church had been praying for a couple of places to start new church plants in. Now two church plants have been started! One is in a city in the central part of the country and the other one is in the East. We are very excited to see so many people being saved through Jesus Christ!\nSome of our church leader\u0026rsquo;s families were able to visit those areas and encourage our fellow leaders’ families. Praise God for that!\nRomans 8:1 (NKJV) reads:\n\u0026ldquo;There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.\u0026rdquo;\nBlessings!\nPrakash \u0026amp; Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/no-condemnation-to-those-who-are-in-christ-jesus/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/image%5F50401537-300x189.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month was filled with so many blessings. For the long time our church had been praying for a couple of places to start new church plants in. Now two church plants have been started! One is in a city in the central part of the country and the other one is in the East. We are very excited to see so many people being saved through Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome of our church leader\u0026rsquo;s families were able to visit those areas and encourage our fellow leaders’ families. Praise God for that!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"No Condemnation to Those Who Are in Christ Jesus"},{"content":"Our Family Since our last blog update, there was a little addition to our family! Meet our granddaughter, Kimberly Grace! She’s almost 3 1/2 months old already and starting to show her own little personality. It is a joy to have our grandbabies so close! Joshua will turn two next month and his energy level shows it! This little guy is always moving and keeps his parents on their toes. Brian and Brittany are continuing with the church planting class at Calvary Rosarito. Brittany took the second semester off last year when she had the baby, and this is Brian’s second year in the class. They are continuing to seek the Lord’s guidance as to where He would have them plant a church. Please pray for them as they serve and raise up new leaders at Calvary Chapel Playas. William recently arrived on a surprise visit home! It is so great to see him and spend some time together! He was finally able to meet his new niece. Will is living and working up in Fond du Lac, WI, although he is not enjoying the cold or driving in the snow very much.\nKristy’s parents were finally able to meet their only two great-grandchildren! They came down to visit in November, along with Kristy’s sister, Shannon, and most of her family. Since Joshua was born in Mexico and still doesn’t have all his paperwork, he has not been able to go to the states yet. So this is the only family that our grandchildren have met so far, except for one of Ron’s brothers and his wife. (Philip \u0026amp; MeLinda were able to visit at the end of 2020 and meet Joshua.)\nMinistry in 2021 Last year’s ministry looked different, but it was amazing! When the pandemic hit in March of 2020, we watched as all of our spring and summer teams cancelled, except for the 5 week Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) in the summer. Thankfully, through generous donations by you and teams that postponed their trips, we kept super busy! Besides CSOM, we only hosted 8 teams in 2020. That’s a little less than one fourth of the number of teams we normally have in a year. However, we had numerous outreaches and events. We also spent the greater portion of the first six months of that year working on the Upper Room (dining area) and kitchen on the third floor here at Connections House.\nWell, 2021 may have only brought us 14 teams, but we had a spectacular year of ministry! We also hosted a youth retreat and 12 events for local churches and ministries this past year. At the end of the year we enclosed the second floor patio and turned it into a meeting \u0026amp; game room. This past year we also added three dorm rooms and about 10 beds, as well as a new living room to our two bedroom apartment. We had about 13 teams postpone their trips until this year, and 10 teams are already booked for the first part of the year. Please pray that they will be able to come and serve with us this year!\nAlong with the expansion at Connections House, comes the need for more bunk beds, mattresses, sheets \u0026amp; towels. If you would like to help with any of these items, please click here. It would be a tremendous blessing! The goal is to have bed spaces for up to 55 people. Therefore, our next big project at Connections will be an expensive one. It is to remodel the first floor dorm bathroom into two shower rooms, and then add two separate stall rooms with toilets and sinks. This means tearing out a lot of flooring in order to redo and add plumbing. The dorms also need to have the electricity redone, floors reinforced, and more. Little by little, the Lord has provided, and we are certain that He will continue to do so!\nChurch Planting \u0026amp; Mission Trips In 2021, we were able to travel a little and help some of our church plants. This was something we had prayed about and longed to do more of for almost five years. It has been amazing to watch so many churches get planted here within about an hour of our church, Calvary Rosarito. Unfortunately, due to COVID, we had to cancel our third annual staff mission trip. We had planned to serve in Monterrey with Pastor Pedro. Please pray that we will be able to reschedule that trip soon so that we can encourage our brothers and sisters over there at CC Monterrey.\nAs we shared previously, in January of last year we helped some church planters move to the southern part of Baja to plant the church, Calvary Loreto. We didn’t think we could be much help at such an early stage for this church plant, but God had another plan. After looking at some possible buildings for the church right away, the Lord began to reveal what he had in store. We stayed an extra week to help with renovations for the church building, but there was still so much work to be done. We returned home to find out that Ron’s back surgery was postponed, so we took that as a sign that we had more work to do in Loreto. We returned for another couple of weeks to work on the church and help with their grand opening.\nThe church just celebrated their one year anniversary last week. It’s been amazing to watch how much it has grown! Kristy had the opportunity to take a trip there in May with Brian, Brittany, Joshua, and some friends. They served at a couple of events the church was having, one for women and one for men. They also helped with painting another sign at the church and helping to get the pastor’s office ready by doing some drywalling and painting.\nWe were super blessed to take trips to three different church plants in November and December. For the first time, the backpacks that are donated reached Baja California Sur \u0026amp; Sonora! However, we will save those trips for our next update. All of this is your fruit and we appreciate your prayer and financial support!! We will leave you with some before and after photos of the church plant in Loreto. God bless!\nThe two photos on the left show before and after photos of the front of the church. The next set of photos is the sanctuary. It has been expanded three times, and they are already looking at a possible fourth expansion. In the third set of photos you can see the storage shed that was turned into a classroom for the children. Finally, the renovation of the courtyard between the church and storage shed. It looks fantastic, and gets used before and after church for fellowship, as a Sunday School classroom for the older children, and more.\nRon \u0026amp; Christy Struska\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/struska-missions-update-february-2022/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"our-family\"\u003eOur Family\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince our last blog update, there was a little addition to our family! Meet our granddaughter, Kimberly Grace! She’s almost 3 1/2 months old already and starting to show her own little personality. It is a joy to have our grandbabies so close! Joshua will turn two next month and his energy level shows it! This little guy is always moving and keeps his parents on their toes. Brian and Brittany are continuing with the church planting class at Calvary Rosarito. Brittany took the second semester off last year when she had the baby, and this is Brian’s second year in the class. They are continuing to seek the Lord’s guidance as to where He would have them plant a church. Please pray for them as they serve and raise up new leaders at Calvary Chapel Playas. William recently arrived on a surprise visit home! It is so great to see him and spend some time together! He was finally able to meet his new niece. Will is living and working up in Fond du Lac, WI, although he is not enjoying the cold or driving in the snow very much.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Struska Missions Update February 2022"},{"content":"Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” –Lamentations 3:22-24\nDear Friends and family,\nGreetings, We all are fine and pray for all of you to be fine and safe by our Heavenly Father’s Grace. We praise God for His Grace that always covers us and enable us to continue our journey of serving Him, we are thankful to all of you for the prayers and support.\nSnow and Sickness\nWe started our new year with really great enthusiasm, and we praise God for another year of His mercy in our lives. Our family planned to go to northern area in our country for few days during the first week of January to see snow and spend some good time there. It was really awesome to be at that place, we really had good time and we were very happy to see this aspect of natural life.\nWhile we were fascinated by the life in the mountain and snow, we also learned how difficult it was to live in such weather. Everyday everything depends on the weather, and sometimes we felt stuck in the house during heavy snow fall whole day.\nGod brought us back safely from that place, but just after a week, all of us in the family started to be sick one by one. I was not well for more than one week, my wife, and all the children were sick with cold and fever. So the month of January was quite good but also tough as well for our family. We all are fully fine now and life is back on the same routine. We are thankful to all of our friends and family who kept us in prayers. God bless you all.\nMinistry work Resumes\nWe praise God that the ministry work is back on the routine and our online classes, our recording and outreach Evangelism activities are going on well once again. We give glory to God for all the work that is taking place in Pakistan.\nWe are thankful to all of you to keep us in your prayers, we look forward to accomplish much through our ministry work during this year, therefore we want to request all of you to please continue to pray for us. We pray for you and your family. God bless you!\nIn Christ Jesus\nNadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-humble-start-but-his-grace-is-sufficient/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBecause of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.”  –Lamentations 3:22-24\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings, We all are fine and pray for all of you to be fine and safe by our Heavenly Father’s Grace. We praise God for His Grace that always covers us and enable us to continue our journey of serving Him, we are thankful to all of you for the prayers and support.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Humble Start, but His Grace is Sufficient"},{"content":"“For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.” Hebrews 13:14 NLT\nNot being able to visit either of our passport-countries since 2018 and 2019 respectively, has made me think about the concept of “home.” Cambodia isn’t really “home” either because our presence here depends, in part, on whether or not the government will renew our visas each year. We never feel a sense of being fully rooted anywhere in the world. But, the good news is that this world is not our home. Heaven is our home and so that is where we find our root and permanence.\nOmicron Takes Hold In Cambodia\nOverall, Cambodia has been spared some of the worst of Covid but now the Omicron variant seems to be taking off. Just this morning, I was informed that my weekly Apologetics class would be moved to online because four students tested positive for Covid at the seminary. The big question and concern is what the goverment’s response will be. Please pray that churches, schools, and businesses etc. will be allowed to stay open and that we don’t go through more lockdowns like last spring.\nSummer Travel Plans Still Unknown\nDue to Omicron in Japan, many churches have returned to online services. We also do not yet know how difficult it will be for me to get a visa to visit Japan this summer. We will make a final decision the end of April. If, we cannot go to Japan, we will make every effort to go to the USA (California and Missouri). We will let you know when we know.\nMinistry Update\nMinistry continues to go well. I continue making apologetics/evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language and sharing them online (Facebook, Youtube, and website). I also use the videos as teaching materials when I teach apologetics at Bible schools and seminaries. I have been told that others are using my videos when they teach at Bible schools etc. as well. Kayo leads the devotions at Precious Women Organization each month and she has been using the videos as well.\nSince my last update, I was able to release one video entitled: How the Bible Helps Us Avoid Fake News and Deception. I have two more videos in process, one is almost ready for release. Please pray for wisdom in selecting topics that will impact the lives of Cambodians.\nAs I mentioned above, I have been teaching Apologetics in-person at a local seminary. But, for at least one week, the classes have gone online due to Covid. I have also been helping with the Chinese ministry at a local international church.\nKayo is in the process of reducing some of her activities with the worship team at the local international church. Please pray for her to have a time of rest and then for God to open new doors of ministry for her.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-home-yet-to-come/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.”\u003c/em\u003e Hebrews 13:14 NLT\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2022/02/271727522%5F5461419877207485%5F7515865505176260016%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNot being able to visit either of our passport-countries since 2018 and 2019 respectively, has made me think about the concept of “home.” Cambodia isn’t really “home” either because our presence here depends, in part, on whether or not the government will renew our visas each year. We never feel a sense of being fully rooted anywhere in the world. But, the good news is that this world is not our home. Heaven is our home and so that is where we find our root and permanence.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Home Yet To Come…"},{"content":" Hello friends and family!\nIn the last month we have jumped back into the Calvary Church Planting School in Rosarito.\nDecember saw us finalize the purchase of our home in Tijuana and January has been an amazing time of strengthening our family vision and service at Calvary Rosarito. Lydia has joined the CCR staff and will be writing a manual / book for the Church Planting Schoo l. While our younger children started high school again at Santillana del Mar Preparatoria, they are not being allowed on campus and most of the teachers are not doing online classes. Please pray!\nVisiting and Strengthening Church Plants\nI recently had the privilege of visiting two church plants sent from Calvary Rosarito. Pastors were greatly encouraged and are planning to start their own schools in Campeche and Merida. Pray for these brave and hard working Pastors!\nCheck out what Paul does in Acts 20: 2 \u0026ldquo;He traveled through that region with a message of encouragement\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; VISITING church plants is exciting because you get to follow in the footsteps of the great apostle Paul! Pray for the church planters and their families to flourish and reach more families!\nDivine Appointment\nI met Pastor Rafael in Mexico City in the airport. We were both travelling to Campeche together and he and I ended up sitting in the airplane together. He pastors a large church in Campeche as part of International Christian Ministry (MCI in Spanish). Fog delayed our arrival 3 extra hours while we taked about family and ministry. He was so intrigued that he showed up at the Church Planting Conference the next morning! Pray the Lord blesses this Pastor as he teaches the Bible verse by verse after many years of topical sermons. Pray more partnerships ar forged and more souls reached!\nLife Group in Tijuana\nLife Group is another name for small groups at a house. Folks from church and from our neighborhood come every Thursday night for food, Bible study and prayer! God has blessed us with a gifted musician! Pray for us to reach more neighbors with Christ\u0026rsquo;s love!\nIn Christ,\nThe Boubion Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/2022-god-confirms-our-call/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://bn02pap001files.storage.live.com/y4mIt33tPPVF07S2x5TQH3Tig94d7euxpb%5FM9cocYPS5vQQQ6IvC0F49vzFa7znIWYzd2ZA27Rt2rY3OY8nSbHnTaK4rkcH3oWK4izaMZ-MtK2wKJnw8mX1X2j5vsXSaAMNlrEDFiAm-02Kg0fFm%5F5JTZ4kV1pH1jUaH5pcB6eTA3iUd5E%5FBks47VnXV45BwtGH?width=974\u0026amp;height=1024\u0026amp;cropmode=none\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHello friends and family!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the last month we have jumped back into the Calvary Church Planting School in Rosarito.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecember saw us finalize the purchase of our home in Tijuana and January has been an amazing time of strengthening our family vision and service at Calvary Rosarito. Lydia has joined the CCR staff and will be \u003cstrong\u003ewriting a manual / book for the Church Planting Schoo\u003c/strong\u003e l. While our younger children started high school again at Santillana del Mar Preparatoria, they are not being allowed on campus and most of the teachers are not doing online classes. \u003cstrong\u003ePlease pray!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Confirms our Call – February 2022"},{"content":" I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the LORD.\nPsalm 27:13-14 NASB\nSecret Church and Week of Fasting\nIntern Teaching Class\nKyrgyz friends, Aidana and Zeena, I met at the Costa Mesa Missions Conference! Such sweet sisters!\nMy daily walk to work\nMissions Class with Rob Douglass\nPraying for our Missionaries around the world\nSix months ago I was thrown into God’s new direction towards rectifying the 10/40 Imbalance as an Intern with Saving Grace World Missions. Now, I am officially a volunteer Administrative Assistant to the Director of Missionary Equipping, Pastor Tim Pappas! A large leap of faith, but I have never known our God to fail us in any aspect of our lives. He may work differently than we wished, but He has always proved Himself to be faithful.\nI am continuing to serving as an intern, but now I am able to devote more time towards the mission field on the admin side, surrounding myself with the “background” work of Missions overseas. This has been extremely valuable experience and one that will be a long term investment for when I get the chance to be on The Field in the coming future.\nAt the time of sending this update, I am now living month-to-month on missions support and I am going on two cross-border trips in February and April! Praise be to Abba\nAs life gets more busy with an increased workload, the above verse has been my spiritual manna. I have been struggling with spiritual, emotional swings of great excitement and growth then plunges into overwhelming loneliness and discouragement. But He has proven to draw me closer to Himself. Every day we have to submit our thoughts to Abba and He is our stability in the midst of the temptation to succumb to “ youthful lusts” (2 Timothy 2:22) and get sidetracked from what the Lord would have us be apart of right in this season.\n“Wait on the LORD; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart; wait, I say, on the LORD!”\nHow important has this been! His timing and ways are perfect and true. I have been disciplining myself to wait on Him in every decision of life. He has given abundantly in this internship and He is merciful to provide for every need as we pursue His righteousness, faith, love, and peace with all those who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.\nOne of the most exciting parts of the training we get as Interns is the chance to GO out into the mission field at home and overseas!\nI have had the amazing privilage to be the Administrative Assistant for SGWM’s Central Mexico Missions Trip this February 28 – March 14! I’m saving finances and praying to become a Learner on how to organize future Missionary Equipping trips in the future. Furthermore, I am also actively saving and praying to be apart of a vision trip to the Middle East THIS April!\nI truly covet your prayers! Let me know if you have been praying or if there are any ways I can partner with you in prayer. God has joined us together through His blood and we are family in Him to encourage and bear one another’s burdens; I would love to actively be an active part of interceeding for your behalf.\nCentral Asia Update: Tajikistan Tajikistan is a gorgeous landlocked, mountainous country with Afghanistan in the south, China in the east, Kyrgyzstan in the north, and Uzbekistan in the north. The main languages of Tajikistan are, Tajik (a varient of Persian) and Russian. 97% of Tajiks are Muslim with only less than 0.5% protestant Christian.\nRated 45 on Open Doors USA World Watch List and 17 on Radical’s Stratus index. It is a highly persecuted country in Central Asia. The Muslim majority and a strict authoritarian government hold strong ties to the social and political climate. Christians are restricted in their religious activities and are seen as suspects under close scrutiny as radical and opposition to government ideals. To convert to Christianity after being registered as a Muslim is a very real and dangerous stance MBB (muslim background believers) face. God is working among these people, but we pray for more national labors to be sent into this land of strong government oppression. Pray that our brothers and sisters would be unhindered to grow in maturity, prayer, worship, and sharing His love. We pray that God will use even us to help equip and train nationals to know the Scriptures.\nIf you would like to learn more please follow these links!\nhttps://globe.stratus.earth/country-explorer/TJK\nhttps://odusa-media.com/2017/12/Full-Country-Dossier-Tajikistan-2022.pdf\nPrayer Points Praise – God has opened the door to be a part of the office at SGWM!\nPraise – He has taken care of each event in January\nPraise – We have a New Roomie! Acacia has joined us in the Blair household\nPetition – That all logistical and financial needs would be taken care of and blessed for Mexico and the Middle East\nPetition – That the Lord would work His ministry in the office at Saving Grace World Missions and protect our work from the wiles of the Enemy\nPetition – Vision Trip to the Middle East: financial provision and Nancy would be blessed in preparation for the trip. That the people we connect with would be blessed by our presence and helped; there would be no hinderance to the Gospel in the country we are visiting!\nPetition – For Central Asia: A team and wisdom is needed to proceed with making moves to reaching the Unreached. Please be praying for support and partners in the Gospel.\nIf you wish to partner in the Gospel as we run towards His name being made known among the Unreached of Central Asia and the World, you can do so by Praying and giving towards one of the upcoming trips or a monthly donation. The blue button is available for you or you can make a check out to Aleah Vanrenterghem at 17451 Bastanchury Rd Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886. May He lead and bless!\nI love and appreciate each one of you! You’re my family in Christ and I couldn’t ask for better partners. How great is our LORD!\nMany blessings and love from Him who is worthy of All Praise\nAliyah Vanrenterghem\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/leaps-of-faith/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the LORD.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePsalm 27:13-14 NASB\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vanrenterghem/wp-content/uploads/sites/138/2022/02/IMG%5F3423.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Secret Church and Week of Fasting\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eSecret Church and Week of Fasting\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/IMG%5F3446.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Intern Teaching Class\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eIntern Teaching Class\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/IMG%5F3421.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Kyrgyz friends, Aidana and Zeena, I met at the Costa Mesa Missions Conference! Such sweet sisters!\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eKyrgyz friends, Aidana and Zeena, I met at the Costa Mesa Missions Conference! Such sweet sisters!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Leaps of Faith"},{"content":"As the month of February starts, we wanted to make you aware of our situation and ask for you to pray with us. Japan is still closed due to COVID, and they are not allowing non-citizens to enter the country. We called the Japanese consulate to see if there were any options at this time, and they told us that unless Alishia or I were Japanese we had no options at this time. The Japanese government is going to reassess these policies at the end of February. Would you join us in prayer each day this month that Japan would open up to international travel in March?\nWe are not the only people being impacted and slowed down by COVID, and we understand that the Lord may well be the One behind the slow down. Pray that we would receive direction from the Lord and discernment on what is a closed door and what is an obstacle to push through. We are not questioning our call, we still feel that we are called to Japan, but we want to be open to whatever the Lord would have us do. If our time before we can get to Japan is going to stretch out, we want to know if there is a step or two, we can make to further prepare ourselves and serve the Lord in the meantime. We trust that our next step will be made clear if we all join together in prayer, so thank you for taking the time to lift us before the Lord.\nAs far as what we are doing while here in California, in January we joined with some friends to do outreach in Little Tokyo (a neighborhood in LA). A Japanese believer from Northern California joined us to witness and we handed out Japanese tracts to those that gathered. Please pray for the seeds that were planted among the Japanese here in the US.\nMissions Equip, the ministry I work with, is currently starting up two translation projects. They are translating the Bible into the Toposa language that is spoken in South Sudan. Half a million people will be getting a Bible in their language for the first time! While that’s going on in Africa, I am helping to lead a project translating our missions Bible college classes into Spanish. We are working with a team from Iquique, Chile to take our videos and translate them, and dub them with the Spanish audio. We are so blessed by the number of resources we have in our language and the access we have to the Word of God, let’s not take it for granted.\nAlishia is continuing to lead a Bible study as well as working with the youth group at the church. I’ve been blessed to help lead a men’s group and a life group. We also have the opportunity to fill in at church in March leading their young adults group while their leaders are out of town, so please pray as I prepare for that.\nThank you for your partnership. We love you.\nJeff and Alishia Root\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/please-pray-with-us/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs the month of February starts, we wanted to make you aware of our situation and ask for you to pray with us. Japan is still closed due to COVID, and they are not allowing non-citizens to enter the country. We called the Japanese consulate to see if there were any options at this time, and they told us that unless Alishia or I were Japanese we had no options at this time. The Japanese government is going to reassess these policies at the end of February. Would you join us in prayer each day this month that Japan would open up to international travel in March?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Please Pray With Us"},{"content":"Hi family and friends!!\nWe pray you are all doing well when reading the update of our family!!\nThe end of 2021\nDecember was so full of blessings for all our mission kids, staff and families. Christmas at the mission is always so special, and there is no better way you understand until you spend Christmas here at home surrounded for all the kids joy, food, presents and Gods love everywhere.\nAZAFF\u0026rsquo;S ADVENTURES\nOur family adventures seems to never ends, our journal with our son Azaff stared an the end of 2019, he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor on his brain, he received 2 surgeries with in a week one from the other to remove the tumor, they where able to remove about 95% the rest was to dangerous to remove, since then he is been improving little by little until this day.\nWe are now traveling two hours every week to a physical therapy center where he is getting treatment to improve his motor skills, eye side and balance.\nPrayer request\n1. Please pray for strength, wisdom, joy, and all the fruits of the spirit for me in homeschooling our kids Azaff and Abdiel. 2. All though we have a car that take us there and back it is time for a new car, please help us pray for provision so that we can afford a good reliable car. 3. Please pray for provision for the medical treatment and traveling expenses. 4. Mission kids, staff and families. With so much love,\nThe Rivera Family Miguel, Zurisadai, Conchita, Azaff, Abdiel.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/riveras-january-2022/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi family and friends!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe pray you are all doing well when reading the update of our family!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe end of 2021\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDecember was so full of blessings for all our mission kids, staff and families. Christmas at the mission is always so special, and there is no better way you understand until you spend Christmas here at home surrounded for all the kids joy, food, presents and Gods love everywhere.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rivera’s January 2022"},{"content":" “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.”\nActs 20:28\nAfter two long years of restrictions, we were finally able to host another conference for the pastors of the Northern Uganda Calvary Chapel Association! Although our ministry is non-denominational and we train pastors from many kinds of churches, we belong to a Calvary Chapel, both in America and here in Uganda. I (Matt) am ordained through Calvary, and they have a special place in our hearts. Chuck Smith birthed this movement during the hippy period of the 60’s and 70’s. At that time many churches were divided into two major groups. One practiced strict legalism: “Don’t come into the church dressed like that”, “a real Christian wouldn’t do that” etc. On the other side there was a “charismania”, people “drunk with the Spirit” clucking like chickens and dancing like monkeys. Calvary Chapel has been a powerful and balanced movement of God. Priority is given to the Word of God, people are equipped by the filling of the Holy Spirit, we wholly rely on God’s grace, and we seek to uphold the supremacy of love. As of now there are more than 10,000 Calvaries in East Africa alone.\nThings in the church haven’t changed all that much, and the state of the church in Uganda today mirrors that of the church that existed during Chuck Smith\u0026rsquo;s time. Many churches preach unbiblical legalism, the false gospel of works. I have even heard a minister announce to his congregation, “Make sure you don’t sin this week or you will go straight to Hell!” The church here has also been infiltrated with the false “prosperity gospel”: “If you’re sick you don’t have real faith”, “If you buy this item that I blessed, you will pass your exams!” Many pastors have caved under the great pressure to conform to the message and culture of the rest of the “born again” churches here. Therefore, we hosted nearly 50 of our Calvary Pastors for 3 nights to attend the conference themed “What Is Calvary?” in order to regroup under grace and the authority of Scripture. God blessed us as we studied through the Calvary Chapel Distinctives, departmental ministries (children’s, married, and youth ministry, preaching, etc.) and downloaded Pastor Chuck’s teachings through the Bible onto people’s phones. It was truly a blessing to worship together in the unity of the Spirit. If the Lord wills, we will continue having these conferences, highlighting different topics, biannually.\nPlease pray for the purity and power of the Church.\nGod Bless you, The Harris Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-january-2022/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which He obtained with His own blood.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eActs 20:28\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2022/01/20220112%5F111443.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter two long years of restrictions, we were finally able to host another conference for the pastors of the Northern Uganda Calvary Chapel Association!  Although our \u003cem\u003eministry\u003c/em\u003e is non-denominational and we train pastors from many kinds of churches, we belong to a Calvary Chapel, both in America and here in Uganda.  I (Matt) am ordained through Calvary, and they have a special place in our hearts.  Chuck Smith birthed this movement during the hippy period of the 60’s and 70’s.  At that time many churches were divided into two major groups. One practiced strict legalism:  “Don’t come into the church dressed like that”, “a real Christian wouldn’t do that” etc.  On the other side there was a “charismania”, people “drunk with the Spirit” clucking like chickens and dancing like monkeys.  Calvary Chapel has been a powerful and balanced movement of God.  Priority is given to the Word of God, people are equipped by the filling of the Holy Spirit, we wholly rely on God’s grace, and we seek to uphold the supremacy of love.  As of now there are more than 10,000 Calvaries in East Africa alone.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update – January 2022"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nOne of the great blessings of being part of a church-planting sending hub, is the opportunity to go out and visit the churches we have planted! The Apostle Paul is our model, and we do our best to pattern our church planting activities on what Paul did on his church planting journeys in the book of Acts!\nOne of my favorite verses in the bible is Acts 15:36. We read there, “Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.” Paul began his 2nd missionary (church-planting) journey with a plan to go out and visit and encourage the churches that he had planted on his first journey with Barnabas! In January, I was blessed to travel with 3 good friends from our church and do that same thing!\nOur 4-man missions team flew out from Tijuana headed to our 2 year old church plant outside of Mexico City in a city called Tulancingo! This traditional city of 250,000 is famous for being the most important wool textile producer in the country, and it was also home to El Santo, Mexico’s most famous lucha libre wrestler. But our purpose for traveling there was to visit our church planters (Federico and Jenny) and the church they have planted there!\nWe were blessed to host a marriage conference at their beautiful church facility and I led worship as well! Besides encouraging the marriages, and hosting a delicious dinner of regional cuisine, we were blessed to see 4 first-time professions of faith at the end of the evening. Praise the Lord!\nAfter leaving Tulancingo, we visited the historic Pyramid of the Sun on the road to Mexico City! This pyramid is the third largest in the world (758 feet tall) and was built in the year 200BC! This trip to Mexico City was especially powerful for my friend (and CCR staffer Abraham) who on this trip got to visit his mother’s hometown for the first time in his life!\nOur church planting team hopped on an early flight out of Mexico City to fly to our next destination in Campeche! Campeche City is the capital of the small state of Campeche and is part of the famous Yucatan Peninsula! The area is beautiful and tropical, but our trip centered on our church planters Miguel and Liliana and their 3 year old church plant!\nAfter 3 years of faithfully laboring, Miguel has begun his own church planting class and our missions team was down there to host a regional church planting conference! Upon landing, we hooked up with my good friend (and church planter from Culiacan) Hugo Limon to host the first church planting conference in the history of the Yucatan Peninsula! Unfortunately, when we landed we got the bad news that our Church planter Miguel was out with covid and would not be available to host the conference!\nWe prayed for Miguel, and then stepped out in faith to host and lead the conference ourselves! We were blessed as over 25 pastors traveled to this conference from 100 miles away, along with the congregants that are enrolled in Miguel’s local church planting class! The church planting conference was a great blessing to our new friends, and they have invited us back to host a conference next year in their city of Merida!\nOn the trip I was blessed to teach at the churches at their Sunday services and lead worship as well!\nAs I meditated on the great privilege of following in the giant footsteps of the Apostle Paul, I was reminded that he did not travel alone when he went on his journeys! Paul traveled with friends, and he also had supporters and partners that supported and believed in him, and sent him on his way through prayer and financial support!\nI feel so blessed and honored to have partners like you that believe in the great work that God is doing here in the mission field of Mexico. (Not only through our local ministry here in Rosarito, but through the church plants as well!) We love you, are praying for you, and thank God for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would protect our family and church in these difficult times!\n#2- That God would bless our new church planting class, and the 6 church planting classes that are beginning in our church plants!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a blessed church planting journey to Tulancingo and Campeche!\n#2- Praise God for good health for our family so far in 2022!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-february-2022-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2022/01/272628101%5F10159881726594208%5F3244212574705293752%5Fn-1024x670.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the great blessings of being part of a church-planting sending hub, is the opportunity to go out and visit the churches we have planted! The Apostle Paul is our model, and we do our best to pattern our church planting activities on what Paul did on his church planting journeys in the book of Acts!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2022/01/272049367%5F10159873571129208%5F940327883974491816%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e One of my favorite verses in the bible is Acts 15:36. We read there, \u003cem\u003e“Then after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing.”\u003c/em\u003e Paul began his 2nd missionary \u003cem\u003e(church-planting)\u003c/em\u003e journey with a plan to go out and visit and encourage the churches that he had planted on his first journey with Barnabas! In January, I was blessed to travel with 3 good friends from our church and do that same thing!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family February 2022 Missions Update"},{"content":" AFRICA\nVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\nPraise God:\n-Our church continues to grow both in number but more importantly in relationship with Him. The church had a hard season but what is meant for evil, God uses for Good! The unity and depth of prayer that has grown in us as a church family, only God could do.\n-We have begun construction on our chicken and egg project for the school! We have also finalized the purchase of the land. Once the rains start, our church will start the large-scale farming for the children, both for the health through proper diet and also for the school to become self-sustaining.\n-We have resumed posting Sunday and Wednesday service on YouTube.\n-West Nile TV (who often interviews Vincent, giving opportunity for open air sharing of the gospel) has come to take photos and videos of all our ministries. Lord willing, we will have our website up by March.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Our boarding is over full! We should have 120 children in each boarding quarters but currently have over 140. Please pray with us as we seek God in building more dormitories.\n2. The doctor found in my blood work that my body is fighting itself somehow. They have requested more blood work. As soon as we get the answers from the Lord, Vincent will come for 2 weeks then we will go back together. Through this trying time, I have learned, it is not for us to understand His mysteries but to trust in Him!\nMay God continue to bless those who have answered the call to bless these children this year! God’s timing is more than perfect! Photos of the chicken houses and farmland next month. For this month we just want to show you all these amazing children and what God is doing! To Him be all glory forever! We praise God for allowing us to be part of His mighty work!\nThank you for your prayers!!!!\nIn Him,\nAniku Family – Emai l Blog\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship as we meet and fellowship together. Pray for all the people who have heard the messages on Thankfulness and the meaning of Christmas to take it to heart.\n2. Pray for the many needs within the community, physical and spiritual.\n3. Pray for Jill and the Kanyike children as the new school year is about to begin.\n4. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\n5. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nGary and Tina Barrow\nPraise God:\n-Praise the Lord for His faithfulness in 2021. Just a crazy year where we saw shut- downs, mandates, all kinds of fears and uncertainty. Yet the Lord brought us through them all.\n-With the New Year comes new opportunities to serve the Lord. The South Asia Bible Colleges are currently closed with the exception of one that the Lord has allowed to remain open. We will be starting a new semester soon and I will be looking for teachers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that the Lord would open the other Bible colleges so that we can continue to raise up young men and women to spread God Word across the nation.\n2. Pray that the Lord would give us the right teachers who will carry His heart to the students for the next semester.\n3. Pray that the country will open up for us to return and be able to teach block classes while encouraging and strengthening the students and the local workers.\nThank you for your continued prayers.\nGod bless,\nGary and Tina - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nThank you for your prayers!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the ability for Joel and Amy to prioritize all that God has put on our plates, including pastoral ministry, teaching ministry, missionary care, and worship ministry for Joel, leading our young adult\u0026rsquo;s group, and raising our family\n2. For strength for Amy in the hard and wonderful job of homeschooling the kids\n3.For wisdom in where and when to travel next for Joel, that the Lord would open up the perfect opportunities to go minister to our missionaries\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia – Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Safety, health, and protection in these difficult times!\n2. That God would bless our two new church plants in 2022 to Morelia and chihuahua!\n3. Open doors for our children Grace and Daniel to continue their college educations!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray – Ensenada, Mexico\nThanks for your prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have moved from Mexico to Mississippi, pray for us as we get readjusted to living in the US in a new city. Culture shock - we are not in Mexico anymore, sticker shock - costing more to live here, ministry shock - having a place to serve every day to finding new ways and opportunities to serve, realizing the adjustments will take a little time.\n2. We are thankful to have found a new church home with lots of friendly and caring people.\n3. We are doing renovations and repairs on the house we bought. All is going well but it has taken a while to figure out the processes.\n4. Leo has a new part time job. Pray that he will be a light and good influence there.\n5. Pilar will be looking for work after the first of the year.\n6. We miss the ministry ay Calvary Chapel Bible College and pray for the staff and students there.\n7. Pray that our house in Ensenada would sell or that God would send the right person to rent from us.\n8. Pray for a great New Year in 2022.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar – Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. To stay close to Jesús\n2. For our marriage\n3. Our prodigals\n4. Ministry vision\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia and Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my mom, who is in the hospital post-covid. Please pray for complete recovery, and that God will give us wisdom about where to take her for follow-up treatment when she is discharged.\n2. Please pray for my dad and two sisters who are caring for my mom while she is ill, that God will strengthen them and give them wisdom. 3. Please pray that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit and that we will honor Him in all we say and do and will be used of God to minister to others.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my mom, still in the hospital with post-covid problems. Please pray for accurate diagnosis and treatment, healing, and for her to get home.\n2. Please continue to pray for our nursing home ministry, that many will be drawn close to Jesus and encouraged. Please also pray for favor with the nursing home staff and that we would be able to continue to do the ministry, as the regulations related to the virus continually change.\n3. Please pray for our financial support.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nThank you all for standing in the gap in intercessory prayer!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our school of ministry as it goes into its 3rd year!\n2. Pray for our church in a whole, a girl who used to be in our youth group accused one of our X leaders of worship that she was raped by him. (don\u0026rsquo;t publish this prayer request please) It seems like we are being attacked by all sides, little taxing things, discord and drama!\n3. Pray for Ariana who was at IBC in Trujillo was asked to come home for moral reasons.\n4. Pray for Jharold who is going back to finish Bible college in Cajamarca with John Bonner.\n5. Pray for of our new believers. Isaac, Moshe, Fabiola, \u0026amp; Paul.\n6. Pray for our youth group, as we have about 10 new youth.\n7. Summer outreaches, \u0026amp; Surf camps.\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n-Thank God that God has saved us from all kinds of troubles. -Thank God about 400 people came to Christmas to hear God\u0026rsquo;s gospel and joined in the joy of God\u0026rsquo;s birthday. Went to lunch\n-Thank God that in the month of December we went to about 7 new villages where the gospel of Jesus Christ had not yet reached the; we delivered the gospel and more than 5000 people heard the news and about 15 to 20 people believed.\n-Thank God! Christmas time our city was attacked by many churches, but God saved us all\n-Thank God that some people who were from the media at Christmas time came and interviewed our church believers but thank God they didn\u0026rsquo;t print anything against us.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for us, may God protect us from viruses, cold and fever. 2. Please pray for this corona virus all the temples, mosques and churches in our city and in the village have been closed and after a few days there is going to be a complete lockdown again. We\u0026rsquo;re secretly doing Sunday service. 3. Please pray that my elder sister is getting married in February next month and may God fulfill every need in marriage especially financial needs because my sister and my father are all serving God independently without any monthly support.\n4. Please pray that this year I have decided to register my church. And I can install cc camera in the church because a Christian lawyer has said that if someone attacks your church then on the basis of cc camera can take action against him so that he cannot attack again on any other churches in future. That is why pray that God fulfills the financial needs so that we can also register and install CC cameras.\n5. Please pray for the people of our church that they remain in the Lord and remain stable in the persecutions, now there are many such believers in our church who have been excommunicated from the village society for the sake of the Lord.\n6. Please pray for our admin Johnny\u0026rsquo;s mother who is suffering from corona virus. God heal them as soon as possible.\nThanks for your prayers, love and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you,\n11\nWorker 16 - 10-/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my cousins that they grow in God’s words.\n2. Please pray for all the patients to whom we distributed the Bible that they may know Jesus Christ.\n3. Please pray for the children to whom we share the gospel that they may save.\n4. Please pray for the overall non-Christian friends to whom we share the gospel on 25th they may come to the Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n16\nWorker 7 – 10/40 Window\nPraise and Prayer\n-Praise the Lord, my mom is home from the hospital after 4 months! Please pray for complete recovery. She has been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, and they have said she will need oxygen for the rest of her life.\nThank you for praying!\nGod bless you,\n7\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nThank you for your prayer support.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Darryl\u0026rsquo;s work in assisting the fundraising of Light Times Magazine, the only Christian magazine in Cambodia.\n2. Please pray for God to open the doors for us to travel to Japan or the USA in the summer of 2022.\n3. Please pray for Darryl\u0026rsquo;s upcoming apologetics class at a Bible school in Cambodia.\n4.Please pray for Kayo as she reorganizes her ministry commitments in 2022 and seeks out new opportunities to serve.\n5. Please continue to pray for Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s schooling.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin – Email Blog\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my ministry here, that God will open more doors for the Gospel.\n2. Please pray, the election is coming soon here. Pray that God brings a godly political leader.\n3. Pray for a few brothers who have come to Christ, that they will grow greatly in His Word.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n13\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for brother Laxman and his wife Sarmila as they serve the Lord at Hetauda.\n2. Please pray for brother Nikesh and his wife Laxmi as they are preparing to go and start Church at Janakpur- East Nepal.\n3. Brother Saroj and brother Rabindra from our Church have started Bible study at their local place, please pray that God would bring new people to the study.\n4. Please pray that God would bring more people hunger for the Word of God to our Bible College 2022 new semester.\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna – Email Blog\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise God:\n-Thank you; We had great time in Christmas outreach. We are able to reach so many people in this Christmas. Here are some of the prayer Request for this month:\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for the Bible College new semester as we are starting from 1st February.\n3. Please for the leprosy colony that God may give them sound health.\n4. Please pray for that Government may do Favor to run Bible College.\n5. Please pray that God may bring many students to the Bible College in this semester.\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPraise God:\n-God has blessed us with a wonderful year. Praise God for His wonderful work!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our 15 students who graduated, that they will be engaged in the mission fields that God calls them to.\n2. Please pray for my wife as she raises women in women’s ministry.\n3. Please pray for those who heard the Gospel during Christmas outreaches. Thank you so much for helping us and lifting us up through prayer and finances.\nGrace and Peace, Rabi and Mahima – Email Blog\nWorker 8 and Family – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. God has provided me with a piece of land. We have been praying for 3 years, and God has heard our prayers. Please pray for a church building construction and its foundation this year. And let God raise thousands of hands. Our God knows all our needs well.\nMay God, bless you\nThank you,\n8 and Family\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that the people we met through distributing blankets will experience the love of God.\n2. Pray for the students, that they will be committed to the work of God and be faithful in the work they are called to.\n3. Day by day it is becoming tough, and anti-Christian groups are growing more and more to stop the spread of the Gospel. A pastor was recently arrested here and many have been threatened not to preach the Gospel. Please pray about this.\n4. Please continue to pray for unity in our church and for us to make godly decisions.\n5. I thank God for His protection and healing in our students. Be continually praying for our students.\n6. Pray for those who have newly given their lives to Christ.\n7. Please pray for God’s provision for our video shoot recording and editing of some biblically correct worship songs.\n8. Please pray for a new place for us to hold worship services. Where we are, the seats are all full and no more people would be able to fit.\n9. The work of the Holy Spirit is misinterpreted in many of the churches in our state. My team and I are praying about starting a 1-month school of worship, which we would hold during our semester break. We would train in basic music theory and biblical worship, introducing the worship leaders to Christian theology. Our vision is to bring man closer to God through the Word of God and to worship Him how He wants to be worshiped. We want to help believers learn the differences between acceptable and unacceptable worship, to worship God in spirit and in truth.\n10. Please pray for an outreach we are planning, for God’s leading and protection\nThank you for your prayers\nGod bless you,\n6\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the people who don\u0026rsquo;t have jobs and are having difficulty financially. Also pray for those who have lost their friends and family members in this pandemic.\n2. Pray for our church people, for their faith. Pray that they will be good students of God\u0026rsquo;s Word, and pray for our online meetings, that we will be able to find more opportunities to share with new people.\n3. Pray for the villages, that people will be strong in their faith. Pray for food provision, because the villagers do not have good transportation during the pandemic, and their grocery market is so far from the village. It is very difficult to survive, especially during this pandemic.\n4. Pray for a piece of land for a church building, so that we can have fellowship without any objections and have our own church building.\n5. Pray for me, that I will lead our believers well, and pray for my health also.\n6. Pray for a computer to continue send my updates and use for our online fellowship. It is very difficult to write newsletters in my phone, so a computer would be very helpful for keeping in touch.\n7. Pray for the new people—those who have come to Christ recently; pray that they will grow with Lord and with His kindness.\nThank you for your kindness!! 12\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Vinita, who has covid and has been having thyroid problems. Please pray that the Lord will heal her and that her blood pressure will be normal.\n2. Please pray for those who heard the Gospel during Christmas outreaches, that they would be saved.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. A new believer from the village has recently begun coming to our church. He has been suffering from stomach pain for a long time. Please pray for God’s healing touch upon his life, so that he will grow stronger in his faith.\n2. Please pray for the surrounding villages of our town, that God will open doors for the Gospel, so that many souls will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\n3. My wife and I have been suffering from a viral fever for the past two weeks, and we are on medication. Please pray for God’s healing.\n4. Many places have again begun virtual schooling because of a third wave of covid-19. Pray that God will bring a normal situation back to our country.\n5. Please pray for God’s supply for our house construction. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nP and R\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\n5. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 1 – 10/40 Window\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the work the Lord has set before us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our family to stay healthy.\n2. Pray for our students and staff.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\n1\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers. God bless you,\n2\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for that all the believers of our church will learn the Word and be filled with His knowledge and wisdom and become doers of the Word also.\n2. Please pray for me, that God will help me to grow spiritually more and more every day of my life.\n3. Please pray for the need of a building for our church.\n4. Please pray that God will add new believers to our church members.\n5. Please pray that our church will be able to reach the people through social work.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my mother, that she will recover, and for all of the other people of our church and neighborhood who are affected by this virus.\n2. Please pray for my grandfather, who is having a difficult time, as my grandma passed away.\n3. Please pray for all of the people who we have been giving Bibles and Gospel tracts to, and those who heard the Gospel message during the Christmas season. Pray that the Lord will work in their lives, and that we may see the fruit of this work.\n4. Pray for the persecutors, that they would know the Lord.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\n9\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers. Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n3. Pray for me, because I am making a church building. Pray that God will give me wisdom and understanding to do it correctly.\n4. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n5. Pray for me, that God will open new doors for me to share the Gospel.\n6. Pray for one brother who I have been sharing the Gospel to; pray that he will come to Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\n10\nWorker 5 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that God will protect us from the present situation.\n2. Pray for our neighbors, that they will come to know the Lord.\n3. Pray for my daughter who is studying nursing.\nThank you so much for the encouragement and partnership!\nGod Bless You,\n5\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are\nmistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time.\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-feb-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/aniku1%5F1204-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise God:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n-Our church continues to grow both in number but more importantly in relationship with Him. The church had a hard season but what is meant for evil, God uses for Good! The unity and depth of prayer that has grown in us as a church family, only God could do.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-We have begun construction on our chicken and egg project for the school! We have also finalized the purchase of the land. Once the rains start, our church will start the large-scale farming for the children, both for the health through proper diet and also for the school to become self-sustaining.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM FEB PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" Happy New Year to you all! It’s been another crazy season for us as we continue to serve the Lord down here in Oaxaca, Mexico. We have had teams since the last update and much more.\nIn September we had a team from Calvary Red Rock in Las Vegas come down. This was the second team with this awesome church and they blessed our church and family so much. We did a two night men’s conference, did a fitness event called the Fit2Serve Roadshow, had a fun event for the youth group, and so much more. (If you have Facebook and don’t follow us personally or our church page, you should! Calvary Chapel Oaxaca is the church page and we keep things posted on social media).\nAt the beginning of October Jeff and Bonnie Johnson came down and did some training on how to do great marital counseling, and then they did a marriage conference and our church provided a meal and dessert for the couples. It was a blessing to learn from Jeff and Bonnie and for us to personally get to know them better.\nAt the end of October, Jonny and Noah had the privilege of attending one level of the Spanish school that Jon and I attended in 2017. It was quite the adventure as the boys and I lived in the little village for 6 weeks while Jon was in the city continuing with the church ministry. I was able to help in the kindergarten class at the school on the mission’s base and it was a blast. The boys learned so much in their classes. We are grateful to Calvary Red Rock for sponsoring the boys’ schooling.\nIn December we had a team from Calvary San Juan, now Calvary South OC. This was also the second team from this church since we arrived 3 years ago. We had such a great time with them and they really blessed our church and us in huge ways. They painted an orphanage and we had a little Christmas party for the kids there. They also extended the stage at the church which was much needed. We had an outreach day for the kids in the community, a Christmas party for the church after service on Sunday. And we did it all while the entire city was blocked off with blockades. If you don’t know about the blockades in Oaxaca, you should look it up.\nWe decided to sell our car since we could no longer have it here in Mexico, so we drove up to the states and sold it. While there, we visited lots of our supporters and some family and friends. We returned to Oaxaca without a car, which can be difficult when trying to do certain things. And… Jon and I got our PERMANENT RESIDENCY, which is a very huge deal and we are so excited!!!\nMinistry at church is going well. Jon is planning on starting a men’s Bible study and he’ll be having some of the guys take turns teaching also. He will be doing that every other Thursday, and I’ll be doing the women’s ministry on the Thursdays that he’s not meeting. We have been so blessed to have this church family here, filled with people who genuinely want to serve Jesus. People we get to call our friends!\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nPlease pray for wisdom and provision to buy a car. We would really love to buy something that has enough space to transport people. Unfortunately we cannot use our missions funds to buy a car possibly because of tax purposes, which we understand. So we are trying to save up some money to buy something. This complicates some of the ministry we were doing at one of the rehab centers here, and being able to handle everyday church needs. Please pray for all of the ministries in the church. Unity within the ministries and communication. We have a great core group of people who serve, which is such a blessing. Please continue to pray for all of our spanish to improve more and more. We no longer have a Wednesday night translator so we need to find someone for that. Continued good health in the church and in our family. With the new cases of Covid right now, we pray that no one gets sick because the medical care here isn’t like that in the states. Please pray for a more personal prayer request…that our son and daughter-in-law would be able to have a baby. They really desire to have a baby, so please pray for God’s perfect timing and peace in the waiting. We are so grateful for all of you who love and support us through prayer, texts/calls, and financially. We couldn’t continue the ministry here in Oaxaca without all of you. May the Lord bless you all in this New Year.\nJon, Allison, Jonny, and Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/brechtel-family-january-2022-update/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F0891.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F0946.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F1016.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F1082.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F1109.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F1230.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F1232.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F2500.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F2544.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F2723.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F2756.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F2816.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F2820.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F2903.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F2910.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F3042.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F3990.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F3995.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F4082.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F4098.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F4126.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/IMG%5F4150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHappy New Year to you all! It’s been another crazy season for us as we continue to serve the Lord down here in Oaxaca, Mexico. We have had teams since the last update and much more.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn September we had a team from Calvary Red Rock in Las Vegas come down. This was the second team with this awesome church and they blessed our church and family so much. We did a two night men’s conference, did a fitness event called the Fit2Serve Roadshow, had a fun event for the youth group, and so much more. (If you have Facebook and don’t follow us personally or our church page, you should! Calvary Chapel Oaxaca is the church page and we keep things posted on social media).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Brechtel Family - January 2022 Update"},{"content":"Hello Friends \u0026amp; Family!\nSick-mas\nI pray you are all doing well! As many of you know, for many this holiday season was a little different with Omicron sweeping through many communities, including our church community. This is the second year in a row that we didn’t get to see any extended family on Christmas due to COVID; I came down with COVID 3 days before Christmas! It was rough on the family as it spread through the house and kept us cooped up over holiday break, but fortunately symptoms were mild and everyone recovered quickly.\nBack to Work!\nComing back to “the office” after being sick was difficult, but the Lord really renewed my strength and blessed a week of prayer and fasting that we had for our church. The first couple of weeks of the year are busy for missionary care, so I’ve been doing lots of meetings with missionaries and emails with missionaries and working with the new Financial Director the Lord has provided SGWM. There is SO MUCH administration behind giving missionaries all the tools they need to be successful, so pray that the Lord would continue to strengthen me and our amazing team for this task!\nDiscipleship\nThrough our School of Missions and internship program, the Lord has provided some amazing opportunities for Amy and I to disciple young people who feel called to vocational ministry, specifically toward the Unreached. One of those young men is Bryan Reyes. Not only have I been able to disciple him, but he has become a great friend and ministry partner. I got to watch him walk for his Bible College graduation last month, he runs our sound ministry alongside me for our worship ministry, he leads worship for our young adults group and teaches them once a month, and I also get to be the best man in his wedding at the end of this month. Would you consider supporting him and his soon to be wife Andrea as they prepare to be sent to the Middle East as SGWM missionaries?\n/blog/missionaries/bryan-reyes/\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for strength and wisdom for Amy and I in homeschooling our four kids.\nPlease pray for when and where the Lord would have Joel to travel next; it has been a long time, and the process is more complicated now, but Joel really has a heart to go visit our missionaries on the ground to minister to them.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/this-christmas-was-different-garcia-family-update-january-2022/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends \u0026amp; Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSick-mas\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI pray you are all doing well! As many of you know, for many this holiday season was a little different with Omicron sweeping through many communities, including our church community. This is the second year in a row that we didn’t get to see any extended family on Christmas due to COVID; I came down with COVID 3 days before Christmas! It was rough on the family as it spread through the house and kept us cooped up over holiday break, but fortunately symptoms were mild and everyone recovered quickly.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"This Christmas Was… Different – Garcia Family Update January 2022"},{"content":"Happy new year! I pray that you all had a blessed holiday season full of family, friends, and fellowship with the Lord. God has been working in all of our lives and I am excited to share how He has been working here in Truckee.\nYoung Adults Things are starting to take off in our young adults group! Last Friday we had 4 young adults attend with one regular out because of work and two new people who wanted to come but just weren’t able to make it work. This Friday we will have a young woman join us who visited our church last Sunday and she will be bringing her boyfriend. We could potentially cram 10 people into our small space tomorrow night! Please pray that God would move in our midst and that He’d be greatly magnified as we fellowship and draw near to Him.\nPlaying video games before worship\nYouth Group We will have our first youth group meeting on Monday, Jan 24th. Please keep us in your prayers! We only have one youth kid at our church so we are praying for more opportunities to get to know youth in the community; Isaac has been in contact with the high school basketball coach and might have the opportunity to assistant coach. Please keep that opportunity in your prayers. We want to see young people get saved and get plugged in and we’re excited to see God work in this town.\nNew Opportunity I was asked at the beginning of this year to take over the children’s ministry at our church and after praying and discussing with Isaac, I happily accepted. I will now be the children’s ministry director which just means that I will organize curriculum, schedule teachers, and step in to teach when necessary. Fletcher is our only child right now so it’s a pretty light load but we need to have lessons ready for the occasional guest. As we grow it will become more time consuming so please pray for growth and grace to manage the changes.\nPersonal Isaac has been working for the local disposal company for about three weeks now and loves it. He is making a significant amount more per hour and is enjoying the work because everyday is different and there’s no downtime. He has been able to share the Gospel with a handful of coworkers and invite them to church. We are praying that the Holy Spirit would convict and compel these men as Isaac continues to invest in them.\nI had the opportunity to spend time with a young mom I met at the park who is not a believer. I am praying that the Lord would give me opportunities to share Him with her and her two daughters and that they would come to church. It’s also exciting to have friends in a similar season of life and I am praising God for answering that heart prayer.\nSome of you may know that a big storm came through town in December and a tree branch fell from one of the trees around our house, impacting both of our cars. Our Subaru (which we just purchased in November) was a total loss and we are still waiting to hear back on the Civic. Please pray along with us for God’s will and that He would provide transportation for us if our Civic is totaled. At this point we plan to just make do with a single vehicle for a while as we wait for a better time to purchase a second. However, if both cars end up totaled then we will need to purchase something sooner than later. Even in the midst of this, God has been so gracious to allow us to borrow a friend’s car until our cars are figured out. Our insurance doesn’t provide a rental, so the loan has been a huge blessing and has allowed us to get around and get to and from work and church.\nPrayer Requests Pray that God would continue to bring young adults to our church/young adults group and that they would be ministered to and edified to share the Gospel in their own spheres of influence. Pray for our youth group meeting on Monday and that God would bring more youth to our church and circle of influence. Pray for the children’s ministry and my role in it. Pray for Isaac’s and my relationships with the non-believers around us to be fruitful unto God’s glory. Pray for our car situation and for wisdom in how to proceed, whatever the outcome as well as adequate funds if we need to buy something now. Pray for our church body to be attractive to young families and non-believers, that they would encounter God in our midst and be saved and get plugged in so that they can grow. We’ve received some more medical bills from when I had Fletcher that we aren’t able to pay at this time. Please pray for God’s provision. With love,\nthe Douglasses\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/truckin-along-in-truckee/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHappy new year! I pray that you all had a blessed holiday season full of family, friends, and fellowship with the Lord. God has been working in all of our lives and I am excited to share how He has been working here in Truckee.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"young-adults\"\u003eYoung Adults\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThings are starting to take off in our young adults group! Last Friday we had 4 young adults attend with one regular out because of work and two new people who wanted to come but just weren’t able to make it work. This Friday we will have a young woman join us who visited our church last Sunday and she will be bringing her boyfriend. We could potentially cram 10 people into our small space tomorrow night! Please pray that God would move in our midst and that He’d be greatly magnified as we fellowship and draw near to Him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Truckin' Along in Truckee"},{"content":" Nevertheless There is no greater joy than serving our King! Calvary Acapulco is at full throttle! Mexico dropped Covid restrictions for a while and people started returning to the sheepfold. It is such a pleasure to see the house of God full again. There is a lot that has happened since our last newsletter, let me catch you up.\nLeadership Conference in Rosarito Thank you all for the prayers and support! This year 22 of our leaders went to the Pastor/Leaders Conference. We had in attendance Calvary Chapel Acapulco, Calvary Chilpancingo, Calvary Zapata, and our newest church plant Calvary Colosio. The conference was about being a faithful minister of Christ. The main subject was about making it through the hard times of ministry. It was an amazing time and we all left encouraged!\nCalvary Chapel Centro….Coming soon! We are praying for our fourth church plant in the heart of Acapulco, Down Town. We have an amazing family that is lined up. However, we want to take things a little slow and make sure this is what God wants. We have no doubt God wants us to plant more churches but we know His timing is perfect. I never want to do ANYTHING in the flesh just to look good. Please pray as we seek the Lord in this new adventure.\nCalvary Chapel Colosio We finally opened the doors to our newest church plant on the south side of Acapulco which is in a very populated part of the city. Our first service was completely full! We were reminded of the famous line in the movie, A Field of Dreams, “If you build it they will come.” We are constantly amazed at the Lord’s faithfulness. Please keep Pastor Jose Antonio and his wife Marisol in your prayers.\nCalvary Chapel Chilpancingo Our first church plant has finally moved to a new location. They outgrew the previous building which is a testament to what the Lord is doing in that city! C.C. Chilpancingo just celebrated 1 year in ministry.\nCalvary Chapel Zapata Calvary Chapel Zapata is putting in work! Pastor Pako and his family are energizer bunnies. They have been doing outreaches in different parts of the community. They give food and clothes to the needy, but they always make the Gospel a top priority.\nApologetics Class Apologetics, a reasoned defense of the faith, has always been a passion of mine. I taught it for 4 years at the Bible College in Ensenada. We started a course here in Acapulco and the response was great. I currently have 52 students.\nYouth Ministry Our son Micah came home while on break from school. He was given the opportunity to give the message and did a great job. Pastor Jose and his wife Keyla are doing a good job ministering to the next generation of believers.\nAmor in Action We continue to visit this Nursing Home every month, bringing food, love, laughter, and the Word. We have become close to these men and women. It is heartbreaking when one of our beloved grandma’s or grandpa’s leave us. However, we know they are no longer in pain and we know that they have all heard the Gospel.\nThis is Alfredo. He is quadriplegic and has been in this nursing home ever since his mother died. He is a Christian and enjoys discussing the Bible on our visits. We were able to buy him a new air-filled mattress on our last visit.\nMission trip to the Middle East Pastor Trent from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace is putting together a team of missionaries to visit the middle east. For the team’s safety I can’t give more details regarding the destination, but what I can say is that the Lord is doing something awesome there. Pastor Trent has invited me and our missionary Lili to come along. Lili has been preparing to serve in that region for a good amount of time and we really hope to go. The cost is out of our reach and so we pray for God to open doors. If you feel led to come alongside this vision please send us a message.\nKoinonia One of the things that we want to do with our church is to have more one-on-one fellowship. Above are just some of the families that we have visited. We are making it our goal for 2022 to have each family over to our house to get to know them personally.\nOur family Our boys are all in different places. Elijah graduated from tech school and is currently at a base in New Mexico. He married Bianca right before he went into boot camp. We had the pleasure of having her live with us for 9 months. They are now finally together and will have their wedding in March. Noah is studying at a community college and working at Macy’s. He has a girlfriend who we got to meet on this trip. She got our approval. Micah is at the Bible College in Ensenada. He just completed his first semester and loves it. We were able to drive to New Mexico to visit Elijah and Bianca for Christmas and see Noah and Micah as well. What a sweet time it was together again.\nPlease pray… for safety for our church plants: Chilpancingo, Zapata, and Colosio for souls to be saved for a possible upcoming trip to Middle East for leaders to rise up for wisdom in counseling broken marriages for our youth ministry Giving We truly acknowledge that any partnership with our ministry is a team effort in which we bear fruit together. When you become a financial partner you are a co-laborer in the work God has given us. Please prayerfully consider coming alongside us. The smallest contribution goes a long way. Thank you all!\nClick Here To Give\nIn Christ,\nThe Villegas Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/2022-here-we-go/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/villegas/wp-content/uploads/sites/130/2022/01/good42.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"nevertheless\"\u003eNevertheless\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere is no greater joy than serving our King! Calvary Acapulco is at full throttle! Mexico dropped Covid restrictions for a while and people started returning to the sheepfold. It is such a pleasure to see the house of God full again. There is a lot that has happened since our last newsletter, let me catch you up.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"leadership-conference-in-rosarito\"\u003eLeadership Conference in Rosarito\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/villegas/wp-content/uploads/sites/130/2021/10/calvary-team.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank you all for the prayers and support! This year 22 of our leaders went to the Pastor/Leaders Conference. We had in attendance Calvary Chapel Acapulco, Calvary Chilpancingo, Calvary Zapata, and our newest church plant Calvary Colosio. The conference was about being a faithful minister of Christ. The main subject was about making it through the hard times of ministry. It was an amazing time and we all left encouraged!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"2022, Here We Go!"},{"content":"Please enjoy the following video update!\nhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/5N4YkqsjFuE\nCentral Mexico Trip Nearly 20 year ago, SGWM sent out Mike and Sarah Vincent to Rosarito, MX to plant a Calvary Chapel. Since then, Calvary Chapel Rosarito has sent out thirty-five successful church plants throughout Mexico and Central America! These 35 churches have been planted by native Mexican people, and the Lord has been using them to bring verse-by-verse teaching to the nation of Mexico.\nWe plan to take a small team of staff to go and visit two of their brand-new church plants in Mazatlán and Culiacán. We are going to minister to the teams who have been on the ground with these churches, and reaching out into their communities to share the Good News of Jesus and invite them to church. We will also be attending a church-planting conference in Mazatlán!\nThis is a great opportunity for me to see church-planting in action. Church-planting is fundamental to the definition of missions, and is the very thing I would like to be a part of among the Unreached. The trip is February 28th-March 14th.\nPlease Pray: That the Lord would abundantly bless these churches in Mazatlán and Culiacán. That He would prepare our team for how He wants us to serve on this trip, and what He wants to teach us. That He would provide the funds for each member. If you are led to partner with me financially to send me on this trip, please click here to go to a secure giving link. You can also give by a check made out to SGWM with my name in the “notes” section, and addressed to 17451 Bastanchury Rd Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886.\nVision Tour to the Middle East It is our ambition at SGWM to “… preach the gospel not where Christ was named” (Romans 15:20). We want to see people who do not live within the reach of Christians be reached with the Good News that Jesus died for their sin and rose from the dead, proving that He is the only Way to salvation.\nWe are planning a 10-day vision tour to the Middle East (I have to be ambiguous about the specific country when posting publicly) at the end of April where we plan to seek the Lord to see what He would have us do to plant a church and a Bible College. The Lord has been breaking my heart for the Muslim world, and I would really like to go on this trip to seek the Lord and to be with the people. I would really like to be a part of the team that moves here.\nPlease Pray: The Lord would speak to each person who has committed to go, and prepare their hearts. That He would provide what each person needs to get there. That He would lead us while we are there, and that He would put together a team who will move there to begin the work. I am beyond grateful to you all who are so committed to Jesus and to the furtherance of His gospel. I would be so pleased to hear from you– How are your families doing? How can I be praying for you?\nPraise God with me that He has provided a way for us to know Him and be made new– through His Son Jesus, who is the Christ.\nRachel Martinez\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-new-year-brings-new-opportunities/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePlease enjoy the following \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003evideo update\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/5N4YkqsjFuE\"\u003ehttps://www.youtube.com/embed/5N4YkqsjFuE\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"central-mexico-trip\"\u003eCentral Mexico Trip\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNearly 20 year ago, SGWM sent out Mike and Sarah Vincent to Rosarito, MX to plant a Calvary Chapel. Since then, Calvary Chapel Rosarito has sent out \u003cstrong\u003ethirty-five\u003c/strong\u003e successful church plants throughout Mexico and Central America! These 35 churches have been planted by native Mexican people, and the Lord has been using them to bring verse-by-verse teaching to the nation of Mexico.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A New Year Brings New Opportunities...!"},{"content":"_**“… And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,\nEverlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”**_\n– Romans 12:12 Dear Friends and Family,\nHappy New Year!! This year the holidays began to feel a bit more like normal. Last year, I remember Christmas was the children and I’s first Sunday back to church after the lengthy lockdown and the government forbidding children under 14 in church. Even then we still had to meet outside, which was actually pretty nice. This year we started the holidays in church and had fun decorating, preparing the Christmas performances and making the sanctuary festive.\nThe first of our holiday events was a women’s conference. This was the first conference we have had since Covid first arrived. It was so exciting. We invited the ladies from the church, the ladies from my women’s Bible Study, and even some ladies from South Sudan signed up to come. The theme of the conference was Thanksgiving. We had 4 Sessions. The first was Give Thanks, the second was Thankfulness in All Things, the third was Thankfulness is a Sacrifice, and the last was Thankfulness for Christ and the Body of Christ. It was really a special time of fellowship. Vicky Bentley taught along with myself and our worship leader, Evelyn. We had planned on 40 ladies and almost 60 came. I saw ladies that I had not seen since before the pandemic.\nIn the middle of the day we had break for tea and snacks. This tea time lasted twice as long as what we had planned because the fellowship and catching up with one another was flowing so beautifully. I heard many stories of how the ladies had been affected by covid. Some had had covid and recovered others were mourning the loss of loved ones. All seemed to have had some financial strain due to the lockdowns. After the conference one young lady who had been living in sin came to me in tears saying how the message on Thankfulness is a Sacrifice was so convicting and she did not want to continue in her sin. I was able to counsel her and pray with her. We ended the conference with worship and communion, focusing on all the Lord has done for us and how no matter what is happening or has happened we always have a reason to give thanks.\nOn Christmas Day we had a Christmas service at the Church. We sang Christmas carols and had a few special performances. Luke played the piano for a couple of carols. We are so proud of him and his commitment to practice and play for the Lord. Brian gave a Christmas message titled, The Meaning of Christmas. When I was growing up I thought everyone knew Christmas was celebrating the birth of Christ. As a missionary of many years now, I know that this is not the case. For many people in Sudan and Uganda hearing the meaning of Christmas is a surprise to them. Christmas is more associated with a time to eat nice food and get new clothes for the upcoming year. As a family we read through the book of Luke, one chapter everyday till Christmas so that by Christmas morning the children hopefully could understand the significance of why Jesus had to be born. I pray for the church members and all of those who came to church “just because that’s what you are supposed to do on Christmas”, that after Brian’s message they understand what the true meaning of Christmas is. After church we had fellowship and my kids had stocking filled with treats to hand out to everyone.\nEvery Christmas we try to reach out and help the most vulnerable in our communities. This year we were able to deliver chickens and other necessities to 10 families in need. As well as focusing on our community FRM was able to deliver a shipment of much needed medical supplies to the Nuba Mountains in South Sudan . We are thankful also for the pilots from Mission Aviation Fellowship who delivered them for us. The medicines were received just before Christmas and were a very welcomed Christmas gift by the chaplains and the people they minister to there.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS\nWe rejoice and thank the Lord for the ability to meet together to celebrate the birth of or Savior. We also give thanks that there have been no more terror attacks in Uganda. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship as we meet and fellowship together. Pray for all the people who have heard the messages on Thankfulness and the meaning of Christmas to take it to heart. Pray for the many needs within the community, physical and spiritual. Pray for Jill and the Kanyike children as the new school year is about to begin. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/december-2021-kanyike-update/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"_-and-his-name-will-be-called\"\u003e_**“… And His name will be called\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,\u003cbr\u003e\nEverlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”**_\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"heading\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e– \u003cstrong\u003eRomans 12:12\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"happy-new-year\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHappy New Year!!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis year the holidays began to feel a bit more like normal.  Last year, I remember Christmas was the children and I’s first Sunday back to church after the lengthy lockdown and the government forbidding children under 14 in church.  Even then we still had to meet outside, which was actually pretty nice.  This year we started the holidays in church and had fun decorating, preparing the Christmas performances and making the sanctuary festive.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"January 2022 Kanyike Update"},{"content":"“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17\nAs we say goodbye to 2021 and dive into 2022, our hope as Christians is in Christ alone. There is no fear, as it says in Psalm 27, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”\nWe celebrated Jesus’ birth in our church on December 25th with a special service–a beautiful drama by some of the children about the true meaning of Christmas, a special song, and then a turkey dinner with all the trimmings. These special occasions are very important to us, as they draw in the parents. (They come to church to see their children). Our hope is that they see Jesus, and surrender their lives to Him!\nWe have demolished our kitchen and are in the process of building a new multipurpose room that will also serve as our soup kitchen. God has provided all the funding for the entire project! This will especially help for when it’s cold and rainy to be able to eat indoors.\nThe children of our church and the surrounding community were blessed by a special Christmas party. It was kind of like a drive-thru party due to Covid restrictions here. We had 10 children come every half hour, so it was a very long but fruitful day. They first made a craft and had a lesson on the birth of Jesus, then received goodies and gifts that friends provided stateside. For many of the children, it is their only gift, so it was very exciting for them. They also left knowing that the greatest gift to us is Jesus, and He is the true reason for the season!\nThe kids in Tijuana are still not in school due to Covid, and their online school has ceased as the teachers are on strike due to lack of funds, (they are not paying them!), so the after school program is their only “school” for now! Our focus is Jesus, Mathematics and Reading. They attend three days per week, and absolutely love coming. It is a safe place where they feel loved, are heard, receive a hot meal, have “school”, and learn about Jesus and His great love for them.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nFor all who are suffering with illness and loss in these crazy times that we are living in–that Jesus would be their comfort and strength. For the parents of the 40 children in our afterschool program to come to Christ! For vision, and God’s direction and guidance in the running of the afterschool program / soup kitchen. We would like to expand it but are in need of volunteers. For the saints to come back to church! Many have slipped away and are just not interested in attending church. That I would please God always in all that I do, say, and think. That He would give me much needed wisdom! Thank you for reading this post and praying for me and the people of Tijuana! May God richly bless you!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/__trashed-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we say goodbye to 2021 and dive into 2022, our hope as Christians is in Christ alone. There is no fear, as it says in Psalm 27, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"2022, All Things New!"},{"content":"‘Tis the season, the time is now. We had an incredible spring, summer and start to fall in 2021. As we pushed hard to finish the year strong, we had one final curveball at the end. On Christmas Eve, I (Tim) got Covid. I have recovered with the exception of some lingering exhaustion but boy, what a loop that threw us for. We weren’t expecting that but God was and He used that time for Jenn and me to focus in on Him and spend the last few weeks of the year bonding together. A three strand cord is not easily broken and I figure the Lord wanted to strengthen that cord. Our quarantine time left us excited to see what the Lord has for us in 2022. We find ourselves falling more and more in love with Jesus and are more and more amazed at the things that He does and the ways He lets us participate.\nPart of 2021 was running the Calvary School of Missions and this year, Jenn was able to be by my side the whole time. That was an indescribable blessing as I partnered with my bride full-time and watched God use her gifts, talents and experience. When we came back to the states after the summer, I continued directing the Saving Grace World Missions intern program with 19 Calvary School of Missions graduates who are being trained in the Biblical studies, cross-cultural ministry, church planting, and practical Christian ministry which covers every aspect of running a church. The end goal is to launch them into full-time cross-cultural ministry in the 10/40 window where they will plant churches and Bible colleges among the 3.2 billion people who have never heard the gospel of Jesus Christ.\nAs I’ve said before, missionary care is at the heart of what Jenn and I believe the Lord has for us to do. At first we focused on those already on the field but now it is very clear that the Lord has plans and is using us to care for and raise up these young missionaries, helping them grow spiritually, emotionally, and relationally. What a joy it is to serve the Lord in this way.\nSpeaking of missionary care and having just celebrated Thanksgiving, Christmas and a New Year, we cannot help but think of, pray for, appreciate, and be grateful to those of you who have partnered with us along the way. We are so grateful for all of you who have cared for us prayerfully, emotionally, physically, financially, and relationally. You have helped us beyond what we can express; you have helped us to stay anchored and rooted in the calling God has on our lives and by caring for us, you have had a vital role in pouring into the lives of these young missionaries as well as those already established on the field. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or by mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203\nYorba Linda, CA 92886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\nPRAYER REQUESTS: Please pray for Jenn’s son, Andy, who is homeless and using drugs. Pray for her mom’s heart as it is broken. We have not heard from him in almost 4 months. Please pray for our care team which is being established in just a few short days with our first meeting on the 17th of January. Please pray for our dessert gathering in February. Pray that we will bring glory to God and be able to clearly express the calling He has on our lives as well as the directions we see Him calling us in down the road. Ultimately, pray that God is extremely glorified by our participation in His plans. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/tis-the-season/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e‘Tis the season, the time is now. We had an incredible spring, summer and start to fall in 2021. As we pushed hard to finish the year strong, we had one final curveball at the end. On Christmas Eve,  I (Tim) got Covid. I have recovered with the exception of some lingering exhaustion but boy, what a loop that threw us for. We weren’t expecting that but God was and He used that time for Jenn and me to focus in on Him and spend the last few weeks of the year bonding together. A three strand cord is not easily broken and I figure the Lord wanted to strengthen that cord. Our quarantine time left us excited to see what the Lord has for us in 2022. We find ourselves falling more and more in love with Jesus and are more and more amazed at the things that He does and the ways He lets us participate.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"'Tis the Season"},{"content":"I hope you all had a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year! I want to bring you up to speed with all the Lord has been doing in and through my life and also in the world through Saving Grace World Missions and the wonderful missionaries we have a privilege of partnering with.\nChurch life I am so grateful to be a part of such a loving and supportive church family. To see their love for Jesus and their dedication the Word of God is truly encouraging. If you don’t already have loving, Bible teaching church I invite you prayerfully consider joining us, for more information visit the website www.ccsavinggrace.com, or feel to just respond to this email. We have been going through 1 Corinthians and I have been getting so much more out of it then I ever have. If you want to be inspired read chapter 9, more specifically verses 24-27, what an awesome illustration of enduring and pressing forward. Having my life built on God’s love and studying His word has truly been life-altering also having a church family has been instrumental to my growth.\nSpread of the Gospel With all the chaos going on in the world, lockdowns, division, and so many things that can depress even the strongest person. I have been comforted that God has been so gracious and he is very present help in time of need. There are countless stories of people coming to the knowledge of Jesus even in the midst of lockdowns. Churches getting creative and broadcasting Bible studies on social media and Youtube to reach those that are isolated. The national missionaries continue to be bold, but wise, about how to get the Word of God to those who are seeking truth. What an honor it is to be able to be administrative help to come alongside by brothers and sisters all over the world. Continue to pray for God to continue to open doors for His Gospel to spread. To read about what the Lord is doing through these amazing missionaries please click here.\nExpectant In this upcoming year I look expectantly toward my Heavenly Father in all that He has for me. More than anything my prayer is to drawer closer to Him and be sensitive to His leading. Often times I overthink everything and my “resolution” this year is to pray more and then be moved to action. There are some awesome changes going on in our Accounting department, Stacy Cook is our new Accounting director and she has so much experience and knowledge that I know will be a great asset to our team. I anticipate more teams being assembled to go out in the field and with that a lot more administrative tasks, so I am grateful for God’s provision of laborers here in the office. As much as I enjoy the work I do, I am also looking forward to going to Jordan at the end of April. Would you join me in praying for all those that will be a part of that vision trip and that God would set apart those He is calling to be a part of that work.\nThank you for taking the time to read about all the Lord has been doing in my life and for joining me in prayer for what He has in store for 2022!\nPrayer Requests:\nMissionaries around the world Borders to be opened Jordan Vision Tour Salvation of my family members Praise Reports:\nGod bringing Stacy Cook to our team God’s provision and protection The blessing of serving Him Souls that have been saved ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/declare-his-glory/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI hope you all had a blessed Christmas and Happy New Year! I want to bring you up to speed with all the Lord has been doing in and through my life and also in the world through Saving Grace World Missions and the wonderful missionaries we have a privilege of partnering with.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/blanco/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2022/01/1641872973659%5Fverse%5Fimage.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"church-life\"\u003eChurch life\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am so grateful to be a part of such a loving and supportive church family. To see their love for Jesus and their dedication the Word of God is truly encouraging. If you don’t already have loving, Bible teaching church I invite you prayerfully consider joining us, for more information visit the website \u003ca href=\"http://www.ccsavinggrace.com/\"\u003ewww.ccsavinggrace.com\u003c/a\u003e, or feel to just respond to this email. We have been going through 1 Corinthians and I have been getting so much more out of it then I ever have. If you want to be inspired read chapter 9, more specifically verses 24-27, what an awesome illustration of enduring and pressing forward. Having my life built on God’s love and studying His word has truly been life-altering also having a church family has been instrumental to my growth.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Declare His Glory"},{"content":"“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!” Psalm 46:10\nIt is hard to believe that 2022 is already here. God was faithful to us in 2021 and carried us through that strange year. Now, as we start 2022, we know that even though our plans may not go as we expect, but no matter what happens, God will be exalted among the nations.\nSummer Plans: Japan or USA?\nWe have not been able to visit Japan since mid-2018 and the USA since mid-2019, so this summer we will attempt to go to Japan. If that doesn’t work out for some reason, we will try to come to the USA. So, we may be seeing you, depending on where you live and what doors open up. So far, Omicron has been kept under control in Cambodia so they don’t have any expensive and stressful quarantines that would make it difficult/impossible for us to leave the country and return. Please pray that God will open the doors for this summer’s plans whatever they may be.\nHelping to Relaunch Light Times Magazine’s Print Edition\nThanks for praying for our Cambodian visa renewal process-they were approved! Light Times Magazine, where I (Darryl) volunteer, provided legal documentation and a letter that was essential for my visa renewal. I have been working with LT, the only Christian magazine, since 2017. During COVID, they were forced to stop printing. Now in 2022, they need funds to buy a new computer that is powerful enough to run their specialized layout software, for printing costs, and eventually to rent a new office, (we are all working from home). If you are interested in helping with this effort and want to know more about Light Times’ ministry in Cambodia, please visit: https://www.internationalfishers.com/blog/an-opportunity-to-help-relaunch-light-times-magazine .\nApologetics/Evangelistic Ministry Update\nIn December, I researched and wrote three scripts for future apologetics/evangelistic videos on social media and got them in the process of being ready for video production in January. I wasn’t able to release any videos on social media due to the holidays and the need for a time of rest for the whole family. On January 13, I will start teaching a semester long Apologetics class at a Cambodian seminary here in Phnom Penh. Please pray for this class and for the students that they will be equipped with a greater understanding of the truth of Christianity and that this will help them to evangelize others with more confidence and boldness. I also continue to help teach the Bible to Chinese and others on Sundays in partnership with Pastor Samuel, a Chinese pastor.\nFamily Update\nKayo is beginning to wind down her time of being very active in the international church’s worship team over the next few months. After that, she will start looking for other ministry opportunities after some much needed rest. Please pray for her health as she has been frequently ill and weak recently. Please pray for wisdom about how, when, and where to seek medical help for her.\nKayo continues to serve as a board member for Precious Women Organization and also leads the staff devotions for the organization once a month. In December she used one of my videos in the Cambodian language, God and the Value of Human Life.\nBenjamin continues to do well in school even though the seventh grade workload is sometimes pretty heavy. Please pray that the schools will stay in-person. A couple of his closest friends have returned to their home-countries and are uncertain about whether they will return or not.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/2022/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”\u003c/em\u003e Psalm 46:10\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is hard to believe that 2022 is already here. God was faithful to us in 2021 and carried us through that strange year. Now, as we start 2022, we know that even though our plans may not go as we expect, but no matter what happens, God will be exalted among the nations.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"2022?!"},{"content":" We arrived in Loreto, BCS Mexico with Pastor Elmer and his wife Crystal along with the team from Calvary Rosarito on January 8th to help support the 26th church plant out of Calvary Rosarito, Mexico. We felt the Holy Spirit guiding us to an abandoned building in the center of town. The only issue was it was nothing more than a shell of a building that hadn’t been used for many years. There was no electricity of any sort, no wires, no outlets… nothing. But, the Lord had plans and we all went to work preparing for his church.\nOver the next few weeks, the Lord worked through us in amazing ways. The Holy Spirit brought us, people, to help open his church in a mighty way. We patched walls, ran electricity, and painted while the entire town was shut down due to Covid. But, through faith, the team worked day and night to prepare for the opening of Calvary Loreto, chapter by chapter verse by verse teaching.\nWithin a month, Calvary Loreto had their first Sunday service, February 7th, 2021. We had one outlet and used a ladder as a pulpit, but Pastor Elmer taught his first Bilingual service, verse by verse in Ephesians.\nIn this small rural fishing town of Loreto, the thirst for truth verse by verse bilingual Bible teaching was exactly what was needed for a community seeking hope and love. Many local churches and businesses closed when the Covid numbers surged but Calvary Loreto remained faithfully open. Walls have come down to expand 4 x’s times throughout this year and we’re currently at capacity and praying on the next steps for expansion.\nI am currently leading the children’s ministry with some amazing servant-hearted women. The children’s ministry has grown from just a small table to an entire building. We are teaching age-appropriate classes so the children can learn the word of God at their level. Week after week, the Lord has continued to grow HIS ministry and the children of Loreto are experiencing the love of Jesus. We currently have over 35 children attending every Sunday in our children’s ministry.\nWe have been blessed to have two women’s conferences this year. At these events, we have an opportunity to invite women throughout the town, to hear and feel the love of Jesus from other woman that otherwise might not have stepped into a Christian church. Many of these women have started attending Calvary Loreto and bringing their families. We began a weekly “Women of Faith” bible study lead by Pastor Elmer’s wife, Crystal.\nDavid was ordained as assistant pastor at Calvary Loreto in May. He immediately began teaching chapter by chapter, verse by verse, the full council of God in the book of “Genesis” at our Wednesday night service. We have seen many lives accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior through the Holy Spirit at our midweek service.\nThrough Calvary Loreto’s faithfulness and obedience to giving the Gospel message of Salvation every week over 70 New Believers have accepted and given their life to Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Week after week , the message of Salvation is given and the Lord keeps multiplying his Kingdom. We have also been blessed to have 20 members of Calvary Loreto take the next steps of faith and be Baptized.\nIn the Fall, we had our first annual Calvary Loreto Family Campout. We camped at CoCo Beach about a 1 1/2 hour drive outside of Loreto. There were over 70 people that were able to attend and stay overnight. We had devotionals, Live Worship, lots of games, and tons of great food and fellowship. The body of Christ in Loreto continues to grow even while camping. A faithful family invited their parents along to be part of this amazing weekend. On Saturday, they woke up and said, \u0026ldquo;We want what you have.\u0026rdquo; At that moment we were able to give them the message of Salvation and they accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.\nWe had our first marriage conference Led by Jeff and Bonnie Johnson. This was such a powerful night for everyone, we focused on God’s design for our marriages and how to create intentional moments of appreciation for one another. There were over 20 couples in attendance for this amazing night.\nDavid and I are currently offering marriage counseling at Calvary Loreto and the Holy Spirit is not only restoring marriages, but we had our first marriage ceremony in July at the church. Additionally, we had 2 couples get engaged on Christmas Eve and were planning our next marriage ceremony for February 2022.\nThe Christmas Season was incredible, Ron and Kristy were able to come down from The Connection House and bring along backpacks full of toys and warm blankets for the children of Calvary Loreto. We were also able to bring a carload of toys from Las Vegas that our daughter Madison coordinated through her work and blessed over 50 children on our first Christmas service sharing the love of Jesus.\nOn our mid-week Christmas service, David was able to teach on the Birth of Jesus. When the message of Salvation was offered, 8 people (3 of our youth) gave their lives to Christ. Afterward, we had a potluck dinner with over 140 people staying throughout the evening for fellowship and to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\nAs we close out 2021, we were once again reminded why we are here in Loreto, Mexico, and why God called us here. We are so thankful for Pastor Elmer’s obedience to following his calling and allowing David and me to take this journey of faith with him. We are thankful for everything the Lord is doing here in Loreto and grateful we can be part of His mighty plan.\n\u0026ldquo;But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourself.\u0026rdquo;\nJames 1:22 (NKJV)\nI am thankful at Calvary Loreto we are doers of the word and not just hearers. Thank you Lord Jesus for all that you are doing here in Calvary Loreto and in our lives.\nPRAYER REQUEST: Please pray for all our weekly teachings that take place in the church. Pray that the Holy Spirit would continue to speak through Pastor Elmer and David when they’re teaching the word of God.\nPlease pray for all of our ministries within the church. We need English/Spanish translators and servant leaders to assist in children’s ministries, clean the church, and volunteer throughout the week. I ask for endurance to live each day joyfully as I struggle daily with chronic pain.\nPlease keep our marriage along with Pastor Elmer and his wife, Crystal\u0026rsquo;s, in your prayers. Our prayer is to be “Used by God” sharing the LOVE of Jesus and Glorifying HIM in everything we do,\nProvisions\nPlease click the blue “Become A Financial Partner” tab if you feel led to donate\nAnd now abide faith, hope, love these three; but the greatest of these is LOVE\n1 Corinthians 13:13 (NKJV)\nIn Christ,\nThe Mullins Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/looking-back-on-2021-mullins-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/mullins/wp-content/uploads/sites/150/2021/12/camera-roll.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe arrived in Loreto, BCS Mexico with Pastor Elmer and his wife Crystal along with the team from Calvary Rosarito on January 8th to help support the 26th church plant out of Calvary Rosarito, Mexico. We felt the Holy Spirit guiding us to an abandoned building in the center of town. The only issue was it was nothing more than a shell of a building that hadn’t been used for many years. There was no electricity of any sort, no wires, no outlets… nothing. But, the Lord had plans and we all went to work preparing for his church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Looking Back on 2021 – Mullins Update"},{"content":" “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.”\nNumbers 14:21\nAs we look back on the year of 2021, we feel deep gratitude! We cherished our time in the US at the beginning of the year, it was such a blessing to be with all of our friends and family. We are thankful to have arrived back home safely, and to have reestablished our life in here in Uganda. We praise God for the growth we have seen in our family; Noelle and I have continued to mature, and our kids finished their first year of school. God added Apio Cynthia to our family. The second set of pastors in the discipleship school finished studying through the entire Bible. God released the lockdowns here in Uganda. Land has been added to our ministry, and buildings and homes have been built for the expansion of Gods kingdom. Most vitally, many souls have been added to our number! Last year God showed Himself faithful to fill our lives with His glory.\nLast month I had the great opportunity of preaching at a wedding for the first time in my life. My good friend Acen Alan was the first Acholi man I have ever met who waited to be joined to his wife until after he had been wedded in the eyes of all. God has instituted three governing bodies to exercise authority over mankind: the government, the church and the family. Each of these three must be in agreement in the joining of a man and a woman for a wedding to be valid. This fact is often overlooked in America, where all three can give their approval in one short ceremony. However, it is not a simple thing for the Acholi people. Alan struggled to bring the down payment for his dowry to his in-laws for the “Traditional” wedding ceremony. 3 cows, 10 goats, 5 gallons of kerosene, a box of soap, many kitchen items, 2,500,000 Ugandan Shillings and a long day of grueling/humiliating negotiations was the price he paid to gain the approval of the family. A week later, a joyous celebration in front of the congregation gave him the sanction of the government and the church. It was a blessing to see people take this area of their life seriously, and it was wonderful to witness such a clear picture of the great price Jesus paid for His bride, the church. Alan and his new wife, Shillah, have a wonderful life style of ministry. Over the past year Alan has led teams on door-to-door evangelism, through which over 300 people have given their lives to Christ; and together they desire to reach unreached people groups with the Gospel.\nIt was wonderful to sleep in until 7am for more than a week over Christmas-time. Amidst the hectic end-of-the-year rush to catch up on work and finish projects, we were able to set aside time to rest and celebrate as a family for Christmas and New Years. This year we were able to take up the legacy of our families and host those who didn’t have family to celebrate with. By God’s grace one of our guests later relayed to us how blessed he felt to celebrate with us and how important of a role our family has in Northern Uganda. He testified that he had never been around so much genuine love, and that he hopes to model any family that God gives him in the future after ours. It can be easy to forget the power of simple faithfulness. We feel extremely humbled by his comments, and can only praise God that He has loved us so that we might love those around us!\nHave a wonderful New Year!\nMatt \u0026amp; Noelle \u0026amp; family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-december-2021/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNumbers 14:21\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2022/01/IMG-7192.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs we look back on the year of 2021, we feel deep gratitude!  We cherished our time in the US at the beginning of the year, it was such a blessing to be with all of our friends and family.  We are thankful to have arrived back home safely, and to have reestablished our life in here in Uganda. We praise God for the growth we have seen in our family; Noelle and I have continued to mature, and our kids finished their first year of school. God added Apio Cynthia to our family.  The second set of pastors in the discipleship school finished studying through the entire Bible. God released the lockdowns here in Uganda. Land has been added to our ministry, and buildings and homes have been built for the expansion of Gods kingdom. Most vitally, many souls have been added to our number! Last year God showed Himself faithful to fill our lives with His glory.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris December 2021"},{"content":" “Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people…”\nRuth 1:16-17a\nFirst off, I wish to thank everyone who has partnered with me in prayer by recieving my newsletters. I am incredibly thankful for how the Lord has used each one of you these previous years and this year was no exception.\nThese past couple of months have been times of reconnecting with family and friends and continuing the work God has provided through the SGWM internship. After the CCA Pastors and Leadership Conference, I went home to Oregon for about a month (Nov. – Dec) to support my family there. This proved to be such an incredible blessing. If prayers of encouragement and healing could be lifted up for my family that would bring much comfort.\nI thank God for the humbling opportunity to be apart of and intern with Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. The church body has been unbelievable in their support and love throughout this last half of the year. And I couldn’t thank each person and leadership personnel enough!\nWith my heart growing towards Central Asia, lots of research and preparation has been under way in my own life. One of the classes we attended this Fall was Security/Situational Awareness Training. This was a sobering but extremely valuable course. Most of the countries in Central Asia and the Unreached are volatile and can be dangerous places to work in; So, I appreciate experience in classes such as this and will be continuing training in the future.\nA couple of Interns and I had the chance to be a part of a Christmas Muslim Outreach this last year. A highlight from the event, my friend and I talked with a Filipina dancer getting ready to perform an Egyptian style dance. My friend is Egyptian so she was excited to hear the dance she was doing. We talked both Filipino and Egyptian culture and then segued into a gospel conversation. We then invited her to the Muslim event we were helping out at. She was polite and took our invite, but we weren’t able to see her at the event. Prayer for her and for the Lord would continue to offer her divine moments to hear and accept His gospel.\nCentral Asia As many of you may know, my heart has been stirred for the people of Central Asia. I wish to use this platform to educate and raise awareness for these beautiful people and their spiritual state. This NEXT YEAR I will be implementing in each monthly newsletter, individual updates for each country within Central Asia to better equip us to prayer. I am excited to see what the Lord will do for these people through our prayers and love!\nPrayer Points Praise – My family’s health is doing better, but continued prayer is needed Praise – He provides! Each financial hurdle this year has been abundantly provided Praise – Each one of YOU. Your support and prayer is amazing and this last year was such a testament! May God give more and more blessings and faith to each one as we labor in the Gospel together. Petition – A Vision Trip to the Middle East is coming up in Spring; financial and logistical provision is needed. I am about 50% of the way to my goal! – This would be a time of seeking the Lord and His vision for my involvement in the Middle East. Perhaps it is a stop along the way? A training ground for the Muslim-Majority of Central Asia? Petition – For Central Asia: A team and wisdom is needed to proceed with making moves to reaching the Unreached. Please be praying for support and partners in the Gospel. I love and appreciate each one of you! Your my family in Christ and I couldn’t ask for better partners. How great is our LORD!\nMany blessings and love from Him who is worthy of All Praise\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-past-year-and-new-vision/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Entreat me not to leave you, or to turn back from following after you; for wherever you go, I will go; and wherever you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people…”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRuth 1:16-17a\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/header1-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst off, I wish to thank everyone who has partnered with me in prayer by recieving my newsletters. I am incredibly thankful for how the Lord has used each one of you these previous years and this year was no exception.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Past Year and New Vision"},{"content":" EUROPE\nBrenna Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Thank God for recovery from Covid and slowly getting back to more energy.\n2. Praise for our Women’s Christmas Tea outreach coming together beautifully and being a great encouragement and bright spot to many women. Pray that God will continue to pursue hearts and draw these women to himself.\n3. Continued prayer for our women\u0026rsquo;s discipleship groups, pray that God will guide us leaders as we plan and prepare our new study for next semester.\n4. Continued prayer for our Lighthouse college outreach ministry, wisdom and vision in the planning of events, relationships to be built and the gospel to be shared, hearts to be drawn to Jesus!\n5. Pray for me that I would have wisdom and discernment from the Lord in decision-making and future steps.\nThank you for your prayers!\nLove in Christ,\nBrenna – Email Blog\nAFRICA\nVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the land purchase and title process.\n2. Pray for technical staff employment.\n3. Pray for the opening of the school in January 10th as we seek to employ new teachers.\n4. Pray for strength and wisdom as God continue to bless the ministry.\n5. Pray for rain.\nThank you for your prayers!!!!\nIn Him,\nAniku Family – Emai l Blog\nBrian and Jill Kanyike – Kampala, Uganda\nWe rejoice and thank the Lord for answered prayers and for those he continues to answer.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship as we meet and fellowship together. Pray for all the changes and updates taking place to accommodate the growing church. Pray for the newcomers to feel at home and to begin to grow and for the regulars to go deeper and really make the most of being able to worship together.\n2. Pray for Nelson and the other pastors who are ministering to people who have been longing for fellowship and seeking the Lord during lockdown.\n3. Pray for safety and an end to the terror attacks taking place in Uganda. Pray for those who have lost someone and for those who have been injured.\n4. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throes of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached,\nRob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\n**\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico**\nPrayer Requests:\n1.That God will keep our city, church, and family safe in these difficult times!\n2.That God would bless our 31st church plant to Morelia Michoacan in January 2022!\n3.For God\u0026rsquo;s provision for our church plants, church, and family!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nTim and Jenn Pappas – California\nPrayer Requests:\n1.That we could locate Jenn\u0026rsquo;s youngest son Andy and that he would be receptive to getting help. Currently homeless struggling with substance abuse and mental health issues\n2. That God would continue to lead us and use us in Mexico missions. Short term 2-week mission trip in February as well as Calvary School of Missions 2022\n3. That as we charge a head full speed into our third year of marriage God would continue be glorified in our relationship as a couple.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn – Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that our family will continue to grow in Christ, committed to following Him wholeheartedly!\n2. Please pray that the Lord would guide us in greater vision for SGWM Missionary Care.\n3. Please pray for Amy and me as we play a special role in discipling SGWM interns and the other young adults of our church.\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia – Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray – Ensenada, Mexico\nThanks for your prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have moved from Mexico to Mississippi, pray for us as we get readjusted to living in the US in a new city. Culture shock - we are not in Mexico anymore, sticker shock - costing more to live here, ministry shock - having a place to serve every day to finding new ways and opportunities to serve, realizing the adjustments will take a little time.\n2. We are thankful to have found a new church home with lots of friendly and caring people.\n3. We are doing renovations and repairs on the house we bought. All is going well but it has taken a while to figure out the processes.\n4. Leo has a new part time job. Pray that he will be a light and good influence there.\n5. Pilar will be looking for work after the first of the year.6. We miss the ministry ay Calvary Chapel Bible College and pray for the staff and students there.\n7. Pray that our house in Ensenada would sell or that God would send the right person to rent from us.\n8. Pray for a great New Year in 2022.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar – Email Blog\nPaul and Claudia Boubion - Rosarito Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. To stay close to Jesús\n2. For our marriage\n3. Our prodigals\n4. Ministry vision\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nPaul, Claudia, Lydia, Poiema and Cristian - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my mom, who is in the hospital with covid. Please pray for complete recovery.\n2. Please pray that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit and that we will honor Him in all we say and do and will be used of God to minister to others.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my mom, in the hospital with covid, and having trouble with delirium. Please pray for her lungs to continue to improve and for her to get home.\n2. Please continue to pray for our nursing home ministry, that many will be drawn close to Jesus and encouraged. Please also pray for favor with the nursing home staff and that we would be able to continue to do the ministry, as the regulations related to the virus continually change.\n3. Please pray for our financial support.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna – Africa, Asia \u0026amp; USA\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for a fruitful time in Nepal and the 15 graduates that completed the Bible College.\n-Praise God for the Christmas Outreaches throughout South Asia.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for all who attended the Christmas Outreaches in South Asia and for the seeds of the Gospel to take root and change lives.\n2. Pray for new student recruitment and selection for the upcoming spring semester at the colleges and pastors training centers in Asia.\n3. Pray for our 2022 travel schedule and the various changing travel regulations. Pray that God would give wisdom.\nThank you for your prayers,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 7 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nI am going through the toughest season of my life. This is the 4th month that my Mom is in hospital trying to come out of the damage from the virus, currently she is having pulmonary/lung fibrosis which is not curable. She needs oxygen support as long as she lives. In few more hours I will get to see the report of her recent chest CT scan. The doctor said that he would talk to me more after seeing the report. Please pray that God would heal her lungs.\nThank you for praying!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 7\nWorker 14 and Family - 10/40 Window\n**\nPrayer Requests:**\n1. Pray for the Christmas outreaches in 10/40 window.\n2. Pray for our return journey to home. We will be leaving on Jan 22.\n3. Pray for our students who are planning to come next year to the college.\n4. Pray for our family ‘s health as we travel.\n5. Pray for Flints passport as we gave for the renewal get it on right time before we travel.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings.\nWorker 14 and Family\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nThank you for your prayer support.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Darryl\u0026rsquo;s work in assisting the fundraising of Light Times Magazine, the only Christian magazine in Cambodia.\n2. Please pray for God to open the doors for us to travel to Japan or the USA in the summer of 2022.\n3. Please pray for Darryl\u0026rsquo;s upcoming apologetics class at a Bible school in Cambodia.\n4.Please pray for Kayo as she reorganizes her ministry commitments in 2022 and seeks out new opportunities to serve.\n5. Please continue to pray for Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s schooling.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin – Email Blog\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my broken hand.\n2. Please pray for those who have heard the Gospel during the Christmas outreach, that many will be saved.\n3. Please pray for me and my ministry in the mountain villages.\n4. Please pray that God will open up new opportunities to share the Gospel here.\n5. Please pray—many things are happening through evil spirits, pray that God will stop all of those things.\n6. Please pray for my jeep. It was not running well, and I took it to the mechanic. He is asking for more money to repair the used jeep than it would cost to buy a new car. Please pray that God will work everything out.\n7. We are visiting many poor women to help them in little ways, like giving them food and other items. Pray that they will know God’s love.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 13\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our upcoming outreaches during Christmas season that people would open their hearts for Jesus as we proclaim the Word.\n2. Please pray for brother Laxman and his wife Sarmila as they serve the Lord at Hetauda.\n3. Please pray for brother Nikesh and his wife Laxmi as they are preparing to go and start Church at Janakpur- East Nepal.\n4. Brother Saroj and brother Rabindra from our Church have started Bible study at their local place, please pray that God would bring new people to the study.\n5. Please pray that God would bring more people hunger for the Word of God to our Bible College 2022 new semester.\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna – Email Blog\nAnand and Usha – Nepal\nPraise report:\n-Thank you, prayer warrior for praying for all the ministry going on in Nepal. We have been so amazed that God has been leading us to do so many things in this last month. We are able baptize 4 young people. As well as other Calvary Churches were able to baptize some young people. We thank God that God is working within us. It was so awesome that we are able to do an Inductive Bible study in West Nepal. It was a great blessing to have connections with us.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for us to recruit students for coming semester.\n3. Please pray that we are planning to go for Inductive Bible study in East Nepal coming month for safe trip and blessed time over there.\n4. Please pray for our graduate students who are in ministry that they may keep on persist in doing ministry in their area.\n5. Please pray for Christmas outreach in Leprosy camp and our community.\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPray Requests:\n1. Pray our journey from Hetauda to Kathmandu to be safe.\n2. Our graduate students are doing great in their fields! Pray they will be witnesses of Christ in their locality and area where they are serving.\n3. Pray for our upcoming trip that where God leads, we will be ready to go there and teach them and serve them.\n4. Pray for us to be healthy and physically fit so we can easily do God\u0026rsquo;s mission successfully.\n5. Our social media network has opened, and God choose me as a vice chairman of the network where I am going to play role in, how to stop heresy and different unbiblical things in social media like Facebook groups and other things.\nThank you for your prayers for us!\nIn Him,\nRabi and Mahima – Email Blog\nWorker 8 and Family – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for a couple in our church who have been married for the last three months; please pray that they will have children.\n2. Please pray for a sister in our church who is ill.\n3. Please pray for a brother in our church has a burning sensation in his stomach and body.\n4. Praise the Lord! I have a share in my father’s property. I have dedicated this land for the ministry. I planted rice in this field, and it is ready for the harvest. After harvesting the rice, we are planning to build a church on this property. We do not have any funds yet, but we believe that the Lord will provide the funding in due time. Please pray for the financial needs for this project.\nMay God, bless you\nThank you,\nWorker 8 and Family\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that the people we met through distributing blankets will experience the love of God.\n2. Pray for the students, that they will be committed to the work of God and be faithful in the work they are called to.\n3. Day by day it is becoming tough, and anti-Christian groups are growing more and more to stop the spread of the Gospel. A pastor was recently arrested here and many have been threatened not to preach the Gospel. Please pray about this.\n4. Please continue to pray for unity in our church and for us to make godly decisions.\n5. I thank God for His protection and healing in our students. Be continually praying for our students.\n6. Pray for those who have newly given their lives to Christ.\n7. Please pray for God’s provision for our video shoot recording and editing of some biblically correct worship songs.\n8. Please pray for a new place for us to hold worship services. Where we are, the seats are all full and no more people would be able to fit.\n9. The work of the Holy Spirit is misinterpreted in many of the churches in our state. My team and I are praying about starting a 1-month school of worship, which we would hold during our semester break. We would train in basic music theory and biblical worship, introducing the worship leaders to Christian theology. Our vision is to bring man closer to God through the Word of God and to worship Him how He wants to be worshiped. We want to help believers learn the differences between acceptable and unacceptable worship, to worship God in spirit and in truth.\n10. Please pray for an outreach we are planning, for God’s leading and protection.\nThank you for praying.\nWith love in Christ,\nWorker and Mrs. 6\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the people who don\u0026rsquo;t have jobs and are having difficulty financially. Also pray for those who have lost their friends and family members in this pandemic.\n2. Pray for our church people, for their faith. Pray that they will be good students of God\u0026rsquo;s Word, and pray for our online meetings, that we will be able to find more opportunities to share with new people.\n3. Pray for the villages, that people will be strong in their faith. Pray for food provision, because the villagers do not have good transportation during the pandemic, and their grocery market is so far from the village. It is very difficult to survive, especially during this pandemic.\n4. Pray for a piece of land for a church building, so that we can have fellowship without any objections and have our own church building.\n5. Pray for me, that I will lead our believers well, and pray for my health also.\n6. Pray for a computer to continue send my updates and use for our online fellowship. It is very difficult to write newsletters in my phone, so a computer would be very helpful for keeping in touch.\n7. Pray for the new people—those who have come to Christ recently; pray that they will grow with Lord and with His kindness.\nThank you for your kindness!! Worker 12\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\n**\nPrayer Requests**:\n1. Please pray for those who heard the Gospel during Christmas outreaches.\n2. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and courage for us to be bold witnesses for Him in the time of increasing persecution in our State.\n3. Pray that the Lord would use us to win souls.\n4. Pray for our health issues.\n5. Pray for our graduates that they would be used for His glory.\nThank you for praying for us.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. By God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers. For this month I would like to share some of the prayer concerns.\n2. Please pray for the salvation of A.T. and pray for the healing touch of his father S.\n3. Please pray for our nation, India that God may saved this country. Also these days new believers have been persecuted in different parts of India, pray that God may strengthen them in their faith.\n4. Do continue to pray for the growth and need of our local Church.\n5. Kindly pray for me and my family, may Lord use us for the expansion of His kingdom.\n“God is my provider” this word is so real to my family. Thus far we have been residing in a rented house, but by the grace of God one of our relative gifted a small piece of land for constructing a house. By God’s grace and your prayers all the legal process has been done and now we want to construct a house. So, please pray that God may provide all the requirements.\nThank you very much for your prayers!\nIn Him,\nP and R\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n- I thank God that God has saved me from all kinds of sufferings and diseases.\n- Thank God that God has met every single need especially the financial needs for Christmas Outreach.\n-Thank God, for the members of our church are steadfast in the faith in spite of many kinds of persecutions.\n-Thank God about 4 people got baptized last month.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please Pray that this month in about 6 new villages and about 10000 people have plans to show up movie, New Testament distribution, gospel track and preach the gospel by loudspeaker. as well as inviting about 350 people in Christmas to share the gospel to them Preparing for lunch. May God protect us all in every outreach and may all who hear the gospel of God believe in the Lord.\n2. Please Pray our neighbor who has become the new head of our village; he hates the Christian people very much and when we came into the faith they took away our land. Pray that God would choose him too and he would also believe in God.\n3. Please Pray the oldest pastor of our city had a stroke due to BP high and he has been hospitalized for about 2 weeks and also pray for our admin Johnny\u0026rsquo;s mother that too hospitalized due to corona.\n4. Please Pray that this year also in Christmas we will send sweets to our neighbors who hate us, they accept the sweets.\nThank you so much for your prayers, support, and partnership for the Gospel!\nGod bless you!\nWorker 11\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\n5. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 1 – 10/40 Window\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the work the Lord has set before us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our family to stay healthy.\n2. Pray for our students and staff.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for that all the believers of our church will learn the Word and be filled with His knowledge and wisdom and become doers of the Word also.\n2. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n3. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers,\nWorker 2\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for that all the believers of our church will learn the Word and be filled with His knowledge and wisdom and become doers of the Word also.\n2. Please pray for me, that God will help me to grow spiritually more and more every day of my life.\n3. Please pray for the need of a building for our church.\n4. Please pray that God will add new believers to our church members.\n5. Please pray that our church will be able to reach the people through social work.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my children that they may grow in Lord’s Fear and knowledge.\n2. Pray for God’s wisdom and strength to take care of my children and learn His Word.\n3. Please pray that the lord would intervene for the problem the world is facing.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for God’s wisdom and strength for the ministry.\n2. Please pray for the Christians in India, that they will stand for their faith.\n3. Please pray for the student who is running a house church.\n4. Pray for God’s guidance and for the future ministry here.\n5. Pray for the persecutors, that they would know the Lord.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 9\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers. Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n3. Pray for me, because I am making a church building. Pray that God will give me wisdom and understanding to do it correctly.\n4. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n5. Pray for me, that God will open new doors for me to share the Gospel.\n6. Pray for one brother who I have been sharing the Gospel to; pray that he will come to Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 10\nWorker 5 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that God will protect us from the present situation.\n2. Pray for our neighbors, that they will come to know the Lord.\n3. Pray for my daughter who is studying nursing.\nThank you so much for the encouragement and partnership!\nGod Bless You,\nWorker 5\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are\nmistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping,\n\u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-jan-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrenna Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Brenna-150x150.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1.Thank God for recovery from Covid and slowly getting back to more energy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. Praise for our Women’s Christmas Tea outreach coming together beautifully and being a great encouragement and bright spot to many women. Pray that God will continue to pursue hearts and draw these women to himself.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. Continued prayer for our women\u0026rsquo;s discipleship groups, pray that God will guide us leaders as we plan and prepare our new study for next semester.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JAN PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/tippie-family-december-2021-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/navidad-2021.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"Tippie Family December 2021 Update"},{"content":"**_“… in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ”\n—1 Thessalonians 5:18_**\nDear Friends and Family,\nHappy Thanksgiving!! The last couple of years have been difficult for many of us. Whether it has been personal suffering or the trials that have come from the Covid epidemic, we have all been affected in some way. One of the wonderful blessings of being a Christian is that no matter what we are going through is that we have hope. That hope enables us to give thanks always no matter what we are going through.\nLast month I shared our thankfulness that churches in Uganda are once again allowed to be open. This month our thankful hearts are overflowing as the church has been brimming over with people seeking fellowship. To better serve all those coming on Sunday mornings we were blessed with the provision to make some improvements to the church. We added a small stage with extra lighting so the worship team and pastor could be better seen in the sanctuary, the overflow room and the live video broadcast. We had added an overflow room after the first lock down but after we opened up this second time we quickly realized that even that was no longer enough space. This past month we were able to turn the entry way into the Sunday school rooms into a second overflow room. We are really praying that all those who have been coming will continue to do so and that they will grow in their relationship with the Lord and truly become part of the Arise ministry team.\nAnother thankful moment was when Rob Wargi, a missionary from South Sudan was down in Kampala and was able to share with the church. We can not even remember, since the time of covid began when we were able to have a guest speaker. That step towards normalcy, as well as his message, was a real encouragement to the church and to myself. It was a full house and a storm came so Rob redeemed the time with a lengthy message and the worship team with much worship. The congregation responded happily and laughed and commented throughout to show their appreciation and their thankfulness.\nIt has not only been the people from our church that are excited for church to be back. Many of the churches we help out are experiencing the same overflowing services that we have been. On Wednesdays Brian has been meeting with a couple of local pastors who while being pastors have a desire for further discipleship. In many cases in Uganda you will find pastors who have never gone to Bible College or had any type of biblical training besides what they have learned on their own. One of the pastors that Brian has been discipling, Nelson, had been meeting in a small store front. During the lockdown they began meeting in a larger unfinished structure. They were using a tarp for the roof. Now that the rainy season has come we were blessed to be able to help them to acquire sheet metal to cover the roof and keep the growing congregation dry.\nAs I have been saying, we have so much to be thankful for. We are very thankful for the many of you who pray for us and support the ministry. I now as a very serious prayer request. Recently we have had 2 terror attacks, 1 thwarted terror attack and as I write this one that is under investigation. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks saying that Uganda is a crusader state, persecuting Muslims. The fact is Uganda has many Muslims but they support countries and host refugees from Muslim countries (including Afghanistan) that persecute their own people. The attacks have all been around the outskirts of the city, targeting predominantly Ugandan restaurants and buses. Please pray for the safety of the Ugandan people and for us as we minister to them.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nMERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR !! We would like to thank all of you for blessing us through your prayer and support of our family and for the ministry in Uganda. This year we have had many blessings like weddings, births and outreach despite the ongoing covid pandemic. As a church we have mad e the most of the times we can meet together to pray, worship and fill ourselves with the teaching of God’s Word. The church has grown both in number and maturity. We look forward to this coming year to see what God has in store. You are in our thoughts and prayers as we enter this new year. God Bless You this holiday season as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus!\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana PRAYER REQUESTS We rejoice and thank the Lord for answered prayers and for those he continues to answer. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship as we meet and fellowship together. Pray for all the changes and updates taking place to accommodate the growing church. Pray for the newcomers to feel at home and to begin to grow and for the regulars to go deeper and really make the most of being able to worship together. Pray for Nelson and the other pastors who are ministering to people who have been longing for fellowship and seeking the Lord during lockdown. Pray for safety and an end to the terror attacks taking place in Uganda. Pray for those who have lost someone and for those who have been injured. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/kanyike-update-2021-in-review/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"_-in-everything-give-thanks-for-this-is\"\u003e**_“… in everything give thanks; for this is\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ethe will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ”\u003cbr\u003e\n—1 Thessalonians 5:18_**\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"happy-thanksgiving\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eHappy Thanksgiving!!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe last couple of years have been difficult for many of us. Whether it has been personal suffering or the trials that have come from the Covid epidemic, we have all been affected in some way.  One of the wonderful blessings of being a Christian is that no matter what we are going through is that we have hope.  That hope enables us to give thanks always no matter what we are going through.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Kanyike Update – 2021 in Review"},{"content":" Dear Friends and Family,\nMerry Christmas! We hope and pray that you are fine. We praise God for all of His blessings, protection, and love. It is the end of year 2021, and we are thankful to all of you for the payers, love, and care. It was indeed a very blessed year, a very fruitful year, here at Calvary Chapel Pakistan.\nWe praise God that:\nOur Christian organization got registered this year after 3 years’ struggle and we are moving ahead with new things. Our online classes continued now in five cities, teaching more than 130 people every week. We were able to translate more than 1000 Christian theological articles into Urdu language which are really helpful for all of our students and many other people. Pastor David Guzik’s Commentary on Acts was translated into Urdu this year. Commentary on John and Jude were translated previously. We translated and complied two very helpful books for Bible study each containing more than 300 pages. One is “Outline of every chapter of the Bible” and the other is “Survey of the Books of the Bible.” Our outreaching ministry got extended to some more unreached people and groups where we are reaching and teaching more Christians to grow spiritually. Both of our mission trips to the desert area were very, very fruitful! We organized special, whole-day training and teaching sessions this year and it was awesome! Calvary Chapel Pakistan received a container of free Scriptural booklets from World Missionary Press Inc. this year! Our recorded classes and materials are helpful for the people to get connected with us and grow in their Biblical understanding. Recently We had our mission trip in the desert, here we want to share few photos of the mission week with you.\nOutreach and Teaching to Hindu Tribes\nThis time we were able to visit two different Hindu tribes and were able to share the love of Christ and also the gospel of salvation along with food bags:\nTwo Whole-Day Teaching Sessions\nWe arranged two full-day teaching sessions and our topics for both day respectively were Authenticity of the Bible and Christology. This was totally new experiment in this area and it was really fruitful.\nSpecial Teaching Sessions With Our Online Students.\nWe had two teaching sessions with our students where I taught about gospel of Luke and book of Acts, mainly overview of the book of Acts and information about its author.\nOutreach \u0026amp; Evangelism\nWe reached some new areas which were considered unreached, we received request from those areas many times. It was great to share the Word of God with them and also provide them Bibles.\nThere is much more that God is doing through CC Pakistan among the brick makers, women, and small weekly Bible study groups. Please continue to pray for us all. God bless you and your families. Have a very blessed Christmas time and very blessed New Year!\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-blessed-year-indeed/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/massey/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2021/12/01210-300x62.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMerry Christmas! We hope and pray that you are fine. We praise God for all of His blessings, protection, and love. It is the end of year 2021, and we are thankful to all of you for the payers, love, and care. It was indeed a very blessed year, a very fruitful year, here at Calvary Chapel Pakistan.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWe praise God that:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOur Christian organization got registered  this year after 3 years’ struggle and we are moving ahead with new things.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOur online classes continued now in five cities, teaching more than 130 people every week.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWe were able to translate more than 1000 Christian theological articles into Urdu language which are really helpful for all of our students and many other people.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePastor David Guzik’s Commentary on \u003cem\u003eActs\u003c/em\u003e was translated into Urdu this year.  Commentary on John and Jude were translated previously.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWe translated and complied two very helpful books for Bible study each containing more than 300 pages. One is “Outline of every chapter of the Bible” and the other is “Survey of the Books of the Bible.”\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOur outreaching ministry got extended to some more unreached people and groups where we are reaching and teaching more Christians to grow spiritually.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBoth of our mission trips to the desert area were very, very fruitful! We organized special, whole-day training and teaching sessions this year and it was awesome!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eCalvary Chapel Pakistan received a container of free Scriptural booklets from World Missionary Press Inc. this year!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eOur recorded classes and materials are helpful for the people to get connected with us and grow in their Biblical understanding.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecently We had our mission trip in the desert, here we want to share few photos of the mission week with you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Blessed Year Indeed!"},{"content":" Since arriving in Mexico on July 6th, 2021, we have been getting settled in our new house and plugging into Calvary Chapel Rosarito. Thank you to our core team and all the CCSG saints who have been praying for us this year! Your prayers have sustained us and allowed God to guide us into our new country \u0026amp; ministry! When you PRAY, God hears! Thank you so much for your LOVE! Enjoy the photos! God Bless. -PB\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/putting-down-roots-in-tijuana/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/20210829%5F1839222-edited-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSince arriving in Mexico on July 6th, 2021, we have been getting settled in our new house and plugging into Calvary Chapel Rosarito. Thank you to our core team and all the CCSG saints who have been praying for us this year! Your prayers have sustained us and allowed God to guide us into our new country \u0026amp; ministry! When you PRAY, God hears! Thank you so much for your LOVE! Enjoy the photos! God Bless. -PB\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Putting Down Roots in Tijuana"},{"content":"Thank you all for your continual support in prayer and for your partnership through finances. Since my last update, the Lord has given me the opportunity to continue to serve Him with our young adults ministry at CC Saving Grace. Apart from the internship, I have been able to continue to work both at Starbucks and at a swim school as an instructor. Andrea and I are preparing for the wedding and are currently looking into where we could live after we are married while we prepare for the big move to the Middle East.\nOver the last few months, I have been given the opportunity to lead the young adults in worship. As a part of that, we have made it a habit to begin our meetings by sharing testimonies of how the Lord has given us opportunities throughout our week to share the gospel with those around us. This has been such an encouraging time in our meetings because it stirs us up with all the awesome ways the Lord uses us, as well as encourages us to continue to share His gospel. Aside from that, I was able to exercise another gift that the Lord has given me, which is to teach the word. I was able to teach for the first time through 1 Samuel 9-10. It was so humbling to be able to be used by God to speak into the lives of our young adults. It was just a taste of what is to come when I am in the Middle East. Please join me in prayer for those whom I will be able to teach the word of God to, that they may be used by Him to spread the gospel through the Middle East. I will continue to be teaching the young adults once a month along with the pastor who oversees the group until the Lord calls Andrea and I to move on into the Middle East.\nPlease continue to pray for Andrea and I as we are 2 months away from our wedding. We are currently looking for a home that is relatively affordable, so that we can continue to save money for our big move to the Middle East. Pray for our marriage: that the Lord will use it for His glory and that through it, the gospel may be seen by those around us. Please pray for continual financial provision and monthly support so that we can have what we need to actually pick up and move and live in a foreign country for the furtherance of God’s kingdom. We are still trying to build a care team that would be willing to get together monthly to pray for us and the work that God will be setting before us.\nOver the last month, I had the opportunity to share the gospel with one of my coworkers. I was sitting down during one of my breaks reading my Bible, while we has getting ready to go home. He then came up to me and asked what I was reading; It was Acts chapter 15. I then proceeded to read the entire chapter to him, all the while explaining the text to him. I ended by telling him that no matter what we do, nothing is good enough to bring us into heaven. I told him that faith in Jesus Christ alone is the only way to heaven. I laid out the gospel for him clearly. He then said that there was something about me that he can’t explain (which I am pretty sure he was referring to the Holy Spirit and His gift of teaching in me). He thought it was interesting that I was answering all his heart’s questions as we were reading Acts 15 without him asking them out loud! God used this circumstance to confirm His call on my life to teach the word to others, and also to draw this young man a little closer to Himself.\nRegarding Peru, it seems as if at least for now the door has been closed. Please continue to pray with me over this and that the Lord would work through it all. However, Andrea and I will be going on a vision trip to the Middle East this spring after we are married, in order to scout out where we might live and what that would look like, as well as to meet up with another intern who would have been living in the country for a few months by that time. Please pray with us over this trip, that the Lord would speak loudly and direct us, and that we would have the money needed to go on the trip as well as to pay our bills after being away from work.\nThank you once again for taking the time to read this update. I thank God for your partnership in the gospel, just as the church at Philippi had partnered with Paul. By taking the time to read this and pray over the work of God, we too are partners in the gospel. If this has stirred you to become more involved in this work, please feel free to reach out to me at reyes@sgwm.com and I would love to meet up with you in person and pray for one another and hear from you as well as share the vision. If this has moved you to want to partner with me financially, please feel free to click the “Become a Financial Partner” button below.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for the young adults group at CC Saving Grace. Please pray for a care team to support us in prayer! For our wedding. For a place for Andrea and I to live. For my coworker whom I shared the gospel with. For the vision tour to the Middle East. Praise Reports:\nThe Lord has been faithful through many circumstances to provide for all of my needs. The Lord has allowed for teaching opportunities to arise. God is opening doors for the gospel with those in my workplace. If you would like to visit my secure giving page click here:\nfunctional image\nFor His Glory,\nBryan Reyes\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/using-the-gifts-hes-given-me/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you all for your continual support in prayer and for your partnership through finances. Since my last update, the Lord has given me the opportunity to continue to serve Him with our young adults ministry at CC Saving Grace. Apart from the internship, I have been able to continue to work both at Starbucks and at a swim school as an instructor. Andrea and I are preparing for the wedding and are currently looking into where we could live after we are married while we prepare for the big move to the Middle East.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Using the Gifts He's Given Me"},{"content":" Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.\nPsalm 136:1\nNovember has been very busy for our family. Nearly every weekday is filled with either meetings or errands for Matt, and for me (Noelle); school and managing the household (and all the neighbor children who end up in our yard every afternoon).\nEarly in the month I had the privilege to speak at a women’s conference with another woman of our foreign staff. I felt very humbled to stand before a church full of women, most very much older than I, and teach on Ephesians 5:22 “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” I, who could have been the granddaughter of many of them, was to teach them how to submit, most to unbelieving husbands. I taught on humbling yourself in the sight of the Lord, so that He is the one to lift you up. I also shared in many ways the idea that, just as God saw that it was good when His word was carried out at creation, it is also good when we follow His commands today. I think the conference went on well. It has brought me into a season of thankfulness for the gift of womanhood, and God’s calling on me to be a wife and mom.\nPerhaps it is a result of my fathers passing, perhaps it is also due to studying for the conference, but the fact has been often on my mind that my role as a wife and mother is more of a calling than a job. When we first came onto the mission field I knew that my primary objective was to keep Matt as free as possible for his daily work, and to care for and teach our kids. It is fairly simple when I write it that way. Being removed from the comfort of culturally-similar parents (our team being the exception) has shown me how much I leaned on the parenting and examples of others whom I look up to, instead of checking everything first by Gods Word. There is great strength in a group of people who believe the same things and work toward the same goals, but when you are removed from that is when your beliefs are really tested. I have not “arrived”, but I have been given great peace in knowing that God called me to be a wife and mom, if not before marriage than certainly now that I am married and have children. The comfort lies in knowing that it is my responsibility to parent lovingly, gently, firmly, sloooowly, and consistently, not because I “have to”, but because that is part of saying “yes” to Gods call on my life. And when Gods word is accomplished, it is good, just like at creation.\nSo although we have been busy this month and have strained my comfort levels by pushing our flexible schedule a little too far, and although I feel more lonely than I have in a long time due to missing my fathers funeral and grieving together with my family, I also feel more fulfilled than I think I ever have before. Praise God that He gives us His word and teachings to light the path!\nI have been trying to keep as many things off of Matts plate as possible this month as he hones in on teachers guides through the Old Testament, and as he works hard to get the new Terebinth School of Discipleship campus built. It is also exciting to be one of Matts consultants in this project. I love architecture and design, and I’m thankful for the chance to use one of my many passions for the sake of the Kingdom.\nI hope you have enjoyed a more personal style of update from me as a wife and mom. And I hope you enjoy the pictures of some of the things I do in those roles!\nBlessings to you in Christ from the Harris family. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/november-2021/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGive thanks to the LORD, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePsalm 136:1\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/11/IMG%5F7100.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNovember has been very busy for our family. Nearly every weekday is filled with either meetings or errands for Matt, and for me (Noelle); school and managing the household (and all the neighbor children who end up in our yard every afternoon).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/11/IMG%5F7136.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEarly in the month I had the privilege to speak at a women’s conference with another woman of our foreign staff. I felt very humbled to stand before a church full of women, most very much older than I, and teach on Ephesians 5:22 “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.” I, who could have been the granddaughter of many of them, was to teach them how to submit, most to unbelieving husbands. I taught on humbling yourself in the sight of the Lord, so that He is the one to lift you up. I also shared in many ways the idea that, just as God saw that it was good when His word was carried out at creation, it is also good when we follow His commands today. I think the conference went on well. It has brought me into a season of thankfulness for the gift of womanhood, and God’s calling on me to be a wife and mom.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"November 2021"},{"content":" EUROPE\nZully Ruano - Mallorca, Spain\nPraise Reports:\n-experienced a Christmas miracle\u0026hellip;the Lord provided in a beautiful way flight tickets to spend Christmas with my family!! It has been 2 years that I\u0026rsquo;ve spent Christmas in Spain, so I\u0026rsquo;m thankful that this holiday season I will be in California with my family.\n-We have received our first sponsorship for one of our students. Someone from my home church found out about one of our students needing aid and they have sponsored her for the next 6 months. God is good!!\n-We participated in Operation Christmas Child (Samaritans Purse) here in Spain! Many of our students and their parents had never heard of this ministry so it was sweet to introduce it to them. We filled 10 boxes with all donations that came from the students and their families!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Volunteers: We need more workers in various areas to help us at our school (teacher assistants, maintenance worker, playground supervision, fundraising manager\u0026hellip;etc)\n2. Students: We are praying for more students to enroll in our school. We currently have 8 children and definitely have room for more!\n3. Financially: We know He is faithful to help us stay afloat with the daily logistics of running a school (rent, utilities, snacks \u0026amp; lunch\u0026hellip;etc). Every month we ask the Lord for His provision.\n4. Wisdom: Please pray the Lord gives me wisdom and guidance to lead this school according to His will and that I would be filled with the Holy Spirit when making decisions for the school.\nThank you for your prayers! They definitely make a difference in the work God is doing here in Spain.\nGod bless you,\nZully - Email Blog\nBrenna Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\nPrayer Requests:\n1. I came down with covid this week, thankfully the symptoms are fairly mild, but I ask for prayer for recovery from that. Also, continued prayer for other ongoing health issues.\n2. Prayer for upcoming Women\u0026rsquo;s Christmas Tea outreach event on December 4. Pray for us as we finalize planning and preparing, and pray for the gospel to be clearly shared and good fruit to come from the event.\n3. Continued prayer for our women\u0026rsquo;s discipleship groups, that the Lord will work through them to strengthen and encourage and build up these women.\n4. Continued prayer for our Lighthouse college outreach ministry, wisdom and vision in the planning of events, relationships to be built and the gospel to be shared, hearts to be drawn to Jesus!\nThank you for your prayers!\nLove in Christ,\nBrenna – Email Blog\nAFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike - Kampala, Uganda\nThis past week there were 3 suicide bomb attacks in Kampala. Killing 6 and injuring many. Please pray for the people and their families who were involved.\nMore recently a car bomb attempt was stopped by police at a hotel in Kampala.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for safety for the Kanyike family and Arise Christian Fellowship as they continue to do ministry and logistics.\n2. On Thanksgiving many people will be at the guest house to celebrate. Pray for safe travels and for health for everyone as well as much needed fellowship and Thanksgiving praise.\n3. Pray for Jill as she and Vicky teach a Thanksgiving women\u0026rsquo;s tea the day after Thanksgiving.\n4. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise. Pray as they begin to make plans for the Christmas season.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nMatt and Noelle Harris – Gulu, Uganda\nPraise God:\n- God has allowed us to open a small soccer ministry/business and we currently have 40 children enrolled!\n- All of our current class of pastors and church leaders have finished studying through the entirety of Scripture and have passed their oral presentations!\n- Matt\u0026rsquo;s family back home are recovering from a difficult round of Covid!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. God touches the hearts of the children in our community as we share God\u0026rsquo;s Word with them through the new sports outreach.\n2. God gives us wisdom as we interview students for the next intake of our pastoral school.\n3. God would give us personal encouragement.\nThank you so much for all of your love and support.\nGod Bless,\nMatt, Noelle, Apio, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte – Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Africa, Asia \u0026amp; USA\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for a fruitful and blessed time in Nepal. The ministries are thriving and we rejoice in so many answered prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the 15 students who graduated this month. Pray that as they return to their hometowns and villages that they would be bold. share the Gospel, teach the Word and that churches would be planted throughout Nepal.\n2. Pray for vision as we look over our schedules and for future trips, ministries, and opportunities for remainder of 2021 and really for 2022. Pray that God would show us as there are many open doors and we want to know Gods will for our lives and to continue to fulfill the great commission and reach the unreached.\nThankful for your prayers,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For Mike\u0026rsquo;s upcoming trip to Culiacan to celebrate their 6th year anniversary!\n2. For our December church plant to Morelia Michoacan!\n3. For God to bless our December Christmas outreaches and events!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nIsaac, Hope and Fletcher Douglass – California\nThank you for your continued prayers for us this month. We pray that this holiday season would bless you and remind you afresh why we all do what we do- that the free gift of salvation that came to us in the form of a helpless babe might be known and received by all men!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the Lord to provide for all of our needs.\n2. Pray that God would pour out His Spirit upon Calvary Chapel Truckee for the evangelization of the lost around us.\n3. Pray that God would build the youth and young adult ministries that Isaac leads and that He would give us wisdom to partner with Him in that.\n4. Pray that we’d continue to adjust well to the winter weather.\n5. Pray for my teaching at the women’s Christmas event on Dec 4th.\nBlessings,\nIsaac, Hope and Fletcher – Email Blog\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Tim’s physical condition, chronic pain and back issues.\n2. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s will as Jenn is looking hard for work and no doors seem to be opening\n3. Please pray for the both of us as Tim gets to teach the gospel of John online to our south Asia campus, Jenn also is teaching a class on principles of a godly woman.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn – Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray – Ensenada, Mexico\nThanks for your prayers.\nPraises:\n-We have everything packed and are ready to move back to the states. Please pray for safety as we travel towing our trailer from Mexico to Mississippi. Pray for us to have wisdom and opportunities as we look for work.\n-We are rejoicing in the thirteen years we were able to serve at Calvary Chapel Bible College and for what we saw God doing there in the lives of the students and staff. We know that we face some adjustments as we move and pray for God’s grace and favor in our new community.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the Bible College that God would continue the work there. Pray that it would grow and prosper and many lives would be changed.\n2. Pray for the past and future students that they would be faithful and that the Gospel message would be shared wherever God leads them.\n3. Pray for Saving Grace World Missions and the missionaries they are supporting and encouraging who are serving in so many countries around the globe.\nMay God bless you for your interest, your prayers and for any other way you support missionaries. It was always an encouragement knowing we were being prayed for in Mexico.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for our family’s health. Praise the Lord for my oldest daughter’s ankle recovery. Please continue to pray for a good diagnosis of my third daughter’s ongoing gastrointestinal problems and healing, and wisdom as to whether further testing and treatment is beneficial or not.\n2. Please pray for my mom’s health and complete healing.\n3. Please pray that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit and that we will honor Him in all we say and do, and will be used of God to minister to others.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family’s health, especially that they will be able to accurately diagnose and treat my mom, and pray for complete healing.\n2. Please continue to pray for our nursing home ministry, that many will be drawn close to Jesus and encouraged. Please also pray for favor with the nursing home staff and that we would be able to continue to do the ministry, as the regulations related to the virus continually change.\n3. Please pray for our financial support.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCory and Danielle Kilgus –Trujillo, Peru\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God we graduated 9 students from CBI Perú on Nov 19th! God has been so amazing, and this truly is an amazing group of world changers. Please pray for this next step in their lives, and that they would bear much fruit!\nWe are praying that God would use this group to plant churches in South America and the world!!\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Pray for our Christmas activities as we deliver gospel boxes to families who live in a former trash dump. We hope to eventually start a school here and are planning a medical outreach there in January.\nThank you!\nLove,\nCory and Danielle Kilgus – Email Blog\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nThank you all for standing in the gap in intercessory prayer!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our growing church.\n2. Pray for Discipleship and our new volunteers.\n3. Pray for our interns and students at the School of Ministry! Thank you for partnering with us!\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 14 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the safety of our family as we are travelling in US.\n2. Pray for our students who are back in the villages doing ministry.\n3. Pray for the bible college as we are planning to reopen the school. We will have a lot of work to do preparing everything for the students .\n4. Pray for the new building project so that we can run the school according to the country code.\n5. Pray for the new building finances.\n6. Pray for all our staff and their families.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings.\nWorker 14 and Family\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nThanks for your prayers. Cambodia has taken away a lot of COVID restrictions.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that we will be able to travel to Japan or the USA to visit family and senders next summer (2022). Pray for open doors on many levels\n2. Please pray that the remaining COVID restrictions will be lifted as soon as possible.\n3. Please pray for Light Times Magazine, the only Christian magazine in Cambodia to be able to restart printing (post-covid) early next year.\n4. Please pray for our annual Cambodia Visa renewal process, especially for wisdom for us and favor from the officials.\n5. Please continue to pray for our apologetics/evangelistic video ministry to reach as many Cambodian speakers as possible around the world.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin – Email Blog\n**Worker 13 - 10/40 Window\n**\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my broken hand.\n2. Please pray for the upcoming planned Christmas outreach, that many will be saved.\n3. Please pray for me and my ministry in the mountain villages.\n4. Please pray that God will open up new opportunities to share the Gospel here. Please pray—many things are happening through evil spirits, pray that God will stop all of those things.\n5. Please pray for my jeep. It was not running well, and I took it to the mechanic. He is asking for more money to repair the used jeep than it would cost to buy a new car. Please pray that God will work everything out.\n6. We visiting many poor women to help them in little ways, like giving them food and other items. Pray that they will know God’s love.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 13\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God! This month 15 students graduated from our Bible College.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the graduates, may God show them their mission fields and guide with His Holy Spirit.\n2. Please pray for us, we’re planning to go to the west Nepal, Dang next month.\n3. Please pray for Charis Bible Church Kathmandu Nepal, for the spiritual growth of all believers.\n4. Please pray for CBCKN, we have been praying for the new Church plants in different places of Nepal.\nBlessings! Prakash and Muna – Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\n-Thank you so much for providing me with a bike and as well as new Cajon.\n-Thank you so much for Your Prayers and financial support for our ministry. We Pray God May bless this ministry.\nPray Requests:\n1. Pray for our upcoming trip to South Western Nepal to a place called, Dang, where our Graduate student is serving there. We are planning to visit and teach there and to be blessed and to make fruitful.\n2. Pray for all our Dear students who have already graduated and now serve at their villages and locality where they can serve God in any condition. That they can fully trust God and do God work there.\n3. Pray our church believers can be mature and grow deeply in Word of God.\n4. Pray that our family doesn\u0026rsquo;t create any obstacles to serve Our Lord; that they may know who Jesus is.\n5. Pray our lost flock who have not been coming to church, that God may work in their hearts that money is not more important than God.\n6. Pray for our health so we will be well and fit so that we can serve Our Lord in the best way.\n7. Pray for Us please: we both want to have a child. God\u0026rsquo;s time will be perfect.\nThank you for your prayers for us!\nIn Him,\nRabi and Mahima – Email Blog\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the people who don\u0026rsquo;t have jobs and are having difficulty financially. Also pray for those who have lost their friends and family members in this pandemic.\n2. Pray for our church people, for their faith. Pray that they will be good students of God\u0026rsquo;s Word, and pray for our online meetings, that we will be able to find more opportunities to share with new people.\n3. Pray for the villages, that people will be strong in their faith. Pray for food provision, because the villagers do not have good transportation during the pandemic, and their grocery market is so far from the village. It is very difficult to survive, especially during this pandemic.\n4. Pray for a piece of land for a church building, so that we can have fellowship without any objections and have our own church building.\n5. Pray for me, that I will lead our believers well, and pray for my health also.\n6. Pray for a computer to continue send my updates and use for our online fellowship. It is very difficult to write newsletters in my phone, so a computer would be very helpful for keeping in touch.\n7. Pray for the new people—those who have come to Christ recently; pray that they will grow with Lord and with His kindness.\nThank you for your kindness!! Worker 12\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the Christmas outreaches.\n2. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and courage for us to be bold witnesses for Him in the time of increasing persecution in our State.\n3. Pray that the Lord would use us to win souls.\n4. Pray for our health issues.\n5. Pray for our graduates that they would be used for His glory.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. I have shared the Gospel with a Catholic family named Mr. C.J., kindly pray for their salvation.\n2. Please pray for our nation, that God will save this country.\n3. Also, these days new believers are being persecuted by fanatic groups in different parts of the country; pray that God will strengthen them in their faith. Kindly pray for the surrounding villages of our town, so that God will open the door for the Gospel.\n4. Thank you so much for your earnest prayers. Some months ago, I sent a prayer request about the house map (blueprint) approval from our municipal office for constructing a house. By the grace of God, I received the approval. Do continue to pray for legal documentation.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nP and R\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nThank you all you prayer warrior for your prayer…\nPraise Report:\nare so thankful to the LORD that because of His Grace we are able to graduate 15 students from our Bible College.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for the Bible college students to whom God had sent them in ministry to serve powerfully.\n3. Please pray for Bible college staff who will be traveling to west Nepal to do Inductive Bible Study.\n4. Please pray that God may bring students in new semester in Bible College.\n5. Please pray for coming up Christmas outreach.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos Email Blog\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Thank God that He has saved us from all kinds of evils.\n-Thank God that one person publicly followed Jesus this month.\n-Thank God that my father’s hand, which was fractured, healed early. God healed him very well.\n-Thank God for allowing us to preach the Good News to about eight new villages this month. About 10 people accepted the Lord!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that God will keep us safe and keep us safe from all kinds of danger. Kindly pray that the people in our church will remain steadfast in faith; there are many older people who were cast out from the people of their village communities, but they are still situated in the Lord. I am very pleased to see their faith.\n2. Please pray for our village leader election. Pray that God will appoint a good leader who will take good care of everyone. The last time, the village leader murdered someone, and is still in jail. Christmas is coming, and like we do every year, this year we also want to go to a new village and preach the Good News to about 10,000 people. Like last year, we want to distribute new testaments, blankets and saris, and have a Christmas lunch. If the Lord wills, He will fulfill all kinds of financial needs.\n3. Please pray that God will arrange a graveyard for our church to prevent a very difficult situation in the future. People of the village are ostracizing those who believe. They will not attend their marriages or funerals. They will not allow their dead bodies to be burnt or buried in their crematoriums.\nThank you so much for your prayers, support, and partnership for the Gospel!\nGod bless you!\nWorker 11\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nWorker 1 – 10/40 Window\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the work the Lord has set before us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our family to stay healthy.\n2. Pray for our students and staff.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for a couple in our church who have been married for the last three months; please pray that they will have children.\n2. Please pray for a sister in our church who is ill.\n3. Please pray for a brother in our church has a burning sensation in his stomach and body.\n4. Praise the Lord! I have a share in my father’s property. I have dedicated this land for the ministry. I planted rice in this field and it is ready for the harvest. After harvesting the rice, we are planning to build a church on this property. We do not have any funds yet, but we believe that the Lord will provide the funding in due time. Please pray for the financial needs for this project.\nMay God bless you\nThank you,\nWorker 8 and Family\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for that all the believers of our church will learn the Word and be filled with His knowledge and wisdom and become doers of the Word also.\n2. Please pray for me, that God will help me to grow spiritually more and more every day of my life.\n3. Please pray for the need of a building for our church.\n4. Please pray that God will add new believers to our church members.\n5. Please pray that our church will be able to reach the people through social work.\n6. Please pray for my health and safety\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nWorker 2\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my family, that we will remain healthy.\n2. Pray for my brother, M, as he joins me in the ministry.\n3. Pray for the new believers here who just publicly showed they are following Jesus.\n4. Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more.\n5. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for us as we will be finishing up with the semester on Dec 11 and will be off on outreach all they way until the middle of January.\n2. Please pray for our safety.\nThanking you.\nYours in Christ,\nWorker 4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Day by day it is becoming tough, and anti-Christian groups are growing more and more to stop the spread of the Gospel. A pastor was recently arrested here and many have been threatened not to preach the Gospel. Please pray about this.\n2. Please continue to pray for unity in our church and for us to make godly decisions.\n3. I thank God for His protection and healing in our students. Be continually praying for our students.\n4. Pray for those who have newly given their lives to Christ.\n5. Please pray for God’s provision for our video shoot recording and editing of some biblically correct worship songs.\n6. Please pray for a new place for us to hold worship services. Where we are, the seats are all full and no more people would be able to fit.\n7. The work of the Holy Spirit is misinterpreted in many of the churches in our state. My team and I are praying about starting a 1-month school of worship, which we would hold during our semester break. We would train in basic music theory and biblical worship, introducing the worship leaders to Christian theology. Our vision is to bring man closer to God through the Word of God and to worship Him how He wants to be worshiped. We want to help believers learn the differences between acceptable and unacceptable worship, to worship God in spirit and in truth.\n8. Please pray for an outreach we are planning, for God’s leading and protection.\nThank you for praying.\nWith love in Christ,\nWorker and Mrs. 6\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for God’s wisdom and strength for the ministry.\n2. Please pray for the Christians in India, that they will stand for their faith.\n3. Please pray for the student who is running a house church.\n4. Pray for God’s guidance and for the future ministry here.\n5. Pray for the persecutors, that they would know the Lord.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 9\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers. Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n3. Pray for me, because I am making a church building. Pray that God will give me wisdom and understanding to do it correctly.\n4. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n5. Pray for me, that God will open new doors for me to share the Gospel.\n6. Pray for one brother who I have been sharing the Gospel to; pray that he will come to Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 10\nWorker 7 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that I will reach many more people with God’s Word and that I will be a good steward for our Lord.\n2. Through our YouTube channel, I am able to reach a couple hundred people, so I would like to begin to teach live on facebook and YouTube in the upcoming days. Please pray about that.\n3. Please continue to pray for this pastor’s mother. She is still in the hospital, but praise the Lord, she is off of the ventilator and the doctors think she will recover! Please continue to pray for her recovery.\n4. Please also pray about the students who received their diplomas and those who are about to finish this coming semester.\nThank you,\nWorker 7\nWorker 5 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that God will protect us from the present situation.\n2. Pray for our neighbors, that they will come to know the Lord.\n3. Pray for my daughter who is studying nursing.\nThank you so much for the encouragement and partnership!\nGod Bless You,\nWorker 5\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated,\nsince you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time.\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-dec-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eZully Ruano -  Mallorca, Spain\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Zully-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise Reports:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n-experienced a Christmas miracle\u0026hellip;the Lord provided in a beautiful way flight tickets to spend Christmas with my family!! It has been 2 years that I\u0026rsquo;ve spent Christmas in Spain, so I\u0026rsquo;m thankful that this holiday season I will be in California with my family.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-We have received our first sponsorship for one of our students. Someone from my home church found out about one of our students needing aid and they have sponsored her for the next 6 months. God is good!!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM DEC PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.\u0026rdquo; 2 Timothy 2:2\nStarting and maintaining the only Christian apologetics ministry in the Cambodian (and other) language has sometimes felt like trying to start a campfire with a box of matches but damp firewood. Recently, God has allowed me to receive some positive feedback and encouragement from my former students and viewers. Here is one example that I haven\u0026rsquo;t shared before.\n\u0026ldquo;\u0026hellip; I was grateful to learn how to defend our faith from you when I saw in CBI (Cambodia Bible Institute) Phnom Penh. I also formed a small group of four people to continue to teach the course I learned from you\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;\nSince the last update, I was able to release two Apologetics/Evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language. These videos were: If I Become Christian, Will God Take Away All My Problems? and If I Become A Christian, Will God Make Me Rich? I also researched and started writing the scripts for three more scripts for future videos.\nReopening\nCambodia has taken a lot of steps toward Reopening since my last update. Now, churches, schools, and other places that have been closed/online since March have been allowed to reopen with restrictions. The government has indicated that it intends to keep things open. Please pray that no variant or outbreak will cause the government to shut things down again.\nFuture Travels!?\nWith Reopening, the Cambodian government has taken away the up to 14 days quarantine with around $2,000 per person associated fee, which made international travel too expensive and stressful for us to pursue. So, it is beginning to look like we will be able to travel internationally in the summer of 2022, LORD WILLING. We haven\u0026rsquo;t been able to visit Japan since 2018, so we will try to go there as the first option. If we cannot go to Japan next summer, we will try to visit the USA, since we haven\u0026rsquo;t been able to visit there since 2019. We look forward to visiting with as many of you as possible as soon as possible.\nResumption of Ministries\nNow that Cambodia has reopened, I have been able to resume helping with the Chinese Ministry at the international church on Sundays. Also, Light Times Magazine is planning to resume print-edition magazines in the first part of next year. Please pray for wisdom as I help them develop fund-raising materials for the relaunch.\nKayo has been able to go to Precious Women Organization to lead devotions with the staff and clients there. She is also happy that the church is back in-person so the worship team does not have to make videos for the online service anymore but can worship with the congregation.\nVisa Renewal\nPlease pray for our Cambodia visa renewal process during the month of December. Each year the process gets a bit more complicated and strict. Please pray for wisdom and favor during this process.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/domino-effect/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e 2 Timothy 2:2\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eStarting and maintaining the only Christian apologetics ministry in the Cambodian (and other) language has sometimes felt like trying to start a campfire with a box of matches but damp firewood. Recently, God has allowed me to receive some positive feedback and encouragement from my former students and viewers. Here is one example that I haven\u0026rsquo;t shared before.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Domino Effect"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family!\nI pray that you are all doing well as we enter into one of my family’s favorite seasons: Fall!\nThese last few weeks, I’ve been reminded that the Lord is even in the “boring” stuff that I do as Director of Missionary Care for SGWM. Administrative duties are not always fun and exciting. As COVID has changed our ability to travel, and I have been very slow and careful in trying to decide when and where I should travel next for missionary care, our focus has been on trying to make sure our home base operations run really well. That means I’ve been on the phone and Zoom checking up on missionaries to pray for them, and helping with their practical needs.\nTake today, for instance. I’m writing this update on a day that I’ve spent most of my time updating procedures and instructions for our purchase order system. Sounds thrilling, right? But when I think about it, it is SO vital that our missionaries are able to access the funds their supporters give to them to use for their ministry! Without an easy-to-use and functioning financial system, the work of our missionaries to reach people in their field would be greatly slowed and hindered.\nSo, even though I’ve spent all day in front of a computer and on the phone, I’m reminded that these small, mundane tasks are of the utmost importance for our missionaries. And for that I’m thankful to be a part of that process!\nZechariah 4:10 – “For who has despised the day of small things?” I won’t despise the small things, Lord!\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/hes-even-in-the-boring-stuff-garcia-family-update-november-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI pray that you are all doing well as we enter into one of my family’s favorite seasons: Fall!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/garcia/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2021/11/IMG%5F3427.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese last few weeks, I’ve been reminded that the Lord is even in the “boring” stuff that I do as Director of Missionary Care for SGWM. Administrative duties are not always fun and exciting. As COVID has changed our ability to travel, and I have been very slow and careful in trying to decide when and where I should travel next for missionary care, our focus has been on trying to make sure our home base operations run really well. That means I’ve been on the phone and Zoom checking up on missionaries to pray for them, and helping with their practical needs.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He’s Even in the “Boring” Stuff – Garcia Family Update November 2021"},{"content":"Raising Up, Equipping, Sending, Supporting National Missionaries There are some places on this earth where the statistics are so discouraging it’s hard to believe God is doing anything at all there.\nAnd so we celebrate with hearts full of praise and thanksgiving for all that God is doing in Pakistan. The main religion in Pakistan is Islam and accounts for 96.47% of the population. Only 1.27% are Christians. But God is powerfully moving in this part of the world through one of our national workers, Pastor Nadeem. He and his wife have been actively discipling and raising up believers for many years. Churches are being planted, people’s hearts are being set free, and God’s word is being soundly taught. Most of the existing Christianity in Pakistan is either Catholic or hyper-Pentecostal. They do not know the word and Pastor Nadeem is committed to getting the whole counsel of God into the hearts and minds of these believers. After working with SGWM for about 7 years, he was ordained by SGWM pastors and from there he was able to plant two churches, one in his village and one in another. Nadeem has a very busy schedule.\nTwo days a week he is teaching online classes to three different groups in two different cities, as well as other individuals from other cities. Every Saturday he leads a class at his home, teaching theology, apologetics and missions. He and his team have an open door to go and share God’s word in a desert area near his home. Here they are reaching many unreached people with Bibles, song books, audio Bibles and the teaching of God’s Word. And this isn’t the only outreach they are involved in. They also have a ministry to brick makers where one of the brothers, Brother Joseph, visits and teaches, ministering to this very poor community. During Covid, with the help of SGWM, Pastor Nadeem and his team were able to bring much needed relief to this area on more than one occasion. They are seeing lives totally changed through the simple teaching of God’s Word because of the time they spend here just loving the people.\nTeaching the Word\nBrick Makers\nTeaching online classes\nAnd even with all of these things, Pastor Nadeem is also able to devote himself to producing books to equip believers there. He has written 2 books, one on Christian Apologetics and one on Mormonism, as well as compiled 4 other books in Urdu which are helpful to understand the Bible. He also has a recording ministry where his team is recording Bible classes and other teaching resources to share with other believers. God is doing incredible things through Nadeem’s ministry despite heavy oppression and persecution. We praise God that we can partner with such a brother for the furtherance of the gospel. Please pray for Nadeem’s ministry as he faithfully serves the Lord.\nHome Bible Study\nChurch Plant\nPresentation at Church\nMissionary Equipping After the first year of the Calvary School of Missions, we quickly realized that these young graduates were in need of further support and a full missions program in order to get them successfully out onto the missions field. So we began to design an internship program specifically for those called to full-time, cross-cultural ministry. It is now our 3rd year of the internship and we have 18 interns serving at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, learning what it means to run a church and lead successfully. We knew originally we were called to catch fireflies (those young people who feel called to full time missions and desire to be the light in dark places), but we soon realized that they needed more than the six-week School of Missions.\nThese students need a comprehensive program that will keep them on the path to follow their passion and calling to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Sadly, we have seen many young people who once had a passion to go, lose their way because they just didn’t have the support they needed or the ongoing encouragement essential for this kind of call. So we are committed to making sure all those who come through the school have the option of an internship that will help them fulfill their call in the Great Commission. Please pray for these 18 students as they seek to grow in their faith and pursue their calling to reach the ends of the earth with the gospel.\nIntern Class\nDoor-to-Door Evangelism\nGirl Interns Serving at the Women\u0026rsquo;s Conference\n“Once a missionary call is sensed, one must do everything possible to nurture and stimulate it. Read, go to meetings, attend missions conferences. Keep the fire alive; the devil will try to snuff it out” On Being a Missionary (pg.22).\nOur call is to do everything possible to nurture and keep the fire alive in the hearts of these young called out ones! Pray for them as they prepare to GO and share Jesus to the ends of the earth.\nWe graduated our 3rd batch of students from the Calvary School of Missions and we are looking forward to all that God has for these brothers and sisters. Many of them have joined our internship program. Please pray for these new interns as they adjust to their busy schedule\nSending Missionaries and Missionary Care This last season has brought home many of our missionaries serving all over the world. From Peru, Cambodia, India and more, families have come home to share with their sending churches and hopefully get some much needed rest and relaxation. Although they don’t normally get that, we at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace do our best to bring some relief and minister to the families we have sent out. One of our families from South Asia has been home on furlough and we have been so blessed to host them. The area where they minister has been hit very hard with the Corona Virus and has suffered greatly from severe lockdowns.\nBeing here has brought so much comfort and relief. Pastor S. says it’s like he can breathe again. His children can go to the park and play, see friends their age, and walk around without masks for the first time in 20 months. This month we had them share at a dessert gathering where family and friends gathered to hear all that God has been doing since the pandemic started. It was thrilling to hear the stories of many continuing the work of the ministry and people still coming to the Lord even during the shut downs. We spent time praying over them as they continue the work amongst the most unreached peoples of the world.\nPastor S\u0026rsquo;s Kids\nVisiting Family\nPastor S Teaching Interns\nAll For Christ, SGWM Staff ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/fall-2021-sgwm-newsletter/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"raising-up-equipping-sending-supporting\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRaising Up, Equipping, Sending, Supporting\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"national-missionaries\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNational Missionaries\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eThere are some places on this earth where the statistics are so discouraging it’s hard to believe God is doing anything at all there.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd so we celebrate with hearts full of praise and thanksgiving for all that God is doing in Pakistan. The main religion in Pakistan is Islam and accounts for 96.47% of the population. Only 1.27% are Christians. But God is powerfully moving in this part of the world through one of our national workers, Pastor Nadeem. He and his wife have been actively discipling and raising up believers for many years. Churches are being planted, people’s hearts are being set free, and God’s word is being soundly taught. Most of the existing Christianity in Pakistan is either Catholic or hyper-Pentecostal. They do not know the word and Pastor Nadeem is committed to getting the whole counsel of God into the hearts and minds of these believers. After working with SGWM for about 7 years, he was ordained by SGWM pastors and from there he was able to plant two churches, one in his village and one in another. Nadeem has a very busy schedule.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Fall 2021 SGWM Newsletter"},{"content":" Read all about the Tippies and their ministry in Peru!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-tippies-in-peru-fall-2021/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Tippie-Fall-2021-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRead all about the Tippies and their ministry in Peru!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Tippies in Peru – Fall 2021"},{"content":" “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”\nProverbs 14:34\nSix months ago, in May, God inspired us to reach out to the young people in my community through the avenue of sports. The youth here have never been “model citizens”, but that only compounded through the hopelessness of the lock downs, which left everyone completely aimless and idle. God showed me (Matt) the need for something to be done when I found out that a group of preteens from my village were setting up roadblocks to rob travelers.\n“Yalwak Manyen Football Club” (YMFC) was officially opened on October 11th 2021! Yalwak Manyen is an Acholi phrase which means “new generation”. It is our prayer that each new generation would have a more Godly community than the generation before it. God has given me a great manager/coach to entrust this program to. David Kizito is a personal friend of mine who worked with us at BAM Enterprises for several years but had difficulty continuing his work there when his finger was injured. He is a gifted evangelist and has had great training and experience working with sports and kids at a nearby project sponsored by Compassion Int’l.\nIt has only been one month since we opened, but God is already working. Right now 40 children meet for three afternoons a week to learn about God and learn how to play soccer. They have memorized many scriptures, gained impressive soccer skills, and most importantly the majority have accepted to be in an eternal relationship with their heavenly Father. We are even hearing many testimonies from their parents about great changes in their children’s attitudes, behavior and sense of responsibility. We are thankful for a good energy outlet for Apio, and we look forward to our other children being able to participate as YMFC develops to accommodate more age groups.\nPraise God That:\nHe has opened and used this outreach. The majority of the children have accepted Jesus’ eternal salvation. We have a place to meet for the time being, and that God gave us the financial ability to buy five acres of land that we will develop into a small community center. Please Pray that:\nGod gives us wisdom as we shepherd the entrusted to us. The families of the children in our program would also receive Christ. We can have the financial ability to develop our land into a community center/park. In Christ, Matt, Noelle \u0026amp; Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-outreach/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eProverbs 14:34\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/11/20211011%5F1809062.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSix months ago, in May, God inspired us to reach out to the young people in my community through the avenue of sports.  The youth here have never been “model citizens”, but that only compounded through the hopelessness of the lock downs, which left everyone completely aimless and idle.  God showed me (Matt) the need for something to be done when I found out that a group of preteens from my village were setting up roadblocks to rob travelers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Outreach"},{"content":" Christian Youth Fellowship At our church, I hosted a 2 and 1/2 day youth program for all of the Christians in my district. We had a great time studying God’s Word and spending time in prayer and worship. About 150 youth leaders came and were refreshed by the fellowship and encouraged one another to be steadfast in the faith!\nFellowship NOT Locked Down During the lockdown in our country, it was really difficult to meet in one place altogether. Even though it was a scary time, we had the Word of God to comfort us and speak truth into our lives. Now that our country isn’t on a lockdown anymore, we’ve been meeting all together at the church for one church service once again.\nGraduation After two years of studying, we were able to celebrate my younger brother, Manish, at his Bible College graduation! I traveled to the capital to spend time with him and be a part of his graduation ceremony. He has already been serving with me at our church during his holiday breaks. When I got sick with Covid a few months ago, he was able to teach for me and continue the fellowship. I am so blessed and thankful to God for my close brothers in Christ, who encouraged him all through his time studying at the Bible College. I’m very excited to bring him alongside me to serve the Kingdom of God together and see how much more the Lord will use him.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for me and for my family, that we would remain healthy Pray for my brother, Manish, as he joins me in the ministry Pray for the new believers Pray for financial provision to be able to start a family buffalo farm so that we can support ourselves more God bless you,\nMilan\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/reaching-the-unreached/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Milan-Nov-4.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch4 id=\"christian-youth-fellowship\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChristian Youth Fellowship\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Milan-Nov-5-300x90.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt our church, I hosted a 2 and 1/2 day youth program for all of the Christians in my district. We had a great time studying God’s Word and spending time in prayer and worship. About 150 youth leaders came and were refreshed by the fellowship and encouraged one another to be steadfast in the faith!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"fellowship-not-locked-down\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFellowship NOT Locked Down\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Milan-Nov-1-300x122.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the lockdown in our country, it was really difficult to meet in one place altogether. Even though it was a scary time, we had the Word of God to comfort us and speak truth into our lives. Now that our country isn’t on a lockdown anymore, we’ve been meeting all together at the church for one church service once again.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Reaching the Unreached"},{"content":"We are glad to send out this news update. Thank you so much for your prayers.\nWe urge you to continue to uphold us and all the Christians in our country in your prayers. You must be aware of the increased persecution in our country. The persecution is very wide spread and intense in our state. Almost every Sunday, churches are attacked by various Hindu groups. Police are taking no action against the persecutors, instead, pastors are arrested on false charges. Large numbers of people in the extremist Hindu group are protesting on roads and shouting slogans against Christians. They are asking the government to declare our country a Hindu country and to cancel the citizenship of Christians and Muslims. These extremist groups are falsely accusing Christians of converting people by giving them money and of blaspheme against their gods and goddesses.\nWe are not in panic\u0026ndash;we know that God is on the throne. All these things are actually preparing for the growth of the Gospel. People know that all these accusations against Christians are not true. We are very hopeful that we will have a great harvest in coming years. Please continue to pray for our country.\nOn September 26th we had a dedication and certificate distribution ceremony for our Bible College students. Due to COVID 19 protocol, we were not allowed to have a big gathering, but we were able to have our students with us. We had a small graduation ceremony. We prayed over them and committed them to the Lord for the work of the Gospel. It was nice to see them all after a year and a half. The Word was shared by our son to encourage them and every member of the church to do the work of the Gospel. Please pray that these students would be effective witnesses of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nOne Saturday we did social work to connect with the society. We, along with some of our church members, cleaned our neighborhood. We invited the local political leader to come and commence the work. We are praying and seeking God about going to the Government Hospital in December to distribute fruit to the patients. Whatever we do, we want to do it in the name of the Lord. Please pray that the name of the Lord would be glorified.\nThank you for your prayers! We are doing well by God’s grace. My wife has some health issues, please pray that the Lord will heal her.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/peace-that-passes-all-understanding/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe are glad to send out this news update.  Thank you so much for your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Nov-6-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe urge you to continue to uphold us and all the Christians in our country in your prayers.  You must be aware of the increased persecution in our country.  The persecution is very wide spread and intense in our state. Almost every Sunday, churches are attacked by various Hindu groups. Police are taking no action against the persecutors, instead, pastors are arrested on false charges. Large numbers of people in the extremist Hindu group are protesting on roads and shouting slogans against Christians. They are asking the government to declare our country a Hindu country and to cancel the citizenship of Christians and Muslims. These extremist groups are falsely accusing Christians of converting people by giving them money and of blaspheme against their gods and goddesses.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Peace That Passes All Understanding"},{"content":"October flew by! What a whirlwind it’s been to move up to Truckee and settle into a new routine. God has been so faithful!\nOur new home is perfect for our family and such a blessing. We’re nestled in the woods right across the street from Donner Lake in a quaint little one bedr-om cabin. I have a full kitchen now, which I love and a very large attic space for storage. God blessed us with a beautiful couch, a new vacuum, and a TV to help make our house “home.” We’ve already started hosting the young adults group on our home on Friday nights and that has been a huge blessing.\nOur first Sunday at Calvary Chapel Truckee was a very special day and we were blessed by a warm welcome. The church has opened its arms wide to receive us and for that we’re grateful. We have two young adults and one youth kid who attend our church at this time so we’re in a stage of starting what we can and praying about what we can’t. Please pray along with us that the Lord attracts more young people to the church and that more people get saved and plugged in. I have the privilege of attending the mid-week women’s Bible Study and I’ve loved it so far. It is pure inductive Bible study and we’re learning about the coming of Jesus. On Reformation Sunday (aka Halloween) Isaac and I led worship along with some others; it was Isaac’s first time here in Truckee and my first time since Fletcher was born. It was so refreshing to be able to lead again and I know that the precious saint who had been leading every single week for months before we came was blessed to have a Sunday off. That night we went to one of the church family’s houses where they have a lot of foot traffic and we will (Lord willing) be hosting an outreach at that home next year.\nIn other news, Isaac has been loving his job at Consolidated Electrical Distributors (CED) and has all unsaved coworkers who he enjoys having Gospel conversations with. He has been able to see more of the area on his deliveries and greatly enjoys the drives.\nI am all set up for all of my remote tasks and haven’t skipped too many beats as far as keeping up with my responsibilities with SGWM. I am grateful that God has given me the ability to take care of Fletcher, our home, and my work responsibilities in the midst of the transition.\nSo far we have had Isaac’s family visit us twice aside from when they all helped us move up here and this month I will be able to visit my family in Utah and bring my mom home with me for a visit. Then we will be in Yorba Linda for Thanksgiving and will have friends come up to visit directly after that. All of the love and support from our family and friends has helped make the transition much smoother and we’re so grateful!\nAuntie Brooke coming to visit\nWinnie the Pooh with his hunny for Halloween\nPraise Reports We bought a car that is more suitable for the snow!\nWork is going well for both of us.\nWe have some young adults and youth with whom to build the ministries.\nOur church family is wonderful.\nPrayer Requests That God would help us connect in new ways with our unsaved community for the purpose of sharing the truth of the Gospel and seeing lost souls won for Christ.\nThat God would build His church and the young adult and youth ministries in it.\nThat He’d give us vision and boldness for how to partner in His work.\nThat we’d make more friends in similar walks of life; young marrieds, young parents, etc.\nThank you for your prayers and support! It means so much to us.\nMuch love, Hope, Isaac, and Fletcher ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-first-month-in-truckee/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOctober flew by! What a whirlwind it’s been to move up to Truckee and settle into a new routine. God has been so faithful!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur new home is perfect for our family and such a blessing. We’re nestled in the woods right across the street from Donner Lake in a quaint little one bedr-om cabin. I have a full kitchen now, which I love and a very large attic space for storage. God blessed us with a beautiful couch, a new vacuum, and a TV to help make our house “home.” We’ve already started hosting the young adults group on our home on Friday nights and that has been a huge blessing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our First Month in Truckee"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn this update, I wanted to let you know about what God has been doing in the life of my precious son Daniel!\nDaniel recently turned 19, and he is in the middle of taking a gap year between his high school graduation and entering Bible college! And Daniel is involved in a number of exciting ministries and activities that I wanted to let you know about.\nAs many of you know, Daniel was less than a month old when he joined us on the mission field of Mexico! That means that he has lived his entire life here, and Daniel is (and always has been) the most Mexican of us all in the family! And although Daniel loves and honors his American heritage, I don’t believe that Daniel will ever leave Mexico to move to the United States to live.\nThree months ago, Daniel tried out for our local professional basketball team, the BEACH, Rosarito! To my pleasant surprise, Daniel made the team and signed a professional contract! Although the level of play here is far below the NBA, this is a serious league where the players sign contracts, travel to other cities and states all expenses paid, and charge to watch their games!\nThe BEACH is in their first year in this Northern Mexico Regional League and they have taken some bumps and bruises during their games! But Daniel is seeing this as an important learning experience. Daniel is now 6 foot 3 and dunking the ball with ease (UNLIKE his dad used to) and has a fantastic three point shot! (LIKE his dad used to) He has a great attitude whether he gets a lot of playing time or not, and we are very proud of him in this big step of faith he has taken to join this professional league.\nDaniel has also continued with his private music lessons throughout this pandemic! Daniel is very gifted musically, and is presently taking weekly vocal and guitar lessons from one of our young worship leaders. I believe that God has a call to full time ministry for my son, and I know that God can and will use his being a multi -talented musician to accomplish His will.\nDaniel continues to be one of our main keyboard players in the worship teams during our primary services in the sanctuary. I have had the blessing of having him join me on my worship numerous times, and I have to admit that he puts much more time than his old man does in preparing and practicing! One of the greatest joys of my life is presenting the message of salvation at the end of a sermon, while Daniel is by my side playing the keyboards!\nThe area of Daniel’s life I am most proud of is his spiritual development! The Bible says in 3rd John 1:4, “ I have no greater joy than my children walk in the truth!” I can give a loud a hardy “AMEN” to that statement, and I am thankful for my son and the love he has for our Lord!\nDaniel’s primary plan for the next two years is joining the excellent Calvary Chapel Bible College located in the hills of Ensenada (just an hour south of us) in January! This bilingual program is designed to train up young people not only for Christian living but the full time ministry! I believe that God is going to use these two years of Bible training to reveal to Daniel the calling that He has for his life. Please keep Daniel’s Bible College plans in your prayers!\nFinally, we wanted to thank you once again for your love and prayers and support! Sadly, we have seen many missionary friends whose support has withered away over the years. But we are so thankful that God has raised up a group of generous partners that give sacrificially so that we can serve full time in the ripe mission fields of Mexico. We love you and thank God for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless our upcoming Christmas events and outreaches!\n#2- That God would bless Daniel and his plans to enter Bible College in Ensenada in January!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for Daniel and his spiritual growth!\n#2- Praise God for the numerous blessings of being a church planting hub! (Presently 31 first generation church plants, 7 second generation, and 1 third generation)\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/november-2021-vincent-family-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this update, I wanted to let you know about what God has been doing in the life of my precious son Daniel!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/11/242695841%5F604771893873448%5F566168304538740835%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDaniel recently turned 19, and he is in the middle of taking a gap year between his high school graduation and entering Bible college! And Daniel is involved in a number of exciting ministries and activities that I wanted to let you know about.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"November 2021 Vincent Family Missions Update"},{"content":" “He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to Him, “Yes Lord; You know that I love You.” He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.””\nJohn 21:16\nSome of the most beloved and most often quoted Scriptures picture God as a Shepherd tending His flock. Psalm 23 talks about how God leads us to rest in green pastures and how He prepares our meals in the presence of our enemies. David said that he didn’t need to be in want and that he didn’t need to be afraid because God was shepherding him. The apostle John recorded Jesus telling a crowd that He Himself was the good Shepherd. The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but the good shepherd came that we would have abundant life! Unlike a mere employee who runs from danger, He laid down his life for the sheep. The Apostle Peter exhorted elders in the church to shepherd God’s flock voluntarily and eagerly, according to the will of God. Pastors weren’t supposed lord their authority over God\u0026rsquo;s people or lead them out of compulsion or for sordid gain.\nIn October our leadership team had the wonderful opportunity to take a four day retreat, during which time we were trained on the three primary functions of good shepherding: lead, develop, and care. A shepherd must intentionally influence and enable his flock to accomplish a given task. But getting a job done isn’t God’s only goal, if that’s all He wanted, He would have been better off with machines than humans. Great leaders strengthen their follower’s capacity to grow and contribute while achieving their goals. And like God, a good shepherd watches over and cares for the health and well-being of those who look to him. It was a fruitful time for all of us.\nAfter three and a half years, we were honored to be with our students in the Pastoral School for their very last week of class. We eagerly listened as they each gave a thirty minute oral presentation explaining a Biblical theme through the entirety of Scripture as it relates to the Gospel. It was amazing to see the difference in understanding, character, and doctrine that God had brought about in them through His Word, which never returns empty handed. Unfortunately we will not be able to hold a graduation ceremony until April 2nd, when a team will be visiting from the US, and the Covid restrictions will be a bit lighter.\nPraise God with us that: All of our students passed their finals. That Noelle finished teaching our kids through another semester of homeschooling. We are seeing great fruit in the churches of our pastors. Please pray with us for: Matt’s parents and brother who are currently suffering from Covid. His parents are slowly recovering but his brother almost lost his life and has a long way to go before fully recovering. Wisdom as we interview church leaders for our next intake of students. Funding to finish our 2nd Pastoral School of Discipleship campus. Our Business As Mission to gain success so our ministry can be operationally sustainable. In His care, Matt, Noelle, Apio, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/october-2021-the-harris-family/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He said to Him, “Yes Lord; You know that I love You.”  He said to him, “Shepherd My sheep.””\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn 21:16\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/11/20211019%5F1803122.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSome of the most beloved and most often quoted Scriptures picture God as a Shepherd tending His flock.  Psalm 23 talks about how God leads us to rest in green pastures and how He prepares our meals in the presence of our enemies.  David said that he didn’t need to be in want and that he didn’t need to be afraid because God was shepherding him.  The apostle John recorded Jesus telling a crowd that He Himself was the good Shepherd.  The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but the good shepherd came that we would have abundant life!  Unlike a mere employee who runs from danger, He laid down his life for the sheep.  The Apostle Peter exhorted elders in the church to shepherd God’s flock voluntarily and eagerly, according to the will of God.  Pastors weren’t supposed lord their authority over God\u0026rsquo;s people or lead them out of compulsion or for sordid gain.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"October 2021 – The Harris Family"},{"content":"Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. 2 Timothy 4:2\nDear Friends and family,\nGreetings from Pakistan, we all at CC Pakistan are fine by the grace of God, the ministry also is going well. There have been some health issues in the last two months, but by the grace of God all is almost fine. I had some dental treatment and my wife had some stomach issues. She is still on medication. We know that you all pray for us and that is always great encouragement for us. We also pray for you and your family.\nMinistry of the Word in other cities From the very start of our ministry God laid on our hearts to focus on the ministry of the Word, as the power of the Word of God changed our lives forever. We also experienced that teaching the word of God has been changing lives around us through our humble ministry. So most of our energy always goes to some kind of teaching of the Word of God. Some times it was disappointing as many people have so many other attractions. But we have always believed that His Word will never return void. So we praise God that we have started seeing the fruit of it. Many people who are connected with us in different cities, they are serving and particularly teaching the word of God and they send us the praise report through photos. Here we want to share few glimpses with you and request you to please continue to pray.\nBahawalpur City (Near Desert) Our friend brother Aftab has great passion to reach out to the unreached people in his area. CC Pakistan provides Bibles, Christian song books and other booklets to Aftab and his team. He travels every week to reach many different areas with the word of God, he provides people with Bibles and other study material. And he is the one who also organizes our weekly Bible class in his city where more than 40 people are studying the Book of Genesis with us currently.\nSahiwal City Our dear brother Suleman is a seminary graduate, he has been in contact with us during all his student life at the seminary in our town. He is really wonderful person and loves teaching the word of God. He really likes Calvary Chapel’s way of serving and our focus to teach the Word of God to glorify our Lord Jesus Christ and God the father. We pray for him to be part of our team officially, right now he is learning from us in our weekly classes and also teaching in his town to a group of young people. He is also involved in outreach evangelism in his area by reaching the unreached Christians and by helping them in any possible way like providing printed/audio Bibles and other study material. Please keep him in your prayers.\nFaisalabad City A brother in Christ named Dilawar came into contact with us some years before. Now he is regular Bible student at our weekly class. He has developed really great interest to study the Word of God during all these years after by studying in our classes. He and his wife are leading some children\u0026rsquo;s Bible study groups at their house. Calvary Chapel Pakistan has also been providing Children Bibles, scriptural booklets and audio Bibles to this couple. They are doing amazing job and are equipping many children with the understanding of their Christian faith.\nSheikhupura City In this city we have two online Bible classes going on. This is the place where I’ve been invited most of the time to teach. people love the Word of God, and our online students are really happy for the verse by verse Bible study. We have two groups of students in two different areas of this city and during this current visit for fellowship and teaching at a place, an other group is willing to join us in the study. This is so amazing that while so much prosperity teaching, and different manifestation are going around them, they are listening from other people about our Bible studies and are desirous to join in.\nWomen\u0026rsquo;s Ministry The women ministry is going really well, Farah’s all-seminary study has been so helpful and she has been developing new classes for these women for better Bible study and also for Biblical counseling. This is really amazing ministry as most of the time, teaching Bible to the women is neglected in our society. We praise God for all that He is doing through this ministry. thanks for keeping this in prayers and always supporting CC Pakistan to continue this ministry.\nUpcoming Training and Mission Current we have prayerfully planned to go to our second mission trip of year 2021 in the desert area. Last time we invited, hosted and provided training for Children ministry to about 200 people from the surrounding areas, along with reaching out to people in the desert and having some special teaching sessions with our students there.\nDuring this visit we have once again planned teaching for two whole days and we are expecting 100 church leaders there. One day we will be teaching about the “Person of Jesus Christ” (Christology) and the other day we will be teaching on Authenticity of the Bible. Besides this we have plan to reach some areas, have fellowship, provide Bibles to people, pray and teach here. We will be reaching some tribal people also in the desert. Please continue to keep this all in your prayers.\nThere is much more that God is doing through CC Pakistan like reaching out to brick makers, our church services, much of the translation of the Biblical study material and audio/video recording. Please continue to pray for this all and also for us all. Thank you very much for your all care, prayers and support.\nIn Christ Jesus,\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/ministry-of-the-word-of-god/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePreach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage–with great patience and careful instruction. 2 Timothy 4:2\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Pakistan, we all at CC Pakistan are fine by the grace of God, the ministry also is going well. There have been some health issues in the last two months, but by the grace of God all is almost fine. I had some dental treatment and my wife had some stomach issues. She is still on medication. We know that you all pray for us and that is always great encouragement for us. We also pray for you and your family.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ministry of the Word of God"},{"content":" EUROPE\nBrenna Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for his kindness and patient, continued pursuit of hearts!-Praise God for granting a new residence permit\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Prayer for our Lighthouse college outreach ministry, wisdom and vision in the planning of events, relationships to be built and the gospel to be shared, hearts to be drawn to Jesus!\n2. Pray for our new women\u0026rsquo;s discipleship groups starting up this month. Pray for these 40 women as we study the book of Ephesians together, pray that that those who already know Christ will grow secure in their identity in Him and pray that those who have yet to surrender their lives will do so and be transformed and as they encounter the word of God.\n3. Continued prayer for health\n4. Pray for further understanding and comprehension of the Hungarian language, and pray that I would be more bold to speak.\nThank you for your prayers!\nLove in Christ,\nBrenna – Email Blog\nAFRICA\nVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\nPraise report!\n-This month we were able to get everyone that serves in our church a study Bible. We were also able to give all staff at the hospital, football/soccer players (both Christian and Muslim), over 150 members and others all Bible’s!!!!!\nPrayer Requests:\n1 Please pray for wisdom and God’s timing of reopening the churches in Uganda. We pray it is soon but also praise God for our viewing groups through YouTube.\n2. Pray for the rebel activity near us. So far 6 have been killed. We have some solders that are staying near by to help protect our area.\n3. Pray for the school and also for the hospital! Pray that the schools will open soon. We have so many young girls giving birth in our hospital. Unfortunately some families are not bringing them to the hospital in time and we have lost many. It’s heart breaking!\n4. Pray as we hope to purchase land for large scale farm and animal rearing to hopefully become more self sustaining.\n5. Pray for our soccer outreach. Our team will once again start traveling all over Uganda for the Big League. Pray they will continue to be a great testimony both on and off the field.\n6. Pray as we try to get dates to come to America for 1 month and go for the pastors conference.\nThank you for your prayers!!!!\nIn Him,\nAniku Family – Emai l Blog\nBrian and Jill Kanyike\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Churches have reopened in Uganda with sops on place. Pray for everyone who is coming to grow in the Lord and to participate in fellowship with one another. Pray for those still at home to participate through online sevice till they are ready to come in person.\n2. It is the raining season in Uganda. This has caused lots of flooding and has ruined many people\u0026rsquo;s homes. It also has brought many mosquitos and malaria.\n3. Pray for health and safety for the congregation and for the Kanyike family.\n4. The Kanyike children have had very bad allergies recently and Jill has been recovering from an H. Pylori infection. Pray for healing.\n5. Pray for Brian as he leads the church and ministry team. The church has added an extra overflow room please pray for the logistics involved and that everyone is ministered to.\n6. Thank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Africa and Asia\nPraise God\n- Wonderful Celebration of Life Service for Bond\u0026rsquo;s brother Joe that glorified God and honored his life well.\nPrayer Request s\n- Pray for upcoming trip to S. Asia, to remain healthy, wisdom to navigate all of the new international travel guidelines, fruitful time in-country and that we would have a great time with all of the pastors and leaders.\nThankful for your prayers,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\n1. Please pray that Joel and Amy would be faithful and have the time to disciple our SGWM interns well, most of whom are a part of our young adults group\n2. Please pray for patience, wisdom, and guidance for Joel as he awaits the right opportunities for travel\n3. Please pray for our family, as our ministry schedule is getting a lot more hectic over the next couple of months\n4. Please pray for wisdom, patience, and energy in training, educating, and equipping our 4 amazing young children!\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia – Email Blog\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Tim’s physical condition, chronic pain and back issues.\n2. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s will as Jenn is looking hard for work and no doors seem to be opening\n3. Please pray for the both of us as Tim gets to teach the gospel of John online to our south Asia campus, Jenn also is teaching a class on principles of a godly woman.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn – Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray – Ensenada, Mexico\nPraises:\n-We have everything packed and are ready to move back to the states. Please pray for safety as we travel towing our trailer from Mexico to Mississippi. Pray for us to have wisdom and opportunities as we look for work.\n-We are rejoicing in the thirteen years we were able to serve at Calvary Chapel Bible College and for what we saw God doing there in the lives of the students and staff. We know that we face some adjustments as we move and pray for God’s grace and favor in our new community.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the Bible College that God would continue the work there. Pray that it would grow and prosper and many lives would be changed.\n2. Pray for the past and future students that they would be faithful and that the Gospel message would be shared wherever God leads them.\n3. Pray for Saving Grace World Missions and the missionaries they are supporting and encouraging who are serving in so many countries around the globe.\nMay God bless you for your interest, your prayers and for any other way you support missionaries. It was always an encouragement knowing we were being prayed for in Mexico.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar – Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas – Tijuana, Mexico\nHello and God bless you for your prayers for me. It is such an honor to be prayed for. Here are my prayer request for this month:\n1. We have an outbreak in our church of Covid right now. Lots of families suffering but not hospitalized so that is good. I am taking care of them the best that I can. Please pray for them that they will heal and that I do not get a bad case of Covid\n2. For construction that will be soon happening here. We will be demolishing our current kitchen and replacing it with a multipurpose room that will but up to our retaining wall which is moving. Pray that the Lord continues to provide for this and that all goes well.\n3. For the kids in our afterschool program. For their parents to come to faith. It is my prayer always and I do not lose hope that they will come to Christ someday\n4. For more servants to minister to the kids in our Sunday school.\n5. For me as I feel a little lonely at Times.\n6. That my sentry pass would be renewed soon. It’s the special pass that allows me to cross the border in less time. I was told that it will take a year before they renew it, long story\nThank you again and God bless you.\n“Give your burdens to the Lord, He will carry them. He will not allow the godly to slip or fall. Psalms 55:22\nGod bless!\nDeanna – Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Reports!\n- Praise God for a wonderful church planting conference, with many getting encouraged!\n- Praise God for our new church planting evening course, that has 21 first-time students attending! (Along with 30 in our afternoon course)\nPrayer Requests:\n1. That God would bless the church planting schools of our new partners, in Wildomar (Ca), and in Peru!\n2. That God would provide for the financial needs of our family, church, and church plants, and keep us safe in these dangerous times!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\u0026quot;\n1. Please continue to pray for our family’s health. Please continue to pray for my oldest daughter’s complete and rapid ankle recovery.\n2. Please pray for good diagnosis of my third daughter’s ongoing gastrointestinal problems and healing, and wisdom as to whether further testing and treatment is beneficial or not.\n3. Please pray for my dad’s health and complete healing.\n4. Please pray that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit and that we will honor Him in all we say and do, and will be used of God to minister to others.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord, He has opened up nursing home ministry for us again! Please pray that many lives will be touched and many will be saved.\nPrayer Request:\n1.Please pray for our family’s health, especially that they will be able to accurately diagnose and treat my dad, and pray for complete healing.\n2. Please continue to pray for our nursing home ministry, that many will be drawn close to Jesus and encouraged. Please also pray for favor with the nursing home staff and that we would be able to continue to do the ministry, as the regulations related to the virus continually change.\n3. Please pray for our financial support.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nThank you all for standing in the gap in intercessory prayer!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our return to Peru on Thursday, and we will be returning and receiving a team from Ft. Myers Florida the same day! Pray for traveling, and health of us, and the team!\n2. Pray for our evangelism efforts in the skate park, the beach and the main plaza during the team\u0026rsquo;s visit.\n3. Pray for all of our new contacts, and potential partners!\n4. Pray for healing of Daisy hands as she just got her stitches out, and has to do therapy!\n5. Pray for Paolo, a young man in our church who was just in a critical motor cycle accident delivering food.\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that the Cambodian government will continue on its trajectory of reopening the country. Also please pray that as many Covid restrictions as possible will be lifted as soon as possible.\n2. Our son finally was able to return to in-person 7th grade. He has been online for a long time. Please pray for health, strength, wisdom, and protection over the Christian school here.\n3. Please pray that we will be able to travel to the US or Japan in the summer of 2022.\n4. Please pray for wisdom and creativity in choosing and researching new topics for apologetics/evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language.\n5. Please pray for our partnerships with Cambodian organizations that minister to families and at-risk women.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin – Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPray Requests:\n1. Please pray for our ministry to be fruitful.\n2. Pray our bible school more then 15 students are going to be graduate soon.\n3. Pray our family will be able to kneel down to Jesus as their Personal savior.\n4. Pray for me I am involved with other believers at the social media network where we are planning to avoid Cult teaching, Unbiblical teaching on Facebook group and social media.\n5. Pray for us we are planning to be have baby but we couldn\u0026rsquo;t make it In God time He will provide us baby.\n6. After College vacation we are planning to go to visit some churches as well as making plan to teach through Word of God. Please pray that God may provide us with whenever we have a necessary.\n7. Pray Our church grows and matures in the Word of God.\nThank you for your prayers for us!\nIn Him,\nRabi and Mahima – Email Blog\nWorker 7 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that I will reach many more people with God’s Word and that I will be a good steward for our Lord.\n2. Through our YouTube channel, I am able to reach a couple hundred people, so I would like to begin to teach live on facebook and YouTube in the upcoming days. Please pray about that.\n3. Please continue to pray for this pastor’s mother. She is still in the hospital, but praise the Lord, she is off of the ventilator and the doctors think she will recover! Please continue to pray for her recovery.\n4. Please also pray about the students who received their diplomas and those who are about to finish this coming semester.\nThank you,\nWorker 7\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. I have shared the Gospel with a Catholic family named Mr. C.J., kindly pray for their salvation.\n2. Please pray for our nation, that God will save this country.\n3. Also, these days new believers are being persecuted by fanatic groups in different parts of the country; pray that God will strengthen them in their faith. Kindly pray for the surrounding villages of our town, so that God will open the door for the Gospel.\n4. Thank you so much for your earnest prayers. Some months ago, I sent a prayer request about the house map (blueprint) approval from our municipal office for constructing a house. By the grace of God, I received the approval. Do continue to pray for legal documentation.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nP and R\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and courage for us to be bold witnesses for Him in the time of increasing persecution in our State.\n2. Pray that the Lord would use us to win souls.\n3. Pray for our health issues.\n4. Pray for our graduates that they would be used for His glory. Thank you for your prayers and support!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nThank you all you prayer warrior for your prayers…\nPraise Report:\n-Hi everyone who had been praying for the ministry in Nepal. Thank you for your prayer, God is doing awesome things in the ministry of Nepal. We are able to almost finish our Bible College semester. God had been leading this young student to do the ministry.\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for our good health.\n2.Please pray for coming up Graduation that it may be blessed time with the students.\n3. Please pray God may use powerfully to the students to their area.\n4. Please pray for the Radio ministry in Kathmandu valley, many may come to Christ.\n5. Please pray for new students of Bible College that they may continue next semester with more excitement.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPrayer Report:\nPraise God ! We are almost by the end of Semester of our Bible College and God has kept our students and staffs safe and protected.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our Bible College, we\u0026rsquo;re by the end of the semester and we have graduation program ahead of us. Pray for our preparation.\n2. Please pray for the graduating students, for their future ministry.\n3. Please pray for Charis Bible Church, for the spiritual growth and also numerical growth.\n4. Please pray for the CC Hetauda, Laxman and Sarmila Nepal as this couple lead the Church.\nThank you for your concern and prayers, I appreciate it.\nBlessings! Prakash and Muna - Email Blog\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n1.Please continuously pray for my father. He fell and broke his hand. May God heal him as soon as possible and arrange for money for his treatment. He has been working for the Lord with me for eight or nine years now without any support.\n2. Pray that God will fulfill our every need. Since the lock-down, the price of almost everything has doubled. Especially the price of car fuel has become very expensive. About 30% of my monthly support is spent on fuel. God satisfies all of our needs.\n3. Please pray and pray for the family of my church to grow deeper in the Word of God and stand firm in the Lord in times of persecution.\n4. Pray for a pastor who is my friend. He was captured by 2 people and forcibly taken on a bike to a place alone. They beat him badly and threatened that if he continues to run his church, they will break into his house and kill the believers. Pray that God will give them protection.\n5. Pray for S* who is suffering from a very strange disease, may God heal him. Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and partnership for the Gospel!\nGod bless you!\nWorker 11\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nWorker 1 – 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the work the Lord has set before us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for our country as we are suffering from severe new strains of Covid. Pray for our family to stay healthy.\n2. Pray for our students and staff.\n3. Pray for my family\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village\n3. Please pray for my health and safety\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nWorker 2\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for one man who said he used to attend church when he was a child and left church when he got older. When he re-listened to the Gospel at our medical outreach, he decided to come to church the following week with us! Please pray for him and for his salvation.\n2. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n3. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n4. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n5. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for those who heard the Gospel at a wedding my dad and I shared the Gospel at. Many had not heard the Gospel before.\n2. I was ill for about two weeks from food poisoning from somewhere I traveled to share the Gospel. Please pray for me because I have exhaustion after doing something.\n3. I am now back at the school and have been teaching the Word from the Book of Genesis and Systematic Theology, and I have also been overseeing the kitchen and its maintenance. Please pray for wisdom and understanding, peace, humility and grace and love with all that needs to be done.\nThanking you.\nYours in Christ,\nWorker 4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the spiritual growth and revival of our church.\n2. Please pray that the rest of my family members will come to know Jesus Christ.\n3. Please pray for one of the members of our church. Her name is K., and her body is swollen.\n4. Please pray that God would give me wisdom to lead His Church and teach the Word in the right way.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Day by day it is becoming tough, and anti-Christian groups are growing more and more to stop the spread of the Gospel. A pastor was recently arrested here and many have been threatened not to preach the Gospel. Please pray about this.\n2. Please continue to pray for unity in our church and for us to make godly decisions. 3. I thank God for His protection and healing in our students. Be continually praying for our students.\n4. Pray for those who have newly given their lives to Christ.\n5. Please pray for God’s provision for our video shoot recording and editing of some biblically correct worship songs.\n6. Please pray for a new place for us to hold worship services. Where we are, the seats are all full and no more people would be able to fit.\n7. The work of the Holy Spirit is misinterpreted in many of the churches in our state. My team and I are praying about starting a 1-month school of worship, which we would hold during our semester break. We would train in basic music theory and biblical worship, introducing the worship leaders to Christian theology. Our vision is to bring man closer to God through the Word of God and to worship Him how He wants to be worshiped. We want to help believers learn the differences between acceptable and unacceptable worship, to worship God in spirit and in truth.\n8. Please pray for an outreach we are planning, for God’s leading and protection.\nThank you for praying.\nWith love in Christ,\nWorker and Mrs. 6\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the ministry in this lockdown, that God will open the doors for Gods words.\n2. Please pray for my children that they my grow in Lord’s Fear and knowledge.\n3. Pray for God’s wisdom and strength to take care of my children and learn His Word.\n4. Please pray that the lord would intervene for the problem the world is facing.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for brother M, having problems like fire in his body.\n2. Please pray for sister P, who is having some physical problems.\n3. Pray for my church’s growth and development. 4. Pray for brother Sh’s life to change. 5 Please pray that we will be able to build God’s house on the land.\nMay God bless you\nThank you,\nWorker 8 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that the Lord would help me to minister to the youth.\n2. Pray for God’s wisdom and direction in the ministry.\n3. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s grace and His protection.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 9\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my ministry in the mountain village.\n2. Pray for us here in the mountains, there are many Hindu festivals going on here lately. Please pray that God will open their eyes and know God’s truth.\n3. Please pray for 2 brothers who are new believers. Please pray that they will grow more with Jesus.\n4. Please pray that God will open more doors here for me to share His Word.\nMay God bless you,\nThank you for your prayers!\nWorker 13\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers.\n-Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us until now in this lockdown! God blessed me, and all in the house. We are growing in the Word of God. We are happy that the new boys are coming home to their villages. We are getting the opportunity to talk with them and teach them the Word.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n3. Pray for me, because I am making a church building. Pray that God will give me wisdom and understanding to do it correctly.\n4. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n5. Pray for me, that God will open new doors for me to share the Gospel.\n6. Pray for one brother who I have been sharing the Gospel to; pray that he will come to Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 10\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the people who don\u0026rsquo;t have jobs and are having difficulty financially. Also pray for those who have lost their friends and family members in this pandemic.\n2. Pray for our church people, for their faith. Pray that they will be good students of God\u0026rsquo;s Word, and pray for our online meetings, that we will be able to find more opportunities to share with new people.\n3. Pray for the villages, that people will be strong in their faith. Pray for food provision, because the villagers do not have good transportation during the pandemic, and their grocery market is so far from the village. It is very difficult to survive, especially during this pandemic.\n4. Pray for a piece of land for a church building, so that we can have fellowship without any objections and have our own church building.\n5. Pray for me, that I will lead our believers well, and pray for my health also.\n6. Pray for a computer to continue send my updates and use for our online fellowship. It is very difficult to write newsletters in my phone, so a computer would be very helpful for keeping in touch.\n7. Pray for the new people—those who have come to Christ recently; pray that they will grow with Lord and with His kindness.\nThank you for your kindness!!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 12\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are\nmistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping\n\u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-nov-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrenna Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Brenna-Photo-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise Report:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n-Praise God for his kindness and patient, continued pursuit of hearts!-Praise God for granting a new residence permit\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Prayer for our Lighthouse college outreach ministry, wisdom and vision in the planning of events, relationships to be built and the gospel to be shared, hearts to be drawn to Jesus!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. Pray for our new women\u0026rsquo;s discipleship groups starting up this month. Pray for these 40 women as we study the book of Ephesians together, pray that that those who already know Christ will grow secure in their identity in Him and pray that those who have yet to surrender their lives will do so and be transformed and as they encounter the word of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM NOV PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"I praise God for the amazing things He is doing in everyone\u0026rsquo;s life who comes to Him. God has been teaching me many things in my life personally about Himself, family, and ministry.\nThe situation in our state to preach the Gospel is not very good, because day by day it is becoming increasingly difficult. Anti-Christian groups are growing more and more to stop the Gospel from spreading. Recently, they arrested a pastor for sharing the Gospel. They thought if they arrest a pastor, others will get afraid and will stop preaching the Gospel. Anti-Christian groups also threatened many pastors and told them that they are not allowed to preach the Gospel. They say our country belongs only to Hindus and it is a Hindu country. So please pray about this. As we all know, the more they want to stop (the Gospel), the more it spreads. It is the power of truth (Jesus).\nIt’s amazing to see how God is raising up evangelists from our church. It is a great joy for me to see them stepping out to go preach the Gospel to the unreached people in our colony. As I always say, God has a great plan and a purpose for this place that He has sent me to minister in. New people are being added to the church fellowship. People are really encouraged by the Word of God and are taking steps to reach others. This month, 2 new families started coming. They shared about how blessed they are after coming to Calvary Chapel. They said that they have never heard these type of teachings. It really blessed my heart. The people in our church are growing in serving, encouraging and praying for each other. They are reaching out to the people who are lost. Continually pray for unity and for us to make godly decisions.\nBible College We started our 2nd semester in Bible College. Right now, we have 7 students. God is doing amazing things in the lives of the students. Two weeks ago, 5 of our students and a member of the staff got a viral infection and suffered a lot from the illness. We had to separate them from the others and sanitized the Bible College building. I was really worried and discouraged about it. I asked God to remove the sickness from them and shared the prayer request with everyone who prays for us. Our amazing God healed our brothers and now everyone is healthy and doing well. I really thank God for His protection and healing. We can see how Satan attacks the work of God. Please be continually praying for our students.\nBaptism I am really excited and happy to share that we had a baptism this week! The person who got baptized had been an unbeliever who has been coming to our church continually for a year. She got saved by knowing Christ, gave her life to Christ, and got baptized. More people are coming forward to give their life to Christ. Please be praying for them also.\nNew Project: Music Production God has put it in my heart to reach people through worship songs and music ministry. I have been writing songs for 7 years. I have never taken the initiative to record them, but this year I felt like God is leading me in this area: writing biblical songs that fit biblical doctrine, because many songs are really not biblical and do not support the Word of God.\nI want to reach people through Gospel music. So, I have already recorded two new songs and there are more to do. Please pray for the video recording that also needs done (for these 2 songs). I want to release them on YouTube and also on a few audio apps., so that they will be available to many. Please pray for God’s provision for the video shoot, recording and editing.\nGet BACK TO THE WORD Colossians 3:16 teaches us that we ought to allow the Word of Christ to dwell (which literally means to have a residence) richly in (within) us. Back in the churches of Colossi, there were false doctrines that taught that you needed to have special knowledge or revelation to obtain salvation.\nSongs are not merely words put in an order to satisfy us with emotions and feelings. Songs are powerful convictions that should be consistent with the Words of God; In order to edify and help transform us into the likeness and Holiness of Christ. This has been our burden- to take the church back to the eternal living Word; that regenerates our hearts and minds to the saving knowledge of Christ Jesus.\nGive Thanks Among the Gentiles In 2 Samuel 22:50, David vowed to God to praise Him because He delivered him from Saul who had sought after David’s life for many long years. \u0026ldquo;Giving thanks” literally means to “confess publicly” or “to give public acknowledgment”.\nIt has been our vision to give thanks or to publicly acknowledge our Savior to the gentiles since Jesus saved us from our wicked nature of sin which has been following us from the beginning. This serves the Great Commission to first GO and reach the gentiles and share with them about the saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ\nNew Church Building This is the time for us to move out. I was praying and I felt that God is speaking to me and saying that this Word ministry is without borders. I really felt joy in my heart about what God is going to do in the coming days. The seats are full in the church service we are having right now. We cannot fit more people. God is leading many people to our Calvary Chapel. We are praying for a new place, so please pray with us.\nA lot of healings are taking place in the believers\u0026rsquo; lives. Not only physical healings, but also healing of hearts. Right now, we are going through the book of Hebrews. God is strengthening everyone and building up the church for His work and also to stay strong in the path of life in Christ.\nNew Program:\nOur School of Worship (Seminary) Workshop\nJan 3rd-Feb 4th 2022\nThis is one more thing that I want you all to pray about. The work of the Holy Spirit is misinterpreted in many of the churches in our state. So, my teammates and I are praying about and planning to start a 1 month School of Worship during the semester break of our Bible College. We plan to train those who come in both basic music theory and biblical worship, and also introduce them to Christian theology. We have selected a few subjects to teach including Biblical Overview, The Attributes of God, The Works of the Holy Spirit, and The Names of God. Our vision is to bring them closer to God through the Word of God and to Worship God how He wants to be worshiped. This is really getting out of order in many churches, because of the lack of God\u0026rsquo;s Word and because people don’t receive the Word of God with understanding. Believers are very much attracted to tricks people play in the name of worship. I believe that God has started a new work here in Hyderabad to reach many.\nThe way becomes like the other ways when we cannot differentiate between acceptable and unacceptable worship.\nWhen Jesus was speaking to the Samaritan woman, He first pointed out that she was indeed a sinner and in need of a Savior. She misunderstood, thinking that Jesus was just a prophet as He exposed her darkened adulterous life and later shed light of the truth that He is the one who she was waiting for. Upon receiving the good news, she readily acknowledged Christ as her personal Savior. She then lived as a witness or living sacrifice for her dear Lord among her native Samaritans.\nChristian worship has become more feelings than acknowledging Christ.\nChristian worship has become more full of worldly musicians than of witnesses for Christ.\nThis worship workshop helps believers know what it is to worship God in spirit and truth; and the differences between acceptable and unacceptable worship. This workshop also helps believers to discern the dead orthodoxy which includes only truth, and zealous heterodoxy which only includes spirit. These teachings would help the believers to live a balanced life in spirit and truth to glorify God and walk according to His will. Please keep praying for the new things that God is doing here in our state.\nOutreach Program After finishing the semester, we are planning an outreach. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s leading and protection. Once again, thank you for your prayers and love.Thank you,Pastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/dwelling-in-gods-word/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI praise God for the amazing things He is doing in everyone\u0026rsquo;s life who comes to Him. God has been teaching me many things in my life personally about Himself, family, and ministry.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe situation in our state to preach the Gospel is not very good, because day by day it is becoming increasingly difficult. Anti-Christian groups are growing more and more to stop the Gospel from spreading. Recently, they arrested a pastor for sharing the Gospel. They thought if they arrest a pastor, others will get afraid and will stop preaching the Gospel. Anti-Christian groups also threatened many pastors and told them that they are not allowed to preach the Gospel. They say our country belongs only to Hindus and it is a Hindu country. So please pray about this. As we all know, the more they want to stop (the Gospel), the more it spreads. It is the power of truth (Jesus).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dwelling in God's Word"},{"content":" God has blessed our church so much! All of the members are safe. None of them have been affected by Covid. We have been continuing our worship service. Our online meetings are also going well.\nTrip to Visit Believers \u0026ldquo;Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.\u0026rdquo;\n(2 Corinthians 1:3-4 ). NKJV\nLast month, I visited another place with brother Laxman to see the believers there. I especially comforted one of the believer\u0026rsquo;s family that had recently lost their father/husband.\nBlessings!\nPrakash And Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/his-mercy-endures-forever/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/Prakash-Womens-Bible-Study-and-Prayer-Meeting.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGod has blessed our church so much! All of the members are safe. None of them have been affected by Covid. We have been continuing our worship service. Our online meetings are also going well.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"trip-to-visit-believers\"\u003eTrip to Visit Believers\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"His Mercy Endures Forever!"},{"content":" “ If it had not been the Lord who was on our side,” Let Israel now say—... ” Psalm 124:1\nThe Cambodian government seems to be on the trajectory of reopening the country. They have already begun to reduce some of the travel restrictions which have made it too difficult for us to leave the country since 2019. Lord willing, we really desire to visit the USA or Japan in the summer of 2022. Please pray that some more barriers will be removed to make that possible.\nBenjamin started in-person school this morning. He was online-only from March to August, 2020 and then had some more online-only times between then and when he went back to online-only in February of this year. Please pray for a smooth restart of in-person classes (despite many restrictions). Please pray for health, protection, and wisdom for the administrators, teachers, and students.\nThis month I was able to release a video entitled, “ The Bible and Ghosts” in the Cambodian language. Please pray for me to have the inspiration, wisdom, and creativity as I choose and research new topics for future videos. Here is an edited version of some encouragement that I received on my videos from a viewer:\n“Thanks for sharing these video clips for us… They are a great reliable source of information from the Bible. God bless you and your mission.”\nDuring Covid, Light Times magazine, the only Christian magazine in Cambodia, went into semi-hibernation, with online-only activities. Soksan and Linat, the founders desire to restart print-editions in early 2022. As always it will be a bilingual magazine. My volunteer status has been upgraded from assistant English editor to English editor because the former editor in Australia has retired. Please pray for Light Times to raise the funds and volunteers that they need to not only resume operations but also to thrive. This magazine ministers to families and others in ways that other Christian media cannot.\nPlease continue to pray for Kayo’s partnership with Precious Women Organization. Lida, the founder and her entire family are recovering from Covid. Please pray for a rapid recovery and that we will be able to partner with them in new ways as the Covid restrictions subside.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/reopening/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/10/IMG%5F1208.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“ \u003cem\u003eIf it had not been the Lord who was on our side,” Let Israel now say—..\u003c/em\u003e. ” Psalm 124:1\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Cambodian government seems to be on the trajectory of reopening the country. They have already begun to reduce some of the travel restrictions which have made it too difficult for us to leave the country since 2019. Lord willing, we really desire to visit the USA or Japan in the summer of 2022. Please pray that some more barriers will be removed to make that possible.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Reopening!?"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family,\nI hope you are all safe and that your family is protected by God from the epidemic. I thank the Lord that He has given me a helper like you. You who are with us in our every sorrow, support us in trouble and never let us lack anything.\nThank God for His faithfulness. During these last three or four months, I have had a lot of problems. We had to stop the church fellowships in two places; one of these was at Sister P*\u0026rsquo;s house, about who I told you in my previous newsletter. Her village neighbors gave her so much trouble because of her faith. They gave her the option: if she does not leave the Lord, she will have to leave the village. But she remained firm in the Lord and the policemen also helped her.\nAfter some time sister P* left the village. She had to leave because her husband was mentally ill and there were a lot of financial constraints to run the house. Because of this, she went to the big city to work to support her house. Thank the Lord, she continues to have a heart for the Lord and fears God.\nAt the same time, there used to also be a fellowship on Wednesdays in another place. In that village, some people who belong to a Hindu organization (who keeps troubling Muslims and Christians), provoked, intimidated and really upset the new believers. The new believers wondered why they were not welcome in a another village. However, thank God that two people from this village, who are established believers, are standing strong in the Lord.\nTwo More New Fellowships Started! Thank God! Two or three months ago the fellowships were stopped in two places. Because of this, we were free on Mondays and Wednesdays. Only then, God opened the doors in two more villages so that we could start church fellowships in them.\nI want to tell about one of these fellowships. A family opened their door so that we could have a fellowship in their house. People from all around the village come to their house to pray and to hear the Word of God. The Woman\u0026rsquo;s name is R*. She has 5 children: four girls (one is not in the photo) and one baby boy. R* and her older daughter have been baptized. They always listen to the taunts from people (against their faith), yet they do not back down from their faith in God. Her husband left to go to the big city to do work. Before she came to know the Lord, she was always sad. Her husband used to beat her a lot after drinking alcohol. She had 4 daughters, because of which her husband used to torture her a lot.\nIn our region, it is considered very important to have a son in every family so that their lineage can go on. There is a problem here. Illiteracy is very high in my area. So, the people consider the sons important, but the daughters are considered insignificant. People face a lot of problems when they have a daughter get married. If you want her to marry a boy with a government job, then she will have to give a dowry of about three million to five million. If the boy is a doctor or an engineer, then they get a dowry of five million to ten million. It is all fixed here. It is illegal, but the people here do not obey the law. If a girl wants to marry without a dowry, then the boy will be handicapped or will be unemployed and will not have a home to live in. That\u0026rsquo;s why the population of girls here is very high, and there are about 6 to 8 children in every family. If there are one or two or three boys in the family, then they stop having children. If they have girls first, then they give birth to 8 to 10 children while waiting to have a boy.\nDue to the high population of girls. People have girls who are minors marry, and have mismatched marriages. For example, if a 50 or 60 year old rich man marries a 16-17 year old girl, her family does not have to pay dowry. Families also sell their daughters, or outsiders come and steal them to do prostitution, sell their organs, etc.\nWhen R*\u0026rsquo;s family came to our church to pray for a son, we told them from the Word of God that men and women are equal in the eyes of God. We told them a lot from the Word of God. That God does not discriminate between boys and girls. We also told them the Gospel. They believed in God and started following God by getting baptized. When she was expecting her baby, she said, \u0026ldquo;Even if God gives us a girl, we will happily keep it.\u0026rdquo; But when a son was born, they were very happy. Her husband, who used to beat her a lot, used to say \u0026ldquo;If there is no boy, then I will marry again so that I can have a boy.\u0026rdquo; Now, slowly her husband has also started believing. They have opened their home to start a fellowship.\nBy the grace of God, one other new village has also opened for a church fellowship. I will share about it in my next newsletter. Now, I have 5 house churches going on.\nThe Future Is Getting Dark! Every year, millions of children die from cold in the winter, heatstroke, diarrhea, and dysentery in summer, and drowning in the rainy season. Here the government brings many plans for the future of the children, but that plan does not reach the children due to corruption. The government has opened a government school in every village here so that the poor children can study. However, the teachers do not teach the children properly. There are many teachers who do not know how to write their own names. They give bribes to get the job. When any officers come to check on them, they are also silenced through the bribe. Because of this, the future of these children is being ruined. I pray that God works here more and more, and for Christian NGOs that work faithfully.\nOne of these is a child, who works in a four wheeler repairing center, named Sh*. He is just 8 years old and has 6-7 siblings. His father lives far away in the big city to do physical work, and his mother stays at home. They keep themselves alive by eating the 5 kg ration that the government gives. The last time I saw him, he was telling me how his mother tried to kill him. So I asked why. He said that he had borrowed cooking gas. Because he did not pay the people in time for the cooking gas, they took their gas back. So, his mother could not cook. Wood could not be found due to the floods, so he could not even light a fire. When he went home, he asked for food from his mother, then his mother got angry and beat him a lot. Since then, he works in this workshop.\nI was very sad to hear this and I bought him some biscuits. I explained to this child that now he is the age to study. If he does not go to school now, then he will regret it for life. The government school gives them food and some money. Uniforms and books are all available for free. I also told the owner of the shop in which he works, that if I see them working again, I will complain to the police. Because, it is illegal to give a job to children below 14 years old.\nHe got a little angry, but later agreed. Now this boy goes to school and studies well. There are many such families whose children\u0026rsquo;s lives are being ruined. Children spend their time, catching fish with friends from the very beginning. Then they get in fights, drink alcohol, and learn to smoke cigarettes. Because of this, they grow up to commit murder, steal etc.\nI thank God for all of the people who have believed in the Lord at our church. I always encourage everyone to teach their children to go school so that their future can improve. The other believers also say that. I thank God that where the Word of God reaches, there the mind, soul and body of people-everything changes. Living, getting up, sitting, eating and drinking changes from the old life to a new life.\nGreat Awareness Program About Human Trafficking! As I have been telling you from the beginning, since the lock-down a lot of illegal work has started here. People kidnap girls to earn money and sell them for prostitution in big cities. They also kidnap small children and take out their eyes or cut off their hands and feet, then they force them to beg. They also take out their liver, kidneys etc. and sell them. Last month, 2 children were stolen from my village who could not be traced.\nI thank God. I have been praying for many years that God would send a non-profit organization here that will make people aware of these things.\nRecently, I found out about one such organization which goes from village to village to make people aware that they should not send their children to work somewhere, without testing for it\u0026rsquo;s validity. Many times, I have read in the newspaper about their work, and that with the help of the police, they rescued many children who were being sent to Nepal to do slave labor.\nAlso, through many videos, the organization explains to illiterate people that many people come and lure them with a lot of money. They are asked to work somewhere outside the village and are given some money in advance. Then they are taken somewhere and sold for slave labor. Either by taking out the eyes of the children or by cutting off their hands and feet (and forcing them to beg) in big cities. If it is a girl, then they sell her for prostitution. That\u0026rsquo;s why I also invited this non-profit organization to my church to make the people of my church aware. I thank God and that about 70 people participated in this together with their children and glorified God.\nPrayer Requests: Please continuously pray for my father. He fell and broke his hand. May God heal him as soon as possible and arrange for money for his treatment. He has been working for the Lord with me for eight or nine years now without any support. Pray that God will fulfill our every need. Since the lock-down, the price of almost everything has doubled. Especially the price of car fuel has become very expensive. About 30% of my monthly support is spent on fuel. God satisfies all of our needs. Please pray and pray for the family of my church to grow deeper in the Word of God and stand firm in the Lord in times of persecution. Pray for a pastor who is my friend. He was captured by 2 people and forcibly taken on a bike to a place alone. They beat him badly and threatened that if he continues to run his church, they will break into his house and kill the believers. Pray that God will give them protection. Pray for S* who is suffering from a very strange disease, may God heal him. Thanks for your help, support and partnership for the Gospel.\n\nGod bless you all!\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/lead-me-oh-lord/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Supporters and Church Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you are all safe and that your family is protected by God from the epidemic. I thank the Lord that He has given me a helper like you. You who are with us in our every sorrow, support us in trouble and never let us lack anything.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank God for His faithfulness. During these last three or four months, I have had a lot of problems. We had to stop the church fellowships in two places; one of these was at Sister P*\u0026rsquo;s house, about who I told you in my previous newsletter. Her village neighbors gave her so much trouble because of her faith. They gave her the option: if she does not leave the Lord, she will have to leave the village. But she remained firm in the Lord and the policemen also helped her.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Lead Me, Oh Lord"},{"content":"Hello Friends!\nOne of the amazing parts of my (Joel’s) ministry with SGWM is seeing missionaries sent out. We refer to them as the tip of the spear, and we and the local church are the shaft by which these amazing missionaries are thrust into the midst of the Unreached to bring the light of the Gospel to them. There is nothing in life more exciting than being a part of that process!\nIn that light, it is so exciting to see our first Calvary School of Missions graduate to be sent out finally start to get on the field! J.S. is going for 3 months to an undisclosed, sensitive country to be discipled by a missionary family there, before returning for a brief visit to the states and then on to the Middle East. He will be an integral part of a vision the Lord gave our church long ago to start a work in that area.\nI actually got to go with J.S. on his initial “vision tour” to see that country in person for the first time, a trip on which the Lord confirmed his calling to move there.\nI can’t wait to move from being someone who was a part of J.S.’s journey to being sent, to now being the person primarily in charge of making sure he’s well cared for on the field. This is the kind of thing I live for!\nPlease pray that the Lord would raise up a team to serve alongside J.S. in the Middle East. Right now, Bryan and Andrea, who were on that vision tour as well, are preparing for their upcoming marriage and then seeking the Lord’s timing on when He would have them move to the Middle East as a part of that team. The wheels are turning on this amazing new work from the Lord! Pray for Bryan and Andrea, that the Lord would lead them during this time of preparation.\nPlease continue to pray that the Lord would open up a traveling opportunity for Joel to minister to missionaries on the field. It seems that some doors keep closing for that. But, right now the plan is for Joel to be part of a rotation of pastors to spend time with J.S. in intervals over his first year in the Middle East since he has no other team on the ground. Pray that the Lord would provide great wisdom and guidance in that.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/send-them-out-garcia-family-update-october-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the amazing parts of my (Joel’s) ministry with SGWM is seeing missionaries sent out. We refer to them as the tip of the spear, and we and the local church are the shaft by which these amazing missionaries are thrust into the midst of the Unreached to bring the light of the Gospel to them. There is nothing in life more exciting than being a part of that process!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Send Them Out! – Garcia Family Update October 2021"},{"content":"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 Dear Friends and Family,\nThis past month has been reminiscent of last year when Uganda first went into lockdown because of Covid. It is crazy to think so much time has past and yet we are still battling the same thing. 6 weeks in lockdown seemed like a very long time but last year we actually were in lockdown for 4 months before we had the freedom we have now following an easing of this past lockdown. For the next 60 days we have what is called a partial lockdown. People can drive again but only 3 people per vehicle, which makes it hard for families to go anywhere together, businesses can work at 20% but still only essential markets are allowed open. Churches and any type of religious gathering are closed for these 60 more days. Schools are closed until the government can acquire the Pfizer vaccine and vaccinate the 12—18 year olds. Weddings and funerals can have 20 people present. The government put out strict steps to follow as they ease the lock down but the picture here is a picture taken the day after the president spoke. It was as if all of Kampala came out at once.\nAs a church we have been trying our best to minister to those who have been most affected by the lockdown and the inability to go to work. Our church has many people who live day to day. We have a few widows and very many children from the slums. This lockdown, while there were many police checks and soldiers around, was not as strict as the last when it came to getting help to the needy and the movement that was needed to do so. We are very thankful to have had support to help provide these less fortunate ones with the basic necessities. We were also blessed by our church members who were quick to help one another and to bring to our attention those who were the most in need. It shows much spiritual growth to see them focusing not only on their own needs but also the needs of others.\nArise Christian Fellowship helps quite a few church plants and outreaches around Uganda. We have a heart for God’s Word to go out to the whole of Uganda, Africa and the World. During the time of the corona virus and lock down we have tried to reach out to those closest to us since movement was limited. A lot of ministry has taken place over the phone or the internet. Churches may be closed but ministry continues and we believe the church is growing. For some of the pastors that Brian has discipled and the church is assisting, they took this time of lockdown to literally begin building their churches physically. We have a pastor in western Uganda that we were able to help with materials for him and some of the church members to begin making bricks and burning them. They have made great progress and we are hopeful that in the next 60 days of church closure they will have even began the building of the church.\nAnother event that people have made the most of during the lockdown is weddings. In Uganda weddings are normally very expensive, extravagant events. Couples often go into debt because their families and friends put so much pressure on them to have a huge gigantic wedding and reception. With the president mandating that weddings can only have 20 people many people have actually chosen to get married during this time since it makes getting married easier and less expensive. Arise Christian Fellowship has a missionary, Ivan, we sent to South Sudan a couple of years ago as a worship and youth leader. Earlier this year he got engaged and brought his fiancé, Maggie, to Kampala to introduce her to the church. They had planned to get married in June but then it was extended till lockdown was over. The first weekend of the partial lockdown they were able to get married. It was very interesting to be at a wedding in Uganda with such few people present. Only 2 members of our worship team came to provide the music. The couple only had a handful of family and friends each. Brian had the privilege of walking the Bride down the aisle and giving her hand to Ivan. Even with the reduced numbers and celebration time because of curfew being at 7pm the couple were very happy and smiley. We are so happy for them.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke , Laylee, and Liana Prayer Requests · Thank the Lord for the answered prayers and for those we know He will still answer. Help us to use our time wisely. · Pray for the Country of Uganda as they are suffering from a severe second wave of covid. · Pray for safety in Uganda as theft and criminal activity has increased since the lockdown. · Pray for the pastors and Christians who are trying to make the best use of this time to build their churches spiritually and physically. · Pray for Ivan and Maggie as they begin life and ministry together as a married couple. · Pray for Brian as he prepares video messages for the church. Pray for Brian and Arise Christian Fellowship as they also try to meet urgent physical needs of the community. · Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-9/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"and-we-know-that-all-things-work-together-for-good-to-those-who-love-god-to-thosewho-are-the-called-according-tohispurpose\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnd we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"romans-828\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eRomans 8:28\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month has been reminiscent of last year when Uganda first went into lockdown because of Covid.  It is crazy to think so much time has past and yet we are still battling the same thing.  6 weeks in lockdown seemed like a very long time but last year we actually were in lockdown for 4 months before we had the freedom we have now following an easing of this past lockdown.  For the next 60 days we have what is called a partial lockdown.  People can drive again but only 3 people per vehicle, which makes it hard for families to go anywhere together, businesses can work at 20% but still only essential markets are allowed open.  Churches and any type of religious gathering are closed for these 60 more days.  Schools are closed until the government can acquire the Pfizer vaccine and vaccinate the 12—18 year olds.   Weddings and funerals can have 20 people present.  The government put out strict steps to follow as they ease the lock down but the picture here is a picture taken the day after the president spoke.  It was as if all of Kampala came out at once.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":" “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”\nPsalm 46:10\nAs my wife and I were reading our devotions last month, we came across the encouraging verse written above and quickly had our family commit it to memory. Ministry can feel like an impossible task, endless drops in a vast ocean. As I look at the corrupting world around me I wonder if my life can really turn the tide within my sphere. Psalm 46:10 reminded us that it’s not our effort that will bring God His glory. God Himself is at work in the world. God will capture the heart of the nations and receive their praise. God will be exalted in in the world. As Paul explained to the Corinthians; one might plant and another might water, but it is God alone who brings the increase (1 Cor 3:6). When I remove the weight from my own shoulders and give it back to Whom it belongs, it is a joy to serve our Lord rather than an overwhelming job.\n“And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows – how, he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle because the harvest has come.”\nMark 4:26-29\nThis month we had the privilege of completing our current group of church leaders’ journey through the entire counsel of God! Wrapping up with the books of Daniel and Revelation. It is amazing to see the difference that three years of Bible training can make in a person’s life. Understanding how the entirety of Scripture works together removes so much confusion and gives so much peace. God’s wisdom has provided a firm foundation for these men to stand on as they reach their communities with the grace and truth of Jesus Christ. As we studied the end together we all gained eternal perspective. God will defeat sin and death. God will defeat Satan. And God will be with us!\n“The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will Reign forever and ever.”\nRevelation 11:15b\nPraise God with us that: The Ugandan president has reopened church gatherings of up to 200 people. God used our home church while large gatherings were closed. Noelle and I have enjoyed eight years of marriage. We finalized our family’s visas. God miraculously healed my friend’s sister, who had terminal bleeding in her brain from an accident. Please join us in prayer for: Churches to have vision and strength for their reopening’s. Us to have wisdom in continuing our ministry toward the people who were in our home church. Our ministry partners who are all traveling right now: Our director Kent Nolley and his family are in Furlough in the US. Our teammate Luke Buescher is in the US for his brother’s wedding. Our teammate Cassie is in South Africa taking a videography course. And our teammate Jon Coupal is in South Africa on a vision trip for a future church plant. In Christ, Matt, Noelle, Apio, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/september-2021-harris-family-update/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePsalm 46:10\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/10/20210914%5F073050.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs my wife and I were reading our devotions last month, we came across the encouraging verse written above and quickly had our family commit it to memory. Ministry can feel like an impossible task, endless drops in a vast ocean. As I look at the corrupting world around me I wonder if my life can really turn the tide within my sphere. Psalm 46:10 reminded us that it’s not our effort that will bring God His glory. God Himself is at work in the world. God will capture the heart of the nations and receive their praise. God will be exalted in in the world.  As Paul explained to the Corinthians; one might plant and another might water, but it is God alone who brings the increase (1 Cor 3:6). When I remove the weight from my own shoulders and give it back to Whom it belongs, it is a joy to serve our Lord rather than an overwhelming job.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"September 2021 – Harris Family Update"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThe work of a missionary is and always has been a team effort! God sent our family down to Mexico in 2002, and He called you, our precious ministry partners, to join us in this great work. But there is another key component of this work and it is our missions sending organization! In this update I wanted to tell you about the great work Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM) does (and has done for over 19 years) to keep us on the mission field.\nSaving Grace World Missions is the missions organization started by our sending church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, in the 1990’s! We were among the first missionaries sent out by this group that is designed to support and partner with international missionaries.\nSo what exactly is the main mission of SGWM? Saving Grace World Missions exists to reach people of every tribe, tongue, and nation with the Gospel. Specifically, their vision is to reach those who are “unreached,” and never heard the Gospel with the saving news of Jesus Christ. SGWM accomplishes this vision in three ways; #1- Through Missionary Care, #2- By Raising up Nationals, and #3- by Church planting!\nFor our family serving on the field, one of the main benefits of SGWM has been the administration work required to facilitate our family and ministry support. Their labors stateside, allows our financial partners like you to give to a US-based missions organization and receive your much-deserved tax deductions! SGWM then gets those finances to us to be used on the mission field!\nThe president of SGWM is my good friend and pastor, Trent Douglass! Trent was the pastor that ordained me, and sent our family here to church plant back in 2002. Trent has also been instrumental in our work here in Mexico, and the regular visits from him and his wife Debbie and their missions teams have been vital to our success! Trent is a regular guest speaker at our church, and also a faithful contributor to our yearly Church planting conference.\nI can always count on Trent and our sending church to partner financially in our church plants together as well! Our most recent church plant was to the large city of Hermosillo. Trent generously offered to match our church’s large gift to outfit their spacious new church facility with air conditioning. (A must in this desert city that averages 105 degrees in the summer)\nThree years ago, SGWM began a missions school that they have based right here in Rosarito. The staff and students have been a huge blessing to us, not only as they served in our church in Rosarito, but through their many outreaches to our local church plants every summer!\nSaving Grace World Missions have been a faithful mission’s partner with us from the very beginning and I trust they will continue with us many years into the future. In a changing world, they have been a faithful rock of stability that we have been able to count on and work with.\nWe are not only thankful for the partnership of SGWM, but also for you, our faithful partners! It’s through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God meets our physical needs. We love you and thank God for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless SGWM and the work they do worldwide through their missionaries.\n#2- That God would provide for the financial needs of our family, church, and church plants, and keep us safe in these dangerous times!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for our latest church plants in the desert city of Hermosillo!\n#2- Praise God for three fruitful missions trips to Morelia, Loreto, and Guatemala City!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-october-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe work of a missionary is and always has been a team effort! God sent our family down to Mexico in 2002, and He called you, our precious ministry partners, to join us in this great work. But there is another key component of this work and it is our missions sending organization! In this update I wanted to tell you about the great work Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM) does \u003cem\u003e(and has done for over 19 years)\u003c/em\u003e to keep us on the mission field.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family October 2021"},{"content":" SGWM OCT PRAYER UPDATE\nEUROPE\nBrenna Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for his kindness and patient, continued pursuit of hearts!-Praise God for granting a new residence permit\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Prayer for our Lighthouse college outreach ministry, wisdom and vision in the planning of events, relationships to be built and the gospel to be shared, hearts to be drawn to Jesus!\n2. Pray for our new women\u0026rsquo;s discipleship groups starting up this month. Pray for these 40 women as we study the book of Ephesians together, pray that that those who already know Christ will grow secure in their identity in Him and pray that those who have yet to surrender their lives will do so and be transformed and as they encounter the word of God.\n3. Continued prayer for health\n4. Pray for further understanding and comprehension of the Hungarian language, and pray that I would be more bold to speak.\nThank you for your prayers!\nLove in Christ,\nBrenna – Email Blog\nAFRICA\nVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\nPraise report!\n-This month we were able to get everyone that serves in our church a study Bible. We were also able to give all staff at the hospital, football/soccer players (both Christian and Muslim), over 150 members and others all Bible’s!!!!!\nPrayer Requests:\n1 Please pray for wisdom and God’s timing of reopening the churches in Uganda. We pray it is soon but also praise God for our viewing groups through YouTube.\n2. Pray for the rebel activity near us. So far 6 have been killed. We have some solders that are staying near by to help protect our area.\n3. Pray for the school and also for the hospital! Pray that the schools will open soon. We have so many young girls giving birth in our hospital. Unfortunately some families are not bringing them to the hospital in time and we have lost many. It’s heart breaking!\n4. Pray as we hope to purchase land for large scale farm and animal rearing to hopefully become more self sustaining.\n5. Pray for our soccer outreach. Our team will once again start traveling all over Uganda for the Big League. Pray they will continue to be a great testimony both on and off the field.\n6. Pray as we try to get dates to come to America for 1 month and go for the pastors conference.\nThank you for your prayers!!!!\nIn Him,\nAniku Family– Emai l Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Africa and Asia\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the campuses in S. Asia that are open and bible college classes are taking place. Pray for continued protection, health and for wisdom as the students and teachers grow in Gods Word.\n2. Pray for our travels to S. Asia, for Gods perfect timing and for an open door for our family to be an encouragement to pastors and leaders after a long season of pandemic lockdowns.\n3. Pray for the various opportunities we have to share this month on Oct. 17th for Missions Night and Oct. 23rd for a Missions Conference as well as online classes and meetings.\nThankful for your prayers,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course. The second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California\nPraise report:\n1 Praise God for sustaining us financially emotionally physically and most of all spiritually through the 2021 Calvary school of missions.\n2. Praise God that Jenn got to serve by my side the whole time this year\n3. Praise God for good friends and family who took care of our pets and property while we were in Mexico for six weeks\nPrayer Requests:\n1 Please pray that Jenn would be able to find a job now that we have returned from Mexico\n2. Please pray for my sister Maria. As many of you know she has turned her life over to the Lord, we are driving out to see her get baptized this weekend in Albuquerque New Mexico.\n3. Please pray for safe travels on our trip and that this would be a sweet time for Jenn and I to bond and draw nearer to each other and to the Lord.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn – Email Blog\nIsaac, Hope and Fletcher Douglass – California\nThank you for your continued prayers for us in the Lord. We need your prayers now more than ever!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our move to Truckee and for our transition to life and ministry there.\n2. Pray for our cars to withstand the hard winters and for God’s provision if that’s not the case.\n3. Pray for us and for our family and friends back home to find comfort in the Lord when we miss each other.\n4. Pray for guidance in ministry and that the ministry in Truckee would flourish as God moves in our midst.\n5. Pray that God would create a missions minded church culture in CC Truckee.\n6. Pray for my WiFi to be strong so that I can do everything I need to do for SGWM.\nThank you again! God comforts and sustains us through your effectual prayers.\nBlessings,\nIsaac, Hope and Fletcher – Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nThank you all for praying for our family, it means the world to us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray that the Lord would open up doors and give direction on where He would like me to travel next. I take traveling seriously, as it costs money and precious time from my family, so I want to make sure that when I do travel, it is exactly where the Lord would have me to go to minister to missionaries. So far, I have not sensed open doors from Him to any specific area.\n2. Please also pray for our new batch of interns, that the Lord would direct their paths and help us leaders at SGWM to disciple them well.\n3. Please pray for Amy as she navigates homeschooling 4 young kids at very different developmental stages.\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara – Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Reports!\n- Praise God for a wonderful church planting conference, with many getting encouraged!\n2- Praise God for our new church planting evening course, that has 21 first-time students attending! (Along with 30 in our afternoon course)\nPrayer Requests:\n1- That God would bless the church planting schools of our new partners, in Wildomar (Ca), and in Peru!\n2- That God would provide for the financial needs of our family, church, and church plants, and keep us safe in these dangerous times!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests: 1.\nPlease pray for our family’s health. My oldest daughter hurt her ankle running down a hill; please pray for complete and rapid recovery.\n2. Please pray for our family situation. Pray that God will deliver us from all evil.\n3. Please pray for my dad’s health and complete healing.\n4. Praise the Lord that He has blessed us with four little girls! Please pray that they will grow in knowledge of and love for Jesus and trust in Him completely.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord, He has opened up nursing home ministry for us again! Please pray that many lives will be touched and many will be saved.\nPrayer Request:\n1.Please pray for our family’s health, especially that they will be able to accurately diagnose and treat my dad, and pray for complete healing.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nThank you all for standing in the gap in intercessory prayer!\n1. Pray for Daisy and I as we have taking care of my parents for the last 30 days as my dad broke his hip, then my mother hurt her back and has two compression fractures! We are trying to honor our parents and help them become independent once again!\n2. Pray for our SOM interns as they are putting into practice what they are learning!\n3. Pray for our support as we just lost a major supporting church!\n4. Pray for our son Ryan who moved to New Mexico and has a new job!\n5. Pray for our health, and the health of our church during these pandemic times!\n6. Praise the Lord for restoring the relationship between my brother and I.\nThank you from our hearts, Daisy and Craig - Email Blog\n1040/WINDOW\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 5 – 10/40 Window\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the work the Lord has set before us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that God will protect us from the present situation.\n3. Pray for our neighbors, that they will come to know the Lord.\n4. Pray for my daughter who is studying nursing.\nThank you so much for the encouragement and partnership!\nIn Christ,\nWorker 5\nWorker 7 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that I will reach many more people with God’s Word and that I will be a good steward for our Lord.\n2. Through our YouTube channel, I am able to reach a couple hundred people, so I would like to begin to teach live on facebook and YouTube in the upcoming days. Please pray about that.\n3. Please also pray about the students who received their diplomas and those who are about to finish this coming semester.\nThank you,\nWorker 7\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nBy God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers. For this month I would like to share some of the prayer concerns.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please for the salvation of Mr. S.K. (40-years-old Roman Catholic).\n2. Please pray for our nation, India that God may saved this country. Also these days new believers are been persecuted in different parts of India, pray that God may strengthen them in their faith.\n3. Kindly pray for R my wife as she is working in school. May Lord use her for the expansion of His kingdom. Please pray for me and my family so that we may grow more in the word of God.\n4. Do continue to pray for the growth and need of our local Church.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nP and R\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the ministry in our area, that people will be saved.\n2. Please pray for the believers in our church, that they would continue to grow in the knowledge of the Lord.\n3. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s grace and wisdom to do the work of the Lord.\n4. Please pray for our health. Vinita and I are not doing well.\n5. Pray for our daughter\u0026rsquo;s safety as she has been working as a nurse.\n6. Please pray for a couple we witnessed to, that God would bless them with a child and that the family would know that Jesus is the true God.\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nThank you all you prayer warrior for your prayer…\nPraise Report:\n-It is a great blessing as we had started Bible college and God had brought new students in this semester also.\n-God had been adding His people in the Church and Radio ministry had been started.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray that we may run Bible College smoothly in this semester also.\n3. Please pray for Bible college students for good health.\n4. Please pray for the Radio ministry that people may Listen to the Gospel and respond it.\n5. Please pray for graduating students that they may start Bible study or Church in their community.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for good health of all our Church members and CCBC family so far.\nPrayer Report:\n1. Please continually pray for our CCBC students and staffs for the good health and wisdom so that we can learn from the word of God together.\n2. Please pray for CC Nepal to grow mature spiritually and practically in the Lord.\n3. Please pray for the growth of Charis spiritually, physically and of course numerically.\n4. Please pray for Church Property for Charis Bible Church Kathmandu Nepal (CBCKN) so that we won\u0026rsquo;t have to move our Church location again and again.\n5. Please pray for our new fellowship at Hetauda.\n6. Please pray for tow more new locations that we have been praying about planting new Churches in near future. One in Chapagaun Lalitpur and other one in the East Nepal.\nThank you for your concern and prayers, I appreciate it.\nBlessings! Prakash and Muna - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Pray for our family, our church believers, that their health will be physically fit and not contaminated from Covid.\n2. Pray my wife\u0026rsquo;s young brother He was suffering from Typhoid and the infection seen in his intestines.\n3. Pray my wife\u0026rsquo;s Father; he became ill which seems to the doctor to be pneumonia.\n4. Pray my wife\u0026rsquo;s Homeplace; all the people they have been suffering from viral and Covid.\n5. Pray for our health, I may also suffer time to time from tonsil infections. If God wish he will remove tonsils from my body forever.\n6. Please pray for our Bible School Students and all the staff for their health and that their mission will be successful where they are doing ministry.\n7. Please pray for our students. Some of them are coming in upcoming days. God may provide them safety.\n8. Please pray i can teach and train our students nicely and effectively this semester. I am going to teach from the Book of Mark through Zoom.\n9. Please pray; we want children and that God may allow us to have children soon in God\u0026rsquo;s time.\nThank you for your prayers for us!\nIn Him,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Thank you lord for solving all this problem of ETANI.\n-Thank you Lord for keeping us safe from all kinds of diseases and for saving us from road accidents. -Thank God for fulfilling all our needs, why after the lockdown, the price of everything has doubled, yet God is fulfilling our needs\nPrayer Requests\n1. Please pray for the believers of our church to understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word more deeply and to persevere in persecution.\n2. Pray Lord save my state. After the lock down, many people have become unemployed, due to which a lot of illegal work is being done every day, seven eight-year-old children are working, rape is happening, prostitution is happening, suicide is happening. Now the word of God is the last hope for my state.\n3. Pray that lord send the NGO here which can do social service. As in the region of North and South.\n4. Pray that the Lord will remedy a small piece of land so that we can build a Christian graveyard in it.\n5. Pray that where the local election is going to be held, may God keep a good person here who can take care of the poor, the last time the leader who was the leader had murdered someone, he is still in jail, so pray anyone can be a good leader Give and do not obstruct the work of God.\nThanks for your prayers and support for the Gospel.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 11\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the work the Lord has set before us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for our country as we are suffering from severe new strains of Covid.\n2. Pray for our family to stay healthy.\n3. Pray for our students and staff as they are also waiting for school to reopen.\nThank you for your prayers for us.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us.\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village\n3. Please pray for my health and safety\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nWorker 2\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for one man who said he used to attend church when he was a child and left church when he got older. When he re-listened to the Gospel at our medical outreach, he decided to come to church the following week with us! Please pray for him and for his salvation.\n2. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health. 3. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n4. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n5. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my past experiences.\nThanking you.\nYours in Christ,\nWorker 4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God that even in such a pandemic situation, our church was able to provide some medical things to our community.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for all of our church believers, that they will grow spiritually in God.\n2. Many people in the village where our church is located have heard the Gospel; pray that they will turn to Christ.\n3. Please pray that God will grant me wisdom as I labour in Bible study.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please be praying for the work that’s happening here in our city.\n2. Pray for our new church plant to keep growing.\n3. Pray for the new place that we want to start a Bible study.\n4. Pray for our slum ministry.\n5. Pray for our youth ministry.\n6. Pray for our worship leading ministry and park ministry.\n7. Pray for another new church plant we are doing (It began 3 months ago.\n8. There are more places that we need to reach; please be praying for God’s timing and resources.\n9. We are praying for food distribution in the areas where people are suffering and needy and hungry. Many of the daily wages workers don\u0026rsquo;t get to eat properly even when things are normal, but now everything is shut down and they have no chance to go out to find work. Now people are not only dying from corona, they are also dying of starvation.\n10. Please be praying for our Bible college.\n11. Please be praying for our financial needs for Bible and food distribution\nThank you for praying.\nWith love in Christ,\nWorker and Mrs. 6\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\n**\nPrayer Requests:**\n1. Please pray for the ministry in this lockdown, that God will open the doors for Gods words.\n2. Please pray for my children that they my grow in Lord’s Fear and knowledge.\n3. Pray for God’s wisdom and strength to take care of my children and learn His Word.\n4. Please pray that the lord would intervene for the problem the world is facing.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nMay God bless you\nThank you,\nWorker 8 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my ministry in the mountain village.\n2. Pray for us here in the mountains, there are many Hindu festivals going on here lately. Please pray that God will open their eyes and know God’s truth.\n3. Please pray for 2 brothers who are new believers. Please pray that they will grow more with Jesus.\n4. Please pray that God will open more doors here for me to share His Word.\nMay God bless you, Thank you for your prayers!\nWorker 13\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers.\n-Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us until now in this lockdown! God blessed me, and all in the house. We are growing in the Word of God. We are happy that the new boys are coming home to their villages. We are getting the opportunity to talk with them and teach them the Word.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n3. Pray for me, because I am making a church building. Pray that God will give me wisdom and understanding to do it correctly.\n4. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n5. Pray for me, that God will open new doors for me to share the Gospel.\n6. Pray for one brother who I have been sharing the Gospel to; pray that he will come to Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 10\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the people who don\u0026rsquo;t have jobs and are having difficulty financially. Also pray for those who have lost their friends and family members in this pandemic.\n2. Pray for our church people, for their faith. Pray that they will be good students of God\u0026rsquo;s Word, and pray for our online meetings, that we will be able to find more opportunities to share with new people.\n3. Pray for the villages, that people will be strong in their faith. Pray for food provision, because the villagers do not have good transportation during the pandemic, and their grocery market is so far from the village. It is very difficult to survive, especially during this pandemic.\n4. Pray for a piece of land for a church building, so that we can have fellowship without any objections and have our own church building.\n5. Pray for me, that I will lead our believers well, and pray for my health also.\n6. Pray for a computer to continue send my updates and use for our online fellowship. It is very difficult to write newsletters in my phone, so a computer would be very helpful for keeping in touch.\n7. Pray for the new people—those who have come to Christ recently; pray that they will grow with Lord and with His kindness.\nThank you for your kindness!!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 12\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are\nmistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping,\n\u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-oct-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSGWM OCT PRAYER UPDATE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrenna Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Brenna-Photo-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise Report:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n-Praise God for his kindness and patient, continued pursuit of hearts!-Praise God for granting a new residence permit\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Prayer for our Lighthouse college outreach ministry, wisdom and vision in the planning of events, relationships to be built and the gospel to be shared, hearts to be drawn to Jesus!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. Pray for our new women\u0026rsquo;s discipleship groups starting up this month. Pray for these 40 women as we study the book of Ephesians together, pray that that those who already know Christ will grow secure in their identity in Him and pray that those who have yet to surrender their lives will do so and be transformed and as they encounter the word of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM OCT PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" We hope all is well with you and your family. If you haven’t heard by now we wanted to let you know that we are transitioning from being missionaries at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Mexico and moving back to the U.S. Our time here in Mexico has been most rewarding, fruitful, encouraging, hard, and fulfilling. We are blessed that God gave us the opportunity to serve Him here. We are even more blessed because He gave us a group of friends and family who have supported and prayed for us while we have been here. Thank you so much it has meant the world to us.\nWe really weren’t looking to move – at least not so soon. Pilar and I started talking about possibly retiring in a few years as I am now sixty-seven years old. The day to day pressures and physical work at the Bible College as the Director of Operations has been getting a little more challenging as time goes by. But I have loved almost every minute of it and it has brought me a lot of joy and satisfaction. Not so much for what I’ve been doing, but seeing God at work in so many miraculous ways. His guidance, His provision, His working in our hearts and the hearts of the staff and students, and so much more has been incredible. I have also enjoyed teaching the students while here. As we were just talking about retirement, it’s as if God started preparing us for a new season.\nIt’s been thirteen years since we moved to Ensenada. It is a long way from our family and friends, and though we have many friends here now, we have missed those we left behind. Recently while on vacation we visited friends we haven’t seen in over ten years. We had dinner and talked and laughed and got caught up with each other. We have also experienced a growth in our family and have gotten a taste of how much grandkids can grow on you. Four were born while we were here. We haven’t been able to spend much time with them and are really looking forward to that. We got to spend time with three of the four while on vacation. What a treat that was playing with little Leo, his new sister Olive, and their cousin Rex.\nWe recently bought a house in Seminary Mississippi (close to Hattiesburg) and are planning to move in October. Funny thing, we moved here in October thirteen years ago. Our house in Ensenada is still for sale. We know it’s in God’s hands and look forward to when it sells. Our Mission agency has encouraged us to ask you to continue to support us during this transition. They are willing to keep us as staff for the next six months and up to a year if we need it. We hope it won’t take that long for the transition but ask you to pray about continuing to support us as we move and get settled into this new season. We are really excited to see what God has for us.\nThough it is exciting to move and we look forward to the new, it is also hard to leave behind the ministry and people here that we have come to love. Please pray for us – for God’s guidance and provision, for safety as we move, and for wisdom and opportunities to serve Him in our new community.\nGod Bless You,\nThe Gray’s\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/october-news-the-grays/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gray/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2021/09/landp.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e     We hope all is well with you and your family. If you haven’t heard by now we wanted to let you know that we are transitioning from being missionaries at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Mexico and moving back to the U.S. Our time here in Mexico has been most rewarding, fruitful, encouraging, hard, and fulfilling. We are blessed that God gave us the opportunity to serve Him here. We are even more blessed because He gave us a group of friends and family who have supported and prayed for us while we have been here. Thank you so much it has meant the world to us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"October News - The Grays"},{"content":"And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Galatians 6:9\nGiving God the glory for 100,000+ views on www.youtube.com/evidencecambodia.\nI would like to thank God, my Cambodian ministry partners, senders, and viewers for helping my YouTube channel reach 100,000+ views! This channel only has Apologetics/Evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language. Based on the mostly positive comments I have received, it has reached Christians and non-Christians. One person told me recently that she sends my videos to equip her Cambodian parents, who are new believers. These videos are also used as teaching aides in evangelism classes at a Bible school in Cambodia. In addition to YouTube, I also share my videos on www.internationalfishers.com/khmer and in several pages and groups on Facebook. I do not know how many views these videos have received, but most of my videos are more popular on Facebook than on YouTube. Since my last update, I was able to make one more video in the Cambodian language entitled, “ Is God Imaginary?”\nFrom September 6-17 I taught an intensive Apologetics class primarily on Zoom. I had never led a Zoom meeting before so Benjamin and Kayo had to teach me what to do. The class went well in terms of teaching and the students were actively engaged despite some technical issues with the computer and internet. The students asked a lot of questions such as, “Why did God create humans knowing that we would sin?” and “What happens to those people who never hear the Gospel?” etc. For their assessment the students wrote scripts and made videos answering questions about the truth of Christianity.\nDuring my two-week intensive class, Kayo was busy taking care of the family and supervising Benjamin’s online schooling. She is also busy with the worship team at the church and helps local Cambodian organizations. Benjamin continues to do well in online school. The government is beginning to allow some schools to open but their requirements are so strict that Benjamin’s school has not yet been able to open yet. Please pray for Benjamin’s school to reopen.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/youtube-milestone-and-apologetics-class-on-zoom/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnd let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.\u003c/em\u003e Galatians 6:9\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/09/Screen-Shot-2021-09-17-at-9.17.40-AM.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGiving God the glory for 100,000+ views on \u003ca href=\"http://www.youtube.com/evidencecambodia\"\u003ewww.youtube.com/evidencecambodia\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI would like to thank God, my Cambodian ministry partners, senders, and viewers for helping my YouTube channel reach 100,000+ views! This channel only has Apologetics/Evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language. Based on the mostly positive comments I have received, it has reached Christians and non-Christians. One person told me recently that she sends my videos to equip her Cambodian parents, who are new believers. These videos are also used as teaching aides in evangelism classes at a Bible school in Cambodia. In addition to YouTube, I also share my videos on \u003ca href=\"http://www.internationalfishers.com/khmer\"\u003ewww.internationalfishers.com/khmer\u003c/a\u003e and in several pages and groups on Facebook. I do not know how many views these videos have received, but most of my videos are more popular on Facebook than on YouTube. Since my last update, I was able to make one more video in the Cambodian language entitled, “ \u003cem\u003eIs God Imaginary?”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"YouTube Milestone and Apologetics Class on Zoom"},{"content":"Hebrews 12:1-2 reads:\n\u0026ldquo;Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.\u0026rdquo; (NKJV).\nThough the government of our country has not been allowing church gatherings yet because of Covid, we have been worshiping the Lord together. We have been continuing our worship services and other online meetings (our daily women\u0026rsquo;s fellowship and weekly young adult meeting, prayer and Bible study, and children\u0026rsquo;s fellowship). We hope that we will all be able to gather together at the church building for services soon.\nBlessings!\nPrakash And Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/in-thy-paths/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHebrews 12:1-2 reads:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.\u0026rdquo; (NKJV).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/image.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThough the government of our country has not been allowing church gatherings yet because of Covid, we have been worshiping the Lord together. We have been continuing our worship services and other online meetings (our daily women\u0026rsquo;s fellowship and weekly young adult meeting, prayer and Bible study, and children\u0026rsquo;s fellowship). We hope that we will all be able to gather together at the church building for services soon.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"In Thy Paths"},{"content":"National Missionaries The year 2020 is a year that will go down in history as one of the most challenging years for those who lived through it. Covid-19 and the response of various governments seemed to almost thwart the work of the gospel going forth. We at SGWM have been absolutely blown away at how our God, the God of the impossible, has used this very tragedy to bring the gospel to many in need of truth and hope. Stateside we have been blessed to see the culture returning, for the most part, back to normal. But in many places around the world, the pandemic is on the rise. We have had the great honor of coming alongside many nationals to provide much needed relief and spiritual support during these dark and trying days. One pastor in South Asia has been extremely active during this time and we at SGWM have by your support and prayers, been able to send relief to these areas through this pastor and his church. As Covid cases rise, so do opportunities to share Christ through relief efforts. *Pastor E was able to gather his church together and fill dozens of bags with for for those who were suffering. Here’s a portion of his last update.\n“God opened up an opportunity to visit and share the Gospel with people who are suffering and broken. Almost everyone in the families we visited got tears in their eyes, and asked us to please pray for them. It is really sad to see them suffering during this time of COVID. We prayed and distributed food among them. We also visited each family and shared the Gospel and prayed over them.We were so blessed that one family believed on Jesus. Most of them are unbelievers. On the day we did food distribution, they really felt loved and cared for. So please continually pray for these families. They need Jesus. Every Sunday we are going to meet with them and share the Gospel. We are planning to start a Bible study and then start having Sunday worship. This will be another new church plant. So please continuously pray.” - Pastor E\nMissionary Equipping Calvary School of Missions\nThe Calvary School of Missions has been a huge part of SGWM and raising up the next generation of world-changers. It’s exciting to see the program grow and evolve. More and more people are catching on to the beauty of what God is accomplishing through CSOM and because of that we have seen an influx of amazing people get added to our team. Each year the Lord has provided a strong and steady team to help lead the summer program, and this year is no exception. Pastor Trent and his wife Debbie will once again be able to join for most of the summer, coming back on weekends to lead church services at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda. Pastor Tim Pappas, who oversees the school and all our current interns, and his wife Jenn, will be on the ground full time providing leadership and spiritual direction.\nWe are also blessed to have SGWM missionaries and great friends of ours Pastor Aaron Garcia and his wife Jena and baby Lily. Aaron has recently taken the role of Missions Pastor at Calvary Chapel West Grove but will continue to partner with SGWM to see churches planted all over the 10/40 window. One of our own interns, Nancy will also be with us for the entire duration of the program as Tim’s assistant and the girls dorm leader. She will also be our main translator as she is completely bi-lingual. Elaine Sedillos is joining us again for the first few weeks helping with student oversight and weekly outreach which is always a great blessing. This amazing team has been hand- picked by God and we look forward to all that He has in store for this year’s students. Please pray for each team member, that God would protect them from sickness, discouragement, and opposition. Also, pray for them to wage a good warfare, to walk in the power of the Spirit, and to love each student with the heart of the Father.\nMissionary Care It’s easy to forget that many, if not most, missionaries do not have access to the kind of fellowship and community that believers who live in their native home and culture have. The body of Christ is a gift to each and every believer for our encouragement and our sanctification. This is a gift that many missionaries, in making the sacrifice to preach Christ in another cultural context, do not get to take advantage of regularly.\nConsider one SGWM missionary family who serves in a “closed” country: Living in a Muslim culture, the R family have little to no access to the benefits of a community of strong believers to hold them accountable and build them up. This month, as they have been home on furlough, SGWM staff and CCSG church members have had the incredible privilege of coming alongside this beautiful family while they are home to offer the love, encouragement and rest that is much needed. Every year they come home to us on furlough, SGWM’s hub church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, seeks to lay out a sort of “red carpet” for them while they are here. Through their care team and CCSG, we try to provide them with a vehicle, a phone, and a place to share their story. We invite them to share from the pulpit, come to Life Groups to share and be prayed for, give them a Missionary Update Night where they can share and have opportunity to raise support, as well as just have them in our homes. Missionary care is an essential part of what SGWM does and we are always honored to be a part of sending these world changers to those who have never heard.\nIn Christ, SGWM Staff ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/summer-2021-sgwm-newsletter/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"national-missionaries\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNational Missionaries\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe year 2020 is a year that will go down in history as one of the most challenging years for those who lived through it. Covid-19 and the response of various governments seemed to almost thwart the work of the gospel going forth. We at SGWM have been absolutely blown away at how our God, the God of the impossible, has used this very tragedy to bring the gospel to many in need of truth and hope. Stateside we have been blessed to see the culture returning, for the most part, back to normal. But in many places around the world, the pandemic is on the rise. We have had the great honor of coming alongside many nationals to provide much needed relief and spiritual support during these dark and trying days. One pastor in South Asia has been extremely active during this time and we at SGWM have by your support and prayers, been able to send relief to these areas through this pastor and his church. As Covid cases rise, so do opportunities to share Christ through relief efforts. *Pastor E was able to gather his church together and fill dozens of bags with for for those who were suffering. Here’s a portion of his last update.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Summer 2021 SGWM Newsletter"},{"content":"Greetings!\n\nI would like to thank God for His protection in my life and also thank you for your prayers!\nWe are still not gathering in person for Sunday services, but we have online meetings together. Some anti-Christian, Hindu organizations who are against us are trying to stop us from having church. Therefore I have been meeting believers individually at their houses and teaching them from the Word of God.\nI met a family at my grandmother\u0026rsquo;s house. The family was very upset because of many difficulties and illnesses. They were also idol worshipers. They told me, \u0026ldquo;My health remains very bad. We are getting very upset with our idols and are even taking a lot of medicine, but nothing is happening. We are tired. We offered goats to the gods, but the situation is still the same.\u0026rdquo;\nThey requested that I pray for them. Before I prayed, I asked them to accept Jesus who is our Creator and to ask for mercy for salvation from all the bad spirits. I told them that God would relieve their family. This is a common problem in our country. Each one in the family still holds the darkness as their king. I hope one day God will protect them from him.\nPlease Pray: Pray that God will help me face the Hindu leaders who oppose Christianity. There is a protest against us in our area. Pray that it will be okay and we can run the church again. Pray that everyone will be blessed at our online church. Pray for that family I shared about- that they would surrender their lives completely (to Jesus) and would be blessed. The leader of the family has a problem with his ears. Because of it, he cannot hear and cannot do his work properly. Pray that God would make an arrangement for him. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 10* and Family\n\\* Names and Faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/unto-thee-will-i-pray-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI would like to thank God for His protection in my life and also thank you for your prayers!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG-20210826-WA0013-300x188.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are still not gathering in person for Sunday services, but we have online meetings together. Some anti-Christian, Hindu organizations who are against us are trying to stop us from having church. Therefore I have been meeting believers individually at their houses and teaching them from the Word of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Unto Thee Will I Pray"},{"content":"Hello Family and Friends!\nWe pray that you are all doing well. I’d love for you to take a few minutes to watch our latest video update on our family and ministry!\nhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/1oYFXZ9LM9g\nPlease continue to pray that the Lord would open up doors and give direction on where He would like me to travel next. I take traveling seriously, as it costs money and precious time from my family, so I want to make sure that when I do travel, it is exactly where the Lord would have me to go to minister to missionaries. So far, I have not sensed open doors from Him to any specific area.\nPlease also pray for our new batch of interns, that the Lord would direct their paths and help us leaders at SGWM to disciple them well.\nI love you all and thank you for your support and prayers!\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nYou can also become a one-time or ongoing financial partner with us by clicking the button below, or by mailing a check made out to SGWM with “Joel Garcia” in the memo line to 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA, 92886.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/full-schedules-and-full-hearts-garcia-family-update-september-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Family and Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe pray that you are all doing well. I’d love for you to take a few minutes to watch our latest video update on our family and ministry!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/1oYFXZ9LM9g\"\u003ehttps://www.youtube.com/embed/1oYFXZ9LM9g\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease continue to pray that the Lord would open up doors and give direction on where He would like me to travel next. I take traveling seriously, as it costs money and precious time from my family, so I want to make sure that when I do travel, it is exactly where the Lord would have me to go to minister to missionaries. So far, I have not sensed open doors from Him to any specific area.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Full Schedules and Full Hearts – Garcia Family Update September 2021"},{"content":"The Situation We have never experienced an earthquake like this one before in our life and we\u0026rsquo;re from California!!! Thank God nobody in our family, church or community was hurt. Unfortunately, one life was taken. We aren’t sure about the details but our prayers go out for the family.\nEven though this was a tragedy, I am blessed to say that the church responded quickly. The very next morning we received phone calls and messages asking how they can help. At that moment in time we still hadn\u0026rsquo;t evaluated the ramifications and couldn\u0026rsquo;t say where the immidiate need was. Today we have a better grasp on the situation.\nThe Need Some families from our church cannot go back into their homes because the structures have been condemned by city officials. Their apartments will be torn down due to the danger they will cause. These families literally lost their home. One of those families is our assistant pastor Jose and his wife Keyla.\nStacy and I took in another family that is currently in the same situation. Others are still waiting on the officials to review the damage and give the approval or not. Unfortunately, the Mexican government will not help.\nThe Plan We will be setting up a fund to help these families find a place for the time being. Rent can vary from place to place but the average rent is between $6,000 and $7,500 mxn pesos per month. Converted to dollars it is $300-$375 U.S.\nWe know this isn\u0026rsquo;t cheap but if we can at least help them find something with a 3-5 month lease that would be huge.\nOur immediate need would be for the family that is living with us right now. Rossy is a widow who cares for her mom and son. This week we will be looking at apartments. For the time being they can stay with us as long as needed. We don\u0026rsquo;t want to rush anything rather wait on the Lord. Any support would lighten the burden.\nPastor Jose is able to afford his own rent but could use a little help with moving costs and replacing some household items. They will be staying with another family from our fellowship.\nHospitals\nBridges\nAn Apartment Building\nFissures in the roads\nAlex sleeping on the street with his neighbors\nThank you for all your prayers!! We are so thankful for God’s protection. If you want to send money click on the link below and please specify in the comment “Earthquake help” God bless you all!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-7-0-earthquake-hits-acapulco/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"the-situation\"\u003eThe Situation\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have never experienced an earthquake like this one before in our life and we\u0026rsquo;re from California!!! Thank God nobody in our family, church or community was hurt. Unfortunately, one life was taken. We aren’t sure about the details but our prayers go out for the family.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven though this was a tragedy, I am blessed to say that the church responded quickly. The very next morning we received phone calls and messages asking how they can help. At that moment in time we still hadn\u0026rsquo;t evaluated the ramifications and couldn\u0026rsquo;t say where the immidiate need was. Today we have a better grasp on the situation.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A 7.0 Earthquake Hits Acapulco"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\n\nMatthew 6:33 says:\n“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”\nGod is fulfilling this verse in our lives. Therefore, we are pleased to convey our heartfelt thanks to the almighty God for His protection and provisions in our lives. Also, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. Your partnership in the ministry is greatly appreciated. As a family, we have been remembering you in our daily thoughts and prayers. May God keep you safe and bless you in your job and business.\nRecently, I was able to talk with Mr. S.K. (40-year-old Roman Catholic). He is very much concerned about his job. I got an opportunity to share about the importance of salvation by quoting Acts 4:12:\n“ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”\nHe was very happy to listen to such teaching and he said “we are unaware of many biblical truths because our priests never teach them.” Overall, it was a good conversation.\nIn our family devotions we are studying from the book of Revelation. Apart from my personal Bible study, I have been reading a book called “How to be a Christian in an Unchristian World” by Fritz Ridenour. My wife is studying from the book of Isaiah and my daughter is memorizing Bible verses and has become part of the church worship team.\nI preach in our local church and also visit local families to share the Gospel with them and pray for them.\nPrayer Requests: Please for the salvation of Mr. S.K. (He is a 40-year-old Roman Catholic). Please pray for our nation- that God may save this country. Lately, new believers are being persecuted in different parts of the country. Pray that God may strengthen them in their faith. Kindly pray for my wife. She is working in a school. May the Lord use her for the expansion of His kingdom. Please pray also for me and my family to grow more in the Word of God. Do continue to pray for the growth and needs of our local Church. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n\\* Names and Faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/seek-first-the-kingdom-of-god/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMatthew 6:33 says:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod is fulfilling this verse in our lives. Therefore, we are pleased to convey our heartfelt thanks to the almighty God for His protection and provisions in our lives. Also, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. Your partnership in the ministry is greatly appreciated. As a family, we have been remembering you in our daily thoughts and prayers. May God keep you safe and bless you in your job and business.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Seek First the Kingdom of God"},{"content":"We are called to be a people of faith. It’s that simple. Hebrews tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Think about that for a minute- impossible to please God without faith! Jesus told His disciples that they only needed faith the size of a mustard seed in order to say to the mountain, “move from here to there” and it would move (Matthew 17:20). How incredible that our salvation hinges upon a little thing called faith and that our daily Christian life is supposed to be saturated with it.\nWhat has God called you to lay down before Him in faith? Your job? Your health? Your family? Whatever it is, Christian, I pray that you would be encouraged to leave it at the cross and be reminded that He is with you and He is worthy of your faith in Him. The writer of Hebrews continues in Hebrews 11:6 that “he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” Whatever you’re carrying, bring it with you into the throne room and leave it there as you seek Him- you’ll find that you won’t need to pick it back up and that your hands will be too full of blessings to hold your worries anyway.\nMy husband and I were called to exercise our faith in a very practical way this year; we welcomed our son into the world and were thrust upon God’s grace in a whole new way but an added element that stretched our faith, that you may not be aware of yet, was deciding to move up to Truckee, California in order for Isaac to assist pastor Gary Barrow in the ministries of Calvary Chapel Truckee.\nYep. We’re moving.\nIn\n20\ndays.\nYou may be thinking, like I was, WHAT?! You just had your son and you’re surrounded by your family here! I know. You don’t know anyone up there except for Gary and his wife! I know. It’s just as expensive to live there (if not more) as it is to live here! I know. They can’t even pay Isaac! I know.\nAnd more importantly, GOD KNOWS. I don’t know exactly what God has in store but I do know that He has called us to move there in faith, believing that He can provide for our every need and that He will do mountain moving things in our life and ministry. You know the best part? He’s been proving it already.\nBefore Isaac and I got married I felt the Lord impress upon my heart that He was preparing him to be a youth pastor, if not as Saving Grace then somewhere. A few weeks before we got engaged, Gary asked Isaac to come to Truckee as his youth pastor. Bingo! Nailed it! But no. Isaac declined the offer without a moment’s consideration and we both prayed and knew that we were called to Saving Grace for the foreseeable future. Fast forward a year, a wedding, and a bun in the oven and what do you know but my husband, who has always lived in the same city and always wanted to live in the same city, unless God called him to the mission field (which we always thought would be abroad), tells me that he’s praying about that offer to assist Gary in Truckee. Cue the abrupt stop to the music in my head. In that moment I saw the dreams of seeing my son grow up surrounded by his grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and our friends shatter into a sad mess of broken hopes and unmet expectations. But in the following moment (okay, maybe it took two sad moments of self-pity) I said, “ Okay, God.”\n“Okay, God. If this is you then I’m all in.”\nAnd so we prayed. We prayed together, we prayed apart, we sought God’s face, we checked our hearts, we sought counsel, we waited, we prayed more, and we came to a place where we knew that God wasn’t going to give us an explicit yes or no. We knew that we are called to walk in faith and we had seen enough to warrant a step out in faith. A step that landed upon solid ground.\nIn case you’re not aware, Truckee is a little resort town on the north end of Lake Tahoe where approximately 17,100 people reside in a blissful mountain escape surrounded by trees, lakes, rivers, and a quaint little downtown that has remained much the same since the town’s incorporation in 1868. Truckee is not a middle of nowhere hillbilly-ville, despite the first impression you may have had. Truckee is saturated with multi-million dollar homes and lost, wealthy people. In fact, if you google it, you’ll learn that the population was 16,474 people as of 2019, but in the last two years they’ve had an influx of Bay Area residents searching for a peaceful mountain oasis in which to work from home in the midst of the COVID craziness. Why do I bring this up? Well, for two reasons, both of which point to the beautiful wisdom, power, and purpose of Almighty God. First, it has driven up the housing market by astronomical levels and rendered Truckee a town where the likes of my husband and myself CANNOT afford to live. Second, it has brought a fresh group of hungry, lost, searching souls to the “hunting ground” of Calvary Chapel Truckee.\nWhy do I talk about not being able to afford it like it’s a good thing? BECAUSE GOD HAS PROVIDED! That’s right, folks, He’s done it again! When we first began to pray about moving to help Gary and Tina we just assumed that we would live in Reno, NV which is about 30 minutes away and half the price but as we continued to pray we really desired to live in Truckee to be surrounded by the people we’re moving to minister to. It seemed an impossible ask given the inflated housing market due to the increased demand and very low supply, especially of low-income type housing. But doesn’t our God delight in turning i mpossible into possible? We were getting close to the wire and still had no leads on a home in Truckee when on September 1st we heard news that a little one bedroom cabin on the west end of Donner Lake had become available at a price we could afford! God’s work was so superb! It actually brings tears to my eyes to recount it to you now. The cabin is owned by Christians who used to attend CC Truckee and they never have vacancies, yet, just 30 days before we were moving whether we had a place or not, they received a 30 day notice from their tenant. Through pastor Gary we were able to apply and God provided exactly enough income through my remote position with SGWM and through Isaac’s new job up there (remember how the church can’t pay him? He is going to work full-time as a delivery driver for Consolidated Electrical Distributors and volunteer full-time for the church as well) for us to be able to qualify. On September 3rd we sent our signed lease and deposit and we move in on October 1st!\nThis is what God does when we come to Him with our mustard seed faith! He moves mountains (and He might just move you to the mountains)! We surrendered our hopes, our dreams, and our plans and left our hands open to what God wanted to fill them with and fill them He has.\nWe are so blessed to be able to continue stepping out upon the solid ground of God’s faithfulness and ask that you’d please pray for us. Please pray for the youth and young adults ministries that Isaac will be leading and pray that God would bring many to salvation as we witness to and in the community. Pray for our marriage to grow stronger and for our son to know what it is to live a life surrendered to Christ. Pray for our hearts and the hearts of our loved ones as we move away from the comfort of home. Pray that God would help us build community with the people of Truckee and that He’d bless our move on the 1st. Pray for our vehicles to withstand the hard winters there and for safety on the icy roads as we both learn to drive in snow.\nThere’s so much more I could say but I’ve already said much. I will leave you now with an invitation to hear more on September 26th. Please come to our dessert gathering at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace where we will share more about the work we will be doing in Truckee and how you can be involved. It starts at 6:30 pm and you don’t want to be late! Dessert will go fast and we’re expecting a large crowd but we’d love to see you before we go. Your presence there and your prayers mean so much to us.\nWith love,\nHope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/faith-that-moves-to-the-mountains/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe are called to be a people of faith. It’s that simple. Hebrews tells us that without faith it is \u003cem\u003eimpossible\u003c/em\u003e to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Think about that for a minute- impossible to please God without faith! Jesus told His disciples that they only needed faith the size of a mustard seed in order to say to the mountain, “move from here to there” and it would move (Matthew 17:20). How incredible that our salvation hinges upon a little thing called faith and that our daily Christian life is supposed to be saturated with it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Faith That Moves (to the) Mountains"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family,\nThank you for your continual support in prayer and partnership in the gospel. God has been doing amazing things lately, and I am excited for this new season of life that He has brought me into. This past month, God has placed a few doors before me, that I am now praying over. Please join me in prayer over what the next step is for me in the call that God has placed on my life. Also, since my last newsletter, something big happened… I got engaged! We got engaged in July, and plan to be married in January. If you would like to see some pictures, feel free to email me at reyes@sgwm.com, but for security purposes I will not have pictures here.\nThese past few months, the Lord has been more heavily pressing on our hearts that we must leave all behind and move to the Middle East, in order to bring the gospel to a people who are lost and in darkness. God has called us to be a light in this region, and we want to be obedient. Our vision is to learn Arabic and become one with the people. We want to effectively reach their hearts with the gospel in order to be able to establish a church. Our long term vision is to have a Bible school come out of the church, where we can train national believers to study and teach the Word of God. SGWM has done this before in the past in South Asia, so with their guidance and training, we hope to be able to have our students establish churches in areas that are deeper into the Middle East, where we wouldn’t be able to go into as westerners. However, we are in need of support in order to do this. We would need roughly about $3,000 a month in order for both of us to be able to attend language school. This would also cover our housing and day to day needs.\nThese past few months, the Lord has been working in our families, so that this marriage would be accepted in their eyes. It was through much prayer that the Lord has now opened their hearts to this. Andrea and I met over 3 years ago in a Missions class at CCBC Costa Mesa. There, we became good friends, and it wasn’t until a year later, after having gone through the School of Missions together, that we decided that we wanted to be married to each other. Our relationship has been built on a mutual love for the Lord and a mutual calling to reach the lost in unreached areas. The Lord has placed a pastoral calling on my life and she has also felt a calling to ministering to women and children. If you would like to hear more about us, please feel free to reach out, we would love to meet with you over a cup of coffee!\nLast year the Lord had placed something on my heart that I had never felt before. I felt a need to go to Peru. And since last year, I’ve been praying over this. The heart behind going to Peru would be to go down to the Bible School that is down there in a city called Trujillo. There is a missionary there with SGWM, who has been used by God in an amazing work. The Lord has put on his heart to train nationals, as well as their neighboring Venezuelan refugees in how to study the Word and to multiply disciples. For this reason, I felt that the Lord is calling me to go with him for a semester and learn from him. I have since spoken to this missionary and have asked him what role I would take on as well as what costs would look like. I would be on staff at his church and I would be helping him with the school as well. As for the cost, it would be roughly $1,200 a month for us to go there from February to May, plus airfare. Please join us in prayer over this. We have not made a decision just yet, but would love for your prayers over the Lord’s wisdom in this, as well as for the financial provision needed to be able to go.\nIf you would like to visit my secure giving page click here:\nfunctional image\nPraise Reports:\nThe Lord has provided open doors for us in His calling to cross-cultural missions. Our families are onboard and excited for the marriage. The Lord has been moving mightily in the young adults group at CCSG. Prayer Requests:\nPray for the wisdom and guidance for the next steps, as we enter into marriage. Pray for a place for us to stay, if God guides us to remain in the US. Pray for financial provision wherever the Lord leads. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. Please reach out and let me know how I can pray for you, I want our relationship to be a two-way thing.\nFor His Glory,\nBryan Reyes\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/big-news/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your continual support in prayer and partnership in the gospel. God has been doing amazing things lately, and I am excited for this new season of life that He has brought me into. This past month, God has placed a few doors before me, that I am now praying over. Please join me in prayer over what the next step is for me in the call that God has placed on my life. Also, since my last newsletter, something big happened… I got engaged! We got engaged in July, and plan to be married in January. If you would like to see some pictures, feel free to email me at \u003ca href=\"mailto:reyes@sgwm.com\"\u003ereyes@sgwm.com\u003c/a\u003e, but for security purposes I will not have pictures here.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Big News!"},{"content":"Dear Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nI give all glory and honor to our Lord Jesus for showering His abundant grace and mercy upon our family. Thank you, dear prayer partners and financial sponsors, for your valuable prayers and support. We remember you all in our daily thoughts and prayers. May the grace of God be with you all in every aspect of your life.\nGradually, our country is beginning to unlock. Fresh covid cases are slowing down after the devastating second wave of the virus. Some states have started to ease their curfews or lockdown type restrictions amid a gradual decline in cases. However, several other states have decided to continue with the restrictions longer.\nIn our family devotion we are studying from the book of Revelation. Apart from my personal Bible study, I have been reading a book called, “How to be a Christian in an unchristian world” by Fritz Ridenour. My wife is studying from the book of Isaiah and my daughter is studying from the book of Genesis and also memorizing Bible verses.\nLast month, we moved our office to a new location. Now, we are meeting daily in our office together. Along with our office work, we share and discuss what we have learned from the Bible, correct each other in the Lord, and pray together.\nI got opportunity to share God’s Word at a family gathering. It was a blessing both to share and listen to others.\nPrayer Requests: Please for all of whom I interacted with last month. May God touch their hearts so that someday they come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Please pray for our nation\u0026ndash;that God may save this country. Also, these days, new believers are been persecuted in different parts of our country, pray that God may strengthen them in their faith. Please pray for me and my family to grow more in the Word of God. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local church. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n\\* Names and Faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/28437/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI give all glory and honor to our Lord Jesus for showering His abundant grace and mercy upon our family. Thank you, dear prayer partners and financial sponsors, for your valuable prayers and support. We remember you all in our daily thoughts and prayers. May the grace of God be with you all in every aspect of your life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We Walk By Faith"},{"content":"Summer is drawing to a close, and school has started for the kids in Tijuana! Some schools are in session, and some are still online. Here is a summary of the latest happenings at Calvary Chapel Pedregales:\n“ D estination Dig” was the theme of this year’s VBS. There were 60 kids in attendance due to Covid Precautions. It was great fun for all, servants and kids! We dug into God’s Word and experienced God’s great love through His servants. It is the highlight of the year and always an all-church event. Those who cannot help physically gave food for the meal each day. This was our first year doing this work on our own as a church with no help from the U.S.\nW e said goodbye to 10 of our kids that graduated and are going off to Jr. High. They have grown up in our after school program, and they will truly be missed! They each received a backpack filled with school supplies. I pray that they all continue to seek God as they grow.\nOur summer theme in our after school program was “Learning can be Fun!” We focused on math (fractions) and reading. It was lots of fun and the purpose of course was to prepare these kids for school, giving them a jump start! We are thankful and blessed with the youth of our church who volunteered their time this summer helping the kids.\nOur older single gals group has not met in over a year, but has recently started up again! We meet at my house every other Saturday to study God’s Word together. It is a small group but very intimate. I love pouring into these girls, they are dear to my heart and we have such sweet fellowship!\nI am still receiving physical therapy for my right knee. I had total knee replacement on April 21st. It is a slow healing process but it gets better each day.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nfor volunteers to help in our after school program. We have 36 kids and the youth have gone back to school so can no longer help!\nfor more teachers to be raised up for our Sunday School.\nfor my knee to heal. I have problems with my extension.\nThanks for praying for me and for reading this post! With love from Mexico.\n“ Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”–Jeremiah 33:3\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/august-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSummer is drawing to a close, and school has started for the kids in Tijuana! Some schools are in session, and some are still online. Here is a summary of the latest happenings at Calvary Chapel Pedregales:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“ \u003cstrong\u003eD\u003c/strong\u003e estination Dig” was the theme of this year’s VBS. There were 60 kids in attendance due to Covid Precautions. It was great fun for all, servants and kids! We dug into God’s Word and experienced God’s great love through His servants. It is the highlight of the year and always an all-church event. Those who cannot help physically gave food for the meal each day. This was our first year doing this work on our own as a church with no help from the U.S.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"August Update"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThis past month of August was BUSY and full of church planting activities for us here south of the Border! I know that I talk a lot about church planting in these updates, but I want you to know that this is your spiritual fruit, and we are thankful for your partnership!\nAugust began with our 4th annual church planting conference! We were blessed to have nearly 500 attendee’s this year that flew in from the USA, different parts of Mexico, and even from Peru in South America. I may be biased, but I believe that this was our best conference ever! For me personally, these conferences are like a big family reunion, where I get to see so many of my church planting friends return to the sending hub (home base) in Rosarito!\nThe topic of the conference this year was “Lessons from the ancient church plants”, and we heard timely teachings based off the early church plants in Jerusalem, Antioch, and from the churches that Paul planted on his missionary journeys. We also had (a record) 18 breakout workshop sessions with a variety of topics for the attendee’s to choose from. As always, the most popular workshops are the ladies workshops, and my beautiful bride Sarah hosted a fantastic one with her friends (and Pastor’s wives) Beni and Eli!\nThe highlight for this conference was definitely found at the end as we all came together to send out our newest church planting team to Hermosillo! 3 years ago, we made the decision to send out a church plant at the end of every conference, so our guests can see what that looks like and be encouraged to do it in their own churches! Keep our latest church plant to Hermosillo (#30) in your prayers!\nI am also blessed to reveal for the first time our new church planting partnership program! After 13 years of hosting our church planting school in our local church, we got all of our class materials together along with our church plantings teachings and we now offer it free to any churches that want to partner with us and start their own church planting school!\nStarting in August, we have two new church planting partners, and I got to visit with both of those schools this month! Our first partnering church is Calvary Chapel Bear Creek located in Wildomar! (Southern California) My good friend Pastor Steve Price has partnered with us for 5 years in church planting, and he planned to start his church planting school this August. Unfortunately, God called Pastor Steve home to heaven earlier this year, but his Assistant Pastors are continuing that vision and started their school. I was blessed to teach their first class up in California along with my church planting assistant, Super Mario Medrano!\nWe also have a new church planting partner in the South American country of Peru! My friend Pastor Cory Kilgus, brought a couple of his students up to our conference, and after talking together he has agreed to use our curriculum to raise up church planters in Peru! Just last night I was blessed to teach their class via ZOOM, and it was so encouraging to share with his 20 students that all have a passion to plant churches throughout South America!\nWhen our family first moved to Mexico way back in 2002, God gave me 1st Corinthians 3:6 as our missions verse. The Apostle Paul writes there, “I planted, Apolos watered, but God gave the increase!” God was reminding me that to do a great missions work, I would need faithful ministry partners to join us through their financial giving and prayers! Our family is so thankful for your love, partnership, and prayers over the years!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless the church planting schools of our new partners, in Wildomar (Ca), and in Peru!\n#2- That God would provide for the financial needs of our family, church, and church plants, and keep us safe in these dangerous times!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a wonderful church planting conference, with many getting encouraged!\n#2- Praise God for our new church planting evening course, that has 21 first-time students attending! (Along with 30 in our afternoon course)\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/september-2021-vincent-family-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/08/240081217%5F577447483608203%5F6792367762617939562%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month of August was BUSY and full of church planting activities for us here south of the Border! I know that I talk a lot about church planting in these updates, but I want you to know that this is your spiritual fruit, and we are thankful for your partnership!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/08/228725658%5F10158686153502029%5F8119552699214247992%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAugust began with our 4th annual church planting conference! We were blessed to have nearly 500 attendee’s this year that flew in from the USA, different parts of Mexico, and even from Peru in South America. I may be biased, but I believe that this was our best conference ever! For me personally, these conferences are like a big family reunion, where I get to see so many of my church planting friends return to the sending hub \u003cem\u003e(home base)\u003c/em\u003e in Rosarito!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"September 2021 Vincent Family Missions Update"},{"content":" AFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Uganda is once again in full lock down due to covid. Pray for the Kanyike Family to stay safe.\n2. Also pray for accomplishing everyday tasks and ministry as no personal or public transport is allowed.\n3. As most businesses and markets are closed accept for food many people are suffering to provide for their families. Pray for Brian and Arise Christian Fellowship as they try to reach out and help those they are able.\n4; Pray for safety as crime is so bad during this difficult time that the American Embassy issued a warning about it.\n5. Brian is videoing the Sunday services and putting them online. Pray that the church members and many others would watch and grow closer to the Lord during this time.\n6. Pray for Jill and the children as they continue to homeschool. Pray that they all get along and learn without going stir crazy during this lockdown.\n7. Pray for things to get better in Uganda health and safety wise so the lockdown can end in 6 weeks as proposed.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nMatt, Noelle - Gulu, Uganda\nThank you for your prayers on our behalf and for continuing to bear the burdens of others. May God bless you.\nPraise Reports:\n- That Noelle’s family has peace despite the loss of their father.\n- For allowing the pastors to begin meeting agin despite the ongoing lockdown here in Uganda.\n- For approving Matt’s resident visa.\n- For the souls that have been saved during our time doing home church in our house here. So far there have been about 6 people who have given their lives to the Lord!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Our family and Noelle’s family, as we grieve the loss of Noelle’s father to Alzheimer’s.\n2. The pastors in the discipleship school, as they prepare to go through Revelation, the final book in their studies.\n3. Our visas to be completed. We are currently awaiting re-approval for Noelle and the kids.\n4. The hearts of the people in our village (Adak) to turn to the Lord, for the hearts of the fathers to turn to their children, and the hearts of the children to turn to their fathers.\nThank you for your prayers!\nMuch love in Christ,\nMatt, Noelle, Apio, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte - Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Africa and Asia\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the new fall semesters in Nepal and S. Asia. Classes started and we are praying for health for the students/staff and protection from anyone who would try to close down the classes. Pray for a great work in the hearts of the students as they are equipped and many will graduate at the end of the year!\n2. Pray for teaching this semester as Bond and the online classes that they will be blessed and impactful for Gods glory.\n3. Pray for wisdom as we continue to lead, serve and move forward in Nepal, Pakistan, India, Uganda and beyond and that God would go before us in all plans, travel, administration, ministry opportunities and that we would be filled with His Spirit to accomplish all He has for us.\n4. Pray for Breanna as she starts 1st grade, that God would bless her, use her, protect her and open her mind this year!\nThank you for praying!\nBlessings,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course. The second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nLeo and Pilar Gray – Ensenada, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the students and teachers for the next semester. For the returning students pray for a renewed commitment as they study God’s Word. Pray that the new students would adjust to campus life and find time to know God in a new and deeper way.\n2. Pray for our former students that the would continue to grow in their relationship with God.\n3. Continue to pray for finances for the school and the completion of the new building.\n4. Pray for us as we are transitioning back to the US. We are moving to Mississippi and are excited to see what the Lord has for us. Pray for our house to sell in Mexico and for our travel plans.\n5. Last semester there was a Covid outbreak on campus that made the semester difficult especially for staff members. Please pray that the campus will be Covid free and for the safety of everyone there.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar – Email Blog\nGary and Tina Barrow - Truckee, California\nFIRST PRAISE REPORT\nThe only Bible College that has been able to continue to operate during this Covid pandemic is about to start another semester. It is a small handful of students this semester since we are not taking new students due to the lock downs in that country.\nWe have a great line up of teachers teaching through Inductive Bible Study, Genesis, Exodus, Joshua and the Gospel of John. We also have an English class along with Systematic Theology, Practical Christianity.\nPlease pray for this semester. Pray that the students will see Jesus and be totally transformed. Pray that they would spread the word of God’s love and Christ’s sacrifice so that country would be won for the kingdom. Please, please pray that God would bring an end to the lock downs, giving the people a break to get back to life as normal. Pray that we would be able to return to minister to the students and the other ministries next year. I long to get back there and reconnect in person with the students and staff.\nSECOND PRAISE REPORT\nGod has been blessing Calvary Chapel Truckee and we are growing in Jesus as well as numbers. Honestly, I don’t think I have been busier, but I’m not complaining. The Lord has been doing a very special work drawing new people to our fellowship, reviving body life after being separated for so long with Covid. He is also raising up men in our fellowship to take on more of te leadership roles. Tina’s summer book study was well attended and a great blessing to the women of our church. We have also started our first life group with plans of 3-4 more next session. It’s such a blessing to just sit back and see the Lord do the things that He has been doing. It’s been such a joy to serve this church.\nPlease pray for strength to meet the needs of pastoring this church, as well as the wisdom and vision needed. Pray that God would continue to draw people to us that need to hear the Gospel, people who the Spirit of God has been working on. Pray that our body would grow in love, one for another, and that we would be characterized as a praying, loving, Word of God focused church.\nTHIRD PRAISE REPORT\nOverall our family is doing very well. We’re still adjusting to a new area. The boys are working and trying to break into careers of their choosing. Please pray for open doors for them. Recently Tina and I have been sick, NOT WITH COVOD.\nPlease pray for healing and good health. Pray for our marriage and family in general as there are many attacks as we seek to serve the Lord faithfully and without compromise.\nWe are so very thankful for your prayer support. I am sorry it has been so long since I have submitted a prayer request. It’s a measure of how busy we have been. PLease feel free to email me with your prayer requests also.\nGod Bless you,\nGary and Tina - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nBuenas tardes (good afternoon), from me and the people of Tijuana!\nPraise Report:\n-my knee is healing well! Still have PT as the muscles in my thigh are not as strong as they should be!\n- Our after school program/soup kitchen is going very well! 10 kids graduated out; they are going into Jr. High, and so 10 new kids are coming in. (We have a waiting list).\n- God is blessing the single girl\u0026rsquo;s Bible study that I hold in my home bi-monthly! One gal, Nayeli, accepted Jesus in her heart last Saturday!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For more servants in the after school program. The youth that are helping at present will soon not be starting school and will not be able to help!\n2. For teachers for the children at our church. Specifically for Wed. night ages 9-11, and a sub. for the nursery\n3. For a major dental surgery that I hope to have on Aug. 27th. Pray for peace in doing this; that it is of the Lord.\n4. For the parents of the kids in the after school program; that they would be drawn to Jesus by the Holy Spirit through us, His servants.\n5. For an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all of us here at Calvary Chapel Pedregales!\n6. For my sentri pass to come quickly! It is a special card that I have which makes crossing the border super fast. I used\nit (unknowingly) expired, and so now am being punished. I will have to wait many months for an interview to begin the renewal process. I cross the border regularly to help take care of my mom, and for banking purposes.\nThank you so much for your prayers for me and the people of Mexico. I cherish them\nTo God be the glory forever and ever, Amen!\nGod bless!\nDeanna – Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nThank you for praying for our family, it means the world to us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for our graduated CSOM class and incoming interns, that the Lord would direct these young men and women who are seeking to know God’s next\n2. steps for them in the Great CommissionPlease pray for those who are in strict lockdowns continually around the world, specifically our missionaries, due to COVID\n3. Please pray for the Lord to direct Joel’s next steps in traveling for missionary care and establishing more care teams here in the states for our missionaries\nin Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara – Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1..Protection from the enemy in these crazy times!\n2. That God would bless our newest church plant in Hermosillo Sonora!\n3. That God would bless our church planting vision tour to our next church planting site in Morelia Michoacan!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family’s health. My oldest daughter hurt her ankle running down a hill; please pray for complete and rapid recovery.\n2. Please pray for our family situation. Pray that God will deliver us from all evil.\n3. Please pray for my dad’s health and complete healing.\n4. Praise the Lord that He has blessed us with four little girls! Please pray that they will grow in knowledge of and love for Jesus and trust in Him completely.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for our family’s health, especially that they will be able to accurately diagnose and treat my dad, and pray for complete healing.\n2. Praise the Lord, He has opened up nursing home ministry for us again! Please pray that many lives will be touched and many will be saved.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nMike and Erin Thiemann – California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray as we head into a new school year. Pray for Erin and the kids to adjust from summer to school. Pray for the youth group that we lead as they are going through the same transition back into school.\n2. Pray for our office staff. We are doing fantastic but could use some more help.\n3. Pray for me as I transition from full-time school to loads of free time. It’s a bit of an identity shock.\n4. Pray for Erin’s photo business that the Lord would continued to bless it as it pulls in some needed income for our family.\nThank you for all your love, prayer and encouragement through this.\nWe are blessed by you. God bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina – Erin – Email Mike – Email Blog\nHope Douglass – SGWM – California\n1. Pray that we would be able to get funds to our workers without hinderance so that they can continue in the work God has called them to.\n2. Pray for our staff to remain focused and joyful in the work before us.\n3. Pray that God would bring me more financial partners to help offset the salary change from working full-time to now part-time.\nGod bless you and keep you as you abide in Him.\nBlessings, Hope – Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 5 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1 Pray that God will protect us from the present situation.\n2. Pray for our neighbors, that they will come to know the Lord.\n3. Pray for my daughter who is studying nursing. Thank you so much for the encouragement and partnership!\nWorker 7 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that I will reach many more people with God’s Word and that I will be a good steward for our Lord.\n2. Through our YouTube channel, I am able to reach a couple hundred people, so I would like to begin to teach live on facebook and YouTube in the upcoming days. Please pray about that.\n3. Please also pray about the students who received their diplomas and those who are about to finish this coming semester.\nThank you,\nWorker 7\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. By God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers. For this month I would like to share some of the prayer concerns.\n2. Please for all whom I interacted in last month. May God touch their hearts so that someday they came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\n3. Please pray for our nation India that God may saved this country. Also these days new believers are been persecuted in different parts of India, pray that God may strengthen them in their faith.\n4. Please pray for me and my family so that we may grow in the word of God.\n5. Pray for the growth and need of our local Church.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nP and R\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the ministry in our area, that people will be saved.\n2. Please pray for the believers in our church, that they would continue to grow in the knowledge of the Lord.\n3. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s grace and wisdom to do the work of the Lord.\n4. Please pray for our health. Vinita and I are not doing well.\n5. Pray for our daughter\u0026rsquo;s safety as she has been working as a nurse.\n6. Please pray for a couple we witnessed to, that God would bless them with a child and that the family would know that Jesus is the true God.\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nThank you all you prayer warrior for your prayer…\nPraise Report:\n-It is a great blessing as we had started Bible college and God had brought new students in this semester also.\n-God had been adding His people in the Church and Radio ministry had been started.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray that we may run Bible College smoothly in this semester also.\n3. Please pray for Bible college students for good health.\n4. Please pray for the Radio ministry that people may Listen to the Gospel and respond it.\n5. Please pray for graduating students that they may start Bible study or Church in their community.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraises Report:\n-Praise God ! We\u0026rsquo;re able to start CCBC new semester in Nepal. Students arrived safe.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for some of the students that are yet to come.\n2. Please pray for good health of the students and teacher throughout this semester that God would protect us from the pandemic.\n3. Please pray for Charis Bible Church family that God would protect from the pandemic and meet all the provisions.\n4. Please pray for spiritual growth of Charis believers that we may become more and more mature day by day.\n5. Please pray that God would provide the church property for Charis- the current rent is so high for our Church and that rent increases every year. Our agreement for current location is for five years and one year is already over. Because of the pandemic Church has been closed again and again and we are simply paying the rent.\nThank you for your concern and prayers, we appreciate it.\nBlessings! Prakash and Muna - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Pray for our family, our church believers, that their health will be physically fit and not contaminated from Covid.\n2. Pray my wife\u0026rsquo;s young brother He was suffering from Typhoid and the infection seen in his intestines.\n3. Pray my wife\u0026rsquo;s Father; he became ill which seems to the doctor to be pneumonia.\n4. Pray my wife\u0026rsquo;s Homeplace; all the people they have been suffering from viral and Covid.\n5. Pray for our health, I may also suffer time to time from tonsil infections. If God wish he will remove tonsils from my body forever.\n6. Please pray for our Bible School Students and all the staff for their health and that their mission will be successful where they are doing ministry.\n7. Please pray for our students. Some of them are coming in upcoming days. God may provide them safety.\n8. Please pray i can teach and train our students nicely and effectively this semester. I am going to teach from the Book of Mark through Zoom.\n9. Please pray; we want children and that God may allow us to have children soon in God\u0026rsquo;s time.\nThank you for your prayers for us!\nIn Him,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n- Praise be to the Lord for fulfilling our every need and for protecting us from every kind of disease, devil and evil. -Thank God that many roads have been broken due to flood to save us from accidents due to which many accidents happen every day.\n- Thank the Lord that we have started worshiping the Lord in another new place, now the worship of the Lord is going on in four villages and one is going on in our house, worship of the Lord is going on in total five villages.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please do pray for Afghanistan that God grant peace there and people can be safe.\n2. Please pray that whatever problem is going on in Itani, it can be fixed as soon as possible.\n3. Please pray for our believers, they are in a lot of trouble because of the flood again, may God fulfill their need and also everyone is suffering from skin diseases, may God heal them soon.\n4. Please pray and pray for our believers to grow more and more in the word of God and at the same time be able to cope with all kinds of problems.\n5. Please keep on praying for Surendra who is suffering from a strange disease, may God give him a speedy recovery.\n6. .Please pray there may be land for a small graveyard for our church. Last month 4 people died due to Karona which became very difficult to funeral.\n7. Please pray for my field of ministry, it is very dark and full of sins like casteism, corruption, discrimination, dowry system, child marriage, rape of girls, child labor and murder! There is no one to take care of the poor and orphans, the people here, seeing the madmen, throw stones at them and drink after washing the feet of the religious teacher\nThanks for your prayers and support for the Gospel.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 11\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the work the Lord has set before us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for our country as we are suffering from severe new strains of Covid.\n2. Pray for our family to stay healthy.\n3. Pray for our students and staff as they are also waiting for school to reopen.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\n**\nPrayer Requests**:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus! Praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village\n3. Please pray for my health and safety\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nWorker 2\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for one man who said he used to attend church when he was a child and left church when he got older. When he re-listened to the Gospel at our medical outreach, he decided to come to church the following week with us! Please pray for him and for his salvation.\n2. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n3. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n4. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n5. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my past experiences.\nThanking you.\nYours in Christ,\nWorker 4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God that even in such a pandemic situation, our church was able to provide some medical things to our community.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for all of our church believers, that they will grow spiritually in God.\n2. Many people in the village where our church is located have heard the Gospel; pray that they will turn to Christ.\n3. Please pray that God will grant me wisdom as I labor in Bible study.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please be praying for the work that’s happening here in our city.\n2. Pray for our new church plant to keep growing.\n3. Pray for the new place that we want to start a Bible study.\n4. Pray for our slum ministry.\n5. Pray for our youth ministry.\n6. Pray for our worship leading ministry and park ministry.\n7. Pray for another new church plant we are doing (It began 3 months ago.\n8. There are more places that we need to reach; please be praying for God’s timing and resources.\n9. We are praying for food distribution in the areas where people are suffering and needy and hungry. Many of the daily wages workers don\u0026rsquo;t get to eat properly even when things are normal, but now everything is shut down and they have no chance to go out to find work. Now people are not only dying from corona, they are also dying of starvation.\n10. Please be praying for our Bible college.\n11. Please be praying for our financial needs for Bible and food distribution\nThank you for praying.\nWith love in Christ,\nWorker and Mrs. 6\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the ministry in this lockdown, that God will open the doors for Gods words.\n2. Please pray for my children that they my grow in Lord’s Fear and knowledge.\n3. Pray for God’s wisdom and strength to take care of my children and learn His Word.\n4. Please pray that the lord would intervene for the problem the world is facing.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that my children may grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.\n2. Please pray that the Lord would intervene in the problems the world is facing.\n3. Please pray for the village ministry in my local area- that the villagers may grow in the Lord’s Word.\n4. Please pray for our weekly prayer meeting.\n5. Pray for my church’s growth and development.\n6. Please pray that we will be able to build God’s house on the land.\nMay God bless you\nThank you,\nWorker 8 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my ministry in the mountain village.\n2. Pray for us here in the mountains, there are many Hindu festivals going on here lately. Please pray that God will open their eyes and know God’s truth.\n3. Please pray for 2 brothers who are new believers. Please pray that they will grow more with Jesus.\n4. Please pray that God will open more doors here for me to share His Word.\nMay God bless you,\nThank you for your prayers!\nWorker 13\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers.\n-Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us until now in this lockdown! God blessed me, and all in the house. We are growing in the Word of God. We are happy that the new boys are coming home to their villages. We are getting the opportunity to talk with them and teach them the Word.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n3. Pray for me, because I am making a church building. Pray that God will give me wisdom and understanding to do it correctly.\n4. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n5. Pray for me, that God will open new doors for me to share the Gospel.\n6. Pray for one brother who I have been sharing the Gospel to; pray that he will come to Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 10\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. A few months ago, a family came to Christ. However, because of pressure from society and their relatives, they have stopped coming to church.\n2. Pray for some people who want to get baptized next month. They need God\u0026rsquo;s protection.\n3. Pray for our church people to have Godly wisdom, so that they will be more powerful in their community and be a good example.\n4. Pray for Sh. She is due to have a baby next month.\n5. I have been getting together with a new family for a few months. Pray for me to continue to teach them so that they may grow in the Word of God.\n6. Pray for a piece of land for us to build a church on.\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nThank you for your kindness!!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 12\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated,\nsince you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-sept-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAFRICA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrian and Jill Kanyike\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/kanyike-prayer-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Uganda is once again in full lock down due to covid. Pray for the Kanyike Family to stay safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. Also pray for accomplishing everyday tasks and ministry as no personal or public transport is allowed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. As most businesses and markets are closed accept for food many people are suffering to provide for their families. Pray for Brian and Arise Christian Fellowship as they try to reach out and help those they are able.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM SEPT PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" Hey there! We’ve had a whirlwind couple of months here in Oaxaca, and a visit to California and Rosarito.\nIn June, we celebrated Father’s Day with the church. The kids sang for the dads and we had fun fellowship and games for the dads after the service. We also had Pastor Juan Carlos and Dr. Miles from Calvary Rosarito come down and put on a two-night evangelism conference. It was such a blessing to the people who came, and a blessing to us personally to have them come and fellowship with us.\nWe also started up the youth group in June! What a blessing this group is, and is continuing to grow into. Jonny and Noah are part of it so it’s awesome that they get to be part of a group of people around their age. Our friend from the church, Miguel, was leading the group but he and his wife had to move back to Puebla for her work as a teacher. Please keep this ministry in your prayers, that the Lord would put it on someone’s heart to take over the role as the leader and make it clear to Jon which man the Lord is calling into this position. For now, Jon will be teaching.\nIn July we took a quick trip to visit some friends who were on vacation in Puerto Escondido. This is the city that’s closest to the village we lived in for Spanish school in 2017. While we were walking down the street, a car drove by and started saying hi to us, mainly Jon. The driver stopped and got out and it was one of the guys who used to live at the rehab center that Jon visits. He told Jon that he’s been clean for a year, has a great job down there on the coast as a chef, and HE READS HIS BIBLE EVERY DAY AND GOES TO CHURCH. What a testimony of the power that investing in the lives of others can have. God is so good!!! While we were there, we also got to visit Cacalote and see our friends there. It’s always such a blessing to visit the place where the Lord placed the calling to Oaxaca on our hearts and lives.\nAlso in July, levels one and two of the Navigators class finished. These groups worked so hard and were so faithful to complete their “homework” and participate in the classes each week. After a break for a month or two, they will resume the classes again. What a blessing to see their diligence and the growth in each one of them.\nIn August we were able to fly up to Calvary Rosarito for the annual church planting conference. We were able to hear from many different church planters who shared their experience on the field and poured into those who are currently church planters and those who feel that calling on their lives. Added bonus was getting to see and hang out with so many of our friends from Rosarito and all over the world.\nAfter the conference, we spent some time in California with family and friends. We got celebrate my mom’s birthday with her and some of the family, saw Jon’s mom a couple of times, did some fun things, visited Calvary San Juan a few times, the boys went to a high school event with the youth group, and Jon even got to teach at the men’s breakfast for CCSJC. It was an amazing time and refreshing. We learn from each visit that we need to slow down while we’re there, but it’s SO hard to do that.\nWhen we flew back, our great friends the Delgados flew back with us. They serve at Rancho Poiema near Ensenada, a men’s discipleship ranch. We spent a few days showing them around Oaxaca City and exploring some of the Nacho Libre spots. It was a blessing to have them here with us and to show them the work that the Lord is doing here in Oaxaca, and to have Cesar teach with his wife Claudia translating for him. And two of their kids were able to come which made it extra fun for Jonny and Noah. Their son Manny is about their age and they all just picked up like no time had passed since they last saw each other.\nOther than that, ministry is still moving along and amazing. We continue to have our Sunday service, our weekly prayer night, and Jon recently started teaching the book of Revelation on Wednesday nights. I am still teaching the book of James with the ladies, every other Thursday. We are so amazed to see all that the Lord is doing in the ministry, and what an honor to be a tiny part of His work.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nPlease pray for all of the covid cases and that we can keep the church open. As of right now we are in orange, which means we can stay open with extra caution. If we go into red, we will need to go back to online services until we are no longer in red. Please pray for all of the ministries within the church. We need more children’s ministry teachers/helpers so that it’s not always falling on the shoulders of the ones who already serve. Please pray for all of the weekly teachings that take place in the church. That the Holy Spirit would speak through Jon when he’s teaching, and through me when I’m teaching the ladies. Please pray for Jonny and Noah as they just started 9th grade. That they’ll understand the school work and Jon and I will be able to also understand it (algebra…eeeek) so we can help them. We really need to figure out what to do about our car situation. Our visa for the car expires in February and we need to decide if it’s better to drive it up to the states and sell it, or try to get it imported which will also require a drive to the border. We are also really praying about somehow purchasing a vehicle for ministry so we can transport teams that come and the church members when we have events outside of the church. Many don’t have cars and we can only squeeze so many into our car. Ok, I think I’ll FINALLY end this now. So much to share and we are grateful if you have read this far. We love you all and are so grateful to the Lord for your prayers, encouragement, and financial support. God bless you all for being a part of the Lord’s work in Oaxaca, Mexico.\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah Brechtel\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/august-2021-the-brechtel-family/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F8898.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9381.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9391.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/f755af2a-e301-4a2b-8cec-62e63175d749-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F8557.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9806.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9868.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9992.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F1595.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9884.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9950.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9445.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F8663.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F8836.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9487.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F8638.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9418.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F8750.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9404.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9369.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F8910-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F9286.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F8930.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F8640.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F8921.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F0031.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/IMG%5F8658.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHey there! We’ve had a whirlwind couple of months here in Oaxaca, and a visit to California and Rosarito.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn June, we celebrated Father’s Day with the church. The kids sang for the dads and we had fun fellowship and games for the dads after the service. We also had Pastor Juan Carlos and Dr. Miles from Calvary Rosarito come down and put on a two-night evangelism conference. It was such a blessing to the people who came, and a blessing to us personally to have them come and fellowship with us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"August 2021 - The Brechtel Family"},{"content":"“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His faithful servants.” Ps 116:15 On August 18th, a significant event took place, in which a man who had discipled and cared for so many people, including myself, went to be with the One he was leading everyone toward. My father, Merlin R Davis, came to the Lord when he was in his 20’s, and soon after met and married my mother. After deciding that 2 children was enough, they were soon lead by the Lord to trust Him in faith for all things required for life and godliness, and to allow Him to plan their family. Only slightly less controversial than today, their decision and faith were certainly tested over the years as more and more children were given to them, and paychecks were spread thinner and thinner. But God provided for all their needs, and today, as number 11 out of 13 children, I can say I am thankful for their decision to trust God despite the comments and looks of others. We had a sign in our house which is still there today, it reads, “We don’t believe in miracles, we rely on them.” And for my family, this was true. My father worked 2 jobs and continued to trust in the Lord to provide the remainder of what was required for us to live. Once a week he would take one of us by turn to go get gas station icecream or coffee (or to eat out, once there were fewer kids in the house), we would sit together somewhere as he read through the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings books, and I was even able to hear him read through a book he had written himself. He was faithful to one wife, and faithfully cared for and taught all of us to fear the Lord. He was a carpenter, a locksmith, a piano tuner, he played guitar, sang, and wrote songs. In many ways he was as Abraham, the father of Israel, who walked with the Lord, who pleaded with the Lord on behalf of others, who cared for strangers and those in need. Even as his Alzheimer’s progressed, his character stayed generally the same, though I would venture to say he got even sweeter and was more in love with my mom than ever. In early August his condition worsened and eventually he would not eat or drink, but only sleep. They called me to say my goodbye, and I was able to pour out my heart of thankfulness for what he had done for me, to repent for my rebellion in my youth, and ultimately to congratulate him on the new ministry God has for him in heaven! It was a very bittersweet time on the phone.\nFor many difficult reasons I was unable to go back to America to be with my family for the funeral, but God has given me peace that I cannot fully describe or comprehend. I will miss him, I know that I shall because I already have been, but when that man spent nearly 50 years pouring into me and my family, trying to point us to his Father, trying to lead us there, to take us there, my heart is proud and glad that he is finally WITH HIM. Pray for me and my family in America, as we continue to walk this path toward the same good Father that my dad portrayed.\nIn other news, we are so excited to announce that we have started construction on our new pastoral school campus! This is so important because the Ugandan government reserves the right to shut down any church that is pastored by someone without a theological diploma. Although we currently offer a certificate, it is not possible for us to give a diploma at our current location. However, the situation of our new campus will allow us to fulfill the requirements necessary to register with the Ugandan National Counsel for Higher Education, and offer our students the necessary credentials. It took months to do the tedious work of meeting with architects and builders to ensure that we are moving in the right direction, but we finally settled down with a good plan and a builder we can trust. We were also blessed to acquire three acres of land attached to our property so that the school will be far enough away from our milling operation to provide a good learning environment, but close enough that the students can still interact with the farm and grow in their agricultural knowledge. This past month we taught our current class of church leaders through the book of Daniel, their second to last book as they will complete Revelation in September. It was such a blessing to see the fruit that studying the entirety of God’s Holy Word had brought them, and it was amazing to see their increased ability to understand and interpret Scripture! God has truly been at work in our midst and I know that He still desires to do so much more!\nPraise God with us: That Noelle’s father has received his long awaited inheritance in the city whose maker and builder is God. That we acquired suitable land to build our new campus on that is attached to our property. That construction has started on the classrooms, dorms and bathrooms. Please join with us in prayer that: That God would comfort Noelle’s family as they mourn the passing of a wonderful husband and father. That God would provide the remaining funds to complete the new pastoral school. Apio would continue integrating into our family. In the Love of Christ, Matt, Noelle, Apio, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/august-2021-harris-family/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"precious-in-the-sight-of-the-lord-is-the-death-of-his-faithful-servants-ps-11615\"\u003e“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His faithful servants.”  Ps 116:15\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/08/IMG%5F6988.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn August 18th, a significant event took place, in which a man who had discipled and cared for so many people, including myself, went to be with the One he was leading everyone toward. My father, Merlin R Davis, came to the Lord when he was in his 20’s, and soon after met and married my mother. After deciding that 2 children was enough, they were soon lead by the Lord to trust Him in faith for all things required for life and godliness, and to allow Him to plan their family. Only slightly less controversial than today, their decision and faith were certainly tested over the years as more and more children were given to them, and paychecks were spread thinner and thinner. But God provided for all their needs, and today, as number 11 out of 13 children, I can say I am thankful for their decision to trust God despite the comments and looks of others. We had a sign in our house which is still there today, it reads, “We don’t believe in miracles, we rely on them.” And for my family, this was true. My father worked 2 jobs and continued to trust in the Lord to provide the remainder of what was required for us to live. Once a week he would take one of us by turn to go get gas station icecream or coffee (or to eat out, once there were fewer kids in the house), we would sit together somewhere as he read through the Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings books, and I was even able to hear him read through a book he had written himself. He was faithful to one wife, and faithfully cared for and taught all of us to fear the Lord. He was a carpenter, a locksmith, a piano tuner, he played guitar, sang, and wrote songs. In many ways he was as Abraham, the father of Israel, who walked with the Lord, who pleaded with the Lord on behalf of others, who cared for strangers and those in need. Even as his Alzheimer’s progressed, his character stayed generally the same, though I would venture to say he got even sweeter and was more in love with my mom than ever. In early August his condition worsened and eventually he would not eat or drink, but only sleep. They called me to say my goodbye, and I was able to pour out my heart of thankfulness for what he had done for me, to repent for my rebellion in my youth, and ultimately to congratulate him on the new ministry God has for him in heaven! It was a very bittersweet time on the phone.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"August 2021 - Harris Family"},{"content":" But the work must go on! This has been a challenging month due to this new Delta Variant Hype. Acapulco officials have decided to put our city back on red alert which means businesses are closed, certain public services are canceled, and people are monitored. Even though this has hit our town we have decided to leave our doors open and continue with the work as usual. We truly feel the Lord has called us to continue, so we will.\nChurch Plant Update We had our inauguration service this last month for our new church plant Calvary Chapel Zapata and the response was amazing! Many new visitors showed up and right away made it their home. It’s very apparent that people are starving for solid biblical teaching. I was honored to give the very first sermon on opening day.\nWe are amazed at how the Lord provided to open this new work, however, we are still in need of sponsors that could come alongside them. The rent for our little storefront is $175 dollars a month and even though that doesn’t seem like much it’s a big hit for us, especially during the pandemic.\nPlease continue to pray, especially because we have another family ready to step out in a new venture of faith and open another Calvary Church on the south side of Acapulco.\nI am so excited to share the pictures below. Pastor Pako (CC Zapata) has his whole family serving in the church! It was such a blessing to see! His wife leads worship, his sons are video recording and playing instruments, and their niece teaches children’s ministry.\nCalvary Chapel Bible College Peru I was so blessed to give a brief study for the students at C.C. Bible College Peru via the internet. Pastor John Bonner from Calvary Chapel in Peru has done an amazing job over there and it was an honor to share with his students. The school is currently going through the Calvary Chapel Distinctives and the subject was Church Government. It was fun to explain how we as a church operate and what sets us apart from others. Not to say we (Calvary Chapel) are the best, but we are definitely special.\nOur Youth Pastor Jose and his wife Keyla have done a great job disciplining our young men and women. This past month we took them to a workshop with other youth to play some games, learn some ministry dynamics, and hear the word taught. It is always a joy to see the next generation on fire for Jesus Christ.\nWedding Bells We have a beautiful young couple that just received the Lord and were baptized at our church. They were living together and we encouraged them to get married. They didn’t have the money for a wedding much less a reception. Our fellowship poured out their love, stepped up, and stepped in. The church came together and donated everything for the ceremony and banquet; from the wedding dress to the food (3 goats were donated…yummy) to decorations, rings, music, cake, etc. We had a blast!!! Apart from officiating the wedding Stacy and I got to serve for the rest of the evening. Fun times!\nFacebook Live actually works Facebook has its pros and cons, but in this case, a big pro. We had a sister in the Lord come to Acapulco from Mexico City just so I can baptize her. Turns out she has been following our sermons via Facebook for the past two years and even though she lives far away, she says she considers me her pastor. I obviously encouraged her to get plugged into a local church but was beyond blessed to hear her testimony.\nPastors Conference Once again the pastor’s conference in Mexico is just around the corner. The theme is a good minister of Christ. This year we have the honor of having some great Pastors who will be teaching the main studies. P. Raul Ries, P. David Rosales, P. Juan Domingo, P. Jaime Foote, P. Chris Martinez and many more.\nWe love our Acapulco team and I really hope they can join us as they did last year, but for some of them, it’s financially impossible. If you would like to sponsor one of our pastors or staff workers, we would be very, very grateful! The cost of airfare is around $185 dollars a person. We have at least 6 servants that could use the help. Any donation from the smallest amount is welcomed.\nVillegas Boys Our youngest son Micah has finally flown the coupe! He moved to Ensenada to start his studies at Calvary Bible College. We are so proud of him for making the decision.\nWe had the privilege of watching our son Elijah graduate from basic training. They moved him up to Sheppard Texas to start Tech School. Elijah will be working on the F16 Fighter Jet. This will be a great tool for him in the future. He has been able to be a light and witness to those on his team.\nNoah continues his studies at Cypress Community College and is faithful to his home church, Calvary Chapel Living Water in Garden Grove. His goal is to be a computer programmer. There is no doubt in our minds that he will succeed.\nSo now that we no longer have kids at home, Stacy and I are dating all over again, just like when we were teenagers. Needless to say………we are enjoying it.\nPLEASE keep our kids in your prayers. May God watch over each of them, strengthen them, fill them, and use them for His Glory!\nStill in Love Our future Missionary to the East Lili has been one of our great and faithful servants. She leads our Amor en Accion ministry which is an outreach to our community and beyond. Her heart has always been to serve the Lord in India. She is currently connected with Saving Grace World Missions and they have been equipping her for the last year. She is currently in Rosarito with a team from Saving Grace. Please keep her in your prayers. May the Lord open a door to serve in the 10/40 window.\nPrayer requests Open doors for the Gospel and Salvations Safety, provision, and health for our family and church family For the new churches plants and their families (Calvary Chilpancingo and Calvary Zapata) For our kids; Elijah, Noah, and Micah For open doors for Lili If you feel led to support us, click here! The Lord BLESS you!! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/acapulco-is-on-red-alert/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/villegas/wp-content/uploads/sites/130/2021/08/runningredli-1-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch1 id=\"but-the-work-must-go-on\"\u003eBut the work must go on!\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis has been a challenging month due to this new Delta Variant Hype. Acapulco officials have decided to put our city back on red alert which means businesses are closed, certain public services are canceled, and people are monitored. Even though this has hit our town we have decided to leave our doors open and continue with the work as usual. We truly feel the Lord has called us to continue, so we will.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Acapulco is on Red Alert!"},{"content":"“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.” Psalm 127:4 NKJV\nThanks for praying for Benjamin’s summer break from school, especially since we couldn’t visit the US or Japan (Lord willing, summer of 2022). Benjamin, totally on his own initiative, started helping with my International Fishers apologetics/evangelism ministry! He improved the graphic design of the title slides and Cambodian language Bible verse slides of my videos using skills (and software) he learned in school. He even wrote the rough draft (which I reviewed and edited) for a video entitled, Fact or Fiction: the Battle of Jericho. You can watch the video in the Cambodian language at: https://youtu.be/Bp172pctWGo and read the English script at: https://www.dropbox.com/s/7m5x8mottu2qyjw/Fact%20or%20Fiction%20Jericho.docx?dl=0\nThanks for praying for our health. It has improved so my video ministry could be more productive again. Since the last update, with Benjamin’s help, we could release three Apologetics/Evangelistic videos: 1. Covid 19 and the Bible 2. Fact or Fiction: The Battle of Jericho 3. Love and Sin.\nPlease pray for my Apologetics class, September 6-17 (via Zoom) at the Cambodia Bible Institute. Pray for wisdom, stamina (it is an intensive class), and the ability to communicate well over Zoom.\nKayo continues to be active helping organize the worship team for the online services. I video the worship team and help with the video editing. In Cambodia, only 15 people can gather so small churches/cell groups can meet but large church services must be online.\nKayo also continues to help local Cambodian organizations which help poor children and at-risk women in various ways. We were able to go to the countryside with one organization. Kayo shared her testimony to the group of children and parents at a food/clothes give away to help them make it through COVID-related poverty which compounds their previous economic problems.\nPlease pray for the safety of US citizens who live outside of the USA, not just missionaries but everyone (Christians and non-Christians). The situation in Afghanistan may encourage enemies of the US to attack or abuse US citizens abroad more now because they may think that the USA will not actively protect its citizens abroad (just stating my honest assessment, trying not to be political here). Of course, we trust God for our ultimate protection but many Americans abroad are not believers so they don’t have the same hope that we have. This is why we are mobilizing prayer cover and also will be a bit more vigilant (Cambodia is reasonably safe right now).\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/arrows-in-the-hand-of-a-warrior/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth.”\u003c/em\u003e Psalm 127:4 NKJV\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/08/240465763%5F4963029083713236%5F3299974550393022043%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThanks for praying for Benjamin’s summer break from school, especially since we couldn’t visit the US or Japan (Lord willing, summer of 2022). Benjamin, totally on his own initiative, started helping with my International Fishers apologetics/evangelism ministry! He improved the graphic design of the title slides and Cambodian language Bible verse slides of my videos using skills (and software) he learned in school. He even wrote the rough draft (which I reviewed and edited) for a video entitled, \u003cem\u003eFact or Fiction: the Battle of Jericho.\u003c/em\u003e You can watch the video in the Cambodian language at: \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/Bp172pctWGo\"\u003ehttps://youtu.be/Bp172pctWGo\u003c/a\u003e and read the English script at: \u003ca href=\"https://www.dropbox.com/s/7m5x8mottu2qyjw/Fact%20or%20Fiction%20Jericho.docx?dl=0\"\u003ehttps://www.dropbox.com/s/7m5x8mottu2qyjw/Fact%20or%20Fiction%20Jericho.docx?dl=0\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Arrows in the Hand of a Warrior"},{"content":"Praise the Lord\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country.\nA few days ago, I got the chance to visit a believer\u0026rsquo;s house. We spent some time with the people there, sharing the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word, having fellowship, and praying for them. I also visited a sister in the hospital who was suffering from pneumonia and prayed for her.\nOn the 21st, our children turned 3 years old. God was so faithful and helped them to grow thus far. On their birthday, we gathered with the staff and gave thanks to the Lord for His blessings. We also had fellowship together.\nOn our twins birthday, they got a bicycle as a gift. As they are growing in God\u0026rsquo;s Word, they are memorizing the Word of God. During the Friday online service and the Sunday service, they share the verse that they memorized.\nAfter a long time, we have been able to start Sunday services. Because of the lock-down, Sunday services had been closed.Mondays through Fridays we have daily office time where we learn the Word of God. Pastor 15 and his wife guide us and correct as the Word of God says.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for the S. family to grow in the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word. Please pray for my children to grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. Please pray for Ch. who is suffering from pneumonia.Pray for her healing and for her family to come to faith in Christ. Please pray for our ministry in our state to grow. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thy-word-have-i-hid-in-my-heart/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise the Lord\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/August-4.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/august-3-300x225.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eA few days ago, I got the chance to visit a believer\u0026rsquo;s house. We spent some time with the people there, sharing the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word, having fellowship, and praying for them. I also visited a sister in the hospital who was suffering from pneumonia and prayed for her.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thy Word Have I Hid in My Heart"},{"content":"Hello friends and family!\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been quite a while since I have had the pleasure of updating you on what is going on in my life and ministry. Thank you for all of your prayers for the delivery of my son, Fletcher! I went into labor on May 7th and delivered him safely at home at 1 am on May 10th. It was the most challenging thing I have ever done but praise be to God for keeping us and allowing us to persevere through your prayers for us. I needed every prayer and am so thankful for each of you.\nFletcher\u0026rsquo;s first mission trip to Mexico for the church planting conference Aug 6-7\nThe day he was born\nThree months old already!\nGetting better at tummy time\nOur family\nSince that blessed day there have been many inherent challenges in becoming a mom but God has been steadfastly faithful to carry us through those as well. Fletcher and I are both healthy and he is developing in leaps and bounds. He just rolled from his tummy to his back on his own today! I was able to take a full 12 weeks of maternity leave thanks to your generous financial support and I started back at work in my new position as financial assistant on the first Monday of August. Since then I have had the privilege of coming alongside our financial department to send funds all over the world in some routine and some short notice situations. Please pray for us as we are navigating several issues in wiring funds internationally. So far we have been able to find other means but it has taken a toll on the whole department and set us behind in other routine matters.\nIt is such a joy to be able to lift up the arms of our other financial staff members and simply be available to take over tasks that had been weighing heavily upon their shoulders. I also count it a great privilege to be able to step in and help get funds from our office and into the hands of the workers around the world so that Gospel centered ministry can take place among the unreached. Thank YOU for being a part of that! Because of your giving and God\u0026rsquo;s grace we were able to get the proper funds to several of our Bible College campuses on short notice so that they could start their semesters! Due to COVID restrictions they didn\u0026rsquo;t know if they would be able to begin so once they got the green light they wanted to start the following week and praise God, we were able to get them the money to do it! May God bless their semesters and bring many returns on your investment and mine.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray that we would be able to get funds to our workers without hinderance so that they can continue in the work God has called them to. Pray for our staff to remain focused and joyful in the work before us. Pray that God would bring me more financial partners to help offset the salary change from working full-time to now part-time. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blessed-returns/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s been quite a while since I have had the pleasure of updating you on what is going on in my life and ministry. Thank you for all of your prayers for the delivery of my son, Fletcher! I went into labor on May 7th and delivered him safely at home at 1 am on May 10th. It was the most challenging thing I have ever done but praise be to God for keeping us and allowing us to persevere through your prayers for us. I needed every prayer and am so thankful for each of you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessed Returns"},{"content":"Hello Team!\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been a very different season here just like everywhere else. The influence of the pandemic still exists. The news channels are continuously exhorting about the third wave in our state.\nHowever, I was so happy to meet my friend, Pastor 6*. We talked about our next semester teaching schedule, last semester experiences with the students, and the blessing to hear each and every student\u0026rsquo;s testimony of what they learned and experienced during the semester. I was so excited and humbled to see videos of their practical ministry and how they are getting trained for their future ministry. Last semester, I taught from the book of 1st Corinthians. This semester I am going to teach 2nd Corinthians and Colossians. I was very happy hearing what the students learned through 1st Corinthians. They are now able to see the difference between what is happening in the churches around and what the Word of God says about how churches should be organized and what Christianity is and what religion is, and problems in the church and solutions from the Word of God. They have learned how important it is to stick to the Word of God and not fall for reputation, money or other luxuries in life. I pray that they would be faithful in what they have learned, and come to learn in future semesters, and plant more churches.\nI have been visiting different churches and have been inquiring about young adults who are interested in joining the Bible College.\nThrough YouTube, I am able to reach a couple hundred people. So, I want to start to teach live through Facebook and YouTube in the up coming days. Please pray about this. There are people who are watching and responding, and I believe that there are more about to.\nI am always thankful to each one of you for sharing my thoughts and helping me to implement the ideas that God has gifted me with. Please pray for the students who have received their diploma and are about to finish their college in this coming semester. Blessings,\nPastor 7\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/therefore-my-heart-is-glad-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/August-1-183x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s been a very different season here just like everywhere else. The influence of the pandemic still exists. The news channels are continuously exhorting about the third wave in our state.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHowever, I was so happy to meet my friend, Pastor 6*. We talked about our next semester teaching schedule, last semester experiences with the students, and the blessing to hear each and every student\u0026rsquo;s testimony of what they learned and experienced during the semester. I was so excited and humbled to see videos of their practical ministry and how they are getting trained for their future ministry. Last semester, I taught from the book of 1st Corinthians. This semester I am going to teach 2nd Corinthians and Colossians. I was very happy hearing what the students learned through 1st Corinthians. They are now able to see the difference between what is happening in the churches around and what the Word of God says about how churches should be organized and what Christianity is and what religion is, and problems in the church and solutions from the Word of God. They have learned how important it is to stick to the Word of God and not fall for reputation, money or other luxuries in life. I pray that they would be faithful in what they have learned, and come to learn in future semesters, and plant more churches.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Therefore My Heart Is Glad"},{"content":"Hello Family and Friends!\nI hope that you’ve had a wonderful Summer! The days are still hot here in Southern California, but Fall will be here before we know it. Our kids have already officially started school up again (though school never really stops for homeschoolers, does it?).\nThis Summer reminds me of the importance of the crew it takes to send and care for missionaries. As Director of Missionary Care at SGWM, I help lead an army of people to support our missionaries. This includes our administrative staff and interns, but outside of our offices, there is a group that our own heroes, missionaries, look up to as their heroes: Missionary Care Teams.\nJust this Summer, teams of believers from our church have supported a family on furlough from North Africa; a family who left just a few weeks ago to establish themselves in Rosarito, Mexico; and will help support a family in just a few weeks on furlough from South Asia. We’re also watching support teams from other churches care for our affiliate missionaries (missionaries who are not directly from our church), like a woman who is on furlough from Spain. Would you prayerfully consider becoming part of a Missionary Care Team? Please reach out to me for more information on what that looks like!\nFinally, while it will probably be a while before I am able to commit to teaching more Skype classes to South Asia students, I was super blessed to be a part of the Zoom graduation for the last class I taught through the book of Hebrews a couple of weeks ago.\nPlease continue to pray that the Lord would open up doors and give direction on where He would like me to travel next. I take traveling seriously, as it costs money and precious time from my family, so I want to make sure that when I do travel, it is exactly where the Lord would have me to go to minister to missionaries. So far, I have not sensed open doors from Him to any specific area.\nPlease also pray for our CSOM students, as there has been some spiritual warfare that has led to changes in their plans that they did not anticipate.\nI love you all and thank you for your support and prayers!\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/it-takes-an-army-garcia-family-update-august-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Family and Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope that you’ve had a wonderful Summer! The days are still hot here in Southern California, but Fall will be here before we know it. Our kids have already officially started school up again (though school never really stops for homeschoolers, does it?).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/garcia/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2021/08/IMG%5F3159.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis Summer reminds me of the importance of the crew it takes to send and care for missionaries. As Director of Missionary Care at SGWM, I help lead an army of people to support our missionaries. This includes our administrative staff and interns, but outside of our offices, there is a group that our own heroes, missionaries, look up to as \u003cem\u003etheir\u003c/em\u003e heroes: Missionary Care Teams.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"It Takes An Army – Garcia Family Update August 2021"},{"content":" “One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.”\nPsalm 145:4\nDear Friends and family,\nGreetings from Pakistan, we praise God that we all are fine, we hope and pray that you and your families are also fine. Our Bible Study Groups, Brick maker’s group, Church, and team members are fine. The severity of the hot weather is also decreasing because of the monsoon, and ministry work goes on as routine.\nSpecial Training Program Near Desert\nIn the month of June we organized a Sunday School Teachers’ Training program in a city near Cholistan desert. This is a much neglected area. The church is not as active as it should have been there, and most of the people live tough and disadvantaged lives. The new generation has not been taken care of for the formal and spiritual education. We along with another ministry, which specifically works for the children, arranged a special three-day training program there.\nIt was very hot weather and we were expecting about 50 to 70 people there, but it was amazing to see that 200+ people were there for the training. It was a really great blessing for all of us. We not only provided training to these people but also free study materials for them to start Sunday Schools in their areas. These people came from about 17 different villages and towns from the surrounding areas.\nThis area has always been under the heavy influence of the prosperity teachers. Such activities like training and helping them to grow and start teaching their own children in the churches is something new for them. We are in touch with them and we will be having more trainings with them in the future. Please keep this area and our ministry work here in your prayers.\nFellowship with Online Students\nI teach three groups online every week. when God gives me opportunity to go and be with them personally, that is really great time. These times of fellowship really bless and refresh us all spiritually.\nDuring these times I normally teach on specific topics. During this fellowship time our topic was “True Worship” and it was really helpful for all of us to see contemporary worship music, trends, tendencies and the concept of worship during this modern time and then compare that with the teaching of the Word of God about “True Worship”.\nVacation with family and team members\nLast month we had an opportunity to participate in a conference on the topic of “Biblical Interpretation\u0026quot; (Hermeneutics) at a beautiful place in mountains. It was good to be at that refreshing and cool place for almost a week. Our whole team was really happy for this all. Our team members from the desert area had never seen mountains in their lives, so it was really amazing time for them to be there. We all had beautiful fellowship and and a very blessed time together.\nWe praise God for all that He has always been doing in our lives and also through our lives. We give Him all glory and praise Him for this. We are thankful to you all for your love, care, support and prayers. Thank you so much! We love you and pray for you and your families.\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/equipping-the-new-generation/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePsalm 145:4\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Pakistan, we praise God that we all are fine, we hope and pray that you and your families are also fine. Our Bible Study Groups, Brick maker’s group, Church, and team members are fine. The severity of the hot weather is also decreasing because of the monsoon, and ministry work goes on as routine.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Equipping the New Generation"},{"content":" “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”\n–1 John 5:14-15\nHello!! I would like to start by saying: GOD ANSWERS PRAYER, can I get an Amen?! I shared a list of prayer requests in my last newsletter, and God answered mightily!! In this newsletter, I would like us to praise the Lord together as I share with you what God has done in these past few weeks. As I have mentioned before, your prayers are powerful!!\nPraise Report #1: One of the prayer requests I shared was: “I am almost hitting the 2-year mark since I’ve left and been back to the US….” I asked you to kindly pray for the opportunity to come back and visit my family, friends, and church. And the Lord provided!! I am writing to you from my parents’ home in California and I will be here for the month of August! I arrived on July 31, and truly dedicated this first week to catching up on much-needed rest and family time! Thank you so much for praying!!\nI would love to see you all! I know that one month will go by fast, so I am having a report night at Calvary Chapel Downy on Aug 14th, hoping to see as many friends as possible. I will share testimonies of God’s faithfulness in these last 2 years, miracle stories, and photos of the school. I hope and pray you can make it!!\nPraise Report #2: I also asked you to please pray for more volunteers. One of the reasons why I was able to come on furlough was that God answered this prayer! In July, I was introduced to a young lady who is studying to be a teacher. She was looking for a school to work at and gain more experience. She was also available for the whole summer. After much prayer and consideration, she became part of our summer team! The Lord gave us an incredibly skilled volunteer and I’m so grateful!!\nPraise Report #3: One of the biggest prayer requests I shared with you was for the Lord to provide the funds to hire a maintenance worker and someone to prepare snacks and lunch. As only the Lord would do it, He exceedingly filled both positions. This was a huge answer to prayer!! Please keep your prayers coming!!\nPraise Report #4: Thank you for praying for the Lord’s continual provision over our wish list items and projects that still need to be done in our playground, classrooms, and other areas of the school. I have miracle stories of God’s provision that I will be sharing on the report night – Aug 14th. I can’t wait to share how your prayers have made a difference!!\nPraise Report #5: Upon arriving at LAX, I couldn’t wait to hug my family!! Thank you for praying for their continual protection, strength, and blessings over them. They are doing well and I was incredibly blessed to see how they are thriving in their relationship with the Lord.\nThank you, thank you, thank you for your support through prayer!! May the Lord bless you ever so abundantly! I hope to see you on the 14th and thank you in person! Until then, I leave you with this great quote:\n“The man or woman at home who prays often has as much to do with the effectiveness of the missionary on the field, and consequently with the results of his or her labors, as the missionary.” – R. A. Torrey\nGod bless you,\nZully\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/hello-from-california-god-answers-prayer/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e–1 John 5:14-15\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello!! I would like to start by saying: GOD ANSWERS PRAYER, can I get an Amen?! I shared a list of prayer requests in my last newsletter, and God answered mightily!! In this newsletter, I would like us to praise the Lord together as I share with you what God has done in these past few weeks. As I have mentioned before, your prayers are powerful!!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hello From California... God Answers Prayer!"},{"content":"Greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.\nOnce again, I thank God for His abundant love and mercy in our lives. Indeed, He is always faithful to His promises. He looks after us every day and fulfills our every need. My family is safe and healthy and doing well by His grace. My son memorizes the Word of God and studies the Word of God daily. Every evening he leads the family prayer by opening with prayer and singing songs. We teach stories and action songs to our daughter. We also do our daily devotions through prayer and Bible study.\nLet me inform you about my ministry. For the past three weeks, we have opened up our Sunday services due to some lifted lock-down restrictions. All of our believers are fine and doing well. Every evening we also have fellowship through a conference call. We start with prayer and worship and then share from the Word of God. We also have the opportunity for intercessory prayers.\nSpecial thanks to all who support us financially. May my gracious Father bless them abundantly!\nOnce again, I would like to thank you for your prayers. By the power of prayers, the land has been divided. We have been praying for this. Thank God for His answer.\nPrayer Requests Please pray for brother M. He is having burning pain through his body. Please pray for sister P. She has some physical problems in her head and abdomen. Pray for my church\u0026rsquo;s growth and development. Pray that brother S.\u0026rsquo;s life is changed. Please pray that very soon a house of worship may be built on that land. Blessings,\nPastor 8* and Family\n\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/standing-on-gods-promises-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/20210711%5F103629-290x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOnce again, I thank God for His abundant love and mercy in our lives. Indeed, He is always faithful to His promises. He looks after us every day and fulfills our every need.  My family is safe and healthy and doing well by His grace. My son memorizes the Word of God and studies the Word of God daily. Every evening he leads the family prayer by opening with prayer and singing songs. We teach stories and action songs to our daughter. We also do our daily devotions through prayer and Bible study.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Standing on God's Promises"},{"content":"Hello there!\nI don’t even know where to begin, the Lord has been doing so many amazing things in and around me. A lot has happened since my last newsletter in March. How about I start by telling you about what happened in April. Hope was still in the office downloading all her knowledge in me to equip me for the work before me. Thanks Hope! We were hard at work administrating all the prep work that goes into Calvary School of Missions. Which I can’t believe I get to be a part, to think it’s been a year since I myself started as a student at CSOM.\nNow let’s move on to May where a lot happened, as I continued to work in SGWM headquarters, while diligently studying to able to teach in our internship class alongside my amazing brothers and sisters. (Side note, I like to call them brethren and sisthren. 😊) We also are serving on Sundays in different capacities, and it is such a joy to be a part of such an amazing church like Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. I am eternally grateful to the Lord for leading me into such a loving body of believers.\nI had the honor of hosting a table at our Women’s tea\u0026ndash; what a great time of fellowship! Also I had the joy of having my mom with me at tea and also on Mother’s Day. In that same week I had a surprise birthday party which was so much fun! Nancy and I were given the privilege of coordinating a Taco \u0026lsquo;bout Jesus event. We went to LA to get some décor and piñatas to make the event as authentic as possible. In other news, my nephew Mateo was born on May 30th. He is a true testimony of God’s grace as he was born two months premature but he is now home and doing very well.\nThe Taco \u0026lsquo;bout Jesus event was so much fun, we had a great time eating tacos, breaking piñatas and so much more. But the greatest part of it was hearing from Deanna and Kristin Wilkinson “taco \u0026lsquo;bout” Jesus and His loving hand guide them through truly difficult times in their lives. Isn’t it amazing how God comforts His children in times of darkness when everything seems so hopeless? The Bible is full of so much hope, one of my favorite scriptures is, Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” I pray that God would be a comfort to you through any difficult season you are going through or will go through in this lifetime.\nAs we see hear about so much turmoil going on around the world it breaks my heart to see how people are suffering in the midst of this pandemic. While restrictions are changing on a weekly basis here in America, just stop and think how difficult it must be living in other countries that don’t have the same resources we do. Please join me in praying for the those that don’t have access to so many resources, but most importantly for those who don’t have access to the Gospel. You see there are too many people going to hell on a daily basis who have never heard of the salvation offered through Jesus. I have the honor and privilege of coming alongside missionaries around the world to pray and help in whatever they need to accomplish the work of the Gospel. We are not all called to go but we are all called to care.\nAs I write this, CSOM is going strong into it’s 4th week and I have been able to see God’s hand working in an awesome way. The Lord has opened a door for CSOM to go down to Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico. I am excited as I will be joining them starting this weekend at the Church Planting conference and then traveling with them to Monterrey. I am so grateful that I am to help administratively, but also be able to be on the frontlines to encourage the churches we will be visiting. Pray also for divine appointments to be able to share the Gospel with whomever the Lord leads us to.\nIf you would like prayer or to just chat please reply to this email, I would love to hear from you.\nTo learn more about what the Lord is doing through the various parts of the world through SGWM missionaries please click here. Also if you would like to receive a quarterly newsletter from SGWM and read about the amazing work the Lord is doing please click here.\nPraise Reports\nSouls being saved through out the world Baby Mateo! Great time with my family A new place to live So many blessings! Prayer Requests\nThat eyes would be open to the truth of the Gospel Those suffering during this pandemic CSOM and the trip to Monterrey SGWM staff and the spiritual warfare By His Grace,\nMaribel Blanco\nMom and I at the Women\u0026rsquo;s Tea\nGabby and I at the\nMy girls at the Women\u0026rsquo;s Tea; love them!\nMom and I at the aquarium\nMy beautiful mama!\nMy brother Michael and I at the aquarium\nMateo\u0026ndash; He is a gift from God!\nJames working hard at an outreach\nMe holding Mateo for the first time!\nCSOM Students making COVID relief bags\nIntense Bible training with Pastor Trent\nGabby is about to have her first TJ taco!\nGabby and I driving down to Mexico. It was her first time!\nMaking a safe playing area for the kiddos of this impoverished area\nElaine and I enjoying food and fellowship\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-of-hope/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello there!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI don’t even know where to begin, the Lord has been doing so many amazing things in and around me. A lot has happened since my last newsletter in March. How about I start by telling you about what happened in April. Hope was still in the office downloading all her knowledge in me to equip me for the work before me. Thanks Hope! We were hard at work administrating all the prep work that goes into Calvary School of Missions. Which I can’t believe I get to be a part, to think it’s been a year since I myself started as a student at CSOM.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God of Hope"},{"content":" EUROPE\nMitch and Christine Sorensen – Nice, France\nDear prayer warrior, thank you for your faithfulness in regards to us.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for Christine\u0026rsquo;s dad who is not saved in the hospital and slowly going the way of all flesh.\n2. Pray for Christine who has been working hard and very tired now after all her efforts.\n3. Pray that as the government here is planning obligatory vaccines we will stay strong in our convictions.\n4. Pray that as the fear level increases we will be there with the hope of the Gospel and a Promise of Peace.\n5. Pray that we will speak the Truth in Love whoever we come in contact with.\nGod bless you as you serve Him,\nMitch and Christine Email Blog\nAFRICA\nBrian and Jill Kanyike\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Uganda is once again in full lock down due to covid. Pray for the Kanyike Family to stay safe.\n2. Also pray for accomplishing everyday tasks and ministry as no personal or public transport is allowed.\n3. As most businesses and markets are closed accept for food many people are suffering to provide for their families. Pray for Brian and Arise Christian Fellowship as they try to reach out and help those they are able.\n4; Pray for safety as crime is so bad during this difficult time that the American Embassy issued a warning about it.\n5. Brian is videoing the Sunday services and putting them online. Pray that the church members and many others would watch and grow closer to the Lord during this time.\n6. Pray for Jill and the children as they continue to homeschool. Pray that they all get along and learn without going stir crazy during this lockdown.\n7. Pray for things to get better in Uganda health and safety wise so the lockdown can end in 6 weeks as proposed.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana – Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA: Pray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nMatt and Noelle Harris - Gulu, Uganda\nThank you for standing with us in prayer.\nPraise God:\n- That the harvest has come in, which is extremely helpful for those effected by the lockdown here.\n- The work that He has been doing through the home churches that have been started because of the meeting restrictions.\n- For our families current health.\nPlease Pray:\n1. That our community receives the Gospel through our home churches.\n2. For our daughter Apio to settle into her new life with us.\n3. For our teammate Luke who broke his shin in two places last week.\nThank you for praying.\nIn Christ,\nMatt, Noelle, Apio, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nNancy Schipke - Mazatlan, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n-1. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s guidance, peace and healing.\n-2. Many people in our church as experiencing COVID at this time.\nThank you. Nancy - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nPraise Report!\n-We are at full capacity with her after school program/soup kitchen. We are truly blessed and helping these children all summer with a, “math and literature camp.“ We are helping them with fun math games to learn fractions and learning to read for fun.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For our annual VBS that we will be having July 26th - 30th from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Pray for God‘s provision and for a special encounter with Jesus for every single child. There is a limit of only 60 children that can come.\n2. Funds for a construction project. We plan to demolish an existing building and build another building to help support our retaining wall. It would be a multi-purpose room. Pray for funds as we are proceeding in faith that God will provide.\n3. For a speedy healing of my right knee. I am limited in the activity that I can do makes it very difficult at times. Patience for me in this process.\n4. For an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our church leaders and members. Former servants in the children’s ministry.\n5. For much-needed wisdom, Knowledge, and guidance from God and all that I do say and think.\n6. Blessings on the adult singles group that I recently started up. That the girls would have a hunger for God‘s word.\nThank you so much for your prayers for me and the people of Mexico. I cherish them\nServing Jesus always,\nGod bless!\nDeanna – Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray – Ensenada, Mexico\nThank you For Your Support and Prayer for Us.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our Church to be growing day to day.\n2. Pray our church believers to be grow in God word.\n3. Pray for our Church member as well as our Family.\n4. Pray For our Ministry to be fruitful.\n5. Pray our health to be physically fit so we can serve God.\n6. Pray God will allow to open Lockdown soon and we gather and Praise our God together.\n7. Pray safety to all students who were studying in bible school as well as safety of all staff.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar – Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nThank you all for praying for our family, it means the world to us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our students at the Calvary School of Missions this Summer, that God would use that school to raise up the next generation of missionaries\n2. Pray for Joel as he helps lead the rest of the church and SGWM staff in Pastor Trent and Pastor Tim’s absence\n3.Pray for our missionaries out on the field who are under constant spiritual attack as they do the hard work of reaching the unreached with the Gospel\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara – Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna – S. Asia and Africa\nPrayer Requests:\n1 Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s timing for rescheduling our trip to Nepal. We need God\u0026rsquo;s wisdom and timing to know if that will work and be the best time.\n2. Pray for our time of teaching at the Calvary School of Missions the last week of July. We will be traveling as a family to Mexico to teach and invest in the students. Pray that all that is shared with the students would bear fruit as they are prepared to fulfill the Great Commission.\n3. Pray for leading for the fall semesters and for all the details in Asia for the Bible Colleges. Pray that the governments in S. Asia would lift restrictions for the closing of schools so that meeting in secret would not be necessary.\n4. Pray for the next church planters that are being raised up. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s timing to send them out through the 10/40 window.\n5. Pray for Uganda and all of our missionary friends and national pastors / leaders as the country is in a 40 day strict lockdown now.\nThank you for praying,\nBond and Heather – Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1- Protection for our church and family of the flare up of the Corona Virus.\n2- God\u0026rsquo;s blessing on our upcoming Church Planting Conference in August!\n3- God\u0026rsquo;s blessing upon our next church plant, CCHermosillo sent out in August!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family situation. Pray that God will deliver us from all evil.\n2. Please pray for my dad’s health and complete healing.\n3. Praise the Lord that He has blessed us with four little girls! Please pray that they will grow in knowledge of and love for Jesus and trust in Him completely..Thank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family’s health, especially my dad who was in the hospital this week. Pray that they will be able to accurately diagnose and treat him, and pray for complete healing.\n2. Praise the Lord, He has opened up nursing home ministry for us again! Please pray that many lives will be touched and many will be saved.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 3 – 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for all of the people I interacted with in the last month, that God will touch their hearts so that someday they will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\n2. Please pray for our nation, that God will save this country. Also, pray that God will heal our nation from the coronavirus.\n3. Please pray for Mrs. BD from BPL; she has some land problems in her family.\n4. Please pray for me and my family, that we will grow in the Word of God.\n5. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local church. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nP and R\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nThank you all you prayer warrior for your prayers\nPraise Report:\n-God had bless all student in last semester in Bible College and they are serving in their home town.\n-We are able to serve the family who had lost they mom last month.\n-We are able to visit some of our Church members in this semester break.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for coming up new semester of Bible college that God may bring student.\n3. Please pray for Leprosy colony that again God may open door to serve there again.\n4. Please pray for new believer in Church that they may grow in His Grace and word.\n5. Please pray coming up semester that we may run Bible college smoothly like last semester.\nThank you for your prayers and support.\nGod bless you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher and Amos Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise God for He\u0026rsquo;s been so good and faithful so far.\nPrayer Request\n1.We are still under lockdown here. Transportation in partially open, but schools, colleges, large gatherings and churches are closed. We have been continuing our online services and home visitation. They are being blessed. Our Bible College is on vacation, and the students have gone to their respective homes. Please keep us in your prayers.\nWe appreciate your continued prayers that\u0026rsquo;s a great blessing for us as we Serve Him.\nBlessings! Prakash and Muna - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for a certain area where there are local pastors asking to be able to go to a Bible college/training center. This place is connected to the border road of our country. In the future, it is planned for this road to go from the capital to the district on the border.\n2. Please pray that this church will have sound Biblical doctrine teaching.\n3. Pray that God will change the thinking that Christians are low in the caste system.\n4. Pray for the People of this area that discriminate Christians as low caste.\n5. Please pray for the church to be able to own some land. The number of believers is increasing. They have been collecting money to buy land and build their own church so everyone will be able to fit inside.\n6. Pray for the local pastors and leaders. They are doing different social activities.\nPlease pray that these activities can flourish and be fruitful.\nThank you for your prayers for us!\nIn Him,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog |\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for believers and villages here was a lot of flood in this month due to which people\u0026rsquo;s houses were broken and now they are making tant on the highway road. God would provide food and treatment for them.\n2. Please continue pray for Pinky and her husband. She left her village because she is persecuted by her village and family because of faith in the Christ.\n3. Please continue pray for Surendra healing. He is suffering from rare disease Olmsted.\n4. Please continue pray for safety from anti Christian groups and covid 19.\n5. Please continue pray church’s members to be faced persecution boldly and understand word of God deeply.\n6. Please pray for a little land for Christian graveyard.\n7. Please pray for some audio bible for those believers who don’t know reading and writing.\nThanks for your prayer, love and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 11\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nThank you for your prayers. We thank God for you, our prayer partners, who uphold us in prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the ministry in our area, that people will be saved.\n2. Please pray for the believers in our church, that they would continue to grow in the knowledge of the Lord.\n3. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s grace and wisdom to do the work of the Lord.\n4. Please pray for our health. Vinita and I are not doing well.\n5. Pray for our daughter\u0026rsquo;s safety as she has been working as a nurse.\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the work the Lord has set before us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for our country as we are suffering from severe new strains of Covid.\n2. Pray for our family to stay healthy.\n3. Pray for our students and staff as they are also waiting for school to reopen.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus, praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village\n3. Please pray for my health and safety\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nWorker 2\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my past experiences.\nThanking you.\nYours in Christ,\nWorker 4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n1. Please pray for my daily spiritual growth in the Lord.\n2. Please pray that I may be able to teach God\u0026rsquo;s word properly so that the Church will grow continually.\n3. Please pray that my parents and the rest of my family members will know the Lord.\n4. Please pray for the need of a church building.\n5. Please pray for our church members, for protection from the pandemic that is all around.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please be praying for the work that’s happening here in our city.\n2. Pray for our new church plant to keep growing.\n3. Pray for the new place that we want to start a Bible study.\n4. Pray for our slum ministry.\n5. Pray for our youth ministry.\n6. Pray for our worship leading ministry and park ministry.\n7. Pray for another new church plant we are doing (It began 3 months ago.\n8. There are more places that we need to reach; please be praying for God’s timing and resources.\n9. We are praying for food distribution in the areas where people are suffering and needy and hungry. Many of the daily wages workers don\u0026rsquo;t get to eat properly even when things are normal, but now everything is shut down and they have no chance to go out to find work. Now people are not only dying from corona, they are also dying of starvation.\n10. Please be praying for our Bible college.\n11. Please be praying for our financial needs for Bible and food distribution\nThank you for praying.\nWith love in Christ,\nWorker and Mrs. 6\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the ministry in this lockdown, that God will open the doors for Gods words.\n2. Please pray for my children that they my grow in Lord’s Fear and knowledge.\n3. Pray for God’s wisdom and strength to take care of my children and learn His Word.\n4. Please pray that the lord would intervene for the problem the world is facing.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for brother M, having problems like fire in his body.\n2. Please pray for sister P, who is having some physical problems.\n3. Pray for my church’s growth and development.\n4, Pray for brother Sh’s life to change.\n5. Please pray that we will be able to build God’s house on the land.\nMay God bless you\nThank you,\nWorker 8 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\n3. Please pray that God will protect all students and staff of the Pastors School from all illnesses and diseases; pray that they will remain healthy.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 9\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my ministry.\n2. Please pray for all of our believers, that they will grow in their knowledge of Bible verses.\n3. Please pray, we have some new men who want to know about Jesus. I shared the Gospel with them, so pray that they will come to Christ.\n4. Please pray for my family.\n5. Please pray for my village, that God will make open doors for me to share with them His Word.\n6. Please pray for a new mobile phone, because mine is not working well. Today, I was using it for Sunday service and it turned off on me. I have tried to have it repaired 5 or 6 times already.\nMay God bless you.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 13\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers.\n-Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us until now in this lockdown! God blessed me, and all in the house. We are growing in the Word of God. We are happy that the new boys are coming home to their villages. We are getting the opportunity to talk with them and teach them the Word.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s complete healing from his fall.\n3. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n4. Pray for me, because I am making a church building. Pray that God will give me wisdom and understanding to do it correctly.\n5. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n6. Pray for me, that God will open new doors for me to share the Gospel.\n7. Pray for one brother who I have been sharing the Gospel to; pray that he will come to Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you\nWorker 10\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the people, who don\u0026rsquo;t have jobs. And also those who have lost their friends and family members in this pandemic.\n2. Pray for our church people, for their faith, that they may be good students of God\u0026rsquo;s Word and pray for our online meetings, that we can find more opportunities with new people.\n3. Pray for the villagers, that people would be strong in their faith. Pray for food because there is no good transportation and their grocery markets are so far from the village. It is very difficult to survive especially during this pandemic.\n4. Pray for a piece of land for a church building, that we can have fellowship without any objections and have our own church building.\n5. Pray for me, that I would lead our believers well, and for my health also.\n6. Pray for a computer to continue to send my updates with, and to do our online fellowship with. It is very difficult to use my phone to write newsletters; a computer would be very helpful to keep in touch.\n7. Pray for the new people who have come to Christ recently; pray that they will grow with the Lord and with his kindness.\nThank you for your kindness!!\nGod bless you\nWorker 12\nWorker 7 – 10/40 Window\n**\nPrayer Requests:**\n1. Pray for the online teachings I am preparing.\n2. Pray for our country, as a new wave of disease has come, not only corona but other diseases. People are living in fear and trouble and loneliness.\n3. Praise God that He has kept us safe and kept my YouTube ministry open!\nThank you,\nWorker 7\nWorker 5 – 10/40 Window\n1. Pray that God will protect us from the present situation.\n2. Pray for our neighbors, that they will come to know the Lord.\n3. Pray for my daughter who is studying nursing.\nThank you so much for the encouragement and partnership! Worker 5\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping\n\u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-aug-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMitch and Christine Sorensen – Nice, France\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Sorensen-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDear prayer warrior, thank you for your faithfulness in regards to us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Pray for Christine\u0026rsquo;s dad who is not saved in the hospital and slowly going the way of all flesh.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. Pray for Christine who has been working hard and very tired now after all her efforts.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. Pray that as the government here is planning obligatory vaccines we will stay strong in our convictions.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM AUG PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nWhat do you call 180 AMPED UP kids that are ready to have some fun and learn about Jesus? You call it the Calvary Rosarito Summer Vacation Bible School (VBS)! In July, we were blessed to once again host our annual VBS and our church sold our pre-selected attendance goals in just one week! This summer, our theme is “Treasures in the Eyes of the Lord”, and each one of the children (ages 3 to 12) learned every day about how precious they are as treasures of the Lord!\nEach morning of this summer camp began with a fun and energetic time of worship and dancing! Seeing these children jump around to songs all about Jesus would fill anyone’s heart with joy! After the worship time, comes the team-wide screaming contest! (I don’t think that’s what they called it, but that’s what it looked like and sounded like to me!) This ear-splitting event helped the leaders decide which age group was ready first to leave the sanctuary and go on their treasure hunt! The most passionate team then headed out first, followed by the rest!\nThe children’s day continued with non-stop activities! Over the course of the day, each color coded team stopped by one of five themed stations where they completed a fun activity, followed by a short Bible lesson. As I watched the children participate, I couldn’t find one child that wasn’t full engaged and enjoying themselves! THANK YOU LORD!\nA special blessing to me was to see the 60 volunteers that committed to serve and teach these precious children! We had moms and dads helping, we had retired folks helping, and we had a bunch of youth helping too! All of these volunteers served under the well-organized leadership of our church’s children’s ministry Pastor Oliver Zuniga! We were also blessed to have one of our partner churches (Calvary Chapel Westgrove) bring their high school team down to help us out with our VBS all week long!\nJesus said in Matthew 19:14, “ let the little children come unto me” and we were blessed to witness that happening, again and again throughout VBS week! Each and every day, the children were given the opportunity to place their faith in Jesus, and we saw many children take this most important step for the very first time during VBS!\nAs a Pastor, there is no greater joy for me than to see our church taken over by smiling kids that are enjoying the Lord and receiving the opportunity to learn about Him! As I was working in my office this week, I couldn’t stop smiling as I heard shouts of laughter and cries of joy occurring again and again!\nOnce again, I want to thank you for partnering with us in this great missions work. It is through your prayers, that God provides our spiritual needs, and through your financial gifts, that God provides our physical needs! We love you and are thankful for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless the preparation for our upcoming church planting conference! (August 6-7)\n#2- That God would provide for the financial needs of our family, church, and church plants!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a wonderful Vacation Bible School where many children placed their faith in Jesus for the first time!\n#2- Praise God that we had a great turn out for our new evening church planting course! (18 sign ups!)\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/august-2021-vincent-family-mission-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/07/18882137%5F10158643866255532%5F5991414217716550534%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat do you call 180 AMPED UP kids that are ready to have some fun and learn about Jesus? You call it the Calvary Rosarito Summer Vacation Bible School (VBS)! In July, we were blessed to once again host our annual VBS and our church sold our pre-selected attendance goals in just one week! This summer, our theme is “Treasures in the Eyes of the Lord”, and each one of the children \u003cem\u003e(ages 3 to 12)\u003c/em\u003e learned every day about how precious they are as treasures of the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"August 2021 Vincent Family Mission Update"},{"content":"Hello Dear Pastors and Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nThe government of our country is taking all necessary steps to ensure that we are well prepared to face the challenge and threat posed by the growing pandemic of COVID-19, the Corona Virus. But, ultimately, God is our protector. The Bible says in Nahum 1:7 “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him.” By God’s grace we are blessed with sound health and our daily needs. We have been praying for all of you, dear ministry partners. May God bless you all according to His riches and glory.\nIn our family devotion we are studying the book of Revelation. Apart from my personal Bible study, I have been reading a book called, “How to be a Christian in an unChristian World” by Fritz Ridenour. My wife is studying the book of Isaiah and my daughter is memorizing Bible verses.\nLast month, my daughter’s new school semester started. Now, online classes are going on. My wife also goes to school and conducts online classes.\nI had the opportunity to share the Gospel to Mr. P.M. who is a village registrar/accountant. It was a good time interacting with him.\nWe had a small family gathering during a house warming at a relative’s house. It was a blessing to share and also listen to others share.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for all the people whom I interacted with last month. May God touch their hearts so that someday they come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. Please pray for our nation\u0026ndash;that God may save this country. Also, that God may heal this nation from the Corona virus. Please pray for Mrs. BD, her family has land trouble. Please pray for me and my family\u0026ndash;that we may grow in the Word of God. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local church. Blessings,\nPastor 3* and Family\n\\* Names and Faces have been changed omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/standing-on-gods-promises/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Dear Pastors and Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe government of our country is taking all necessary steps to ensure that we are well prepared to face the challenge and threat posed by the growing pandemic of COVID-19, the Corona Virus. But, ultimately, God is our protector. The Bible says in Nahum 1:7 \u003cem\u003e“The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him.”\u003c/em\u003e By God’s grace we are blessed with sound health and our daily needs. We have been praying for all of you, dear ministry partners. May God bless you all according to His riches and glory.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Standing on God's Promises"},{"content":"“ In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in C hrist Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18\nI’m thankful that this passage says “In everything” instead of “For everything”. We can be thankful in the midst of various trials even when we can’t be thankful for the trials themselves because we can’t see the big picture.\nThe past month has been an “in everything” kind of time. We have had a lot sicknesses, some more serious than others. One hospital wanted to admit me (Darryl) as an in-patient for high fever (probably a stomach flu) but the government requires a COVID test before they could treat me. I was too sick to travel around the city looking for a COVID test, so I had to ride out the sickness at home. Kayo mobilized prayer and my high fever went away soon. A Cambodian Christian doctor prescribed some medicine for other symptoms online, free of charge. We give thanks that I recovered just in time to record our mission report/sermon video for Tokyo Chapel and then go on a prescheduled family trip to the seaside. Kayo has also had some minor/annoying aliments but also recovered just in time so that we haven’t missed any important ministry or other activities.\nThis month, because of sickness, other projects, and travel, I could only release one video in Cambodian with English subtitles: “Who Created God?” Kayo also translated the video into Japanese for our mission presentation. I plan to upload it to the internationalfishers.com website soon. Currently, I have two more videos in process so we should be able to get back on schedule and track with video production in August.\nOn a side note, a Cambodian Christian organization called Bethel Grace Mission took a copy of all 40+ International Fishers videos in the Cambodian language with English and Cambodian scripts. They plan to use them as teaching materials for teens and adults in various locations.\nKayo continues to be active with the international church’s worship team, ministering to Japanese in Cambodia, and advising Precious Women Organization (which ministers to at-risk Cambodian women). Benjamin has spent the summer reading apologetics books and helping me with script writing for an upcoming video. He will start seventh grade in just a couple more weeks.\nWe have much to be thankful for including people like you who faithfully encourage and support our ministries during times like these.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/in-everything-give-thanks/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“ \u003cem\u003eIn everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in\u003c/em\u003e C \u003cem\u003ehrist Jesus for you.”\u003c/em\u003e 1 Thessalonians 5:18\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’m thankful that this passage says “In everything” instead of “For everything”. We can be thankful in the midst of various trials even when we can’t be thankful for the trials themselves because we can’t see the big picture.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe past month has been an “in everything” kind of time. We have had a lot sicknesses, some more serious than others. One hospital wanted to admit me (Darryl) as an in-patient for high fever (probably a stomach flu) but the government requires a COVID test before they could treat me. I was too sick to travel around the city looking for a COVID test, so I had to ride out the sickness at home. Kayo mobilized prayer and my high fever went away soon. A Cambodian Christian doctor prescribed some medicine for other symptoms online, free of charge. We give thanks that I recovered just in time to record our mission report/sermon video for Tokyo Chapel and then go on a prescheduled family trip to the seaside. Kayo has also had some minor/annoying aliments but also recovered just in time so that we haven’t missed any important ministry or other activities.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"In Everything Give Thanks"},{"content":" We are still under lock-down here. Transportation is partially open, but schools, colleges, mass gatherings and churches are closed.\nWe have been continuing our online services and house visitations. We are continuing to have weekly online worship services, children\u0026rsquo;s fellowships, Bible study and prayer meetings, and young adult Bible studies. We also have daily women\u0026rsquo;s prayer meetings online. They are being blessed.\nOur Bible College is on vacation. All of the students have gone back to their respective places.\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blessed-in-ministry/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Prakash-July-3-300x267.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are still under lock-down here. Transportation is partially open, but schools, colleges, mass gatherings and churches are closed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have been continuing our online services and house visitations. We are continuing to have weekly online worship services, children\u0026rsquo;s fellowships, Bible study and prayer meetings, and young adult Bible studies. We also have daily women\u0026rsquo;s prayer meetings online. They are being blessed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur Bible College is on vacation. All of the students have gone back to their respective places.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessed in Ministry"},{"content":"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Romans 12:12 Dear Friends and Family, We pray you are all doing well and enjoying this summer. We have heard that many places around the world are now opening back up. We praise God for those answered prayers.\nIn Uganda it is a different story. Covid variants are ravaging the country and the people. It seems so strange because last year when the rest of the world was really suffering, here in Uganda we had hardly any cases and very little death. Now that we are hearing praise reports from other countries we find ourselves back in a strict lockdown with more cases and death weekly than the last wave. All businesses besides food vendors and essential services are closed. No public or private vehicles allowed. To go shopping people must walk or ride a bicycle. You can have groceries delivered but there is a curfew at 5. If someone works in a food market the government has asked them to sleep there. They have provided mosquitoes nets to the vendors since many of the stalls are out doors.\nMany of our church members work in the market place. The churches, schools and all public gatherings are banned completely. Police are out in full force on the streets ensuring everyone is obeying. Failure to obey the lockdown rules or to be caught with your mask down can mean 2 months in prison. One of the problems the country is facing is lack of vaccines. They had an initial push for the vaccine but quickly ran out when people who had received the first shot had not yet received the second dose and less then 1,000,000 people were vaccinated. Recently the government procured enough vaccines to finish giving those the 2nd dose. The end of next month is when they are expecting that they can begin to vaccinate again. The president has said he can not relax the covid measures until 5-7 million are vaccinated . While we understand having the SOPs for people’s safety we are hoping this strict lock down will not last that long. During the last lockdown the government tried to assist the very poor with food but this time they are not. They have said they will give the equivalent of $30 to the very needy, only time will tell how this turns out. We have been trying to help the members of Arise Christian Fellowship and those in our community who are in need the best we can.\nThe last time we were in lockdown and the church was closed Brian would put his written message online and send in messages for the church to read because many of our church members do not have smart phones or computers. This lock down he has been doing the same but is also doing a video service for those who can view it. With the severity of this wave and with so many deaths close to home we felt that being able to see their pastor and hear the message would be comforting.\nFor those who can’t view Brian is trying his best to stay in contact through phone calls. Last year many people in Uganda did not even believe covid was real because most did not know someone personally affected. This year at least 3 church members have lost a parent and many others a family member. In the missionary community, we have lost 3 missionaries, one a young lady who had just given birth 2 weeks earlier and leaves behind her husband and a 2 year old as well. We continue to pray for these families who have lost loved ones and for this pandemic to come to an end.\nWe often say God’s timing is perfect. Recently we have seen how true this is. Right before the lockdown we got to experience two wedding celebrations. My oldest nephew had invited me to come and be apart of his wedding in Ohio. I wasn’t sure if I should go because I knew I couldn’t take the kids but since the last five times I went home sickness and death were the main reason everyone agreed I needed to go home for a happy occasion. Brian and I went for a week and had an amazing time with my family as well as me being able to get an extensive eye exam that I was needing. Besides the wedding we also were able to see my youngest nephew graduate from high school. The timing was perfect.\nWhile we were there is when Uganda really began to get bad. We made it back just a couple days before the total lockdown. Literally the day before the president closed the churches our drummer, Timothy and our bass player, Ruth had their wedding with all their friends and family present. If any of these wonderful events had not taken place at the time they did, either they would not have happened or we could not have been apart of them. God’s timing is perfect and we will trust and pray for His perfect timing to bring and end to this lockdown and to the covid pandemic.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee and Liana PRAYER REQUESTS · Thank the Lord for the answered prayers and for those we know He will still answer. Praise the Lord for His perfect timing. · Pray for the Country of Uganda as they are suffering from a severe second wave of covid. · Pray for safety in Uganda as theft and criminal activity is on the increase due to people not being able to work during the lockdown. · Pray for the families who have lost ones to find comfort in the Lord during this time of mourning. · Pray for Brian as he prepares messages and tries to reach as many people and church members as he can. Pray for Brian and Arise Christian Fellowship as they also try to meet urgent physical needs of the community. · Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-8/","summary":"\u003ch1 id=\"rejoice-in-hope-be-patient-in-tribulation-be-constant-in-prayer-romans-1212\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eRejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Romans 12:12\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"dear-friends-and-family\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe pray you are all doing well and enjoying this summer. We have heard that many places around the world are now opening back up. We praise God for those answered prayers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Uganda it is a different story. Covid variants are ravaging the country and the people. It seems so strange because last year when the rest of the world was really suffering, here in Uganda we had hardly any cases and very little death. Now that we are hearing praise reports from other countries we find ourselves back in a strict lockdown with more cases and death weekly than the last wave. All businesses besides food vendors and essential services are closed. No public or private vehicles allowed. To go shopping people must walk or ride a bicycle. You can have groceries delivered but there is a curfew at 5. If someone works in a food market the government has asked them to sleep there. They have provided mosquitoes nets to the vendors since many of the stalls are out doors.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":"Dear Pastors, Leaders and Church Family,\nGreetings! I appreciate your prayers, support and love for the Gospel. During this pandemic, so many organizations closed. Pastors are struggling for their daily needs. Praise God for Calvary Chapel! They always take care of me as a mother and fulfill all of my needs. I always thank our Lord Jesus for having me partner with a great church family.\nLast month, 4 church members died due to Covid-19. Before dying, they told their family members and relatives to do their funeral in a Christian manner, but we do not have a Christian graveyard. Their families came to ask us to do the funerals like Christians do, but the Hindus will not give us permission to use their graveyard. So many problems came during their funerals, because all of the people’s family and relatives are Hindus. But praise God for His grace upon us, everything went smoothly.\nA lady faced persecution boldly even when 400 people were against her. Once again, I am going to share a testimony of a woman named P*. She is the only believer in her family. She accepted Jesus about 5 or 6 years ago, and was baptized on June 26th, 2018. She has two kids and a husband.\nSister P\u0026rsquo;s* husband became mental last year because he overdosed on drugs. Now he is roaming in different villages. Sister P* sold a little part of land for treatment, but he did not get better.\nSister P* is very faithful and strong in her faith. Every Tuesday, for the last 4 years, Bible study has been taking place in her home. Last month, her father in law died so everyone tried to force her to do idol worship because, according to the culture and tradition, after funerals families have to do idol worship for 14 days. But, she boldly said, \u0026ldquo;I am Christian. I will not do idol worship.\u0026rdquo; Her family members and neighbors became angry. Then, her neighbors and family members started to insult, abuse and curse her. They took her in the village court and accused her of changing her own religion and insulting their gods and goddess and not worshiping idols. The village court gave the order “to leave the village or leave Jesus”. But she firmly said, in front of 400 people, \u0026ldquo;I will never leave Jesus and I will not do idol worship.\u0026rdquo; We suggested that she go to the police station about this order. She went to the police and, praise God, the police helped her.\nThe people of her village and relatives are planning to kill me and my dad because of her. It\u0026rsquo;s the same thing that happened with all believers in my ministry place. When my family accepted Jesus in 1998, more than 5,000 peoples from 10 villages took my Dad into the village court and the village court gave the same judgement and declared that they were taking possession of my land. We went to court. We fought the case in court for 20 years. During this time, the village court told everyone that if anybody talked to us, then they would be fined 5 thousand rupees. Still, none of our neighbors talk to us. Now, we don’t hold worship at Sister P*’s house, but she regularly comes to the Sunday service.\nWe had an amazing Good Friday and Easter service! On Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we had a service at the church at my home and we invited all house church believers and more than 100 people came to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. It was amazing to share that Jesus died for our sins and the same day, two more people gave their life to Jesus as their Savior. My nieces performed dance at the Easter Sunday service. After service, we had some sweets, juice and biscuits for all the people.\nBible study and fun night with Youth! We had a great night with the youth. We invited our church youth and we spent lots of time in worship, Bible study, games and a movie night. It was encouraging to hear the testimonies of each other. In January and February, we had youth nights three times and two boys accepted Jesus.\nOn April 14th, it was my sister\u0026rsquo;s birthday. So, I invited all my church’s youth and I cooked dinner for everyone. After worship, we did Bible study and prayed for the whole world, then we played games. I gave a small gift to the winner. All night we showed movies on the projector. In the morning, after breakfast, they went home. Some youth did not have travel money, but praise God, He provided for all. Now, all the youth are growing in the Word of God and are keeping themselves separate from worldly things and sin.\nPraise Points: Praise God for healing Sunjay*! In the last newsletter, I mentioned about him. He wanted to commit suicide because he is suffering from a rare disease called Olmsted disease. His foot and hands were smelling so bad. They were bleeding and it was very painful. Now, the pain is gone, the bleeding stopped, and smell is also gone. Praise God! Thanks for your prayers- he is getting better every week. He is growing in the Word of God and coming to our Bible fellowship twice a week. Praise God that He provided a new motor bike! I had a motor bike I was using for 6 years, but that bike was breaking every month and every month I had to spend lots of money to fix it. So many times, I was too late to a village fellowship because the motor bike would get stuck on the way. But, praise God, He provided a new motor bike for spreading the Gospel. During this pandemic, it was not easy to provide a new motor bike. I thank the Lord for this. Thank you for your help and prayer for the new motor bike. Prayer Requests: 1.Please continue to pray for sister P.* and her husband.\n2. Please continue to pray for Sunjay\u0026rsquo;s* healing.\n3. Please continue to pray for safety from anti-Christian groups and covid 19.\n4. Please continue to pray for the church members to face persecution boldly and understand the Word of God deeply.\n5. Please pray for a little piece of land for a Christian graveyard.\n6. Please pray for some audio Bibles for the believers who don’t know how to read or write.\nThank you so much for your prayers, support and partnership for the Gospel.\nThank you so much for your prayers, help, support and partnership in spreading the Gospel.\nGod bless you all!\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/no-turning-back/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Pastors, Leaders and Church Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Pastor-11-July-2-253x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings! I appreciate your prayers, support and love for the Gospel. During this pandemic, so many organizations closed. Pastors are struggling for their daily needs. Praise God for Calvary Chapel! They always take care of me as a mother and fulfill all of my needs. I always thank our Lord Jesus for having me partner with a great church family.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month, 4 church members died due to Covid-19. Before dying, they told their family members and relatives to do their funeral in a Christian manner, but we do not have a Christian graveyard. Their families came to ask us to do the funerals like Christians do, but the Hindus will not give us permission to use their graveyard. So many problems came during their funerals, because all of the people’s family and relatives are Hindus. But praise God for His grace upon us, everything went smoothly.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"No Turning Back"},{"content":" We are so grateful for you and your support in getting us to the 3rd year of CSOM! Your prayers, encouragement \u0026amp; financial support mean so much to us as we step out in faith and serve TOGETHER in Rosarito, Mexico. We made record time in arriving Sunday to the Connections House, a missions team dorm owned and operated by our dear friends Ron and Kristy Struska. We were just in time to have killer tacos prepared by who we think is the best taco guy in Mexico. We will be here at the CSOM (Calvary School of Missions) for 6 weeks leading, discipling, shepherding to 12 students who have the desire to become missionaries. Pouring into these 12 future disciples is such a huge calling and responsibility. We are so excited to see what God is going to do through these students and through us as a couple.\nPastor Trent kicked off Sunday evening orientation \u0026amp; class in the book of Matthew 4:18 where Jesus asks the 4 fishermen to leave their nets and follow Him. To surrender EVERYTHING to the Lord! As we both serve alongside each other here in Mexico and lead the students, we pray that we can surrender everything, all our desires, dreams, wishes, ideas… WE want to be fully surrendered to have complete vision of the Great Commission! We want to be ready to receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on us to go to the ends of the earth, Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. Pick me, Send US! Until then, the calling on our life right now is right where we are. To train up our future generation to follow Jesus! We absolutely feel privileged and honored to be serving here in Mexico.\nThis week we will be filled with morning classes with Pastor Trent teaching Surrendering to God’s Will, The call to follow Jesus, Building Partnerships, The Purpose of the Church. We spend every morning \u0026amp; evening seeking the Lord in His Word, praying \u0026amp; interceding for the nations. We will visit CC Home X to take sandwiches, soups, fruit \u0026amp; the love of Jesus with prayer, evangelism \u0026amp; worship. The students will serve at CC Rosarito on Wednesday evening service \u0026amp; Sunday. The students will also have the opportunity to experience street witnessing in Rosarito with CC Rosarito. Visit CC Vista Del Valle for a park outreach.\nWe appreciate everyone who has come alongside us, we know we are not alone, we feel the prayers and encouragement from our body, friends \u0026amp; family. Please continue to pray! There is so much power in prayer. While reading David Platt’s “Radical” book, two points stuck out. 1. “Commit to believe whatever Jesus says!\u0026quot; 2. “Commit to obey what you have heard!\u0026quot;\nWe appreciate your prayers and are so grateful for you who have already joined us in prayer, If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 92886. *Note Pappas support in memo\nBlessings,\nTim \u0026amp; Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/follow-me-and-i-will-make-you-fishers-of-men/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/pappas/wp-content/uploads/sites/63/2021/07/IMG%5F0708-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are so grateful for you and your support in getting us to the 3rd year of CSOM!  Your prayers, encouragement \u0026amp; financial support mean so much to us as we step out in faith and serve TOGETHER in Rosarito, Mexico. We made record time in arriving Sunday to the Connections House, a missions team dorm owned and operated by our dear friends Ron and Kristy Struska. We were just in time to have killer tacos prepared by who we think is the best taco guy in Mexico. We will be here at the CSOM (Calvary School of Missions) for 6 weeks leading, discipling, shepherding to 12 students who have the desire to become missionaries. Pouring into these 12 future disciples is such a huge calling and responsibility. We are so excited to see what God is going to do through these students and through us as a couple.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men!"},{"content":"Hello Family \u0026amp; Friends!\nWe wanted to send you just a quick update in the middle of a busy Summer. Our family is doing great, and the kids are having a blast swimming, meeting friends, and learning new things this Summer.\nAs many of you know, we hold an annual six-week Calvary School of Missions in Rosarito, Mexico every Summer. This program provides a primer for training young people in the theology and practicality of international missions and reaching the unreached. The theme is always a surrender of their lives and plans to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This year, Joel got to go for the first week of the school to meet the students, minister to them as they grapple with missions and theology through a whirlwind first week. This has been a huge blessing, as he has never gotten to go for the first week and establish relationship with the students like this! In particular, it is really awesome for him to use his gift of leading worship to create an environment of surrender, intimacy with the Lord, and fervent prayer for the students. Please pray that the Lord would give guidance and wisdom to the students over the remaining fives weeks, and that He would strengthen them through the spiritual warfare they will experience.\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/equipping-the-next-generation-of-missionaries-garcia-family-update-july-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Family \u0026amp; Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe wanted to send you just a quick update in the middle of a busy Summer. Our family is doing great, and the kids are having a blast swimming, meeting friends, and learning new things this Summer.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs many of you know, we hold an annual six-week Calvary School of Missions in Rosarito, Mexico every Summer. This program provides a primer for training young people in the theology and practicality of international missions and reaching the unreached. The theme is always a surrender of their lives and plans to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. This year, Joel got to go for the first week of the school to meet the students, minister to them as they grapple with missions and theology through a whirlwind first week. This has been a huge blessing, as he has never gotten to go for the first week and establish relationship with the students like this! In particular, it is really awesome for him to use his gift of leading worship to create an environment of surrender, intimacy with the Lord, and fervent prayer for the students. Please pray that the Lord would give guidance and wisdom to the students over the remaining fives weeks, and that He would strengthen them through the spiritual warfare they will experience.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Equipping the Next Generation of Missionaries – Garcia Family Update July 2021"},{"content":"Hello! Please receive a huge hug from me and an enormous THANK YOU for your continuous support in the work that God is doing here in Spain. It has been an amazing but arduous last 6 months that has incredibly rocked my world. My prayer is that after reading this newsletter you will continue to pray for the work God is doing through our school and that you would feel encouraged that this is part of your blessing as well!\nOn January 11, 2021…\nOUR Christian school opened its doors!!\nRemember you are so much a part of this as I am – it’s OUR school!\nThere are so many wonderful things happening at our little school! Here is an overview of what I am sharing in this newsletter:\nI. Our 12 Little Disciples – a testimony of our first 12 students.\nII. Planting Seeds – the eternal investment happening in our school has been amazing!\nIII. Photos and a Video of our School– take a tour of our school, see the fruit of your prayers and support!\nIV. “Say YES even if you’re not ready ” – faith lessons on the field and a reminder in Isaiah 6:8-11.\nV. Prayer Requests\nOur 12 Little Disciples All the prayers, preparation, and time invested brought us to our first day of school on January 11! I was nervous but very eager to receive the students God brought to our Christian nursery school. We started with 7 children on our first day, and it was beautiful to see cute little smiley faces enjoying their new classrooms. A few weeks later, we enrolled more children and we were at 12 students. We remained with our “12 little disciples”, as we tenderly called them, for various months. The Lord impressed it upon my heart to not seek growth but rather to establish our school vision and culture with our “12 little disciples”. So, we did just that! We loved on the children and their parents, some parents began sharing prayer requests with us, we opened up the school so that parents can enter and see what their children were learning, we gave lots of hugs and received so many more from our little 12! As we were doing that, we were hearing from parents and friends that the schools here are not like that at all, that we were a very different school than the rest. Parents began telling us that they felt very welcomed and they appreciated the warm environment they felt throughout our school. And that was confirmation – our prayer had been that our school would run God’s way, reflecting His love to all those families. It meant that our school would be different…and that was ok!\nPlanting Seeds God has often reminded me that what is happening in our little school is an investment for eternity. More than half of our kids do not attend church nor come from families that profess the Christian faith. In light of that, please read the testimonies below, seeds are being planted in the little hearts of the children, and the ground is truly fertile.\nOur full-time teacher, Steffi Scherer, who has been an incredible blessing to our school and to me, is a licensed teacher who goes through fun and interesting academic activities with the children. The kids love learning with Steffi! In addition to the academics, she goes through the Bible with the 3 – 4-year-old children after lunchtime. When Easter was approaching, Steffi told the kids, “I want to introduce you to my best friend, his name is Jesus.” For a week leading up to Easter, they went through the life of Jesus, culminating with His death and resurrection on the last day before Easter break. Many of the children had never heard the gospel message, had never been exposed to the meaning of Easter and had never heard that Jesus desired to be their friend and savior. From Easter to this very day, the most anticipated time of day is the Bible reading time!\nOne day during this Bible time, Steffi sang the traditional children’s hymn, “Jesus Loves Me This I know” with the children. A little boy then asked Steffi, “Can we change the words to the song? Can we sing, ‘Yes, Jesus protects us’ and ‘Yes, Jesus comforts us’?” This is a 3-year-old boy with a tender heart towards the Lord! But how could this be, he is so young?\nWhat I have learned is that the world has not underestimated children’s responsiveness to earthly things (i.e. video games, cartoons…), then, as Christians, we shouldn’t underestimate their receptiveness to spiritual things. With that perspective in mind, we have taught the children to pray before meals and for each other, and very often they will now remind us to pray for any children that are ill. They have recently taken prayer to the next level: as we were learning about bugs last month, some children found a dying bug on the floor and they quickly ran to Steffi and said, “Just like Jesus healed many people, we want to pray and ask Him to heal this bug too”. As they each earnestly prayed for the bug, we were all impacted by their initiative to pray!\nThe seeds are being planted at home as well. Parents have told us that at home their children will sing our “Thank you God” song before their meals and some have even prayed with their parents. With sincere gratitude parents have noticed a change in their children and thank us for the genuine love that freely roams through out our school. We know it’s God’s love for the little ones and it is so beautiful! We are praying for the Lord to continue to use our little disciples to share what they are learning at school!\nPhotos and Video of our School… Currently, we have children from 1 – 4 years old. The Lord saw it best to start from the very little ones (nursery/preschool level) instead of the elementary level like we intended to at the beginning. We were reminded that we are doing things His way, and He is allowing us to help set a loving foundation in these children at such an early age. Enjoy the photos of the children learning and having fun! In addition, I would love for you to take a tour of our school and learn a bit more about the vision. Please see the video link below.\nhttps://youtu.be/gEcQVp0AreQ\n0:00 – 0:43 Intro\n0:43 – 2:07 Local Pastor’s greeting\n2:07 – 5:03 Tour of the school\n5:03 – 7:13 Info on how to get involved\n7:13 – 9:00 Local Pastor’s encouragement\n“You can say YES even if you are not ready.” This is what the Lord placed in my heart after praying about a decision I had to make for the school. Let me give you some context: The first few months as the director of the school were very tough. I asked the Lord for A LOT of wisdom because I have never done this before! Therefore, dependence on running the school God’s way was the only answer I had, and truly it’s the only answer I still have. As the school began growing, I had to decide to lead the 1-2-year-old toddler classroom as I was the other licensed teacher that was at the school every day. Yes, the 1-2-year old toddler classroom! Your girl changes nappies at record speed, is putting 9 kids down for nap time, and has obtained mad reflex skills that prevent accidents from happening! I also have to say that everything I just mentioned is alongside amazing volunteers and staff that I have the blessing of working with and that help me tremendously! I really believe that the Lord has given me the grace needed to be with the very little ones, and at the same time, the grace to carry out my responsibilities that come with overseeing the logistical and operational functions of the school. There is so much to be done on a daily basis, therefore, I wasn’t ready for what was coming next….\nParents and friends began recommending our school and as a result, we received many enrollment requests. The majority of those requests were for the 1-2 year old classroom! As I was experiencing a season of being stretched by taking on the little ones and leading a new school, guess who was praying to say NO to potential new children?! As I continued to pray about it, I was being honest with the Lord in telling Him that I wasn’t ready to take on more toddlers. On top of that, my plate felt extremely full with all matters concerning the school. I didn’t feel ready to take on more.\nThe Lord’s response to my prayer was very gentle but convicting, “ You can say YES even if you think you are not ready.” Although, in my understanding, it made sense to say “No”, I knew in my heart that the Lord desired to teach me how He provides the resources, the people, the wisdom, and the strength to carry on His mission. He also assured me that the equipping, the grace, the wisdom, and the Holy Spirit’s power are mine through Him to fulfill His purposes. My faith was stretched as I had to believe in real time that He would provide what He said He would. And He has thus far! Taking on more didn’t mean doing it all by myself – the Lord has provided more help, strategies, and insight after saying “Yes”. He also assured me that others learned a similar faith lesson: Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Jeremiah…can you add other names to that list? Maybe you can add your name on there, has He ever taught you a faith lesson like this? Perhaps you are getting ready to step out in faith and you are gaining the courage to say “Yes” even if you don’t feel ready. If that’s the case, please let me know, I would love to cheer you on through prayer.\nIn this season, I found comfort in Isaiah’s example. Isaiah 6:8, “Here I am Lord, send me”, are words I have prayed with all my heart, this time, however, I was challenged and encouraged with next verses (vs. 9-11). Isaiah finds out what his assignment will be… and his response was, “Lord, how long?” I was so thankful to see a bit of Isaiah’s humanity as his question was a valid one. How long would Isaiah have to preach such difficult words to the people God called him to? He was commissioned to a very challenging ministry but he didn’t take back the words, “Here I am Lord, send me” nor did he add a disclaimer, “Send me only if I approve of the calling and only if I agree with the way my faith will be stretched.” He didn’t do that, Isaiah remained faithful and obedient to God’s mission for him! In my humanity, the stretching of my faith and character are not always pleasant but I can take God at His word and trust that it’s not my readiness nor my skills that will fulfill His purpose. It’s His mighty resources given to me by His grace that will enable me to live for Him. So let’s pray for each other, for the Lord to give us the strength to remain faithful to do everything He has called us to do, no matter how difficult it may be. Let’s keep running this race set before us with prayer and God’s strength!\nThank you for sticking around until the end! Thank you so much for being a part of this eternal investment. Thank you for your support and your prayers. Everyone at the school truly feels your prayers, they are sincerely powerful, so I kindly ask you to please keep them coming!! If you have any prayer requests, if you would like to know how to get involved in the work here in Spain, or just want to say hello, contact me via email, WhatsApp, or any of my socials. You are very much appreciated, love you all!\nGod bless you,\nZully\nPrayer Requests: We currently have 17 children enrolled; please pray for them and their families; that those that do not know the Lord would come to know Him.\nWe need more volunteers! Please pray that the Lord would bring the right people with a heart for children and God’s vision for our school.\nWe are praying that the Lord would provide the funds to add the following to our staff:\n– Another full-time teacher\n– Someone to prepare the snacks and lunch\n– A janitor/maintenance worker\nPlease keep all of us working in the school in prayer. We are all doing so much in light of the help we need. “The joy of the Lord is my strength” (Neh. 8:10) is the verse that I have been holding on to in this season and one that I have been sharing with the staff.\nFor the Lord’s continual provision over our wish list items and projects that still need to be done in our playground, classrooms, and other areas of the school. If you are interested in receiving a copy of our wish list, please let me know :)\nFor my family: for continual protection, strength, and blessings over them.\nI am almost hitting the 2-year mark since I’ve left and been back to the US. I would love to take some time to see my family, friends, and all the churches that support me. Please pray for that opportunity.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-last-6-months/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello! Please receive a huge hug from me and an enormous THANK YOU for your continuous support in the work that God is doing here in Spain. It has been an amazing but arduous last 6 months that has incredibly rocked my world. My prayer is that after reading this newsletter you will continue to pray for the work God is doing through our school and that you would feel encouraged that this is part of your blessing as well!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Last 6 months..."},{"content":"I am blown away by God’s amazing faithfulness. This last month has been amazing! After receiving support from you we were able to work on our church building. We extended the sanctuary and it is now able to sit at least another 80 adults. For the first time in 3 years, we painted the exterior of the building. To be honest, we intentionally didn’t paint our building to not stand out for safety reasons, but as time passed we have gotten to know the community and feel safer.\nEvangelism and Bible Studies We have been more dedicated to evangelism. Our women’s Bible study took the lead by hitting the streets nearby during the day and the men did the same by night. The women just completed the book study Lies Women Believe and the Truth That Sets them Free. Hassan also had the privilege to baptize one of his new disciples.\nAlso below are pictures of the Convalescent home we visit faithfully every month, rain or shine.\nWe are so thankful for the group Amor en Accion. They traveled during a tropical storm to be with the elderly, to serve them, cook for them, treat their wounds, and teach the Word to them. They do it all for the Love of Christ!\nThe 70 This last month Hassan concluded the first semester of his discipleship. This is a very intense course. Our aim is to equip men for the work of the ministry, raise up new pastors and teach them that ministry isn’t simply preparing a Bible study, but working hard and being faithful in all areas. The group will start again in August this time to study apologetics and evangelism.\nPrayer Night Prayer night is a staple in the church. We know there is power in prayer, so we dedicate an evening to non-stop prayer. Our petitions include our city, authorities, the lost, healings for the sick, growth, and most importantly for Jesus to be exalted in our lives and in the community.\nCalvary Chapel Distinctives One of our requirements to serve is to complete our Calvary Distinctives Course. We have so many people from different backgrounds that this class allows us all to be on the same page. This is our 4th group of graduates.\nNew Church Plant We are so happy to announce that another church plant will open next month. We have an amazing family who has been with us since the beginning and the Lord has now called them to start a new work. The church will be on the east side of Acapulco. The city is called Zapata and is known to be one of the most dangerous parts, regardless, Jesus is on the throne. We just put a deposit down for a storefront on the main highway. The cost would be $200 dollars a month. If you would like to come alongside this new work please drop us a note. Keep the Flores family in your prayers.\nCalvary Chilpancingo Update Pastor Ricardo has done an amazing job in spite of many obstacles. His wife was hit hard with Covid as well as many congregants but by the grace of God they all recovered with no problems. Pastor Ricardo started his online teachings which have helped tremendously.\nPastor Wes Bentley We had the great pleasure of having Pastor Wes Bentley from Far Reaching Ministries bless our fellowship with a very encouraging word. He flew down to our city for a few days just to visit Calvary Acapulco, what a blessing! The church was challenged by his preaching. Even though we have it hard, it could always be worse.\nVillegas Family Update These last few months have been non-stop and the next couple months coming appear the same. We will soon be empty nesters as our youngest son Micah heads to Bible College in Ensenada. He just graduated High school and is very excited to start this new chapter in life. Micah eventually wants to go to law school, but decided to get grounded in his faith before arriving to a secular school. We thought that was a great move on his behalf. Our middle son Noah is still hitting the books hard. He is living and working in California. His desire is to work in computer programming. Our eldest son Elijah graduates Basic Military Training for the U.S.A.F. at the end of this month. We are so excited to visit him in Texas and be apart of this celebration.\nPrayer Request Open doors for the Gospel and Salvations Safety, provision, and health for our family For the new churches plants and their families For Elijah in the Airforce Noah and his schooling Micah and his move to Bible College Upcoming VBS ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/wow-just-wow/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am blown away by God’s amazing faithfulness. This last month has been amazing! After receiving support from you we were able to work on our church building. We extended the sanctuary and it is now able to sit at least another 80 adults. For the first time in 3 years, we painted the exterior of the building. To be honest, we intentionally didn’t paint our building to not stand out for safety reasons, but as time passed we have gotten to know the community and feel safer.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"WOW...just...WOW!"},{"content":"Hello, Everyone!\nThank you all for partaking in the work God is doing here and touching many lives. It is very amazing that God could use us all to proclaim His love and greatness.\nGod has opened doors to minister to these people and to share the Gospel. This week we were able to distribute groceries to almost 70 families. It is amazing to see smiles on their faces! God was able to provide for His people, like Paul promises for the Philippians that, \u0026ldquo;My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.\u0026rdquo; There is no lack of anything for His people in the kingdom of God.\nIn our Lord’s prayer it says \u0026ldquo;Let Your will be done in earth as it is in heaven.\u0026rdquo; I know it is God who gave us the heart to reach those lost souls. As many of us long to see heaven while living here on this earth, I also want to see the will of God here on earth.\nNow we were able to share the Gospel with these people and start a church plant in these 2 areas. Every week, new people join the fellowship and also the Sunday services. We are going to minister to these people continually. Please pray. Next, we are going to distribute Bibles among them. Many are very thankful. They could tell that we loved them and felt cared for. Some of our students and staff also shared how blessed they are to be involved in this outreach. I just want to say thank you for everyone who prayed for us and supported us in distributing groceries.\nWe are still doing online worship services. We were able to gather everyone through phone calls and also Facebook live. We are going through the book of Hebrews. It has been really awesome! The author of the book really took us in to great revelation. Please pray for our worship services. Everyday we are having a Bible study on zoom. Many people are joining day by day. We have been able to hear that they are learning a lot and are blessed to study the Word verse by verse.\nWe have been having daily Bible studies for 20 days. We are going to continue teaching the Word of God, using technology, to reach more people during this time of the pandemic. Even in these pandemic times, we are using every opportunity to go reach people and share the Gospel.\nHello, Everyone! My name is (undisclosed). I am pastor 6’s wife and I am really excited to share the things that God is doing here. My friends and I were able to distribute personal hygiene products at our new church plant to bring awareness and also educate them. At the same time we had a prayer meeting. A lot of non-believers attended the meeting and we were able to distribute to everyone and also shared the Gospel. Lots of women do not know about person hygiene or personal hygiene products. We really felt happy to teach them basic hygiene. Many people felt ashamed to take them from us. Here, many people feel ashamed to talk about personal hygiene and do not learn about it. We really felt so happy to teach them how important it is to maintain hygiene. Please continually pray for those women we ministered to.\n1st Semester Completed \u0026ldquo;I really thank God, my pastors, and teachers! They were really encouraging and very much supportive.\u0026rdquo;\n\u0026ldquo;We were able to finish our 1st semester! It was really a blessing and amazing to see how God leads and how He is using His Word to bring life.\u0026rdquo;\nOur students from the Bible college were sharing how blessed they are to come learn God\u0026rsquo;s Word and to see the heart of God. Everyone seems like they fell in love with Jesus. Also, they got involved in online Bible studies and outreach programs. Our next semester starts in August and we are going to take more new students. Please pray that the new students who are coming would experience Christ\u0026rsquo;s love and grace.\nPlease pray for the Bible college here. Pray that we raise more disciples of Christ to reach both of the states that speak our language. Because, people here are very blinded with the spirit of religion. Many Christian leaders are blinded as well. They treat people like the Pharisees treated others in Bible times. We want to be like how Jesus would impact them through His words, kindness, and love towards others. God put it in my heart to reach people how He reached them. I always used to think, \u0026ldquo;Why are many churches not strong? Why are they living a life of hypocrisy and their life as they are not born again?\u0026rdquo;\nThen God reminded me that it is because the people are not receiving the Word with understanding and they are also not taught right. In Luke, chapter 13, the owner of a vineyard planted a fig tree and came seeking it\u0026rsquo;s fruit but he found none. Here, many people are boasting about themselves that they have been a Christian for many years. But they do not realize that they are not bearing fruit. It is sad to see people blinded by this world and claiming to be Christians. The Word clearly tells us that Jesus looks for the fruit. So, God put it in my heart to reach more people. And, also, to raise servant leaders. I know what impacted me and pushed me to be strong. I was able to see Jesus in my study times in Bible college in Nepal.\nSo, now, I want to see the students who are coming to be impacted by Jesus. Because, I was able to see that if the leaders are corrupt, then they will make corrupt disciples. When we are discipled by Jesus (God\u0026rsquo;s Word) we will make disciples of Christ. I believe these things and apply them in my life and also in the ministry.\nIn the Gospel of Luke there is a pattern. Through it, I also was able to see and learn how Jesus ministered. So, I am applying the same here. I always believe when we lead and walk in the ways Jesus did, it is always perfect and it is His will. There is no fear in doing the will of God, because He always provides when He leads. It is Jesus and His Word that caused me to love Him. There is nothing to boast about ourselves, because it is Him who is doing things in us and through us. So, All Glory to God. Amen\nMy Daughter Once again, I thank you for your love and care towards our daughter. She is now 7 months old and healthy and doing fine. I really want to thank all of you who supported me from my heart. She always reminds us of God\u0026rsquo;s Grace and His Protection. With Love,Pastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/therefore-my-heart-is-glad/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello, Everyone!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you all for partaking in the work God is doing here and touching many lives. It is very amazing that God could use us all to proclaim His love and greatness.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/IMG-20210611-WA0040-1-194x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGod has opened doors to minister to these people and to share the Gospel. This week we were able to distribute groceries to almost 70 families. It is amazing to see smiles on their faces! God was able to provide for His people, like Paul promises for the Philippians that, \u0026ldquo;My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.\u0026rdquo; There is no lack of anything for His people in the kingdom of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Therefore, My Heart Is Glad"},{"content":"Hello friend!\nIt is such a joy to be writing to you again. I hope that your month of June was full of an awareness of Jesus’ presence and the reality that He is alive! Those of you who responded to my last newsletter update, thank you so much! It was so encouraging to connect with you all. Please do not hesitate to reach out, I would love to talk with you and pray for you!\nJune is already over?! I can’t believe it. Time has been flying as I have been serving at Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM) these past two months. I am learning so much! In our Bible teaching class we have been teaching through 1st Timothy, a short letter in the New Testament, and I have to say I was a bit surprised. On the surface it seemed like sort of an odd book to choose, but as I have been studying I am beginning to see that it is such a great book for us to be going through! I am participating in a missions internship, and it is clear in the book of Acts that missions is synonymous with church planting, so a major part of this internship is learning about the function of the church; and this is what the letter to Timothy is all about! Paul is writing to Timothy about what the church of Jesus should be like! There is so much truth for us aspiring church-planters to learn through studying and teaching this text!\nPaul is clear in the letter that reading and teaching the Scriptures is foundational to the church, and he tells Timothy, “Meditate on these things,” that is, the reading and teaching of the Word, “give yourself entirely to them, that your progress may be evident to all” (1 Timothy 4:15). The phrase “give yourself entirely to them” carries this idea of “be in them” or in other words, total immersion.\nI am totally immersed in the reading and teaching of the Word here at this internship! I am so grateful for our pastoral leadership and their dedication to feeding us the Bible on a regular, consistent basis. At every single gathering throughout the week, our focus is on Jesus and His Word! This is what equips us for the ministry Jesus has called us to, whether it be in the workplace, at home, or the ends of the earth! Needless to say, I have been gleaning so much from the study in 1st Timothy.\nSummer has arrived, and so the school I was teaching at is out! While I have been searching for another job, the Lord has been filling my schedule with opportunities to serve. I just started serving in the youth ministry on Wednesday nights, and I am looking forward to serving the Lord with them through musical worship. We have also been spending time in the office preparing for the upcoming Calvary School of Missions 2021. I was a student last year, so it has been so exciting to play a small part on the other side, planning and praying for those who will attend this year!\nOver the past two months, I have had the opportunity to sit under some missionaries who are home on furlough. Hearing the testimonies of how the Lord called them to the mission field, and all the stories of the highs and the lows (oftentimes it is more of the latter than the former) has been encouraging and sobering. They have to sacrifice so much. But their testimonies declare that they took Jesus at His word when He said, “He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:25). What Jesus is NOT saying is that his disciples need to be miserable and hate their life. Jesus is calling those who follow Him to trust Him with their whole lives– their hopes, dreams, families, finances, futures, everything. He is beckoning them to resist the temptation to place their hope and trust in other people, or money, or fame, or sex, or prosperity, and to instead commit everything they have to Him for the sake of His Kingdom.\nAs I have been meditating upon this reality, I have been coming back to this quote by A. W. Tozer, “Our Lord came not to destroy, but to save. Everything is safe which we commit to Him, and nothing is really safe which is not so committed.” What a glorious hope. When I give Him my life, and trust in His plan, I am totally safe in Him. He conquered death when He rose from the grave, so I don’t have anything to fear. I don’t have to be afraid of where, or when He has called me to go. My life is in His hands, which means it is safe and it will be used for His kingdom. I pray the same thing for you.\nThank you so much for your prayers, love, and support! I am so grateful that I can lock arms with you as we seek the Lord and endeavor to see the good news that He is alive spread to the ends of the earth. If you would like to partner with me financially, click the “Become a Financial Partner” button, and you will be directed to an online giving form. If you would like to give in a different way, feel free to contact me by directly replying to this email.\nI would love to hear from you and to see how I can pray for you! May Jesus ground you in His love so that you can understand just how beyond understanding His love truly is.\nGrace and peace\nRachel Martinez\nPraise Reports!! My God has been so faithful to provide for my needs. This internship has turned out to be even sweeter than expected. I was able to get my car’s AC fixed at a low cost! I have been asking the Lord to give me wisdom with my finances and spending, and now I am taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace class as a part of my internship curriculum. He knew I needed it! Prayer Requests!! Perseverance in job hunting, and that I find a job with flexible hours so that the internship can remain my priority. Boldness to share the good news. That Jesus would pour out His presence on the School of Missions students this year, and give them His heart for the Father and for the nations. Please pray for our brothers and sisters in the 10/40 window. It is often dangerous to identify oneself with Jesus in these countries and many of them face persecution. May the Lord make them light and salt! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/give-yourself-entirely/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friend!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is such a joy to be writing to you again. I hope that your month of June was full of an awareness of Jesus’ presence and the reality that He is alive! Those of you who responded to my last newsletter update, thank you so much! It was so encouraging to connect with you all. Please do not hesitate to reach out, I would love to talk with you and pray for you!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\"Give Yourself Entirely\""},{"content":"Dear Family and Friends\nWe are glad to report that after three long months of recovering from Covid-19, we are finally feeling well and fully recovered. This fight was especially hard for Natalia because she ended up having Pneumonia which made things worse for her. We are very grateful that we were stateside when we got Covid-19. We can’t imagine how much more difficult the situation would be if our family was still in Peru.\nPeru continues to struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic. Currently, the country is on an extended lock down. Churches, and other small or large groups are not allowed to meet in person. People are able to go out of their homes for only an hour, to walk for exercise and to purchase essential items for their families. Cars are only allowed to be driven by essential workers. The hospitals continue to be maxed out. It is almost a miracle to find an open hospital bed. The economy continues to suffer resulting in doubled and tripled price increases for medicine and all living expenses. To give an example of how bad things are, if anyone needs to go to an emergency clinic, before they will let you pass the lobby, you need to give a deposit of $30,000 to be seen by a doctor.\nPolitically, Peru is a mess. We had elections a few weeks ago, resulting in a runoff between two candidates. One is an ex-terrorist communist candidate and the other is the daughter of an ex-president famous for stealing from the country. Regardless of the outcome, we hope that at least the country will continue to be a democracy and will not become the next Venezuela.\nAs for us, John is helping out in some of the ministries at Providence Mission Homes, where we are currently living until August. Natalia is taking ESL online courses from Citrus College while continuing to home-school our children. Alejandro continues in the 8th grade and Emily is on the learning path to reading. As you know, for several months we have been taking care of the Cajamarca church from a distance thanks to Zoom and WhatsApp. After many months of praying and feeling that they needed more than just online meetings, the Lord opened doors for a local friend and pastor to take over the Cajamarca Refugio church. One of the benefits of having this new pastor lead is that members of the church will be able to take free classes at the Bible school where both Natalia and I served 5 years ago. The new leaders are looking forward to opening the church as soon as the government allows it.\nAs we look forward to our next season of ministry, we have been busy talking to our Purpose Church Mission Board, our Mission Sending Agency Saving Grace and seeking wise counsel from other mission workers. In addition, we have been praying and seeking the Lord’s clear direction on what our next assignment will be. Keep an eye out for our next newsletter! We will send it out next week, giving our most current update.\nFor now, we ask for prayers for direction and provision. What we most wish is to obey the Lord’s will in our lives. We are called to serve as missionaries, and we will continue fulfilling our call.\nThank you for your ongoing support.\nLove,\nJohn and Natalia Gunderson\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/march-may-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDear Family and Friends\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are glad to report that after three long months of recovering from Covid-19, we are finally feeling well and fully recovered. This fight was especially hard for Natalia because she ended up having Pneumonia which made things worse for her. We are very grateful that we were stateside when we got Covid-19. We can’t imagine how much more difficult the situation would be if our family was still in Peru.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"March-May 2021"},{"content":"“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”, as the infamous quote of Charles Dickens continues to contrast situations we face, within the reality we face them. For the born-again saint, we face the darkness with light, we exercise faith in the midst of unbelievable situations. Dickens knew all too well the struggle and strife every believer faces, as he was a brother in Christ.\nAlthough it has been a difficult year for all of us to say the least, we have all seen the work that our Savior is doing in our midst. As our family continues to be blessed to serve Jesus at Calvary Chapel Playas, Tijuana, we have seen just that, God at work in our midst. By the grace of God we only shut down having service for about 2 months, which allowed us to begin to post our Bible teachings online. In turn, God used that as an opportunity to reach people we never would have reached. When we returned to in-person services, we had families come that had been watching online, but we had never met. God is faithful!\nWe are blessed to have so many brothers and sisters in Christ who have obeyed the calling to faithfully serve. This past month Juanito and Rocio were called to lead the church outreach ministry and Karolina will be leading the children’s ministry.\nThere are many things you can be praying for as you support the ministry. Our evangelism team is going to begin having outdoor Bible fellowship in a local community. Granjas Familiares is the colony. Our hope is that we will be able to begin a home Bible study and that eventually God would raise up a group of believers that will result in us renting a building to hold service. We are hoping to purchase some folding chairs, portable tents and tables. One of our greatest desires is to start a men’s and women’s discipleship home. We have been praying for a building to begin this ministry. We are praying that God will provide our physical and spiritual needs in the areas where He is leading us, as we know He will.\nIt has been a blessing to watch our fellowship minister to the homeless here in Tijuana. We have a great team of about 20 people who go out every Saturday to evangelize to the homeless. As a result, we have been privileged to assist men and women to get off the street and into discipleship homes where they can seek God. Every month, Calvary Chapel Living Water has been coming down to bless our fellowship with a day in the park. In June they came and we had an outreach to the homeless. We set up at a place called “las cuevas”, where many homeless live, and we worshipped the Lord in song, prayer and the Word. We ate and fellowshipped with the homeless as a few of them surrendered their hearts to the Lord\nFor our family it has been especially difficult to see our kids begin to leave the home and make their own life decisions. We are praying that God will have His way in their lives and lead them according to His will. Please continue to pray for our family as we are going through some very difficult times right now. Love hopes all things, believes all things! We thank you for your continued support and may God cause His light to shine upon you as you seek Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/walking-in-faith/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times”, as the infamous quote of Charles Dickens continues to contrast situations we face, within the reality we face them. For the born-again saint, we face the darkness with light, we exercise faith in the midst of unbelievable situations. Dickens knew all too well the struggle and strife every believer faces, as he was a brother in Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough it has been a difficult year for all of us to say the least, we have all seen the work that our Savior is doing in our midst. As our family continues to be blessed to serve Jesus at Calvary Chapel Playas, Tijuana, we have seen just that, God at work in our midst. By the grace of God we only shut down having service for about 2 months, which allowed us to begin to post our Bible teachings online. In turn, God used that as an opportunity to reach people we never would have reached. When we returned to in-person services, we had families come that had been watching online, but we had never met. God is faithful!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Walking in Faith"},{"content":"“In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.” 1 Timothy 4:6 Sadly Uganda has been hit hard with the second wave of the Corona Virus, and we have entered another strict lockdown. The past 16 months of confusion, pain, despondency and frustration have been the same for everyone around the world. Our team has felt the negative effects of this lockdown in that our Discipleship School has to be closed down, the arrival of our new teammate, David Buescher who is the brother of Luke Buescher, has been delayed and the team that was coming out with him has been canceled. It has also all but stopped our work visa renewal process which puts us in a precarious position. We are thankful however, that this time around most businesses have stayed open, and Uganda’s president hasn’t stopped any relief efforts. Traditional church gatherings have also been banned. Therefore, we have opened a small fellowship at our house and Luke has opened another at his. We praise God for the work that He has been doing through them. It is always great to see the way that God moves and people grow within intimate gatherings!\nFortunately, no matter the circumstance, God always opens doors for us to serve Him. One of the major projects that we as a team have been working on during lock down is the development of our official curriculum. Our goal is to have comprehensive guides for the interpretation of Scripture with Scripture through the entirety of God’s Word, synchronizing all future classes and greatly assisting in the process of accreditation. While my teammates work in other sections, I have the weighty privilege of preparing teachers’ guides through the book of Genesis. In light of how Jesus taught His disciples about Himself through the whole Bible, we continually ask the questions: what does this teach me about Jesus? How did Jesus fulfill this in His first coming and/or how will He bring this thought to its conclusion in His second coming? (Luke 24:27, Col 2:16-17, Heb 10:1). I can’t imagine a better job!\nWe continue marching on the family front. Noelle diligently homeschools the kids who love their life of learning and playing with their friends on the farm. Apio continues to develop in spite of her past, but she has had to endure a lot of pain this month. Due to her previous lack of oral hygiene, we have had to extract two of her teeth, do two root canals and give her four fillings. Another exciting family development is that God has provided the means for us to convert our back porch into a guest room, allowing us to house visitors despite our growing family!\nJoin us in praising God that: He is using our home fellowships He is giving us wisdom to write the teachers guides He continues providing for our family Please join with us in prayer: For all of the people suffering from the virus and the government restrictions For our visas to be processed soon For Noelle and Apio who both have a skin parasite called scabies For people to understand and accept the Gospel here in our region In Christ, Matt, Noelle, Apio, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/june-2021-2/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"in-pointing-out-these-things-to-the-brethren-you-will-be-a-good-servant-of-christ-jesus-constantly-nourished-on-the-words-of-the-faith-and-of-the-sound-doctrine-which-you-have-been-following-1-timothy-46\"\u003e“In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.”  1 Timothy 4:6\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/11/E3588B52-3AD6-474F-8BF2-D0325F9BA3F2-1024x182.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSadly Uganda has been hit hard with the second wave of the Corona Virus, and we have entered another strict lockdown.  The past 16 months of confusion, pain, despondency and frustration have been the same for everyone around the world.  Our team has felt the negative effects of this lockdown in that our Discipleship School has to be closed down, the arrival of our new teammate, David Buescher who is the brother of Luke Buescher, has been delayed and the team that was coming out with him has been canceled.  It has also all but stopped our work visa renewal process which puts us in a precarious position.  We are thankful however, that this time around most businesses have stayed open, and Uganda’s president hasn’t stopped any relief efforts.  Traditional church gatherings have also been banned.  Therefore, we have opened a small fellowship at our house and Luke has opened another at his.  We praise God for the work that He has been doing through them.  It is always great to see the way that God moves and people grow within intimate gatherings!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"June 2021"},{"content":"It\u0026rsquo;s hard to believe we are here, just days away from launching year three of the Calvary School of Missions. It has been an incredible journey in preparing young men and women to be future missionaries and Jenn and I can hardly believe that God has given us a front row seat to watch these young world changers blossom. Year one and year two students are teaming with testimonies of how God has touched their lives, stretching them and molding them in amazing ways\nEach year has had its unique set of highs and lows, challenges and victories that God was faithful to see us through. We are sure this year will be no different and are looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us. One of the foreseeable highs that we want to share with you is that this year Jenn will be joining Tim for the whole six weeks! Jenn has not been able to go for more than a week at a time the last two years and as many of you know this has been such a difficult, but worthwhile, sacrifice. Year one we were newly engaged and year two we were newly married. Jenn made such a sacrifice and was so supportive, but being apart for six weeks each year was by far the hardest thing we went through together. So please rejoice with us this year as the Lord has answered over two years worth of prayer and made a way for Jenn to be there. We are excited for the opportunity this will afford us to grow deeper together in our calling of equipping and caring for missionaries.\nAnother one of the things that will be different this year is that we will be putting out a newsletter each week to take you along on the journey with us. You have already been such a big part of our calling and our walk and we feel this will be another great way to partner with you in the great commission.\nPRAYER REQUESTS\n\\* Pray for the next phase of our life \u0026amp; marriage, but most importantly that we continue to strengthen our trust \u0026amp; faith in God and stay faithful to the calling He has for us right now!\nPray for God to provide financially as we take this step of faith. Jenn’s job ended enabling her to join me this summer. But that means we won’t get a paycheck during this summer. Please pray that all our needs are met and that we can raise the finances needed to sustain us. Pray for Jenn’s physical condition as she is still recovering from her surgery. PRAISE REPORTS\nJenn continues to lead a growth group with women studying the Bible together and growing through the Word of God.\nTim continues to get teaching opportunities and is growing in his ability to teach God\u0026rsquo;s word\nTim’s sister accepted Jesus into her heart is on fire for Him and is attending Calvary Albuquerque.\nWe are so thankful for your prayers and your support both financially and emotionally. We shudder to think what it would be like trying to do this without you and we need you now more than ever. We are in need of people who wish to partner with us financially and are so grateful for you who have already joined us in this area. If the Lord leads you to join us financially, or increase your already generous support, you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 92886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/ready-set-go-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s hard to believe we are here, just days away from launching year three of the Calvary School of Missions. It has been an incredible journey in preparing young men and women to be future missionaries and Jenn and I can hardly believe that God has given us a front row seat to watch these young world changers blossom. Year one and year two students are teaming with testimonies of how God has touched their lives, stretching them and molding them in amazing ways\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ready, Set, Go . . . ."},{"content":"Greetings from Rosarito Beach Mexico,\nJune was a busy month for us as I am sure it was for many of you! Personally, Sarah and I got to celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary! We had a great time together and we laughed about how 19 of those years have been spent right here in Mexico! On the ministry side of things, our church had a fun Cowboy themed Father’s Day Celebration, with a Father’s Day Photo booth! (Happy Father’s day to all of you father’s out there, and thank you for the great job you do!)\nThis summer began with me busily preparing for our Bilingual Church Planting Conference that we host every summer as a church! In this update, I wanted to let you know what we have planned for this upcoming conference, and share a couple of prayer points with you.\n7 years ago, we started our annual church planting conference, and each year we have seen it grow little by little. Last year (in the middle of the Covid19 pandemic), we had our largest conference yet. But with things slowly returning to normal, this year we are asking God for even bigger and better things!\nThe dates of this year’s conference are August 6th and 7th (Friday and Saturday) and the event will be held once again at our church facility! We have a fantastic theme this year of “Lessons from the Ancient Church Planters”! We are planning on looking at 7 of the early churches found in the book of Acts and Paul’s epistles, to learn unique lessons from each one of them in regards to church planting!\nWe have an amazing line up of teachers this year which include three of our very own church planters, Hugo Limon (Culiacan), Aaron Smith (Punta Gorda Florida), and Fernando Serrano (Las Vegas) We also have my good friend Pastor Daniel Nunez joining us, who is a local hero of mine that has planted over 40 churches in Mexico and beyond. I am blessed to have Pastor Bruce Zackary (Calvary Nexus in Camarillo) teaching who is not only one of my personal mentors but also the author of the Church planting manual that we use in our church planting school. My Pastor and friend Trent Douglass of CCSaving Grace will also be teaching.\nAside from the main teachings, we also have an amazing lineup of 15 breakout/workshop sessions taught by gifted men and women covering a wide variety of interests and specialized topics! I believe that we are going to end the conference with the biggest highlight of all! For the third year in a row, we are ending the conference by sending out a new church plant together.\nMy friends Mary and German Lopez joined our church 3 years ago to be trained up to church plant in their hometown state of Sonora! (One state over to the East from Baja) We are planning to send them out to the capital city of Sonora, Hermosillo which has over 1 million inhabitants! I was blessed to take a vision tour in June with this gifted couple, and it was amazing to see God’s plans for them already unfolding! Mary and German have a fire burning in them, that matched the blazing 112 degree temperatures we experienced in that desert town!\nFinally, I would like to personally invite you to attend our church planting conference this year! As always, the conference is free, and is open to anyone with a heart to SEND and partner with church planters or to BE SENT to church plant in the future!\nOnce again, I want to thank you for partnering with us in this amazing work. We feel honored and humbled that you choose to partner with us through your prayers and finances! We love you and are thankful for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless the preparation for our upcoming church planting conference!\n#2- That God would provide for the financial needs of our family, church, and church plants!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a successful church planting vision tour to Hermosillo with German and Mary!\n#2- Praise God that God continues to bring back people to our church here in Rosarito after the Pandemic! Father’s day was our largest weekend yet (post covid) with over 1100 in attendance at our 3 weekend services!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “Become a Financial Partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/july-2021-vincent-family-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Rosarito Beach Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/06/18882137%5F10158643866255532%5F5991414217716550534%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJune was a busy month for us as I am sure it was for many of you! Personally, Sarah and I got to celebrate our 24th wedding anniversary! We had a great time together and we laughed about how 19 of those years have been spent right here in Mexico! On the ministry side of things, our church had a fun Cowboy themed Father’s Day Celebration, with a Father’s Day Photo booth! \u003cem\u003e(Happy Father’s day to all of you father’s out there, and thank you for the great job you do!)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"July 2021 Vincent Family Missions Update"},{"content":" EUROPE\nMitch and Christine Sorensen – Nice, France\nhank you so much for fighting for us in prayer.\nPrayer Requests:\n1physical strength, spiritual protection and lots of divine appointments as we continue to share the Gospel via tracts in the streets of Nice and other cities around.\n2. For people also to be very encouraged during our time with them.\n3. For the Spirit to open bigger doors with our neighbors.\n4. To know if we should come for a visit to California this summer.\n5. For 2 ladies we are starting to disciple (they are not in our area) (Sylvia, my niece and Eve who has been into occultism for a long time.)\n6. For Christine = Healing of my kidneys; and my shoulders which are VERY damaged and start to hinder me. (Ruptured tendons: They do not do surgery for this, at my age, here).\n7. For my Dad (Christine\u0026rsquo;s) who is getting older, weaker and weaker and does not want to hear about the Lord\n8. For churches to be able to do services without the masks on faces. It has been a big obstacle to regular fellowship.\nWith all our gratitude for your kind support and love!\nGod bless you as you serve Him.\nMitch and Christine - Email Blog\nBrenna Kulla – Pécs, Hungary\nThank you for your prayers!\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for his kindness and patient, continued pursuit of hearts!\nPrayer Requests:1. Prayer for our Lighthouse college outreach ministry, wisdom and vision in the planning of weekly events, relationships to be built and the gospel to be shared, hearts to be drawn to Jesus!\n2. Pray for the young women I meet with that they would grow deeper rooted in Christ and in love for Him, and grow in understanding of God’s calling and purpose on their lives.\n3. Continued prayer for healing from gut infections \u0026amp; mold toxins.\n4. Pray for further understanding and comprehension of the Hungarian language, and pray that I would be more bold to speak.\nThank you for your prayers!\nLove in Christ,\nBrenna – Email Blog\nAFRICA\nVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\nThank you prayer warrior for standing with us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the covid in our area. Many of us are sick but with extremely limited to no tests in our area, it is hard to know and contain.\n2. Please pray for rain! Our area is having a bad drought and we are loosing crops at an alarming state.\n3. Pray as our construction continues for the library and community center. We have broken ground and are working on the foundation! Praise the Lord!\n4. Our Calvary Football/Soccer team finished their first season in the big league. We are preparing a temporary field for next season in the Big League. Vincent has been asked to be the delegate for the Northern region of Uganda for FUFA. Pray as God uses him to share the gospel through FUFA.\n5. Continued prayer for health, safety and provisions for the church.avirus is growing rampant over there. Also for the unrest of elections.\nThank you all so much for your prayers and love!\nIn Him,\nVincent and Melissa – Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\n**In South Sudan:\n** Please continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached,\nRob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nLeo and Pilar Gray – Ensenada, Mexico\nThank you For Your Support and Prayer for Us.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our Church to be growing day to day.\n2. Pray our church believers to be grow in God word.\n3. Pray for our Church member as well as our Family.\n4. Pray For our Ministry to be fruitful.\n5. Pray our health to be physically fit so we can serve God.\n6. Pray God will allow to open Lockdown soon and we gather and Praise our God together.\n7. Pray safety to all students who were studying in bible school as well as safety of all staff.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar – Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nThank you all for praying for our family, it means the world to us!\n1. Pray for Joel through the busy summer months of caring for missionaries on furlough and holding the fort at the church while some of our main staff are away at the Calvary School of Missions\n2. Pray for Amy as she faithfully homeschools the kids and is discipling a handful of young girls eagerly seeking the Lord\n3. Pray for the Lord to direct Joel on the right traveling opportunities as things open up more and more for that.\nThank you again for lifting us up in prayer!\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara – Email Blog\nMike and Erin Thiemann – California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1 Please pray for the SGWM office as we gear up for a packed summer with our third 6-week Calvary School of Missions program taking place in Mexico.\n2. Pray for our accounting department. They need some full-time and part-time qualified volunteers. Also pray for wisdom and direction as we navigate and administrate a massive amount of accounts.\n3. Please pray for our new Administrative Assistant, Maribel, who is directly assisting me and has replaced Hope Douglass (who is on maternity leave).\n4. Pray that God would continue to provide and guide my family through life and ministry.\n5. Pray for me as I work towards earning my master’s degree. Pray that the Lord would bring about supporters and scholarships. Pray that the Lord would bless my study time and make it fruitful.\n6. Pray for the youth ministry I lead. Pray that the Lord would pour out his Spirit and awaken the affections of our teens towards Him. We have completed two Mexico trips so far this year and have plans for two more. Please pray as I need administrative help in organizing all these trips as well as the plethora of other administrative needs of youth ministry. We are also planning for a Belize trip for next Summer.\n7. Pray for our continued financial support as Erin and I have been Stateside missionaries for over 15 years.\nThank you for all your love, prayer and encouragement through this.\nWe are blessed by you. God bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina – Erin – Email Mike – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our health.\n2. Please pray that God will open doors for me to share about the work He is doing in South Asia.\n3. Please pray that I will know and do God’s will in every area of my life, and that I will draw closer to Him.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family’s health, especially my mom.\n2. Please continue to pray for my financial support.\n3. Praise the Lord, He has opened up nursing home ministry for us again! Please pray that many lives will be touched and many will be saved.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Provision and protection for our family and church!\n2. For God\u0026rsquo;s blessing on our next church plant to Hermosillo! (Capital city of Hermosillo)\n3. That God would strengthen and add to our churches as they come out of this season of Covid!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas – Tijuana, Mexico\nHi thank you for praying for me!\nPraise Report:-\nMy car broke down and the parts were nearly impossible to find. My pastor here found them in a junkyard and so my car was fixed within a week, praise God he answered that prayer in a flash!\nPlease Pray:\n1. We will be at full capacity with our afterschool program starting July 6. Praise the Lord! That means 40 kids will be here three days a week. Please pray for a smooth transition and that we all remain healthy. We also need more staff.\n2. For my knee. I had total knee replacement in my right knee on April 21. I am still not able to work. It is a long painful recovery process. Please pray that I Will be able to work starting July 6 as we are limited with staff in the after school program.\n3. Funds for construction on our property. We need to support an existing retaining wall with a new building, we hope to make a new multipurpose room but have no funds. God knows and he will provide.\n4. For an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all of us here, and for the Saints to come back to church!\nThank you so much God bless you my brothers and sisters. Jeremiah 33:3\nGod bless!\nDeanna – Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna G aona – S. Asia and Africa\nPray for the safety of all the students as they travel home to their villages in S. Asia. Pray for effectual ministry opportunities to share the Gospel and teach the Word in their home places.\nPray for our time of teaching at the Calvary School of Missions the last week of July. We will be traveling as a family to Mexico to teach and invest in the students.\nPray for leading for the fall semesters as we meet with the national pastors / leaders to discuss needs, classes, teachers and dates. Pray that all would come together according to God\u0026rsquo;s purpose and will.\nPray for the next church planters that are being raised up. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s timing to send them out through the 10/40 window.\nPray for Uganda and all of our missionary friends and national pastors / leaders as the country is in a strict lockdown now.\nThank you for praying,\nBond and Heather – Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPrayer Requests: 1. Please pray that the COVID related travel restrictions will be lifted so that we can visit our home countries (USA and Japan) next summer.\n2. Please pray that Darryl\u0026rsquo;s online apologetics/evangelistic video ministry will continue to equip the saints in Cambodia and beyond.\n3. Please pray that Darryl will be able to resume his partnership to make apologetics/evangelistic videos in Chinese (Mandarin) soon.\n4. Please pray for our son\u0026rsquo;s online school year to finish well and for wisdom about the summer since we cannot travel this year as we had hoped.\n5. Please pray for the Cambodians who are struggling in many ways due to COVID.\nThank you for your prayers.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Emai l Blog\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nPraise Report:\n-Thank you all the prayer warriors who had been praying for us because of that we are able to move forward for the ministry.\n-Thank you God as we are able to run Bible College since 2 month though we have lockdown.\n-Thank you God for good health for all the students and staff of our Bible College.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray that Students may serve God faithfully in coming seasons.\n3. Please pray that God may bring new students in coming semester.\n4. Please pray that God may allow us to reach more people in coming seasons.\n5. Please pray that some of the students had already started Bible study and some are planning to start, keep them in prayer.\n6. Please pray some of the students are struggling with old habits, let God minister them.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nGod bless you,\nChoudhary Family. Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraises Reports:\n-Praise God for He\u0026rsquo;s been so good and faithful so far.\nPrayer Request 1. Please pray for Nepal and its political situation, it\u0026rsquo;s so bad and corrupted.\n2. Please pray for all CCBC students and faculty as we have been continuing our Bible College.\n3. Please pray that Nepal gets rid of Covid soon, and the Lockdown would stop so that people can go for normal life.\n4. Please pray for all Charis family for the safety, good health and daily needs.\n5. Please pray for all our online Services.\nWe appreciate your continued prayers that\u0026rsquo;s a great blessing for us as we Serve Him.\nThanks for your prayer support for us!\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our Church to be keep growing day to day.\n2. Pray our church believers to be grow in God\u0026rsquo;s word.\n3. Pray for our Church members as well as our Family.\n4. Pray for our Ministry to be fruitful.\n5. Pray our health that we would be physically fit so we can serve God.\n6. Pray God will open the lockdown soon, and we can gather and Praise our God together.\n7. Pray safety for all students who were studying in the Bible School as well as safety of all staff.\nThank you for your prayers for us!\nIn Him,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God to take us safe from covid 19 and anti Christian groups.\n-.Praise god to loosening lockdown so now we are openly doing home fellowships and bible studies.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue pray for my safety from covid 19 and some anti Christian groups who wants to stop church.\n2. Please pray for an old church member her name is Pinki. She is only one believer from her village her husband is mantle, now her villager wants remove her from village because one house church was happening in her house. Last month village court gave her judgement to leave Jesus or village but she went to police and police helped her. Her village people wants kill us because she knows Jesus by me.\n3. Please pray for a land for Christian graveyard, last month 4 people dead by covid 19, their last wishes was to be funeral like as Christian but we don’t have graveyard so we could not fulfil last wish.\n4. Please pray for my church member to go more deeply in the word of God. To be safe from flood.\n5. Please pray for 100 audio bibles because 90% believers are illiterate.\n6. Please continue pray for me, and my sisters’s marriage that God would provide who can be partner in the ministry.\nThanks for your prayer, love and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 11\nWorker 3 - 10/40 Window\nHello, Dear Prayer Partner\nGreetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!By God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers.\nPrayer Requests: 1.\n1. Please pray for me and my family, so that God may protect us safe and sound health. Also we may able to grow in understanding of His word.\n2. Please pray for me as I am suffering from chest pain.\n3. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local Church.\n4. Please pray for the house map approval from municipal office and for the construction of a house.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nP and R\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nThank you for your prayers. We thank God for you, our prayer partners, who uphold us in prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the pandemic situation in our country.\n2. Please pray for God’s protection over His people.\n3. Please pray for the family that is being pressured by the villagers to reconvert to Hinduism.\n4. Please pray for our health.\n5. Please pray for our daughter, A. She is a trained nurse and has been working with the Covid patients.\nThank you again for your prayers and support!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the work the Lord has set before us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for our country as we are suffering from severe new strains of Covid.\n2. Pray for our family to stay healthy.\n3. Pray for our students and staff as they are also waiting for school to reopen.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus, praise the Lord! Please pray for more open doors.\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village\n3. Please pray for my health and safety\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nWorker 2\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my past experiences.\nThanking you.\nYours in Christ,\nWorker 4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n1. Please pray for my daily spiritual growth in the Lord.\n2. Please pray that I may be able to teach God\u0026rsquo;s word properly so that the Church will grow continually.\n3. Please pray that my parents and the rest of my family members will know the Lord.\n4. Please pray for the need of a church building.\n5. Please pray for our church members, for protection from the pandemic that is all around.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please be praying for the work that’s happening here in our city.\n2. Pray for our new church plant to keep growing.\n3. Pray for the new place that we want to start a Bible study.\n4. Pray for our slum ministry.\n5. Pray for our youth ministry.\n6. Pray for our worship leading ministry and park ministry.\n7. Pray for another new church plant we are doing (It began 3 months ago.\n8. There are more places that we need to reach; please be praying for God’s timing and resources.\n9. We are praying for food distribution in the areas where people are suffering and needy and hungry. Many of the daily wages workers don\u0026rsquo;t get to eat properly even when things are normal, but now everything is shut down and they have no chance to go out to find work. Now people are not only dying from corona, they are also dying of starvation.\n10. Please be praying for our Bible college.\n11. Please be praying for our financial needs for Bible and food distribution\nThank you for praying.\nWith love in Christ,\nWorker and Mrs. 6\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the ministry in this lockdown God my open the doors for Gods words.\n2. Please pray for my children that they my grow in Lord’s Fear and knowledge.\n3. Pray for God’s wisdom and strength to take care of my children and learn His Word.\n4. Please pray that the lord would intervene for the problem the world is facing.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for my personal Bible study.\n2. Pray for my preaching on the Gospel of Mark.\n3. Pray for my book study, “Praying Effectively for the Lost.”\n4. Pray for my ministry, family, and spiritual life.\n5. Pray for my parents and my brothers; they are still unbelievers.\n6. Pray for all of the believers in my church, that their knowledge will increase in the Word of God.\n7. Please pray for a piece of land for a church.\nMay God bless you\nThank you,\nWorker 8 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\n3. Please pray that God will protect all students and staff of the Pastors School from all illnesses and diseases; pray that they will remain healthy.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 9\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my ministry.\n2. Please pray for all of our believers, that they will grow in their knowledge of Bible verses.\n3. Please pray, we have some new men who want to know about Jesus. I shared the Gospel with them, so pray that they will come to Christ.\n4. Please pray for my family.\n5. Please pray for my village, that God will make open doors for me to share with them His Word.\n6. Please pray for a new mobile phone, because mine is not working well. Today, I was using it for Sunday service and it turned off on me. I have tried to have it repaired 5 or 6 times already.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 13\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my ministry.\n2. Please pray for all of our believers, that they will grow in their knowledge of Bible verses.\n3. Please pray, we have some new men who want to know about Jesus. I shared the Gospel with them, so pray that they will come to Christ.\n4. Please pray for my family.\n5. Please pray for my village, that God will make open doors for me to share with them His Word.\n6. Please pray for a new mobile phone, because mine is not working well. Today, I was using it for Sunday service and it turned off on me. I have tried to have it repaired 5 or 6 times already.\nMay God bless you,\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 13\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the people, those who don\u0026rsquo;t have jobs. And also those who have lost their friends and family members in this pandemic.\n2. Pray for our church people, for their faith, that they may be good students of God\u0026rsquo;s Word and pray for our online meetings, that we can find more opportunities with new people.\n3. Pray for the villagers, that people would be strong in their faith. Pray for food because there is no good transportation and their grocery markets are so far from the village. It is very difficult to survive especially during this pandemic.\n4. Pray for a piece of land for a church building, that we can have fellowship without any objections and have our own church building.\n5. Pray for me, that I would lead our believers well, and for my health also.\n6. Pray for a computer to continue to send my updates with, and to do our online fellowship with. It is very difficult to use my phone to write newsletters; a computer would be very helpful to keep in touch.\n7. Pray for the new people who have come to Christ recently; pray that they will grow with the Lord and with his kindness.\nThank you for your kindness!!\nGod bless you\nWorker 12\nWorker 7 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the online teachings I am preparing.\n2. Pray for our country, as a new wave of disease has come, not only corona but other diseases. People are living in fear and trouble and loneliness.\n3. Praise God that He has kept us safe and kept my YouTube ministry open!\nThank you,\nWorker 7\nWorker 5 – 10/40 Window\n1. Pray that God will protect us from the present situation.\n2. Pray for our neighbors, that they will come to know the Lord.\n3. Pray for my daughter who is studying nursing.\nThank you so much for the encouragement and partnership! Worker 5\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those\nwho are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping\n\u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-july-prayer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMitch and Christine Sorensen – Nice, France\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Sorensen-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ehank you so much for fighting for us in prayer.\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1physical strength, spiritual protection and lots of divine appointments as we continue to share the Gospel via tracts in the streets of Nice and other cities around.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. For people also to be very encouraged during our time with them.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. For the Spirit to open bigger doors with our neighbors.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JULY PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Calvary Chapel Bible College Mexico\nHola!\nGraduation went so well, and was both a happy and sad occasion. It’s always hard to say goodbye at the end of the semester, and yet exciting to know God has equipped these students to go out and share with a world that needs to hear the good news of the gospel.\nIt seems to be another quiet summer here at the college. We only have three groups coming. But there are eight students that will be on campus to help out and they’ve got their work cut out for them! A group called Lazarian World Homes is providing the funds to help build our first building on the upper campus. It will initially be the kitchen, dining room, and chapel. Already the foundation has been poured, the Styrofoam blocks that will make up the walls are up and poured with concrete, and the roofing is being delivered this week. It’s really starting to look like a building.\nLastly we have some news we’ve been wanting to share. Leo and I will be returning to the states. As of now we are not exactly sure when because we would really like to sell our house in Ensenada before leaving. This is our number one prayer request. Let me give you some background on why we have come to this decision. Around six or eight months ago Leo mentioned to me the idea of retiring when he turned seventy (he will be sixty-seven this year). Through a series of events and conversations with some friends it seemed the Lord was moving up the timeline. The most amazing thing is it’s as if God just put the idea in our hearts and we are watching Him make it happen! But this isn’t the first time He has done that in our lives, and to be honest as I’m typing these words, my eyes are filled with tears and my heart filled with gratitude knowing He always is there leading, making the path, showing us the way! He is taking us to Seminary, Mississippi, close to Hattiesburg, where our son Elliott and his wife Kaci live.\nDuring this transition time we appreciate your prayers as we go back to a different culture than what we’ve become accustomed to. Also we ask that you continue your financial support while we move and look for jobs to supplement Leo’s retirement. This is our second prayer request.\nAs I shared earlier, just like when we come to the end of a semester our feelings for leaving this place, this ministry, and these people is hard. Yet we are also excited to see what the Lord has for us in Mississippi. Thank you for partnering with us over these last twelve years! God has taught us so much! We have learned to depend on Him totally. We have seen Him supply all our needs, protect us, stretch us, and bless us. We are so thankful that He brought us here. We are so thankful to you for enabling us to be a part of the work in Ensenada Mexico.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/summer-news/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCalvary Chapel Bible College Mexico\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gray/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2021/06/june-nl1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHola!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGraduation went so well, and was both a happy and sad occasion.  It’s always hard to say goodbye at the end of the semester, and yet exciting to know God has equipped these students to go out and share with a world that needs to hear the good news of the gospel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gray/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2021/06/image.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e     It seems to be another quiet summer here at the college. We only have three groups coming. But there are eight students that will be on campus to help out and they’ve got their work cut out for them! A group called Lazarian World Homes is providing the funds to help build our first building on the upper campus.  It will initially be the kitchen, dining room, and chapel. Already the foundation has been poured, the Styrofoam blocks that will make up the walls are up and poured with concrete, and the roofing is being delivered this week. It’s really starting to look like a building.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Summer News"},{"content":"I greet you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!\nI am very thankful to God for His mercy and love. Indeed our God is so faithful to us every moment. He has sustained us thus far.\nMy family members are fine and doing well! Please keep us in your daily prayers.\nDuring this lock-down, I am enjoying the fellowship with Pastor 15*. Nowadays, a meeting is happening through Google Meet with all the ministry staff from Monday to Friday from 12 to 1:30 pm. Really, it is an amazing time. We share from our personal Bible study and the sermons that we plan to preach on Sunday. The rest of the time, we spend in prayer.\nI thank God for our spiritual father, pastor 15*, who encourages us and helps us. He helps us know how we can make our Bible study better, and how we can prepare our sermons well.\nI am doing my personal Bible study from the beginning of the Bible. (From Genesis to Revelation). I am preaching on Sunday from the Gospel of Mark. I chose a book for study along with the Bible and the book name is PRAYING EFFECTIVELY FOR THE LOST.\nRegards,\nPastor 8* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-knows-the-way/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI greet you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/20210604%5F123300-1-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am very thankful to God for His mercy and love. Indeed our God is so faithful to us every moment. He has sustained us thus far.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy family members are fine and doing well! Please keep us in your daily prayers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring this lock-down, I am enjoying the fellowship with Pastor 15*. Nowadays, a meeting is happening through Google Meet with all the ministry staff from Monday to Friday from 12 to 1:30 pm. Really, it is an amazing time. We share from our personal Bible study and the sermons that we plan to preach on Sunday. The rest of the time, we spend in prayer.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Knows the Way"},{"content":"“For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.” Colossians 2:5\nEven though we could not travel to the USA or Japan this summer as we had hoped due to COVID restrictions, we are thankful that we can feel close to our families and senders in both countries. We thank God for communication technology that allows us to communicate so that living on the other side of the globe now feels like living on the other side of the state felt a few years ago. We are thankful that we could even do some online shopping in the USA for a few essential items and books for Benjamin and have them shipped to Cambodia. This too is a blessing.\nRight now, we are working on a 45-minute video for the mission service at one of our sending churches in Japan in the first part of July. The video will have a mission report in Japanese by Kayo, a translated message by Darryl (Finding God in Difficult Times), and hopefully, we will be able to include the Japanese version of a short video “Who Created God?”. There are many pieces to put together so please pray that we can get everything put together in the right way for this project.\nBenjamin’s online school finished its school year. Benjamin won an academic achievement award. During his first week off school, Benjamin helped me (Darryl) with the Cambodian version of the the video “Who Created God?” by applying some of the graphic design skills he learned in school. We were even able to find some opportunities for Benjamin to swim, play badminton, do archery, and even ride a horse during a short vacation in our neighborhood.\nSince the last update we have released two apologetics/evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language: 1. God and Science 2. God and Right and Wrong. The video “Who Created God?” could be released but I am waiting until I can put English subtitles on it so it will be ready for release in a few more days. Please pray for wisdom in selecting and researching new topics for future videos.\nKayo continues to be very active with worship team at an international church in our neighborhood. We record the videos for the online service each week because the Cambodian government only allows 15 people to gather at a time. She also continues to encourage and minister to other Japanese missionaries who are serving in Cambodia and continues to partner with local Cambodian organizations that minister to women and to the poor though these activities are mostly online due to COVID.\nThanks for being there as partners around the globe for us. We are thankful for your prayers, encouragement, and support in various ways.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/with-you-in-spirit/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your \u003cem\u003egood\u003c/em\u003e order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.” Colossians 2:5\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/06/IMG%5F9198.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEven though we could not travel to the USA or Japan this summer as we had hoped due to COVID restrictions, we are thankful that we can feel close to our families and senders in both countries. We thank God for communication technology that allows us to communicate so that living on the other side of the globe now feels like living on the other side of the state felt a few years ago. We are thankful that we could even do some online shopping in the USA for a few essential items and books for Benjamin and have them shipped to Cambodia. This too is a blessing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"With You In Spirit"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nBecause of the lock-down, we organize Sunday services through Google Meet. All of the believers join with us online. I got the opportunity to deliver the Word of God to them.\nI also got a chance to share the Word of God through the Christian Youth Ministry group. In that group, most of them are young adults and from villages. Please pray for them\u0026ndash;that they may grow in the Word of God.\nNowadays, we are studying and learning from a different book of the Bible. Every day we meet through Google Meet along with pastor 15*, pastor 3*, and other ministry workers. Together we have a Bible study time. Through this, God is helping us to learn from the Word of God and we also correct ourselves.\nAlso, every Friday we have a prayer meeting. All of our family members join. Our kids also share what they have memorized from the Word of God, and songs and stories from the Bible. Through this, they are growing in God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray that my children may grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. Please pray that the Lord would intervene in the problem the world is facing. Please pray for the village ministry in my local area- that the villagers may grow in the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word. Blessings,\nPastor 16* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/dwelling-in-the-word-of-god/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country. By the grace of God, my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/20210521%5F125119-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBecause of the lock-down, we organize Sunday services through Google Meet. All of the believers join with us online. I got the opportunity to deliver the Word of God to them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dwelling in the Word of God"},{"content":"Hello Dear Pastors and Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\n“Everyone needs to stay home. Only go out if absolutely necessary to pick up necessary items.” Following such Covid protocols has changed our lifestyle. But, when we spend time with the Lord we find hope and protection as the Bible says, “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:2a). By God’s grace we are blessed and safe. We have been praying for you all dear prayer partners. May God bless you all abundantly.\nApart from my personal Bible study, I finished reading the book “Your Mind Matters” by John R.W. Stott. I learned why the use of the mind is so important and how it applies to practical aspects of the Christian life. Now a days, in our family devotion we are studying book of Revelation.\nLast month my wife got the opportunity to share God’s Word in a women’s fellowship through a virtual meeting. Our daughter is memorizing Bible verses daily, learning how to drive a motorbike, and cooking.\nPastor 15* is a great blessing to me. Whenever I have doubts or anything I want to understand about a Bible verse, I can reach him anytime. Every day we have an online staff meeting (we do Bible learning, discussion, correction and prayer together).\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for me and my family so that we may grow in the Lord. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local Church. Please pray for our house plans to get approved by the municipal office and for the construction of a house. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-give-thee-peace/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Dear Pastors and Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Daily-online-staff-meeting.-300x264.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Everyone needs to stay home. Only go out if absolutely necessary to pick up necessary items.” Following such Covid protocols has changed our lifestyle. But, when we spend time with the Lord we find hope and protection as the Bible says, \u003cem\u003e“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.”\u003c/em\u003e (Hebrews 12:2a). By God’s grace we are blessed and safe. We have been praying for you all dear prayer partners. May God bless you all abundantly.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Give Thee Peace"},{"content":"Hey everyone! Lots has been happening here in Oaxaca, so here’s a little update. Ministry has really started to pick up and the church has been growing in so many ways. We have some new families who have started to attend and who are already such a blessing to the church family. And the Navigators classes have continued to be a blessing to many, and seeing the spiritual growth has been amazing.\nIn March we visited Cacalote, where we attended Spanish school in 2017. We were able to visit the school and many of our friends there!\nWe have had some fun celebrations in the church too. Día de los niños is a very big day here in Mexico so the children’s ministry team put on a great even for the kiddos of the church and some of their friends. We also had fun celebrations for Easter and Mother’s Day. I’ve added some pictures from those days!\nJon was able to go to Rosarito and share at Calvary Rosarito for the Monday morning staff meeting, the church planting course that we went through, and teach on a Wednesday night while there. Such a blessing for him to have the honor to do that. While he was up that way he was also able to visit Calvary San Juan, and see our son and daughter in law, and other family.\nI have started the women’s bible study and we are studying the book of James together. The ladies also had a fun night of fellowship and bowling, which was a first for many of them. The Lord is really teaching me how to be diligent with studying (I am a work in progress) and I am learning so much as I study and prepare. Never in my life would I have thought I would enjoy teaching or speaking in front of people. These women have become one of the biggest blessings in my life because we all share our hearts with each other and I just love them all.\nWe have a LOT of things coming up over the next few months, with some teams coming and doing some conferences for the church and community. Jon is trying to go to the men’s rehab as much as possible also, but the man who was translating for him is no longer there. He has a couple of guys who will be going with him and teaching the men too.\nIt’s such a blessing to be able to be here in Oaxaca, and we are really enjoying ministry. Jonny and Noah are finishing up some last days of school and will be starting 9th grade in the fall. They are still taking music classes and really enjoying them.\nPRAISE REPORTS:\nWe will be starting a youth group this month. Our friend Miguel will be leading this group and he really has a heart for the youth! Jon is doing well teaching each week and just restarted the Wednesday night services. He really does well balancing studying and preparing, along with “life”. The women’s ministry has restarted and is a huge blessing. PRAYER REQUESTS:\nPlease pray for continued growth in the walks with the Lord within the church, and for unity within the church. We need to decide what to do with our car once the visa expires in February. We are praying about somehow buying a bigger vehicle for when teams come so they don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars on rentals. Please keep the youth group in your prayers. That the youth will learn and grow in their relationships with the Lord. Please pray for each ministry in the church. There are some amazing people who serve week in and week out, and who are such a blessing. Thank you for all of your prayers and support, and the encouragement you all are to our family!!! We love you all.\nJon, Allison, Jonny, and Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/june-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey everyone! Lots has been happening here in Oaxaca, so here’s a little update. Ministry has really started to pick up and the church has been growing in so many ways. We have some new families who have started to attend and who are already such a blessing to the church family. And the Navigators classes have continued to be a blessing to many, and seeing the spiritual growth has been amazing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"June 2021"},{"content":"Hello Friends!\nCheck out this video of some of the things going on in our life and ministry this Summer:\nhttps://youtu.be/_jHYhK1vTxM\nWe would ask that you pray for the Lord to meet our financial needs and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the \u0026ldquo;Become A Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/boasting-in-him-garcia-family-update-june-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCheck out this video of some of the things going on in our life and ministry this Summer:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/\"\u003ehttps://youtu.be/\u003c/a\u003e_jHYhK1vTxM\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe would ask that you pray for the Lord to meet our financial needs and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the \u0026ldquo;Become A Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Boasting In Him - Garcia Family Update June 2021"},{"content":" It is my great pleasure to share with my brothers and sisters, and prayer partners about what God has been doing through our church and Bible college. The Covid pandemic has affected everyone so badly all over our country. The lock-down has been continuing. We can hardly go out to buy groceries or vegetables\u0026ndash;only between the hours of 6-9am, We are not allowed to be in a group larger than 5 people. We are also not allowed to gather for church services. In spite of all the circumstances, praise God, we are able to continue our online services and meetings. We are trying our best to encourage the church members through prayer and every possible way we can.\nWe also are doing weekly online worship services, Bible study and prayer meetings, children\u0026rsquo;s fellowship, and young adult meetings and having women\u0026rsquo;s prayer meetings 5 days a week.\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/precious-fellowship/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Prakash-2-169x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is my great pleasure to share with my brothers and sisters, and prayer partners about what God has been doing through our church and Bible college. The Covid pandemic has affected everyone so badly all over our country. The lock-down has been continuing. We can hardly go out to buy groceries or vegetables\u0026ndash;only between the hours of 6-9am, We are not allowed to be in a group larger than 5 people. We are also not allowed to gather for church services. In spite of all the circumstances, praise God, we are able to continue our online services and meetings. We are trying our best to encourage the church members through prayer and every possible way we can.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Precious Fellowship"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nI never imagined that I would be this sad while writing a newsletter. It has always been a great joy to write to you about all of the things God has been doing here. But, the month of May has been the most difficult season so far. Depending on the severity of the spread of the Corona virus, different states have been locking down their states different times. In my state, May was a month of lock-down. Still, we are in lock-down during this month of June. We are allowed to go out only from 6 to 10am. (It is different for government employees.) We have seen more than 400,000 cases in a single day. Thousands of children became orphans, and multitudes died in the past couple weeks. Day by day, we are hearing about new things- like the black, white, and yellow fungus. So, yes, we are in real trouble, real fear, and real loneliness.\nAs a nation, our country, sent a vaccine to several other countries. But the government has failed to get the vaccine to its own people. We are in lack of the vaccine. No one really knows when we could all be vaccinated. Since it is a huge country with a big population, it is a big mess with the virus everywhere. I have had Covid already (during the 1st wave) and now we are having the 2nd wave here. In other states of our country, the 3rd wave is also devastating the people and nation. Maybe some or most of you have been watching in the news what is happening with our country.\nApart from this sad update, I have some good news too! The first thing is that God has been so faithful! He kept us so safe all of these days. Even in the future days, He is the One who will keep us safe. The second thing is: When I started my YouTube channel, I thought of teaching only in my own language. Some friends of mine from different countries were saddened because they cannot understand my language. So, they wrote me personally and that led me to try to teach in English. In these English language videos, I want to talk about basic things that people are confused about from or in the Bible\u0026ndash;both doctrinally and theologically. Currently, I am working on that video to come out.\nSo, yes, we need your prayers and I need your prayers. I hope it is going to be all over with this virus in the next couple months. Thank you for keeping spreading love.Blessings,\nPastor 7\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/unto-thee-will-i-pray/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Rohith-October-2020-300x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI never imagined that I would be this sad while writing a newsletter. It has always been a great joy to write to you about all of the things God has been doing here. But, the month of May has been the most difficult season so far. Depending on the severity of the spread of the Corona virus, different states have been locking down their states different times. In my state, May was a month of lock-down. Still, we are in lock-down during this month of June. We are allowed to go out only from 6 to 10am. (It is different for government employees.) We have seen more than 400,000 cases in a single day. Thousands of children became orphans, and multitudes died in the past couple weeks. Day by day, we are hearing about new things- like the black, white, and yellow fungus. So, yes, we are in real trouble, real fear, and real loneliness.\u003cbr\u003e\nAs a nation, our country, sent a vaccine to several other countries. But the government has failed to get the vaccine to its own people. We are in lack of the vaccine. No one really knows when we could all be vaccinated. Since it is a huge country with a big population, it is a big mess with the virus everywhere. I have had Covid already (during the 1st wave) and now we are having the 2nd wave here. In other states of our country, the 3rd wave is also devastating the people and nation. Maybe some or most of you have been watching in the news what is happening with our country.\u003cbr\u003e\nApart from this sad update, I have some good news too! The first thing is that God has been so faithful! He kept us so safe all of these days. Even in the future days, He is the One who will keep us safe. The second thing is: When I started my YouTube channel, I thought of teaching only in my own language. Some friends of mine from different countries were saddened because they cannot understand my language. So, they wrote me personally and that led me to try to teach in English. In these English language videos, I want to talk about basic things that people are confused about from or in the Bible\u0026ndash;both doctrinally and theologically. Currently, I am working on that video to come out.\u003cbr\u003e\nSo, yes, we need your prayers and I need your prayers. I hope it is going to be all over with this virus in the next couple months. Thank you for keeping spreading love.Blessings,\u003cbr\u003e\nPastor 7\u003cbr\u003e\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Unto Thee Will I Pray"},{"content":"Greetings in Jesus’ name!\nWe have been praying for you all, and we believe that you are doing well by His grace. We are so thankful to you, for your constant prayers for us and the ministry in our country. We are doing well here, in spite of the increase of Covid-19 cases in our country.\nThese past few months have really not been good humanly speaking. We have seen many of our Christian friends and relatives go to be with the Lord. More than this, so many non-Christians have died during these last two or three months. We are sorry about the death of unbelievers because they are lost forever. We urge you to please pray for the unbelieving Christians (Christians in name only) and non-Christians: that before departing from this world they would accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.\nOne of the members of our church also went to be with the Lord this month. He was a first generation Christian. His wife died last year in November and five months later he died. His wife did not die due to Covid-19, but this brother died due to Covid-19.\nHis younger son and his family are also followers of Jesus. The villagers are pressuring this family to come back to the Hindu faith. Villagers say, “If you were Hindus, your parents would have not died. Disown Jesus and come back to the Hindu faith.”\nLast week, they sent two policemen to this family to pressure them to perform Hindu rituals for the dead. Praise the Lord! This family remained strong in their faith. Though we are not allowed to visit any families during this lock-down, I was able to go and visit this family, encourage them, and pray with them.\nSince we are not allowed to gather together to worship, we are doing our worship services online. Besides our weekly church service, we have a daily meeting with our co-workers Monday thru Thursday from 12 to 1:30 and on Fridays we have fasting prayer together. We also keep in touch with the church members by calling them on the phone. I am also busy translating an English commentary on Acts into our national language.\nPhysically, my wife and I are not doing well. My wife has severe back pain. When she takes medicine and rests, she gets some relief. But after a day or two, she has the same problem again.\nPlease Pray For: The pandemic situation in our country For God’s protection over His people For the family that is being pressured by the villagers to reconvert to Hinduism For our health For our daughter. She is a trained nurse and has been working with Covid patients. Thank you so much for standing with us and for your partnership in ministry.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15* Family\n*Names and Faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/we-walk-by-faith/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in Jesus’ name!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have been praying for you all, and we believe that you are doing well by His grace. We are so thankful to you, for your constant prayers for us and the ministry in our country. We are doing well here, in spite of the increase of Covid-19 cases in our country.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese past few months have really not been good humanly speaking. We have seen many of our Christian friends and relatives go to be with the Lord. More than this, so many non-Christians have died during these last two or three months. We are sorry about the death of unbelievers because they are lost forever. We urge you to please pray for the unbelieving Christians (Christians in name only) and non-Christians: that before departing from this world they would accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"We Walk By Faith"},{"content":"Thank you, everyone, for your prayers. Despite Covid and school closures the Lord has been faithful to me and my family as we have continued in the ministry.\nOne big change and update in my life was on April 29th, 2021 when I got married! It was a difficult time as we faced lock-downs due to increased Covid cases. We couldn’t call all our friends and family to attend, and many couldn’t travel due to Covid. It was a small but beautiful ceremony. The Lord protected us from the virus despite it spreading so quickly in our region.\nNow that we are married and festivities completed, we look forward to moving forward together in the ministry. My wife is the daughter of a pastor and grew up as a missionary kid travelling all over the country. She speaks three languages and has a similar upbringing as my own. She went to school for nursing and has worked the passed 3 years in a hospital in the northern part of the country. She resigned from that hospital when we were married as she’s now living here with me in the southern part of the country. We are waiting on the Lord to see where He’ll lead us and how He’ll use her nursing skills.\nIn the book of Proverbs 1:7 Solomon says, “The Fear of the Lord is the beginning of Knowledge”. Solomon didn’t ask the Lord for wealth but for wisdom and the Lord provided for him. I am learning not to depend on earthly things but to set my mind on heavenly things. Colossions 3:1-2 says:\n“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.”\nThere has been a lot of down time in our area due to Covid. We have faced strict lock-downs which do not allow us to go out or have people come in.\nIt has been a great time for me to study the Word and read many books. Some of the books I’ve been reading are “Hunger for Reality” by George Verwer; “The Great Commission Lifestyle” by Robert E. Coleman and “Absolute Surrender” by Andrew Murray. Its been very edifying and I’ve enjoyed the time to read.\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the Work the Lord has set before us! Please continue to pray for our country as we are suffering from severe new strains of Covid. Pray for our family to stay healthy. Pray for our students and staff as they are also waiting for school to reopen.\nBlessings\nPastor 1*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/set-your-mind-on-things-above/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you, everyone, for your prayers. Despite Covid and school closures the Lord has been faithful to me and my family as we have continued in the ministry.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne big change and update in my life was on April 29th, 2021 when I got married! It was a difficult time as we faced lock-downs due to increased Covid cases. We couldn’t call all our friends and family to attend, and many couldn’t travel due to Covid. It was a small but beautiful ceremony. The Lord protected us from the virus despite it spreading so quickly in our region.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Set Your Mind On Things Above"},{"content":" “You are my servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you. Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:9b-10. God continues to show Himself faithful to our family as we continue depending on Him. We were relieved when after 21 long days we were finally freed from our quarantine to interact with the outside world. Our time to ourselves was really helpful as it freed us to focus on our family. The time was especially helpful for me as it allowed me to write out lesson plans for multiple books of the Bible, which has been one of my primary roles since returning home. However, it wasn’t easy to watch so many things get stacked up on the “to do when we get out list”. The rush to catch up has been necessary and exhausting, and unfortunately our family’s health still isn’t completely back. But we are content in the arms of our omniscient Father.\nAs missionaries, the joy of watching the Lord work far outweighs the cost of exhaustion and frustrations. It can even become so commonplace that we have to remind ourselves not to take it for granted. We praise God as we reflect on what He has done in the last month: We had the privilege of being the conduit by which two of our Calvary churches received church buildings. The ability to encourage the congregations and give responsibility of the building to them was an honor. I was given the responsibility of teaching the pastors in our school through the books of 1, 2, and 3 John; it’s always a blessing to be in the Word every day, organizing lessons and preparing sermons, and even leading daily devotions with the staff here at the farm. Possibly the most special thing in the last month was being invited to preach at the birthday party of our 2 year-old neighbor. Before preaching I was praying over a boy who had a splitting migraine, and by God’s grace he was healed. Then, despite giving what, from my perspective, was my worst sermon yet, the girls’ mother and 3 others got saved. After the party I was able to sit with them and explain more about their new relationship with God. An old woman at the party also came to me with multiple health problems. She had gone from doctor to doctor trying to find healing from chronic pain in her knees, chest, and nonfunctioning hand and arm. I prayed for her as well. The next day I heard a report saying that she had danced into the night, praising God for restoring her. We praise God that He upholds and helps us.\nPraise God: That we recovered from Covid. That Apio is integrating into our family well. That he is present in our human events. Please Pray: For our family’s health as we continue to fight illness. For Uganda as we are about to enter a second Covid 19 lockdown. For wisdom for our team as we try and adjust our activities according to the new government guidelines. In Christ, Matt, Noelle, Apio, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/may-2021/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/06/IMG-6853.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch4 id=\"you-are-my-servant-i-have-chosen-you-and-not-rejected-you-do-not-fear-for-i-am-with-you-do-not-anxiously-look-about-you-for-i-am-your-god-i-will-strengthen-you-surely-i-will-help-you-surely-i-will-uphold-you-with-my-righteous-right-hand-isaiah-419b-10\"\u003e“You are my servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you.  Do not fear, for I am with you; do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God.  I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:9b-10.\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/06/20210508%5F195204.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGod continues to show Himself faithful to our family as we continue depending on Him.  We were relieved when after 21 long days we were finally freed from our quarantine to interact with the outside world.  Our time to ourselves was really helpful as it freed us to focus on our family.  The time was especially helpful for me as it allowed me to write out lesson plans for multiple books of the Bible, which has been one of my primary roles since returning home.  However, it wasn’t easy to watch so many things get stacked up on the “to do when we get out list”.  The rush to catch up has been necessary and exhausting, and unfortunately our family’s health still isn’t completely back.  But we are content in the arms of our omniscient Father.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"May 2021"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn May, I got to take the trip of a lifetime to Culiacan Sinaloa! Culiacan is famous for being the hometown for the #1 drug Lord in the past 20 years, El Chapo (who thankfully is sitting in a New York High Security Jail right now)! But much more important than that, is that Culiacan is the home to a Church Plant that has become a sending hub!\nI was able to travel to Sinaloa with three pastor friends to meet my good friend and church planter Hugo Limon! Hugo was an assistant Pastor with us many years ago, and we sent him out back in 2015 to church plant in his hometown of Culiacan! Because Culiacan is a state capital city with over 1 million inhabitants, Pastor Hugo had a plan to plant 4 churches in his city from the very beginning!\nMy trip to Culiacan was to celebrate the completion of Hugo’s vision after just 6 years! While I was in Culiacan we got to ordain Hugo’s newest church planter Mario and witness the inauguration of Calvary Culiacan West! Hugo has now planted four other churches and we got to visit every one of them during our time there. On these visits, we were blessed to sit with and pray for each pastor, and give them a generous financial gift from our church in Rosarito.\nAlso on this trip, we were blessed to visit our very first 3rd generation church plant! Now you might be wondering, what is a 3rd generation church plant? A 3rd generation church plant is the church plant from a church plant of a church plant! Here’s how that works. We sent out Pastor Hugo in 2015 to plant Calvary Culiacan North! Hugo then sent out his good friend Pastor Valerio to church plant Calvary Culiacan South in 2018! And Pastor Valerio sent out my new friend Pastor Antonio to church plant Calvary Aguaruto on the Sunday we were there.\nI was so blessed to ordain Pastor Antonio on Sunday morning at his sending church CCSouth! And then in the afternoon, I had the honor and privilege of teaching at their first official Sunday service! I was filled with thanksgiving as we drove the 45 minutes out of Culiacan to this small agricultural community of Aguaruto. When I arrived at their new church facility I was blown away! Over 125 people were in attendance at their grand opening service! There was joy, happiness, and excitement everywhere as we got to witness our Almighty God do a miracle and give this brand new church an awe inspiring start!\nBy the end of our 5 day journey, our missions team had visited all 7 of Hugo’s church plants and future church planters that are still in the Home Bible study phase! It was awe inspiring to see the excitement of the people in their churches. Each church plant has accepted the challenge to not only reach their local community, but to be a church planting hub. Each church has committed to send some of their servant leaders to the church planting course that is given at Pastor Hugo’s original church located in North Culiacan.\nA special highlight for me was the opportunity to do a two-hour sit-down Question and Answer time with Hugo’s church planting students! I was amazed when over 40 students showed up for the class! (That’s more than we have in our church planting program in Rosarito!) These students came ready to stump me with very difficult questions about every aspect of the church! But the Lord was with me, and we had a wonderful time learning together.\nPrecious friends, thank you so much for partnering with us and allowing our church to be a sending hub of church planting. The heart of our church planting program is to send out Pastors that will plant churches that are also sending hubs. And that’s exactly what we’re seeing in the churches in Culiacan!\nFinally, I want to thank you for partnering with our family and ministry! It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and it’s through your financial partnership that God meets our physical needs. We love you and are thankful for you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless Pastor Hugo’s new church plant (Calvary Culiacan West) and our new 3rd generation church plant! (Calvary Auguaruto)\n#2- That God would provide for the financial needs of our family, church, and church plants!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God that we got to plant our 29th church in May! Please pray for Calvary Chapel La Mina (the mine) and it’s new pastor Ruben!\n#2- Praise God that God continues to bring back people to our church here in Rosarito after the Pandemic!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries: https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/june-2021-vincent-family-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/06/190383691%5F324964542320827%5F6206741191218120406%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn May, I got to take the trip of a lifetime to Culiacan Sinaloa! Culiacan is famous for being the hometown for the #1 drug Lord in the past 20 years, El Chapo (who thankfully is sitting in a New York High Security Jail right now)! But much more important than that, is that Culiacan is the home to a Church Plant that has become a sending hub!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"June 2021 Vincent Family Missions Update"},{"content":" “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”\nISAIAH 55:10-11\nHello friend! I hope and pray that this email finds you well! I am so grateful for the love and support you’ve shown me! It has been an eventful nine months, and the Lord is moving in exciting ways as I move into the next season.\nAs you may know, I attended Calvary School of Missions with Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM) in the summer of 2020. We spent six weeks in Rosarito, MX learning about God’s heart for the world, and how Jesus has invited us to participate in fulfilling His purpose among the nations. The trip was full of studying the Word, outreach, and fellowship! We heard testimonies and teachings from pastors and church planters from all over the world, and invited the Lord to speak to each of us about how He would lead us to fulfill that calling on our lives.\nCSOM 2020\nAfter the summer session, I decided to return to Bible college and continue studying God’s Word. That’s when the Lord placed Matthew 9:35-38 on my heart, and moved me to start a weekly missions prayer meeting! We met every Saturday night to petition the Lord that His glory would fill the earth, and His gospel would spread, His church would be comforted in the midst of persecution, and that His name would be honored and exalted among all nations. The Lord brought a solid, consistent group of people who committed to pray, and it was such a sweet time as we invited Jesus to teach us how to pray.\nThese last two semesters of Bible college have been so special and full of an awareness of Jesus’ presence. I am so grateful for the time God gifted me to seek Him without distraction and to begin learning how to study His Word carefully and prayerfully. As He promises in the above verses from the prophet Isaiah, His Word certainly accomplished so much in my own life. It brought forth bread for me to feast upon, and seeds to sow among those around me. These words in Isaiah bring me so much comfort because God has a purpose and a plan for the distribution and cultivation of His Word, and He is more zealous for His plan than I ever could be! It’s HIM who is sowing the seed of His Word and feeding His people with the bread of life, and His purpose WILL be accomplished. It is such a blessing to be invited into that plan to spread His Word, but it is always Him working through me to bring the light of the gospel to those who are in darkness.\nDear Sisters of Mine\nMurrieta Campus\nHome Group Spring 2021\nI graduated from Calvary Chapel Bible College just a few weeks ago, I have just moved to Yorba Linda to continue in the missions program with SGWM! I will be participating in a missions internship where I will gain hands-on experience in ministry, take more classes on Bible study and teaching, and learn more about cross-cultural church planting! I am so happy to be here with my CCSG church family. The Lord has so generously provided for all my needs. I have a gracious family to live with, and a part-time job at an in-home preschool/kindergarten!\nI get to work at school with Gabby!\nPrayer meeting with the interns\nMaribel is teaching me so much about how the SGWM office operates!\nI thank Yahweh, the true and living God, for you, and ask that He would fill your heart and life with deep and real knowledge of His all-surpassing love for you in Jesus Christ. Please email me back with any prayer requests you have. I would love to connect with you and partner with you in prayer.\nGrace and peace,\nRachel Martinez\nClass of 2021!\nPraise Reports The Lord has graciously provided a safe place to stay for the next year! Before I even set foot in Yorba Linda two weeks ago, I already had a job lined up. He has given me such an incredible church family to seek the His face alongside. I am so grateful for the opportunity to partner with SGWM in seeing the good news go to those who have not heard. The transition from Las Vegas to Yorba Linda was smooth! Prayer Requests Please pray for the 7,000+ people groups in the world that do not have access to the good news that Jesus is alive (see below photo)! Please pray for the upcoming Calvary School of Missions (CSOM)! May the Lord continue to equip people for the spread of His good news among all nations! Please pray that the Lord would give me diligence and discipline to balance my schedule. I am taking a Bible Teaching class, so please pray that the Lord empowers me with the humility and care necessary to rightly interpret and understand His Word. The Unreached\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-moved/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Moved!"},{"content":" EUROPE\nZully Ruano\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the seeds planted in the little hearts of our students.\n2. We need the Lord\u0026rsquo;s continual provision for our school so please pray for more students, teachers, and volunteers.\n3. We would like to finish our playground project, please pray for funds to finish that project.\n4. Continual prayers for wisdom and strength as I lead this school. Truly need the Lord\u0026rsquo;s guidance every day!!\n5. For my family back home as my parents are at high risk and other family members are experiencing some setbacks during this pandemic.\nThank you so much for your prayers!!!\nGod bless you!\nZully - Email Blog\nMitch and Christine Sorensen – Nice, France\nThank you so much for fighting for us in prayer.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for more opportunities to share the Gospel. That people will be open for those divine appointments\n2 Pray for unity within the church as there are opposing opinions on the pandemic, covid, and vaccinations.\n3. Pray for our health to be able to stay strong and be good servants.\n4. Pray that we can continue to encourage those lacking in hope.\n5. Pray that we can speak the truth in love and be obedient to our calling.\nThank you for your prayers and support.\nGod bless you as you serve Him.\nMitch and Christine - Email Blog\nBrenna Kulla – Pécs, Hungary\nThank you for your prayers!\nPraise Report:\n1. Praise God for His continual pursuit of hearts and for all the great things He has done!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Prayer for wisdom navigating the things in front of me, that I would be open to whatever the Lord has for me and that He would prepare and guide my way.\n2. Prayer for the young women that I meet with, that they would grow deeply rooted in Christ and captivated by him.\n3. That the Lord would completely heal me from mold toxins and gut infections. 4. Pray that the Lord would help me grasp the language and use it with more fluency, that I would be more bold to speak.\nThank you for your continued prayer in these times!\nLove in Christ,\nBrenna – Email Blog\nAFRICA\nVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\nPraise Report:\n-We praise God that a young lady who’s aunt has dedicated her to demons, has accepted Christ! The nurse accused of poisoning family has asked fir a Bible and is opening up and going to church.\n-We were able to give 70 Bibles to the youths but now around 100 more youths and adults have asked for Bibles. Please pray that God would provide.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the spiritual ware fare! God is moving crazy mightily here so the warfare is also crazy.\n2. Please pray for our vehicle that is now beyond repair, said the mechanics.\n3. Please pray for Uganda as the coronavirus is growing rampant over there. Also for the unrest of elections.\nThank you all so much for your prayers and love!\nIn Him,\nVincent and Melissa – Emai l Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course. The second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nBond, Heather and Breanna – S. Asia and Africa\nPraise Report\n- Praise God for two of the campuses continuing to disciple and teach through the lockdowns. Pray for continued health for the staff and students.\nPrayer Report:\n1. Pray for India and Nepal as they are in strict lockdown again starting the beginning of May. No cars on the road, no travel, no work, no schools are open, airports are closed, etc. A lot of people are dying with this second wave of the pandemic there and even more are suffering because of lack of work and food. Pray for healing and for protection for our brothers and sisters serving there. Pray as they love their neighbors and meet online (for those who are in the city and have internet) that God would encourage and strengthen the believers and that many would turn to Christ through this.\n2. Pray for the timing of our rescheduled trip. Our flights were canceled when the airport shut down just three days before we were set to travel to Nepal.\n3. Pray for Bond as he teaches online two days a week to one campus in South Asia and another day to another location. Pray for God to strengthen him and for effective teaching through technology as pastors continue to be raised up and prepared.\n4.Pray for our family as we have a team of young adults we will be leading on a missions trip to Mexico in a few weeks. We have been teaching, training and investing and we are excited that a great group has answered the call to GO! Pray for a fruitful time of ministry and that we would be a blessing to all we serve and reach out to in Jesus name.\nThank you for praying,\nBond and Heather - Email Blog\nNancy Schipke - Mazatlán, Mexico\nThank you for your prayers!\nPersonal Request:\nI am currently in search for a new place to live here in Mazatlán. Prices seem to be about double of what I have been paying at my previous location the last 3 years.\nI want to make a wisest decision with the provisions the Lord has provided through His people.\nThank you!\nNancy - Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray – Ensenada, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We are graduating seven more students this semester. Please pray that God would use them to advance His Kingdom and that they would be faithful to serve Him.\n2. Pray for the students over the summer break that God would use them and prepare their hearts for next semester.\n3. Pray for the new students applying to come for the fall semester.\n4. We started a new building - chapel / kitchen and dining room. Pray for guidance, safety, and support for this project.\n5. Due to Covid we only have two teams coming this summer. They provide income for the college. Pray that God would continue to provide as He has in the past.\n6. Pray for Pastor Juan Domingo’s health. He has migraine headaches but continues to minister.\n7. Pray for missionaries to come to help us in the ministry here in Ensenada. We need staff members to come and help.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar – Email Blog\nMike and Erin Thiemann – California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1 Please pray for the SGWM office as we gear up for a packed summer with our third 6-week Calvary School of Missions program in taking place in Mexico.\n2. Pray for our accounting department. They need some full-time and part-time qualified volunteers. Also pray for wisdom and direction as we navigate and administrate a massive amount of accounts. Please pray for our new Administrative Assistant, Maribel, who is directly assisting me and has replaced Hope Douglass (who is on maternity leave).\n3. Pray that God would continue to provide and guide my family through life and ministry.\n4. Pray for me as I work towards earning my master’s degree. Pray that the Lord would bring about supporters and scholarships. Pray that the Lord would bless my study time and make it fruitful.\n5. Pray for the youth ministry I lead. Pray that the Lord would pour out his Spirit and awaken the affections of our teens towards Him. We have completed two Mexico trips so far this year and have plans for two more. Please pray as I need administrative help in organizing all these trips as well as the plethora of other administrative needs of youth ministry. We are also starting plans for a Belize trip for next Summer.\n6. Pray for our continued financial support as Erin and I have been Stateside missionaries for over 15 years.\nThank you for all your love, prayer and encouragement through this.\nWe are blessed by you.\nGod bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina – Erin Email Mike – Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Safety for our family and church from Covid!\n2. God\u0026rsquo;s blessing upon our new bilingual church plant in Meniffee Southern California!\n3. God\u0026rsquo;s provision for our new church plant in La Mina (the mine) Southern Rosarito!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nTim and Jenn Pappas – California, USA\nPraise Reports:\n-Praise God Jenn’s neck continues to heal nicely from her surgery.\n-Praise God for his protection in our travels\n-Praise God for his provision to meet our needs\nPrayer Reports:\n1. Please pray for wisdom as Tim directs the Calvary School of Missions\n2. Please pray for a way for us to serve together at the school this year as six weeks apart from each other is very difficult.\n3. Please pray for our family as our uncle passed away this week\n4. Please pray for Jenn as she is facing persecution due to standing her ground at work and not being willing to allow false religions in to her groups.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn – Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Pray for Amy, for strength, focus, and patience as she homeschools our children and runs hard in ministry\n2. Pray for Joel, that the Lord would direct him and give him vision for the sending and caring ministry of SGWM\n3. Pray for vision for the family in all of the ways that we serve the Lord\n4. Pray for the Lord to continue to sustain us and meet all of our needs as He sees fit\nThank you for your prayers for us.\nLove,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPraise the Lord, our health has still been good this month!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for God to give us strength as we move this month.\n2. Please continue to pray for my youngest daughter, Rose\u0026rsquo;s, recurring struggle with reflux.\n3. Please pray for my financial support.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family’s health.\n2. Please continue to pray for my financial support\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas – Tijuana, Mexico\nHi thank you for praying for me! Here are my request for this month:\n1. That I would heal completely from my knee replacement and be able to return home on June 6th.\n2. For after school program/soup kitchen, that we could soon return to full capacity. Because of Covid, We are currently allowing 10 children per day, so the kids basically only come one day per week.\n3. For the upcoming construction projects that need to be done. We have limited funds but are stepping out in faith knowing that God will provide.\n4. Lord willing, to open a school on our church property. This is a dream that we’ve had for a long time. We are currently trying to buy the property below us to have a fire escape for the children.\n5. For the Saints to come back to church! Many are discouraged and preferring to do church at home still. Also for a revival in our church.\nAgain, thanks for your prayers for me and the children in Tijuana Mexico, they are truly cherished!\nGod bless!\nDeanna – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nBrad and Melissa – Amazon Jungle Brazil\nPraise the Lord, For He is Good, He is above all things!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For the Apurina people group in the Amazon Jungle.\n2. Of the Apurina, specifically pray for our leadership, Oscar and Analucia, Domiginho, Patricio, Valdeci, Pedro, Raimunda, Guirlermi and Alcimara.\n3. Pray for wisdom and discernment for us.\n4. Pray for the people in the new villages we have reached recently. People in Aldeia Nova, Makauao, Sao Sebastiao, Bacuri and Joari.\n5. Pray for our children and homeschool in the mists of a jungle ministry.\n6. Pray for our next trips into the jungle. 1st trip April 29-May21, next trip June 22 -July 16th.\nGod bless you and thank you!\nIn Christ!\nBrad and Melissa and family – Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 14 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for healing of our nation as covid is claiming many lives.\n2. Please pray for our family to stay safe. My sister was positive but thankfully the other 9 people in our home, (including parents and kids) remained healthy!\n3. Pray for safety over our campus and staff as we have temporarily opened our hostel again for covid quarantine use.\n4. Pray for lockdowns in our state to be lifted so we can travel back home. Currently we’re stuck at our family’s home on the opposite side of the state.\n5. Pray for continued opportunity to reach our communities with physical help and spiritual transformation.\nThank you for your prayer support.\nBlessings,\nWorker 14 and Family\nDarryl and Kayo Record – Cambodia\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that the COVID related travel restrictions will be lifted so that we can visit our home countries (USA and Japan) next summer.\n2. Please pray that Darryl\u0026rsquo;s online apologetics/evangelistic video ministry will continue to equip the saints in Cambodia and beyond.\n3. Please pray that Darryl will be able to resume his partnership to make apologetics/evangelistic videos in Chinese (Mandarin) soon.\n4. Please pray for our son\u0026rsquo;s online school year to finish well and for wisdom about the summer since we cannot travel this year as we had hoped.\n5. Please pray for the Cambodians who are struggling in many ways due to COVID.\nThank you for your prayers.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nPraise Report:\n-Thank you God for helping us to run Bible college since last month though we have lockdown.\n-Thank God for bringing students though it is challenging time of COVID.\n-Thank you God for all our students and staff good health.\nPrayer request:\n1. Thank you prayer warrior who has been faithful to pray for us .\n2. Please pray for our good health.\n3. Please pray that God may help us to run Bible college smoothly during this semester.\n4. Please pray that God may pour His Spirit upon us to teach these students faithfully.\n5. Please pray for all the students to be courageous in this pandemic time.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nGod bless you,\nChoudhary Family. Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraises Reports\n-Praise God for His constant faithfulness! He has been so good and gracious even in such a pandemic situation.\nPrayer Requests\n1. Please pray for Nepal, the Covid is affecting all around.\n2. Please pray that God would protect all CBCKN families- for their spirituality, good health and daily needs, since most of the believers are day worker.\n3. Because of the lockdown since last month we are not allowed to gather at the Church for the Church Services. Please pray that this Covid pandemic be gone soon.\n4. Please pray for our all online meetings of the Church.\n5. Please pray for our CCBC family- for the good health and spiritual growth of all staff\u0026rsquo;s families and the students that are currently studying at campus.\nI appreciate your continued prayers that\u0026rsquo;s a great blessing for us as we Serve Him.\nThanks for your prayer support for us!\nBlessings! Prakash and Muna - Email Blog\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for current situation; Covid may harm all Nepalese people pray for their health\n2. Pray our physical health so we can be physically fit and serve our God in a effective way.\n3. Pray for my personal health. i am recovering from Covid, that God may provide strength to me.\n4. Pray Our Church\u0026rsquo;s Entire members. God may give peace in their hearts as conditions are growing worst by this pandemic.\n5. Pray the Bible school is safe and secure during pandemic time for those living there.\n6. Please pray our family can accept Jesus as their Lord in God\u0026rsquo;s time.\n7. Pray our social online service may be growing day by day, and to be fruitful so everybody can listen to the Word of God through the different social media, and they will abide in God.\nThank you for your prayers for us!\nIn Him,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God to take us safe from second wave of covid 19\n-Praise God to give me vehicle e-pass to visit peoples during this new lockdown.\n-Praise God to fulfil all basic needs during this new lockdown.\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for safety of my family from second wave of covid 19.\n2.Please pray for my church family to grow in the word of God and to be safe from covid 19. In this month 3 person are dead from my relative and church family from covid 19. Almost All hospitals are full and patients are dying without treatment.\n3.Please continue pray my mom’s health.\n4.Please continue pray my country is in a really critical situation because of second wave of covid 19. Poor, widows and orphans are dying without vaccine, treatment and food. No any political leaders are caring them; God would provide basic needs for them. In this month more than 5 hundreds thousands have died.\nThank for your prayers, help and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 11\nWorker 3 - 10/40 Window\nHello, dear prayer partner\nGreetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord Jesus Christ!\nPraise Report:\n-By God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers. For this month I would like to share some of the prayer concerns.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my family, so that God may protect us safe and sound health. Also we may able to grow in understanding of His word.\n2. Please pray for U.S. from past two years she has been suffering from headache and body pain.\n3. Please pray for N.S. she has paralyses.\n4. Please pray for salvation and healing touch of A. (Hindi lady). God may heal her completely.\n5. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local Church.\n6. Please pray for the house map approval from municipal office and for the construction of a house.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him\nP and R\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nThank you for your prayers. We thank God for you, our prayer partners, who uphold us in prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. God\u0026rsquo;s protection over his people in India during this second phase of Covid-19.\n2. For revival in the churches.\n3. God\u0026rsquo;s wisdom to do ministry in this situation.\n4. God\u0026rsquo;s peace for the Christian families who have lost their loved ones.\n5. For our daughter A. She is a trained nurse and is working with the Covid patients.\n6. For the growth of the ministry.\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nThank you for your continued prayers and financial support which allows us to focus on the work the Lord has set before us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for our country as we are suffering from severe new strains of Covid.\n2. Pray for our family to stay healthy.\n3. Pray for our students and staff as they are also waiting for school to reopen.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village\n3. Please pray for my health and safety\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nGod bless,\nWorker 2\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n3. Pray for me for safety and for good health\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my past experiences.\nThanking you.\nYours in Christ,\nWorker 4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n1. Please pray for my daily spiritual growth in the Lord.\n2. Please pray that I may be able to teach God\u0026rsquo;s word properly so that the Church will grow continually.\n3. Please pray that my parents and the rest of my family members will know the Lord.\n4. Please pray for the need of a church building.\n5. Please pray for our church members, for protection from the pandemic that is all around.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please be praying for the work that’s happening here in our city.\n2. Pray for our new church plant to keep growing.\n3. Pray for the new place that we want to start a Bible study.\n4. Pray for our slum ministry.\n5. Pray for our youth ministry.\n6. Pray for our worship leading ministry and park ministry.\n7. Pray for another new church plant we are doing (It began 3 months ago.\n8. There are more places that we need to reach; please be praying for God’s timing and resources.\n9. We are praying for food distribution in the areas where people are suffering and needy and hungry. Many of the daily wages workers don\u0026rsquo;t get to eat properly even when things are normal, but now everything is shut down and they have no chance to go out to find work. Now people are not only dying from corona, they are also dying of starvation.\n10. Please be praying for our Bible college.\n11. Please be praying for our financial needs for Bible and food distribution\nThank you for praying.\nWith love in Christ,\nWorker and Mrs. 6\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the ministry in this lockdown God my open the doors for Gods words.\n2. Please pray for my children that they my grow in Lord’s Fear and knowledge.\n3. Pray for God’s wisdom and strength to take care of my children and learn His Word.\n4. Please pray that the lord would intervene for the problem the world is facing.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for fruitful ministry in the days to come.\n2. Please continue in prayer about the division of my land, so that it can be used for the glory of God.\n3. Kindly pray for brother R\u0026rsquo;s wife; she is pregnant. Pray for her good health and normal delivery.\n4. Please pray for spiritual revival in the believer\u0026rsquo;s lives.\n5. Pray for \u0026ldquo;P\u0026rdquo;, for complete deliverance.\nMay God bless you\nThank you,\nWorker 8 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\n3. Please pray that God will protect all students and staff of the Pastors School from all illnesses and diseases; pray that they will remain healthy.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 9\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for me and my ministry in this area.\n2. Please pray for the coronavirus. It is growing here so much and people are dying quickly; so many young people have died.\n3. Please pray that God will help all of the people and heal them soon.\n4. Please pray that more people will come to Jesus and know the truth.\n5. Please pray that our church will grow here.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 13\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers.\n-Thanks be to the God Who has taken care of us until now in this lockdown! God blessed me, and all in the house. We are growing in the Word of God. We are happy that the new boys are coming home to their villages. We are getting the opportunity to talk with them and teach them the Word.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe; that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s complete healing from his fall.\n3. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n4. Pray for me, because I am making a church building. Pray that God will give me wisdom and understanding to do it correctly.\n5. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n6. Pray for me, that God will open new doors for me to share the Gospel.\n7. Pray for one brother who I have been sharing the Gospel to; pray that he will come to Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 10\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the people, those who don\u0026rsquo;t have jobs. And also those who have lost their friends and family members in this pandemic.\n2. Pray for our church people, for their faith, that they may be good students of God\u0026rsquo;s Word and pray for our online meetings, that we can find more opportunities with new people.\n3. Pray for the villagers, that people would be strong in their faith. Pray for food because there is no good transportation and their grocery markets are so far from the village. It is very difficult to survive especially during this pandemic.\n4. Pray for a piece of land for a church building, that we can have fellowship without any objections and have our own church building.\n5. Pray for me, that I would lead our believers well, and for my health also.\n6. Pray for a computer to continue to send my updates with, and to do our online fellowship with. It is very difficult to use my phone to write newsletters; a computer would be very helpful to keep in touch.\n7. Pray for the new people who have come to Christ recently; pray that they will grow with the Lord and with his kindness.\nThank you for your kindness!! God bless you,\nWorker 12\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God to take us safe from second wave of covid 19\n-Praise God to give me vehicle e-pass to visit peoples during this new lockdown.\n-Praise God to fulfil all basic needs during this new lockdown.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for safety of my family from second wave of covid 19.\n2. Please pray for my church family to grow in the word of God and to be safe from covid 19. In this month 3 person are dead from my relative and church family from covid 19. Almost All hospitals are full and patients are dying without treatment.\n3. Please continue pray my mom’s health.\n4. Please continue pray my country is in a really critical situation because of second wave of covid 19. Poor, widows and orphans are dying without vaccine, treatment and food. No any political leaders are caring them; God would provide basic needs for them. In this month more than 5 hundreds thousands have died. Thank for your prayers, help and partnership for the Gospel.\nThank you so much for your prayers and partnership for the Gospel! God bless!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 11\nWorker 7 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for the students who have received training and are now serving in different areas of this nation. Pray that as they are ministering, God would speak to them and soften their hearts to make them realize their need of salvation and a relationship with the one true God.\n2. Please pray that the Holy Spirit would lead me in His direction while I am teaching the students and during my lesson preparation.\nThank you,\nWorker 7\nWorker 5 – 10/40 Window\n1. Pray that God will protect us from the present situation.\n2. Pray for our neighbors, that they will come to know the Lord.\n3. Pray for my daughter who is studying nursing.\nThank you so much for the encouragement and partnership! Worker 5\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are\nmistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping,\n\u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-june-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9-1024x576.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eZully Ruano\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Zully-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Please pray for the seeds planted in the little hearts of our students.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. We need the Lord\u0026rsquo;s continual provision for our school so please pray for more students, teachers, and volunteers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. We would like to finish our playground project, please pray for funds to finish that project.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e4. Continual prayers for wisdom and strength as I lead this school. Truly need the Lord\u0026rsquo;s guidance every day!!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JUNE PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Hello Dear Family!\nWe hope you all are doing good. We are continually praying for you all. Even during the time of this pandemic, God has been very faithful in protecting and providing for us. I am excited and happy to share with you all what’s happening here and in our lives. Thank you for your prayers and support!\nIn my country, COVID positive cases are growing day by day. Many people are dying. It is really sad to see. Many are losing their parents and children. I want you to please pray especially for my country. People here need more wisdom on how to protect themselves from Corona. Many are reckless. They are still not taking it seriously. It is sad to see them who do not know Christ. I do not know why God allowed it, but still He has a reason\u0026ndash;so that many may turn to Him. Please pray about it. Since April, we have been doing our worship services online, and reaching out to other people through social media. New people have also joined our online worship services.\nWe are happy to see people responding to the Word of God. It blesses my heart. Some of our church people do not use social media, but we still connect with them on our phones through conference calls (bringing them together over the phone) so everyone can join in our worship services. We have 3 worship services each week and also one time for fasting prayers. Please pray for our church people to grow more in Christ, and spend their time encouraging each other, and building their relationships with God. Some of them are discouraged because of the lock down. Some people are sick too.\nNew Church Plant Even in this hard COVID time, God has a plan for His people. I always believe that if God is allowing something, that means He has something to do with it. So amazingly, God opened doors for us to start a Bible study in a new place, very near our Bible College! It is amazing how God leads to reach His people. You can see in the pictures, this is the new place that we have started a Bible study. Slowly it is growing. This May we started Sunday worship services.\nGod really did miraculous healing in the midst of them. After we started a Bible study there, slowly people started joining. One of their children was sick and they asked me to pray for them. I said \u0026ldquo;God, You brought us here to do something in their life. So in Your name I pray and ask You to heal this person.\u0026rdquo; Then on that day she was healed! Her fever and body weakness went away. I really praise God for His healing.\nIt’s like working with God for His Kingdom. Many are sharing testimonies of what God is doing in their lives. So, people started believing more and coming to Jesus. I really felt like if God leads definitely He will provide. It is like miracles confirm the message of God. So now most of them are believing Jesus and asking us to come to their homes and pray for them. Now everyone believes that there is hope in Jesus. They are growing more in the Word. So I want you to pray especially for this place that God would use us more to bring people to Jesus.\nFood Distribution in a New Place To Reach God opened up an opportunity to visit and share the Gospel with people who are suffering and broken. Almost everyone in the families we visited got tears in their eyes, and asked us to please pray for them. It is really sad to see them suffering during this time of COVID. We prayed and distributed food among them. We also visited each family and shared the Gospel and prayed over them.\nOnly one family believed on Jesus. Most of them are unbelievers. On the day we did food distribution, they really felt loved and cared for. So please continually pray for these families. They need Jesus. Every Sunday we are going to meet with them and share the Gospel. We are planning to start a Bible study and then start having Sunday worship. This will be another new church plant. So please continuously pray.\nFriday Outreaches During the month of April, we did outreaches in 2 different places. One area is the colony our church is in, to reach all the families in that area. Students join us in this outreach. We visit unbelievers houses and pray and share the Gospel with them. When we enter into their houses they really feel happy and welcome us with grateful hearts. Some people directly tells us that they don’t want to hear about God, but we still keep on building relationships with them to lead them to Christ. We sit with the families we visit and listen to what they say. We share the Word and worship the Lord. They share that they feel peace and happy. So we continually visit them every Friday. Please pray for every house we enter. They need to meet Jesus and experience His love and grace in their lives.\nThe other location we did ministry in was sharing the Gospel on the street and also in the parks. Wherever we go, we share the Gospel with the people during the outreach. Amazingly, God arranges for us to meet people. It is like a spiritual appointment. Every student will be involved in sharing the Gospel to new people and connecting with them to keep building relationships to lead them to Christ. Amazingly, God does good things in their lives! So we go to the places where God leads, and meet those who God wants us to meet.\nLeading Worship I got invited to lead worship at a women’s conference and also during a 3 day pastors\u0026rsquo; conference in my state . It is really amazing to see His people worshiping God, singing praises to Him from their hearts, and raising their hands to surrender their lives. I am really blessed to be a part of what God is doing among His people. Please continually pray for my worship leading ministry also\u0026ndash;that it will help connect people to God and that they would experience His presence.\nBible College Everyone is doing really good. We are able to see the students are learning a lot of things from God\u0026rsquo;s Word. They are excited to learn more. Already, it has been almost 2 months. Now we are in the 9th week of the semester. They are having a good time learning the Word. Thank you for your prayers and support. Please keep praying. Now, we have started having the students give chapel talks each evening. That means that students will share the Word and learn to teach verse by verse. Everyone is doing a good job in that. Please keep praying.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for the work that is happening here. Pray for our new church plant to keep growing . Pray for the new place that we want to start a Bible study. Pray for our slum ministry. Pray for our youth ministry. Pray for our worship leading ministry and park ministry. Pray for our other new church plant. (It has been going on for 3 months.) There are more places that we need to reach. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s timing and resources. Please pray for a food distribution in the areas where people are suffering and needy and hungry. Many of the \u0026ldquo;daily wages\u0026rdquo; workers do not get to eat properly even when things are normal. Now that everything is shutdown, there is no chance for them to go out for work. People are not only dying because of corona- but also because they do not have enough food. Please pray for the Bible college. Please pray for our financial needs for a Bible distribution in the 3 new church plants and a food distribution for the hungry and needy. Thank you,\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/all-thy-wondrous-works/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Dear Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe hope you all are doing good. We are continually praying for you all. Even during the time of this pandemic, God has been very faithful in protecting and providing for us. I am excited and happy to share with you all what’s happening here and in our lives. Thank you for your prayers and support!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn my country, COVID positive cases are growing day by day. Many people are dying. It is really sad to see. Many are losing their parents and children. I want you to please pray especially for my country. People here need more wisdom on how to protect themselves from Corona. Many are reckless. They are still not taking it seriously. It is sad to see them who do not know Christ. I do not know why God allowed it, but still He has a reason\u0026ndash;so that many may turn to Him. Please pray about it. Since April, we have been doing our worship services online, and reaching out to other people through social media. New people have also joined our online worship services.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"All Thy Wondrous Works"},{"content":"There is salvation in no one else, f or there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved. Acts 4:12\nDear friends and family:\nThis time of year always fills me with so much hope. Knowing that my Savior is not dead but Alive! There is no other religion that can claim and prove that their God is alive. This renewed hope comes with a sense of urgency. An urgency to tell others that they too can have hope if they put their faith in Jesus Christ. Just as this time of year brings about new birth for plants and animals we are praying for spiritual new birth for the many people hearing the Word of God through all the different ministries and outreaches taking place.\nSince the reopening of churches during the pandemic, we as a church have been meeting out in the gardens for all our services. We have plans to move back inside as soon, as Uganda is entering the rainy season, but it has been a great opportunity of outreach to our neighbors while we have been outside. Our church building is on the property of a health club and restaurant. As we have been meeting outside in their gardens we have had people come and observe, some sitting distantly away and others who actually come and sit in the service. The owner of the place has said that he himself has enjoyed the public aspect of the worship and how it seems to be enjoyed by his patrons.\nOn Easter morning we were at first little discouraged because we woke to heavy rainfall. As the morning continued though the sun began to shine. Church started about 40 minutes late because in Uganda the rain delays everything. As we began there was only a handful of people present but soon after people came flooding in. Many were delayed by the rain, but some I believe were our neighbors who upon hearing the sound of church beginning decided to come out for Easter service. Brian’s message clearly told the story of the resurrection and presented the gospel to everyone listening. A few people came for prayer after the service but we are praying that even more took the message to heart and will seek Jesus as their personal savior.\nIn Uganda, the day after Easter is a public holiday. It is called Easter Monday. Due to Covid, there have not been too many gatherings outside of church. Weddings, funerals, births, and birthdays have all been celebrated privately with a bare minimum number of people. This Easter Monday, the sound man from our church, Danson, took the chance to host a celebration for his friends and family to remember all the important events that have taken place despite the pandemic. It was a lot of fun as there was a barbeque, and lots of fellowship. We saw people we had not seen for over a year.\nOf course everyone was amazed at how big the kids were now. The kids had so much fun. Since Danson lives outside the city there was a lot of space to run and play without worry of traffic or crowds. They also played football. We had a cake to celebrate the birthdays that had taken place. Brian prayed, giving thanks for all the Lord has done for us and how He has continued to keep us through this time. We all look forward to the day that gatherings like this are once again more commonplace though we are very thankful for the freedoms we do have: to meet, to share the gospel openly, and to worship with one another.\nAfter Easter services with Arise Christian Fellowship, we also had an Easter event / outreach for the kids in the village kids’ club. This ministry began during the pandemic due to churches being forbidden from having children under 13 and no Sunday school classes. While the law has been relaxed a bit we have continued the kids club since many of these children still would not have the opportunity to make it to church on a Sunday morning. Plus it is a great time of discipleship with them in a more informal setting. Together with a ministry called Nehemiah Ministries, run by Peggy, a member of my women’s Bible study, we were able to show the Jesus film. Along with the film they played games, ate nice food and colored pictures. Our desire is that not only will these children grow up knowing Jesus as their personal savior but that their families would know Him as well.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS Thank the Lord for the good things He has done! Praise Him for all He will do! Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship and all the ministries they serve alongside . Pray for many opportunities for outreach and the sharing of the gospel. Pray restrictions continue to lift so more ministry can take place. Pray for the people in the neighborhood around Arise Christian Fellowship that they would hear the gospel and come to salvation. Pray for the Bible club, that the children would understand and follow Jesus. Pray their families would know Jesus as well. Pray for the Kanyike family to remain healthy and safe. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-easter-at-arise/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThere is salvation in no one else,\u003c/strong\u003e f \u003cstrong\u003eor there is no other name under heaven given\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eto people by which we must be saved.\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eActs 4:12\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis time of year always fills me with so much hope. Knowing that my Savior is not dead but Alive!  There is no other religion that can claim and prove that their God is alive. This renewed hope comes with a sense of urgency.  An urgency to tell others that they too can have hope if they put their faith in Jesus Christ. Just as this time of year brings about new birth for plants and animals we are praying for spiritual new birth for the many people hearing the Word of God through all the different ministries and outreaches taking place.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update–Easter at Arise!"},{"content":"“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing?” Matthew 6:25\nThanks for praying for us during the past month. We went through a three-week lockdown for COVID. Now, the restrictions have been eased to a level that we don’t feel stressed by them. During the lockdown it was difficult to get accurate information about the various strict restrictions. This was the most stressful part of the experience. God carried us through that time of great uncertainty. Please continue to pray for others who are still under very strict lockdowns. By God’s grace the COVID situation has stabilized and improved somewhat in Cambodia. Still there are others around us who are struggling in various ways.\nBy God’s grace, we could continue our regular ministries even though it was at a slightly slower pace. Darryl was able to produce two videos in the Cambodian language: 1. Why and How Christians Should Be United 2. The Bible and Parenting. The reason for the first video was that many Christians were dividing on Facebook over how to spell the name of Jesus in the Cambodian language. Thankfully, this conflict has cooled off since then. The second video helps to overcome the misconception by many Cambodian parents that they own their children when in reality God is the true owner of everyone and parents are supposed to be good stewards of their children. Right now, Darryl has two more apologetics/evangelistic video scripts in process.\nDuring the lockdown, Kayo organized various families in the local international church to video themselves singing worship songs for the online worship service video. She also encourages and ministers to other Japanese missionaries and expats living in Cambodia. She maintains her relationship with Precious Women Organization but there is not so much work for her to do right now.\nBenjamin will be in online school for the rest of the academic year. He is doing pretty well but online school comes with its own set of challenges and stresses not just for Benjamin but also for the family.\nThanks for praying for our driver’s license renewal. The lockdown ended just in time for us to renew and all of our supporting documents were still acceptable.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/do-not-be-worried/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is life not more than food, and the body more than clothing?”\u003c/em\u003e Matthew 6:25\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks for praying for us during the past month. We went through a three-week lockdown for COVID. Now, the restrictions have been eased to a level that we don’t feel stressed by them. During the lockdown it was difficult to get accurate information about the various strict restrictions. This was the most stressful part of the experience. God carried us through that time of great uncertainty. Please continue to pray for others who are still under very strict lockdowns. By God’s grace the COVID situation has stabilized and improved somewhat in Cambodia. Still there are others around us who are struggling in various ways.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Do Not Be Worried"},{"content":"Hello Friends!\nSome people don’t realize that in a family in vocational ministry like us, the kids are as big a part of the calling as the parents! On this lovely Saturday morning as I write this, I’m sitting in the living room while my two oldest, Maggie (7) \u0026amp; Harrison (5) build a Magnet Tile house. I decided to take the opportunity to interview them for this update; hope you enjoy!\nWhat is your favorite part about mom and dad doing ministry?\nMaggie: I like inviting people over and telling them more about Jesus.\nHarrison: I like having the young adults group over at our house every Friday night and hanging out with them!\nWhy do you think dad goes on trips to other countries sometimes?\nM: So that he can help other people learn about Jesus. And he visits missionaries that we help support\nH: So that he can talk to people, be with people, and share with people about Jesus\nWhat is the hardest part for you when dad goes on a trip?\nM: I don’t like it because you aren’t with us, but it’s worth it because when you come home I get to see all the pictures you take.\nH: I don’t like missing you, but if you didn’t go, then less people will hear about Jesus and go to be with Him in Heaven.\n[Note: Missing my family is also my least favorite part of trips! But Amy and I have taught the kids how important it is for dad to go visit missionaries because it’s part of the gospel going to the nations!]\nHow do you serve Jesus right now, and how do you want to serve Him when you’re older?\nM: I am working on writing books to sell and raise money for missionaries. When I’m older, I want to be an artist and draw pictures from stories of the Bible and write what the story is about.\nH: I serve Jesus by giving money to missionaries [note: last year Harrison decided to give some of his birthday money to a missionary we support] and I pray for people. When I’m older, I want to serve Jesus by being a missionary in Australia and Arizona [note: this was news to me this morning!].\nI pray you all enjoyed this update, and I hope you remember to pray for our kids when you pray for our family’s ministry!\nWe would ask that you pray for the Lord to meet our financial needs and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking: Email Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/an-update-from-maggie-harrison-garcia-family-update-may-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome people don’t realize that in a family in vocational ministry like us, the kids are as big a part of the calling as the parents! On this lovely Saturday morning as I write this, I’m sitting in the living room while my two oldest, Maggie (7) \u0026amp; Harrison (5) build a Magnet Tile house. I decided to take the opportunity to interview them for this update; hope you enjoy!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"An Update From Maggie \u0026 Harrison – Garcia Family Update May 2021"},{"content":"Hello Dear Pastors and Ministry Partners,\nGreetings to you all in Jesus name!\nWe are currently living in uncertain times with the outbreak of COVID-19. During times like this, our faith can be challenged. But when we spend our time with the Lord, read the Word of God, and take some time to quietly reflect on the words, we find hope. The Bible says;\n“Let us us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”\n(Hebrews 4:16).\nBy God’s grace, we all are doing fine. We assure you all, dear prayer partners, that we are praying for you and your family. May God bless you all in every aspect of your life.\nWe have been conducting online church services, but many of our believers are unable to attend because of internet issues. These days we are not able to go out and meet our church believers because of the complete lock-down. However, through phone calls we encourage them from God’s Word and pray with them.\nWe got a phone call from a Hindu woman who lives in a different place. She recently lost her father due to Covid-19. She asked us to pray for her health. My wife shared from the Word of God and we prayed for her.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for U.S. For the past two years she has been suffering from headaches and body pain. Please pray for N.S. She is paralyzed. Please pray for the salvation and healing of A. (Hindu lady). May God heal her completely. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local church. Please pray for our house plans to receive approval from the municipal office and for the construction of a house. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/finding-grace-in-these-uncertain-times/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Dear Pastors and Ministry Partners,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in Jesus name!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Sharing-from-word-of-God-300x194.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are currently living in uncertain times with the outbreak of COVID-19. During times like this, our faith can be challenged. But when we spend our time with the Lord, read the Word of God, and take some time to quietly reflect on the words, we find hope. The Bible says;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Let us us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Finding Grace In These Uncertain Times"},{"content":"Hello Team,\nHope you all are well and thank you for all your prayers!\nLast month was a month of fellowship and teaching. I taught 1st Corinthians to the students here. They had a lot of doubts and questions. The beauty is that the Word of God has filled their hearts with answers and solutions. I am so glad that every time I teach this book, in different places with different students, the people are understanding; what Christianity is, how the church should be organized, how spiritual gifts should be operated, and many more things that a Christian has in his or her life as they walk with the Lord Jesus. By the end of the book, they are able to recognize what is the \u0026lsquo;religion\u0026rsquo; and what is the \u0026lsquo;way\u0026rsquo; and what is godly and what is not godly within the church.\nI was also able to preach on one Sunday in church. I preached on the topic \u0026ldquo;What is ahead of you when you become a Christian?\u0026rdquo; As part of their study in the book of Romans, I talked about sanctification, growing in the Truth and knowledge of Christ, transforming into the image of Christ, and the obligation we have to bring the Gospel to unreached.\nI was so blessed to be a part of the teaching schedule and to invest the Word of God in the lives of these men who are seeking Truth.\nBlessings,\nPastor 7\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/growing-in-the-truth/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHope you all are well and thank you for all your prayers!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Pastor-7-May-1-300x182.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month was a month of fellowship and teaching. I taught 1st Corinthians to the students here. They had a lot of doubts and questions. The beauty is that the Word of God has filled their hearts with answers and solutions. I am so glad that every time I teach this book, in different places with different students, the people are understanding; what Christianity is, how the church should be organized, how spiritual gifts should be operated, and many more things that a Christian has in his or her life as they walk with the Lord Jesus. By the end of the book, they are able to recognize what is the \u0026lsquo;religion\u0026rsquo; and what is the \u0026lsquo;way\u0026rsquo; and what is godly and what is not godly within the church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Growing in the Truth"},{"content":"Colossians 2:5 reads :\n\u0026ldquo;For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.\u0026quot; (NKJV)\nAs Paul mentioned in Colossians 2:5 - this has also become true for us these days. Though we are unable to get together physically, we are able to worship our Lord through the means of the internet. We are one in the Spirit.\nSince the Pandemic took over again and the lock-down has continued, we once again have started our online meetings.\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/together-in-spirit/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eColossians 2:5 reads :\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;For though I am absent in the flesh, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.\u0026quot;\u003c/em\u003e (NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Weekly-Saturday-Service.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs Paul mentioned in Colossians 2:5 - this has also become true for us these days. Though we are unable to get together physically, we are able to worship our Lord through the means of the internet. We are one in the Spirit.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Together In Spirit"},{"content":"We returned from the villages in late March. The ministries there are continuing to grow and show forth fruit that only comes from the Lord. Returning, we enter into the city and back to the mission base. It has been under construction since January. We discovered a structural problem between the room that joins up with the kitchen which required immediate reformations to be done. What we thought would be a few weeks has now continued on into May. We hope to have this work finished in June.\nAs I have shared with you before, there is always something happening in the city that tends to distract us from the ministry in the interior. We come down the river, returning from a tremendously prosperous village trip, high on the knowledge of what the Lord is doing in the people’s lives and through their efforts of evangelism and discipleship, and we enter the city where there always seems to be some type of problem arising. In this time, it is the mission base being under continual construction.\nPray for our time while we normally decompress in the city and prepare for the next village trip. The rest we receive in the city is necessary for the intense ministry in the jungle, but has not happened since December. For this, Brad postponed his planned return trip to the villages few weeks back in April. He will return, Lord willing by the time this update is posted. Praise the Lord that he and the rest of the family are healthy and strong in both spirit and body.\nIn March, we took a new young couple with us. We hope they will soon join us as co-laborers with the Apurina people. Their names are Nei and Raquel. Please pray for them.\nThey helped us with all of the ministries there. Nei helped Brad preach and hold church services and Raquel helped Melissa with the women’s and children’s meetings.\nBrad was able to have a full week of Discipleship classes in one of the new villages where we started having weekly church services in July 2020. We are excited for this new village and for what God has planned in the coming months and years.\nPlease pray with us over the village Aldeia Nova. This is where we built a church building in 2019. The people there have been under some spiritual attacks throughout the last 4 years as we have evangelized them, and trained and raised people up. We see some of the people getting cold and drawing back while at the same time asking for us to do more with them. It reminds us of asking the boss for more hours of work, and then when he gives them, asking to leave early on those days.\nHere are a few praise reports and prayer requests form Melissa.\nPraise Reports: We are under some major remodeling in our home rather suddenly out of structural necessity. Thankfully one of our faithful supporters has donated money for the remodeling of our kitchen. We really are looking forward to using the kitchen in the future for more ministry here at the mission base.\nVeronica had braces put on. Thankfully all the costs of orthodontists are much more affordable here.\nAndrea, Ben Veronica, and Deusiane (the indigenous girl) all came down with cold symptoms yesterday. Thankfully they are feeling better today.\nAlways in need of prayer. Ministry all around us, at home, with Brazilians, and the indigenous.\nOur kitchen is in our garage and dust continues to fly in the air but God is pouring out His blessings and mercy.\nPrayer Requests: We have had our indigenous women’s leader(Raimunda) and a girl from the village staying with us for the last month. I have been helping her see the doctor and get needed exams done. During this process, we discovered the root to her abnormal abdominal pain that she has been struggling with for months. It is an umbilical hernia. Please join us in prayer for God’s perfect timing to be able to get the needed surgery to repair it.\nJosiah had three wisdom teeth pulled last week and is still on liquid only foods.\nBrad is planning a return trip to the village on Tuesday, the 11th of May for 3 weeks.\nAnd always homeschooling the 3 youngest, Josiah, Veronica and Ben.\nKeeping my chin up and keep looking to the prize of eternal life as I choose to meditate on His faithfulness and provision. Amen.\nDo you wonder if your support is necessary? It is. You too, can be a financial partner with this amazing work of God. Please click on “ Become a Financial Partner” and help us as we faithfully minister in the Amazon Jungle.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/brazil-update-may-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe returned from the villages in late March. The ministries there are continuing to grow and show forth fruit that only comes from the Lord. Returning, we enter into the city and back to the mission base. It has been under construction since January. We discovered a structural problem between the room that joins up with the kitchen which required immediate reformations to be done. What we thought would be a few weeks has now continued on into May. We hope to have this work finished in June.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Brazil Update May 2021"},{"content":"Since my last update, God has continued to move and be faithful to equip me for the work that He has called me to. He has provided opportunities to share the vision for the work in the Middle East and to be able to encourage young believers through it to pursue a life that is constantly sharing the gospel, and involved in cross cultural missions. Thank you for your continual support in the call to missions that God has placed on our lives.\nThrough a friendship that I had made at the Calvary Chapel Youth Workers conference a couple of years ago, I was able to go out to the Garden Fellowship church and share with the youth about the call that God has placed on my life. It was awesome to be able to share with and encourage young believers about the need for sharing the gospel. It was also an encouraging time for me to see young people who are aware of the urgency of the gospel and who are eager to be engaged through prayer.\nThis past month, Muslim people around the world have been celebrating Ramadan. It is the month where they celebrate when Muhammad got the Qur’an and they fast during the daylight. It is the month in which Muslims feel the holiest and the most generous. For this reason, it is a great month to share with and reason through scripture with Muslims. However, this month was used as a good reminder to me of the desperate need to get the gospel into the hands of those who are being deceived by Satan. They are so close to the truth, but yet so far away. I pray that they come to know the truth that Jesus is the son of God, and that He died on the cross and rose again on the third day, in order to provide the way to eternal life with the Father.\nOur young adults group has continued to grow, both in numbers and spiritually. A few months back, the pastor charged me with leading the worship each Friday night, which has blessed my heart. What a privilege to be able to lead a group of people who are burning with passion for the Lord, into the throne room of God in worship of Him. I have found that my personal devotions have been pouring into this time of worship, where the presence\nof the Spirit is evident and felt throughout the room. Continue to pray for these young adults, that the Lord may continue to be the passion of their lives.\nPraise Reports:\n• God has been faithful to provide opportunities to teach His word.\n• God has continued to provide consistent work.\nPrayer Requests:\n• That the Lord would provide a care term that would partner with me through prayer.\n• That the Lord would provide the finances needed to move to the Middle East.\nFor His glory,\nBryan Reyes\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-moving/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSince my last update, God has continued to move and be faithful to equip me for the work that He has called me to. He has provided opportunities to share the vision for the work in the Middle East and to be able to encourage young believers through it to pursue a life that is constantly sharing the gospel, and involved in cross cultural missions. Thank you for your continual support in the call to missions that God has placed on our lives.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God is Moving"},{"content":"“Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” John 14:21 April was a very trying month, but God has shown Himself faithful to supply His strength and presence according to His great grace. Noelle and I have been quarantined in our house for the past two weeks after contracting the Corona virus. We praise God that the fear of COVID here has really died down, so we aren’t receiving any threats. We also praise God that we are recovering well and we will soon be able to go out again. However, the virus has left us tired and weak.\nIronically, God gave us that thorn at exactly the right time as it has helped us restructure our family. Apio Cynthia is a girl from our village that has been rejected and cast out. When she was three years old she got hit by a car and for a short time was presumed dead. Regrettably, shortly thereafter two of her siblings also got hit on the village roadside (there were no serious injuries), and because of the deeply rooted superstition of the culture, all of the accidents were blamed on her, and she was labeled as cursed. Apio is now 11. For all of these years she has been left to raise herself because half of the village believes her to be cursed, and the other half thinks she is mentally handicapped and they don’t want the dead weight. We have known her our entire time here and have tried to reconcile her to her family to no avail. We see that the best way to show the Father’s love right now is to offer her a place in ours. According to God’s timing, Apio moved in with us at the same time we fell sick. The extra time together has been useful in restructuring the family dynamic and establishing house rules. Apio has only ever known a life free from responsibility, order (and love), and it is hard for her to have boundaries. For that reason we aren’t sure if she will decide to stay with us permanently or be moved into a school for vulnerable children; but the choice is hers, since her parents have already fully renounced her.\nPlease join us in praising God: That we are recovering well and will soon be well. That our kids love their new sister. That our pastors have finished the majority of Pauls epistles and will soon complete their study through the entirety of Scripture. Please pray: For Noelle and I to have strength and wisdom. For Apio to trust our love and protection. For BAM Enterprises as we continually struggle to be operationally sustainable. That the churches represented in our ministry would thrive in their love for God and man. Thank you for your continued encouragement and support.\nMay God bless you. Matt, Noelle, Apio, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/april-2021/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"whoever-has-my-commandments-and-keeps-them-he-it-is-who-loves-me-and-he-who-loves-me-will-be-loved-by-my-father-and-i-will-love-him-and-manifest-myself-to-him-john-1421\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves Me.  And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”  John 14:21\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/05/IMG-6835.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eApril was a very trying month, but God has shown Himself faithful to supply His strength and presence according to His great grace.  Noelle and I have been quarantined in our house for the past two weeks after contracting the Corona virus.  We praise God that the fear of COVID here has really died down, so we aren’t receiving any threats.  We also praise God that we are recovering well and we will soon be able to go out again.  However, the virus has left us tired and weak.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"April 2021"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nDuring May in Mexico, the focus is on the children! And to celebrate children, this month our church got to celebrate the “Día Del Nino”! (the Day of the Child) This fun holiday began in Mexico all the way back in 1924. And one of the many things I love about our adopted country of Mexico is the way that it honors and blesses children!\nIn every city that you visit in Mexico, you will see streets called “Nino’s Heroes” (Children Hero’s) These street’s honor 6 boys that were part of a military academy in a city called Chapultapec that fought to the death against the invading US marines back in the year 1847. One of these courageous boys famously wrapped himself up in the Mexican flag to keep it from falling into the invaders hands. Sadly all 6 boys were killed, but they are celebrated and remembered still to this day in every city of the Republic.\nOur church has always loved children! Our love for children began all the way back in 2002 when my wife Sarah and a few good friends picked up the poor children of the community to bring them to church. And to this day, we are averaging nearly 300 precious children each weekend at our church. Our children’s ministry director Oliver and his team of 50 servant/ teachers do a fantastic job ministering to and blessing these precious children.\nOn April 30th, Mexico celebrates and honors the children of Mexico and to join in the fun, our church threw a huge party for 180 of our children. This 3 hour Saturday event was packed with fun, candy, games, and all you can eat pizza! But the focus of this party was Jesus! And it never get’s old to see children respond to the love and salvation that Jesus freely offers them.\nIt was our Savior Jesus that told His disciples “let the little children come unto me” (Matthew 19:14) and it’s such a blessing to see children coming to Jesus. Children come to Jesus with what He described as “a childlike faith” (Matthew 18:3) that He desires that each one of us would have.\nOur young adults group AGAMOS hosted and served the children at our Día Del Nino party! This team of 20 young adults (including my daughter Grace) gave up their Saturday to serve these precious children. And they joined in the fun by dressing up, acting silly, and making sure that each one of these children felt deeply loved.\nThank you so much for allowing us to plant a church and ministry that reaches the precious children in Mexico that God loves so much! Each one of these little ones is precious to our heavenly father, and we are thankful that you partner with us in this great work!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless our next church plant in May! (Calvary La Mina “The mine”) in the outskirts of Rosarito!\n#2- That God would provide for the financial needs of our family, church, and church plants!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God that we got to plant our 28th church in April! Please pray for Menifee Bilingual church and it’s pastor, Jonathan Hernandez!\n#2- Praise God I was able to take two fruitful church planting trips in April to Guatemala and the Mexican state of Chihuahua!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-update-may-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring May in Mexico, the focus is on the children! And to celebrate children, this month our church got to celebrate the  “Día Del Nino”! \u003cem\u003e(the Day of the Child)\u003c/em\u003e This fun holiday began in Mexico all the way back in 1924. And one of the many things I love about our adopted country of Mexico is the way that it honors and blesses children!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/05/176153956%5F10158452571282029%5F4813997528400463989%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn every city that you visit in Mexico, you will see streets called “Nino’s Heroes” \u003cem\u003e(Children Hero’s)\u003c/em\u003e These street’s honor 6 boys that were part of a military academy in a city called Chapultapec that fought to the death against the invading US marines back in the year 1847. One of these courageous boys famously wrapped himself up in the Mexican flag to keep it from falling into the invaders hands. Sadly all 6 boys were killed, but they are celebrated and remembered still to this day in every city of the Republic.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family Update May 2021"},{"content":" EUROPE\nZully Ruano\nPrayer Requests:\n1.We just shared the Easter story at the school, many children had not heard it before so please pray for the seeds planted in the little hearts of our students.\n2. We need the Lord\u0026rsquo;s continual provision for our school so please pray for more students, teachers, and volunteers.\n3. We would like to finish our playground project, please pray for funds to finish that project.\n4. Continual prayers for wisdom and strength as I lead this school. Truly need the Lord\u0026rsquo;s guidance every day!!\n5. For my family back home as my parents are at high risk and other family members are experiencing some setbacks during this pandemic.\nThank you so much for your prayers!!!\nGod bless you!\nZully - Email Blog\nMitch and Christine Sorensen – Nice, France\nThank you so much for fighting for us in prayer.\nPrayer Requests: 1. Please pray for more opportunities to share the Gospel. That people will be open for those divine appointments.\n2 Pray for unity within the church as there are opposing opinions on the pandemic, covid, and vaccinations.\n3. Pray for our health to be able to stay strong and be good servants.\n4. Pray that we can continue to encourage those lacking in hope.\n5. Pray that we can speak the truth in love and be obedient to our calling.\nThank you for your prayers and support.\nGod bless you as you serve Him.\nMitch and Christine - Email Blog\nBrenna Kulla – Pécs, Hungary\nThank you for your prayers!\nPraise Report:\n1. Praise God for His continual pursuit of hearts and for all the great things He has done!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Prayer for wisdom navigating the things in front of me, that I would be open to whatever the Lord has for me and that He would prepare and guide my way.\n2. Prayer for the young women that I meet with, that they would grow deeply rooted in Christ and captivated by him.\n3. That the Lord would completely heal me from mold toxins and gut infections. 4. Pray that the Lord would help me grasp the language and use it with more fluency, that I would be more bold to speak.\nThank you for your continued prayer in these times!\nLove in Christ,\nBrenna – Email Blog\nAFRICA\nVincent and Melissa Aniku – Uganda\nPraise Reports:\n-The church is growing at a crazy rate.\n-Our Calvary Football/soccer team Is being used by God tremendously. They have formed a prayer team, one of the players has converted and standing strong. People all over Uganda are talking about the testimony of our team giving glory to God.\n-The women’s ministry is growing and healthy.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray fir our land titles. That God would give us a faithful person to sign the papers.\n2. Please pray for our only remaining paperwork for the container. Also for the partial tax exemption we are trying to get approved.\n3. Pray for the teens and children’s ministry. We have more then 700 children with only about 9 servants. Pray God gives us more faithful servants.\n4. Pray for our vehicle that keeps breaking.\nThank you all so much for your prayers and love!\nIn Him,\nVincent and Melissa – Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course. The second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. That God would bless our new church bilingual church plant in Meneffee, California!\n2. That God would keep our family, church family, and community safe in these difficult times!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nTim and Jenn Pappas – California, USA\nPraise Reports:\n-Praise God Jenn’s neck continues to heal nicely from her surgery.\n-Praise God for his protection in our travels\n-Praise God for his provision to meet our needs\nPrayer Reports:\n1. Please pray for wisdom as Tim directs the Calvary School of Missions\n2. Please pray for a way for us to serve together at the school this year as six weeks apart from each other is very difficult.\n3. Please pray for our family as our uncle passed away this week\n4. Please pray for Jenn as she is facing persecution due to standing her ground at work and not being willing to allow false religions in to her groups.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn – Email Blog\nHope Douglass – SGWM – California\nThank you for your precious prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1.The final few weeks of my pregnancy and a smooth delivery.\n2. That Fletcher would be healthy and strong.\n3.That Isaac and I would be good parents and be able to adjust quickly to life with a baby.\n4.The staff in the home office while I am on maternity leave, especially Maribel who I trained to take over my responsibilities.\nThank you so much! Your prayers are so appreciated!\nGod bless each of you and keep you as you abide in Him.\nBlessings, Hope – Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHi! I am so honored to be a part of saving grace, and I know I haven’t sent in my prayer request in a timely fashion but I am trying to get better about that!\nPrayer Requests:\nI am currently at my moms house in Chula Vista recuperating from total knee replacement surgery on April 21. It is brutal the hourly stretches and bending that I have to do, I’m in a lot of pain and extremely bored so I could certainly use prayers. 2. For our after school program and the kids who are attending one day per week. They are in such need of help with their schoolwork, that the Lord would guide and direct the staff and helping them to the best that they can.\n3. That all would run smooth in my absence as I recuperate.\nThanks again for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nDeanna - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the Lord to guide Joel in the area of traveling to visit our missionaries and their ministries on the field\n2. Please pray for continued energy and vision in raising and training our kids in the ways of the Lord\n3. Please pray for the Lord to provide for greater faith and holiness to permeate our family, our church, and our ministry\nLove,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara - Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray – Ensenada, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We just had an Open House last weekend. 90+ People came to visit and see what Calvary Chapel Bible College was about. Pray for those who came that God would lead them about where to attend Bible College.\n2. Graduation is May 21 - just a few short weeks away. Please pray for the students to finish well and for the graduates as they leave and look for ministry opportunities.\n3. The lack of teams willing to come serve with us has affected the Bible College financially. God has always provided in miraculous ways to meet our needs. Please pray for His provision for the Bible College.\n4. We are working on moving back to the US. We sense God moving us to a new chapter/ season in our lives. Please pray for wisdom for us, that we would be able to sell our house here in Mexico, and that the transition will go according to His plan for us.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar – Email Blog\nMike and Erin Thiemann – California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the SGWM office as we gear up for a packed summer of missions and ministry. Also, pray for our accounting department. They need some full-time and part-time qualified volunteers.\n2. Please pray for our new Administrative Assistant, Maribel, who will be directly assisting me and replacing Hope Douglass after having her baby. Please pray for her training and that the Lord would bless her with the ability to fully grasp everything we do.\n3. Pray that God would continue to provide and guide my family through life and ministry.\n4. Pray for me as I work towards earning my master’s degree. Pray that the Lord would bring about supporters and scholarships. Pray that the Lord would bless my study time and make it fruitful.\n5. Pray for the youth ministry I lead. Pray that the Lord would pour out his Spirit and awaken the affections of our teens towards Him. Pray for our upcoming Israel tour this summer. We also have completed two Mexico trips so far this year and have plans for two more. Please pray as I need administrative help in organizing all these trips as will as the plethora of other administrative needs of youth ministry.\n6. Pray for our continued financial support as Erin and I have been Stateside missionaries for over 15 years.\nThank you for all your love, prayer and encouragement through this.\nWe are blessed by you.\nGod bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina – Erin – Email Mike – Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPraise the Lord, our health has still been good this month!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for God to give us strength as we move this month.\n2. Please continue to pray for my youngest daughter, Rose\u0026rsquo;s, recurring struggle with reflux.\n3. Please pray for my financial support\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family’s health.\n2. Please continue to pray for my financial support\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nBrad and Melissa – Amazon Jungle Brazil\nPraise the Lord, For He is Good, He is above all things!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For the Apurina people group in the Amazon Jungle.\n2. Of the Apurina, specifically pray for our leadership, Oscar and Analucia, Domiginho, Patricio, Valdeci, Pedro, Raimunda, Guirlermi and Alcimara.\n3. Pray for wisdom and discernment for us.\n4. Pray for the people in the new villages we have reached recently. People in Aldeia Nova, Makauao, Sao Sebastiao, Bacuri and Joari.\n5. Pray for our children and homeschool in the mists of a jungle ministry.\n6. Pray for our next trips into the jungle. 1st trip April 29-May21, next trip June 22 -July 16th.\nGod bless you and thank you in Christ!\nBrad and Melissa and family – Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nWe pray that God will help us go further than what we are doing today to:\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Reach every person in this city.\n2. Train more young people in this country.\n3. Send the young people out to the whole nation to start churches.\n4. Hold a conference in every district of the country.\nThank you for your prayers and support,\nGod bless you,\nChoudhary Family - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraises Reports\n-Praise God for the visits we had last month! It was great blessing to visit, share, and encourage our brother Mojhiya and his family at the church. The fellowship is growing and neighbors are coming to the church.\n-Praise God! All of the students arrived safe at Calvary Chapel Pastors Training Center/Bible College for the new session, and the Lord brought so many students to be equipped for His ministry.\nPrayer Requests\n1. Please pray for the good health and sound mind of all students.\n2. Please pray for all the teachers that are teaching throughout this semester, for good health and continued empowerment of the Holy Spirit as they teach from the Word of God.\n3. Please pray for the students as they go for Gospel outreach and home fellowships throughout the semester.\n4. Please pray for the spiritual and numerical growth of our church and believers.\n5. Please pray continually for the new facility/property of our church, since we only have a couple of months left.\nThanks for your prayer support for us!\nBlessings! Prakash and Muna - Email Blog\nWorker 3 - 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you in Jesus name!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me and my family, that we will have an effective ministry, and also pray for our good health.\n2. Continue to pray for our Pastor’s School and for the new students.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nP and R\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for the funds to purchase land for a church.\n2. Our daughter just completed her nursing internship. Please pray that the Lord will help her to find a job as a missionary nurse.\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our church to be strong in word of God.\n2. For our health to be physical fit we can serve God pray us.\n3. Corona virus is increasing day to day; pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection for us and our all believers.\n4. Pray our Bible School students soon met at school and pray for their health to be good and participant in classes.\n5. Pray our Online ministry to be fruitful.\n6. Pray for No lockdown here.\nThank you for your prayers for us!\nIn Him,\nRabi and Mahima - Email Blog\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the students’ health; it is cold here, and some of the students have never experienced cold weather. Some of them are ill. Please pray for that.\n2. Pray for the staff who are teaching, for wisdom and knowledge to understand the Word when they prepare the lessons.\n3. Pray for me as God leads my life, that I will continue to grow in Him, and pray for my future ministry.\n4. Pray for my family in the south and pray for the campus there to run smoothly next semester and that the school will get the license.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the church that Pastor Majhiya began in his village.\n2. Please pray for the health and safety of the Besra family.\n3. Please pray that God will bless the family’s ministry.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 2\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\n**\nPrayer Requests:**\nPlease pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my past experiences.\nThanking you.\nYours in Christ,\nWorker 4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the youth in our church, that they will grow in the Lord.\n2. Please pray for me, that the Lord will guide and help me to take good care of His church.\n3. Please pray for those who are getting ready for water baptism. May they truly know The Lord Jesus.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju – Blog\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\n**\nPrayer Requests:**\n1. Please be praying for some of the new people coming to church. It is really a joy to see them coming to Christ and spending time in the Word.\n2. Next week, we are starting a youth group Bible study. Please pray about it; it is the first time we have done this and we are excited to see what God has for us! Pray as we learn together and equip the youth to be disciples of Christ.\n3. Please pray for a new church building.\nThank you,\nWorker and Mrs. 6\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the ministry in this lockdown God my open the doors for Gods words.\n2. Please pray for my children that they my grow in Lord’s Fear and knowledge.\n3. Pray for God’s wisdom and strength to take care of my children and learn His Word.\n4. Please pray that the lord would intervene for the problem the world is facing.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for my ministry, family, and spiritual life.\n2. Pray for my parents and my brothers; they are still unbelievers.\n3. Pray for R.Y., who has mouth cancer; please pray for complete healing.\n4. Pray for all of the believers in my church, that their knowledge will increase in the Word of God.\n5. Pray for sister H\u0026ndash;her husband and children are persecuting her.\n6. Please pray for our biggest need, a piece of land for a church.May God bless you all,\nThank you.\nGod Bless you,\nWorker 8 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 9\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for our ministry here. God is giving us the opportunity to share His Word to new people, even some government people. Please pray that they will come to know God.\n2. Please pray for me, that I will be able to help people both spiritually and physically.\n3. Pray that the church building work will go well.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 13\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord! Thank you for remembering me in your prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily in my village, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe, that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for my father\u0026rsquo;s complete healing from his fall.\n3. Pray for my parents, that they will wholeheartedly believe in Jesus Christ.\n4. Pray for me, because I am making a church building. Pray that God will give me wisdom and understanding to do it correctly.\n5. Pray for the village believers, that God will strengthen them in the Word.\n6. Pray for me, that God will open new doors for me to share the Gospel.\n7. Pray for one brother who I have been sharing the Gospel to; pray that he will come to Christ.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 10\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me, as I am traveling to a nearby country to visit my friend. Pray that I will have safe travels and a blessed time there.\n2. Pray for all of the new people who have heard the Gospel, that they will accept Jesus.\n3. Pray for the couple from my church who are getting married. Please pray that their marriage will be blessed and that their families will agree with their Christian wedding. Also pray for all of the government approvals\u0026ndash;they will have to get many documents approved by the government to have a Christian wedding.\n4. Pray for the brother who got baptized recently, that he will continue to grow in the Lord.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 12\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n-Praise God who takes care of us even in the midst of persecution.\n-Praise God who has been bringing people to faith weekly!\n-Praise God for my neighbor who suffers from mental issues (she had been shouting from morning to midnight) but now she is better.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for our safety and my mother’s health.\n2. Please pray for financial need for Rahul’s school dress and books. I know our God is a provider and He will provide his needs.\n3. Please continue pray for a new motorcycle or a four-wheeler for me. I have had my motorcycle for 5 years, and every month it has new problems, and I need to spend lot of money to repair it. This bike was so helpful for me in reaching unreached villages, transporting a paralyzed believer to and from church, transporting the children I care for to school, running errands, and so many other things.\n4. Please continue to pray for 3 of the villagers in my church. Their villages are persecuting them and trying to make them leave the villages because of their faith in Christ.\nThank you so much for your prayers and partnership for the Gospel!\nGod bless!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 11\nWorker 7 – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease continue to pray for the students who have received training and are now serving in different areas of this nation. Pray that as they are ministering, God would speak to them and soften their hearts to make them realize their need of salvation and a relationship with the one true God.\nThank you,\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-may-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eZully Ruano\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Zully-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1.We just shared the Easter story at the school, many children had not heard it before so please pray for the seeds planted in the little hearts of our students.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. We need the Lord\u0026rsquo;s continual provision for our school so please pray for more students, teachers, and volunteers.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. We would like to finish our playground project, please pray for funds to finish that project.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM MAY PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Spring is in the air, May is around the corner, and new life springing forth! This month we have received wonderful reports from many of our missionaries of the amazing things God is doing while many other missionaries are hunkering down and experiencing the storms of this life.\nMissionary Reports Some of the wonderful reports we received from our missionaries this month regard spectacular Easter celebrations and exciting movements of the Holy Spirit. In Uganda, Brian and Jill Kanyike were able to host a church gathering that included women and children who had previously been restricted from coming to church due to government mandates. In her update, Jill describes a moving and emotional scene as the saints of God were finally gathered together to sing praises to our King. In Mexico, Pastor Hassan and his congregation celebrated the resurrection with a special sweetness, remembering the shutdown last year and enjoying the freedom to meet this year. Their church has grown so much that they need to expand their sanctuary!\nSome of the stormy reports regard strict COVID lockdowns and debilitating loss. In the 10/40 Window, Pastor Paul\\* reported that the COVID cases in his area have risen 4.5 times since February and that their church has returned to online services. Hundreds of thousands of lost people are dying everyday, yet their government recently lifted anti-conversion laws- please pray that God would soften hearts and bring many to salvation in the midst and wake of the suffering. Even though the clouds are thick right now, we are looking forward to the flowers to come.\nLife in the Office In our home office we have enjoyed hearing the positive reports and been honored to enter into prayer for the less positive reports. Please join with us in prayer for all of our missionaries. You can find out their requests by signing up for our monthly prayer update here or by visiting the Prayer page on our website. Prayer requests are sent out on the 1st of each month.\nWe are preparing for this Summer’s Calvary School of Missions and tomorrow marks the application deadline! Please pray that God would provide for our batch of students this year and that He would bring any final applicants that are supposed to go to the school. We also appreciate your prayers over the leadership as Pastors Trent and Tim plan and coordinate many moving pieces to prepare for this year’s program.\nI am still coming into the office everyday and expectantly awaiting the arrival of Fletcher who is due in just 10 days! I would appreciate your prayers for a smooth delivery and recovery. God has been so faithful throughout my whole pregnancy and I am excited to see what He has for us in this coming month!\nPraise Reports We were able to celebrate the Resurrection around the world with less restriction and sweet fellowship. God is continuing to raise up and equip future missionaries through SGWM’s ministry and CSOM God has sustained and continues to sustain our missionaries in hard-to-reach areas of the globe. Prayer Requests The lost and dying in the 10/40 Window- pray for soft hearts and salvation Please keep the SGWM office in your prayers as I step out for my maternity leave in a few weeks (whenever Fletcher decides to make his grand entrance). Please pray for my family as we transition to a party of 3 ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/april-shower-bring-may-flowers/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSpring is in the air, May is around the corner, and new life springing forth! This month we have received wonderful reports from many of our missionaries of the amazing things God is doing while many other missionaries are hunkering down and experiencing the storms of this life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"missionary-reports\"\u003eMissionary Reports\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/douglass/wp-content/uploads/sites/99/2021/04/ro01-2.png\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSome of the wonderful reports we received from our missionaries this month regard spectacular Easter celebrations and exciting movements of the Holy Spirit. In Uganda, Brian and Jill Kanyike were able to host a church gathering that included women and children who had previously been restricted from coming to church due to government mandates. In her \u003ca href=\"/kanyike/2021/04/14/the-kanyike-update-9/\"\u003eupdate\u003c/a\u003e, Jill describes a moving and emotional scene as the saints of God were finally gathered together to sing praises to our King. In Mexico, \u003ca href=\"/villegas/2021/04/29/he-is-on-the-throne/\"\u003ePastor Hassan\u003c/a\u003e and his congregation celebrated the resurrection with a special sweetness, remembering the shutdown last year and enjoying the freedom to meet this year. Their church has grown so much that they need to expand their sanctuary!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"April shower Bring May Flowers"},{"content":"Jesus continues to do what He does best, save souls and disciple believers. It is always a blessing to see people come to Christ. The zeal of a new believer is super contagious and lights a fire in every heart. As we go through the book of Revelation, sinners see the grave need to be saved and give their lives over to God and believers rejoice in the coming of our King. Please pray for souls as we continue our study through the book of Revelation.\nHe has Risen! Easter Sunday we had many new visitors as well as a guest pastor, Yoshima from Calvary Chapel Merida. The word was great and the fellowship a joyous occasion. Calvary Kids sang and did their memory verses. Last year we celebrated from home, so this year was so sweet. Uniting together was a breath of fresh air.\nYoung Adults and Youth Pastor Jose and his wife Keyla have been a great addition to the ministry. The fellowship received them with open arms. They started the young adults as well as youth ministries which were a huge need at our church.\nMarriage Retreat This year we had our second marriage retreat with over 20 couples present. It was a 3 day 2 night retreat at a local beach. The theme was Colossians 3:14. We taught from the scripture on how a marriage is to work in perfect harmony with Christ and each other.\nInductive Bible Study The men’s discipleship just started I.B.S two weeks ago. Mexico has a very large need for Bible teaching pastors and we have taken on the challenge of equipping those men with the aim to send them out. Right now we have 14 men that have committed themselves to this course.\nLoving Our Elders As always we try to spoil our elders with every visit. We visit once a month. We always cook them a meal, sit and talk to them, play Loteria (Mexican Bingo), teach them scripture, and meet their practical needs. For most we\u0026rsquo;re the only family they have. This trip we had a nurse with us to clean wounds and we got a lamp for Alfredo to read in his room.\nExtending our sanctuary After a year in our building we have finally come to the point of needing to expand our sanctuary not only because of the of size of our church, but to meet Covid requirements in having more space for those that attend.\nThe estimated cost will be $1,380 US dollars. We can definitely use any help we can get. The support of any amount goes a very long way here in Mexico.\nDr. Chavez A brother that is near and dear to our hearts has suffered a huge hit from Covid. His recovery has been very slow and painstaking. Please keep Dr. Chavez and his family in your prayers.\nThank you all for the love, prayer and support! Life in general is very challenging and being away from our family, friends and country can add more difficulty to that challenge, however all of you have been a tremendous blessing to our family and ministry. We thank God very much for everyone of you!\nPrayer Request Continued safety for our family and church Open doors to evangelize Leaders to be raised up and plant churches Resources to extend the sanctuary Financial Support If you feel led to send financial support click the link below. All donations are tax deductible.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-is-on-the-throne/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJesus continues to do what He does best, save souls and disciple believers. It is always a blessing to see people come to Christ. The zeal of a new believer is super contagious and lights a fire in every heart. As we go through the book of Revelation, sinners see the grave need to be saved and give their lives over to God and believers rejoice in the coming of our King. Please pray for souls as we continue our study through the book of Revelation.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He Is On The Throne"},{"content":"Hello dear family. How are you all doing?\nWhat an amazing God we serve. He is doing amazing things in our lives and in the lives of many. We are praising God for His faithfulness and love because it has brought us through until now and made us able to continue the work of God. Thank you all for your prayers and support. I really appreciate and am blessed that you all are partaking in the ministry by praying and supporting us. May God bless you and your families. We will be praying for you all too.\nYou all know about and were praying for my baby. Now, she is doing well and playing a lot! She loves hearing worship music and songs. When we read the Word, she loves to hear it. She smiles while she is sleeping. It is just funny. She has such cute expressions. Whenever I see her, I remember the faithfulness and power of God in our lives. He stood with us all the time, and He is still with us forever. It strengthens us and gives us courage when we think about how God is in control and He is on our side. What a loving God we all have!\nI am really blessed and happy to share what God is doing here in our state. One of our friends invited me to his church to minister the people there and to share the Word of God. So we all went as a team and served there. We led them in to worship and got the opportunity to share the Word. I am really blessed to see people who are thirsty for God\u0026rsquo;s Word. So this summer we are planning an outreach to that area to share the Gospel and teach them the Living Word. Please remember them in your prayers.\nThis year we started 2 new cell groups in different locations. It was fruitful. People are joining and learning the Word of God. God has put it in our hearts to go reach out to our community, pray for them and bring them to Jesus.\nWe were able to go meet some new families. Please pray that they see Jesus and experience His love, because we are reaching unbelievers. A new team was formed to go reach out from our church. We are really blessed to see that they have the heart to reach out and love them. It feels so good to see them sharing the love of God.\nBible College In the month of March, we started a Bible college. It started in God\u0026rsquo;s timing.\nWhen I was in Nepal, as a student, I used to think, \u0026ldquo;My area needs a school like this, that teaches the right Word.\u0026rdquo; I always used to pray for my country who need Jesus and need to know the right Word of God.\nThe teachers at the college had such a great heart. They loved everyone and encouraged us to move forward in faith. I always used to feel like I was in the midst of Jesus. Such a soft hearted people. I wondered how it was possible to love like that and to be like Christ. Then I came to know that they are men of God who know the Word right and that is what is making them humble and loving. Only the Word of God gives the Christ standard life.\nSo, yes now there is Calvary Chapel Bible college in my state. It is a great joy! I am thankful to God and to my pastors who are encouraging me to move forward.\nRight now, we have 7 students eagerly learning the Word of God. They are excited everyday to learn new things from Word. Now we are in the 4th week. I’m really excited about what God is going to do in each one of our students lives and how it is going to turn them to live for Him. It is such a great blessing to see.\nWe will be having a Gospel outreach every Friday for the students. They go out and share the Gospel on streets and also visit unbeliever\u0026rsquo;s houses and share love and pray for them. Students also are also involved in children\u0026rsquo;s ministry, visiting slums, street Gospel outreach and new church plants. So please pray for them.\nNew Church Plant One of our students here is in his 4th semester and doing very well. Right now, every week he is traveling 112 miles to conduct Sunday worship services, where we have our new church plant. The fellowship is growing, and God is doing amazing things in that place. One of the believers in the new church plant was suffering from kidney stones for many months; the believer had severe pain and was admitted in the hospital. The doctors said that the believer needed to have surgery. They were really worried, and did not have the finances available to move forward with surgery. Our student was very encouraging to them to trust in the Lord, and they prayed and depended on Him for healing. Amazingly, after one week, the stones came out and the believer was healed. They were all really praising God for this healing, and now their faith is growing more and more. Please be praying for this student as he travels every week to minister, and also pray that he will be a faithful servant of Jesus Christ.\nAnother one of our students, Andrew*, finished his 4th semester in 2020. We are praising God for His protection through all of his journeys. We are excited to see what God has for him. Now, he is helping translate in the Bible College, and he is also going to teach 1\u0026amp;2 Samuel this semester. Be praying for the wisdom of God and that he will be faithful to what God has called him to do. Please also pray for his family.\nGod’s Mission - Reach out. In the month of May, we are planning an outreach to go reach out with local churches in two states, and also plan to preach the Gospel in the streets. God has put this burden in my heart to go reach young adults to bring them back to Jesus through His Word. These days in church, there are fewer young people because they became distracted with many things and went far from God. They live sinful lives and are not able to come out from that because the true Word of God is not preached in their fellowships, and many people are judging them. So, Jesus wants to meet them and to show them love. Then, they can come back and be freed from all of their addictions. Many young people are dying every day because they make bad decisions in their lives that lead to death. God is not happy with what is happening in these young people\u0026rsquo;s lives, and it has really touched my heart to see young people taking their lives because they feel hopelessness or insecurity and have addictions. Only Jesus can give them hope and set them free. They need to hear there is hope and freedom from sin, and if they come to Jesus, He will give them a life of hope (living hope). Please be praying for this outreach program. In the next newsletter I will give details about the outreach.\nThank you all for your prayers and love.\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/living-hope/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello dear family. How are you all doing?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/pastor-6-April-6-217x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat an amazing God we serve. He is doing amazing things in our lives and in the lives of many. We are praising God for His faithfulness and love because it has brought us through until now and made us able to continue the work of God. Thank you all for your prayers and support. I really appreciate and am blessed that you all are partaking in the ministry by praying and supporting us. May God bless you and your families. We will be praying for you all too.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Living Hope"},{"content":"Greetings in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!\nI feel so happy to inform you that my family is doing well. We are well and healthy, through your prayers. It is by God\u0026rsquo;s grace that we are\nsafe. Both of my lovely children are doing well. My son memorizes Bible verses daily. Every evening we also give him time to lead in\nworship with our family. We are so happy to see him study the Bible every day. We teach stories, new songs and moral things to our children.\nMy wife really has passion for the ministry and lives a life of prayer.\nShe is always with me through the difficulties of life. I thank God,\nhappily, for giving me a life partner like her. My baby is also beginning\nto learn many things, like songs about God, the word \u0026ldquo;hallelujah\u0026rdquo;, and\npracticing praying. She always loves to sing the song, \u0026ldquo;JAI BOLO YESHU\nMASIHA KI JAI BOLO\u0026rdquo; (\u0026ldquo;Sing praise, sing praises to Jesus Christ\u0026rdquo;). Please\npray for my family, that we will grow more and more in Christ.\nAn Update On My Ministry My ministry is continuing through the internet because of the rapid spread of Covid-19 in my state. Every Sunday, I connect with the believers through a conference call. In my church, I am preaching from the Gospel according to Mark every Sunday, verse by\nverse. Every evening, during prayer, we are studying the book of Colossians. The believers are enjoying it so much! Every evening, after we finish our meeting, I ask them to read the next text portion before the next meeting.\nI thank God that every believer has routines of prayer, Bible study and fellowship in their lives.\nPrayer Requests: Pray for fruitful ministry in the days to come. Please continue in prayer about the division of my land, so that it can be used for the glory of God. Please pray for my wife; she wants to lose weight. Kindly pray for brother Rajesh\u0026rsquo;s* wife; she is pregnant. Pray for her good health and normal delivery. Please pray for spiritual revival in the believer\u0026rsquo;s lives. Pray for Preeti*, for complete deliverance. I am very thankful to all of my CCSG senior pastors, the staff, and the prayer warriors who are continually praying for us.\nSpecial thanks for all of the hands who are helping us financially. Indeed your labor and contribution play the biggest role in our ministry.\nMay God bless you all richly!\nPastor 8* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/by-gods-grace-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in the mighty name of Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG-20201225-WA0027-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI feel so happy to inform you that my family is doing well. We are well and healthy, through your prayers. It is by God\u0026rsquo;s grace that we are\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003esafe. Both of my lovely children are doing well. My son memorizes Bible verses daily. Every evening we also give him time to lead in\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eworship with our family. We are so happy to see him study the Bible every day. We teach stories, new songs and moral things to our children.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"By God's Grace"},{"content":"It has been just over a year now since we left Southern California and moved to Verdi, NV. We moved into our rental on April 13, 2020.\nI officially took over the leadership responsibilities of Calvary Chapel Truckee on April 1, 2020. God has done so much and has shown Himself strong every step of the way.\nTaking over the church during the pandemic was something new and not being able to meet people in the church for the first 4-5 months was a challenge. We were forced to record and post all our teachings because we were unable to meet.\nThe Lord, however, opened a door for us to start meeting in the park. It was wonderful. Tina and I were able to start meeting and fellowshipping with people in the church with some social distancing. We quickly fell in love with the body. Calvary Chapel Truckee had been through some hard times prior to us coming up and the splitting up of the body due to the pandemic wasn’t helping. Meeting in the park was a breath of fresh air and the church began to grow.\nIn October, because the weather began getting cold, the park closed their facilities and we made the decision to start meeting indoors. We met in person, not in protest of the government mandates that didn\u0026rsquo;t allow churches to meet, not as a political statement, but we met out of obedience and the need to provide church for people. God brought people to fellowship with us who were longing to gather corporately and worship our Savior. Soon our little space was filled.\nWe have been able to have a variety of missionaries come and share. We’ve had a Christmas tea for the ladies and a Valentine’s dinner for couples. We have a weekly prayer meeting and 4-5 Bible studies during the week. It’s been a great season of encouragement and growth.\nOur church has been meeting upstairs at the Rock, in Truckee. Then we found out that meeting upstairs was a code violation, so we started to look for another place to meet. Truckee is a very expensive town to live in. Because of the pandemic, many people in the San Fransisco area who were working from home began to flee the city and move to Truckee. If you’re working from home, why not live in a much less congested area that is much more beautiful? As a result, there has been a real estate boom. Space is at a premium.\nOur hopes were that we would be able to find another meeting space before our landlord gave us notice to vacate. Well, on March 1st, I received an email with a 30 day notice. At the time we had not been able to locate another building to meet in. They were either too expensive or didn’t have enough parking or large enough restroom facilities for us to meet as a church. We asked ourselves, What are we going to do? and the answer was , We are going to pray and trust the Lord.\nLong story short, the Lord arranged a “chance meeting,” AKA a divine appointment, with one of the largest commercial property owners in Truckee. In casual conversation, we told him we were looking for a place to meet and he said he had a space for us. He showed us a larger space than the space we had at the Rock, for just a little bit more a month. We signed a lease and will take procession of the space on May 15th. There is some construction that still needs to be done before we can occupy the space, but it looks like May 15th we can start moving in.\nIn the meantime, we’re back meeting in the park. Please pray for good weather and God’s continued blessing.\nI am happy to report that our work in the 10/40 window has continued. We were able to continue teaching at one of our colleges through much of the lockdown. We just started another semester at that college and are working to get the others going soon, Lord willing.\nI was thinking this morning how the enemy is using this pandemic to halt the spread of evangelism. Praise the Lord that our God is greater than any pandemic or schemes of the enemy.\nI was invited to go to Bahrain and see the work the Lord is doing there. I’ve also been invited to go to Cambodia. My heart is burning to be part of works abroad while being a base at home. My prayer is that Calvary Chapel Truckee would be stirred for missions in an even greater way and that the Lord would allow me to take people and pastors abroad and give them a vision for world missions.\nOn a personal note, Tina and I were able to go to Washington in March for Noah’s 3rd birthday. Our family, Tina and I, Ashley, Elijah, Noah and Flo, along with Bryan and Austin are healthy. The Lord has been so very good to us. Noah and Flo are growing like weeds and they are such a source of joy in our hearts. We thank the Lord daily for our family.\nThat’s it for now, we thank you for your continued prayers and would love to have you visit if you’re in the area.\nGod bless,\nGary and Tina\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/one-year-anniversary-and-a-new-start/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt has been just over a year now since we left Southern California and moved to Verdi, NV. We moved into our rental on April 13, 2020.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/barrow/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2021/04/85e828a8-4808-4989-a8d2-a7ede2ce5682.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI officially took over the leadership responsibilities of Calvary Chapel Truckee on April 1, 2020. God has done so much and has shown Himself strong every step of the way.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/barrow/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2021/04/IMG%5F0366.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTaking over the church during the pandemic was something new and not being able to meet people in the church for the first 4-5 months was a challenge. We were forced to record and post all our teachings because we were unable to meet.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One Year Anniversary and A New Start"},{"content":"Hey friends and family, welcome to my first newsletter!\nI have some awesome news! I have applied and been accepted to the Calvary School of Missions this summer which will be held in various locations throughout Mexico! This is a 6-week missions training course where I will learn all about what God has called me to do with my life… MISSIONS! I am super excited to learn all about missions from God’s Word and hear practical tips from missionaries.\nLast year I went to part of the Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) with my Dad, and this is where I realized, through the Word of God, that everyone is called to missions in one way or another but I only got a small taste of what I will be learning at CSOM 2021. There are several verses that tell us to be missionaries, one example is Mark 16:15, “And He (Jesus) said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” Like Paul, God has put the desire in my heart to be a missionary somewhere where people have never heard the gospel. “And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man’s foundation.” I am training for this calling by immersing myself in my church (CCSG) and doing everything I can do to be trained up and ready whenever the Lord calls me to go. In addition, I am interning with Saving Grace World Missions and I am part of a class where I teach the Bible every week and am critiqued by pastors.\nWe are all called to be missionaries in some way; that doesn’t mean we all move to another country and plant a church but there are several ways all of us can participate in this. During CSOM, my fellow students and I will have opportunities to be part of missions by preaching the gospel at several outreaches. You have an opportunity to be part of missions by partnering with me through prayer and financial support. I need to raise $2,300 to pay my tuition for this 6-week course and I ask that you would prayerfully consider partnering with me. Philippians 4:17 “Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.”\nPrayer Requests:\nThat the Lord would provide finances for CSOM That I would be able to retain Knowledge of the Word That I would be a bold witness of Christ now and at CSOM ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2021/welcome-to-my-journey/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey friends and family, welcome to my first newsletter!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have some awesome news! I have applied and been accepted to the Calvary School of Missions this summer which will be held in various locations throughout Mexico! This is a 6-week missions training course where I will learn all about what God has called me to do with my life… \u003cstrong\u003eMISSIONS\u003c/strong\u003e! I am super excited to learn all about missions from God’s Word and hear practical tips from missionaries.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Welcome to My Journey"},{"content":" But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be defamed.\n1 PETER 3:15-16\nGod’s been doing amazing things over the last few months and I know there is a lot to catch up on, but first can we just praise God for the miraculous work He calls us to do? Over the last few months I have gone through a roller coaster as I’ve been pursuing the will of the Lord in my life. I went back to CBI after finishing CSOM in Mexico during the summer of 2020. I continued there faithfully as COVID was wreaking havoc among our school and community. However, God was faithful and we will proclaim that truth unto the coming of our Lord Jesus. I graduated in January of 2021 from CBI with a clear call to go to Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and join the internship program to be further equipped to pursue His call to missions for my life. God put me through a season of leaning wholly upon Him as I struggled to find the funds for transportation and housing before moving to Yorba Linda, California to start the internship. This process lasted 3 months as I attained funds for transportation and prayed for God’s will in housing. As always, where God called, He provided. A pastor at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace prayed and felt called to provide housing for me. God also provided for a car as well through stocks my grandpa had left in my name. All of this came out of nowhere. I had no idea how God was going to provide, but as I felt called to pursue Him in His call to missions, He has faithfully made a way. He is the hope in my heart.\nThe Call I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.\nPHILIPPIANS 3:14\nAs I’ve started out at CCSG with the internship and pursuing God will further, God has laid a few ministries upon my heart as well as different people that I’m trying to help grow in the gospel. My heart for those closest to home has grown tremendously. If we aren’t reaching out to those in our neighborhoods, stores, towns, etc., then what is the real purpose behind us wanting to do missions? Christ clearly calls us to missions, but missions is wherever we are, and we need to be faithful to pursue that call wherever we are. The message of grace and reconciliation that we have been given is the most blessed thing we have. Who are we to hold it back from others? God has led me into many meaningful conversations with people not only at church or at home, but in the streets as well, when I talk to people about God; His word hasn’t returned void. I encourage whoever reads this to take some time to truly consider whether you are pursuing His will to make His name known to those around you or not. And if that raises even more questions about whether or not you even know His name that well, let me encourage you in that we have been gifted with the Bible for a reason. He wants each of us to know Him on an individual basis and in a very personal way. In turn, He gives us the call to pursue Him and His will for our lives.\nIf it is His Will Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.\nJAMES 4:13-17\nThe Lord has called me to make His name known to those who have never heard it before and, if the Lord wills, I plan on continuing to set aside time to do just that. I go to different areas of the city and seek out people who have been set aside for His redemption message so that we can bring as many to His grace and mercy as He wills. I’ve already done this a few times over the last few weeks and have had the opportunity to witness to people in a town center, at a mall, and in various restaurants and gas stations. God is moving, and my prayer is that He would use me in mighty ways for His name’s sake. If you would like to come along side me in my call to pursue Him further, you can click the link below to help support me for housing, gas for transportation, and food. Praise Reports and Prayer Requests will be below the partner link and if you can come along side me in those prayers as well, I’d greatly appreciate it. Thank You!\nPrayer Requests A young man I’m discipling needs housing and transportation as he comes out of a lifestyle of sin God would continue to provide a clear direction in where He is calling me to evangelize and that the hearts would be soft to hear His gospel God would faithfully put a clear call on where He wants me to go internationally I would be available and made perfect for His work Praise Reports God has faithfully brought me in His will towards my calling in missions God is doing an amazing work in the church I am helping at, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace God is continuing to bring His saving message to fruition God is showing me what His fruit looks like in my life ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-hope-in-me/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be defamed.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1 PETER 3:15-16\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/knight/wp-content/uploads/sites/127/2021/03/66d24a8b-b4ea-4b2c-98c3-3b9cd9ab3a2f.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGod’s been doing amazing things over the last few months and I know there is a lot to catch up on, but first can we just praise God for the miraculous work He calls us to do? Over the last few months I have gone through a roller coaster as I’ve been pursuing the will of the Lord in my life. I went back to CBI after finishing CSOM in Mexico during the summer of 2020. I continued there faithfully as COVID was wreaking havoc among our school and community. However, God was faithful and we will proclaim that truth unto the coming of our Lord Jesus. I graduated in January of 2021 from CBI with a clear call to go to Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and join the internship program to be further equipped to pursue His call to missions for my life. God put me through a season of leaning wholly upon Him as I struggled to find the funds for transportation and housing before moving to Yorba Linda, California to start the internship. This process lasted 3 months as I attained funds for transportation and prayed for God’s will in housing. As always, where God called, He provided. A pastor at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace prayed and felt called to provide housing for me. God also provided for a car as well through stocks my grandpa had left in my name. All of this came out of nowhere. I had no idea how God was going to provide, but as I felt called to pursue Him in His call to missions, He has faithfully made a way. He is the hope in my heart.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Hope In Me"},{"content":"Craig and Daisy Tippie are ministering in Huacho, Peru and utilizing Surfing as an outreach. Their vision is to reach, teach and disciple. They have one son named Ryan. Through their skating and surfing camp outreaches to the youth many have come to know Christ. Huacho is the capital of witchcraft in Peru and they have great opposition and many spiritual battles over the souls of the people of Huacho.\n“But if God is for us, who could be against us.”\nCraig and Daisy also started a church which has grown into a fellowship that has families that have come to the Lord because their teenager got saved through an outreach. They have several families in their church and their focus is not just youth, but all lost people.\nCheck out the latest update from Craig Tippie and C.C. Huacho!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/tippie-family-spring-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCraig and Daisy Tippie are ministering in Huacho, Peru and utilizing Surfing as an outreach. Their vision is to reach, teach and disciple. They have one son named Ryan. Through their skating and surfing camp outreaches to the youth many have come to know Christ. Huacho is the capital of witchcraft in Peru and they have great opposition and many spiritual battles over the souls of the people of Huacho.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tippie Family Spring Update"},{"content":"“ We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;” 2 Corinthians 4:8\nThis is the same verse that I posted last month when we were merely perplexed but now, we really are hard-pressed by police barricades on all sides of our neighborhood. After a year of being blessed in Cambodia with low numbers of COVID cases, the COVID numbers continue to rise and it has not been contained yet. So, the capital city of Phnom Penh is now in lockdown. We are not allowed to leave our neighborhood and only two of us are allowed to leave our apartment three times a week for groceries and supplies. There are steep fines, prison terms, and deportations with no re-entry being handed out to people who violate various orders. So, we need to be really wise and careful in our daily lives.\nPlease pray for: 1. That COVID would be contained ASAP so that Cambodia can return to normal. 2. That God would meet the needs of the Cambodian poor because they cannot work and most charitable organizations and churches are not able to operate due to the lockdown. 3. That God would give us wisdom and grace to guide us during this confusing time.\nYet, we are not crushed. Darryl’s apologetics/evangelistic social media video ministry continues and should be able to continue despite the lockdown. Since the last update, Darryl produced and released two more videos in the Cambodian language: 1 Jonah and the Great Fish 2. How to Recognize False Christs. The second video was made because there is a new cult operating in Cambodia that teaches the Jesus Christ has already returned and is living in the form of a Chinese woman. There was a long Khmer New Year holiday this month so it was only possible to produce two videos instead of three. Darryl also has been editing the English subtitles for Light Times Magazines new video project. Please pray for Soksan the founder of Light Times and his family. They went camping on some land that they own on the outskirts of the city and got caught out there when the lockdown happened now they can’t return to their home so they may not be able to work until the lockdown is lifted. Please pray for wisdom, creativity, and inspiration for Darryl to write more video scripts that will best meet the needs of the Cambodians during this season.\nThe Chinese language apologetics/evangelistic video and other projects are on hold because Darryl cannot meet with Pastor Samuel during this time. One good thing is that Pastor Samuel has purchased some audio recording equipment and is taking online classes to learn how to make high quality audio recordings on his own. Please pray for wisdom about how to move forward with translation and recordings for videos even though we may have to wait until after the lockdown to do the video production part.\nEven though Kayo can’t meet with the Cambodian women’s organization, she has been busy ministering to other missionaries and foreigners living in Cambodia in addition to taking care of the family. A few nights ago, she got a call at 2am from a young female Japanese missionary who lives in our apartment building that a man had somehow gotten into her apartment. We don’t know the motive. By God’s grace, the missionary woke up and screamed before the man had a chance to steal anything and he ran away without harming her. After receiving the call, Kayo and I rushed upstairs to help the missionary. She was too scared to stay in her apartment that night so she spent the rest of the night in our living room. In the morning we helped her communicate the situation to the landlord’s family. They had another apartment available that is bigger and more secure for the same price so we moved her that morning.\nNow, Kayo also organizes and arranges for different members of the worship team to record their own worship videos at their homes, since the worship team can no longer meet. Darryl combines the videos and sends them to another missionary who adds lyrics and then sends the video to be combined with the sermon etc. for the local international church’s weekly Facebook service video. This ministers to a lot of missionaries and other foreigners living in Cambodia.\nDespite the lockdown, Benjamin’s online school continues, by God’s grace. We weren’t sure that the teachers would be able to teach because they might not have been able to retrieve their teaching materials from school now that they have to teach from home but so far things are going smoothly. For one of Benjamin’s PE assignments he had to demonstrate proper baseball batting, pitching, and catching technique on a video. The challenge was that he didn’t have a bat, baseball, glove, and we are no longer allowed to play sports outside. So, Benjamin had to use a badminton racket, a handball, and make the video in the hallway and living room of our apartment! Benjamin’s video turned out fine and there was no damage to the apartment. He even edited the video himself.\nAlso please pray for our Cambodian driver’s license renewal in May. Please pray the the lockdown will end before our licenses expire so we can renew them on time.\nThanks for your faithful prayers, encouragement, and support. You all mean more to us than we can express, especially in times like these.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/lockdown/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“ \u003cem\u003eWe are\u003c/em\u003e hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; \u003cem\u003ewe are\u003c/em\u003e perplexed, but not in despair;” 2 Corinthians 4:8\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is the same verse that I posted last month when we were merely perplexed but now, we really are hard-pressed by police barricades on all sides of our neighborhood. After a year of being blessed in Cambodia with low numbers of COVID cases, the COVID numbers continue to rise and it has not been contained yet. So, the capital city of Phnom Penh is now in lockdown. We are not allowed to leave our neighborhood and only two of us are allowed to leave our apartment three times a week for groceries and supplies. There are steep fines, prison terms, and deportations with no re-entry being handed out to people who violate various orders. So, we need to be really wise and careful in our daily lives.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Lockdown"},{"content":"Spring is in the air and God is bringing life and new growth to every corner of the earth despite current restrictions and opposition. Saving Grace World Missions is privileged and honored to be a part of what God is doing. SGWM continues to come alongside its partners all over the world and stand amazed at what He is accomplishing.\nNational Partnerships Partnering with National Missionaries is one of the most exciting things SGWM does. Coming alongside these brothers and sisters and giving them the love, care and encouragement they need to be successful is an honor and blessing. This last Christmas, SGWM helped provide funding, through partnering churches and supporters like you, for National workers to bring much love, joy and relief to their surrounding areas. During this very difficult time of Covid 19 and all its restrictions, many of those who work in South Asia found creative ways to bring the gospel to their people. Heather Gaona, director of International Relations, shared her thoughts about the outreaches.\n“I was blown away at seeing churches with 50 plus people attending where just a few years ago there was no church and only 1 believer!! Just knowing how far the guys and their wives hike to reach these unreached villages is impressive. I was also encouraged to find out that two of the local churches raised the money needed from their own fellowship to provide for a portion of the outreach (like the beanies or tracks) and that one church went house to house to visit 150 homes. Every single one of the national pastors did not allow Covid to cripple them, but instead they were creative and innovative and even reached new villages and new areas with the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.”\nHere are a couple of their stories.\nOutreach in South Asia Funding provided by CCSG / SGWM Covid Christmas funds “Funding provided for two outreaches, saris and blankets for elderly and widows, and one Jesus film outreach. Thank you for your financial help that made it possible for us to do the Christmas programs. I shared the Word of God about Jesus’ birth and distributed gifts to the children in our church. We were expecting 200 in my home village to attend, but more than 350 people came and heard the Word of God and ate lunch. We cooked Christmas lunches 2 times – once at my home and once in a village 350 kilometers away. Thanks to the Lord, everything went smoothly and great. I thank God for providing support for blankets and saris (women’s clothing) to give to widows. This made it possible for us to distribute them. Two people’s health conditions were very critical and I am thankful to God that He used me to help them and give them blankets and saris.”-Pastor R\nPastor R is currently pastoring 4 village churches. Before Covid, he was visiting and pastoring in 10 different villages. His area is one of the most persecuted, but he continues to bring hope and relief to all those he is blessed to visit with.\n“At least 200 people came to our services. They were blessed by the sharing of the Word of God from Pastor A. We were able to feed those who came. We also distributed some winter hats/bonnets from my beautiful wife and our online fellowships/social media groups who helped with funds to purchase the hats. It was very hard for us to climb the mountain to this village area. Nothing was around to support us or hold on to while we traveled up and down the small narrow path. The people there were very poor, both spiritually and physically. We encouraged them and shared with them about joining our Bible training center for those with a heart for ministry. Pray for their lives to be rooted in the Word of God so that in the upcoming days we can take them, teach them, guide them, and disciple them.” -Pastor R\nPastor R and Pastor A, located in South Asia, conducted outreach in the poorest and most remote region in their part of the world. The people live primitively in the mountains and are often malnourished and uneducated. There is not currently a church there, but Pastor R has been making trips to this region several times a year to minister and share the Gospel.\nMissionary Equipping Calvary School of Missions Saving Grace is once again gearing up for its annual CSOM and the pastors are in the process of receiving applicants for this 6-week program. It’s always amazing to see how God sovereignly leads each student to the school. Because class size is limited, the SGWM staff prays very fervently that God would hand pick each student for this course and He has been faithful! This interview season has shown, once again, that God is in this. Over the last 20 years of doing cross cultural missions, the pastors and staff of SGWM realize that there are many out there who do not “GO” well and are not “SENT’ well. Missionary care was already in the DNA of Saving Grace World Missions when three years ago, Pastor Trent received clear direction from the Lord to start a school to provide care and direction for young people within the Calvary movement who want to be missionaries and see the lost saved amongst the nations, but don’t know the next steps. Please pray for this next class. After seeing 2 classes successfully complete the program, SGWM is looking forward to what God has for this next group.\nMissionary Care In February, Pastor Trent, his wife Debbie, Pastor Tim, and one of the missions interns Spencer, were able to visit with one of SGWM’s missionary families in Acapulco, Mexico and visit church planters in Mazatlán and Culiacán, Mexico. It was a very fruitful trip and God’s hand was evident at every turn. Missionary care is absolutely necessary for a successful missions program.\nMost missionaries never have visitors from their home church, much less from their Pastors. By visiting, Pastor Trent and the team were able to, face to face, tell the missionaries that they are loved and that the church has not forgotten them. Many times, when missionaries go out, they feel quite forgotten and alone. It’s essential to not just express our love but to show it by communication and visits when possible. Sitting with these precious saints, they were able to remind them of God’s call on their lives and the fruit that is abounding to their accounts. Their love for the lost, their passion for the people of God, and their devotion to making Jesus’ name famous amongst the nations is evidence of their commitment to God and His glory. Again, Saving Grace feels so privileged and honored to come alongside these precious saints and cheer them on as they run the race!\nIn Christ SGWM Staff ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/spring-2021-sgwm-newsletter-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSpring is in the air and God is bringing life and new growth to every corner of the earth despite current restrictions and opposition. Saving Grace World Missions is privileged and honored to be a part of what God is doing. SGWM continues to come alongside its partners all over the world and stand amazed at what He is accomplishing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"national-partnerships\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNational Partnerships\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePartnering with National Missionaries is one of the most exciting things SGWM does. Coming alongside these brothers and sisters and giving them the love, care and encouragement they need to be successful is an honor and blessing. This last Christmas, SGWM helped provide funding, through partnering churches and supporters like you, for National workers to bring much love, joy and relief to their surrounding areas. During this very difficult time of Covid 19 and all its restrictions, many of those who work in South Asia found creative ways to bring the gospel to their people. Heather Gaona, director of International Relations, shared her thoughts about the outreaches.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Spring 2021 SGWM Newsletter"},{"content":"Dear pastors and ministry partners, Greetings to you all in Jesus name!\nWe praise God because He is worthy of praise. As King David said, “I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name forever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom.” (Psalm 145:1-3).\nThank you so much for your partnership in the ministry. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May God bless you all in every aspect of your lives.\nExperts point out that lock-downs will once again destroy livelihoods and squeeze the economy. Because Covid-19 cases have been on the rise, on March 21 the central government reported approximately 47,000 cases. In other words, our country\u0026rsquo;s confirmed cases have risen 4.5 times since the low point of February. For this reason, public gatherings have been prohibited in our state. Because of this, once again we have started having our church service online.\nLast month, a relative of one of the believers from our church came for prayer. She was from a village. I got a chance to share the Gospel of Christ before I prayed for her.\nAlso, one day I went to the store to purchase some items. While I was there, the store owner asked me the importance of Easter and Good Friday. It was a joy to share the Gospel with him. It’s my prayer that someday he and his family may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\nMy daughter\u0026rsquo;s results on her final exams have been released. She has been promoted to 8th grade. By God’s grace, we all are doing fine. We appreciate your prayers.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for the woman who came for prayer. For the past two years she has been suffering from headaches and body pain. Please pray for the salvation of the grocery store owner, since he has now heard the Gospel of Christ. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local Church. Please pray for our house plans to receive approval from the municipal office and for the construction of a house. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and Family\n\\* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/great-is-the-lord-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear pastors and ministry partners, Greetings to you all in Jesus name!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Family-pic-291x300.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe praise God because He is worthy of praise. As King David said, \u003cem\u003e“I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name forever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever. Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom.”\u003c/em\u003e (Psalm 145:1-3).\u003cbr\u003e\nThank you so much for your partnership in the ministry. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May God bless you all in every aspect of your lives.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Great Is the Lord"},{"content":"“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20\nThis is my life verse! As we celebrated Easter this month, the resurrection of Jesus from the grave is the reason why I am a Christian! I love this special day each year, it is a definite highlight in our church and with family!\nFor the first time in a very long time, I was with my family for Easter Sunday. My sister-in-law lost both of her parents last year and so I felt the need to be with them and we had a lovely time together.\nOur after school program, Amigos del Rey (Friends of the King) is up and running! We are receiving at this time only 10 kids per day, four days per week. We hope to have all 40 of them every day soon! Online school is very difficult here for the kids for many reasons. For these first two weeks, our focus was on our emotions and the importance of communicating how we feel using our words. Also, it was a time for the kids to share how they have been for the past year! (We had a lot of catching up to do)!\nI will be out of commission for a few months as I will have a total knee replacement on April 21st. (Huge answer to prayer, have been waiting for this for a very long time)! I am currently covering all of my areas, and preparing for this! Lots to do!\nThanks so much for taking time to read this update and praying for me and the children here at CC Pedregales. I appreciate it and continue to press on until the Lord returns!\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nFor my upcoming knee replacement on April 21st. For the property below us that we desire to purchase in order to have a fire escape for the children from the classrooms. (This is a requirement from the city and needed if we want to start a school here). For the construction of a new multipurpose room. (We will tear down the existing building. This will help with the retaining wall which is moving). We are stepping out in faith without much funding, but trusting the Lord to provide. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-is-risen/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is my life verse! As we celebrated Easter this month, the resurrection of Jesus from the grave is the reason why I am a Christian! I love this special day each year, it is a definite highlight in our church and with family!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He is Risen!"},{"content":"Spring has sprung into action and so have we. So much has happened since the last time we had written, just like so much happens in the months prior to spring. We have had a wonderful season of being able to invest in the lives of others and have others invest in us. In February/March, I (Tim) was able to go to central Mexico where I was able to be involved in Missionary care as well as Missionary equipping all in one. We went to visit one of our newest SGWM Missionaries in Acapulco… before you start thinking it’s all sunsets and palm trees, Acapulco is ranked the city with the fourth highest murder rate per capita in the world and is an extremely hard place to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ. It had been so long since anyone had been to see them that our missionary identified himself as an orphan missionary. We spent several days there visiting the work, serving in their church and edifying the family. As we were leaving I asked him if, as a result of our visit, he felt more equipped to continue on in the ministry and he answered emphatically yes. That was when it struck me that missionary equipping has many more dimensions than just training up and equipping young adults who graduate from the Calvary School of Missions.\nSpeaking of graduates from the CSOM we also had an opportunity to visit, pray with and encourage a year one graduate/alumni. She is still very focused on serving in the 10/40 window amongst unreached people groups and we are going to do all we can to assist her.\nThe second leg of our journey was to Mazatlan to visit Calvary Chapel Maranatha, a church plant from one of our church plants, Calvary Chapel Rosarito. We got to take part in their church planting conference and visit one of our missionaries there as well. It was such a joy to see what the Lord is doing there and again our missionary on the ground reported to be greatly encouraged by our visit and strengthened and equipped to continue on in the work she has been called to.\nLast was a weekend youth retreat in Rosarito Beach where I was blessed with the opportunity to be a driver/chaperone as our high school pastor took a group of high school students and young adults to minister in Baja.\nPlease pray for Jenn and I as the Lord continues to stir our heart for destinations south of the border. We are not completely sure what this looks like, as often is the case with the Lord, but we do know and see him calling us and using us more and more in Mexico.\nWe appreciate your prayers and are so grateful for those of you who have already joined us in this area. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase you’re already generous support you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nPRAISE REPORTS:\nPraise God Jenn’s neck continues to heal nicely from her surgery. Praise God for His protection in our travels Praise God for His provision to meet our needs PRAYER REQUESTS:\nPlease pray for wisdom as Tim directs the Calvary School of Missions Please pray for a way for Jenn and I to serve together at the school this year as six weeks apart from each other is very difficult. Please pray for our family as our uncle passed away this week. All for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/spring-has-sprung/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSpring has sprung into action and so have we. So much has happened since the last time we had written, just like so much happens in the months prior to spring. We have had a wonderful season of being able to invest in the lives of others and have others invest in us. In February/March, I (Tim) was able to go to central Mexico where I was able to be involved in Missionary care as well as Missionary equipping all in one. We went to visit one of our newest SGWM Missionaries in Acapulco… before you start thinking it’s all sunsets and palm trees, Acapulco is ranked the city with the fourth highest murder rate per capita in the world and is an extremely hard place to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ.  It had been so long since anyone had been to see them that our missionary identified himself as an orphan missionary. We spent several days there visiting the work, serving in their church and edifying the family. As we were leaving I asked him if, as a result of our visit, he felt more equipped to continue on in the ministry and he answered emphatically yes. That was when it struck me that missionary equipping has many more dimensions than just training up and equipping young adults who graduate from the Calvary School of Missions.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Spring Has Sprung"},{"content":"Romans 8:28 reads: \u0026ldquo;And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.\u0026rdquo;\nBad times are not always only bad. Sometimes, God brings about bad times in His people\u0026rsquo;s lives so that they spend quiet, quality time with Him and His Word.\nI am very glad to give an update about our church. Ever since the lock-down started we have been continuing our online meetings. It has brought blessing to the church. Of course, we have now started physical meetings such as house fellowships and visitation, as well.\n\u0026ldquo;Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u0026quot; Romans 8:39b.Blessings! Prakash and Muna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-bad-time-becomes-a-quiet-quality-time-with-the-lord/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eRomans 8:28 reads: \u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/image-3-small.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBad times are not always only bad. Sometimes, God brings about bad times in His people\u0026rsquo;s lives so that they spend quiet, quality time with Him and His Word.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am very glad to give an update about our church. Ever since the lock-down started we have been continuing our online meetings. It has brought blessing to the church. Of course, we have now started physical meetings such as house fellowships and visitation, as well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Bad Time Becomes a Quiet, Quality Time with the Lord"},{"content":"Hello Friends \u0026amp; Family!\nThank you so much for taking the time to check out our latest ministry \u0026amp; family update. Check out the video below to learn the latest from us.\nWe would ask that you pray for the Lord to meet our financial needs and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/grateful-to-serve-garcia-family-update-april-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends \u0026amp; Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you so much for taking the time to check out our latest ministry \u0026amp; family update. Check out the video below to learn the latest from us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/_GmLNhCHaS8?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe would ask that you pray for the Lord to meet our financial needs and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Grateful to Serve- Garcia Family Update April 2021"},{"content":" Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her — Ephesians 5:25\nDear Friends and Family,\nFor the first time in what seems quite a while I feel like I am ending this month and approaching the new month with real expectancy and hope that things are moving forward: away from covid, away from elections and riots and towards something more real and full promise. Numbers of covid have been going down dramatically here in Uganda and the rest of the world is beginning their vaccines. Ministry outreaches and new studies are taking place and we now have freedom to gather together in large numbers once again.\nThis month has been a very exciting month for us here, especially at Arise Christian Fellowship. The restrictions for church meetings have been relaxed quite a lot. The children and I are now able to attend every service. There still is no Sunday school allowed but we are just rejoicing to be there full-time fellowshipping and worshiping with the body of Christ, our church family. The church is still meeting outdoors in the gardens as the social distancing mandates are still in effect. It is a good thing though because every service we have been to has been a full house or more. With social distancing we would not be able to all fit in the church sanctuary indoors. This month we had an afterglow with worship, prayer and communion.\nWe are so thankful for how the Lord has provided and kept us all safe during these months, or should I say year, of lockdowns. Our church can be very charismatic when it comes to worship but this afterglow was more than what I normally experience from the congregation. It was like the flood gates of worship had been opened and every thankful, loved heart was being poured out as an offering before the Lord. It was quite emotional for me. I cried tears of happiness to be once again in fellowship, I cried tears of joy to see the heart of worship of the People at Arise, and I wept during communion for the love Jesus showed us on the cross and continues to show us everyday through every circumstance we face. We had not had real communion since the churches reopened because one of the covid mandates for church was no eating or drinking or open items during church service. We were able to order these sealed communion cups that had the bread sealed with it. This meant each person had their own unopened communion and we could pray and take communion together as a body but still fulfill the no sharing food or drink rules.\nAnother fun event that took place at Arise Christian Fellowship this month was an Album launch. The keyboard player for our church, Eddie Mwesiga, is a very talented musician. He plays many instruments but keyboard and saxophone are his specialties. Eddie plays all over Uganda for events and weddings. He also writes many of his own worship songs. Recently he has launched a follow up album to his last album Suubi. His newest song is a remake of a Luganda worship song called, Tumutendereza Yesu. The name means, “we worship /praise you Jesus”. The church members are very supportive of him and turned up in big numbers to encourage and participate in his launch. Some of the guys even joined him up front to dance along in worship. We are looking forward to how the Lord will continue to use Eddie and his gift for music to reach the people of Uganda for Christ.\nA very exciting occasion happened this month. Our missionary to South Sudan, Ivan, got engaged. We have been praying for him for a very long time. He had once been engaged and tragically lost her during the 2010 terrorist bombings here in Kampala. We are praising God that in His timing he brought Acen to Ivan. Ivan brought her down to Kampala to introduce her to his family and to Arise. There was much celebrating that day. Ivan led worship and shared how they met and officially introduced her to his home church family. Brian prayed for them and the whole church lifted hands and prayed for them. Their wedding will be sometime towards the end of this year.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS Thank the Lord for the Good things He has done! Praise Him for all He still will do! Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship and all the ministries they serve alongside as they look forward to what the Lord is going to do this year. Pray for many opportunities for outreach and the sharing of the gospel. Pray restrictions continue to lift so more ministry can take place. Pray for Jill and the children as they continue to figure out the rhythm for this school year . Pray for Eddie and the gift God has given him for music and writing songs. Pray that many will be blessed by him. Pray for the Kanyike family to remain healthy and safe. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-7/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHusbands, love your wives,\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003ejust as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her — Ephesians 5:25\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor the first time in what seems quite a while I feel like I am ending this month and approaching the new month with real expectancy and hope that things are moving forward: away from covid, away from elections and riots and towards something more real and full promise.  Numbers of covid have been going down dramatically here in Uganda and the rest of the world is beginning their vaccines. Ministry outreaches and new studies are taking place and we now have freedom to gather together in large numbers once again.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":"Dear Team,\nI am so blessed that I was able to release two more Youtube videos recently on 1st Corinthians. I am receiving so much encouragement from many different countries personally and publicly. It is a great platform to teach verse by verse and to get to interact with people that you would have never otherwise been able to with the Word of God.\nSome of the people called me on the phone, some messaged me, and some asked me to add English subtitles so that they can understand what I am teaching. Lord willing, I will try to implement some of their suggestions. It is a great joy to have several comments and suggestions from different parts of the world.\nOne man called me on the phone and told me, \u0026ldquo;This teaching of yours is very understandable. I am learning many new things. I am grateful to God that He is using you in my life to know the Word.\u0026rdquo;\nWhat a wonderful thing to hear from a person who I have never met or seen in my life! Praise and honor belongs to our Lord alone!\nPeople should learn, know and experience the Word of God in their lives and they should be able to teach others. With this intention, I am moving forward in this YouTube project.\nI am rejoicing that we all are serving a living, all-powerful God. Let us wake up the dead lives with the true Living Word!\nEaster wishes to all of you and your family members! He is risen!!!\nBlessings,\nPastor 7\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/how-excellent-is-thy-name/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Team,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/IMG-20210313-WA0007-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am so blessed that I was able to release two more Youtube videos recently on 1st Corinthians. I am receiving so much encouragement from many different countries personally and publicly. It is a great platform to teach verse by verse and to get to interact with people that you would have never otherwise been able to with the Word of God.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome of the people called me on the phone, some messaged me, and some asked me to add English subtitles so that they can understand what I am teaching. Lord willing, I will try to implement some of their suggestions. It is a great joy to have several comments and suggestions from different parts of the world.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How Excellent Is Thy Name"},{"content":" “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8\nMission 1: To the Forgotten God has shown us favor in the midst of so many people groups, that we are able to have fellowship with. We are able to serve the people who are forgotten by government, but not forgotten by God. One of the people groups is from a remote area. We had the opportunity to teach them the Word of God and give their children stuffed animals. God is leading us to disciple this people group in the coming days. There are a lot of young people who are eager to know the Word of God but have not gotten the opportunity to study. We all are praying that God may open the door for us to serve these people in the coming days. They are from an indigenous people group, and almost all of the people live in remote areas far from the city. Right now, we are missionaries to them.\nMission 2: To the Called God has been great among the people that we are able to disciple in our Bible College. Because of COVID-19, we have not been able to meet with our students, and some of our brothers, sisters, and graduates for a long time. Last month, we were blessed to have fellowship with them. Even more importantly than that, we were able to study the Gospel of Mark together. It is always great to encourage them that only what is done for Jesus is what matters. Not only to encourage them, but also to show them by our lives. We encourage them to live like Jesus and to serve like Jesus\u0026ndash;no matter how hard life is. It was awesome to hear their testimonies of when they were in their homes through COVID-19. It was a blessed time to see them grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word as well. We prayed together that we will be able to join together at the Bible College in the coming days and have fellowship again. Right now, we are missionaries to these young people who are called.\nMission 3: Behind the Mountain God opened the door for us to do a mission in a different part of Nepal. We got invitations to teach the Word of God in an area which is behind the mountain of Kathmandu valley. They were from a couple of churches from different denominations, but we didn\u0026rsquo;t care about what denomination they were. Seeing their need for the true Word of God and the opportunity to share from the book of Acts, we headed there. It was a 4 hour drive. When we started to teach, we saw that the people are extremely hungry for the Word of God. Even though it is so close to the Kathmandu valley, they have not gotten an opportunity to have a conference like this. We were so blessed to spend time with them for a couple of hours. After all of the effort we put out to go this place, we say, “lt was worth it.” We are also a missionary to them.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for the remote people we are ministering to. May God lead them to come to the Bible College. Please pray for the Bible college students to continue to serve the Lord. Please pray for more boldness to share God\u0026rsquo;s Word with the people around us. God bless you,\nPastor Anand and Usha and Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/nepalese-became-nepals-missionaries/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Image-300x281.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”\u003c/em\u003e  Acts 1:8\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"mission-1-to-the-forgotten\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMission 1: To the Forgotten\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod has shown us favor in the midst of so many people groups, that we are able to have fellowship with. We are able to serve the people who are forgotten by government, but not forgotten by God. One of the people groups is from a remote area. We had the opportunity to teach them the Word of God and give their children stuffed animals. God is leading us to disciple this people group in the coming days. There are a lot of young people who are eager to know the Word of God but have not gotten the opportunity to study. We all are praying that God may open the door for us to serve these people in the coming days. They are from an indigenous people group, and almost all of the people live in remote areas far from the city. Right now, we are missionaries to them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Nepalese Became Nepal's Missionaries"},{"content":"April 2021\nSpring has to be one of the best times of the year. Everything starts turning green, the flowers start blooming, the winter weather starts letting up as the days get warmer, and the daylight hours get longer. We hope you had a good Easter Sunday this year.\nWe took Easter week off for Spring break to visit Leo’s Mom, Granny, in Florida this year. She lives in an older neighborhood in Pensacola called East Hill. It has a lot of older flower bushes and trees and it is just beautiful this time of year. The Dogwood trees in her neighborhood take the prize for being the prettiest this year. Living in the dessert in Baja, there’s a whole different set of trees and flowers to enjoy too. Granny is 91 years old and still walks a mile every day after breakfast. We really enjoy spending time with her. She seems to always have a project going and has a schedule to keep us busy. I think my favorite time is after supper and after Wheel of Fortune. We sit around the table and play Skipbo or some other game she likes to play. We were staying close to her home because of Covid, but did manage to visit some of our friends while we were there.\nWe do have some good news about the Bible College this month. We have most of the work done on our lower campus, Phase I, and will start building our first building for Phase II very soon. The plans are for the building to be a kitchen, dining room, and a Chapel. It’s exciting to work on the plans and put out the stakes for the building location knowing that the building will allow us to have more students and room to grow.\nWe have a couple of needs before we can start the new building. We have to put in some of the infrastructure – the most expensive is the electrical service. It will serve our needs for all of Phase II and provide the electricity for all the buildings on the upper campus. The cost is approximately $8000. If you would like to make a gift towards the new building you can send a check to CCBC Mexico 591 Telegraph Canyon Rd. Unit 167 Chula Vista, CA 91910. You can put \u0026ldquo;Infrastructure\u0026rdquo; on the memo line. If you would prefer to give electronically just contact me at leo@ccbcmexico.com and I will get those instructions for you.\nWe hope you are doing well and want to let you know how much we appreciate your prayers and support. We really consider you as partners with us in the gospel as we train the students to reach the world for Christ. Drop us a note or email some time, we would love to hear from you. Email addresses: Pilar@ccbcmexico.com or Leo@ccbcmexico.com or you can write us at: Leo and Pilar Gray 3621 Vista Campana South Unit 75 Oceanside, CA 92057.\nIf you would like to support us financially you can send a tax deductible gift by check to: Saving Grace World Missions 17451Bastanchury Road Suite 203 Yorba Linda, CA 92886 write Leo and Pilar Gray on the memo line or click the Become a Financial Partner button on our web page for credit card or bank transfer at www. SGWM.com/gray.\nGod Bless You,\nLeo and Pilar\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/spring-is-in-the-air/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eApril 2021\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpring has to be one of the best times of the year. Everything starts turning green, the flowers start blooming, the winter weather starts letting up as the days get warmer, and the daylight hours get longer. We hope you had a good Easter Sunday this year.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gray/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2021/04/pot-holder.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe took Easter week off for Spring break to visit Leo’s Mom, Granny, in Florida this year. She lives in an older neighborhood in Pensacola called East Hill. It has a lot of older flower bushes and trees and it is just beautiful this time of year. The Dogwood trees in her neighborhood take the prize for being the prettiest this year. Living in the dessert in Baja, there’s a whole different set of trees and flowers to enjoy too. Granny is 91 years old and still walks a mile every day after breakfast. We really enjoy spending time with her. She seems to always have a project going and has a schedule to keep us busy. I think my favorite time is after supper and after Wheel of Fortune. We sit around the table and play Skipbo or some other game she likes to play. We were staying close to her home because of Covid, but did manage to visit some of our friends while we were there.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Spring Is In the Air"},{"content":" Thank you for praying for and supporting our ministry. We pray that God blesses you all.\nBlessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.\nMatthew 5:9 (NKJV)\nJesus told us to go and preach the Word of God. We went and proclaimed the Word of God through the Book of Acts.\nNear the capital city is the place where I grew up. God put a burden in my heart to pray for the villages in that district to be reached for Christ. When I went there, my heart began to rejoice, because I got an opportunity to meet a church pastor there!\nIn previous years, people from that village rejected the Gospel when I shared it. They even chased our Gospel-sharing group out and threw stones at us. When I went there, I saw a small church. That was the answer to my prayers.\nWhen I met the church pastor, he invited me to share and teach the Word of God. So, during the holy festival time, pastor Anand and I went there. We preached, taught and proclaimed the Word of God. About 100 believers, including local pastors, leaders, church youth/young adults, and women from different areas of that district came. We taught them from the books of Acts. We also had fellowship together.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for a certain area where there are local pastors asking to be able to go to a Bible college/training center. This place is connected to the border road of China. In the future, it is planned for this road to go from the capital to the district on the Chinese border. Please pray that this church will have sound Biblical doctrine teaching. Pray that God would change the thinking that Christians are low in the cast system. People of this area discriminate Christians as low caste. Please pray for the church to be able to own some land. The number of believers is increasing. They have been collecting money to buy land and build their own church so everyone will be able to fit inside. Pray for the local pastors and leaders. They are doing different social activities. Please pray that these activities can flourish and be fruitful. God bless you,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-cried-unto-the-lord-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Rabi-April-1-191x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for praying for and supporting our ministry. We pray that God blesses you all.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBlessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eMatthew 5:9 (NKJV)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJesus told us to go and preach the Word of God. We went and proclaimed the Word of God through the Book of Acts.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNear the capital city is the place where I grew up. God put a burden in my heart to pray for the villages in that district to be reached for Christ. When I went there, my heart began to rejoice, because I got an opportunity to meet a church pastor there!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Cried Unto the Lord"},{"content":"“And He was saying to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’” Luke 10:2 As a family we have invested a lot of our energy into reestablishing our home life here in Uganda. We know that we can’t win “away” when we are losing at home. It has been exactly a year since we were first displaced from our home in the Corona confusion. Although we spent time in our house since then, this past month was the first we truly felt the peace of a home base. As part of that we have officially started our children’s schooling and it’s crazy to us that we even have children that are old enough for school. Please pray for Noelle as she starts her new life as a teacher.\nThis past month I had the weighty privilege of teaching the majority of 1 Corinthians to the students in our pastoral school of discipleship. When Paul learned of the problems in the church at Corinth he wrote them an appeal to godliness. After identifying and defining each area of their weakness; e.g. division, sexual immorality, confusion in their worship services etc. Paul responded with a piece of the story of our Savior, and showed them how the Gospel changes us and gives us a new way of life. When you and I take our eyes off of the deceitful pleasures of the world, and take an honest look at our broken evil state, the need for Christ’s redemptive work grows more and more obvious. The more we recognize sin as sin, the more we see our great personal need for a Savior. It is then that we can appreciate just how great the Gospel really is. Only the advent, life, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord can transform a heart and take a soul from darkness and death to light and life. Please pray for our churches to be preaching this gospel of hope.\nThe fields are large. The work ahead for every one of God’s Gospel laborers is huge. At times it can be overwhelming to realize just how big the task really is. But God keeps reminding me of the parable of the Seed in Mark 4. Just as the farmer doesn’t really understand or control the growth of his crops; neither can we understand or control how God moves in the hearts of men and women. When God’s hand moves, only He can take the credit. May God work mightily on the earth today.\n“So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.” 1 Corinthians 3:7 May God Bless You, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/march-2021/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"and-he-was-saying-to-them-the-harvest-is-plentiful-but-the-laborers-are-few-therefore-beseech-the-lord-of-the-harvest-to-send-out-laborers-into-his-harvest-luke-102\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“And He was saying to them, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’”  Luke 10:2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/03/IMG-6800-e1617643971592.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs a family we have invested a lot of our energy into reestablishing our home life here in Uganda.  We know that we can’t win “away” when we are losing at home.  It has been exactly a year since we were first displaced from our home in the Corona confusion.  Although we spent time in our house since then, this past month was the first we truly felt the peace of a home base.  As part of that we have officially started our children’s schooling and it’s crazy to us that we even have children that are old enough for school.  Please pray for Noelle as she starts her new life as a teacher.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"March 2021"},{"content":" Praise Report! Our Calvary Chapel Church has made a wooden bridge over the river for our village! Now, people can go from one village to another easily. They can walk straight across!\nPrayer Requests: 1). May the Lord grant me open doors for Gospel outreach during this time and may our church grow spiritually.\n2). Please pray for our Calvary Chapel church building.\n3). Please pray that I will grow more and more spiritually in the Lord.\nThank you!\nBlessings!\nRaju\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/27339/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Raju-Bridge--300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch4 id=\"praise-report\"\u003ePraise Report!\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur Calvary Chapel Church has made a wooden bridge over the river for our village! Now, people can go from one village to another easily. They can walk straight across!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"prayer-requests\"\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1). May the Lord grant me open doors for Gospel outreach during this time and may our church grow spiritually.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2). Please pray for our Calvary Chapel church building.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Raju-Christmas-Program-2-300x171.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e3). Please pray that I will grow more and more spiritually in the Lord.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"In Thy Paths"},{"content":"Family We are super excited that grandbaby #2 is on its way! Joshua just turned one this month and in October he will be a big brother! Brian and Brittany have recently started attending the church planting class offered at our church. We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for them! (While secretly hoping that God doesn’t take them too far away from us.)\nWilliam has a big life change coming up. On Monday he will be moving to Idaho with a friend that he grew up with here in Mexico. We are excited for this next step in his life. Please keep him in your prayers as he looks for a job and adjusts to living on his own. While he has been working in the U.S. for about a year and a half now, he hasn’t lived there since 2010 so he will definitely still be experiencing some culture shock.\nAs many of you already know, Ron’s back surgery was rescheduled for February 23rd. It went very well and the surgeon was happy with everything. He has definitely experienced some pain relief and is getting better little by little. However, almost five weeks later, he is about in the same place he was just before the surgery in regards to how much he can do. Of course he has lifting (bending, reaching, etc.) restrictions, but he is only able to stand, sit, or work for so long before he has to lay down again. Please keep him in your prayers, as he has a long road of recovery and a hard time resting when he’d rather be working.\nMinistry We were blessed this month to serve alongside the youth from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace (Yorba Linda, CA). They served at a local church who hasn’t received a team in over two years, Iglesia Bautista Cristo Rey, here in Rosarito. The team ministered to the children with games, crafts, worship, and a Bible lesson. They also shared a message and testimonies with the adults. At the end they gave out backpacks to the children and food boxes/cleaning supplies to all the families.\nThe team also blessed a local children’s home, Niños Con Fe, in Tijuana. There was a lot of soccer, tug of war, crafts, worship, testimonies, and a Bible lesson. They also served dinner to the 30+ children there and their staff. It was awesome to hear the conversations and testimonies being shared over face painting, crafts, nail painting, and even an open Bible on one of the tables. Afterwards, the youth and a few leaders prayed for the anyone that wanted it. It was really neat to see not just some of their staff go up and ask for prayer, but some of the youth from the children’s home as well!\nChurch Planting In our January update we mentioned that we had returned for a second trip to Loreto in Baja California, Mexico. We had helped church planters, Elmer \u0026amp; Crystal, move to plant a bilingual church, Calvary Loreto, located about fourteen hours south of us.\nWe had driven back to Loreto without a trailer. Somehow Ron managed to get all of our stuff, 30 folding chairs, Juan’s motorcycle, and some other donations in the back of our pick-up. We even brought the kayak, which we were able to use a couple of times after the work on the church was done. Juan, who is on the church plant team, had to leave his motorcycle behind because it wasn’t ready when he left. So we surprised him by bringing it down for him.\nMostly, Ron managed the crew working on the church, but he did manage to get his hands dirty. You can see above that he put up the banner on the side of the church. Don’t let the photo on the right fool you, though. He only helped Kristy paint the logo over the church doors for a little over an hour. Of course, he worked on many other things as his back would allow. Kristy took three days before the church’s first service to work on this sign. The first evening she traced it – mostly by light from the truck because it was too bright during the day to see the projector. Then the next two days were mostly spent painting it. She didn’t claim to be quick or to be an expert, but it turned out pretty good! Below you can see the church ready for the first service and the logo painted over the front doors of the church.\nThe first service at Calvary Loreto was February 7th. There was a full sanctuary and three professions of faith! Kristy led worship, along with a couple of other ladies. Pastor Carlos from Calvary Rosarito joined us for several days, along with his wife, Robin, and our friend Grace.\nWe are so excited to see how the Lord continues to work in Loreto! Since we returned home, they added seating for about 10 more people by tearing down the back wall of the sanctuary. After that, they removed the side wall and expanded even more, adding another 15 or so chairs. They’ve had two much-needed air conditioning units and a sound system donated, and are now working on painting the sanctuary floor.\nKristy is going to have an opportunity to return to Loreto this May for a pastor’s conference that they are holding. She will be helping with the food and wherever else needed for the conference and hopefully arriving early enough to help with the ladies’ event the week before. She will likely be bringing a trailer, as there are more donated chairs that need to be brought down, plus some other donations. Brian \u0026amp; Brittany will also be attending the conference, as Brian is going to be one of the speakers. About 75-100 men are expected to attend!\nConnections House A huge thank you to all of you who have been praying for us! Your prayers are felt and they are much needed! You, along with everyone that has partnered with us financially, make this ministry possible! To those that have specifically given toward our 3rd floor project, here is a quick update on its progress. Over the last few months, you donated a little more than $3400. With that, the ceiling of the Upper Room (dining/meeting room) has been tiled and it looks awesome! Some trim and beams were painted. Donated cabinets for the Upper Room, and a few for the kitchen, were painted are currently being installed.\nWe have been blessed recently on this project by several volunteers who have donated their time, including but not limited to, Pastor Carlos \u0026amp; Robin Oliveros, John Vandenhaak, Omar Cossio, Esau \u0026amp; Sandy Quintero, and a few others. About 75% of the kitchen has been moved to the 3rd floor. Next, we will be installing some sinks and moving the water filtration system to the 3rd floor. After that, some electrical work for lighting, and then we can tile the kitchen ceiling. Unfortunately, the floors will not get tiled yet, as this is a very expensive step. We’d love to paint the floor to make it more cleanable, but it would cost too much for this temporary fix. Instead, after all these things are done, we will shift our focus back to the first floor and finish the new bathroom and shower room under the stairs. From there, when the Lord provides the funds or materials, we will be able to add some dorm rooms, as well as more bathrooms and showers to the first floor.\nPlease continue to pray that our summer teams will come to serve and not have to cancel. We know that the best place for any believer to be is in the center of God’s will, but we also know that it is up to each individual or team coordinator to decipher His will for them. As for us, we will continue with the work the Lord has called us to in Rosarito, in Baja California, in Mexico, and beyond. God bless!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/struska-missions-update-march-2021/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"family\"\u003eFamily\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/165759699%5F3848170811957686%5F4557497991511665440%5Fo-768x512-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2021/04/164773899%5F3848170605291040%5F1872782732468738418%5Fo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are super excited that grandbaby #2 is on its way! Joshua just turned one this month and in October he will be a big brother! Brian and Brittany have recently started attending the church planting class offered at our church. We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for them! (While secretly hoping that God doesn’t take them too far away from us.)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWilliam has a big life change coming up. On Monday he will be moving to Idaho with a friend that he grew up with here in Mexico. We are excited for this next step in his life. Please keep him in your prayers as he looks for a job and adjusts to living on his own. While he has been working in the U.S. for about a year and a half now, he hasn’t lived there since 2010 so he will definitely still be experiencing some culture shock.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Struska Missions Update March 2021"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nEveryone loves a good story, especially when it’s true! In this update, I am happy to share an amazing story with you of a changed life that only Jesus can do! My friend Eddie first showed up at our church 12 years ago. With a knife in hand, he was stalking a guy that attended our church from time to time that had stolen from him, with plans to murder him after the service.\nThis was nothing new to Eddie. He had been in more deadly gang fights than you could imagine, and the very fact that he had survived 8 gunshots and a lifetime deportation was a miracle. But as Eddie sat in our church service, fiddling with the knife in his pocket, something miraculous began to happen. He began to listen to my sermon, and at the end of the service, he threw the knife in the trash, and professed faith in Jesus Christ for the first time in his life!\nOver the next few years, Eddie brought his live in girlfriend to church and they both were saved, then baptized! Eddie even proposed to his girlfriend in our church sanctuary, which led to an amazing wedding celebration and then a few children as well!\nEddie eventually became one of my good friends, and I would talk with him from time to time about church planting. You see, Eddie doesn’t only have the gift of gab, but the biggest smile I had ever seen, and a magnetic personality. Three years ago, Eddie entered our church planting school, and he began the class with (how can I say this) much room for improvement.\nBut as Eddie worked on his preaching and leadership skills, God began to put the Rosarito dump and the poor families that live there on his heart! Two and a half years ago, Eddie began a weekly Bible study in the dump and the small neighboring community called Homex.\nOver time God made things crystal clear, He was raising up a church in this devastated community, and He was calling Eddie to be their pastor and church planter. Fast forward 3 years, and at the end of March, I had the privilege and honor of ordaining Eddie and sending out his family and missions team as our church’s 27th church plant!\nThe community of Homex is one of the poorest and most dangerous communities I have ever visited. Located just 30 minutes from Rosarito, it seems to be a world away because of the crime and hopelessness of the people living there. Yet this is exactly the place where God has called us to plant our newest church!\nEddie and his gifted wife Jeanette, have started a feeding kitchen for the children, and they have rented a small house where they host their weekly church services. They have worked hard to raise up some local leaders, and they pick up a group of people from the Rosarito dump (15 minute walk away) that are also committed to join up with this new church!\nI have had the privilege and honor of joining the team quite a few times, and this is a very fruitful ministry! Only God could take a man that had murder on his mind, and transform him into a Pastor and church planter. Please keep this new church plant of Homex in your prayers, and if you’re interested in visiting or supporting them, please let me know!\nFinally, I want to once again thank you for your faithful partnership with us as your missionaries here in Mexico. It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God meets our physical needs! And it’s an honor and a privilege to share with you in this fruitful work!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless our upcoming bilingual church planting conference in August!\n#2- That God would bless our newest church plant “Calvary Homex” and church planter Eddie and his family!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God that our latest church plant in Loreto is thriving and growing after only 3 months!\n#2- Praise God that Sarah and I were able to visit Loreto and encourage the church together!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click here to directly support our family as your missionaries.\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-april-2021-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/04/167225822%5F10158409992237029%5F6797430212456960447%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEveryone loves a good story, especially when it’s true! In this update, I am happy to share an amazing story with you of a changed life that only Jesus can do! My friend Eddie first showed up at our church 12 years ago. With a knife in hand, he was stalking a guy that attended our church from time to time that had stolen from him, with plans to murder him after the service.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family April 2021 Missions Update"},{"content":"“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”_______John 17:17\nDear Friends and family,\nGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan, we hope and pray that you are fine. Much has been taking place during the month of February and March here in Pakistan. The third wave of Covid-19 is very strong in our country, we have witnessed the death of some dear ones. The vaccine is being provided here, but it’s very slow and the vaccine is only available for the medical related people at this time. During the month of March, most of the time we have been in lockdown and it will continue for some more time.\nBible Study Groups\nWe praise God that our online bible classes have been going very well and as these young men and women are learning the Word of God verse by verse. They are very happy and have developed great interest in studying the Word of God this way. Right now we have three Bible study groups in two cities, and in each group we have about 40 students.\nWe are reaching this new generation with the Word of God and it is powerfully transforming their lives. Please keep this teaching ministry in your prayers.\nBibles and Bikes\nWe praise God that we have received 400 regular Bibles and 400 Children’s Bibles for the year 2021. We need Bibles every year for our outreach mission. These Bibles go to very far and remote areas where people are not often reached by the churches or Pastors. We evangelize in those areas and provide them with the Word of God.\nGod has also blessed CC Pakistan with two new bikes for outreach. Our old bikes were bought in 2016 and we were having some problems while traveling on them. God has provided these new bikes this month! We praise God and we are thankful to you all for the prayers and support.\nBrick Maker’s Outreach\nFor almost 10 years now we are regularly reaching the poor brick makers’ community to share the word of God with them and encourage them in their Christian belief. We praise God that their new generation is able to go to schools and they are able to read the word of God themselves.\nPlease continue to keep these people in your prayers and if the Lord lays it on your heart to help them in some way, it will always be a great encouragement for these precious souls.\nDesert Mission\nThe mission in the desert continues! We have one Bible class in that area which is a truly amazing tool for opening the door into that area and also for opening the hearts and minds of those people to learn the word of God.\nThis is a vast mission field with many dimensions. We had planned a mission trip to the place right after Easter, but now because of lockdown we will need to reschedule our mission plans. Please keep our team and the people of this special area in your prayers.\nOur church, women’s ministry, and families are doing well. My wife Farah graduated from a seminary recently, it was really helpful for her as she has a heart to serve in Biblical Counseling. God is really Good, we are thankful to all of you once again and want to request that you please keep us all in your prayers. We love you all and pray for you!\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\nCalvary Chapel Pakistan\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thy-word-is-truth/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”_______John 17:17\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan, we hope and pray that you are fine. Much has been taking place during the month of February and March here in Pakistan. The third wave of Covid-19 is very strong in our country, we have witnessed the death of some dear ones. The vaccine is being provided here, but it’s very slow and the vaccine is only available for the medical related people at this time. During the month of March, most of the time we have been in lockdown and it will continue for some more time.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thy Word is Truth"},{"content":"Over the past 4 years we have had plenty of opportunities to celebrate together as God continues to strengthen and grow our body of believers at Calvary Chapel Maranatha, Mazatlan but there has been something very special about these past months.\nCALVARY MARANATHA EAST’s 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY\nOn March 1st, Calvary Maranatha East, our most recent church plant, celebrated its first anniversary. I was overcome with gratitude and emotion as I realized that God had gathered 4 very faithful men, church planters, together that night for a very special reason.\nThat night, the Lord revealed an example, John 15:16. We saw first-hand the fruit of faithful commitment to the Lord, of discipling and raising up others, and the reach of God’s word. We were shown an example of faithfulness multiplying, like generations: “Great Grandpa” Pastor Trent Douglass, CC Saving Grace- sent out “Grandpa” Pastor Mike Vincent, CC Rosarito -sent out “Dad” Pastor Tony Carranza, CCMarantha and “Child” Pastor Sergio Rojas, CCMaranatha Este.\nNOTHING CAN STOP US!!\nCC MARANATHA CHURCH PLANTING CONFERENCE 2021 “Nothing can stop us” was the name of our conference this February. It was 2 days filled with rich teachings filled with wisdom and guidance from a variety of Calvary Chapel Pastors and church planters. They joined us from the US, Baja CA and several areas in Mexico. This year’s focus was to encourage and challenge us to continue with confidence and follow the Lord’s call regardless of the circumstances.\nMy part during the event was to coordinate several of our volunteer teams as we greeted and provided dinner both nights for our 120 guests. In addition, I was asked to share about my experiences during the breakout workshops. What a joy it was to encourage other single woman about the valuable role we play as part of a church planting team.\nCOFFEE, FELLOWSHIP, ENCOURAGEMENT AND PRAYER\nWhile Pastor Trent, his wife Debbie, Pastor Tim, and Spencer from the SGWM Headquarters in Yorba Linda were in town for the conference I had a great time showing them Mazatlan. It was great being with them and I was encouraged and supported by their wise words of advice and prayer throughout their visit and especially during a breakfast time together before they left to fly back to the states.\nFALL SEASON OF CHURCH PLANTING\nMeet our 2021 Fall church planting class. As a church sending hub, these classes at CC Maranatha are vital to train up and send out those who are being called by God to be future church planters. You may recognize Pastor Sergio and his wife Elena from Calvary Maranatha Este who are graduates from CCM’s 2 year program. The only student missing in this photo is me… Yep, this season the classes are open to single gals too. So, I’m joining in to learn more about what it takes to be a church planter. Please keep us all in your prayers, teachers and students alike as God equips and guides us.\nI love an appreciate you all. Thank you all for your prayers and notes of encouragement! God is continuing to fill me with His love, hope and desire to faithfully follow Him moment by moment.\nJOHN 15:16 Jesus said… \u0026ldquo;You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.”\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/generations-of-faithfulness/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOver the past 4 years we have had plenty of opportunities to celebrate together as God continues to strengthen and grow our body of believers at Calvary Chapel Maranatha, Mazatlan but there has been something very special about these past months.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCALVARY MARANATHA EAST’s 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn March 1st, Calvary Maranatha East, our most recent church plant, celebrated its first anniversary. I was overcome with gratitude and emotion as I realized that God had gathered 4 very faithful men, church planters, together that night for a very special reason.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Generations of Faithfulness"},{"content":" EUROPE\nMitch and Christine Sorensen - Nice, France\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Thank you for praying for our health: Mitch\u0026rsquo;s pains in his shoulders, right knee and other issues. Me (Christine) for a deep painful varicose vein in the left calf, impairing the walk.\n2. For more open hearts in France to the Gospel and for laws not to pass (in April) if they will restrict the Christian expression in this land.\n3. Very Very GRATEFUL to our wonderful Lord who just saved my other niece here in France. She had such a tough life and it is incredibly wonderful to see her being radically transformed and guided by the King of kings!!!\nMay you be all richly blessed, directed, provided, protected and used for His glory!!!\nThank you for ALL your fervent prayers towards France!!!\nGod bless you,\nMitch and Christine - Email Blog\nRebecca Alaniz – Zagreb, Croatia\nPraise Reports:\n- I’ve stayed healthy!- The sun is starting to appear which means Spring is around the corner- Our church has been reopened - I received my visa for a third year!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Roma Village:- Pray that the Lord would give me guidance and wisdom in regards to working in the Roma village. Pray for our relationships with the Roma people, especially with this new project that we are about to start. - Pray the Lord would provide a place for the preschool we would like top open\n2. That the Lord would completely heal my thyroid, so that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t need to take any medication\n3. For direction, that I would simply be open to whatever the Lord has for me and while I wait, that I would be still and wait patiently upon the Lord\n4. Language Learning: Even though I\u0026rsquo;m conversational, there is more that I need to learn to reach fluency. Pray that the Lord would help me grasp the language and that He would give me a desire to study it.\n5. Salvation for loved ones in Zagreb\nThank you for keeping me and the country of Croatia in your prayers. The Lord is at work and I am so excited to see what He is going to continue to do!\nGod Bless,\nRebecca - Email Blog\nAFRICA\nKanyike Family - Kampala, Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Elections are over but protests and unrest are occurring. Please pray for peace and for safety.\n2. Jill has had a severe sinus infection. Please pray for relief from the pain and for healing.\n3. As visitors are beginning to come and go once again pray for smooth travels and health for everyone. Pray for fruitful times of ministry and fellowship.\n4. Pray for Brian as he ministers to other pastors and leaders in Uganda. Pray for him as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna - S. Asia and Africa\nPraise Report:\n- Praise God the Bible Colleges are opening / reopening in Asia- Praise God we got Breanna\u0026rsquo;s new passport\n- Praise God J. Edward\u0026rsquo;s wife and new baby girl are healthy. Thank you for praying for them.\nPrayer Requests:-\n1. Pray for new work in S. Asia as God continues to grow and give vision to the nationals and we are seeing it come to fruition.\n2. Pray for the Bible Colleges through Asia for protection both physically and spiritually, for students as they return, for teachers to be ready and filled with the Holy Spirit to teach and for God to continue to raise up church planters and send them out.\n3. Pray for us as we apply for visas this coming week and make plans to return overseas. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s perfect timing.\nThank you,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nThank you for your prayers!\nYours for the unreached, Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nMike and Sarah Vincent – Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Reports!\n- Praise God that the people of our church have been healthy, and are returning to the fellowship!\n- Praise God that we had 40 students enrolled in our church’s church planting program!\nPrayer Requests!\n1. That God would keep our family, church, and community safe in these difficult times!\n2. That God would bless our new church plant we are launching to the Rosarito dump in March! (Called Homex)\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel – Email Blog\nHope Douglass – SGWM – California\nThank you for your precious prayers.\nPraise Reports:\n-My pregnancy has been very mild and joyful and I am blessed by your prayers for that!\n-God provided the perfect person to take over my role in the office and she has been doing a great job!\u0026quot;\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Wisdom as my husband and I seek God’s will for our ministry when our son is born and life changes.\n2. A smooth labor and delivery in May.\n3. A smooth transition into motherhood and working from home; that I would be able to balance both well.\nGod bless each of you and keep you as you abide in Him.\nBlessings, Hope – Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia – California, USA\nThank you all for continuing to pray for our family! We are strong believers that our ministry in the Lord holds far less power without the prayers of our friends and family like you.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray as always for the schooling and raising up of our children in the Lord. It’s not easy with four kids ages 1-7! Pray that the Lord would move in their hearts and speak to them both through our parenting and despite our weaknesses\n2. Praise God for a wonderful weekend Mexico trip for Joel in early March! Pray for lasting fruit in the lives of the youth Joel helped lead there; that God would stir a heart for the nations in them as they reflect on their time with the churches and orphans there\n3. Pray for continued vision as Joel works with Mike Thiemann to fine-tune and excel our missionary sending and caring ministry Love,Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara - Email Blog\nMike and Erin Thiemann – California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the SGWM office as we gear up for a packed summer of missions and ministry. Also, pray for our accounting department. They need some full-time and part-time qualified volunteers.\n2. Please pray for our new Administrative Assistant, Maribel, who will be directly assisting me and replacing Hope Douglass after having her baby. Please pray for her training and that the Lord would bless her with the ability to fully grasp everything we do.\n3. Pray that God would continue to provide and guide my family through life and ministry.\n4. Pray for me as I work towards earning my master’s degree. Pray that the Lord would bring about supporters and scholarships. Pray that the Lord would bless my study time and make it fruitful.\n5. Pray for the youth ministry I lead. Pray that the Lord would pour out his Spirit and awaken the affections of our teens towards Him. Pray for our upcoming Israel tour this summer. We also have completed two Mexico trips so far this year and have plans for two more. Please pray as I need administrative help in organizing all these trips as will as the plethora of other administrative needs of youth ministry.\n6. Pray for our continued financial support as Erin and I have been Stateside missionaries for over 15 years. Thank you for all your love, prayer and encouragement through this.\nWe are blessed by you.\nGod bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina – Erin – Email Mike – Emai l Blog\nBrechtel Family -Oaxaca, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please be praying for the Lord\u0026rsquo;s timing and wisdom on when and where we should buy land to build a men\u0026rsquo;s rehab/discipleship center. The Lord has provided a good portion of the finances so we are just praying for His guidance and wisdom.\n2. Pray for the Navigator\u0026rsquo;s classes that are being held at Calvary Oaxaca. These classes have been such a blessing. We have watched people grow in their faith and have seen new friendships built.\n3. Pray for more people to step into the worship team ministry. We have a great, solid team but it would be great to have more people serving in this ministry.\n4. Please pray for us to become more and more able to speak Spanish, especially our boys so they can build friendships here.\nThank you for praying for our family and ministry here in Oaxaca! We are so blessed to have this covering over our family.\nJon and Allison - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte – Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that I and my family will grow closer and closer to God.\n2. Please pray for me to make good decisions about my children and home.\n3.Please pray that God will help me with making good priorities, that will glorify Him.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose – Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\n1. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s guidance in ministry decisions, and for the pastors and their families who we are working with in the 10/40 window.\n2. Please pray that God will open up ministry in our local nursing home. We had just started weekly nursing home ministry the week before the lockdown here and have not been able to return since.\n3. Please pray for our church and church leaders\u0026rsquo; health and encouragement. Many of the leaders are currently sick and/or not able to come to church because of testing positive for Covid.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni – Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nKilgus Family - Trujillo, Peru\nIt is been quite the year, but God has been so faithful through it all. In January we were able to baptize 13 new believers who had come to faith during the pandemic and quarantine. We also started 6 small groups throughout the city in February so people could have more intimate fellowship, and a place to meet when the government locks things down.\nWe also started a new semester at CBI Peru with 18 full time students from the USA, Peru, and Venezuela. They are growing and being discipled. We will have our first graduating class in November, and we are praying to see where God is going to lead them into ministry.\nPeru has been experiencing lockdowns again, and they have been very difficult because things change every 2 weeks. The government will announce that church can open, but then 2 weeks later declare they must close. We have been closed 4 of the last 8 weeks with the restrictions flip-flopping every two weeks. Please pray for strength and grace as we continue to move forward in the gospel.\nGod did provide an amazing new facility for CBI Peru. A former resort that holds up to 80 students, and we believe God is going to use it as a hub for missions and church planting. We need your prayer because we planned to move on April 1st, but Peru announced a nationwide lockdown for Easter weekend to avoid gatherings and we wont be able to move.\nAlso, the government raised gas taxes and all the busses, truckers and land travel agencies have gone on strike. That makes moving complicated, and also make a lot of basic resources scarce as supplies are no longer arriving.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the new believers, pray for the small groups, pray for the Bible Institute students and pray for many more people to believe in Jesus and for many churches to be planted.\n2. Also, a special prayer request for my family. We hope to visit the states in June/July, but we need two passports for our children and the embassy has been closed. We need a miracle and an emergency appointment, but we have not been able to get an appointment after about 3 months of effort. Please pray as we need a miracle!\nThank you!\nWith love,\nCory and Danielle - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nThank you prayer warrior for praying for us. God had been opening door for the Bible College again. All of the things look normal after long time.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray for the healing for one of the widow lady who is our Church member, she had a breast Cancer, her name is Debaki.\n3. Please pray for the all our Bible College student who is serving in their village that may come in Bible College when we start in the month of April.\n4. Please pray for my mother in Law, she have to go through surgery of her hand in this month.\nThank you,\nChoudhary Family - Email Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Charis Bible Church, may all believers grow in the Word and become mature day by day in the Lord and spend the time with the Lord in prayer.\n2. May the new people come to the Church more and more and get saved.\n3. Please pray for CC Hetauda, may the new believers not become weary of coming to the Church.\n4. Please pray for Calvary Chapel Bible College that it may reopen soon, let the students come to learn from the Word of God and fall in love with the Lord more than before.\nThanks for your prayer support for us!\nBlessings!\nPrakash and Muna - Email Blog\nWorker 3 - 10/40 Window\nGreetings to you in Jesus name!\nBy God’s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers. For this month I would like to share some of the prayer concerns.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. During one of our believer’s marriage I could share the Gospel to all believer and non-believer who were gathered for marriage ceremony. Please pray for the salvation experience of the people who have heard the Gospel.\n2. As a family we visited L. family (Catholic believer) and shared the Gospel of Christ. Please pray for their salvation.\n3. Kindly pray for the Bible Commentary editing project, may God give His wisdom and knowledge to understand and edit well.\n4. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local Church.\n5.Please pray of my wife R; God may use in her school to glorify His name.\n6. By the grace of God one of our relatives, gifted a small piece of land to us, to construct a house. So please pray for the house plan (map) approval from municipal office and for the legal process.\nThank you very much for your prayer and support!\nIn Him,\nP and R\nWorker 15 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for healing for my eye.\n2. Please pray for God’s direction in our life.\n3. Please pray for new believers, as persecution is increasing.\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that our church will be strong in Word of God.\n2. Pray that our family will also know one day who is Jesus.\n3. Pray my mom she is suffering from diabetes. Her diabetes is uncontrolled and due to that we face problems. Pray that God will heal and give peace in heart.\n4. Pray our closed bible school will reopen soon.\n5. For our mission and our ministry. pray God will use us mighty in ways to reach unreached people.\nThank you for your prayers for us!\nIn Him,\nRabi and Mahima - Blog\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the Bible School and the upcoming new building project.\n2. Pray for me to grow spiritually.\n3. Pray that the next semester will begin smoothly and bring more students.\n4. Pray for the staff and the students.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nMajhiya and Sarita – Nepal\nPrayer Requests\n1. We have found an opportunity to share with others about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes. They are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you for faithfully praying for us\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n1. Please pray that the ministry would grow.\n2. Please pray that the Lord will help me to share the Gospel.\n3. Please pray that the believers will grow in the Lord.\n4. Please pray that the people with whom I have shared the Gospel will come to the saving knowledge of the Lord.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nWorker 2\nMilan Pariyar – Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you,\nMilan\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, for strength, wisdom, and peace.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone.\nThanking you.\nYours in Christ,\nWorker 4\nRaju – 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests\n1. Pray that the Lord will grant me open doors for the Gospel outreach in this situation and let the church grow spiritually.\n2. Please pray for the church building.\n3. Please pray that I will grow spiritually more and more in the Lord\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju – Blog\nWorker 6 and Family- 10/40 Window\nThank you for praying! Our new baby is increasing in height and weight, and my wife is also safe.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our Bible School.\n2. In the 3rd week of March, we are going to start our Bible school. Please pray for wisdom and for the students.\n3. Pray for our church; we are going to start new cell groups in different locations in our city.\nThank you,\nWorker and Mrs. 6\nWorker 16 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my children, that they will grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.\n2. Please pray that the Lord will intervene in the problem the world is facing.\n3. Please pray for the village ministry in our local area, that they will grow in the Lord’s words.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nWorker 8 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that God will raise men and women to serve Him in our country, through our ministry.\n2. Pray for those responding through the Youtube channel\n3. Please pray for my health and safety.\nThank you.\nGod Bless you,\nWorker 8 and Family\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\nThank you so much for your prayers.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 9\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for God’s protection and guidance.\n2. Pray for new believers to grow in Christ\n3. Please pray for god to open more doors\n4. Please pray for my health and safety.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 13\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for God’s protection and guidance.\n2. Pray for me to share the Gospel.\n3. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe, that God will change their hearts.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 10\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for those who heard God’s Word, that they will accept Jesus.\n2. Please pray for God’s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 12\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for a new motor bike.\n2. Please continue to pray for my mother’s health; she has some throat and nose problems. She has not been able to smell anything for two hears. I have taken her to the doctor’s but they say they don’t have any treatment for her.\n3. Please pray for our church member’s healing, who has Olmsted Disease.\n4. Please continue to pray for our 5 house churches, that they will grow deeper in the Word of God.\n5. Please pray for those who would like to be baptized. Our government has made a new law that if anyone wants to be baptized, they must give an affidavit to the pastor that their baptism is of their own will and without pressure, which is safer for the pastors.\n6. Please pray for our safety. Since this pandemic, criminal activity is increasing daily.\nThanks for you!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 11\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot; - Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-apr-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMitch and Christine Sorensen - Nice, France\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Sorensen-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1.Thank you for praying for our health: Mitch\u0026rsquo;s pains in his shoulders, right knee and other issues. Me (Christine) for a deep painful varicose vein in the left calf, impairing the walk.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. For more open hearts in France to the Gospel and for laws not to pass (in April) if they will restrict the Christian expression in this land.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM APR PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Dear pastors, leaders and church family!\nGreetings to you all from our church! Thank you for your love, prayers and support for the Gospel. I am so thankful to God because He sent me to this place where pastors and leaders do not want to come to minister or even visit because of the persecution and lack of basic facilities. Praise God for providing financially for the Christmas outreach with which we were able to celebrate Christmas in two of the villages and we were able to show the Jesus movie in 3 unreached villages and distributed blankets to widows, poor and helpless peoples. Praise God that more than 10 thousand people heard the good news in our Christmas outreach and 6 people took baptism. Everything was safe and smooth because of your prayers and dedication to Christ.\n“No one loves me I am going to commit suicide!” Today, again, I am going to share a story of my church member who was going to commit suicide but God saved his life. This guy\u0026rsquo;s name is Sunjay* and he is 23 years old and not very educated. In 2014, my dad and I went to distribute Gospel Bible textbooks in a village; that\u0026rsquo;s where we met this boy. He is suffering with a rare disease known by the name of ‘Olmsted Syndrome\u0026rsquo;. His hands and feet are so diseased that his nails are 2 to 3 inches long and are as hard as stones and his hands and feet’s skin automatically tear and bleed every day since his birth. Because his hands and feet smell bad no one wants to be friends with him and everyone stays away from him. Because of this he went into depression and started using drugs, many times he tried to kill himself.\nHis parents are very poor and daily wagers. They took him to so many doctors and skin specialist but he could not get any better with their treatment. When we shared the Good News and the love of our living God, he accepted Jesus as his Savior and took baptism. In the beginning, he came to the fellowship continuously and God started to heal his hands and feet, but after two years he again started to use drugs with some of his druggie friends and stopped coming to the fellowship. He refused to come to the fellowship and for two years I and my dad encouraged him so many times. His hands and feet started to tear and bleed again more than before. His parents, neighbors and relatives started to scold him and sent him to the fellowship. So, before Christmas, he again started to come to the fellowship. His mother is also a believer in the Lord, but his father is still a non believer. I took him to the hospital this month. The doctor gave him medicine and told him if there is no improvement, they will have to cut his toes. Please remember to keep him in your prayers; with our God nothing is impossible.\nYouth’s night for worship, Bible study \u0026amp; prayer! During this pandemic almost every school and college was closed, so many teenagers were free in their houses. Many started using drugs with their friends, and some teenagers started to rob in the villages. That’s why everyday’s news starts with murder, robbery and people dying from drug overdoses.\nBut, praise God, my church’s youth are safe from these drugs and growing in the Word of God. They are helping in worship and sharing. Learning memory verses from the Bible every week earns them some gifts of necessary items.\nI had youth camp 3 times in January and February and we had great fellowship with the youth in Bible study, worship and prayer with some delicious dinner and chicken barbeque. Praise God for two young brothers, Abhishek and Vivek, who accepted Jesus as their Savior. They also came to the youth fellowship with church the youth. Please pray for my state’s teenagers to know Jesus Christ. I plan to fellowship with them every month. Please pray that God would guide me and provide for every financial need.\nPlease pray for a new motor bike to reach unreached villages! But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry. (2 Timothy 4:5).\nI thank the Lord for sending me to a state where there\u0026rsquo;s darkness, where people worship 33 million different gods and goddesses- trusting in witchcraft more than doctors or scientist; illiterate, poor, untouchable, affected by malnutrition, they sacrifice their elderly parents to please their goddesses. They believe that their right hand is holy and their left hand is unholy. If any child uses their left hand to eat food, their parents break their fingers on the left hand. People love cows more than their own mother and they are killing those who eat beef. I thank God for sending me to this place with His Gospel. People are hearing the name of Jesus Christ for the first time and so many people are accepting Him and it’s all been possible because of your prayer and support.\nI want to share a prayer request about a new motor bike for the ministry. When I came here, after finishing Bible College in 2014, I had a bicycle (bike without a motor) to do ministry. My dad and I went to distribute Gospel tracts from village to village using a bicycle. After some time, God provided me with a motor bike, with which me and my Dad where able to go to many more unreached villages where there are no roads, no clean water, no electricity and not any other type of facilities. My dad and I have to carry a generator on the bike to show the Jesus movie in the unreached villages where there is no electricity. That motor bike really helped me to spread the Gospel to the unreached villages, to visit the house churches, to show the Jesus movie on the movie projector. And continuing going to the villages when there was flooding and to take paralyzed church members to their home, etc.\nBut, for the last year, the parts on this motor bike have started breaking because they are old. It is very disturbing when I am on my way to have fellowship with the unreached. Every time I go to fix my bike, it breaks down again. Please pray for God to provide me with a new motor bike for the ministry to keep on spreading.\nPrayer Requests: Please continue to pray for a new motor bike. Please continue to pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health- she has a problem with her throat and nose. For the last 2 years, she hasn\u0026rsquo;t been able to smell anything. I took her to the hospital, but doctors said they don’t have any treatment for her. Please pray for Sunjay\u0026rsquo;s* healing. Please continue to pray for our 5 house churches- that they grow deeper in the Word of God. Please pray for the upcoming baptism service, as some more people are ready to get baptized. The government made a new law that if anybody wants to be baptized, they need to give an affidavit to the pastor for their baptism of their own will and without pressure, which is safer for the pastors. Thank you so much for your prayer, help, support and partnership in spreading the Gospel.\nGod bless you all!\nPastor 11\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/my-king-and-my-god/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear pastors, leaders and church family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Pastor-11-church-256x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all from our church! Thank you for your love, prayers and support for the Gospel. I am so thankful to God because He sent me to this place where pastors and leaders do not want to come to minister or even visit because of the persecution and lack of basic facilities. Praise God for providing financially for the Christmas outreach with which we were able to celebrate Christmas in two of the villages and we were able to show the Jesus movie in 3 unreached villages and distributed blankets to widows, poor and helpless peoples. Praise God that more than 10 thousand people heard the good news in our Christmas outreach and 6 people took baptism. Everything was safe and smooth because of your prayers and dedication to Christ.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My King and My God"},{"content":"Hello friends and family! I pray that you are all doing well and flourishing this spring season. I have been a busy bee working here at SGWM, attending life group, being a part of the Women’s event planning team, and growing in the Word of God with my fellow interns!\nAs I write this newsletter I am enjoying the beautiful view from my office. I’m so excited that Spring is here and there is so much life blooming all around. The plant life around me brings 1 Corinthians 3 to my mind, it is awesome how God uses creation as a way to illustrate spiritual truths. It has been such a blessing to see answered prayers of salvation. Knowing that there has been many people praying, planting and watering seeds of the Gospel. But ultimately praising God for the increase he has produced. I am rejoicing at the privilege of seeing people saved.\nYouth Mission Trip in Rosarito So as I had mentioned in my newsletter I would be sharing about the Youth trip to Mexico. The youth did such a great job of interacting with those around them even if they didn’t speak the language. But they did know how to speak the universal language of love by showing genuine interest and interacting with those around them. One of my favorite parts of the trip was translating for some of the youth and helping them step out of their comfort zone to share God’s word. I look forward to seeing how God will continue to use the Youth of our church for His glory!\nThe Body of Christ Having Godly, wise, and fun women of God has been such an answer to prayer. There love and genuine concern for me and my walk with the Lord blesses my heart. If I just simply need someone to talk to or learn how to make amazing dressing(thanks Julie!) I have the blessing of knowing so many amazing women.\nLiving in Yorba Linda has been great. So many diverse cultures all around me and not to mention the food choices. We were able to enjoy some Samosas(thanks Lacey!) and great fellowship before we handed out flyers for Easter service. It was a great learning experience as we stepped out in faith not knowing what reactions we would receive. But ultimately God knows what fruit will come of our efforts. Please pray for the seeds that were planted. If you ever want to eat some great food and be exposed to diverse cultures don’t hesitate to reach out to me.\nPraise Reports:\nAnswered prayers of new believers\nIncrease of applicants to Calvary School of Missions\nGrowth of the body of Christ\nPrayer Requests\nSalvation of my family members\nUnreached people to have access to the Gospel\nMy administrative role in preparing for Calvary School of Missions (July 11-August 22) and for the new students\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-brings-the-increase/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family! I pray that you are all doing well and flourishing this spring season. I have been a busy bee working here at SGWM, attending life group, being a part of the Women’s event planning team, and growing in the Word of God with my fellow interns!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/blanco/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2021/03/Unknown-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs I write this newsletter I am enjoying the beautiful view from my office. I’m so excited that Spring is here and there is so much life blooming all around. The plant life around me brings 1 Corinthians 3 to my mind, it is awesome how God uses creation as a way to illustrate spiritual truths. It has been such a blessing to see answered prayers of salvation. Knowing that there has been many people praying, planting and watering seeds of the Gospel. But ultimately praising God for the increase he has produced. I am rejoicing at the privilege of seeing people saved.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God brings the increase"},{"content":"Spring is in the air and God is bringing life and new growth to every corner of the earth despite current restrictions and opposition. Saving Grace World Missions is privileged and honored to be a part of what God is doing. SGWM continues to come alongside its partners all over the world and stand amazed at what He is accomplishing.\nNational Partnerships Partnering with National Missionaries is one of the most exciting things SGWM does. Coming alongside these brothers and sisters and giving them the love, care and encouragement they need to be successful is an honor and blessing. This last Christmas, SGWM helped provide funding, through partnering churches and supporters like you, for National workers to bring much love, joy and relief to their surrounding areas. During this very difficult time of Covid 19 and all its restrictions, many of those who work in South Asia found creative ways to bring the gospel to their people. Heather Gaona, director of International Relations, shared her thoughts about the outreaches.\n“I was blown away at seeing churches with 50 plus people attending where just a few years ago there was no church and only 1 believer!! Just knowing how far the guys and their wives hike to reach these unreached villages is impressive. I was also encouraged to find out that two of the local churches raised the money needed from their own fellowship to provide for a portion of the outreach (like the beanies or tracks) and that one church went house to house to visit 150 homes. Every single one of the national pastors did not allow Covid to cripple them, but instead they were creative and innovative and even reached new villages and new areas with the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.”\nHere are a couple of their stories.\nOutreach in South Asia– Funding provided by CCSG / SGWM Covid Christmas funds\n\u0026ldquo;Funding provided for two outreaches, saris and blankets for elderly and windows, and one Jesus film outreach. Thank you for your financial help that made it possible for us to do the Christmas programs. I shared the Word of God about Jesus\u0026rsquo; birth and distributed gifts to the children in our church. We were expecting 200 in my home village to attend, but more than 350 people came and heard the Word of God and ate lunch. We cooked Christmas lunches 2 times - once at my home and once in a village 350 kilometers away. Thanks to the Lord, everything went smoothly and great. I thank God for providing support for blankets and saris (women\u0026rsquo;s clothing) to give to widows. This made it possible for us to distribute them. Two people\u0026rsquo;s health conditions were very critical and I am thankful to God that He used me to help them and give them blankets and saris.\u0026rdquo; -Pastor R\n– Outreach in South Asia – Funding provided by CCSG / SGWM Covid Christmas Funds\nPastor Ra and Pastor Andy, located in South Asia, conducted outreach in the poorest and most remote region in their part of the world. The people live primitively in the mountains and are often malnourished and uneducated. There is not currently a church there, but Pastor Ra has been making trips to this region several times a year to minister and share the Gospel.\n\u0026ldquo;At least 200 people came to our services. They were blessed by the sharing of the Word of God from Pastor Andy. We were able to feed those who came. We also distributed some winter hats/bonnets from my beautiful wife and our online fellowships/social media groups who helped with funds to purchase the hats. It was very hard for us to climb the mountain to this village area. Nothing was around to support us or hold on to while we traveled up and down the small narrow path. The people there were very poor, both spiritually and physically. We encouraged them and shared with them about joining our Bible training center for those with a heart for ministry. Pray for their lives to be rooted in the Word of God so that in the upcoming days we can take them, teach them, guide them, and disciple them.\u0026rdquo; -Pastor Ra\nMissionary Equipping Calvary School of Missions Saving Grace is once again gearing up for its annual CSOM and the pastors are in the process of receiving applicants for this 6-week program. It’s always amazing to see how God sovereignly leads each student to the school. Because class size is limited, the SGWM staff prays very fervently that God would hand pick each student for this course and He has been faithful! This interview season has shown, once again, that God is in this. Over the last 20 years of doing cross cultural missions, the pastors and staff of SGWM realize that there are many out there who do not “GO” well and are not “SENT’ well. Missionary care was already in the DNA of Saving Grace World Missions when three years ago, Pastor Trent received clear direction from the Lord to start a school to provide care and direction for young people within the Calvary movement who want to be missionaries and see the lost saved amongst the nations, but don’t know the next steps. Please pray for this next class. After seeing 2 classes successfully complete the program, SGWM is looking forward to what God has for this next group.\nMissionary Care In February, Pastor Trent, his wife Debbie, Pastor Tim, and one of the missions interns Spencer, were able to visit with one of SGWM\u0026rsquo;s missionary families in Acapulco, Mexico and visit church planters in Mazatlán and Culiacán, Mexico. It was a very fruitful trip and God’s hand was evident at every turn. Missionary care is absolutely necessary for a successful missions program. Most missionaries never have visitors from their home church, much less from their Pastors. By visiting, Pastor Trent and the team were able to, face to face, tell the missionaries that they are loved and that the church has not forgotten them. Many times, when missionaries go out, they feel quite forgotten and alone. It’s essential to not just express our love but to show it by communication and visits when possible. Sitting with these precious saints, they were able to remind them of God’s call on their lives and the fruit that is abounding to their accounts. Their love for the lost, their passion for the people of God, and their devotion to making Jesus’ name famous amongst the nations is evidence of their commitment to God and His glory. Again, Saving Grace feels so privileged and honored to come alongside these precious saints and cheer them on as they run the race!\n*names and locations changed to protect ministries and partners\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/spring-2021-sgwm-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSpring is in the air and God is bringing life and new growth to every corner of the earth despite current restrictions and opposition. Saving Grace World Missions is privileged and honored to be a part of what God is doing. SGWM continues to come alongside its partners all over the world and stand amazed at what He is accomplishing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"national-partnerships\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNational Partnerships\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePartnering with National Missionaries is one of the most exciting things SGWM does. Coming alongside these brothers and sisters and giving them the love, care and encouragement they need to be successful is an honor and blessing. This last Christmas, SGWM helped provide funding, through partnering churches and supporters like you, for National workers to bring much love, joy and relief to their surrounding areas. During this very difficult time of Covid 19 and all its restrictions, many of those who work in South Asia found creative ways to bring the gospel to their people. Heather Gaona, director of International Relations, shared her thoughts about the outreaches.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Spring 2021 SGWM Newsletter"},{"content":"Dear prayer partners and supporters,\nThank you for constant prayers and support. We appreciate that you are standing with us in prayers and extending financial support to us even during this tough situation which is affecting everyone due to the Corona virus.\nMy mother lives with my sister about 6 hours away. We were able to see my mother and celebrate her 92nd birthday. She has trouble hearing, so we could not talk to her much but we were able to spend time with her.\nSome families from our church are being persecuted by their village. The government has some programs that help provide villagers work. The Christians are not allowed to work in the village. They are also not given any of the privileges that they should have for being members of the village.\nThe daughter of one of the Christian families was married last month. We prayed that the village people would not cause any problem for the Christian wedding. Praise the Lord! The wedding was wonderful. The weather was cloudy and it rained in surrounding areas, but it did not rain in the village until the wedding program was over and every one was gone.\nPersecution is increasing in our area. Christian leaders and new believers in Jesus are beaten. But, the Spirit of God is also changing lives. More and more Hindus are believing in Jesus. Thank you everyone for praying for the 10/40 window. God is answering the prayers of His faithful ones.\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15 and Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-sustains-us/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear prayer partners and supporters,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG20201226130934-300x211.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for constant prayers and support. We appreciate that you are standing with us in prayers and extending financial support to us even during this tough situation which is affecting everyone due to the Corona virus.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy mother lives with my sister about 6 hours away. We were able to see my mother and celebrate her 92nd birthday. She has trouble hearing, so we could not talk to her much but we were able to spend time with her.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Sustains Us"},{"content":" Hi all! Well, a lot has happened in the last couple of months. We went to the states for some time with family and friends. Jon flew back before the boys and I, and while he was getting back into the routine of ministry he ended up getting Covid. He actually started feeling sick the day before we flew back so when he picked us up from the airport, he made sure we didn’t touch him and he immediately quarantined away from us. Praise the Lord he got a very mild case and his symptoms were very light, the boys and I never got it. I took a blood test to see if I had it or had ever had it and it came back negative. Another praise from that is that our great friend, James, had come back with Jon and they built a room in the church that will eventually be for the younger children. James was also exposed to covid and he didn’t get it!!!\nCalvary Oaxaca turned 2 at the end of February so we had a super fun celebration at a local pool. We were able to rent out the place so that it was a private event. We all had a blast hanging out, eating, swimming, and playing games. The best part of the day was the baptisms! Nine people made the decision to take that step of faith and get baptized. What a blessing it was to see each of them do this and to hear them tell us all why they had made this decision. God is so amazing!\nWe are excited to celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus as a church family on April 4! And Jon will be ordaining someone in April also. It will be his first time ordaining someone and we are excited for this step of faith as a church and for this man.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nPlease pray for the church body for continued growth in their walks with the Lord. We are continuing to do the Navigator’s classes and we see so much growth and transformation. Please pray for us to continue to learn Spanish, and for Jonny and Noah to really have a desire to speak Spanish. They seem to understand a lot of Spanish but they need to come out of their shells and put it to use. Please pray with us as we are looking for land to buy to build a men’s discipleship home on. This would be land outside of the city which is less expensive. We have some options but we’re trying to work out the kinks and see if it’s a possibility. We want to make sure it’s all legal without the chance of someone coming and taking the land from us. We are also praying to buy land to build a church on so we don’t have to continue renting. This land would be a lot more expensive because it would be in the city. We need prayer for wisdom on what to do with our car. We have a permit for it that expires early next year and we will either need to drive it up to the states to get a new permit or sell it and buy something down here. Ideally we would be able to buy a van so we can transport people and teams, but we are praying for direction on what to do. It’s far away but we all how time flies! PRAISE REPORTS:\nThe church has been growing in their walks with the Lord, and we’re continuing to see friendships grow. Praise the Lord that Calvary Oaxaca celebrated 2 years! God has raised up men and women in the church who are helping in different ministries, especially the Navigators classes. Thank you all for your support for the ministry here in Oaxaca! We are so grateful to all of you who keep us in prayer, support us financially, and encourage us. We couldn’t do what we’re doing without all of you!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah Brechtel\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-oaxaca-turns-2/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F5974.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F6018.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F5973.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F6006.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F5982.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F5929.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F5912.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F5914.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F6024.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F5969.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F5989.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F5997.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F5954.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F5963.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/IMG%5F5933.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHi all! Well, a lot has happened in the last couple of months. We went to the states for some time with family and friends. Jon flew back before the boys and I, and while he was getting back into the routine of ministry he ended up getting Covid. He actually started feeling sick the day before we flew back so when he picked us up from the airport, he made sure we didn’t touch him and he immediately quarantined away from us. Praise the Lord he got a very mild case and his symptoms were very light, the boys and I never got it. I took a blood test to see if I had it or had ever had it and it came back negative. Another praise from that is that our great friend, James, had come back with Jon and they built a room in the church that will eventually be for the younger children. James was also exposed to covid and he didn’t get it!!!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary Oaxaca Turns 2!"},{"content":" Since around the end of last year, the Lord had been speaking to me through His Word that He was going to mix things up in 2021; like for me to keep preparing for the work of the ministry and all that, but to also lace up my new cool Hoka running shoes so we can do some running together. Well, the race is on, has been on since January 1, 2021. Let’s take a look at the route where we have been running together since the beginning of the year. Make no doubt about it - Jesus is my pacer.\nIn simplicity\nI just got back from a 16-day missions trip to Haiti on March 16. Oh, what a refreshing time I had. The first leg of the trip was spent on the northern coast of Haiti in beautiful Cap-Hatien. Promise Child, Frontline Missions and Cross to Light ministries joined hands in registering 18 orphans into the Promise Child orphan support program along with providing help, support and manje (food) for the 75 school wide eyed and smiling children at the school at Calvary Chapel Cap-Hatien. I could go on… I love kids.\nGodly sincerity\nThe second leg of my trip was teaching five smart young adult men at the Cross to Light Bible Training Center in Port-au-Prince where I have taught many times in the past. These guys have so got it! I was privileged to teach them almost three years ago when they started their discipleship program and now just this past week when they’re approaching graduation. 4-5 hour daily classes in 2 Corinthians was such a blessing for all of us. Digging and digging into the Word of God is where it’s at. You have to take it slow because each verse and lesson is being translated to the students. Thank you my dear interpreter Pastor Watson. And mési to my students, Michelot, Franzy, Matthew, Samuel and Benjie. Sorry for my spelling. I enjoyed every minute with each of you.\nIncidentally, starting Tuesday, March 30, I will be teaching the students a weekly two-hour class through the book of Romans via Skype. Man, am I looking forward to that. The cool thing is I can do it and not get bit up by their mosquitos now. Now that is refreshing!\nIn my time in Haiti, I got to meet up with old friends I had not seen in a couple years and made some new ones as well. At the Sunday service at Calvary Chapel Port-au-Prince this past Sunday, the Lord gave me a verse which I believe is my new life verse (I have a small handful).\n“Be of the same mind toward one another. Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.” (Romans 12:16)\nOur Lord Jesus speaks to me loud and clear through His Word and the beautiful eyes and smiles of His children in Haiti. My lécole\nViva Mexico!\nI went on a cool weekend mission’s trip in January with Frontline Missions to Tijuana and in the hills of Ensenada. The Holy Spirit so fell down on a small group of us during an evening Saturday Bible study. It was real to see so many hearts humbled by God’s Spirit through His holy and piercing Word. We spent the weekend putting up a fence for a young ladies restoration home, goofing around with a bunch of kids (guess where I was?) and serving breakfast to forty kids at an orphanage. Quick trip with tons of grace and love freely poured out by the Lord. Wow, I totally encourage any of you who have never gone on a weekend mission’s trip to do it. Get away and get blessed. It is sooooo easy. God is a simple loving God who just wants to bless others through us. Wait, maybe it’s the other way around? Whatever…\nA Voice of Refugee (VOR) English class about multiplication\nOk, four or five English class students is cool. I can see their pics nice and big on my Zoom screen and we can interact pretty easily. I can scribble all I want with my cool Apple pencil while I see the reaction of the students. Fine. But now the entire state of New York is in my class – 16-17 students! 5x3! 19 a couple days ago! Ha! You know, you just have to adapt and make doggone sure you call on each student to participate in an exercise. I love it! It’s just blessings x 3. We’re nearing the end of the winter semester. I teach now Monday through Thursdays and do food deliveries on Thursdays. Dear ladies from Israel, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan join in. I love their colorful hijabs (Muslim head coverings). Food and shopping are our favorite subjects – girls are girls no matter where you are from.\nMorning CCSG devos\nWe’re rounding the bend quite quickly doing 15-20 minutes devotions on 2 Corinthians. It makes those of us teaching so accountable to make sure we are teaching the simple Word of God, verse by verse. It’s called expository teaching, a fancy word that simply means we break down the scripture(s) into little chunks as the Lord leads. I’m learning so much more about God’s word in preparing for these usually weekly devos. Hey, it’s “live” on Calvary Chapel Saving Grace’s Facebook site so there’s no turning back. The hardest thing is pressing the “Start Live Video” button. Noooooo!!!!\nMinistries\nIn January, a handful of us youthful interns ran a CCSG School of Missions table at the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference which was held at the Costa Mesa campus this year. It was great because the Lord had each of us “bump” into other mission-minded people which led a couple of our interns to speak at a couple of churches about our School of Missions. Cool! Spread the Word. I bumped into friends I had not seen in a while. The cool deal about the Missions Conference is we are all like-minded, you know? Jesus has all of us there for one reason – to build each other up so we will get our running shoes on and go out and tell the world about Jesus and His Gospel.\nI so love the Life Group that I’ve been going to on Wednesday nights. We don’t take breaks. Actually the only break we take is the breaking bread each time we meet. Sometimes our hearts get broken as well as each of us go there because we know it’s where the Holy Spirit wants to do a little bit of heart surgery. I know this sounds corny but let me tell you, it’s true. Ask anyone of us. I think Heidi needs to get more Kleenex boxes though.\nI’ve been heading up the Welcome Ministry at church for a few months now. Upstairs, downstairs, we have smiles and greetings to share with everyone and even those poor souls who have not had their morning cup of coffee – God forbid! It is important for everyone going to church to be welcomed properly so when they do go into the sanctuary their attitude, their temperament, is ready to hear the mighty Word of God through Worship and the Message. Smile!\nAs you can see, the Lord is doing new things, leading me down new paths and trails so far this year. It\u0026rsquo;s really exciting. I\u0026rsquo;m taking more steps of faith, not as much concerned about making mistakes. I just want to grow in the Lord, get closer to Him and go out and help others to get to know him as well.\nI want to thank all who have offered up prayers and provided financial support for me in my calling to serve the Lord in missions. Please continue praying for me and also partnering with financially. If you would like to support me financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, or you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Jim Needham support” in the memo section and mail it to: Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nYou know as we keep running our races, staying the course, keeping our hearts, minds and bodies focused on Jesus, we need to remember what Paul was telling the crazy mixed up Corinthian church. His goal, his mission was just to present them with the Gospel. That’s it - the simple Word of God, “in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.” That’s what I want to continue to do. Just make it simple.\nPraise Reports\nThanking the Lord for making me flexible, side stepping roadblocks and taking steps of faith.\nFor the lovely ladies in my VOR English classes that through the grace of God they are learning the English language and getting to know Jesus more and more.\nFor allowing me to go to Haiti not just to serve but to fall more in love with everyone there.\nPrayer Requests\nThat I would do a good job in managing my time. The Lord is leading me in a lot of new things now.\nThat the Lord would continue to help me teach my English classes so no one is left out; that I am attentive to all the students. I had 19 yesterday.\nWould you pray for our SGWM missionaries around the world? Most of them are having a very difficult time in every way. Thank you.\nIf you’d like to get my monthly updates sent directly to your email inbox, just click on the following link: Jim Needham Updates. You can reach me at jneedham@sgwm.com.\nThe Lord continue to bless each and everyone of you and your families now and as we start a new year together.\nJim Needham\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/in-simplicity-and-godly-sincerity-2-corinthians-112/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/PAP-sunset.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSince around the end of last year, the Lord had been speaking to me through His Word that He was going to mix things up in 2021; like for me to keep preparing for the work of the ministry and all that, but to also lace up my new cool Hoka running shoes so we can do some running together.  Well, the race is on, has been on since January 1, 2021.   Let’s take a look at the route where we have been running together since the beginning of the year.  Make no doubt about it - Jesus is my pacer.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"In simplicity and Godly sincerity"},{"content":"March has been an exciting month in the office as we have been able to facilitate more and more mission work!\nCSOM The Calvary School of Missions is fast approaching and we have already accepted several students! Please continue to pray that the Lord would draw those prospective students who are supposed to be part of the team this year and that He would provide the funds for every student.\nWe have some unique plans in the works for this year that we are excited to see God bring to fruition- this may or may not include a trip to another part of Mexico for a week of special experience and training!\nShort Term Trips We had one of the best youth trips yet at the beginning of this month! As many of you know, we sent a group of about 30 youth, young adults, and leaders down to Rosarito on March 5th. They were able to minister at a young church plant and provide COVID relief packages of groceries and cleaning supplies. Then they went to a local orphanage and hosted a VBS type outreach for the younger kids and played sports with the older kids. It was a very fruitful day! On the way home they were stuck in the border line for almost 5 hours, but they were far from bored! The adults on the trip were able to get out of the cars and share the Gospel with the vendors; I heard of at least one profession of faith in Christ and dozens of seeds that were planted!\nAlthough I didn’t go on the trip, I was directly involved with all of the planning and preparing. For about two weeks leading up to the team’s departure, Maribel and I edited the Short Term Trip Manual that the team members used for their outreaches and in the final week she and I organized all of the materials and paperwork they needed in order to be successful. It was a blessing to hear stories of how God used those resources for His glory.\nOne of our youth sharing the message with Maribel translating\nthe orphanage\nMissionary Care It was a tremendous blessing to be visited for a week by one of our missionaries who serves in the 10/40 window. We were able to take them out to lunch and hear their heart as well as host a dessert gathering for them. I had the privilege of working with them to put their slideshow together for the update they shared at the dessert gathering and it was so wonderful to be able to sit down together and hear all of the back stories behind each photo and see the photos that didn’t make it into the official presentation.\nOne of the highlights of their trip for me was hearing them talk about how refreshed they were to be here with us and how our church had embraced and blessed them. That is our desire! We want to spoil our missionaries with love when they come to visit and it is such a blessing to be part of a church body that lives that out.\n51 Days and Counting That’s right- I am only 51 days away from my due date! Fletcher has continued to grow and is healthy and strong and my pregnancy has continued to be low-risk and wonderful. Thank you for all of the many prayers!\nPlease continue to pray for a strong finish and a smooth and safe home birth.\nMy update is going out a little bit early this month because next week I will be in Yosemite with the Douglass family. Please pray that it would be a sweet time of fellowship with each other and the Lord as we enjoy His creation. Please also keep Fletcher and me in your prayers specifically as we will be far from home if any complications arise.\nWith love in Christ,\nHope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/march-update-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMarch has been an exciting month in the office as we have been able to facilitate more and more mission work!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"csom\"\u003eCSOM\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Calvary School of Missions is fast approaching and we have already accepted several students! Please continue to pray that the Lord would draw those prospective students who are supposed to be part of the team this year and that He would provide the funds for every student.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"March Update"},{"content":" Hello everyone,\nI have an exciting update to share with you all. I (Jeff) have been given an amazing opportunity to go on a mission trip to Africa in April. I’m going with a team from Ends of the Earth Ministries to Uganda and South Sudan. I can’t express how excited I am to be able to participate in this trip. The main purpose of this trip in April is to host three training seminars.\nThe seminars will be as follows:\n1st) Faith Comes by Hearing Audio Bible listening groups and how to lead a Bible study with a proclaimer.\n2nd) Biblical Trauma Counseling helping children and adults recover from the tragedies of war, poverty and witchcraft.\n3rd) God Story / Oral Inductive Bible study. In time this Bible study method will give birth to a Bible college that will properly disciple new believers and tribal leaders to fulfill the great commission amongst the unreached.\nEach evening we will be interviewing and photographing a few new children so they can be added to the Promise Child program. These children are from the unreached tribe surrounding our medical clinic and have recently joined the children’s home led by Ends of the Earth missionaries.\nPlease be praying for the team as we travel and are on the ground in Africa. You can also partner with me financially by using the following link:\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=3B3D6B2778D3489\nIt’s been a busy month for us here in California. Alishia leads a bible study via Zoom on Saturday mornings. We’ve been able to help some people in the church this month with moving and tree removal. Alishia is in a book study of Hind’s Feet on High Places and I am doing morning devotions for the church Facebook page. We are preparing for Easter services, and Daphne will be visiting during her spring break next week, so we’re very excited for that.\nWe’ll be spending July and August in Nebraska and Lord willing will head to Japan for our vision trip once they open back up to tourists.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for Alishia as she stays in California while I’m in Africa. Pray for the team as we minister in east Africa. For safety and health. Pray for Japan, that it will open up and that we’ll be able to go. Love Jeff and Alishia\nAll photos courtesy of Ends of the Earth Ministries.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/an-exciting-opportunity/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/root/wp-content/uploads/sites/116/2021/03/african-hut.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello everyone,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have an exciting update to share with you all. I (Jeff) have been given an amazing opportunity to go on a mission trip to Africa in April. I’m going with a team from Ends of the Earth Ministries to Uganda and South Sudan. I can’t express how excited I am to be able to participate in this trip. The main purpose of this trip in April is to host three training seminars.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"An Exciting Opportunity"},{"content":"Greetings to you all, in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!\nWe are so privileged to serve the Lord in this nation. God has been enabling us to meditate on His Living Word every day. The Bible says:\n\u0026ldquo;But whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on His law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, whatever they do prospers (Psalms 1:2-3).\u0026rdquo;\nEvery day we are blessed by His Word. Thank you so much for your partnership in the ministry. We remember you and your family in our daily thoughts and prayers. May God bless you all in every aspect of your lives.\nI was privileged to share God\u0026rsquo;s Word during one of our church believer\u0026rsquo;s marriage ceremony. There were non-believers there who heard the Gospel.\nThese days we are working on editing the Bible Commentary in our national language. At the same time, I am doing personal evangelism. I visit local families and share the Gospel with them and pray for them.\nBy the grace of God, one of our relatives gave us a small piece of land to build a house on.\nLast month, my wife was suffering with migraine headaches. After getting an eye check-up, she has been taking medicine. Also, my daughter is preparing for her final exam in school.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for the salvation of the people who heard the Gospel at the wedding.\nPlease pray for the salvation of Lamon* family (who are Catholic). They have now heard the Gospel of Christ.\nKindly pray for the Bible commentary editing project. May God give us His wisdom and knowledge so that we can understand and edit well.\nDo continue to pray for the growth of our local church.\nPlease pray of my wife. May God use in her at school to glorify His name.\nPlease pray for us to get approval of our house plans from the municipal office, and for the construction of a house for us.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/privileged-to-serve-the-lord/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all, in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Sharing-Gods-Word-at-a-Wedding-282x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are so privileged to serve the Lord in this nation. God has been enabling us to meditate on His Living Word every day. The Bible says:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;But whose delight is in the law of the LORD, and who meditates on His law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither, whatever they do prospers (Psalms 1:2-3).\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Privileged to Serve the Lord"},{"content":"“ We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;” 2 Corinthians 4:8\nYears ago, when I first started driving a car in Cambodian traffic jams I used to think about being “hard-pressed on every side.” : ) Now that COVID (105 new cases yesterday) is spreading in Cambodia there are few traffic jams. Now, the “pressing” feels more like three people trying to do work, ministry, and online school in an apartment with few outings. By God’s grace, we were able to move into a two bedroom apartment, last month, before this latest COVID outbreak hit.\nWe thank God that we are able to continue to reach out to the people of Cambodia via social media. Sometimes we are “perplexed” with questions like, “When will we be able to return to in-person ministries with our Cambodian partners?” “When will we be able to visit the US or Japan?” etc. But, we are not in “despair” because God is with us, has met our needs so far, and we trust Him to be with us in the future.\nSince the last update, Darryl has been able to produce and distribute three videos in the Cambodian language: 1. Are Genuine Christians Hypocrites? 2. Is God a Trinity? 3. How Should Christians Relate to Our Cultures? Now, Darryl has two more videos in process for the Cambodian language. In terms of video production, Darryl is able to produce more videos during the times when COVID is bad than during normal times because other ministry activities and errands are stopped.\nPlease pray that we will be able to work out a safe way (given the current spread of COVID) to translate, record, and synchronize more audio tracks for Darryl’s apologetics/evangelistic videos in Chinese (Mandarin).\nPlease pray for Kayo as she misses her in-person ministries and activities the most. She still keeps busy helping to organize the worship team at the international church for the weekly video service. She keeps in touch with her Cambodian partners but there is not as much work for her to do now that she can’t go to the office. She also is busier with the family when Benjamin is home on online school.\nBenjamin is doing well both in-person and online school. He misses being able to hang out with his friends as much as before. Still he is handling it all pretty well. He also is disappointed that we won’t be able to travel either in Cambodia or internationally for some time due to COVID.\nThanks for your faithful prayers, encouragement, and support as God enables you to bless the people of Cambodia and beyond through your partnership with our family.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/perplexed-but-not-in-despair/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“ \u003cem\u003eWe are\u003c/em\u003e hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; \u003cem\u003ewe are\u003c/em\u003e perplexed, but not in despair;” 2 Corinthians 4:8\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYears ago, when I first started driving a car in Cambodian traffic jams I used to think about being “hard-pressed on every side.” : ) Now that COVID (105 new cases yesterday) is spreading in Cambodia there are few traffic jams. Now, the “pressing” feels more like three people trying to do work, ministry, and online school in an apartment with few outings. By God’s grace, we were able to move into a two bedroom apartment, last month, before this latest COVID outbreak hit.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Perplexed But Not In Despair"},{"content":"Thank you for your continual support and partnership with me in the gospel. God has moved in so many ways this year, and I look forward to all that He will continue to do throughout the year. God has been faithful to our prayers to provide people to minister to and disciple. He has also provided a teacher, who has been teaching me Arabic. However, all of this had to come to a halt at the beginning of the year, since my family and I got Covid. Praise the Lord that He watched over us and delivered us through it, although I still can’t smell things very well. The Lord has been so good this year, please continue to pray with me for those that He will place in my life.\nThe Lord has continued to place guys in my life that I have been able to build up. There is a group that I am a part of and we meet on Monday nights. We have been going through what it is to be a disciple of Jesus and how to make more disciples. The idea of the group is for us to grow together spiritually. The Lord has really brought us together, and has blessed our meetings. Please continue to pray for this group, and that the Lord would help us to continue to grow.\nThe Lord has also continued to open doors for the gospel to be preached. Wherever I go, the Lord has opened the door for the gospel to be preached. At work, there are people who I’ve been able to preach the gospel to. Even customers whom I’ve been able to invite to church. There is also a guy who I met at a different Starbucks, Adam, and I was able to talk to him about why he no longer goes to church. At our young adults group, there is a young man, Randy, who was brought by one of the guys that I am discipling, Branden. Pray for Randy, he is seeking answers. Pray for Mohammed, he works at my favorite Arab restaurant, and I have been establishing a relationship with him. Even though I haven’t seen anyone come to Christ, the Lord has called me to be faithful. He will bring the increase. We have simply been called to plant seeds wherever we go.\nThe Lord has also provided a teacher for me to learn Arabic. This has been such a blessing in that I have been able to begin getting ready for when the Lord opens the door for me to move to the Middle East. So far we have been working on the basics, such as reading and writing. I’m beginning to fall in love with the Arabic language. Continue to pray that the Lord would anoint my learning of the Arabic language, so that I can be an effective witness when I move out to the Middle East!\nI pray that the Lord may have used this update to encourage you with the work that He is doing. Please join me in prayer, and thank you for being faithful to our partnership in the gospel. In order for me to move to the Middle East, I am in need of both one time, or monthly financial support. If the Lord has moved you to support me in this way, please feel free to click on the “Become a Financial Partner” button below. Thank you for taking the time to read this. I pray that the Lord would continue to place the urgency of the gospel upon your hearts.\nIf you would like to visit my secure giving page click here:\nfunctional image\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-beginnings-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you for your continual support and partnership with me in the gospel. God has moved in so many ways this year, and I look forward to all that He will continue to do throughout the year. God has been faithful to our prayers to provide people to minister to and disciple. He has also provided a teacher, who has been teaching me Arabic. However, all of this had to come to a halt at the beginning of the year, since my family and I got Covid. Praise the Lord that He watched over us and delivered us through it, although I still can’t smell things very well. The Lord has been so good this year, please continue to pray with me for those that He will place in my life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Beginnings"},{"content":"Hello Friends!\nThis past month has been filled with some amazing ministry opportunities for us. I (Joel) was able to help lead a team of youth and young adults on a Mexico trip, where our church’s heart is to get the students stirred up for the cause of reaching the nations with the gospel. My main goal there was to help lead and disciple the students through that process, as well as taking a few opportunities to step out of my comfort zone and lead some worship in Spanish (a language I don’t speak!).\nAmy had the opportunity to teach for a women’s event at our church. She spoke to a group of moms about establishing a biblical vision for routines, rhythms, and rest in our homes. Opportunities for this can be hard to come by for a busy mom of four, so it was a blessing for me (Joel) to see that she did such an amazing job pouring into other busy moms.\nThank you all for supporting us in our ministry! Please be in prayer for me, that more opportunities to take trips to help strengthen our SGWM missionaries arrive as vaccines open up more doors. Also pray as I help lead the vision of missionary sending and care from the home office.\nWe would ask that you pray for the Lord to meet our financial needs and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is shiney-button-financial-partner.jpg\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/life-in-motion/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month has been filled with some amazing ministry opportunities for us. I (Joel) was able to help lead a team of youth and young adults on a Mexico trip, where our church’s heart is to get the students stirred up for the cause of reaching the nations with the gospel. My main goal there was to help lead and disciple the students through that process, as well as taking a few opportunities to step out of my comfort zone and lead some worship in Spanish (a language I don’t speak!).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Life in Motion"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Fr om him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” … As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” —Ephesians 4:16 Dear Friends and Family,\nAs I continue to look forward to what this year holds for our ministry the Lord has reminded me that it is not just “our” ministry. It has caused me to reflect over the things the Lord has already done and the people he has brought in our lives along the way. We Christians are truly one body, Christ’s Body. In Uganda, Brian pastors Arise Christian Fellowship, but we work together with many other churches and pastors. We spend time helping to build up their congregations and communities as we also receive encouragement and counsel from them. While there are so many people who bless us daily and support us through their wisdom and spiritual giftings, I wanted to mention a few that we work with most closely and Brian even is part of some of their boards.\nCalvary Chapel Entebbe is near the airport, right on Lake Victoria in Uganda, about one hour from us. I am blessed to have been a part of that church from the beginning, when the missionaries who planted it were still meeting at their home. Those missionaries, Craig and Loren, are actually the ones who did premarital counseling for Brian and me. Over the years we have done many conferences and outreaches together as well as covering for each other on Sundays when need be. Not too long ago the church as turned over to an Ugandan pastor, Isaac. Brian still sits on their board and the sweet fellowship and encouragement continues.\nThe fellowship at Calvary Chapel Fort Portal really feels like an extension of our own church or our church as an extension of theirs. Fort Portal is about 6 hours west of Kampala but the distance seems like nothing compared to how closely we have always served Jesus together. Some people may not know this but Brian and I actually lived there for about 5 months the first year we were married. Every June, except this past Covid, June and I help put on a women’s conference and Brian teaches at the church. Our worship team and theirs often collaborate together for conferences or youth outreach. Brian and I did the premarital counseling for the senior pastor Nicolas and his wife Grace and we are the God parents to his assistant’s children. We usually visit there and serve a couple times of year as well as they come and minister at Arise when they are in Kampala.\nCalvary Chapel Cush is in Nimule South Sudan, at the Far Reaching Ministries Chaplain compound. The pastor is Michael. Needless to say they are like family to me since we have grown together since I moved here almost 22 years ago. I love being in South Sudan as their desire to learn the Word of God and their joy in the Lord despite the suffering they have gone through and continue to go through is encouraging and inspiring. Since Calvary Chapel Cush is quite far, about 11 hours from Kampala, we don’t get there as often as we would like but we try to at least once a year. When we go we fill the time with all sorts of ministry and fellowship. Any conference or out reach produces hundreds of people hungry for the gospel. Since many things are not available in South Sudan Brian helps with the logistics from here in Uganda to make sure they have the supplies or whatever they may need. The pastors, missionaries and staff stay with us at the guest house when they are in Kampala so we fellowship with one another throughout the year.\nThrough the close fellowship we have with these churches and their pastors we have also been able to be a part of church plants and outreaches all over Uganda and South Sudan. Through their visits and testimonies to Arise our church has been given a love and vision for church planting and outreach. While we are not physically together all the time we are one body working together.\nThis past month was elections not only in USA but also in Uganda. The elections are over but the contesting of votes and rioting is still going on. Our president, President Museveni won for another term. To keep violence and wrong doing down there has been a very heavy military presence all over Kampala. Two houses down from us the government moved some offices in so now our road has pick up trucks of police and soldiers on it. Brian said it should make us feel safe. We are praying it all settles before the inauguration in May.\nIn Family news, this past month Liana turned seven. I can hardly believe that my baby is that old. Also this month the children and I started a new school year. In Uganda the school year begins end of January. The whole of Uganda closed schools last February and only the graduating classes have returned. Homeschooling has allowed us to stay on course and keep busy during the lockdowns. I pray for the children in Uganda and around the world who do not have that opportunity during this time.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS Thank the Lord for the Good things He has done! Praise Him for all He still will do! Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship and all the ministries they serve alongside as they look forward to what the Lord is going to do this year. Pray for the many church plants in Uganda and South Sudan. Pray for them to continue to frow spiritually and to multiply. Pray for Jill and the children as they continue to figure out the rhythm for this new schools year . Pray for Uganda as they conclude the elections and for no more riots. Pray for the Kanyike family to remain healthy and safe. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-6/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"fr-om-him-the-whole-body-joined-and-held-together-by-every-supporting-ligament-grows-and-builds-itself-up-in-love-as-each-part-does-its-work--as-each-part-does-its-own-special-work-it-helps-the-other-parts-grow-so-that-the-whole-body-is-healthy-and-growing-and-full-of-love-ephesians-416\"\u003e\u0026ldquo;Fr \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eom him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.” … As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” —Ephesians 4:16\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs I continue to look forward to what this year holds for our ministry the Lord has reminded me that it is not just “our” ministry.  It has caused me to reflect over the things the Lord has already done and the people he has brought in our lives along the way.  We Christians are truly one body, Christ’s Body.  In Uganda, Brian pastors Arise Christian Fellowship, but we work together with many other churches and pastors.  We spend time helping to build up their congregations and communities as we also receive encouragement and counsel from them.  While there are so many people who bless us daily and support us through their wisdom and spiritual giftings, I wanted to mention a few that we work with most closely and Brian even is part of some of their boards.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":"God is good and perfect all the time!\nWe have been continuing our weekly in-person worship services. Coming together as the body of Christ has been a blessing.\nWe have also been continuing our online worship services, children\u0026rsquo;s services, Bible studies, and prayer meetings.\nWe have been reaching out to a family since the lock-down started. It is a married couple with their son and daughter. They are now coming to our church. Last month, they accepted the Lord as their personal Savior!\nCalvary Chapel Bible College Conference We had a wonderful two day CCBC student conference last month. Almost 95% of the students attended the conference. Some of the Calvary Chapel local church young adults/teens also attended the conference. Apart from the conference we did Gospel outreach in a village. We also went hiking in the mountain with our students and some local young adults/teens.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gods-ways-are-perfect/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGod is good and perfect all the time!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Prakash-March-2-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Prakash-March-1-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have been continuing our weekly in-person worship services. Coming together as the body of Christ has been a blessing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have also been continuing our online worship services, children\u0026rsquo;s services, Bible studies, and prayer meetings.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have been reaching out to a family since the lock-down started. It is a married couple with their son and daughter. They are now coming to our church. Last month, they accepted the Lord as their personal Savior!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God's Ways Are Perfect"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;The Lord is my strength and song, And he has become my salvation, he is my God, and I will praise him.\u0026rdquo; EXODUS 15:2\nDuring the last couple of months, the Lord has been faithful to me. He is with me in this pandemic and protects me.\nDuring this time, the Lord gave me so may opportunities to share the Word of God and love of Jesus with the local people.\nIn December I was able to hand out Christmas cakes to local people. I spent time with them and shared the Gospel with them. The people are so happy that the Lord is doing great things during this time. I also had a good time with the local young adults.\nDuring the last couple of months, the Lord has been teaching me so many things in my life. Some of these things are to spend more time in studying His Word and preparing for the next semester. He has also helped me to be faithful in cleaning the Bible school campus and taking care of the buildings. The Lord also gave me the opportunity to teach in different students\u0026rsquo; villages online .\nThank you for all of your support and prayers.\nPrayer Requests: 1. Pray for the Bible school and the upcoming new building project\n2. Pray for me to grow spiritually\n3. Pray for the next semester to start smoothly and bring more students\n4. Pray for the staff and the students\nBlessings,\nPastor 1*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/trust-in-the-lord/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;The Lord is my strength and song, And he has become my salvation, he is my God, and I will praise him.\u0026rdquo; EXODUS 15:2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the last couple of months, the Lord has been faithful to me. He is with me in this pandemic and protects me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring this time, the Lord gave me so may opportunities to share the Word of God and love of Jesus with the local people.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Trust in the Lord"},{"content":"Saving Grace World Missions had the opportunity to partner with a local church on San Pedro Island, Belize to provide groceries, monetary aid, and the hope of the Gospel to twenty hurting families. Below are pictures of some the people who were blessed through this outreach. Many of them are disabled, orphaned, widowed or simply out of work due to the pandemic. Thank you for partnering with us to meet their needs.\nA personal thank you from Javier Gongora, the pastor who lead the outreach, \u0026ldquo;Once again thank you for this great opportunity, we could see how God touched each of these people\u0026hellip; some were deeply touched to see how God is caring for them and we could see it when tears of gratitude fell from their eyes. We pray that God continues to bless each person that helped to make this project a reality\u0026hellip;. we can see how God keeps his promises. Once again thank you for keeping us in your prayers and heart. May God Bless You.\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/covid-relief-in-belize-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSaving Grace World Missions had the opportunity to partner with a local church on San Pedro Island, Belize to provide groceries, monetary aid, and the hope of the Gospel to twenty hurting families. Below are pictures of some the people who were blessed through this outreach. Many of them are disabled, orphaned, widowed or simply out of work due to the pandemic. Thank you for partnering with us to meet their needs.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Covid Relief in Belize"},{"content":"“Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom 15:5-6 We were blessed beyond words during our time with you in the United States, and now we are blessed to be back home in Uganda. We spent our last days in the U.S. meeting with many of you and speaking at events. Our prayer is that God will unite our hearts and voices together in prayer for our lost and dying world. May the Spirit of God bring revival both here and there to the glory of His own name, and may we each be obedient to do His will at the expense of our own.\nWe thought it best to use this opportunity to remind some of you, and inform others of you for the first time, what exactly it is that we are a part of over here. We live among the Acholi people in Northern Uganda. Here we work with Terebinth Ministries, a mission from Rocky Mountain Calvary Chapel, of Colorado Springs. Terebinth exists to bring health to the Ugandan Church. We do this through a Pastoral School of Discipleship, a Business As Mission, and a Widows Ministry.\nAccording to BEE World (Biblical Extension Education), fewer than 9 out of 1,000 pastors in the country of Uganda have formal Biblical training. And according to the Baptist Coalition, only 4% of self-proclaimed born again people can answer the question “what does it mean to be born again.” Therefore, despite Uganda being a Christian nation, there is much work to be done here, especially in the North where Joseph Kony’s LRA wreaked havoc for 3 decades.\nThe Terebinth School of Discipleship is our flagship mission. Here we train pastors through the whole of God\u0026rsquo;s word, teaching them to interpret Scripture with Scripture. The pastors and church leaders come to our church, Calvary Chapel Gulu, on a Sunday evening and spend the entire week studying with us. In the course of the week they study through one or two books of the Bible (depending on the length of the book) and before leaving on Saturday, they take a test proving their understanding of what they learned. At the end of three years they read through the whole bible twice and become familiar with all that God has said.\nThe Pastoral School is made possible because of the hard work done at our second mission, BAM (Business As Mission) Enterprises. Given the poverty of our area, it would be infeasible for these men to spend a quarter of their lives for three years in school and cover the cost of their own schooling, on top of their family expenses and other responsibilities. The funds that we raise from BAM bridge that gap. BAM is a large scale farming operation that mostly deals in poultry and the buying and selling of grain. The operation revolves around 4,000+ chickens and a variety of milling machines. We buy grains and sell the milled products while using the by-products to feed our birds. Our prayer is that with time BAM becomes the financial engine for our ministry.\nOur Widow’s ministry is where the left and right arms of the Pastoral School and BAM come together to care for “the least of these.” We currently work with six of our graduated pastors in an effort to bless the widows that surround their churches. The pastors have committee’s that meet with their corresponding widows once a week for group discipleship and once a month they are provided with a food package and a business package from BAM. In this way, God is providing 160 widows and 500 fatherless children with discipleship, community, food and business.\nMay God bless you and use you for the expansion of His kingdom, In Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte Harris ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/february-2021-2/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"now-may-the-god-who-gives-perseverance-and-encouragement-grant-you-to-be-of-the-same-mind-with-one-another-according-to-christ-jesus-so-that-with-one-accord-you-may-with-one-voice-glorify-the-god-and-father-of-our-lord-jesus-christ-rom-155-6\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eRom 15:5-6\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/03/IMG-6756-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe were blessed beyond words during our time with you in the United States, and now we are blessed to be back home in Uganda.  We spent our last days in the U.S. meeting with many of you and speaking at events.  Our prayer is that God will unite our hearts and voices together in prayer for our lost and dying world.  May the Spirit of God bring revival both here and there to the glory of His own name, and may we each be obedient to do His will at the expense of our own.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"February 2021"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nI hope this update finds you and your family healthy and blessed! In this update, I wanted to do a special THROWBACK EDITION! As we approach our 19th year of serving as missionaries here in Mexico, I wanted to take a trip down memory lane with you and glance back and give thanks for all of the great things God has done!\nWe were sent out from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda, California back in June of 2002. At that time, Grace had turned 2 years old, and Daniel was less than one month old! (I have often laughingly told our church planters, I don’t recommend church planting with two babies two or under!) Our welcome to Mexico was having our vehicle stolen from the front of our double wide mobile home. From the beginning, it was obvious that the devil didn’t want us here.\nAfter 6 months, our small home fellowship meeting in a living room in a house up on the hill had grown to 12 adults, and it was time to look for a little storefront to rent. Our first rented sanctuary had room for only 20 chairs, and we loved it! We were so blessed to have two small rooms to gather in, a small sanctuary and packed out children’s ministry which was led by Sarah every Sunday!\nLittle by little God added new believers to the church, and after 2 years in our small facility, we made the move to the church on the hill. What a blessing it was to spend 7 years on that hill and see the Great things that our Lord wanted to do.\nIt was during that time that God began to stir my heart about church planting, and we started up our church planting program! And it was in that facility, that we were able to send out our first three church plants! It was also during those foundational years that God began to bring strategic church partners and called men and women to partner with us in this great work!\nAfter 7 years in the wonderful facility on the hill, God called our church to move one final (I hope) time in 2012. At the perfect time, God opened up a large factory off of the famed Rosarito toll road, which has become our church home for the past 9 years!\nWhat a blessing it is to reflect on all that God has done. The baby dedications and the weddings and the baptisms, and changed lives! God transforming our local church to be a sending hub of church planting to the nations. God’s promises are true, and He has truly done “more than we could ever ask or imagine” (Ephesians 3:20)\nOver the years, I have come to realize that the ministry constantly changes. The people change, the facilities change, the challenges change, but there is one thing that never changes, and that is God and His faithfulness. In fact, if I had to whittle the past nearly two decades of ministry down to just one phrase it would be this, “God has been faithful!” The Bible puts it this way in 2 Timothy 2:13, “Even when we are faithless, He is faithful!” Even when our faith has faded, God has remained faithful every step of the way!\nAnother key part of our ministry has been you, our precious ministry partners! You too have been faithful every step of the way through this long journey. And it’s been through your faithful prayers and financial support that we have been able to remain here in Mexico as your missionaries over the past 18+ years!\nI want to finish up this “Vincent Throw back edition” update by saying, thank you Lord for your faithfulness, and THANK YOU to you, our faithful ministry partners!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would keep our family, church, and community safe in these difficult times!\n#2- That God would bless our new church plant we are launching to the Rosarito dump in March! (Called Homex)\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God that the people of our church have been healthy, and are returning to the fellowship!\n#2- Praise God that we had 40 students enrolled in our church’s church planting program!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-march-2021-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/03/Daddy-and-the-kids-worshipping-together1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI hope this update finds you and your family healthy and blessed! In this update, I wanted to do a special THROWBACK EDITION! As we approach our 19th year of serving as missionaries here in Mexico, I wanted to take a trip down memory lane with you and glance back and give thanks for all of the great things God has done!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/03/DCP%5F1069-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe were sent out from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Yorba Linda, California back in June of 2002.  At that time, Grace had turned 2 years old, and Daniel was less than one month old! \u003cem\u003e(I have often laughingly told our church planters, I don’t recommend church planting with two babies two or under!)\u003c/em\u003e Our welcome to Mexico was having our vehicle stolen from the front of our double wide mobile home. From the beginning, it was obvious that the devil didn’t want us here.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family March 2021 Missions Update"},{"content":"Hello! Wow, it feels like this past month has gone by so quickly. Thank you for your continual prayers and encouragement. Though short, this month has been full indeed. I am grateful for all the ways I have been able to serve and grow during my internship with Saving Grace. Our classes continually remind me how little I know, yet they push forward with a great desire to learn.\nI have been blessed to be able to step up and come alongside our children’s ministry leader, Nicole. I have been loving serving in the nursery as well as with the toddlers and now I can serve and love them in a bit of a new way. Nicole and I prayed and both felt the Lord putting it on our hearts to partner up to better serve God’s kiddos. I will continue serving but now I will be helping with little lessons and songs, as well as being available to lend a helping hand each Sunday. I mostly will be the feet on the ground to see how we can make things run smoother or encourage our other willing servants. I am so excited to be able to learn from Nicole as she works so hard with the sweetest, most gentle spirit; I find it an honor to help her in anyway she should ask.\nAnother cool opportunity I had this month was to serve at our bimonthly Missions Fellowship. I always attend and try to lend a helpful hand but this month I was able to help much more and for me that was such a blessing. I went early to prepare, cook and of course pray 100 times that there would be enough food and that people would be blessed. It truly is a sweet thing to serve others and watch them be blessed by the Lord. I pray God gives me His heart for people, so I can better love and serve them. These Missions Fellowships keep my heart stirred to go out to places where people have not heard the name of Jesus and who do not know the love and grace I have been given so freely. I am thankful for this gathering and all the things I learn from it.\nGod also made the way for me to go to the CBI Bible College. I went with 3 Saving Grace Missionaries, Aaron, Jena, and their sweet baby girl Lily. The drive to the College was such a blessing as they shared stories about villages, people serving the Lord in hard to reach places and better ways I can pray for South Asia. It was just cool to have good conversations and good laughs and be stirred for Missions. When we got to CBI Aaron taught a class on Missions and got into the word, I was so blessed to be there and to talk to a few of the students about stepping out and trusting the Lord.\nThank you for coming alongside me as I do my best to walk after the Lord and His plans for me.\nPrayer Request:\nAs the Lord continues to stir my heart for South Asia, please pray for His guidance and my faith in His perfect plan. Please pray that I would grow in knowledge, understanding and memorization of the Bible. Please pray that I would be a light and a witness to my boss. Praise Reports:\nGod has kept His hand on my roommates and my health. Last month was craaazy with exposure, still God is faithful. Thank you for your prayers. I have been able to reach out and encourage my boss. She seems to have an open heart to the Gospel. I am thankful for the new opportunities to grow and serve others. Praise the Lord for His love and grace He pours on us. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/serving-growing/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello! Wow, it feels like this past month has gone by so quickly. Thank you for your continual prayers and encouragement. Though short, this month has been full indeed. I am grateful for all the ways I have been able to serve and grow during my internship with Saving Grace. Our classes continually remind me how little I know, yet they push forward with a great desire to learn.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/romero/wp-content/uploads/sites/126/2021/02/IMG%5F4485.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI have been blessed to be able to step up and come alongside our children’s ministry leader, Nicole. I have been loving serving in the nursery as well as with the toddlers and now I can serve and love them in a bit of a new way. Nicole and I prayed and both felt the Lord putting it on our hearts to partner up to better serve God’s kiddos. I will continue serving but now I will be helping with little lessons and songs, as well as being available to lend a helping hand each Sunday. I mostly will be the feet on the ground to see how we can make things run smoother or encourage our other willing servants. I am so excited to be able to learn from Nicole as she works so hard with the sweetest, most gentle spirit; I find it an honor to help her in anyway she should ask.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Serving \u0026 Growing"},{"content":" EUROPE\n**\nMitch and Christine Sorensen - Nice, France**\nPrayer Requests:\n1. To be healthy, focused on what the Lord has for us and mainly for the power of the Holy Spirit to convict people deeply of their sins, so they will understand their urgent need of Jesus the Savior. Pray above all for all the elderly people we meet in the streets who receive Gospel tracts. Also for our neighbor Valeri from Romania who has terminal cancer. For his wife Maria.\n2. For Eve, whom I met in September in the north of France who is very very busy with work, who just lost her mentor (an African Medium) and was showing interest in knowing Jesus. I believe there must be a strong spiritual battle in her life after all these years of occult practice. Pray that she will read the Bible I sent her so she can meet her Savior.\nThank you for ALL your fervent prayers towards France!!!\nGod bless you,\nMitch and Christine - Email Blog\nAFRICA\nKanyike Family - Kampala, Uganda\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord for the wonderful things that are happening despite Covid-19.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship and the Kanyikes as they look forward to what the Lord is going to do this year.\n2. Pray for everyone who was reached during the Christmas season, that they would know the love of Christ and have hope for the future.\n3. Pray for Jill as she plans and prepares to teach the next year of the children\u0026rsquo;s school.\n4. Pray for Uganda as they are campaigning for elections and it often turns riotous.\n5. Pray for the Kanyike family to remain healthy and safe.\n6. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\n7. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nVincent and Melissa Aniku - Uganda\nPraise Report:\n-We want to praise God for the revival in Midigo! We have had to go to 2 services because the seats even outside in the sunshine were not enough seats. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s wisdom to continue to guide us.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our container documents.\n2. Please pray for our NGO renewal for the church.\n3. Pray as Calvary FC begins the season in the big leagues. That the team will be a good witness all throughout Uganda.\nThank you for your love and prayers!\nIn Him,\nVincent and Melissa - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nYours for the unreached,\nRob and Heidi - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nMike and Erin Thiemann - California, USA\nLast month, a prayer request for my son Malachi caused confusion and a bit of drama. The prayer request was a cliff note version of a prayer request we have been sharing since December 2019. On Christmas 2019, Malachi suffered a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and was hospitalized in the Pediatric ICU for a few days. As a result of the TBI, he lost his sense of smell, which is a common side effect. The prayer request asked for continued prayer for recovery and praised the Lord for his sense of smell returning. Well, because of COVID-19 and the symptom of loss of smell, many took this to mean that Malachi had COVID and some were upset that we did not quarantine him. So a praise report about recovering from a TBI turned into a COVID conflict. I apologize for the confusion. Nonetheless, please continue to pray for Malachi\u0026rsquo;s continued recovery and that there would be no \u0026ldquo;side-effects\u0026rdquo; due to the TBI.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the SGWM office as we gear up for a packed summer of missions and ministry. Also, pray for our accounting department. They need some full-time and part-time qualified volunteers.\n2. Please pray for our new Administrative Assistant, Maribel, who will be directly assisting me and replacing Hope Douglass after having her baby. Please pray for her training and that the Lord would bless her with the ability to fully grasp everything we do.\n3. Pray that God would continue to provide and guide my family through life and ministry.\n4. Pray for me as I work towards earning my master\u0026rsquo;s degree. Pray that the Lord would bring about supporters and scholarships. Pray that the Lord would bless my study time and make it fruitful.\n5. Pray for the youth ministry I lead. Pray that the Lord would pour out his Spirit and awaken the affections of our teens towards Him. Pray for our upcoming Israel tour this summer.\n6. Pray for our continued financial support as Erin and I have been Stateside missionaries for over 15 years.\nThank you for all your love, prayer and encouragement through this.\nWe are blessed by you.\nGod bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina - Erin - Email Mike - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Amy, that the Lord would give her the strength, energy, and wisdom needed to continue homeschooling the kids\n2. Pray for Joel as he juggles pastoral ministry with both his local church and towards our amazing missionaries\n3. Pray for Joel in the couple of trips he has planned coming up helping lead a short trip to Mexico for the youth and young adults of the church, as well as an Israel apologetics trip for the youth and young adults of our church this Summer\n4. Pray for our missionaries who had many of their plans and vision seemingly dismantled by COVID last year, that the Lord would lead them perfectly into what He has had planned for them from before the foundations of the world.\nThank you for faithfully praying!\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent - Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Report:\n-Our most recent church plant in Loreto (South Baja) got a free building for one year!\n-That our church family has been safe and healthy from Covid recently!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. That God would keep our family and church safe from Covid!\n2. That the congregation would feel comfortable to return to the church!\n3. That God would bless our next church plant in the dump of Rosarito called Homex!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel - Email Blog\nGary and Tina Barrow - Truckee, California\nGod is so good.\nPraise Report:\n-God is blessing Calvary Chapel Truckee with just a sweet time of fellowship and communion.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Calvary Chapel Truckee has been meeting in our little space, as social distant as possible. Unfortunately, when this place was rented, before Tina and I came, they didn\u0026rsquo;t know that there is a building code for assembly purposes. This particular space was not built to that code. We have been trying to find another place to rent for the past 2-3 months. The problem is that there are not a lot of places built to lease that would allow for assemblies.\n2. We are also near the close of escrow on a property that we have sole. It will allow us to buy a small piece of property in town and build a church there. Ideally we would be in our own place around Christmas 2022, should the Lord tarry.\n- Would you please pray that God would provide a place for us to meet. A place that would allow for growth.\n- Please pray for the sell of our property, that is would close with no further delays. For a good deal on the price of the property we are looking at buying and for the church building we are looking to build. Pray that God\u0026rsquo;s hand would be on all of it and it all would glorify the Lord.\n- We are in need of a youth leader. Please pray and ask the Lord to bring us a youth leader who is gifted in working with the youth, someone who would reach out to the youth of Truckee and has a heart for missions.\n-Please pray that God would bring youth and young families to the church. People we can serve, fellowship with and those who want and need to hear the Word. Pray that God would build His church in Truckee.\n- Please pray for our family and our marriage. Pray that we would be wise to the schemes of the enemy and be quick to run to the Lord.\n3. Finally, the colleges in SA look like they will take another semester off due to Covid. It seems like it has been so long since the lock down and classes have ceased. Please pray for an end of the pandemic and that the colleges will be able to begin class again. Pray that when the boarders open again, that I (Gary) would be able to return to strengthen and encourage the students and workers. Tim and I had a rip planned right as the boarders closed. My heart is to return as soon as possible.\nAs always, thank you for your prayer. Please plan on visiting us when you can. We\u0026rsquo;d love to show you around and have you meet your brothers and sisters in Truckee.\nGod bless,\nGary and Tina - Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray - Ensenada, Mexico\nThere has been an outbreak of Covid on Campus. Half of the staff and students living on campus have symptoms. The campus is self quarantined wit only essential trips and people allowed on campus.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the students and staff who are sick and not feeling well.\n2. Pray for the teachers who are doing classes on Zoom or using other virtual tools.\n3. We have been working from home and are trying to not be exposed to the virus.\n4. Pray that we all see God\u0026rsquo;s hand and purpose in these times.\n5. Our son Oliver is considering a new job that will require his family to move from Florida to North Carolina. Please pray for them and all the planning and stress that goes along with those decisions.\nThank you for your prayers for us. God Bless You!\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar - Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna - S. Asia and Africa\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God we are all healthy after a season of sickness.\n-Praise God for the gathering of all pastors and students in Nepal for outreach and a time in the Word.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for Gods perfect timing for the reopening of the Bible Colleges as schools throughout Asia have been shut down since the beginning of the pandemic and we eagerly look to reopen.\n2. Pray for open doors for 2021 around the world. We know God has great things in store and we want to be ready.\n3. Pray for those we are equipping to launch to the mission field, that God would prepare and provide.\n4. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s will and timing for our family to return overseas. Pray also that we would continually be filled with the holy spirit to lead, teach, disciple, evangelize and point people to Jesus our only hope!\nThank you for your prayers,\nBlessings,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my health, and wisdom for me in how to treat it.\n2. Please pray that our nursing home ministry will open up again in the nursing home here.\n3. Please pray for our country to turn to God during this difficult time\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that God will lead us in all things.\n2. Please continue to pray for my daughter, Rose\u0026rsquo;s, health this winter, and for her eye muscle development.\n3. Please pray that God will help me with making good priorities, that will glorify Him.\nThank you so much for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCraig and Daisy Tippie - Huacho, Peru\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have had 3 deaths in our church in two weeks! Please pray for healing! And a little girl that is 3 1/2 years old just lost her mother, and never knew her father. Please keep her in your prayers/\n2. Pray for us as we are on furlough and it is so hard to be away from our church at this time.\nThank you again for your love and prayers!\nGod bless you,\nCraig, Daisy and Ryan - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\n(Some names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.)\nWorker 15 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for healing for my eye.\n2. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s direction in our life.\n3. Please pray for new believers, as persecution is increasing.\n4. Please pray for our health and safety\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you\nCo-workers in Christ\n15 and family\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for His love, grace, faithfulness and guidance in my life! He always cares for us like a son!\n-Praise God! Still no notice, of any kind, has come from the court! I think maybe the court did not accept my neighbors\u0026rsquo; and uncle\u0026rsquo;s case against us (about the land the church is on). It could have happened by your incredible prayers.\n-Praise God for fulfilling all of our basic needs!\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please continue to pray for a new motorbike for me. I have been using my motorbike for 6 years. However, now it is having problems as I take it to share at the house fellowships. I am having to fix it most every month.\n2. Please continue to pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health. She is not doing well.\n3. Please pray for a member of my church. She is the second wife of her husband. Her husband already killed his first wife. Now, he is warning her that if she does not stop going to church he will kill her too.\n4. Please pray for another member of my church. He is suffering from a rare disease called \u0026lsquo;Olmsted Syndrome\u0026rsquo;. Before he knew Jesus, he attempted suicide so many times, but God saved his life.\n5. Please pray for our safety. Since this pandemic, criminal activity has been increasing day by day.\n6. Please pray for my 5 house churches and all of the church members to understand the Word of God deeply. Please also pray that they can stand strong in all of the persecution.\nThanks for your prayers, support and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you!\nWorker 11\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nThanks for supporting us and helping to uplift our God ministry.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our church all believers grow them spiritually.\n2. Pray for others people who they are living near us they may now Who Jesus is?\n3. Pray For Us and our ministry to be Fruitful.\n4. Pray Our Social Media Ministry to be producing Sound doctrine to those people who are hearing.\n5. Pray all the Bible school staffs and students all they gather soon in Bible school to learn more.\nThank you for praying for us!\nGod bless,\nRabi and Mahima - Blog\nWorker 16 - 10-/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my children that they may grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Fear and knowledge.\n2. Please pray that the lord would intervene for the problem the world is facing.\n3. Please pray for the village ministry of local area that they may grow in Lord words\n4. Please pray for the Believer of Ch. Village people that they may stand in faith in the midst of opposition.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise Report\n-Praise God for the CCBC student Conference on Feb 16-17 2021. It was a wonderful time with our students and also local youths that attached the meeting.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for all our students, for their good health, family and ministry.\n2. Please pray for the condition of Nepal so that our Bible College would resume soon.\n3. Please pray for the spiritual growth of Charis believers and also numerical growth.\n4. Please pray for the new fellowship at Hetauda- that the believers would become mature day by day in His word and action.\n5. Pray that Gould give wisdom to Laxman as he leads the Church at Hetauda.\nThanks for your prayer support for us!\nBlessing,\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nPraise Report:\n- We are able to run students conference very well. We are blessed with the fellowship with students. It was so awesome to have a fellowship with the students for 3 days after a year.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please keep on praying for my family good health.\n2. Please pray for our Bible College that we may open soon .\n3. Please pray for all the students of the Bible college that they may serve the LORD powerfully.\n4. Please pray for the need of Leprosy camp to rebuild their bathroom drain.\n5. Please pray for the government of Nepal so that they may show favor to Christian people.\n6. Please pray for the safety as we are traveling a lot for ministry.\nThank you!\nGod bless,\nAnand, Usha and family - Emai l Blog\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for me that the Lord to lead my life.\n2. Pray for our students. Some of the students are going through financial difficulties in their families; pray for them.\n3. Pray for the persecution that happened recently in India.\n4. Pray for our students to stand boldly for Christ in their villages.\n5. Pray for the churches in our country and the ministry.\n6. Pray for the upcoming building construction that is planned.\n7. Pray for the Bible school to reopen soon and the ministry.\n8. Pray for next semester, for more students to come.\n9. Pray for the next season, for what the Lord has for me.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nWorker 8 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for those who heard the Christmas message at our outreach. Pray that God will touch their hearts and they will be open to the Gospel.\n2. Thank you for praying for our health; our health is better.\nOnce again I would like to thank everyone who is praying and helping financially. May my loving God bless you all abundantly!\nMay God bless you,\nPastor 8 and family\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that the ministry would grow.\n2. Please pray that the Lord will help me to share the Gospel.\n3. Please pray that the believers will grow in the Lord.\n4. Please pray that the people with whom I have shared the Gospel will come to the saving knowledge of the Lord.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 2\nMilan Pariyar - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nMilan - Blog\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\nThank you so much for your prayers. God bless you!\nMay God bless you,\nWorker 9\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, for strength, wisdom, and peace.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone.\nThanking you\nYours in Christ,\nWorker 4\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\n1. Pray for all of the new people who have heard the Gospel, that they will accept Jesus.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you\nWorker 12\nWorker 3 - 10/40 Window\nBy God\u0026rsquo;s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Do continue to pray for Ch. Village believers, may God establish strong faith in their hearts so that they may able to face all the challenges.\n2. Please pray for the salvation experience of School staffs, who have heard the Gospel of Christ.\n3. Kindly pray for the Bible Commentary editing project, may God give His wisdom and knowledge to understand and edit well.\n4. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local Church.\n5. Please pray for me and my family, may God use us in an effective way for the expansion of his kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayer and support!\nIn Him,\nPS and RS\nMajhiya and Sarita Besra - Nepal\nPraise God:\n-We have found an opportunity to share with others about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n-Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes. They are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n2. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita - Blog\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nThank you for praying! Our new baby is increasing in height and weight, and my wife is also safe.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our new church plant.\n2. Pray for our Bible study with young adults.\n3. In the 3rd week of March, we are going to start our Bible school. Please pray for wisdom and for the students.\n4. Pray for our church; we are going to start new cell groups in different locations in our city.\n5. Pray that the church believers will grow more in God\u0026rsquo;s wisdom and in His Word.\nThank you,\nWorker 6 and Family\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please continue to pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\n2. Pray for new believers to grow in Christ\n3. Please pray for my health and safety.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 13\nRaju - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my spiritual growth.\n2. Please pray that God will help me to teach His Word correctly.\n3. Please pray that God will make a way to buy the land for our church, which has been affected by Covid-19.\n4. Please pray that God\u0026rsquo;s kingdom will expand in our area, and that good works will be done.\n5. Please pray that the love of God will fill my family and neighbors.\n6. Please pray that all of my family members will know the Lord.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe, that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for me to share the Gospel.\n3. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you\nWorker 10\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\n**\nPrayer Request:**\n1. Please pray that God will raise men and women to serve Him in our country, through our ministry.\n2. Pray for those responding through the youtube channel.\n3. Please pray for my health and safety.\nThank you.\nGod Bless\nWorker 7\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot;\n- Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-mar-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n**\u003cbr\u003e\nMitch and Christine Sorensen - Nice, France**\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Sorenson-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. To be healthy, focused on what the Lord has for us and mainly for the power of the Holy Spirit to convict people deeply of their sins, so they will understand their urgent need of Jesus the Savior. Pray above all for all the elderly people we meet in the streets who receive Gospel tracts. Also for our neighbor Valeri from Romania who has terminal cancer. For his wife Maria.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM MAR PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Thank you all, dear family in Christ. for your prayers and support.\nThe first month of this new year started with a test in our family and in our spiritual life.\nAs you all know, the month of December was fully packed with a lot of things and busy schedules. I thought that in this new year we could take a break and rest before we started new plans for this year and what God has for his people.\nAs you all know, my wife was due to have a baby on Feb 24th. But, all of a sudden, in her 8th month, her blood pressure got really high and her face and hands swelled up. This was on the 31st of December. I was praying, \u0026ldquo;Dear God, What is happening?\u0026rdquo; So, we rushed to the hospital. The doctor checked her blood pressure. It was 150/100. She was admitted into the hospital for observation. As they were giving her medication, her blood pressure went higher. They kept her in the hospital for 7 days. But, the treatment did not help her blood pressure, its just keep getting higher. Finally, her blood pressure reached 180/122. The baby was not getting any nutrients from her mother because there was a placenta problem. Doctors said they would have to abort the baby so that they could save the mother. But, I prayed,\u0026ldquo;God, You know what is happening. I know you are in control even in the difficult times.\u0026rdquo; I was looking to God and trusting Him that He is able to save my baby and my wife. The next morning, everything was ready for a C-section to try to save my wife. The doctors thought that there was no way that our baby would survive. The hospital took a video of my wife and I, together, saying that the hospital would not be responsible if anything happened to the baby or to the mother. When the doctors were saying these things, I thought, \u0026ldquo;My God, who I serve and worship, is so powerful He can raise people from the dead. He will protect and He is able.\u0026rdquo; Everyone was crying outside, but I heard God saying, \u0026ldquo;Stay still and see what I can do.\u0026rdquo; They did the C-Section and took out the baby. They were shocked to see that our baby was moving and crying!!! So, they called an ambulance to transfer her to another hospital that was 45 minutes away. For about 4 weeks she was in an incubator. The nurses who were taking care of our baby said, \u0026ldquo;Your baby is not drinking milk properly. She will only drink 5ml instead of 25ml.\u0026rdquo; I prayed, \u0026ldquo;Dear God, what is happening now?\u0026rdquo; Then, again, God reminded me, \u0026ldquo;I am watching over your baby. Do not worry.\u0026rdquo; So, I thought, \u0026ldquo;Yes, God.\u0026rdquo; The next day, the doctors called us and said, \u0026ldquo;Your baby\u0026rsquo;s blood levels say that there is infection in her blood.\u0026rdquo; I shared this with our friends and pastors to ask them to pray. Then, God reminded me again, \u0026ldquo;I did not bring her this far to stop now. Wait and see.\u0026rdquo; 2 days later, her blood test results came back normal! I was so amazed to see the works of God! This January was full of amazing things our family was able to see.\n\u0026ldquo;Behold, I will do a new thing,Now it shall spring forth;\nShall you not know it?\nI will even make a road in the wilderness\nAnd rivers in the desert.\u0026ldquo;Isa 43:19.\n\u0026ldquo;Instead of your shame you shall have double honor,\nAnd instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion.\nTherefore in their land they shall possess double;\nEverlasting joy shall be theirs.\u0026rdquo;\nIsa 61:7.\nGod spoke to us through His Word and strengthened us. I believe through this God has taught us many things. To trust Him no matter what situation we are in. Prayer has power. I believe God is preparing our hearts for greater things about to come for His glory.\nThank you to all who supported us financially to pay for the medical bills. I am really thankful to have such a great family in Christ who loves us and prays for us. I\u0026rsquo;m really thankful to Pastor Bond and Heather for standing with us during these hard times. We are also thankful to Pastor Aaron, Pastor Trent and our SGWM family for praying for and encouraging us. To all of you who prayed for us, I am really thankful to God for your hearts. We love you and thank you for covering us in prayer.\nNow our baby is safe and healthy! She is gaining weight, and my wife is also safe and healthy by the grace of God.\nPrayer requests:\nPlease pray for the Bible school in in my city. In the 3rd week of the month of March, we are planning to start our Bible school. Please pray for wisdom and for the students. Please pray for our church. We are planning to start new cell groups (Bible studies) in different locations in our state. Thank You,\nPastor 6* Family\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-cried-unto-the-lord/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you all, dear family in Christ. for your prayers and support.\u003cbr\u003e\nThe first month of this new year started with a test in our family and in our spiritual life.\u003cbr\u003e\nAs you all know, the month of December was fully packed with a lot of things and busy schedules. I thought that in this new year we could take a break and rest before we started new plans for this year and what God has for his people.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Cried Unto the Lord"},{"content":"Thank you so much for your prayers and support! It is a joy to serve the Lord together with you.\nTime keeps slipping away and we are already headed into the third month of this new year! I look forward to the dawn of spring here in California and pray that you are well wherever you may be reading this.\nChristmas 2020 Outreaches Last month I promised an update on the Christmas outreaches that took place in the 10/40 window and I don’t want to disappoint!\nWe were able to facilitate 21 separate Christmas outreaches in the 10/40 window by receiving and sending funds! Our national pastors worked very hard, many of them hosting several outreaches in various areas in order to meet the needs of the lost people around them. Praise God for the countless lost souls who were able to receive spiritual and physical nourishment!\nSome of our outreaches consisted of giving clothing to widows, blankets to the homeless, food to the hungry, and ALWAYS the Gospel to the lost from the city to the farthest remote village.\nThank you for your prayers and support for these outreaches! It is such a blessing to see God move through the generosity and willingness of His Bride.\nOther February Happenings Missionary Care This month my husband, Isaac, and I got to visit our missionary friends who were home on furlough in Colorado. We took advantage of Valentines Day weekend and flew out to spend some time with them before they headed back to the field. The verse that sticks out to me when I think about our time together is Romans 1:11-12, “for I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established– that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.”\nOur time there was exactly that, mutually spiritually encouraging and uplifting and we were so blessed to be able to sneak in one last visit before they left the states.\nPraise God they are now on their way back to Uganda with their 4 children after being on furlough for more than 6 months!\nIt was a joy to administrate the plans for a pastors’ trip down to Mexico this month as well. Our small team went to fellowship with and encourage our missionaries working in a difficult and dangerous area as well as speak at a church planting conference in Mazatlan. We are so blessed to be on the move again!\nPrayer Requests Please keep the team in Mexico in your prayers as the conference begins on Feb 26th. They will be returning home on March 1st and are required to test negative for COVID. Please keep their health and COVID tests in your prayers. We have a student team of 30 people heading down to Rosarito for a weekend trip on March 5th-7th. Please keep the students and those they will minister to in your prayers. Please continue to pray for wisdom as I train Maribel (she’s doing an AMAZING job!) and clarity for her as she absorbs more and more information. Thank you again for your prayers and support!\nBlessings,\nHope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/february-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you so much for your prayers and support! It is a joy to serve the Lord together with you.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTime keeps slipping away and we are already headed into the third month of this new year! I look forward to the dawn of spring here in California and pray that you are well wherever you may be reading this.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"christmas-2020-outreaches\"\u003eChristmas 2020 Outreaches\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month I promised an update on the Christmas outreaches that took place in the 10/40 window and I don’t want to disappoint!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"February 2021"},{"content":"I am speechless at what you are doing to encourage me through the relationship we have through our Lord! Each and every phone call, zoom meeting, email, personal wish, and encouraging word is making me more drawn to the Word of God.\nRecently, I heard a popular Naturopathy doctor say, \u0026ldquo;Truth should not be sold. It should be spread.\u0026rdquo; He was speaking in the context of dedicating his life to teaching people how and what to eat.\nRecently, I heard a popular Naturopathy doctor say, \u0026ldquo;Truth should not be sold. It should be spread.\u0026rdquo; He was speaking in the context of dedicating his life to teaching people how and what to eat. We are in a terrible time when some people, so called \u0026ldquo;men of God\u0026rdquo;, are turning the Word of God into a business. They use superstition and a give-to-get blessings type of manner. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 says, \u0026ldquo;For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.\u0026rdquo;\nI would have never understood the meaning of these verses if I did not sit and learn from some of you. I haven\u0026rsquo;t encountered here a single preacher or church who just wants to know the Truth and what the Bible actually teaches! Everywhere I go, and every one I am listening to, are running behind the \u0026ldquo;blessings preachers\u0026rdquo;. People just want to live comfortably and luxuriously. We need more men and women of God to let these people know what true Christianity is. Pray that God would raise up those men and women through our ministry in South Asia. \u0026ldquo;Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.\u0026rdquo; -2 Timothy 2:15\nAs I am marching towards this, I need your prayers, my team. People have started to respond through comments on YouTube. After listening to the introduction to 1st Corinthians, someone asked me to teach introductions to every book from the Bible and is asking me for a contact number so that they can call me with questions. I was so happy to read this kind of comment! A small seed of faith and passion has been working! Due to several factors, I have not been able to be consistent in uploading videos of 1st Corinthians. Please pray for a good local team who could help me make and edit the videos. I think it\u0026rsquo;s very important to maintain consistency to not loose the audience that has subscribed and is watching the videos.\nGod bless you,\nPastor 7*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/standing-firm-in-gods-word/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am speechless at what you are doing to encourage me through the relationship we have through our Lord! Each and every phone call, zoom meeting, email, personal wish, and encouraging word is making me more drawn to the Word of God.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Rohith-Feb-2021-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRecently, I heard a popular Naturopathy doctor say, \u0026ldquo;Truth should not be sold. It should be spread.\u0026rdquo; He was speaking in the context of dedicating his life to teaching people how and what to eat.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Standing Firm in God's Word"},{"content":"https://youtu.be/7jAHuQ1illM\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/belize-mexico-missionary-care/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/7jAHuQ1illM\"\u003ehttps://youtu.be/7jAHuQ1illM\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Belize, Mexico, Missionary Care"},{"content":"As we enter a new year, we are filled with a sense of hope. I believe God is still at work even through these tough times of restriction. Many ministries have been modified, but are still thriving at 100%. Below is a picture of our prayer team.\nCalvary Chapel Saving Grace We were super blessed to have Pastor Trent and his team (Deborah, P. Tim and Spencer) here in Acapulco. It was a short visit, but the Lord did so many things that blessed us personally and our fellowship. Below are some pictures of baptisms, sharing at an elderly home, men’s and women’s discipleship, children’s ministry and teaching at Calvary Acapulco.\nServing the Comunnity We continue to visit our elderly family (taking all precautions). Most of them have been abandoned by family, but as a church we have adopted them into our own sheepfold. Serving them with food, games, music, manicures, haircuts and best of all the Gospel is always a joy.\nMen’s Discipleship A few weeks ago P. Hassan started an intense study for the men. It teaches them how to be faithful and responsible servants. The study is based off of first Timothy chapter three. The purpose is to raise leaders, missionaries and future pastors.\nWomen’s Ministry Because of Covid we can only have a certain amount of ladies present, but at least 15-20 ladies tune in via zoom.\nBible College Our youngest son Micah is graduating high school in June. He made the decision to attend Calvary Bible College of Ensenada in the fall. As parents we couldn’t be more proud of him. This was a move he did on his own. Please pray that the LORD would speak to him and that his foundation would be firm for whatever the future holds.\nThank you all!! We have been so blessed by your faithfulness to the Lord and Ministry! We are forever grateful. May the good Lord bless you all above and beyond. This work has been so fruitful and we pray it goes to your account!\nPrayer Request Open doors for the Gospel and salvations Safety and provision for our family Raise up more leaders and plant more churches Elijah and his process into the Airforce Noah and his schooling Micah and the his move to Bible College Upcoming marriage retreat ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-year-new-hope/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs we enter a new year, we are filled with a sense of hope. I believe God is still at work even through these tough times of restriction. Many ministries have been modified, but are still thriving at 100%. Below is a picture of our prayer team.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/villegas/wp-content/uploads/sites/130/2021/02/146026748%5F727425001279589%5F4828711567378043934%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"calvary-chapel-saving-grace\"\u003eCalvary Chapel Saving Grace\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe were super blessed to have Pastor Trent and his team (Deborah, P. Tim and Spencer) here in Acapulco. It was a short visit, but the Lord did so many things that blessed us personally and our fellowship. Below are some pictures of baptisms, sharing at an elderly home, men’s and women’s discipleship, children’s ministry and teaching at Calvary Acapulco.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Year, New Hope"},{"content":"“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Galatians 6:9\nWe just found out that there has been another outbreak of COVID and so Benjamin’s school will be online for at least the next two weeks. We don’t know whether churches will be online or not yet. Everything was open for a month after an outbreak at the end of November. This outbreak in Cambodia combined with the COVID situation in the USA and Japan make traveling this summer to either country seem very unlikely.\nDespite our disappointment that COVID has not cleared up as fast as we had hoped, but now it looks like it may linger for awhile, our lives and ministries in Cambodia are going better than we expected given the situation. For example, Pastor Samuel is forming a team to translate and record Darryl’s apologetic/evangelistic videos into Chinese. In the past month we were able to translate, record, and produce the video Life: Creation or Chance in Chinese.\nDarryl also produced and distributed two videos: God and the Environment and Is Jesus Really God? in the Cambodian language through social media. He also researched and wrote three scripts for future videos.\nLight Times Magazine has been unable to produce a paper based magazine for some time due to COVID. Now, they are in the process of starting to produce videos for social media distribution. Please pray for this transition and for Darryl’s role in helping with the new videos.\nKayo continues to be very active with the worship team at the international church. Benjamin is doing well in school despite the changes between in-person and on-line school. We are thankful that we could move into a two bedroom apartment in the same building for the same price as a one-bedroom (due to Covid). Benjamin is happy to have his own bedroom instead of having to sleep in the living room.\nThanks for your continued and faithful prayers, encouragement, and support. We would be in a bad situation without people like you.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/perseverance/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”\u003c/em\u003e Galatians 6:9\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe just found out that there has been another outbreak of COVID and so Benjamin’s school will be online for at least the next two weeks. We don’t know whether churches will be online or not yet. Everything was open for a month after an outbreak at the end of November. This outbreak in Cambodia combined with the COVID situation in the USA and Japan make traveling this summer to either country seem very unlikely.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Perseverance"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nPraise God for His love, grace, faithfulness and guidance in my life! He always cares for us like a son!\nPraise God! Still no notice, of any kind, has come from the court! I think maybe the court did not accept my neighbors\u0026rsquo; and uncle\u0026rsquo;s case against us (about the land the church is on). It could have happened by your incredible prayers. Praise God for fulfilling all of our basic needs! Please Pray: Please continue to pray for a new motorbike for me. I have been using my motorbike for 6 years. However, now it is having problems as I take it to share at the house fellowships. I am having to fix it most every month. Please continue to pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health. She is not doing well. Please pray for a member of my church. She is the second wife of her husband. Her husband already killed his first wife. Now, he is warning her that if she does not stop going to church he will kill her too. Please pray for another member of my church. He is suffering from a rare disease called \u0026lsquo;Olmsted Syndrome\u0026rsquo;. Before he knew Jesus, he attempted suicide so many times, but God saved his life. Please pray for our safety. Since this pandemic, criminal activity has been increasing day by day. Please pray for my 5 house churches and all of the church members to understand the Word of God deeply. Please also pray that they can stand strong in all of the persecution. Thanks for your prayers, support and partnership for the Gospel.\nGod bless you all!\nPastor 11*\n*Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praise-and-prayer-report/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePraise God for His love, grace, faithfulness and guidance in my life! He always cares for us like a son!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise God! Still no notice, of any kind, has come from the court! I think maybe the court did not accept my neighbors\u0026rsquo; and uncle\u0026rsquo;s case against us (about the land the church is on). It could have happened by your incredible prayers.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise God for fulfilling all of our basic needs!\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Rajendra-Feb-2021-300x277.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch4 id=\"please-pray\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease Pray:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease continue to pray for a new motorbike for me. I have been using my motorbike for 6 years. However, now it is having problems as I take it to share at the house fellowships. I am having to fix it most every month.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease continue to pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health. She is not doing well.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlease pray for a member of my church. She is the second wife of her husband. Her husband already killed his first wife. Now, he is warning her that if she does not stop going to church he will kill her too.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease pray for another member of my church. He is suffering from a rare disease called \u0026lsquo;Olmsted Syndrome\u0026rsquo;. Before he knew Jesus, he attempted suicide so many times, but God saved his life.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease pray for our safety. Since this pandemic, criminal activity has been increasing day by day.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease pray for my 5 house churches and all of the church members to understand the Word of God deeply. Please also pray that they can stand strong in all of the persecution.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks for your prayers, support and partnership for the Gospel.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praise and Prayer Report"},{"content":"I convey my sweet greetings in the name of Jesus Christ.\nI thank God for His abundant mercy and love upon my life. I thank God for His faithfulness. During this pandemic time, God has protected us and used us for His glory. Our Christmas program was very blessed. God helped us with all of our needs. In the same way, our New Year\u0026rsquo;s program was also blessed. Thank you all for your special prayers for these programs and for helping us financially. May God bless all of you!\nMy family is doing well. Kindly pray for my ministry and church growth. Please also pray that all the believers will continue to abide in Christ in every circumstance. Our churches\u0026rsquo; believers are doing good. They participate in all of the spiritual activities. Please pray for their safety from evil.\nPrayer requests: 1} Kindly pray as there are plans for my family\u0026rsquo;s land to be partitioned. Please pray about the portion that may be mine. I want to build a temple of God (church) on it. I dedicate my portion to God.\n2} Please pray for brother Manoj* who is being persecuted by his family and society.\n3} Please pray for Preeti*\u0026ndash;that she will be fully delivered from demonic power.\n4} Please pray for Raju* to be healed from cancer.\nSpecial Thanks I would like to thank God for His loving people who are helping us financially, and keeping us regularly in prayers. May God, who supplies all things, continue to bless them.\nKind Regards,\nPastor 8* and Family\n* Names and faces have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/abiding-in-christ/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI convey my sweet greetings in the name of Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Dron-August-2020-2bc-300x247.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e     I thank God for His abundant mercy and love upon my life. I thank God for His faithfulness. During this pandemic time, God has protected us and used us for His glory. Our Christmas program was very blessed. God helped us with all of our needs. In the same way, our New Year\u0026rsquo;s program was also blessed. Thank you all for your special prayers for these programs and for helping us financially. May God bless all of you!\u003cbr\u003e\n      My family is doing well. Kindly pray for my ministry and church growth. Please also pray that all the believers will continue to abide in Christ in every circumstance. Our churches\u0026rsquo; believers are doing good. They participate in all of the spiritual activities. Please pray for their safety from evil.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Abiding In Christ"},{"content":"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23 Dear Friends and Family,\n2021! Only God knows what this new year is going to hold for all of us. We are praying that there are great things in store and that many opportunities to share the love of Christ and the Gospel will present themselves. I believe the important thing is to live each day for Him, expecting those opportunities and while they may not always be as we planned or hoped, they will be there.\nOne of the most exciting things that has happened recently is that the children and I were able to attend the Christmas Eve service and dinner at church. Since the government allowed the reopening of churches they have kept a ban on children under 12 attending, unless they are an infant being carried. On Christmas Eve, since it was a dinner as well as the service and carols, we were allowed to attend because it was considered a restaurant setting as well as being outdoors. We were not sure up until the last few days before if it was allowed. As soon as we got the ok, Luke began to learn a new song on the piano and with only 3 days of practice was able to play it as part of the service.\nIt was very emotional to be back at church with the church family all gathered together in one place and to sing and be in God’s Word together. We have been able to get together in homes here and there with some church members and of course we read the Bible and worship together at home but there is just something wondrous that happens when you actually meet together as a complete body. I believe that is why Hebrews 10:24-25 says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”\nNormally on Christmas Eve we have a huge neighborhood outreach and children’s activities but because of the covid restrictions that was not allowed this year. We still wanted to bless as many people as we could, especially because so many have been really affected and are suffering this year because of all the issues surrounding Covid. At the church we hosted a meal for those who could be there and invited their families as well. For most that was their Christmas.\nSince there are many people in our church and the neighboring slums that are considered at risk, they could not attend the church service and dinner. With the help of Brian’s family’s chicken farm and another couple in our church who raise and sell chickens, as well as our supporters who provided the money, we were able to deliver a Christmas gift of chicken to many families who would have gone without this year. In Uganda, Christmas and Easter are often the only 2 times in a year some people get to eat chicken.\nBefore covid, Arise Christian Fellowship had more children than adults. Since the government is not allowing them at church we have been trying to minister to them where they live. The assistant pastor, Deo, lives right near many children, he has been doing a Bible club with them every week. For Christmas, my children gave those children gifts of candy and youth discipleship books for the older children and coloring books for the younger children. They miss seeing their friends all the time so they were very joyful to be able to give something. At the kids party we also fed them a Christmas meal and had carols, teaching and games. We are so thankful for those who helped us to make Christmas special for so many people this year despite covid. We are praying that the remembrance of Christ’s birth and the hope that surrounds Him will encourage everyone to keep pressing forward with hope and anticipation of what the Lord will do next.\nThis past month Uganda was preparing for elections. It has brought quite a bit of unrest and some days of terrible violence. We ask that you please pray for Uganda and for safety during this time as well as peaceful election results, during and after.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS · Thank the Lord for the Good things He has done! · Praise the Lord for the wonderful things that are happening despite Covid-19. · Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship and the Kanyikes as they look forward to what the Lord is going to do this year. · Pray for everyone who was reached during the Christmas season, that they would know the love of Christ and have hope for the future. · Pray for Jill as she plans and prepares to teach the next year of the children’s school. · Pray for Uganda as they are campaigning for elections and it often turns riotous. · Pray for the Kanyike family to remain healthy and safe. · Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. · Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-5/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"the-steadfast-love-of-thelordnever-ceases-his-mercies\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003enever come to an end; they are new every morning;\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003egreat is your faithfulness.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"lamentations-322-23\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLamentations 3:22-23\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2021! Only God knows what this new year is going to hold for all of us.  We are praying that there are great things in store and that many opportunities to share the love of Christ and the Gospel will present themselves.  I believe the important thing is to live each day for Him, expecting those opportunities and while they may not always be as we planned or hoped, they will be there.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":"Hey everyone! Here is a short video update on our family and ministry. I encourage you all to meditate on Romans 15:30-33 and its implications for all of us as missionary SENDERS! We are so blessed by all of your support and prayers!\n\u0026amp;feature=emb_title\nWe would ask that you pray for the Lord to meet our financial needs and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/strive-in-prayer-garcia-family-update-february-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey everyone! Here is a short video update on our family and ministry. I encourage you all to meditate on Romans 15:30-33 and its implications for all of us as missionary SENDERS! We are so blessed by all of your support and prayers!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/jYZpTQhzjH4?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e\n\u0026amp;feature=emb_title\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Strive in Prayer – Garcia Family Update February 2021"},{"content":"Happy new year everyone, Jenn and I are excited to see what 2021 holds. We have talked to a lot of people and hear a lot of hope for a better year ahead. So far we have not seen it. I hate to burst anyone\u0026rsquo;s bubble even though have a hope and a future in Christ, ultimately times here on earth will get worse and worse. Jenn and I have purposed in our heart to dump the clutch, grab a gear and stomp on the gas. Full speed ahead. Some of you older crowd know the context of that saying. We\u0026rsquo;re not concerned with the danger, we\u0026rsquo;re not discouraged by fiery darts, we have set our course for 2021, to not shrink back, to be dedicated to the furtherance of the gospel and the encouragement of the body of Christ. A compass point due north, keeping our eyes off of our circumstances and squarely on our master and king. If this sounds a bit like a war cry, that\u0026rsquo;s because it is. We have been called into battle my friends. Won\u0026rsquo;t you join us in prayer as Tim prepares for a trip to Mazatlan and Acapulco where he will engage in face to face missionary care there with SGWM Missionaries in both locations as well as serving at a church planting conference there. Praise the Lord Jenn is healing up nicely from her surgery and will be heading back to work. Please pray for her as she steps back into the role of ministering to women recovering from drug and alcohol addictions while pointing them to our Lord.\nNone of us knows what 2021 holds but we certainly know the one who holds 2021.\nIf the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support you can do so by clicking below to become a financial partner or by mailing your support check to Saving Grace World Missions 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 92886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/full-speed-ahead/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHappy new year everyone, Jenn and I are excited to see what 2021 holds. We have talked to a lot of people and hear a lot of hope for a better year ahead. So far we have not seen it. I hate to burst anyone\u0026rsquo;s bubble even though have a hope and a future in Christ, ultimately times here on earth will get worse and worse. Jenn and I have purposed in our heart to dump the clutch, grab a gear and stomp on the gas.  Full speed ahead. Some of you older crowd know the context of that saying. We\u0026rsquo;re not concerned with the danger, we\u0026rsquo;re not discouraged by fiery darts, we have set our course for 2021, to not shrink back, to be dedicated to the furtherance of the gospel and the encouragement of the body of Christ. A compass point due north, keeping our eyes off of our circumstances and squarely on our master and king. If this sounds a bit like a war cry, that\u0026rsquo;s because it is. We have been called into battle my friends. Won\u0026rsquo;t you join us in prayer as Tim prepares for a trip to Mazatlan and Acapulco where he will engage in face to face missionary care there with SGWM Missionaries in both locations as well as serving at a church planting conference there. Praise the Lord Jenn is healing up nicely from her surgery and will be heading back to work. Please pray for her as she steps back into the role of ministering to women recovering from drug and alcohol addictions while pointing them to our Lord.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Full Speed Ahead!"},{"content":"Greetings to you all, in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nWe give all glory and honor to God Almighty: for His protection, His provision and how He enables us to fulfill His will through our lives. Also, we would like to thank each one of you for your sacrificial partnership in the ministry. As a family, we have been constantly praying for you and your family. May our gracious God bless you all abundantly and provide you with good health. It is always good to center ourselves on the Word of God and position ourselves firmly on His promises. As we know, COVID-19 affected more than ten million people in our country. Because of that, we massively faced health, economic, social, and educational issues. It has also affected our ministry opportunities\u0026ndash;such as reaching the unreached with the Gospel of Christ. However, God helped us to start having wonderful church services on January 1st.\nI was privileged to visit a high school in our town to motivate the teachers and share about salvation. Lately, we have also been working on Bible commentary editing in the national language.\nBy the grace of God, we could visit some of the families. We encouraged them through the Word of God and prayed for them.\nPrayer Requests: Do continue to pray for the Curry* Village believers. May God establish strong faith in their hearts, so that they will be able to face all of the challenges. Please pray for the school staff, who I shared the Gospel with, to have a salvation experience. Kindly pray for the Bible commentary editing project. May God give us His wisdom and knowledge to understand and edit well. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local church. Please pray for me and my family. May God use us in an effective way for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and family\n* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/his-promises-never-fail/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all, in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe give all glory and honor to God Almighty: for His protection, His provision and how He enables us to fulfill His will through our lives. Also, we would like to thank each one of you for your sacrificial partnership in the ministry. As a family, we have been constantly praying for you and your family. May our gracious God bless you all abundantly and provide you with good health. It is always good to center ourselves on the Word of God and position ourselves firmly on His promises. As we know, COVID-19 affected more than ten million people in our country. Because of that, we massively faced health, economic, social, and educational issues. It has also affected our ministry opportunities\u0026ndash;such as reaching the unreached with the Gospel of Christ. However, God helped us to start having wonderful church services on January 1st.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"His Promises Never Fail"},{"content":"What a whirlwind couple of weeks it has been. The final count is forty-one students this semester. The first week we got back we were getting everything ready and then we had Orientation week.\nOur theme this semester is Run With Endurance from Hebrews 12:1. We had a local pastor as the keynote speaker during Orientation Week and he gave us six tips for running the race that is set before us. I never thought about how God has a special race that we each must run. You cannot run my race for me and I cannot run your race for you but we are all called to run with endurance or patience. I took notes so Pilar suggested that I share the six points with you.\nHere they are: 1: Look back and look around you – we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. When we look at those who have gone before us and those we know who are in the race with us we can find encouragement from them as they cheer us on. 2. You might have to let some things go – lay aside every weight and the sin that easily ensnares you. 3. Run with determination – the race has been set before us by God and we should determine to finish well. 4. Keep your eyes on Jesus – He’s the author and finisher of our faith. Take your eyes off of Him and you can get distracted and even go off course in the race. 5. Don’t get discouraged when God is correcting you. He wants to get you back on course in the race you are running. Verse 6 says for whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges. That is how He corrects us when we go astray. 6. It’s time to get up and get back in the race if you’ve gotten discouraged or may have dropped out.\nWe were encouraged by his tips and hope you will be too.\nWhen we got back from our Florida trip there was a big surprise for us . We had heard there was a fire on Christmas Eve and even saw a few pictures online. We found, living here in the dessert, that fires are not that uncommon. We have seen several fires over the years but none really close to the Bible College. It was amazing to see how much property burned in that fire. Even more amazing was where it burned. It did come on the Bible College Campus but just around the edges. Some of the staff here told us of how they prayed and the fire just stopped burning in some of the areas. What a testimony and blessing that none of our buildings were harmed at all. It has rained a couple of times since the fire and things are already turning green again.\nI wanted to get this newsletter out early because we have an urgent need for prayer at the Bible College. Though we have been blessed with no Covid related illnesses on campus until now, this week several of our students and staff have had symptoms and have tested positive for the virus. Most of the cases seem to be mild and we are praying for God’s help and healing during this time. We have quarantined all the students on campus and we are working from home. I’m thankful for technology that allowed me to teach two classes this morning.\nAll this in the midst of some of the most exciting times that we have ahead for us that I’ll share with you next month.\nGod bless you and thank you for your prayers for us.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/february-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhat a whirlwind couple of weeks it has been. The final count is forty-one students this semester. The first week we got back we were getting everything ready and then we had Orientation week.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gray/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2021/02/students.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur theme this semester is Run With Endurance from Hebrews 12:1. We had a local pastor as the keynote speaker during Orientation Week and he gave us six tips for running the race that is set before us. I never thought about how God has a special race that we each must run. You cannot run my race for me and I cannot run your race for you but we are all called to run with endurance or patience. I took notes so Pilar suggested that I share the six points with you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"February Update"},{"content":" Thank you for staying with us in your prayers. Our Bible study group had a Christmas outing. Also, last month a couple from our church got married. It was the first Christian wedding in our church!\nPastor 9* who helped me with sending updates (because he has a computer), went to minister in another area with his family. Hopefully, I will be able to find a way to send you a longer update soon.\nGod bless you,\nPastor 12*\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/so-thankful-for-your-prayers/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Pradeep-Jan-2021-4.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for staying with us in your prayers. Our Bible study group had a Christmas outing. Also, last month a couple from our church got married. It was the first Christian wedding in our church!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Pradeep-Jan-2021-3-300x142.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePastor 9* who helped me with sending updates (because he has a computer), went to minister in another area with his family. Hopefully, I will be able to find a way to send you a longer update soon.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"So Thankful For Your Prayers"},{"content":"“Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14. Over our time in Nebraska it was a great joy to see our kids playing contentedly with their cousins, learning the names of SO MANY aunts and uncles, and getting to know my parents. When we were still living in America we did not get many opportunities for traveling to see my (Noelle) family, and even then the older girls were too young to remember. It was special for me to see them together with my family, as if they’d been with them all along though they’ve hardly known them. My dearest memories of our time in Nebraska are of our excited kids going on their “dates” with my mom and taking care to go love on their Papa: Noah climbing on his back (dad didn’t seem to mind); Emma leading dad around the house, taking great care to steer him due to his blindness; my dad, as progressed as he is in his Alzheimer’s, holding his cup by only his teeth and showing off to the little kids. And when he opened his normally closed eyes, looked straight at Maddie, and asked what she thought about it. She wasn’t sure what to think. I am thankful for God’s gift to us in the form of my family. I would find it hard to be on the field if they were not so behind us in our mission. Their love does not make me feel guilty for not staying longer (though time with them is always too short), their love frees me to GO! Not every missionary has a family supporting them in their calling, we are extremely blessed to have both families backing us.\nSince our return to Colorado Springs we have spent our time doing paperwork and finishing our doctor appointments. Acquiring government documentation can be tough enough, but with the Covid lag, it has truly proven challenging. So far we have finished renewing passports for our older girls and we have obtained the birth certificate, SSN and passport for our baby. However, before we can head back home we are still awaiting the return of Noelle’s and Noah’s passports that were turned in with Noah’s SSN application. We hope to receive those soon so we can buy our tickets back to Uganda. Although it is possible to return during these uncertain times it will be difficult because we have to have negative Covid tests 72 hours before our arrival back home. The good news is that tickets are cheap right now for whatever reason.\nWe have truly enjoyed our time catching up with all of you here, but we are so excited to return back to the other work God has for us. Please pray that our return would be smooth and soon.\nIn Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte Harris ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/january-2021/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"wait-for-the-lord-be-strong-and-let-your-heart-take-courage-yes-wait-for-the-lord-psalm-2714\"\u003e“Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.”  Psalm 27:14.\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/02/20210110%5F191350.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOver our time in Nebraska it was a great joy to see our kids playing contentedly with their cousins, learning the names of SO MANY aunts and uncles, and getting to know my parents. When we were still living in America we did not get many opportunities for traveling to see my (Noelle) family, and even then the older girls were too young to remember. It was special for me to see them together with my family, as if they’d been with them all along though they’ve hardly known them. My dearest memories of our time in Nebraska are of our excited kids going on their “dates” with my mom and taking care to go love on their Papa: Noah climbing on his back (dad didn’t seem to mind); Emma leading dad around the house, taking great care to steer him due to his blindness; my dad, as progressed as he is in his Alzheimer’s, holding his cup by only his teeth and showing off to the little kids. And when he opened his normally closed eyes, looked straight at Maddie, and asked what she thought about it. She wasn’t sure what to think. I am thankful for God’s gift to us in the form of my family. I would find it hard to be on the field if they were not so behind us in our mission. Their love does not make me feel guilty for not staying longer (though time with them is always too short), their love frees me to GO! Not every missionary has a family supporting them in their calling, we are extremely blessed to have both families backing us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"January 2021"},{"content":" A picture containing text, outdoor, day Description automatically generated\nCan you believe how quickly January has come and gone! At Calvary Chapel Saving Grace we started off the year with prayer and fasting as a church. What a better way to start off the year than to wage war in prayer. As chaotic and difficult this past year has been, I truly believe the Lord has used it to strengthen us individuals and as a Church body. I love what is says in James 1:2-4, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” At the end of verse 4 the word “let” stands out to me, because often times the testing of my faith is not fun and I don’t “let” it do the work in my heart. Life will always have trails and I want to “let” this time of testing work perseverance into my character.\nA group of people sitting on a stone bench Description automatically generated with low confidence\nIt has been such a blessing to study God’s word alongside my fellow interns. Week after week I can literally see Hebrews 10:24-25 being lived out, “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” We have served together by attending the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference and encouraged others to attend Calvary School of Missions. I have also had the privilege of serving through Voice of the Refugees and delivering food to families in need.\nAs I have mentioned in past newsletters I have been fervently praying for God’s leading as to where He would want me to best serve Him. Well my prayers have been answered! I have officially started working as an Administrative Assistant at Saving Grace World Missions. Initially I was apprehensive to even consider the position because I was convinced that I would be launched out as a missionary this year. But the Lord spoke to my heart through Proverbs 16:9, “ A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. ” He also used prayer and confirmation through others that I needed to use the giftings that he has given me for His glory. I encourage you to pray about the giftings the Lord has given you and how best they can be used to further His Kingdom and build up other believers.\nPaul illuminates a truth in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 which has been resonating with me lately. The truth is simply every part of the body of Christ is absolutely essential, whether we are the “face” whose function everyone can see or the “liver” whose function no one can see. Administrative work is a very internal and an unseen part of the body just like the liver, but is it not essential for the body to function? God has used this truth in my life to set a fire in my heart to walk confidently in the calling He has put in front of me.\nPraise Reports:\nWorking at SGWM Headquarters!\nMy families good health\nSaving Grace having in-person services\nPrayer Requests:\nFor all the missionaries around the world\nThat my work would glorify the Lord\nDivine appointments to share the Gospel\nI would ask that you pray for the Lord to meet my financial needs and consider partnering with me financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support me financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, click Become A Financial Partner button below, OR send a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with Maribel Blanco Support in the memo. Address: Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/who-is-essential/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://sgwm.flight107studios.com/mission-finance/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/image.jpeg\"\n         alt=\"A picture containing text, outdoor, day Description automatically generated\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eA picture containing text, outdoor, day Description automatically generated\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCan you believe how quickly January has come and gone! At Calvary Chapel Saving Grace we started off the year with prayer and fasting as a church. What a better way to start off the year than to wage war in prayer. As chaotic and difficult this past year has been, I truly believe the Lord has used it to strengthen us individuals and as a Church body. I love what is says in James 1:2-4, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” At the end of verse 4 the word “let” stands out to me, because often times the testing of my faith is not fun and I don’t “let” it do the work in my heart. Life will always have trails and I want to “let” this time of testing work perseverance into my character.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Who is Essential?"},{"content":"God is great! He does everything perfect in His perfect time!\nFor a long time, I have been sharing about a specific area. We were praying that God would work in this area and He did! During the past 2 months, God has done amazing things! He has turned a small Bible study into a church! Every week, over 18 people are gathering to worship God. I want to thank everyone that had been praying for this area. A 3rd semester student of our Calvary Chapel Bible College and his wife (who are members of our church) are now serving there.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gods-timing-is-perfect/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGod is great! He does everything perfect in His perfect time!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Prakash-Jan-2021-3.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor a long time, I have been sharing about a specific area. We were praying that God would work in this area and He did! During the past 2 months, God has done amazing things! He has turned a small Bible study into a church! \u003cbr\u003e\nEvery week, over 18 people are gathering to worship God. I want to thank everyone that had been praying for this area. A 3rd semester student of our Calvary Chapel Bible College and his wife (who are members of our church) are now serving there.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God's Timing Is Perfect"},{"content":"Hello there, you know, the start of a new year is funny. I find myself reflecting on how I have come to this point and I ask myself what the future holds. The more I reflect the more I realize there is no way of knowing what is to come. The only thing I can do is, trust the Lord with all my heart and not lean on my own understanding.\nFor me this first month of the year has been quit peaceful and rich. My church kicked off the year with a week of prayer and fasting together. We would gather daily to seek the Lord through His Word, praise, and prayer. To be honest, I was pretty nervous about it and unsure of how it would go; I guess I was unsure of my willingness. I felt God prompt me with the two questions of, first do I believe He is worthy? Second, Do I trust Him to sustain me always? These questions were heavy indeed, but much needed as most of life’s questions are. Times often come when we discover where we find our strength in life, what keeps us going and I am thankful to find time and time again that my strength truly comes from the Lord. He is a whole lot stronger and more capable than I am, so that’s pretty comforting.\nWhile I have been spending more time in prayer, Jesus has definitely been stirring up my heart. Through the Bible, pastors, classes, and friends, I continually feel called to go out into the world and share the Gospel. God faithfully fills my heart with a hope and a future and I just have the passion to share that beautiful hope with others. I am interning here with Saving Grace World Missions to equip and ready myself in faith that God will direct and send me in His timing. Not a minute too soon. I have been praying more and more about South Asia and I would so appreciate you to prayers with me about this. Knowing that 3.2 billion people have never heard the name of Jesus, they don’t have the love or hope He brings breaks my heart and it drives me to action.\nJust at the tail end of the month, COVID made it’s way into my house. Rest assured I am in good health, but I have had to quarantine. We were quite shocked with the positive test but we have been cautious and have kept to our rooms. As an introvert, I fare well in my room. God always seems to meet with me. David said it well in Psalm 23, “He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul…” Oh, that David and his beautiful way of conveying God’s love.\nTis’ sweet to be loved by a gracious, loving, awesome and powerful God.\nPraise Reports:\nI am thankful we can meet and pray so freely in America. Praise to God, He has kept me covid free so far and kept my roommates symptoms mild. Praise the Lord for fellowship and encouragement from family and friends. Praise Jesus from whom all blessings flow, for peace and for joy. Prayer requests:\nPlease join me in prayer for the Lord’s direction and guidance about South Asia but more, please pray for the people who haven’t heard to be saved. If you could, please keep my roommates health in your prayers. Also, please pray with me for my coworker, she has many anxieties and doesn’t know Jesus, I so want to be used as a light for her. Please pray that Lord would grow me in wisdom, love, grace and knowledge of His word more and more everyday ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/still-waters/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello there, you know, the start of a new year is funny. I find myself reflecting on how I have come to this point and I ask myself what the future holds. The more I reflect the more I realize there is no way of knowing what is to come. The only thing I can do is, trust the Lord with all my heart and not lean on my own understanding.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Still Waters"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nI hope this update finds you and your family healthy and blessed! This past month I had another birthday and I am feeling old! The older I get, the more the Lord reminds me of the importance of raising up the next generation!\nIn his final letter, the apostle Paul reminded Timothy of the importance of raising up the next generation to do the work of the ministry. Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy 2:2, “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”\nOne of the reasons I started our church’s live-in internship program 12 years ago was to raise up the next generation of young men to be servant leaders, pastors, and church planters. In this update, I wanted to tell you the story of three of the young men in their 20’s that He is raising up in our church!\nI first met my friend Abraham Gonzalez when he professed faith and was baptized as a college student at our church. After serving faithfully, Abraham took a leap of faith, quit his job, and moved into our on-site intern apartment to train up for the ministry!\nOver the past 3 years, Abraham has completed our two-year church planting program, served as a leader in our young adults group, and become one of my main translators. If you have watched our live-stream teachings, Abraham is the young man that is often translating by my side on Sundays! While Abraham serves faithfully at the church he waits for the Lord’s timing and location for a future church plant.\nSamuel (Sammy) Alderete has attended our church with our family for the past 5 years. After graduating from Calvary Chapel Bible College in Ensenada, Sammy felt the call to church plant. Last year, Sammy joined up with our church staff as an intern and began our church planting program! Samuel has excelled in everything he has done and is a quick learner.\nSammy is also a key part of our new media ministry (fully staffed by young adults) that works hard to transmit our live services online each Sunday at 9am and Wednesday’s at 6:30pm. Samuel also serves as one of our main English translators that translates from the pulpit when our Spanish speaking Pastors are teaching! After just over a year, Samuel has heard the call and he believes that the Lord is calling him to plant a church in the Los Angeles area of the United States!\nOliver, his wife Rosa and their son joined our church staff two years ago after graduating from a Bible School in La Paz where he served at our church plant there. Oliver has served in a variety of ministries at our church. These ministries include translating for me on Wednesday evenings, teaching in our Bible school, and translating the text of my sermons into Spanish so they can be sent to our church planters.\nRecently, Oliver took over as our church’s children’s ministry director. This is a large job as on an average (non-covid) weekend, we have around 300 children under the age of 12 in attendance. As a graduate of our church planting program, Oliver and his family recently took a church planting vision tour to his hometown of Colima! (A city of over 1 million located on the western coast of Central Mexico.) Please pray for God to reveal his perfect timing for this precious family to be sent out to church plant!\nAll three of these men are not only excellent translators but great Bible teachers in their own right. I am giving each one of these young men the opportunity to teach a Wednesday (mid-week) Bible study over the next three months. If you would like to hear them teach, feel free to join us for our livestream service streamed live on YOUTUBE or on our church’s facebook page!\nI also wanted to share a quick update on our son Daniel. After a month Daniel tested negative for the coronavirus and was able to move back home. We are thankful that Daniel’s symptoms were mild and he has made a complete recovery! Thank you for your prayers, and we continue to pray for those of you that have had your families affected and devastated by this horrific virus.\nFinally, we feel honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with us as your missionaries in these difficult times. Thank you so much for your prayers and financial giving which allows us to serve full-time here in the mission field of Mexico!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would lead these three young men in their service to the Lord and future church plants!\n#2- That God would bless our new batch of church planters beginning classes in February!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God that our son Daniel healed quickly and completely from Covid!\n#2- Praise God that our brand new church plant in Loreto already found a new building and has been given free rent for a year!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-february-2021-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope this update finds you and your family healthy and blessed! This past month I had another birthday and I am feeling old! The older I get, the more the Lord reminds me of the importance of raising up the next generation!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/01/70121418%5F10157777115339208%5F2911720520808398848%5Fn-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn his final letter, the apostle Paul reminded Timothy of the importance of raising up the next generation to do the work of the ministry. Paul put it this way in 2 Timothy 2:2, \u003cem\u003e“And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family February 2021 Missions Update"},{"content":"We hope the new year finds you all doing well! Ron and I are truly blessed by each and every one of you that read our updates and pray for us and the ministry God has called us to. We continually thank the Lord for your faithfulness and partnership!\nMinistry As we have mentioned several times in 2020, ministry just looks different right now. Last month’s update specified the two main areas of ministry that we will be focusing on this year – relief ministry (food boxes/cleaning supplies) and construction (building or repairing churches, feeding kitchens, orphanages, etc.). The idea behind this is to still be the hands and feet of Jesus, but safely and with much less personal contact.\nWe have teams scheduled for spring and summer, however we are starting to see some postponements again. This is completely understandable due to the global pandemic we are facing. However, we do want to make sure that our teams are well-informed on travel restrictions for their country, as well as Mexico.\nFirst of all, at this time, there are few restrictions in our state of Baja California here in Mexico. We have an “orange” light for our state. This means that certain establishments, including churches, are limited anywhere from 25-75% capacity – churches unfortunately being limited to 25%. The only other restrictions, according to the US government, are for non-essential travel going both directions over the border. This is categorized as tourism and recreation. Thankfully, missions does not fall under either of those categories. All other aspects of this restriction clearly state that they do not apply to US citizens and lawful permanent residents returning to the United States.\nMany of you have heard that the US is now requiring that “all airline passengers to the United States ages two years and older must provide a negative COVID-19 viral test taken within three calendar days of travel”. This does not, however, apply to land border crossing. At this time, both of our children work stateside, crossing the border into the US 3-5 times per week. So we will definitely know if any further restrictions are put into place.\nUnfortunately, for our Canadian friends, it looks like the travel restrictions are a lot more strict. For anyone crossing a land border, they must provide a negative test taken within 3 days of travel, and then self-quarantine in a specific location for 14 days. Airline passengers must quarantine in an approved hotel for three days first (at their own expense), before self-quarantining for 14 days after that. These restrictions are currently in effect until April 30th. We do ask that you contact us if you have any questions about traveling to serve with us in Mexico.\nFamily Ron’s back surgery was postponed yet again, after being rescheduled for the beginning of February. This was kind of a blessing in disguise, because it meant we were able to return to Loreto to help the new church plant get their sanctuary, bathrooms, and welcome center up and running for their first service on February 7th! We don’t totally understand what the Lord is doing, but we are doing our best to follow His lead! We do ask for your continued prayers in this area, that if it is the Lord’s will, Ron’s surgery will happen soon.\nOn a happier note, our children are all doing well and our 10 month old grandson is already walking! He’s also played in his first snow, which believe it or not, was in Mexico!\nConnections House Over the past couple of years, we have seen God show up in a big way in regards to Connections House! The first year of building the 3rd floor went so much faster than we ever could have expected! So we decided to reach big and try to get the 3rd floor kitchen and dining room up and running for our spring teams. We are well on our way, as the bathrooms are now completed and we plan to install the drop ceiling in the dining room soon!\nIn November we set a goal to try and raise $4,500 by February for this project by asking for individual donations of $30 each. After many people gave generously, we are excited to say that we only need $1,673 to reach this next goal! That’s about 55 people at $30. We know that God can do it! If you have not partnered with us in this next step, we ask for you to prayerfully consider it. This will bring us that much closer to being able to host more teams at the same time. This is a huge need, especially beginning this summer, when we will have a group of 20+ people staying in our dorms for six weeks.\nChurch Planting Last month we told you about our opportunity to travel about 16 hours south to Loreto in Baja California Sur. We were super blessed to be able to use our big trailer to help some church planters and their team move to Loreto. We stayed a few extra days for vacation while were there, and a few days to help if at all possible in these early stages. Well, it turned out that we were able to help look at several possible buildings for the church. When they quickly decided on the right one, shortly before we were supposed to head back home (and it needed a serious amount of work to get it ready) – we made the decision to stay one more week to help. We worked with the Loreto team on the church for that week and had to leave knowing there was much left to do. However, we thought Ron had to be back for his pre-op appointments for his surgery a little over a week later.\nDavid, Hector, Ron, Pastor Elmer, Crystal \u0026amp; Juan – The 1st building we looked at was the one God chose for the new church in Loreto!\nA close up view of part of the sanctuary – broken glass, boarded up windows, a missing breaker panel/electrical wiring, and more!\nAs we mentioned earlier, due to the surgery cancellation, we have returned to Loreto. We will be here until just after their first service on February 7th, we hope to meet the goal of working on the three areas of the church we specified above. Please continue to keep this church plant in your prayers! In the first week of their arrival, the Calvary Loreto team had experienced one profession of faith, two baptisms, and baby dedication! After their test service this morning, there has already been one more profession of faith! God is already moving in incredible ways in Loreto and we are blessed beyond measure to have such a small part in it!\nGiving Many people have asked how they can help during this time – especially those that would normally bring a team and currently aren’t able to. Well, unfortunately, it all boils down to finances. The answer is simple. We will continue to do ministry as long as teams come to serve with us, or as long as funds are available. If your church would normally do a fundraiser or two in order to send a team, then we would ask you to consider continuing with that. If the effects of COVID-19 are preventing you from coming to serve, you could look at this as a possible temporary substitute.\nFor those that would like to give financially, you can do so by going to give.connections.org, typing an amount next to “for Connection Ministry House”, and writing what it is for in the comment section. (Click here for our address if you prefer to send a check.) Maybe you’re considering a $30 gift for Connections, or you are feeling led to help an orphanage or the Loreto church plant. Whatever it may be, no matter how small a gift you may think it is, helps in a very big way. God bless!!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/struska-missions-update-january-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe hope the new year finds you all doing well! Ron and I are truly blessed by each and every one of you that read our updates and pray for us and the ministry God has called us to. We continually thank the Lord for your faithfulness and partnership!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"ministry\"\u003eMinistry\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we have mentioned several times in 2020, ministry just looks different right now. Last month’s update specified the two main areas of ministry that we will be focusing on this year – relief ministry (food boxes/cleaning supplies) and construction (building or repairing churches, feeding kitchens, orphanages, etc.). The idea behind this is to still be the hands and feet of Jesus, but safely and with much less personal contact.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Struska Missions Update January 2021"},{"content":" EUROPE\nBrenna Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\nPraise God for his faithfulness, his steadfast love, and his continual pursuit of hearts. He is good!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Opportunities to minister to people amidst covid restrictions and not being able to gather in person as a church.\n2. Prayer for my Monday night bible study with young women\n3. Continued prayer for health.\n4. Prayer for wisdom and discernment and strength to walk in what the Lord sets before me.\nThank you for your continued prayer in these times!\nLove in Christ,\nBrenna - Email Blog\nRebecca Alaniz - Zagreb, Croatia\nPraise Reports:\n- I\u0026rsquo;ve stayed healthy!- We\u0026rsquo;re funded to start the Roma Preschool- No damage was done to my apartment after the earthquake.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For the coronavirus situation. The government has closed down large gatherings which means no church. They are said to list the restrictions the first day of February but it\u0026rsquo;s also possible they prolong the restrictions.\n2. That the Lord would completely heal my thyroid, so that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t need to take any medication\n3. For direction, that I would simply be open to whatever the Lord has for me and while I wait, that I would be still and wait patiently upon the Lord\n4. Language Learning: Even though I\u0026rsquo;m conversational, there is more that I need to learn to reach fluency. Pray that the Lord would help me grasp the language and that He would give me a desire to study it.\n5. Roma Ministry: Pray that the Lord would give me guidance and wisdom in regards to working in the Roma village. Pray for our relationships with the Roma people, especially with this new project that we are about to start.\n6. For salvation in Zagreb Thank you for keeping me and the country of Croatia in your prayers. The Lord is at work and I am so excited to see what He is going to continue to do!\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod Bless,\nRebecca - Email Blog |\nMitch and Christine Sorensen - Nice, France\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We are very thankful for your prayers and encouragements!! Be richly blessed for your help! As we are continuing to distribute Gospel tracts and the Gospel movie cards, one on one with people working at the cash register of different stores, in the streets (mainly the elderly to whom we give the \u0026ldquo;Good Person\u0026rdquo; tract) and also tons in mail boxes of big buildings as there are less people in the streets due to the cold weather and the very early daily curfews \u0026mdash;\u0026ndash;*Please pray they will look at the movie and be touched by the Holy Spirit.\n2. French people are still not fond at all with anything that sounds like the Bible, Jesus or Islam. This ministry requires lots and lots of sowing, praying, perseverance, loving, patience.\n3. We also are following up some believers to encourage them to grow by discipline into spending more time personally in the Word. As the restrictions have fallen also on church meetings, many rather not come anymore but look at the services via Zoom. Some have just disappeared. It has been difficult to do church with a mask on and all the other rules prohibiting contact. So, we have started to meet people one on one to fellowship and pray together, outside of church \u0026mdash;*Pray we will have wisdom and be a great blessing to many. Our neighbor, same floor, has been diagnosed with colon cancer. He and his wife do not speak any French (nor English) and they are avoiding contacts with us because of the fear to get Covid. We want to encourage them and bless them. May the Lord inspire us and heal this man!\n4. Pray for our health.\n5. Pray for our provision\nThank you for your faithful prayers\nGod bless you,\nMitch and Christine - Email Blog\nAFRICA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. As Uganda has just had their elections, please pray for peace and safety.\n2. Pray for Jill and the children as they have just begun the new school year.\n3. Arise Christian Fellowship is looking forward to this new year, pray for Brian to have God\u0026rsquo;s direction as he leads and guides the church and staff.\n4. Pray for continued health and protection from the Corona virus.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the people of Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nVincent and Melissa Aniku - Uganda\nThank you all so much for continuing to pray in these times.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have finished the first step for land to start the community center, library and soccer stadium. Please pray as the sports ministry starts a new season in a new level. We pray this will be used for the furtherance of the gospel.\n2. Continued prayer for our health.\n3. Pray as we resume leadership discipleship. That all leadership will continue to grow deeper.\n4. Pray for peace in Uganda as the presidential elections near.\n5. Pray for physical and spiritual needs of the ministry.\n6. Pray for the finalizing paperwork for the container.\nThank you all so much for your prayers and love!\nIn Him,\nVincent and Melissa - Email Blog\nHarris Family - Gulu, Uganda\nMay the Lord bless you as you lift up His work in prayer,\nPraise God:\n-Our roof in Uganda is getting much needed repairs.\n-The Ugandan elections passed with minimal unrest.\n-Our furlough is winding to end and we have almost completed everything we had on our agenda\u0026rsquo;s.\n-That my parents were given a car the same day that theirs was totaled.\nPlease Pray:\n1. For funding for the building of an additional campus for our pastoral training school.\n2. For our families return home to Uganda.\n3. For my (Matt) mother who was in a car accident last week. She isn\u0026rsquo;t seriously injured despite totaling the car.\nIn Christ,\nMatt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nYours for the unreached Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nMike and Sarah Vincent - Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise Reports:\n1. For our son Daniel\u0026rsquo;s recovery from Covid!\n2. Our 26th church plant sent out to Loreto Central Baja!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. That God would protect our family, church, and community from the corona virus!\n2. That God would bless our new church plant and ministry team in Loreto! (Sent out start of January)\n3. That God would provide for the needs of our family and church!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel - Email Blog\nMike and Erin Thiemann - California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family during this crazy season. School has started back up and the beginning of the year is always chaotic for Erin and the kids as they develop a new routine.\n2. I have restructured the leadership within SGWM and have created three distinct departments - Missionary Sending (US based missionaries that we have sent), International Relations (10/40 Window church planting/nationals), and the Missionary Training (School of Missions and Internship). Pray as we transition and continue to grow.\n3. Please pray for the youth ministry I lead. Our group is growing and the teens are doing well. Please pray for all of our leaders that the Lord would anoint them.\n4. Over the next 6-7 months, my teaching schedule is increasing exponentially. Please pray that the Lord lengthens my study time and anoints my ability to communicate His Word effectively.\n5. Pray for our personal support. Living in the States and on missionary support is a difficult reality. We struggle with it practically as living expenses in Orange County are high. It is also a struggle to convince people that our home office staff is an absolute necessity for the success of our missionaries all over the world.\n7. We also had a great response for our 2021 summer youth and young adults Israel apologetic tour. We have 35 signups! I originally booked for 15. So the Lord sent in a LOT more. Please pray for all the administration that goes into organizing a trip like this. Also, pray for no COVID issues.\nThank you for all your love, prayer and encouragement through this.\nWe are blessed by you.\nGod bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina - Erin - Email Mike - Email Blog\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California, USA\nPraise the Lord:\n1. That Jenn continues to heal nicely from her surgery\n2. For a sweet week of fasting and prayer here at CCSG\n3. For the Lords provision and guidance in our lives.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For Jenn to be able to join Tim the whole time for this year\u0026rsquo;s Calvary School of Missions\n2. For the preparation and launching of CSOM 2021. Please pray that we would have our ears tuned to hear and see exactly what the Lord would have for us and the students this year\n3. For Jenn and I to move forward in the things the Lord has laid on our hearts regarding cross-cultural ministry, Missionary equipping and care\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - California, USA\nThank you for praying for us so faithfully!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for Joel as he teaches an Old Testament class, Galatians for CCSG\u0026rsquo;s young adults, and leads CCSG\u0026rsquo;s worship ministry\n2. Pray that the Lord would prepare the hearts of the students who will be going on two trips Joel is co-leading: Mexico in March and Israel in June\n3. Pray for Amy, that the Lord would continue to give her the strength, energy, and patience it takes to continue in the amazing job she does homeschooling the kids (Joel\u0026rsquo;s words, not hers\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email Blog\nHope Douglass - Yorba Linda, California\nThank you for your continued prayers for our missionaries and for me.\nPraise Report:\nPraise God for a healthy pregnancy so far and a smooth January in the office.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for more financial partners as I step into part-time work when my son is born and take a significant pay cut.\n2. Keep the rest of the pregnancy (Fletcher is due mid-May) and delivery in your prayers.\n3. Pray that training my in-office replacement would go well and that he/she would do an even better job than I have done.\nThank you!\nGod bless each of you and keep you as you abide in Him.\nBlessings, Hope - Email Blog\nLacey Olson - Interning With the Church\nPraise Report:\n-I was granted a full scholarship for CNA school (Certified Nursing Assistant).\n-My internship has returned from break and we have started class again.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that I can complete the Internship at the church,\nAnd the CNA school with endurance and faithfulness! I complete the CNA school in February and I complete the internship program in August, 2021.\n2. Please pray for my growth group that I am leading. (A Growth group is just a small discipleship group of women where we get together and have opportunity to grow in our relationship with God and have accountability / fellowship with each other).\n3. Please pray for continued healing over my dad who had emergency surgery.\n4. Please pray for my family\u0026rsquo;s salvation\nThank you,\nGod Bless,\nLacey - Email\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Peggy from our church. Her husband died suddenly of a heart attack on Jan. 20 morning.\n2. Please pray for God to open up more ministry opportunities, since others continue to be indefinitely closed due to covid.\n3. Please pray for our country to turn to God during this difficult time\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for my grandmother in a nursing home, for her salvation and protection.\n2. Pray that God will lead us in all things.\n3. Please continue to pray for my daughter, Rose\u0026rsquo;s, health this winter, and for her eye muscle development.\nThank you so much for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray - Ensenada, Mexico\nPlease Pray:\n1. New Year, New Semester, New Students, and a Renewed Passion for the Lord.\n2. Pray for those suffering from Covid related losses and difficulties.\n3. Pray for travel safety for us and students.\n4. Praise report for having a special time with our family over the semester break.\n5. Pray for the future of our graduates, some are facing hardships and new challenges as they serve in ministry.\n6. Pray for Gods continuing provision for us and Calvary Chapel Bible College Mexico.\nGod bless you all in this new year.\nThanks to everyone for your prayers and concern for us and other missionaries.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar - Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna - S. Asia and Africa\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for Gods perfect timing for the reopening of the Bible Colleges as schools throughout Asia have been shut down since the beginning of the pandemic and we eagerly look to reopen.\n2. Pray for our health as Bond has been battling sickness this week. Pray for complete healing.\n3. Pray for vision and open doors for 2021 around the world. We know God has great things in store and we want to be ready.\n4. Pray for those we are equipping to launch to the mission field, that God would prepare and provide.\n5. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s will and timing for our family to return overseas. Pray also that we would continually be filled with the holy spirit to lead, teach, disciple, evangelize and point people to Jesus our only hope!\nThank you for your prayers,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\nWorker 14 and Family - 1040 Window\nPrayer Requests\n1. A cold virus hit our house hard, but thankfully not covid! Wife took it the worst as she didn\u0026rsquo;t get the sleep needed since she was caring for 2 sick boys day and night. Husband stepped up and gave her two days to catch up on sleep and lay around with baby, so she\u0026rsquo;s doing much better now! Our little lady was the only one who didn\u0026rsquo;t get it, likely due to excessively nursing when mom rested! So thankful the virus didn\u0026rsquo;t last more than a few days and that we have thus far avoided covid, which would do much more harm!\n2. We praise the Lord that our menial garden efforts are blossoming. We have some green veggies growing in pots which is a big deal as greens are hard to come by. We\u0026rsquo;ve also had great success with root veggies and hope to become more self sufficient in basic vegetable harvesting to reduce market trips. Please pray for wisdom and blessing over this small task.\n3. We\u0026rsquo;ve started our neighbor visits this year and are praying for open doors (spiritually and figuratively) and Spirit led conversation as we step out in faith.\n4. Pray for my wife as she seeks to build relationships among our neighborhood women and find kids for our children to build friendships with.\n5. Pray for husbands relationship with the men and leaders of our community. Pray for Spiritual conversation to surface and for His Spirit to speak through me.\n6. Pray for my wife\u0026rsquo;s language learning that she\u0026rsquo;ll be able to make time, find an effective way of learning, and grow in her ability to understand and speak.\n7. Pray for direction as we plan out our next few months and that the Lord will open doors and provide for the visions that are from Him, and make it clear those things that are not His Will or timing. Pray we would have sensitivity to His leading so we can be effective and fruitful in the works He\u0026rsquo;s laid before us.\nBlessings,\nWorker 14 and Family\nWorker 15 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that we can restart Sunday services and the Pastors School soon.\n2. Please pray for us and the ministry in our country.\n3. Please also pray for our daughter who is a nurse.\n4. Pray that many non-Christians who saw our Facebook online services would be saved.\n5. Please pray for our health and safety\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you\nCo-workers in Christ,\n15 and family\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nThanks for supporting us and helping to uplift our God ministry.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray we will be able to open our bible school soon; That God allow us to open it.\n2. Pray for our Church Family that they will be grow deeply in Word of God.\n3. Pray our Ministry to be Fruitful.\n4. Pray we should be witnesses to our locality.\nThank you for praying for us!\nGod bless,\nRabi and Mahima - Blog\nWorker 16 - 1-/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my children that they may grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s Fear and knowledge.\n2. Please pray that the lord would intervene for the problem the world is facing.\n3. Please pray for the village ministry of local area that they may grow in Lord words\n4. Please pray for the Believer of Ch. Village people that they may stand in faith in the midst of opposition.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise God:\n-Now we\u0026rsquo;re able to gather in the Church building for the worship service every Saturday.\n-The new Church has been started at Hatauda. Laxman Nepal and his wife are taking care of that new congregation.\nPrayer Request:\n1. The new congregation at Hetauda. May the Lord empower and grand wisdom for Laxman and Sarmila as they lead the Church.\n2. They are having difficulty for service place.\n3. For spiritual growth of the believers at CC Hetauda.\n4. Please pray for Charis Bible Church. Our Church building Reconstruction at new location has been completed, and government has yet to give us map certificate, it has been delayed.\n5. Please pray for the continue spiritual growth of Charis believers.\n6. Pray for the reopening Calvary Chapel Bible College Nepal and also for the students.\n7. Please pray for me that the Lord would empower me with His Holy Spirit and grand me wisdom, knowledge and good health as I serve Him.\nThanks for your prayer support for us!\nBlessing,\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nPraise God:\n-Now we\u0026rsquo;re able to gather in the Church building for the worship service every Saturday.\n-The new Church has been started at Hatauda. Laxman Nepal and his wife are taking care of that new congregation.\nPrayer Request:\n1. The new congregation at Hetauda. May the Lord empower and grand wisdom for Laxman and Sarmila as they lead the Church.\n2. They are having difficulty for service place.\n3. For spiritual growth of the believers at CC Hetauda.\n4. Please pray for Charis Bible Church. Our Church building Reconstruction at new location has been completed, and government has yet to give us map certificate, it has been delayed.\n5. Please pray for the continue spiritual growth of Charis believers.\n6. Pray for the reopening Calvary Chapel Bible College Nepal and also for the students.\n7. Please pray for me that the Lord would empower me with His Holy Spirit and grand me wisdom, knowledge and good health as I serve Him.\nThanks for your prayer support for us!\nBlessing,\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for me that the Lord to lead my life.\n2. Pray for our students. Some of the students are going through financial difficulties in their families; pray for them.\n3. Pray for the persecution that happened recently in India.\n4. Pray for our students to stand boldly for Christ in their villages.\n5. Pray for the churches in our country and the ministry.\n6. Pray for the upcoming building construction that is planned.\n7. Pray for the Bible school to reopen soon and the ministry.\n8. Pray for next semester, for more students to come.\n9. Pray for the next season, for what the Lord has for me.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nWorker 8 - 10/40 Window\nThank you for praying for our health; our health is better.\nPrayer requests:\n1. Please pray for those who heard the Christmas message at our outreach. Pray that God will touch their hearts and they will be open to the Gospel.\n2. Thank you for praying for our health; our health is better.\nOnce again I would like to thank everyone who is praying and helping financially. May my loving\nMay God bless you all,\nPastor 8 and family\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that the ministry would grow.\n2. Please pray that the Lord will help me to share the Gospel.\n3. Please pray that the believers will grow in the Lord.\n4. Please pray that the people with whom I have shared the Gospel will come to the saving knowledge of the Lord.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 2\nMilan Pariyar - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nMilan - Blog\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\nThank you so much for your prayers. God bless you!\nMay God bless you\nWorker 9\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, for strength, wisdom, and peace.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone.\nThanking you!\nYours in Christ,\nWorker 4\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\n1. Pray for all of the new people who have heard the Gospel, that they will accept Jesus.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you\nWorker 12\nWorker 3 - 10/40 Window\nBy God\u0026rsquo;s grace we have been doing wonderful. Thank you so much for your valuable prayers.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Ch. Village believers, God may establish strong faith in their hearts so that they may able to face all the challenges. Also pray for the villagers so that God may open their eyes to see the love of God.\n2. Please pray for D.S. from Pr. village, he is paralyzed and his parents have requested us to pray for his healing touch. So that his family may come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\n3. Please pray for P. he has been suffering mentally disable\n4. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local Church.\n5. Please pray for me and my family, may God use us in an effective way for the expansion of his kingdom.\nThank you very much for your prayer and support!\nIn Him,\nPS and RS\nMajhiya and Sarita Besra - Nepal\nPraise God:\n-We have found an opportunity to share with others about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n-Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes. They are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n2. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita - Blog\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n- Praise God for his love, grace and safety in my family and church members.\n-Praise God on 21 December we were baptism service and 6 more believers got baptism and everything went safe.\n-Praise God we had great Christmas service in two places first one was at my church in this Christmas more than 350 peoples heard word of God and ate lunch. Second one was in a remote village (217 miles far) where we were shared good news on the loudspeaker so more than 5 thousand peoples heard word of God and 250 peoples ate lunch. Praise God everything could be safe more than my expectation.\n-Praise God we showed Christian movie Jesus in the 3 remote and unreached villages and more than 3 thousands peoples showed movie and heard word of God. And we were able to distribute blankets and sarees successfully.\n-Praise God! During the Christmas more than 10 thousands peoples heard the Word of God.\nPrayer requests\n1. Please pray for my church building, again same guy came to claim my church building\u0026rsquo;s land and did 3 cases on me and my dad; one of them they did from local police station, second one they did from head police station both cases are in my favor because we have all the documents of that land; even though they gave big amounts of bribe to police. Last one case in the court so we are waiting of court notice when court will send notice than we will hire an advocate, please keep remind in your prayers.\n2. Please pray for a new motor bike I am using a bike from 6 years, now that bike is always creating problem while I go to house churches even every month; fixing that bike but always creating problem.\n3. Please pray for my church member to be strong in their faith and to be strong in the every kind of persecution.\n4. Please continue pray for my state after this pandemic criminal activities increasing day by day. Every day happening fighting, murder, rape and robbery. Before Christmas I was in the market some robber were robbery jewelry shop day time with their loaded guns, that time I was crossing that shop same time robber also came out then he did firing in the air but thank god to save our life.\n5. Please continue pray for my mother\u0026rsquo;s health and my family safety.\nThank you for your prayer, support and partnership for the gospel.\nGod bless!\nWorker 11\nWorker 6 and Family - 10/40 Window\nPlease urgently pray for this pastor\u0026rsquo;s new baby. His wife had an emergency c-section, and the baby is in the NICU. Baby Grace is eating half of the amount she needs to eat. Please pray that she will survive.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our new church plant.\n2. Pray for our Bible study with young adults.\n3. Pray for the people who received blankets and food during Christmas outreaches.\n4. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s work that we are doing here; pray that it would be fruitful and be a blessing to many.\n5. Pray that the church believers will grow more in God\u0026rsquo;s wisdom and in His Word.\nThank you,\nWorker 6 and Mrs. 6\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please continue to pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\n2. Pray for new believers to grow in Christ\n3. Please pray for my health and safety.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 13\nRaju - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my spiritual growth.\n2. Please pray that God will help me to teach His Word correctly.\n3. Please pray that God will make a way to buy the land for our church, which has been affected by Covid-19.\n4. Please pray that God\u0026rsquo;s kingdom will expand in our area, and that good works will be done.\n5. Please pray that the love of God will fill my family and neighbors.\n6. Please pray that all of my family members will know the Lord.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe, that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for me to share the Gospel.\n3. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you\nWorker 10\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Request:\n1. Please pray about the reunion of brothers and students to work together for the Lord as a team for the YouTube channel.\n2. Please pray for good results in my examinations.\nThank you,\nGod Bless you,\nWorker 7\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot;\n- Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-feb-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrenna Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Brenna-150x150.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePraise God for his faithfulness, his steadfast love, and his continual pursuit of hearts. He is good!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Opportunities to minister to people amidst covid restrictions and not being able to gather in person as a church.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. Prayer for my Monday night bible study with young women\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e3. Continued prayer for health.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e4. Prayer for wisdom and discernment and strength to walk in what the Lord sets before me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM FEB PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"I hope you had a great Christmas and New Year!\n\u0026quot; Whether the world or life or death or things present or things to come - all are yours. And you are Christ\u0026rsquo;s, and Christ is God\u0026rsquo;s.\u0026quot; -1st Corinthians 3:22\u0026amp;23\nEven though Paul\u0026rsquo;s context is different than the context I am writing here, I have found great comfort through these verses. God took care of all of us during the most stressful times of history. When I read those last words of the verse \u0026lsquo;\u0026lsquo;and you are Christ\u0026rsquo;s\u0026quot;, I was able to stop and rest in His hands.\nGod has been so, so faithful to me during this season. He is making me stronger and giving me opportunities to reach many people through His Word. I have been able to continue to work on my YouTube project teaching from 1st Corinthians. Unfortunately, it is running a little bit slower than it did in the beginning.\nIt is interesting that when I teach class in person it reaches 20 to 30 students, but through YouTube it is reaching 10 times more people than in the classroom! In the future there could be chances to reach thousands of people but it will take more finances before it can reach more people. I want to move forward with more wisdom and more courage for God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nI am requesting you all to pray that this small work of a normal person for a big God would reach many people through the biggest platform of the era\u0026ndash;the internet. Also, I have found that this would be somewhat easier for me if I have a small team working together with me. In the beginning, brothers used to work with me, but due to Covid, we are all no longer at the same place. So, please pray that the brothers and students and I will be reunited.\nIt is interesting that when I teach class in person it reaches 20 to 30 students, but through YouTube it is reaching 10 times more people than in the classroom! In the future there could be chances to reach thousands of people but it will take more finances before it can reach more people. I want to move forward with more wisdom and more courage for God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nI am requesting you all to pray that this small work of a normal person for a big God would reach many people through the biggest platform of the era\u0026ndash;the internet. Also, I have found that this would be somewhat easier for me if I have a small team working together with me. In the beginning, brothers used to work with me, but due to Covid, we are all no longer at the same place. So, please pray that the brothers and students and I will be reunited.\nDuring this time, I was also able to work on getting permission from my University to take my pharmacy exams and to clear my backlogs (I studied pharmacy before going to Bible college and joining the ministry). I took the exams in December and I definitely need your prayers for good results.\nThank you for your prayers and time,\nPastor 7*\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-teaches-my-hands/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI hope you had a great Christmas and New Year!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/Rohith-Jan-2021-3-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026quot; \u003cstrong\u003eWhether the world or life or death or things present or things to come - all are yours. And you are Christ\u0026rsquo;s, and Christ is God\u0026rsquo;s.\u003c/strong\u003e\u0026quot; -1st Corinthians 3:22\u0026amp;23\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEven though Paul\u0026rsquo;s context is different than the context I am writing here, I have found great comfort through these verses. God took care of all of us during the most stressful times of history. When I read those last words of the verse \u0026lsquo;\u0026lsquo;and you are Christ\u0026rsquo;s\u0026quot;, I was able to stop and rest in His hands.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He Teaches My Hands"},{"content":"God is so good! I pray that the beginning of 2021 has been a blessing for you and that your January was full of God’s presence and grace. I know mine was!\nThis year is a big deal for me personally as my husband and I will be welcoming our first child into the world. Throughout my pregnancy I have seen God faithfully answer so many prayers regarding my position here with SGWM and the next steps once Fletcher is born which brings me to some exciting news!\nBig News Even before I knew I was pregnant I was praying that God would raise up and bring the right person to take my position when the time came for me to step into motherhood. I thought that would be a few years down the road yet I was praying that He would raise him or her up from our current batch of interns, not a future batch. Then we got the joyous news and I began praying all the more that God would bring someone capable and called to not only do my job, but to do it better than I have done it. From September to mid-January I prayed, the office staff prayed, and God answered.\nHer name is Maribel Blanco and she was a student at our School of Missions in 2020. She has a heart for the unreached, a background in administration and accounting, and a passion to see the Gospel proclaimed throughout the world. This month we began training and she is the perfect fit! It is so wonderful to see the way God has answered the prayers so many lifted up to Him and I truly believe that Maribel will excel here and be an even better servant to our missionaries and our staff.\nWhere does that leave me? I won’t be going anywhere. Once Fletcher is born sometime in May I will transition to working from home so that I can adjust to motherhood and still be involved in the ministry. Rather than remaining the administrative assistant, I will become the financial assistant and handle the financial/accounting tasks I have picked up during my almost two years in the office. I will be able to work from home while Fletcher naps and bring him into the office a few times a week to assist our accounting department in anything that is needed.\nIt is such a blessing to relay this exciting news to God’s glory and I pray that you are encouraged in whatever you are currently praying for. Whether it be the salvation of a loved one, the financial provision of your family, the direction of God in this new year, or anything else, remain fervent and faithful in prayer because He answers!\nPrayer Requests Please pray for Maribel as she learns how to do all of the tasks that allow this ministry to run smoothly. Pray against spiritual attacks from the enemy and that she would remain steadfast in the hope of her calling when those fiery darts do come her way.\nPlease also pray for wisdom for me as I train her.\nI ask for and covet your prayers for my family and the huge transition ahead of us. As I step into part-time work, naturally my income will decrease. We have a lot of one-time costs associated with Fletcher’s birth as well as some on-going increased expenses which I ask you to keep in prayer. Our God has always been faithful to provide for our needs and will remain so. Please pray for strengthened faith as we look to Him and trust in Him for our finances.\nIf you would like to partner with me financially as I step into my new role(s) with a one-time or regular gift, you can do so at the link below. Just click on the button that says, “Become a Financial Partner” and you will be redirected to a secure online giving page where you can make a donation of any amount. You can also mail a check to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886 with “Hope Douglass Support” in the memo.\nUpdate on Christmas Outreaches… Thank you for your prayers last month for our Christmas outreaches among the unreached! They were a huge success and I will share pictures and stories in my February update.\nMay God continue to bless and keep you as you trust in Him.\nWith love,\nHope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/answered-prayers/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGod is so good! I pray that the beginning of 2021 has been a blessing for you and that your January was full of God’s presence and grace. I know mine was!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis year is a big deal for me personally as my husband and I will be welcoming our first child into the world. Throughout my pregnancy I have seen God faithfully answer so many prayers regarding my position here with SGWM and the next steps once Fletcher is born which brings me to some exciting news!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Answered Prayers"},{"content":"\u0026rsquo;\u0026rsquo; In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will\u0026quot; (Ephesian 1:11)\nChristmas Outreaches of Our Calvary Chapel Outreach One:\nIt has always been awesome to do outreach. What a wonderful thing to invite people and share the Gospel with them! This Christmas outreach was a blessing. We were able to reach people in our local community with whom we are spending time for a long time. We invited the people from the Badminton Club to our Church to have breakfast so we could share \u0026ldquo;What Christmas is All About\u0026rdquo; on Christmas Sunday. People always have a lot of questions about Jesus, and the Bible always has the answer about life. Thank all of you prayer warriors who were praying for us and the outreach.\nOutreach Two:\nIt is a great blessing to see people who are involved as a family with us. We use our Bible College facilities to host the people of the Church. For a long time, some of the families of the Church have wanted to stay for a couple of days with us in the Church. So, we asked them to come before Christmas so we could have fellowship, spend the night together, share our hearts, share testimonies, and hear the Word of God. It was a great blessing to be loved by the believers and to love the believers in this Christmas season. We had a great time cooking food for the people who were invited for the Christmas program. All together, there were 50 people who attended. Some were believers and some were non-believers. We had a Gospel sing, Gospel Dance, etc. We believe that Jesus was glorified in the midst of us. Praise God! All glory goes to God! One of the teenagers received Christ as their personal Savior. This is great news that we can share this Christmas. Also, some young men were restored in Christ (rededicated their lives). Please keep praying for these men.\nLeprosy Outreach\nWe are able to go to the Leprosy colony again. Thank you all for your prayers. It is always awesome to do ministry every time when we go there. The people were so happy to see us again and thankful for the help we brought. Because of Covid, they have not been able to see any visitors. The people who help were not allowed to come in.\nRight before they sealed the leper colony we took half of the Bible College food there (from the leftover food after we sent the students home due to the lock-down). We believe it has been really a big help to them. We believe that it was God who lead us to put half of the food in the Leprosy colony before it was closed to visitors. Now, we were once again able to distribute food. We believe that this food was late, but was in God\u0026rsquo;s perfect time (just in time).\nPeople were thanking us for what we do. They thought that, because of Covid, there would be no guests to help them with things. The situation was bad. But God had moved us to go there and again helped us to share the Gospel and food. We are being loved by the Christian as well as the non-Christian there. More than that, they are learning about Jesus!\nThanks for praying for us,\nAnand, Usha, Asher \u0026amp; Amos\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-unstoppable-god-made-us-not-stop/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026rsquo;\u0026rsquo; \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eIn whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u0026quot;   (Ephesian 1:11)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"christmas-outreaches-of-our-calvary-chapel\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChristmas Outreaches of Our Calvary Chapel\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOutreach One:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Choudhary-Jan-2021-3-300x166.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt has always been awesome to do outreach. What a wonderful thing to invite people and share the Gospel with them! This Christmas outreach was a blessing. We were able to reach people in our local community with whom we are spending time for a long time. We invited the people from the Badminton Club to our Church to have breakfast so we could share \u0026ldquo;What Christmas is All About\u0026rdquo; on Christmas Sunday. People always have a lot of questions about Jesus, and the Bible always has the answer about life. Thank all of you prayer warriors who were praying for us and the outreach.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our Unstoppable God Made Us Not Stop"},{"content":"The Grays/ CCBC Ensenada Mexico\nWe had a wonderful holiday visiting with our boys and their families.\nWe started out in Florida spending time with Jacob, Alex, and Oliver and their families. We have three grandkids there, so we got to watch them and give their parents a break to go shopping, go on a date night, or just be there to have a good time with the grandkids. Ollie’s wife Jenifer has a brother who passed away from cancer while we were there. He was only thirty three years old. Please keep them in your prayers. Last June her father was killed in an automobile accident.\nIt has been a hard year for their family. Also while we were in Florida we had the chance to visit with Leo’s mom and sister, Angie for a few of days. Granny is doing well. She still walks a mile every day and can still play a mean game of Skipbo.\nLast stop on our trip was Hattiesburg, MS. Our youngest son, Elliott and his wife Kaci live there. He turned 29 this year while we were there. His father-in-law took us fishing down on the Mississippi coast for a day to celebrate the occasion and we came home with a cooler full of fish. The Lord was good to us as always.\nIt looks like this semester we will have forty-four students on campus. A handful of students arrived early and are helping make everything look good for orientation starting next week. While we were gone, a team from California came down and built a pergola for outside dining. The one we had previously was starting to cave in because the bougainvillea bushes got so big and heavy. It was a shame to have to cut them down, but this new pergola looks beautiful and it won’t take long for them to grow back.\nLeo will be leading the Operations team and teaching two classes this semester, Growing Strong in God’s Family and Bearing Fruit in God’s Family. Pilar will be working in the Campus Store and managing the students who work with her. We are both looking forward to having the students back and being a part of what God is doing in their lives.\nThank you so much for supporting and praying for us. We really consider you as partners with us in the gospel as we train the students to reach the world for Christ. Drop us a note or email some time, we would love to hear from you. Email addresses: Pilar@ccbcmexico.com or Leo@ ccbcmexico.com or you can write us at: Leo and Pilar Gray 3621 Vista Campana South Unit 75 Oceanside, CA 92057.\nIf you would like to support us financially you can send a tax deductible gift by check to: Saving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Road Suite 203 Yorba Linda, CA 92886\nwrite Leo and Pilar Gray on the memo line or click the Become a Financial Partner button on our web page for credit card or bank transfer at www. SGWM.com/gray.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/january-update-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Grays/ CCBC Ensenada Mexico\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gray/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2021/01/pic-2-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/image2.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e     We had a wonderful holiday visiting with our boys and their families.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe started out in Florida spending time with Jacob, Alex, and Oliver and their families. We have three grandkids there, so we got to watch them and give their parents a break to go shopping, go on a date night, or just be there to have a good time with the grandkids. Ollie’s wife Jenifer has a brother who passed away from cancer while we were there.   He was only thirty three years old.  Please keep them in your prayers.  Last June her father was killed in an automobile accident.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"January Update"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and for your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\nWe thank the Lord that we have been able to start having church services. Because of the lock-down and Covid, we were unable to open our church for a long time. But, God is faithful\u0026ndash;during that time, He helped us and kept us safe. In December, we started opening our church for in-person services again. People started coming and attending the services. Please pray for them to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\nLast month, a brother from a Calvary Chapel got married. We had the opportunity to be part of the wedding ceremony. The Lord helped us to conduct the ceremony. The bride and groom are both Christians. Please pray that the new family will grow in their faith.\nWe had a good Christmas season. We celebrated Christmas with local believers and family. It was a nice time to get together after being apart for so long.\nLast month, believers that we are discipling went through persecution. They were called to a village meeting in their home village. There, the leaders offended them by swearing at them and tried to force them to reject Christ. By God\u0026rsquo;s grace, the believers got a chance to explain their faith while all the village people were gathered together for the meeting. Afterward, the believers were told that they will not be aloud to have jobs and the strong opposition/penalties they will get. But, they still stood strong in their faith. Please pray for them.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray that our children will grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. Please pray that the Lord would intervene in the problem the world is facing. Please pray for the local village ministry- that the people will grow in the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word. Blessings,\nPastor 16 and Family*\n*Names have been omitted or changed for security reasons\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/standing-strong/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and for your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well. God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Davis-Jan-2021-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe thank the Lord that we have been able to start having church services. Because of the lock-down and Covid, we were unable to open our church for a long time. But, God is faithful\u0026ndash;during that time, He helped us and kept us safe. In December, we started opening our church for in-person services again. People started coming and attending the services. Please pray for them to grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Standing Strong"},{"content":"Greetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nWe Praise God for His mighty protection and provision in our lives. We thank God for each one of you and for your partnership in the ministry. As a family, we have been remembering you in our daily thoughts and prayers. May God keep you safe and give you sound health. May He prosper you in your job and business.\nThe month of December always brings excitement. The weather is colder; so people spend more time at home preparing for Christmas and the New Year. These celebrations are the biggest ones in the whole year, so we usually don\u0026rsquo;t miss out. But this year we cancelled some of the public events because of Covid-19.\nDuring the past month, our Church believers from Curry* Village faced opposition from villagers. On December 20th, the believers were called for a village meeting. Many questions were asked to the believers publicly, but by God\u0026rsquo;s grace they strongly faced the challenges. Eventually, all the believers were excommunicated. Now they are not allowed to work in the village. Yet, they are strong in their faith.\nWe celebrated Christmas and had a wonderful Watch Night (New Years Eve) Service with our believers and family in our church.\nMy mother-in-law and sister-in-law\u0026rsquo;s families visited us. We had a wonderful time with them. God helped us to encourage and pray for the believers during house visits.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for the believers in Curry* Village\u0026ndash;that God may establish strong faith in their hearts, so that they may be able to face all of the challenges. Do continue to pray for the growth of our local Church. Please pray for me and my family\u0026ndash;may God use us in an effective way for the expansion of His kingdom. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him, Pastor 3* and family\n* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/no-matter-what/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Pahal-Jan-Special-song-by-me-and-wife-on-Christmas-300x264.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe Praise God for His mighty protection and provision in our lives. We thank God for each one of you and for your partnership in the ministry. As a family, we have been remembering you in our daily thoughts and prayers. May God keep you safe and give you sound health. May He prosper you in your job and business.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"No Matter What"},{"content":"I’m sure we were all ready for a fresh start in 2021. For our church, we started off the year with a week of prayer and fasting together, which was such an eye-opening time of denying our flesh and pressing into Jesus together. There’s no better way for us to start our year!\nOn the SGWM front, it has been so refreshing for me moving forward in our vision for missionary care, which I am privileged to lead. This has involved me meeting with multiple SGWM missionaries each week to get to know them better, wrap my head around their ministries and their needs, and simply let them know that SGWM is here for them. It’s like linking arms with missionaries all over the globe, and it’s exciting to have that kind of direction to sink my teeth into and do what I was made to do: simply play a part in the Great Commission! And I want to tell you, wherever you are and whatever vocation you are in, that you are called to play a role as well. In fact, those of you who support and pray for our family are playing a role in that way, and I can’t tell you how much I praise God for that!\nOur family is doing well. Thank God we have all been able to stay healthy. Maggie just celebrated her 7th birthday! It is a fun, loud, and busy season with the four kids running around, but we wouldn’t trade it for anything. Amy and I continue to lead our young adults ministry, where we’ve just begun going through the book of Galatians. Amy is helping out a few other ladies in our church with a ministry for moms to receive encouragement and discipleship. I get so much joy out of seeing the Lord use her in ways like this!\nWe would ask that you pray for the Lord to meet our financial needs and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/made-for-this-garcia-family-update-january-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI’m sure we were all ready for a fresh start in 2021. For our church, we started off the year with a week of prayer and fasting together, which was such an eye-opening time of denying our flesh and pressing into Jesus together. There’s no better way for us to start our year!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/image001.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOn the SGWM front, it has been so refreshing for me moving forward in our vision for missionary care, which I am privileged to lead. This has involved me meeting with multiple SGWM missionaries each week to get to know them better, wrap my head around their ministries and their needs, and simply let them know that SGWM is here for them. It’s like linking arms with missionaries all over the globe, and it’s exciting to have that kind of direction to sink my teeth into and do what I was made to do: simply play a part in the Great Commission! And I want to tell you, wherever you are and whatever vocation you are in, that you are called to play a role as well. In fact, those of you who support and pray for our family are playing a role in that way, and I can’t tell you how much I praise God for that!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Made for This- Garcia Family Update January 2021"},{"content":" Greetings to you from my church family!\nThanks for your help, prayers and support. I would like to share with you about our outreach programs, baptism service, Christmas programs, and Jesus movie programs. First, I would like to thank God that everything went smoothly and great because of your prayers. We had a baptism service on the morning of December 21st. Six people were baptized. They were three teenagers and three women who are regularly attending our Bible study.\nThree unreached villages allowed us to show the Jesus movie. More than 2,000 people heard the Word of God. Five people accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior!\nThank you for your financial help that made it possible for us to do the Christmas programs. The children in my church family did a dance at the program. I shared the Word of God about Jesus\u0026rsquo; birth and distributed gifts to the children in our church. We were expecting 200 in my home village to attend, but more than 350 people came and heard the Word of God and ate lunch. We cooked Christmas lunches 2 times- once at my home and once in a village 350 kilometers away. Thanks to the Lord, everything went smoothly and great.\nI thank God for providing support for blankets and saris (women\u0026rsquo;s clothing) to give to widows. This made it possible for us to distribute them. The people who received them are really thankful to the Lord and all of you. Two people\u0026rsquo;s health conditions were very critical and I am thankful to God that He used me to help them and give them blankets and saris.\nGod bless you all!\nPastor 11*\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thanks-be-to-god/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Rajendra-Jan-2021-7-300x281.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you from my church family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks for your help, prayers and support. I would like to share with you about our outreach programs, baptism service, Christmas programs, and Jesus movie programs. First, I would like to thank God that everything went smoothly and great because of your prayers. We had a baptism service on the morning of December 21st. Six people were baptized. They were three teenagers and three women who are regularly attending our Bible study.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thanks Be To God"},{"content":"“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23\nWe thank God for His faithfulness in 2020 and look forward to what He has planned for 2021. There are many unanswered questions like, “Will we be able to visit the USA, Japan, or neither this summer?” Right now, the doors don’t seem to be open for us to visit other countries but who knows what a few months will bring.\nThank you for praying for our visa renewals with the Cambodian government. We were approved for another year. They did require more documentation than ever before but by God’s grace our Cambodian partnering organizations were able to supply everything we needed for the renewal.\nThank you for praying for Cambodia’s COVID-19 situation. There was a small community outbreak at the end of November. As a result, church and school went back to online only. We thank God that the outbreak was successfully contained and now church and school have both returned to in-person.\nDarryl finished his apologetics class at a local Bible school in December (except for grading). Now, he can focus more on researching for new scripts for future evangelistic/apologetics videos in the Cambodian language and sharing them via website and social media.\nIn December, Darryl and Pastor Samuel recorded the first (pilot) episode of “Learn English Through the Bible.” This is a short English and Bible lesson in English and Chinese. We may transition to Zoom style classes instead of making stand-alone videos.\nIn January, “Brian,” a Chinese Christian man from church volunteered to translate some of Darryl’s video scripts into Chinese as a way of improving his English and Bible knowledge. We will then be able to make more Chinese language videos.\nKayo continues to be active with the local church’s worship team and now that Christmas is over is looking for new ministry opportunities. Benjamin is back in in-person school and it is hard to believe that 6th grade is half finished. We also thank God that he requested to be and was baptized the end of December.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/hope-for-the-new-year/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” Hebrews 10:23\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2021/01/1305E540-436A-4288-BC73-52037E4B56D2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe thank God for His faithfulness in 2020 and look forward to what He has planned for 2021. There are many unanswered questions like, “Will we be able to visit the USA, Japan, or neither this summer?” Right now, the doors don’t seem to be open for us to visit other countries but who knows what a few months will bring.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hope For the New Year"},{"content":"This December was filled with the joy of reaching out to people to share the Gospel with them and reach them with love. I am really thankful to God for using us in different areas. The Christmas season is a good opportunity to meet new people and introduce them to Christ.\nChristmas Outreach We got to do a Christmas Gospel program in our new building. We invited the local people who live around the area of the new building. We also arranged vehicles from the place where we minister and have church. We had the outreach in the new building because the government did not give us permission to do it outdoors.\nThe Gospel meeting went really well. Everyone was really blessed that day and praised God. I taught on God\u0026rsquo;s indescribable gift- that we have received a gift that gives an unending relationship and life in Christ. It was encouraging for me also. I am really blessed to see people coming closer to Him and having a relationship that never ends. When I see people pouring out their heart before God and worshiping him, it is really amazing. I loved it. My wife and I and our team were really thankful for God\u0026rsquo;s provision to move forward in ministry and that we were able to gather all together and have an amazing time.\nBlanket Distribution On the City Streets I praise God for using us to reach the people who are in need of blankets. This year has been exceptionally cold. When I drive at night, I see people who are suffering on the streets and people who are homeless. They do not have anything to cover them to protect them from the cold. Some of them cover with very little clothes. It is really sad to see them suffering in the cold. We have homes and enough blankets to cover us and protect us from the cold. But the people who live on the streets do not and are suffering. God put it in my heart to have compassion on them. I know it is the heart of God to go reach them and to tell them that He loves them and wants to have a relationship with them. So, I prayed and asked God for His provision to go reach them. And amazingly God provided!\nWe decided to go distribute the blankets in the middle of the night from 12am- 4am. We all went as a team and got to reach people who really needed the blankets. Many were old people who were left by their children on the streets. We were able to reach them and cover them with blankets. One man had wrapped himself in a plastic cover from the cold. We were able to go talk to him and pray with him and give him a blanket. So far, we reached approximately 40 people who were suffering from the cold and could not protect themselves during this season. We also preached the Gospel and prayed over them.\nChristmas Carols I can\u0026rsquo;t wait for this time of year and am excited because it is the best time to go to unbelievers\u0026rsquo; houses to reach them by greeting them and having fellowship. We also give them a gift for Christmas and share the Gospel. It really makes them feel loved and cared for. We have a team of 7 people from our church who actively participated in reaching out through caroling. As we are caroling, we go to unbelievers\u0026rsquo; homes and sing songs which are related to Christ\u0026rsquo;s birth and the Gospel.\nWhen they see us REJOICE in Him, they also join in singing and dancing with us. Then we share the Gospel with them and ask if they want us to pray for them. They respond quickly and ask us to pray. I am really blessed see how God leads us to His children to heal their hearts and brings them out from sin. He doesn\u0026rsquo;t want anyone to perish. There are many broken families who need Jesus in their lives to restore what Satan tried to destroy. We were able to reach them, pray with them, and encourage them from the Word of God. For many families here, Christmas is about decorating, stars, Christmas trees, Santa, lights etc. But, still they do not feel joy in their lives. They depend on those things to make them feel like it is Christmastime. When December is gone, the joy also ends with it. But, we were able to share what true Christmas is about: that they can be joyful every day in Christ, and how we can receive that precious gift from God who redeemed us from sin, death, and the bondage of sin. We were able to see them coming back to Christ. Learning the true meaning of celebrating the birth of Christ filled them with hope, peace and grace.\nNew Church Plant I am very much blessed to see how God is working in these people. As I shared in my last newsletter, we plan to start new church plants this year. God really opened the door to go reach them and to lead them to Christ. This is the area where our brother Paul was lead by the spirit of God and reached this area where there were sheep without a shepherd. They have been moving around to many different churches. In that area, there are 8 families who believe in Christ. More than 30 families are unbelievers. So, we want to reach those 30 families with the Gospel and power of God and see them come to Jesus. We also want to train the 8 believing families to reach others in their area. Thank you for your prayers. Also please pray for my wife. She is now in the 8th month of pregnancy. Her due date is in February. We are very excited for this gift from God! Thank you, brothers and sisters in Christ, for partaking in God\u0026rsquo;s work that we are doing here. I really appreciate your heart for God and investing in His kingdom work. May God continuously bless you and your families. We will be praying for you all.\nThank you!\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/filled-with-joy/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis December was filled with the joy of reaching out to people to share the Gospel with them and reach them with love. I am really thankful to God for using us in different areas. The Christmas season is a good opportunity to meet new people and introduce them to Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"christmas-outreach\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eChristmas Outreach\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Jonh-Edward-Jan-2021-1-300x264.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe got to do a Christmas Gospel program in our new building. We invited the local people who live around the area of the new building. We also arranged vehicles from the place where we minister and have church. We had the outreach in the new building because the government did not give us permission to do it outdoors.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Filled With Joy"},{"content":"“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Rom. 12:12 The word for me this year is\u0026hellip; hope! Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ who is Sovereign. I’m sure we were all are so ready to say good-bye to 2020! A year with much suffering for some, and a “welcome to the kingdom of heaven” for others. This past year has given me a determination to get the message of the gospel out to a dying world more than ever! Here is a little bit of what I have been up to at Calvary Chapel Pedregales in Tijuana, Mexico:We were able to bless the children with a Christmas party Covid style! It was such a blessing to see all of our little friends. They came for a very short time to just basically pick up their gifts and a sack lunch and other goodies. It was a huge blessing to them, as many kids here don’t receive presents at Christmas time. They all know that the biggest and best gift is Jesus! Thanks again to all who made this possible! We love you!\nOur church was closed, then open, and now closed again. We continue to minister to all via facebook with women and men’s Bible studies, Sunday School for the kids, and of course midweek and Sunday services. The kids come to the church to pick up their material, all in ziplock baggies so they can participate at home.\nWe continue to feed our families of the 40 kids who are in our after school program, “Amigos del Rey” (Friends of the King). We purchase food and drive to their homes to drop it off. We are praying that soon we will be able to open up. The kids desperatley need help with their homework. There are many obstacles for them with online learning, so we want to help them.\nThe Lord blessed me with a mini vacation to Sacramento and Lake Tahoe with the Martinez family, my spiritual family here in Mexico. It was so nice to just relax and bask in God’s glory. I also tremendously enjoyed the Missions Conference in January at CC Costa Mesa. Great teaching and fellowship. It is refreshing and necessary to refill and spend time with the Lord to continue to give out.\nPrayer requests:\nprovisions to purchase the land below us to help us open a school that we are in prayer for. for the parents of the kids to come to surrender their lives to Jesus. for the govt. to allow us to open up our church and after school program for my right knee replacement to happen soon Muchas gracias! Thank you so much for your prayers for me and the children at CC Pedregales. Dios te bendiga (God bless you)!!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/goodby-2020-hello-2021/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” Rom. 12:12\u003c/em\u003e The word for me this year is\u0026hellip; hope! Hope in the Lord Jesus Christ who is Sovereign. I’m sure we were all are so ready to say good-bye to 2020! A year with much suffering for some, and a “welcome to the kingdom of heaven” for others. This past year has given me a determination to get the message of the gospel out to a dying world more than ever! Here is a little bit of what I have been up to at Calvary Chapel Pedregales in Tijuana, Mexico:We were able to bless the children with a Christmas party Covid style! It was such a blessing to see all of our little friends. They came for a very short time to just basically pick up their gifts and a sack lunch and other goodies. It was a huge blessing to them, as many kids here don’t receive presents at Christmas time. They all know that the biggest and best gift is Jesus! Thanks again to all who made this possible! We love you!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Goodbye 2020, Hello 2021!"},{"content":"“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 About 2000 years ago God sent His only Son to redeem us from our enslavement to sin. Today we have hope and peace with God because of His life, death, resurrection and ascension. MERRY CHRISTMAS!\nLast year, 2020, we all saw our need for that Hope more than ever. The true condition of the world was revealed, as fear and death reigned through the virus and the lockdowns. Our hearts were unmasked as we were all polarized against each other. We have always needed Jesus, but perhaps that’s clearer to us now more than ever. Personally I feel as if I’ve been reduced to a small child, desperately dependent on his Father. It’s sad that it takes so much for us to accept the embrace of God\u0026rsquo;s loving arms, but praise God for His ever present help in time of trouble. May we be effective ambassadors for Christ, not announcing our opinions but faithfully proclaiming to all God’s message of reconciliation.\nIn this year of 2021, we are excited to see the plans that God has in store for our family and ministry. We have almost finished our furlough, which has blessed us in many ways. If God wills, we plan on returning to our home in Northern Uganda sometime in February. We know that God has renewed our vision and given us greater knowledge and wisdom during this respite, so that we will be a more effective tool when we return. We look forward to reuniting with all of our teammates and fellow laborers in the Gospel. In particular we are excited to graduate our 2nd class of pastors this coming Spring, and we are even more excited to watch how God provides as we work toward opening a second campus for the pastoral school. When that happens, I have been asked to assume the role as director over that campus.\nPraise God: For the gift of His Son, Jesus who has purchased us from sin and death. Merry Christmas! For another chance to draw near to God as He draws near to us. Happy New Year! Please Pray: For our daughter\u0026rsquo;s passport to come in quickly. Paperwork is moving slowly during this COVID time. For our return home to Uganda. That the Lord provides for the second campus of our school of discipleship. In Christ,\nMatt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/december-2020-2/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"therefore-we-do-not-lose-heart-though-outwardly-we-are-wasting-away-yet-inwardly-we-are-being-renewed-day-by-day-for-our-light-and-momentary-troubles-are-achieving-for-us-an-eternal-glory-that-far-outweighs-them-all-so-we-fix-our-eyes-not-on-what-is-seen-but-on-what-is-unseen-since-what-is-seen-is-temporary-but-what-is-unseen-is-eternal-2-corinthians-416-18\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Therefore we do not lose heart.  Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day.  For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.  So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  2 Corinthians 4:16-18\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2021/01/IMG-6693.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAbout 2000 years ago God sent His only Son to redeem us from our enslavement to sin. Today we have hope and peace with God because of His life, death, resurrection and ascension. MERRY CHRISTMAS!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"December 2020"},{"content":" Thank you so much for helping us and supporting us, as well as praying for our trip and ministry!\nOn December 23, we had a pre-Christmas celebration in the village. Two of our Calvary Chapel churches also participated. We met the local pastor and leaders of the village church.\nAt least 200 people came to our services. They were blessed by the sharing of the Word of God from Pastor Aanad. We were able to feed those who came. We also distributed some winter hats/bonnets from my beautiful wife and my online fellowships/social media groups.\nIt was very hard for us to climb the mountain to this village area. Nothing was around to support us or hold on to while we traveled up and down the small narrow path. The people there were very poor, both spiritually and physically. We encouraged them and shared with them about joining our Bible training center. Pray for their lives to be rooted in the Word of God so that in the upcoming days we can take them, teach them, guide them, and disciple them.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/blessed-by-gods-word/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Rabi-Jan-2021-3-small.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank you so much for helping us and supporting us, as well as praying for our trip and ministry!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn December 23, we had a pre-Christmas celebration in the village. Two of our Calvary Chapel churches also participated. We met the local pastor and leaders of the village church.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt least 200 people came to our services. They were blessed by the sharing of the Word of God from Pastor Aanad. We were able to feed those who came. We also distributed some winter hats/bonnets from my beautiful wife and my online fellowships/social media groups.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessed By God's Word"},{"content":"I had a great opportunity to visit pastor 6* and his Calvary Chapel church a few days ago. After several months of lock-down and severe spread of Covid, this was the first time I was able to teach in public.\nMy online teachings are going well. However, it is challenging to put everything in order and to release them online. I am so happy that a normal chat with the students became an incredible opportunity to teach verse by verse in my language. What I understand about 1st Corinthians has changed my whole perspective about church and being a Christian. I am praying and hoping that people who are watching the videos will learn many things about the Truth.\nPlease pray that these online teachings will reach people and our Lord will provide what is needed for video editing and filming.\nGod bless you, Pastor 7*\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/by-thy-word/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI had a great opportunity to visit pastor 6* and his Calvary Chapel church a few days ago. After several months of lock-down and severe spread of Covid, this was the first time I was able to teach in public.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Rohith-Jan2021-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Rohith-Jan2021-300x233.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMy online teachings are going well. However, it is challenging to put everything in order and to release them online. I am so happy that a normal chat with the students became an incredible opportunity to teach verse by verse in my language. What I understand about 1st Corinthians has changed my whole perspective about church and being a Christian. I am praying and hoping that people who are watching the videos will learn many things about the Truth.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"By Thy Word"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nI hope this update finds you and your family healthy and blessed! This past month was a difficult month for many people, with COVID hitting hard all over the world! And this month the pandemic hit close to home with our family and church!\nAt the start of December, I was preaching at our church at our evening Bible study, when I was told the police were waiting outside. After the service, they entered our patio and closed the church down and threatened us with a fine! Even though a new law had unjustly targeted church’s and work out gym’s by the government, (leaving open the bars, casino’s and strip clubs) we decided to comply with the threat and close our church doors.\nOur church is blessed to have a large parking lot, which enabled us to host another one of our outside “Car Church” services! Miraculously, after just 7 days the state legislature overturned this unjust law, and with government permission in hand, we were blessed to re-open our church with safety measures in place after just 7 days of closing.\nOn the home front, our family finally encountered what so many others have faced, and our son Daniel got sick and then tested positive for covid. Even though Sarah, Grace, and I felt fine, with dread in our hearts we traveled to get tested the following day. Thankfully, our three tests came out negative, so our son Daniel moved alone into a local friends beach house to quarantine through the holidays.\nOver the past three weeks, we have been making twice daily trips (with masks) to visit Daniel and bring him food. We are able to chat with him through the screen door, and we brought him our big white puppy YUKI to live with him and keep him company! Thankfully, Daniel’s symptoms never got very serious, even though he retested after 20 days and was still testing positive. It was sad to have a separated Christmas and have to social distance from our precious son, but we understood that we were facing what millions of other’s have faced throughout this difficult past year. Please pray that Daniel’s quarantine will end soon, and he will be able to move back home.\nOne big blessing in the church was finishing up our year with another church plant (our forth church plant of the year). Our church family was blessed to send out our good friends and church staffers, Elmer and Crystal Cardenas to plant a church in a city called Loreto.\nLoreto is located 2/3rds of the way down the beautiful Baja peninsula, and is famous for it’s fishing businesses in the gulf and it’s pristine beaches with clear water! We sent out two other couples and a staffer to join in this new work, so please keep them in your prayers!\nFinally, we feel honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with us as your missionaries in these difficult times. It’s through your prayers that God provides for our spiritual needs and through your financial support that God provides for our physical needs. THANK YOU!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would heal our son Daniel (and the many others affected) of the Corona Virus.\n#2- That God would bless our newest church plant Calvary Chapel Loreto!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God that we were able to send out our 26th church plant in December!\n#2- Praise God for the healthy re-opening of our church after being shut down by the local police.\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-january-2020-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/01/cHRISTMAS-BLESSINGS-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI hope this update finds you and your family healthy and blessed! This past month was a difficult month for many people, with COVID hitting hard all over the world! And this month the pandemic hit close to home with our family and church!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2021/01/128863892%5F427096008468364%5F2832454681008516142%5Fna.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt the start of December, I was preaching at our church at our evening Bible study, when I was told the police were waiting outside. After the service, they entered our patio and closed the church down and threatened us with a fine! Even though a new law had unjustly targeted church’s and work out gym’s by the government, \u003cem\u003e(leaving open the bars, casino’s and strip clubs)\u003c/em\u003e we decided to comply with the threat and close our church doors.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family January 2021 Update"},{"content":"“Not to us, Lord, not to us but to Your Name be the glory because of Your love and faithfulness!” (Psalm 115:1)\nYES! GLORY to YOU LORD for ALL the marvelous things You have done throughout the year 2020!\nFor the amazing faithfulness You have shown to us moment by moment while the world around us became more and more insane.\nFor incredible open doors you gave us when this world started to take way our liberties.\nFor Your provision when the world economy started to suffer.\nFor Your Word, Your promises that bring stability and peace to us amidst a world that is starting to stagger.\nFor You being the Anchor of our faith among a world which is losing its foundation.\nFor the steadfastness of valiant brothers and sisters despite strict regulations eating away our fellowship.\nFor our pastors who remain here for all of us.\nFor the strong faith of my husband who encouraged me often.\nFor all the brothers and sisters in France who have participated in sharing the Gospel with many via the movie cards.\nFor ever deepening relationships with family members, neighbors and many others, desiring to shine our light to them so they, too, will come humbly to the Savior.\nFor the Holy Spirit who does not leave us orphans but comes to our rescue in every need.\nFor all of those who have prayed for us, called us, visited us, and supported us financially or with great counsel.\nFor the future and the hope we have in You LORD, knowing that Your compassion on Your children and Your goodness will be renewed morning by morning. We will continue to live with You the best adventure, whatever the circumstances around us!\nWe pray LORD God Almighty, that You fill us up with all wisdom, power, increased faith, and love to continue the work that You have given us to perform here in France. We pray that we will be better ambassadors for You in the midst of a perishing world. Please, LORD, pour Your compassion over this country and call to Yourself a huge number of lost souls! Strengthen Your church here, and may the world see through us the light. Help us to be the salt of this earth and may all that will be done glorify Your Name more than ever before!\nWe pray for an amazing new year for each of you, surrended to the perfect will of our Good Good Father!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/to-your-name-be-the-glory/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Not to us, Lord, not to us but to Your Name be the glory because of Your love and faithfulness!”\u003c/strong\u003e (Psalm 115:1)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYES! GLORY to YOU LORD for ALL the marvelous things You have done throughout the year 2020!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor the amazing faithfulness You have shown to us moment by moment while the world around us became more and more insane.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor incredible open doors you gave us when this world started to take way our liberties.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"To Your Name Be The Glory"},{"content":"Family As you know from our last update, Ron has decided to have back fusion surgery to try and help alleviate the severe back pain he has been experiencing for almost a year now. It was supposed to take place mid-January. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, non-essential surgeries are being postponed. It may happen as early as the end of January, but we have no way of knowing at this point. Please pray with us that it will be allowed to take place soon!\nChurch Planting This past weekend, our church, Calvary Chapel Rosarito, had the privilege of sending out its 26th church plant. Pastor Elmer Cardenas was ordained, and he and his wife, Crystal, will leave shortly to plant Calvary Chapel Loreto in Loreto, Baja California Sur (South). They will be starting a bilingual church in this coastal, resort town of about 20,000 people.\nWe have the opportunity to support them next month! We will be traveling to Loreto with our 24-foot trailer to help Elmer and Crystal move. It is a 16-hour trip south, without traffic and without pulling a large trailer, so we will be taking a couple of days to drive there. We are excited to be able to help them out in this way. We will also be moving some belongings of Juan, who is going to be serving with them. There are two other couples who are moving there to serve at CCL as well.\nPlease pray for all of us for safe travels, and for the start of this new church!\nMinistry \u0026amp; the Coronavirus Here at Connections House, we feel very confident in our decision to resume ministry on June 29th of this past year. When teams began canceling in March and details of COVID-19 were still very vague, we had made the decision to temporarily cancel ministry. Once we had more knowledge on the subject, we decided to reopen.\nWe have been called to reach the people of Rosarito, Mexico and the surrounding area. We were not called to serve only when it’s easy. God did not tell us to, “spread the gospel, but shut things down when there are too many obstacles”. We have witnessed several ministries and missionaries who have packed things up and gone home this past year. We have been condemned and criticized for our decision to remain open and accept teams. However, God’s opinion is the one that matters. Since the arrival of our first team in July 2020, restaurants in Rosarito may have had limited capacity, but they have been open for business and most of them open for dine-in as well. This is just one of the things that helps to reassure us that it was a good choice to resume ministry.\nWe are doing our best to be safe and careful. Connections House will be continuing with its extra efforts in the cleaning and sanitization of our facilities and ministry materials. We will remain committed to following all social distancing and safety guidelines of our churches, ministry sites, stores, etc. Anyone that is the high risk category of COVID is strongly advised not to come. We will also continue with our rules of greeting with elbows and wearing masks.\nMinistry will likely continue to look different this year, especially in the beginning. This past year, all of our ministry included COVID relief – giving out food and/or cleaning supplies. We remained steady in sharing the gospel and trying to encourage the local people as much as possible. In 2021, we would like to add construction ministry to our focus. We have a great opportunity to use this time to help churches, feeding kitchens, and orphanages in the construction or repair of their facilities. This is something that can be done with very little to no contact with the local people in order to help promote safety and good health.\nPlease join us in praying that the Lord will work in the hearts of many to come and serve! Contact us if you have any questions at all about ministry or bringing a team to serve during this global pandemic.\nEnd of the Year Giving We would like to thank all of you who have partnered with us this past month to help continue our 3rd floor project. Our Upper Room is looking awesome and as of today, we have two functioning bathrooms! With a little bit more paint and some wall tile, they will be completed soon! The next step will likely be the drop ceiling in the dining room and/or kitchen.\nPlease consider a small donation of $30 to help us continue this work. Since the beginning of December, you have helped us to raise $1548! We’d love for you to help us out with the remaining balance of our short-term goal of $2952. That’s just 98 more people at $30 each! If many people are able to give small amounts, it is not only a lighter load for people to carry, it also means that that many more people will get to share in the fruit of this ministry! Lord willing, we would like to have this project completed before our spring teams arrive! Click here to learn more about Connections House.\ngive.connectionshouse.org\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/struska-missions-update-december-2020/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"family\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFamily\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs you know from our last update, Ron has decided to have back fusion surgery to try and help alleviate the severe back pain he has been experiencing for almost a year now. It was supposed to take place mid-January. However, due to COVID-19 restrictions, non-essential surgeries are being postponed. It may happen as early as the end of January, but we have no way of knowing at this point. Please pray with us that it will be allowed to take place soon!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Struska Missions Update December 2020"},{"content":" EUROPE\nZully Ruano - Mallorca, Spain\nI hope you had a Wonderful Christmas\nPrayer Requests:\n1. School: We are opening the Christian Nursery School on January 11, 2021. Most of the parents and children are non-believers, so please pray for the Lord to use us to reflect His love, to share the gospel, and to be a light as we care and teach our students.\n2. School: For provisions to run the school - we are stepping out in faith with the expenses, assisting families during this pandemic as well so please keep us in prayer for the everyday expenses to keep the school afloat.\n3. Family: This is my second year away for the holidays, so please pray that just as the Lord has filled my heart with peace that He would overwhelm my parents and the rest of my family with His peace as well. My parents are at high risk so I appreciate your prayers for them to remain safe and well.\n4. Personal: For the Lord to fill me with wisdom, humility, and strength to lead this school, to share the gospel with my neighbors, and to remain close to Jesus everyday more and more.\nThank you for your prayers!!Happy New Year!!!\nLove,\nZully - Email Blog\nBrenna Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\nPraise God:\n-For how He continues to work and pursue hearts despite covid-19 circumstances.\n-For His continued provision\nPrayer Requests: 1.\nOpportunities to minister to people amidst covid restrictions and not being able to gather in person as a church.\n2. Language learning\n3. Health: For complete healing of my body from mold toxicity and infections. Pray for wisdom as I continue to address my health and make decisions.\n4. For salvation of Hungarians and the many internationals here.\n5. For direction and clarity, and strength to walk in what the Lord sets before me.\nThank you for your continued prayer in these times!\nLove in Christ,\nBrenna - Email Blog\nAFRICA\nKanyike Family - Kampala, Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Uganda is beginning it\u0026rsquo;s presidential campaigns. Pray for safety as there has been much rioting and fighting. Many people have been killed and injured.\n2. Pray for the Covid situation to improve, everywhere. In Uganda the numbers and deaths continue to rise.\n3. Pray for Luke as he is recovering from what is likely an UTI. He was in a lot of pain but is beginning to feel better.\n4. Pray for Brian and Jill as the pray and plan how to celebrate Christmas with Arise Christian Fellowship. With all the Sops they can not have their normal program. Pray the Lord leads them with exactly what will celebrate his birth and bless the people.\n5. Pray for Jill and the children as they are getting close to the end of this homeschooling year.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nVincent and Melissa Aniku - Uganda\nThank you all so much for continuing to pray in these times.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have finished the first step for land to start the community center, library and soccer stadium. Please pray as the sports ministry starts a new season in a new level. We pray this will be used for the furtherance of the gospel.\n2. Continued prayer for our health.\n3. Pray as we resume leadership discipleship. That all leadership will continue to grow deeper.\n4. Pray for peace in Uganda as the presidential elections near.\n5. Pray for physical and spiritual needs of the ministry.\n6. Pray for the finalizing paperwork for the container.\nThank you all so much for your prayers and love!\nIn Him,\nVincent and Melissa - Email Blog\nHarris Family - Gulu, Uganda\nWe hope you had a very Merry Christmas beloved family in the Lord Jesus Christ! Thank you for your time as you commit to prayer to God for the furtherance of the Gospel on His earth!\nPraise God:\n-For sending His beloved Son to the earth to redeem His people.\n-For allowing us to be around our extended family this Christmas season.\n-For the opportunities God has given our family to share our vision with His people here in the US.\nPlease Pray:\n1. For wisdom as we plan our return trip back home to Uganda.\n2. That we will be able to accomplish all that God has planed for our time on this side.\n3. That God would establish His church in the truth of the Gospel!\nThank You\nIn Christ,\nMatt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, Noah \u0026amp; Charlotte - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nYours for the unreached,\nRob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California, USA\nPraise the Lord:\n-Surgery went well for Jenn\n-Many sisters from the church have come along side of her to help.\n-we celebrated our first anniversary.\n-Financial partners who answered our distress signal\nPrayer request.\n1. Patience for Jenn in her recovery, its a long painful road\n2. Wisdom in preparation for Calvary School of Missions 2021\n3. For us to remain diligent to stay in the word and prayer together\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - California, USA\nThank you for praying for us so faithfully!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for the Lord\u0026rsquo;s wisdom and guidance, as well as energy, in the raising up of our kids in Christ.\n2. Please continue to pray for vision for ministry moving forward as Joel leads the Missionary Sending Department of SGWM as well as pastors Young Adults and Worship Ministry for CCSG.\n3. Please pray for the nations in regards to COVID; that the Lord would heal, eradicate the virus, provide for those who have suffered economically and otherwise from it, and that the doors to travel much for the sake of the Gospel would open us again.\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent - Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please keep our church safe, as the police came and closed down our church in December because of Covid. We are now hosting outside Car church services!\n2. Pray that God will heal our 18 year old son Daniel from Covid!\n3. Pray that God would bless our bilingual church plant to Loreto (South Baja)\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel - Email Blog\nMike and Erin Thiemann - California, USA\nHappy New Year!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family during this crazy season. School has started back up and the beginning of the year is always chaotic for Erin and the kids as they develop a new routine.\n2. I have restructured the leadership within SGWM and have created three distinct departments - Missionary Sending (US based missionaries that we have sent), International Relations (10/40 Window church planting/nationals), and the Missionary Training (School of Missions and Internship). Pray as we transition and continue to grow.\n3. Please pray for the youth ministry I lead. Our group is growing and the teens are doing well. Please pray for all of our leaders that the Lord would anoint them.\n4. Over the next 6-7 months, my teaching schedule is increasing exponentially. Please pray that the Lord lengthens my study time and anoints my ability to communicate His Word effectively.\n5. Pray for our personal support. Living in the States and on missionary support is a difficult reality. We struggle with it practically as living expenses in Orange County are high. It is also a struggle to convince people that our home office staff is an absolute necessity for the success of our missionaries all over the world.\n7. We also had a great response for our 2021 summer youth and young adults Israel apologetic tour. We have 35 signups! I originally booked for 15. So the Lord sent in a LOT more. Please pray for all the administration that goes into organizing a trip like this. Also, pray for no COVID issues.\nThank you for praying!\nGod bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina - Erin - Email Mike - Emai l Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for God to open up more ministry opportunities, since others continue to be indefinitely closed due to covid.\n2. Please pray for our country to turn to God during this difficult time.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for my grandmother in a nursing home, for her salvation and protection.\n2. Pray that God will lead us in all things.\n3. Please continue to pray for my daughter, Rose\u0026rsquo;s, health this winter, and for her eye muscle development.\nThank you so much for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nBrad and Melissa - Amazon Jungle Brazil\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please join us in praying for our brother in ministry Pastor Eddie Sahakian and family. He pastors a Calvary Chapel in the U.S. He is young and was just diagnosed with Parkinson\u0026rsquo;s. We did much ministry in Mexico before each of had been Pastors and went to some classes together at bible college.\n2. Please pray for the Apurina people to whom we minister to. Pray specifically for Raimunda, Valdeci, Oscar and Analucia, Alcimara, Maria Antonia, Nelson, Vitor, Evandro, Leandro and his village.\n3. Please pray for our next trip to visit them in January. Please pray that we would get much accomplished. We plan to continue School of Ministry Classes in the 1st and 2nd villages, hopefully to start in a 3rd. We also plan to rekindle what might have diminished from our long 6 month absence.\n4. Please pray for our family. Brad, Melissa, Andrea, Josiah, Veronica and Benjamin. Please pray for Naice and Linelma who have been back in our house for the holidays.\nGod bless you and thank you in Christ!\nBrad and Melissa and family - Emai l Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\nWorker 15 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that we can restart Sunday services and the Pastors School soon.\n2. Please pray for us and the ministry in our country.\n3. Please pray for our co-worker Pastor\u0026rsquo;s wife who is a nurse. She tested positive for Covid-19. Please also pray for our daughter who is a nurse.\n4. Pray that many non-Christians who saw our Facebook online services would be saved.\nGod bless you\nCo-workers in Christ\n15 and family\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nThanks for supporting us and helping to uplift our God ministry.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray our family and Church Family\u0026rsquo;s health.\n2. Pray that all the staff and student to be safe from Covid.\n3. Pray our ministry to be fruitful.\n4. Pray our online ministry will be blessing to others.\nThank you for praying for us!\nGod bless,\nRabi and Mahima - Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise God:\n-Praise God for His goodness! Charis Bible Church has moved to new location and reconstructing the building has also finished, we started the service since last two weeks.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for all Charis Bible Church family members, for their good health and continual spiritual growth.\n2. Please pray that Charis would be a center for people to get saved in Christ.\n3. Please pray for Hetauda- Middle East of Nepal, one of the brother from our Church his name is Laxman, has continued Bible study during lockdown. Now 10-12 people are attending the Bible study. For one month back they are gathering every Saturday for the service.\n4. Please pray- I and my wife are planning to visit Hetauda- the new church and Nijgadh Before Christmas, pray for our journey.\n5. Please pray for all CCBC students, for their good health, family and their ministry.\n6. Please pray that Our training Center/Bible College would resume soon.\n7. Let the Covid-19 be vanished away soon.\nThank you for your prayers!\nBlessing,\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nPraise Report:\n-It was such a blessed month last month. We are so much grateful to God who help us to do ministry in the Leprosy colony. We are able to share Gospel and distribute food because of COVID.\nThank you all the prayer warriors who had been praying for us to\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health so that we may serve God more and more.\n2. Please pray as we are traveling to east Nepal for couple of weeks that it may be blessing to others where ever we go.\n3. Please pray that we are going to visit some of young guys who were able to join zoom Bible study from East Nepal , we may encourage them more to keep on study God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\n4. Please pray that Government may allow us to start Bible college from coming February 2021.\n5. Please pray for our community to whom we had shared Gospel that they may have encounter with God.\nGod bless,\nAnand, Usha and family - Email Blog\nWorker 8 - 10/40 Window\nThank you for praying for our health; our health is better.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for those who heard the Christmas message at our outreach. Pray that God will touch their hearts and they will be open to the Gospel.\n2. Please pray for me, and for my family, that we will be effectively used by God\nOnce again I would like to thank everyone who is praying and helping financially.\nMay my loving God bless you all abundantly.\n8 and family\nMilan Pariyar - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nMilan - Blog\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\nThank you so much for your prayers. God bless you!\nMay God bless you\nWorker 9\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\n1. Pray for all of the new people who have heard the Gospel, that they will accept Jesus.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you\nWorker 12\nWorker 3 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for M.S., so that God\u0026rsquo;s Word will take root in his heart, and he will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\n2. Kindly pray for my Wednesday online Bible study, that God will help me to reach more people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\n3. Please pray for me, and for my family, that we will be effectively used by God.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you\nWorker 3\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n-Praise God to save us from all kind of devil\u0026rsquo;s work, some old persecutor again came last month to claim church land where is church building and gave big amount of bribe to police officer for reopen the last police false case, police called us in the police station so me and my dad went there with all property documents but that guy who is claiming not reached in the police station even we waited 4 hours.\n-Praise God we done church painting last week after 8 years.\n-Praise God to take us healthy in the winter.\n-Praise God for provide every financial need for the Christmas and outreach.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our outreaches can be safe from fanatics people and so many people can hear the good news.\n2. Please continue pray for my church so many people are planning to stop Sunday service. Three weeks ago during Sunday worship time my neighbor started to play Bollywood songs in the big loudspeaker to disturb worship, we and my church members prayed for them now they are not doing like that.\n3. Please pray for my all church member to be stand in the persecution and can be strong in the word of God.4. Please pray for my English can be good and understandable.\nThanks for the partnership for the Gospel!\nThank you so much for your faithful prayers.\nGod bless!\nWorker 11\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our new church plant.\n2. Pray for our Bible study with young adults.\n3. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s work that we are doing here; pray that it would be fruitful and be a blessing to many.\n4. Pray that the church believers will grow more in God\u0026rsquo;s wisdom and in His Word.\n5. Pray that we serve God faithfully.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 6 and family\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please continue to pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\n2. Pray for new believers to grow in Christ\n3. Please pray for my health and safety.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 13\nRaju - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will fulfill all the responsibilities that God has given me in His Church.\n2. Please pray that the Good News will reach all my villagers, and that they will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus, and may His Church grow.\n3. Please pray that all of my family members will know the Lord.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe, that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for me to share the Gospel.\n3. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you\nWorker 10\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nAs William Carey said, \u0026ldquo;Expect great things from God; Attempt great things for God\u0026rdquo;\nPrayer Request:\n1. My prayer is that the students who are under Bible training would understand God\u0026rsquo;s heart for unreached people, and that they will experience this statement in their lives.\n2. Please pray for the YouTube channel Pastor 7 has begun.\n3. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you,\nGod Bless\nWorker 7\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1.Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my\nThanking you!\nYours in Christ,\nWorker 4\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\n3. Please pray for our Christmas outreach.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nWorker 2\nMajhiya and Sarita Besra - Nepa l\nPraise God:\n1. We have found an opportunity to share with others about Jesus, praise the Lord!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes. They are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n2. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n3. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita - Blog\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nThank you so much for your prayers. **\n**\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the ministry in our country\n2. Pray for me to use this time to grow in the Word of God\n3. Pray for our students who are doing ministry in their villages\n4. Pray for us as we are thinking about reopening the school next semester\n5. Pray for my family\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nWorker 16 - 1-/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my wife, as she is a nurse and working among the Covid patients; pray that God will keep her safe.\n2. Please pray for my children, that they will grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will intervene for the problem the world is facing.\n4. Please pray for our audio classes and the ministry on social media.\n5. Please pray for Mrs. T, as she lost her premature baby due to a medical problem; please keep her in your prayers.\nThank you for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot;\n- Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-jan-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eZully Ruano - Mallorca, Spain\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/zuano-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you had a Wonderful Christmas\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. School: We are opening the Christian Nursery School on January 11, 2021. Most of the parents and children are non-believers, so please pray for the Lord to use us to reflect His love, to share the gospel, and to be a light as we care and teach our students.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. School: For provisions to run the school - we are stepping out in faith with the expenses, assisting families during this pandemic as well so please keep us in prayer for the everyday expenses to keep the school afloat.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JAN PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" It\u0026rsquo;s my pleasure to share an update about our church. We have been continuing our weekly online services (prayer meetings, worship services, young adult fellowship, and children\u0026rsquo;s fellowship). We have also started in-person church services at our new location!\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sweet-fellowship/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Prakash-4-Dec-2020-300x225.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s my pleasure to share an update about our church. We have been continuing our weekly online services (prayer meetings, worship services, young adult fellowship, and children\u0026rsquo;s fellowship). We have also started in-person church services at our new location!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBlessings!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrakash, Muna and Eutychus\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Prakash-2-Dec-2020-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Prakash-Dec-2020-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Prakash-December-3-2020.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"Sweet Fellowship"},{"content":" ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/winter-newsletter-2020/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/winter-NL-2020.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"Winter Newsletter 2020"},{"content":"I am in shock when I think back on how quickly this year has flown by. Like all of you this year, I was not without challenges- planning a wedding in the midst of a pandemic is not fun- but we can all stand together and say that God has been faithful through every difficulty.\nThis year SGWM has seen God provide over 2.5 million dollars in funds for and sent to missionaries on every inhabited continent! That’s over 2.5 million dollars donated toward specific missionaries that God allowed us to funnel into the battlefield for souls! Imagine what God wants to do in 2021 if THAT is how He provides in the middle of a worldwide shutdown and recession.\nThis summer SGWM trusted God and went ahead with the Calvary School of Missions missionary training program in Mexico. We had 12 students and saw the Lord radically provide for each of their needs, keep them and the 7 staff members healthy and safe, and bring hope and sustenance to many hurting people in Mexican slums. Our God cannot be held down!\nThis Christmas we have seen God open the door for 18 outreaches among the unreached and we cannot wait to hear of the fruit He will bring from them.\nIn my personal life God has been so faithful this year (just as He is every year). I had the joy of saying “I do” to the man of my dreams, the excitement of finding out that we are going to be parents in May, the blessing of seeing my family stay well and have courage, and the privilege of serving my church, my friends on the mission field, and my God through it all. It has been a very good year. As I said, not without its challenges, but the blessings far outweigh each trial.\nThank you for standing with me through this year and allowing me to share what God has been doing. Each of your prayers and kind emails have been deeply appreciated and I look forward to what God has for 2021; a year, surely, with its fair share of difficulty but with the steadfast assurance of God’s continued faithfulness.\nGod bless you and your family this Christmas and in this new year! May His blessings flow freely as you look toward and trust in Him through whatever this year may bring.\nMuch love,\nHope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/merry-christmas-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am in shock when I think back on how quickly this year has flown by. Like all of you this year, I was not without challenges- planning a wedding in the midst of a pandemic is not fun- but we can all stand together and say that God has been faithful through every difficulty.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis year SGWM has seen God provide over 2.5 million dollars in funds for and sent to missionaries on every inhabited continent! That’s over 2.5 million dollars donated toward specific missionaries that God allowed us to funnel into the battlefield for souls! Imagine what God wants to do in 2021 if THAT is how He provides in the middle of a worldwide shutdown and recession.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Merry Christmas!"},{"content":" Jon and Josue with the men at the rehab. The Lord blessed them all with new Bibles.\nChristmas Fellowship\nChristmas Fellowship\nChristmas Fellowship\nChristmas Fellowship\nChristmas Fellowship. A lot of the church family from Oaxaca but still missing some.\nVolleyball at the Christmas Fellowship.\nVolleyball\nVolleyball\nCalvary Oaxaca\u0026rsquo;s 2nd annual Women\u0026rsquo;s Christmas event\nChristmas at the Men\u0026rsquo;s Rehab\nAllison teaching at the women\u0026rsquo;s Christmas event\nServing Jesus and sporting Calvary Oaxaca Shirts\nFamily Time downtown\nChristmas mugs for the women of Calvary Oaxaca\nHi all! I’m hoping to get this update sent out today, so it’s going to be a quick one.\nWe’ve had a lot going on down here in Oaxaca! Ministry seems to be in full-swing for the most part. We are using precautions but it’s so nice to feel like things really are moving forward.\nThis month, I (Allison) had the honor of hosting a Christmas event for the ladies. We had a blast! We played some fun games, I shared a little bible study/devotion, and we enjoyed lots of fellowship and yummy coffee and cakes. It was our 2nd annual women’s Christmas event, which really reminds us that we are so close to completing two full years as a church family.\nJon has still been going to the men’s rehab each week, and he really loves doing it. He goes with our friend and neighbor, Joseu, so last week our families all went out there to celebrate Christmas with them. We had a fun time of eating and hanging out. The Lord provided for each of them to receive Bibles, and to see the looks on their faces was indescribable. They said that they had never received a gift like that before.\nThis past Sunday we had an all-church picnic at a local park. It was a blast to all be together, outside, laughing and having fun. We played volleyball, rented bikes, ate, and just spent some much needed time together as a church family. It amazes me how much this group of people means to us as a family. They have welcomed us into their lives and their culture with open arms and hearts.\nWe will be heading up to the States to see family soon and celebrate Christmas with them. We hope we can see many of you while we’re there. Hopefully we can plan a time where we can all get together, but we also understand that COVID is serious and it may not work out. Please pray that our time with family is a blessing and that we stay healthy.\nWe pray you all have a blessed Christmas as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And we also hope you all have an amazing New Year in 2021.\nGod bless!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, and Noah Brechtel\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/december-2020/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IMG%5F3913.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Jon and Josue with the men at the rehab. The Lord blessed them all with new Bibles.\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eJon and Josue with the men at the rehab. The Lord blessed them all with new Bibles.\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IMG%5F4079.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Christmas Fellowship\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eChristmas Fellowship\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IMG%5F4078.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Christmas Fellowship\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eChristmas Fellowship\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IMG%5F4092.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Christmas Fellowship\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eChristmas Fellowship\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IMG%5F4089.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Christmas Fellowship\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eChristmas Fellowship\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/IMG%5F4061.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Christmas Fellowship. A lot of the church family from Oaxaca but still missing some.\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eChristmas Fellowship. A lot of the church family from Oaxaca but still missing some.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"December 2020"},{"content":" Merry Christmas to you all! The celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is probably already starting. Praise the Lord! Let our praises go forth now, early, whenever; time to thank our Father for the greatest gift of all, His Son. I like the psalmist shouting out in Psalm 96:12, \u0026ldquo;Let the field be joyful and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice.\u0026rdquo; Nature breaks forth in praise every day. We should too.\nClasses to grow by\nAll of us missionary interns are keeping very busy. It\u0026rsquo;s such a blessing to watch the Lord work in all of our lives here on the home front, getting us ready to serve Him wherever and whenever He calls us. We just finished a Tuesday evening class on Discipleship. Our Wednesday afternoon class just started an overview of the book of Romans. Overview - does Pastor Trent know what that word means? Love it! It\u0026rsquo;s my favorite book in the Bible because the Lord showed me so clearly what grace really is and that our puny self-centered works don\u0026rsquo;t amount to a hill of beans. Let\u0026rsquo;s pray Pastor Trent spends many clsss sessions in this wonderful gem of a book.\nIn addition to our weekday missions classes, Pastor Trent and his wife Debbie open up their home twice a month after Sunday church for a missions Bible study, fellowship and potluck. This is open to anyone with a heart for missions and again we are so privileged to join together in one accord and share how our Lord has been stirring our hearts to serve in the mission field. On occasion some of our own Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM) missionaries on furlough join us and give updates on the real deal. A lot of life changing seeds have been planted in souls during these fellowships. I know. I have my own little garden growing inside me that germinated right inside this home a year or so ago. Love how the Lord works.\nStudents to love on\nI\u0026rsquo;m still zoom teaching my Monday thru Wednesday English classes and loving every second of it for Voice of Refugees (VOR). See VOR here It\u0026rsquo;s developed into quite an international venue for sure. Two of our students are zooming from the Middle East - one from Libya and another from Egypt while my partner in crime, Teacher Assistant, Autumn, is zooming from London, England enjoying her evening cup of tea. \u0026ldquo;Good evening to all of you!\u0026rdquo; we greet each other as I finish my morning coffee. The students are truly remarkable. Our new colloquial phrase is, \u0026ldquo;Hey, what\u0026rsquo;s new?\u0026rdquo; Yea, the grammar and vocabulary are important for sure, but my number one focus is for the students to speak English as much as they can. Converse. Chit chat. We have a ball. Just recently after a class I got to share my testimony to all the zoom VOR students. We share the Lord whenever we get a chance.\n**\nVOR food deliveries**\nIn the last couple months or so, I started serving at the VOR offices on Thursdays in food packaging and deliveries to refugee families in Orange County. Now this is really cool because in addition to working behind the scenes getting all the food ready in boxes and stuff, we get to go out and actually see \u0026ldquo;in person\u0026rdquo; the families on our \u0026ldquo;route.\u0026rdquo; (Zoom teaching does have its limits.) Over the last several weeks I have developed friendships with some of these families and it is such a blessing to be with them, if just for a few minutes. Everyone is so loving. \u0026ldquo;Come in and have coffee.\u0026rdquo; I seem to not get my \u0026ldquo;route\u0026rdquo; done until it gets dark. Ha! What can I say?\nOh, one more thing. On Saturday, December 12, VOR did a drive-thru toy outreach at our offices in Anaheim. Talk about the Christmas spirit! We had over 100 families with 200 kids drive through all day. It was totally organized, so many people came out to volunteer as the cars kept rolling in. We made the best of this different Christmas season. All I know is I saw a lot of smiley happy kids that day.\nDevos to learn from\nWe\u0026rsquo;re rounding the bend teaching the book of 1st Corinthians on our Facebook page; 15-20 minute devotions as we go through the entire book, verse by verse. Now this is something else. I\u0026rsquo;ve been doing around one a week so I am like eating up the word of God making sure I am properly prepared to speak the truth. Talk about being held accountable. I am so thankful for this opportunity because I am learning so much of what God has go say to all of us. The Lord is revealing Himself more and more as I dig into His word. In Hebrews 4:12, the author says, \u0026ldquo;For the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword\u0026hellip;\u0026quot;. Keep cutting away Lord and don\u0026rsquo;t stop! I pray that just one person gets blessed by God\u0026rsquo;s word on the other end. We\u0026rsquo;re on Christmas break now. Come join us on Calvary Chapel Saving Grace Facebook page every weekday at 9:00 am PST. We\u0026rsquo;ll be kicking off the new year on January 4, 2021 with 1 Corinthians 14:20-33.\nSmiles to worship with\nWelcome to Calvary Chapel Saving Grace! Wow - I was given the opportunity to head up the Welcome Ministry at church around the time we opened up our doors a few weeks ago. Isn\u0026rsquo;t that cool! Corral together a team of glistening pearly whites to start the Lord\u0026rsquo;s day (ah, every day\u0026rsquo;s the Lord\u0026rsquo;s day, right?) is just another privilege the Lord has blessed me with. I gotta get a bigger cup I want to thank all of you who have served in this ministry. We do all have a lot of fun. Isn\u0026rsquo;t that the way it\u0026rsquo;s supposed be? Mucho gracias Pastor Tim for this opportunity.\nGoals to strive for\nIn the beginning of September I made a goal to run so many miles by the end of the year. I was running (and walking) every day except Sundays. Boy, was I ever \u0026ldquo;buffeting my body\u0026rdquo; (1 Corinthians 9:27) because I completed this goal before Thanksgiving! Time to raise the bar. We need to create goals in a lot of things we do so we can continue to go forward and grow more and more with the Lord.\nI had a cool treat near end of October. Our church had a visiting missionary from Jordan come stay with us for a couple weeks. He has been serving there for over a couple years now. I noticed he had a pair of running shoes on - actually they were just ugly worn out tennies - but I used them as a conversation point that led him to accept my invitation to run a 5K race with me in Long Beach that Saturday. We had a lot of fun, talked most of the time about him serving in Jordan and my heart to teach English and tell others about Jesus. Well, we actually did pretty good - 3rd place out of 9 runners. Hey, I FINALLY got to run with someone from church. One more thing off my bucket list. Yeah! Thanks Phil. We did it!\nI want to thank all who have offered up prayers and provided financial support for me this year in my calling to serve the Lord in missions. Please continue praying for me and also partnering with financially. You know you can run with me too, really. If you would like to support me financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the \u0026ldquo;Become A Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; button below, or you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with \u0026ldquo;Jim Needham support\u0026rdquo; in the memo section and mail it to: Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nYes, this has been a bizarre and for some of you a scary, sickly year. But we must continue to put our faith in our Lord Jesus to carry us through this season. Get alone with Him every single morning before you start your day. Believe me, I am learning more and more this is the most important thing I need to do. He so wants to have our company. Right?\nPraise Reports\nHow the Lord is stirring my heart for the students and everyone I serve with at Voice of Refugees (VOR)\nHow the Lord is moving in my heart more and more, one day at a time, to tell people about my Lord and Redeemer Jesus Christ. How the Lord is creating a desire in my heart to kick back in the morning and listen for that still quiet voice. Sometimes I hear Him outside too with the birds!\nPrayer Requests\nPatience, what can I say? I am getting better at it by His grace.\nThat I will learn more about His love for me. He really loves us so so much.\nThat the Lord would continue to stir my heart for those who have not heard of Jesus Christ by providing for their spiritual (prayer) and physical (go there !!!) needs.\nWould you pray for our SGWM missionaries around the world? Most of them are having a very difficult time in every way. Thank you.\nIf you\u0026rsquo;d like to get my monthly updates sent directly to your email inbox, just click on the following link: Jim Needham Updates. You can reach me at jneedham@sgwm.com.\nThe Lord continue to bless each and everyone of you and your families now and as we start a new year together. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!\nJim Needham\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-greatest-gift-of-all/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://mlsvc01-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/6a03dbae301/2bd3c769-414a-4cc7-96d2-41ae3d014956.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMerry Christmas to you all!  The celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is probably already starting.  Praise the Lord!  Let our praises go forth now, early, whenever; time to thank our Father  for the greatest gift of all, His Son.  I like the psalmist shouting out in Psalm 96:12, \u0026ldquo;Let the field be joyful and all that is in it.  Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice.\u0026rdquo;  Nature breaks forth in praise every day.  We should too.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Greatest Gift of All"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and for your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well, God has kept us safe.\nLast month, one of our church members passed away. She was a good believer from our church, who lived in a nearby village. She was from a Hindu family. When she died, her relatives who are unbelievers also came to her funeral. They wanted to do her funeral the Hindu way. But her son, who is also a believer, stood firm and the burial was done in the Christian way. So, we got the chance to conduct the funeral. So many non-believers also came to the funeral and we shared about Jesus Christ to them. They heard silently about Christ. We thank the Lord for that.\nHere, in our country, non-Christians have their own way of burials. They perform some pooja (demonic idol worship) for the peace of the departed soul. Only men are allowed to attend the funerals. Women stay at home. Please pray for the family members who are believers\u0026ndash;that they would continue to grow in their faith.\nI went to a different state in the North to attend a wedding. God helped me to visit that area. We had a good time with the family and enjoyed the worship that was before the ceremony. It took about a 14 hour journey by car to get there. The roads were so horrible, but the Lord helped us to reach there safely. That place is filled with Hindu temples. People from all over the country come to worship there. But in the center of the city there is a church. I thank the Lord for keeping His people there to share the Gospel.\nPrayer Request s: Please pray for my children-that they may grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. Please pray that the Lord would intervene in the problem the world is facing. Please pray for the local village ministry\u0026ndash;that they may grow in the Lord\u0026rsquo;s Word Please pray for the state in the North that I visited. May God\u0026rsquo;s work expand in that area. God bless you,\nPastor 16 and Family*\n*Names have been omitted or changed for security reasons\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/by-gods-grace-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and for your country. By the grace of God my family and I are doing well, God has kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Davis-Dec-2020.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month, one of our church members passed away. She was a good believer from our church, who lived in a nearby village. She was from a Hindu family. When she died, her relatives who are unbelievers also came to her funeral. They wanted to do her funeral the Hindu way. But her son, who is also a believer, stood firm and the burial was done in the Christian way.  So, we got the chance to conduct the funeral. So many non-believers also came to the funeral and we shared about Jesus Christ to them. They heard silently about Christ. We thank the Lord for that.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"By God's Grace"},{"content":"This year has had its ups and downs. Well, let\u0026rsquo;s face it, for many of us, it feels like this year in particular has been chock full of downs. But as I (Joel) was in a staff Christmas gathering this morning, we talked about all of the good things God has done this year through our ministry, and the amazing teams He has placed around us to make it happen. And that got me to thinking about the amazing team my family has: all of you who read these updates, pray for us, and support us financially. Seriously, it blows us away that you guys support us and stand behind all that the Lord does in and through us for the sake of the gospel going to our neighbors and the nations. We are so incredibly thankful for each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts.\nSo while turning the calendar on 2020 doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean that everything will magically change and the woes of this year will end, it also doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean that God will stop moving; He won\u0026rsquo;t! Thank you for being used by Him. Your faithfulness is not just a blessing to us, but a way that you are actively involved in the kingdom from wherever you are. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t do it without you, and we wouldn\u0026rsquo;t want to.\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/what-we-are-thankful-for-garcia-family-december-2020-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis year has had its ups and downs. Well, let\u0026rsquo;s face it, for many of us, it feels like this year in particular has been chock full of downs. But as I (Joel) was in a staff Christmas gathering this morning, we talked about all of the good things God has done this year through our ministry, and the amazing teams He has placed around us to make it happen. And that got me to thinking about the amazing team my family has: all of you who read these updates, pray for us, and support us financially. Seriously, it blows us away that you guys support us and stand behind all that the Lord does in and through us for the sake of the gospel going to our neighbors and the nations. We are so incredibly thankful for each and every one of you from the bottom of our hearts.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What We Are Thankful For - Garcia Family December 2020 Update"},{"content":"Greetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!We are so pleased to convey our heartfelt thanks to the Creator of this universe, as the Bible says in Colossians 1:16. Also, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. Your partnership in the ministry enables us to move forward to share the good news of Jesus Christ to this unsaved nation. As a family we have been remembering you in our daily thoughts and prayers. May God keep you safe and sound and also prosper you in your job and business.\nI met with Mani* (a 40-year-old Hindu man). He is addicted to alcohol. I got an opportunity to share the love of Jesus by saying that, \u0026ldquo;Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.\u0026quot; Acts 4:12. Overall it was a good interaction.\nLast month one of our church members (a 60 year-old woman), went to be with the Lord. She has family members who are also believers and attend our local church. I got the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus during a condolence meeting with the grieved extended family.\nWe had a wonderful family fellowship in one of our uncle\u0026rsquo;s house. It was a good time to pray together and go for an outing.\nAs a routine, I am teaching a weekly online Bible study on the Gospel of Matthew for new believers and friends. We visited some of the families and prayed for them\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for Mani*. Pray that God\u0026rsquo;s Word may take root in his heart and that he will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.\nKindly pray for our Wednesday online Bible study. Pray that God may help us to reach unreached people with the Gospel of Christ Jesus during the pandemic.\nPlease pray for me and my family. May God use us in an effective way for His glory.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him, Pastor 3* and family\n* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/no-other-name/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!We are so pleased to convey our heartfelt thanks to the Creator of this universe, as the Bible says in Colossians 1:16. Also, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. Your partnership in the ministry enables us to move forward to share the good news of Jesus Christ to this unsaved nation. As a family we have been remembering you in our daily thoughts and prayers. May God keep you safe and sound and also prosper you in your job and business.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"No Other Name"},{"content":" Greetings to you all! Merry Christmas! Praise be to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ for sustaining us and providing all of our needs even in this time of the pandemic. Thank you for your prayers and financial support. We have been praying for you\u0026ndash;that the Lord would supply all of your needs and keep you and your family safe.\nThis pandemic has affected every one in the world. Nothing seems to be certain. Praise God that our hope in Jesus is certain! The day of his return is near. He came into this world two thousand years ago as a baby and we are preparing to celebrate his birth, but now He is coming to take us, His bride, home. Let us hold on to this sure promise of the Lord and be ready to meet Him.\nLast month one woman from our church, who was around 60 years old, went to be with the Lord. She had been ill, but not seriously ill. She was a first generation Christian. Her husband also comes to church and her younger son and his family are believers in Jesus, but her older son and his family are not. We thought that the village people would create a problem for her funeral ceremony, but they did not. Praise the Lord! These days are not easy for Christians in our country and especially for new believers.\nWe are still doing audio teachings for our students. We are not sure yet when government will allow schools and colleges to reopen.\nPlease pray for us and the ministry in our country.\nThank you so much for your partnership in the ministry of the Gospel.\nGod bless you,\nPastor 15 and Family*\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-hope-in-jesus-is-certain/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Pratim-Dec-4-289x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all! Merry Christmas! Praise be to God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ for sustaining us and providing all of our needs even in this time of the pandemic. Thank you for your prayers and financial support. We have been praying for you\u0026ndash;that the Lord would supply all of your needs and keep you and your family safe.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis pandemic has affected every one in the world. Nothing seems to be certain. Praise God that our hope in Jesus is certain!  The day of his return is near. He came into this world two thousand years ago as a baby and we are preparing to celebrate his birth, but now He is coming to take us, His bride, home. Let us hold on to this sure promise of the Lord and be ready to meet Him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our Hope in Jesus Is Certain"},{"content":"“For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.” Romans 1:11-12 Our furlough continues to be the fulfilling of what Paul longed for, the opportunity to meet with and be encouraged together with so many brothers and sisters in the faith. We are always reminded of the ministry we have left in Uganda for this short time, and the work we have still remaining here in the US. Being here in America has been it’s own kind of ministry, one with it’s own reward, namely, the joy of being reunited with ones we have left long ago, and the strengthening of our faith as we see and hear testimonies of what God was doing while we were away. It has been a tremendous blessing to us.\nDuring our few weeks in Colorado (we will return there after visiting Noelle’s family in Nebraska), we were very happy to be staying in the building of one of our supporting churches. We had prayed for a place where we could receive visitors without disrupting a host family, where the kids could be kids, somewhere close to family, and where we could be a blessing. God answered by letting us stay at Colorado Freedom Church, which was the church Matt grew up attending, just down the street from his parents\u0026rsquo; house. The church had a small gym area where the kids were free to play, and we were able to bless them with some remodeling. It also served as a base for Matt to earn some money, which we used to purchase the next 4 years of our children’s homeschool curriculum. CFC has been supporting us from the beginning, and we were so happy that they allowed us to stay there!\nWe spent Thanksgiving week with Matt’s grandparents in Kansas. Seeing our kids interact with their great-grandparents was precious, and we were happy to get a few pictures in the process. We are so thankful that with the love offering collected by the church there, we were able to send money back to Uganda. It will be used to purchase land and build a roof for one of the churches that has been planted by our church in Uganda. We continue to pray for the ability to do the same for 19 other churches there.\nDuring most of our time in CO and even on our trip through KS, we were blessed with the company of our niece Moriah, who was lent to us by Noelle’s oldest brother and his wife for nearly 6 weeks while Noelle recovered from the c-section. The kids really love her, and although she is still young, her maturity is beyond her years and she really helped reinforce what we aim for in parenting. She was a God-send in help as well as friendship!\nPraise God:\nFor health during our travels. For places to stay. For ability to see family. For opportunities to speak at churches. For funding for the church plot. For Moriah! Please pray:\nFor our presentation at Noelle’s childhood church this weekend. For additional funding ($1,500/each) for the other 19 churches who currently meet under trees and on rented property. For continued health for our family. For us to be filled with the Spirit to share with others the good news of what Christ has done and continues to do! In Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, Noah, \u0026amp; Charlotte ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/november-2020-2/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"for-i-long-to-see-you-so-that-i-may-impart-some-spiritual-gift-to-you-that-you-may-be-established-that-is-that-i-may-be-encouraged-together-with-you-while-among-you-each-of-us-by-the-others-faith-both-yours-and-mine-romans-111-12\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established; that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other’s faith, both yours and mine.” Romans 1:11-12\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2020/12/131009589%5F1203449083383284%5F740364834145959982%5Fn-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur furlough continues to be the fulfilling of what Paul longed for, the opportunity to meet with and be encouraged together with so many brothers and sisters in the faith.  We are always reminded of the ministry we have left in Uganda for this short time, and the work we have still remaining here in the US.  Being here in America has been it’s own kind of ministry, one with it’s own reward, namely, the joy of being reunited with ones we have left long ago, and the strengthening of our faith as we see and hear testimonies of what God was doing while we were away.  It has been a tremendous blessing to us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"November 2020"},{"content":" In our last meeting, we decided to never shut down again. The pandemic had us close the doors but now more than ever the church needs to be open and serving the community. There are too many people suffering and in need of Jesus. We are convinced that fellowship is the most essential gathering above all. Our leaders are ready and motivated to move forward.\nCalvary Church Plant Pastor Ricardo has hit the ground running. The new church plant in the capital of our state, Chilpancingo, has got some momentum. This is a great reminder of how hungry people are for the word of God. We didn’t come in with any fancy programs or gimmicks; we simply teach the Bible faithfully and that has been the heart of our ministry.\nChildrens Ministry After a long period of time, we are finally able to open up our children’s ministry. Many were afraid to bring their children in fear of the Coronavirus. We started online classes for them. We know that there is a great importance of teaching our kids the word of God. Someone donated Bibles and we were able to gift each child with their own Bible for Christmas.\nWomen’s Bible Study The women’s Bible study just finished studying the book of Luke and have started the book of Jude. Stacy hosted a breakfast with a few of her women from the study group to encourage them during hard times.\nPrayer Night We believe in the absolute power of prayer and that’s why once a month we dedicate the whole night for prayer and fasting. We start at 7:00 pm and close right before midnight. Apart from this powerful night, we have prayer meetings 1 hour before every service.\nFamily Time For the first time in many years, we were able to celebrate Thanksgiving with our family in the states. Our son Elijah surprised us by proposing to his girlfriend Bianca. They hope to have their wedding next year. Bianca is one of our servants here in Calvary Acapulco. She truly loves the Lord and we are so blessed to have her in our family.\nPrayer Requests Would you keep us in your prayers? We would appreciate it!\nPlease pray for the salvation of the people of Acapulco. Pray for wisdom to lead the Church. Pray for leaders and our church plant CCChilpo. Pray that we would grow in grace, unity, and love. Pray for the health of our family. Pray for Lilibeth who wants to be sent out to India. Please pray for our upcoming Marriage retreat. If you would like support the ministry please click on the link below.\nGod bless you!!\nhttps://egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=43561E571C04428\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/on-the-move/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/villegas/wp-content/uploads/sites/130/2020/12/staff.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn our last meeting, we decided to never shut down again. The pandemic had us close the doors but now more than ever the church needs to be open and serving the community. There are too many people suffering and in need of Jesus. We are convinced that fellowship is the most essential gathering above all. Our leaders are ready and motivated to move forward.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"calvary-church-plant\"\u003eCalvary Church Plant\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/villegas/wp-content/uploads/sites/130/2020/12/chilpancing-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePastor Ricardo has hit the ground running. The new church plant in the capital of our state, Chilpancingo, has got some momentum. This is a great reminder of how hungry people are for the word of God. We didn’t come in with any fancy programs or gimmicks; we simply teach the Bible faithfully and that has been the heart of our ministry.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"On The Move"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! We would like to thank all of you for blessing us through your support and prayer for our family and for the ministry in Uganda. This has been a hard and unusual year for most of the world. With the difficulties we have been blessed with many good times and experiences as well. This year has led us and the church to pray like never before and I believe if nothing else we have all drawn closer to the Lord. You are all in our thoughts and prayers as we enter this new year. God Bless You this holiday season as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus!\n**_In Him, Brian, Jill,\nLuke, Laylee,\nand Liana_**\nPRAYER REQUESTS Pray for God’s direction for Arise Christian Fellowship and all the ministries in 2021.\nPray for an end to Covid. Pray for health and safety during Covid and the Elections in Uganda\nPray for us to raise our children for the Lord, balancing home and ministry.\nPlease pray about joining our support team in this upcoming year.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-4/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"dear-friends-and-family\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch1 id=\"merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eMerry Christmas and Happy New Year!!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe would like to thank all of you for blessing us through your support and prayer for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.  This has been a hard and unusual year for most of the world.  With the difficulties we have been blessed with many good times and experiences as well.  This year has led us and the church to pray like never before and I believe if nothing else we have  all drawn closer to the Lord.  You are all in our thoughts and prayers as we enter this new year. God Bless You this holiday season as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":"Here we are, finding ourselves so close to the end of 2020. Wow, what a ride! Thank you for joining us on this journey, you are a huge part of what we do. One of the joys of 2020 has been our ability to continue to care for missionaries worldwide. God has definitely given Jenn and me a heart of compassion and the gift of caring for others that He allows us to use for His glory. It was exciting to see God’s confirmation over the last few months that we are not to go anywhere, we are to continue on assignment, pouring into and fortifying missionaries around the world as well as equipping missionaries on their way to the field.\nIn the last month we have been able to touch base with workers from Mexico, Brazil, and Cambodia to pray with them, encourage them and see how their ministries are going.\nI (Tim) also had the chance to be part of a team leading the youth mission trip to Mexico. It is so important to allow junior high and high schooler’s to see and experience ministry cross culturally. They say, and it’s true, that short term missions do not change the world but they do create world changers. Please pray for the youth of CC Saving Grace that they would get God’s heart for the nations and the furtherance of the gospel through these short term trips. We are planning on making several more in 2021.\nAn unexpected lesson came to us over the last few weeks that we are still in the midst of learning. This is that care is a two-way street. As some of you know, Jenn has had a long time degenerative disc issue and spinal stenosis. Mid-November she went in for surgery and the recovery has been quite hard. During this time so many people have been praying for her, for us, bringing over food, helping with laundry and other chores around the house or just being willing to check on us and see how we’re doing. This humbling blessing has brought with it many lessons. It has allowed us to see how hard it is for us to receive, it has allowed us to see how many people love us, it has allowed us to be on the receiving end and we thank you all so much.\nPRAISE REPORT :\nPraise God that Jenn’s surgery went well. Praise God that He continues to use us in the lives of others. Praise God that He has surrounded us with so many people that care for us.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nPlease Pray for Jenn’s continual healing. Please Pray for God’s blessing upon those who partner with us in this ministry. Please Pray for wisdom and discernment in how the Lord wants to use us.\nIf the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or by mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions.\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 92886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-two-way-street/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHere we are, finding ourselves so close to the end of 2020. Wow, what a ride! Thank you for joining us on this journey, you are a huge part of what we do.  One of the joys of 2020 has been our ability to continue to care for missionaries worldwide. God has definitely given Jenn and me a heart of compassion and the gift of caring for others that He allows us to use for His glory. It was exciting to see God’s confirmation over the last few months that we are not to go anywhere, we are to continue on assignment, pouring into and fortifying missionaries around the world as well as equipping missionaries on their way to the field.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Two-Way Street"},{"content":"“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Galatians 6:9\nDarryl’s Apologetics/Evangelistic video ministry has just produced its first video in the Chinese (Mandarin) language! Darryl and Pastor Samuel have been talking about this for years now but due to COVID, we both finally have time in our schedules to work together to make this happen. Pastor Samuel translated and recorded the soundtrack of the video “DNA: God’s Living Software” in Chinese and then we used that to make the video using video from the English version of the video. This video is now available in Cambodian, English, Japanese, Spanish and Chinese. It is available for viewing and free download at www.internationalfishers.com/chinese.\nPlease pray for Pastor Samuel as he recruits other Chinese translators for future video projects. Pastor Samuel and Darryl are also working on a new video series in Chinese and English entitled “Learn English Through the Bible.” We are starting by teaching the book of Mark verse by verse in simple English and Chinese in short videos. Please pray for this project as well.\nDarryl’s vision for International Fishers has long been to, “take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people we will never meet, in places we will never go, in languages we will never speak.” Because we live and serve in Cambodia, our main focus continues to be teaching and producing videos etc. in the Cambodian language. But, Cambodia is a very international country and so there are Christians from many other countries and languages and we are always open to opportunities to equip and partner with them to reach people of their own language and nation.\nLast month, Darryl produced a video in the Cambodian language entitled, “the Bible and Angels” and released it on www.internationalfishers.com/khmer , on YouTube, and through several Facebook pages and groups. Darryl is about to release another video in Cambodian entitled, “God and Ethnic Groups,” but this time he will attempt to put in English subtitles so more people can understand it.\nIn November, Cambodia had its first community transmission of COVID 19. Up until now, all the cases have been imported from overseas and caught at the airport or during a mandatory 14 day quarantine. Now that COVID has broken through into the community, schools and churches are back online for the time being. Darryl’s apologetics class has also been moved to online video along with our other ministries. Please pray for the schools to reopen ASAP so that if possible Darryl can record the student’s apologetics videos instead of having to give them an online exam.\nThe family is doing well. We had a great Thanksgiving and birthdays (Darryl’s and Benjamin’s) (THANKS Kayo!).\nPlease pray for our visa renewals this month. The Cambodian government keeps making the requirements more difficult each year. We believe that we are fine for this year but please pray for favor and a smooth renewal process.\nPlease pray for COVID to get controlled so we can either visit the US or Japan next summer.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-videos-in-the-chinese-language/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”  Galatians 6:9\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDarryl’s Apologetics/Evangelistic video ministry has just produced its first video in the Chinese (Mandarin) language!  Darryl and Pastor Samuel have been talking about this for years now but due to COVID, we both finally have time in our schedules to work together to make this happen.  Pastor Samuel translated and recorded the soundtrack of the video “DNA: God’s Living Software” in Chinese and then we used that to make the video using video from the English version of the video.  This video is now available in Cambodian, English, Japanese, Spanish and Chinese.  It is available for viewing and free download at \u003ca href=\"https://www.internationalfishers.com/chinese\"\u003ewww.internationalfishers.com/chinese\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Videos in the Chinese Language"},{"content":"Office Hours Monday- CLOSED Tuesday- 11am-5pm Wednesday- 9am-5pm Thursday- 9am-5pm Friday- 9am-5pm Saturday- CLOSED Sunday- CLOSED Phone Number (714) 993-4801\nOffice Email Address office@sgwm.com\nMailing Address 17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste. 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/contact-us-2/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"office-hours\"\u003eOffice Hours\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eMonday- CLOSED\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eTuesday- 11am-5pm\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eWednesday- 9am-5pm\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eThursday- 9am-5pm\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eFriday- 9am-5pm\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSaturday- CLOSED\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eSunday- CLOSED\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"phone-number\"\u003ePhone Number\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e(714) 993-4801\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"office-email-address\"\u003eOffice Email Address\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"mailto:office@sgwm.com\"\u003eoffice@sgwm.com\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"mailing-address\"\u003eMailing Address\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste. 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Contact Us"},{"content":"What do you do when lock downs stop the whole country and you are not allowed to go more than 1 kilometer away from your home, one hour a day maximum, for weeks at a time? How to get around giving to the same people tracts of the Gospel in the streets? You pray to the amazing God you serve and He guides you on the road less traveled!\nAnd this is how I started to place cards of the Gospel movie we dubbed recently in French in thousands of mail boxes in our district and now that we have a little more liberty we can get out of our neighborhood and spread out to the whole city of Nice.\nSome other believers and churches have also started to give the same cards in their own cities.\nSince the very beginning of September, 50,000 cards of the movie and hundreds of other tracts have been given to people all around France, above all in the south of France.\nThe attitudes are changing slowly but surely as many in France are witnessing the collapse of their foundation in this world. They are still suspicious of anything religious but many are starting to ask hard questions. The next 2 to 3 weeks are vital in our spreading the Gospel and reaching a maximum of persons.\nThis is why we humbly ask you to pray for wisdom, our health, clement weather to be able to be in the streets as it is rainy more often now. Please do pray that all who receive the Good News, given one on one or via their mailboxes, will dare to check out the movie and watch it till the end and be touched by what their Creator did for them so they can be saved.\nAlso for the hundreds of pastors we are reaching in France via Email for them to watch the movie and see its potential in evangelism.\nGratefully yours.\n“Preach the Word, be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage with great patience…” 2 Timothy 4:2\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-god-is-not-limited/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhat do you do when lock downs stop the whole country and you are not allowed to go more than 1 kilometer away from your home, one hour a day maximum, for weeks at a time? How to get around giving to the same people tracts of the Gospel in the streets? You pray to the amazing God you serve and He guides you on the road less traveled!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd this is how I started to place cards of the Gospel movie we dubbed recently in French in thousands of mail boxes in our district and now that we have a little more liberty we can get out of our neighborhood and spread out to the whole city of Nice.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our God is Not Limited"},{"content":" “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season…”\nPsalms 1:3\nI am so blessed to have your continual love and support as I am taking steps to follow where the Lord leads. Knowing I have you in my corner has been such an encouragement to me, thank you.\nWow, it feels as though I just arrived here in California and yet so much has happened. For one, praise the Lord, I got a job! Can I just share how Cool God is? Okay I will, so I was praying, asking God where to apply. I needed something within walking distance (as my 2 feet are my mode of transportation), and I needed something that would work with the internship classes, SGWM office hours, and Sunday mornings off. I also really wanted to work with kids. It felt a bit impossible to find something… Well, God heard my prayers! I got a job as a Pre-School Teacher! The hours work wonderfully with my internship schedule and of course I have Saturdays and Sundays off! I also get work with kids! My heart is so full. Thank you for your payers, God answered!\nBeing a part of the Saving Grace Internship has been amazing. I am surrounded by men and women who are constantly encouraging me and pointing me to the Lord. Each week I have a Life Group, Growth Group, and Young Adults Study. All of these gatherings are centered around growing, encouraging, and loving each other in the way Jesus showed us to. Also, once a month we, female interns, meet with our Women of Wisdom. Terry, MaryAnn, Julie, and Lori take the time to prepare a love filled afternoon for us. We share a delicious meal together, lay our hearts out, pray for each other, all while stirring each other up for Missions. Their love and discipleship inspires me to reach out and care for others as they’ve done so sweetly to me. They are true gems.\nEach week I am able to be a part of amazing classes in which the Pastors of Saving Grace disciple us in the Word. I wish I could convey the impact these men of God have had on my life. It’s only been a short time under their leadership and yet I know I will never be the same. These men teach with such passion and they live their lives driven by the love of Jesus. After a 4-week course on Discipleship, led by 2 of our Pastors, and seeing the example of so many around me, I am moved to take part in discipleship. In honesty, I struggled with this because (despite how much I talk) I always felt as though I have nothing important to say. However, now I know it’s not about me or what I have to say, it’s about God and what He has to say through His word. I just have to be faithful to share and to love on those around me.\nA good portion of my day to day is me realizing how small I am in the grand scheme of things. I’m constantly learning new things and realizing how much I still don’t know. How much I still don’t do. What can I say? I’m a work in progress. Yet, so is everyone. I take comfort in the beautiful fact that God is working, always.\nPraise Reports:\nGod provided me with a job! That I have gotten so involved and been so welcomed and loved. Praise the Lord for Leaders who genuinely want to see us grow! Prayer Requests:\nPlease continue to pray that I’d grow in time management. Pray that, in His time, God would put a specific place on my heart to go to. Please pray that God would lead me as I step out in discipling others. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-work-in-progress/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season…”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePsalms 1:3\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/romero/wp-content/uploads/sites/126/2020/12/IMG%5F3520-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am so blessed to have your continual love and support as I am taking steps to follow where the Lord leads. Knowing I have you in my corner has been such an encouragement to me, thank you.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWow, it feels as though I just arrived here in California and yet so much has happened. For one, praise the Lord, I got a job! Can I just share how Cool God is? Okay I will, so I was praying, asking God where to apply. I needed something within walking distance (as my 2 feet are my mode of transportation), and I needed something that would work with the internship classes, SGWM office hours, and Sunday mornings off. I also really wanted to work with kids. It felt a bit impossible to find something… Well, God heard my prayers! I got a job as a Pre-School Teacher! The hours work wonderfully with my internship schedule and of course I have Saturdays and Sundays off! I also get work with kids! My heart is so full. Thank you for your payers, God answered!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Work In Progress"},{"content":"Family After several postponements, we recently held a small graduation ceremony for William by the beach. We are very proud of him for graduating with honors and we look forward to what the Lord has in store for him! He is continuing to work at Chick-fil-A in California. Recently he fixed up and sold his first car, and has purchased and started fixing up a second one. Please join us in praying for him as he decides his next steps in life.\nBrian, Brittany, and Joshua are doing well. We praise God that they have been able to continue to work during this unstable time of shutdowns and quarantines. Unfortunately, they have had a recent string of vehicle issues – including various repairs, their car getting hit twice while parked, and a part being stolen off of a vehicle. Please pray they are able to find a good vehicle, as they are currently in the market for a minivan.\nRon’s most recent back surgery was in September of last year. It alleviated a good amount of pain, however a few months later that pain started to return and got significantly worse. This has seriously impacted his ability to consistently work 8-hour days (which is difficult for someone that is used to working 12 hours a day). After waiting a year to see how his back would heal as his doctor suggested, a recent MRI has shown that he has another herniated disc. This is the fourth time this disc has been herniated and Ron has had three back surgeries in total. For these reasons, and also because he has degenerative disc disease, Ron has decided to go ahead with fusion. This means that one or two discs will be removed and replaced with a metal plate and rods. The good news is that he can’t herniate this disc again because it won’t be there. It does mean he’ll have limited mobility, which he already has due to the pain he experiences. Unfortunately, it also means more stress will be put on the discs above, and up to 12 months of recovery time. His surgery will be in California in January. Please pray for Ron’s doctors and also that there will be a considerable amount of pain relief from the surgery.\nGiving Tuesday! We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you that have given financially and donated materials for our 3rd floor project! God is good and He is so faithful! As we prepare for spring teams, please pray with us that travel restrictions and quarantines would not impact people\u0026rsquo;s decision to come and serve here in Mexico! Our calendar is filling up, but as 2020 has already proven, this can change quickly.\nWe watched the Lord provide amazingly faster than expected and finish the exterior of the dining room/kitchen building before last summer. After witnessing this, we excitedly set a goal to have the kitchen and dining room mostly completed and ready to be used for their intended purposes by March 2021. However, due to the Coronavirus, we have had a lot less teams, resulting in less ministry and fewer donations. When this project is completed, we’ll also have space to remodel and add more beds to the first floor, bringing our total sleeping capacity to fifty-five.\nOn December 1st, “Giving Tuesday”, we are looking for 150 people to partner with us and donate $30 to Connections House in order to help us reach our goal. This would make it possible for us to finish the bathrooms and hopefully more. We know that the Lord can do it! Please pray that He would move the hearts of 150 people to join us in this endeavor! Here is how to give:\nGo to: give.connectionshouse.org and be sure to put your dollar amount next to, “for Connection Ministry House”.\nIf you would like to write a check, please make it out to Connections House and send it to 340 W. 26th Street, Suite K, National City, CA 91950\nConnections House 3rd Floor Project\nGuadalajara Missions Trip\nWe wanted to share some photos from our August mission trip to Guadalajara, Mexico. Kristy, most of our Connections staff, along with our daughter, Brittany, and her family, had the opportunity to serve at one of our church plants – Calvary Esperanza Viva. We were blessed to spend a week and come alongside our friends, Pastor Lalo and his wife, Linda, to minister to the local people there. Ministry was a little limited due to the quarantine, but praise God, the church had opened back up just before our arrival. We were able to hold a simultaneous men’s/women’s event, a carnival outreach, do worship along with testimonies and sermons for Sunday \u0026amp; Wednesday church services, put up some new lights and backdrop in the sanctuary, and more! Our team also got the chance to do a little sightseeing in this beautiful city! We are so grateful to have had the opportunity to serve and be able to bless the pastor, church, and community. We give all the glory to God for the many seeds that were planted, watered, and sown!\nWe’ll leave you with some more photos of our Guadalajara trip. We appreciate each and every one of you for your prayers and partnership! Please contact us if you have any questions about giving or serving with us here in Mexico.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/struska-missions-update-november-2020/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"family\"\u003eFamily\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter several postponements, we recently held a small graduation ceremony for William by the beach. We are very proud of him for graduating with honors and we look forward to what the Lord has in store for him! He is continuing to work at Chick-fil-A in California. Recently he fixed up and sold his first car, and has purchased and started fixing up a second one. Please join us in praying for him as he decides his next steps in life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Struska Missions Update November 2020"},{"content":"I don’t know how to express my gratitude for your prayers and financial support, seeing your love for the Lord through your giving is so encouraging.\n“A generous soul will be made rich, and he who refreshes others will be refreshed.” Proverbs 11:25\nWow! How time flies, I cannot believe we are already in December. Since it has been quite some time since my last update, I wanted to give you a recap of what the Lord did at Calvary School of Missions. What is of the upmost importance is the burning in my heart to pray for the unreached people of the world. To be sensitive to His leading as to where He would want to use me is what was on the forefront of my mind. The Lord began to reassure my heart by hearing about His faithfulness through several missionaries and how he led them in their calling. We also read missionary biographies to gain a perspective that serving the Lord will have its trials. With a great balance of studying and serving we put feet to our faith and hit the streets to share the Gospel.\nNow that I am back in California there have been many changes. As much as I don’t mind change I found myself with a heaviness that I had never experienced. Talk about walking by faith and not sight. I started a new job as a Behavioral Technician providing clinical skills instruction and behavior reduction protocols for children. God has relocated me from Riverside to Yorba Linda with an amazing sister from Saving Grace. Also, I commute back and forth every morning to Riverside to work as a preschool teacher. Do not get me wrong all these things are a great blessing, but this much change all at once has been stretching. Now that I have settled into my new normal, I see how the Lord used all of that change to show me that my self-sufficiency needs to be cut out of my heart more and more each day.\nAlso I have had the privilege of being a part of the Internship team through Saving Grace World Missions ( www.sgwm.com). What an answer to prayer! The Lord knew I needed more fellowship with believers with the same calling on their lives. My fellow interns can attest to what a great blessing it has been to learn from Pastor Trent who takes exegeting the Bible very seriously. What brings great assurance to my heart is when he says, “It doesn’t matter what I think, let the Word of God speak for itself\u0026quot; (loosely paraphrasing). In a day and age where some “will not endure sound doctrine and are heaping up for themselves teachers\u0026quot; (2 Timothy 4:3b) I am so grateful to be a part of Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. I feel at home being surrounded by believers who are devoted to rightly dividing the word of truth.\nWhat a blessing it has been to be in fellowship with amazing sisters in the Lord who have a passion for the lost. A church that is fully committed to fulfilling the Great Commission, reaching the nations with the Gospel and having a passion for God’s word is what I have been praying for. The Lord has been so faithful to lead and guide me in uncertain seasons in my life. Debbie Douglass has been so kind and taken me along on home visits with female Palestinian and Iraqi refugees. I have been learning so much about their culture and their amazing hospitality. They have expressed their need for someone to just spend time with and practice their English. As soon I heard that I have been staying in touch with some of these ladies and hoping to build a relationship with them. Please pray for God’s wisdom and discernment as to how to love on them and build a bridge to share the Gospel.\nPraise Reports:\nGod’s provision while in Calvary School of Missions (through you!) Reassurance of God’s calling on my life Gaining knowledge of missions and cultures God’s sovereignty and guidance on my life Prayer requests:\nSalvation of my family members (psychological concerns) God’s guidance and my sensitivity to His leading Time management and discernment Understanding of God’s Word historically and spiritually ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/pray-study-serve-sleep-repeat/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI don’t know how to express my gratitude for your prayers and financial support, seeing your love for the Lord through your giving is so encouraging.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“A generous soul will be made rich, and he who refreshes others will be refreshed.” Proverbs 11:25\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWow! How time flies, I cannot believe we are already in December. Since it has been quite some time since my last update, I wanted to give you a recap of what the Lord did at Calvary School of Missions. What is of the upmost importance is the burning in my heart to pray for the unreached people of the world. To be sensitive to His leading as to where He would want to use me is what was on the forefront of my mind. The Lord began to reassure my heart by hearing about His faithfulness through several missionaries and how he led them in their calling. We also read missionary biographies to gain a perspective that serving the Lord will have its trials. With a great balance of studying and serving we put feet to our faith and hit the streets to share the Gospel.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pray, Study, Serve, Sleep, Repeat"},{"content":"And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,\nAnd establish the work of our hands for us;\nYes, establish the work of our hands.\nPsalm 90:17\nDear Friends and family,\nGreetings, we hope and pray that you are fine. We all at CC Pakistan are doing well and are thankful that God has protected us during all the tough times of 2020. This year was not easy for most of the people in this world because of the Covid-19 plague, but the Lord has been doing great things in our lives and through the ministry of Calvary Chapel Pakistan. As the year has come to the end, we want to share a snapshot of what the Lord has faithfully accomplished in this part of the world. We are thankful to you all for the prayers, support and care.\nTeaching Ministry in 2020\nWithout any knowledge that the world was coming to a stand still from March onward for many months, we prayerfully, with a new vision, started our online classes in two cities and God very amazingly and graciously provided for our needs to do that. These classes have been a really great tool in the hands of our Lord. We started with 35-40 students in one place, and almost same number in the other city. Now at the end of this year, there are about 75 more students interested in joining our class and those who have been studying are growing in the spirit and knowledge of the word of God in really amazing ways. It is really time consuming to bring these people out of the Word-faith, prosperity teaching they had received and feed them solid food of the word of God. We started with \u0026ldquo;Introduction to the Bible,\u0026rdquo; then we had a series on \u0026ldquo;The Authenticity of the Bible,\u0026rdquo; our next class after that was \u0026ldquo;The Centrality of Jesus Christ in the Bible,\u0026rdquo; and recently we finished one series on \u0026ldquo;Spiritual Discernment.\u0026rdquo; Now our students are ready to start “Basic Theology” classes with us. It took us almost one whole year to bring them to this place. Please continue to pray for these classes.\nVision for Teaching in 2021\nAs our students have increased and our online classes have developed, people’s interest in studying the Bible, developing a researching habit, growing in spiritual discernment, and learning about basic Christian doctrine has grown. Because of this we feel that we can start a Certificate program in biblical studies here in Pakistan. During this year we have been working on many teachings and articles, translating them into Urdu and putting them on our website. We believe that this project will be used by God to start some proper teaching here in Pakistan. We want to request you to please keep this in your prayers.\nRecording\nThe recording project is very much related to what we shared above. God provided vision and provision for this ministry. We are recording audio and video series of Bible classes in the Urdu language. God made this possible for us this year and while we were not able to go out for other activities, working on this project was a very productive use of the time. The work on this project continues and, God willing, very soon we will have enough resources in Urdu to lay a solid foundation for the spiritual life of all those people who are coming into our contact for learning. We ask you to please continue to pray for this special project as well. This is great thing that we were able to start in this year and it is already proving to be very helpful.\nReaching out to the unreached\nWe have been reaching to some very unreached groups for many years. These groups are poor, slave-like brick makers. We still go to them, share the word of God with them and encourage them to remain faithful though they face much discrimination and other pressures. We praise the Lord that their new generation is now able to read the Bible by themselves. The work of 6-7 years has started to bring very positive spiritual change in the new generation. The children of those who only listened to the words of the Bible from us, are now able to read the Bible and share the word of God with their families.\nDuring this year we were also able to go to a very vast but neglected mission field. God has provided needs so far and we are able to reach some very amazing but almost totally\nunreached people. The Lord is also leading us to reach some of the Hindu tribes, many of them have come to Christ and they are leading a very tough life. This mission is giving us the opportunity to reach, teach, bless and encourage those dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord to remain strong and steadfast and to grow in the Lord. This work is going to grow and it will also require a lot of energy and much more in the future. We ask you to please keep us all and this whole project in your prayers!\nWomen Ministry\nWomen\u0026rsquo;s ministry is also one very important ministry that CC Pakistan has. We could not update much on this during this year. Things were slow because of Covid-19, but this ministry has been going well and building many young girls and women in their Christian faith. This ministry seeks to start two more Sewing Center projects next year. One will be near our place but the other one is planned for the unreached tribes in the south part of our province where we are reaching through our church Mission. Please continue to pray for all of this. We are thankful to you for supporting this project of Calvary Chapel Pakistan.\nSpecial Thanks\nWe also want to send very special thanks for all of you for keeping us in your prayers. Your presence as our interceders always encourages us. When we know that there is a team of spiritual warriors on their knees for us, we feel very comfortable and strong while we serve here. We want to request that you please continue praying for us all, and we will also be appreciating your special support and care. God bless you and your families! We love you all! Wishing you a very blessed time at Christmas!\nIn Christ Jesus,\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/cc-pak-in-2020/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAnd let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us,\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAnd establish the work of our hands for us;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eYes, establish the work of our hands.\u003cbr\u003e\nPsalm 90:17\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings, we hope and pray that you are fine. We all at CC Pakistan are doing well and are thankful that God has protected us during all the tough times of 2020. This year was not easy for most of the people in this world because of the Covid-19 plague, but the Lord has been doing great things in our lives and through the ministry of Calvary Chapel Pakistan. As the year has come to the end, we want to share a snapshot of what the Lord has faithfully accomplished in this part of the world. We are thankful to you all for the prayers, support and care.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"CC Pak in 2020"},{"content":" EUROPE\nRebecca Alaniz - Zagreb, Croatia\nP raise God:\n- I\u0026rsquo;ve stayed healthy!\n- We have funds to start the Roma Preschool\n- New opportunities are taking place!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For the country of Croatia. The coronavirus has come back with a vengeance and cases are on the rise. Pray for the government to have wisdom when it come to making decisions for the country and pray that they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t shut down the churches.\n2. That the Lord would completely heal my thyroid, so that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t need to take any medication\n3. For direction, that I would simply be open to whatever the Lord has for me and while I wait, that I would be still and wait patiently upon the Lord\n4. Language Learning: Even though I\u0026rsquo;m conversational, there is more that I need to learn to reach fluency. Pray that the Lord would help me grasp the language and that He would give me a desire to study it.\n5. Roma Ministry: Pray that the Lord would give me guidance and wisdom in regards to working in the Roma village. Pray for our relationships with the Roma people, especially with this new project that we are about to start.\n6. Increase in my monthly financial support.\n7. For salvation in Zagreb Thank you for keeping me and the country of Croatia in your prayers. The Lord is at work and I am so excited to see what He is going to continue to do!\nGod Bless,\nRebecca - Email Blog\nAFRICA\nKanyike Family - Kampala, Uganda\nPraise God:\n-Praise the Lord for the wonderful things that are happening despite the Covid-19. ·\n-Praise the Lord for the provision to help those who are suffering.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the World during this time of Covid 19.\n2. Pray for many people to turn to the Lord during this time.\n3. Pray for all the missionaries around Uganda to be able to get the supplies and necessities they need.\n4. Pray for those in Northern Uganda and South Sudan being reached through the food distribution.\n5. Pray for many to come to Christ.\n6. Pray for the Kanyike family to continue to know how to best minister to the church and community during this time.\n7. Pray for the Kanyike family to remain healthy and safe.\n8. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\n9. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda and South Sudan.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana - Email Blog\nVincent and Melissa Aniku - Uganda\nThank you all so much for continuing to pray in these times.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for healing of my reoccurring malaria. (3 time in just over a month)\n2. Healing for Vincent\u0026rsquo;s cracked ribs.\n3. Pray for the elections.\n4. Pray for more faithful laborers.\n5. Construction of the community center.\n6. For our sports out reach as the team is now in the big league.\n7. The church has been going well and leaders discipleship has been life changing. We are still limited to home groups for our children\u0026rsquo;s ministry.\nThank you all so much for your prayers and love!\nGod bless,\nVincent and Melissa - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nYours for the unreached Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nTim and Jenn Pappas\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for a successful surgery and speedy recovery for Jenn\u0026rsquo;s spinal surgery in her neck tomorrow morning.\n2. Please pray for my new role as the Director of Missionary equipping\n3. Please pray for our finances as Jenn will have three months off work recovering.\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - California, USA\nThank you for praying for us so faithfully!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that the Lord would provide for us financially this holiday season and moving forward into next year.\n2. Pray for all of our missionaries who have been radically affected by COVID shutdowns, particularly our nationals in the 10/40 window.\n3. Pray for continued wisdom for Amy and in our parenting, homeschooling, and leading the young adults ministry of our church.\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent - Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. That God would keep our family, church, and city safe from Covid!\n2. That God would provide for the needs of our family and church congregation during these difficult economic times.\n3. That God would bless our Christmas outreaches, and the congregation would feel safe to return to the church!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel - Email Blog\nStruska Family - Rosarito, Mexico\nPraise God:\n-For the teams that have overcome the difficulties of the Coronavirus quarantine and overcame any fears of traveling and doing ministry here in Mexico in 2020.\nPayer Requests:\n1. Spring is one of our busiest times of year. Please pray for our spring teams as they plan their upcoming trips while dealing with the obstacles of any Coronavirus or quarantine issues. Pray that the Lord will move the hearts of pastors and church leaders to allow those who are called and those who are willing, to be able to come and serve.\n2. We continue to seek the Lord\u0026rsquo;s wisdom in knowing how to move forward in ministry with our teams during this time of quarantine and social distancing. So far we have given out a lot of food bags and cleaning products, while doing less up close ministry. We request your prayers that we would be able to continue with ministry while doing our part to help ensure the health and safety of both those who come to serve, as well as those we are ministering to.\n3. We ask for prayer for the 3rd floor kitchen/dining hall project here at Connections House. We have relied almost solely on donations for this project and have seen a drop in donations this year, which correlates with the drop in ministry - also Coronavirus related. Pray with us that the Lord will provide the funds and materials to get this building operational by March 2021. This will allow us to add more beds and host larger teams, as well as multiple teams at a time.\n4. Ron had back surgery 14 months ago, which unfortunately has resulted in very little pain relief. This has been very limiting work-wise. Ron just had an MRI and has a doctor\u0026rsquo;s appointment on November 20th to look over the results and find out what the next steps may be. Please pray for wisdom for the doctors and that there will be an effective solution.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod Bless you,\nRon, Kristy and William - Email Blog\nGary and Tina Barrow - Truckee, California\nPraise God\n-Our daughter delivered our second grandson November 7. He is a little under weight, but overall, he is healthy and happy. Ashley is doing well also. His name is Florian Knepper. (Florian, Flo for short, is a German name, in case you\u0026rsquo;re wondering.) God is so good!\n-Our new church website is launched, I think it looks really good. We are still adding content, but the basics are there. Check it out. www.cctruckee.com\nPrayer Requests\n1. Our family is doing well. God has planted us in great group of believers.\n2. For anointing, a daily fresh filling of the Holy Spirit, wisdom, discernment, vision and direction as I pastor this church.\n3. We need a youth leader. Pray that God will bring a youth leader to us that is on fire, has a heart for the kids, a vision for outreach and development of the youth group.\n4. We need gifted, Spirit filled worship leaders and musicians.\n5. For the health and protection of the church as we continue to meet in person. We\u0026rsquo;re not trying to defy and government mandates, my heart is to be obedient to the Lord and provide opportunities to worship, fellowship and study God\u0026rsquo;s word for the body.\n6. We have out grown our little space and are looking for a new place to meet. Please pray that the Lord would lead us to a new facility that would meet our current needs and allow for growth as the Lord adds to the church.\n7. Pray for our Saturday \u0026ldquo;Underground Prayer\u0026rdquo; meeting. Pray that more people will catch the vision and need for prayer. That people would come out and labor in prayer for our church, for the town of Truckee and the lost around the world.\n8. Please pray for the work we are engaged in in the 10/40 window. Pray for relief of Covid and the resumption of classes in the colleges.\nThank you for standing with us in prayer. As you join us in prayer, this ministry becomes as much yours as it is ours. We welcome your partnership.\nGod bless,\nGary and Tina - Email Blog\nMike and Erin Thiemann - California, USA\n**Praise Report:\n**-Our Mexico youth trip in November was a huge success. Please continue to pray for our youth, the leaders and the people of Mexico.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family during this crazy season. For Erin and the kids as they settle into the routine of home school .\n2. I have restructured the leadership within SGWM and have created three distinct departments - Missionary Sending (US based missionaries that we have sent), International Relations (10/40 Window church planting/nationals), and the Missionary Training (School of Missions and Internship). Pray as we transition and continue to grow.\n3. Please pray for the youth ministry I lead. Our group is growing and the teens are doing well. Please pray for all of our leaders that the Lord would anoint them.\n4. Over the next 6-7 months, my teaching schedule is increasing exponentially. Please pray that the Lord lengthens my study time and anoints my ability to communicate His Word effectively.\n5. Pray for our personal support. Living in the States and on missionary support is a difficult reality. We struggle with it practically as living expenses in Orange County are high. It is also a struggle to convince people that our home office staff is an absolute necessity for the success of our missionaries all over the world.\n6. We also had a great response for our 2021 summer youth and young adults Israel apologetic tour. We have 35 signups! I originally booked for 15. So the Lord sent in a LOT more. Please pray for all the administration that goes into organizing a trip like this. Also, pray for no COVID issues.\nThank you for praying!\nGod bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina - Erin - Email Mike - Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for God to open up more ministry opportunities, since others continue to be indefinitely closed due to covid.\n2. Please pray for the children who accepted Jesus at our church\u0026rsquo;s fall outreach to continue to grow in the Lord.\n3. Please pray for our country to turn to God during this difficult time.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for my grandmother in a nursing home, for her salvation and protection.\n2. Pray that God will lead us in all things.\n3. Please continue to pray for my daughter, Rose\u0026rsquo;s, health this winter, and for her eye muscle development.\nThank you so much for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nBrad and Melissa - Amazon Jungle Brazil\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the Apurina people. Specifically for Oscar and Analucia, Guirlermi and Alcimara, Raimunda and Vladeci.\n2. Please pray for our time over Christmas and to the New Year. We will have a group at the base. They will be doing river community evangelism and street outreaches.\n3. Please pray for our family, Brad, Melissa, Andrea, Josiah, Veronica and Benjamin.\nGod bless you and thank you in Christ!\nBrad and Melissa and family - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\nWorker 15 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that we can restart Sunday services and the Pastors School soon.\n2. Please pray for us and the ministry in our country.\n3. Please pray for our co-worker Pastor\u0026rsquo;s wife who is a nurse. She tested positive for Covid-19. Please also pray for our daughter who is a nurse.\n4. Pray that many non-Christians who saw our Facebook online services would be saved.\nGod bless you\nCo-workers in Christ\n15 and family\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nThanks for supporting us and helping to uplift our God ministry.\n**\nPrayer Requests:**\n1. Please pray for our family that they can kneel down to Jesus.\n2. Pray for our church members; their health and they can be safe from Corana and after the virus we can meet and fellowship together.\n3. Pray for our health so we can be physically fit and serve our minister.\n4. Pray for all the staff and students that they will be safe from the corana virus, and whenever they do there fellowship with God will protect them.\nThank you for praying for us!\nGod bless,\nRabi and Mahima - Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our church construction.\n2. Please pray for all of our church family, for their good health.\n3. Please pray for all the students of Calvary Chapel Pastors Training Center, for their good health and ministry during this time.\n4. Please pray that our training center will be able to reopen soon.\n5. Please pray for the different ministries we have going on.\n6. Please pray for the good health of all of our SGWM family.\nThank you for your prayers!\nBlessing,\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nPraise Report:\n-This month is the month of festival in Nepal for Hindu People Where lot of the store is closed and people went to the home town. One of the family from our Church went to their village after 4 years. This family came to Kathmandu without Christ but went back home with Christ as a great gift to their family. They are sharing their faith with their family and friend. Please pray for them that God may help them to witness for Christ.\nThank you prayer warrior for praying for us.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that God may give us good health so that we may serve Him more and more.\n2. Please pray for the Bible College that we may start sooner.\n3. Please pray for the student of Bible College that they may keep on serving the LORD in their life.\n4. Please pray for the Zoom meeting with our Bible College student that they may attend regularly.\n4.Please pray for some young guys and girls to whom we are discipling them through Zoom every week that They may grow in His Word.\nGod bless,\nAnand, Usha and family - Email Blog\nDarryl and Kayo Record - Cambodia\nThanks for your prayers. COVID-19 remains under control in Cambodia with only between 200-300 cases, no community transmission and no deaths. We praise God for this.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Thank you for your prayers. God keeps answering your prayers in His way and timing. Churches and schools have been allowed to reopen for in-person meetings after being shut down for six months. We thank God for this progress.\n2. Please pray that the COVID 19 situation in Cambodia will improve to the point that all restrictions on churches, schools, and travel will be lifted asap.\n3. Please continue to pray for our apologetics/evangelistic video ministry that God would continue to use it to reach and equip many Cambodians for Christ.\n4. Please pray for our Cambodian ministry partners\u0026rsquo; ministries to be able to reopen so that we can resume our ministries with them.\n5. Please pray for our Cambodian ministry partners who are struggling financially during this season.\nThank you for your prayers!\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nWorker 8 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for sister H.- She has been under demonic attacks for two months.\n2. Pray for P.R.- He has liver problems and swelling in his legs.\n3. Pray for my church growth.\n4. Pray for a piece of land for a church building.\n5. Pray for better health for us.\n6. Pray for our Christmas outreach.\nOnce again I would like to thank you for praying and helping financially.\nGod bless you all abundantly.\n8 and family\nMilan Pariyar - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nMilan - Blog\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\nThank you so much for your prayers. God bless you!\nMay God bless you\nWorker 9\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\n1. Pray for all of the new people who have heard the Gospel, that they will accept Jesus.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you\nWorker 12\nWorker 3 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for our online church services.\n2. Kindly pray for my Wednesday online Bible study, that God will help me to reach more people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\n3. Please pray for Sister B.E. and her family members for good health and for spiritual growth.\n4. Please pray for me, and for my family, that we will be effectively used by God.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you\nWorker 3\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Pastor M\u0026rsquo;s family, that they would be strong in their faith in Christ.\n2. Please continue to pray for our safety from all kinds of persecution and safety on the road. Last month, my dad and I were in three accidents. My hand was injured, and my dad\u0026rsquo;s back was injured, but God helped us to recover quickly.\n3. Please pray for my church family to be strong faith and in the Word.\n4. Please pray for my church family\u0026ndash;more than 50 percent of them went out of state searching for jobs. After the lockdown, they lost their jobs, and flooding destroyed their rice crops. Pray that they would find work.\n5. Please continue to pray for my church painting. We have not painted for 8 years. Pray that God would provide funds for us to paint it before Christmas.\nThank you so much for your faithful prayers.\nGod bless!\nWorker 11\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. pray for our church people for good health and to grow more in word of God.\n2. Next year 2021 we\u0026rsquo;re opening a bible school in Hyderabad, this month we\u0026rsquo;re working on registration work. Please be praying for the favor of God and also from the government.\n3. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s provision for what is needed.\n4. Pray for my wife, now she\u0026rsquo;s 7th month pregnancy. For the good health and protection.\n5. We have stated a new church plant in a different District. Please be praying. And we need more workers in the ministry who are called to serve God.\n6. Pray that we serve God faithfully.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 6 and family\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please continue to pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\n2. Pray for new believers to grow in Christ\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 13\nRaju - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will fulfill all the responsibilities that God has given me in His Church.\n2. Please pray that the Good News will reach all my villagers, and that they will come to the saving knowledge of Jesus, and may His Church grow.\n3. Please pray that all of my family members will know the Lord.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe, that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for me to share the Gospel.\n3. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 10\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nAs William Carey said, \u0026ldquo;Expect great things from God; Attempt great things for God\u0026rdquo;\nPrayer Request:\n1. My prayer is that the students who are under Bible training would understand God\u0026rsquo;s heart for unreached people, and that they will experience this statement in their lives.\n2. Please pray for the YouTube channel Pastor 7 has begun.\nThank you,\nGod Bless\nWorker 7\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1.Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my\nThanking you!\nWorker 4\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\n3. Please pray for our Christmas outreach.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nWorker 2\nMajhiya and Sarita Besra - Nepal\nPraise God:\n1. We have found an opportunity to share with others about Jesus, praise the Lord!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes. They are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n2. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n3. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita - Blog\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nThank you so much for your prayers. **\n**\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the ministry in our country\n2. Pray for me to use this time to grow in the Word of God\n3. Pray for our students who are doing ministry in their villages\n4. Pray for us as we are thinking about reopening the school next semester\n5. Pray for my family\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nWorker 16 - 1-/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my wife, as she is a nurse and working among the Covid patients; pray that God will keep her safe.\n2. Please pray for my children, that they will grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will intervene for the problem the world is facing.\n4. Please pray for our audio classes and the ministry on social media.\n5. Please pray for Mrs. T, as she lost her premature baby due to a medical problem; please keep her in your prayers.\nThank you for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot;\nHebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-dec-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRebecca Alaniz - Zagreb, Croatia\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Rebecca-Alaniz.JPG-2-1-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eP \u003cstrong\u003eraise God:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n- I\u0026rsquo;ve stayed healthy!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- We have funds to start the Roma Preschool\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e- New opportunities are taking place!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. For the country of Croatia. The coronavirus has come back with a vengeance and cases are on the rise. Pray for the government to have wisdom when it come to making decisions for the country and pray that they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t shut down the churches.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM DEC PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"November was yet another fly-by month here in the office. We have started praying for our Christmas outreaches and we had the privilege of sharing the needs of 6 nationals with our church body.\nChristmas Outreaches Every year SGWM helps nationals working with us in the 10/40 window conduct local Christmas outreaches among their unreached neighbors. This year will be no different in spite of COVID! If you would like to be part of what God does this Christmas season among the unreached, you can give at this link. We are putting our Covid Relief fund to work for Christmas themed outreaches and would love for you to join us.\nBelow are just a few photos from last year\u0026rsquo;s Christmas outreaches. This year things will look different but we will not stop reaching people with the Gospel. In certain places where we minister, Christmas is the only time of year when Christians are able to share Jesus openly and we know that God wants to touch people\u0026rsquo;s hearts this year as well as any other even though group gatherings may be outlawed.\nWhy Nationals? We at SGWM like to partner with nationals because they already know the language and culture and are immediately effective in ministry, unlike an American, or any foreigner, who has to spend years learning language and culture in order to be effective. That is why we endeavor to plant Bible schools in unreached areas where Christians of that nationality can be equipped to reach their own people. We then partner with a select few as SGWM missionaries. Naturally, they are unable to raise missionary support among their own countrymen because their unbelieving neighbors want to kill them for their belief in Jesus and their fellow believers are just as persecuted and poor. It then comes back to us to help launch these courageous men and women into ministry through our prayers and financial support.\nWe currently have 6 national missionaries/pastors who have little to no monthly support and we had the opportunity of presenting those needs to our body this month. For security reasons, I cannot post their photos and names here, but if you would like to hear more about them and their ministries, please reach out to me. I would love to share more about them and help you get engaged in reaching the lost in the 10/40 window.\nPraise Reports: The Gospel is not chained by COVID or any scheme of the enemy!\nWe have raised some funds for our nationals but still need more financial partners.\nWe had a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving with our families.\nMy husband got a full-time job!\nBaby Fletcher is growing and gaining strength. I am beginning to feel little butterfly flutters and gas-bubble like movements.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/november-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eNovember was yet another fly-by month here in the office. We have started praying for our Christmas outreaches and we had the privilege of sharing the needs of 6 nationals with our church body.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch5 id=\"christmas-outreaches\"\u003eChristmas Outreaches\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery year SGWM helps nationals working with us in the 10/40 window conduct local Christmas outreaches among their unreached neighbors. This year will be no different in spite of COVID! If you would like to be part of what God does this Christmas season among the unreached, you can give at this \u003ca href=\"https://secure.egsnetwork.com/donate/FEE91098D9354D1\"\u003elink\u003c/a\u003e. We are putting our Covid Relief fund to work for Christmas themed outreaches and would love for you to join us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"November Update"},{"content":"“Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles He performs for people!” – Psalms 66:5\nHappy one year anniversary!!! I’m so thankful that you have been with me throughout this venture of faith in Spain. I have definitely felt your prayers and support in these last 12 months! So, here’s to us!! I truly could not have made it through this year without you!\nOne of the biggest truths I have learned this year is that Jesus fulfills one of my favorite verses.\n“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” – Ephesians 3:20-21\nI always took that verse as an affirmation of what God will do for me; that He would answer my prayer requests in ways far greater than I can ever imagine. I still believe that He can definitely do that, however, during this year, He showed me something even better. I learned that Jesus is “exceedingly abundantly above all” that I can ever ask or imagine!\nNot only is His love amazing, but it’s also unfailing.\nHe is not only incredibly faithful, but His faithfulness reaches beyond the heavens.\nHis righteousness is not just perfect, but it’s also immovable as the mighty mountains.\nNot only does He forgive us of our sins, but He removes them as far as the east is from the west.\nJesus demonstrated His perfect love on the cross, His mighty power through His resurrection, and His loving care as He intercedes for me today.\nJesus is “exceedingly abundantly above all” that I can ever ask or imagine!\nHe knew how important it was for me to learn that truth because in these last 12 months, I’ve missed spending time with my family and amid this pandemic, I wasn’t physically present to assist my parents (who are at high risk). I wasn’t there for very important and significant events of family and friends, and I will not be home for the holidays yet another year. Nonetheless, I have experienced the Lord’s generous measure of grace like never before. He not only loves me, but cares, listens, and blesses me ever so kindly. Jesus truly is “exceedingly abundantly above all” that I can ever ask or imagine!\nPraise Reports \u0026amp; Prayer Requests:\nSCHOOL UPDATE\n• We are still working on getting the school building ready. There is so much to do but we’re almost there!\nPlease pray for more volunteers to help us get it all done as important dates are approaching.\n• On November 28 we are hosting our very first Open House!\nPlease pray that parents and children would come to see our school and enroll for the next school term in January.\n• Our official opening day is January 11!\nPlease pray as we do not know if COVID regulations will affect any of our plans. We haven’t felt the Lord directing us to stop, so we will continue moving forward in faith.\n• We are offering a special price of 200€ for 4 months to help families during this COVID state of emergency in Spain. Our monthly fee should be 350€ to provide for our operating costs but we feel that the Lord wants us to take this step of faith in our budget.\nPlease pray as we will hurt financially with this low cost. We need a miracle in our school finances to provide for these families and to keep us afloat.\n• I am overseeing all the logistics and operational tasks needed to start the school. Once the school gets started, I will be in the principal/administrator role. I have taught in a school before and have studied how to lead one, but if I can be very candid, I need the Lord’s help every day because I’ve never started a school before!\nPlease pray for me, for greater dependence on the Lord, for wisdom, humility, and strength.\nCalvary Chapel Downey had a wonderful missions event last month. Thank you CCD, for letting me share what God is doing in Spain! In case you missed the short video update, you can find it on this link below:\nhttps://drive.google.com/file/d/1gyXnRU2islMFWi2NDZKlW6hPbVMrC-Pv/view?usp=sharing\nA lot has been done to the school since that video. Here are some photos of the exciting transformation of our school!\nON A MORE PERSONAL NOTE:\nI passed my Spanish Driving Test!! Watch out Mallorca streets here I come!! I had to learn how to drive a stick shift car in Mallorca’s “downtown” area. It’s like the equivalent of Downtown LA with the many one-way streets and all the foot and car traffic. It was intense but by the grace of God, I passed the theory and driving test each in one shot (shameless bragging rights, sorry!). The Lord provided a car for me in a HUGE way! He truly knows and provides for our needs, many times even before we say anything!! Thank you to those that helped me financially via donations and through my latest fundraiser. You guys are the best!! The Lord provided an appointment with the government on the very day my visa expired, which was a total miracle as the appointments are scarce because of COVID! I got all the paperwork I needed in record time by the office of Religious Affairs here in Spain, another miracle! More news to follow on my visa! I have so much to be thankful for in this last year, and so much to pray for as well! Thank you for being a part of this calling with me. Thank you for praying for me and the work here in Spain. I definitely could not have survived my first year without your support. Like I mentioned in the video, the blessings here in Spain are yours as well!\nI am available to answer any questions or provide more information on how to get involved in this work in Spain. If you would like to donate towards our school specifically, you can do so on our school website: www.spccschool.com or you can contact me for more info. Thank you!\nIf you need prayer, I would love to pray for you! Feel free to send me your prayer requests to this email or via WhatsApp.\nLove and appreciate you all!\nZully\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/happy-1st-year-anniversary-to-us/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles He performs for people!” – Psalms 66:5\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/zully.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHappy one year anniversary!!! I’m so thankful that you have been with me throughout this venture of faith in Spain. I have definitely felt your prayers and support in these last 12 months! So, here’s to us!! I truly could not have made it through this year without you!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the biggest truths I have learned this year is that Jesus fulfills one of my favorite verses.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Happy 1st Year Anniversary to Us!"},{"content":"Greetings to you from my church family! Even though we live far from each other, we are always near through our prayers. Physically we are in all different places, but we are in the same body\u0026ndash;the Body of Christ. Thank you for your prayers, love and support. Right now, I am teaching through the Gospel of John at all 5 house churches. I am preaching slowly and simply because 90% of the believers in the churches are illiterate. They never went to school, but they listen to the Word of God carefully and apply it in their life. Today, I am going to share some updates about the work God is doing through me. My English is not good, but I am thankful that Jana, Joni and Pastor 9* correct my newsletters of there spelling and grammar mistakes. Pastor 9* is a great example for everyone. He faced mental and physical persecution alone and no one stood with him.\nA Pastor\u0026rsquo;s Daughter Committed Suicide Almost 5 years ago, I met with a Pastor named Mani*. He is married and has 4 children of his own and has taken in 3 orphan children. He lives almost 200 miles away from my village in the same state where I live. He has been serving the Lord in unreached villages as we do. Before he became a Christian, he was a cook in a Christian Outreach Center in the capital. There he came to knows Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.\nA few years later, he decided to do ministry in his village. He left his job and came back to his village to preach the Gospel. He started to share the Good News in his village and God opened the heart of an organization to support him financially. The support was not enough to meet his family\u0026rsquo;s basic needs. I stayed in his home so many times. That is why I know him very well. He invited me many times to teach the Word of God in his church fellowship. He loved to hear the Word of God taught verse by verse and his church members did also. His financial situation was not good, but he was doing ministry faithfully.\nSuddenly, the government banned his supporter organization and they were no longer able to support him. He borrowed money to buy a cow as a way to earn income. But, a few months latter the cow died. He again borrowed money from another friend to start a part time business. But, the business also failed. He again borrowed more money to feed all of his 7 kids.\nBy this time, he was in a lot of debt. The people who lent money to him came after him, demanding their money back. Before this pandemic, he had decided to go to the South to search for a job. But he could not go because the lock-down was imposed in the country.\nWhen the lockdown was lifted, he did go to the South, and got a job. Back here, at his home, his wife and children were alone and they did not have food. His wife started to work in a neighbor\u0026rsquo;s home. While she was gone to work, the children would start fighting with each. When the mom would come back from work, her son would falsely accuse his sister for beating him. But in my state, parents always favor their sons. So the mom would scold her 13 year old daughter.\nOne day the same thing happened, and the mom scolded her daughter and went back to work. While the daughter was alone at home and her brothers and sisters were playing outside, she hung herself and died. When her brothers and sisters saw her hanging they started crying. Neighbors came and took her down and called the mother and also called the police. But, a Hindu priest saved the Mom from the police case. Then the Hindu priests pressured the mother to cremate the dead body and she had to, because they saved her from police. The father, who had gone to the South for work, arrived home after a 4 day journey. I am in touch with the pastor and encouraging him on the phone. Please keep them in your prayers.\nContinue Preaching the Word of God In the House Churches! \u0026ldquo;The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth\nunderstanding unto the simple.\u0026rdquo; Psalm 119:130\nIn a certain village we have been holding worship services every Thursday for the past 7 years. We meet in a believer\u0026rsquo;s house whose family is strong in their faith in Christ. The family is facing much persecutions by the community and their neighbors, but they stay strong by the grace of God. Their 18 year old son (who is sitting by me in the photo) is paralyzed from birth.\nTheir neighbors say to them, \u0026ldquo;Why is Jesus not healing your son?\u0026rdquo; They always answer them, \u0026ldquo;Jesus is the Savior of our sin, healing is not important for us\u0026rdquo;.\nThey always share the Good News with their neighbors and friends. I regularly preach there verse by verse and chapter by chapter. The family is very hospitable. They make fires for us and make us tea and sometimes lunch. This is my very favorite house church. They love to hear the Word of God and they obey the Word of God. Thank God for saving these lives!\n\u0026ldquo;Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to\nfulfill the word of God;\u0026rdquo;\nColossians 1:25\nGod\u0026rsquo;s Word is really so powerful to change the lives of people\u0026ndash;even those that are not literate. They had never heard the name of Jesus Christ, but they are hearing. In this village, we are coming to hold house church every week on Tuesday for the last 4 years. They are all illiterate. More than 100 families live in this village. 10 ladies and 3 boys have committed their lives to Jesus. Lots of kids are suffering from malnutrition. I give biscuits to these village kids, their smiles make my day.\nPrayer requests: Please pray for Pastor Mani\u0026rsquo;s family\u0026ndash;that they would be strong in their faith in Christ. Please continue to pray for our safety from all kinds of persecution and road accidents. Last month, me and my Dad got in three accidents. My hand was injured and my dad\u0026rsquo;s back was injured, but God helped us recover quickly. Please pray for my church family to be strong in their faith and in the Word of God. Please pray for my church family. Over 50 percent went out of state in search of jobs. After the lock-down, they lost their jobs and a flood destroyed their rice crops. Pray that they will find work. Please continue to pray for my church to be painted. We have not painted it for the last 8 years. Pray that God would help us have the funds to paint it before Christmas. Thank you so much for your prayers, support and partnership in the Gospel!\nGod bless you all!\nPastor 11*\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/standing-firm/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you from my church family! Even though we live far from each other, we are always near through our prayers. Physically we are in all different places, but we are in the same body\u0026ndash;the Body of Christ. Thank you for your prayers, love and support. Right now, I am teaching through the Gospel of John at all 5 house churches. I am preaching slowly and simply because 90% of the believers in the churches are illiterate. They never went to school, but they listen to the Word of God carefully and apply it in their life. Today, I am going to share some updates about the work God is doing through me. My English is not good, but I am thankful that Jana, Joni and Pastor 9* correct my newsletters of there spelling and grammar mistakes. Pastor 9* is a great example for everyone. He faced mental and physical persecution alone and no one stood with him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Standing Firm"},{"content":"Praise the Lord! Greetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country.\nBy the grace of God my family and I are doing good. God has kept us safe. Recently, my wife tested positive for Covid. She had been taking care of medical patients during the night shift. She got a fever, headache, and other Covid symptoms. I thank God for saving her from Covid. Now, she is recovering. Please keep her in your prayers.\nRecently, I got the opportunity to visit my friend for his birthday. We spent time together in God\u0026rsquo;s Word and prayer.\nAfter a long time (of lock-down), we got a chance to take my kids out. It was a good time for them to have fun and to learn different things.\nI am spending time with my children and teaching them action songs, Bible stories, and many other things. Right now they are learning all of the numbers, alphabet letters, and different things names through activities. I am also spending time gardening vegetables, and different things that are so costly at the market.\nPrayer Requests Please pray for my wife. She is a nurse, working with Covid patients and is not at home. May God keep her safe. Please pray for my children- that they my grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. Please pray that the Lord would intervene in the problem that the world is facing. Please pray for our audio classes and ministry on social media. Please pray for Mrs. Tami*. She lost her pre-mature baby because of medical problems. Please keep her in your prayers. God bless you,\nPastor 16 and Family*\n*Names have been omitted or changed for security reasons\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/therefore-will-i-give-thanks/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"praise-the-lord\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Davis-November-2-300x300.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBy the grace of God my family and I are doing good. God has kept us safe. Recently, my wife tested positive for Covid. She had been taking care of medical patients during the night shift. She got a fever, headache, and other Covid symptoms. I thank God for saving her from Covid. Now, she is recovering. Please keep her in your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Therefore Will I Give Thanks"},{"content":"First, I would like to thank the pastors, SGWM staff, prayer warriors, and every hand that is helping with the ministry in the name of Jesus Christ. By your prayers, we are doing well. My family members are doing very well. Thank you all, because you are praying continuously for us. Right now, I am going through 2 Corinthians as I study the Bible. My son is memorizing Psalm 119. My wife is beginning to study the book of Exodus. This is what we are studying in our daily devotions. Please continue to pray for us to grow spiritually in prayer, in the Word of God and in fellowship.\nOur Church es All of the believers of both of our churches are doing well, through your prayers and God continuing to help them. The COVID situation is not under control yet. However, we have started Sunday services with social distancing, wearing masks and using hand sanitizer. Every evening, we have a conference meeting from 7:30 to 8:30. We also have house visiting each week. Please pray for all of the 2 churches\u0026rsquo; believers\u0026rsquo; spiritual growth: that we may grow in the Word of God and fear of God.\nPrayer Requests Pray for us to have a fruitful ministry. Pray for a church building and resources. Pray for my family members who are not believers. Pray for brother Reenu\u0026rsquo;s* complete deliverance from fear and suicide. Pray for brother Sandeep*. He has a cough, cold, and allergies. Once again, I want to express my gratitude to every person of God who supports us financially. May God fulfill all their needs.\nKind Regards,\nPastor 8* and Family\n* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/in-thee-do-i-trust/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFirst, I would like to thank the pastors, SGWM staff, prayer warriors, and every hand that is helping with the ministry in the name of Jesus Christ. By your prayers, we are doing well.  My family members are doing very well. Thank you all, because you are praying continuously for us. Right now, I am going through 2 Corinthians as I study the Bible. My son is memorizing Psalm 119. My wife is beginning to study the book of Exodus. This is what we are studying in our daily devotions.  Please continue to pray for us to grow spiritually in prayer, in the Word of God and in fellowship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"In Thee Do I Trust"},{"content":"Hello Friends \u0026amp; Family! We bring you this month’s Garcia Family Update in the form of a video ? Check it out, and be encouraged to keep trusting, keep moving, and keep perspective in the midst of these tumultuous times!\nhttps://youtu.be/4KbzLW-hpC4\nPlease pray for us:\n1. That the Lord would continue to give us energy and wisdom for raising our wonderful kids!\n2. That the Lord would sustain Joel’s voice, as he has a nagging cough that comes with the high usage of his voice in teaching and leading worship.\n3. That the Lord would provide all that we need financially through this coming holiday season and into the new year when our rental lease renews.\n4. For our amazing missionaries around the world whose ministries are affected in various ways due to COVID.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/keep-trusting-keep-moving-keep-perspective-garcia-family-update-november-2020/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends \u0026amp; Family! We bring you this month’s Garcia Family Update in the form of a video ? Check it out, and be encouraged to keep trusting, keep moving, and keep perspective in the midst of these tumultuous times!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/4KbzLW-hpC4\"\u003ehttps://youtu.be/4KbzLW-hpC4\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease pray for us:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1. That the Lord would continue to give us energy and wisdom for raising our wonderful kids!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2. That the Lord would sustain Joel’s voice, as he has a nagging cough that comes with the high usage of his voice in teaching and leading worship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Keep Trusting, Keep Moving, Keep Perspective – Garcia Family Update November 2020"},{"content":"Thank you for your prayers and support!\nWe have had a really good start of the first worship service in the church building during this month of November. Everyone was so happy to come together to worship our Lord Jesus Christ! We had the Lord\u0026rsquo;s supper together during our 1st Sunday worship service. During the lock-down, God taught us many things about depending upon Him when things don\u0026rsquo;t go well and trusting in Him for everything.\nPeople in the church have been sharing testimonies about what God has done in their lives and how He is working when they put their trust in Him. I was really happy watching them growing in the Lord. Their testimonies are really encouraging me to do more for God. It\u0026rsquo;s also building my faith and teaching me to lean on Him (God).\nI want to share a few of the testimonies in this newsletter, so that they may encourage you to keep praying for us and for the ministry.\nBrother Arthur*: He was suffering for many months with kidney stones, and was becoming very weak. I saw him crying and struggling with extreme pain. I shared in the monthly prayer requests to please pray for him and we were praying for him too. The doctors suggested to him to have surgery to get the stones removed, but our God is powerful and heals.\nBrother Arthur was worried about his kidney stones, but he still trusted God would do something in his life. Two days later the stone came out itself and he was healed from that pain. Praise God!\nSister Kalma*: She had a kidney infection. Within two weeks God healed her!\nPrita* : Contracted COVID-19. Healed!\nAmber*: She had extreme stomach pain. When she prayed and asked God to heal her, God amazingly healed her right then! There are so many things that God is doing in our church people\u0026rsquo;s lives: providing new jobs, healing them, and restoring them. We are praising God for what He is doing and are thankful to you for being prayer supporters to us!\nYoung Adult Bible Study This month we started a young adult Bible study. It is going very well. They are really excited to know God from His Word. We are also teaching them inductive Bible study, so that they can easily divide and understand God\u0026rsquo;s Word rightly. Even when they are at home, they are studying the Bible using the IBS (Inductive Bible Study) method.\nWe have now moved to a new place where we will start a Bible school/college. This month we hosted a meeting for pastors from different denominations to introduce our Bible school/college. We got good responses from the pastors and prayed together over the work that we are doing here. I really praise God that we received encouragement from local pastors. In February, we are going to start classes. Right now our team is preparing for the school. Brother Andrew* is working alongside me in teaching and helping with the Bible school/college.\nNew church plant For many years, many pastors came to serve in a particular area, but no one was able to continue with what they had started. For many years, I watched pastors come and start ministry there and then suddenly leave. I do not know why. I always wondered, \u0026ldquo;Why is this happening?\u0026rdquo; This place is my home town. Now, God has opened a door for me to start a Bible study to reach this area. The total population of this area is 67,271. In the place we are working in, there are 800 people. This area has some historical Hindu temples and also a big hill covered with very big rocks on it. There are many temples on these rocks. A lot of people, from other areas, come to worship these rocks and idols. There is a lot of idolatry in this area. The town has nine mountains around it. I have been living in the area for 12 years but there is still no church today. From (undisclosed) city it is a 3-4 hour drive.\nDuring this November, we started a Bible study. We now have 11 people who are coming to the Bible study. We are really excited about how God is going to work in this area to break the idolatry and traditions of men. We need your prayers to continue the work that God has already started. We want to see people worshiping the true Living God, instead of worshiping rocks and trees. In this area many young adults are addicted to alcohol and smoking. There are raging women, people stealing and fights. Some people have been kicked out of their families because of their addictions. They need Jesus. Their lives need to be transformed. We want to see them experiencing the love of God so that they can love one another.\nI have been meditating on the Word of God from Romans 13:8-10. I got stuck in the words \u0026ldquo;Love your Neighbor\u0026rdquo;. It encouraged me to reach those young adults so that they could experience the love of God and love their neighbors. The work has already begun. One of our team members, Brother Punkaj*, has been discipled by and serving in our Calvary Chapel church for 4 years. He is a Bible college student who studied at our Southern and Northern campuses. He\u0026rsquo;s serving there in Ardim*. I go once a week to encourage and work along side him until he is ready to take over the ministry there. Please pray for him and the ministry in Ardim*.\nWe still have 4 different locations where we hope to start up churches, but need workers. The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few. Pray that God would lead His servants to take over the ministry in those areas.\nNew Church Plants We planted our main church in 2015\nEast Almir*- praying for workers\nArdim* - work started (170 km from city)\nNegal*- praying for workers\nKenosh* -praying for workers.(30 kms from city)\nJaga* - praying for workers. (85 kilometers from the city)\nThank you for taking time to pray and partaking in the work we do here. We keep praying for you and your families. We love you.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray that God\u0026rsquo;s work that we are doing here would be fruitful and a blessing to many. That the Church believers grow more in the wisdom of God and in His Word. Pray for sister Amber\u0026rsquo;s* son. He is sick. Pray for my mom to have good health. She has fat grown in her liver. Please pray for her healing. Pray for my newborn niece to have good health. Pray for my wife, she is now 7 months pregnant. Pray for brother Punkaj* who is serving in Ardim*. Pray for Andrew* as he is serving in the Bible school/college. Pray for Andrew\u0026rsquo;s* dad to get a new job. This Christmas season, we are planning to print calendars to give as gifts and reach more people with the Gospel. We would also distribute them to make friends. Please pray for the financial provision for this. Blankets distribution (Relief work)\u0026ndash;It is winter now, and there are many who are homeless and sleep on the streets at night. We want to share the love of God and the Gospel and give them blankets. Please pray.\nThank you!\nPastor 6* and Family\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/joyful-in-thee/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you for your prayers and support!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/John-Edward-Nov-3.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have had a really good start of the first worship service in the church building during this month of November. Everyone was \u003cstrong\u003eso\u003c/strong\u003e happy to come together to worship our Lord Jesus Christ! We had the Lord\u0026rsquo;s supper together during our 1st Sunday worship service. During the lock-down, God taught us many things about depending upon Him when things don\u0026rsquo;t go well and trusting in Him for everything.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Joyful In Thee"},{"content":"In a world where the news just seems to be getting worse, problems seem to be getting bigger, tensions build, and anxieties sore we are here to tell you our walk with God and relationship with Him just keeps getting better and we hope that is a reality in your life as well. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus\u0026rsquo; blood and righteousness. We love that song, we love that truth. Jenn and I are completely committed and totally sold out to walking with God and caring for missionaries, and if you’ve been reading our update letters, you’ll know it’s been a bumpy ride, yet around every corner God continues to show Himself strong. We have found great joy and lots of blessing in caring for missionaries on the field along with missionaries on their way to the field (i.e. Calvary School of Missions students). October was filled with missionary care on yet another level… in our home. We were blessed to be able to house and host a missionary brother from a Middle Eastern, predominately Muslim country who stayed with us for two weeks. It was a great time of fellowship and he left completely refreshed.\nFor two weeks prior to that it was our joy to be able to house and host a couple who has a calling on their lives and their eyes set on planting a church in Japan. We also had several dinners with a family from Africa who wasn’t able to stay with us because our home was full but we had them over as much as possible for food and fellowship.\nWe had such an incredible time loving on our fellow brothers and sisters who are giving up all the comforts of America for the furtherance of the Gospel over seas. We are so grateful for your support that enables us to work in this multifaceted ministry of launching and caring for missionaries. Speaking of support, in our last few update letter we had fired off the flares and sounded the alarms as our finances had gotten dangerously low. Yet again God has shown Himself strong on our behalf and we are so grateful to those of you who responded. We are so blessed and blown away by very generous responses. We are still in need of monthly partners to help sustain us on a month to month basis to keep us from getting in that spot again. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or by mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory, Tim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/lives-touching-lives/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn a world where the news just seems to be getting worse, problems seem to be getting bigger, tensions build, and anxieties sore we are here to tell you our walk with God and relationship with Him just keeps getting better and we hope that is a reality in your life as well. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus\u0026rsquo; blood and righteousness. We love that song, we love that truth. Jenn and I are completely committed and totally sold out to walking with God and caring for missionaries, and if you’ve been reading our update letters, you’ll know it’s been a bumpy ride, yet around every corner God continues to show Himself strong. We have found great joy and lots of blessing in caring for missionaries on the field along with missionaries on their way to the field (i.e. Calvary School of Missions students). October was filled with missionary care on yet another level… in our home. We were blessed to be able to house and host a missionary brother from a Middle Eastern, predominately Muslim country who stayed with us for two weeks. It was a great time of fellowship and he left completely refreshed.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Lives Touching Lives"},{"content":"“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His lovingkindness.” Psalm 33:18 Life just keeps going and going as we continue to visit friends and family. We started October with a wonderful stay with our sending organization, Saving Grace World Mission, in Yorba Linda, California. It is wonderful to serve alongside so many people devoted to the Lord, and we were very blessed by the sincere love of Christ shown by all the staff and community connected to Saving Grace. Heading South, we came into Tecate, Mexico, to visit Matt’s brother and sister-in-law, Josh and Laura. It was encouraging to be with them, to reconnect with Josh and to get to know Laura, since we hadn’t had opportunity before their wedding last year. It was also very special to spend time with our Mexican “Mama’s”. We had been on many short term trips to Tecate, and Matt had even spent 5 months living with Ma Elena and her family. Being able to introduce them to their honorary grandchildren was precious. On our way back to CO we stopped briefly in Phoenix to visit several friends. We were also greatly encouraged there. A few hours from home we had unexpected trouble with our vehicle. God brought friends who happened to live at the next Interstate exit, and they helped us home the next day. Praise God for His providence and protection!\nCharlotte Hope was born on October 22 by C-section, the life verse we chose for her is printed above: Psalm 33:18. We praise God for the safe procedure and delivery of our beautiful daughter, and the excellent care at the hospital here in Colorado Springs. Emma and Madeline are happy to have another baby to love on, but Noah is very convinced that this is HIS baby. He loves her and with careful help, will hold her for as long as he can get away with. He is a fine big brother. While still admitted for recovery, God allowed us to get to know and pray for one of the nurses who cared for Noelle. She became our friend, and we were even invited to come and meet her husband in their home. What a blessing!\nWhen you are open to whatever God has planned, it becomes a treat to be a part of it. We have been blessed with many treats this month!!\n_Many blessings in Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, Noah, and Charlotte_\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/october-2020/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"behold-the-eye-of-the-lord-is-on-those-who-fear-him-on-those-who-hope-for-his-lovingkindness-psalm-3318\"\u003e“Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope for His lovingkindness.”  Psalm 33:18\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLife just keeps going and going as we continue to visit friends and family.  We started October with a wonderful stay with our sending organization, Saving Grace World Mission, in Yorba Linda, California.  It is wonderful to serve alongside so many people devoted to the Lord, and we were very blessed by the sincere love of Christ shown by all the staff and community connected to Saving Grace.  Heading South, we came into Tecate, Mexico, to visit Matt’s brother and sister-in-law, Josh and Laura.  It was encouraging to be with them, to reconnect with Josh and to get to know Laura, since we hadn’t had opportunity before their wedding last year. It was also very special to spend time with our Mexican “Mama’s”. We had been on many short term trips to Tecate, and Matt had even spent 5 months living with Ma Elena and her family.  Being able to introduce them to their honorary grandchildren was precious.   On our way back to CO we stopped briefly in Phoenix to visit several friends.  We were also greatly encouraged there.  A few hours from home we had unexpected trouble with our vehicle. God brought friends who happened to live at the next Interstate exit, and they helped us home the next day. Praise God for His providence and protection!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"October 2020"},{"content":"Greetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nFirst of all, we would like to thank our Almighty God for His provision and protection. Secondly, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We assure you that we have been praying for you and your family\u0026ndash;that God may keep you safe and give sound health and that you may have multi-fold blessings.\nDuring the past month, God gave me the privilege to create audio classes for the second year students of our Pastor\u0026rsquo;s school on the epistle of Jude. Teaching them through audio recordings was a wonderful experience for me. I appreciate my mentor, Pastor 15*, who guided me in this. I also have a weekly online Bible study on the Gospel of Matthew for new believers and friends.\nWe have still not opened our church, and are therefore hosting online church services. Last month, we visited some of the church families and prayed for them. My daughter is taking her midterm exam online.\nTwo weeks ago, a believer named Nadim* (He was the first believer who was lead to the Lord through my ministry when I started serving the Lord) was in a traffic accident. While he was on his way to work on his motorcycle, a car came from the opposite direction and hit him very badly. His leg and hand were broken. He had surgery, which was successful, but he is still in the hospital.\nPrayer Requests: Please continue to pray for our online church services. Kindly pray for our Wednesday online Bible study, that God may help us reach more people with the Gospel of Christ Jesus during the pandemic. Please pray for the speedy recovery of brother Nadim*. Please pray for me and my family\u0026ndash;may God use us in an effective way for His glory. Thank you very much for your prayer and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and family\n* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/be-not-dismayed/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Pahal-Nov-Making-teaching-audios-for-students-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst of all, we would like to thank our Almighty God for His provision and protection. Secondly, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We assure you that we have been praying for you and your family\u0026ndash;that God may keep you safe and give sound health and that you may have multi-fold blessings.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Be Not Dismayed"},{"content":" Children\u0026rsquo;s Ministry\nBaby Dedication\nVisitors\nDia de Independencia\nArea de Silencio\nMountain Fun\nDia de Independencia\nDia de Independencia\nColossians\nPlaying Outside\nCan you believe we’re already in November of this crazy year? It’s been the longest/shortest year ever. Ministry is really picking up here in Oaxaca, along with the “normal” day to day life. Every week seems a little more like life before the pandemic.\nRight after our last update, we celebrated Mexican Independence Day with some of our church family and friends. It was SO nice to take a drive up to the mountains, to a small Christian-run camp, and have some fun and fellowship. We hiked, did a little mini zip line, played basketball, ate, and just had a much needed day of rest and time together. It had been 6 months since we had a day like that with the church body.\nWe had to re-close the church for 2 weeks because we had some COVID cases in the church body and we felt it was better to just go back to online for 2 Sundays. Praise the Lord that those who were sick had mild cases and are now healthy and we’re back open. This past Sunday was such an encouragement because we had the most people returned to the church since March. There is still quite a bit of fear here so it may take some time before everyone returns.\nJon has been continuing to go to the men’s rehab each week and it’s been such a huge blessing to hear him talk about his time with them when he gets home. He’s got such a heart for the lost and just wants to see them fall in love with Jesus. Before he started going, this ministry was fully secular, and now they’re all reading their Bibles and doing their Navigators homework every day. God is so amazing. And the men in the church are still going strong with their Navigators groups each week. People really love having this time.\nThis past Sunday was also the very first baby dedication at Calvary Oaxaca, and for Jon. Witnessing this sweet moment where her parents wanted to publicly dedicate their baby to the Lord and have her prayed over was amazing. We have experienced so many cultural firsts with this couple. We were the “godparents of the rings” for their wedding, Jon was a part of their wedding ceremony, the baby dedication, and many other things. God put this family in our lives not just to love, but for them to also patiently teach us the amazing cultural things we knew nothing about.\nI’ve restarted English class but I’m praying about starting a beginners class after the holidays. I absolutely love these classes, and they’ve really helped with my Spanish since I teach it in Spanish (besides the English part…haha). Jonny got all of his braces and he’s doing great with them. Noah recently went to the dentist and had a couple of tiny cavities. Both of the boys continue in their music classes each week. Noah with guitar and Jonny with drums.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nThat the people would start returning to church when they feel it’s the right time for them. And that those who haven’t returned to be spending time in the Word, in prayer, and getting some sort of fellowship with other believers. That we would be purposeful in reaching out to the church body and checking in on them. SPANISH!!! That we would continue to learn and use Spanish, and the boys would have a desire to learn more. They understand but are so timid about speaking it. Continued growth in the Navigators groups at church, and at the men’s rehab. PRAISE REPORTS:\nWe are so grateful for the men who translate for Jon. We have some great guys to help him with this. The growth in the guys at the rehab, who went from knowing basically nothing about the Bible and Jesus, to having personal relationships with Him. That people are starting to return to church to have the fellowship we all so desperately need. Thank you for taking the time to read this and catch up on our lives. We praise the Lord for those of you who pray for, support, and encourage us. You are all a part of the work that God is doing here in Oaxaca!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/november-2020/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG%5F3159.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Children\u0026#39;s Ministry\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eChildren\u0026rsquo;s Ministry\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG%5F3154.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Baby Dedication\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eBaby Dedication\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG%5F2355.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Visitors\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eVisitors\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/d7ef470a-4eb9-4450-9e63-f29c19b8f2c5-768x1024.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Dia de Independencia\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eDia de Independencia\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG%5F2153.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Area de Silencio\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eArea de Silencio\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG%5F2176.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Mountain Fun\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eMountain Fun\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG%5F2160.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Dia de Independencia\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eDia de Independencia\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG%5F2180.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Dia de Independencia\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eDia de Independencia\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG%5F2234.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Colossians\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eColossians\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/IMG%5F2191.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Playing Outside\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003ePlaying Outside\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCan you believe we’re already in November of this crazy year? It’s been the longest/shortest year ever. Ministry is really picking up here in Oaxaca, along with the “normal” day to day life. Every week seems a little more like life before the pandemic.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"November 2020"},{"content":"The king\u0026rsquo;s heart is in the hand of the Lord,\nLike the rivers of water;\nHe turns it wherever He wishes. (Proverbs 21:1 NKJV)\nAs I write this post, it is the day before the U.S. election. Growing up, I was interested in U.S. politics while my peers were interested in sports. I even earned a degree in political science before God called me to be a missionary and Christian apologist in Cambodia. Each election year, I thank God that I do not have to campaign for any human candidate, but that I have the privilege to use my skills to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Even though I still have strong preferences for which candidates win various elections, the above verse has helped me to keep my sense of balance and peace by remembering that regardless of who wins the election, God is still in complete control.\nIn October, I continued to write scripts and produce apologetics/evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language. I released two videos: God and Good Evil and Go d and Money. Four more video scripts are in various stages of production for future videos. The video ministry continues to be fruitful and rewarding.\nNow that the churches have reopened (with restrictions), I have also resumed helping a Chinese missionary teach the Bible and English to Chinese and Cambodians at the international church we attend.\nI have also started teaching a Christian Apologetics class at the Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute. This class has been a little confusing due to COVID restrictions. At first, the class was supposed to be fully online, so I prepared for that. Then, it was supposed to be partly online and partly in-person, so I prepared for that. Now, starting this week, it is fully in-person. So, I am getting ready to make (hopefully) this final adjustment. I am thankful that Cambodia\u0026rsquo;s COVID-19 situation remains very good with only a handful of active cases, all from overseas travelers and not community transmission.\nKayo continues to actively help coordinate the international church\u0026rsquo;s worship team and minister to Japanese missionaries in Cambodia. She looks forward to getting back into in-person ministries to Cambodians as the COVID situation in Cambodia improves.\nBenjamin is doing well in school and is overcoming the challenges of sixth grade and COVID restrictions (at school).\nThank you for your faithful prayers, encouragement, and support. Please pray for our ministries as well as for the travel restrictions to/from Cambodia so that we can visit the US and Japan in the future. We also pray that God will bless, provide for, and protect you during this season of uncertainty.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-heart-of-the-king/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe king\u0026rsquo;s heart is in the hand of the Lord,\u003cbr\u003e\nLike the rivers of water;\u003cbr\u003e\nHe turns it wherever He wishes.\u003c/em\u003e (Proverbs 21:1 NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs I write this post, it is the day before the U.S. election. Growing up, I was interested in U.S. politics while my peers were interested in sports. I even earned a degree in political science before God called me to be a missionary and Christian apologist in Cambodia. Each election year, I thank God that I do not have to campaign for any human candidate, but that I have the privilege to use my skills to share the good news of Jesus Christ. Even though I still have strong preferences for which candidates win various elections, the above verse has helped me to keep my sense of balance and peace by remembering that regardless of who wins the election, God is still in complete control.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Heart of the King"},{"content":"As many of you already know, I have been busy since the beginning of 2020 with the dubbing of a great movie from Living Waters, which is such an amazing tool of evangelism to reach out to the French population, mainly those familiar with the use of the internet – YouTube more specifically.\nThe oppositions of the enemy have been numerous during the working of this project and I was very sick for the last 2 months of the finalization of the dubbing with what I thought was a pinched nerve in my lower back, when actually it was an abcess in my kidney which the Lord miraculously delivered me from. I was barely recovered when the Lord gave me the green light to start a missionary trip from the 17th of August till today, the 5th of October.\nA big sense of urgency pressed me to go as quickly as possible to reach a maximum of cities in France with the Gospel via the movie “The Atheist Delusion” now finally dubbed in French = “Athée: vraiment?” for all to follow easily.\nWhile Mitch was visiting and helping his parents and family in California I started with a visit to my family in France until the cards and the movie were ready. The happy day finally arrived on the 30th of August! I left immediately for Mulhouse to distribute in the streets the movie cards to the younger people and the “Good Person” tracts to the elderly. Sleeping mainly in rooms rented via Airbnb, driving often in the morning, distributing all afternoon.\nEnjoying different landscapes between cities, then pouring my heart out to the people in the streets of no less than 27 French cities, mainly in the north of France.\nI was so privileged to go and give thousands of cards and tracts in Mulhouse, Strasbourg, Metz, Reims, Saint Quentin, Lille, Arras, Amiens, Dieppe, Rouen, Chartres, Orléans, Le Mans, Rennes, Brest, Lorient, Nantes, Angers, Tours, Poitiers, Limoges, Clermont Ferrand. Then the south with Perpignan, Carcassonne, Biarritz, Bordeaux, Toulouse!\nEverywhere I went the Lord’s goodness, direction, faithfulness, provision, protection were just so AMAZING!! He also prepared some incredible divine appointments in many places. Young and old, believers(*) who needed to be encouraged, prayed for, unbelievers searching and knowing we did not meet by chance. Bringing hope, encouragement to those like Floriane*, Philippe, Pierre, Melina*, Lucianna*, and her whole family* of gypsies in Dieppe, Sébastien*, Patrice*, Danne*, François, Emmanuel – Isabelle, Céline, Hélène, Xavier, Lionel, and also a whole group of lost young teens, in full rebellion with 7 young homeless men in Lorient, Nathalie, Frank, Eve, Brigitte, pasteur Alex*, Domitien, Dominique, Mateo, Maurianne, Patrick, Catherine, a young lady working at a cash register at Lidl, whose reaction was SO radical as she took the card with hope in the midst of her depression, Martine, Pastor Jean from Nimes* who took 8000 cards to give to the people of his city and other pastors he knows, Manuel, Christian, Israel, Mona-Dabia-Camille, Anne, a group of 8 youth in the streets of Bordeaux, Miguel-Fabienne, Simon…… and all the stories I will never know here on earth of thousands of hearts touched by the Lord through this movie.\nI am planning to keep in touch with some of these and will pray regularly for all the persons mentioned above.\nThere are as many incredible stories as first names mentioned. I cannot tell of these here, it would take many pages. BUT, if you are interested to know what happened with them, pick up a name or two or three and I will share with you. I kept some daily notes not to forget this extraordinary journey.\nAs I am coming home after this incredible trip, I am very, very grateful for the DAILY support I had from close sisters like Carole (California), Elisabeth and Graziella (Nice) who fought with me spiritually for this trip to be to the Lord’s glory!!\nMy heart is bursting out of thankfulness for all the goodness the Lord has bestowed upon me during these last months!!! For each heart which got encouraged everywhere He sent me! And also for the miracle of seeing and spending a sweet 90 minutes with my older sister Fabienne in the north of France after 5 years of not hearing anything from her!\nThe fields are white….\nTo our Great God be ALL the glory!!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-went-through-town-and-country-giving-the-good-news-of-the-kingdom-of-god-luke-81/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs many of you already know, I have been busy since the beginning of 2020 with the dubbing of a great movie from Living Waters, which is such an amazing tool of evangelism to reach out to the French population, mainly those familiar with the use of the internet – YouTube more specifically.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe oppositions of the enemy have been numerous during the working of this project and I was very sick for the last 2 months of the finalization of the dubbing with what I thought was a pinched nerve in my lower back, when actually it was an abcess in my kidney which the Lord miraculously delivered me from. I was barely recovered when the Lord gave me the green light to start a missionary trip from the 17th of August till today, the 5th of October.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"“He went through town and country giving the Good News of the Kingdom of God” (Luke 8:1)"},{"content":"The Aussie Connection Newsletter from the Russell\u0026rsquo;s\nGreetings, we pray you are doing well and having a blessed day. On Wednesday, the 28th of October, part of our three-and-a-half-month stage 4 lockdown was finally lifted here in Melbourne. Once we get to a partial reopening on November 23rd, we\u0026rsquo;ll have been under stay at home directions and lockdown for 168 days and restrictions for 235 days. So needless to say, it’s been a tough year.\nAll schools are finally open and able to meet in person instead of online. Seven months has passed since Christian, our youngest son, was on school campus. I feel for the youth as they struggle to reconnect with their friends and reacclimate back to some sense of normalcy.\nIt’s amazing what we take for granted. It was freeing to be able to go to the shops, do errands, and pick up items which were unavailable throughout stage 4 lockdown. Australian culture is quite resilient, and it seems that things will get to back to normal fairly quickly once all the restrictions are lifted.\nChurch\nAt this point, we are still several weeks away from being able to meet as a fellowship at the school we hire from. Once we have an open door, we will either be doing outdoor services or meeting indoors with a limited number of people in attendance.\nWe are all looking forward to the day when we can finally come together and meet as a church body. We’ve had many inquiries from individuals who have not been part of the congregation in the past but are looking for a place of fellowship once we open. We will certainly need wisdom and discernment as we take the next steps in opening Calvary Melbourne.\nFamily\nA quick update:\nAs we mentioned last time, both our sons are currently in High School (School year typically runs from Feb to mid December but will end early due to Covid-19). Our oldest, Joshua, graduated last week and will be moving to the next chapter of his life. We are so proud of his perseverance throughout this challenging year. He will be starting his four-year apprenticeship shortly with a local electrical company.\nChristian, our youngest, has another two weeks before finishing up Year 10. Then for the last two weeks of the school term, all the kids start the next year level. Christian will also be taking the VCAL Pathway, which is directed toward a trade career. He is looking at plumbing or electrical as career options.\nThank You\nWe just wanted to say thank you so much and how we greatly appreciate all your prayers and your financial support. We are so blessed to have the team behind us making an eternal difference.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for wisdom, discernment, guidance, provision, protection, and revival in our lives and in the church. Please pray for our family (Andrew, Niki, Joshua, and Christian) Please pray for direction as we pastor Calvary Melbourne and what the Lord would have for us as a fellowship If you like to contact us, here is my email: ccmelbourne@gmail.com\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-aussie-connection-october-2020/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Aussie Connection Newsletter from the Russell\u0026rsquo;s\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings, we pray you are doing well and having a blessed day.  On Wednesday, the 28th of October, part of our three-and-a-half-month stage 4 lockdown was finally lifted here in Melbourne. Once we get to a partial reopening on November 23rd, we\u0026rsquo;ll have been under stay at home directions and lockdown for 168 days and restrictions for 235 days. So needless to say, it’s been a tough year.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Aussie Connection: November 2020"},{"content":"October 2020\nHello Friends! I would like to start by saying, Wow, your amazing support during my time in Calvary School of Missions was overwhelming. I feel so encouraged by you partnering with me in the Gospel. What an honor it is to serve together.\nIt has been sometime since I last updated you, so let me start with a brief recap. In July, I was able to attend Calvary School of Missions in Rosarito, Mexico. In CSOM we had daily classes and many outreaches for COVID Relief where we would share the Gospel as well as provide food and cleaning supplies. We were also able to learn from many experienced missionaries, which was a huge privilege. Day after day, we were exposed to many stories of unreached people groups, people who have no way of hearing the Gospel. It has been greatly put on my heart to go wherever the Lord will lead me, to reach people about the Gospel. To say this 6-week program was life changing kind of feels like an understatement. As the end of school drew near the leaders sat down with each of us to debrief on the whole experience. During our conversation, I was offered the great opportunity to intern with Saving Grace World Missions. I know I need to learn so much and I need lots more guidance as I follow the Lord onto this new mission field, so of course, I accepted.\nWith all that said, I have just recently moved to California for the internship. I am back where my roots started and I see God’s fingerprints all over it. For one thing I didn’t even need to look for a place to stay. My dear friend Denise (who I served with in Mexico at La Mision para los Ninos) was kind enough to open her doors to me. Fun Fact: Denise is the one who told me about the school. Also, she lives within walking distance of Saving Grace where I will be serving as part of my internship. Talk about God’s perfect planning!\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is dwu8PqaNwGxeyRduC4GLxT1OnWnK8RgixkFRMGVAQEX0qmWBmVyUW2hfcfplfoxHLMO7iu05hPAdSL_H-xbrPW0S3gnGFGc6zEkzqYM5I9Az6339ZV8EXrFo04DkyBukvql410kA\nThe Internship is an amazing opportunity where Pastors will be guiding us in becoming Passionate Servants of Jesus. I’ll be learning this by serving in various ministries, helping in the office, attending class each week, and being a part of special events. The classes given are to help strengthen our Biblical foundations as well as instruction on how to effectively share the Bible with others. In reality, I feel like I am just being completely embraced into this beautiful family that find their joy in Jesus. How did I get so blessed? Jesus. Jesus loves me this I know! I see the many ways I need to grow and I am encouraged when I feel the growing pains because that means I am already growing. My big pain is public speaking. Pray that I would have courage and boldness. I know God is asking me to be faithful to Him and that means having faith that he will work in me and through me.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is unnamed-5.jpg\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray that, as God is growing me in so many ways, I would have patience with myself. That the Lord will continually direct my steps and that my hands would be open to all He has planned for me. Also, for my memory. There have been so many changes in my life lately, I am feeling a bit forgetful and overwhelmed at times. Praise Reports:\nWhile at the school I was so amazed by you and your amazing financial support, we raised enough and then some!! God is amazing!! Praise the Lord for growing pains that result from growth. Praise the Lord for Denise and her lovely heart and home!! Praise the Lord for this church family welcoming with such love and care! Praise the Lord always for He is Good!! I am very excited to see what the Lord does during this time. It is truly amazing to me how this all came to be. If you’d like to talk with me more in depth, please reach out! I’d love to connect with you and share stories together.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-moved-again/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOctober 2020\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello Friends! I would like to start by saying, Wow, your amazing support during my time in Calvary School of Missions was overwhelming. I feel so encouraged by you partnering with me in the Gospel. What an honor it is to serve together.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/romero/wp-content/uploads/sites/126/2020/10/unnamed-1-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt has been sometime since I last updated you, so let me start with a brief recap. In July, I was able to attend Calvary School of Missions in Rosarito, Mexico. In CSOM we had daily classes and many outreaches for COVID Relief where we would share the Gospel as well as provide food and cleaning supplies. We were also able to learn from many experienced missionaries, which was a huge privilege. Day after day, we were exposed to many stories of unreached people groups, people who have no way of hearing the Gospel. It has been greatly put on my heart to go wherever the Lord will lead me, to reach people about the Gospel. To say this 6-week program was life changing kind of feels like an understatement. As the end of school drew near the leaders sat down with each of us to debrief on the whole experience. During our conversation, I was offered the great opportunity to intern with Saving Grace World Missions. I know I need to learn so much and I need lots more guidance as I follow the Lord onto this new mission field, so of course, I accepted.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Moved Again?!"},{"content":" EUROPE\nMatt and Noelle Harris - Gulu, Uganda\nPraise God:\n-For the refreshing and encouraging time we shared with the SGWM staff and families in CA, what a blessing to visit with them!\n-For our safe travel across the border into Mexico and then back home after visiting and encouraging Matt\u0026rsquo;s brother and sister-in-law.\n-For the safe delivery of our newest addition, Charlotte, and for the health of both Noelle and baby!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. That God would give us rest during these months in the USA, even while we adjust to having a new baby, and work toward spending time with our family members scattered across the states.\n2. That God would give us boldness and clarity to make know the mystery of the Gospel, as we have so many opportunities to share with individuals and groups, strangers and friends, saved and unsaved.\n3. That God would continue to guide the leaders of the pastoral school in Uganda, as they have been given the opportunity to open the school back up after it\u0026rsquo;s temporary closure during the lockdown.\nThank you for praying on our behalf. What a blessing to work together as the body of Christ!\nMuch love in Christ,\nMatt \u0026amp; Noelle, Emma, Madeline, Noah, and Charlotte - Email Blog\nDave and Twinkle Zavala - Nairobi, Kenya\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that God would provide funds for Pastor Mabonga Bernard to finish the church build out at CC Kawangware.\n2. Please pray that the Kenyan government would permit churches to resume Children\u0026rsquo;s ministry at churches.\n3. Please pray for Twinkle\u0026rsquo;s eye surgery on October 28th, please pray for quick healing and no complications.\n4. Please pray for B\u0026rsquo;s marriage , that God would restore what the enemy seems to have severed.\nThank you very much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nDave, Twinkle, Bianca and Sophia - Email Blog\nVincent and Melissa Aniku - Uganda\nThank you all so much for continuing to pray in these times.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We praise God we have made it to Midigo safely and have already hit the ground running!\n2. Pray as Vincent begins equipping the leaders and discipling them deeper.\nPray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection as the corona virus is just starting to hit our region. We have many with malaria, AIDS, hepatitis and elderly in our community.\n3. Our Calvary Football/Soccer club is traveling for the play offs. Pray that the tournament will be used for furtherance of the gospel!\n4. Pray for the finalizing of the shipping container.\nThank you all so much for your prayers and love!\nGod bless,\nVincent and Melissa - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nYours for the unreached Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nMike and Sarah Vincent - Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Safety for our family, church, and city from the corona virus!\n2.That God would provide for the needs of our family and church!\n3. That God\u0026rsquo;s people would return with the re-opening of the church!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel - Email Blog\nMike and Erin Thiemann - California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family during this crazy season. School has started back up and the beginning of the year is always chaotic for Erin and the kids as they develop a new routine.\n2. I have restructured the leadership within SGWM and have created three distinct departments - Missionary Sending (US based missionaries that we have sent), International Relations (10/40 Window church planting/nationals), and the Missionary Training (School of Missions and Internship). Pray as we transition and continue to grow.\n3. Please pray for the youth ministry I lead. Our group is growing and the teens are doing well. Please pray for all of our leaders that the Lord would anoint them.\n4. Over the next 6-7 months, my teaching schedule is increasing exponentially. Please pray that the Lord lengthens my study time and anoints my ability to communicate His Word effectively.\n5. Pray for our personal support. Living in the States and on missionary support is a difficult reality. We struggle with it practically as living expenses in Orange County are high. It is also a struggle to convince people that our home office staff is an absolute necessity for the success of our missionaries all over the world.\n6. We had a great response for our youth Mexico trip in November. We completely filled up the trip. So I\u0026rsquo;ll be leading a group of 30 youth and young adults to Mexico in November. Please pray for this trip.\n7. We also had a great response for our 2021 summer youth and young adults Israel apologetic tour. We have 35 signups! I originally booked for 15. So the Lord sent in a LOT more. Please pray for all the administration that goes into organizing a trip like this. Also, pray for no COVID issues.\nThank you for praying!\nGod bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina - Erin - Email Mike - Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna - S. Asia and Africa\n**Prayer Requests:-\n** 1. Pray for food outreach and relief in Asia as we continue to coordinate for the month of November and pastors and students share the hope and physical help so many are desperate for.\n2. Pray for Heather as she schedules and sets up online classes with ladies in Asia. Pray for the logistics and that it would be an encouraging and fruitful time.\n3. Pray for those we are discipling and equipping that are preparing to be sent out. Pray for Gods timing, provision and patience in the waiting.\n4. Pray for revival both here and abroad amongst the unreached.\n5. Pray for vision, direction and for new ideas to minister during these changing times.\nThank you for your prayers,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - California, USA\nThank you so much for praying for us faithfully, it means more than you can know!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for wisdom and vision for Joel as he tackles his new role of Director of Missionary Sending\n2. Pray for us to have the wisdom and energy to raise our four children\n3. Pray for the Lord to provide for our financial needs\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email Blog\nAndrea Manor - Intern with SGWM\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that I would continue to grow in the Word of God in this season of interning with SGWM\n2. Pray that I would be faithful in making disciples everywhere I go\n3. Pray that the Lord would prepare me to work among Muslims, which is where I believe He is calling me to in the future.\n4. Please pray for an affordable and reliable car! I am in need of a car to get to work and church related events.\n5. Lastly, please pray for the salvation of my family.\nThank you so much!\nAndrea - Email Blog\nBryan Reyes - Intern with SGWM\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray that the Lord would open doors for me to share the Gospel.\n2. Pray that the Lord would provide the support needed in order to move to the Middle East.\n3. Pray that the Lord would provide a care team for me.\nThank you so much!\nFor His Glory.\nBryan - Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray - Ensenada, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. The semester is going well. One of our students, Sergio, is scheduled for surgery next week. Please pray for him and the doctors that all would go well and that he would have a speedy recovery.\n2. We are starting a monthly Missions Night in our home for the students at Calvary Chapel Bible College Mexico. This month we are discussing Missions in Costs Rica. Two of our graduates planted a church there so we will visit and pray for them online using Whatsap. We will also be having a time of fellowship with traditional desserts from Costa Rica.\n3. Leo is joining friends from Florida on a Mission trip to El Salvador during our fall break. Please pray for safety while traveling and while in country. He expects to help with some construction work and a water project with them.\n4. Two separate sets of friends have both lost sons recently who were in their early thirties. Please pray for them and their spouses and other family members who are hurting from the loss of their loved ones.\n5. We are getting close to mid semester - pray for our students to finish well. We had a baptism last week and seven of our students were baptized. Several mentioned wanting to serve God with all their hearts. It was so encouraging to see their commitment to Him.\nThanks to everyone for your prayers and concern for us and other missionaries. God Bless You.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar - Email Blog\nHope Douglass - SGWM - California\nThank you so much for thinking of us and praying for us. Your prayers are a blessing.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please keep my family in your prayers as we prepare to welcome a third member in May.\n2. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s provision and wisdom. Thank you for praying for our home office as we transition our corporate structure.\nGod bless each of you and keep you as you abide in Him.\nBlessings, Hope - Email Blog\nJon and Allison Brechtel - Oaxaca, Mexico\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord that we\u0026rsquo;ve been able to open the church building after 5 months!\n-We just signed a new one-year lease on the church building. So grateful for the financial help we have gotten to help us monthly.\n-Praise the Lord for new opportunities in ways to do ministry in this new season of life with COVID\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that we will be able to stay open and have services in the church building. We will continue to have online options, but we know the importance of being together\n2. Please pray for all of the things Jon has going on. That each one will be a blessing to those he is ministering to.\n3. Pray for the boys\u0026rsquo; school year to go well and for us to stay focused. And for me to be able to teach them and help them with love and patience.\n4. Please keep the English classes in prayer. I have recently started them again for the first time since March and I\u0026rsquo;m really praying about starting a new one for beginners. Right now it\u0026rsquo;s my intermediate class. There\u0026rsquo;s an interest in a kid\u0026rsquo;s class too. Pray for wisdom on when to start these new classes, and that they\u0026rsquo;ll be a good tool for ministry in the community.\nThank you!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, and Noah - Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the nursing homes to open up for ministry in our area, or God to open the door to another ministry here.\n2. Please pray for my financial support.\n3. Please pray for our country and government leaders.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my Grandmother in the nursing home, for her salvation and protection.\n2. Pray that God will lead us in all things.\n3. Please continue to pray for Rose\u0026rsquo;s health, growth and development.\n4. Please pray for my financial support and that God will open doors for me to share about the work He is doing in South Asia.\nThank you so much for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nJeff and Alishia Root - Interns With SGWM\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For a place to live while doing the internship.\n2. For wisdom in timing and planning our vision trip to Japan.\n3. For growth in leadership qualities as we start leading growth groups and ministries.\nThank you for praying for us!\nLove,\nJeff and Alisha - Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nBrad and Melissa - Amazon Jungle Brazil\nGreetings in Christ,\nPlease pray with us as we minister to those in the heart of the Amazon Jungle.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. The Apurina people. Pray specifically for the Church leadership and their continued evangelism and Church meetings, Oscar and Analucia, Raimunda, Valdeci, Guerlermi and Alcimara.\n2. Pray for the people of Manaus where we live and have spent much of this year because of the COVID 19 restrictions. Pray for open doors for us to share, encourage, and edify people who are lost or straying. Pray for open doors to always give a reason for the hope which lies within us.\n3. Pray for our family. Brad, Melissa, Andrea, Josiah, Veronica and Benjamin. Pray for our homeschooling and for the dynamics of ministering in a harsh environment while raising a family.\n4. Pray for our household. We commonly have guest at the mission base. We have had several guest recently which fell ill and needed much care and treatment.\nGod bless you and thank you in Christ!\nBrad and Melissa and family - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\nWorker 15 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer requests:\n1. Please pray that we can restart Sunday services and the Pastors School soon.\n2. Please pray for us and the ministry in our country.\n3. Please pray for our co-worker Pastor\u0026rsquo;s wife who is a nurse. She tested positive for Covid-19. Please also pray for our daughter who is a nurse.\n4. Pray that many non-Christians who saw our Facebook online services would be saved.\nGod bless you\nCo-workers in Christ\n15 and family\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nThanks for supporting us and helping to uplift our God ministry.\n**\nPrayer Requests:**\n1. Pray for our home fellowships, we are now meeting through online media.\n2. Pray that our church believers to be grow in God word.\n3. Pray for our Church members as well as our Family.\n4. Pray For our Ministry to be fruitful.\n5. Pray that our health to be physically fit so we can serve God.\n6. All the staff, students, Pastors ,leaders pray for their health and ministry.\n7. Pray the corona virus will end soon so we can meet together. Everything is going slowly, We hope soon the lockdown will be open and the college will be open to.\nThank you for praying for us!\nGod bless,\nRabi and Mahima - Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our church construction.\n2. Please pray for all of our church family, for their good health.\n3. Please pray for all the students of Calvary Chapel Pastors Training Center, for their good health and ministry during this time.\n4. Please pray that our training center will be able to reopen soon.\n5. Please pray for the good health of all of our SGWM family\nThank you for your prayers!\nBlessing,\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nPraise Report:\n-Thank you to all the prayer warriors who had been praying for us, as I went through fever and weakness, but I am doing well now.\n-Thank you to all who have been praying for the nearby slum area where we had been going again and again to share Christ.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health so that we may serve the LORD continually.\n2. Please pray for the leprosy colony where we had been doing Bible study, where there is a lot of people who have come to Christ.\n3. Please pray for the people in our town, that God will help us to share the Gospel with them.\n4. Please pray for P., who is one of the Bible College students; he wants to start a Bible study in a new area.\n5. Please pray for the Bible college students, that they will attend the virtual classroom regularly and that God will provide their needs.\nGod bless,\nAnand, Usha and family - Email Blog\nDarryl and Kayo Record - Cambodia\nThanks for your prayers. COVID-19 remains under control in Cambodia with only between 200-300 cases, no community transmission and no deaths. We praise God for this.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Thank you for your prayers. God keeps answering your prayers in His way and timing. Churches and schools have been allowed to reopen for in-person meetings after being shut down for six months. We thank God for this progress.\n2. Please pray that the COVID 19 situation in Cambodia will improve to the point that all restrictions on churches, schools, and travel will be lifted asap.\n3. Please continue to pray for our apologetics/evangelistic video ministry that God would continue to use it to reach and equip many Cambodians for Christ.\n4. Please pray for our Cambodian ministry partners\u0026rsquo; ministries to be able to reopen so that we can resume our ministries with them.\n5. Please pray for our Cambodian ministry partners who are struggling financially during this season.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nWorker 8 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for sister H.- She has been under demonic attacks for two months.\n2. Pray for P.R.- He has liver problems and swelling in his legs.\n3. Pray for my church growth.\n4. Pray for a piece of land for a church building.\n5. Pray for better health for us.\nOnce again I would like to thank everyone who is praying and helping financially.\nMay my loving God bless you all abundantly,\n8 and family\nMilan Pariyar - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nMilan - Blog\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\nThank you so much for your prayers. God bless you!\nMay God bless you\nWorker 9\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you\nWorker 12\nWorker 3 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for our online church services.\n2. Kindly pray for my Wednesday online Bible study, that God will help me to reach more people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\n3. Please pray for Sister B.E. and her family members for good health and for spiritual growth.\n4. Please pray for me, and for my family, that we will be effectively used by God.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you\nWorker 3\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n-Praise God that He has kept us safe from every kind of persecution.\n-Praise God that He saved us from major injury last month. My dad and I were in accidents three times. My right hand was injured, and my dad\u0026rsquo;s back was injured\u0026ndash;but thanks be to God, we are recovering quickly.\n-Praise God that He kept us safe from Covid 19.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue pray for our safety while I am driving my motorbike. Most of the village roads have been destroyed by the flood.\n2. Please pray for the election in my state, beginning on October 27. Pray that God will give us a good chief minister who will care about the Christians, poor, widows, orphans and low and out castes.\n3. Please pray for my church families. More than 50 percent of the believers left their homes and went out of state to search for jobs because in my state, there are no jobs available. The families\u0026rsquo; rice harvests are gone because of flooding. Because of these things, I only have 5 house churches now.\n4. Please pray that our church family will be strong during persecution and understand the Word of God deeply.\n5. Please pray for the children in my state children during this pandemic. They have begun taking drugs; especially pray for my cousin brother\u0026rsquo;s son who is only 10 years old and a drug addict.\n6. Please continue to pray that we will be able to paint my church; it has not been painted for 8 years. Pray that God will provide every financial needs\nThank you so much for your faithful prayers.\nGod bless!\nWorker 11\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Good health for me and my family.\n2. Good health for C. (my niece), a 4-month old baby girl.\n3. Our church family to grow more in God\u0026rsquo;s Word.\n4. The Bible school.\n5. Ab. and Pa. families, for their protection as they are serving here in our church and helping in the Bible school\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 6\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\n2. Pray for new believers to grow in Christ\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 13\nRaju - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my spiritual growth.\n2. Please pray that God would help me to teach His Word in a right way.\n3. Please pray that God will make a way to buy the land for our church, which has been affected by Covid-19.\n4. Please pray that God\u0026rsquo;s kingdom will expand in all of our area, and that good works will be done.\n5. Please pray that the love of God will fill my family and neighbors.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you\nWorker 10\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nAs William Carey said, \u0026ldquo;Expect great things from God; Attempt great things for God\u0026rdquo;\nPrayer Request:\nMy prayer is that the students who are under Bible training would understand God\u0026rsquo;s heart for unreached people, and that they will experience this statement in their lives\nThank you,\nGod Bless\nWorker 7\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my past experiences.\nThanking you!\nWorker 4\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the ministry in our country\n2. Pray for me to use this time to grow in the Word of God\n3. Pray for our students who are doing ministry in their villages\n4. Pray for us as we are thinking about reopening the school next semester\n5. Pray for my family\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 2\nMajhiya and Sarita Besra - Nepal\nPraise God:\n-We have found an opportunity to share with others about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n**Prayer Requests:\n** 1. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes. They are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n2. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n3. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita - Blog\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\n**\nPrayer Requests:\n** 1. Pray for the ministry in our country\n2. Pray for me to use this time to grow in the Word of God\n3. Pray for our students who are doing ministry in their villages\n4. Pray for us as we are thinking about reopening the school next semester\n5. Pray for my family\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nWorker 16 - 1-/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my wife, as she is a nurse and working among the Covid patients; pray that God will keep her safe.\n2. Please pray for my children, that they will grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will intervene for the problem the world is facing.\n4. Please pray for our audio classes and the ministry on social media.\n5. Please pray for Mrs. T, as she lost her premature baby due to a medical problem; please keep her in your prayers.\nThank you for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nWorker 16 and Family\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot;\n- Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time.\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-nov-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMatt and Noelle Harris - Gulu, Uganda\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Harris-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise God:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n-For the refreshing and encouraging time we shared with the SGWM staff and families in CA, what a blessing to visit with them!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-For our safe travel across the border into Mexico and then back home after visiting and encouraging Matt\u0026rsquo;s brother and sister-in-law.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-For the safe delivery of our newest addition, Charlotte, and for the health of both Noelle and baby!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM NOV PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nI hope this update finds you and your family healthy and blessed! This past month, our church was blessed to host the national Pastors and leaders conference for Mexico. We had 100\u0026rsquo;s of friends fly in from all over Mexico along with the local ministries and churches and the conference was amazing!\nThe title of the conference was “The Message from Paul to the Ephesian Elders.” The Biblical text was taken from Paul’s message to the Ephesian elders found in the 2nd half of Acts chapter 20. Each one of the main sessions covered one major theme from Paul’s farewell address.\nI was blessed to teach on the Importance of Preaching Repentance to Both Believers and Unbelievers. My Bible text was Acts 20:21, “testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” In this teaching, I reminded the attenders of the importance of believers repenting and confessing their sins so their hearts and minds can be cleansed.\nI also challenged each church in attendance to continually give a clear Gospel invitation at each service so the unbelieving guests in their church can respond in repentance and faith to the message of Jesus and receive the gift of salvation! Our church has given an invitation at every service from the very beginning in 2002, and we have seen God bless that immensely!\nPersonally, I was blessed by the other teachings in the conference which included my local friends, Pastors Chris Martinez of Tijuana and Juan Domingo of Horizonte Ensenada. Pastor Juan is my unofficial mentor, as he was the first gringo Missionary from the Calvary Chapel movement to move to Mexico to church plant over 40 years ago. Since Pastor Juan lives just south of us in Ensenada, he has continually offered me encouragement and counseling, especially in regards to our church planting endeavors.\nOne of the blessings of having a large and beautiful church campus is it allows us to freely share our facility with our friends around Mexico and beyond by hosting large national conferences. These free conferences offer both child care and meals, and are always a great blessing to everyone in attendance. It’s also fun for me to see how our church staff serves willingly and with a smile. I also want to thank you, our generous supporters who have partnered with our family and ministry so that now together we can be a blessing beyond our local borders.\nOn the church side of things, we did have a coronavirus scare with several of our friends contracting the virus. (Thankfully, no one in our family contracted it) Unfortunately, we had to do a temporary re-shut down of the church to keep everyone safe. During that time, we installed a large AIR SCRUBBING machine for our church’s AC/heating system! Thankfully in the past month since we re-opened, we haven’t had any new cases of the virus in our church or on our staff, and little by little people continue to return to the church!\nOn a more positive church note, we were able to bring back baptisms in October for the first time since the pandemic! We weren’t sure what to expect, but we were pleasantly surprised as 13 new believers made the decision to publically identify with Jesus Christ through the waters of baptism. Each one of these baby believers are so precious to our Lord Jesus, and it was fantastic to see our church family spontaneously break out into applause as each one exited the baptismal waters!\nFinally, we feel honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with us as your missionaries in these difficult times. It’s through your financial support that God provides for our physical needs, and through your prayers that God provides our spiritual needs. THANK YOU!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would keep our family, church, and city from this horrible Corona Virus.\n#2- That God would bless our upcoming Holiday and Christmas outreach events!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God that we were able to host the national pastors and leader’s conference.\n#2- Praise God for the healthy re-opening of our church after a minor corona virus scare!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-november-update-2020/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/10/109375269%5F301117257758217%5F4593703787980051402%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI hope this update finds you and your family healthy and blessed! This past month, our church was blessed to host the national Pastors and leaders conference for Mexico. We had 100\u0026rsquo;s of friends fly in from all over Mexico along with the local ministries and churches and the conference was amazing!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/10/119676069%5F3373896152749378%5F7800731179837854064%5Fo-1024x576.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe title of the conference was “The Message from Paul to the Ephesian Elders.” The Biblical text was taken from Paul’s message to the Ephesian elders found in the 2nd half of Acts chapter 20. Each one of the main sessions covered one major theme from Paul’s farewell address.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family November Update 2020"},{"content":"I thank you all for taking the time to read these updates. The Lord is good! I know you have known this a long time, but I cannot refrain from sharing about His goodness. We have been in California for a month now, and while we arrived without a place to live or a job for myself, the Lord has provided abundantly. We were never homeless, though quite nomadic thus far, and the Lord provided a place to spend the night every day. We cannot thank the pastors at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace enough for their generosity and help in making sure we had a roof over our head. They all helped us try to find the right place to stay and two even opened up their homes to us at different times. Now, I can’t say that not having a secure place to stay isn’t stressful at times, but to see the Lord provide day by day is truly something that we needed before we left for the field. Also, I should add that a great job was provided for me, it’s a baking job that allows me to be done with work by 11:00, so it doesn’t interfere with the internship.\nI’ve mentioned a couple of times that I am serving with a ministry called Missions Equip. They have started construction on a recording studio in the last couple of weeks. The building is an old racquetball court that is being renovated into an office and the studio. I was able to help set up a mock recording to get a feel for the space and confirm where we wanted the interior walls to go. Alishia and I were also able to help wash the walls and floor to prepare for the construction to begin. The buildout is scheduled to be complete by the end of the year and we plan to start shooting videos in January. Please keep this project in prayer.\nIn addition to our weekly classes for our internship, twice a month we have a special missions fellowship. This month we were blessed to hear from missionaries who were on furlough for both meetings. Matthew and Noelle Harris serve in Uganda, and Phil Lewis is currently home from the Middle East. There are few things that we enjoy more than hearing from missionaries and these fellowships were such a blessing. God is using ordinary people to do some extraordinary things in the world, and it gives me confidence that He can use us too.\nThe church just remodeled the sanctuary to prepare to reopen on October 18. We were able to help with moving and cleaning, and the finished product looks great. They also installed a new live stream system with several cameras, and I have the opportunity to lead that team. Alishia serves with the media team on Sunday mornings so we are able to serve alongside each other, which is a blessing. Alishia is also doing another fundraiser making centerpieces for Thanksgiving and Christmas, so we are quite busy. I have another devotional for the church Facebook page coming up on November 4, so hopefully you’ll be able to check that out as well.\nWe were able to watch a webinar on discipling Japanese people that was put on by Reaching Japan for Christ. The content was great, but the really neat part was the connection that God made for us with the ministry. One of the couples that serve with RJC are Don and JoAnn Wright. Don was the pastor of my grandparents church back in the late ‘60s. My mom has been passing along his emails for a couple of years now, but to get to talk to him and tell him how we had gotten connected to his ministry was really neat. Fifty years after they had left Nebraska for Japan, he was able to meet the grandson of friends that he had lost touch with because of email updates. That really encourages me as I write this now. It may take fifty years, and it may not be someone this is sent to directly, but the Lord knows what He’s doing and He’ll get these updates to the people that need to see them.\nJAPAN UPDATE!!\nWord on the street is that Japan will open to tourists next April! At this point we are starting to tentatively plan our vision trip for that time. Please keep this in prayer as we look for wisdom and timing for all that entails. Also, please pray for connections with the ministries in Japan that the Lord would have us visit.\nPraise Report:\nThe Lord continues to provide a place for us to stay each night. Please continue to pray for a long-term situation for us. Japan has a plan to reopen, and we are able to start planning our vision trip. We have made several connections with missionaries this month, these friendships are such a blessing to us. Prayer Requests:\nFor provision for us here in California and once we head to Japan. For mercy with language learning. For continued opportunities to disciple those around us here in California. Love, Jeff and Alishia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/preparation-and-provision/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI thank you all for taking the time to read these updates. The Lord is good! I know you have known this a long time, but I cannot refrain from sharing about His goodness. We have been in California for a month now, and while we arrived without a place to live or a job for myself, the Lord has provided abundantly. We were never homeless, though quite nomadic thus far, and the Lord provided a place to spend the night every day. We cannot thank the pastors at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace enough for their generosity and help in making sure we had a roof over our head. They all helped us try to find the right place to stay and two even opened up their homes to us at different times. Now, I can’t say that not having a secure place to stay isn’t stressful at times, but to see the Lord provide day by day is truly something that we needed before we left for the field. Also, I should add that a great job was provided for me, it’s a baking job that allows me to be done with work by 11:00, so it doesn’t interfere with the internship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Preparation and Provision"},{"content":"\u0026hellip;Another month has flown by! October was a bit of a slow month in the office as we focused on a lot of the usual tasks without the added workload of planning mission trips due to the continued shutdown. Although we in the office are not going far or long for the foreseeable future (we do have a little trip up our sleeves!), we are helping some of our missionaries move around!\nTravels in Spite of COVID The Aniku family who serve in Uganda were able to fly home after being here for the last 10 or 11 months. When the globe shut down they were in the States on furlough and have been unable to travel back to Uganda until now! We are excited to see how the Lord used their time in the States to help them prepare for a new season of ministry and to see Him bring them back to their mission field in His perfect timing.\nWe had the privilege of hosting the Harris Family for one week this month during their furlough. It was so refreshing to fellowship with them and get to know their family. They were able to travel to the States in spite of the lockdowns and have been traveling around to visit with family and supporters. We were blessed to receive a week of their time! They have also just welcomed their fourth child, Charlotte Hope, into the world! Please keep them in your prayers as well.\nThis month we also managed the funds to allow our newest missionary in Mexico, Hassan Villegas, and a team of leaders from his church to travel to a leaders conference in Northern Mexico. It was so exciting to see God provide the funds and to hear the feedback as his team was blessed, equipped, and refreshed.\nThat little trip I alluded to will be taking place on November 6th as we take a group of our youth down to Rosarito for a two-night mission trip. We will be helping with some COVID relief in the outlying community and we are excited for the opportunity to show the students what life is like in a culture not quite as secure as ours yet just 3 hours south of us. Please keep this trip and our youth in your prayers.\nOther News In other news, Isaac and I are excited to announce that we are expecting a baby in May 2021! Please keep us all in your prayers- that the baby would grow healthy and strong, that the pregnancy would be smooth and risk free, and that the Lord would prepare Isaac and me to be parents.\nThank you!\nPraise Report I had the opportunity to meet up with a girl from the running club one-on-one and pray with her, talk about what God is doing in her life, and advise her on how to handle a situation. That was the hope for the running club, that the Lord would use it to build relationships to allow for further discipleship opportunities with the youth. Praise God!\nMay God bless and keep you in all of your ways.\nLove,\nHope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/just-like-that/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026hellip;Another month has flown by! October was a bit of a slow month in the office as we focused on a lot of the usual tasks without the added workload of planning mission trips due to the continued shutdown. Although we in the office are not going far or long for the foreseeable future (we do have a little trip up our sleeves!), we are helping some of our missionaries move around!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Just Like That..."},{"content":" As you know, we moved to Northern California to take the senior (only) pastor position at Calvary Chapel Truckee.\nWe actually moved to Verdi, Nevada, as close as you can get to Truckee and not be in California. It’s about a 20 minute drive along the Truckee river, on the I 80, to get to the church.\nSo I wanted to give you a quick update and share some really exciting news with you.\nYou may have heard me say this before, but it is true, this is the first time I have taken over the leadership position of a church during a world wide pandemic. So that means there have been a lot of challenges, things I have never faced before. But we’re meeting the challenges head on and getting through them one by one.\nGOD IS SO GOOD!\nHe is able to do, and has been doing, exceedingly, abundantly beyond all we could think or ask for.\nWhen we took over the church on April 1st, officially, I was unable to meet anyone in the church for over 3 months due to the pandemic.\nAfter much prayer, about 3 months ago, the Parks and Recreation Department agreed to allow us to meet in one of the parks. We started out with maybe 40 people, yet by the end of September we were averaging roughly 70 people on a Sunday.\nThe Parks and Rec Department warned us that the last weekend of September the they would be closing the restroom facilities to prepare for the winter. That means there would be no restrooms for us to use. So we had to make a decision.\nAgain, after very much prayer, we decided to start meeting in our little facility. I had talked to other pastors who had been meeting in person, listened to what Jack Hibbs and John MacAurther were doing, and announced that we would move indoors. We didn’t want to do anything irresponsible or foolish, but felt strongly we needed to provide church and fellowship for our body.\nOur little facility at The Rock, allows for 30-35 people to be fairly socially distant with another 20 people spread out a little more in an over flow room. With roughly 50 people, who feel comfortable to meet together on Sunday, we still have 50 people tuning in watching our livestream on YouTube.\nFinally, and this is really exciting to me, we have just launched our new website, https://www.cctruckee.com. We launched the site to get it out there, while at the same time we are continuing to add content. I hope you’ll take a look at it and let us know what you think.\nSo things are moving along. We’re very blessed to be part of this body and are looking forward, with great anticipation, to see what God is going to do.\nBTW — Tina will be leaving for Washington soon as Ashley, our daughter, is due to deliver our second grandson. Florian August Knepper.\nWe’re super excited to see Flo and see him grow in his relationship with Jesus. It’s really cute to see how excited Noah is to meet his little brother and share his toys with him.\nPlease keep us in your prayers. We thank God that we have friends and family who are willing to stand with us in prayer for the ministry the Lord has entrusted to us.\n**Please pray for the church, that God would give us wisdom and protection as we have begun to meet in person.\n**Pray that God would bless the teaching of His word and people would be growing in Christ.\n**Pray God would bring people who need to hear the gospel and be saved. **Pray for an uneventful birth of our grandson too.\nWe welcome and thank you for all your pryers.\nAs always, we desire to hear from you, how you are doing and how we can be praying for you? Please pray about visiting. We’d love to see you when you’re up in this area.\nGod bless,\nGary and Tina\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-chapel-truckee/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/barrow/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2020/10/IMG%5F8720.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs you know, we moved to Northern California to take the senior (only) pastor position at Calvary Chapel Truckee.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe actually moved to Verdi, Nevada, as close as you can get to Truckee and not be in California. It’s about a 20 minute drive along the Truckee river, on the I 80, to get to the church.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo I wanted to give you a quick update and share some really exciting news with you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary Chapel Truckee"},{"content":" Before anything, we want to thank God and every one of you that made this trip possible.\nThis year has been difficult for everyone, but your generous support helped us send our leaders to this refreshing conference.\nWe were all encouraged by every teaching and the rich fellowship that followed. Pastors Chris Martinez, Bryan Parish and Juan Domingo honored us by praying for our church plant and the new assisting pastor at CC Acapulco.\nA special thanks to Connections House who did an amazing job hosting us.\nBlessed Parents Elijah will be shipping off to boot camp within the next couple of months, but before doing so, he paid us a visit and stepped up to support the team.\nBaptism No virus is powerful enough to stop the Lord’s work! Hassan was honored to baptize a new believer. We don’t mind if it’s one person or 100 people, we rejoice! We believe Jesus is coming back soon! That is why we have determined to continue the work regardless of the situation.\nAdding to the team Our fellowship has some great ministries, but one that has been lacking is our youth ministry. Jose and Keyla are a young couple with an absolute love for Jesus. Both of them were Hassan’s students at Calvary Bible College Mexico.\nWe spoke with them at the conference and they were super excited about the possibility of serving with us here in Acapulco. We believe reaching the new generation is vital to our mission! This couple will do an amazing job. One of the key factors is finding missionary support. If the Lord puts it on your heart to help support them, please let us know.\nPrayer request Wisdom and Faith was we continue to minister in our city. May we be prudent yet faithful to serve the church and the lost. More servants to open new church plants within our state. Boldness to proclaim Jesus in every moment. Safety from corruption and danger. Open door for Jose and Keyla to serve our youth For our children- Their future, their walk, and their protection. Giving If you wish to supoprt our family and ministry please click the link below. Every contribution is tax deductable.\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=43561E571C04428\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/leaders-conference/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/villegas/wp-content/uploads/sites/130/2020/10/confegroup.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBefore anything, we want to thank God and every one of you that made this trip possible.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis year has been difficult for everyone, but your generous support helped us send our leaders to this refreshing conference.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe were all encouraged by every teaching and the rich fellowship that followed. Pastors Chris Martinez, Bryan Parish and Juan Domingo honored us by praying for our church plant and the new assisting pastor at CC Acapulco.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Leaders' Conference"},{"content":"Greetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nIt is always good to have the wonderful experience of God\u0026rsquo;s love and grace in our lives. We thank God for His mighty protection and provisions during this pandemic time. Also, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We assure you that we have been praying for you and your family: that God may keep you safe and give you good health and that you may have multi-fold blessings.\nDuring this pandemic, God has enabled us to learn more of the Bible under Pastor 15*. Every Wednesday I have been conducting an online Bible study for new believers and friends. I am teaching them from the Gospel of Matthew. I am also studying and taking notes of Jude for our Pastors school students.\nSister Bethany* is a staff nurse in a government hospital. She was working among Covid patients. Eventually, she tested positive for Covid. Because of that, she had to quarantine for 14 days. During this time, I got an opportunity to share the Gospel with her and pray for her. Now she is absolutely fine and every Wednesday she is joining our online Bible study.\nPrayer Requests: Please continue to pray for our online church service. Kindly pray for our Wednesday online Bible study; that God may help us to reach more people with the Gospel of Christ Jesus. Please pray for Sister Bethany* and her family members\u0026ndash;that they will have good health and grow spiritually. Please pray for me and my family\u0026ndash;that we may be used by God effectively. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and family\n* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/25926/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003cbr\u003e\nIt is always good to have the wonderful experience of God\u0026rsquo;s love and grace in our lives. We thank God for His mighty protection and provisions during this pandemic time. Also, we would like to thank each one of you for your valuable prayers and financial support. We assure you that we have been praying for you and your family: that God may keep you safe and give you good health and that you may have multi-fold blessings.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God's Wonderful Love and Grace"},{"content":"Thank you for your prayers and support. It is really encouraging for me to hear that you are praying for us and for God\u0026rsquo;s work that we are doing here in our city. I am thankful to God that there are people who pray for and support us in God\u0026rsquo;s work.\nDuring this pandemic situation, God has been really faithful to us. He has provided for us and kept us safe.\nWe are still doing our worship service online and through conference calls. Because of the lock-down, we haven\u0026rsquo;t been able to meet together with our church family. So this month, we visited and had a Bible study in their homes. We encouraged them and were able to spend some time with them. They really felt loved, happy, and cared for.\nThey asked me, \u0026ldquo;How were you able to make it through this pandemic situation, and provide food for your family and the people who are with you?\u0026rdquo;\nI answered and said, \u0026ldquo;When things were going well and everything was good we had only some food and things. But during this time of Corona, I experienced a double and triple portion of God\u0026rsquo;s provision. You can see how faithful our God is to provide for us.\u0026rdquo;\nThey said that they were worried about us and prayed for us. They were really encouraged and praised God. I can see God\u0026rsquo;s provision even more during the tough times when things are not going well.\nI have been invited to local churches of other denominations to teach the Word of God. It is really a blessing and encouraging. More than 250 families attend the church I grew up in. I got to teach the Word of God there and I was able to share my testimony about how God lifted me up and is using me as His servant. I was a person who knew nothing and always clammed up. But God did everything. People were able to see the work of God and praised Him.\nI can feel that through this season, God is taking us to the next level of His work and in our spiritual lives. He is teaching us many things and we are experiencing His goodness in our lives.\nNot only good things, yes, I am facing some struggles and experiencing hard times in my life. But those hard things are helping me to transform into the image of God and to be how God wants His children to be. I can feel that God is preparing me for a purpose. I am praising God for everything. I am really thankful to God for helping me in those times of struggles. Keep praying for me.\nWe recently started a young adult Bible study. God has put it in my heart to focus on our church\u0026rsquo;s young adults and to have a separate Bible study with them to encourage and to teach them the Word of God. It is going really well. New people are being added to it. It is really encouraging to see them studying the Word of God. Please pray for them as they grow. Pray that they will make good choices in their lives and that if they fall they will be able to get up with the help of God\u0026rsquo;s Holy Spirit and experience the Grace of God.\nA Bible School in Our City When God sent me to Bible college in another country, I learned the true Word of God. I was amazed by the teaching and the people\u0026rsquo;s pure heart in serving the Lord.\nI wished that we could have a Bible school, in our city also, to teach God\u0026rsquo;s Word and how to rightly divide the Word of God. I experienced God\u0026rsquo;s love and His heart and His purpose through the Word of God. If God could change my heart and start to work through me, He will surely do it in every person who hears this type of teaching. I have been praying for this for 4 years.\nGod has opened doors this year to work on it and start in 2021. We are going to have Bible classes teaching verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book.\nWe found a good house where we can start a Bible school and a new church plant. Please pray for us to have wisdom and knowledge to be led by the Spirit of God. Now I have a team who is helping me in this vision. Pray that we serve with humble hearts and in unity.\nThank you for taking the time to pray and take part in the work we do here in our city. We keep praying for you and your families. We love you.\nPrayer requests: For me and my family to have good health For my 4 month old niece to have good health For our church family to grow more in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. For the future Bible school/college Pray for brother Andrew* and brother Punkaj\u0026rsquo;s* families\u0026rsquo; protection as they serve here in our church and help with starting a Bible school. Thank you\nPastor 6* Family\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/ask-of-me/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you for your prayers and support. It is really encouraging for me to hear that you are praying for us and for God\u0026rsquo;s work that we are doing here in our city. I am thankful to God that there are people who pray for and support us in God\u0026rsquo;s work.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring this pandemic situation, God has been really faithful to us. He has provided for us and kept us safe.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ask of Me"},{"content":"Hello All!\nJust a quick update from the Garcia Family as we enter my favorite time of year: the Fall and Winter seasons. It has certainly been a strange season for everyone in the world this year, and our family and church has been no exception. We thank God for the ways He has drawn us closer to Him and challenged us as we do both local and worldwide ministry and raise young kids during a worldwide pandemic and social and political unrest in our country. All in all, our kids and family have done amazing and flourished during this time. We couldn’t be more proud of our kids and thankful for the Lord’s work in their lives. But COVID has changed a lot of things, from the way we grocery shop to the way we visit grandparents.\nOne really cool thing that COVID prompted SGWM to do was to set up a monthly Zoom prayer meeting with all of our missionaries. It is such a sweet time the first Thursday of every month, and I had the privilege of leading it this month!\nAnd speaking of new seasons, it was bittersweet this month to officially send off our intern J.S. to his other home church in Northern California, where he will begin official preparations to head off to the Middle East next year! It is so cool to see our first intern whom the Lord has fully prepared to send out on the field, and I am excited for him to move under my leadership in the missionary sending ministry of SGWM.\nThank you all for all of your prayers and support! We could not do what the Lord has called us to do without all of you.\nWe would ask that you pray for the Lord to meet our financial needs and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-seasons-garcia-family-update-october-2020/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello All!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust a quick update from the Garcia Family as we enter my favorite time of year: the Fall and Winter seasons. It has certainly been a strange season for everyone in the world this year, and our family and church has been no exception. We thank God for the ways He has drawn us closer to Him and challenged us as we do both local and worldwide ministry and raise young kids during a worldwide pandemic and social and political unrest in our country. All in all, our kids and family have done amazing and flourished during this time. We couldn’t be more proud of our kids and thankful for the Lord’s work in their lives. But COVID has changed a lot of things, from the way we grocery shop to the way we visit grandparents.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Seasons- Garcia Family Update October 2020"},{"content":" See What We\u0026rsquo;ve Been Doing Spreading the Gospel to the Nations This Summer Welcome to the SGWM Newsletter! We hope you enjoy this content and are inspired to pray for and support the spread of the Gospel to the Nations!\nRedefining SGWM as a Tri-Fold Ministry At SGWM, we are passionate about Jesus\u0026rsquo; final command to us and His call upon His church to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. We do that by following Paul\u0026rsquo;s example all through the book of Acts, by preaching the gospel, making disciples, and establishing churches. There are 3.2 billion people in the world who are still waiting to hear the gospel for the first time and we seek to mobilize, equip, and send Christians who are answering the call to Go! We do this in three ways:\nBy being a missionary sending ministry launching missionaries from the U.S. into the foreign mission field and caring for them through administrative help, prayer support, leadership support, and general care By working with nationals in other countries who plant churches and operate Bible schools to train other nationals to go and do the same, with a specific focus on the 10/40 window By equipping young people who are passionate about foreign missions through our yearly Calvary School of Missions and through our internship program. Pastor Joel Garcia Director of Missionary Sending\nPastor Tim Pappas Director of Missionary Equipping\nHeather Gaona Director of International Relations (10/40)\nCalvary School of Missions We have just completed our 2nd year of the Calvary School of Missions, a six-week program designed to catch, equip, and mobilize young people for long term cross-cultural church planting, and it was amazing. God did life transforming work in the hearts of the students and laid a firm foundation of the call of the church and our purpose for remaining in this earth. It\u0026rsquo;s always exciting to be a part of what God is doing as He plants and waters the seeds of His Word and starts to birth new works in hearts and minds. We look forward to partnering with each of these students as they prepare to be God\u0026rsquo;s hands, feet, and mouth to the lost world that still waits to hear the name of Jesus for the first time. Please join with us in praying for these precious ones who are willing to go to the front lines, being propelled by the love of God to be His ambassadors to the world.\nChurch Planting Conference at CC Rosarito One of the highlights this summer at the School of Missions was being able to attend the Church Planting Conference put on by Calvary Chapel Rosarito. Partnering with a church like CCR has been exciting as we see Pastor Mike Vincent\u0026rsquo;s vision of church planting in Mexico multiply and be established. In the last 20 years they have seen over 25 churches planted and are continuing to plant churches throughout Mexico and other places through their Church Planting Course which is a 2 year program designed to help mobilize, equip, and send church planters.\nInvolving the students in this conference was such a blessing as they were able to see how church planting is God\u0026rsquo;s way to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus in real time! Please continue to pray for CCR as they continue to send laborers out into His harvest!\nCOVID Relief Around the World The year 2020 has shown itself to be a year of unprecedented challenges, and SGWM has had to learn to navigate an enemy we have never faced in our lifetime, COVID 19. We have, since the onslaught of this sickness, looked for ways to reach the hurting around us. We are praising God for the open doors we have had to bring relief directly to the people in Pakistan, Belize, Peru, Mexico, Uganda, Nepal, several locations in Asia, and the US through the loving hands and feet of our missionaries and national workers on the ground. These desperately hurting people have been overwhelmed by the love shown by those who have brought the much needed provision they have received through Saving Grace World Missions and its supporters! Glory to God for the great things He has done.\nMissionary Prayer Requests for October Don\u0026rsquo;t miss the latest prayer requests from SGWM missionaries for the month of October. Feel free to also sign up here to receive these prayer requests monthly via email!\nWould you prayerfully consider becoming a financial partner with Saving Grace World Missions? Our staff are all on monthly support just like our missionaries and it is through the generous donations of our monthly supporters that we\u0026rsquo;re able to continue to do amazing things in proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ around the world!\nBecome A Financial Partner ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/october-2020-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Picture1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"see-what-weve-been-doing-spreading-the-gospel-to-the-nations-this-summer\"\u003eSee What We\u0026rsquo;ve Been Doing Spreading the Gospel to the Nations This Summer\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWelcome to the SGWM Newsletter! We hope you enjoy this content and are inspired to pray for and support the spread of the Gospel to the Nations!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"redefining-sgwm-as-a-tri-fold-ministry\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRedefining SGWM as a Tri-Fold Ministry\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt SGWM, we are passionate about Jesus\u0026rsquo; final command to us and His call upon His church to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. We do that by following Paul\u0026rsquo;s example all through the book of Acts, by preaching the gospel, making disciples, and establishing churches. There are 3.2 billion people in the world who are \u003cem\u003estill waiting\u003c/em\u003e to hear the gospel for the first time and we seek to mobilize, equip, and send Christians who are answering the call to Go! We do this in three ways:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"October 2020 Newsletter"},{"content":"Redefining SGWM as a Tri-Fold Ministry At SGWM, we are passionate about Jesus’ final command to us and His call upon His church to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. We do that by following Paul’s example all through the book of Acts, by preaching the gospel, making disciples, and establishing churches. There are 3.2 billion people in the world who are still waiting to hear the gospel for the first time and we seek to mobilize, equip, and send Christians who are answering the call to Go! We do this in three ways:\nBy being a missionary sending ministry launching missionaries from the U.S. into the foreign mission field and caring for them through administrative help, prayer support, leadership support, and general care By working with nationals in other countries who plant churches and operate Bible schools to train other nationals to go and do the same, with a specific focus on the 10/40 window By equipping young people who are passionate about foreign missions through our yearly Calvary School of Missions and through our internship program. Calvary School of Missions We have just completed our 2nd year of the Calvary School of Missions, a six-week program designed to catch, equip, and mobilize young people for long term cross-cultural church planting, and it was amazing. God did life transforming work in the hearts of the students and laid a firm foundation of the call of the church and our purpose for remaining in this earth. It’s always exciting to be a part of what God is doing as He plants and waters the seeds of His Word and starts to birth new works in hearts and minds. We look forward to partnering with each of these students as they prepare to be God’s hands, feet, and mouth to the lost world that still waits to hear the name of Jesus for the first time. Please join with us in praying for these precious ones who are willing to go to the front lines, being propelled by the love of God to be His ambassadors to the world.\nChurch Planting Conference at Calvary Chapel Rosarito One of the highlights this summer at the School of Missions was being able to attend the Church Planting Conference put on by Calvary Chapel Rosarito. Partnering with a church like CCR has been exciting as we see Pastor Mike Vincent’s vision of church planting in Mexico multiply and be established. In the last 20 years they have seen over 25 churches planted and are continuing to plant churches throughout Mexico and other places through their Church Planting Course which is a 2 year program designed to help mobilize, equip, and send church planters. Involving the students in this conference was such a blessing as they were able to see how church planting is God’s way to reach the world with the gospel of Jesus in real time! Please continue to pray for CCR as they continue to send laborers out into His harvest!\nCOVID Relief Around the World The year 2020 has shown itself to be a year of unprecedented challenges, and SGWM has had to learn to navigate an enemy we have never faced in our lifetime, COVID 19. We have, since the onslaught of this sickness, looked for ways to reach the hurting around us. We are praising God for the open doors we have had to bring relief directly to the people in Pakistan, Belize, Peru, Mexico, Uganda, Nepal, several locations in Asia, and the US through the loving hands and feet of our missionaries and national workers on the ground. These desperately hurting people have been overwhelmed by the love shown by those who have brought the much needed provision they have received through Saving Grace World Missions and its supporters! Glory to God for the great things He has done.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/saving-grace-world-missions-newsletter/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"redefining-sgwm-as-a-tri-fold-ministry\"\u003eRedefining SGWM as a Tri-Fold Ministry\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt SGWM, we are passionate about Jesus’ final command to us and His call upon His church to take the gospel to the ends of the earth. We do that by following Paul’s example all through the book of Acts, by preaching the gospel, making disciples, and establishing churches. There are 3.2 billion people in the world who are \u003cem\u003estill waiting\u003c/em\u003e to hear the gospel for the first time and we seek to mobilize, equip, and send Christians who are answering the call to Go! We do this in three ways:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Saving Grace World Missions Newsletter"},{"content":"“God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.” Psalm 68:6 I am grateful for the time God has given us to see some of our many loved ones. I just can’t describe how much you all mean to us. Our family, dear friends, partners, and fellow servants of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we love you and words can’t describe what a blessing it is to interact with each one of you and we can’t wait to see those of you whom we have not yet met with. God has truly made a home for us.\nWe started off our furlough at my parents house in Colorado, doing things we haven’t done in so long: Walmart runs, doctors appointments, meeting with supporters, and buying winter coats (who would have thought there would be snow the last week of August?). After we were given the go-ahead by Noelle’s doctor, we set our GPS for Oregon and started our West-side road trip. Every place we stopped was a wonderful time of encouragement. We stayed 2 weeks with my sister and brother-in-law, who had just had their 3rd baby girl. This was very special for our whole family as this was the first chance we’ve had to see the house and property that the Lord had provided Anna and Jed after he lost his legs serving our country in Afghanistan, nearly 10 years ago. It was a blessing to see the the Spirit at work in all of us as we were mutually encouraged and strengthened. We then finished out the month by visiting Yosemite National Park to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary!\nFurlough has also provided a great time for me to further my Biblical education. I am currently taking classes to study the history of Israel, and to learn how to read and write in ancient Hebrew! We thank God for this amazing opportunity!\nWith Love, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline \u0026amp; Noah Harris ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/september-2020/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"god-makes-a-home-for-the-lonely-he-leads-out-the-prisoners-into-prosperity-only-the-rebellious-dwell-in-a-parched-land-psalm-686\"\u003e“God makes a home for the lonely; He leads out the prisoners into prosperity, only the rebellious dwell in a parched land.”  Psalm 68:6\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2020/10/82DFD0D6-7579-49CF-BFAF-D3DC324FC3A4.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am grateful for the time God has given us to see some of our many loved ones.  I just can’t describe how much you all mean to us.  Our family, dear friends, partners, and fellow servants of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we love you and words can’t describe what a blessing it is to interact with each one of you and we can’t wait to see those of you whom we have not yet met with.  God has truly made a home for us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"September 2020"},{"content":" My time in the North taught me many things. It was a good place to stay for a semester, a good experience to be alert in the ministry, and a super good new page in my life. It was the lock-down. We were all eating less food and thinking about the next days provisions. Everybody had these two questions in their minds: \u0026ldquo;How many days are we going to stay here?\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;How we will reach our homes back in the South?\u0026rdquo; There were no classes going on, because we didn\u0026rsquo;t know when the local intelligence policemen would come and inspect us. (They don\u0026rsquo;t want to see anything happening in regards to Christianity.) Our only belief (about it) was \u0026ldquo;We are under lock-down, but the Word of God is not.\u0026rdquo;\nAs our hearts thought about this statement, we already knew that God had started a new beginning in our lives. I knew that I could not teach where I was, but that there were people outside of the mountain I was on who are looking for the Truth. With the help of my students, I started filming teachings. All that we had was our mobile phones, but God miraculously provided us with a camera temporarily to finish the introduction to 1st Corinthians. That is how we started Calvary Chapel (our country) CC Fellowship. Now it is on YouTube. Not only I, but every missionary in my country who is ministering with Saving Grace has his or her ministry with this thought of \u0026ldquo;CC fellowship\u0026rdquo;.I never thought of putting myself on the internet. I do not even post my pictures on Facebook. The first doubt my mind attempted was \u0026ldquo;Maybe I am not adequate to teach the Word of God online. That is only possible for senior pastors.\u0026rdquo; After spending so much time asking God,\u0026ldquo;Is it your will for me to start this?\u0026rdquo; I was greatly encouraged and refreshed in regards to my channel. I thought \u0026ldquo;Let me start this with what I know, and God will teach me the remaining things that I need to know in His time.\u0026rdquo;\nWith this new beginning, I have started my journey back to my hometown with seven students on a 24 hour train ride. The seven of us are from different districts, that are in two different states, but we all speak the same language. My hope is that every single student will lead a great life for Christ and that they will plant many churches in the future. I am very humbled that all of you are with me in this journey and our Lord is with all of us! As William Carey said \u0026ldquo;Expect great things from God; Attempt great things for God\u0026rdquo;. My prayer is that the students who are taking Bible training would understand God\u0026rsquo;s heart for unreached people and that they would experience the above statement in their lives.\nGod bless you,\nPastor 7*\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-new-beginning/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Rohith-October-3-2020-300x170.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMy time in the North taught me many things. It was a good place to stay for a semester, a good experience to be alert in the ministry, and a super good new page in my life. It was the lock-down. We were all eating less food and thinking about the  next days provisions. Everybody had these two questions in their minds: \u0026ldquo;How many days are we going to stay here?\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;How we will reach our homes back in the South?\u0026rdquo; \u003cbr\u003e\nThere were no classes going on, because we didn\u0026rsquo;t know when the local intelligence policemen would come and inspect us. (They don\u0026rsquo;t want to see anything happening in regards to Christianity.) Our only belief (about it) was \u0026ldquo;We are under lock-down, but the Word of God is not.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A New Beginning"},{"content":" I convey my loving and sweet greetings in the name of Jesus Christ to all SGWM pastors, staff and partners.\nDuring this time of pandemic, God has protected us under His wings. All of my family members are good by His grace.\nNow, in our district, the lock-down has been going for ten days, because Corona is out of control in my state. But God has given me a new family in Christ, so I am continuing to fellowship with them. I used to go to their village and fellowship with them every Sunday. Now we have stopped our Sunday services because the government has made a declaration that we have to stop. Instead, every evening from 7:30 to 8:45, I connect with all of the believers in a conference call. All of our church believers are doing fine. They are abiding in their faith.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray for the new family who believes in Jesus\u0026ndash;that they will continue to grow in their faith. Pray for a piece of land for a church building. Pray for the believers. Pray for our ministry and that God\u0026rsquo;s Word will spread in a new area that we are praying for. We are also continuously praying for you all\u0026ndash;that God may continue to use you mightily in His kingdom.\nI would especially like to thank everyone who is continuing to help us financially. May Jehovah Jireh fulfill all of your needs and may God bless you.\nKind Regards,\nPastor 8* and Family\n* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/continuing-in-fellowship-and-love/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Dron-October-2020-facebook-300x253.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI convey my loving and sweet greetings in the name of Jesus Christ to all SGWM pastors, staff and partners.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e     During this time of pandemic, God has protected us under His wings. All of my family members are good by His grace.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e     Now, in our district, the lock-down has been going for ten days, because Corona is out of control in my state. But God has given me a new family in Christ, so I am continuing to fellowship with them. I used to go to their village and fellowship with them every Sunday. Now we have stopped our Sunday services because the government has made a declaration that we have to stop. Instead, every evening from 7:30 to 8:45, I connect with all of the believers in a conference call. All of our church believers are doing fine. They are abiding in their faith.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Continuing In Fellowship and Love"},{"content":" This has definitely been a different year of ministry so far! In March we watched all of our spring teams cancel due to the pandemic. This was difficult for a couple of reasons. One, because that meant a lot of ministry wouldn’t be happening – children wouldn’t hear about Jesus, orphanages wouldn’t get visited, food wouldn’t be given away, and so much more! Secondly, it meant that Connections House wouldn’t have any funds coming in to help pay the bills.\nWe thank and praise God for the teams that sent funds in place of coming down! One team was supposed to insulate and drywall the dining room and kitchen on the third floor here at Connections House. We are so thankful that they were able to send funds to pay for the materials and most of the labor for us to finish this stage of the project.\nAs summer was approaching, our teams began to cancel until there was only one team left – Calvary School of Missions (CSOM). This team is different than the rest. The School of Missions is run by Saving Grace World Missions, our sending organization. This was the second year for the school here in Rosarito, which is about 5 1/2 weeks long and is for people who are called (or feel they may be called) to full-time missions. The CSOM team ended up staying at Connections for five weeks! This was such an answer to prayer! It was also good news for our summer interns and volunteers.\nWe had a couple of teams come in August and September, and we have a few teams scheduled in the next few months as well. Needless to say, our operating expenses for fall and winter will be a lot easier to pay now that we have had some teams.\nShawn continues to serve with us here at Connections House, doing a little bit of everything, as usual – including helping with photos, cooking, teaching Bible study for interns, and more. It was especially good to have him (and his medical training) with us during this time to help advise and guide us during the Coronavirus pandemic. We were super excited to have Kailyn, a former intern, serve on staff with us for the summer! Kailyn’s main duties were intern mentor and Bible study instructor, as well as our Cook for breakfasts. We were blessed with two awesome interns – Yajaira and Nadia. This was Yajaira’s second summer as an intern at Connections. It was great to see how she has grown and how the Lord has been using her to further His kingdom! Nadia is from Idaho and had previously come down with a team from her church. She did an amazing job and we are so proud of the way she was flexible and willing to serve in whatever way was needed. Due to the extra amount of daily cleaning implemented this summer, we required more volunteer staff. Thankfully, the Lord provided three extra volunteers. Jenny, who interned with us at a previous ministry, helped us for a couple of weeks. If you know Sandra who cooks for us sometimes, you may know her daughters. Two of them, Yessica and Yazmín, served with us for a little over a month. We couldn’t have done it without any of them!\nSummer Ministry Due to the pandemic, a lot of ministry options weren’t available for most or all of the summer, such as visiting orphanages. Instead, we did a lot of relief ministry with our CSOM team. They usually spent their mornings in classes taught by different pastors and missionaries. They learned about various aspects of missions, such as church planting, finances, the purpose of the church, and more. Most of our outreaches consisted of handing out food and/or cleaning products, sharing testimonies, helping church plants, and of course sharing the gospel. We even had the opportunity to hand out backpacks at a local church, which was an event that was postponed several times since January.\nConnections House Projects What does all of this mean for the projects here at Connections House? Well, we saw the Lord move way faster than we expected to build the dining room and kitchen building on the 3rd floor! We started with no funds and a bunch of donated material, so it is all based on donations. We have been praying that the 3rd floor would be usable by spring of 2021. While we have had some small donations come in recently, the 3rd floor project is currently at a standstill. In the meantime, we began remodeling the bathroom under the stairs. We decided to add a separate room for the toilet so that the current bathroom could become a much needed shower room. We are a little over halfway done with this project, and hope to finish it soon. The cost to finish up this small project is $1200. In order to expand our dorms and host more team members once the 3rd floor is ready, we will need to add two more showers and bathrooms after this project.\nFamily Update We had the opportunity to spend a week in Puebla, Mexico, which is where our son-in-law, Brian, is from. We traveled there with Brian, Brittany, Joshua, and Brian’s brothers, Kevin \u0026amp; Aldrin. It was so great to meet more of Brian’s family and tour this beautiful, historic city! Our grandson, Joshua, is now six months old! He is getting so big and has such a big personality.\nWilliam graduated high school in June and turned 18 in July! Wow, how time flies! He is continuing to work at Chick-Fil-A in California and we are praying for him as he has been contemplating different career options.\nGiving Opportunities We know that many people prefer to give one-time gifts or give toward something that is close to their heart. So we would like to start outlining small ways each month that you can give toward ministry in some way. The first one we’d like to highlight was already mentioned above – the bathroom/shower project at Connections House. Again, the total cost needed to finish this small project is $1200.\nSecondly, we’d like to present the option of helping a local intern at our church to be able to attend Bible college. This young man has interned at our church for some time and is praying about what the Lord has in store for him, including the possibility of planting a church. The total cost for the 2-year program at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Ensenada, Mexico, is $3500. We are more than happy to provide more information to anyone that is interested in helping. (Just text Kristy at 608.322.7650.)\nIf you would like to give you can just click HERE to donate online. (Please put the dollar amount next to “for Connection Ministry House”, and write in the “comment” section where we should direct your donation.) If you would like to write a check, just make it payable to “Calvary Chapel Rosarito”, write a note as to what the donation is for, and send it to our mailing address.\nThank you so much!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/struska-missions-update-october-2020/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/20200813%5F130453-847x635-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis has definitely been a different year of ministry so far! In March we watched all of our spring teams cancel due to the pandemic. This was difficult for a couple of reasons. One, because that meant a lot of ministry wouldn’t be happening – children wouldn’t hear about Jesus, orphanages wouldn’t get visited, food wouldn’t be given away, and so much more! Secondly, it meant that Connections House wouldn’t have any funds coming in to help pay the bills.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Struska Missions Update October 2020"},{"content":"Jenn and I want to start out this month’s newsletter by saying that we are extremely grateful to still be here serving the Lord at Saving Grace World Missions. We posted last month in our newsletter that our support has gotten so low we had to stop payroll; we are still extremely short in our monthly income but by Gods grace and through much prayer of yours, ours, and many others God has made it evidently clear that we are to stay on the field, that we cannot leave our post. Missionaries must be cared for!! Serving as a stateside Missionary and being 100% dependent upon the Lord moving the hearts of financial partners has definitely been a challenge, but only for us, not for Him. Thank you so much to those of you who have heard the Lord’s voice and decided to partner with us to enable us to continue serving missionaries all around the world. We are still at quite a deficit to meet our monthly needs, however, I’m confident the Lord will provide.\nI mentioned last month that we would tell more about the Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) and the absolutely incredible opportunity to serve that has unfolded in front of us. For the second year in a row, I (Tim) have had the opportunity to coordinate and oversee the Calvary School of Missions. This has led to a re-definition of my job description and an even deeper level of missionary care. I am officially now the Director of Missionary Equipping for Saving Grace World Missions. Part of my heart was torn because I truly still stand on the fact that Missionary care is the calling that God has upon my life, through prayer and seeking the Lord in His Word, I’ve been assured that I will still be caring for missionaries on the field as well as caring for those on their way to the field. This has taken missionary care in a direction I never even thought of but it’s just like our God to do exceedingly abundantly above what we can ask or think. Way too much is happening to write about in an update letter so I would invite you to contact me so we can sit down for a cup of coffee or have a conversation over the phone. I can’t wait to share more of all the Lord is doing.\nCSOM Ministering at Indian Reservation\nStudents in Roof Top prayer seeking God\nOne of the Younges t\nShe is a 16-year-old who joined us for CSOM 2020. Each one of the students is incredibly special in their own way but I want to highlight a few of them as I catch you all up on what has happened over the summer. This young lady came to us on her own accord with her own money saying “the Lord has called me to missions.” Before you get overly concerned she has two loving parents whom I’ve spoken to and prayed with on several occasions, they are 100% behind her and us and are confirming the clear call upon her life. So she arrives from another country to California and journeys with us to Mexico for a six week school where the fire in her eyes and conviction in her heart just grew stronger. This young lady will be completing high school at the end of this year, her parents along with her and the pastors here at Saving Grace World Missions will be seeking the Lord on how to best equip her for the work she is called to.\nOne of the First\nLet me tell you of one of the first, he is a young man who went to CSOM 2019. It has been my joy to be a part of his discipleship and training here in the intern program. I love being able to have a front row seat to see what the Lord is doing in this sharp young man’s life. He definitely has a clear call of pastoring and in a couple months will be going to a Middle Eastern country where he can learn language and culture in steps towards reaching the 10/40 window with the gospel of Jesus Christ.\nThese are two extremely short stories of students who have come to the Calvary School of Missions and there are many more like them. Young men and women who understand the importance of the furtherance of the gospel to a lost and dying world. Men and women who are willing to be trained up, equipped, and sent. Thank you for partnering with us and helping us to stay engaged in the great commission. Together we are doing the work. John Piper once wrote “Go, Send, or Disobey.” I love that statement because the reality is that those are our three choices. Not all of us can get on an airplane and head to faraway lands but we can all be a part of equipping and sending those who can. Thank you for partnering with us, without your support we cannot continue in this ministry. We realize we need to depend upon God, but we have yet to see him drop a bag of money out of the sky. He always uses others to financially assist. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially or increase your already generous support you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/one-of-the-youngest-and-one-of-the-first/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJenn and I want to start out this month’s newsletter by saying that we are extremely grateful to still be here serving the Lord at Saving Grace World Missions. We posted last month in our newsletter that our support has gotten so low we had to stop payroll; we are still extremely short in our monthly income but by Gods grace and through much prayer of yours, ours, and many others God has made it evidently clear that we are to stay on the field, that we cannot leave our post. Missionaries must be cared for!! Serving as a stateside Missionary and being 100% dependent upon the Lord moving the hearts of financial partners has definitely been a challenge, but only for us, not for Him. Thank you so much to those of you who have heard the Lord’s voice and decided to partner with us to enable us to continue serving missionaries all around the world. We are still at quite a deficit to meet our monthly needs, however, I’m confident the Lord will provide.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One of the Youngest and One of the First"},{"content":"Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10 Dear Friends and Family,\nWe continue to pray for you all as 2020 seems to continue to challenge and test us. Things in Uganda are continuing to be difficult. This path month Uganda recorded its first Covid death and now it is up to 7. Uganda was put at a level three threat which means that there are community cases that cannot trace the origin of transmission. On top of Covid there have been many natural disasters and crime, kidnapping and domestic abuse is on the rise. Many people are truly suffering and are tempted to lose hope. What the Lord has really been teaching us through this is 2 basic Biblical truths. First, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. If our eyes are not on the Lord, where does our hope come from? Second, love your neighbor as yourself. We are very blessed to have continued to receive support from our FRM and SGWM families during a time when so many have lost their jobs and cannot provide for themselves. We cannot keep those blessings to ourselves. While we cannot help every suffering person in Uganda or even in Kampala we can help some of them.\nAs we have tried to reach out and help the most vulnerable and suffering around us God has been faithful to show us the way and to provide. A beautiful testimony of how He works is a friend from my church in California contacted me that she had been contacted from a friend of hers in Germany who supports a ministry here in Kampala. Her friend was asking for prayer for a young girl who had suffered from domestic violence that led to her getting pregnant. She had just delivered but had absolutely nothing. She had no clothes for the baby and not even a blanket to cover him with. Well right before we left for the States for my dad’s funeral I had organized all of my kids baby and small things to sell but since we have not been able to have open markets and such to sell things because of covid I still have everything. I had a bag with little baby clothes, cloth diapers, towels and blankets, etc. We were able to arrange for all of these things to be delivered to the young new mother with in hours of receiving the message. God worked all of the details out and we continue to pray for the girl, her baby, and her family.\nPretty much daily since we returned from the States in March, Brian has been constantly on the phone trying to minister to church members and listen to their needs and what they are going through. Sometimes all they need is some counsel and to be reminded of God’s love and promises. Other times they have serious needs that if not met would lead to serious consequences. We have been trying our best to pray for them and help in whatever way we can.\nThis past month we were gifted with 2 months provision of food and soap for every member of our church. God is so faithful. To see and hear the expressions of gratitude and spontaneous outbursts of praise for God’s love and sustenance is amazing. Another blessing we saw out of this provision for the church members is their desire to also want to reach out and help others with what they have been given; a family member deep in the village who can not care for themselves, a neighbor whose husband abandoned her and their many children when he lost his job because of covid. It has been a blessing to be able to help and even more of a blessing to see those being blessed, blessing others. Acts 20:35 tells us, “… And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”\nThe government of Uganda is requiring all Ugandans to social distance and wear a mask when ever they are out side of their own compound. If you go out into the city center none of this is taking place. People believe there is no covid and because so many are suffering are trying to make money. An interesting sight I have seen is someone selling masks with out wearing a mask. Because the cases are rising quickly and deaths are now occurring, the government has issued this warning, “It is now illegal to be found in public not wearing a mask. You will either pay a fine of 20,000/= or serve 6 months in prison.” We are praying that people would take the government and covid seriously, they have suffered enough without now having to pay a fine or go to prison for just not wearing a mask. On that note many people have been creative with mask wearing.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana PRAYER REQUESTS · Praise the Lord for the wonderful things that are happening despite the Covid-19.\n· Praise the Lord for the provision to help those who are suffering.\n· Pray for the World during this time of Covid 19. Pray for many people to turn to the Lord during this time.\n· Pray for the young lady who just gave birth. Pray for her safety and for her and her family to know Christ.\n· Pray for the Kanyike family to continue to know how to best minister to the church and community during this time.\n· Pray for the Kanyike family to be healthy and safe.\n· Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\n· Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-3/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"therefore-as-we-have-opportunitylet-us-do-good-to-allespecially-to-those-who-are-of-the-household-of-faith-galatians-610\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eTherefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. Galatians 6:10\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe continue to pray for you all as 2020 seems to continue to challenge and test us.  Things in Uganda are continuing to be difficult.  This path month Uganda recorded its first Covid death and now it is up to 7. Uganda was put at a level three threat which means that there are community cases that cannot trace the origin of transmission. On top of Covid there have been many natural disasters and crime, kidnapping and domestic abuse is on the rise. Many people are truly suffering and are tempted to lose hope.  What the Lord has really been teaching us through this is 2 basic Biblical truths.  First, love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.  If our eyes are not on the Lord, where does our hope come from?  Second, love your neighbor as yourself.  We are very blessed to have continued to receive support from our FRM and SGWM families during a time when so many have lost their jobs and cannot provide for themselves.  We cannot keep those blessings to ourselves.  While we cannot help every suffering person in Uganda or even in Kampala we can help some of them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":" Thank you for your prayers, support and encouragement. Praise God for opening the lock-down! Since February, we were hiding doing worship, having house church, and visiting. But now (since September 21), we are free to have worship!\nGod\u0026rsquo;s Word Is Changing Peoples Lives! Thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ for sending me and my dad to this village. We have been conducting house church in this village for three years. There are over 100 families in this village, but no one knows how to read and write. They are too poor and so backward. So many kids are suffering from malnutrition. Because of the lock-down, everyone lost their jobs, because before they were only hired day by day. Now, they are leaving the state to search for a job.\nMy dad and I go to this village every Tuesday to lead a house church. Right now, I am preaching in this village from the Gospel of John, verse by verse. God\u0026rsquo;s Word is changing their lives! Ten women and three men have given their lives to Jesus Christ! One of the ladies in this village, who is a strong believer, always leads the other women. Her sister was killed by her own husband. (Her sister\u0026rsquo;s husband killed his wife.) He threw her dead body onto the train track. But, someone saw him throwing her dead body. He told the village people and the village people called the police. He is now in jail. The woman is always crying for her sister. Please keep her in your prayers.\nOne More Brother Was Baptized During the Lock-Down! Praise God! One more soul was saved for Heaven! During the lock-down, most churches were closed. But, we never closed church or stopped sharing the Word of God. That is why God gave us the fruit of one new brother, who got baptized during lock-down!\nHe is 19 years old and uneducated. I shared the Gospel of John, chapter 3, verse 5: \u0026ldquo;Jesus answered, Verily, Verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.\u0026rdquo;\nWhen he heard this living Word of God, God changed his heart and He accepted Jesus as his Savior! He was so excited to get baptized! But at that time, all the roads and villages were flooded with water. He was saying, \u0026ldquo;I want to get baptized in the flood water!\u0026rdquo;, but for security reasons we did not baptize him in the flood water. We invited him to our main church and baptized him there. Now, he is happy and continuing to hear the Word of God. He wants to leave the state to search for a job.\nGod bless you all,\nPastor 11*\n* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-brother-is-born/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Rajendra-pic-1-Oct-2020-300x173.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your prayers, support and encouragement. Praise God for opening the lock-down! Since February, we were hiding doing worship, having house church, and visiting. But now (since September 21), we are free to have worship!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"god\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGod\u0026rsquo;s Word Is Changing Peoples Lives!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks to our Lord Jesus Christ for sending me and my dad to this village. We have been conducting house church in this village for three years. There are over 100 families in this village, but no one knows how to read and write. They are too poor and so backward. So many kids are suffering from malnutrition. Because of the lock-down, everyone lost their jobs, because before they were only hired day by day. Now, they are leaving the state to search for a job.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Brother Is Born"},{"content":"The Aussie Connection Newsletter from the Russell’s\nG-Day!\nWe just want to first of all say thank you for taking the time to read this update and for your ongoing prayers and support for the Ministry here in Melbourne. We are blessed to have you on our team helping us make a difference in the lives of so many here in Australia.\nWe’ve, as everyone else in the world, had a crazy and uncertain 2020. For us here in Melbourne it’s been tough because of the amount of restrictions that have been placed on our region. We have been on Stage 4 Restrictions (only essential businesses are open, such as, food, medical, and petrol) for the last 8 weeks. We’ve had a mandated curfew from 8pm-5am, you cannot go out of a 5 km radius from you home, only one person per family can get groceries, you can only exercise for one hour outdoors and must wear a mask if outside your home. If you’re an essential worker, you have to obtain a permit from your workplace or else risk being stopped by the police at any given check point. If you didn’t have a proper permit or reason to be out, they could fine you thousands of dollars.\nThe restrictions will remain in place for the next month, only easing slightly. Victorians are fed up and are pushing back against the Dictator-like restrictions. The lockdown we’ve experienced over the last several months has really done damage not only economically, but also to the mental health of many Victorians. Depression is running rampant, the suicide rate is at an all-time high, those at risk from domestic violence has dramatically increased and most kids doing online schooling are struggling with lack of motivation. We are keeping our eyes on Jesus, supporting the community and the congregation the best way we can during these difficult and uncertain times.\nChurch\nDue to the COVID Pandemic, Calvary Chapel Melbourne’s doors have been closed since the end of March. We have not been able to come together physically for the past 6 months, but we do see the core congregants on a weekly basis online with either the Women’s, Men’s, or Youth fellowship. The Ladies meet on Tuesday evening and are going through a life changing and powerful book called “ Seeking Him” by Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth. The Men’s Fellowship meets on Thursday evenings and is going through the Book of Nehemiah and the Youth Group meets on Wednesday evenings. They are talking through tough topics that have come up due to recent lockdowns and giving the youth hope through the Word during this time of uncertainty. Sunday morning messages are online, and we are teaching through the book of Revelation.\nFamily\nA quick family update:\nBoth of our sons are currently in High School (School year runs from Feb-mid December). Our oldest, Joshua, is 18 and will be graduating in December. Part of the curriculum for his Year 12 VCAL Certificate required him to attend trade school one day a week and he has been studying to be an Electrician. Over the last two years, he has been working alongside a licensed Electrician during work placement hours (100 hours per year), learning the electrical trade. Upon graduation, he will immediately become an apprentice and continue trade school once a week. His apprenticeship will last four years and upon completion, he can take the Electrical Test to become a fully licensed Electrician. This trade has high academic and testing standards and prayers for Joshua would be much appreciated.\nChristian, our youngest, is 15 and will be finishing up Year 10. He has decided to follow in his brother’s footsteps and choose a career in trade. He will be studying to become a Plumber with a Business Degree on the side. Next year, he will go into the VCAL Program at school which is directed toward a trade career.\nNiki has been able to continue working as a part-time Year 11 VCAL Learning Support Assistant, at Christian’s school and is loving the position. It is a private Christian school; therefore, God has opened many opportunities for her share the gospel and speak truth into the lives of the students. She will be resuming this position in 2021. She also leads the Women’s, Children’s, and Youth ministries in the church.\nApart from my role as the Pastor at Calvary Chapel Melbourne, I’m involved in the community by volunteering my time as the Chaplain and President of the Berwick Churches Soccer Club. I am also working part-time as an under-taker for a good friend of mine.\nMoment of reflection\nThe other day, during devotions, I was reflecting on our time here in Melbourne. It hit me hard just how quickly these past 14 years have gone by. It seems like yesterday that we said our goodbyes and got on the plane heading to our new life in Australia. I’ll never forget that Sunday evening at LAX; we all had tears streaming down our faces, lumps in our throats, and the finality of the move as we hugged our loved ones and our Pastor Bill Welsh goodbye.\nThe adventure of a new chapter and beginning. The rawness of it all. The starting out in a new culture and learning how to do life in another country. Then the journey of pastoring a church that was on life support needing to be revitalized and revived back to life. Wow, what an epic experience all of this has been. We have seen so many amazing ways the Lord has worked in our lives and in the church here. The stories and miracles are so many to tell, but through it all, I can say how good wise, gracious, and sovereign the Lord is.\nAs a word of encouragement, keep pressing on no matter how difficult things become. Stay close and sensitive to the Lord. Keep your eyes on Jesus and stay in the Word.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for wisdom, discernment, guidance, provision, protection, and revival in our church. Please pray for our family (Andrew, Niki, Joshua, and Christian) Please pray for wisdom and direction as we step out in faith to plant the new bible study on the west side of Melbourne once lockdown is over. If you like to contact us, here is my email: ccmelbourne@gmail.com\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-aussie-connection-october-edition/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Aussie Connection Newsletter from the Russell’s\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eG-Day!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe just want to first of all say thank you for taking the time to read this update and for your ongoing prayers and support for the Ministry here in Melbourne. We are blessed to have you on our team helping us make a difference in the lives of so many here in Australia.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe’ve, as everyone else in the world, had a crazy and uncertain 2020.  For us here in Melbourne it’s been tough because of the amount of restrictions that have been placed on our region.  We have been on Stage 4 Restrictions (only essential businesses are open, such as, food, medical, and petrol) for the last 8 weeks. We’ve had a mandated curfew from 8pm-5am, you cannot go out of a 5 km radius from you home, only one person per family can get groceries, you can only exercise for one hour outdoors and must wear a mask if outside your home. If you’re an essential worker, you have to obtain a permit from your workplace or else risk being stopped by the police at any given check point. If you didn’t have a proper permit or reason to be out, they could fine you thousands of dollars.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Aussie Connection - October edition"},{"content":" New Beginnings – “The new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17 ESV)\nRight at the start of this morning’s run around the neighborhood (not above – I wish!), I kept turning around marveling as the sun slowly crept up over the mountains in the east. After so many days of gloomy sunrises due to the fires and all, God gave us a doozy sendoff this morning. Dynamite stuff. I instantly flashed on the gorgeous sunrise I was blessed to witness at the Dead Sea a few years ago (now the above pic). “Oh Lord,” I said this morning, “How did you ever come up with this morning’s golden ball lighting up our skies? It’s so beautiful!” And the clouds this morning – there were thousands of teeny ones all over sky – all over! It was truly panoramic. Definitely a breakout morning for me.\nNew Days\nYou know it’s hasn’t been just in the skies or in the air like it was this morning. I’ve been experiencing the Lord making “new” things appear all over the place lately, starting around Labor Day week. It’s weird. I’m doing mostly the same stuff as before but they’re all taking on a new, fresh look. Remember your first day in grade school? New pencils, new notebook, new shoes and socks? Well, I’m still wearing the same old dumpy clothes but I’m sooo ready for new adventures and surprises this semester. And I bet Jesus has a few more on His fingertips ready to pop out at me any second. He does that, right? Can’t wait! Let’s take a look at some of the sort of ‘newbies’ I’ve been blessed with so far during this long hot summer.\nNew Mornings Facebook devos– It’s nervous, exciting and responsible all rolled up into one, to be given the privilege and responsibility to teach a 20 minute morning devotion. I’ve been doing these pretty much once a week; keeps me on my toes. I pray the “congregants” are being blessed by God’s Word. I know I am by studying and preparing for the messages. It’s definitely a learning process for me. The cool thing is in our new intern classes (see Missionary Internship program below) we are learning to let the Holy Spirit do the preaching. Yes, study, do your homework, but when you’re in front of your iPhone camera and ready to rock and roll, just preach the Word and allow the Holy Spirit to work in you. What I have to say, my personal opinion, really doesn’t amount to a hill of beans anyway, right? Try not to go off onto rabbit trails. Ha! I really think I am doing a pretty good job in that area because we only have 20 minutes to teach. I finished the book of Mark on Friday, September 25, at 9:00 am, on our Calvary Chapel Saving Grace’s live video Facebook page. So why don’t you grab a cup of coffee and join me as we begin the book of 1 Corinthians?\nChurch Inside Soon!\nGod willing, we will be resuming church upstairs in the Sanctuary before too long. How cool is that! I think we about ran out of chairs at our September 20th Sunday morning outdoor courtyard service. Standing room only to hear the Word of God – now that’s is what the Lord wants to see. The ground level courtyard has been so pretty during the spring and summer months and many volunteers have worked real hard to get church setup outside early in the morning. I think we are all looking forward to going back inside the Sanctuary. Praise the Lord!\nNew Afternoons\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Intern-class-1.jpg\nMissionary Internship program\nWe kicked off our 2nd year of the Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM) Missionary Internship Program a couple weeks ago. The class is on Wedneday afternoons. It looks like the focus this year will be on learning and then applying probably the two most important tenets in Christian living- preaching the Word of God and discipling. Our pastor teachers are giving it to us straight – all followers/disciples of Jesus Christ must be biblically equipped to preach the Word no matter where we serve, next door or across the sea. Guys or gals, we need to be able to share the gospel and make disciples. Jesus Himself gave us our marching orders: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). But there’s more! We finished our Homiletics 101 class last year; now we’re doing H102. Homiletics is the art of preaching a sermon – a homily. Our audience? CCSG pastors! We all received their “loving” criticism last term; we expect a lot more of the same this semester as well. And lastly we’re reading a new series of books from the “classic preachers” like John Calvin on how to preach the Word as well as selected audio Bible Studies. Man are we ever getting into the Word! Let’s do it!\nVoice of Refugee (VOR) teaching English classes\nI started teaching the new Fall semester ESL (teaching English as a second language) zoom classes with Voice of Refugees the day after Labor Day. VOR is really going forward in many ways to reach these dear families. In addition to the Mon-Wed afternoon English classes, we are now offering new evening classes, such as 1-on-1 Academic Tutoring, Conversational English, Citizenship and even a bi-monthly Friday @ the Movies. We teachers are flavoring up our curriculum while spicing things up with new interactive websites attempting to keep our students engaged. I think it’s working. And anyways, I know my students love spice. I do too. Rice and chicken and pasta. Food is our vocab!\nNew Evenings\nLife Group: We haven’t come up for air yet! Our dedicated Wednesday night sold out Christian soldiers have been marching forward throughout this summer. I think we did have a two-week break somewhere. We even had a movie night outside munching burgers and chips (even me, thanks Jeff) while getting pumped up watching Free Burma Rangers on a poolside big screen. The good life! But really, if you are looking to share God’s Word, receive and give out intercessory prayer along with sweet fellowship, CCSG Life Groups are where it’s at. We all so need this. On Sunday mornings, there’s a sign-up sheet outside the high school room for all the available Life Groups and their locations. Get plugged in.\nGrowth Group: Now these GG’s are where the rubber meets the road. Guys and gals have their own GG’s respectively. Those of you guys who want a more enriching walk with the Lord, learn how to become real followers/disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, please get a hold of me. We all need to grow spiritually – together. I want to start up a brand new growth group. No age requirement. No dress code. Just bring your bibles and yourselves. The only thing is we will have to host it at one of your houses because I live in Kansas with Dorothy and Toto. If you think I am using this newsletter as a platform to solicit/pressure you into joining my new Growth Group, well you bet I am! I don’t want to take any of you away from your existing Growth Groups; I just want to present to those of you who are not engaged in one, that this is a great opportunity to get involved, get plugged in, for us to grow closer in the Lord together. Dates, times, syllabuses are TBD. I know it will be a Bible study geared around discipleship. Shoot me an email, text, or call. I’m praying for you. Gotcha!\n10/40 Window Care Teams\nMy heart is still in the 10/40 window. I pray the Lord in His timing will open up a door for me to teach English there. For over a year I’ve been attending a Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM) care team for a couple of missionary families in the 10/40 window. I head up a care team for our 24 pastors in that area of the world. Their needs and the needs of all of our missionaries around the world are many. I know you know that. Intercessory prayer for them is vital. Get a hold of me or our church office if you would like to join one of our care teams. The missionaries and their families and sheep will be blessed and you will too. Thanks.\nGood Night\nAll done for the day. Kick back with a bowl of cereal. And then before I turn off the lights, I think, “you know, all Jesus desires from me each day is I stay close to Him.\u0026quot; That’s all.\nIt can start in the morning like it did today by thanking Him for the morning sun. Oh, and a real treat is to watch the birds fly 2-by-2 or 100-by-100 across the cloud covered blue skies and thank Him for that too. I think Jesus is, really, a simple kind of guy. I say this in the most respectable way. I pray He continues to make me simple too. Paul made himself simple when He encountered the brainiest people on the planet in Corinth:\n“For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Nothing more. Nothing less.\nNew Goals\nI’ve been running a lot more lately. I’ve set a goal on how many miles I want to run and walk by the end of the year. Goals are good (“press toward the goal ” Phil. 2:12-14). Competition is good too with the right attitude (“run with endurance the race” Heb. 12:1). I would like to ask each of you to continue to pray for me, that I would continue to seek the Lord and His calling for me to serve Him here and abroad. And please if you are led to support me financially, that would be a great blessing as well. Just click on the Become a Financial Partner button below. You can do this through a one-time donation or monthly reoccurring donation. Come on, put on your running shoes and run with me! I’ll slow down – ha! Thank you again for your prayers and financial support.\nPraise Report\nThat all my family and friends here stateside are in good health.\nThat our church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, will be moving church inside soon. The Lord willing.\nThat the Lord is doing new things in my heart keeping the fire of the Holy Spirit burning bright. Love it!\nPrayer Requests\nFor the safety, well-being, strength and good health for all of our SGWM missionaries serving all over the world. This is so needed and will also be an ongoing prayer request as well.\nThat Jesus will continue to teach me His Word so I can preach the Gospel – simply.\nThat I become more flexible and creative while teaching my Zoom English classes. I see the Lord doing new things which is exciting. Keep it going Lord!\nThat I would continue to learn and prepare for the mission field so when He gives my marching orders I will be as ready as can be.\nIf you’d like to get my monthly updates sent directly to your email inbox, just click on the following link: Jim Needham Updates. You can reach me at jneedham@sgwm.com. The Lord bless all of you.\nJim Needham\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-beginnings/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/needham/wp-content/uploads/sites/114/2020/09/Dead-Sea-sunrise.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNew Beginnings – “The new has come”  (2 Cor. 5:17 ESV)\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nRight at the start of this morning’s run around the neighborhood (not above – I wish!), I kept turning around marveling as the sun slowly crept up over the mountains in the east. After so many days of gloomy sunrises due to the fires and all, God gave us a doozy sendoff this morning.  Dynamite stuff.  I instantly flashed on the gorgeous sunrise I was blessed to witness at the Dead Sea a few years ago (now the above pic).  “Oh Lord,” I said this morning,  “How did you ever come up with this morning’s golden ball lighting up our skies? It’s so beautiful!”   And the clouds this morning – there were thousands of teeny ones all over sky – all over!  It was truly panoramic.  Definitely a breakout morning for me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Beginnings..."},{"content":" EUROPE\nBrenna Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\nThank you for taking time to read this and pray. Prayer is so vital and it is a comfort knowing there are people bowing their knee before the Lord on our behalf!\nPraise God:\n-Praise God for the testimonies of Him working in awesome ways this summer! While being stateside for a few months it has been so incredible to hear about things He is doing in Hungary.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Lighthouse events, a university outreach that a few students in our church started this summer. Pray for wisdom and vision as they seek God on how to continue in the school year and how to engage with their peers and friends about meaningful subjects, mainly the good news of salvation through faith in Jesus!\n2. Personally, I also need prayer for wisdom and clarity. I pray that I may grow in the knowledge of Him and delight in Him even as I wait on Him regarding decisions about the future.\nThank you for taking time to pray and seek God in behalf of His kingdom work in Hungary!\nLove in Christ,\nBrenna - Email Blog\nS.S. - Europe\nPrayer Requests:\n1. I hope you can pray for an Iranian friend who has severe health difficulties. He can\u0026rsquo;t move enough due to a work injurie which resulted in his absence from the Bible study and fellowship with us. I am worry also for his mental state because of this long isolation. May God can help in creating ways to contact him more or even heal him completely.\n2. I am trying to connect a German family with a Syrian single mom, who has some disablement but still has to take care of her kid. I hope you could pray that this connection works and be helpful for her in practical way. She has some trust issues and fear of connecting to Christians because of her religion.\n3. I hope you can pray for me to find new ministry opportunities. Since the beginning of Covid-19 I feel I am doing very little and every new thing I try ends up not working out. The restrictions are making everything complicated add to people fear of social contact. I am glad we still have Church service and Bible study groups but other things are very limited. I hope with your prayers that God would give me patience or lead me to more involvement where I feel I am using most of my time in His service.All blessings.\nThank you very much for praying for me.\nHave a blessed week. S. S. - Email Blog\nRebecca Alaniz - Zagreb, Croatia\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray For the country of Croatia. The coronavirus has come back into the country as the borders re-opened and cases are on the rise. Pray for the government to have wisdom when it come to making decisions for the country and pray that they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t shut down the churches.\n2. That the Lord would completely heal my thyroid, so that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t need to take any medication\n3. For direction, that I would simply be open to whatever the Lord has for me and while I wait, that I would be still and wait patiently upon the Lord\n4. Transition: Pray that I would be able to transition into my new church easily and that the Lord would continue to direct me in the way that I should go.\n5. Language Learning: Even though I\u0026rsquo;m conversational, there is more that I need to learn to reach fluency. I started language learning again this month. Pray that the Lord would help me grasp the language and that He would give me a desire to study it.\n6. Roma Ministry: Pray that the Lord would give me guidance and wisdom in regards to working in the Roma village. Pray for our relationships with the Roma people, especially with this new project that we are about to start.\n7. Increase in my monthly financial support. 8. For salvation in Zagreb Thank you for keeping me and the country of Croatia in your prayers. The Lord is at work and I am so excited to see what He is going to continue to do!\nThank you for praying !\nGod Bless,\nRebecca - Email Blog |\nAFRICA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Pastor Michael and his family .\n2. Please pray for the salvation of Twinkle\u0026rsquo;s uncle and his family as he was recently diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma ( blood cell cancer).\n3. Please pray that government of Kenya would lift their restrictions of Sunday schools for children, so more families can attend church on Sunday.\n4. Please pray for Christine Nyambura and her sister Dorcas as their mother, Esther (who had been part of CC Nairobi for years) suddenly passed away.\nThank you very much for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nDave, Twinkle, Bianca and Sophia - Email Blog\nVincent and Melissa Aniku - Uganda\nThank you all so much for continuing to pray in these times.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray as our family is dealing with a loss. I have miscarried again and it gets hard.\n2. The boarders open next month so please pray as we prepare to finally go back to Uganda!\n3. Pray as we are finalizing to send the container.\n4. Please pray for Uganda as the coronavirus is growing rampant over there. Also for the unrest of elections.\nThank you all again so very much!\nGod bless,\nVincent and Melissa - Email Blog\nMatt and Noelle Harris - Gulu, Africa\nPraise God:\n-We arrived safely in the USA for our scheduled furlough.\n-We were able to travel to Oregon to visit Matt\u0026rsquo;s sister and her family.\n-He is faithful and will continue His work in the hearts of the baby believers we left in our village.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For continued health in Noelle\u0026rsquo;s pregnancy, and safety during the scheduled c-section in October.\n2. For the families affected by the fires in OR, that the church would effectively reach out and share both material goods and the hope of Christ in these hard times.\n3. For the rest of our trip to the West coast to see family and supporters; for Gods protection, provision, and leading in every interaction.\n4. For God\u0026rsquo;s hand to be on the ongoing ministry in Uganda: the pastoral school, the business that works to support the school, the communities we serve, and our team there.\nThank you for standing in the gap for our family!\nLove in Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, \u0026amp; Noah - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones. Please pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view. Pray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nYours for the unreached,\nRob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family during this crazy season. School has started back up and the beginning of the year is always chaotic for Erin and the kids as they develop a new routine.\n2. I have restructured the leadership within SGWM and have created three distinct departments - Missionary Sending (US based missionaries that we have sent), International Relations (10/40 Window church planting/nationals), and the Missionary Training (School of Missions and Internship). Pray as we transition and continue to grow.\n3. Please pray for the youth ministry I lead. Our group is growing and the teens are doing well. Please pray for all of our leaders that the Lord would anoint them.\n4. It has been on my heart for a number of years, but due to lack of time, I haven\u0026rsquo;t been able to accomplish the goal of writing yet. But with the new restructuring of SGWM and nearing the end of my M.Div program, I am blessed with more time. Pray that the Lord increases my talents and provides a few editors.\n5. Pray for our personal support. Living in the States and on missionary support is a difficult reality. We struggle with it practically as living expenses in Orange County are high. It is also a struggle to convince people that our home office staff is an absolute necessity for the success of our missionaries all over the world.\n6. We had a great response for our youth Mexico trip in November. We completely filled up the trip. So I\u0026rsquo;ll be leading a group of 30 youth and young adults to Mexico in November. Please pray for this trip.\n7. We also had a great response for our 2021 summer youth and young adults Israel apologetic tour. We have 26 signups! I originally booked for 15. So the Lord sent in a LOT more. Please pray for all the administration that goes into organizing a trip like this. Also, pray for no COVID issues.\nThank you for praying!\nGod bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina - Erin - Email Mike - Email Blog\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California, USA\nPraise report\n-Praise God for His provision and protection as Tim ran the Calvary school of missions.\n-Praise God for His hope in a world full of sickness and turmoil\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that God would provide us with financial partners. Our support has dropped to such a low that Tim had to stop his payroll altogether.\n2. Please pray for Jenn she has two bulging desks and the doctors are talking about surgery\n3. Please pray for Gods wisdom as Tim oversees the 2020 intern program here at Saving Grace World Missions\n4. Please pray for the both of us to continue to be obedient to His calling\nThank you for your faithful prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna - S. Asia and Africa\nPraise Report:\n- Praise God for His leading and guiding our family into this new season both stateside and abroad. Many new ministry opportunities have opened up as borders and airports in Asia and Africa are still closed.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for those who rely on day wages to feed and provide for their families in Asia and Africa. South Asia and Nepal are in lockdown again after 4 months of shutdown and only a few weeks open. Covid is spreading and they don\u0026rsquo;t have medical infrastructure and now without work once again people are hurting. Pray for the food outreaches that our national pastors are facilitating this coming two weeks in hard hit areas.\n2. Pray for Bond as he will be teaching a group of Pastors in Asia twice a week to further equip and encourage them in the ministry.\n3. Pray as God has opened a door to launch a Thursday night study for young adults in our local church. Pray that many would get saved, grow and that we would see a revival in the hearts of college students here.\n4. Pray for Heather as she serves SGWM as a liaison and continues to facilitate relief efforts, building projects, ministry needs and manage the continued demands during this crisis. Pray for wisdom, time management and Spirit filled smooth communication both abroad and stateside.\n5. Pray for Breanna as she continues to adjust to many changes, missing friends and family and learning so many new things! Pray she would fall in love with the Lord even at her young age.\nThank you for your prayers,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent - Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Provision for our church and family!\n2. We have had a large covid (corona Virus) breakout in our city and several of our friends at church have the virus. Please pray for healing for them!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - California, USA\nThank you so much for praying for us faithfully, it means more than you can know!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for fresh vision for Joel as he moves into his new role as Director of Missionary Sending for SGWM\n2. Pray for us as we lead a growing young adults ministry at CCSG\n3. Pray for Amy as she homeschools our kids day in and day out\n4. Pray for our financial provision, that the Lord would provide for us in that area.\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email Blog\nBryan Reyes - Internship with SGWM\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For the Lord\u0026rsquo;s wisdom and guidance in staring a Bible study in Spanish.\n2. For continued provision and support to be able to raise the funds needed to go to the Middle East.\n3. For the Lord to bless this upcoming year with my 2nd year as an intern with Saving Grace.\n4. For the Lord to bless the men I have been able to disciple, and that they would continue to grow in their relationship with Him. Thank you so much!\nFor His Glory.\nBryan - Email Blog\nJon and Allison Brechtel - Oaxaca, Mexico\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord that we\u0026rsquo;ve been able to open the church building after 5 months!\n-We just signed a new one-year lease on the church building. So grateful for the financial help we have gotten to help us monthly.\n-Praise the Lord for new opportunities in ways to do ministry in this new season of life with COVID\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that we will be able to stay open and have services in the church building. We will continue to have online options, but we know the importance of being together\n2. Please pray for all of the things Jon has going on. That each one will be a blessing to those he is ministering to.\n3. Pray for the boys\u0026rsquo; school year to go well and for us to stay focused. And for me to be able to teach them and help them with love and patience.\n4. Please keep the English classes in prayer. I have recently started them again for the first time since March and I\u0026rsquo;m really praying about starting a new one for beginners. Right now it\u0026rsquo;s my intermediate class. There\u0026rsquo;s an interest in a kid\u0026rsquo;s class too. Pray for wisdom on when to start these new classes, and that they\u0026rsquo;ll be a good tool for ministry in the community.\nThank you!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, and Noah - Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray - Ensenada, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Our semester started with 22 new students. God is at work training and molding them into workers for His Kingdom. Pray for them to be diligent in their studies and strong in their faith.\n2. There. are several outreaches and a Mission trip planned for later this semester. As with most other tings going on Covid 19 does influence a lot of our activities. Please pray for our safety and for the students.\n3. One of our former students family member passed away from Covid and another of our graduates passed away from pneumonia. Please pray for their families and loved ones.\n4. Praise the Lord Pilar has a good trip to Mississippi and Florida visiting family. Also Leo has recovered from a recent outpatient surgery.\nThanks for your prayers for us.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar - Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please Pray for Our Country to Turn to God\n2. Please pray for the nursing homes to open up for ministry in our area, or God to open the door to another ministry here.\n3. Please pray for my financial support\n4. Please pray for my financial support\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte - Indiana, USA\n1. Please pray that God will lead us in all things.\n2. Please continue to pray for Rose\u0026rsquo;s health, growth and development.\n3. Please pray for my financial support and that God will open doors for me to share about the work He is doing in South Asia.\nThank you so much for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nBrad and Melissa - Amazon Jungle Brazil\nPraise Report:\n-The ministry the Lord has given us has continued to grow in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our disciples in the jungle continued to visit other villages and even started new discipleship classes. Praise the Lord with us because His power is being shown in and through us and is causing many people to come to and grow in Christ Jesus our Lord!\nPrayer requests!\n1. For our leadership in the villages. Specifically Raimunda, Oscar and Analucia, Valdeci, Elsimara and Guerlermi, Andre'.\n2. For the many new believers in 3 villages. Also for the new works which have now started in each of these places.\n3. For future new Church plants.\n4. For our health in this hot, humid, and fungus rich environment.\n5. For our family and homeschooling. Pray for our children specifically, Andrea, Josiah, Veronica and Benjamin.\nGod bless you and thank you in Christ!\nBrad and Melissa and family - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\nWorker 15 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer requests:\n1. Please pray that the Lord will keep us safe while the Covid 19 cases are increasing in our town . Many Christians are affected by this.\n2. that the Lord will give us wisdom to continue to do the work of the Gospel.\n3. that the Lord will bless our online Sunday Services.\n4. that the Lord will help us to restart the Bible College in His timing.\n5. for the safety of our co-workers and b\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nCo-workers in Christ\nGod bless you\n15 and family\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nThanks for supporting us and helping to uplift our God ministry.\n**\nPrayer Requests:**\n1. Pray for our Church to be growing day to day.\n2. Pray that our church believers to be grow in God word.\n3. Pray for our Church members as well as our Family.\n4. Pray For our Ministry to be fruitful.\n5. Pray that our health to be physically fit so we can serve God.\n6. Pray our for the resources our Church needs for a sound system to spread God\u0026rsquo;s word throughout different social media.\n7. Pray for us to do faithful Ministry.\n8. All the staff, students, Pastors ,leaders pray for their health and ministry.\n9. Pray the corona virus will end soon so we can meet together. Everything is going slowly, We hope soon the lockdown will be open and the college will be open to.\nThank you for praying for us!\nGod bless,\nRabi and Mahima - Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise Report\n-Praise God! He has been keeping us safe and sound so far.\n-Praise God! We\u0026rsquo;ve found the land to move Charis Bible Church facility and we signed the agreement paper also last month for five years.\nPrayer Request:\n1. Please pray for our church, that the Municipality Office in our Church area will issue the map for a new facility soon so that we can begin the building project. We have already been waiting two months for the map to get registered.\n2. Please pray for all of our church family, for their good health.\n3. Please pray for my wife, M. She has been suffering from a stone in her ureter, and her left kidney is swollen. The size of the stone is 9.8. Pray that she will not have to go through surgery again, because both of her kidneys have been operated on already for kidney stones.\n4. Please pray for all the students of Calvary Chapel Pastors Training Center, for their good health and ministry during this time.\n5. Please pray that our training center will be able to reopen soon.\n6. Please pray for the good health of all of our SGWM family\nThank you for your prayers!\nBlessing,\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nThank you prayer warrior who had been praying for us since before. We had some prayer request for this month, here are as follows:-\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please do pray for our good health so we can serve continually.\n2. Please do pray for the Bible college student who were serving in their village that they may continue their ministry with the power of Holy Spirit.\n3. Please pray for the Nepal government that God may give them knowledge and wisdom to direct the country in right way.\n4. Please pray for some of the Bible college students that because of past lockdown situations they had a hard time for finances in their family.\n5. Please do pray for the close by neighbors of Bible college were we are sharing our faith.\nThank you for your prayers and support\nGod bless,\nAnand, Usha and family - Email Blog\nDarryl and Kayo Record - Cambodia\nThanks for your prayers. COVID-19 remains under control in Cambodia with only between 200-300 cases, no community transmission and no deaths. We praise God for this.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Thank you for your prayers. God keeps answering your prayers in His way and timing. Churches and schools have been allowed to reopen for in-person meetings after being shut down for six months. We thank God for this progress.\n2. Please pray that the COVID 19 situation in Cambodia will improve to the point that all restrictions on churches, schools, and travel will be lifted asap.\n3. Please continue to pray for our apologetics/evangelistic video ministry that God would continue to use it to reach and equip many Cambodians for Christ.\n4. Please pray for our Cambodian ministry partners\u0026rsquo; ministries to be able to reopen so that we can resume our ministries with them.\n5. Please pray for our Cambodian ministry partners who are struggling financially during this season.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nWorker 8 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for sister H.- She has been under demonic attacks for two months.\n2. Pray for P.R.- He has liver problems and swelling in his legs.\n3. Pray for my church growth.\n4. Pray for a piece of land for a church building.\n5. Pray for better health for us.\nOnce again I would like to thank everyone who is praying and helping financially. May my loving God bless you all abundantly.\nMay God bless you,\n8 and family\nMilan Pariyar - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health\nGod bless you,\nMilan - Blog\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\nThank you so much for your prayers. God bless you!\nMay God bless you,\nWorker 9\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for all of the new people who have heard the Gospel, that they will accept Jesus.\n2. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you\nWorker 12\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n-Praise God for His grace and love for my family and church family.\n- Praise God, one more person was baptized during lockdown.\n- Praise God for His safety during lockdown. For 7 months, they did not allow any temple, mosque or church to be open because of Covid19, but we never stopped doing Sunday service and house fellowship. God kept us safe from every situation. We could not do online services because my church family do not have smart phones or internet capabilities.\nPrayer Requests:\n1.Please pray for the families in my church. They are being persecuted by their own families, communities and political leaders. One of them is named U, and he and his brother are persecuted by their own father. U\u0026rsquo;s father wants to take them to the village court because of their faith in Christ.\n2. Please continue pray for my state. Since the lockdown, illegal crime is increasing daily\u0026ndash;murder, robbery, fighting and suicide, etc.\n3.Please pray for my church family, that they will be strong in the Word of God, and that God will provide all of their basic needs like food, clothing and shelter. During the lockdown, they all lost their jobs and spent their savings. They had a rice harvest, but floods came and destroyed the harvest. Now, they don\u0026rsquo;t have jobs, so they are trying to go out of my state for a job.\n4.Please continue pray for safety for me and my parents.\n5. Please pray that we will be able to paint my church. We have not been able to paint for 8 years; pray that God will provide the financial needs for paint for the church.\n6.Please continue to pray for God would provide a girl for me to marry who can be a partner for spreading the Gospel.\nThank you so much for your faithful prayers.\nGod bless!\nWorker 11\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our church people who are suffering with health issues.\n-Brother A- suffering with kidney stones\n-Brother K- needs supernatural healing. He was paralyzed in 2014, and God has been working in him; he is getting better every year. Please be praying for complete healing.\n-Sister K- suffering from kidney stones.\n-Sister P- tested Covid positive\n2. Please pray for favor as we are going to register our church and Bible school with the government.\n3. Pray for our team getting ready for Bible School in the month of February 2021. Pray that we are lead by the spirit of God and wisdom.\n4. This coming 3 weeks, we are going to have family prayers/Bible study and also have fellowship in each one of our church believers\u0026rsquo; houses. (Since we have not been able together in our church building.) Pray they will be encouraged by that, and they will know more of Christ\u0026rsquo;s love.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 6\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\n2. Pray for new believers to grow in Christ\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless, Worker 13\nRaju - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my spiritual growth.\n2. Please pray that God would help me to teach His Word correctly.\n3. Please pray that God would make a way to buy the land for our church, which has been affected by Covid-19.\n4. Please pray that God\u0026rsquo;s kingdom will expand in all of our ministry area, and that good works will be done.\n5. Please pray that the love of God will fill my family and neighbors.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe, that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for me to share the Gospel.\n3. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you\nWorker 10\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for this new season of ministry as I have returned to the South. I pray that I will be faithful in the ministry He has for me.\n2. Please continue pray for the students who have gone back to their hometowns; pray that God will use their lives and testimonies to reach others for Christ.\nThank you,\nGod Bless,\nWorker 7\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my past experiences.\nThanking you!\nWorker 4\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 2\nMajhiya and Sarita Besra - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have found an opportunity to share with others about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes. They are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita - Blog\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nThank you so much for your prayers.\n**\nPrayer Requests:\n** 1. Please pray for our students who are doing ministry in their villages. Some believers in the villages have been experiencing persecution. Pray for the strength of the laborers and boldness.\n2. Please pray for this monsoon season; many have lost their homes and lives. Pray that people will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.\n3. There are many youth in my community\u0026ndash; please pray for strong community relationships with the\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot;\n- Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-oct-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrenna  Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Brenna-150x150.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for taking time to read this and pray. Prayer is so vital and it is a comfort knowing there are people bowing their knee before the Lord on our behalf!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise God:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n-Praise God for the testimonies of Him working in awesome ways this summer! While being stateside for a few months it has been so incredible to hear about things He is doing in Hungary.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM OCT PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Is it just me or did September simply fly by?\nThis month has been as active as any with the internship getting fully underway! Here are a few highlights.\nI had the privilege of training two of our three new interns in the office and showing them what it looks like to send someone out onto the field. It is always an educational experience for those who haven’t considered just how many hours are dedicated to such a feat. Gabby and Nathanael have both done well in their training but the bulk of what they will learn this year is hands on. Please pray for them as they continue to serve in the office and press into whatever the Lord has for their internship this year.\nAnother highlight was getting to attend a dessert gathering for one of last year’s interns. A dessert gathering is basically a mission update that we host for our missionaries when they are home on furlough or about to launch into the field. It includes homemade desserts, fellowship, an update from the missionary, and prayer. J.S. is our first School of Missions graduate to be launched into the mission field and he has faithfully interned in the office for the past year. It was a very special night to see the fruit of our pastors’ labor of pouring into him and my labor (in a small way) of training him in the office come to fruition as he now takes all he has learned and prepares to launch in the spring of 2021.\nThank you for your prayers and support that allow me to be part of what God is doing here in training up long term missionaries as well as abroad by offering technical and administrative support to all of our missionaries.\nIf you would like to be more involved or would like to support me or SGWM financially, I would love to talk with you more about it. Your support is needed and so appreciated.\nStay the Course Running Club The running club has been going well! You could say we hit the ground running. I have a group of 4 girls who have been pretty consistent and we are now up to about 2 miles. Please continue to pray for this group to be all that the Lord desires it to be.\nPrayer Requests Please keep our new batch of interns in your prayers as they begin a year-long commitment of growing in their knowledge of God’s Word and preparing to serve Him in the foreign field.\nPlease pray for J.S. as he raises finances to launch out in Spring 2021.\nPlease pray for my family as we look to the Lord for His financial provision in our lives.\nIf you would like to receive these monthly updates straight to your inbox, you can sign up for them below.\nEmail Updates For Email Newsletters you can trust.\nThank you again! God bless and keep you and make His face shine upon you.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/bye-september/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIs it just me or did September simply fly by?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month has been as active as any with the internship getting fully underway! Here are a few highlights.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI had the privilege of training two of our three new interns in the office and showing them what it looks like to send someone out onto the field. It is always an educational experience for those who haven’t considered just how many hours are dedicated to such a feat. Gabby and Nathanael have both done well in their training but the bulk of what they will learn this year is hands on. Please pray for them as they continue to serve in the office and press into whatever the Lord has for their internship this year.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bye, September"},{"content":"“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and recognize and honor and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16\nHi everyone! I want to start off first by thanking you for your prayers for me as I serve the Lord in Tijuana, Mexico and for reading this update.\nWow! What a summer! I don’t even know where to begin! We have all been experiencing a different kind of lifestyle with these very different times that we are living in! It has been quite challenging, but my main focus is to “let my light shine before all.” I love the fact that the gospel is getting out to even more people via social media than ever before. Satan has his plans, but God has even bigger plans and always gets the glory in the end!\nWe started off our summer with first ever virtual V.B.S. It was a huge success and a blessing for the children in our community. The kids, ages 4-12, did all the projects at home, took pictures and “turned them in” and received prizes for their participation.\nWe hosted two virtual weddings this summer (only family and a few others in attendance). Both brides are sisters and lived next door to me. I’ve known them since they were toddlers. Sara married Jesus, they both work full time and are very involved in the church and have been most of their lives–worship band and youth ministry. Alex is a missionary here with us and married Sara’s sister, Miriam. They both have a heart for missions. Both couples love the Lord and we are excited to see how He will use them in the future!\nWe continue to serve the children in our afterschool program by giving out food each month. In August, we also gave them school supplies. They are so thankful for the help they receive, and it is so great to see them, even if for only a few seconds.\nWe are also continuing to minister to the kids through an application called “Class Dojo.” They see a different video each day of the week, and participate by doing the craft, answering questions about the Bible class, and memorizing the Bible verse of the week… just as if they were attending Sunday School, and then receive prizes for their participation. I also enjoy being with them on Facebook live every Friday at 1:00. Of course I continue reading Bible stories to them Tues. through Sat. on Facebook live. We take very seriously the spiritual growth of the children here at CC Pedregales.\nWe do not say goodbye, but see you soon to two dear brothers in Christ who went home to Jesus this past month due to complications with COVID. Obed, father of three, husband, and awesome singer/songwriter, and Emanuel, 20 years old. We will miss them, but we know that they are in heaven with Jesus! Emanuel was not able to speak due to his down syndrome, but now for sure must be chatting away with Jesus!\nPrayer requests:\nfor the families of Obed and Emanuel as they mourn the passing of their loved ones. For comfort and peace from our Lord Jesus. salvation for the kids and parents of our afterschool program for the kids to be able to attend school soon. (there are many obstacles here with online learning, as many can’t afford a phone or laptop, and wifi; it’s all costly). When the kids go back to school, we will be able to open our afterschool program and soup kitchen. for my knees–both are in bad shape. I was approved for a knee replacement for my right knee and will be scheduling it soon. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/summer-2020/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good deeds and moral excellence, and recognize and honor and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:16\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHi everyone! I want to start off first by thanking you for your prayers for me as I serve the Lord in Tijuana, Mexico and for reading this update.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWow! What a summer! I don’t even know where to begin! We have all been experiencing a different kind of lifestyle with these very different times that we are living in! It has been quite challenging, but my main focus is to “let my light shine before all.” I love the fact that the gospel is getting out to even more people via social media than ever before. Satan has his plans, but God has even bigger plans and always gets the glory in the end!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Summer 2020"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nI hope this update finds you and your family healthy and blessed! In our updates, you usually get a generous dose of what is going on in the church and ministry, and even my life (Mike) personally. But in this update, I am excited to focus on the rest (and better part) of my family, to give you an update on what the family is up to.\nThroughout our 18 plus years of service here in Mexico, I couldn’t have done a thing without my amazing and virtuous wife, Sarah. Sarah isn’t only my partner in ministry, but my best friend and a key part of everything God has done here over the years.\nPresently, Sarah is teaching Spanish to American homeschool families two days a week. This unique job connects Sarah’s love for the Spanish language along with her love for children. (You may not know that Sarah is a credentialed California teacher, who taught Kindergarten in the California public school system for our first three years of marriage!)\nWith the coronavirus affecting everything we do, this year Sarah’s teaching load has doubled. Not only is she offering live classes with social distancing up in Orange County, she is also doing ZOOM online classes. This adjustment has not been easy for Sarah or her students. It has been a blessing for me to witness the zoom meetings and hear these youngsters excelling in their Spanish. Please keep my favorite school teacher Sarah and her Spanish classes in your prayers.\nMy daughter Grace is now 20 years old and she has been staying busy finishing up her AA through the local San Diego Community College. Grace is and always has been diligent and self-motivated in her college studies, and continues to get straight A’s in her classes. (I guess she takes after her mother in that!) Grace is still deciding what her college major will be, but I know that wherever the Lord directs her, she’s going to work hard and excel.\nOn the church side of things, Grace enjoys spending time with her friends in our church’s young adult group Agamos! (Greek word that means “unmarried” ) She also assists me in my live preaching by being my faithful media assistant. In this important position, Grace is in charge of putting the worship slides and sermon notes up on the video screens for the services. This job has taken on added significance as much of our congregation is now tuning in online for our services. I am very thankful that God has given me a quiet, godly daughter that has brought much joy to my life.\nMy son Daniel just graduated from high school and also turned 18! After I jokingly posted online that he was looking for a car (while standing in front of two old junkers) a ministry partner donated their used Cadillac. I have never seen a young man more excited than Daniel was to receive this 23 year old car that was still in great condition. Daniel has now become the main errand boy in the house, as he looks for each and every opportunity to go out and take his new car for a drive.\nDaniel is very focused on his basketball and he has progressed to the point where his old man can’t keep up with him anymore. This summer he tried out for and made the local youth all star team, and he has even traveled to different Mexican states with his team to compete in tournaments. As the only gringo (white guy) on the team, his opponents are amazed to see this white boy that speaks perfect Spanish. Of course they aren’t aware that Daniel has lived in Mexico since he was 2 weeks old.\nDaniel is also active in ministry at the church. He leads a weekly discipleship group on ZOOM where he disciples a couple of the freshmen boys in our church youth group. Daniel also helps lead worship three times a week at the church in our men’s study, youth study, and on our main worship team. A special blessing for me was having Daniel lead worship with me on the keyboard during three of our services in September.\nI am so blessed to have a family that loves Jesus and serves with me in the great work that God is doing here. We feel honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with us through your prayers and finances which allow us to serve full time with you in the ripe mission fields of Mexico! THANK YOU!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n1- That God would provide for our family’s needs, and raise up 3 new financial partners to cover our friends that are no longer able to continue! 2- That God would bless Grace as she prays about her next steps in schooling. (Her major and her new college) 3- That God would bless and strengthen Sarah in her online and live Spanish classes! Praise Reports!\n1- Praise God that He has kept our family safe from the coronavirus. 2- Praise God for our new batch of church planters who are studying and preparing to be sent out to church plant in the future! For our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries.\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-october-2020-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/09/102558347%5F585222999073061%5F3290036444424306688%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI hope this update finds you and your family healthy and blessed! In our updates, you usually get a generous dose of what is going on in the church and ministry, and even my life (Mike) personally. But in this update, I am excited to focus on the rest (and better part) of my family, to give you an update on what the family is up to.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family October 2020 Missions Update"},{"content":"We started September in Nebraska, spent the middle part of it in Montana, and finished it in California. Another month, another whirlwind of travel and opportunity. It was great to spend a few more weeks on the farm after returning from Mexico. We have been able to create a home base for ourselves there, and it’s a place we can return to any time we are in the States. We are thankful for the stability that it provides us, and look forward to many future furloughs there.\nOur trip to Montana was the most blessed we’ve had so far. We were there long enough to reconnect with several friends and have face to face interactions with most of our supporters. The Lord strengthened our ties there and encouraged us greatly with their love and support. We were able to share at several bible studies as well as at our church (twice!).\nNow we’re back in California and excited to get to the work that the Lord has for us. We have started attending bi-weekly prayer meetings for a missionary support ministry where we will be volunteering in the upcoming months. I am very excited for what God has planned to do in this ministry, and am very thankful that we have the opportunity to serve with the people there.\nI am also going to do more of the morning Facebook devotions for Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, so if you’re on Facebook be on the lookout for those. If you didn’t see the ones I did this month, I have included links below so you can check them out.\nNumber 1\nhttps://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=302657504165408\u0026amp;id=191491494242294\nNumber 2\nhttps://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=327365675131342\u0026amp;id=191491494242294\nNumber 3\nhttps://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=744596856384323\u0026amp;id=191491494242294\nThank you to everyone who signed up recently for our newsletter or to support us. It means so much to us that you would invest in us by reading our emails, praying for us, and giving financially to our journey. So again, thank you so much.\nHere is an update on Japan. In September, Japan elected a new Prime Minister. He has stated that he wants to open up travel between to US and Japan soon, especially business travel. However, in order to travel from the US to Japan you would have to be staying at least three months. Our next step is to take a vision trip to Japan, which would be about two weeks long, so we don’t qualify to travel right now. Hopefully, we will see things move forward in the next five weeks or so and after the US election we’ll have a better idea of our timeframe.\nPraise Report:\nOur time in Nebraska was invigorating and refreshing, and we were able to set up a basecamp for ourselves there. Our visit to Montana was fruitful and encouraging. We are excited to be back among you soon. We have arrived safely in California and are excited for the ministry God has for us in this season. Prayer Requests:\nFor God’s provision and direction for our family. For Japan to open up to short-term travel from the US soon. For mercy in language learning as we start taking Japanese classes this fall. Love you all, Jeff and Alishia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/another-month-another-whirlwind/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe started September in Nebraska, spent the middle part of it in Montana, and finished it in California. Another month, another whirlwind of travel and opportunity. It was great to spend a few more weeks on the farm after returning from Mexico. We have been able to create a home base for ourselves there, and it’s a place we can return to any time we are in the States. We are thankful for the stability that it provides us, and look forward to many future furloughs there.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Another Month, Another Whirlwind"},{"content":"The lock-down has brought so many new things to all of us. I want to share with you how we survived and had a great fellowship even in the midst of tough circumstances.\nRight after I reached the North, within 3 weeks, the lock-down was started. I had been asked to teach Inductive Bible Study prior to starting my actual teaching; Leviticus. The new students were so blessed to learn the Inductive Bible Study. It was great to have some people with my same language from the South in the college. We made good friends with people in the local community and prayed for their salvation.\nAfter the first few weeks of the lock-down , we began running\nout of gas (for our stove), vegetables, and all other provisions. So, we began cooking with firewood and started growing vegetables including radishes, beans, etc.\nThe main worry everyone faced was how to get back to their hometowns. We were all stuck there for almost 3 months, but miraculously God provided every single need for all of us.\nWhile all of this was going on, there was a huge disturbance with the Local Intelligence department investigating our college, so we had to stop teaching and classroom set up.\nOur last semester was a good experience in understanding that we should be ready to face any sudden negative situations.\nPlease continue to pray for the students, as they have gone back to their hometowns. May God use their lifestyle and testimony to reach others for Christ.\nGod bless you,\nPastor 7*\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-my-rock/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe lock-down has brought so many new things to all of us. I want to share with you how we survived and had a great fellowship even in the midst of tough circumstances.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Rohith-Sep-1b.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eRight after I reached the North, within 3 weeks, the lock-down was started. I had been asked to teach Inductive Bible Study prior to starting my actual teaching; Leviticus. The new students were so blessed to learn the Inductive Bible Study. It was great to have some people with my same language from the South in the college. We made good friends with people in the local community and prayed for their salvation.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Is My Rock"},{"content":" Praise God for technology! Though we are unable to gather together at the church building because of the pandemic, we can be one body of Christ in the Spirit. We have Women\u0026rsquo;s, Children\u0026rsquo;s, and Young Adult Fellowships; Bible study and prayer meetings; and our weekly worship services through Zoom. Nothing can hinder us from worshiping our God.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/one-in-christ/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Prakash-sep.-2020-Sat-Worship-service-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePraise God for technology! Though we are  unable to gather together at the church building because of the pandemic, we can be one body of Christ in the Spirit. We have Women\u0026rsquo;s, Children\u0026rsquo;s, and Young Adult Fellowships; Bible study and prayer meetings; and our weekly worship services through Zoom. Nothing can hinder us from worshiping our God.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBlessings!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrakash, Muna and Eutychus\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One in Christ"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.\u0026rdquo; Psalm 34:1\nI pray you are doing well. I want to thank you for your partnership in the Gospel with me. These past few months have looked different for me, but the Lord continues to do amazing things in a place that opposes Christ. He reigns over all and is raising up His soldiers for battle! I am thankful to the Lord that He allows me to be a part of His mission here on earth to reach the lost. Due to the lock-down, our campus has been closed, so there have been no students- but, there are many things to still be faithful over! The Lord has entrusted my family and I with this big land (the campus). Therefore, we have been faithful in cleaning it, cutting the grass, fixing water pipes and making sure nothing gets flooded due to the heavy monsoon season.\nThis also means getting rid of, from time to time, some un-welcomed friends around our place that are poisonous! With that said, I praise the Lord that He protected me from a poisonous snake last week. I went to reach inside a box and unknown to me, one was in the box. It did not have time to bite me. Praise God for His protection!\nThe Lord has also opened up teaching opportunities via the phone to some villages where our students stay. I am teaching twice a week and ask for your prayers as the internet connection is not the best. I had the privilege to ask who wanted to accept Christ. As you see on the picture to your right, people were ready for truth and their Savior. Although COVID has changed things around, Christ is still moving and providing ways for people to hear His truth. Many here are hungry and seeking for Jesus Christ. Please pray for the laborers here to be strengthened and to be encouraged amidst the persecution. There are also many who are eager to study the Word, so please pray that in the Lord\u0026rsquo;s timing the Bible College would open up so that many can start being equipped to be sent out to their un-reached villages. I am excited for what the Lord has for these youth that want to serve Him.\nI would like to share a brief story with you all from a village one of our student\u0026rsquo;s ministers in. The couple and baby pictured to your left were forced out of their home in their village because they would not renounce Christ. They were threatened, and having no choice they departed. Our student was able to help them out and get them connected to a pastor whom offered their home to them. They are doing well and continue running this race with endurance knowing this place is not their true home. Please lift them up in prayer and that this would be an eye opening testimony to the persecutors. For them to realize Christ is worth leaving everything for. I thank the Lord that during this time of persecution, I am reminded of what He went through and how Paul said in Romans 8:18, \u0026quot; I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us\u0026quot;. Keep running the race and keep your eyes on the Lord whom we get to be with forever in eternity after our short time here on earth!We have our hope in the Lord Jesus Christ because He has chosen us, but He has chosen us to take the Gospel to those who have no hope and give them the hope of Jesus Christ. We are His ambassadors and His soldiers and by His strength He helps us face our battles. May we learn to cling and depend on the Lord during these times. The world may be changing day to day, but our God remains the same yesterday, today and forever. Thank you all for your prayers. Thank you for partnering alongside me and for your prayers that give us the strength when facing persecution.\nPraise Reports: The Lord has entrusted me with new things that are exciting in my life The Lord is raising up youth that are eager to learn His Word The Lord has given me the opportunity to teach the youth Prayer Requests: Pray for the youth and for my teaching time with them Pray for my surrounding community Pray for continual health for me and my family Pray for the Lord to open the school back up in His timing I would love to connect with you and pray for you as well. Please feel free to email me and stay in touch.\nBlessings,\nPastor 1*\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/being-faithful/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;I will bless the Lord at all times;\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eHis praise shall continually be in my mouth.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003ePsalm 34:1\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI pray you are doing well. I want to thank you for your partnership in the Gospel with me. These past few months have looked different for me, but the Lord continues to do amazing things in a place that opposes Christ. He reigns over all and is raising up His soldiers for battle! I am thankful to the Lord that He allows me to be a part of His mission here on earth to reach the lost. Due to the lock-down, our campus has been closed, so there have been no students- but, there are many things to still be faithful over! The Lord has entrusted my family and I with this big land (the campus). Therefore, we have been faithful in cleaning it, cutting the grass, fixing water pipes and making sure nothing gets flooded due to the heavy monsoon season.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Being Faithful"},{"content":"“But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.” Psalm 5:11\nSince our last update, God has opened the doors for schools and churches to reopen. The government still has placed strict requirements on both but with a total cases around 274 and no community transmission of COVID 19, we are hopeful that those restrictions will be gradually eased. The restrictions for entry into Cambodia remain very strict so for now we cannot leave the country because it might be too difficult to re-enter.\nOur regular ministries continue to be blessed. Darryl’s International Fishers apologetics/evangelistic ministry is going well. He has been able to increase the frequency of his videos from about 1 per month before COVID to around 3 per month. He released videos with the following titles (in the Cambodian language)since August: Science and Jesus’ Miracles, Talking Snakes and Donkeys in the Bible, How to Find God, and, God and Time. There are three more videos in process which will be released soon. He continues to release the videos on the website, various Facebook pages and groups, and on YouTube. It is encouraging that the EvidenceCambodia YouTube channel alone now has 1,620 subscribers and has more than 92,000 total views across all the videos. Tracking the numbers of views on the various Facebook pages and groups and the website is much more difficult but most videos are more popular on Facebook than on YouTube.\nKayo continues to be very active in worship ministry for the local international church. We are thankful that we no longer have to only do video services but can do in-person services. She looks forward to being able to return to in-person work with Precious Women.\nPlease pray for our Cambodian ministry partners, especially Light Times Magazine and Precious Women Organization. Light Times Magazine is struggling financially and also it is difficult to print and distribute magazines during this season. Please pray that now that the churches are reopening that Light Times will be able to return to normal operations as well. Please pray for Precious Women Organization that they will be able to return to regular operations as well. Before COVID, they were primarily focused on evangelizing and retraining women who were trapped in the night-time entertainment industry. Now, they are primarily focused on providing emergency food relief to women who have become unemployed due to COVID. While this is a good temporary focus, please pray that they will be able to return to their main vision ASAP and that we will be able to return to in-person work with them.\nThanks for your faithful prayer, encouragement, and practical support that has made it possible for our family not to just survive during this global season of pandemic and unrest but to actually see some areas of thriving. We pray that God will be with and bless you, your family, and your church as you have been a blessing to the Great Commission in Cambodia.\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-refuge/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.”\u003c/em\u003e Psalm 5:11\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince our last update, God has opened the doors for schools and churches to reopen. The government still has placed strict requirements on both but with a total cases around 274 and no community transmission of COVID 19, we are hopeful that those restrictions will be gradually eased. The restrictions for entry into Cambodia remain very strict so for now we cannot leave the country because it might be too difficult to re-enter.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our Refuge"},{"content":"Praise the Lord!\nGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country.\nBy the grace of God my family and I are doing well. During this time of a Covid lock-down, we are unable to conduct in person classes, but we are sending audio recordings of the teaching to the students so that they may study the Word of God.\nI thank the Lord for opening new doors for me to share the Word of God. I am preaching from Ephesians once a month through Facebook during Sunday church services. I also got an opportunity, through another church, to share the Word of God with village people through social media on Friday meeting. I thank the Lord that during this lock-down, He gave the opportunity to draw closer to Him as I am spending more time in prayer and studying the Word of God. It is so interesting to learn from the book of Galatians as I prepare myself for audio teachings.\nI am also spending more time with my children and teaching them action songs, Bible stories and many other things. They are learning all the numbers and the alphabet and different name\u0026rsquo;s through activities. I am also spending time working in our garden.\nPrayer Requests: Please pray for my wife. She is a nurse and cannot live at home. Please pray for her safety. Please pray for my children that they may grow in the fear and knowledge of the Lord. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s wisdom and strength to take care of my children and teach them His Word. Please pray that the Lord would intervene in the problem the world is facing. Please pray for our audio classes and our ministry through social media God bless you,\nPastor 16 and Family*\n*Names have been omitted or changed for security reasons\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-will-trust/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you in the name of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Thank you, dear supporters and prayer partners, for your prayers and financial support. We are praying for your family and your country.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBy the grace of God my family and I are doing well. During this time of a Covid lock-down, we are unable to conduct in person classes, but we are sending audio recordings of the teaching to the students so that they may study the Word of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Will Trust"},{"content":" Earthquake\nEarthquake\nEarthquake\nSome of the Food Distribution Team\nEarthquake\nHello all! Here’s a quick update about what’s been going these past few months.\nIt’s been a strange time for all of us with COVID-19, especially pressing on in ministry through social media and online platforms. Jon has done such a great job of doing all of our services online, he’s become quite the pro! We’ve had an amazing team helping him each week.\nIn June and July we started doing food bags for the church body and some of their family and friends. It was such a blessing to have people step in and help even with all of the fear that has come with the pandemic. This was really encouraging for me (Allison) because, being an extrovert, not seeing people was really discouraging. So to be able to see some familiar faces, even under masks, was a huge blessing.\nOn June 23, there was a major earthquake centered off of the coast of Oaxaca. We were driving in the mountains heading to the coast with another family when it happened. Having lived in California all of our lives, we were used to earthquakes. But never had we ever felt one while driving. The Lord protected us big time. There were rockslides all over the place, including one right in front of us when we stopped our cars to see what was going on. Praise the Lord that none of us were hurt, our cars weren’t damaged, and the damage was minimal for the people in the church.\nIn August we took a trip up to the States and spent some time with family celebrating my mom’s birthday. It was our first time being with almost my entire side of the family since the end of 2018. Jon was also invited to share at a break-out session at the Church Planting Conference at Calvary Chapel Rosarito. It was a blessing to hear other church planters share their stories and wisdom with so many. It was awesome to see so many of our CCR friends. We also got to spend some time at Calvary San Juan and see our amazing church family there! It was an all-around blessed trip.\nWe were FINALLY able to open the church on September 6, with many regulations. Our church building has plenty of space for social distancing and we try to follow the rules as much as possible. There is still a fear of being out, so attendance has been down, but that’s something we totally understand. Many members of the church body have to take public transportation which isn’t the safest way for them to travel during this time. But let me tell you…it was so amazing being together in the church building, worshiping the Lord, hearing the Word, and having some much needed fellowship.\nWe also started the Navigators course, with four men from the church leading two groups. The people really seem to be loving it, and it’s a blessing to have people that can lead these groups.\nJon has also been going to a men’s rehab center each week and going through the Navigators course with them. He really loves being with the guys each week.\nAs we move forward, we aren’t sure if we’ll be able to STAY open or if we’ll have to close once again. We are back in a more restricted “color” and if we go up one more, we’ll have to shut down again.\nJonny and Noah have started 8th grade with a new online curriculum that seems to be a great fit for us. They plug away each day to get everything done, and after chores they are able to play online with friends from all over. It’s fun to hear them talking to their friends.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nPlease pray that we will be able to stay open and have services in the church building. We will continue to have online options, but we know the importance of being together Please pray for all of the things Jon has going on. That each one will be a blessing to those he is ministering to. Pray for the boys’ school year to go well, for us to stay focused, and for me to be able to teach them and help them with love and patience. Please keep the English classes in prayer. I have recently started them again for the first time since March and I’m really praying about starting a new one for beginners. Right now it’s my intermediate class. There’s an interest in a kid’s class too. Pray for wisdom on when to start these new classes, and that they’ll be a good tool for ministry in the community. PRAISE REPORTS:\nPraise the Lord that we’ve been able to open the church building after 5 months! We just signed a new one-year lease on the church building. So grateful for the financial help we have gotten to help us monthly. Praise the Lord for new opportunities in ways to do ministry in this new season of life with COVID. Thank you to all of you who read these updates and support us in prayer, encouragement, finances, and so much more. We love you all.\n2 Corinthians 1:3-4 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”\nJon, Allison, Jonny, and Noah Brechtel\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/september-2020-update/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG%5F6869%5F2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG%5F0570.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Earthquake\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eEarthquake\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG%5F0641.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Earthquake\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eEarthquake\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/e14b41b7-17cd-4b3f-ae99-d16969dfeb8d.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Earthquake \"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eEarthquake\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG%5F0505%5F2.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Some of the Food Distribution Team \"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eSome of the Food Distribution Team\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG%5F1813%5F2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG%5F0559.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Earthquake\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eEarthquake\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG%5F2103.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/IMG%5F1455.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello all! Here’s a quick update about what’s been going these past few months.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s been a strange time for all of us with COVID-19, especially pressing on in ministry through social media and online platforms. Jon has done such a great job of doing all of our services online, he’s become quite the pro! We’ve had an amazing team helping him each week.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"September 2020 Update"},{"content":"How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?\n– The Apostle Paul, Romans 10:14, 15\nIn my last update, I talked about how the Lord has used me in two of the three major ministries of SGWM: equipping future missionaries through our School of Missions and internship, and church planting in the 10/40 window as I help teach classes via Skype to one of our South Asia schools and discipling some young men here in the states to do the same. But I also alluded to the fact that I have taken on the role of Director of Missionary Sending for SGWM. I want to talk a little bit about that in this update.\nIn this role, my job will be to provide oversight over the ministry of taking care of American missionaries on the foreign mission field. SGWM provides a lot of administrative help in sending missionaries all over the world! We provide an avenue for missionaries to receive funds in a hassle-free way, we provide pastoral care where needed, we post and send out missionaries’ updates to their supporters, and so much more! I am excited to take on this role, to say the least! I have a passion for missions, so to be able to focus my efforts more to this role will be really helpful for me. Pray that the Lord continually provides fresh wisdom and vision for me in this role!\nThings on the family front continue to go well. Maggie and Harrison are excelling in their schooling, and Jude and Clara are happy, healthy, and bring so much joy and fun to our home! Amy and I continue to lead our growing young adults group for CCSG, and we are excited to teach a family discipleship class at the church this winter. Pray for me and the other pastors at our church for wisdom and vision concerning moving forward as a church from the ways that COVID affected us.\nWe would ask that you pray for our finances and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/unless-they-are-sent-pt-2-september-2020-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHow then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? \u003cstrong\u003eAnd how will they preach unless they are sent?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n– The Apostle Paul, Romans 10:14, 15\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn my last update, I talked about how the Lord has used me in two of the three major ministries of SGWM: equipping future missionaries through our School of Missions and internship, and church planting in the 10/40 window as I help teach classes via Skype to one of our South Asia schools and discipling some young men here in the states to do the same. But I also alluded to the fact that I have taken on the role of Director of Missionary Sending for SGWM. I want to talk a little bit about that in this update.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Unless They Are Sent Pt. 2 September 2020 Update"},{"content":"Praise the Lord! Praise God for His grace and love upon my family and church family. Praise God! One more person was baptized during the lock-down. Praise God for His safety during the lock-down! For 7 months they have not allowed any temples, mosques or churches to open because of Covid-19; but we never stopped having our Sunday service and house fellowship. God has kept us safe during every situation. We could not have online services because the people in my church family do not have smart phones or internet facilities. Prayer Requests: Please pray for the families in our church. They are being persecuted by their own families, communities, and political leaders. One of them, Jamesh*, and his brother are being persecuted by their own father. Their father wants to take them to the village court because of their faith in Christ. Please continue to pray for my state. Since the lock-down, crime is increasing day by day including; murder, robbery, fighting, suicide, etc. Please pray for my church family\u0026ndash;that they can be strong in the Word of God, and that God would provide them all of their basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. During the lock-down, they all lost their jobs and spent all of their savings. They planted rice, but a flood came and ruined the crops. Now, since they don\u0026rsquo;t have jobs, they are trying to leave my state to try to find a job. Please continue praying for safety for me and my parents. Please pray for our church to be painted. For 8 years we have not been able to paint it. Pray that God would provide for the finances needed for paint. Please continue to pray for my marriage, that God would provide a girl who can partner with me in spreading the Gospel. Thank you for your prayers, help and partnership in the Gospel!\nGod bless you all,\nPastor 11*\n* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praise-and-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"praise-the-lord\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/rajendra-sep-2020-motorcycle-in-flood-282x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise God for His grace and love upon my family and church family.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise God! One more person was baptized during the lock-down.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePraise God for His safety during the lock-down! For 7 months they have not allowed any temples, mosques or churches to open because of Covid-19; but we never stopped having our Sunday service and house fellowship. God has kept us safe during every situation. We could not have online services because the people in my church family do not have smart phones or internet facilities.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"prayer-requests\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease pray for the families in our church. They are being persecuted by their own families, communities, and political leaders. One of them, Jamesh*, and his brother are being persecuted by their own father. Their father wants to take them to the village court because of their faith in Christ.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease continue to pray for my state. Since the lock-down, crime is increasing day by day including; murder, robbery, fighting, suicide, etc.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease pray for my church family\u0026ndash;that they can be strong in the Word of God, and that God would provide them all of their basic needs including food, clothing and shelter. During the lock-down, they all lost their jobs and spent all of their savings. They planted rice, but a flood came and ruined the crops. Now, since they don\u0026rsquo;t have jobs, they are trying to leave my state to try to find a job.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease continue praying for safety for me and my parents.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease pray for our church to be painted. For 8 years we have not been able to paint it. Pray that God would provide for the finances needed for paint.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003ePlease continue to pray for my marriage, that God would provide a girl who can partner with me in spreading the Gospel.\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your prayers, help and partnership in the Gospel!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praises and Prayer Requests"},{"content":" 2020 CSOM\nI found myself in a place I never thought I would be, directing the Calvary School of Missions for the second year in a row. God has a way of doing exceedingly abundantly beyond what we ask or think and He has a way of getting His will accomplished that, quite frankly, blows my mind. Year two of CSOM went incredibly well but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t without challenge, sacrifice, and hard work. Jenn and I have both realized something in life: challenges, hard work, and sacrifice are good for us and this year was no exception.\nWe want to thank you all for your prayers, love, emotional support, and even financial backing as we stepped out this year to join 12 students in exploring the call God has on their lives for the furtherance of the gospel around the world. We were joined by teachers, leaders, and missionaries who have served all around the world. One of the highlights was watching the lights come on and the truths of God\u0026rsquo;s word come to life for the students as the teachers taught over 150 hours worth of the lessons they learned from serving our Lord in foreign countries and the truths of God\u0026rsquo;s word that held them strong and fueled their ministries.\nAnother one of the highlights came in the form of what I call a double blessing. As I navigated putting together outreaches amidst a world pandemic we realized the focus quickly needed to shift to COVID relief. We did some street witnessing, worked at some local churches, and even helped Calvary Chapel Rosarito at their church planting conference but the main focus of the majority of outreach was food distribution. Of course as we did that we took opportunity for prayer and sharing the gospel with the communities.\nThe double blessing was first of all having the open door to go into communities and share the word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and second, meeting the physical needs through the generous donations of those who had contributed to Calvary Chapel Saving Grace’s COVID relief fund. Outreach this year was so different from last year but then again everything is during this time we are living in. One thing was the same, Jesus Christ! He is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore and we have great hope in Him that we share with the rest of the world.\nSo much happened in six weeks that our focus for the next few updates will be to continue sharing about this summer and the Calvary School of Missions. Of course we will also let you know what\u0026rsquo;s going on in our personal lives and ministry here at saving Grace World Missions. Speaking of that, I hate to end such a positive update on a low note but Jenn and I have a personal need that I\u0026rsquo;ve come to realize we owe it to you all to share. My (Tim’s) income here at Saving Grace World Missions is 100% supporter funded, this is a fact that I don\u0026rsquo;t share with many people. I am grateful beyond belief for those the Lord has provided to partner with Jenn and I but my financial support has dropped so low I have had to discontinue my payroll here. As much as I really don\u0026rsquo;t want to, I\u0026rsquo;ve come to understand I need to ask for help. We need help, we need financial supporters, people who are able and willing to partner with us in the work the Lord is doing through us at Saving Grace World Missions. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially, or increase your already generous support you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/greater-heights-deeper-trust/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG%5F8647-768x576-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e2020 CSOM\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI found myself in a place I never thought I would be, directing the Calvary School of Missions for the second year in a row. God has a way of doing exceedingly abundantly beyond what we ask or think and He has a way of getting His will accomplished that, quite frankly, blows my mind. Year two of CSOM went incredibly well but it wasn\u0026rsquo;t without challenge, sacrifice, and hard work. Jenn and I have both realized something in life: challenges, hard work, and sacrifice are good for us and this year was no exception.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Greater Heights, Deeper Trust"},{"content":"Greetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\nWe are very blessed and privileged to serve Him, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. In this pandemic situation, everyone is facing some kind of crisis. God is so faithful to us. He provides bread on our table and protects us under His mighty wings. Thank you so much, dear sponsors, for your generous partnership. As a family we have been praying for you all; that the Lord will protect you from all kinds of diseases (especially from Covid-19) and that you may experience multi-fold blessings in your family and ministry.\nGod has been helping us learn more about Him and draw closer to Him. It has been a great time learning the Bible under our mentor and pastor, Pastor 15*. These days, I have been studying from the Gospel of Matthew and helping some of the believers and friends by teaching them online. I am also learning and taking notes from the book of Jude for our Pastors school students. This past month, God gave me an opportunity to share His Word in our online church service via facebook and to visit one of our house churches at Curry* village.\nWe have also visited some of the church families and prayed together. My wife and daughter are both engaged in online classes. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law are both medical employees. Since last month, both are working among Covid patients. Thus far, God has protected their whole family with good health.\nPrayer Requests: Please continue to pray for our online church service. Kindly pray for Wednesday online Bible study- that God will help us reach more people with the Gospel of Christ Jesus. Please pray for my mother-in-law and other family members for good health and for spiritual growth. Please pray for my daughter to have Godly wisdom as she takes her online exam. Please pray for me and my family to meditate and grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. Thank you very much for your prayers and support!\nIn Him,\nPastor 3* and family\n* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-provider-our-protector/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to you all in the matchless name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are very blessed and privileged to serve Him, the Creator of Heaven and Earth. In this pandemic situation, everyone is facing some kind of crisis. God is so faithful to us. He provides bread on our table and protects us under His mighty wings. Thank you so much, dear sponsors, for your generous partnership. As a family we have been praying for you all; that the Lord will protect you from all kinds of diseases (especially from Covid-19) and that you may experience multi-fold blessings in your family and ministry.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our Provider; Our Protector"},{"content":"“But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.” Micah 7:7 August was a month of change and transition from the LORD, both for Terebinth Ministries and for our family.\nLike every other entity, our ministry has been trying to navigate the Covid crisis. When the lock-down started on March 30th, schools were closed down along with businesses, churches, government offices, and the like. And of course, the Terebinth School of Discipleship was temporarily closed. We had expected for the schools to open up by harvest time (Jul-Aug), but when it became evident that the reopening was going to delay, we decided as a team to find alternatives to our regular classes. With prayer and counsel, our leadership decided to start running a temporary alternative class style. Because of restrictions against meeting in large groups, we have divided our class up into 6 small groups, at different locations and at different times. Each student is given the student handbook a week in advance of their meeting to prepare them for the main points, the small groups meet for 2 days and watch a prerecorded teaching on the book being studied. They are guided by 2 teachers to further understand the content of the book, and then tested. We eagerly await our normal class style, but we are thankful for the ability to continue engaging the minds of our pastors in the meantime.\nAs we have expressed before, this is also a season of exciting change for our medical clinic, “Dream Center Uganda Health Center III”. Since its opening in 2012, the clinic has survived many problems, and when Terebinth Ministries took it over in 2017, there were crippling tax debts, no policies, no documentation, deep-seated community relations’ issues and very few patients coming through the doors. Since that time, the numbers have increased drastically; the care is superior to other health centers in the area, the reputation has come a long way to being restored and the records keeping is maintained at a high standard. We have worked to balance affordable care with quality care. However, to date, the clinic is still running at a deficit, and unfortunately our prices are still too high. As a leadership team we have come to understand that we have gone as far with the clinic as we are able, and that in order to reach higher we need help. With that in mind we have partnered with another ministry which is successfully operating 26 clinics here in the North. The doors of the clinic were officially closed August 26th, and will be reopened under their management on the 1st of October. With their connections, resources, and tested expertise, we know that the community is in good hands and that their future is bright! The clinic will be run with higher quality, lower prices for the community, and with less deficit.\nThe last change we want to share with you is of our arrival in the USA. In July we had announced our plans to visit America, and since then it has been a rush of events as we organized our home, packed a few bags, and even had 1 cancelled flight and a delay of almost 2 weeks before reaching Colorado. Now here we are, trying to re-integrate and navigate this “new” America with all of it’s challenges. We are very thankful to be with our family, and to have the opportunity to encourage and be encouraged by our faithful partners and friends. We look forward to the next few months as we share with you all, see faces both new and known, and await the arrival of the new baby.\nHere are a few things we would love for you to pray for, if you would take a moment: For the pastoral school as they continue in a new, supplementary way. That the teachers would be dedicated to discipleship, and that the students would have hearts and minds ready to receive. For the medical clinic and our community, as they change to the new medical management. Pray that there would be peace, and that it would be seen as a blessing early on in the transition. Pray for our family as we face so many changes, from culture and diet to time zones and the new social aspects. Pray for peace, health, and wisdom for us in this new environment. In Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline \u0026amp; Noah ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/august-2020-2/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"but-as-for-me-i-will-watch-expectantly-for-the-lord-i-will-wait-for-the-god-of-my-salvation-my-god-will-hear-me-micah-77\"\u003e“But as for me, I will watch expectantly for the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation.  My God will hear me.”  Micah 7:7\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2020/09/D3A73C27-8604-4C57-8C43-908D08366771.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAugust was a month of change and transition from the LORD, both for Terebinth Ministries and for our family.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2020/09/6D60462E-2F40-4A9F-9A44-6C9433CBA5C9.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLike every other entity, our ministry has been trying to navigate the Covid crisis.  When the lock-down started on March 30th, schools were closed down along with businesses, churches, government offices, and the like.  And of course, the Terebinth School of Discipleship was temporarily closed.  We had expected for the schools to open up by harvest time (Jul-Aug), but when it became evident that the reopening was going to delay, we decided as a team to find alternatives to our regular classes.  With prayer and counsel, our leadership decided to start running a temporary alternative class style.  Because of restrictions against meeting in large groups, we have divided our class up into 6 small groups, at different locations and at different times.  Each student is given the student handbook a week in advance of their meeting to prepare them for the main points, the small groups meet for 2 days and watch a prerecorded teaching on the book being studied. They are guided by 2 teachers to further understand the content of the book, and then tested.  We eagerly await our normal class style, but we are thankful for the ability to continue engaging the minds of our pastors in the meantime.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"August 2020"},{"content":"Love Your Neighbor as Yourself It has been a great blessing to serve in our neighborhood. Where we live, we are surrounded by schools and families\u0026rsquo; homes. Due to the lockdown, there is a teacher who has had a hard time getting salary from a school. The principal of that school, who is also our friend, shared about how the teacher hasn\u0026rsquo;t been able to get a salary for the past 4 months. We were then able to help give 17 teachers from the school some bags of rice and oil. The day we distributed the food, we had good fellowship with each other and prayed together. My wife served us coffee and cake. It was a great blessing to see the teachers happy faces and make a connection with them. The principal shared with us that it felt like we are a big family helping each other in this time of suffering. It was a real heart-touching moment. We praise God to have such a wonderful neighbor. Please keep praying for our teacher friends who have given their lives to serve in this Christian school. They are sharing their faith in this Hindu and Buddhist community.\n\u0026ldquo;Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.\u0026rdquo; (James 1:27)\nWhat a great God we serve to be able to visit a neighboring slum area last week! We haven\u0026rsquo;t stopped praying for these people and we were very excited to visit them, serve them, and share the Gospel of Jesus with them. We\u0026rsquo;ve been praying for these people and for ideas on how to reach them for a long time now. We asked one of our neighbors, who is a farmer and has lived here for a long time in our community, for help. The farmer accompanied us to the slum and introduced us to families there. Thank God that He has arranged this friendship with the farmer so that we could make a connection with the people in the slum. There are almost 25 families who live there, along with some married couples and some single people. We were surprised to find out that all of these families are from the same tribe (people group) which is a similar tribe that I come from, except they are from West Nepal and I am from the East. It was really fun to be able to communicate with them in their tribal language, which is also our mother tongue! These people are making toys in their houses to earn some money because the lockdown shut down all of the businesses. Once they heard about the food relief distribution we wanted to do there, they were all so happy! When we hosted the food relief outreach, they all had big smiles and we were able to share Jesus with them. Everyone was so thankful for the food packages they received. We are hoping to be able to spend more time with them in the future and disciple those who have decided to give their life to Christ.\nRejected But Accepted \u0026ldquo;But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.\u0026rdquo; Matthew 6:33\nDuring the past couple of months, people have been suffering because of this lockdown. People are not able to work and so many people have lost their jobs. People are having a hard time being able to feed their families.\nDuring this time, there are a lot of people who are helping. But the people who help just want to take pictures to show whatever they give, which makes some people feel uneasy. So, when we arrive there with food packages, they refused to let us take photos. They told us that if we were going to take photos then they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t take any rice from us. We respected their request of not taking photos and still loved to give the relief food. After a couple of days, we visited again to host a Bible study, and they were so surprised by us that they requested us to take photos with them! Our new friends have been coming to Bible study every time we are able to visit with them. Praise God! We seek the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Pray for this little flock that they may grow in His Word.\nThanks for praying for us,\nAnand, Usha, Asher \u0026amp; Amos\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lock-down-unlocks-our-friendship/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"love-your-neighbor-as-yourself\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLove Your Neighbor as Yourself\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Choudhary-Sep-3-300x171.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt has been a great blessing to serve in our neighborhood. Where we live, we are surrounded by schools and families\u0026rsquo; homes.  Due to the lockdown, there is a teacher who has had a hard time getting salary from a school.  The principal of that school, who is also our friend, shared about how the teacher hasn\u0026rsquo;t been able to get a salary for the past 4 months.  We were then able to help give 17 teachers from the school some bags of rice and oil.  The day we distributed the food, we had good fellowship with each other and prayed together. My wife served us coffee and cake.  It was a great blessing to see the teachers happy faces and make a connection with them.  The principal shared with us that it felt like we are a big family helping each other in this time of suffering. It was a real heart-touching moment.  We praise God to have such a wonderful neighbor.  Please keep praying for our teacher friends who have given their lives to serve in this Christian school. They are sharing their faith in this Hindu and Buddhist community.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lock-down Unlocks Our Friendship"},{"content":"I confess it has been a long time since my last update. Please forgive me for not writing sooner.\nGod has been doing so much and the enemy is not happy.\nWe were able to find a house in Verdi Nevada, about 20 miles from the church office. We are renting a little house right across the street from the Truckee river. We actually can’t afford to live in Truckee. Since the COVID pandemic, many people from San Francisco, knowing they can now work from home, are escaping the big city and buying up all the properties in Truckee. The house costs have skyrocketed. A 1000 sq ft A-frame fixer upper with no garage will run for $550,000.\nI have to confess, this is the first time I have ever taken over a church during a world wide pandemic. I didn’t really know what to expect. I thought when we got up here to Truckee we would have some time to get the lay of the land, to wade in the water a little, to get the feel of things before we were thrown into the thick of it. That actually wasn’t the case. I feel like I asked my dad if I could go swimming and he has thrown me into the deep end.\nBecause of the virus we had no place to meet, I wasn’t able to meet any of the people in the church for many months, so we just found a location and began to stream our studies.\nWe have had the privilege of meeting outside in one of the parks in town for the past month and a half, and it has been glorious. You can watch the teachings online if you like. Just go to YouTube and search for our channel, Calvary Chapel Truckee. Our Sunday morning teachings are there as well as our Thursday mid-week.\nWhen we got here, the first thing I started was what we called an “Underground Prayer Meeting.” I called it that for two reasons. One because California said we couldn’t meet with more than 10 people at a time. It was intended to be a playful reminder that we take our marching orders from the Lord not the governor of California. We have tried to take every precaution we could and not expose anyone needlessly to a potential risk. We asked people who felt sick to stay home. For anyone who felt well, showed no signs of symptoms, and were comfortable meeting and praying together, they were invited. The second reason I called it “Underground Prayer” was to be a gentle reminder of our brothers and sisters around the world who are meeting in secret for fear of their governments.\nWhen the COVID virus hit, before we took over the church officially, the interim pastor scrambled to find a place where we could eventually meet. He found a 2500 sq ft space for us at a complex called “The Rock.” The space gives us room for a sanctuary with about 8o seats in it and a small space for children’s ministry. The interim pastor also bought several small, 17.5 inch wide, chairs. During one of the meetings I had with the leadership, I mentioned the change in the weather that was coming that would force us out of the park. I mentioned my concern about the small space and the small chairs. Someone mentioned that the interim pastor said, “When the new pastor comes, there will be a natural downsizing of the church and it will be plenty large enough then.” I am very happy to report that God has been blessing and we have not decreased in size as a church, but we have been growing.\nWe have been praying and seeking the Lord about starting a Food Pantry. Surprisingly enough, there are many people living in this area of affluence who are in great need. God opened a door for us to partner with a church in Reno and coming this month, we hope to be supplying food to people and families in need. It’s very exciting to be able to engage in a work like this. It has been something that has been on my heart for the last few years.\nJune 22-July 1 2020, we are partnering with Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and taking our youth on a “Youth Apologetic Tour of Israel.” The basic vision is, we send our kids to school and they learn history. We send our kids to Sunday School and they learn Bible stories, as if they were not history. We are going to take our youth to Israel and immerse them in the facts, the truth and the historicity of the Bible. The target age group is 16-25, however kids younger than 16 can go with a parent. As of the date of this update, we have 15 kids and parents going on the trip.\nDue to COVID, we have had to change what we are doing in South Asia. We have been unable to have classes the way we have had in the past. One of our colleges has been able to continue to meet, because they have just a handful of students. Our other colleges are recording teachings in the local languages and the students are able to listen to them during the day. We are all praying for the day when we can get back to raising up young men and women who are committed to taking the Gospel of Jesus Christ to people who have never heard of the truth of God’s love. To people who, since the beginning of time, have been in bondage to false gods. Please continue to pray.\nFinally, Tina and I are happy to report that the Lord has opened a door for us to buy a house. We have never owned a house before. The Lord has never allowed it, we assumed it was because we were always on the move. But it looks like the Lord is going to have us stick around for now and construction is going to be finished next April. It is also in Verdi, Nevada, just a stones throw from where we are living now. I can’t tell you how happy Tina is. Thank you, Lord.\nPrayer requests.\nPlease pray for Calvary Chapel Truckee. For continued growth, that we would be a light to the community, that the Lord would show us how to reach out to the community, for all the ministries (Women’s ministry, Men’s ministry, Young adults ministry, Youth ministry, Food pantry and the Underground Prayer.) Pray the Lord would bless the teaching of His word on Sunday’s and Thursday. That He would continue to draw people deeper into His word and in their walks with Him. Please pray for the work in South Asia, that God would continue to use us mightily. Please pray that I will be able to return soon to connect with the students. Pray that the Lord would keep those on the ground safe from anti-Christian groups seeking to persecute our workers. Pray that we would be able to resume our face to face classes and resume our internet teachings soon. Please, please pray about visiting us. We’re so excited to show you what God is doing here in Truckee.\nGod bless you,\nGary and Tina\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/how-long-has-it-been/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI confess it has been a long time since my last update. Please forgive me for not writing sooner.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod has been doing so much and the enemy is not happy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe were able to find a house in Verdi Nevada, about 20 miles from the church office. We are renting a little house right across the street from the Truckee river. We actually can’t afford to live in Truckee. Since the COVID pandemic, many people from San Francisco, knowing they can now work from home, are escaping the big city and buying up all the properties in Truckee. The house costs have skyrocketed. A 1000 sq ft A-frame fixer upper with no garage will run for $550,000.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How Long Has It Been?"},{"content":" Hi family!!! We are super excited! This September, Calvary Chapel Northern Mexico will be having a conference for pastors and leaders of every Calvary Church in the northern part of Mexico. Its purpose is to encourage and edify the church and its servants during this tough season. Coronavirus has hit us hard in many ways and we feel the call to uplift the fellowship and continue our call to serve Jesus!\nThis year Stacy and I have the privilege of teaching at the conference. I will be teaching from Acts 20 and Stacy will be sharing with the pastor’s wives.\nPersonally, I would love if all our leaders from Calvary Acapulco could make this conference, but for some it’s financially impossible. Would you please pray for an open door for them? Also, if you wish to sponsor a servant, any donation would be appreciated. We have estimated the cost of travel and lodging to be $200 per servant. We have at least 5 servants who could use the sponsorship. Thank you in advance for your prayers and support.\nHealth Update Thank you all for the prayers and encouragement during our quarantine. As most of you know Stacy and I tested positive for Covid-19. Even though I am currently contagious my symptoms are practically gone. Stacy still struggles with a cough and had to be put on different meds. She says she feels better, but we could use your prayers for a complete recovery.\nI do hope our time sick was somewhat of an encouragement to others knowing that Covid isn’t an automatic death sentence as the media portrays it to be. I do want to encourage everyone to be safe. If you have current health issues you might not be as fortunate.\nElijah and the Airforce Our oldest son, Elijah, has decided to join the U.S. Airforce. His desire is to enlist for Special Warfare as a ParaRescue. As a kid, he has always loved helping others in need. The ParaRescue motto is “That Others May Live” and that describes my son. As parents, this can make us very nervous, but we know the good Lord has him in His hands. Regardless, I ask for your prayers as he enters this new path.\nSunday Service Book of Revelation After so many questions regarding the end times, I decided to jump ahead and tackle the subject head-on. Even though we see final judgment, the book offers insight into the revelation of Jesus Christ as the Lord God. The goal is to continually fall in love with our Lord.\nSupport the Villegas Family If you wish to come alongside our ministry as a financial partner, please click the link below. Every gift, no matter the size, supports our family and ministry in a very huge way. Thanks again for your faithfulness.\nAll donations are tax deductible\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=43561E571C04428\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/equipping-leaders/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/villegas/wp-content/uploads/sites/130/2020/09/newsletter2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHi family!!! We are super excited! This September, Calvary Chapel Northern Mexico will be having a conference for pastors and leaders of every Calvary Church in the northern part of Mexico. Its purpose is to encourage and edify the church and its servants during this tough season. Coronavirus has hit us hard in many ways and we feel the call to uplift the fellowship and continue our call to serve Jesus!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Equipping Leaders"},{"content":"Thank you for your partnership in the Gospel.\nPraise God! He has helped me share His Word with many. During this time, I have been able to talk with people over the phone, sharing the Gospel with them and encouraging them in the Word. I have also been able to study God\u0026rsquo;s Word. I was able to finish the book of Galatians.\nCorona is bad. It is spreading and increasing. Thank you for your prayers. By God\u0026rsquo;s grace, He has kept us safe. So far, our community is also safe. However, nearby places are affected.\nSince monsoon started, the grass started growing. I have been doing campus cleaning, including grass cutting etc. The first round is over, now the grass has grown and the campus grounds need cleaned up again. In the coming days, we will be working on cleaning the campus grounds. In this heavy rain, there are landslides and many people have died. Pray for the people who are affected. Please pray also for our state. Our state is going through different calamities. including a flood, landslides, and Corona. Many people have died.\nThank all of you who are praying for us and supporting us.\nGod bless you,\nPastor 5* Family\n*Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/by-gods-grace/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you for your partnership in the Gospel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Joshua-Baby-December-pic-6-floods-300x219.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePraise God! He has helped me share His Word with many. During this time, I have been able to talk with people over the phone, sharing the Gospel with them and encouraging them in the Word. I have also been able to study God\u0026rsquo;s Word. I was able to finish the book of Galatians.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCorona is bad. It is spreading and increasing. Thank you for your prayers. By God\u0026rsquo;s grace, He has kept us safe. So far, our community is also safe. However, nearby places are affected.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"By God's Grace"},{"content":"Mexico Trip What a great August! I had the opportunity to travel down to Mexico to visit with our school of missions students personally and attend Calvary Chapel Rosarito\u0026rsquo;s Church Planting Conference. It also turned into an opportunity to spend time with our newest missionary who I had the privilege of onboarding this month!\nThe School of Missions wrapped up on August 17th and it was such a great year of growth for our 12 students and 7 staff members. From it we are receiving two new interns and we hope to receive several more students-turned-interns in January.\nThe conference was a special treat as I was able to hear from church planters and pastors who confirmed all of the reasons why SGWM exists- to go to all the world, make disciples, and raise them up to do the same, all of which is birthed out of the local church.\nPastor Mike on Sunday\nPastor Trent and Pastor Mike before Trent\u0026rsquo;s breakout session on serving among the unreached\nSend off Sunday for the Guatemala team\nOn Sunday morning CC Rosarito had a special send off Sunday to pray over and send a new church plant to Guatemala. It is their 25th church plant, but their very first church plant to a country other than Mexico or the USA. We were all excited to be a part of what they are doing, even if just through prayer that day.\nI also had the privilege of meeting several of our missionaries working in Mexico including Pastor Mike Vincent and his family, Ron and Kristy Struska, Nancy Schipke, and our newest missionary, Hassan Villegas who I mentioned above.\nPastor Hassan has been in Mexico for approximately 18 years and in his current location, Acapulco, for 7 years. Please pray that the Lord would continue to protect their church from the cartels and from the coronavirus. Pastor Hassan and I took advantage of the time we had in the same area to get him trained on his blog and help him work out the technical issues and questions he had. We also enjoyed hearing him teach the students on the importance of faithfulness in class on Monday morning.\nStay the Course Running Club This month I started a running club for the youth of our church to train for a fundraiser 5K that I am planning for next year (or as soon as the government begins allowing that kind of stuff). My heart for the club is to have more discipleship opportunities with the youth, help them grow in discipline, and raise awareness of the work going on among the unreached. All of the proceeds from the 5K will go toward our missionaries working in the 10/40 window (the area of the globe where there are almost zero Christians and zero access to Christ- our target area of missions). So the more participants we have, the more funds made available for the work of the Gospel. My prayer is that the students would realize that they can be involved in what God is doing around the world now- they don\u0026rsquo;t have to grow up first. They can be actively involved in bringing the Gospel to the unreached and they can involve others in it as well.\nPrayer Requests Training the new interns- that I would be able to teach them with clarity and simplicity and that they would be able to absorb it all. My husband in Denver this weekend- Isaac is partnering with our friend, Aaron Garcia to visit one of their supporting churches in Denver, Colorado. Please pray for safety, health, and a fruitful trip as well as comfort for both of us in our first parting since marriage. The running club- that more students would be interested and join us, that there would be no injuries, and that we\u0026rsquo;d have fun and grow in Christ together. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/august-2020/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"mexico-trip\"\u003eMexico Trip\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a great August! I had the opportunity to travel down to Mexico to visit with our school of missions students personally and attend Calvary Chapel Rosarito\u0026rsquo;s Church Planting Conference. It also turned into an opportunity to spend time with our newest missionary who I had the privilege of onboarding this month!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe School of Missions wrapped up on August 17th and it was such a great year of growth for our 12 students and 7 staff members. From it we are receiving two new interns and we hope to receive several more students-turned-interns in January.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What an August!"},{"content":"“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. \u0026ndash; Acts 1:8\nDear Friends and family,\nGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan, we hope and pray that you all are fine, we are also fine and safe by the grace of God. We are not hearing of Covid-19 spread anywhere in the country right now, but our country is suffering because of flooding in so many areas and cities because of heavy rains. We want to request you to please keep that in your special prayers.\nMission in the Desert\nCC Pakistan started going to a city near the desert last year, and at the start of this year we started one online class there. Recently we had our second mission trip in that area and it was really a great mission trip. It helped us see the tough life situation of the believers in that area. In the far areas, life is really tough and people are not living in one community but separately. Even to reach these people is a great challenge, as one needs to travel long distances in the desert which cannot be done without the help of the local people. We praise God that we were able to go and reach many people at different locations, we were able to pray with/for them, we also\ngave them regular Bibles, Children’s Bibles, and Audio Bibles. We praise God that we could reach there, we want to thank you for all prayers and support and we also want to share that this is a vast mission field, we need to work hard and work more here, so please keep this all in your prayers.\nSpecial Unreached Group\nDuring this mission trip we reached a very special group, they were originally Hindus, but some years ago 25 families of that tribe came to Christ. They live in a very far, isolated village, they have their own pastor, who needs much teaching training. They are very poor, they have so many different kinds of pressures and their lives are full of challenges, but we were so blessed to see that they still love the Lord and are very happy to believe in Christ as their personal Savior. Their whole village has most of the houses made with mud, they simply have one primary school, but after that they cannot send their kids to high school or college as they don’t have resources to travel the long distances, they cannot afford to send their children to those schools far away and it’s not even safe for their children to go daily for studying alone. God has put this special group on my heart and the heart of our team. We wish to be in touch with them, we wish to be able to share the word of God with them in some proper way and even start some project where their children can learn something and grow doing something that can help them in their normal and spiritual life.\nThis group was also very much excited and happy to have us, though it was far. It was not safe to travel there or back to our hotel in the night, but we prayerfully decided to spend that evening with them and share the word of God with them. It was really a very special and blessed meeting. We were able to provide them some children’s Bibles and also audio Bibles to use for their spiritual growth in the meetings. They were very happy and very blessed by this fellowship. Their worship that evening was so full of joy. We are praying to reach this group again. We wish to start a sewing center there for a lady who knows sewing and knitting. We are also in prayer to see how Lord wants us to reach and bless this group. Please keep this special group in your prayers!\nBible Class in Desert Area\nOur online class started in the city near the desert at the start of this year but because of lockdown, I was not able to go and see our students personally until now. We have over 40 online students in this class, most of them were followers of Word-Faith movement and were leading their lives according to the teaching of the health, wealth and prosperity Gospel. We praise God that this class has started changing their lives and they are so happy to be able to learn this way.\nIt was really great for our team to meet those students in person, teach them and then have dinner and fellowship with them. This class continues online and we praise God that people travel from different places to attend this. Please keep our this online teaching project as well in your prayers.\nVideo Recording of Teaching\nGod provided support for us to start Video recording of Biblical teaching in the Urdu language, we started this project in the month of August. We praise God that this is finally possible. All the classes that we have been teaching are going to be recorded and we are going to record the teaching series which will be helpful for us right now in the ministry and in the future for our Bible college vision. We are thankful to you all for your prayers and support. The Lord is really doing amazing things in and through CC Pakistan. During all this time of lockdown when the world came to stand still, God helped us to do much more than our normal routine and He also provided help and ways to accomplish our tasks.\nWe are always thankful to you all, we love you and pray for you! God bless you and your families!\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/mission-reaching-and-preaching/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. \u0026ndash; Acts 1:8\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan, we hope and pray that you all are fine, we are also fine and safe by the grace of God. We are not hearing of Covid-19 spread anywhere in the country right now, but our country is suffering because of flooding in so many areas and cities because of heavy rains. We want to request you to please keep that in your special prayers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mission, Reaching, and Preaching"},{"content":"Javier Gongora is a ministry partner working in Belize that we were able to bless with funds to do COVID relief in his community. With it, he was able to provide groceries to over 20 families in need. These families include parents of little babies and children who are a part of the preschool that Javier and his wife run, church members who are out of jobs due to COVID, as well as pastors in the community who have no income.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/covid-relief-in-belize/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJavier Gongora is a ministry partner working in Belize that we were able to bless with funds to do COVID relief in his community. With it, he was able to provide groceries to over 20 families in need. These families include parents of little babies and children who are a part of the preschool that Javier and his wife run, church members who are out of jobs due to COVID, as well as pastors in the community who have no income.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"COVID Relief in Belize"},{"content":" We want to thank God, those at Saving Grace, and our entire family in the Lord for all of your help and support for us while we are in this situation that has brought us into a pitiful condition. We love you so much. Every day and every night we think of you and pray for your all.\nNothing can stop (us from) glorifying our Almighty God.\n\u0026ldquo;But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.\u0026quot; (Matthew 19:26)\nAll over the world, the Corona Pandemic has created a lot of problems. All the churches have also been on lockdown. But, by God\u0026rsquo;s grace, our church is still open. We gather on Saturday mornings with those who live near us. We pray and have fellowship with one another, as we study the Word of God and exhort each other in this very difficulty time. Praise God! He shows His mercy upon us. We are still safe and secure by His own precious blood.\nWe had another golden opportunity to share the Word of God through Zoom with different churches around the world and also to about 30 to 45 young adults from a different church.\nWe have had two home fellowships during this period of time. Last week, we met together in a house to house fellowship. However, now Nepal is on a strict lockdown. The government doesn\u0026rsquo;t allow us to walk here and there. So, we had our church fellowship with the help of technology (through live social media). Everybody can listen the Word of God so they can prepare, examine themselves, repent, and be restored through our Lord Jesus.\nGrace and Peace,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/glorifying-our-almighty-god/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/rabi-August-1-300x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe want to thank God, those at Saving Grace, and our entire family in the Lord for all of your help and support for us while we are in this situation that has brought us into a pitiful condition. We love you so much. Every day and every night we think of you and pray for your all.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e   Nothing can stop (us from) glorifying our Almighty God.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;But Jesus beheld them, and said unto them, With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.\u0026quot;\u003c/em\u003e (Matthew 19:26)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Glorifying Our Almighty God"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThis past month our church was blessed to host our 6th annual international church planting conference! Even though things have been crazy with the corona virus, we decided to step out in faith and have this conference live, with safe and social distancing practices in place. As we prepared for the conference, we had no idea how the attendance would be, but we were pleasantly surprised as over 350 people joined us live!\nThe title of this conference was, “God’s Plan for Missions,” and our main theme was to encourage those in attendance to see God’s plan to use local church plants to reach the world with the saving message of the Gospel. We had friends fly in from as far away as Florida in the USA, and Oaxaca (south Mexico)! Each person in attendance came with a heart prepared to hear from the Lord in regards to their place in church planting!\nWe had seven gifted speakers that shared at our main sessions. From the USA we had our church planters Aaron Smith (Punta Gorda Florida) and Donnie Aldana (Waddell Arizona) along with our church planting partners Phil Metzgar (San Diego by way of Hungary) and Danny Hodges with over 35 years of pastoring experience in Saint Petersburg Florida! From Mexico we had our planters Hugo Limon (Culiacan) and Tony Carranza (Mazatlan) and I got to share as well! Each teaching was well prepared, related to church planters, and creatively applied to the audience.\nA special blessing of this conference was our breakout session workshops. We had 15 workshops with a wide variety of topics for our attenders to choose from. Many of my friends joined us with amazing workshops including Pastors David Zamora, Greg Seymour, and my own pastor Trent Douglass from our sending church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace.\nWithout a doubt, the most popular breakout sessions were our three ladies workshops taught by ladies, for ladies. I snuck into the workshop my wife Sarah was teaching along with our pastor\u0026rsquo;s wife (Debbie Douglass) and they knocked it out of the park. The ladies in attendance were so encouraged and blessed and reminded of the important part that they have in church planting!\nThe conference ended with a bang as we attempted something that we had never done before. We sent out a church plant together with our friends and guests at the end of the conference. What a blessing it was for each person in attendance to witness a church plant being sent out!\nAlthough all of our 24 previous church plants have been a huge blessing, this particular church plant was special. Over the years, we have been honored to plant 24 churches in Mexico and the USA, but this plant was sent out to Guatemala. We sent out two brothers (Geovanni and Jonathan Loarca) and their families to plant in the largest city in Central America, Guatemala City!\nThese brothers are highly skilled bible teachers and both of them completed our two year church planting program. Geovanni who will be the Senior Pastor of the church plant, served as an intern living at the church and on our full time staff for the past 2 years. I believe that this church plant is going to help us reach Central American and beyond. Please keep them in your prayers!\nFinally, I want to thank each one of you who partner with us in the ministry! It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial partnership that God meets our physical needs. Please know that we are extremely thankful for your partnership, and we pray often for you! THANK YOU!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would provide for our family’s needs, and raise up 3 new financial partners to cover our friends that are no longer able to continue!\n#2- That God would bless our new church planters as they move to Guatemala!\n#3- That God would help our congregation safely return to the church!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for our 25th church plant to Guatemala!\n#2- Praise God that God has kept our family, staff, and congregation safe from the Corona Virus!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-september-2020-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month our church was blessed to host our 6th annual international church planting conference! Even though things have been crazy with the corona virus, we decided to step out in faith and have this conference live, with safe and social distancing practices in place. As we prepared for the conference, we had no idea how the attendance would be, but we were pleasantly surprised as over 350 people joined us live!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family September 2020 Missions Update"},{"content":" EUROPE\nS.S. - Europe\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for guidance in opening new doors with the capacity we have due to Covid-19, and for help in adjusting to the new yet restricted ministry conditions. Please pray for me, since people leaving to go back to their countries, and it is never easy especially when I know them for a long time and we became a family.\nAll blessings.\nThank you very much for praying for me.\nHave a blessed week. S. S. - Email Blog\nMitch and Christine Sorensen - Nice, France\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Mitch and Christine as they visit family and that they will be open to the Gospel. 2. Please pray that in these difficult times people will be open and not fear.\n3. Pray that there will be some sort of normal in our witnessing efforts\n4. Pray for the churches in France and the States to go with boldness and wisdom as they open the doors to minister.\n5. Pray for our health and marriage so we can serve to the best of our abilities and that we would be sensitive to know God\u0026rsquo;s will and then be obedient\nThank you for your faithful prayers\nGod bless you,\nMitch and Christine - Email Blog\nRebecca Alaniz - Zagreb, Croatia\nPraise Reports:\n- I got a car! - Lord has kept me healthy even with Corona numbers rising everyday!- Projects in the Roma Village have began - I found a new church to be apart of!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For the country of Croatia. The coronavirus has come back into the country as the borders re-opened and cases are on the rise. Pray for the government to have wisdom when it come to making decisions for the country and pray that they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t shut down the churches.\n2. That the Lord would completely heal my thyroid, so that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t need to take any medication\n3. For direction, that I would simply be open to whatever the Lord has for me. There are some big decisions that are coming up, so please pray that the Lord would give me wisdom.\n4. Transition: With Ben and Emily moving out of Croatia, pray that my transition would go smoothly. Pray that I would be able to transition into my new church easily and that the Lord would continue to direct me in the way that I should go.\n5. Language Learning: Even though I\u0026rsquo;m conversational, there is more that I need to learn to reach fluency. Pray that the Lord would help me grasp the language and that He would give me a desire to study it.\n6. Roma Ministry: Pray that the Lord would give me guidance and wisdom in regards to working in the Roma village. Pray for our relationships with the Roma people, especially with this new project that we are about to start.\n7. Increase in my monthly financial support.\n8. For salvation in Zagreb Thank you for keeping me and the country of Croatia in your prayers. The Lord is at work and I am so excited to see what He is going to continue to do!\nThank you for your prayer!\nGod Bless,\nRebecca - Email Blog\nAFRICA\nVincent and Melissa Aniku - Uganda\nThank you all so much for continuing to pray in these times.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our church in Midigo. The effects of the lockdown have shaken the church.\n2. Pray for our Ugandan children as we are still stuck in America.\n3. We can\u0026rsquo;t explain how much we would love to be back home with our congregation and family but we know God has a purpose for all things. We pray for open doors to get back home. We also have personal prayers if you can just keep praying for us.\n4. God continues to fill our container as we continue to pray for provisions for what He would like to fill it with.\nThank you all again so very much!\nGod bless,\nVincent and Melissa - Email Blog\nMatt and Noelle Harris - Gulu, Africa\nPraise God:\n-That our pastoral school was able to meet in an alternative setting this month to teach through the books of Jeremiah and Lamentations.\n-That our airline reimbursed our tickets in time for us to try for a new flight before our new baby is born.\n-For our neighbors who have been coming to Christ through our home fellowships.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our upcoming flight out of Uganda to be successful and safe. (The last one was declined by the Ugandan Government an hour before our departure).\n2. For continued health in Noelle\u0026rsquo;s pregnancy/a safe delivery.\n3. That God will continue growing the Ugandan church in wisdom and love.\n4. For all of the baby believers in our community to continue their discipleship with the local pastors that we are leaving them in the care of.\nThank you for your faithful partnership!\nLove in Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, \u0026amp; Noah - Email Blog\nBrian and Jill Kanyike - Kampala, Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Uganda has begun to register deaths, 26, and the country is now at a level three emergency, meaning there are cases of Covid being recorded that cannot trace the origin of transmission. Most of the deaths and these category three transmissions are in Kampala. Many places in our neighborhood have been quarantined because of outbreaks, including the police headquarters. Please pray for the Kanyike family and Arise Christian Fellowship to remain healthy.\n2. Theft, Kidnapping and acts of violence are on the rise pray for safety of the FRM compound and for Brian and Jill when they must go out for ministry or logistics.\n3. Liana has been having a pain in her ear caused by a back tooth coming in, also Luke still has rashes. Pray for healing.\n4. up Brian as he is continually ministering to church members and members of the community who are really suffering in some way or other because of Covid.\n5. Pray for Uganda as a whole as it is facing many challenges besides covid, such as floods and locusts. Also, it is campaign time for presidential elections which is causing almost daily riots. Some days it sounds like war from the tear gas and water cannons.\n6. Pray for Jill and kids to do well in their times of homeschooling. Pray for patience and understanding.\nThank you for praying for the Kanyike family as well as the people of Uganda. Thank you for praying for our family and for Uganda.\nGod bless you,\nBrian and Jill - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nYours for the unreached, Pastor Rob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nTim and Jenn Pappas - California, USA\nPraise report\n- Calvary School of Missions Went great. The Lord sustained us and protected us through six weeks of intensive training in Mexico\n- Jenn and I get to be back together again After way too long apart due to me running the school of missions.\nPrayer requests\n1. that neither Jenn nor I would lose sight of the things the Lord has laid upon our hearts during the season\n2. that the Lord would make clear what are next steps are in evangelism and discipleship.\n3. That the Lord would bring needed prayer partners and financial partners alongside of us as our support is supper low.\nThank you for your prayers!\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent - Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. That God would keep our family, church, and city safe from the Corona Virus!\n2. That God would help our congregation take the step of faith to return to live church services!\n3. That God would bless our latest church plant to Guatemala and their safe travels!\nThank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for Joel as he has taken on a new role with SGWM: Director of Missionary Sending. Pray that the Lord would give Joel vision and wisdom for this ministry of SGWM.\n2. Pray for Amy as she homeschools Maggie and Harrison this year while parenting Jude and Clara through their pre-school years as well.\n3. Pray for Joel and the rest of the CCSG pastoral staff as they navigate pastoring a church through a difficult cultural climate.\nThank so much for partnering with us in prayer!\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara Garcia - Email Blog\nBryan Reyes - Internship with SGWM\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For God to continue to open doors to be able to teach the Word.\n2. For a job that would be flexible enough to allow me to continue to teach and do ministry.\n3. For guidance in where to serve God next, now that my internship with Saving Grace will be ending soon.\n4. For financial provision, so that I can have the finances needed in order to move over seas when God calls me to.\n5. For God to prepare the hearts of the people in the Middle East to receive the gospel of Jesus Christ.\n6. For God to prepare my heart in order to work amongst the people in the Middle East who need the gospel of Jesus Christ.\nThank you so much!\nFor His Glory.\nBryan - Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray - Ensenada, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. The new semester starts August 24 with 47 students. Praise the Lord - many of our sister schools are closed this semester.\n2. Pray for protection during travel and that none would have the Covid virus.\n3. Pray that God would use us to train workers for his harvest.\n4. Pray for our teachers this semester that God would use them in special ways to impact the students lives.\n5. Pilar is traveling this month to visit family. Pray for safe journeys and good times with our boys.\n6. We are expecting to be grandparents any day now. Please pray for Jenifer and Oliver. Pray for little Leo too - he will be adjusting to having a little sister around.\n7. Leo is teaching two classes this semester. Pray that all goes well for him and the students.\nThanks for your prayers for us.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar - Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Brenna Gaona - USA\nPraise Report:\n- Praise God for a wonderful time of teaching at the Calvary School of Missions earlier this month in Mexico. We were encouraged by the group of students that is praying about and preparing to GO!\n- Praise God for His leading and guiding our family into this new season both stateside and abroad. Many new ministry opportunities have opened up as borders and airports in Asia and Africa are still closed.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for those who rely on day wages to feed and provide for their families in Asia and Africa. South Asia and Nepal just went back into lockdown again after 4 months of shutdown and only a few weeks open. Covid is spreading and they don\u0026rsquo;t have medical infrastructure and now without work once again people are hurting. Pray for the food outreaches that our national pastors are facilitating this coming two weeks in hard hit areas.\n2. Pray for Bond as he will be teaching a group of Pastors in Asia twice a week to further equip and encourage them in the ministry.\n3. Pray as God has opened a door to launch a Thursday night study for young adults in our local church. Pray that many would get saved, grow and that we would see a revival in the hearts of college students here.\n4. Pray for Heather as she serves SGWM as a liaison and continues to facilitate relief efforts, building projects, ministry needs and manage the continued demands during this crisis. Pray for wisdom, time management and Spirit filled smooth communication both abroad and stateside. Thank you for praying for us!\nGod bless,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please Pray for Our Country to Turn to God\n2. Please pray for the protection of the SGWM pastors and Christians in South Asia\n3. Please pray for my financial support\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte - Indiana, USA\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord for the birth of our baby, Cara Joy! Please pray for her to continue to have good health.\nPrayer Request:\n1. Please pray for my financial support and that God will open doors for me to share about the work He is doing in South Asia.\nThank you so much for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nHello. I wanna start off by thanking you for praying for me and the people in Tijuana. I cherish your prayers greatly!\nPraise Report:\n-I have not had a migraine headache for quite some time they seem to be dissipating!! I know this is A result of your prayers!\nPrayer Request\n1. Pray That the kids here can go back to school soon! When the kids go back to school, then we can open our afterschool program and we miss our children greatly\n2. For all who are suffering with the loss of loved ones during this time. Guadalupe attends our church and she is fighting for her life right now. Our \u0026ldquo;Colonia\u0026rdquo; is one of three in Tijuana with the highest number of Covid cases at present .\n3. Healing for me with both of my knees. I have various issues with the patella and the tendons\u0026hellip; Knee replacement is in the future but right now I have pain in both knees now\nThanks so much for praying for me! God bless you all and stay safe!!\nGod bless!\nDeanna - Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\n**\nBrad and Melissa - Amazon Jungle Brazil**\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord that His work never ceases even when the Church doors are shut! Praise Him for fulfilling His promises and for never forsaking us!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the Apurina Leadership. Specifically Oscar and Analucia, Raimunda, Valdeci, Guerlermi and Alcimara and Andre'.\n2. Pray for the Apurina villages that we have just started to enter. Pray for the Chief of each village. Pray for open hearts and ears, with the abilities to act on what they hear from the Lord!\n3. Pray for our family and homeschool. Pray for our children. Pray for our adult children Junior, his wife Ashley and family and our daughter Andrea.\n4. Pray for wisdom and discernment for all of us along with the same for our leadership/disciples in the villages.\nThank you and God bless you,\nBrad and Melissa Miller and family - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\nWorker 15 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer requests:\n1. Please pray for the situation in the North.\n2. Pray for the believers, that the Lord will give them courage and wisdom.\n3. Pray for these Anti-Christian people, that the Lord would change their hearts.\n4. Pray for our son, that he would not be discouraged.\n5. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection over us all.\n6. Pray for some non-Christians who have been attending our online services. May they believe in Jesus and call upon His Name and be saved.\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nGod bless you\nCo-workers in Christ,\n15 and family\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our Church, our believers and all the students and all the staff of Bible school, for their good health that they can do ministry.\n2. Pray for our family that they can understand us as we are doing ministry and they will support and help us to uplift our Ministry to be fruitful without any disturbances.\n3. Our Church needs both audio and video devices such as a microphone\u0026rsquo; sound system like speakers, Dsl Camera. A requirement to do Church service through different social media so our church ministry will be able to perform in fruitful way and teach all the others Christian living from abroad and around us that they get sound doctrine teaching of the Bible.\n4. Pray for our health so we can serve Jesus.\n5. Pray for our spiritual life to be grow and mature and be prepared for every spiritual battles so we can face it.\n6. Pray Corona Virus will end as soon as possible if God allow it and stop this pandemic.\nThank you for praying for us!\nGod bless,\nRabi and Mahima - Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise Report-\n-Praise God! He has been keeping us safe and sound so far.\n-Praise God! We\u0026rsquo;ve found the land to move Charis Bible Church facility and we signed the agreement paper also last month for five years.\nPrayer Request:\n1. Please pray that the rebuilding work of the Charis is not yet started because the Nepal government has set up so many new rules concerning the building, especially for the leased/ rented land And our map work is stuck in the government office. Pray that the government office would allow us soon to rebuild the Church facility.\n2. Please pray for all the expenses for the CBC facility rebuilding.\n3. Please pray that the covid pandemic will soon stop.\n4. Please pray for Calvary Chapel Pastors Training Center that It may reopen soon.\n5. Please pray for all our students, for their good health, family needs and their ministry during this time.\n6). Please pray for all CCPTC family.\nThank you for your prayers!\nBlessing,\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nThank you prayer warrior who had been praying for us since before. We had some prayer request for this month, here are as follows:-\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please do pray for our good health so we may keep on serving our LORD.\n2. Please do pray for all the student of our Bible College that they may abide in the LORD in this break time.\n3. Please do pray for our government that they make take a good decision in this COVID-19 because they had lockdown again for a week.\n4. Please pray for the young people who is taking Zoom classes once a week that they may keep on encouraging other to take this class.\n5. Please do pray for slum close by to the Bible college that we may start Bible study.\nThank you for your prayers and support\nGod bless,\nAnand, Usha and family - Email Blog\nDarryl and Kayo Record - Cambodia\nThanks for your prayers. COVID-19 remains under control in Cambodia with only between 200-300 cases, no community transmission and no deaths. We praise God for this.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the government to allow churches to reopen ASAP.\n2. Please pray for our Cambodian ministry partners who are suffering financially due to COVID-19.\n3. Please continue to pray for Darryl\u0026rsquo;s evangelistic/apologetics videos to continue to equip and encourage tens of thousands of Cambodians both Christians and non-Christians.\n4. Please pray for schools to reopen ASAP.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nWorker 8 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for sister H.- She has been under demonic attacks for two months. Yesterday, I prayed at her home.\n2. Pray for P.R.- He has liver problems and swelling in his legs.\n3. Pray for my church growth.\n4. Pray for a piece of land for a church building.\n5. Pray for better health for us.\nOnce again I would like to thank everyone who is praying and helping financially. May my loving God bless you all abundantly.\nMay God bless you all,\n8 and family\nWorker 3 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Request:\n1. Please continue to pray for our online church services.\n2. Kindly pray for my Wednesday online Bible study, that God will help me to reach more people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\n3. Mr. L.S., a 40-year-old Hindu man, requested prayer, as he has been suffering from mouth cancer.\n4. Please pray for me and my family to meditate on and grow in his Word.\n5. Pray for my wife\u0026rsquo;s health; she has been taking online classes and it is very busy for her.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nGod bless you\nWorker 3 and family\nMilan Pariyar - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health\nGod bless you,\nMilan - Blog\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\n3. Please pray that God will protect all students and staff of the Pastors School from all illnesses and diseases; pray that they will remain healthy.\nThank you so much for your prayers. God bless you!\nMay God bless you,\nWorker 9\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\n1. Pray for all of the new people who have heard the Gospel, that they will accept Jesus.\n2. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 12\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n- Praise God! He has kept my family and the believers here safe from Covid19.\n- Praise God for providing for our every need!\nPrayer Requests\n1. Please continue pray for us to be safe from Covid19. No one is wearing a mask and no one is following social distancing. Everyday so many they are finding so many corona patients here. My state government started another lockdown starting on the 16th of July.\n2. Please pray for my state. Since the lockdown, criminal activities are increasing day by day. Because of the lockdown, so many people lost their jobs, so they stated to committing murder, stealing, robbing etc.\n3. Please continue to pray for the believers at my churches to be strong in their faith. They are being persecuted by their family members, neighbors and the community.\n4. Please continue pray for my mother health.\n5. Please pray for our baptism service. Some more believers want to be baptized.\n6. Please pray for the lockdown to be lifted as soon as possible.Thanks for your prayers and partnership in the Gospel!\nGod bless!\nWorker 11\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s next move in our city. Pray for the next season of ministry here. God is leading us to start a Bible school in our city, so that we can raise more church planters to spread the true Word of God since many of the youth are interested in learning about Jesus. Our heart\u0026rsquo;s desire is to see people following Jesus according to His Word, and to break bad traditions and false teachings. We are praying and planning to begin a school under the recognition of the government. Some government people are helping us to run It legally with all of the necessary paper work. We want to see a new generation standing for Christ, lead by the Word and Spirit of God. So, please be praying for God\u0026rsquo;s favor and the leading of His Spirit in this area.\n2. Pray for the people of our church to grow more in the Word.\n3. Pray for my niece, Christina, a newborn baby, to have good health.\n4. Pray for my mom as well; she is having chest pain and leg pain. Also pray for protection over her, since she works among the Covid patients.\n5. Pray for our co-workers in Christ, A. and P. Pray for protection over their families.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 6\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\n2. Pray for new believers to grow in Christ\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nWorker 13\nRaju - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my spiritual growth.\n2. Please pray that God would help me to teach His Word correctly.\n3. Please pray that God would make a way to buy the land for our church, which has been affected by Covid-19.\n4. Please pray that God\u0026rsquo;s kingdom will expand in all of our ministry areas, and that good works will be done.\n5. Please pray that the love of God will fill my family and neighbors.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe, that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for me to share the Gospel.\n3. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nWorker 10\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for this new season of ministry as I have returned to the South. I pray that I will be faithful in the ministry He has for me.\nThank you,\nGod Bless\nWorker 7\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my past experiences.\nThanking you!\nWorker 4\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nWorker 2\nMajhiya and Sarita Besra - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have found an opportunity to share with others about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes. They are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita - Blog\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\n**Thank you so much for your prayers.\n**\n**Prayer Requests:\n** 1. Please pray for our students who are doing ministry in their villages. Some believers in the villages have been experiencing persecution. Pray for the strength of the laborers and boldness.\n2. Please pray for this monsoon season; many have lost their homes and lives. Pray that people will come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior.\n3. There are many youth in my community\u0026ndash; please pray for strong community relationships with the\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nWorker 1\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot;\n- Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-sept-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eS.S. - Europe\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Sawsan-Saleh-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nPlease pray for guidance in opening new doors with the capacity we have due to Covid-19, and for help in adjusting to the new yet restricted ministry conditions. Please pray for me, since people leaving to go back to their countries, and it is never  easy especially when I know them for a long time and we became a family.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll blessings.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you very much for praying for me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM SEPT PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":" I would like to thank God for His mercy during this crazy time. I thank God because He cares for us, loves us, and sustaining us every day.\nThrough your prayers, we are doing well in the Lord. We are practicing our faith daily by worshiping, praying and having fellowship with the Word of God.\nMy wife and children are doing well. All of our church\u0026rsquo;s believers are also doing well. We are supposed to be allowed to begin Sunday services, but eight people were found Corona positive in the area where our church is located.\nIn my district, the number of Corona patients increases daily. Some Christians have even been affected by the Corona virus.\nPrayer requests: Pray for sister Joytee*.- She has been under demonic attacks for two months. Yesterday, I prayed at her home. Pray for Pundeep*- He has liver problems and swelling in his legs. Pray for my church growth. Pray for a piece of land for a church building. Pray for better health for us. Once again I would like to thank everyone who is praying for us and helping financially. May my loving God bless you all abundantly.\nKind Regards,\nPastor 8* and Family\n* Names have been changed or omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-sustains-me/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Dron-August-2020-2b-248x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI would like to thank God for His mercy during this crazy time. I thank God because He cares for us, loves us, and sustaining us every day.\u003cbr\u003e\n    Through your prayers, we are doing well in the Lord. We are practicing our faith daily by worshiping, praying and having fellowship with the Word of God.\u003cbr\u003e\n     My wife and children are doing well.  All of our church\u0026rsquo;s believers are also doing well. We are supposed to be allowed to begin Sunday services, but eight people were found Corona positive in the area where our church is located.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord Sustains Me"},{"content":"Hebrew 10:24-25 Reads: And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (NKJV)\nAs the Bible verse above says, we (our C. Bible Church family) have been trying to connect and have fellowship with each other and worship our dear Lord together through online meetings. We have Bible study, prayer meeting, worship service, young adult fellowship, children\u0026rsquo;s fellowship and women\u0026rsquo;s fellowship online.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/true-fellowship/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHebrew 10:24-25 Reads: \u003cem\u003eAnd let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.\u003c/em\u003e (NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Prakash-Online-Saturday-Worship-Service.-b-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs the Bible verse above says, we (our C. Bible Church family) have been trying to connect and have fellowship with each other and worship our dear Lord together through online meetings. We have Bible study, prayer meeting, worship service, young adult fellowship, children\u0026rsquo;s fellowship and women\u0026rsquo;s fellowship online.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"True Fellowship"},{"content":"God bless you! He is a such an awesome God and loves you more than you know!\nI am writing this very last SOM update from La Mirada. This past week I’ve been in the process of getting back in the swing of things here at home but have not forgotten to write this last update for week six in Mexico.\nWe finished our time in Rosarito with three final days of classroom instruction and one more outreach. On one of those final days of class we were scheduled to have a guest teacher, and to my surprise, the guest teacher turned out to be Pastor Hassan! (For those who don’t know, he’s a missionary sent from CC La Mirada.)\nPastor Hassan was able to spend four days at the school, teaching on his last full day with us, and wow, I was hanging on to every word he shared for the duration of our three hour class. God was speaking straight from him to me on the topic of faithfulness. Of all he shared, here are three of the points that impacted me most:\nExcuses keep people from being faithful. Faithfulness is characterized by finishing well. Imagine if we could say in the church, “We can trust anyone here to get the job done, and to do it right. They’re all faithful!” God used this final teaching at the school to hammer home the message He wanted me to come back with: At all costs, be faithful. So shout out to you Pastor Hassan for that teaching, and shout out to God, who is the truly faithful One!\nAfter the three final days of classroom teaching in Rosarito, we packed our bags and headed south to Ensenada for a weekend of debrief. It was a powerful weekend of Bible study from John 13-17 (the last words of Jesus to the disciples before heading to the cross), a very sweet time of community in our last days together, and a time to discuss with the leaders our heart’s desires and next steps in our lives.\nNeedless to say, God’s blessings were poured out on us that weekend, as well as the whole six weeks. But really, since the beginning of time God has been pouring out His blessings on mankind, the object of his desire. His special creation, made in His image and likeness. God loves me. And I love Him. I hope you have that same relationship with this awesome God who gives you the very breath in your lungs, it’s the sweetest thing you’ll ever know.\n* PLEASE KEEP READING – MOST IMPORTANT THING ON PAGE IS YET TO BE READ!*\nIf you don’t have a relationship with God, I plead with you to hear me out on this. To have a relationship with God you must believe that God, the true God of the Bible, the trinity God (Father, Son, Holy Spirit – all equal, all eternal, existing in three persons in perfect relationship, having no beginning and no end, having all power, having all knowledge, existing outside of time and space and matter itself, three yet One single God) – this very God, the glorious God of the Bible, because of His unconditional and unfathomable LOVE which is so deep and wide and high it’s past understanding, sent God the Son, Jesus, to the earth to be born as a human, and to live among us, perfect, without sin, to live the life we never could, to die the death we deserve, and to raise back to life again.\nAre you prefect? Am I perfect? No, in my heart of hearts I know how full of sin I am and it scares me! Yet perfection is God’s requirement to have a relationship with Him. Anything less than perfection = separation from God. Harsh? Far from it. It’s beautiful. I don’t want to believe in a God that allows sin and imperfection in His presence. There is no beauty like perfection. God is pure and perfect, and He only accepts pure and perfect.\nPlease listen, the eternal God the Son, named Jesus, offers salvation through His death on the cross. The sacrifice of His precious, pure, and perfect blood is the only thing that can remove our sins and bring us to God. Only God Himself could bring us back to Himself, and this is how He chose to do it so that He could display His great love for us.\nThe good things you do can’t save you. The “I’m a good person” or “At least I’m better than others” doesn’t work because God’s standard is perfection. Any excuse of not knowing about God won’t save you. Do you want true peace? Do you want true joy? Do you want God Himself? And to be truly loved by Him? Jesus is the only way to God, to eternal life. Apart from Jesus is eternal separation from God; a reality that is far more terrifying than it sounds. Believe in Jesus. Be washed and cleaned by His perfect and innocent blood shed for you. Come into relationship with the only God you will find after searching the whole world over that loves you, cares for you, died for you, desires a relationship with you, rose from the dead to defeat death’s power and Himself be living proof of the promise of eternal life that awaits those who put their faith in Him. He is the only God that showed us by example what true love looks like.\nThere is no greater love than that one would lay down their life for his or her friends.\nDo you know someone who would do that for you?\nGod has done that for you. In response, He wants you to turn away from all your sin and turn to Him, to believe in Jesus. He wants to call you a friend. He wants to call you His chosen. I’m chosen by Him. Don’t you want to be chosen by God? He’s waiting for you.\nThe message I just shared is called the gospel – the good news. It’s the message God is calling me to share with people for the rest of my life. It’s the message God is calling all Christians to share for the rest of their lives. It is our purpose for being on this earth. Why wouldn’t God just take us straight up to heaven after we get saved? Because there’s a message to share with others. There are people who need God’s love. And God has given the responsibility to share that message to a special group of people that is very near and dear to His heart. And it is given this one very special group of people only – the Church. If Jesus’ Church doesn’t share the gospel, no one else will. It’s our duty, it’s our privilege.\nSo now that I’m getting back into the swing of things here at home the plan is to serve faithfully at church (and in all aspects of life), and to be faithful to share that message that I am called to share. God has a calling on my life to be a missionary, but as for right now I’m still in the preparation period. I am living by Matthew 6:33, which instructs me not to worry about tomorrow, but to seek first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and God will take care of the rest. He is such an awesome God.\nGod bless you for reading this far! I love you all dearly, and have been impacted by all of your support and the way that each of you have individually touched my life. Thank you. This school was life-changing.\nWith much love,\nSpencer\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/som-week-6-such-and-awesome-god/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGod bless you! He is a such an awesome God and loves you more than you know!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am writing this very last SOM update from La Mirada. This past week I’ve been in the process of getting back in the swing of things here at home but have not forgotten to write this last update for week six in Mexico.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/pierschbacher/wp-content/uploads/sites/125/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-08-11-at-2.35.22-PM-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe finished our time in Rosarito with three final days of classroom instruction and one more outreach. On one of those final days of class we were scheduled to have a guest teacher, and to my surprise, the guest teacher turned out to be Pastor Hassan! (For those who don’t know, he’s a missionary sent from CC La Mirada.)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SOM Week 6: Such an Awesome God"},{"content":"Calvary School of Missions 2020 – Week 6 and What’s Next!\nIt’s Rachel! This has been an incredible six weeks. The Lord has done so much in my heart and mind, and I can definitely say that I will never be the same. I am so grateful for your continued support in prayer!\nThe final week of the school was spent in reflection and looking to the Lord for vision and guidance for next steps. We did a Bible study through John 13-17, and the Lord began to stir my heart towards prayer. I still have one semester left at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta, California, and the Lord has given me vision for how He wants me to leverage this semester for His glory among the nations. He gave me this passage from Matthew:\n“But when [Jesus] saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, ‘The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.’”\nMatthew 9:36-38\nJesus saw the people, weary and burdened by many things– the cares of this world, sickness, works-based religion– and He was moved with compassion. He knew there was potential for a great harvest of souls amidst this multitude, but did He say to His disciples, “So, go! Get out there!”? No. They weren’t ready for that. The commission doesn’t come until Matthew 28:18-19. There is a step before the “going,” and it’s prayer.\nWhat Jesus is saying here is huge, because He’s saying that prayer changes things. He is saying that the best thing we can do for our weary and lost world, is to lift it up in prayer. And as we pray according to the Father’s will, He stirs up His church! We can’t stir up sustainable desire, vision, or zeal for the nations in and of ourselves– it must come from the Lord. And we can pray that the Lord will give that compassion, that drive, to His sons and daughters so that they can tend to His harvest.\nSo, the Lord has put it on my heart to start a group on campus where we intentionally pray to the Lord of the harvest, to ask that He would send laborers into the world. Especially into the Unreached. My prayer is that the Lord would draw those whom He wills to the meeting, and that as we pray, our hearts would be conformed to that of our Father. That He would stir our hearts to pray for the nations regularly, and to get involved in sending the gospel to unreached areas.\nI’m so excited to be back in Murrieta for school! It’s going to be different because of social distancing and COVID preventative measures, but I know the Lord has something special for us this season. I have the pleasure of serving as a “dorm steward” (a sort of resident assistant) this semester, so I am here a little early to help with preparation for the arriving students. I’m very excited to dive into God’s Word– I am taking some awesome classes this semester! Following graduation, I am praying about participating in a missions internship to continue in my training for long-term missions!\nI cannot thank you enough for your prayers and financial giving! I look forward to connecting with you all when I am back home! This is my last newsletter from the Calvary School of Missions, but I plan to send a few updates while I am at school and as the Lord leads me in next steps! Thank you, again, and I pray that the Lord would bless you, continually remind you of His great grace, and enrich you in His Word!\nPraise Reports:\nEveryone has been getting home safely from Mexico I have arrived at school (I AM SO EXCITED), and I will be graduating this semester! The Lord changed me in so many great ways at the school of missions! Prayer Requests:\nPlease pray that the Lord would bring those He has to the prayer meeting and that we would learn to pray for the nations with singleness of heart. Please pray that the Lord would meet the students this semester as we study His Word. Thanks and blessings,\nRachel\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/therefore-pray/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCalvary School of Missions 2020 – Week 6 and What’s Next!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/rachelmartinez/wp-content/uploads/sites/121/2020/08/IMG%5F8885-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s Rachel! This has been an incredible six weeks. The Lord has done so much in my heart and mind, and I can definitely say that I will never be the same. I am so grateful for your continued support in prayer!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe final week of the school was spent in reflection and looking to the Lord for vision and guidance for next steps. We did a Bible study through John 13-17, and the Lord began to stir my heart towards prayer. I still have one semester left at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta, California, and the Lord has given me vision for how He wants me to leverage this semester for His glory among the nations. He gave me this passage from Matthew:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Therefore, PRAY"},{"content":"Craig and Daisy Tippie are ministering in Huacho, Peru and utilizing surfing as an outreach. Their vision is to reach, teach and disciple. They have one son named Ryan. Through their skating and surfing camp outreaches to the youth many have come to know Christ. Huacho is the capital of witchcraft in Peru, and they have great opposition and many spiritual battles over the souls of the people of Huacho. “But if God is for us, who could be against us.” Craig and Daisy also started a church which has grown into a fellowship that has families that have come to the Lord, because their teenager got saved through an outreach. They have several families in their church and their focus is not just youth, but all lost people.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/tippie-august-2020-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCraig and Daisy Tippie are ministering in Huacho, Peru and utilizing surfing as an outreach. Their vision is to reach, teach and disciple. They have one son named Ryan. Through their skating and surfing camp outreaches to the youth many have come to know Christ. Huacho is the capital of witchcraft in Peru, and they have great opposition and many spiritual battles over the souls of the people of Huacho. “But if God is for us, who could be against us.” Craig and Daisy also started a church which has grown into a fellowship that has families that have come to the Lord, because their teenager got saved through an outreach. They have several families in their church and their focus is not just youth, but all lost people.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tippie August 2020 Newsletter"},{"content":"Praise the Lord! Greetings to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you for your prayers and financial support, dear supporters and prayer partners. We are praying for your family and your country.\nBy the grace of God my family and I are doing well during this lockdown and we are safe under His wings by the Grace of God.\nI thank the Lord that in this lockdown God gave opportunity to come closer to Him, as I am spending more time in prayer and studying the Word of God.\nI thank the Lord for all of the blessings He has given to us. My kids are learning so many new things like Bible Stories, Bible verses, action songs, numbers, colors etc.\nI thank the Lord for His grace! My wife was able to come after 3 months to visit us and spend some time with our family and kids. The Lord kept her safe form all diseases. Last month she served Covid-19 patients. She was quarantined for 14 days and praise God\u0026ndash;she tested negative for Covid.\nOur twins turned 2 on July 21st. God was so faithful to us. He kept us safe from all problems and diseases. Please keep both of our kids in your prayers\u0026ndash;that they may grow in God\u0026rsquo;s guidance and that God will give strength to us that we may lead them in His path.\nI thank God the Lord for helping me lead worship and share the Word of God through social media during our Sunday worship.\nDuring this lockdown the Lord helped me and our team visit believers. We spent time with them and shared the Word of God .\nPrayer Request s: Please pray for my children\u0026ndash;that they may grow in Lord\u0026rsquo;s fear and knowledge. Pray for God to give me His wisdom and strength to take care of my children and teach them His Word. Please pray that the Lord would intervene in the problem the world is facing. Please pray for our local youth ministry: that they may grow in God Word. Please pray for the believers that they may grow in their faith. God bless you,\nPastor 16* Family\n*Names have been omitted or changed for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/safe-under-his-wings/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord! Greetings to you in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Thank you for your prayers and financial support, dear supporters and prayer partners. We are praying for your family and your country.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Davis-August-4-300x225.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBy the grace of God my family and I are doing well during this lockdown and we are safe under His wings by the Grace of God.\u003cbr\u003e\nI thank the Lord that in this lockdown God gave opportunity to come closer to Him, as I am spending more time in prayer and studying the Word of God.\u003cbr\u003e\nI thank the Lord for all of the blessings He has given to us. My kids are learning so many new things like Bible Stories, Bible verses, action songs, numbers, colors etc.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Safe Under His Wings"},{"content":"How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?\n– The Apostle Paul, Romans 10:14, 15\nSGWM is all about planting churches among those who have never heard the good news of Jesus, especially those who previously have never had access to that good news. We do this in three ways: 1) by being a missionary sending ministry, where we send missionaries from the U.S. into the foreign mission field and help care for them, 2) by working with nationals in other countries who plant churches and Bible schools to train other nationals to go do the same, with a current focus in South Asia, and 3) by equipping young people passionate about foreign missions at our yearly Calvary School of Missions and through our internship program. These three ministries of SGWM are our response to Paul’s questions in Romans 10.\nAs I alluded to in my last update, I’ve taken on a new role with SGWM leading the first ministry mentioned above as Director of Missionary Sending. I’ll talk about that more in my next update, but for this update, I want to mention how I’ve been involved with the other two aspects of SGWM over this last month. First of all, I have been teaching a class through the book of Hebrews via Skype for one of our South Asia Bible Schools. The goal of these schools is to train nationals in these countries in order to reach the unreached in their own culture with the Gospel. I pray that there are students in this class I am teaching who will plant churches among the unreached!\nAs I mentioned last time, I am also using this opportunity to train two of our interns in cross-cultural Bible teaching. J.S. has been doing an amazing job as we’ve switched off teaching the past few weeks, and I will be training Bryan, who just returned home from helping lead our School of Missions in Mexico, over the next three weeks. At that time, I will fully pass the baton over to them for this class. This experience will be invaluable for these two young men who want to start a Bible School in the Middle East!\nSpeaking of our School of Missions, I was so blessed to be able to visit it twice over this last month! Of course, both times I led worship for our students and leaders. The first time, I taught a class to the students on how the Bible defines worship, and how that relates to our heart for missions and practical matters of worship cross-culturally. The second time, I mostly just connected with the students to see how their experience was going and how the Lord was speaking to them, and I also had the opportunity to connect with 3 of our missionary families in Mexico, including our newest SGWM missionary who pastors Calvary Chapel Acapulco and was teaching a class at CSOM. I’m so thankful to the Lord for setting up these opportunities for me! And I’m also thankful for authentic Mexican tacos; no others can compare!\nOur family is doing great! Maggie (age 6) just started 1st grade, and Harrison (who just turned 5!) just started Kindergarten. Pray for Amy as she primarily homeschools them during the day while caring for and training Jude (3) and Clara (1). We certainly have our hands full! I also continue to lead the worship ministry and Life Group ministry at CCSG, and Amy and I lead our young adults group with my sister Jenn. It is an interesting time to be a pastor for a local church, but I wouldn’t trade this calling for anything.\nWe would ask that you pray for our finances and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/unless-they-are-sent-pt-1-garcia-family-august-2020-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHow then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? \u003cstrong\u003eAnd how will they preach unless they are sent?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n– The Apostle Paul, Romans 10:14, 15\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSGWM is all about planting churches among those who have never heard the good news of Jesus, especially those who previously have never had access to that good news. We do this in three ways: 1) by being a missionary sending ministry, where we send missionaries from the U.S. into the foreign mission field and help care for them, 2) by working with nationals in other countries who plant churches and Bible schools to train other nationals to go do the same, with a current focus in South Asia, and 3) by equipping young people passionate about foreign missions at our yearly Calvary School of Missions and through our internship program. These three ministries of SGWM are our response to Paul’s questions in Romans 10.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Unless They Are Sent Pt. 1 – Garcia Family August 2020 Update"},{"content":"The Calvary School of Missions traveled to the outskirts of Rosarito and descended upon the church grounds at Calvary Chapel in Primotapia last week. The church has been closed for 4 months, so we gathered the church and community members outdoors for an afternoon together. The isolation and lack of work has been tough on the local community and the emotions were thick, but every person was open and attentively listening as several students shared their testimonies and a message from John 15.\nThe ladies immediately began greeting each other and the need for Jesus became apparent. There were 4 people that responded to the Gospel and put their faith in Christ and many were prayed over by the team. There were so many physical needs, but it was amazing to watch as people were desperate for a spiritual touch from the living God.\nThe kids in the community came for crafts, face painting, games, and a bible story. The ladies were ministered to through nail painting as they shared their stories and were cared for. From singing to preaching to loving on kids to prayer to sharing the Gospel\u0026hellip;every base and station was covered and God was greatly glorified. It was as if people in the community have not had any contact with the outside world in months and the love of Christ flooded that place and the physical relief meant there was food for the coming weeks. Each family that attended the outreach was given a bag of food items, a bag of hygiene items and a bag of cleaning products including 2 gallons of bleach. It was almost more than they could have hoped for as some thought it was too much to carry and it was. But God does exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think! Each of the students walked with those who came to help carry the groceries to trailers, shacks and small homes where the hope of the Gospel has now reached. We are thankful for the opportunity to help widows like Carmenita with essentials in the midst of suffering and pray for Jose and Sonya for healing and strength. This is only possible because you have generously given, blessed, and enabled us to put food in the hands of those who need it most. On behalf of Saving Grace World Missions and every person who attended the outreach\u0026hellip;.thank you!\n(In total 30 food bags, 30 hygiene bags and 30 cleaning product bags were given out in the community)\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/covid-relief/mexico-covid-outreach/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Calvary School of Missions traveled to the outskirts of Rosarito and descended upon the church grounds at Calvary Chapel in Primotapia last week. The church has been closed for 4 months, so we gathered the church and community members outdoors for an afternoon together. The isolation and lack of work has been tough on the local community and the emotions were thick, but every person was open and attentively listening as several students shared their testimonies and a message from John 15.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mexico COVID Outreach"},{"content":" First and foremost, thank you all for the years of prayer and support! As we come into our 7th year serving in Acapulco, God has opened a big door for our family and ministry. We have partnered with Saving Grace World Missions, a ministry that helps and equips missionaries on and off the field.\nFor the last couple of years, we struggled to find a mission-minded organization to help our efforts in reaching southern Mexico. We appreciate the whole SGWM staff and are very grateful to be a part of the team.\nVERY IMPORTANT NOTICE\nFor those who have supported us through PayPal or C.C. La Mirada. Please be informed that those accounts will be closing within the next month. All future partnerships will be through our new link posted on this newsletter and blog. Every donation remains tax-deductible through SGWM.\nOur First Church Plant Southern Mexico has a huge need for Bible-teaching churches. We feel the urgent call to be part of the solution. That is why our goal is to plant as many churches as possible throughout southern Mexico, mainly our state of Guerrero.\nBy the grace of God, we planted a new Calvary Chapel fellowship. The name of the city is called Chilpancingo and it’s the capital of our state, Guerrero. Our assistant pastor (Ricardo Solis) felt the call and the Lord confirmed. We went on a spy trip and within 2 hours the Lord provided a building and house for pastor Ricardo’s family. We were amazed by God\u0026rsquo;s provision. This past Sunday was their first service. This is only the beginning but we count on your prayers and support to make this possible. The Lord has provided some great families but we still need the resources to support the work.\nChurch Planting Conference We thank God for the opportunity to learn more about planting churches by attending Calvary Chapel Rosarito’s Church Planting Conference. The conference was a great tool as we heard from church planting pastor’s. They gave us great words of encouragement and wisdom. We pray and hope to plant more Calvary Chapel churches in the near future.\nHandling the Pandemic Like most churches, we took a big hit. Acapulco suffered many serious cases of Covid-19 infections. Some of our congregants have been hospitalized due to health difficulties. The church had to close its doors for approximately 3 months. As of right now, they have allowed us to re-open with a maximum capacity of 40 people. The good news is that this season forced us to grow in creating quality videos for our sermons. We are able to have live online services for both Sunday and Wednesday studies and now verse by verse teachings are reaching many homes in Latin America. Jesus continues to honor His word regardless of the situation.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thank-you-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/villegas/wp-content/uploads/sites/130/2020/08/logo-e1597689279166.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst and foremost, thank you all for the years of prayer and support! As we come into our 7th year serving in Acapulco, God has opened a big door for our family and ministry. We have partnered with Saving Grace World Missions, a ministry that helps and equips missionaries on and off the field.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/villegas/wp-content/uploads/sites/130/2020/08/sgwm-logo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFor the last couple of years, we struggled to find a mission-minded organization to help our efforts in reaching southern Mexico. We appreciate the whole SGWM staff and are very grateful to be a part of the team.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thank You!!!"},{"content":"Hello, everyone, we just want to keep y\u0026rsquo;all updated on how God is working in and through us in Peru. Despite the pandemic setbacks, we see lives being changed, we have our School of Ministry up and running, and this has been a vision for almost two years that has become a reality! We are offering Ministry practices 101, Personal discipleship by me the pastor, the study of Adoration, Romans, and Hebrews. The students have an overview of the Old Testament by listening to expository teachings, through the scriptures, book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse!\nThanks to our ministry partner who is helping us by providing weekly groceries to families in need within our ministry. Were back under nightly lockdowns, and all day Sundays nobody can leave their home. We found these cool Hazmat suits to help us be protected during these pandemic days! Keep us in your prayers, specifically, for health and protection against the Coronavirus, pray for strength as we continue with all of our online ministries and the SOM program. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s provision as we continue to be obedient to the Call.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/august-2020-update-from-huacho-peru/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello, everyone, we just want to keep y\u0026rsquo;all updated on how God is working in and through us in Peru. Despite the pandemic setbacks, we see lives being changed, we have our School of Ministry up and running, and this has been a vision for almost two years that has become a reality! We are offering Ministry practices 101, Personal discipleship by me the pastor, the study of Adoration, Romans, and Hebrews. The students have an overview of the Old Testament by listening to expository teachings, through the scriptures, book by book, chapter by chapter, and verse by verse!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"August 2020 update from Huacho, Peru"},{"content":"Ok, this is it. I got it! You can get your own pic on a paper cutout displayed in the new Dodger Stadium Pavilion Home Run Seats for only $299! There are other less expensive options higher up in the nosebleed seats. What a deal! Do we have any takers? Play ball!\nMan, for such a time as this…. Babe Ruth must rolling in his grave right now. Paper cutouts?\nHey, I thought I’d take your mind off things for a second before we dive into what the Lord has been doing in my live during this past month. Let’s play ball…\nTeaching Calvary Chapel Saving Grace Morning Devotions\nI started teaching a 20-minute morning devotion ‘live’ on our church Facebook. What a privilege and responsibility. So much studying as I want to make sure I teach the Lord’s Word accurately. We’re going through the book of Mark. This apostle is so on the GO! I mean the Lord is. One teaching and one healing after another after another. Didn’t anyone eat or sleep during those three years of ministry? Slow down Lord; my cardio isn’t what it used to be! CCSG pastors from all over the world and we SGWM missionary interns are doing the teachings Monday through Friday at 9:00 am. PST. Check it out. Grab your coffee and get into the word!\nInternship Discipleship Class\nPastor Mike is doing a short Discipleship class for us interns who are still stateside (half the missionary interns are serving at the Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) in Mexico (see prayer request below). For me this has been a very convicting class. I know I have been and am being discipled by our church – that is what the Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM) Internship program is all about, getting us ready to serve out in the mission field. In this class, we are learning this discipleship thing is a two-way street. We, as Spirit filled believers should be discipled throughout our entire lives by someone and at the same time we should be discipling others. This “spiritual handshake,” you can call it, is simply a response to Jesus’ command, “Follow Me” in the Gospel accounts. Are we truly following Jesus? Are we being groomed by the Holy Spirit to be “fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19)? I told you it’s convicting.\nOn a Personal Note…\nOn a personal note, I know for a lot of you, being a grandparent is probably a long ways off. Too bad. Enjoy pulling your hair out? Well, as some of you know I’ve been super blessed with a wonderful family (see cool pics). My three kids each have two kids of their own, ranging from 17 yrs to 1. You know I loved being a dad, still do. My kids were always well behaved, I think… Hey, it was ALL God’s grace as I made every mistake in the book (patience and humility always seemed to be an arm’s length away). Now they’re all grown up and have their own kiddos. I love being a Papa. It is soooo cool. The best! I love sipping pretend tea with Storyanne and romping with the boys in the pool or guzzling down Chai boba with the older ones. Being retired and no longer chasing the American Dream, my life is now simply – simple. So fulfilling And during our Thursday afternoon Discipleship class, Pastor Mike said being a grandparent could be a calling/ministry. I like that.\nOn a side note, I do have to restrain myself at times at church and in ministry from being goofy and acting like a kid. Next to the Bible my favorite book is probably Peter Pan. I guess it comes with being a Papa.\nLaughing, learning, praying in Jesus name\nAm I ever loving teaching English to my refugee gals at Voice of Refugees (VOR)! Zoom, duh. It’s ok. It just makes making relationships harder. I’m finding myself yelling at my screen, “Speak English with your husbands or daughters! They speak perfect English.” Over the last couple weeks or so, right in the middle of class, one of my gals said, “I’d like you to meet my husband Mohammad.” We introduce ourselves and I hear this guy speak fluent English. Hello? “He’s your teacher!” I scream at my screen. They can see the smile on my face. Just last Wednesday, one of my gals said it was her anniversary. Wow! Now that was an open door if I ever saw one. We went over each of the 8 gals’ anniversary dates and how many years they were married. That alone was a good conversation and math exercise. Then I talked a couple minutes on the sanctity of marriage. I drew a triangle on our shared virtual whiteboard and went over husband, wife and Jesus. It was a blessing. One of my dear ones missed class for a couple days. I felt led to lead my students in prayer for the sick gal, who we all know. I ended it with “In Jesus name, Amen.” I felt good not shortchanging the Lord. All I can say, I so love getting to know these gals. We laugh. I even show them my toast with mangos and bananas sometimes before we start the lesson (late breakfast). We are building up quite a vocabulary – mostly food and the different beaches in Orange County! Love it! Love them.\nKeep your commitments\nI want to share something that happened last Saturday. Over a year ago I made an agreement with the Lord that I would not run long distances anymore. Bad knees. Goodbye half and full marathons. Well, last Saturday, August 1, I thought I got the ok from Him for me to run a half marathon race at Huntington Beach – knowing full well the agreement I had made with Him in June, 2019. Doesn’t make sense, right? I’ll spare you the details. Well, around mile five after walking up the Huntington Beach steps from the bike path to the pier, I felt a lot of pain (normal pain you just deal with it) in my right knee. I limped to a bench and prayed – and repented – for disobeying Him. Ha! It took the injury/pain for me to realize I was wrong all along. I was not even half way done with no phone and no debit card to call for help. No more than 30 seconds after I continued running (more like hobbling) did I run into two of my usher buddies from Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa. Talk about grace! We did hugs and I immediately cried out for intercessory prayer – pleeeeeze! We fellowshipped for a good 20 minutes and had a great time. I then continued on my race and took my time (had no choice) and finished. It was not easy. Prayer works at the beach!\nI learned my lesson. The important thing wasn’t that the Lord wanted me to no longer run long distances to save my knees. The important thing was that I broke my agreement with Him. You don’t do that. Always do what you say you will do. Keep your commitments. The Lord knows what we should do and not do.\nWell, I’m still running my race. Ha, ok, short races for sure. And in closing, as I always say, come run with me. Nothing is more enjoyable for a runner than to have someone run alongside of them, even all the way to the finish line. It’s so true. So please partner with me financially, by clicking on the Become a Partner Financial button below. You can do this through a one-time donation or monthly reoccurring donation. Thank you so much for your financial and prayerful support.\nPraise Report\nThat all my family and friends here stateside stay in good health\nThat our church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, can continue to enjoy our Sunday service outside. So great to be amongst the brethren.\nThat the Lord is building closer relationships between myself and my VOR students\nPrayer Requests\nThat the Lord would, of course, put an end to COVID and in turn open up the schools so my grandkids can attend real school. My oldest one is graduating from high school this coming year; my youngest one is entering pre-preschool or whatever you call it.\nThat the Lord would bring out more people to church on Sunday. As long as we are coviding our service, this will be an ongoing prayer request.\nThat the CSOM team in Mexico would finish strong in all that they do. They are winding up their 6-weeks on August 17.\nFor the safety, well-being, strength, and good health for all of our SGWM missionaries serving all over the world. This is so needed and will also be an ongoing prayer request as well.\nPraise report and prayer request: Last month I asked for prayer for the opportunity to teach more hours for VOR. There may be an opportunity coming up this fall for more hours as our zoom classes will most likely continue for the remainder of the year. Pray our Lord’s will. Exciting!\nThat I continue to be steadfast in my Bible studies in the teaching of God’s word.\nIf you’d like to get my monthly updates sent directly to your email inbox, just click on the following link: Jim Needham Updates. You can reach me at jneedham@sgwm.com. The Lord bless all of you.\nJim Needham\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/for-such-a-time-as-this/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOk, this is it. I got it! You can get your own pic on a paper cutout displayed in the new Dodger Stadium Pavilion Home Run Seats for only $299! There are other less expensive options higher up in the nosebleed seats. What a deal! Do we have any takers? Play ball!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMan, for such a time as this…. Babe Ruth must rolling in his grave right now.  Paper cutouts?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"For Such a Time as This"},{"content":"Train up a child in the way he should go,\nAnd when he is old he will not depart from it.\nProverbs 22:6\nDear Friends and Family,\nI never would have thought that after all these months we would still be dealing with COVID. It now seems like years ago that we were visiting America and taking the kids to Disneyland. It was actually just the beginning of this year and now the world and Uganda are such a different place. Uganda started off with almost no cases and now seems to be having more and more cases daily. To be honest it is just starting to get scary here as we begin to hear about cases near us and in the city. I have to try to stay away from the news and focus and the positive things that are happening.\nOne of the best parts of this lockdown has been homeschooling my kids. I have always homeschooled them but normally I am doing 101 other things as well. At this time I have been able to give them almost undivided attention and to catch up from where we were a little behind because of my dad’s funeral.\nIt is so interesting that much of the world has had to experience homeschooling as well during this time. I feel blessed that I was used to homeschooling and well prepared when all the schools (and everything else) were suddenly closed. It isn’t always easy but has always been my choice and joy to do.\nLearning from the lessons on the radio\nNewspaper Lesson\nStreet vendor teaching her kids from newspaper\nI really have been praying for those who found themselves homeschool teachers unexpectedly. In Uganda many parents who have never received a proper education themselves, have found themselves in the place of teacher for their children, probably till the new year begins next February. Uganda has tried their best to help. They have been putting classes on the radio, on TV, and in the newspaper. The president\u0026rsquo;s wife, who is the head of Education, had this to say as an encouragement to parents, “Spend time with your learners to develop their values and positive attitudes. Tell them stories, riddles, and other life lessons, and support their learning. Help your learners to make a craft or develop an innovation.” The president as well encouraged parents in one of his messages that not all learning is book learning, take this time to teach life skills such as farming, mechanics, cooking, etc. From what I have been able to find out many parents, no matter their education, have been trying.\nAt the bottom of the hill on which we live there is one of the largest open markets in Uganda. Next to that market is a very large slum area. Many of the people from Arise Christian Fellowship come from that market and from those slums. Twice since the lockdown in Uganda began we have been able to help out church members and their families with food and basic necessities. We have wanted to help others but did not know how to go about it because there was a law made that if you were caught providing relief and it drew a crowd you would be charged with attempted murder.\nRecently, we received a letter under our gate. It was from the LC1, Local chairman of our area. He had been given permission by the government to gather food and soap for those who were in the most need down in the slums. His letter was requesting those who were able to give donations towards helping those less fortunate. We were more than glad to help.\nUganda has begun lifting some of the restrictions. One of them is the use of vehicles and public transport. We pray that this will help some of those who have been struggling to provide for their families but we also pray for health and safety as COVID cases are rapidly increasing. It is mandatory by law to social distance and to wear a mask when in public. Since the easing of restrictions this has been very hard to enforce and just today, there were riots in Kampala, along the same lines as the riots happening in the USA and around the world. We are praying that these gatherings will not lead to more sickness or another total lockdown.\nThe month also has much to celebrate as Luke turned 10 years old and Laylee turned 9 years old. We were not able to have a party or to go out anywhere but they enjoyed all the messages and facetime calls they received. I can\u0026rsquo;t believe I now have a son who is in double digits!\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill,\nLuke, Laylee,\nand Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS Thank you for praying for the Kanyikes during their time of lockdown\nPraise the Lord for the provision to help those who are suffering.\nPray for the World during this time of COVID 19. Pray for many people to turn to the Lord during this time.\nPray for the Kanyike family to continue to know how to best minister to the church and community during this time.\nPray for the people of Uganda to be safe from all the calamities that seem to be happening: COVID, flood, locusts, hunger, Ebola, and riots\nPray for Brian as pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\nPlease prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTrain up a child in the way he should go,\u003cbr\u003e\nAnd when he is old he will not depart from it.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProverbs 22:6\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDear Friends and Family\u003c/strong\u003e,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI never would have thought that after all these months we would still be dealing with COVID.  It now seems like years ago that we were visiting America and taking the kids to Disneyland.  It was actually just the beginning of this year and now the world and Uganda are such a different place. Uganda started off with almost no cases and now seems to be having more and more cases daily.  To be honest it is just starting to get scary here as we begin to hear about cases near us and in the city.  I have to try to stay away from the news and focus and the positive things that are happening.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":" Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.\nPHILIPPIANS 2:9-11 NKJV\nWe’re now in the home stretch for CSOM! I’m excited to say that I have been greatly strengthened in the name of Christ this last week. The name of Christ in my life has always meant salvation since I decided to believe in His mighty name over everything else. If anything in life contradicts His awesome and mighty name, it’s false. He is that simple! But He’s so complex that He chose to send His only son to atone for what we did. He paid the balance for us by the name of Jesus Christ! He gave us righteousness in His eyes by His name! Praise God! Holy Holy Holy! In what world would we ever see somebody give us everything when we were the ones who took on an eternal debt?\nGod has shown me these last five weeks that even when He brings me up to the mountains, or allows me to fall into deep valleys, that He is more than sufficient for any season. God is so… good to love us in this way. He will empower us, humble us, bring us to existence and show us how little we truly are. God be praised. Only by the name of Jesus Christ do we even exist. Praise God! Holy! Holy! Holy! Jesus is only beginning to exemplify His name and purpose in my life, and I’m so excited to say that by the name of Jesus Christ, this season at CSOM is coming to an amazingly powerful and purposeful end, all for His glory.\nGod did amazing work through the team this last week when we had the opportunity to run the first church service at Capilla Calvario in Primo Tapia, Mexico. Our team rocked it! God saw the need and gave us the opportunity to perform a good work in His name. We had part of the team doing face painting, part of the team delivering the gracious testimony of Jesus Christ in their lives, and some of us playing games and doing crafts with the kids. God provided me with a platform to share His word with the people at the church and teach on John 15:1-8. It was anointed by the Spirit and an older gentleman accepted Christ. To see God working in their lives through the message I delivered and to see God use me for His kingdom was an amazing blessing. All of the time we were there, I saw God moving in and through our team by blessing those at the church and being an encouragement to them.\nThis last week we were taught by seasoned long-term missionaries with 30 yrs experience on the field. They shared with us about the centering of Christ in missions and how to apply Christ to all things on the mission field including the deep need the world has for more mission-minded believers. God also blessed us with the opportunity to help build a drainage ditch for a house in Rancho Cuarenta. We attended a church planting conference hosted by Calvary Chapel Rosarito. The biggest fact that stuck with me during our time at the conference was that only 3% of churches worldwide focus on church planting and the accomplishment of the great commission. God is on the move by the name of Christ regardless of the season we are in. If we choose to abide in the great commission or not is up to us, but He wants us to abide in Him, and that includes the great commission.\nPraise Reports\nGod brought 7 people to the Lord this week during various church services God is increasing His Kingdom God used us to help multiple families with food and health supplies God is teaching many people how to better pursue the great commission God is enough God is good Christ is all Prayer Requests\nGod would provide for me and the team spiritually as we finish off this season of our lives at CSOM to continue walking and seeking Him faithfully God would continue, even after this season, to grow me radically in His name and glory God would continue to reveal His holiness to me daily God would continue to show me His work in my life and in me God would provide for me financially and spiritually entering into this next season If God is calling you to help in the expansion of His Kingdom to the ends of the earth but feel called to where you are now, please consider coming alongside me in my call to the ends of the earth. You can partner with me by coming alongside me in prayer that God would work in and through me as I walk according to His will. Another way to come alongside me in partnership is by supporting me financially to complete my schooling at Calvary School of Missions and Calvary Bible Institute as God continues to prepare me for the work that He is calling me to.\nIf you want to partner with me financially click the link below:\nGod be praised,\nJoshua Knight\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/a-name-for-every-season/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/knight/wp-content/uploads/sites/127/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-08-04-at-5.53.21-PM.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTherefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePHILIPPIANS 2:9-11 NKJV\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe’re now in the home stretch for CSOM! I’m excited to say that I have been greatly strengthened in the name of Christ this last week. The name of Christ in my life has always meant salvation since I decided to believe in His mighty name over everything else. If anything in life contradicts His awesome and mighty name, it’s false. He is that simple! But He’s so complex that He chose to send His only son to atone for what we did. He paid the balance for us by the name of Jesus Christ! He gave us righteousness in His eyes by His name! Praise God! Holy Holy Holy! In what world would we ever see somebody give us everything when we were the ones who took on an eternal debt?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Name for Every Season"},{"content":" God is good.\nWe’ve really gotten into a good groove here. I think one of the greatest issues is becoming complacent while in ministry. Learning how to better foster my relationship and walk with the Lord has been a huge blessing. Your prayers have been at work the whole time we’ve been in Mexico—thank you! You’ve been praying for unity, and the Lord has helped us to walk in unity. You’ve been praying for boldness in sharing the Gospel, and the Lord has been giving it. He’s been giving wisdom and discernment. He has been keeping us in good health, and He is guiding; thank you.\nBack To The Basics\nThis past week the Lord has been making me more aware of pride in my heart and my great need to walk in humility with Him. I am to truly identify with Jesus, and as His follower, I need to humble myself before Him and bring my purpose and reason for being in alignment with His. I am to bring Him glory (John 15:8). Both of our books this week, Humility by Andrew Murray and The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer, spoke on our need to die to self, cling to Jesus, and pursue Him! It’s been a blessing to see how God speaks at just the right moment to draw us closer to Him and to move us from grace to grace in our walks with Him.\nChurch Planting and Cambodia\nThis week we got to hear from an experienced church planter who is working in Cambodia right now. He shared some of the challenges that church planters face. When dealing with cultural norms, some will be different from what I am used to, but that doesn’t mean that they’re wrong. Others, however, need to be corrected through the Word and discipleship. This was a sweet time, as I’m praying about whether the Lord would have me go to an Asian country to plant a church.\nConference in Baja\nThis week’s teaching was appropriately tied in with church planting, as we got to attend the CC Rosarito Church Planting Conference here in Mexico. There were some huge themes of perseverance in the face of opposition and discouragement. To remember that we are called to faithfulness. It was a great reminder when one of the speakers shared that church planting is the building block laid upon evangelism and discipleship. Those two things are the direct outpouring of the believer as they walk with the Lord, and it leads to believers walking in the Spirit and being part of the Church.\nHighlights\nI think some of my favorite moments this week were hanging with kiddos. While serving during one of the afternoon sessions of the conference, I got to help watch the kids while parents were attending the conference. It was really fun getting to hang out with a bunch of the kids; one of whom (his name was Orlando) was part of a family that CC Rosarito was sending out to start a church in Guatemala. As we were leaving he wanted to know if I was going to be there the next day to play basketball, and I was just stoked to be able to serve and build relationships; even just briefly. It’s such a blessing to get to see what God is doing, and how He is growing His church. Another moment that stood out to me was during one of our outreaches at CC Primo Tapia where one of our translators, Jessica, and I got to help a man named Eduardo carry his food back to his home. We got to talk with him about the Lord. From our conversation it sounded like he was a believer, so we encouraged him to attend the church. Things have been pretty difficult for him, especially with this pandemic, and it was a blessing to be able to encourage him.\nAs followers of Jesus, we have a sweet opportunity to make disciples wherever we are. Regarding discipleship, we students were challenged to pray for the Lord to bring people into our lives to disciple; to point them to Jesus and teach them to follow Him. Would you be up for praying about how the Lord might want to use you to help raise up someone in their faith and walk with Jesus? The reality is that we can’t, but with a willing, surrendered heart, God can use us to accomplish things we never thought could happen.\n“Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” -2 Corinthians 5:20-21 (NKJV)\nHow To Get Involved\nOur time here is coming to a close, we’ve got one week left to go, but there is still more to learn and more people to share Jesus with. I feel the Lord has been continuing to stir my heart for church planting, and I absolutely want to be obedient wherever He is leading. As for what is next, I definitely need the Lord’s wisdom. There are some opportunities for internships that can help prepare and grow me for being able to go out when He says to go. In that, I also wanted to share some of my financial needs. I was in an accident on June 13th and need new transportation. I’m looking at buying a car that’s in good shape from my family and need to raise the funds. Thankfully they are allowing me to make payments so that will be a huge help. There is also a need for part of my rent for the month of September. If anyone would feel so led to give, the link is below. Most of all, would you please continue to pray; He knows exactly what He has:\nThat the Lord would continue to reveal where He would have me go. That I would trust more deeply. For where I should fulfill a potential internship, as there are a few different opportunities. That the Lord would continue to give me opportunity to grow in the gifts and calling He has given. For continued team unity. For provision: That my tax return would come in soon to help pay my bills Finances for car. Finances for rent (month of September). To put into practice these things that the Lord has been teaching since early June. For continued health, protection, and safety for myself and the rest of the team. Please pray that everything learned and gained during this time would be kept and put into practice as I get back to the States. Dios te bendiga, love you guys,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/humility-in-discipleship/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/voisin/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2020/08/9EFB9D9D-7828-41AF-8F6A-791F1F3EDCF6.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGod is good.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe’ve really gotten into a good groove here. I think one of the greatest issues is becoming complacent while in ministry. Learning how to better foster my relationship and walk with the Lord has been a huge blessing. Your prayers have been at work the whole time we’ve been in Mexico—thank you! You’ve been praying for unity, and the Lord has helped us to walk in unity. You’ve been praying for boldness in sharing the Gospel, and the Lord has been giving it. He’s been giving wisdom and discernment. He has been keeping us in good health, and He is guiding; thank you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Humility in Discipleship"},{"content":"The name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe. Proverbs 18:10\nDespite the uncertainties of the world around us, God has blessed us with peace and protection during this season. COVID-19 remains under control in Cambodia and we thank God for this. As a result, Benjamin’s school will be able to reopen for in-person classes with mask and social distancing requirements at the end of August. God has carried us through approximately five months of schooling and work at home in an apartment that seems to shrink as our 11-year-old grows. Travel restrictions remain pretty strict so any travel outside of Cambodia before the middle of 2021 would be extremely difficult if not impossible. Churches remain limited to 10 people so we continue helping with the online services at the international church.\nDarryl continues to create and distribute Cambodian language evangelistic/apologetics videos on social media and via www.internationalfishers.com/khmer. He just released a video in Cambodian entitled, “Science and Jesus Christ’s Miracles,” which discusses how science cannot disprove miracles and gave other evidence for Jesus\u0026rsquo; miracles. The video ministry continues to go well as Cambodians use social media more and more for entertainment and communication. The videos receive anywhere from hundreds of views and tens of thousands of views on various social media platforms. For example, Darryl’s most popular video in Cambodian, “Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead” has been viewed by more than 45,000 Cambodians on YouTube alone.\nDarryl also continues to work with other missionaries to develop a basic Bible teaching website in Cambodian and other languages. It is a slow process but it is very promising in terms of the impact that it can have.\nKayo continues serving as a board member and volunteer at Precious Women ministry which evangelizes and retrains at-risk women for other careers outside of the night-time entertainment industry. Recently, the organization has been focused on distributing food to women who are out of work due to COVID-19. Kayo and I do some work at home for the organization on an as-needed basis but we haven’t been able to go to the office since COVID-19 began. We hope to return to the office soon. Kayo is also very active in the international church’s worship team and online services.\nBenjamin has been doing some online summer schooling and will soon start joining a soccer club.\nThanks for your prayers, encouragement, and support. May God bless you and keep you and your family during this season.\nIn Christ’s Loving Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-strong-tower/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe name of the Lord is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe.\u003c/em\u003e Proverbs 18:10\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDespite the uncertainties of the world around us, God has blessed us with peace and protection during this season. COVID-19 remains under control in Cambodia and we thank God for this. As a result, Benjamin’s school will be able to reopen for in-person classes with mask and social distancing requirements at the end of August. God has carried us through approximately five months of schooling and work at home in an apartment that seems to shrink as our 11-year-old grows. Travel restrictions remain pretty strict so any travel outside of Cambodia before the middle of 2021 would be extremely difficult if not impossible. Churches remain limited to 10 people so we continue helping with the online services at the international church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Strong Tower"},{"content":"Calvary School of Missions: Week 5\nIt’s Rachel again and I am eager to share the great things that the Lord has done this week in the School of Missions! I’m so thankful that you have chosen to be a part of this work as I train for long-term missions. Your thoughts and prayers are so… appreciated!\nThe theme the Lord has stamped upon my heart this week is discipleship. What is discipleship? I probably couldn’t have given you a clear definition before this week, but I have realized that it is the duty of the Church. Just before He ascended to the Father’s right hand, Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19). When a military officer gives a command, his inferiors must heed that command until they are given a different directive. Making disciples is the last command that we have received from our General, and we must heed His instruction.\nThe New Testament is riddled with verses on discipleship, and it is clear that in order to make disciples of Jesus, we must first be disciples of Jesus. Jesus makes it clear that a disciple is to be identified with His teacher (Matthew 10:24-25). As we follow Jesus, we are conformed more and more to His likeness. Jesus sums up how this is done in John 8:31-32, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed.” To abide means to live in, to inhabit, and to dwell in. When we allow the Word to change us so that we dwell in it; we are His disciples. As a result we bear fruit: “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:8). The fruit is love (John 13:35), and the love of Christ results in making more disciples! (Acts 1:8, 2:42-43).\nTo simplify all of that, discipleship is learning how to obey Jesus together. We are never going to be perfect. We will not “arrive” at a place of spiritual maturity where we are “qualified” to make disciples. We simply must take our stand daily in the grace of God alone. As we invite people into our daily walk with the Lord and invest in their spiritual development then we will learn to dwell in His Word.\nWe attended a church-planting conference this weekend at Calvary Chapel Rosarito. It was awesome! We were able to hear from lots of pastors who have planted churches in Mexico and parts of the United States. It is obvious from the book of Acts that God’s designated method of world-evangelization is church-planting. I see now that the Church is the most effective vehicle for making disciples! This is why church-planting all over the world, especially in places that do not have a local church, is so crucial to fulfilling the Great Commission! Jesus commanded us to make disciples among all nations, and what better way than establishing a fellowship where people can be fed the Word of God and learn to live in His grace? We have our marching orders! Let’s heed our General’s command, and see that His name is exalted in the earth. He is worthy of disciples in every nation. Amen.\nThank you so much for reading this! I am so grateful for your partnership in prayer and finances. I thank God for each of you, and for your investment in the gospel. If you would like to receive more about church-planting or discipleship, or if you have any prayer requests, please shoot me an email! I would love to hear from you.\nPrayer requests are below, as well as a link to our giving platform if you would like to partner with me financially. My heart is to make disciples of Jesus among nations where the gospel is not known, and your partnership is cherished!\nIn Christ, Rachel\nPraise Reports:\nGod is so good! The Lord is moving in all our hearts and bringing clarity to vision and next-steps. Pastor Gregg and Vikki from Calvary Red Rock were able to come out for the Church-Planting Conference and it was such a blessing to catch up with them! The Lord has kept us all safe and healthy! Prayer Requests:\n“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart” Galatians 6:9. Let us not grow weary as we near the end of the school, but press in to the Lord! Unreached People Group: Brahmin in Nepal Please pray for the Brahmans in Nepal. They have a population of 3.2 million, and 0.0% are Christian. These people are generally well-to-do, but they are spiritually destitute without the gospel. Pray that the Lord would send laborers into this harvest (Matthew 9:38), that God would reveal Himself, and that the Brahman would have the opportunity to receive Christ. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/marching-orders/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCalvary School of Missions: Week 5\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/rachelmartinez/wp-content/uploads/sites/121/2020/08/IMG%5F8774.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s Rachel again and I am eager to share the great things that the Lord has done this week in the School of Missions! I’m so thankful that you have chosen to be a part of this work as I train for long-term missions. Your thoughts and prayers are so… appreciated!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe theme the Lord has stamped upon my heart this week is discipleship. What is discipleship? I probably couldn’t have given you a clear definition before this week, but I have realized that it is the duty of the Church. Just before He ascended to the Father’s right hand, Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…” (Matthew 28:19). When a military officer gives a command, his inferiors \u003cem\u003emust heed that command until they are given a different directive\u003c/em\u003e. Making disciples is the last command that we have received from our General, and we must heed His instruction.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Marching Orders!"},{"content":"Grace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ. You see what I did there…just trying to be silly. I know my past few letters have been intense. But we serve an awesome God! I am in awe of how the Lord has been using the word of God to speak to my heart. I prayed fervently prior to even considering coming to School of Missions, but as soon as I received confirmation, I knew that the Lord was going to do a special work in my heart. Without question, the Lord has been FAITHFUL to make my calling clear to me week after week.\nAs a part of the program, several seasoned long-term missionaries came to share with us about their involvement in missions in numerous countries in the world. The strongest point that was emphasized was that we are to be teaching the Word of God verse by verse. God’s heart is clearly shown through the book of Acts. Missionaries are to train nationals and plant churches to the ends of the earth. We also heard the call to be living examples of Christ as we live out this Biblical model of church cross culturally. We had the privilege of attending Calvary Chapel Rosarito’s Church Planting Conference 2020. It was very evident through all those attending the Church Planting Conference that to be in God’s will for reaching the world one MUST be a part of church planting in one shape or form. This view is not something that is established by man, but by God who establishes HIS CHURCH through those that follow the Book of Acts template.\nOn a personal note, I find it is so comforting that God knows exactly what we are thinking and knows what is troubling us. He is such a good Father and knows what we need before we even know we need it. Pastor Bond simply stated that Bible scholars speculate that Saul of Tarsus did not start his ministry until 10-15 years after His encounter with Jesus. Hearing this was so reassuring because I sometimes struggle with the thought that maybe I have been dragging my feet and not listening to the Lord’s call. As I write this, what comes to mind is, “It is not about quantity of time you have been in ministry but quality of time in ministry.\u0026quot;\n“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should WALK in them.”-Ephesians 2:10\nThis time next week I will be back in California and will start taking practical steps to align myself with God’s calling on my life. All the knowledge I have gained through all the teachers and long-term missionaries is going to be a valuable tool that I can use as I pursue God’s will for my life. I wanted to thank you for your faithfulness to partner with me and pray for me and I look forward to sharing with you in person when I return.\nWith love,\nMaribel\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/he-is-faithful/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGrace and peace to you from our Lord Jesus Christ. You see what I did there…just trying to be silly. I know my past few letters have been intense. But we serve an awesome God! I am in awe of how the Lord has been using the word of God to speak to my heart. I prayed fervently prior to even considering coming to School of Missions, but as soon as I received confirmation, I knew that the Lord was going to do a special work in my heart. Without question, the Lord has been FAITHFUL to make my calling clear to me week after week.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He is Faithful"},{"content":"WEEK 5 CSOM\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is fLXKD2SF2dRVdi5kMPEUkuwwhl1hYFPjU8G7fYqXDfOu8ciugqUWyduKMB2zEYINY63N6ohkikMb1m6fEK6WUF3VI1lLoMGl6i8oAUtWV3Ws9FaJl73DJYOklzwaZWo4BNy2F475\nHi friends,\nI seriously can’t say thank you enough! Your sweet encouragement these past five weeks during my time at the Calvary School of Missions has made my time here abundantly rich and fulfilling. I pray God blesses you so abundantly!\nThis week we provided COVID relief such as cleaning supplies and fresh food for families who attend Calvary Chapel New Beginnings in Primo Tapia and people in the Rancho Cuarenta community. Meanwhile, we continued with our weekly reading and hearing from seasoned pastors and missionaries during our class time. Everywhere we went, I kept having the recurring thought, “I’m in the family now.” A family that is big and is still growing; the family in Christ Jesus. This family is designed to be faithful to each other, to encourage one another, and love one another. As I have been serving alongside the team, I have been asking myself, “am I truly loving my family? Am I supporting and encouraging them? Am I being faithful?”\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 117545740_679325535985530_1123941528027224698_n-1.jpg\nI was blessed to be able to attend and serve at Calvary Chapel Rosarito’s Church Planting Conference this past weekend. It was during this Conference that I was struck by the thought of how big our “family” truly is. There is something so special about being with the family of God. In the morning I interacted and played with the 3-7 year-old children which freed up the parents to sit in the teachings and learn about church planting. At some point, I started to sing Su Amor, a children’s song I learned in Spanish. While I was singing and being silly little Alejandra walked over to me with a recognizing smile. I realized that she was doing the hand motions for the song I was singing. Together we sang and finished the song, then in her sweet small voice, she said, “ You were at the church of Santa Cruz and showed us this song, no?” (well, in Spanish haha). Instantly we had this connection. All because a couple of weeks back we went to Calvary Santa Cruz, to encourage our church family with the love of God. During that outreach, my classmates and I had taught the kids a few worship songs with hand motions. My goodness, it was such an encouragement to me that she remembered this song about God’s love. Oh to see the joy in her eyes as she sang and to feel how comfortable she was with me because I was faithful to love my family in Christ.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is dlqI8VNtuFohKb687zy2ail26kEa4Bjx1CwwE6kAxRaTajHgY25BRL7Z3mMjgbikDMLDhH0WZjGzE3-yCqhRe5KIEEeKksbpYD2xiFi8pbM2rHVNow2jbeXHx0L7Fa4dZkKiD7Wk\n“He who is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much…” Luke 16:10 To be a child of God is to be brought into this big beautiful family, with all kinds of new brothers and sisters to love both young and old no matter what the age or background. In this family we are to be faithfully loving and helping the people right in front of us. Even something as simple as singing and dancing with kids can be more impactful than we think.\nPraise Report\nThank you for such a big and loving family Praise God for continued unity in our school family Thank you Lord for good health and safety God continues to provide and take care of me Prayer Requests\nPlease pray God directs my steps after school is over (on my last week here) Also, for continued unity in our last week. Safety as we will be heading to the states soon! That God would provide the last bit of my tuition and that I would trust Him to do so. What are some of the ways you love on your church family? How can I be praying for you? I love hearing back from you!! Many thanks to those who have decided to financially partner with me, it’s been amazing to see how many people want to join with me this way! God is so so good to me! If you’re interested in partnering financially click the link below: https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2?giftid=83041BC3D9644E1\nAll the blessings,\nGabrielle\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/family-of-god/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWEEK 5 CSOM\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/fLXKD2SF2dRVdi5kMPEUkuwwhl1hYFPjU8G7fYqXDfOu8ciugqUWyduKMB2zEYINY63N6ohkikMb1m6fEK6WUF3VI1lLoMGl6i8oAUtWV3Ws9FaJl73DJYOklzwaZWo4BNy2F475\"\n         alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is fLXKD2SF2dRVdi5kMPEUkuwwhl1hYFPjU8G7fYqXDfOu8ciugqUWyduKMB2zEYINY63N6ohkikMb1m6fEK6WUF3VI1lLoMGl6i8oAUtWV3Ws9FaJl73DJYOklzwaZWo4BNy2F475\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is fLXKD2SF2dRVdi5kMPEUkuwwhl1hYFPjU8G7fYqXDfOu8ciugqUWyduKMB2zEYINY63N6ohkikMb1m6fEK6WUF3VI1lLoMGl6i8oAUtWV3Ws9FaJl73DJYOklzwaZWo4BNy2F475\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHi friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI seriously can’t say thank you enough! Your sweet encouragement these past five weeks during my time at the Calvary School of Missions has made my time here abundantly rich and fulfilling. I pray God blesses you so abundantly!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis week we provided COVID relief such as cleaning supplies and fresh food for families who attend Calvary Chapel New Beginnings in Primo Tapia and people in the Rancho Cuarenta community. Meanwhile, we continued with our weekly reading and hearing from seasoned pastors and missionaries during our class time. Everywhere we went, I kept having the recurring thought, “I’m in the family now.”  A family that is big and is still growing; the family in Christ Jesus. This family is designed to be faithful to each other, to encourage one another, and love one another. As I have been serving alongside the team, I have been asking myself, “am I truly loving my family? Am I supporting and encouraging them? Am I being faithful?”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Family of God"},{"content":" What an amazing week it has been! We have finished week five, and well, we are left with a bunch of forgiven sinners forever desperately in need of Jesus. As the weeks have gone on, we have all been stretched beyond our limits and this has only helped us to pull more into Jesus. God has been bringing out my weaknesses like never before and I am so grateful because He has really been making 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 become clear to me. In my weaknesses, then I am strong THROUGH CHRIST!! I’m learning to depend more and more on Him, and He has been strengthening me through my weaknesses. I’m realizing how much I need Him, and how much I can do nothing for His Kingdom unless it is Him working through me. Oh, I am so grateful for this. God wants to use the tests, trials, and temptations that we go through. We can rejoice through these things because God uses them to sanctify us and point us to Him because we were never meant to live this life dependent on our own selves.\nI am done trying to live this life through my own strength. I quit. There is no point in doing it on my own. It is so tiring. I want God to work through me. Anything that I do through my own strength has no eternal value. I want God to reveal my weaknesses so that I can be strong through and in Him. A strength that has no limits! Living for Jesus is so much more joyful despite the depression, peaceful despite the chaos, loving despite the hate, and gracious despite the judgment. The world offers us temporary, artificial “happiness” and “love,” but God gives us the real deal. He gives us the goodness that lasts forever and never fails. There is no point in trying to do anything on my own anymore. I want to fully live for Him and Him alone.\n“And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”\n2 Corinthians 12:9-10\nThroughout this week, we had the privilege of providing people with COVID relief food and cleaning supplies. It was such a joy to see how relieved and grateful these people were that they now have food to feed their families and daily supplies to care for their needs.\nThank you for all of your support. The finances and prayer that you guys have generously supported me with has helped this happen. I was also able to just sit with people, get to know them, and talk to them about Jesus. I sat with Katrina and her sister Alejandra, in the image on the left, and I discovered that she is a believer! It is such a joy to meet another sister in Christ that lives in a different part of the world! We talked for awhile, most of the time being spent trying to understand each other because of the language barrier, but when we parted ways I felt like I knew her so well. I have the confidence in Christ that we will see each other again!\n“How sweet are Your words to my taste,\nSweeter than honey to my mouth!\nThrough your precepts I\nget understanding;\nTherefore I hate every false way.”\nPsalm 119:103-104\nOh this is my heart’s cry. I want to be so in love with Jesus that His words are SWEETER than honey to my taste. Above all, I want to just sit in His presence and meditate on Him. I want to just sit and worship Him. He is a Great and Mighty God and I am so amazed by how great His love is for us.\nI have been so spoiled with all of the teachings that pastors have prepared and given to us! God has used them to speak to my heart, and He is doing a work in me. He is changing me, stripping things from my heart, and making me more like Him. This week, I learned a lot about stepping into faith. That in order to fully put my faith and trust in God, I must have a deep and intimate relationship with Him. I must know Him. How can I trust God if I do not know His character? The more I know Him, the more faith I can have in Him. Next week, I will be returning from Mexico. I am praying about the next steps that God has for my life and He has been putting Bible college on my heart in order to be further equipped for the work that He has called me to. I have no idea how this could ever work as there are two different Bible college options, the financial deposit is due in five days, and I am currently working on the application. I don’t have the resources to get there or any clue how this will all come together in such a short amount of time, but I am stepping out in faith to see how God will move and direct me.\nThank you so much for partnering with me in prayer and financially. By God’s grace, my tuition for the School of Missions is fully paid!! I cannot thank you guys enough. You are all such a tremendous blessing. I am so grateful to have such great friends and family in Christ. I love you guys SO…much and I am praying for you!!! If you have any specific prayer requests, or any thoughts, please reply back! I would love to hear from you guys and pray specifically for any needs that you have!\nLove,\nSarah Box \u0026lt;3\n**Praise Reports:\n**-My School of Missions tuition is fully paid off!!\n-We have seen many people put their faith in Jesus and get saved!\n-God has been greatly working in all of our hearts and sanctifying us to be more like Him.\n**Prayer Requests:\n**-Please pray for the next season of my life; that God would clearly reveal His direction, if I am to go to Bible College or do something different, and that I would trust in Him to provide.\n-Please pray that in the last week at CSOM, the team and I would be strengthened in Christ and finish the school strong!\n-Please pray for those that have received Christ in Mexico; that they would continue to grow In Jesus and that others would come to know Him through them.\n-Please pray for me; that God’s Word would be sweeter than honey to my taste, that I would delight in Him above all else, and that I would grow more and more in love with Him every day.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/i-quit/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/box/wp-content/uploads/sites/123/2020/08/FDFBE581-4122-4D96-9518-51F0332B983E%5F1%5F201%5Fa-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhat an amazing week it has been! We have finished week five, and well, we are left with a bunch of forgiven sinners forever desperately in need of Jesus. As the weeks have gone on, we have all been stretched beyond our limits and this has only helped us to pull more into Jesus. God has been bringing out my weaknesses like never before and I am so grateful because He has really been making 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 become clear to me. In my weaknesses, then I am strong THROUGH CHRIST!! I’m learning to depend more and more on Him, and He has been strengthening me through my weaknesses. I’m realizing how much I need Him, and how much I can do nothing for His Kingdom unless it is Him working through me. Oh, I am so grateful for this. God wants to use the tests, trials, and temptations that we go through. We can rejoice through these things because God uses them to sanctify us and point us to Him because we were never meant to live this life dependent on our own selves.\u003cbr\u003e\nI am done trying to live this life through my own strength. I quit. There is no point in doing it on my own. It is so tiring. I want God to work through me. Anything that I do through my own strength has no eternal value. I want God to reveal my weaknesses so that I can be strong through and in Him. A strength that has \u003cstrong\u003eno limits\u003c/strong\u003e! Living for Jesus is so much more joyful despite the depression, peaceful despite the chaos, loving despite the hate, and gracious despite the judgment. The world offers us temporary, artificial “happiness” and “love,” but God gives us the real deal. He gives us the goodness that lasts forever and never fails. There is no point in trying to do anything on my own anymore. I want to fully live for Him and Him alone.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Quit!"},{"content":"– Week Five of CSOM –\nWe’ve finished our penultimate week at the School of Missions and what a sweet time of spiritual growth and fellowship it has been!\nThis past week we were able to serve at Calvary Chapel New Beginnings, Rancho Cuarenta, and attend Calvary Chapel Rosarito’s Church Planting conference. At CC New Beginnings, I was able to share my testimony again, and at Rancho Cuarenta, a small group and I went around the neighborhood to pray for people. The CCR Church Planting conference was also incredible, I really enjoyed listening to the various pastors share their experiences and wisdom.\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-W-i0g_hO6E0/XzHLfOquIUI/AAAAAAAAXfY/nPZ3ivvQp7QpyZG92sA5_t4ZL6aIBmbjwCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-08-10.jpg\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-A5urqF-1gYk/XzHQCfHHUwI/AAAAAAAAOoA/e87KI5eR_R02EahReqz29Sf9xFc2ga6gwCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-08-10.jpg\nSomething that God taught me last week was remaining faithful even when I don’t feel like it. Last Tuesday for me was definitely one of those days where I just wanted to curl up in a ball, hide underneath my covers, and pretend the outside world didn’t exist. I was tired both emotionally and physically, and the last thing I wanted was to go to our outreach with a bunch of people around me. But alas, I knew I had to go whether I felt like it or not. So as I headed off to the van, I decided to pray. God, will you take away my exhaustion and fill me with your Spirit so that I may work with a joyful heart? Lord, please redeem my weakness so that I may be useful to You today.\nWith that tired, but desperate prayer in my heart, I hopped off the van and went to see how I could serve at Calvary Chapel New Beginnings. Not too long into the outreach, my feelings of exhaustion and introversion began to ebb away. God is always faithful to answer our prayers when they are according to His will.\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-tMIVQ1H9IY4/XzG9omUVF6I/AAAAAAAAXeo/t-pDehS3uewIqavZc5s60nRyP629Sf2vQCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-08-10.jpg\nFunnily enough, the task I was given at the church was something entailing the exact opposite of what introverted and tired Lydia had wanted earlier that day. It was in fact, approaching strangers and sitting to talk with them. Ah, the introvert’s dream! Thankfully, God had graciously filled me with His strength and joy so that I was able to do what was asked wholeheartedly. And you know what? I really enjoyed it! Even though it was out of my comfort zone, I felt so blessed to be able to get to know some new people and pray for them.\nI got to meet one girl in particular who was very sweet. Her name was Karina and as another CSOM student and I were talking with her, I ended up having to use Google Translate for a few words I didn’t know. But Karina was so gracious and patient with us! We asked her if she wanted to get her nails painted or a play a game but with a smile all she replied was, “Me gusta platicar con ustedes.” She simply wanted to continue chatting with us despite our faulty Spanish.\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-X9JhXRqz_Us/XzG9oND2SlI/AAAAAAAAXek/UZfIr-B6_DgKxPVXeEcAMG5S85tEV1-1gCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-08-10.jpg\nGod is so good. He totally replaced my weakness with His strength. He replaced my exhaustion with His joy. He answered me in my time of need and redeemed it for His glory. I learned that in times when I don’t feel like remaining faithfully obedient, all I have to do is surrender my weakness to God and He will give me His strength.\n\\* \\* \\*\nThank you again for your prayers and financial support, I have been so so blessed to be here at the School of Missions. If you are interested in partnering with me financially, please click the link below. I still have about $500 dollars left to raise so your support would truly be very appreciated. Thank you so much for your prayers and considering being a partner with me for the furtherance of the gospel!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/when-you-dont-feel-like-going/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e– Week Five of CSOM –\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe’ve finished our penultimate week at the School of Missions and what a sweet time of spiritual growth and fellowship it has been!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past week we were able to serve at Calvary Chapel New Beginnings, Rancho Cuarenta, and attend Calvary Chapel Rosarito’s Church Planting conference. At CC New Beginnings, I was able to share my testimony again, and at Rancho Cuarenta, a small group and I went around the neighborhood to pray for people. The CCR Church Planting conference was also incredible, I really enjoyed listening to the various pastors share their experiences and wisdom.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"When You Don't Feel Like Going"},{"content":" He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.\nLUKE 23:5B\nWhat more can I say about our time in Mexico that I haven’t written to you already? As our time down here is wrapping up and I’m able to reflect on the last five weeks, some things stick out as poignant. Other lessons learned are harder to recognize, but will no doubt resurface when needed. We are being prepared for ministry like an outfitter prepares for a backcountry trek. How can you know what you’ll need for a journey you haven’t taken before? The Lord knows, and has added supplies to our pack that we won’t be able to identify until we need them. While I can’t tell you about those things, because they are beyond me, I can tell you about some things that we will definitely use in the future.\nWe (Alishia and I, and the other students as well) have been instilled with hearts for planting churches and making disciples. I believe that God’s plan for fulfilling the Great Commission is through discipleship, and that a local church body is essential in that process. My vision is to start a bible training school to raise up nationals, but how can they go out and plant churches if the aren’t having church modelled for them each week. So, we will plant a church, and it will be very difficult, but it is what we’re called to by our Savior and so we do it with joy and excitement.\nWe will adopt the culture of the people we’re serving. Ethnocentricity defeats the message of the gospel. God loves the people He’s sending us to, and they matter enough to Him that He wants us to go fight for their souls. If we are unwilling to become one of them, how can we possibly try to explain that Jesus became one of us. He is our example of what a missionary should be, fully foreign and yet He was fully integrated. We will take the time to learn the language and culture as quickly as possible, because we don’t want to have any hindrances to the gospel.\nWe will be passionate disciples of Jesus Christ. How can we make what we are not already ourselves? We must follow closer, abide more deeply, and obey more joyfully than we ever have before. We’re not missionaries or church planters, we are disciples first and foremost. We will be sacrificial, we will be relational, and we will be transformational! We will deny ourselves luxuries for sake of the gospel. We will create relationships with those around us that they might see the love of Christ through us. And we will assimilate to the culture around us that we might be able to preach the gospel in their context. We will be committed to prayer and meditating in God’s Word. We will be filled with the Holy Spirit, and we will love others because He first loved us.\nThere are several other things I could share, and probably will in the future, but these are the ones that first came to my mind. We had the opportunity to attend the Calvary Chapel Church Planting Conference 2020 this week as well. Two days of keynote speakers, church planter testimonies, and specific topic workshops. It was fantastic, we were able to connect with pastors from several countries who share our hearts for planting churches. Some committed to pray for us as we head for Japan, it’s amazing the people that God has put us in contact with the last three years.\nThank you for your continued prayers as well. Alishia and I plan to start language classes this fall. Please pray for the right program to be made available to us and for provision financially to pay for them.\nPraise Report:\nThe Lord continues to lead us one step at a time. We have made connections with amazing missionaries and pastors. We have been healthy and safe down here in Mexico. Prayer Requests:\nFor Japan to open up soon so we can go on a vision trip. For strength, energy, and health to finish strong here in Mexico. For financial provision as we continue to follow the Lord’s leading. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/stirring-up-the-people/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLUKE 23:5B\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat more can I say about our time in Mexico that I haven’t written to you already? As our time down here is wrapping up and I’m able to reflect on the last five weeks, some things stick out as poignant. Other lessons learned are harder to recognize, but will no doubt resurface when needed. We are being prepared for ministry like an outfitter prepares for a backcountry trek. How can you know what you’ll need for a journey you haven’t taken before? The Lord knows, and has added supplies to our pack that we won’t be able to identify until we need them. While I can’t tell you about those things, because they are beyond me, I can tell you about some things that we will definitely use in the future.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Stirring Up the People"},{"content":"Hello from Rosarito once again. I realize I’m probably the only one counting the weeks here (well, besides my mom), but yeah week five is down, and I have just one more to go. You know, at the beginning of this year I never would have thought that I’d be living in Mexico for six weeks in the middle of what could be considered the first ever worldwide lockdown. That’s one for the books!\nWeek five was filled with a lot of amazing people, people who know God’s calling on their lives and are pursuing it wholeheartedly. We were taught from two different teachers, who each have devoted the majority of their lives to go to the mission field. You can bet they had a lot of good things to say, but at this school, teachers like this are pretty much the norm…so what made this week any different? At the end of the week, we attended Calvary Chapel Rosarito’s 2020 Church Planting Conference. As I looked around the room I was amazed to see the room filled with people who have devoted their lives to building the awesome Kingdom of God and not the small kingdoms of their own lives.\nAs I looked around I realized: Most of these people probably love God more than I do. Most of these people are probably more obedient to God than I am.\nThis realization has been a repeating occurrence at this school but kinda just hit me hard at the conference seeing so many people all gathered together at once – pastors, missionaries, those starting new churches, and those sacrificing all to go help them – it’s humbling, encouraging, and challenging all at the same time. John 14:15 says, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” And that’s what I saw at the conference – a room full of people who love God and are simply being obedient to God’s call on their lives. I want to be numbered among that crowd!\nAmong all the great, godly people I’ve met, learned from, and heard about these past few weeks, what they all have in common is this: They’ve all admitted to failure, they’ve all confessed they’re so far from perfect, and they’ve all praised God in our presence that God would actually use them to do anything good for Him. Sounds like a great group of people right? God thinks so. Yes full of mistakes, yes far from prefect, yet humble, faithful, and obedient. God make me like this!\nIncluded in this week were two more amazing community outreaches. The first outreach we did was at a church, and it was the first event that church had had since the COVID lockdown. One of the men who attended and heard the Gospel message repented of his sins that day and believed in Jesus Christ! Praise God!\nAt the other outreach, we did manual labor serving with our hands at the house of a lady named Sulyma. She had recently returned to a relationship with Christ, and so we wanted to show her what the love of Christ looks like in action. She needed trenches dug for a wall and rocks to be taken from the nearby riverbed to build the foundation of the wall. Even though we were only there for a couple of hours, our group of 25 or so put in SO many hours of man power, it would have taken her husband WEEKS to find the time, and will power, to do what we were able to do in such a short amount of time. That’s not a pat on our back, that’s a thanks to God for opening the door to help Sulyma and her family in this way. Sulyma was so thankful to God and to us, and we were thankful to be the hands and feet of Jesus that day. Pray for the salvation of her husband.\nLove you all! I pray God is speaking to you during this unique time in our lives. I haven’t been checking the news at all and don’t know what’s going on back home, but I pray God’s voice is louder in your life than all the other voices. Thank you for reading, thank you for your interest and investment in my life, you all are a blessing and gift from God to me.\nWith much love,\nSpencer Pierschbacher\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/som-week-5-they-all-love-god-more-than-me/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello from Rosarito once again. I realize I’m probably the only one counting the weeks here (well, besides my mom), but yeah week five is down, and I have just one more to go. You know, at the beginning of this year I never would have thought that I’d be living in Mexico for six weeks in the middle of what could be considered the first ever worldwide lockdown. That’s one for the books!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SOM Week 5: They All Love God More Than Me!"},{"content":"I recently read this quote from a book of mission quotes compiled by Marvin J. Newell called Expect Great Things. I think it would do us all good to read it and adopt the heart it speaks of.\nDuring the last world war, on the Gold Coast of Africa, there lived an elderly African man who had honorably served his Majesty’s government and had been given a small pension. With it he retired to the hills to farm. One day while he was working with his hoe, he heard a message come by drumbeat across the jungle forest. He stopped to listen and to translate it for himself. He learned that a Great War had begun and that his Majesty’s government was in great need of help. About a week later at the little ramshackle post office down on the coast, the postmaster processed a grimy little postcard on which this eloquent message was written, “Your Majesty, I am coming.” May God hear that from hundreds of hearts today; “Here am I, send me.”\nWarren Webster (WW1)\nAt Saving Grace World Missions, we desire to minister with that attitude of surrender and availability and to train up those whose hearts echo that cry. Calvary School of Missions is a program the Lord birthed out of our ministry to equip called individuals for the work of full-time ministry in a foreign context. This month was a month of incredible growth and sanctification for our 11 students and there are still two weeks to go!\nI have had the privilege of facilitating the School from the office and would love to share a few highlights I’ve read in the students’ weekly updates.\nLast week the students learned about the 3 billion people of the world who have no access to the Bible, Churches, or Christians and this is what Spencer Pierschbacher had to say, “Class time this week was very heavy and eye-opening. We were learning about the state of the gospel in the world and the fact that there are still 3 billion people in the world who do not have access to it. What does that mean? They cannot even make the decision to accept or reject Jesus because they don’t even have access to that message. It’s not, “They don’t want to be Christian”, it’s “They don’t even have the ability to be Christian.” Does that rock you? It rocks me. It troubles me. It hurts me. I pray God sends me one day, but for now I know what He’s asking me to do.”\nThe students have been stirred up and brokenhearted for the lost people of the world even more than they were when they started the school and that’s exactly what we want! We wanted to further spur them on into the call that God has for them and show them the urgency of this task we’ve all been given. The School is designed to identify and catalyze the call of God upon future missionaries and we in the office are so excited to read the weekly updates as the Lord does just that.\nThe students and staff of this year’s School have also conducted weekly COVID outreaches in the communities around them in Mexico. These outreaches have included arts, crafts, and games for kids, short messages shared by students, food distribution, and manual labor. The outreaches are essential for the students to put into practice all that they learn in the classroom, but, more than that, they’re essential for people’s eternal souls! We’re seeing many people put their faith in Christ through these events! You can read all of the student updates for yourself on the CSOM page of our website.\nI have been preparing the office to receive some of these soon-to-be School of Missions Alumni as SGWM Interns where they will continue to be discipled and equipped for full-time mission work wherever the Lord would call them. I have been working with our department head, Pastor Tim Pappas, to further develop our training program and overall internship based on the things we learned from our pilot year in 2019. We are so excited to see which of our students the Lord has called as interns for the next year!\nIt is such a privilege to partner with these zealous future missionaries as they answer the call to go on behalf of the Gospel and as they daily cry out, “Here am I, send me.”\nThank you for partnering with me in this work of preparing them, sending them, and supporting them.\nPrayer Requests Please keep our students and staff in Mexico in your prayers!\nPlease pray that the Lord would separate out those He has chosen for the Internship.\nPlease pray for the Lord’s provision as SGWM continues to bring COVID relief around the world.\nPraise Reports I am a married woman! Our wedding was a blessing and NO ONE got sick! We made sure that Christ was the main focus and that the Gospel went forth.\nWe are seeing fruit from last year’s School of Missions and Intern program (a year of sowing for us, many years of sowing for God) as several of our alumni/interns are preparing to launch into the field.\nI got to share the Gospel with many unsaved family members and friends at my uncle’s Celebration of Life.\nBelow are some photos from some of our missionaries’ updates this month that I would like to share as praise reports.\nThe [Harris family](/blog/news/july-2020/) in Uganda saw God feed 60,000 hungry people over the last four months, all of whom were given the Gospel message, through their ministry with Business As Missions Enterprises. They have also seen the Lord bring many new believers into the fold this month. Please read t [heir latest update](/blog/news/july-2020/)! COVID relief in the 10/40 window has continued to be made possible through your donations! SGWM was able to send the funds to our missionaries who were then able to feed this hungry village and share the Gospel. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/your-majesty-i-am-coming/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI recently read this quote from a book of mission quotes compiled by Marvin J. Newell called \u003cem\u003eExpect Great Things\u003c/em\u003e. I think it would do us all good to read it and adopt the heart it speaks of.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the last world war, on the Gold Coast of Africa, there lived an elderly African man who had honorably served his Majesty’s government and had been given a small pension. With it he retired to the hills to farm. One day while he was working with his hoe, he heard a message come by drumbeat across the jungle forest. He stopped to listen and to translate it for himself. He learned that a Great War had begun and that his Majesty’s government was in great need of help. About a week later at the little ramshackle post office down on the coast, the postmaster processed a grimy little postcard on which this eloquent message was written, “Your Majesty, I am coming.” May God hear that from hundreds of hearts today; “Here am I, send me.”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\"Your Majesty, I Am Coming\""},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIsn’t the world we live in strange? How many of us could have ever guessed we would be facing this pandemic that has come crashing into all of our lives? The world is changing day by day, but God remains on His throne and God’s calling for Christians and missionaries and the church remains unchanged. We are to reach people with the love of Jesus!\nThis past month, we have been blessed to have our congregation returning as we practice safe social distancing services. Even though our attendance has been much smaller (currently around 50%) we have been once again seeing weekly professions of faith. A special highlight was having the privilege of baptizing 12 new believers at our church’s July baptism. We hadn’t had baptisms in 5 months, and it was amazing to get back to it, although baptizing people with a mask on was a new experience!\nTo help us adjust to the new normal of church online, we were blessed to finish our church’s new recording studio! This 2nd story sanctuary addition serves two purposes.\n#1- Our studio is being used for special bible studies, announcements, and our new “Today’s Good News” 5-minute daily devotional series available to view on our Youtube Channel!\n#2- Our new studio is where our video team live-streams our services.\nEven though finances were tight, our church was able to invest in new cameras and a new audio and video setup, all in an effort to help our viewers enjoy a better live-stream experience. If you ever want to tune in, we are streaming our main services on Facebook live and Youtube on Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm and Sunday mornings at 9 am!\nIn July, I was blessed to teach at two missions schools that stepped out in faith and decided to continue even with the pandemic. First off, my sending church (Calvary Chapel Saving Grace) has their Missions school down here this summer. These 15 students are on fire, and ready to be sent out for what God has called them to do!\nI am also teaching this week at the Calvary Training Centers (Tijuana) annual church planting school! The young adults in this class are open and desiring to be sent out to church plant in Mexico. It’s always a blessing when I get to step outside of our church family to pour into the new generation of believers that God is building up!\nI would also like to ask you to pray for our upcoming international church planting conference on August 7th and 8th! We have friends flying in from all over the USA and Mexico to be stirred up and learn all about God’s heart for church planting. We are stepping out in faith and having this conference and praying that God doesn’t only protect us, but He speaks to each heart in attendance!\nFinally, I want to thank each one of you that partner with us in the ministry! With the economic difficulties we are facing in today’s world, we have understandably had several supporters that are not able to continue partnering with us financially as their missionaries. This reminded me of the sacrifices that you are making to partner with us. Please know that we are extremely thankful for your partnership, and we pray often for you! THANK YOU!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would provide for our family’s needs, and raise up 3 new financial partners to cover our friends that are no longer able to continue!\n#2- That God would bless our upcoming church planting conference (August 7th and 8th) and 25th church plant to Guatemala!\n#3- That God would allow us to open up our church doors again in a safe manner!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God that we were able to finish our new audio/video studio!\n#2- Praise God for the 12 July baptisms at the church!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button, and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-august-2020-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/07/109375269%5F301117257758217%5F4593703787980051402%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIsn’t the world we live in strange? How many of us could have ever guessed we would be facing this pandemic that has come crashing into all of our lives? The world is changing day by day, but God remains on His throne and God’s calling for Christians and missionaries and the church remains unchanged. We are to reach people with the love of Jesus!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/07/110107431%5F325376978597161%5F5188643548872194519%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month, we have been blessed to have our congregation returning as we practice safe social distancing services. Even though our attendance has been much smaller \u003cem\u003e(currently around 50%)\u003c/em\u003e we have been once again seeing weekly professions of faith. A special highlight was having the privilege of baptizing 12 new believers at our church’s July baptism. We hadn’t had baptisms in 5 months, and it was amazing to get back to it, although baptizing people with a mask on was a new experience!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family August 2020 Missions Update"},{"content":" Time is flying!\nWe have had a lot of great opportunities to continue to grow and serve here in Mexico. Thank you so much for being part of what God is doing. He’s using your prayers and support in so many ways. The unity between our team has been so great. I look forward to how these relationships will grow over the next two weeks. To be around like-minded people who love Jesus and want to make Him known is such a blessing.\nBecoming A Student of Culture\nLast week I was reminded of the spiritual war we find ourselves in as Christians. This world is filled with darkness and we have the antidote. We have Jesus and we have the amazing opportunity to tell people about Him. There are a lot of ways that the Lord has been breaking my heart for the lost. Did you know that there are about 17,000 unique people groups on this earth, and 7,000 of them have not been reached with the Gospel? That means that they don’t even have access to it. To put this into perspective, there are 1,000 churches for every 1 unreached people group. If more churches made it their goal to reach the unreached, then we could reach them in this lifetime! In regards to reaching them, I was also able to see how big of a barrier culture can be. With the Lord’s help, and a lot of patience we can reach communities all around the world for Jesus. People are headed toward a Christ-less eternity, and we have the answer. I believe the Lord has been stirring up my heart greatly for the unreached, and wherever He leads I will gladly go.\n“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!’” -Romans 10:14-15 (NKJV)\nChrist Is Gain\nAt both of our outreaches this week we were able to bring the Gospel, and food relief for around 60 families. We prepared games and lessons for the kiddos and shared testimonies and the Gospel with the adults. It was a really sweet time to build relationships with some of the people in these communities. At our first outreach, there was a little boy named Josué that I got to connect with while playing fútball (soccer). It was really great to see the smiles on the kids\u0026rsquo; faces as they played and had a good time with our team. At our second outreach on the Kumuyey tribe’s reservation, we got to meet a little boy named Abraham. He had been stung by a bee, and we were able to talk, help, pray with him, and one of our leaders, Bryan, was able to share with him about where his name comes from in the Bible. Please be praying for the Kumuyey as the pastor who served them died about a week ago. Right now there is a young man named Angel there in his place; please be praying for him, and also for someone to come out full-time and love and serve the group of believers there.\nHow To Get Involved\nWhen we go on outreach we are going to give people Jesus, but our hope, flowing out of that, is to meet physical needs as well. If you would like to be a blessing as we continue, then please indicate that under the note section when giving. If you would like to partner with me in seeking to bring Jesus to those who do not know Him and feel led to give, you can do that through the giving link as well. Again, the greatest need is prayer. Would you please pray:\nFor continued unity For boldness to proclaim the Gospel and meet people where they are at For a burden to reach those who do not know Him For us to be Jesus’ hands and feet while we are here For wisdom and discernment as we go out For continued provision For the Lord to continue to make callings clear For health, safety, and protection as we finish out our time here With all of this said, I’d love to hear how you guys are doing and how I can be praying for you!\n“And see, now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. But none of these things move me; nor do I count my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.” -Acts 20:22-24 (NKJV)\nBlessings,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/none-of-these-things-move-me/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/voisin/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2020/08/81B81627-6F2E-4F75-9985-0644D2E92C34.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTime is flying!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have had a lot of great opportunities to continue to grow and serve here in Mexico. Thank you so much for being part of what God is doing. He’s using your prayers and support in so many ways. The unity between our team has been so great. I look forward to how these relationships will grow over the next two weeks. To be around like-minded people who love Jesus and want to make Him known is such a blessing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"None of These Things Move Me"},{"content":"Romans 10:14-15, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”\nHold on to your seats because I am going to share some information with you that has forever altered the course of my life. Did you know that there are more than 3 Billion people in the world that have never heard the Gospel? The definition of an “Unreached” person is one who does not have access to a Bible, a church or have any Christian influence in their community. As soon as I heard that so many people in the world die without even being given a chance to hear the Gospel, I knew I had to be a part of the solution. Now that I know about the “Unreached” people groups of the world, I can’t turn a blind eye to this knowledge. The numbers are staggering but through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be a part of God’s saving grace to a perishing world.\n“We should not underestimate the significance of the small group of people who have a vision of a just and gentle world. The quality of a whole culture may be changed when two percent of its people have a new vision.”\nRobert Bellah, Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University.\nWe had the awesome opportunity to go into a remote area to share with the Kumuyey people living on a reservation in the desolate hills. Victor and Sonia Mayoral were called by God to bring hope and love to these awesome people more than 20 years ago. It was a bittersweet experience because the pastor of the area had just recently gone to be with the Lord. But I witnessed God using us to be an encouragement and a breath of fresh air to those that felt forgotten. Through your prayers and financial support, we were able to bless the people with large bags of food and cleaning supplies. It was my joy to share with a group of young girls and see their hunger to learn more about Jesus and His great sacrifice for all people.\nIn our classes this week the Lord used Caleb Beller (pastor of Calvary Chapel Fullerton) and many other people to encourage me through God’s Word that I am walking in God’s will. He shared the following verses that specifically stated the words “God’s will” in the text:\n1 Thessalonians 4:3- Sanctification- That we become more like Jesus 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18- Always rejoice, pray and be grateful 1 Peter 2:13-15- Respecting authority That alone was enough for me, but God goes above what we can ask or think. God allows trials in our lives because He loves us and wants to build our character. One of my favorite sayings is, “You choose if this will make you bitter or better.” He also emphasized that team unity and being a support to your Senior pastor is absolutely critical. I will leave you with this quote, “When you align yourself with God’s purpose you will see His protection, provision, and power in your life.\u0026quot;\nFor more information detailed statistics that would blow your mind and break your heart please visit www.joshuaproject.net.\nMust see videos:\nReaching the Unreached: https://youtu.be/eIDraNUGerE\nTears of the Saints: https://youtu.be/VtQbzRmmMfk\nThe Lord is using your prayers and financial support to further His Kingdom and bring hope to His people through the preaching and teaching of His word.\nPrayer Requests:\nUnreached people of the world Which people group God would send me to share the Gospel A new pastor for the Kumeyey people Victor and Sonia Mayoral (empowerment to serve His people) Praise Reports:\nGod’s faithfulness and provision (my tuition is fully paid) Seeing God’s hand moving in my life and for all the students Knowing I am in the center of God’s will Peace knowing God has my future in His hands ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/how-is-this-possible/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eRomans 10:14-15, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHold on to your seats because I am going to share some information with you that has forever altered the course of my life. Did you know that there are more than 3 Billion people in the world that have never heard the Gospel? The definition of an “Unreached” person is one who does not have access to a Bible, a church or have any Christian influence in their community. As soon as I heard that so many people in the world die without even being given a chance to hear the Gospel, I knew I had to be a part of the solution. Now that I know about the “Unreached” people groups of the world, I can’t turn a blind eye to this knowledge. The numbers are staggering but through the power of the Holy Spirit, we can be a part of God’s saving grace to a perishing world.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"How Is This Possible?"},{"content":"Every week here at school has been great, but this past week was a confirming week for me. For so long I’ve said, “I want to be a missionary”, but with that desire came so many doubts, worries, and fears. And so since I’ve graduated college, I’ve really been dancing around the idea of being a missionary. But these doubts, worries, and fears are not of God, and I know I cannot settle for anything other than what God is calling me to do because eternity has been planted too deep in my mind and heart.\nSo this week God confirmed that the next step for me after the school of missions is to go back to my church and be faithful to build up the missions ministry there, stir up the church body to be involved in missions, learn the Bible more, and make disciples in the ways I can where I am. It’s such a simple call, I’m the one who complicates things. What am I going to do about the teaching credential I was pursuing? I don’t know. Will the church get excited more about missions? I don’t know. How do I build a successful missions program? I don’t know. There are so many things I don’t know, but thank you, Jesus, the more I don’t know the more room I have to step out in faith.\nClass time this week was very heavy and eye-opening. We were learning about the state of the gospel in the world and the fact that there are still 3 billion people in the world who do not have access to it. What does that mean? They cannot even make the decision to accept or reject Jesus because they don’t even have access to that message. It’s not, “They don’t want to be Christian”, it’s “They don’t even have the ability to be Christian.” Does that rock you? It rocks me. It troubles me. It hurts me. I pray God sends me one day, but for now I know what He’s asking me to do.\nOutside of class, one of the highlights of the week was an outreach among the Kumeyaay tribe deep in the hills of Baja. I was asked to share a message from the Bible at the outreach, and it went very well. I taught on Matthew 6:19-21 with the message: “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” I encouraged and challenged everyone there, even myself, with this simple message, and I encourage and challenge you as well: Will you choose to treasure the things of this world? Or will you choose to treasure God above all else?\nAfter we got back home, I was encouraged to hear this story from the outreach: One of our leaders at the school, Aaron, was talking to a man after the Bible message. This man, named Lino, almost didn’t come to the outreach. He was really debating in himself whether he should attend or not, but in the end, decided he should. During the worship songs and the message he knew God was speaking to him because God had previously been part of his life but unfortunately, he had started drinking again and was caught up in that lifestyle. He said he had been letting his life go to waste. After talking with Aaron, Lino decided to recommit his life to Jesus. Praise God!\nThank you for being faithful to read my updates. Every week I send these out I don’t know who reads them and who doesn’t, but I just pray that each update would encourage you and stir you up, even just a little, for the things of God and for eternity. Please continue to pray for the Holy Spirit’s unity among our group, for more lives to be impacted by our outreaches, for an end to the evil COVID virus, and that the last two weeks of the school be saturated in good things that the Lord has planned.\nWith much love,\nSpencer\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/som-week-4-eternity-in-mind/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eEvery week here at school has been great, but this past week was a confirming week for me. For so long I’ve said, “I want to be a missionary”, but with that desire came so many doubts, worries, and fears. And so since I’ve graduated college, I’ve really been dancing around the idea of being a missionary. But these doubts, worries, and fears are not of God, and I know I cannot settle for anything other than what God is calling me to do because eternity has been planted too deep in my mind and heart.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SOM Week 4: Eternity in Mind"},{"content":"WEEK 4 CSOM\nHello friends,\nMy oh my, how quickly time flew by this week. Much and many thanks for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support during my time at Calvary School of Missions.\nThis has been a week of reflection and seeking God’s heart. I don’t even know how to begin putting into words all the things I’ve been learning but they’re so important I want to try. God has constantly been speaking truth and life into me while I’ve been here. He’s told me that I am precious to Him, that I am valuable. Who am I that the great God of heaven loves me? Values me? I’m overwhelmed by Him. He also began showing me through His word that He is relational, how He just wants to be worshipped, to be loved wholeheartedly, and to be praised faithfully. He gives us so many promises of never leaving us alone when we walk through the hardest of trials. He is always there with us. God’s heart is so…big! He wants Everyone to know him, NO ONE is left out!!! To be truly loved is to be loved by God. With all this stirring inside me, how can I not feel this burning desire to share this amazing love with everyone? My heart breaks at the thought of anyone not knowing this love, the free gift of salvation. I feel like I’ve just come to life, breathing new air, seeing the world with new eyes. I want to stand on salvation as I step out on to the crazy waters of life, eyes fixed on Jesus, and share the love of God with all. My heart is for all the lost and broken-hearted to be found and loved like never before.\nOn Tuesday we headed to Rancho Cuarenta to share encouragement, COVID relief, and the sweet gospel. I was drawn to Julia Maria, a woman with a kind smile and sweet countenance. She looked a little taken back by everything going on so I started to talk with her. It was a sweet time of sharing testimonies but the air got thicker when she talked about her son. Her heart seemed to lose hope as she told me her son Jesús doesn’t know Jesus Christ. I listened as Ana shared her heart with me and so much of God’s love for her came rushing through me. I asked to pray for her son and she seemed so moved at the offer. Together we prayed for her son’s salvation with the hope that God will do a work in his life.\nI left that conversation knowing that God’s heart breaks for every heart that doesn’t know Him. “Break my heart for what breaks yours” has been my prayer this week and wow how my heart breaks.\nPraise Reports:\nPraise Jesus for continued unity within our group! Feels like family! Gracias Dios for continued health and safety! Thank You Jesus for always being faithful to provide for me!! Prayer Requests:\nPlease pray for Ana’s son Jesús that he would come to know the Lord. For unity to continue to flow within our group Health and safety always Pray that God blesses our times of rest and renews our strength Faith that my Father in Heaven will continue to provide for me Please send me Your prayer requests, I’d love to pray with you as you pray for me. I am so blessed by you who’ve come on this journey and partnered with me financially. I am over halfway there and so encouraged by how the Lord provides! God is amazing, Amen? If you’d like to partner with me in this way here is my giving link: https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2?giftid=83041BC3D9644E1\nAll the blessings,\nGabrielle\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/break-my-heart-for-what-breaks-yours/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWEEK 4 CSOM\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy oh my, how quickly time flew by this week. Much and many thanks for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support during my time at Calvary School of Missions.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/romero/wp-content/uploads/sites/126/2020/08/117225193%5F1732666106897630%5F5876965224839435229%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis has been a week of reflection and seeking God’s heart. I don’t even know how to begin putting into words all the things I’ve been learning but they’re so important I want to try. God has constantly been speaking truth and life into me while I’ve been here. He’s told me that I am precious to Him, that I am valuable. Who am I that the great God of heaven loves me? Values me? I’m overwhelmed by Him. He also began showing me through His word that He is relational, how He just wants to be worshipped, to be loved wholeheartedly, and to be praised faithfully. He gives us so many promises of never leaving us alone when we walk through the hardest of trials. He is always there with us. God’s heart is so…big! He wants Everyone to know him, NO ONE is left out!!! To be truly loved is to be loved by God. With all this stirring inside me, how can I not feel this burning desire to share this amazing love with everyone? My heart breaks at the thought of anyone not knowing this love, the free gift of salvation. I feel like I’ve just come to life, breathing new air, seeing the world with new eyes. I want to stand on salvation as I step out on to the crazy waters of life, eyes fixed on Jesus, and share the love of God with all. My heart is for all the lost and broken-hearted to be found and loved like never before.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Break My Heart For What Breaks Yours"},{"content":" “And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I build on another man’s foundation, but as it is written: ‘To whom He was not announced, they shall see; and those who have not heard shall understand.’”\nRomans 15:20-21\nIt’s Rachel again! Thank you for being a part of the work the Lord is doing at the School of Missions through your prayers and support! This week was so incredible that I am honestly overwhelmed as I sit to write this update. The Lord met me this week in a way I’ve never experienced before!\nIn the U.S., we live in a Christian-saturated culture. I am willing to bet that if you were to take a map of the 20-mile radius of your home and drop a pin on every church in the area, the map would be riddled with dots. If someone in America was curious about Christ, the odds are that he knows someone who can share the gospel with him: a family member, co-worker, or friend. This is awesome because people who are living a life in sin have access to the great message of the gospel, and have an opportunity to respond!\nThe world’s population is currently somewhere around 7.5 billion. Approximately 3.5 billion people live in a country similar to the one I illustrated above. But, what about the other 4 billion people?\nThose 4 billion people do not live in Christian-dominated cultures, and 3 billion of those people live in places with even less Christian influence. In most of these places, less than 2% of the population identifies as Christian. This means that approximately 3 billion people today have never heard a single word of the gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe (Romans 1:16). Jesus is the living water. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father but through Him— and 3 billion people live unto death and die unto hell because they don’t get the chance to respond to the gospel. What an injustice! They don’t even hear it once!\nThey are called the Unreached.\nI was struck with this reality full-force in class this week and Romans 15:21 comforted me. God knows. God sees each individual person among the Unreached. He sees the bondage of idolatry. He sees the depths of sin. Yet He is not passive. His heart is to see them brought back to Himself through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and His chosen tool is the Church(Matt. 28:18-20; John 17:18; Acts 10).\nWhere do you think the gospel needs to go? Are we going to rethink our Spirit-led calling?\nThis is why I am at the School of Missions, and why I am writing this to you today. I, like Paul, desire to make it my ambition to take the gospel to people who don’t have access to it. He’s worth it. His praise among the nations is worth it.\nMay love compel our hearts to meet the Unreached, and present this gift of grace. Freely we have received, may we also give with the same abandon.\nMay the Lord build you up and encourage you in the gospel of Christ, and lead you into opportunities to share the message of salvation with others. I pray, Lord, in the years we have left, use our lives for Your glory to bring the gospel where it is needed the most.\nPraise reports:\nThe Lord is equipping us and setting us alight for His glory among the Unreached nations. The Lord is so, so good. The Lord desires to refine us so that we can be used to bring others to Him. Prayer requests:\n“The harvest is truly plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Matt. 9:37-38. If you are interested in partnering with me financially as I follow the Lord’s call to go to the nations, you can click the link below. Your prayers are deeply valued, and your love is cherished, all to the glory to the Lord!\nIn Christ,\nRachel\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/the-greatest-injustice-the-unreached/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I build on another man’s foundation, but as it is written: ‘To whom He was not announced, they shall see; and those who have not heard shall understand.’”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRomans 15:20-21\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s Rachel again! Thank you for being a part of the work the Lord is doing at the School of Missions through your prayers and support! This week was so incredible that I am honestly overwhelmed as I sit to write this update. The Lord met me this week in a way I’ve never experienced before!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Greatest Injustice: The Unreached"},{"content":"“It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High. To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night… For you, O Lord have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.” Psalm 92: 1-2,4. This COVID season has brought about poverty and hunger here in Uganda. Because of the temporary shut down of businesses and schools, we can see the effects of the declined economy everywhere we look. People are getting thinner and thinner. There is also a spiritual poverty that came with the shut down of churches, and people are getting dryer and dryer. But God is on the move bringing provision to the desperate and giving a tremendous hunger for Himself during these trying times.\nJuly 31st marked the end of our food distribution program. Our team at BAM (Business As Mission) Enterprises had been working literally day and night to produce the quantity of food that was being given at our distribution points. For the last 4 months, we have had volunteers handing out food to people pre-approved by the local government. Each food package consisted of more than 30lbs of food, and everyone who received the package also had the Gospel preached to them. By the hand of God, and by your support, we managed to feed more than 60,000 desperate people! And so many people were getting saved that it became difficult to keep track of! During that same time, we were also distributing food to our in-patients, and we had certain medicines at discounted prices at our clinic.\nWe have also seen the effects spiritually. I have seen the results of increased domestic abuse and have personally stopped 2 cases of violence. Suicide and teen pregnancy are on the rise, and hopelessness is through the roof. But God is good and His Word has still been going out through tiny fellowships for these last 4 months. I want to share a testimony of what God is doing through the fellowships in our own home…\nA few weeks ago two teenage boys from our village were led to our house by a good friend of mine to fellowship with us. They quickly told me that God had been convicting them of their sinful lifestyles and that they wanted to repent and be saved. After they had gotten saved and we had ended the service, one of them asked if we could preach at his home the following week, and that his family was also ready to get saved. When the next weekend came, one of those teenagers brought another of his friends to pray with us and he also got saved. After finishing the fellowships at our house that day we went to the first boy\u0026rsquo;s home and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. By the grace of God, almost the whole family came to salvation. This week another of our neighbors brought my family to visit her family home in a neighboring village. As her family gathered (nearly 30 people), we quickly saw that they too were in desperate need of hearing the Gospel. So I asked them to find a translator for us. We walked them through John 3:16-20, and our neighbor, her mother, her sister, her brother and her mother in law (the local witch doctor) all repented and believed. We left them with instructions to be meeting together to read the Bible and pray, and also to reach out to the other family members in love and patience. And now we are awaiting this coming Wednesday, to honor the invitation to preach the gospel at that third boy\u0026rsquo;s home.\nPlease pray for us as we are trying to prepare for our furlough, and as we continue to proclaim the Gospel. Pray for those ones who were saved, that they would grow even during this time of little church direction, and also for their families.\nIn Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline \u0026amp; Noah ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/july-2020/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"it-is-good-to-give-thanks-to-the-lord-and-to-sing-praises-to-your-name-o-most-high-to-declare-your-lovingkindness-in-the-morning-and-your-faithfulness-by-night-for-you-o-lord-have-made-me-glad-by-what-you-have-done-i-will-sing-for-joy-at-the-works-of-your-hands-psalm-92-1-24\"\u003e“It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High.  To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and Your faithfulness by night… For you, O Lord have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.”  Psalm 92: 1-2,4.\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2020/08/FE95C46A-9FAC-442E-8983-A9E5E9D41657.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis COVID season has brought about poverty and hunger here in Uganda.  Because of the temporary shut down of businesses and schools, we can see the effects of the declined economy everywhere we look.  People are getting thinner and thinner.  There is also a spiritual poverty that came with the shut down of churches, and people are getting dryer and dryer.  But God is on the move bringing provision to the desperate and giving a tremendous hunger for Himself during these trying times.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"July 2020"},{"content":" Hello Family and Friends,\nFirst I want to say thank you for partnering with me in prayer. This trip has been such a blessing and encouragement to me! God has been doing a work in my heart as He is teaching me to be more of a disciple of Christ. In the books that we have been reading this week, God has been speaking to me about things that have been going through my mind and heart and revealing to me that they’re vulnerable spots in my life that I haven’t given to Him. Also, he’s been showing me that I need to give up some of my old habits that are part of my culture and focus more on being a person that is willing to adjust to different circumstances.\nDuring the week we visited Calpilla Calvario Rancho Santa Cruz where we did children’s ministry, shared testimonies, and helped move bricks for the church building. As we were staring the children’s ministry, I noticed this little boy, around two years old, who wouldn’t stop crying as his dad was trying to leave. I then went up to him and started to play around with a ball and make funny faces to him. And surprisingly he started to calm down. His dad put him down as the boy began to play with the ball. After multiple times trying his dad was finally able to leave and attend the service. The boy then got sad again and went to his sister crying to her. When we were starting to sing the songs he eventually stopped crying. I was just happy that he stopped crying, but when I thought about the whole situation God was telling me something. God was telling me that when we are sad or going through a tough time He is there. You see the songs we were singing had to do with God’s overflowing love for us and during this song, the boy stopped crying. Just like that little boy, we can be sad but his love for us never ends and is overflowing.\nI miss you all so much! Please continue to pray for our school of missions here in Mexico. In the landscape of this place, hearts are being transformed, including mine. We have three more weeks to glean from pastors, missionaries, and local church plants. Three more weeks to minister to those in these communities. I covet your prayers and support as I seek to become a disciple of Christ and make disciples.\nClick the link to partner financially with me. God has more in store for the coming year, and I am so thrilled to see what He will accomplish in and through my life.\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DA3FC4FE968E47C\nPraise Report:\nOur team was able to cross borders to reach San Vicente The group has great unity and works well together We’ve had the privilege of praying for many people Prayer Request:\nPray I would be focused and receive all the teachings Pray for our outreach to the Kumiai Tribe Pray for safe travels for our team Pray for seeds of the gospel to be sown in the hearts of many Blessings,\nSienna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/disciple-of-christ/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/siennasedillos/wp-content/uploads/sites/129/2020/07/fullsizeoutput%5F2d.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello Family and Friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst I want to say thank you for partnering with me in prayer. This trip has been such a blessing and encouragement to me! God has been doing a work in my heart as He is teaching me to be more of a disciple of Christ. In the books that we have been reading this week, God has been speaking to me about things that have been going through my mind and heart and revealing to me that they’re vulnerable spots in my life that I haven’t given to Him. Also, he’s been showing me that I need to give up some of my old habits that are part of my culture and focus more on being a person that is willing to adjust to different circumstances.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Disciple of Christ"},{"content":" The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.\nPSALM 18:2 NKJV\nPraise God for the salvation which Christ brings during dark nights and long days! For a long time, I have been trying to pursue a relationship with Christ by doing good works. I’ve sensed His presence through the work that I have done, and seen good fruits from it, but it’s always been a push and pull relationship with God. During this last week, God laid it on my heart to really seek Him out and pray about my relationship with Him, and it put me between a Rock and a hard place. This Rock that I’m referring to is Christ, and the hard place is my works. He brought me to a place where I had to ask if I was going to rely upon Christ to be sufficient for me, or if I was going to continuously seek to be more than what Christ has already done in me and for me. This was a hard place to be because I thought that my works were giving me a better relationship with Him than He already provided, but it was only taking away from what He was going to provide regardless. Romans 4:4 says, “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt.” This verse speaks a lot into what He showed me this week because He was only giving to me what was due as a fruit of my works, but now He is showing me that I can work BECAUSE OF CHRIST. I’m not working to have a better relationship anymore, I just have to ABIDE IN WHO HE IS!\nNow to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.\nROMANS 4:4 NKJV\nThis last week has been filled with amazing things that God still did through me and the team, even as He was ministering to me, which was a blessing in and of itself because He showed me the truth and application of His sovereignty, omnipotence, and omnipresence through that work. The best example I can give of that concept this week is when we went to Rancho Cuarenta. Rancho Cuarenta is a small town with about 30 houses located there. We had the opportunity to walk around the town and invite people to the church that day, and that’s when God really started to show His omnipotence and omnipresence in my relationship with Him. He showed me that even during simple things like walking around a community, He can minister to us through His Holy Spirit. This is a commonly known fact in the Christian church, but to have Him start to express it to me was mind-blowing. He did this the entire day, and at one point I experienced Him speaking through another believer to me. It’s as if my ears were finally opened to hearing His word in my life. The other believer encouraged me to continue to seek Christ in the Spirit and seek after God’s will in my life. God continued like this through the day as we handed out food, provided child care, and ministered to the adults through a sermon, testimonies and fellowship! God is Good!\nWe did another outreach like Rancho Cuarenta this week where we visited Iglesia De Las Encinas. We provided food, health supplies, church service, child care, and lunch for the families that attended. To finish off the week we attended Calvary Chapel Rosarito where we helped the church during one service and actually attended the other service. God has blessed this week in numerous ways, but my greatest praise is the work God is doing in my life. He’s bringing me to a place where because of my relationship with Him, I am seeking to show others His amazing grace. And to be honest, until now I was seeking to build a relationship with Christ by showing His grace to others; when in reality I can only show His amazing grace and love to others by MY RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM. Amen.\nIf you would like to come alongside me as a partner in pursuing the increase of the Kingdom of God and the expansion and proclamation of His name to the nations, read the praise reports and prayer requests below, and join me in praying for the nations. If you want to partner with me further click the link below to help me provide for my time at Calvary School of Missions. Thank you for your time! God Bless!\nPraise Reports\nGod is doing a work in my life God is doing work by my relationship with Him to those around me God is moving more than ever God is enabling the team to provide His grace to those around Mexico God provided care and help to two churches this week We saw many people accept Christ this week Prayer Requests\nThat God would bless you by me and my team\u0026rsquo;s continuing testimony to His amazing work God would use the relationship I have with Him to bless others God would use our team mightily this next week for His work God would light an increasingly furious fire in our hearts for His kingdom God would continue to build my relationship with Him God would use us to provide for those around us ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/between-the-rock-and-a-hard-place/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/knight/wp-content/uploads/sites/127/2020/08/WhatsApp-Image-2020-08-01-at-8.35.21-PM.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePSALM 18:2 NKJV\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePraise God for the salvation which Christ brings during dark nights and long days! For a long time, I have been trying to pursue a relationship with Christ by doing good works. I’ve sensed His presence through the work that I have done, and seen good fruits from it, but it’s always been a push and pull relationship with God. During this last week, God laid it on my heart to really seek Him out and pray about my relationship with Him, and it put me between a Rock and a hard place. This Rock that I’m referring to is Christ, and the hard place is my works. He brought me to a place where I had to ask if I was going to rely upon Christ to be sufficient for me, or if I was going to continuously seek to be more than what Christ has already done in me and for me. This was a hard place to be because I thought that my works were giving me a better relationship with Him than He already provided, but it was only taking away from what He was going to provide regardless. Romans 4:4 says, “Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace, but as debt.” This verse speaks a lot into what He showed me this week because He was only giving to me what was due as a fruit of my works, but now He is showing me that I can work BECAUSE OF CHRIST. I’m not working to have a better relationship anymore, I just have to ABIDE IN WHO HE IS!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Between The Rock and a Hard Place"},{"content":"What a month we’ve had. Week four has concluded here in Mexico, and it was just as challenging and amazing as the previous three. Thank you for your continued prayers, the Lord has used them to minister to us in some really cool ways. Our hearts are ablaze for the people of Japan, and we can’t wait until the day that they worship Jesus as King. May it be on this side of His return!\nWe had more outreaches this week with local church plants. One was on a Native Mexican reservation southeast of Rosarito in the middle of Baja. They are an isolated people group that live in difficult conditions. They were excited for the worship and Bible teaching, grateful for the COVID relief food packages we brought with us, and the kids loved the crafts and games we played with them. Spanish is not their first language (we had something in common!), so communication was tough at times. Yet, there was a response to the gospel, thank goodness that the Spirit works in spite of us.\nWe were taught by Rob Douglass this week as well. He showed us the unbalanced approach that missions make toward the unreached people groups in the world. It ignited a fire in us for the least reached in the world and reconfirmed our desire to go to Japan and share the gospel. I won’t even attempt to summarize eleven hours of classroom teaching into a paragraph here. If you’d be interested in hearing more about the unreached and frontier peoples, please let me know and I would love to talk with you about them. We also talked at length about culture and what becoming \u0026ldquo;all things to all people, that I might, by all means, save some\u0026rdquo; looks like in a practical, boots on the ground, scenario. He has been a missionary for over twenty years in both South Sudan and Sri Lanka and is now training others to be missionaries here in the states.\nThe Lord has opened a door for us that we are praying over. It would give us an opportunity to do some missions work while we wait for Japan to open up to American travelers. Please pray with us about this opportunity, for confirmation or the door to close.\nPraise Report:\nFor the amazing opportunities for growth and stretching that the Lord has provided. For the connections we’ve made with the students, staff, and missionaries. For the weaknesses that the Lord has shown us in ourselves, that we can surrender to Him. Prayer Requests:\nFor Japan to open up soon so we can go on a vision trip. For strength, energy, and health to finish strong here in Mexico. For financial provision as we continue to follow the Lord’s leading. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/ablaze-for-japan/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhat a month we’ve had. Week four has concluded here in Mexico, and it was just as challenging and amazing as the previous three. Thank you for your continued prayers, the Lord has used them to minister to us in some really cool ways. Our hearts are ablaze for the people of Japan, and we can’t wait until the day that they worship Jesus as King. May it be on this side of His return!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ablaze for Japan"},{"content":" EUROPE\nBrenna Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God for all that He has been doing these past months!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Prayer for our university students who have started organizing events together as a way to reach their friends and classmates. Pray that God would pour out His Spirit, guide them, equip them, and grant them wisdom and boldness. That they would be a vessel of truth and grace to all those who come to these events. Pray that many would be saved and come to the knowledge of truth!\n2. Personally, for wisdom, clarity, and guidance during these months of rest in the states\nThank you for taking time to pray and seek God in behalf of His kingdom work in Hungary!\nLove in Christ,\nBrenna - Email Blog\nRebecca Alaniz - Zagreb, Croatia\nPraise Reports:\n- Lord has kept me healthy! -Projects in the Roma Village began\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For the country of Croatia. The coronavirus has come back into the country as the borders re-opened and cases are on the rise. Pray for the government to have wisdom when it come to making decisions for the country.\n2. That the Lord would completely heal my thyroid, so that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t need to take any medication\n3. For direction, that I would simply be open to whatever the Lord has for me. There are some big decisions that are coming up, so please pray that the Lord would give me wisdom.\n4. Language Learning: Even though I\u0026rsquo;m conversational, there is more that I need to learn to reach fluent. Pray that the Lord would help me grasp the language and that He would give me a desire to study it.\nRoma Ministry:\n5, Pray that the Lord would give me guidance and wisdom in regards to working in the Roma village. Pray for our relationships with the Roma people, especially with this new project that we are about to start.\n6. Increase in my monthly financial support.\n7. For salvation in Zagreb Thank you for keeping me and the country of Croatia in your prayers. The Lord is at work and I am so excited to see what He is going to continue to do!\nGod Bless,\nRebecca - Email Blog\nS.S. - Europe\nPrayer Requests:\n1- I hope you guys could pray for new open doors for reaching out to the refugee community in my city. Since many activities were ceased because of Covid-19. That God would give us new ideas on how to witness with the means available to us.\n2- For the Arabic Church service on Saturday evening that it starts again ( we have to do it as open-air service, but it is difficult to be organized with the translation and worship), and especially for the people invited to be open to the message of the gospel.\nThank you very much for praying for me.\nHave a blessed week,\nS. - Email Blog\nAFRICA\nMatt and Noelle Harris - Gulu, Africa\nPraise God:\n- For the many people who are coming to Christ at the clinic every week.\n- For the people who are hearing the Gospel as God blesses them through the food packages.\n- That the harvest has arrived, bringing relief to many.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray For wisdom as our ministry makes some big decisions.\n2. That our food distribution programs would continue to help the right people and to win many souls for Christ.\n3. For wisdom for us as we continue to raise our children.\n4. For us to have wisdom with our school of discipleship as we move into remote teaching.\nThank you for your faithful partnership!\nLove in Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, \u0026amp; Noah - Email Blog\nBrian and Jill Kanyike - Kampala, Uganda\nLife and ministry seem to be moving slowly as Uganda is mostly still under lock down and curfew.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for everyone to stay healthy. Luke was very sick and then Liana a week later. Both went to ER screaming in pain on their stomachs but the Dr. found nothing. Though Luke had swollen lymph nodes in his tummy. The Dr. thinks maybe it was a virus. Both are OK now. Now Luke and Laylee have rashes which the Dr. also thinks is a virus. I don\u0026rsquo;t know where they could be getting these things since they don\u0026rsquo;t go anywhere.\n2. Pray for safety as crime and violence has been on the rise. Lately many riots and protests. The other day they were very close. It sounded and felt like a war as the riot police used water canons and such to disperse crowds. The booms literally were shaking our windows.\n3. Homeschooling has been a little challenging. Being together 24/7 for months has made patience for everyone a little hard. Pray for patience and grace for everyone with everyone.\n4. Pray for the church as people are suffering. We are helping best we can with the money we normally would use for tea after Sunday service.\n5. Uganda is repatriating people who were stuck outside Uganda. Many of them are testing positive upon arrival. Pray that this does not lead to a massive outbreak.\n6. For 2 years now Uganda has not had a proper dry season. The lake is higher then ever recorded and many people have lost their homes and lives. Even now when it normally should be dry it is pouring down heavily everyday. Pray for a time of dryness and for people who are affected to be safe and provided for.\nThank you for praying for our family and for Uganda.\nGod bless you,\nBrian and Jill - Email Blog\nVincent and Melissa Aniku - Uganda\nThank you prayer warrior for your faithfulness.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for guidance as we fill the forms for the container.\n2. Pray for God to open doors.\n3. Pray for personal prayers we can not share but the spirit knows.\n4. Pray for the upcoming elections in Uganda.\n5. Pray as our schools and churches are still closed in Uganda.\nGod bless,\nVincent and Melissa - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya: Pray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA: Pray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nYours for the unreached, Pastor Rob - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nBryan Reyes - Internship with SGWM\nPrayer Requests:\n1. I would appreciate prayer for the following: Wisdom from the Holy Spirit as I am leading the guys in the Calvary School of Missions.\n2. That the Lord would use me in a way that will impact their lives. That the Lord will provide wisdom for the next steps to take in order to get to Jordan amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.\n3. That I may continue to live my life surrendered to God despite the trials that may come. And finally, that I may continue to receive opportunities to teach and grow in teaching the word of God.\nThank you once again for your prayers!\nFor His Glory.\nBryan - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - California, USA\nThank you all for taking the time to read these prayer requests and intercede on our behalf!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for the family, as Clara is walking now and Harrison now enters his official schooling, making weekday life a lot busier for Amy!\n2. Pray for our family in regards to spiritual warfare. July was a month filled with warfare, as almost everyone in our household has experienced either demonic dreams, sleeplessness, random anxiety, etc.\n3. Pray for the Calvary School of Missions out of SGWM, that the students would finish strong and come out ready to start prepping for the foreign mission field!\n4. Pray for Joel as he plans on taking on a new role at SGWM as Director of Missionary Sending.\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara - Email Blog\nLeo and Pilar Gray - Ensenada, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1 . We have a lot of new students registered for next semester. Pray for students, staff, and teachers for next semester.\n2. Leo will be teaching two classes the semester. Pray for the students and him.\n3. We were not able to host any teams this summer. Additionally we have had more students on campus working this summer because of travel restrictions or lack of job opportunities.\n4. Leo is scheduled for some minor surgery in late July. Please pray that the lab tests have a good report.\n5. Pilar has been experiencing some back pain. Pray that she get some relief as we seek medical help.\nThanks for your prayers for us.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent - Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. That God would keep our city and church healthy from the corona virus! 2. That God would bless our upcoming international church planting conference on August 7-8!\n3. For our next church plant to Guatemala City in August! Thank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel - Email Blog\nGary and Tina Barrow - Truckee, California\nPraise God:\n-First, praise the Lord that He has provided for us to start meeting together as a church. For the past 4 Sundays we have been able to meet in a local park. It has been so neat to see the body of Calvary Chapel Truckee come together, even under these COVID restrictions.\n-Secondly, I want to praise the Lord with you that God is allowing us to buy our first home. We have never had a home of our own. The Lord has always said, up to this point, He wanted us to be able to go wherever He would call us. Now that He is planting us here, He is opening a door that Tina has longed for.\n-For Calvary Chapel Truckee, I thank God that He has us in a place where we desperately need Him.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for vision, sensitivity to His Spirit, for His power to work mightily in the church.\n2. Pray that His word would go forth in power and souls would be saved. We are waiting on the city to approve our plans to build out our space.\nWe are asking the Lord to raise up a gifted and dedicated youth leader to take over a struggling youth ministry.\n3. We are asking the Lord to make us a light in a dark community. A community that needs Jesus desperately.\n4. We\u0026rsquo;re asking the Lord to open doors for us to have a Spanish speaking ministry.\n5. For vision on how to reach out to those who are addicted to drugs and alcohol, to reach out to those in broken marriages, for business men and women who have discovered there is no lasting fulfillment in seeking wealth.\n6. for a Young Adults ministry we want to start. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s timing.\nAs always, please continue to pray for South Asia. We are currently in the 3rd week of a new semester at one college and are planning, Lord willing, to start another semester at another college mid September. Please, please keep this work and those on the ground in your prayers. Their Covid restrictions are much tougher than ours and that amidst increasing persecution.\n7. As always, Tina and I are so thankful for your willingness to stand with us in the ministry to see our Lord and Savior exalted among those who do not know Him.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless,\nand Tina - Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Brenna Gaona - USA\nPraise God\n- Praise God for God\u0026rsquo;s provision for a place for us to live stateside at a guesthouse of our friends - Praise God for the many outreaches, churches and slums where food relief has been provided through our partnering pastors in Asia and Africa. Pray for those who received food and the Gospel to be touched and changed.\n- Praise God for open doors to minister to many both stateside and overseas both one on one and in small groups\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our time as we travel to Mexico in August to teach at the Calvary School of Missions. Pray that we would be an encouragement and effective tool used of the Lord to teach and equip future missionaries and ministry leaders.\n2. Pray for vision as we seek to serve Jesus right where we are each day.\n3. Pray for our ministry leaders overseas to continue to find ways to minister to those who are hurting, hungry and without hope as a result of COVID.\nThank you for praying for us!\nGod bless,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please Pray for Our Country to Turn to God\n2. Please pray for the protection of the SGWM pastors and Christians in South Asia\n3. Please pray for my financial support\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte - Indiana, USA\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord for the birth of our baby, Cara Joy! Please pray for her to continue to have good health.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my financial support and that God will open doors for me to share about the work He is doing in South Asia.\n2. Please pray for my financial support and that God will open doors for me to share about the work He is doing in South Asia.\nThank you so much for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\n1. I am so very thankful to the Lord and blessed that He has sustained me; provided for every single one of my needs, (and then some)! I wish to always be thankful in every circumstance/situation that may come my way. 1 Thess. 5:18\n2. For the parents and students in the after school program, that they would come to know Jesus and surrender their lives to Him as they hear the online Bible story reading Tue.-Sat. at 12:00\n3. For our first ever digital VBS that is Aug. 3rd-7th\n4. For the churches and schools here in Tijuana to open soon.\n5. For my right knee, in constant pain, and migraine headaches that plague me.\nThanks so much for praying for me! God bless you all and stay safe!!\nGod bless!\nDeanna - Email Blog\nMike and Erin Thiemann - California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family during this crazy season. We are doing well, but our kids are struggling with all of the lockdowns. They miss their friends, sports teams, classes, etc.\n2. Please continue to pray for our School of Missions that will be. Pray for peace. Pray for unity. Pray for vision.\n3. Please pray for the youth ministry I lead. Our youth are struggling due to COVID.\n4. Pray for SGWM as we restructure some of our staff and leadership roles. This is just an organizational thing that is necessary as SGWM has grown and is growing rapidly. Pray as we plan to reopen our affiliate missionary program soon.\n5. Pray for our personal support. Living in the States and on missionary support is a difficult reality. We struggle with it practically as living expenses in Orange County are high. It is also a struggle to convince people that our home office staff is an absolute necessity for the success of our missionaries all over the world.\nThank you for praying!\nGod bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina - Erin - Email Mike - Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nCory and Danielle Kilgus - Trujillo, Peru\nThank you for your continued prayer and support.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Recently I received a message from a Venezuelan refugee who was crying as he had not ate in two days. We delivered food to him the next day, and a shared the love and hope of Christ. He wept as we prayed for him to receive Christ. He is one of thousands of refugees struggling in Peru. Please pray that many would come to Christ, and be comforted in these times.\n2. Please pray for Calvary Bible Institute Perú as we have 4 new students for next semester, to bring us to a total of 10 on campus, full time students.\n3. Pray that we would be able to purchase property in Venezuela to send out equipped students to church plant and start a Calvary Bible school.\nThank you again for all your love and support!\nCory and Danielle Kilgus - Email Blog\nBrad and Melissa - Amazon Jungle Brazil\nHello and God bless you from the Amazon Jungle. Please pray with us over these things!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. The Apurina people. Specifically, Oscar and Analucia, Raimunda, Valdeci, Emerson, Nelson, Vitor, Alcimara.\n2. Pray they continue strong in the Lord, taking the word to other indigenous villages.\n3. Pray for Brad\u0026rsquo;s upcoming trip there. This is his first trip since the COVID shutdowns in March. Pray for direction, wisdom and discernment.\n4. Pray for Melissa and our children, Andrea, Josiah, Veronica and Benjamin. Pray for them as they stay in the city and continue school and work.\n5. Pray for the Calvary Chapel Pastors of Brazil. We are trying to organize a fellowship between them.\nThank you and God bless you,\nBrad and Melissa Miller and family - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\nWorker 15 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer requests:\n1. Please pray for the situation in the North.\n2. Pray for the believers, that the Lord will give them courage and wisdom.\n3. Pray for these Anti-Christian people, that the Lord would change their hearts.\n4. Pray for our son, that he would not be discouraged.\n5. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection over us all.\n6. Pray for some non-Christians who have been attending our online services. May they believe in Jesus and call upon His Name and be saved.\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nGod bless you\nCo-workers in Christ\n15 and family\nRabi and Mahima - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our Church to be growing day to day.\n2. Pray our church believers to be grow in God word.\n3. Pray for our Church member as well as our Family.\n4. Pray For our Ministry to be fruitful.\n5.Pray our health to be physically fit so we can serve God.\n6.Pray our Church need sound system to spread God word throughout different social media.\n7. Pray our fellow brother Avinash he fail from chair now his leg doing plaster.\n8. Pray us to do faithful Ministry. All the staff, students, Pastors, leaders pray for their health and ministry.\n9. pray It\u0026rsquo;s God will that corona will stop soon and we will gather and Praised Our Lord Jesus Christ soon.\nThank you for praying for us!\nGod bless,\nRabi and Mahima - Blog\nPrakash and Muna - Nepal\nPraise God:\n-Praise God for all His provision for the Charis Bible Church Relief Program last month. May The God bless the generous hands. Thanks SGWM family for the prayers and support.\n**Prayer Requests:\n** 1. Please pray for Charis Bible Church. We need to move Church building from current place because the agreement is over. We are trying to find a new place for rent. Pray that God would direct us and meet our needs for new facility.\n2. Please pray for the spiritual maturity of all the Charis believers.\n3. Please pray for all the students of Calvary Chapel Pastors Training Center as they are at home, for their good health and safety.\n4. Please pray that CCBCPTC would reopened soon. Let the environment be suitable for that.\nThank you for your prayers!\nBlessing,\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha - Nepal\nThank you prayer warrior who had been praying for us since before. We had some prayer request for this month, here are as follows:\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health.\n2. Please pray all the people to whom we had get chance to distribute food relief and shared Gospal that they may come to Christ.\n3. Please pray for Santa one of the lady in the Church that she is gone through depression.\n4. Please pray for the Leprosy colony, 7 years old girl was rape by old man that God may give peace to victim family.\n5. Please pray for for the people around us because of lockdown and people are being spoiled with bad habits that they may put their faith in Christ.\n6. Please pray for the nearby slum where we can start Bible study.\nThank you for your prayers and support\nGod bless,\nAnand, Usha and family - Email Blog\nDarryl and Kayo Record - Cambodia\nThanks for your faithful prayers. God has been carrying us through this unpredictable time.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for Darryl\u0026rsquo;s current Cambodian partners in the apologetics/evangelistic video ministry that they would have enough free time to devote to the ministry.\n2. Please continue to pray for Precious Women ministry as they provide food and other emergency supplies to women who have lost their jobs due to COVID-19.\n3. Please pray for Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s school as it has received special permission from the the government to reopen in August.\n4. Please pray for wisdom in staying connected to our senders in the US and Japan because we don\u0026rsquo;t know when we will be able to travel from/to Cambodia again as a family.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin - Email Blog\nWorker 8 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for my ministry, family, and spiritual life.\n2. Pray for my parents and my brothers; they are still unbelievers.\n3. Pray for R.Y., who has mouth cancer; please pray for complete healing.\n4. Pray for all of the believers in my church, that their knowledge will increase in the Word of God.\n5. Pray for sister H\u0026ndash;her husband and children are persecuting her.\n6. Please pray for our biggest need, a piece of land for a church.\nThank you for your prayers\nMay God bless you all,\n8 and family\nWorker 3 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Request:\n1. Please pray for Mr. N, who is a new believer, receiving opposition from his village.\n2. Please pray for K.P., as she has experienced God\u0026rsquo;s healing touch upon her life. Pray that she will continue to have faith in God.\n3. Please continue to pray for our online church services.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nGod bless you,\n3 and family\nMilan - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nGod bless you,\nMilan - Blog\nWorker 9 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\n3. Please pray that God will protect all students and staff of the Pastors School from all illnesses and diseases; pray that they will remain healthy.\nThank you so much for your prayers. God bless you all!\nMay God bless you,\n9\nWorker 12 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for all of the new people who have heard the Gospel, that they will accept Jesus.\n2. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you\n12\nWorker 11 - 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n-Praise God! He has kept my family and the believers here safe from Covid19.\n-Praise God for providing for our every need!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue pray for us to be safe from Covid19. No one is wearing a mask and no one is following social distancing. Everyday so many they are finding so many corona patients here. My state government started another lockdown starting on the 16th of July.\n2. Please pray for my state. Since the lockdown, criminal activities are increasing day by day. Because of the lockdown, so many people lost their jobs, so they stated to committing murder, stealing, robbing etc.\n3. Please continue to pray for the believers at my churches to be strong in their faith. They are being persecuted by their family members, neighbors and the community.\n4. Please continue pray for my mother health.\n5. Please pray for our baptism service. Some more believers want to be baptized.\n6. Please pray for the lockdown to be lifted as soon as possible.Thanks for your prayers and partnership in the Gospel!\nGod bless!\n11\nWorker 6 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for church people to grow more in the Word and to have a new revelation during this pandemic situation.\n2. We\u0026rsquo;re doing our church service through conference phone calls. We are having trouble with our internet and having technical disturbances during the phone calls, so please pray for this.\n3. My sister had a baby girl. We are soooo happy for God\u0026rsquo;s blessing! Please pray for the baby and her health.\n4. For 2 weeks I will be teaching God\u0026rsquo;s Word in local churches. Please pray for me to deliver the messages the right way and for people to lead by the Spirit of God to move closer to God.\n5. Pray for my mom. She\u0026rsquo;s suffering from chest pain\n6. We\u0026rsquo;re still praying for church building and a place to start youth group Bible studies. Many young adults are interested in learning God\u0026rsquo;s Word through a book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse Bible study. So praying and planning to have one in my city.\n7. Pray for our co-workers in Christ, two brothers from another Calvary Chapel in a close-by state, as they continue serving in ministry.\n8. Pray for protection and provision over family.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\n6\nWorker 13 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless,\n13\nRaju - 1040 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that revival may take place in our Church.\n2. Please pray for me, that I may grow spiritually day by day.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nRaju - Blog\nWorker 10 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe, that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for me to share the Gospel.\n3. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you\n10\nWorker 7 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for this new season of ministry as I have returned to the South. I pray that I will be faithful in the ministry He has for me.\nThank you.\nGod Bless\n7\nWorker 4 - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my past experiences.\nThanking you!\n4\nWorker 2 - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\n2\nMajhiya and Sarita - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have found an opportunity to share with others about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes. They are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita - Blog\nWorker 1 - 10/40 Window\nPraise God:\n-I completed my quarantine and am still healthy.\n-The Lord provided masks for the tribal people.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. That we have a growing relationships with the surrounding community.\n2. The Students remain safe back in their homes\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\n1\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot;\n- Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-aug-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBrenna  Kulla - Pécs, Hungary\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Brenna-150x150.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise Report:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n-Praise God for all that He has been doing these past months!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. Prayer for our university students who have started organizing events together as a way to reach their friends and classmates. Pray that God would pour out His Spirit, guide them, equip them, and grant them wisdom and boldness. That they would be a vessel of truth and grace to all those who come to these events. Pray that many would be saved and come to the knowledge of truth!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM AUG PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"Thank you so much for coming alongside and partnering with me in the call that God has placed on my life. God has been moving mightily this last month, and I am so thankful for your prayers, which have been evident in my life.\nOver this past month, I have traveled to Mexico to help lead the School of Missions, prepared to teach an online Bible class, and have prayed for the next steps God has for me after the school is finished. Since I was laid off prior to coming to Mexico, I have been able to put all of my time and focus on the work of the Lord and have grown in my studying of the Word of God in order to be better equipped for teaching. I have been blessed to be able to spend all of my time with the students in Mexico without having to worry of returning home to other things.\nBeing here in Mexico has been a huge blessing to me because God has been using me in a unique way where I can come alongside the students and connect with them on a different level as a former student. Over the past 3 weeks of the school, I truly have connected with the guys and it has been encouraging when they come to me for prayer and with certain questions that they may have. Aside from that, it has also been awesome to be able to lead the students on outreaches, where last year, I was being led on those outreaches. For me, it has been very special to see that God is allowing me to use what He has taught me in order to teach others those same things. One thing I would say that God has been using me in, is comforting the students who feel uncertainty when they think about what to do in the next season of their lives because I was in that exact same place last year. God has shown me so much this past year and I am so thankful for the leaders at Saving Grace who have helped me see that God has a time of preparation before sending us out into the mission field, and that is exactly what God has enabled me to show the students.\nWhile I’ve been in Mexico, I’ve also been preparing to teach a class on the book of Hebrews through Skype. This has been such an amazing opportunity and an answer to prayer. I have felt the call from God to be a pastor, and being able to teach this class has blessed me with putting the studying and teaching of the Word to practice.\nAside from that, there has been a potential door that has been opened to me, and I ask that you come alongside with me in prayer over this: God put a desire on my heart to go to Peru, where there is a Bible college which is involved in working with Venezuelan refugees. I would be able to receive training on the ins and outs of working at a Bible college so that I can use that knowledge and put that training to practice when I get to the Middle East. Please join me in praying that God would guide me on this opportunity, both whether this is His will for me or not, and on when would be the best time for me to go.\n“There are many plans in man’s heart,\nNevertheless the LORD’S counsel — that will stand.”\nProverbs 19:21\nThis is a verse that lately has been on my mind, and it is my prayer that I may receive counsel from the Lord and that I may be constantly listening for Him, so that I may hear His counsel.\nThank you so much for taking the time to read this update, and I want to thank you once again for both your financial support and your support in prayer. I wouldn’t be able to pursue the call that God has placed on my life without the body of Christ coming alongside me and partnering with me in spreading the gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth. If you would like to partner with me financially, please click on the “Become a Financial Partner” button below.\nI desire for us to become partners in the commission that the Lord has given us, to make disciples of all nations. And for that reason, I would love for you to reach out if any of this spoke to you, or if there’s anything that you need prayer for. I would love to continue on in a lifelong relationship. Feel free to comment down below with anything that encouraged you about this update. And of course, this is only a brief summary of what’s been going on, so if you would like to know more, reach out! I would love to talk about what the Lord is doing in my life.\nPraise Reports:\nGod has been faithful to continue providing for me financially despite being laid off from work and being here in Mexico. God has opened many doors for me to continue in ministry and training that have been preparing me for the work which will be done in the Middle East. Prayer Requests:\nPlease continue to pray for my time here in Mexico, that God may continue to use me in the lives of the students. Please pray over this opportunity which has been presented to me in Peru, both for guidance and for financial support. For His Glory,\nBryan Reyes\nfunctional image\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/learning-to-lead/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you so much for coming alongside and partnering with me in the call that God has placed on my life. God has been moving mightily this last month, and I am so thankful for your prayers, which have been evident in my life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver this past month, I have traveled to Mexico to help lead the School of Missions, prepared to teach an online Bible class, and have prayed for the next steps God has for me after the school is finished. Since I was laid off prior to coming to Mexico, I have been able to put all of my time and focus on the work of the Lord and have grown in my studying of the Word of God in order to be better equipped for teaching. I have been blessed to be able to spend all of my time with the students in Mexico without having to worry of returning home to other things.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Learning to Lead"},{"content":"It’s a privilege to serve God at Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) here in Mexico. The leaders and students, led by the Lord, got off to a wonderful start and are a little over halfway through. Hopefully, you\u0026rsquo;ve been able to read our update letters, if not please CLICK HERE to connect with us and update yourself on all the Lord has been doing in and through our team.\nOne of the unforeseen blessings during our school has been the ability to develop and serve church plants and their communities with Covid relief feeding programs. We’ve had opportunities to visit many families in need. So many people here in Mexico as well as the rest of the world have been devastated by this pandemic. God is sending out CSOM to meet both spiritual and physical needs.\nWork places have closed down here in Mexico leaving individuals unable to provide for their basic needs. Families who were already living hand to mouth, meaning weekly checks for their work go directly to essential physical needs such as buying groceries and paying rent, are now left wondering how they will provide. Warehouses, factories, and stores have been closed down which means no work for so many. Unlike in America there is no Social Security system, there is no government relief checks, and from a human standpoint that brings about a sense of hopelessness and fear.\nBut God….\nWe’ve been able to visit, pray for, present the gospel to, and feed over 100 families by God’s grace and provision. As we move forward in the school, we have identified many more opportunities ahead of us to show the people of North Baja the God has not forgot them, He sees them, and He cares about their situation. More than anything we need your prayers as we step out in this venture of faith to be the hands and feet of Jesus. As well as, there is an opportunity to financially partner with us to meet both physical and spiritual needs of those devastated by Covid. CLICK HERE God demonstrated His love for us through the cross of Christ. He didn\u0026rsquo;t just tell us He loves us, He showed us, and we have had the opportunity to not only tell people of the love of God but to show them.\nThank you for partnering with us however the Lord leads you.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/mexico-covid-relief/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt’s a privilege to serve God at Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) here in Mexico. The leaders and students, led by the Lord, got off to a wonderful start and are a little over halfway through. Hopefully, you\u0026rsquo;ve been able to read our update letters, if not please \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"/blog/category/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/\"\u003eCLICK HERE\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e to connect with us and update yourself on all the Lord has been doing in and through our team.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the unforeseen blessings during our school has been the ability to develop and serve church plants and their communities with Covid relief feeding programs. We’ve had opportunities to visit many families in need. So many people here in Mexico as well as the rest of the world have been devastated by this pandemic. God is sending out CSOM to meet both spiritual and physical needs.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mexico COVID Relief"},{"content":"– Week Three of CSOM –\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C6GtQB1bQsI/XyNW1AQX38I/AAAAAAAAXI4/3NY_GFyXnEorMcWM9zyeFokEf_CUPotBgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-30.jpg\nWe’re halfway into the School of Missions and already I am so amazed at the work God has done in me. This past week we helped out at three places- Calvary Chapel Rosarito (CCR), Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Cruz, and a ranch.\nAt CCR, we painted parts of the church such as the stage and the sanctuary. That day was pretty fun because I worked alongside one of the church staff members and we spoke to each other in our second languages while we painted (she in English and me in Spanish).\n2020-07-21 CSOM Team Outreach - CCR Work Day (77).jpg\nOn Thursday we went to Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Cruz and helped out with different things during and after the church service. Some of the CSOM students shared their testimonies (myself included), worked in the children’s ministry, and then afterward we transported some bricks up the stairs to the roof.\nIMG_0390.jpg\nThis day was very special to me because of what happened after I shared my testimony. When I was called on to go first and speak in front of the church congregation I was definitely a bit nervous. I’m okay with public speaking but that was the first time I had ever spoken with a translator next to me. It was cool though because looking back on it I really see God’s hand in the situation and how He was working even before that moment. My translator ended up being the same girl whom I had practiced my Spanish with back at CCR. It’s very important to have a good relationship with your translator when you’re doing cross-cultural missions and I see how God had allowed us to get to know each other pretty well only a few days prior. Because of this, I felt even more comfortable going up on stage to share my testimony.\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rM_dcz0bPs4/XyHFqc15q7I/AAAAAAAAORU/5ryNPj-Ft20T3d2mOYRuHX1LjH3hd48QgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-29.jpg\nSo after I had shared my testimony, I left the sanctuary to go help out with the children’s ministry until the church service ended. A few of the mothers ended up sitting at one of our tables to get their nails painted, but once that was over one mother, in particular, caught my notice. Maybe it was because she was standing alone, but for some reason, I thought: I want to go talk with her. Now the moment I thought this, I was a bit shocked at myself. As a person with introverted tendencies, me thinking “I want to go talk to a stranger who speaks a language I am not totally fluent in” is not something I’ve ever really desired to do before. So, taking advantage of this rare moment of extroverted courage, I went over to say hello and introduce myself. After a few minutes of getting to know each other a bit, I asked her if there was anything she needed prayer for. We ended up bowing our heads and I got to pray for her and her family’s well being. Afterward, she ended up telling me that she had arrived at church just in time to hear the CSOM students’ testimonies. She then shared with me that she really related to mine and could identify with a couple of things I had said. She too had grown up believing that God exists but had never had a personal relationship with Him until more recently. She went on to tell me more about her walk with God and some of the struggles she had gone through as well. Looking back, it’s amazing that of all the people I could’ve walked up to, it ended up being the person who had been touched by my testimony.\nI definitely can see God’s hand in it all and the Holy Spirit prompting me to go out of my comfort zone to talk with that specific lady. I think that it just goes to show what can happen when you listen to the Lord’s prompting even when it’s something you’ve never done before.\n“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in wor ds.”\nRomans 8:26\nIMG_0611.jpg\nI would just like to say thank you so much again to everyone who has supported me both financially and in your prayers. It means so much to me that you would think of me and care to support the work the Lord is doing here in Rosarito, Mexico. Each day that I’m here, I feel even more grateful that the Lord has allowed me to be a part of the School of Missions! If you would like to partner with me financially you can click the link below. Partnering with me means you are investing in the work God is doing through me and ultimately the further spread of the gospel as I train to be a missionary. Thank you all for taking the time to read this newsletter and considering partnering with me in the work God is doing here in Mexico!\nSincerely,\nLydia Boubion\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/listen-to-his-prompting/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e– Week Three of CSOM –\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C6GtQB1bQsI/XyNW1AQX38I/AAAAAAAAXI4/3NY%5FGFyXnEorMcWM9zyeFokEf%5FCUPotBgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-30.jpg\"\n         alt=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C6GtQB1bQsI/XyNW1AQX38I/AAAAAAAAXI4/3NY\\_GFyXnEorMcWM9zyeFokEf\\_CUPotBgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-30.jpg\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C6GtQB1bQsI/XyNW1AQX38I/AAAAAAAAXI4/3NY\"\u003ehttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-C6GtQB1bQsI/XyNW1AQX38I/AAAAAAAAXI4/3NY\u003c/a\u003e_GFyXnEorMcWM9zyeFokEf_CUPotBgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-30.jpg\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe’re halfway into the School of Missions and already I am so amazed at the work God has done in me. This past week we helped out at three places- Calvary Chapel Rosarito (CCR), Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Cruz, and a ranch.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt CCR, we painted parts of the church such as the stage and the sanctuary. That day was pretty fun because I worked alongside one of the church staff members and we spoke to each other in our second languages while we painted (she in English and me in Spanish).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Listen to His Prompting"},{"content":"Let the peoples praise You, O God;\nLet all the peoples praise You.\nOh, let the nations be glad\nand sing for joy!\nFor You shall judge the\npeople righteously,\nAnd govern the nations on earth.”\nPsalm 67:3-4\nWeek TRES of Mexico has been three times more amazing than I could have ever expected! Throughout this week, God has been teaching me more about His love. He has taught me this through new relationships with nationals, teachings, books, and through the little things in life. Through the quiet times, He has been teaching me to just sit in His presence, and be filled by Him. He has taught me more of His grace and loving-kindness. He has taught me that it is not about rules and what we “should” or “shouldn’t” do. In Him, I am now set free from the law and there is nothing that I can do in and of myself to earn the gift that He has given me. He loves me as I am, and He wants to teach me and discipline me so that I can be sanctified and become more like Him. He is patient, gentle, and gracious. He is a loving Father.\nI have learned to do things out of love, not out of obligation. As I look back into the past, I can remember doing many things out of obligation. In any of these times, I can also see that I was trying to work out of the flesh. And as a result, there was no fruit from these things. However, I can also look back at the times that I did things out of love and was filled with the Spirit and much fruit came from this.\nI do not want to tell people about Jesus out of obligation, but out of love. Don’t get me wrong, it is a command that we share the gospel with others and make disciples (Matthew 18-20), but I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit when I share with others. I want to sit in Jesus’ presence and be filled with His love and joy, and serving in the freedom that He has given.\nThis week, I have also learned that missions is not the ultimate goal of the church, worship is. The ultimate goal is for all nations to praise God and give glory to Him forever. Wherever I go, I want to share Jesus’ love with people because my heart is burdened that billions of people today do not know the great love of God and they do not have a relationship with Him. I want to just meditate on His word and keep the fire burning for Him. I don’t want to stop learning and sharing until He takes me home. Where passion for God is weak, zeal for missions will be weak.\nWorship has to be the fuel and goal of missions.\nA quote that Pastor Joel Garcia said to us in one of the classes really stuck with me,\n“Fish swim, birds fly, and humans praise God.”\nWe can often ask ourselves “What am I good at?” or “What’s my purpose?”. The whole American mindset is to find what you are good at and become an expert in that. Imagine if we started living for our true purpose; to praise God. What if we fully believed that we had the single purpose of praising God, and we became an expert in that? What if we became experts in becoming a disciple and making disciples of all nations; studying His Word, spending time meditating on Him, interceding for people and the nations, singing hymns unto God, and being filled with the Holy Spirit constantly, moment by moment? Not just for an hour in the morning or once a week, but every day, moment by moment. Imagine how joyful, patient, peaceful, gentle, loving, satisfied, content, and gracious we would be. Imagine how different our lives would be. We don’t have to be in the sanctuary or at a church to worship God. We can worship Him at our workplaces, and throughout our normal, day by day lives.\nIf a fish stops swimming, it is not fulfilling its purpose. It will actually die. What happens when we don’t give our lives entirely to the Lord’s purposes? We will not experience the life that God has for us.\nI am so amazed by how much the Lord is working in Mexico and I am so blessed to have the opportunity to be taught by all of the pastors and missionaries that have come. I can’t thank you enough for supporting and partnering with me. This trip has been life-changing and has really helped me to get a firm foundation in the Lord. He is teaching me things every day about Himself and He is stirring a passion for Himself in my heart. I have three more weeks here and I am so excited for everything more that the Lord is going to do here! I am praying for all of you!!\nPraise Reports\n-There has been continued unity in the team!\n-We have been able to serve alongside the nationals \u0026amp; build relationships with them!\nPrayer Requests\n-Please pray for the unity of the team. Division in a team is a big way that satan tries to get in the way of God’s plans and mess everything up.\n-Please pray that God would prepare the hearts of those that we will reach in the coming weeks.\n-Please pray that those who have received Christ will grow strong in their faith and trust in the Lord.\n-Please pray that God would continue to strengthen my faith, trust, and love for Him.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/love-in-abundance/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLet the peoples praise You, O God;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLet all the peoples praise You.\u003cbr\u003e\nOh, let the nations be glad\u003cbr\u003e\nand sing for joy!\u003cbr\u003e\nFor You shall judge the\u003cbr\u003e\npeople righteously,\u003cbr\u003e\nAnd govern the nations on earth.”\u003cbr\u003e\nPsalm 67:3-4\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/box/wp-content/uploads/sites/123/2020/07/0D55815F-C8D5-4EEC-9D56-F2D6E3D2CC0A.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWeek TRES of Mexico has been three times more amazing than I could have ever expected! Throughout this week, God has been teaching me more about His love. He has taught me this through new relationships with nationals, teachings, books, and through the little things in life. Through the quiet times, He has been teaching me to just sit in His presence, and be filled by Him. He has taught me more of His grace and loving-kindness. He has taught me that it is not about rules and what we “should” or “shouldn’t” do. In Him, I am now set free from the law and there is nothing that I can do in and of myself to earn the gift that He has given me. He loves me as I am, and He wants to teach me and discipline me so that I can be sanctified and become more like Him. He is patient, gentle, and gracious. He is a loving Father.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Love in Abundance"},{"content":" Man, 3 weeks!\nCan I just say what a blessing it is that you’ve taken the time to come and see what God is doing in my life? I can’t tell you how much it means to me. Jesus has been showing me so much, and I can’t wait to see what’s next—thank you for being His hands and feet in my life. It honestly just kinda blows my mind that the Lord wants to use me to bring honor and glory to His name. Wow, thank You, Jesus!\nHungarian Schooling\nOur class sessions have been amazing. We were able to have Phil Metzger as one of our teachers this past week. The reason this was so special is that he and his wife were missionaries for 20 years in Eastern Europe. They have firsthand experience with taking the Gospel to the nations. Hearing those experiences is an absolute treasure for someone seeking to do the same. I think one of the things the Lord was really revealing to me was that I’m not called to make disciples of my culture. As an ambassador of Jesus, I am called to meet other people where they are at, and to be Jesus’ hands and feet in their lives. When I understand their culture better I can know how to properly bring the Gospel. If I don’t, I may hurt my opportunity to make the Gospel known there. Friday’s class played a huge role in all of this as well because Pastors Joel and Mike from SGWM spoke on true worship. The Lord used this to remind me that my purpose and motivation for all that I do is to be done out of love for Jesus—to worship Him! You guys, we get to worship the one true living God!\nNo Time to Be Picky\nThe outreaches I helped with this week were a little different than most we’ve had so far. Ultimately, plans in ministry are subject to change. Chuck Smith used to say something along the lines of, “blessed are the flexible for they will not be broken.” We got to experience this firsthand with our outreach on Saturday. Even though things looked different than we thought, the Lord had a sweet plan where He gave us the opportunity to do some physical labor to help out. In that, we were able to get to spend time with and enjoy our brothers and sisters there. Originally, we had planned to go and serve through teaching and kids ministry, but that wasn’t the need. We got to get our hands dirty instead.\nRunning a church is hard work (not that I know from firsthand experience). When a ministry or new work is being started with a set amount of people it’s a huge blessing to have an infusion of 10 plus workers into your crew for a day. It was a blessing to be able to go and serve and love on these sweet people. Being able to share, between both of our groups how God has changed our lives. I’m thankful that the Lord used us to refresh His people. One of my favorite moments was being able to sit around with everyone and listen to Pilar, the wife of the associate pastor at that local Calvary, share her testimony. It’s an amazing thing when someone sits down with you, a group nonetheless, and shares all that God has done for them.\nSo many things can distract us and act as obstacles in our path. Maybe things don’t go as we’d planned, but God is so good, and we get the opportunity to go and be His hands and feet wherever He takes us. Wherever you’re at, be encouraged. Remember that the Lord is with you, He loves you, and that you, like us, have an opportunity to not only make Jesus known but to encourage the believers around you by serving and loving them like Jesus.\n“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” -Galatians 6:9-10 (NKJV)\nHow To Get Involved\nGod has been doing a lot, and maybe you’ve been wondering, Jordon, why are you doing this school of missions? Well, I feel the Lord has laid on my heart to go and do missions. To take the Gospel to the nations (Matt. 28:18-20), and to do so wherever He leads. All I know right now is that this is a time of preparation, and as the Lord reveals what the next step is I want to be ready to respond in obedience to what He’s calling me to do. The Lord is growing my heart more and more for church planting, and flowing out of a church plant a school of ministry where locals in the area can come and be trained up in the Word of God. Then they would be able to be sent out to areas where they can far more effectively reach their people than I ever could. That heart is something that the Lord began to grow in me starting with my first semester of school at CCBC in 2014. If you feel led to give, there will be needs as time continues to go on. Needs for plane tickets, housing, and things like that, for going on scouting trips, and then, of course, the actual going. If the Lord is stirring in your heart to be a part of what He’s doing and what He will do then there’s a link below to give. As we continue to do food relief and outreaches there will continue to be opportunities to bless those communities we visit with food and other things that they might need. If you have the heart to add to the blessings in these outreaches, then you are more than welcome to do that as well. With that in mind, our greatest need is prayer, so if you would please continue to pray:\nFor continued wisdom and discernment as we go out For boldness to share the Gospel For me (and all of us) to be completely yielded to the Spirit in all I (we) do For provision for everything that is needed upon going back home For me to serve and place the needs of others above myself For health, safety, and protection for the team and me For continued leading and direction for where the Lord is leading me That we would continue to come alongside and support the church plants we are helping and be a blessing to them That we would all walk in unity That above all, the Lord’s will would be done “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” -Philippians 3:12-14 (NKJV)\nWith love, in Christ,\n-Jordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/pressing-on/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/voisin/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2020/07/601680B6-936E-441C-B4A5-8310B388A6BC.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMan, 3 weeks!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCan I just say what a blessing it is that you’ve taken the time to come and see what God is doing in my life? I can’t tell you how much it means to me. Jesus has been showing me so much, and I can’t wait to see what’s next—thank you for being His hands and feet in my life. It honestly just kinda blows my mind that the Lord wants to use me to bring honor and glory to His name. Wow, thank You, Jesus!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pressing On"},{"content":"GO THEREFORE AND MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL THE NATIONS\nTHE BIBLE, MATTHEW 28:19\nGreeting friends and family,\nWe are at the halfway mark of our time here in Rosarito, and the enemy is using his sneaky tactics to try to trip us up. Which should not be surprising as he always tries to undermine what God is doing. He has been doing all he can to contradict what God has said since the beginning of time. It is so fitting that in our weekly reading we are going through the book “The Strategy of Satan” How to detect and defeat him. Bold title, right? Just like Satan studies our weaknesses and uses any moment to attack us, we must be able to use the Word of God to stand strong. In this spiritual battle, I often forget that we fight from victory and the enemy is defeated because of the finished work of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. We can walk confidently knowing that we are on the winning team but let us be keenly aware of the strategies of Satan. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not WAR according to the flesh. For weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty in God to pull down strongholds.” 1 Corinthians 10:3-4a\nIt has been so awesome to be able to see how God is using pastors and teachers to pour their years of experience into our lives. We had the privilege of hearing from Pastor Mike Thiemann who shared about the heart of the Great Commission and what a disciple is and how to make disciples. Plus, Pastor Joel Garcia was very thorough on how worship is more a heart posture towards God and music is just an extension. I took countless notes, and I know the wisdom they shared with us is something I will constantly look back on as a foundation for ministry. We had the pleasure of having Phil and Joy Metzger share with us their 20 years of ministry and missions experience in Hungary. They were both called individually by God to be missionaries and then the Lord brought them together in marriage to be a dynamic duo for the Kingdom of God. I really enjoyed their meekness, and how they were very straightforward about the ups and downs of the field.\nThe main idea that I took away from the class is from 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 were Paul says “I have become all things to all men that I may, by all means, save some.” I loved how Phil carefully explained that we are to be tethered to the message of the Gospel but can reach out without compromise in our life. Something that struck me was three questions he had us think about. First, what can I give up for the sake of the Gospel? Second, what do I take up for the sake of the Gospel? Thirdly, what is non-negotiable of the Gospel? The complexity of these questions made me stop and truly consider the seriousness of following Jesus. I pray that this has stirred your heart to reflect on what the Lord is impressing on your heart at this time. Phil also emphasized the need of learning the language of the people group God has called you to share the Gospel with. Throughout all our classes, language learning has been a key point highlighted. Everything we learn and the knowledge that we gain is simply for the sake of the Gospel, building relationships with true connection, and being an ambassador for Christ to share His truth and love.\nOver the past three weeks, we have had a balance of private devotional time, communal living, class teachings, and outreaches. This week we were able to come alongside Pastor Martin and his church to help encourage the people, share testimonies of God’s work in our lives, and celebrate all that God is doing in the community of Rancho Santa Cruz. We had a group do a skit and act out a scene from a construction site illustrating Philippians 1:6 were Paul states, “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” The exciting part is the church is literally in the middle of being constructed. The place was a construction zone! Sometimes, we overlook the importance of how we can disciple children and how their minds are fertile soil that can bear much fruit. Just like we learned in our class this week, we are to be disciples first, and then we can make disciples. Being in partnership with God to be faithful to do His work, and then having the privilege of being a part of pouring into those He has entrusted to us.\nThank you so much for partnering with me in prayer, God is definitely listening and answering them. Stay tuned for how the Lord is working in and through us here in Mexico. If you feel led to partner with me financially click on the Financial partner button below.\nPraise reports:\nGod fortifying the call on my life Powerful work of the Gospel in Mexico Prayer requests:\nClarity of where God is calling me Memorization of God’s word Guidance after I return to California Getting equipped for the battle by reading the “Strategy of Satan” book\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/making-disciples/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGO THEREFORE AND \u003cstrong\u003eMAKE DISCIPLES\u003c/strong\u003e OF ALL THE NATIONS\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTHE BIBLE, MATTHEW 28:19\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreeting friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are at the halfway mark of our time here in Rosarito, and the enemy is using his sneaky tactics to try to trip us up. Which should not be surprising as he always tries to undermine what God is doing. He has been doing all he can to contradict what God has said since the beginning of time. It is so fitting that in our weekly reading we are going through the book “The Strategy of Satan” How to detect and defeat him. Bold title, right? Just like Satan studies our weaknesses and uses any moment to attack us, we must be able to use the Word of God to stand strong.  In this spiritual battle, I often forget that we fight from victory and the enemy is defeated because of the finished work of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. We can walk confidently knowing that we are on the winning team but let us be keenly aware of the strategies of Satan. “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not WAR according to the flesh. For weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty in God to pull down strongholds.” 1 Corinthians 10:3-4a\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Making Disciples"},{"content":"For security purposes, name and places are being protected. This past month, our national pastors were able to host more COVID-food relief outreaches at their churches throughout Asia. One place in particular that we were personally able to visit before is far up the mountains in a village where Pastor R is from and has been serving. His community already has limited amount of supplies, and now with COVID affecting the country, their supplies have been scarce. Recently, this Calvary Chapel was able to distribute packages filled with rice, lentils, vegetable oil, and salt to the families in the village.\nPastor R was able to host the distribution at the church to pray over people and share the gospel with everyone. We are very thankful that the Lord has provided for this little village on the mountains! P.R recently shared with us that since the outreach they had at the church, the people have been more receptive to him hosting additional outreaches in their village! Please pray for Pastor R who has been laboring as a carpenter and helping the locals with any of their field work. Please also pray for the safety of the people health wise and that they would have the proper shelter that they need during this current monsoon season.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/covid-relief/covid-relief-reaches-the-mountains/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFor security purposes, name and places are being protected.\u003c/em\u003e This past month, our national pastors were able to host more COVID-food relief outreaches at their churches throughout Asia.  One place in particular that we were personally able to visit before is far up the mountains in a village where Pastor R is from and has been serving.  His community already has limited amount of supplies, and now with COVID affecting the country, their supplies have been scarce.  Recently, this Calvary Chapel was able to distribute packages filled with rice, lentils, vegetable oil, and salt to the families in the village.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"COVID Relief Reaches the Mountains"},{"content":" It seems as if I just wrote and sent out my last update. This week flew by! This is the halfway point of the School of Missions. We’re three weeks in with three weeks left to go. One of the strangest feelings in life is feeling as if time has flown by, and yet the past feels so far away. It feels like I’ve been here forever, and yet the three weeks have flown by, and surely the next three will also. Thankfully though, no matter how fast it feels like time passes, each week is always filled with beautiful things.\nIn this past week, we were able to do two outreaches. At one of them, I was able to share my testimony (story of how I came to believe in Jesus and what Jesus has done in my life since that point). Unfortunately, I have no photos ? but that’s ok, just imagine me on a small stage with a translator in front of a crowd of about 25 people. It was nothing big, it was nothing grand, but it was a privilege to share my story with everyone there.\nThe main point at the end of my testimony to encourage the church with was: It doesn’t matter if you’re an ex-drug addict and gangster, or if you’ve had a relatively easy life, it’s a miracle that ANYONE is saved. For the drug addict and gangster, it’s a miracle they come out of that lifestyle. For the person who’s had an easy life, it’s a miracle that they would see their need for God since usually, we tend to forget God when life is easy. Salvation is pure grace, purely a gift from God, purely a miracle from God since none can believe in God without Him first revealing Himself to us. That God would choose ANY of us to be His children, that ANY of us so full of sin would choose Him – a pure miracle. It’s a beautiful thing. Thank you, Jesus.\nThe other outreach we had planned was an all-day event, traveling 3 hours south to San Vicente to do some youth ministry at a church including games, testimony time, Bible study, and food. (Side note: For those of you who know what Rancho Genesis is, we actually drove right past it on the main highway. I could see the camp in the distance! We would have been there this week…pray for Monte De Dios! I know we all miss our kids.)\nSo anyway, everything went according to plan except…no youth ministry! Instead, we did hard labor! The youth were a little uneasy to come to the event because of COVID but that’s okay, God knew, and we were able to bless the church with many, many hours of manpower.\nWe went out to a ranch near the church which is in the countryside of Baja California. Carlos and Pilar, a couple in the church, recently started a women’s home where women come to live with their kids while getting their feet back on the ground after coming out of prison or off drugs and alcohol. It’s a beautiful ministry and going to be a beautiful place after all the work is done. Despite things not going according to plan, nobody complained, and because of God, we were able to find joy in doing hard manual labor. Afterwards, we had dinner together, and the founder of the women’s home shared her testimony, which was a powerful one of Jesus taking her from drugs, alcohol, prison, and creating in her a new and clean heart. A beautiful thing.\nAt the end of our time there, even though all of us only had been together for half a day, it honestly felt as if we were leaving family. Why? How? Because we actually are family – blood relatives in the blood of Jesus Christ. When God’s children get together there is a connection because it’s really just a family reunion – the family of God. A beautiful thing indeed. (I say all of us because a few youths did show up, and the pastors were there with their families, as well as a few other church members.)\nThere are so many beautiful things that occurred this week – awesome team unity, amazing class sessions, moments of being poured into, building friendships, worshiping God, reading the Bible…Should I go on? Reaching hearts, touching lives, seeing people get saved, working hard, being part of the family of God…Is there anything else? Living in perfect peace every waking moment of my life knowing my eternal destination, having a perfect Father in heaven who watches over me every second of every day, having a healthy body to do God’s will, having people in my life who love me, have partnered with me, invested in me, and that are praying for me…\nGod, thank you for all of these beautiful things.\nBeing halfway through the school I’m feeling very thankful. I do miss everyone at home though and am excited to return to you all. I miss my church family, I miss my co-workers, I miss my family and friends, and even though there are still so many beautiful things here at the school to experience, I know I will be back with you all soon. As you’ve been, please continue to pray for God’s direction and leading in my and the other students’ lives, pray for God’s will to be done despite COVID, pray for team unity and for a strengthening of relationships among students and leaders at the school, relationships that will surely continue after the school is over. Please respond to this newsletter update saying hello, and please let me pray for you as well. Thank you for your involvement in my life, it is a beautiful thing.\nWith much love,\nSpencer\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/som-week-3-beautiful-things/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/pierschbacher/wp-content/uploads/sites/125/2020/07/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-26-at-9.45.47-PM-2.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt seems as if I \u003cem\u003ejust\u003c/em\u003e wrote and sent out my last update. This week flew by! This is the halfway point of the School of Missions. We’re three weeks in with three weeks left to go. One of the strangest feelings in life is feeling as if time has flown by, and yet the past feels so far away. It feels like I’ve been here forever, and yet the three weeks have flown by, and surely the next three will also. Thankfully though, no matter how fast it feels like time passes, each week is always filled with beautiful things.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SOM Week 3: Beautiful Things"},{"content":"WEEK 3 CSOM\nHello Friends,\nHow ya doin? I hope you’re doing so well. I can’t believe we’ve already reached the halfway mark of Calvary School of Missions. You coming alongside me during this time of schooling and seeking God’s plan for my life has truly touched my heart. Knowing that I have people in my corner, praying for me, and encouraging me has really comforted me while here in Rosarito, Mexico. My prayer is that you’re blessed through my updates and that you feel like you’re here with me.\nOn Thursday, we set up a simple Bible program for kids in a local church plant, a message, testimonies for adults, and COVID food supplies for the families. I was to be assisting Jordon (one of my fellow classmates) with a simple lesson for the kids. However, that swiftly changed when he was feeling under the weather, and I was asked to teach solo. I, of course, said yes (with all my bundles of nerves), jumped in the van, and began looking over Jordon’s notes. As I sat there listening to words of encouragement and asking God for help, I suddenly felt peaceful. Upon arrival, I asked Jessica (the lovely beauty featured in the photo above) to translate for me. I knew in my heart that God spoke to me the night before to ask her. She said, “Oh Yes! Of course!” As we walked in front of the group of kids, I opened my mouth and nothing.\nNothing.\nI went completely blank. Everything I had just rehearsed was gone. I turned to her as she was expecting me to say something so she could translate it and all I could say was, “I have nothing. Oh my goodness. My mind just went blank.” Now mind you, Jessica and I have only talked maybe a handful of times. I really didn’t know what to expect from her. Her response was a smile of encouragement and these words, “Okay, do not worry. You can do this!” She then started talking to the kids in Spanish keeping them entertained and calm. At this moment I knew God used her to be my sweet saving grace. I started praying for God to give me the words to speak while Jessica gently encouraged me. Slowly, we moved forward going over Philippians 1:6, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion.” I’m not entirely sure when, but I found my voice again and together we finished the lesson.\nAll in all, it was such a wonderful day. I felt so thankful, that God would, through Jessica, come alongside me to share the word with those kids. I feel inclined to say that that very same morning we had been learning about the importance of communication with our translators, how a good relationship with your translator will lead to more success in communicating with others. Can I get an Amen? Praise be to God for His boundless grace and guidance.\nThe week continued with many more lessons from both the classroom and the outreaches. God is teaching me to trust Him fully, to have grace with myself, that rest is important, and that He will always come alongside me with His sweet saving grace.\nPraise Reports:\nPraise Gods for my sweet sister Jessica being there alongside to help me!!!! Thank you, Lord, for continued unity within our group For continued health and safety as we’ve gone out Glory to God for His continued faithfulness to provide for me!! Prayer Requests:\nContinued prayer for unity in our group is so heavy on our hearts. Please continue to pray for health and safety as we go out. Pray that God blesses our times of rest and replenishes us. That I would be able to soak up all I am learning. Please pray for faith, always, that God knows my every need and He will provide. Much thanks to you who’ve decided to come alongside me financially. Your partnership is a tremendous blessing to me. It’s because of you all I am able to be here and do all these wonderful things for God’s kingdom. I get closer and closer to paying off my tuition and that is sweet indeed. If you’d like to partner this way, here is my giving link: https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2?giftid=83041BC3D9644E1 If you have any questions please feel reach out, I’d love to hear from you.\nAll the blessings,\nGabrielle\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sweet-saving-grace/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWEEK 3 CSOM\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/ubfXQxA3YrxrboGsxs1FoSN9mfzJ0HIk4d5mHrpWXVR7HIAo8DDNJHd6LQQW0txXKPRNZ-bWp-u4W8RJCqglRe6cnfEl8xpB6j%5F1CxP%5FTPDZoOilP22brxEX-qIZbkKbkZYxuaLD\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello Friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHow ya doin? I hope you’re doing so well. I can’t believe we’ve already reached the halfway mark of Calvary School of Missions. You coming alongside me during this time of schooling and seeking God’s plan for my life has truly touched my heart. Knowing that I have people in my corner, praying for me, and encouraging me has really comforted me while here in Rosarito, Mexico. My prayer is that you’re blessed through my updates and that you feel like you’re here with me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sweet Saving Grace"},{"content":"“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the Gospel from the first day until now.” Phil 1:3-4 We are so grateful for your partnership in the Gospel with our family. We have relied on your prayers for our strength and we have been blessed by your support. May God richly bless you for what has been accomplished here because of you.\nI am writing to inform you of the exciting news that we are heading stateside for a furlough and we want to meet with you face to face, to hear from you, share with you and join with you in personal prayer. We had planned to schedule a furlough in 2022 but it has become obvious that this will be the best time.\n– Because of the COVID-19 situation our pastoral school has been closed down along with all the other learning institutions in the country of Uganda. And it doesn’t look like it will resume before 2021. This will give us the freedom to come home without being very missed here.\n– By the grace of God we have found a wonderful ministry whose passion is for excellent sustainable Christ-centered health care. This group will soon take over the management of the Dream Center Uganda Health Center III. Both taking it to the next level and further freeing my family to enjoy a rest in the US.\n– We are also looking forward to the birth of our 4th child at the end of October and we see it will be best to receive him/her into the world stateside.\n– Finally, the next Ugandan presidential elections will take place early next year and we are expecting it to come with turmoil and unrest.\nTravel Dates Due to the nature of foreign travel at this time, the exact dates of our departure FROM Uganda and our return TO Uganda are not yet set in stone. Bellow is a tentative Itinerary for our time in your half of the world. Please keep in mind that plans are subject to change, and that these are only estimations. Look over it and email us at mattharris9000@gmail.com with details for when we can get together as soon as possible to better insure our time together.\nColorado: Aug 14th – Sep 10th, Oct 14th – Nov 20th Medford: Sep 13th – 27th Los Angeles: Sep 30th – Oct 4th Tecate: Oct 5th – 12th Kansas: Nov 20th – 30th Nebraska: Dec 1st – Jan 10th We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you in person very soon! In Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah Harris ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/furlough-in-the-usa/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"i-thank-my-god-in-all-my-remembrance-of-you-always-offering-prayer-with-joy-in-my-every-prayer-for-you-all-in-view-of-your-participation-in-the-gospel-from-the-first-day-until-now-phil-13-4\"\u003e“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the Gospel from the first day until now.”  Phil 1:3-4\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/01/IMG%5F3519-1024x239.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are so grateful for your partnership in the Gospel with our family.  We have relied on your prayers for our strength and we have been blessed by your support.  May God richly bless you for what has been accomplished here because of you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Furlough in the USA"},{"content":" The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.\nPSALM 23 NKJV\nWe’re halfway through the school! God has been putting a burden on my heart for the world and those around me. I’ve been shown the amazing parts of God’s heart during my time down here and it has absolutely broken me in a good way. God is amazing in His grace and mercy towards me, but He’s absolutely broken me for the grace and mercy He wants to work through me. He’s bringing me and those around me literally into the valley. Praise God for the valleys!\nThough God brings us into the valleys, we can praise Him for the hope He has given us in Christ. If we face death and despair on a daily basis, we can look at Christ resurrected and rest assured in the hope we find in Him. He has given us valleys so that we can look Him dead in the eyes and say, “I’m not good enough, but You are; so let me seek You to know how to grow.” This has been the story for me this entire week; I continue to look at my situation in school, in the mission field, in my personal devotional time with God, and I keep getting shown my lack of humility before the Lord. So this is my prayer for this next week, “God, I’m not able to stand by my own ability and strength, so enable me to look more like you because I know that you are able to do all things in and through me.” God has a lot planned for this next week, so I’m going to let Him move the mountains we talked about last week, and I’ll stand back and watch.\nThis past week, I had the opportunity to serve with the local Calvary Chapel in Rosarito. Our team split into two groups. One group assisted in painting a balcony in the sanctuary while the group I was in helped move benches up a flight of stairs to the second floor. Though we weren’t performing miracles, we were worshiping God by helping to build the resources He has provided to the local ministry. This wasn’t necessarily a valley, but the difference between helping out at a church and helping distribute food to families in need is a big change. God showed me that every mountain can be seen as a valley if we aren’t perceiving it through His eyes. This church needed help and our team rocked out in providing it with a joyful heart. During my time helping out I saw it as a valley compared to helping families impacted by the pandemic. God spoke to me in my reading that day through Isaiah 40:4 which says, “Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; the crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth.” God showed me that for Him, the hills are lowered, and the valleys raised for His glory. We need to worship in the valleys as we do on the mountain tops because they’re one and the same in the eyes of God.\nA few other things we did this week was an outreach to Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Cruz where we partnered to distribute relief food supplies, a Bible message, and a kids ministry service. We also served at a ranch with pastor Mark \u0026amp; Katrina Kamio. Each of these opportunities was a blessing and a mountain in their own respect, but if we wanted to examine each outreach we would be able to see valleys too. Praise be to God that He is our focus and sharing the gospel is our goal now!\nPraise Reports\nGod is working mightily in Mexico God is providing for families in need God is moving while the world is stopped God is mighty to level mountains and valleys God is Good God IS Prayer Requests\nGod would continue to use our team to provide for those in need God would continue to provide for everybody in the team God would continue to change me from the inside out God would make His change in my life apparent to me and others God would continue to reveal the hope that I have in Christ God would continue to do a work in and through the team As this school continues on, I’d like to ask you to consider the work that is being accomplished here in Mexico, and come alongside me in prayer and financial partnership in this ministry. If you would like to become a prayer partner with me please leave a comment below. Also, if you’d like to support me financially click the link below.\nGod be Praised!\nBlessings in Christ,\nJoshua Knight\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/worship-in-the-valley/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/knight/wp-content/uploads/sites/127/2020/07/115806750%5F1592780244222732%5F3224030105302041738%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; my cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the LORD Forever.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Worship in the Valley"},{"content":"Calvary School of Missions 2020 — Week 3 It’s Rachel again! I have been so excited to sit down each week and communicate to you what the Lord has been doing at the School of Missions! I am so thankful for your fellowship in the gospel, praying for you and your families, and thanking God for your partnership that made coming here possible. Every day the Lord is faithful to remind me that He has me here for a specific purpose– thank you for playing a part in that!\nThis week we focused on the importance of culture and discipleship– and these things are more closely related than I initially expected. Discipleship is wholly based on developing relationships. When a missionary goes to a foreign nation to make disciples of Jesus, he or she must become acclimated to the culture in order to be effective. This is so that the missionary can build effective relationships with the nationals, or natives. As we read in Ministering Cross-Culturally, this is a huge exercise of humility. A missionary must enter a country and learn the language, social cues, and ways of life– everything from the beginning, like a child.\n“The keys for successful personal relationships in ministry are obedience to the commands of Scripture and accepting that others have a viewpoint that is as worthy of consideration as our own.”\nSherwood G. Lingenfelter, Ministering Cross-Culturally\nMissions is almost never what we expect, especially in the beginning. We may go into a foreign country with all these lofty ideals of what God’s going to do, just to find out that we have to spend 1-2 years simply learning the language and culture. And a lot of this culture may be the opposite of our own culture, which can cause frustration and confusion. But, when we face these challenges, we need to look at our greatest Example. Jesus, God Almighty, left His throne to become like one of us. He was totally immersed in the Jewish culture for 30 years before He began His official ministry. We see time and time again how He leveraged the culture to make relationships with the people and reach them with the gospel. What humility! He set aside His “rights” as God, set aside His glory to become the adopted Son of a poor carpenter, all to reach humanity in a very personal way. What does this say about us when we gear up to go to another nation? It requires us to put down parts of our culture (as much of it as we can), and take up as much of the other culture that is required to forge relationships.\nThis teaching was so timely for us because Saturday’s outreach in San Vicente was nothing like we expected. We were expecting for this outreach to be similar to the others, where some of us would share a few testimonies while others would work with the youth and the kids. We had a skit for the kids, crafts, and more planned… a two-hour drive later we had to throw all our plans out the window! The need in this particular church fellowship was manual labor on a property they were preparing for a women’s halfway house ministry. So we took up shovels, pickaxes, and post-hole diggers and got to work!\nAs we idealize missions, it is easy for us to get caught up in the outreach, and programs, and ministry tasks. But sometimes, what the community needs is for you to come alongside them and break rocks with them! What greater way to serve and create relationships than to meet the people where they are at? As we were chipping rocks away from the mountain and piling them up by the fence, it was like the Lord was using the rocks to speak to my heart… It’s not about the plans. It’s about the people.\nIs it worth it to lay down some of our cultural comforts and operations in order to be a vessel for the love of God to reach His children? Is He worth giving up our plans, and taking up the task of learning in order to reach or encourage His people? Is He worth it? I would certainly say so, and pray that He would help me to make my life look like I believe it.\nThank you again to those who have been supporting me in your prayers and financially! It means so much that you have decided to be a part of what God is doing in Rosarito and in my life! Prayer requests are below if you would like to pray for our team, and if you would like to partner with me financially, you can click the link below. The Lord has been teaching me so much, and speaking to my heart about serving as a long-term missionary– I can’t wait to continue pressing in!\nIn Christ,\nRachel\nPraise Reports:\nThe Lord has blessed us with amazing teachers and leaders! We are already such a tight-knit family! We made it to and from San Vicente safely. The Lord is keeping us safe and teaching us flexibility as plans change due to pandemic precautions and other factors. Prayer Requests:\nThat the Lord would strengthen us all (students and staff) as we pass the halfway mark, and that we would not grow weary. That the Lord would continue binding us together in unity. That the Lord would give each of us a heart and a vision for a specific people group or nation. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/dude-the-rocks-cried-out/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"calvary-school-of-missions-2020--week-3\"\u003eCalvary School of Missions 2020 — Week 3\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/rachelmartinez/wp-content/uploads/sites/121/2020/07/eefdc643-b415-4d09-a7d8-68b24a1288e9.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s Rachel again! I have been so excited to sit down each week and communicate to you what the Lord has been doing at the School of Missions! I am so thankful for your fellowship in the gospel, praying for you and your families, and thanking God for your partnership that made coming here possible. Every day the Lord is faithful to remind me that He has me here for a specific purpose– thank you for playing a part in that!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dude, The Rocks Cried Out!"},{"content":" Arise and go, for this is no place to rest….\nMICAH 2:10\nAnother week has wrapped up here in Rosarito, and it’s an honor to get to share with you again. Thank you so much for taking the time to read these updates, and I hope that they bless you as much as we feel blessed to be here.\nIn the classroom this week, we had the pleasure of learning from Phil and Joy Metzger. They spent 20 years in Hungary planting churches and running a bible college. Alishia connected with them right away, as they have a mutual friend with us in Japan and are familiar with church planters in the city where our friend Tamera lives in Serbia. Phil taught on the importance of learning language and Joy joined him to teach about raising a family on the field. They shared their testimony for two hours on Tuesday night, and they easily could have gone two more. It was amazing to have a living, speaking missionary biography right in front of us. We know that we won’t follow their specific steps to get to Japan, but it was such an encouragement to hear the ways that God showed Himself in their journey.\nOn Thursday, we did an outreach at Calvary Chapel Rancho Santa Cruz. We brought food relief, created a program for the kids, and moved hundreds of cinder blocks. I was given the really incredible opportunity to teach a bit from God’s word. It was a great exercise in working with a translator, being prepared to teach without forewarning, and relying on the Lord’s strength instead of my own. The Holy Spirit showed up, and we were extremely blessed by the church. Even when the culture is foreign, there is so much joy being around our Church family.\nAgain, thank you for your incredible support, and please reach out to us if you need prayer or encouragement for anything. We love you would be blessed to be able to come along side of you in this way.\nPraise Report:\nFor the amazing opportunities for ministering that God has provided. For the connections we’ve made with the students, staff, and missionaries. For the weaknesses that the Lord has shown us in ourselves, that we can surrender to Him. Prayer Requests:\nFor continued growth and refining in our lives. For direction on what to do after Mexico. For strength, energy, and health as we are just at the halfway point of the school. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/no-place-to-rest/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArise and go, for this is no place to rest….\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMICAH 2:10\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/root/wp-content/uploads/sites/116/2020/07/IMG%5F0745.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnother week has wrapped up here in Rosarito, and it’s an honor to get to share with you again. Thank you so much for taking the time to read these updates, and I hope that they bless you as much as we feel blessed to be here.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/root/wp-content/uploads/sites/116/2020/07/IMG%5F0747.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the classroom this week, we had the pleasure of learning from Phil and Joy Metzger. They spent 20 years in Hungary planting churches and running a bible college. Alishia connected with them right away, as they have a mutual friend with us in Japan and are familiar with church planters in the city where our friend Tamera lives in Serbia. Phil taught on the importance of learning language and Joy joined him to teach about raising a family on the field. They shared their testimony for two hours on Tuesday night, and they easily could have gone two more. It was amazing to have a living, speaking missionary biography right in front of us. We know that we won’t follow their specific steps to get to Japan, but it was such an encouragement to hear the ways that God showed Himself in their journey.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"No Place to Rest"},{"content":"Acts 20:35 Reads: I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, \u0026lsquo;It is more blessed to give than to receive.\u0026rsquo; NKJV\nBlessings! Prakash, Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/charity-seeks-not-her-own/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eActs 20:35 Reads: \u003cem\u003eI have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, \u0026lsquo;It is more blessed to give than to receive.\u0026rsquo; NKJV\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/prakash-July-2020-1-240x300.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/prakash-July-2020-2-234x300.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/prakash-July-2020-7-300x223.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/prakash-July-2020-6-300x181.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/prakash-July-2020-11-300x195.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/prakash-July-2020-13-300x194.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBlessings! Prakash, Muna and Eutychus\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Charity Seeks Not Her Own"},{"content":"Calvary School of Missions class of 2020 Rosarito, Mexico\nThe school is well on it’s way, and already we’re seeing God birth new and deep truths into the students hearts and minds. One of the main focusses of the first 2 weeks is laying a biblical foundation in missions. This section of teaching is titled, “T he Purpose of the Church”. Pastor Trent is walking the students through the Bible and unfolding the truth about why the church exists and what our role is in fulfilling that purpose on earth.\nWe’ve enjoyed, not only great teachings, but also sweet times of prayer and worship, COVID outreach to suffering people groups in communities surrounding the work here in Rosarito, and fellowship with one another as we become unified as one body. In the words of one of the students, it’s been “RADICAL”. Students are sharing the gospel, stepping out of their comfort zones, and leading people to Christ for the first time. Several times a week, we open up a time of debrief. Students have the opportunity to share what God is doing in their hearts, how they’re being stretched, overcoming personal struggles, and what they’re experiencing through both teachings and outreaches.\nPlease continue to pray for the students as their minds are being shaped to think biblically about world evangelization and the Great Commission while learning to completely surrender any of their personal plans that may not be what God has for them and their future. Some are asking for prayer for confirmation of calling, whether that’s to Go themselves to the field or stay here send others well. Other students need prayer for direction of where He would want them to minister cross-culturally.\nThese kids love Jesus with all their hearts! The leadership is fired up and excited to see what God has for them individually. Our heart is to help facilitate discussions and deep prayer time that bring about a clear vision of God’s plan from the beginning of time and help them find out what their part is in fulfilling the great commission in their lives. Please pray for the leadership to have wisdom and anointing to lead well and teach well. Pray for protection over the school against illness or injuries. We are taking every precaution possible to keep germs out, but would also ask for God’s divine protection so we can finish the school with all students healthy and strong. Thank you all! We’re abundantly blessed to link arms with you all as we seek to partner with these students and get them to where God has called them successfully.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-school-of-missions-newsletter-1/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCalvary School of Missions class of 2020 Rosarito, Mexico\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/image.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe school is well on it’s way, and already we’re seeing God birth new and deep truths into the students hearts and minds. One of the main focusses of the first 2 weeks is laying a biblical foundation in missions. This section of teaching is titled, “T \u003cem\u003ehe Purpose of the Church\u003c/em\u003e”. Pastor Trent is walking the students through the Bible and unfolding the truth about why the church exists and what our role is in fulfilling that purpose on earth.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary School of Missions Newsletter 1"},{"content":" I can’t believe I have already been in Mexico for two weeks! Time is flying by and all of it has been so fruitful! This week, I’ve learned about the filling of the Holy Spirit and living to be used by God through teachings and books that the team and I have read. The more I sit in His presence and meditate on Him, the more I want to be fully saturated and live my life in every aspect for Him.\nIt has been such a privilege to be able to be part of the Calvary School of Missions team and something that I will never take for granted. The teachings and books have been incredibly thought-provoking and heart wrenching. All of the people that we have been able to share the gospel with, serve, and make friendships with have been such a sweet blessing. My life has been filled with so much joy because I have been filled with so much Jesus. It is such a privilege to be the hands and feet of Jesus and see the weight lifted off of an individual who\u0026rsquo;s chosen to take the step of faith and receive Christ. Oh, to see their tears and hear their cries that represent new hope found in Christ.\nGod has done a work in my heart that has given me a desire to accomplish things that affect eternity, rather than material things that will only come and go like the wind. There are about 3 billion people in our world today that have never even heard of the name of Jesus, and possibly might not ever hear. I want to be a part of doing something to change this in our world. These people need to hear the good news of the gospel. They are waiting. These people are wanting. Many of them are starving and living horrible lives. They have no hope. They need Jesus. If no one goes, they have no hope. We need to reach them. I want to reach them. My heart’s cry is to reach these people that have never heard of God.\nHow then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:\n“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace,\nWho bring glad tidings of good things!”\nRomans 10:14-15\nThank you so much for all of your prayers and partnership with me. This School of Missions has been such a joy and has promoted so much growth and a greater love for Jesus in my life. I am so grateful and I am praying for you; that God will continue to deepen your faith and love for Him, that His desires would become your desires even more, and that you would be completely satisfied and content in Him. I love you all so much!\nPraise Reports:\n-All of our team is in good health!\n-God is evidently working in the hearts of our team as well as the hearts of nationals in Mexico.\n-It is such a blessing to be here!! It is such a privilege to be able to listen to all of the classes that we have been given and complete all of the books that we have been able to read!\nPrayer Requests:\n-Please pray that God, in His perfect timing, would reveal to me His calling on my life and where He wants me to go.\n-Please pray for my heart, that every day I would grow deeper in my faith and my surrender to Him.\n-Please pray for the unreached people that have never heard the name of Jesus; that God would send someone and that they would hear and receive the good news of the gospel.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/jesus-working-through-me/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/box/wp-content/uploads/sites/123/2020/07/AE272DE1-89E4-4B71-801F-621873480C8B%5F1%5F201%5Fa-1.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI can’t believe I have already been in Mexico for two weeks! Time is flying by and all of it has been so fruitful! This week, I’ve learned about the filling of the Holy Spirit and living to be used by God through teachings and books that the team and I have read. The more I sit in His presence and meditate on Him, the more I want to be fully saturated and live my life in every aspect for Him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Jesus Working Through Me"},{"content":"So sorry that it has been so long since we have written. We are doing well. We pray that the Lord will keep you safe as the whole world is going through this pandemic.\nWe had one week left to finish our fourth semester of the Bible college when a total lockdown was imposed in our country. Immediately, we had to send the students home. Now the lockdown has been lifted, with some restrictions, but we still can not reopen the Bible college. All schools and colleges are closed. We can not reopen Bible college this year. When other schools and colleges open then we will also be able to start our new semester.\nWe can\u0026rsquo;t gather together for Sunday Service yet. We are having online services. Praise the Lord for technology! Online service is a blessing. Many non-Christian friends are able to join with us for our Sunday services and are hearing the Gospel! We pray that these non-Christian friends will believe in Jesus and call upon His name and be saved.\nWe have been going through some hard times in life. Persecution broke out in the North where our son was. Our son was taken to the police station and flogged (beaten) by the police. He was charged with converting people (to Christianity) with foreign aid. He was continually harassed by the police, but no Christian stood with him. Finally, we had to take him out from there. Now he is with us. Our local co-workers there have been harassed by political people, anti-Christian groups and police. Now, the Lord heard our prayers and the situation is better.\nThe people (who were harassing our friends in the North) have some photos of us and our local workers with our American friends and with Christian literature. They have gotten these from Facebook. Please do not post any photos of you with any of us. We need your prayers.\nThank you for your prayers and support!\nCo-workers in Christ,\nPastor 15\u0026rsquo;s Family*\n*Names have been changed/omitted for security reasons.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-my-deliverer/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo sorry that it has been so long since we have written. We are doing well. We pray that the Lord will keep you safe as the whole world is going through this pandemic.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe had one week left to finish our fourth semester of the Bible college when a total lockdown was imposed in our country. Immediately, we had to send the students home.  Now the lockdown has been lifted, with some restrictions, but we still can not reopen the Bible college. All schools and colleges are closed.  We can not reopen Bible college this year. When other schools and colleges open then we will also be able to start our new semester.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord is My Deliverer"},{"content":"WEEK 2: CSOM\n“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the HolySpirit and fire.” Matt. 3:11\nEvery so often, the Lord places a word on my heart. This week as I walked with the students through teachings, readings, prayer time, and outreaches, it was “Consistency” that God spoke to my heart. My sacrifices don’t compare to the sacrifice made by Jesus which saved my soul and promises me eternity in Heaven regardless of anything I do for Him. Yet, I am compelled to rise early and lead by example a disciplined life led by the Holy Spirit. Most days that means 5 am alarms. If early mornings are easy for you that’s a gift. For me it’s more about being consistent and disciplined. Personal devotion time comes next with a “grande” warm cup of slightly sweetened coffee. This is a perfect example of how I want to lead. A whole lot of Jesus and a sweet spirit. Those who know me know that this is a work only God can do.\nI’ve had the privilege of getting to know these amazing students. They’re gifted and grounded in God’s word. CSOM provides us with opportunities to serve with one another and live in community which is a big part of missions. We encourage the students to prepare for living communally. I shared a morning devotion on “Consistency.” God spoke to me about how Abraham lived with a constant awareness that God was with him. For you and me today, God is with us! He is for us! As our team reaches out to communities with Bible teachings, Kids activities, and COVID relief, I sense a force, the Holy Spirit, behind us and around us, gently propelling us to move forward. King David speaks of the blessing of consistency in 1 Chron. 28:7 We’re weak individuals at times, we can start out well, but the challenge is to end well. Pray for us that our leaders and students would remain faithful to what God has called us to here in Mexico.\nPraise Report\nOutreaches are providing an opportunity for the gospel to go out, needs to be met, and prayers to comfort those living in some of the most materially poor communities here in Mexico (Baja,CA) Students and Leaders are unified Speakers are able to travel here to teach Prayer Request\nFor our team to be equipped with supplies for more COVID relief The students to gain a vision for their calling For Sienna to stay focused and continue to be a blessing For the Connection House to complete building projects and their upcoming mission trip to be fruitful. For my family, my sons, to walk with Jesus and connect with our family Thank you for taking time to read all God is doing in my life and ministry to CSOM. For praying for me and my family. God has so…much more for me, for you, as we follow Him and are led by the Holy Spirit. The Financial partner link below allows you to financially partner with me. I am currently saving for mission trips. Where? Well, wherever God calls me. My heart says South Sudan and to the Ends of the Earth! God says just follow me.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/lead-by-the-spirit/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWEEK 2: CSOM\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/sedillos/wp-content/uploads/sites/111/2020/07/meprayingwAlisha716.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the\u003c/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eHolySpirit\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eand fire.”\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eMatt. 3:11\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eEvery so often, the Lord places a word on my heart. This week as I walked with the students through teachings, readings, prayer time, and outreaches, it was “Consistency” that God spoke to my heart. My sacrifices don’t compare to the sacrifice made by Jesus which saved my soul and promises me eternity in Heaven regardless of anything I do for Him. Yet, I am compelled to rise early and lead by example a disciplined life led by the Holy Spirit. Most days that means 5 am alarms. If early mornings are easy for you that’s a gift.  For me it’s more about being consistent and disciplined. Personal devotion time comes next with a  “grande” warm cup of slightly sweetened coffee. This is a perfect example of how I want to lead. A whole lot of Jesus and a sweet spirit. Those who know me know that this is a work only God can do.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Lead By the Spirit"},{"content":" Hello again,\nI want to start off by thanking everyone who is partnering with me in what God is doing here in Mexico during the School of Missions. In the past two weeks, God has really been teaching me a lot through the classes and outreaches that we’ve participated in with local churches. He showed me the importance of relying on Him and giving Him our all for the purpose of spreading the gospel and giving Him the glory.\nThis past week we read the book Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray. It talked about how we are like branches on a vine, each one of us being a branch and God the vine. Branches, apart from the vine are worth nothing, so much so that they are simply burned. However, when they are connected to the vine they bear fruit. We need to be constantly connected to God in all that we do so that we can bear fruit. Ask yourself “What good is a branch that\u0026rsquo;s only connected to the vine for some time and then not?” Not much, because it isn’t always bearing good fruit. So we being the branches have to be constantly and continually in a relationship with Him, seeking Him in all that we do. Through this, we will bear good fruit for His glory.\nOne story I want to share is from an outreach we did in Colonia San Fernando. When we were walking down the streets inviting people to come to hear the gospel, I realized how blessed we are compared to how these people are living. They live in small houses that aren’t really houses at all, they are simply a big room with random things spread around. They walk on dirt roads that have trash, broken glass, and sharp rocks scattered everywhere and of course random stray malnourished dogs. Kids came streaming out of their houses to meet us in the open yard where we were hosting the outreach. There were about twenty-five kids, some of them without parents, and around ten adults. It was clear to see that these kids were so happy that we had come even though they have such hard lives. It was amazing to see the kids interact with us as we taught them the fruits of the Spirit and shared the gospel. They played with each other as if they were having the time of their lives. It just goes to show you that when we share the love of Jesus it brings joy to people when they could be so sad, BUT because of Him, they aren’t.\nThis has been such a blessing in so many ways, and I can’t believe that it has only been 2 weeks! Thank you again to everyone who is partnering with God in what He is doing through me as I reach those that need Jesus.\nClick the link below to partner financially for tuition and future mission trips.\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DA3FC4FE968E47C\nPrayer Request:\nFor God to continue to do a work in the lives of people here in Mexico For all the students to retain the information from teachings and readings For me as God is doing a work within my life Blessings,\nSienna Sedillos\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/the-love-that-changes-us/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/siennasedillos/wp-content/uploads/sites/129/2020/07/IMG%5F9909.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHello again,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI want to start off by thanking everyone who is partnering with me in what God is doing here in Mexico during the School of Missions. In the past two weeks, God has really been teaching me a lot through the classes and outreaches that we’ve participated in with local churches. He showed me the importance of relying on Him and giving Him our all for the purpose of spreading the gospel and giving Him the glory.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Love That Changes Us"},{"content":" The Church\nWe have seen a great example of the church body working together as a sending hub here in Rosarito. Pastor Mike Vincent also spoke into our lives about how God uses the local church to equip the people to share the gospel and establish churches as the Holy Spirit sends them. It has been such a blessing to come alongside them and help the ministries that branched from the hearts of the people in the congregation. This week we were able to go to a community where the poverty was very evident along with the sense of hopelessness in the eyes of the people. But as we walked around Colonia San Fernando (a neighborhood) we were able to invite them to a “sanctuary” in the front yard of one of their neighbors’ houses. It was amazing to see how the expressions of their faces changed as soon as they entered. Sharing the word of God and the joy and peace that comes from following Jesus was literally changing the oppressive atmosphere that was surrounding us. I had the privilege of praying and just hanging out with many of the ladies at the outreach and it was such a great encouragement to see God working in their hearts. Another blessing was we were able to give them large bags of food that are needed through these difficult times of job loss.\nAbide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me and I in him bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.\nJohn 15:4-5\nNothing\nWhen I think back on all that we have been learning and the outreaches we have done, I feel eternally grateful to be a part of God’s work. Along with having class we also have a book that we are reading on a weekly basis. This week we read the book “Absolute Surrender” by Andrew Murray which absolutely rocked me to the core. The title alone gives you an idea of what adventure we were taken on. Here is one quote from the book, “My Lord Jesus wants me to take the blessed as a worker, and morning by morning and day by day and hour by hour and the simple utter helplessness of one who knows nothing, and is nothing and can do nothing.” Even as I read that my mind already was fighting the thought that “I am nothing.” Growing up in a culture that is continuously asserting that “you need to believe in yourself” this idea of being “nothing” is counter-intuitive. Our Lord tells us in Matthew 10:38-30: “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.\nAbide in Him\nIt is such a wonderful thought that the Lord does not leave us high and dry. This leads me to John 15:4-5 where Jesus tells us, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.\u0026quot;\nWhat an amazing promise! I have read this verse many times and have been moved but only to get back in the rut of routine and complacency. What I often forget is that I must have a continual dependence on Him and not just a momentary feeling that fades. God is so gracious, and He gives us the promise of the Holy Spirit so we can be filled continuously to glorify God in all we do. In John 15:26 the Lord reassures us with this promise, “But when the [ c]Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.” Being continuously filled with the Holy Spirit enables us to be bold witnesses for Jesus and without Him, we can do nothing.\nHoly Spirit power\nAnother work of the Holy Spirit is to guide us to do the work of the ministry. We see this in Acts 13:1-4 where Paul and Barnabas are fasting and praying, and the Holy Spirit sets them apart and sends them while the church also fasts and confirms the calling. This is the model of Biblical missions and it has been so encouraging to see how this model is what God intended for His church so that it would prevail. All of Paul’s missionary journeys were to share the Gospel and establish a church that would be equipped to stand in the power of the Holy Spirit. With this foundation of Biblical missions, I look forward to being a part of a team that can help establish church plants in various parts of the world. There is so much more I would like to share but it would take various pages to fully explain the beauty of God’s model from Biblical missions. Please feel free to email so we can discuss this further.\nI pray that God has ministered to you and stirred your heart to pray for His Spirit to continue to move through this world. Words cannot express how grateful I am for you coming alongside me in this incredible journey the Lord has me on. I look forward to hearing from you and in God’s timing to also have a cup of tea or coffee with you (or maybe two:)\nPraise Reports:\nLearning so much about Biblical missions Having time to seek God’s will for my life Seeing God’s Spirit move in powerful ways Only needing $300 to pay off tuition (due August 1st) Prayer requests:\nTo absorb all the Lord is teaching me Stand on a theological conviction of God’s model for missions To be a vessel filled with the Holy Spirit to further God’s kingdom Confirmation and guidance as to where God would lead me in the mission field With love,\nMaribel Blanco\nMari.wfg11@gmail.com\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/work-of-the-holy-spirit/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/blanco/wp-content/uploads/sites/119/2020/07/IMG%5F9397-2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Church\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have seen a great example of the church body working together as a sending hub here in Rosarito. Pastor Mike Vincent also spoke into our lives about how God uses the local church to equip the people to share the gospel and establish churches as the Holy Spirit sends them. It has been such a blessing to come alongside them and help the ministries that branched from the hearts of the people in the congregation. This week we were able to go to a community where the poverty was very evident along with the sense of hopelessness in the eyes of the people. But as we walked around Colonia San Fernando (a neighborhood) we were able to invite them to a “sanctuary” in the front yard of one of their neighbors’ houses. It was amazing to see how the expressions of their faces changed as soon as they entered. Sharing the word of God and the joy and peace that comes from following Jesus was literally changing the oppressive atmosphere that was surrounding us. I had the privilege of praying and just hanging out with many of the ladies at the outreach and it was such a great encouragement to see God working in their hearts.  Another blessing was we were able to give them large bags of food that are needed through these difficult times of job loss.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Work of the Holy Spirit"},{"content":" Hey, it’s me again!\nI never would’ve imagined all that the Lord would teach me in these first two weeks. He’s really been speaking to my heart about surrender. I want to thank you all for coming alongside me and praying for the ministry and outreach that we’re doing here at the Calvary School of Missions here in Mexico. Again, I could not be here without your partnership, investment towards the Gospel, and God’s call on my life. Not only has this time been great for reaching people with the good news of Jesus, but it’s been a wonderful time for growth and preparation in taking Jesus to the nations. Our classes have laid a biblical foundation for what Church planting and missions are to look like. We’ve had seasoned, long-term missionaries share their testimonies as well as teach classes which have been crucial in forming a proper understanding of what we will face on the field as we go.\nAdvance\nI completely understand that right now is a really difficult time for many. COVID has stirred up a lot of fear and worry in this season of life. Those are the sorts of things that cause us to want to retreat and keep to ourselves, but we have to remember that this is a crucial time. A time that should stir within us the importance of making the Gospel known; and not only that but to help meet the physical needs of those around us as well (as safely as possible). Right now is the time to advance the Gospel, and for the students and leaders here we continue to count the cost as we go out to serve these communities.\nThe Lord has used us to be able to bless a lot of families here in the local Church. This last week we took the opportunity to love on a couple of different communities by providing COVID relief: food packages, getting to spend time with those in need, playing games with kiddos, sharing testimonies, and sharing the Gospel with many of the adults who attended. At both events, I was able to share a brief testimony of how the Lord has saved me, and what He has done in my life. Our hope is that the Lord would use the testimonies given by all to plant seeds in the unbeliever and encourage our fellow believers.\nAt the first COVID relief outreach we went to a neighborhood that had a lot of need. When we got there we went out and invited everyone we could to come and join us for the afternoon! One of my favorite parts was to get to hang out with the kiddos at the end; to get to hear their laughter, and to get to see them run around playing with their balloon animals and swords. I’m really thankful we got to go. Please pray that they would think on the Bible story that was shared, that they would think on how much the Lord loves them, and that they would seek to run after Him! The second outreach was held at a church not too far away from where we are staying. I had the privilege of getting to pray with an elderly man named Juan (his son is the pastor at that church). We were able to pray for his other son who was not walking with the Lord as well as Juan’s grandson. What a precious thing the desperate cry of a father is; our God hears!\nAfter serving at and attending church on Sunday we were able to go out to a local park, share the Gospel, and give out invitations to church with Spanish booklets of the Gospel of John. We split up in multiple groups to engage with the people there. It was a really great time to see the younger people of our group being pushed out of their comfort zones and growing to enjoy talking with people about their faith. Thank you for your prayers—God is absolutely using them!\nHow To Get Involved\nWould you like to continue to be a part of what God is doing in my life, and part of sharing the Gospel? Please know that the Lord is using you through your prayers and giving. Needs will continue to arise as time goes on and the Lord continues to reveal His calling. If you feel led to give, the link is below.\nMost importantly, would you please continue to pray for us and this ministry:\nTo draw closer to the Lord To have continued boldness in sharing the Gospel For health, safety, and protection That the Lord would continue to reveal calling To continue to count the cost For His provision For a willing heart to go wherever He leads To get everything He’s wanting me to learn For the families and people that we have and will minister to For what’s next as well as potential vision tours of where God is calling me for longterm missions I love you guys, blessings,\n-Jordon\n“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you,” (Matthew 28:19-20a, NKJV).\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/advancing-the-gospel/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/voisin/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2020/07/353DCF23-1C17-41FC-ACA4-7E58709C1804.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHey, it’s me again!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI never would’ve imagined all that the Lord would teach me in these first two weeks. He’s really been speaking to my heart about surrender. I want to thank you all for coming alongside me and praying for the ministry and outreach that we’re doing here at the Calvary School of Missions here in Mexico. Again, I could not be here without your partnership, investment towards the Gospel, and God’s call on my life. Not only has this time been great for reaching people with the good news of Jesus, but it’s been a wonderful time for growth and preparation in taking Jesus to the nations. Our classes have laid a biblical foundation for what Church planting and missions are to look like. We’ve had seasoned, long-term missionaries share their testimonies as well as teach classes which have been crucial in forming a proper understanding of what we will face on the field as we go.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Advancing the Gospel"},{"content":"Another wonderful week of the 2020 Calvary School of Missions is in the books. Two weeks down, four to go…\nFor those who don’t know, the purpose of the school is two-fold: 1) to lay a biblical and practical foundation for those who believe they are being led by God to long-term missionary work, and 2) to allow for an extended time of laying down all our wants and desires in life to seek God’s direction and leading in our lives. Through daily prayer, reading the Bible, the daily classes, required readings, service and gospel outreaches, and worship and prayer nights, the purposes of the school are without a doubt being accomplished.\nThis week, God has been communicating to me clearly my need for Him to do things in my life that I thought I could do alone. I am coming to understand I cannot do these things myself, only He can do them. Things that are impossible with man, but that are possible with God.\nThe first thing is that one night during the week I up woke in the middle of the night with “2 Timothy 2:21” in my head. I remember thinking in my half-asleep state, “I really need to look this verse up but I don’t have a Bible next to me.” And then I fell back asleep. Of course when I got up at 5:30am I forgot all that happened, but at about 7:15am as I was preparing to pray to God and read the Bible the verse came back to me!\n“20 But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for dishonor. 21 Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work.”\n2 TIMOTHY 2:20-21\nI don’t have space to explain fully what these verses mean, but basically, verse 21 is saying – Cleanse yourself from SIN, and you will be made useful for God, set apart for His purpose, not your own purpose, and you will be prepared for the good works God has planned for your life.\nSounds great! But cleanse myself from sin? Sanctify myself and make myself useful?? If I could do such a thing I wouldn’t even need to be saved, right? This verse speaks to me so clearly – I NEED God to work in my life. My need for God is so great. God does the cleansing, God does the sanctifying, but I must desire it and pursue Him.\nSecondly, we’ve been reading a book called Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray, which is really a radical call to exactly what the book is named for – absolute surrender to God. A quote in the book in which the author is communicating God’s heart for those whom He’s saved struck me…\n“I have surrendered myself as God absolutely to you; I became man and died for you that I might be entirely yours. Come and surrender yourselves entirely to be mine.”\nAbsolute surrender?? Not just the vague, “Oh yeah I’m a Christian, I gave my heart to Jesus” type of surrender, but literally surrender every desire? Every longing? Every want of mine? ALL of me surrendered at the foot of the cross where Jesus surrendered ALL of Himself? But God! I can’t do that! I don’t have that ability within myself – I NEED God to work in my life. One might say, “But doesn’t such absolute surrender seem unattainable?” What God has shown me is that IT IS unattainable…when I am trying to do so in my own strength.\nWith man these things I just mentioned – cleansing sin from my life, being made into a vessel set apart and useful to God for good works, and surrendering all to God – are impossible, but with God all things are possible. I NEED God to work in my heart and in my life. I need Him more than I know. That is my conclusion this week. These lessons are spiritual truths, but I must understand them and grow in them to be an effective missionary. God wants to use me, but He doesn’t want any of me on the missions field. Does that make sense? Paul the great missionary of the New Testament was one who let God work these things in him. How else could he get stoned to death, among all the other sufferings he endured, and continue on? Because God did a great work in Him. And God wants to do that work in any who desire it…who desire Him.\nSo I don’t have any pictures for this since it’s a work in my heart, but hopefully sharing this encourages or even challenges someone reading this.\nOn a different note, this has been a great week at the school. It’s been a bit slower than the first, but looking at the schedule it’s more of a “calm before the storm” type of thing. Things are about to ramp up in a good way!\nI will attach some pictures below from this week because I don’t want to leave you guys hanging. Love you all, thank you so, so much for your support which sent me here, and for your prayers which are accomplishing things in the spiritual realm. I am indebted to you all! Please continue praying for the leading of God in all the students’ lives, for God to anoint the teachers with wisdom in class, for more salvations when we do outreaches, for COVID not to affect the school in any way, and for God to work in each of us – things that only He can do!\nWith much love,\nSpencer Pierschbacher\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-20-at-5.50.14-PM.jpeg\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-19-at-5.32.08-PM.jpeg\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-19-at-5.33.57-PM.jpeg\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-17-at-10.04.14-PM.jpeg\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-20-at-5.50.11-PM.jpeg\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/som-week-2-with-man-it-is-impossible-but-with-god-all-things-are-possible-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAnother wonderful week of the 2020 Calvary School of Missions is in the books. Two weeks down, four to go…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor those who don’t know, the purpose of the school is two-fold: 1) to lay a biblical and practical foundation for those who believe they are being led by God to long-term missionary work, and 2) to allow for an extended time of laying down all our wants and desires in life to seek God’s direction and leading in our lives. Through daily prayer, reading the Bible, the daily classes, required readings, service and gospel outreaches, and worship and prayer nights, the purposes of the school are without a doubt being accomplished.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SOM Week 2: With Man It Is Impossible, But With God All Things Are Possible"},{"content":"– Week Two of CSOM –\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xotq_Zt8za4/XxeKtEFa35I/AAAAAAAAW88/IKN_GK-w_dQZRXioLThEYIUwN-agYuGgQCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-21.jpg\nThe second week in Rosarito, Mexico was definitely a bit different from the first one. This week we did two COVID relief outreaches and went street witnessing again on Sunday. We also continued to have class most days after Bible devotions and breakfast. I think what felt different about this week was the way everyone has grown a lot closer with each other. The first week everyone was of course just getting to know one another but now that we’re two weeks in, I already feel pretty much as comfortable with everyone as I do with my own family. I guess that’s what living under the same roof does to you, isn’t it?\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J2W4a3h7EZE/XxclqpKjmZI/AAAAAAAAW7Y/y67gptrJN00oE6BvFd1uixq0K6noFZK2gCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-21.jpg\nAnyway, the first outreach we did was COVID relief in Colonia San Fernando. We invited families in the neighborhood to join us for some of the Bible activities we were doing. We had a bag of groceries for each family, put on different games and activities for the kids, and some of the CSOM students shared their testimony on the mic. I was mainly helping with crafts at the kids’ table but later was called to pray for those who wanted it. Sarah, another student, and I prayed and spoke a while with one mother who had brought her kids to the outreach. Although I didn’t understand everything she was saying in Spanish, I did my best to translate and communicate the questions we wanted to ask her, and we were able to get to know her a little better. We also invited her to church at Calvary Chapel Rosarito and she said she was interested in going. Something I really love about the culture here in Mexico is how open and willing many people are to talk with you even if you don’t know them or speak their language fluently. Even though I’m not a very extroverted person, I think being in this kind of culture definitely makes it a bit easier to talk with strangers and reach them with the gospel.\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_YVEgw4EZbo/XxcljwwgKaI/AAAAAAAAW7Q/KHumXBYbQrkXp7V8L5lXF48Cht4wRNqvgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-21.jpg\nDespite this, however, walking up to strangers to share the gospel has definitely been the most daunting task for me so far. A million thoughts race through my mind every time I’m about to approach someone. What do I say after the initial greeting? How would I naturally share the gospel with them? Do I even know the gospel? I know I did this morning but now my mind is blank! Something about a cross… When this occurs, I have to stop and remember that it is happening because I am relying on my own strength and have not called upon the Lord to fill me with His strength. It is in these moments that I realize truly how much I am nothing without God. How much I need Him. I cannot do this work properly without the help of the Holy Spirit. Once I remind myself of all this, I take a deep breath and pray that God would help me and fill me with the Holy Spirit. When I did that this past week, all the anxiety was immediately washed away, and I was able to think clearly and calmly. God is real and His peace is real. I am so blessed and thankful for moments like these when those truths are displayed so personally in my life.\n“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you. He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth.”\nJohn 14:16-17a\nThank you so much again to everyone who has supported me both financially and in your prayers! It means so much to me that you would think of me and care to support the work the Lord is doing here in Rosarito, Mexico. Every day that I’m here, I feel so grateful that the Lord has allowed me to be a part of the School of Missions! If you would like to partner with me financially you can click the link below. Partnering with me means you are investing in the work God is doing through me and ultimately the further spread of the gospel as I train to be a missionary. Thank you all for taking the time to read this newsletter and considering partnering with me in the work God is doing here in Mexico!\nSincerely,\nLydia Boubion\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/call-upon-his-name/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e– Week Two of CSOM –\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xotq%5FZt8za4/XxeKtEFa35I/AAAAAAAAW88/IKN%5FGK-w%5FdQZRXioLThEYIUwN-agYuGgQCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-21.jpg\"\n         alt=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xotq\\_Zt8za4/XxeKtEFa35I/AAAAAAAAW88/IKN\\_GK-w\\_dQZRXioLThEYIUwN-agYuGgQCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-21.jpg\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xotq\"\u003ehttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-xotq\u003c/a\u003e_Zt8za4/XxeKtEFa35I/AAAAAAAAW88/IKN_GK-w_dQZRXioLThEYIUwN-agYuGgQCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-21.jpg\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe second week in Rosarito, Mexico was definitely a bit different from the first one. This week we did two COVID relief outreaches and went street witnessing again on Sunday. We also continued to have class most days after Bible devotions and breakfast. I think what felt different about this week was the way everyone has grown a lot closer with each other. The first week everyone was of course just getting to know one another but now that we’re two weeks in, I already feel pretty much as comfortable with everyone as I do with my own family. I guess that’s what living under the same roof does to you, isn’t it?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Call Upon His Name"},{"content":"Calvary School of Missions 2020: Week 2 First, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for partnering with me in the gospel! We’re only two weeks in, and I see the Lord answering prayers and moving in powerful ways.\nFor those of you who may not know, I am in Mexico at Calvary School of Missions getting trained up to be a long-term missionary. We started with the basics of the grace of God to prepare us for the field, and in those basics, we find the heart of God, His love for the lost and forgotten, His heart to reach all nations with His gospel, and His grace that He would invite us– the Church– to be a part of the work He is doing! This week we focused on the power of surrendering to the work of the Holy Spirit who works in us as well as through us.\n“The will of the creature is nothing but an empty vessel in which the power of God is to be made manifest.”\nAndrew Murray, Absolute Surrender\nWhat a glorious honor! To be filled with the Holy Spirit so that His power might be on display and souls might be turned to the Father. We gleaned a lot from Pastor Trent’s teaching on the work of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts. The gospel was preached to the people in the largest cities and from there, spread to the entire country. We were blessed to have Pastor Mike Vincent visit us to teach and share on how the Lord has done a similar work through his church. He is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Rosarito, a church that has planted 25 successful church fellowships in Mexico within the last 18 years. Incredible! It’s amazing to see the Lord display His power through men and women surrendered to His purposes. I pray that the Lord would cultivate that surrendered heart in us. I know I have such a long way to go, but I trust that God guides His children.\nWe accompanied a pastor from Calvary Chapel Rosarito on an outreach to bring COVID relief packages and the love of Christ to an impoverished community called Colonia San Fernando. One of the residents was so kind to open up her yard as a place to gather to share about the Lord, pray for the neighbors, and minister to the kids. I was able to share my testimony with those who attended. It was kind of spontaneous, and I had to have my friend Maribel translate, so there were a lot of things that were unfamiliar, and out of my control. The Lord taught me about surrender in that moment. I had to make myself available to what He wanted to say through me, that the people might be stirred by His power. I pray that they were.\nI also got to serve with the kids! We taught a lesson on the fruit of the Spirit, played water games (see the first photo), and did face painting!\nAs soon as we walked into this community we could sense the spiritual darkness, but the Lord showed up and there was joy, freedom, and hope. I was so encouraged to witness the impact that Jesus had on this small group of people. It reminded me of the verse, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined” (Isaiah 9:2). This Light, of course, had nothing to do with us and everything to do with the Lord Jesus. If it were not for His Spirit guiding us, all we would have had to offer was some food for their bellies. But since the Lord was leading us, He was able to offer Himself as the Bread of Life that sustains their souls.\nI am so grateful that you’ve decided to be a part of what God is doing in my life to train me up for His global purpose. Thank you for partnering with me in prayer, encouragement, and finances; the Lord is using it! Praise reports and prayer requests are below, and also a link for financial partnership if the Lord leads you! Thank you again, and I pray the Lord would continue to make the power of His gospel real in your life!\nIn Christ,\nRachel\nPraise Reports:\nThe Lord is taking us out of our comfort zones and helping us grow in boldness for sharing the gospel. God is continuing to unify us in His Spirit and forge deep friendships. The Lord has blessed us with awesome leaders to disciple us. Prayer Requests:\nThat God would give the leaders an extra measure of grace to navigate the school in the midst of often-changing situations. That God would give each of us students a heart and a vision for a country or people group. That we would not grow weary as we near the half-way mark of our time in Mexico. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/power-in-surrender/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"calvary-school-of-missions-2020-week-2\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCalvary School of Missions 2020: Week 2\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/rachelmartinez/wp-content/uploads/sites/121/2020/07/AC535F58-23BC-4D26-957B-69BD592E46F2.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFirst, I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for partnering with me in the gospel! We’re only two weeks in, and I see the Lord answering prayers and moving in powerful ways.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor those of you who may not know, I am in Mexico at Calvary School of Missions getting trained up to be a long-term missionary. We started with the basics of the grace of God to prepare us for the field, and in those basics, we find the heart of God, His love for the lost and forgotten, His heart to reach all nations with His gospel, and His grace that He would invite us– the Church– to be a part of the work He is doing! This week we focused on the power of surrendering to the work of the Holy Spirit who works \u003cem\u003ein\u003c/em\u003e us as well as \u003cem\u003ethrough\u003c/em\u003e us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Power in Surrender"},{"content":" So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”\nMATTHEW 17:20 NKJV\nThis past week has been incredible; the prayers that I have received from you all have greatly affected the work that God has done through me and the group. So first off, thank you for the amazing support that you have shown. These two weeks have been so packed with things that God has used to help people see the grace and peace that is found in Jesus Christ. Once again before getting started, I’m more than thankful for those of you who take the time to read this newsletter, I’m blessed by all of you. Together we can move mountains.\nThis week God has worked in my life personally by showing me how much I’ve been trying to put my hand to the work which He wants to do Himself. It isn’t us who move the mountains in our lives and the lives of those around us, but God. It’s our faith in Him that gives us the ability to do what He calls us to do. Whenever He has given me conviction in a certain area of life that should be changed, I’ve always tried to change it in my own power. God revealed to me that in my own strength I can do nothing to change the world, but by His amazing grace He can enable me to do that work which He calls us all to do, and move mountains. This next week, I will be applying this to my life, as much as it is possible for me to do so, and then allow God to fill in the cracks that I can’t see.\nAs God has been showing me the blind spots in my life, He has shown me that even in seasons where He is breaking me down and building me up, He still does work through me. Which leads me to show you what amazing work God has done this week. On Saturday, we had the opportunity to serve at a local church and provide families with essential food items to help them during this season of Covid-19. This not only helped them with their daily necessities, but it also encouraged them during these hard times. God was moving mountains by providing hope in a very dark season for many people. Many families in Mexico don’t have the funds required to have a meal every day or to provide supplies for their children\u0026rsquo;s needs. So when we had the opportunity to provide the parents with non-perishable food and time to talk to other Christians, it changed the entire environment of the room by the time we were finished. When people were walking in, they appeared tired and in need of refreshment, and when they were leaving they were energetic and happy. Thank God for the opportunity He gave me and the team to provide that for them. We not only provided for the parents, but also for the children. We were moving mountains by faith in God’s provision for those who believe. God gave us the funding for backpacks and toys for the children so that we could also support the families in that aspect. The children also received a form of refreshing in that they got to have their hands painted, and paint pictures with people from our team. This was one of many examples of God’s divine work done in and through our team this week. God moves mountains for those who believe in His Son and His work on the cross.\nA few other examples of God moving in and through our group during our time at Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) were when we visited Colonia San Fernando and provided Covid-19 relief and spent time sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Also, when we visited Abelardo L. Rodriguez Park in Rosarito on Sunday after church. Our time at the park was blessed because God provided us an opportunity to encourage a man named Martin, a believer, but battling with COVID isolation, we saw God move a mountain of discouragement in his life. If we can’t do anything but encourage another believer, praise God for His love working through us.\nIn order to be enabled to continue seeking the call of God on my life and to spread the grace of Christ to all nations, I’m asking you to consider coming alongside me through prayer and financial support. The Calvary School of Missions tuition is the biggest thing that I need support with right now. My tuition covers this great opportunity to serve God and includes food, housing, transportation, and study materials. Click the link below if you would like to come alongside me in changing the world through the furthering of the gospel.\nPraise Reports\nGod brought many people across my path that my testimony was able to encourage God brought many people across my path that encouraged me to continue seeking Christ and spread His word (Confirmation of the Work being done in the world) God brought the team closer together this week through the Spirit God is allowing me to be a part of His work! God is still providing life! God is providing His Love! God is Good! Praise God! Praise God! Praise God! Prayer Requests\nGod would bring bigger works of faith into motion through the whole team God would continue to do a work in the team God would bring bigger works of faith into motion through the whole team God would continue to allow us to display His glory and show it to those around us Provision for furthering my pursuit of God’s great commission God would bring healing to a broken world God would bring power to a sleeping church God would bring peace to the nations The LORD shall reign forever- Your God, O Zion, to all generations.\nPraise the LORD!\nPSALM 146:10 NKJV\nGod be praised! Hallelujah!\nJoshua Knight\nIf you would like to become a partner in my call to spread the gospel of Christ to the ends of the earth, please click the link below:\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/mountain-movers/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSo Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMATTHEW 17:20 NKJV\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past week has been incredible; the prayers that I have received from you all have greatly affected the work that God has done through me and the group. So first off, thank you for the amazing support that you have shown. These two weeks have been so packed with things that God has used to help people see the grace and peace that is found in Jesus Christ. Once again before getting started, I’m more than thankful for those of you who take the time to read this newsletter, I’m blessed by all of you. Together we can move mountains.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mountain Movers"},{"content":"WEEK 2: CSOM\nHi friends,\nThank you for being a part of this wonderful journey God has laid before me. My heart is so encouraged by your continual prayers and partnership. I pray God blesses you 100 times over.\nAs my second week here in Rosarito, Mexico comes to a close, I feel amazed. I am blessed to be able to attend Calvary School of Missions where the heartbeat is to raise up teams to go out to unreached people groups and share the gospel. Our classes continue to blow my mind and our readings are taking me deeper.\nLast week I shared how we were encouraged to lay down all our plans at the Lord’s feet that we might hear from Him and receive the direction He has for our futures. This week we learned how to be absolutely surrendered to God’s will. The thought of surrendering my life to God’s will impacted me greatly. Oh, that I might be completely empty of myself and seek God’s face wholeheartedly. When I abide in Him fully I can be filled with His love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, graciousness, faithfulness, and self-control.\nThis past Thursday we went to Colonia San Fernando to provide COVID relief. We went with food supplies in hand and the gospel on our lips. As soon as we arrived, I immediately saw the brokenness of heart and body in this community. I headed straight over to help set up for a kid’s craft table. As I moved towards the children, I prayed for God’s boldness and love to shine through me. I read from Galatians 5:22-23 sharing on the Fruits of Spirit, and a girl translated from her Spanish Bible. I was so encouraged by the little boy Antonio who stood across from me as I read. He was so engaged and responsive. It was sweet. He encouraged me to keep doing my best to communicate and ask questions. While I was teaching the lesson, I felt the Holy Spirit filling me and pouring out the fruits of the Spirit. It was a truly sweet moment for me because this was the first time on an outreach that I felt perfect peace. I knew God was working, I could feel His joy and peace washing over me. How wonderful to experience God’s peace in the midst of a broken community. I pray that you too would be filled with God’s sweet peace in these uncertain times of the COVID-19 pandemic and other scary situations.\nPraise Reports:\nThat God has kept us, classmates, in sweet unity Praise God for peace in hectic times We have stayed safe while going out Good health God always meets my needs Thank you to all who have chosen to partner with me financially for the School of Missions. I am halfway to my goal of $2,300! Praise God and His goodness. I have until August 17th, if you are interested in partnering with me financially. Here is my giving link: https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2?giftid=83041BC3D9644E1\nPrayer Requests:\nFor continued unity for us students and leadership Continued safety as we go out Good health Direction for after the school is over That I might be a sponge for the knowledge coming my way Continual provision financially If you have any questions or prayer requests please let me know. I’d love to hear from you ?\nAll the blessings,\nGabrielle\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/perfect-peace-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWEEK 2: CSOM\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/romero/wp-content/uploads/sites/126/2020/07/109226835%5F974825112945129%5F793787809487228994%5Fn-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHi friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for being a part of this wonderful journey God has laid before me. My heart is so encouraged by your continual prayers and partnership. I pray God blesses you 100 times over.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs my second week here in Rosarito, Mexico comes to a close, I feel amazed. I am blessed to be able to attend Calvary School of Missions where the heartbeat is to raise up teams to go out to unreached people groups and share the gospel. Our classes continue to blow my mind and our readings are taking me deeper.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"PERFECT PEACE"},{"content":" …Be utterly astounded!\nFor I will work a work in your days\nWhich you would not believe, though it were told you.\nHABAKKUK 1:5B\nPraise the Lord as we continue our training here in Mexico! This week we have so much to be thankful for. Alishia had the opportunity to pray with two women this week as they accepted Jesus as their savior! The first was during a street evangelism outreach and the second was during an outreach event that we were part of in one of the neighborhoods in Rosarito. This second outreach also gave us perspective. The neighborhood we were in was easily the most impoverished place I’ve ever seen. The people are often harassed and extorted by corrupt police, and hope is a dangerous thing there. Yet, the children run and play and smile, and the gospel does reach out there as evidenced by the woman who chose Jesus. We rejoice in the knowledge that our needs are met in abundance, but even if not, our joy is not dependent on that.\nWe had the opportunity to return to California for a couple of days to attend our friends’ wedding. Alishia got to do the flowers, which is always a blessing for her. The flowers turned out great and the wedding was beautiful, but the chance to connect with the church in Yorba Linda was something that really stuck out to me. Everyone knew that we were just making a quick trip back from the school and they asked about our experiences and what the Lord was doing. It was a micro-version of the relationship that God designed missionaries and sending churches to have, and it blessed us greatly to see that relationship play out. The Lord sent us to Mexico and in turn, we were able to report back on the work being done and encourage the church. I hope that these letters are encouraging to all of you that we aren’t able to see in person right now and I’m excited about the chance to share with you face to face sometime soon.\nOn Friday, class was taught by veteran church planter, Pastor Mike Vincent. He taught on what being a sending hub looks like and why it’s important to be a church that sends. This lines up with what the Lord has put on our hearts, to plant a church and eventually to raise up Japanese nationals to go out and plant their own churches. We have several people in our lives who have done this exact model, and their mentorship has been invaluable. We know that making disciples is the most effective way to reach Japan, and we know that we can’t be as effective in reaching the Japanese as other Japanese can be. Please pray for God to continue to confirm this vision for our work in Japan, along with preparing the hearts of the Japanese.\nPraise Report:\nWe were able to witness God grow fruit during our outreaches this week. The classes have been incredible and our personal growth has been exciting. We were able to connect with the church in California for a couple of days. Prayer Requests:\nThat God would continue to fill us with the Holy Spirit and direct us during outreaches. For direction on what to do after School of Missions is over. For continued health and safety during the school. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/utterly-astounded/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e…Be utterly astounded!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor I will work a work in your days\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhich you would not believe, though it were told you.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHABAKKUK 1:5B\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePraise the Lord as we continue our training here in Mexico! This week we have so much to be thankful for. Alishia had the opportunity to pray with two women this week as they accepted Jesus as their savior! The first was during a street evangelism outreach and the second was during an outreach event that we were part of in one of the neighborhoods in Rosarito. This second outreach also gave us perspective. The neighborhood we were in was easily the most impoverished place I’ve ever seen. The people are often harassed and extorted by corrupt police, and hope is a dangerous thing there. Yet, the children run and play and smile, and the gospel does reach out there as evidenced by the woman who chose Jesus. We rejoice in the knowledge that our needs are met in abundance, but even if not, our joy is not dependent on that.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Utterly Astounded"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” Acts 5:32\nHola friends and family,\nA week ago today our team arrived in Mexico to attend the School of Missions! Throughout the six weeks, we will be visiting different cities where we will get to serve with church plants. Pastor Trent and Pastor Aaron have been teaching us classes in the morning and evenings on surrendering to God’s will, prayer and intercession, what it means to be a missionary, how to be a missionary, and so much more. During the week, we have participated in multiple outreaches from park outreach and street witnessing to children’s ministry at the local church. But that\u0026rsquo;s not all! As busy as it may sound, every morning we are able to have an hour of quiet time with the Lord as well as devotionals taught by one of the leaders.\nOne of the outreaches we did this week was street witnessing with Calvary Chapel La Gloria. At first, most people didn’t want to do street witnessing because of the fact that we’re uncomfortable when it comes to talking to strangers. It’s especially difficult when they speak a different language! Which is why I love it so much. Yes, I still get that initial nervous awkward feeling and those thoughts of “what if I don’t know what to say” or “what if they don’t want to listen,” but it is what it feels like after that which makes it worth it. Because in reality those feelings are put there to distract us from the real reason we are there, for making disciples of all nations and sharing the gospel to the ends of the earth. Those exact feelings I get every time, and every time God gets rid of them. It doesn’t always go away right when you ask or expect it to, but it does happen in His timing for a certain reason.\nWhen we were street witnessing that day with Carlos and La Gloria, I was pushed and I was stretched. After Carlos talked us through what we would be doing, we got put in our groups and left the parking lot to begin our walk through the streets. Right away we saw a guy at the exit and I thought that Aaron, who was with me and two other girl students, would go up and talk to him. But instead, being the leader, he suggested that I go up to the man while he translated for me. At first, I was shocked and hesitated, but before I could stop myself, Aaron and I were walking toward the guy. I put on a smile and acted normal and continued walking to him while on the inside I was praying to God to help me get over the fear that was inside of me because at that moment I was extremely terrified about the whole situation as thoughts were just racing through my head. As soon as he looked up and said a simple “hola”, I immediately had the overwhelming peace and joy wash over me as if a second ago I wasn’t internally freaking out. After we talked and prayed over him my mind was recalling what just went down in the past ten minutes. The more I thought about it the more I realized what it was. It was the Holy Spirit! That overwhelming peace and joy were the Holy Spirit filling me so that God could use me for His work. After that, I felt so overjoyed and bold as excitement just filled me and made me want to go up to every person and tell them the good news of Jesus Christ. It was such a once in a lifetime experience that just made me so in awe of what God can do in any of us. I don’t have to be a special person for God to use me to do His mighty work. We just have to obey. Obeying is so key to doing ministry because when we obey Him we are saying, “Here I am God, I surrender and am willing to do anything You have for me.” In Acts 5:32 (NIV) it says,“…and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” It is said so simply and is so easy to understand, just obey. God has used this small word to do many things in my heart that help me better understand what it means to not only be a missionary but a young girl after God’s own heart. It just goes to show us that God can use such simple small things to do wonderful radical things in our lives!\nThank you for partnering with and praying for me as I serve in Mexico and learn at Calvary School of Missions. I am still raising funds for my tuition which is 1,640.00. If you’d like to partner with me financially click the link below.\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DA3FC4FE968E47C\nPrayer Requests:\nFor the nationals that accepted Christ For the team that we stay safe For me to take in all that God is teaching me Blessings,\nSienna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/joy-in-obedience/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” Acts 5:32\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/siennasedillos/wp-content/uploads/sites/129/2020/07/IMG%5F2702.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHola friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA week ago today our team arrived in Mexico to attend the School of Missions! Throughout the six weeks, we will be visiting different cities where we will get to serve with church plants. Pastor Trent and Pastor Aaron have been teaching us classes in the morning and evenings on surrendering to God’s will, prayer and intercession, what it means to be a missionary, how to be a missionary, and so much more. During the week, we have participated in multiple outreaches from park outreach and street witnessing to children’s ministry at the local church. But that\u0026rsquo;s not all! As busy as it may sound, every morning we are able to have an hour of quiet time with the Lord as well as devotionals taught by one of the leaders.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Joy in Obedience"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family!\nThank you so much for taking the time to look at our update. It means so much to us that you would care about what is going on in our lives and pray for us. Lately, the Lord has been moving me toward being more devoted as an individual and as a family as we move forward in our calling for His work. He has done this by bringing me to passages in my daily reading like:\n\u0026ldquo;Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving.\u0026rdquo; Colossians 4:2\n\u0026ldquo;Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise, therefore, and build\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo; 1 Chronicles 22:19\n\u0026ldquo;No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.\u0026rdquo; Luke 9:62\nWe all have a tremendous calling on our lives to devote ourselves, heart, mind, soul, and body, to the work of reaching the nations for Christ!\nFamily\nThe family is doing great! Clara is walking now, which we are (hesitantly) excited about, and Harrison is doing great reading and will begin \u0026ldquo;official\u0026rdquo; schooling soon! Please pray for us, as we have been hit with an unusual amount of spiritual warfare lately, from nightmares to sleeplessness to anxiety. It is good to be reminded that we are in a spiritual battle.\nCSOM\nThe SGWM Calvary School of Missions is underway! The new batch of students are doing great in Mexico, and Pastor Mike and myself are leading the SGWM home office team as well as the weekly church administration while many of our leaders are down there with the school. I am thankful that I will get to go down to the school twice for a couple of days to get to know the students better and lead them with some devotions and worship. We are praying that some of these new students will become interns over the course of this next year with SGWM and CCSG!\nSpeaking of interns\u0026hellip; some of you may know that some new and intense persecution has risen in one of the countries we work with, meaning that much of our ministry is changing in that location. Thankfully, this has not affected our ability to teach a Bible school class via Skype for one campus in that country. This has provided me the opportunity to teach a Thursday evening class through the book of Hebrews to that group. This time, however, I am using the opportunity to train two of our interns, J.S. and Bryan, who feel a call to pastoral ministry on the foreign mission field, on how to teach the Bible cross-culturally through a translator, so they are co-teaching the class with me. Super exciting stuff! I encourage you to click on their names above to find out more about them and their ministry, and consider partnering with them! I plan to do this with each new batch of interns who feel a pastoral calling on their lives.\nLooking Forward\nSomething exciting that will be happening for us in ministry is that I (Joel) will be taking on a new role with SGWM as Director of Missionary Sending. This is a big job that includes leadership over accepting, sending, and caring for all SGWM missionaries outside of the 10/40 Window and CSOM/Interns (which are two other departments of SGWM). I will give more details in the coming months, but please pray that the Lord would guide us with vision for this aspect of SGWM and the ability to manage my time well and do the job with excellence.\nWe would ask that you pray for our finances and consider partnering with our ministry financially as the Lord leads. If you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the \u0026ldquo;Become A Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/devoted-garcia-family-update-july-2020/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you so much for taking the time to look at our update. It means so much to us that you would care about what is going on in our lives and pray for us. Lately, the Lord has been moving me toward being more devoted as an individual and as a family as we move forward in our calling for His work. He has done this by bringing me to passages in my daily reading like:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Devoted - Garcia Family Update July 2020"},{"content":"Week 1: Calvary Chapel School of Missions\n“For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more.” 1 Cor. 9:19\nRecently, I received an invitation to join the leaders for the 2nd year of Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) 2020. While the request came from my church leaders, the call came from God. My first thought was that I get to serve with some of the most amazing God-fearing, missions-minded, and passionate Bible teaching leaders whose sole desire is to raise up, train, and disciple the next generation. I struggled at the thought of leaving my ministry work and family behind for six weeks, but God spoke to my heart as He asked me “How much are you willing to surrender?” Total surrender to God’s will was my response, for the sake of loving these Daughters of the King and walking by their side through the school of missions.\nBeing spent for the gospel is worth every sacrifice to me. Jesus humbled himself to the point of the cross. How much lower can I humble myself? It\u0026#39;s an absolute privilege for me to leave behind the comforts of my home, and go out on outreach to the Calvary Chapel church plants and communities here in Mexico with this team. I come prepared and prayed up to lead from the front. This includes asking God to soften my heart to tend to the hearts of these students, carrying bandages and my Bible to care for their wounds and pray over them. Continuously praying for the Lord\u0026#39;s protection as they step out in faith to provide COVID-19 relief in some of the most materially poor areas in and around Tijuana and Rosarito. We’re on a radical journey with Jesus! These students are no longer satisfied with surfing on the surface of God’s word, but instead, they’re taking time to go deeper and further out of their comfort zone. The people here have lost so much due to the fire that blazed through their community and lack of work due to the pandemic. What do we have to offer? We offer them the hope that comes from a caring and loving God who hasn’t forgotten them. A smile, prayer, and the Word of God are paired with much-needed provisions thanks be to God and generous partners.\nPraise Report:\nSo far the outreach material we brought has met the needs of our outreaches. We were able to prep individual kids activity bags for outreach in order to limit contact and sharing of materials. The students are stepping up and doing amazing things for God.\nPrayer Request:\nFor God to help me Love and Lead the students well Opportunities to share the gospel as we bring provisions (COVID Relief) to families That people we invite to the local church would come and get connected to the body of Christ Sienna’s tuition to be fully funded Health and protection over our team Safe travels for the leaders traveling Students and myself to absorb all that’s being taught in the classes Blessings over The Connections House staff and missionaries who are faithfully serving us ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/calvary-school-of-missions-2020/radical-surrendered-life/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eWeek 1: Calvary Chapel School of Missions\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/sedillos/wp-content/uploads/sites/111/2020/07/PHOTO-2020-07-13-16-55-59.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“For though I am free from \u003cem\u003eall men, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more.” 1 Cor. 9:19\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eRecently, I received an invitation to join the leaders for the 2nd year of Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) 2020. While the request came from my church leaders, the call came from God.  My first thought was that I get to serve with some of the most amazing God-fearing, missions-minded, and passionate Bible teaching leaders whose sole desire is to raise up, train, and disciple the next generation. I struggled at the thought of leaving my ministry work and family behind for six weeks, but God spoke to my heart as He asked me “How much are you willing to surrender?” Total surrender to God’s will was my response, for the sake of loving these Daughters of the King and walking by their side through the school of missions.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Radical Surrendered Life"},{"content":"Week 1 SOM 2020\nHi friends,\nMy heart is so full to be here in Mexico as a student in Calvary School of Missions. I’m so thankful for all you who have encouraged me and nudged me forward in being a light in the world. Your constant support and prayers for me is something I will forever be thankful for. Also, thank you for continuing to follow along with my journey in missions to share a beautiful living hope with the lost.\nNo description available.\nThe first week of school has been packed full! The amount of wisdom and information I have taken in is honestly amazing! Slightly overwhelming, in the best way. Each day starts with personal devotions, then class in the mornings, and outreaches or reading in the afternoons, and ends with prayer and worship on most evenings. In coming to this school we’ve been encouraged to lay down all our plans, hopes, and dreams at the feet of God, to fully surrender to what He has for us. Being here has just been a constant reminder that forever learning and growing and being stretched is such a good thing.\nStorytime!\nSo the first outreach we went on was super encouraging to me. In all honesty, it didn’t start very easily for me, but it’s amazing how a simple gesture can change fear into living the gospel. We went to meet with a local pastor in Tijuana who had been ministering to this community whose houses had recently been engulfed in flames. At first, I felt really invasive and wasn’t sure how to act, however, the people were so inviting and kind, considering everything they had gone through. We brought them food and prayed for them while they shared their hearts and stories with us.\nI admit, I still felt awkward, but I was really trying not to show it and just embrace the moment. We prayed with this family, where 18 people were staying together in this little tent shelter and a little girl sat in the shade. As I always do with kids I smiled and sent her a little wave and before I knew it she, her brother and I were playing peekaboo and laughing so genuinely. That’s where it struck me that we were there to extend loving-kindness, to share hope, and to live the gospel, nothing more, nothing less. How simple?! Why was I so fearful? I love extending a hand to those who need a hand, love to those who need love, hope to those who need hope. How incredibly blessed am I that the good Lord brought me here so that He might be those things through me.\nA big lesson I learned this week, has been to empty myself so that I might be a vessel that God can fill and share any way He should choose. On the rest of our outreaches, I was trying to do just that. Whether it be doing impromptu worship dances, street witnessing, serving food to people, praying for my brothers and sisters, sharing the gospel, or even holding a welcome sign for people joining us for Sunday service, I will do it to the best of my ability for the glory of God. I’ll admit, I’ve been so stretched, but I’m thankful, wow, so thankful for this time to grow and learn from our amazing teachers and missionaries who are here with us. They have been so encouraging and incredible in laying out the simple gospel.\nOne great take away I’ve had is that we all can extend a helping hand to others. We’re all able, we all have it in us to step out of our daily comfort zones and share the gospel, and to share the love of Christ. This world is so broken, everyone is hurting in some way or another, we just have to be a light.\n“Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.”\nMatthew 9:37\nPrayer Requests:\nThat the Lord would give me boldness to share Wisdom on how to share Continued unity with my wonderful classmates Faith that the Lord will provide my needs I’d love to hear from you if you have prayer requests, want to share what God’s been doing in your heart! If you want to hear more about what I have been learning or if you have any questions at all, please shoot me an email, I check it daily.\ngabby4god@gmail.com\nAll the blessings,\nGabrielle\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sharing-a-living-hope/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWeek 1 SOM 2020\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHi friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy heart is so full to be here in Mexico as a student in Calvary School of Missions. I’m so thankful for all you who have encouraged me and nudged me forward in being a light in the world. Your constant support and prayers for me is something I will forever be thankful for. Also, thank you for continuing to follow along with my journey in missions to share a beautiful living hope with the lost.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sharing a Living Hope"},{"content":"Isaiah 26:3-4 “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is STAYED on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in YAH, the Lord is everlasting strength.\nGreetings from Rosarito,\nAs we’re wrapping up our first week here at Calvary School of Missions, the Lord has been bringing to remembrance all the pivotal moments in my walk with Him. Going back to the day the Lord got a hold of my heart and the amazing journey He has had me on. It has not been without trials, but He never promised us that it would be easy. He did promise that we would never be separated from His love (Romans 8:38-39). That love has been able to sustain me through the ups and downs of life and now a driving force to share that love with all the people the Lord puts in my path. God has been so faithful to guide me exactly where I need to be as I just seek for His Kingdom and His righteousness. One of the books that we will be reading is “Absolute Surrender” by Andrew Murray which I know will be life altering for me.\nA group of people standing in front of a building Description automatically generated\nMatthew 28:19-20: “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”\nIt’s such a blessing to be around awesome servants who have “radical” hearts to share God’s love with others. It’s so beautiful to see all the different unique personalities and the giftings God has put together in this group. One of the emphasis of our classes has been the Purpose of the Church and the calling on each member of the body to share the Gospel. This week my mind has been overwhelmed, in a good way, by all the great truths the Bible has plainly laid out for us. I love how God makes it so clear in the Bible, from the beginning, that His heart is to have relationship with His creation. Just like in the Garden of Eden when mankind chose to rebel against God but He lovingly continued to pursue them. In His mercy and grace He sent Jesus to restore our relationship with Him. “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God” 1 Corinthians 5:20.\nI am translating for my friend Rachel as she shares the story of Jonah in the HomeX community Description automatically generated\nOne of the many highlights of this week has been visiting HomeX in the outskirts of Rosarito. We had to drive up a bumpy dirt road with our hers bobbing around which is typical. Aaron and Jena made it a very enjoyable ride as they shared the missionary journey the Lord has them on in the 10/40 Window. They lightheartedly talked about all the rough terrains they have had to travel to reach the “unreached” people groups around them. They even called the road we were traveling a “cute” road in comparison to many roads they have traveled on. This was a sobering thought as I reflected on how the Lord has to prepare us all for all the “rough roads” we will have to navigate through life. When we arrived to our destination, we were all so encouraged and fired up to share with the people of the community. One of my favorite things to do is work with children, and I had the privilege of translating for my friend Rachel as she shared the story of Jonah with the kiddos. I had a great time coming alongside Pastor Eddie who has faithfully been doing a home Bible study in the community for about a year now.\nThank you for prayerfully and financially supporting me as I follow the call that God has on my life. You’re in my prayers, and I look forward to sharing my journey at CSOM 2020 with you! If you’d like to partner with me click on the link below. Lord Bless you!\nGiving Link: https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2?giftid=213B1B3DBE67476\nPraise Reports:\nArriving safely to Rosarito\nSeeing God’s hand work in uncertain times\nGod’s people being built up for the work of the ministry\nSeeing lives reconciled back to God\nPrayer requests:\nGod’s provision for all the students\nFor God to continue to draw others to Himself\nUnreached people groups of the world\nFor confirmation and direction for where God wants to send me in the world\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/perfect-peace/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIsaiah 26:3-4 “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is STAYED on You, because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in YAH, the Lord is everlasting strength.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Rosarito,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we’re wrapping up our first week here at Calvary School of Missions, the Lord has been bringing to remembrance all the pivotal moments in my walk with Him. Going back to the day the Lord got a hold of my heart and the amazing journey He has had me on. It has not been without trials, but He never promised us that it would be easy. He did promise that we would never be separated from His love (Romans 8:38-39). That love has been able to sustain me through the ups and downs of life and now a driving force to share that love with all the people the Lord puts in my path. God has been so faithful to guide me exactly where I need to be as I just seek for His Kingdom and His righteousness. One of the books that we will be reading is “Absolute Surrender” by Andrew Murray which I know will be life altering for me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Perfect Peace"},{"content":"– Week One of CSOM –\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d5ajr0smRqw/Xw3WH8cXcqI/AAAAAAAAWv0/xJl21auexP4WAqe_QmD3b6QcEpYcdcBTgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-14.jpg\nOnly one week of the Calvary School of Missions has passed by and already so much has happened! Throughout this past week, I have learned so much about missions, fellowshipped frequently with the other CSOM students, and been pushed to do plenty of things out of my comfort zone. It’s been AMAZING!\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JuiyvIJoNdg/Xw3V9Ckdu8I/AAAAAAAAWvk/niYKXAWxSz0BPxg-oNFiKFuLMXkZyUwlgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-14.jpg\nEveryday (except on Sundays) we have a class after breakfast where we are taught different topics such as our calling as Christians, the purpose of the church, the importance of prayer, etc. These are all very foundational topics to learn and the incredible thing is that they all tie in with missions! My favorite part about the classes is that our teacher, Pastor Trent, is simply just teaching the Bible the entire time. It made me realize that, as great as supplemental materials written by great intellectuals are, the only material we really need is the Bible. The Bible is the book we should go to first for our questions about what the church is for, what is our purpose, how to do missions, etc. The answers are all there. And even better, they’re all the right answers because it is the Word of God. If we don’t go to God’s Word first, then our Christian world views are going to be skewed and heavily influenced by our American culture.\nBesides the “learning inside the classroom” aspect of CSOM, I’m also excited to share my experience in serving outside of the classroom in Mexico. In the past week, we’ve done 4 outreaches in different parts of Baja California. We visited families devastated by a recent neighborhood fire, went street witnessing, served families at a community called Home X, and evangelized to some people at the park. Although all these experiences were a great blessing, one in particular stuck out to me the most.\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VqsIiSAxjd4/Xwzm32RFihI/AAAAAAAAWts/Llm9lKu8RyshdkT2F70EnMfeN_zZnr1PwCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-13.jpg\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-c3DFSnvjMQg/Xwzm2FOD98I/AAAAAAAAWtk/LFM0xzi3wsAofo55MDV4Rdvjc13q7_qqgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-13.jpg\nOn Tuesday we visited some homes next to the city dump that had been destroyed by a fire that occurred only 3 weeks prior. The couple whom my group visited were only left with one room in the back of their property while the rest of it was completely gone. We visited with the couple for a while, asking about their experience and how they were afterwards. We shared the gospel with them, gave them the Book of John in Spanish, and even read a few verses with them. Each of us got to share with them what we like most about reading the Bible personally. Before we left, we also were able to give them some groceries, water, and prayer. Although I’m not completely fluent in Spanish, I was happy to be involved in asking them different questions and I even learned a new word that day! Apparently “cables” is “ cables” in Spanish. Pretty complicated, I know.\nhttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-XEJU6O2gQMA/Xwzm2qttCLI/AAAAAAAAWto/ecpIxH-m8gYro9iYpm2H_mjQ-YQtYolFgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-13.jpg\nWhat I took away most though, from that first outreach, was the powerful simplicity of it. All we were doing was talking and getting to know that couple in their own home. We were just showing the love of Christ to them and showing that we cared despite only just meeting them. Most importantly, we shared the Word of God with them and discussed what it means for us, and what it means for them. It just goes to show that you don’t have to put together a huge, elaborate event to reach people. Although those can be good and effective, simply just going out to minister to people on a personal level, showing genuine care and interest, is also very impactful. This is something any of us can do no matter where we are. In fact, it’s what we’re called to do as Christ-followers.\n“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” – Matthew 28:19\nI would just like to say thank you to everyone who has been supporting me both financially and in prayers. Your support means a lot to me and I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am. Being a part of the School of Missions is such a huge blessing, and I’m so excited for what’s yet to come! If you would like to partner with me financially click the link below. Partnering with me means you are investing in my spiritual formation as a missionary as well as investing in eternity as I seek to be an effective witness of Him here in Mexico. Thank you so much for your prayers and for considering being a partner with me for the furtherance of the gospel.\nSincerely,\nLydia Boubion\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-power-in-simplicity/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e– \u003cstrong\u003eWeek One of CSOM\u003c/strong\u003e –\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d5ajr0smRqw/Xw3WH8cXcqI/AAAAAAAAWv0/xJl21auexP4WAqe%5FQmD3b6QcEpYcdcBTgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-14.jpg\"\n         alt=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d5ajr0smRqw/Xw3WH8cXcqI/AAAAAAAAWv0/xJl21auexP4WAqe\\_QmD3b6QcEpYcdcBTgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-14.jpg\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d5ajr0smRqw/Xw3WH8cXcqI/AAAAAAAAWv0/xJl21auexP4WAqe\"\u003ehttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-d5ajr0smRqw/Xw3WH8cXcqI/AAAAAAAAWv0/xJl21auexP4WAqe\u003c/a\u003e_QmD3b6QcEpYcdcBTgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-14.jpg\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOnly one week of the Calvary School of Missions has passed by and already so much has happened! Throughout this past week, I have learned so much about missions, fellowshipped frequently with the other CSOM students, and been pushed to do plenty of things out of my comfort zone. It’s been AMAZING!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JuiyvIJoNdg/Xw3V9Ckdu8I/AAAAAAAAWvk/niYKXAWxSz0BPxg-oNFiKFuLMXkZyUwlgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-14.jpg\"\n         alt=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JuiyvIJoNdg/Xw3V9Ckdu8I/AAAAAAAAWvk/niYKXAWxSz0BPxg-oNFiKFuLMXkZyUwlgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-14.jpg\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JuiyvIJoNdg/Xw3V9Ckdu8I/AAAAAAAAWvk/niYKXAWxSz0BPxg-oNFiKFuLMXkZyUwlgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-14.jpg\"\u003ehttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JuiyvIJoNdg/Xw3V9Ckdu8I/AAAAAAAAWvk/niYKXAWxSz0BPxg-oNFiKFuLMXkZyUwlgCK8BGAsYHg/s0/2020-07-14.jpg\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEveryday (except on Sundays) we have a class after breakfast where we are taught different topics such as our calling as Christians, the purpose of the church, the importance of prayer, etc. These are all very foundational topics to learn and the incredible thing is that they all tie in with missions! My favorite part about the classes is that our teacher, Pastor Trent, is simply just teaching the Bible the entire time. It made me realize that, as great as supplemental materials written by great intellectuals are, the only material we really \u003cem\u003eneed\u003c/em\u003e is the Bible. The Bible is the book we should go to first for our questions about what the church is for, what is our purpose, how to do missions, etc. The answers are all there. And even better, they’re all the \u003cem\u003eright\u003c/em\u003e answers because it is the Word of God. If we don’t go to God’s Word first, then our Christian world views are going to be skewed and heavily influenced by our American culture.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Power in Simplicity"},{"content":"These last few months have been crazy, God has led me through many highs and I’ve given way to many lows also; thankfully Christ is my identity and He has been delivering me to sanctification daily. During the recent trying times, God has shown me that the daily pursuit of Christ will yield good fruit that can only be grown and harvested in God’s own season. This fruit has revealed itself in many ways, and hopefully this blog will help you see how being in God’s will and pursuing His commission has shown me that.\nOver the last few months COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on the world as we know it, thankfully God provides us a safe-haven where we can rely upon Him in any season. I was required to leave Calvary Bible Institute in March due to the limit in California of no more than 10 people in a building at once. During my period away from CBI, I returned to my home in Las Vegas where I had time to pursue God in the Word more than ever. This was a very quiet time for many of us as we were in almost constant spiritual warfare against the enemy as we continuously defended our life found in Christ through prayer. When the limit on congregations was lifted in California, I returned to CBI. It was a very strange month as my first semester came to a close, and the second semester students graduated, leaving only a few of us first semester students remaining. During the final month at CBI God called me to attend CSOM, and praise be to God, I got accepted.\nDuring our time at CSOM God has provided many opportunities to allow Christ to minister to those around us. On Tuesday God brought us to people who had their houses burned down in a fire, and Christ ministered to them through us by means of encouragement and the good news which His blood spoke through testimony by His Son. God also provided us with the opportunity to attend a Calvary Chapel here in Rosarito, Mexico. Through this we were greatly encouraged to continue the work which Christ had put us into. On Thursday, we were brought by God to another local Calvary Chapel in La Gloria, where we were presented with the blessing of building a stage for the church where many amazing messages, by God’s amazing will, shall be taught and ministered to others. Friday was another amazing day where we had the opportunity to serve families at Home X and share the good news with the families that attended. God is doing a mighty work in Mexico and the world. Walking according to His will is a blessing that I wouldn’t give up for the world. He is doing an amazing thing even through the hard times that we’ve received, and I’m excited to continue seeing the work He does in and through the CSOM team.\nI’m so excited to see the work God continues to do in my life as He continues to lay the call to missions on my heart daily. As I continue on this path in His will, I want to invite everybody reading this to join me on the amazing journey by reading my newsletter every week and join me in prayer for the work that God is doing in Mexico and around the world.\nGod be Praised! Hallelujah!\nJoshua Knight\nPraise Reports\nGod has been showing me more of my identity in Him God is bringing me into His light more and more daily God is continuing His sanctifying work in and through my life God is changing hearts and minds in Mexico and around the world Prayer Requests\nGod will continue to work in the team to keep us united amidst spiritual warfare in Mexico God will break strongholds in South Asia and continue to do groundbreaking work in the darkest areas of the world If you would like to visit my secure giving page click here:\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/in-gods-will/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThese last few months have been crazy, God has led me through many highs and I’ve given way to many lows also; thankfully Christ is my identity and He has been delivering me to sanctification daily. During the recent trying times, God has shown me that the daily pursuit of Christ will yield good fruit that can only be grown and harvested in God’s own season. This fruit has revealed itself in many ways, and hopefully this blog will help you see how being in God’s will and pursuing His commission has shown me that.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"In God's Will"},{"content":" Hola!\nI really want to take a moment to thank you all so much for your prayers and support, I could not be here without it! The Lord is using you guys! Man, what a season of life it has been (perhaps one of the most trying I’ve experienced), but I am so thankful for God’s faithfulness to display His power in my weakness. Before I get into what’s been going on here at CSOM I wanted to update you on a couple of things. First, I’m fully funded for the School of Missions program. Second, for anyone who has not yet heard the news I graduated from CCBC with my Bachelors on May 22nd. Things have been crazy, but it’s been an amazing thing to see the Lord provide through your prayers and generosity. We serve a good good Father who knows exactly what we need, and He knows exactly how He desires to use us for His kingdom!\nI hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July! I finished getting things ready to move out of CCBC and was given a lift up to Yorba Linda. The next day the church at CC Saving Grace lifted us all up in prayer and we had an opportunity to serve as well. It was a great time getting to meet and bond with the rest of the team. We had a get together to prep for our departure which was the morning of the 6th, and thankfully everything went well. To give an idea, our schedule typically starts with devotionals at 7am, breakfast at 8am, class from 9am-noon, then lunch, either outreach or study time before dinner, and then a debrief or prayer meeting around 7-7:30pm.\nSo far, the Lord has been really stirring up my soul for the gifts and callings He has given me. Through the teachings and the required reading it has been such a blessing. The Lord is using it to get me pumped up and ready to serve and follow Him wherever He is leading. I’ve been reminded time and again the reality and necessity to truly count the cost and to take the Gospel to those who have not heard it. The reward that we have in Jesus far surpasses any risk we may find on this earth.\nWe’ve already participated in outreaches! We were able to partner with an expanding church plant out of CC Rosarito (Capilla Calvario La Gloria) by helping build a stage, going out into the surrounding area to invite people to come, and had opportunities to share the Gospel as well. That day I got to meet a young man named Pedro. He told me he had been baptized in Arizona and so I continued to speak with him about the Gospel and the great hope and eternal life the Christian has in Jesus. Please pray for him, he seemed very touched, and very interested to come check out that church plant.\nWe’ve attended services at Calvary Chapel Rosarito, and have had opportunity to serve during one of their services. This church has a great model for planting churches, especially in a foreign context, and I look forward to serving alongside them more. The Gospel is going out, and people are receptive! Please pray for these Church plants that they would continue to be effective in sharing the Gospel and discipling those they come in contact with.\nIf you could please pray for us:\nBoldness to proclaim the Gospel To draw nearer to the Lord than ever before To aid the church plants we are coming alongside Unity within our team Soaking in all that we can regarding preparation for missions Protection and Health for the team For the Lord to reveal specifics of where He is calling each of us and to what capacity That the Lord’s will would be done “But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”\n– Philippians 3:7-11 (NKJV)\nBe encouraged Church, the Gospel is going out, the local body is being encouraged, and we’re being trained up to go and make disciples!\nBendiciones,\nJordon\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/radical/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/voisin/wp-content/uploads/sites/120/2020/07/22FD07E8-A8B1-4B70-B9EA-A9F5F790CA07.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHola!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI really want to take a moment to thank you all so much for your prayers and support, I could not be here without it! The Lord is using you guys! Man, what a season of life it has been (perhaps one of the most trying I’ve experienced), but I am so thankful for God’s faithfulness to display His power in my weakness. Before I get into what’s been going on here at CSOM I wanted to update you on a couple of things. First, I’m fully funded for the School of Missions program. Second, for anyone who has not yet heard the news I graduated from CCBC with my Bachelors on May 22nd. Things have been crazy, but it’s been an amazing thing to see the Lord provide through your prayers and generosity. We serve a good good Father who knows exactly what we need, and He knows exactly how He desires to use us for His kingdom!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Radical"},{"content":" “… let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”\nHebrews 12:1b-2\nHello, family!\nI made it to Mexico for the Calvary School of Missions! It’s so encouraging to see God still at work during times of such uncertainty. I’m excited to share what the Lord has been doing this week, and I hope you are encouraged as well. Thank you for your partnership in the gospel!\nPastor Trent Douglass is teaching us so much in class– we are opening the Word of God and finding the call to missions on every single page! From Genesis to Revelation, we see that the heart of God is to reach every nation, tribe, and tongue with the gospel of Jesus Christ.\nIt is so clear that the very heart of God is to reach man with redemption. Just look at Jesus; He left His heavenly throne to become one of us and die to give us eternal life. Now, when I say, “I want to look more like Jesus” I am usually talking about His compassion or patience… but wasn’t His entire mission, His very sustenance (John 4:34), to reach the world with the gospel, no matter the cost?\nThe Lord is nudging me to face this reality as I see the need in the areas of Mexico we are doing ministry in. This past weekend we visited a community called Home X. There is a brand new church there that is just beginning to take root and our team came alongside the pastor to put on their first gathering since the COVID-19 closures; a family picnic with worship, fellowship and fun activities for the kids.\nIt took a long time to get there. Most of the route was a bumpy dirt road. Not the most comfortable of rides. It was hot. Not to mention they spoke a different language than me! These, and a billion other little things, made the outreach difficult for me, but I could hear the Lord speaking to my heart, “People remain unreached by My gospel because man finds them difficult to reach, but take courage, the harvest is ripe.”\nMany of the kids, and a few of their parents, gave their lives to the Lord that day! I praise His name for His grace that brought each and every one of those souls to that picnic to get the chance to respond to the gospel. Better yet, we were able to direct these families to the Home X church plant so they could go on to be discipled in their relationship with God, and equipped to reach their community. Precious souls were won to the kingdom of God. Suddenly the cost did not seem so great.\nJesus went way out of His way to bring us eternal life. His tears in Gethsemane tell me that it was not easy. But He still came. He came because He knew of the joy that was set before Him; the joy to which the “light afflictions” He endured were not worthy to be compared. May we do the same. We know of the joy of eternal life, and we have such an opportunity to leverage our lives to make this gospel known among the people on this earth who are forgotten! Isn’t that what He did for us, after all?\nI wake up every morning so grateful to be here, and I am deeply thankful and encouraged through your prayers and partnership. Thank you so much! I pray that the Lord would cause you to abound in love and grace, and allow your life to echo the mercy you’ve been shown!\nPrayer Requests:\nThat the Lord will continue to give the leaders wisdom and discernment to navigate the school during these uncertain times That the Lord will give each of us students vision for a specific country or calling while we seek His face and guidance. That God will unify our group by His Spirit and continue to knit us together as one body. In Christ, Rachel Martinez ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/for-the-joy/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“… let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHebrews 12:1b-2\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHello, family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI made it to Mexico for the Calvary School of Missions! It’s so encouraging to see God still at work during times of such uncertainty. I’m excited to share what the Lord has been doing this week, and I hope you are encouraged as well. Thank you for your partnership in the gospel!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"For the Joy"},{"content":" This first week at the Calvary School of Missions has been a fantastic one. Between engaging class sessions on the purpose of the church and the biblical model for missions, personal study/reading time, outreaches at various church plants, and making new friendships among the other students here, every moment has been amazing. I’m so thankful I came and so confident I’m supposed to be here.\nOne of the highlights for me this first week was the required reading for week one. We read the book entitled Radical by David Platt, and in it the author shares his observation of the radical commands that Jesus has given us in the Bible, and how easily we forget or ignore what the radical life of the Christian is supposed to look like. The author’s main purpose in the book is this: to challenge Christians to live a radically obedient life to the instructions of Jesus found in the Bible. Jesus proclaims some really crazy things in there. This got me thinking – if I do what Jesus tells me to do with my life is this really radical or is it just simple obedience to the One who saved my soul? I’d love to hear your response and your thoughts on the matter. I highly encourage every believer to read this book!\nThe content in the book has very strangely lined up with what has been taught in the class sessions in the past week (which nobody planned – we were originally supposed to read the book next week). So, if you want to get a taste of what this school has been like so far, go read the book!\nBesides class time and personal study/reading time, we’ve gone on a couple outreach trips around the Rosarito and Tijuana areas in the last week. In these outreaches we’ve seen the hand of God moving. I’ve now been in Mexico for 7 days, and in those 7 days we’ve seen 7 adults and at least 15 children ask forgiveness for their sin and put their faith in Jesus for salvation! God’s hand is moving and working in the missions field because the harvest is plentiful!\nThis has been a fantastic week, and one of the best parts is to be surrounded with other students and leaders who are seeking God with their whole heart. It’s not an easy thing to surrender to God. I’m not gonna lie, it’s not all rainbows and flowers here, my heart is being challenged and like I said in my last newsletter fear rises up in my heart. Fear to step out, fear to speak up, fear to put myself in a place that requires FAITH. But I have to fight against it. God has been and is continuing to use others in my life to stir me up and encourage me to live in radical obedience to His radical commands. It’s far from the easiest life, but what other life is worth living?\nThank you all for sending me and praying for me. God is showing me His goodness through you. Please continue praying for God’s leading and direction in all the students’ lives, for the humbling of our hearts and for absolute surrender to God’s will for us. This has only been week one. God has so much more.\nWith much love,\nSpencer\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/school-of-missions-week-1-radical-commands-radical-obedience/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/pierschbacher/wp-content/uploads/sites/125/2020/07/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-13-at-4.55.59-PM.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis first week at the Calvary School of Missions has been a fantastic one. Between engaging class sessions on the purpose of the church and the biblical model for missions, personal study/reading time, outreaches at various church plants, and making new friendships among the other students here, every moment has been amazing. I’m so thankful I came and so confident I’m supposed to be here.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the highlights for me this first week was the required reading for week one. We read the book entitled \u003cem\u003eRadical\u003c/em\u003e by David Platt, and in it the author shares his observation of the radical commands that Jesus has given us in the Bible, and how easily we forget or ignore what the radical life of the Christian is supposed to look like. The author’s main purpose in the book is this: to challenge Christians to live a radically obedient life to the instructions of Jesus found in the Bible. Jesus proclaims some really crazy things in there. This got me thinking – if I do what Jesus tells me to do with my life is this really \u003cem\u003eradical\u003c/em\u003e or is it just \u003cem\u003esimple obedience\u003c/em\u003e to the One who saved my soul? I’d love to hear your response and your thoughts on the matter. I highly encourage every believer to read this book!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"School of Missions Week 1: Radical Commands, Radical Obedience"},{"content":" We have made it to Mexico! Thank you for your prayers. The trip here went smoothly and we have hit the ground running since we arrived. Our daily routine is filled with times of devotion, classroom learning, outreach, and prayer, with lots of amazing food in between. The opportunity to learn from active missionaries and missions-minded pastors has our brains filled to capacity. Getting to serve, love and pray with people who have so little has filled our hearts to capacity. And fellowshipping with the other like-minded students and staff has our stomachs filled to capacity.\nOne of our first outreaches was visiting a part of East Tijuana where a fire had destroyed a row of ‘houses’. We were able to spend time with these families who were still living in the hollow shells of their homes. We got to hear their stories and empathize with them, as well as bring them groceries and share the hope found in Christ as well. We met a man named Napalito, who’s house was completely gone. He and his family were living under a piece of plywood leaned against the charred remains of an exterior wall they shared with their neighbors. Even though he had lost everything, including a flock of chickens that were a large part of the family’s income, he had incredible hope and was not broken in spirit. He told us about the night the fire happened, and how the Lord had woken him up in the middle of the night. He usually sleeps all night, but because of the Lord’s warning, he was able get all six of his family members out just in time. He sees this as the Lord’s mercy and has hope in God having a bigger plan. We came to bless him, but his faith ended up blessing us.\nWe have been learning about the biblical view of missions and church planting this week, and the fire to get to the field burns hot. We have seen first hand how hard it is to share the gospel when you don’t speak the language. We had already planned to get in language school, but now we know it’s non-negotiable. These types of first hand lessons could only be taught to us down here, so praise the Lord that He has opened this door for us.\nIf you would like to partner with us monthly as we work towards making disciples in Japan, you can do that on the SGWM website. Thank you all for your continued prayers as we continue to seek God’s will for us, and watch for these updates weekly.\nPraise report:\nWe made it through another long drive and are safe here in Mexico. The school is going great and has exceeded our expectations. We are still on a high from our time with Daphne and are thankful to be able to talk with her regularly Prayer requests:\nThat God would show us the next step towards Japan. That we would be able learn more Japanese from our self-learning. That the next five weeks of school would grow us in the areas we are weak. Love you all, Jeff and Alishia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/filled-to-capacity/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/root/wp-content/uploads/sites/116/2020/07/IMG%5F0556-e1594671881555.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have made it to Mexico! Thank you for your prayers. The trip here went smoothly and we have hit the ground running since we arrived. Our daily routine is filled with times of devotion, classroom learning, outreach, and prayer, with lots of amazing food in between. The opportunity to learn from active missionaries and missions-minded pastors has our brains filled to capacity. Getting to serve, love and pray with people who have so little has filled our hearts to capacity. And fellowshipping with the other like-minded students and staff has our stomachs filled to capacity.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Filled to Capacity"},{"content":"I’m digging in – got my flashlight in hand and miner’s headlamp strapped around my forehead. I don’t want to miss anything our Lord has for me. We know He uses all seasons, bright and sunny ones as well as those unexpected, “what is happening?” ones – for our good: (Romans 8:28). Oh, yeah, I’ve been through a handful of those. Tough to figure them out… I remember in those crazy times the Lord told me (ok, sometimes screamed at me) “to get with the program Charlie Brown (Jim) and start digging in deeper, deeper! – find your focus, purpose and preparation.” Well, this is such a season. And so it goes…\nSaving Grace World Missions Internship Program\nThe SGWM internship program that I’ve been a part of for over a year is winding down now. The youthful nine (myself included!) have gotten so blessed by serving in so many different ways: church office admin, weeknight bible studies and financial management classes, Sunday morning camera streaming setup, sound board maintenance, Sunday service grounds and sanctuary setup and tear down duties, worship, welcome greeting, ushering and our latest and most needed as we speak – sanitation and cleanliness! Gloves and masks ahoy!\nI’m rounding the bend in our year-round Bible reading program. I am going to do it! My first time too in one year so I am excited. I just started Acts of the Apostles. I’d love to anchor there for a while but I see the finish line down the straight and narrow path and I’m gonna make it. I got plenty of water for the final stretch and a protein bar in my running belt. Let’s go Lord! Let’s do this thing!\nHomiletics / Acts of the Apostles Classes\nIn addition we just completed a 13-message homiletics (fancy word for ‘the art of the art of preaching or writing sermons’) series on the book of James last week. We had a teeny covid hiatus a bit ago but we all, guys and gals, finished strong. You know there’s no hiding behind the bushes with the Word of God. When you have to preach a 15-20 message to an audience of Saving Grace pastors, you have to be ready. We interns spent many hours in study and preparation for our weekly Thursday afternoon sermons. Sure it was fun and a bit intimidating to do it in front of the “pros,” but all the training and preparation was well worth it. I love this book! I love the Word!\nIt seems like we’ve been studying Acts of the Apostles longer than Paul’s missionary journeys! And we just finished his first one. Whoa! You know, I’ve journeyed through the Bible for many years. But it’s just been since the Lord led me into this mission’s thing that I’ve come to realize how important every single sentence and phrase is. I mean I always have known it but I just know it more now. Our Lord, through our teacher Pastor Trent Douglass, has spoken quite clearly how He wants to run His church, His ministries, His mission. It’s all in this book. I think we’re finally getting it.\nGetting Back to the Garden\nWe’ve been doing a 9am Sunday church service outside in our pretty flowered courtyard since May 31st. And a couple Sundays ago we opened up our children’s ministry out in the parking lot. How cool is that? Now everyone’s getting fed by God’s Word. There are still some people not showing up for obvious reasons. It’s too bad but we all have to be careful. David says in Psalm 22:3, “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.” Our Lord is amongst the brethren inside or outside. It’s really quite comfortable, though, out in the courtyard. Hope we’re not getting spoiled. Ha!\nBon Voyage – Calvary School of Missions in Mexico\nMost of our current interns attended last summer’s first Calvary School of Missions (CSOM), a super intensive 6-week program that trains and equips guys and gals who feel led by the Lord to pursue long-term cross-cultural missions. Well. Guess what? The 2020 team just left for Mexico on July 6 – Paul and Barnabas move over! This is how it works, seriously. Like last year, we again have a group of experienced full-term missionaries from all over the world who will be pouring their misson passion into the hearts of 13 students and 7 leaders who themselves have been knee deep (literally) in sharing the Gospel to the unreached. I have the privilege to serve right here on the home front, in prayer. If you are reading this newsletter, please pray for these individuals. Calvary Chapel Saving Grace is so committed to preaching the Word; getting the forgiveness, love and compassion of Jesus Christ to be heard all the way to the ends of the earth. The CSOM provides a power-packed venue for this to continue. I know, this sounds crazy – to the ends of the earth, sure. But it is true. The Gospel is going forth to remote areas far far away. I’ve been there; I’ve seen it. I’ve talked to brothers and sisters whose lives were radically changed by hearing and then receiving Jesus into their hearts through the Gospel preached by our own SGWM missionaries.\nTeaching VOR Refugee Zoom Classes\nTeaching three days a week is really something I look forward to. I knew it would work. I’ve seen the Lord do it before in places where I was serving, where no one knew any English. The Holy Spirit blesses when He’s present. What’s funny is the more I teach, the more I see how smart these gals are. Hey, it’s not me, believe me. It’s so the Lord.\nI think I’m warming up to them and they to me. It takes time. My students so laugh when I make mistakes (they laugh a lot!). My biggest problem is typing. This is all Zoom class stuff; I try to make it as interactive as I can. So I’m flying all over the screen with this and that while the gals are all chatting in Arabic. Who knows what they are saying. Ha! I just know we have a lot of fun. Verb tenses are my weakness so I’m doing a bit of nighttime grammar vigils over coffee. We do a devotion at the end of each session so everyone hears the Gospel. Zooms teaching is ok, like… ok. I can’t wait to get back to the real classroom. And then the gals will bring in their freshly cooked Middle East surprises. Ahh, I’m in heaven! Can’t wait.\nFred Jordan Mission Father’s Day Outreach\nOn Father’s Day Saturday I spent the day serving at Fred Jordan Mission in skid row LA. As I stated in a previous newsletter, this ministry has reached out to the homeless in so many ways for over 75 years. You can imagine with the severe economic climate and all going on, the staff there is working overtime. We were told this was the very first Father’s Day event FJM has ever done. Mothers get all the breaks. Before handing out the food to the fathers (covid prohibits in-house dining), several of the men gave their lives to the Lord at a devo. Such a blessing. We prepared and packaged 300 lunches; hey, we worked our tails off! I do have compassion for the homeless. I’m praying for more.\nAs I diligently seek the Lord, He leads me closer and closer to where and how He wants me to serve. Right now it’s via Zoom teaching in my dining room. When things lighten up, I’ll be back teaching English at Voice of Refugees (VOR) offices in Anaheim, CA. My fervency to teach remains strong – hey, stronger after every session as I’m seeing the fruit – my students and I are forming great relationships. That’s where missions starts, on Zoom, across the street or far away.\nI’m running my race. Come run with me. Nothing is more enjoyable for a runner than to have someone run alongside, even all the way to the finish line. So please keep me in prayer. And if the Lord puts it on your heart, partner with me financially as well by clicking on the Become a Financial Partner button below. You can do this through a one-time donation or a monthly reoccurring donation. Thank you so much for your prayerful and financial support.\nPraise Report\nThat all my family and friends here stateside are in good health.\nThat our church is slowly getting back into the swing of things. So thankful we all can worship and get into the Word together.\nThat things are starting to loosen up a bit for my church family overseas. It’s been very hard for them. Our Lord has answered so many prayers for their strength, health and steadfast walk with Jesus our Lord.\nFor blessing me with a bunch of refugee students who seem to enjoy learning English.\nPrayer Requests\nThat the Lord would bring out more people to church on Sunday.\nThat the Lord would put His compassion in me for my Zoom refugee students. Also that the Lord would give me more compassion for the homeless.\nFor the outpouring of the Holy Spirit onto our CSOM team, students and leaders, so that each of them would surrender their hearts more to our Lord.\nFor the safety, well-being, strength and good health for all of our SGWM missionaries serving all over the world.\nThat I would see what new ministries the Lord has for me to serve here on the homefront. I know He does. Like I said, I just gotta keep seeking Him in His word, prayer and get more real with my brothers and sisters.\nIf you’d like to get my monthly updates sent directly to your email inbox, just click on the following link: Jim Needham Updates. You can reach me at jneedham@sgwm.com. The Lord bless all of you.\nJim Needham\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/focus-purpose-and-preparation/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI’m digging in – got my flashlight in hand and miner’s headlamp strapped around my forehead.  I don’t want to miss anything our Lord has for me.  We know He uses \u003cem\u003eall\u003c/em\u003e seasons, bright and sunny ones as well as those unexpected, “what is happening?” ones – for our good:  (Romans 8:28).  Oh, yeah, I’ve been through a handful of those.  Tough to figure them out… I remember in those crazy times the Lord told me (ok, sometimes screamed at me) “to get with the program Charlie Brown (Jim) and start digging in deeper, deeper! – find your focus, purpose and preparation.”  Well, this is such a season.  And so it goes…\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Focus, Purpose, and Preparation"},{"content":" Arriving in Mexico\nThe Calvary School of Missions Team and I arrived safely in Rosarito, Mexico last week! Thank you so much for all of your prayers! I have had such a great time this past week and I have learned so much truth and amazing knowledge of the Bible. We have had so many teachings this past week and the more I hear, the more I want. It’s like when you eat that slice of cake; you might eat just one slice and move on, but the more cake you eat, the more you want. We have been “fed” so much spiritual food and it has just made me long for more and more! The more I learn, the more my spiritual appetite has become insatiable! I am so excited and grateful for everything else we will learn in the next 5 weeks. It has also been so fun settling in, meeting so many new people, and making friendships with them. We have had multiple outreaches so far including providing food for those who have lost their homes in an unforeseen fire and evangelizing to people at different parks. God is definitely doing a work down here; not only in the lives of the students of CSOM but also in many of the nationals here.\nA Reminder from Jesus\nDuring one of my morning devotions this first week, I found myself asking God to search within me and strip away any pride that I might have. Later that day, we were at a park street witnessing and I was in a group with a couple of other people. As the other two were taking the lead on talking to this Catholic guy, a Spanish-speaking woman came up to me and asked if I would like braids in my hair. I said no, but she continued asking, so I did the “easy” thing and said “no gracias, bonita, pero no dinero.” In this moment, the Holy Spirit instantly convicted me. I had money in my pocket, and I told this woman that I didn’t so that she would stop asking. I looked over at the guy that we were street witnessing to and I thought to myself “how am I supposed to be a disciple of Jesus when I have just sinned so easily?” worse yet when I sinned right in the middle of evangelizing.\nAt that moment, God spoke to my heart and reminded me that it is not about me. God reminded me that of course, I am a sinner. That is why He sent his Son to die on the cross so that I might not perish but have eternal life. He knows how much of a frail, weak, sinful human being I am and yet he chose to save me and wants to use me to lead others to Him. Wow. I was so humbled and it reminded me that this was exactly what I prayed for this morning. God specifically answered my prayer and stripped that pride from my heart.\n“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”\nEphesians 2:8-10\nConstant Surrender and Expectancy\nBecause of this moment, it gave me greater expectancy. God hears all of our prayers and answers them in ways we would never expect, but we need to expect Him to show up. I have also constantly been reminded to die to self and surrender. I cannot fully serve God if I am holding onto things in my life. As I sit and reflect on the past week, I am asking God for help to surrender and lay anything down that I hold higher than Him in my heart. If I want to follow God, then I will follow His plans for my life. I can’t pick and choose what I want and don’t want like a buffet. If I follow Him, I get the full course of whatever He leads me to, no matter how difficult the situation may be and I am confident that when I do this, He will get all of the glory and I will plant the seeds to lead others to know of His rich and never-ending love.\nThank you so much for all of your support in prayers and to everybody that has partnered with me financially. This has been such a blessing and it has only been a week! I am so blessed and excited for everything else that God has planned! I am still a few hundred dollars away from making my financial goal for the tuition of this school of missions. If you would like to partner with me financially, you can click this link here.\nPraise Reports\nWe serve a loving God that is rich in love and abundant in grace!\nI arrived safely with The Calvary School of Missions team in Mexico!\nWe have already been able to witness people accepting Christ into their hearts while being here!\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for the nationals that accepted Christ.\nPlease pray for the health and safety of our team.\nPlease pray that God would strengthen my faith in Him more every day.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-call-to-surrender/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/box/wp-content/uploads/sites/123/2020/07/WhatsApp-Image-2020-07-11-at-9.05.06-PM.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eArriving in Mexico\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nThe Calvary School of Missions Team and I arrived safely in Rosarito, Mexico last week! Thank you so much for all of your prayers! I have had such a great time this past week and I have learned so much truth and amazing knowledge of the Bible. We have had so many teachings this past week and the more I hear, the more I want. It’s like when you eat that slice of cake; you might eat just one slice and move on, but the more cake you eat, the more you want. We have been “fed” so much spiritual food and it has just made me long for more and more! The more I learn, the more my spiritual appetite has become insatiable! I am so excited and grateful for everything else we will learn in the next 5 weeks. It has also been so fun settling in, meeting so many new people, and making friendships with them. We have had multiple outreaches so far including providing food for those who have lost their homes in an unforeseen fire and evangelizing to people at different parks. God is definitely doing a work down here; not only in the lives of the students of CSOM but also in many of the nationals here.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Call to Surrender"},{"content":"“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”\nDeuteronomy 6:6-7\nDear Friends and Family\nGreetings in our Lord’s name from CC Pakistan. We praise God that He has kept us during all this tough time when virus had spread everywhere and here in our country many things were not being taken seriously and we have very organized and powerful health care system as well. We are thankful to you for the prayers and support during all this time. The spread of the virus has almost stopped and life is coming to normal routine. In this update we are going to share mainly how Lord is working in the lives of young generation through through His Word that CC Pakistan is taking to them and teaching them diligently.\nSeed of the Word in Desert\nLast year we went to a city near desert Cholistan, about 10 hours drive from our place. During our vision tour last year, God brought us into contact with a wonderful guy who started working with us as a contact in the desert area. Through him we started online Bible class there which is going well and, that brother in Christ has started Calvary Chapel Sunday School and Youth Fellowship where he has started to teach children and young men and women weekly.\nThis is an amazing step that has enabled us to reach and teach many children and young boys and girls who are willing to study the Word with brother Aftab. This is also opening doors for us to reach more people and specially children and young men\nand women in the neighboring areas. The people in the area are leading a tough life because of their area’s location, condition, and poverty. So many children are not going to schools and people are facing so many health issues as well because they don’t get proper medication and health awareness. Please keep our mission in the desert area in your prayers.\nNeighboring city Mission\nWe started our online class in a neighboring city as well where we have more than 40\nonline students in our class. God has brought into contact with us a wonderful God fearing man in that city as well. He has caught the vision of Calvary Chapel to reach people with the simple but thorough study of the Word of God. He is in touch with us for all guidance and help for teaching. And his Bible study with some young people is going really well. This brother is very mission minded and is reaching many people with the Audio Bible as well to help them know the Word and grow spiritually. God is good!!! we can see many people being connected united and equipped with the Biblical teaching in near future through our teaching project which also includes Bible Study recording. Please keep this brother and his small group of young men and women also in your prayers. He is really doing tremendous job, and his vision to start Calvary Chapel in his area in future is really awesome!\nPartners in the Mission Field\nAs God provided us Children’s and adult’s Bibles for the mission this year, he also has blessed us with Audio Bibles through Faith Comes by Hearing organization. Because of this some amazing people are coming into contact with us who truly are humble servants and they are serving Lord in the very remote areas among very disadvantaged people.\nSo the Word of God is going to many those as well who are not in our reach. We are promoting the organized study of the Word on regular basis and this is what most of the people around like about Calvary Chapel Pakistan. We always encourage people to focus on “Simply the Word Simply”. God is using his Word in the really amazing ways and we really feel His hand working through and in us as well as all the people we are reaching\nto with the Word. The word of God is effective and powerful and God is definitely changing the lives of so many here through it for eternity. We want you to please continue to pray for us.\nThere are many other parts where we are reaching with the Word of God, not only distributing the Bibles, but making sure to establish and start a proper system to help children and young boys and girl study the word of God in regularly. The study of the word at this level will go a long way in their lives and we firmly believe that God is going to use these all efforts for His name’s glory. There are few other groups also that are being reached but I don’t want to make this update very long and boring. Lord blessed us with availability of His word for children and adults this year, so it is helping us to “Connect, Unite and Equip our next generation. The next step will be “Send” them to the mission field in future. Please keep these precious souls in your prayers. Please continue to pray for CC Pakistan’s team and also please keep our need for the Bibles for year 2021 and our mission project in desert in your prayers. We are always thankful to you, we love you and pray for you!\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/connecting-uniting-equipping/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nDeuteronomy 6:6-7\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family\u003cbr\u003e\nGreetings in our Lord’s name from CC Pakistan. We praise God that He has kept us during all this tough time when virus had spread everywhere and here in our country many things were not being taken seriously and we have very organized and powerful health care system as well. We are thankful to you for the prayers and support during all this time. The spread of the virus has almost stopped and life is coming to normal routine. In this update we are going to share mainly how Lord is working in the lives of young generation through through His Word that CC Pakistan is taking to them and teaching them diligently.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Connecting, Uniting, Equipping"},{"content":"June was a great month of ministry and missions!\nI know, that may sound weird, but it’s true. Last month we helped orchestrate several COVID relief outreaches in Nepal and various other countries like Mexico and Peru! Thanks to your generous support of our missionaries and of Saving Grace World Missions, we were able to get the funds into these countries where they were able to use them to purchase and distribute goods to the poor and needy.\nI’ve also been able to grow in my financial tasks and have learned how to run and interpret various reports that we use constantly. We are launching our Calvary School of Missions on Monday and we send the students weekly updates on their tuition donations. Last year I was entirely dependent upon our accountant to run the reports and send them to me but this year I have been able to monitor student tuition on my own and send the regular fundraising updates.\nCalvary School of Missions (CSOM) is an exciting 6-week program that allows young people who feel called to missions to explore that option and seek the heart of God in the field while receiving hands on training from veteran missionaries and pastors. We are so excited to have 13 students and 7 staff members leaving for Mexico in 4 days! We are amazed at how God has expanded our vision from 13 people total last year to 20 this year, even in the midst of a pandemic!\nAfter the School we will launch our second annual Intern Program with brand new interns and I am excited to formulate the training curriculum and organize their in-office schedule. Pastor Tim is the head of the department and together we are improving and expanding the internship. The internship is designed to take our CSOM students one step further and effectively see them launched into the mission field. last year’s students-turned-interns are well on their way to their countries of ministry and we are excited to see the Lord send them in this next year or so.\nWe have found the internship to be incredibly effective in continuing the lessons learned in Mexico and implementing them in order to launch the students into full-time cross-cultural missions.\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for this year’s Calvary School of Missions; for all 12 students, for our 7 staff members, for those they’ll be encountering, for safety and health for all, and smooth border crossings. Please pray for this year’s interns and this upcoming year’s interns- that God would bring those we are meant to disciple and that He’d plant those who go back to their homes so that all are able to get out onto the mission field if that is His will for them. Please keep our missionaries all over the world in your prayers and remember them as though chained with them. Thank you! If you would like to be a part of what God is doing to reach the world for Christ through the ministry of Saving Grace World Missions you can help in so many ways! You can share this update, you can pray, you can adopt a missionary financially, and you can support a student at School of Missions. If you would like to learn more about any of our ministries or how you can be involved, please email me or call the office. I’d love to connect with you!\nIf the Lord puts it on your heart to support a missionary financially, I am in need of monthly partners but so are many of our other missionaries. I would be glad to chat with you and hear your heart and match you with the missionary that is working in the part of the world you feel burdened for or is doing the type of ministry the Lord has put on your heart.\nMuch love,\nHope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/june-2020-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJune was a great month of ministry and missions!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI know, that may sound weird, but it’s true. Last month we helped orchestrate several COVID relief outreaches in Nepal and various other countries like Mexico and Peru! Thanks to your generous support of our missionaries and of Saving Grace World Missions, we were able to get the funds into these countries where they were able to use them to purchase and distribute goods to the poor and needy.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"June 2020 Update"},{"content":"I am so grateful that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not on lockdown. In a crazy world and crazy times we have a future and a hope. The future and that hope is based in the salvation of our souls and the reconciliation to God through the cross of Jesus Christ. Faith in his shed blood for the forgiveness of our sins is the only hope for mankind. Therefore the gospel must go forth. The gospel is not on lockdown. God won\u0026rsquo;t be masked, God won\u0026rsquo;t be muzzled, God won\u0026rsquo;t be toppled like some statue.\nHe wants to use us to do this. He wants to do it in His timing in His way. That is exactly why I am setting out to direct CSOM 2020. Calvary School of Missions year two.\nI will admit last year, 2019, when we launched the pilot program CSOM there were many including myself at times who thought it was a crazy idea that could not be done. I will also admit I was wrong and they were wrong. The Lord had placed CSOM on the hearts of leadership here at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and the Lord is never wrong. Last year he worked in amazing ways in all of our lives; the young students as well as leaders and teachers. On top of the “in the moment experience,” there has been much long-lasting fruit from last year\u0026rsquo;s school.\nWe currently have five young interns from CSOM 2019 who have been trained up in the school as well as a year-long intern program I was able to lead bringing them to the place they are today, poised and ready to go to the nations. They have locations they are going and are in the final stages of preparing to go to bring the nations the gospel of Jesus Christ. They will be working in the 10/40 window amongst the most unreached of the world and we were blown away to have had a front-row seat to see what the Lord is doing in and through them in the CSOM.\nEven though it looks way crazier than last year, Jenn and I are expecting CSOM 2020 to be equally incredible and fruitful. One of the main differences in our lives is that we are married and although last year she was of great support, this year she is all in. I\u0026rsquo;m so grateful she will be able to be on the trip this year and I\u0026rsquo;m so grateful for the many ways she partners with me in ministry. I will be gone for six weeks of which Jenn only gets to be with me for 10 days due to our need for her to still work. Jenn has partnered with me in so many ways preparing for this school, please pray for us as we will be apart for an extended period for the first time. She is a fantastic partner on the field and even though being apart from each other will be difficult we are totally convinced that pouring into future missionaries to send around the world is worth the hardship.\nWe appreciate your prayers and are so grateful for you who have already joined us in this area. If the Lord leads you to partner with us financially or increase your already generous support, you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or by mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203\nYorba Linda, CA 62886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-gospel-must-go-forth/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI am so grateful that the gospel of Jesus Christ is not on lockdown. In a crazy world and crazy times we have a future and a hope. The future and that hope is based in the salvation of our souls and the reconciliation to God through the cross of Jesus Christ. Faith in his shed blood for the forgiveness of our sins is the only hope for mankind. Therefore the gospel must go forth. The gospel is not on lockdown. God won\u0026rsquo;t be masked, God won\u0026rsquo;t be muzzled, God won\u0026rsquo;t be toppled like some statue.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Gospel Must Go Forth"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nWe are continuing to try and adjust to this new normal of the coronavirus. We are still being radically affected here in Mexico, with churches still not being allowed to “Legally” meet live and in person. But as we continue to work hard and minister in the middle of the coronavirus, there are five clear lessons that God has shown me that I would like to share with you!\nLesson #1- Ministry and God’s Work Continue in difficult times!\nOur ministry has changed but it continues. The Mexican economy has been devastated by this coronavirus and many in our church family have lost their places of employment. To fill emergency needs, we have been focused on our church\u0026rsquo;s hospitality ministry. This ministry has been busy giving out close to 100 family food bags per week! These bags are designed to feed a family of four the basics for one week, and are advertised and offered to anyone in need in our community, no questions asked. We are blessed that our church has been able to be the hands and feet of Jesus during this pandemic!\nWe also have continued on with our church planting training. In June, we finished our church planting spring semester, with 28 students enrolled and 6 graduates. (Including two brothers that are being sent out to church plant in Guatemala in August)\nI was also able to fly out to Arizona this past month to speak at our new church plant, Refresh Church Waddell, and do some homeless ministry with their church!\nLesson #2- Technology Matters!\nIf you’re an old person like me, you know that technology can seem difficult and even impossible to learn! When I have to ask my 7-year-old nephew to help me with my phone, you know that I need to up my technology game. But this pandemic has shown us the importance of media in the world today!\nTo be honest, this was an area where our ministry had been lacking, but not anymore. We have made a deep investment in technology to purchase new cameras, computers, and even built a new recording studio at the church! As the world moves more and more into the digital realm, we are blessed that this push from the coronavirus has forced us to progress and improve in the areas of technology and video production!\nLesson #3- Life Goes on!\nThis past month our family was blessed with three new milestones. First off, our baby Daniel turned 18 and graduated from high school with honors. So many of this year’s seniors missed out on the normal senior activities, but our homeschooler Daniel didn’t seem to affected by it! We celebrated Daniel’s graduation, by getting a small air b-n-b in San Diego with his family and missionary friends.\nAlso in June, Sarah and I got to celebrate our 23rd wedding anniversary, which coincided with our 18th anniversary of living and ministering here in Mexico. Yes, the world may have come to a halt with this corona virus, but just like you, our lives continue to move on!\nLesson #4- Too much news isn’t good for the soul!\nThis month I finally decided to turn off the news completely! I am tired of the scare tactics and depressing and hopeless newscasts that the media was attempting to force down my throat. The truth is that no matter how crazy this world gets, our Almighty God still rules and reigns on heaven’s throne!\nOne interesting side note of this situation is how easily the world\u0026rsquo;s masses and governments have fallen in line with the fear tactics being pushed upon us. For me, I see a world ripe for the amazing end times events laid out for us in the book of Revelation that seemed unlikely just 4 months ago!\nLesson #5- God’s People Remain Faithful!\nI am so proud of our church family here in Mexico. Though scattered in our homes, our church family has proven faithful in joining us for our online services. They have also prayed for us and been faithful in their financial giving!\nAnd it’s not only our friends here that have been faithful, we are thankful for you, our precious ministry partners who have continued to stand by us and pray for us and support us financially in these trying times. We are honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with us in this great mission work here in Mexico! THANK YOU!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would keep our family, church, city, nation, and world safe in this coronavirus, and deliver us!\n#2- That God would bless our upcoming church planting conference (August 7th and 8th) and 25th church plant to Guatemala!\n#3- That God would allow us to open up our church doors again in a safe manner!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for the great response to our improving online services! We have had thousands of views, and many first time professions of faith!\n#2- Praise God that God’s people are continuing to give financially so we can keep our church staff employed, and continue to support our church planters!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-july-2020-mission-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/06/102558347%5F585222999073061%5F3290036444424306688%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe are continuing to try and adjust to this new normal of the coronavirus. We are still being radically affected here in Mexico, with churches still not being allowed to “Legally” meet live and in person. But as we continue to work hard and minister in the middle of the coronavirus, there are five clear lessons that God has shown me that I would like to share with you!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family July 2020 Mission Update"},{"content":" EUROPE\nRebecca Alaniz - Zagreb, Croatia\nPraise Reports:\n-I made it back to Croatia safely and have been so blessed to be back!\n-So far the Lord has kept me healthy!\n-Projects in the Roma Village are about to begin\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For the country of Croatia. With the coronavirus present, only 8 cases left in the whole country, pray that the Lord would continue to keep me healthy. Pray the country doesn\u0026rsquo;t get an influx of new cases due to tourism.\n2. That the Lord would completely heal my thyroid, so that I wouldn\u0026rsquo;t need to take any medication\n3. For direction, that I would simply be open to whatever the Lord has for me. There are some big decisions that are coming up, so please pray that the Lord would give me wisdom.\n4. Language Learning: Even though I\u0026rsquo;m conversational, there is more that I need to learn to reach fluent. Pray that the Lord would help me grasp the language and that He would give me a desire to study it.\n5. Roma Ministry: Pray that the Lord would give me guidance and wisdom in regards to working in the Roma village. Pray for our relationships with the Roma people, especially with this new project that we are about to start.\n6. Increase in my monthly financial support.\n7. For salvation in Zagreb Thank you for keeping me and the country of Croatia in your prayers. The Lord is at work and I am so excited to see what He is going to continue to do!\nGod Bless,\nRebecca - Email Blog\nS.S. - Europe\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for a refugee Christian family whos sons will be getting deported back to their home country. Please pray that God would intervene on their behalf.\n2. New ways for reaching out to the refugee community since our traditional ways are limited because of the COVID-19 precautions.\n3. Our refugee Bible study that more people can join and start to get together in spite of their fear of more personal contact with COVID-19 situation. We are following all needed measures like meeting outside and 1.5m distance\u0026hellip; Thank you so much for praying for me , I really appreciate it. 4. This explanation is not to be shared on the website:\nAnd Thank you again for praying.\nBe blessed,\nSS - Email Blog\nAFRICA\nVincent and Melissa Aniku - Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for Gods guidance.\n2. Continue to pray for our hospital and staff as the cases are in creasing in Uganda, especially around the boarders.\n3. Pray for the certifications we need to finish the container and prepare to send it.\nThank you so very much for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nVincent and Melissa - Email Blog\nBrian and Jill Kanyike - Kampala, Uganda\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Eases in lock down are in Uganda. At the same time the cases in covid are dramatically increasing. The president said for the first time they are getting cases that they cannot trace infection from. Pray for safety for the country and for the Kanyike\u0026rsquo;s.\n2. Violence has been increasing as people disobey covid laws and police try to enforce them. Also, as people begin trying to campaign for January elections.\n3. Hunger continues to be an issue for many. Pray for wisdom and provision as the Kanyike\u0026rsquo;s and Arise Christian Fellowship try their best to assist. Also pray for Brian as he pastors via phone and internet.\n4. Pray for Luke as this weekend we had to take him to ER for extreme stomach pain and vomiting. They had to give him 2 injections to stop pain and calm him down. They did not find anything in tests that day but we are waiting for cultures to get results. He seems much better now so praying what ever it was is over.\n5. Pray for Jill as she home schools and for the children to enjoy learning. Thank you for praying for the Kanyike Family and for Uganda.\nGod bless you,\nBrian and Jill - Email Blog\nMatt and Noelle Harris - Gulu, Africa\nThank you so much for standing together with us in prayer!\nPraise Report:\n-The gospel is being preached at the medical clinic and many are getting saved.\n-Many people are getting saved at our churches as they receive food packages.\n-Many are hearing our ministries radio broadcasts and are coming to salvation.\n-We got the chance to preach to a neighboring family and many came to Christ.\nPrayer Requests: 1. Please pray for, Fred Latim, our head pastor at Calvary Chapel Gulu, as he recovers from prostate surgery as part of his battle against cancer.\n2. The people of Northern Uganda, as they await the harvest time and are low on food due to the ongoing lockdown.\n3. Our family as we plan and prepare for the new baby, expected late October.\nThank you for praying!\nLove in Christ,\nMatt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, \u0026amp; Noah - Email Blog\nEnds of the Earth Ministries\nPrayer Requests:\nIn South Sudan:\nPlease continue to pray for the nation of South Sudan. Decades of Civil War have collapsed the economy, resulting in mass starvation and desperation. Hopelessness and violence run rampant throughout communities.\nPray for our 500 students that are being daily discipled in the love of God and His Word, so they may lead their nation Into a new season of hope.\nPray for the 75 children and young adults in our children\u0026rsquo;s home and for the Missionary parents that are laying down their lives to provide peace and unconditional love to these precious ones.\nPlease pray for the new churches in the Tauso \u0026amp; Taposa villages. Pray that the pastors and medical staff will have the spiritual and physical tenacity to handle the countless challenges while living amongst Stone-Age tribes.\nIn Kenya:\nPray for the refugee students in our missionary training college in the Kakuma Refugee Camp. They are fasting and praying as they prepare to return to South Sudan to begin reaching cities across the border in North Sudan, with hopes to plant churches amongst Muslim peoples in 2020-21.\nIn USA:\nPray for the Missions Equip Training Programs. We are in the throws of launching two new schools this year.\nThe first - International School, will be used in Bible Colleges as a complete missions training course.\nThe second - Transformation, is a cross-cultural immersion training program, equipping missionaries to assimilate into their new culture while learning the language and world view.\nPray that God would continue to empower, envision and sustain us as we seek to establish nationally led, culturally relevant, biblical-based churches among unreached peoples.\nYours for the unreached,\nRob Douglass - Email Blog\nNORTH AMERICA\nLeo and Pilar Gray - Ensenada, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Our sons father in law was killed in a car accident. They are expecting a child in August and with the virus may not be able to travel to attend the funeral. Please pray for peace and comfort for their family.\n2. We have a lot of new students registering for our next semester. Pray that God would prepare their hearts and that they would be deeply rooted in His word while they study with us.\n3. Over 40% of our Operations budget comes from Teams on summer Missions trips. Almost all of our teams have cancelled due to travel restrictions safety concerns, and the Covid virus. Pray that God would continue to provide for our needs.\n4. Pray that God continues to move in Mexico drawing people to Himself.\nThank you for your prayers.\nGod bless you,\nLeo and Pilar - Email Blog\nMike and Sarah Vincent - Rosarito, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Protection for our family, church and city as we prepare to re-open our church after the corona virus!\n2. God\u0026rsquo;s blessing about our plans for the international church planting conference on August 7-8!\n3. God\u0026rsquo;s provision for our family as missionaries and our church! Thank you for faithfully praying for us!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel - Email Blog\nHope Noack - California\nHello and thank you for your prayers!\nPrayer Request:\n1. Please continue to pray for my wedding which is this month!\n2. I also ask your prayers for our ministry in parts of the world that are opposed to the Gospel- our missionaries are under great persecution from the government right now.\nThank you for your prayers for these things.\nGod bless you!\nHope - Email Blog\nJoel and Amy Garcia - California, USA\nThank you for taking the time to read these requests and pray for us. It means more than you know!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that we would continue to fight the good fight in spiritual warfare within our church and our home. We have felt this warfare in myriad ways, but are confident the Lord is working in it.\n2. Please pray for divine wisdom for SGWM, as COVID-19 has left a large footprint and created obstacles in the realm of international missions.\n3. Please pray for continued growth and learning for our children, and that the Lord would continue to give Amy and I wisdom in the training and discipline of our wonderful kids.\nThank you for your continual prayers on our behalf.\nIn Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, \u0026amp; Clara - Email Blog\nJoni Houser - Indiana, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family\u0026rsquo;s health.\n2. Please continue to pray for my financial support.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless you!\nJoni - Email Blog\nJana Sandbulte - Indiana, USA\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord, our health has still been good this month!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for God to give us strength as we move this month.\n2. Please continue to pray for my youngest daughter, Rose\u0026rsquo;s, recurring struggle with reflux.\n3. Please pray for my financial support and that God will open doors for me to share about the work He is doing in South Asia.\nThank you so much for your prayers\nGod bless you,\nPaul, Jana and Sari, Kaylee, and Rose - Email Blog\nDeanna Jevas - Tijuana, Mexico\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For my health, right knee and horrible headaches which are too frequent.\n2. that we will be able to congregate and open after school program soon\n3. for the people in this community\u0026ndash;salvation of their souls!\n4. That we would have revival in this place, and that it would begin with our church members\nGod\u0026rsquo;s blessings to you for praying for me.\nGod bless!\nDeanna - Email Blog\nBond, Heather and Breanna Gaona - USA\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for continued healing for Heather\u0026rsquo;s knee\n2. Pray for the those suffering around the world from the virus and those day laborers who have been hard hit. Many are without ample food or eating only once a day and are suffering. Praying for an end to the lockdowns and for God to use this time to draw people to Himself throughout the nations.\n3. Pray that in each meeting, phone call, online class, we would be filled with the love of God to encourage, exhort and stir up our co-laborers, friends and family around the world.\n4. Pray against persecution of Christians that is ever increasing in the 10/40 Window. Pray for protection for those we know and love.\nThank you for praying for us!\nGod bless,\nBond, Heather and Breanna - Email Blog\nMike and Erin Thiemann - California, USA\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our family during this crazy season. We are doing well, but our kids are struggling with all of the lockdowns. They miss their friends, sports teams, classes, etc.\n2. Please pray for our School of Missions that will be starting July 6th. Pray for peace. Pray for unity. Pray for vision.\n3. Please pray for the youth ministry I lead. Our youth are struggling due to COVID and are scattered. Pray that we would be able to reengage them soon.\n4. Pray for SGWM as we restructure some of our staff and leadership roles. This is just an organizational thing that is necessary as SGWM has grown and is growing rapidly. Pray as we plan to reopen our affiliate missionary program soon.\n5. Pray for our personal support. Living in the States and on missionary support is a difficult reality. We struggle with it practically, as living expenses in Orange County are high. It is also a struggle to convince people that our home office staff is an absolute necessity for the success of our missionaries all over the world.\nThank you for your faithful prayers and support\nGod bless you,\nMike, Erin, Malachi, Kyla and Alaina - Email Blog\nSOUTH AMERICA\nBrad and Melissa - Amazon Jungle Brazil\nPlease pray with us for the ministry here in the Amazon.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. For the Apurina people we minister to. Specifically the leadership and young couples.\n2. For Oscar and Analucia, our missionaries from the Apurina church.\n3. For Raimunda. She has been visiting many different villages on a monthly basis over the last year and has opened up many new hearts to God through the Gospel. She, too, is one of our supported missionaries.\n4. The village chiefs. They are always under pressure and are susceptible to being influenced with gifts. Pray they are strengthened by Christ to stand firm in Truth that they could see their people prosper under God\u0026rsquo;s protection.\n5. Our family. Brad and Melissa, Andrea, Josiah, Veronica and Benjamin.\nThank you and God bless you,\nBrad and Melissa Miller and family - Email Blog\nThe 10/40 Window\nThe 10/40 Window is a rectangular geographic area stretching from North Africa through the Middle East to Asia, covering 68 countries. Two-thirds of the world\u0026rsquo;s population live within the 10/40 Window.\nThree out of every five people in the 10/40 Window have no access to the gospel. According to the Joshua Project, 68.6% of the 10/40 Window\u0026rsquo;s ethnic groups (5,984) are considered unreached, with a total population of 3.09 billion.\nWorkers - 10/40 Window\nPrayer requests:\n1. Please pray for the situation in the North.\n2. Pray for the believers, that the Lord will give them courage and wisdom.\n3. Pray for these Anti-Christian people, that the Lord would change their hearts.\n4. Pray for our son, that he would not be discouraged.\n5. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection over us all.\nThanks for your prayers!\nGod bless you\nRabi and Mahima Shrestha - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for worldwide this pandemic COVID-19 will end as soon as possible if God allow it.\n2. Pray for our Family, Church and Bible School, students and all the staff for their health.\n3. Pray for Our Church we need Sound System.\n4. Pray for the Chepang people and their churches where we distributed foods in this pandemic time; that they may grow spiritually in the Christ.\n5 Pray for Us to do a faithful Ministry in Social media to share, proclaim and teach them Calvary Styles.\nThank you for praying for us!\nGod bless,\nRabi and Mahima - Blog\nPrakash and Muna Pariyar - Nepal\nPraise God ! He has been so good to His people and Church.\n**Prayer Requests:\n** 1. Please pray for all the believers all around the world that the people of God truly love God, His word and stand for their faith in every situation.\n2. Please pray for the good health and safety of all the students of Calvary Chapel Bible College of Nepal and India as they are Home.\n3. Please pray that corona virus be gone from the world soon and social lives of people become normal again, that we can gather together as His Church to praise and glorify Him more than before.\n4. Please pray for Charis Bible Church. We need to move out the Church facility from current place. People don\u0026rsquo;t want to give their land in rent especially for the Church. Please pray that God would direct us towards the right location and especially He would provide our own Church Property so that we don\u0026rsquo;t need to look for the new place and facility again and again.\nThank you for your prayers!\nBlessing,\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus - Email Blog\nAnand and Usha Choudhary - Nepal\nThank you ray warrior for praying for us! Prayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for our good health so we can keep on serving LORD.\n2. Please pray for the believer who had went back home from Kathmandu city in lockdown they may get job in back home.\n3. Please pray for the opportunity to share Gospel close to the Bible college slum.\n4. Please pray for the young people to whom I am teaching Genesis in zoom class.\n5. Please pray for the radio ministry and all social media ministry which we were doing that we may reach more people in coming days.\nThank you for your prayers and support\nGod bless,\nAnand, Usha and family - Email Blog\nWorker - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for my ministry, family, and spiritual life.\n2. Pray for my parents and my brothers; they are still unbelievers.\n3. Pray for R.Y., who has mouth cancer; please pray for complete healing.\n4. Pray for all of the believers in my church, that their knowledge will increase in the Word of God.\n5. Pray for sister H\u0026ndash;her husband and children are persecuting her.\n6. Please pray for our biggest need, a piece of land for a church.\nThank you for your prayers.\nMay God bless you\nWorkers - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for Mr. N, who is a new believer, receiving opposition from his village.\n2. Please pray for K.P., as she has experienced God\u0026rsquo;s healing touch upon her life. Pray that she will continue to have faith in God.\n3. Please continue to pray for our online church services.\n4. Kindly pray for student recruitment for our Pastor\u0026rsquo;s school, that God will bring dedicated students.\n5. Please pray for me and my family, as we are in lockdown at home. Pray that God will help us to meditate and grow in His Word.\nThank you very much for your prayers and support!\nGod bless you\nMilan Pariyar - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for my family to mature in their relationship with Christ and to have good health.\n2. Please pray for the believers here to grow in their faith.\n3. Pray for my community to know the difference between the Truth and false teachings.\n4. Pray for me for safety and for good health.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless you,\nMilan - Blog\nWorker - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for me, that I will continue to grow in the knowledge of the Word of God.\n2. Please pray that God will teach me to be a good leader for His people.\n3. Please pray that God will protect all students and staff of the Pastors School from all illnesses and diseases; pray that they will remain healthy.\nThank you so much for your prayers. God bless you!\nMay God bless you\nWorker - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for all of the new people who have heard the Gospel, that they will accept Jesus.\n2. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your continual prayer and support!!\nGod bless you\nWorker - 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise God, He has kept us safe from the persecution and the corona virus.\n-Praise God for fulfilling all of our basic needs during the lock down.\n-Praise God for returning our land from my neighbors. Twenty years ago when my family accepted Jesus, my neighbors attacked my family; they tried to kill my family and took lots of our family\u0026rsquo;s land. But now, by the grace of God, they returned a small part of the land!\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for my family\u0026rsquo;s safety.\n2. Please pray for my believers, that they can stand in their faith. They are being persecuted by their husbands, fathers, mothers, neighbors and society.\n3. Please pray for my state; after this lockdown many people lost their jobs. Now the people are doing criminal activities like fighting, robbing, chain snatching, murder, etc. Recently, my cousin (a non-believer) killed his own mother (my mother\u0026rsquo;s sister), and one believer\u0026rsquo;s son went fishing and someone killed him and threw his body in a field.\n4. Please pray our friends who are being disturbed by police and political leaders.\n5. Please pray for 3 believers who want to show God their commitment to Him.\n6. Please continue to pray for all 8 house fellowships and the Bible studies. Pray that the believers can understand more deeply the Word of God.\n7. Please pray for the coronavirus to stop spreading. There are mostly uneducated people in my area; they are not following social distancing and not using masks, even if the government provides masks to everyone. The people are also starting to worship the \u0026ldquo;corona goddess\u0026rdquo;. Their thoughts are that if they will worship corona, they will be safe from corona.\nThanks for your prayers and partnership for the Gospel\nGod bless!\nWorker - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for us as we have our services over the phone; most of our church attenders do not have Facebook.\n2. Please pray for the unbelievers and believers who we distributed food to.\nThank you for your prayers!\nGod bless\nWorker - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please continue to pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\n2. For my health and safety\nThank you for your prayers!\nMay God bless you\nWorker - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray for the youth in our church that they will grow in the Lord.\n2. Please pray for me that the Lord will guide andhelp me to take good care of His Church.\n3. Please pray for those who are wanting to show their commitment to Jesus. May they truly know the Lord Jesus.\nThank you for praying.\nGod bless you\nWorker - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Pray for me, that God will use me mightily, and for those who know about Jesus but still do not believe, that God will change their hearts.\n2. Pray for me to share the Gospel.\n3. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection and guidance.\nThank you for your prayers!\nMay God bless you\nWorker- 10/40 Window\nPraise Report:\n-Praise the Lord, the lockdown is loosening up here some, and finally, seven of the students and I were able to get train tickets to travel to our hometowns.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Pray for our safe travels, and that we will not contract the virus during the journey.\n2. I am excited about the next season of ministry after I leave from here. I do not know what things will be like, but pray that I will be faithful for what God has for me.\nThank you,\nGod Bless\nWorker - 10/40 Window\nPlease Pray:\n1. Please pray for me, as I have been busy with many things. I need strength, wisdom, peace and direction about where to buy things for construction.\n2. Please pray for more male students to come to our Bible School.\n3. Please pray that the Lord will give me wisdom and Godspeed with translation.\n4. Please pray that in the midst of all of this, that I will depend upon God alone, and not on my past experiences.\nThanking you!\nGod bless you\nWorker - 10/40 Window\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that if it is God\u0026rsquo;s will, I will be able to go to a certain village and teach the Word to the Christian families there, as well as share the Gospel with the unbelievers.\n2. Please pray that I will be able to build relationships and share the Gospel with the village people.\nThank you so much once again for your prayers.\nGod\u0026rsquo;s blessing\nMajhiya and Sarita Besra - Nepal\nPrayer Requests:\n1. We have found the opportunity to share with other about Jesus, praise the Lord!\n2. We conduct small house fellowship services. Please pray for unbelieving neighbors who have joined us sometimes, as they are curious and confused during this time of lockdown. Pray that their hearts will soon be changed.\n3. Praise God for safety and protection during this time!\n4. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in upcoming days, and pray that God will open the hearts of our neighbors for salvation.\nThank you\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita - Blog\nWorker - 10/40 Window\nPraise Reports:\n-All the students have returned to their home areas.\n-I am now back home safely, too.\n-The Lord provided the funds for the student\u0026rsquo;s travels.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Please pray that I remain healthy as I complete my quarantine.\n2. Please pray for the health of the students, as some of their states are keeping them in quarantine facilities with other people.\n3. Please pray for wisdom on how to proceed for the next semester due to what is going on around the world.\nThank you for your prayers for us\nGod bless you,\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.\u0026quot;\n- Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping \u0026ldquo;Reach the Nations\u0026hellip;One Soul at a Time\u0026rdquo;.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/sgwm-july-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/the%5Fsecret%5Fplace-background-still-16x9.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEUROPE\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRebecca Alaniz - Zagreb, Croatia\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Rebecca-Alaniz.JPG-2-1-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise Reports:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n-I made it back to Croatia safely and have been so blessed to be back!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-So far the Lord has kept me healthy!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-Projects in the Roma Village are about to begin\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests:\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\n1. For the country of Croatia. With the coronavirus present, only 8 cases left in the whole country,  pray that the Lord would continue to keep me healthy. Pray the country doesn\u0026rsquo;t get an influx of new cases due to tourism.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM JULY PRAYER UPDATE"},{"content":"We had another round of relief outreaches in Nepal last week where Pastor Milan was able to get a pass to minister to villagers who have only been eating once a day.\nWith your help he was able to purchase rice and other main staples and distribute the supplies to many hungry families from Calvary Chapel Dumre. This week he hopes to visit many non-believing families to share the provisions that God has given as well as the Gospel. Please keep these coming outreaches in your prayers!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/covid-relief-update-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe had another round of relief outreaches in Nepal last week where Pastor Milan was able to get a pass to minister to villagers who have only been eating once a day.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith your help he was able to purchase rice and other main staples and distribute the supplies to many hungry families from Calvary Chapel Dumre. This week he hopes to visit many non-believing families to share the provisions that God has given as well as the Gospel. Please keep these coming outreaches in your prayers!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"COVID Relief Update"},{"content":"“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man , it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, “I will return to my house from which I came”; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there.” Matt 12:43-45a. This month I feel it would be good to share a testimony about a family that God delivered at our medical clinic. It is not uncommon for God to show up in miraculous ways like this, but because we have a full-time chaplain I am not always present to witness the miracles myself.\nOn a Monday toward the beginning of June, I was leading the clinic through Proverbs 31 in our morning devotions. When I was close to wrapping up, one of our patients (who I will call Jenny) came down the hall toward us, slithering like a snake, and then stopped just outside of our gathering. Jenny had been admitted three days before for severe malaria and her husband was also admitted with us because he had been bitten by a cobra. When we had finished our closing prayer, I knelt down in front of her to talk to her but found her completely unconscious. After placing Jenny in a wheelchair and laying her in her room, we decided to sing and pray over her. As the name of Jesus was sung, her unconscious body began convulsing and attempting to slither away from my friend and me. We prayed over her for ten to twenty minutes, and when we commanded the demons to leave her she opened her eyes and sat up wondering where she was and how she had gotten there. That day our team spent hours sharing with her and her husband, and she shared that the demons had taken up residence in her body back in 2014.\nThe next day I was invited back into our ward by a friend to come to lead to the Lord an elderly couple whom he had been sharing with the night before. As we came close, we saw Jenny collapse to the ground just outside of the Patients Kitchen. We then followed the same procedure as the day before, and again she started convulsing and trying to flee whenever she heard the name of the Lord. But God prevailed again, and within 40 minutes she was delivered. My friend and I shared the Gospel with her but in her state of stupor, Jenny didn’t give her life to the Lord. However, by the grace of God, many of our other patients had come to watch and we took the opportunity to gather them in the adjacent room and preach the Gospel. The elderly couple whom we had originally come for surrendered their lives to Jesus, and the other patients were encouraged.\nThat Saturday, at the request of Jenny’s husband, Luke Buescher and I organized a team from among our staff to travel to the family’s home (the next village over) and preach the Gospel. Our team was warned that this family was hostile to the Word and had been a hindrance to the previous outreaches in that area. But God had prepared their hearts, and for the most part, we found them ready to receive. By the end of our time there, many were freed from demonic oppression and a large number of the family, including Jenny, came to salvation!\n“Or how can anyone enter the strong man’s house and carry off his property, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. Matt 12:29 In Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/june-2020/","summary":"\u003ch6 id=\"now-when-the-unclean-spirit-goes-out-of-a-man--it-passes-through-waterless-places-seeking-rest-and-does-not-find-it-then-it-says-i-will-return-to-my-house-from-which-i-came-and-when-it-comes-it-finds-it-unoccupied-swept-and-put-in-order-then-it-goes-and-takes-along-with-it-seven-other-spirits-more-wicked-than-itself-and-they-go-in-and-live-there-matt-1243-45a\"\u003e“Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man , it passes through waterless places seeking rest, and does not find it.  Then it says, “I will return to my house from which I came”; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order.  Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there.”  Matt 12:43-45a.\u003c/h6\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/03/E2A53A69-27FC-4390-AEDE-64A93BFA9A6B.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis month I feel it would be good to share a testimony about a family that God delivered at our medical clinic.  It is not uncommon for God to show up in miraculous ways like this, but because we have a full-time chaplain I am not always present to witness the miracles myself.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"June 2020"},{"content":"Some trust in chariots, and some in horses;\nBut we will remember the name of the Lord our God.\nPsalm 20:7\nWith a pandemic, economic turmoil, and social turmoil in many places around the world it is easy to become overwhelmed and frightened when our “horses” and “chariots”, whatever they may be, fail. But, these times constantly remind us that God is real and He is greater than whatever we fear. We thank God that He has been taking care of us and meeting our daily needs during this precarious time.\nMinistries have stabilized in this new season. Darryl was able to release a new video in the Cambodian language entitled “If God Created Everything, Why Do Animals Eat Meat?” This video was well-received on various social media platforms.\nDarryl has also been video recording and editing the videos for the worship team at the international church’s online service via Facebook. Darryl did the subtitles for one week but now there is someone else to do this.\nDarryl is waiting for students at the seminary to turn in their online apologetics class assignments for grading. Hopefully this will be completed in July.\nRight now, Darryl is mainly focusing on researching and writing video scripts for future videos. Please pray for wisdom and inspiration for the writing process.\nKayo participated in a food giveaway via Bethel Grace Mission a Cambodian founded ministry that ministers to the urban poor who live in graveyards.\nKayo is also helping to organize the worship team at the international church and is actually more busy than normal with this because of the need to record the worship time on video. It looks like the churches will be shut down for several more months.\nBenjamin completed his online school year. He will be going into 6th grade (probably online) in August. We are proud of him for winning a the Jo Miller award for Christ-like servant leadership.\nWe are doubtful that we can go to Japan this fall because now in order to return to Cambodia we would need to deposit $3,000 per person for quarantine expenses in addition to other hurdles in Cambodia and Japan. Please pray that these travel restrictions will be lifted in time for us to travel internationally again in 2021.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/cambodia-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSome trust in chariots, and some in horses;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBut we will remember the name of the Lord our God.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePsalm 20:7\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/06/104621059%5F10158326482744618%5F2058030297353886217%5Fo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith a pandemic, economic turmoil, and social turmoil in many places around the world it is easy to become overwhelmed and frightened when our “horses” and “chariots”, whatever they may be, fail. But, these times constantly remind us that God is real and He is greater than whatever we fear. We thank God that He has been taking care of us and meeting our daily needs during this precarious time.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cambodia Missions Update"},{"content":"Greetings from California! Yes, we have returned back from Peru 2 days ago and are now under a 14-day travel quarantine. Don’t worry, this is just required for those traveling back from Peru. We wanted to send out a quick update on our situation so that you can pray for us as we continue to serve the people of Peru.\nThese past three months have been very difficult for us living under a military quarantine in Peru. We are very thankful that we were able to have food, supplies, and a home. The Lord has been gracious to us. Unfortunately, under these circumstances, we have not been able to physically meet at church or do our children’s ministry. As always, the Lord continues to amaze us. He has been showing us that even in the middle of a pandemic, a military curfew, security concerns, and shortages of food and other essential items that He is Lord and He is in control.\nLife has been difficult for our members as most have not been able to work. In some cases, people have sold their animals and possessions to be able to buy food for their family. For a while no one was allowed to even go out of their homes. Yet we saw the Lord’s hand at work. After a night of prayer where we asked Him for provision to help our church members, God answered immediately with some special gifts sent to help those in need. The Lord allowed us to bless those struggling to pay rent and we were able to buy food for those who were in need. We are beyond thankful for your generous heart!\nLike churches in the USA, we decided a few months ago to do all of our services, women’s Bible classes and discipleship groups through Zoom. We have been busy texting and calling members and those we are trying to reach in order to encourage them and uplift them. An example of the fruit of our online ministry was seen in the life of a young girl who received Jesus though our Zoom service, praise the Lord!\nMaria, one of the young ladies that Natalia has been discipling for the past 2 years has a friend named Eliana. Eliana had a dream one night that the Lord was calling her and that He wanted her to go to church. She knew Maria loved Jesus so she called Maria who just happened to be watching the live online service. Maria texted back that she was at church. Eliana responded by texting “I want to be part of the church too, please send me the zoom link!” Eliana was able to join the service and afterwards she stayed and talked with us. During the conversation that we had, she received Jesus in her heart! There are no boundaries for the Gospel, praise the Lord! Please keep her in your prayers. She is experiencing heavy spiritual attacks. The enemy is doing his evil work as Eliana’s mom has kicked her out of her home for becoming a Christian.\nSome of you might know Peru is changing slowly but surely the way the country is governed. The president is doing anything he wants. People have been in home quarantine for the past 3 months and nothing seems to be changing. We started doing research, wondering when we will be able to meet again as a church. It turns out there will be no social meetings until at least June of 2021. This news completely broke our hearts. We love our church and really miss meeting together. We decided to start praying about what our next steps should be as a family. As we prayed for several weeks, the Lord started showing us that with the ongoing shutdown in Peru, this may be an opportune time to return to the USA to work on some specific things as we look ahead to our long term mission in Peru. As we have heard from Him, consulted with trusted mentors and leaders, we believe the Lord is clearly leading us to do the following:\nKeep serving and ministering with Refugio Community Church through zoom, exactly the same way as if we were in Peru. Our commitment to doing this is evidenced by Natalia doing her women’s bible study on zoom, 15 minutes after we arrived back to the USA. There is nothing that stops her! Continue to meet the physical needs of those that we serve through Anita and Jose, two of our amazing leaders. Currently they are staying in our home and are trusted by us to diligently care for our members. They will be able to take care of purchasing food or disbursing financial help as need arises. We will be sending them funds to pay the church rent and utilities or other needs for the church that we would normally cover. Get training on church planting. Pastor Sham had suggested this last year when we were back but we were concerned about the church in Peru and decided to put it off. Now the Lord is making it possible while still being able to pastor our church in Cajamarca. We met with Pastor Sham and he agrees with this plan to take this time to prepare, so we can better serve the community when we go back to Peru. Get Natalia’s immigration papers taken care of. This has been an ongoing issue and has caused us to go back and forth more times than we wanted to. Improve our health. Natalia has had some nagging health issues and we believe this will be a good time for her to take care of her health and be ready for ministry when we head back. The Lord has opened the door for us to stay in a missionary home in Pasadena. This is a huge blessing! We continue to pray that God will continue to direct our steps and prepare us for the next phase in our ministry in Peru. We are truly grateful for your ongoing support as we minister in Peru. Meeting the needs of the poor, helping young women like Eliana come to Christ, raising up leaders like Jose and Anita are all part of what you have invested in! Muchas Gracias!!\nJohn \u0026amp; Natalia\nPS. The whole story of how the Lord has taken us from a very strict military controlled country and brought us safely here to the States is too long, but we will do a blog with all the details later. We are blown away that we are here in California! When it seemed really impossible to do, the Lord made it possible. There is nothing impossible for our God!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gunderson-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from California! Yes, we have returned back from Peru 2 days ago and are now under a 14-day travel quarantine.  Don’t worry, this is just required for those traveling back from Peru.  We wanted to send out a quick update on our situation so that you can pray for us as we continue to serve the people of Peru.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese past three months have been very difficult for us living under a military quarantine in Peru. We are very thankful that we were able to have food, supplies, and a home.  The Lord has been gracious to us.  Unfortunately, under these circumstances, we have not been able to physically meet at church or do our children’s ministry.  As always, the Lord continues to amaze us.  He has been showing us that even in the middle of a pandemic, a military curfew, security concerns, and shortages of food and other essential items that He is Lord and He is in control.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gunderson Update"},{"content":"Through your generosity, we have been able to send over $8,400 into countries like Uganda, Pakistan, Nepal, and others where the people are hungry for more than a piece of bread. This aid has impacted over 200 families for the Gospel!\nIn one area where our missionaries delivered food, a family invited them in and began cooking for them. They said, \u0026ldquo;You have food?\u0026rdquo; and the young woman replied, \u0026ldquo;last night we ate our last rice and now the Lord has provided more.\u0026rdquo;\nMany families were brought to tears by the practical example of love that these simple food baskets represent. Please continue to pray for these families and pray that they would seek and find Jesus in the midst of these trying times.\nIf you would like to give more to continue the work, feel free to donate via the link below.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/covid-relief-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThrough your generosity, we have been able to send over $8,400 into countries like Uganda, Pakistan, Nepal, and others where the people are hungry for more than a piece of bread. This aid has impacted over 200 families for the Gospel!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn one area where our missionaries delivered food, a family invited them in and began cooking for them. They said, \u0026ldquo;You have food?\u0026rdquo; and the young woman replied, \u0026ldquo;last night we ate our last rice and now the Lord has provided more.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"General COVID Relief Update"},{"content":"The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2 Dear Friends and Family,\nGreetings and love from Calvary Chapel Pakistan. We are thankful to you for your faithful prayers. By the grace of God we all are safe, and doing good in this very troubled time which is getting worse here in our country.\nThe doctors in our country had beeing telling people that everyone should take this virus seriously and following the instructions of the Govt. and doctors, but people did not care and thought that either this pandemic was over or it was not brining any harm to people in Pakistan. Now at once the situation has changed. Our hospitals are full of patients, death toll is rising everyday. It seems that things are getting out of control, the terror of death is prevailing around. With poor medical structure it is very hard to handle the situation at place like this. We are hearing about many poor people around who are suffering from other diseases but they are not able to go to the doctors. They cannot receive medical treatment. The physical condition of so many is getting worse daily but nothing can be done except from self help and prayer. Some of our very close friends and family members are going trought such trouble, we want to request you all to please pray for our country and specially those people who are already suffering from different other diseases and are not able to receive medical treatment.\nTri-city Outreach Evangelism\nWe praise God that our online Bible classes allowed us to reach many wonderful people in different cities. The leaders of the groups are really happy for what they have been learning, and they feel so blessed to be part of our classes. God has worked in their hearts in such wonderful way that they are reaching other people with the Word of God in the most possible ways. One group is useing som of our previously recorded Teaching video and share the word of God with their groups. This is great exprience for them and we are praying to be able to produce more video teachings in near future so that more people get Bible based teaching presented in the simplest way to grow in the knowledge of God’s word.\nAnother friend who is so passionate about studying the word of God is reaching people with Audio Bibles that God has provided us through Faith Comes by Hearing organization. These friends are representing Calvary Chapel Pakistan and are serving whole heartedly by going and taking the word of God to the other people.\nThe seed of the Word that we sowed in the desert area in october 2019 is growing now. Our brother in Christ who represents CC Pakistan in that area has just started a “Youth Fellowship and Sunday School” project. We are so glad that the new generation of that area which has been neglected most of the time is now being reached, one group at one time and taught the word of God. We want to train more people in those areas so that they be able to work there and reach and teach their own people. God is so good. He provide us with Bibles for children and also regular Bibles for adults at the start of this year.\nOur office is sending these Bibles to our friends working in three different cites with the commitment that they will not merely distribute those, but make sure that they arrange the study of those Bibles.\nOur church is also doing great, we have resumed the Sunday and Friday services and we are studying the word of God together on regular basis. We praise God that when there is lockdown and people are not able to do much, they are being provided help and resources to study the word of God and grow sprituatlly. We are thankful to you all for the prayers and care. We pray for you and request you to always keep us in your pray! God Bless You!\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-our-refuge-in-troubled-time/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"thelordis-my-rock-and-my-fortress-and-my-deliverermy-god-my-strength-in-whom-i-will-trustmy-shield-and-the-horn-of-my-salvation-my-stronghold-psalm-182\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings and love from Calvary Chapel Pakistan. We are thankful to you for your faithful prayers. By the grace of God we all are safe, and doing good in this very troubled time which is getting worse here in our country.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God is Our Refuge in Troubled Time"},{"content":"Planning and Preparation\nI am taking advantage of this unexpected season by preparing myself for the mission field. I am continuing to pray the Lord will lead me, in His timing and perfect will, to teach English. I’m really open to wherever He wants to send me. He knows that. So in preparation for my calling:\nI finally got my Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Certification. How cool is that? The 12 verb tenses were a killer. Really. Hey, this isn’t England you know. But it all worked out by God’s grace. My final exam took forever – did a lot of praying!\nAnd then few weeks before Covid-19 caused the lockdown in the states, I started teaching English at Voice of Refugees (VOR) in Anaheim. We conduct several levels of ESL (English as a Second Language) to local refugee families. On June 1, we started online classes. Awesome. VOR has been around for some time and has been doing a fantastic job serving the needs of refugee families with food (around 200 families weekly!), clothing, education and many other “essentials.”Check out Voice of Refugees\nOur SGWM internship program resumed after a little break, a la social distancing. We are learning how important it is to seek the Lord diligently and consistently in prayer while reading and studying the Bible. We must be so grounded in prayer, His Word and fellowship. The early church did it and look what the Holy Spirit did for them. It’s all throughout the Acts of the Apostles book, our missionary user manual.We so want to follow the example of the early church.\nWe are all called to serve the Lord Jesus Christ – like now. Telling others about Jesus and His love and grace wasn’t for just the apostles, prophets, priests and the clergy kind. The Great Commission is for every believer, everywhere, old and young alike.\nI want to thank all of you who have been praying for and have partnered financially with me. My calling to teach English remains fervent. I know the Lord is leading me down a path to serve Him to reach those who have not heard of Jesus Christ. I know His purpose for me. His word is jumping out at me like when I was young – like all of you! It’s exciting and fun to go after my purpose, my calling and to prepare for it day by day. I thank the Lord for this season although it has been a sorrowful and sad one in so many ways for so many millions of people. If you feel led to help me financially for my next trip, please click on the Financial Partner button below. All I can say is, once the Lord gives me the green light to go, I’m outta here baby! Thank you very much.\nPraise Report\nWe had our first “open” church service on May 31st. We were so cleeeen and happy to be able to worship, pray and hear the Word of God together. Let me hear an Amen!\nThat I am realizing more the depth of God’s love and grace for all of us. I need Him more and more (ah, I guess that’s a prayer request – sorry!)\nThat I am teaching English now and at the same time getting blessed by the students.\nThat all my family and friends are in good health\nPrayer Requests\nThat I will continue to remain steadfast in my daily prayers and studying the Bible in preparation for serving abroad.\nTo remain teachable, flexible, open, to all that the Lord has for me. Pray the Lord continues to make me patient. To daily remember His compassion and mercies are new every morning. Expect surprises, anticipate blessings just because God is good and loves us all so much.\nIf you’d like updates sent to your email Inbox, click on Jim Needham updates. You can reach me at jneedham@sgwm.com. The Lord bless all of you.\nJim Needham\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/serving-abroad-and-preparing-to-serve-abroad-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePlanning and Preparation\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am taking advantage of this unexpected season by preparing myself for the mission field. I am continuing to pray the Lord will lead me, in His timing and perfect will, to teach English.  I’m really open to wherever He wants to send me.  He knows that. So in preparation for my calling:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/TEFL-cert-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI finally got my Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) Certification. How cool is that?  The 12 verb tenses were a killer. Really. Hey, this isn’t England you know. But it all worked out by God’s grace.  My final exam took forever – did a lot of praying!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Serving Abroad and Preparing to Serve Abroad"},{"content":"“Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” Col 1:28 Not much has changed for our ministry this month as we are on week 11 of “lockdown” ministry. When lockdown started we had to switch our focus as a ministry from the pastoral training school, which was temporarily shut down, to relief aid and preaching Christ over the airwaves. We want to say thank you to everyone who has stepped up and donated during this time. The lockdown has been devastating and it is heartbreaking to see the suffering and starvation sweep through our communities, but it has been amazing to see God answer the needs of so many through the generosity of the global church body. As a ministry, we are providing families with over 10 tons of food per week. This means our churches are very busy blessing the communities through the handouts and our staff at BAM are very, very busy preparing the needed supplies, our machines never seem to shut down. We are blessed that along with the food packages we always have an opportunity to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and many people are being saved as they experience the great love that Christ has for them, including many women who’s desperation had led them to prostitution. And right now our pastoral team is being broadcasted over the East African airwaves 40 times a month. It has been great to see many come to Christ through the messages, understand the scriptures through the live call-in times, and have the hope of Christ brought to them through the times of prayer. Thank you for the great love you’ve shown through your generosity and prayers.\nOur family is doing well, and we are pleased to announce that with the approval of our director and the local government, we have been accepted back into our community and have moved back home. This has brought back much needed stability and peace to us and our children and even to our neighbors. I have completely stepped back into my role over the clinic and at BAM. Noelle has enjoyed being back in our own space, homeschooling and doing small projects for the ministry. Please pray for us as we host 2 home churches over the weekends.\nMay God bless you and keep you during this difficult season, In Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/may-2020/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"him-we-preach-warning-every-man-and-teaching-every-man-in-all-wisdom-that-we-might-present-every-man-perfect-in-christ-jesus-col-128\"\u003e“Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.”  Col 1:28\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2020/06/93C2FDC7-F2CB-432E-9481-11AC7993CD75.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eNot much has changed for our ministry this month as we are on week 11 of “lockdown” ministry.    When lockdown started we had to switch our focus as a ministry from the pastoral training school, which was temporarily shut down, to relief aid and preaching Christ over the airwaves.  We want to say thank you to everyone who has stepped up and donated during this time.  The lockdown has been devastating and it is heartbreaking to see the suffering and starvation sweep through our communities, but it has been amazing to see God answer the needs of so many through the generosity of the global church body.  As a ministry, we are providing families with over 10 tons of food per week.  This means our churches are very busy blessing the communities through the handouts and our staff at BAM are very, very busy preparing the needed supplies, our machines never seem to shut down.  We are blessed that along with the food packages we always have an opportunity to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and many people are being saved as they experience the great love that Christ has for them, including many women who’s desperation had led them to prostitution.  And right now our pastoral team is being broadcasted over the East African airwaves 40 times a month.  It has been great to see many come to Christ through the messages, understand the scriptures through the live call-in times, and have the hope of Christ brought to them through the times of prayer.  Thank you for the great love you’ve shown through your generosity and prayers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"May 2020"},{"content":"This month has been one of incredible changes in our church, in our country, and in our world. We’ve seen the back and forth squabbles of when to open our economy and how, we’ve seen frightening protests and riots, and we’ve seen the church doors open up to continue being the pillar and ground of truth in a world where truth is so often twisted and marred.\nLast week we had our first in-person, sit-down church service in our courtyard after spending weeks in our parking lot (I lost count of how long we were out there). It was INCREDIBLE! I wish you could have been there to hear the sweet sound of God’s people praise His name in the midst of the unrest we see around us.\nWe were singing Tremble and the chorus says, “Jesus, Jesus, You make the darkness tremble. Jesus, Jesus, You silence fear,” and the bridge continues, “Your name is a light that the shadows can’t deny, Your name cannot be overcome. Your name is alive, forever lifted high, Your name cannot be overcome.”\nHow true are those words and how they filled my heart with hope as we sang them together. It was empowering and uplifting, a moment that gave us a tiny glimpse of our eternity in heaven.\nWe paused our missionary prayer meetings as we transitioned back into the office but are picking back up on a once a month basis and I am so excited! We will have them on the first Thursday of every month until the end of the year and then we will reevaluate.\nFrom what I hear from my missionary friends, things are steadying out. We’ve received fewer emergency requests for help and through all of this we have been able to send over $4,000 of aid to numerous countries. It has been a joy simply to be a gear in the machine by which God ministers to people around the world.\nI have taken on the new responsibility of processing check donations so I get to be part of the relationship with the senders and then I get to send the money to the missionaries so that they can minister to the people. I see the Lord use my little office job as a great bridge between the support of the sending Church and the needs of the mission field and it is an honor.\nLike our missionaries, my position is entirely support based and I have been blessed to receive my salary up until now from a generous one-time donation. That donation is now gone and God is going to provide for my needs by some other means. I pray that that includes you. If you feel called to support the work that we are doing here at SGWM, specifically the work that I do in the office, I would be outrageously blessed by your financial support.\nYou can click on the link below to make a one-time or recurring gift of any size.\nThe Lord is the one who provides for all of my needs and I thank you in advance for your faithfulness to Him in donating if He has called you to be a vessel through which He provides for me.\nWith love,\nHope\nPraise Reports\nWe are back in church and God has raised up trainees who will help with the live-streaming of service so that I am not the only person capable. The high school students are doing well for the most part and are excited to get back in church. Prayer Requests\nPlease continue to pray for our country and our law enforcement. Please lift up my wedding- it is increasingly difficult to plan with all of the back and forth of our government and with the current unrest. Please pray for our missionaries who serve in countries where this is the ordinary. Pray that God would fill them with greater strength and boldness to carry His name to all people. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/things-are-changing/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis month has been one of incredible changes in our church, in our country, and in our world. We’ve seen the back and forth squabbles of when to open our economy and how, we’ve seen frightening protests and riots, and we’ve seen the church doors open up to continue being the pillar and ground of truth in a world where truth is so often twisted and marred.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast week we had our first in-person, sit-down church service in our courtyard after spending weeks in our parking lot (I lost count of how long we were out there). It was INCREDIBLE! I wish you could have been there to hear the sweet sound of God’s people praise His name in the midst of the unrest we see around us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Things are Changing"},{"content":"Well we had a great weekend of ministry, we are still operating on Facebook Live, YouTube, and Zoom Pro. Last Tuesday we had our one on one discipleship, then we had group studies with the ladies at 5pm, then the guys at 7pm. Wednesday evening we were on FaceBook Live with worship, a devotional, and cooperate prayer, praying for the needs of our church. Thursday night was fellowship night, and we took time to just share on how to do a family devotional, and just spent time together on Zoom. Friday night live, we are going through Galatians, and in Chapter 3 we explained simple ways to now the difference between the Promise of God and the Law. Saturday we had our Calvary Kids ministry as we are going through the highlights of the Old Testament. In the evening we had a Zoom study for the youth, and at 9pm our youth joined in with Atrevete (Dare your Self) youth ministries in Lima for a youth after party via Zoom! Sunday we had our 11am service and we are going through chapter 24 of Exodus. We have had great attendance on our online services, but there is still a portion of our church who do not have internet and it has been really difficult in these quarantine days and they only way we can stay in contact is through a simple phone call.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/last-weekend-in-may/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWell we had a great weekend of ministry, we are still operating on Facebook Live, YouTube, and Zoom Pro. Last Tuesday we had our one on one discipleship, then we had group studies with the ladies at 5pm, then the guys at 7pm. Wednesday evening we were on FaceBook Live with worship, a devotional, and cooperate prayer, praying for the needs of our church. Thursday night was fellowship night, and we took time to just share on how to do a family devotional, and just spent time together on Zoom. Friday night live, we are going through Galatians, and in Chapter 3 we explained simple ways to now the difference between the Promise of God and the Law. Saturday we had our Calvary Kids ministry as we are going through the highlights of the Old Testament. In the evening we had a Zoom study for the youth, and at 9pm our youth joined in with Atrevete (Dare your Self) youth ministries in Lima for a youth after party via Zoom! Sunday we had our 11am service and we are going through chapter 24 of Exodus. We have had great attendance on our online services, but there is still a portion of our church who do not have internet and it has been really difficult in these quarantine days and they only way we can stay in contact is through a simple phone call.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Last weekend in May"},{"content":" ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-tippies-summer-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Summer-2020-newsletter.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"The Tippies' Summer Newsletter"},{"content":"“Refuse to give in to him, by standing strong in your faith. You know that your Christian family all over the world is having the same kinds of suffering. And after you suffer for a short time, God, who gives all grace, will make everything right. He will make you strong and support you and keep you from falling. He called you to share in his glory in Christ, a glory that will continue forever.” 1 Peter 5:9-10\nThe italicized part of this passage has been on my mind since reading it with Benjamin a few days ago. There are troubles all over the world. Before one trouble gets resolved, other troubles break out. In the past, it seemed like the lives of those in our sending countries were more peaceful and secure than our lives as missionaries in Cambodia. Now, I am not so sure.\nNow, it is increasingly clear that heaven, not earth, is our true home. Even when things go wrong on earth, God will make everything right either now or in eternity. So, as believers, we can maintain the love, joy, and peace, that God gives us regardless of the trials that we and our loved ones around the world are facing.\nCambodia Update\nBy God’s grace, we have been able to continue to minister in Cambodia despite COVID-19. Darryl has been able to finish all 16 (30-minute) videos to substitute for in-person Apologetics class lectures at a local Cambodian seminary. In June, he will still need to grade the final exam/projects.\nIn addition, Darryl was able to produce and distribute a new video entitled God’s Robots in Cambodian. This video is about the amazing design of microscopic “walking robots” called kinesins that transport molecules inside the cell. The video has been distributed on various social media platforms, Facebook groups, and will also be available on the app of the largest Cambodian church and network. There is another video in process and then Darryl will need to take some time to research topics for future videos. Please pray for wisdom and creativity.\nKayo has been helping to organize the international church’s worship team for weekly video-recorded worship sessions for the online services. She is also organizing some smaller member-care fellowship groups to care for various members who are getting isolated after months without in-person fellowship. In-person church services remain closed for the foreseeable future.\nKayo has also been ministering to and encouraging other Japanese missionaries and expats in Cambodia. We will not be able to go to Japan this summer to visit our senders there so we are looking in to making videos for them.\nPrecious Women organization continues to distribute supplies to women who are at risk of getting trapped in prostitution. Many of them have lost their regular jobs as a result of COVID-19. So, they are at even greater risk. We continue to support this organization financially and Kayo does some work from home work for them as well.\nBenjamin is finishing his school year online. Lord willing the school will be able to start in-person classes in August but we are not sure of that either.\nPlease continue to pray for our finances as it is very difficult to raise additional funds because of COVID-19, meanwhile our expenses have increased beyond our control. We recognize that many of our senders are also facing financial uncertainty as well so we are sensitive to this reality as well.\nIn Christ’s Loving Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/peace-in-troubled-times/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“Refuse to give in to him, by standing strong in your faith. \u003cem\u003eYou know that your Christian family all over the world is having the same kinds of suffering.\u003c/em\u003e And after you suffer for a short time, \u003cem\u003eGod, who gives all grace, will make everything right.\u003c/em\u003e He will make you strong and support you and keep you from falling. He called you to share in his glory in Christ, a glory that will continue forever.” 1 Peter 5:9-10\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Peace in Troubled Times"},{"content":" The Call of God This has been a great semester at the Bible College! It has been wonderful to see all of these young people from all over the country, who were called to the ministry, never leave Nepal. In the current situation in our country, most of the young people go abroad to chase their dreams. We honor these young people who are instead sold out to Christ and His mission. These young men do not have much wealth at their homes to take care of their future. They are ready to give up worldly things to run and grab eternal things.\nWe staff see them as clay. When they came to Bible College, we gave them to God, who is the potter, to model them in His desire and in His way. God is preparing them to have different abilities for the ministry. When we ask them, \u0026ldquo;What is your gift from God?\u0026rdquo;, they reply, \u0026ldquo;I don\u0026rsquo;t know.\u0026rdquo; However, the senior students have figured out why they are here. Some new students still struggle with old habits and some are facing new struggles which they have never faced before. Ether way, all of the students are called in different ways and for different purpose of God, etc. Keep praying for them that they may cling unto Jesus.\n\u0026ldquo;But now thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: \u0026ldquo;Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine.\u0026rdquo; (Isaiah 43:1)\nThe Gospel on the Mount These young men not only love to walk\u0026ndash;they love to share Gospel together in the mountains. These young men are friends in the Bible College and love to go friends\u0026rsquo; houses and share Gospel. When they go to their friends\u0026rsquo; houses they say \u0026ldquo;I see a great harvest, but the worker are few.\u0026rdquo; I love to tell others about how these young men have started to love people and want to win them in Christ.\nIn a particular mountain area, there is no church. No Christian people live anywhere around there. But praise God we have a student name Padam who is in his final semester in Bible College. We are excitedly looking forward to seeing this brother serve the Lord in this area in coming days\u0026ndash;as we are already seeing him serving! He is a young man who grew up without father. He was left by his mother. He worked for different people in stores, and eventually went to another country for job. He ended up drinking and working in a brick factory. He was lost and now is found. Now, he wants to go reach the people in those mountains (where he grew up) who are lost. His family has been reunited and he is staying with them and having a Bible study twice a week. Keep on praying for him and the area were he is serving. Let God pour out His Spirit upon him.\n\u0026ldquo;And seeing the multitudes, He went up on a mountain, and when He was seated His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and taught them\u0026hellip;\u0026rdquo;(Matthew 5:1-\nThe Fellowship of Acts We never even prayed for it. We never guessed it could happen. We didn\u0026rsquo;t deserve it. But, what a wonderful thing to have wonderful young people of another Bible College join together with us to have fellowship and do a Bible study of the Book of Acts! These young people were such a blessing to us as well. It is a great joy to serve these young men by teaching them and having fellowship with Nepali snacks. We thank God that He allowed these things to happen, so that we are able to host these young men. We thank God that He is helping us to influence these people, and teach these young men. While we were introducing ourselves to these young men, we found out that they are from different denominations and organizations, but when we come together to fellowship, we see that we are one in Christ and one big family. What a joyful thing to sit together and worship together to our living God. Please pray that God will bless this fellowship, which we do twice a month.\n\u0026ldquo;And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.\u0026rdquo;(Hebrew 10:24-25)\nThank you,\nAnand, Usha, Asher \u0026amp; Amos\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-call-of-god/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Anand-May-pic-1-300x179.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch4 id=\"the-call-of-god\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Call of God\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis has been a great semester at the Bible College! It has been wonderful to see all of these young people from all over the country, who were called to the ministry, never leave Nepal. In the current situation in our country, most of the young people go abroad to chase their dreams. We honor these young people who are instead sold out to Christ and His mission. These young men do not have much wealth at their homes to take care of their future. They are ready to give up worldly things to run and grab eternal things.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Call of God"},{"content":"Hey everyone, we are trying to communicate more with the ones who care about what the Lord is doing here in Peru. We want to begin with more updates and weekly blogs so everyone can pray more effectively! Please pray about our newest adventure as we begin the the school of ministry June 1st, 2020. Stay tuned to our weekly blog for more, and our newsletters! Contact us direct: craigydaisyperu@live.com\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-and-exciting-things-this-summer/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey everyone, we are trying to communicate more with the ones who care about what the Lord is doing here in Peru. We want to begin with more updates and weekly blogs so everyone can pray more effectively! Please pray about our newest adventure as we begin the the school of ministry June 1st, 2020. Stay tuned to our weekly blog for more, and our newsletters! Contact us direct: \u003ca href=\"mailto:craigydaisyperu@live.com\"\u003ecraigydaisyperu@live.com\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New and exciting things this summer!"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nJust like you have, we have been working hard to make the best out of this difficult CORONA VIRUS situation. And we believe that we are going to see God bring good out of it just as He has promised! (Romans 8:28)\nDuring the past month, we have been hosting what we are calling “CAR CHURCH” services on Sundays. To prepare for this special service, we first built a 450 square foot outside stage in our large parking lot, and then we made a giant 20×30 foot banner that said “WELCOME HOME” (Bienvenido a Casa)!\nWe also purchased an FM radio transmitter that transmits a live audio signal to a 5 mile radius. The end result is that people get to watch the live service onstage from their cars, while listening to the service on their fm stereo!\nAs we began to invite our church family we had many safety and security questions and we assured our friends that everything would be held with their safety in mind! We have now held 6 CAR CHURCH Sundays, and each Sunday the participation has grown. This past Sunday, we had over 160 cars full of our friends that attended our two Sunday services.\nWe are enjoying this special service, but are looking forward to opening up the church again with live services. Would you please join us in prayer about the timing of our re-opening? (The Mexico Government has not yet made any public statements about allowing churches to re-open)\nAlso during this corona virus, we have been working hard on improving our live streaming for services. If you would like to tune in and watch our live services, we stream them on Wednesdays at 6:30pm and Sunday mornings at 9am! You can find our live streams at our church facebook page, and also at our church YouTube channel. (Here is a link : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe6XmDBjFSJ-Hjd2zBWEDfA )\nWe have also taken advantage of this down time to build an audio video studio inside of our sanctuary to improve our audio and video online services. This 400 square foot addition was built out of the 2nd floor of our sanctuary. It includes a large office for our media staff, a production area for our audio and video team that will be recording the services live, and a permanent small studio where we can record online Bible studies, interviews, and video announcements! We are excited to debut our new studio and recording equipment next month, and hope that you will tune in to our new live-stream services and let us know what you think!\nFinally, once again I want to thank you our precious co-laborers for your partnership in this great work. It is through your financial giving that God provides for our physical needs, and it is through your prayers that God provides for our spiritual needs. We are honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with us. THANK YOU!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would keep our family, church, city, nation, and world safe in this corona virus, and deliver us!\n#2- That God would allow us to open up our church doors again in a safe manner!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for the great response to our improving online services! We have had thousands of views, and many first time professions of faith!\n#2- Praise God that God’s people are continuing to give financially so we can keep our church staff employed, and continue to support our church planters!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-june-2020-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJust like you have, we have been working hard to make the best out of this difficult CORONA VIRUS situation. And we believe that we are going to see God bring good out of it just as He has promised! \u003cem\u003e(Romans 8:28)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/05/98036733%5F648321432384287%5F2129543122928009216%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the past month, we have been hosting what we are calling “CAR CHURCH” services on Sundays. To prepare for this special service, we first built a 450 square foot outside stage in our large parking lot, and then we made a giant 20×30 foot banner that said “WELCOME HOME” \u003cem\u003e(Bienvenido a Casa)!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family June 2020 Missions Update"},{"content":" God is great! He knows how to lead His people through any and every circumstance. He has the control over everything. Praise God! What an awesome God that we serve.\nBlessings!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-king-forever/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Prakash-2020-May-1-300x157.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGod is great! He knows how to lead His people through any and every circumstance. He has the control over everything. Praise God! What an awesome God that we serve.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBlessings!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrakash, Muna and Eutychus\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Prakash-2020-May-2-300x171.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Prakash-2020-May-3-223x300.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Prakash-2020-May-4-176x300.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Prakash-2020-May-5-300x145.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Prakash-2020-May-6.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"The Lord Is King Forever"},{"content":"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace,\nwho brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation.-Isaiah 52:7\nThese lock down months have been a time of both opportunities and challenges. Most of the time we are constrained to remain in our houses, but when there were groups formed, we found opportunities to share about Jesus to others.\nWe are conducting our regular Saturday church fellowship and also mid-week services in our house, where about 5 to 6 people gather on a regular basis. We also often go to fellow believers\u0026rsquo; houses to encourage them, meet with them, and have fellowship. Some of the unbelieving neighbors also have participated, who are curious and confused during this time of lock-down. They love the way we sing hymns and share sermon messages. We are praying for them as well, so that their hearts be soon changed.\nMost of our time has been spent with family and friends, reading Bible and in solitude, because the lock-down is severe here. We are happy and joyful for the grace of God in our lives. We thank God for His safety and protection in this hour of the Corona situation, although many people are fearful. Remember us in your prayers for His guidance in the upcoming days, and that God may open our neighbors\u0026rsquo; heart so that they receive salvation.\nBlessings,\nMajhiya and Sarita\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/peace-that-surpasses-all-understanding/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eHow beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace,\u003cbr\u003e\nwho brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation.\u003c/em\u003e-Isaiah 52:7\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Majhiya-May-2020-pic-1-300x214.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThese lock down months have been a time of both opportunities and challenges. Most of the time we are constrained to remain in our houses, but when there were groups formed, we found opportunities to share about Jesus to others.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e   We are conducting our regular Saturday church fellowship and also mid-week services in our house, where about 5 to 6 people gather on a regular basis. We also often go to fellow believers\u0026rsquo; houses to encourage them, meet with them, and have fellowship. \u003cstrong\u003eSome of the unbelieving neighbors also have participated, who are curious and confused during this time of lock-down. They love the way we sing hymns and share sermon messages\u003c/strong\u003e. We are praying for them as well, so that their hearts be soon changed.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Peace That Surpasses All Understanding"},{"content":"Hey Family \u0026amp; Friends!\nHere is a quick video update including how we are handling the world\u0026rsquo;s present circumstances in our family and ministry:\nhttps://youtu.be/EW8k3kXs-m0\nIf you would like to donate to the SGWM COVID-19 Relief Fund, you can do so by CLICKING HERE.\nPlease pray for our financial needs as we live largely off of financial support just like our international missionaries, and we are praying for the Lord to provide more financially to cover some increased costs of living. Please pray that the Lord may provide for us in His will, whatever amount of support He deems sufficient (Proverbs 30:7-9). If you feel led to partner with us financially, instructions are below.\nIf you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the \u0026ldquo;Become A Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/garcia-family-update-may-2020/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey Family \u0026amp; Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere is a quick video update including how we are handling the world\u0026rsquo;s present circumstances in our family and ministry:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/EW8k3kXs-m0\"\u003ehttps://youtu.be/EW8k3kXs-m0\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you would like to donate to the SGWM COVID-19 Relief Fund, you can do so by \u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://secure.egsnetwork.com/donate/FEE91098D9354D1\"\u003eCLICKING HERE.\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease pray for our financial needs as we live largely off of financial support just like our international missionaries, and we are praying for the Lord to provide more financially to cover some increased costs of living. Please pray that the Lord may provide for us in His will, whatever amount of support He deems sufficient (Proverbs 30:7-9). If you feel led to partner with us financially, instructions are below.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Garcia Family Update May 2020"},{"content":"“In every situation, no matter what the circumstances, be thankful and continually give thanks to God; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thess. 5:18 (ASB version)\nThese are definitely different times that we are living in! We are making adjustments in the way we minister and meet the needs of the people here in Tijuana with the Coronavirus pandemic, as I’m sure you all are as well. We have to be creative, and so far all is well. I am thankful and blessed to serve God in whatever capacity I am able to. Here are a few highlights of these past two months:\nSince we are not able to have our after school program/soup kitchen, we are driving to the kids’ homes and passing out “dispensas” (care packages) of food and health and hygiene supplies. This has been a great blessing for our families as many are out of work and literally have no food!\nApril 30th in Mexico is “Día del Niño” (Kid’s Day), and is a huge celebration honoring all of the kids (and there are many)! We were not able to have our big party this year, so we received some donations of clothes and toys from our dentist friend and were able to bless the kids, all 40 of them received something. Just seeing their smiles brightened our day!\nWe collaborated with Calvary Chapel Tijuana in blessing all of the front line workers here in Tijuana–doctors, police officers, fire-fighters, ambulance drivers, and even patients with medical supplies. We received a donation of 15,000 face shields, 12,000 face masks, 15,000 gloves, hand sanitizers, cleaning supplies, three medical tents, and 30 plastic folding chairs , so the entire church body came together to make the face shields. It was a great opportunity for many to serve and keep busy during this time, and it blessed the workers, as you can imagine, tremendously, as they don’t have these supplies. They have to purchase them with their own funds.\nI am reading Bible stories on facebook live to the kids every day at 12:00. My prayer is to reach the kids and their parents for the gospel. (I’m sure the parents are listening too)!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/may-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“In every situation, no matter what the circumstances, be thankful and continually give thanks to God; for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus.” 1 Thess. 5:18 (ASB version)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese are definitely different times that we are living in! We are making adjustments in the way we minister and meet the needs of the people here in Tijuana with the Coronavirus pandemic, as I’m sure you all are as well. We have to be creative, and so far all is well. I am thankful and blessed to serve God in whatever capacity I am able to. Here are a few highlights of these past two months:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"May Update"},{"content":"“He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know me,” John 10:13-14 This month is a blur in my memory. Each day went by so slowly, but now looking back it’s as if no time passed at all. I myself (Noelle) left our two-room, temporary apartment only a few times, so my concept of time and days has become very skewed. But here we are at the beginning of a new month, and I hope I can share with you what God has been doing here in Gulu, Uganda, even though I have not been directly involved with almost any of it.\nFirst of all, I praise God for His provision for us as a ministry. He has done so much to sustain us and allowed us to reach out in more “practical” ways during this difficult time. He opened doors so that we can continue giving food to those women in our widows program. He brought in funds so we can give food to many people who are in need. He enabled us to give deals on certain products at our grain facility to make things more affordable. He allowed us to give a daily portion of food to the patients staying in our medical clinic, and to lower the cost of malaria medications as people are low on cash in these days.\nDue to restrictions during the lock-down, we are blessed to partner with the local government to distribute food packages. People go to their local leader to be vetted before receiving a voucher for food supplies. They can then go to one of the 2 Calvary Chapels in the city and receive amounts of rice, oil, and beans, which are supplied by our grain facility. With all of this, along with the current radio ministry we are able to do, we are making a lot of relationships with those in the local government and also gaining a lot of publicity. Please pray for these MANY opportunities to share the hope of Christ to be fruitful!\nBecause the limit of how many people can meet together is only 5, the 2 Calvary churches we are closely connected with have been doing home fellowships. Each fellowship is lead by different leaders in the church, whether they are leading only their family or a few small fellowships throughout the day. Between the 2 Calvary’s, there are more than 60 home fellowships, who are currently going through either the book of Daniel, or through the I Am statements of Christ, depending on which church they normally attend. It is exciting to see so many believers staying faithful and even growing into leaders during this time. Pray for these leaders, that they would continue to grow in the knowledge of Christ, and be bold in preaching the gospel in truth.\nFor our family, by God’s grace we decided not to waste this time of separation from normal work and life, but to get ourselves more on track physically and spiritually. Physically we had been at a lower point than we would have liked to believe, but getting rushed out of our home and normal groove helped us to “restart” in a way. A new meal plan and changes in diet, and daily exercise for both me and Matt, have really helped us start feeling better in general. The extra time for Matt to be able to sit and read the Word has been a real encouragement. He was even able to attend the online Men’s conference put on by our church in CO and two other Calvary’s.\nPraise God: For all the provision he is giving those in need. For the faithful worship of Christ through home churches. For our family’s health. Please Pray: For wisdom as we seek to meet physical needs right now. That our “small church” leaders are equipped to faithfully handle the Word. That God would fill us with His Spirit. In Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/april-2020/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"he-flees-because-he-is-a-hired-hand-and-is-not-concerned-about-the-sheep-i-am-the-good-shepherd-and-i-know-my-own-and-my-own-know-me-john-1013-14\"\u003e“He flees because he is a hired hand and is not concerned about the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know me,” John 10:13-14\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2020/05/D18972AC-510D-4463-BECB-AD979A54ACB4.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis month is a blur in my memory. Each day went by so slowly, but now looking back it’s as if no time passed at all. I myself (Noelle) left our two-room, temporary apartment only a few times, so my concept of time and days has become very skewed. But here we are at the beginning of a new month, and I hope I can share with you what God has been doing here in Gulu, Uganda, even though I have not been directly involved with almost any of it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"April 2020"},{"content":" Hey all! Hope you all are doing well despite the pandemic going on in the world. Isn’t this a crazy, strange time? We’re doing well down here in Oaxaca. Praise the Lord, the total cases and death counts haven’t reached the numbers that other places have reached.\nQuick update on what’s been going on over the last few months. We had an amazing team from Calvary Chapel Rosarito come down before the COVID-19 stuff hit. What a blessing it was to have all of them here. They did construction in the church, added new lighting, electrical, walls, and built a sound booth and welcome center booth. We had two holistic medicine outreaches, which were a huge blessing to all who came and got checked by Dr. Miles. We also did a mini VBS for the kiddos, and had a married couples dinner. All who came to these events were so blessed along with us.\nAt the end of February, Calvary Oaxaca turned ONE! It’s hard to believe that we’ve been here for over a year now. In the first year of the church we have learned some tough lessons but we have also experienced such amazing blessings through it all. The Lord has surrounded us with people who love Him and have become our Oaxacan family. We had a fun little potluck at a park to celebrate the anniversary of the church.\nI (Allison) started a bi-weekly women’s bible study in February. This was a huge stretch for me since public speaking is not something I’ve ever “enjoyed”. But God is SO GOOD. I tried to be diligent in studying the Word and preparing, and the Lord took away all of my fears as I taught. Don’t get me wrong, I will never take teaching the word of God lightly, and I know that it was not me, but the Holy Spirit teaching through me. I just think it’s so awesome to see the Lord’s hand on taking me from literally crying at the thought of speaking in front of 5 people, to being able to share like that. Sadly, after just 2 meetings, we had to cancel for the quarantine. And my english classes have been on hold too…super sad.\nJon has been doing so well during the quarantine. I know it’s hard on him, and all pastors, to not be able to have the people there when you teach. We are doing all of our services online for now. He is teaching through the book of Matthew on Sundays and the book of Genesis on Wednesdays. He is so great about spending time studying for each message. He has also decided to continue our Tuesday night prayer meetings online. This has been such a huge blessing for me to see, as people type in their requests and they are prayed for right then and there. This night of prayer has been such an awesome thing since the church started.\nJonny and Noah are doing well also. Since we already homeschooled, that hasn’t changed for us. They were taking taekwondo and music classes, so that looks very different for us now. They have their taekwondo classes through Zoom, which is cool that they have that availability. Jonny was taking drum lessons, so that has been put on hold since we don’t have a drum set. Noah is taking guitar and is able to have his classes online with his teacher. We are so proud of both of them. It’s been neat to finally have that “extra” feeling of this being our home with them starting these classes.\nBefore the quarantine, my mom and niece were able to visit. It was such a HUGE blessing to show them around. The highlight was having them be able to attend one Sunday church service, and see all that we’ve been telling them about. We got to show them around Oaxaca City, and just had a great time hanging out together. I’m so grateful that they were able to come. Literally right after they left, things with the coronavirus started getting bad.\nWe love keeping in touch with you all through texts, calls, social media, and visits. We try to keep in touch but if you need prayer or a friend to talk to, please reach out to us. We still have our same numbers and would love to be able to pray for and with you.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nPlease pray that the quarantine will end soon and that we can go back to meeting together and having that face to face contact with the church body. We really miss everyone so much. Please pray for those who have been out of work and are struggling financially. Please pray that the church body would feel loved, and that we can be encouraging to them from afar. We are trying to keep in touch with them all, but there are a few whose numbers we don’t have so we can’t contact them. Please pray for our continued growth in the language. Some days it’s so hard, and other days we are amazed that we’ve come so far. I always joke and say that Jon and I together are fluent, but separate we both have different strengths and weaknesses. Please keep our son Austin, my brother Craig, and our niece Rachel in prayer as they all work the front lines during this time, along with all of the front line workers. PRAISE REPORTS:\nPraise the Lord for ONE YEAR as a church here in Oaxaca. For the lessons we’ve learned, even the really hard ones, because we know that God has been teaching us through each one. That Oaxaca has become more and more our home here on earth. We are so thankful for the friendships we have made here. Thank you all for your love, support, prayers, encouragement, and all that you do for us. We are honored to call you all friends and we love you all. Like I said, please let us know how we can pray for you all.\nEcclesiastes 4:9-10 “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For is they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.”\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-oaxaca-turns-one-coronavirus-quarantine/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG%5F8233.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG%5F8050.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG%5F9038%5F2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG%5F8105.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG%5F8232.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG%5F8962.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG%5F8954.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/IMG%5F8645.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHey all! Hope you all are doing well despite the pandemic going on in the world. Isn’t this a crazy, strange time? We’re doing well down here in Oaxaca. Praise the Lord, the total cases and death counts haven’t reached the numbers that other places have reached.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eQuick update on what’s been going on over the last few months. We had an amazing team from Calvary Chapel Rosarito come down before the COVID-19 stuff hit. What a blessing it was to have all of them here. They did construction in the church, added new lighting, electrical, walls, and built a sound booth and welcome center booth. We had two holistic medicine outreaches, which were a huge blessing to all who came and got checked by Dr. Miles. We also did a mini VBS for the kiddos, and had a married couples dinner. All who came to these events were so blessed along with us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary Oaxaca Turns One, Coronavirus Quarantine"},{"content":"_God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.\n_ Psalm 46:1\nDear Friends and family,\nGreetings and love from Pakistan, we hope that all of you are fine, we thank God for the protection of our families, church members and Bible study group members during this time. God is good, we rejoice in His goodness and love.\nDuring this situation of lock-down, we have not been able to arrange church services and online Bible classes, though we’ve been visiting church member’s families with all necessary safety measures. And we are also using this time to train the new team members in the desert area to know more about ministry and grow in biblical studies.\nCovid-19 Relief\nOur country is not only suffering because of Covid-19, but much poverty as well, as the country is locked down, poor people (daily wagers) have been suffering as they are not\nable to provide for their families in this situation. Our church started receiving many requests from our town and from the desert area where we started our ministry project last year. Thank God for the provision of financial support, we are thankful to\nyou for coming on our side and helping us through Saving Grace World Missions for relief in this tough situation. Our team members are reaching people with food bags, and we are also encouraging them in this tough situation through the Word of God. The support project continues as Lord leads and helps our team to reach people at different places.\nAccording to today’s information, the spread of the virus has increased and it is said to be spreading in the areas very near to us. Please continue to pray for us as we are praying for you all there.\nPandemic, Quarantine and Future\nThis is definitely unique time in our lives in many different ways.It is horrifying for a large number of people, for many it is the time to be strengthened in their faith and for so many it is very misleading time as well. Since the spread of this virus, many so-called prophets and false teachers have been coming forward to tell people what is going to happen next. They have been suggesting the end of this virus on specific days, and many of them are suggesting the end of the world on a particular day according to their prophecies. People are getting caught up in the superstitions. This situation has urged us more to reach people with Bible based true teachings more than ever and warn them of the false, confusing and misleading teachings while leading them to the study of the Word of God. In our family we started studying Basic Christian Theology so that our children’s belief and understanding of the Christian faith be Bible based.\nwe are also praying to start recording of video and audio teaching sessions, classes and sermons to reach more and more people. Please keep this in your prayers, we will be in need to hire a technical guy to record and edit teaching classes and sermons. We are in prayers for the provision of regular support for this, and we will be encouraged by your co-laboring with us in this project.\nWe are really thankful to you for your prayers, care and support. We pray for you and your family’s protection and blessings! God Bless You!\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-lord-is-our-shepherd/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e_God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.\u003cbr\u003e\n_ Psalm 46:1\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings and love from Pakistan, we hope that all of you are fine, we thank God for the protection of our families, church members and Bible study group members during this time. God is good, we rejoice in His goodness and love.\u003cbr\u003e\nDuring this situation of lock-down, we have not been able to arrange church services and online Bible classes, though we’ve been visiting church member’s families with all necessary safety measures. And we are also using this time to train the new team members in the desert area to know more about ministry and grow in biblical studies.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Lord is Our Shepherd"},{"content":"From Arise Christian Fellowship in Kampala, Uganda\nWe are so thankful for the support that has been given to help those who have been desperate during this time of lock down!\nSince it is illegal to host a group gathering (punishable as attempted murder) we had to get creative with distribution. Essentially we did 4 distributions: one for those near us who could come pick up, one where we borrowed a kiosk and called individual families to come and pick so it looked like they were shopping, one in the Marketplace, and then we had some of the market guys make home deliveries to the families in need that were deeper in the slums. Each family that received could not stop expressing their thankfulness. Some were eating just once a day and for some not even that often.\nThank you once again for helping us help others here in Uganda. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/covid-19-uganda-relief-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eFrom Arise Christian Fellowship in Kampala, Uganda\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are so thankful for the support that has been given to help those who have been desperate during this time of lock down!\u003cbr\u003e\nSince it is illegal to host a group gathering (punishable as attempted murder) we had to get creative with distribution. Essentially we did 4 distributions: one for those near us who could come pick up, one where we borrowed a kiosk and called individual families to come and pick so it looked like they were shopping, one in the Marketplace, and then we had some of the market guys make home deliveries to the families in need that were deeper in the slums. \u003cbr\u003e\nEach family that received could not stop expressing their thankfulness. Some were eating just once a day and for some not even that often.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"COVID-19 Uganda Relief UPDATE"},{"content":"Come, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past. Stay Home and Stay Safe!\nThis is a saying we have all heard multiple times over the last couple of months as the world has faced the Covid-19 pandemic. What I found comfort in is that while this is the first time for me to go thru something like this it is not the first time for God and as always He has been with His people thru it.\nRecently, someone posted, “I didn’t expect that when we change our clocks earlier this year that we were changing them from standard time to the Twilight Zone.” I wholeheartedly agree. As most of you know when the Covid crisis began our family was in the States for my dad’s funeral. At that time I wasn’t really aware of what was happening in the world. I was caught up in my own grief and in spending time cleaning out my dad’s house going through over 100 years of memories, That in and of itself was surreal. The memories flooding back that I didn’t even know I had forgotten and the new things I discovered and learned about my family.\nWhen we had finished my dad’s house and said goodbye to my family we headed to California. Our purpose in going was to visit my home church and many of our supporters. Our first stop though, when we reached California, was Disneyland. After all the sadness and stress, we felt the kids (and us) needed to go to the happiest place on earth. Again, Disneyland is far from reality. We were in another world unaware what else was happening in the real world.\nAfter Disney we went to stay with someone from my church, a wonderful woman named Denise. It was there that we first heard about how serious the virus was becoming. At church people were greeting each other verbally or with an elbow bump but hugs were far and few between as people were beginning to practice social distancing. We were meant to have 3 weeks at my church, visiting supporters and having opportunities to update people on the ministry in Uganda. That time was not meant to be. Things got serious very quickly and before we even really began to comprehend what was happening, we could no longer go to church, meet in large groups, or go out to eat and the stores were almost empty.\nWith everything closing down, after much prayer and confirmation from others, we made the decision to return to Uganda earlier then expected. One of the last things we were able to do was to see our “oldest daughter,” Amina and our new “grandson,” Xavier. Though our time was short I am thankful for the friends and church family we were able to see.\nReturning to Uganda was another twilight zone experience. As soon as we exited the plane we had to go through a medical check. We passed the check but because we had come from the USA, our passports were taken and we were taken to a government authorized hotel for 14 days of institutional quarantine. We were blessed with our hotel and room though, it was pretty big and had a beautiful view. I believe they had mercy on us because of the children. We heard horror stories from others who were taken to different hotels.\nDuring the quarantine we were not allowed to leave our room. Everyday a health team would come, accompanied by a soldier, ask us questions and take our temperatures. We prayed a lot, for ourselves, that we would not get sick and for the world that this virus would be overcome. If you registered a temperature they would take you from quarantine to an isolation facility in a hospital. I had nightmares of being separated from my family and of my children being taken from me. These bad dreams led us to even more times of prayer.\nWhile at times it was hard having 5 people in one room for so long, we managed to keep ourselves busy. Everyday we did school with the kids. It was good to catch up and review some of the areas the kids struggled with as well as learn some new things. Besides school I tried to get the kids to burn energy by playing kids dance videos and Laylee’s ballet teacher sent video classes. We watched church online as well as Brian leading church for us with the kids being our worship team. We stayed in contact with the outside world via Messenger and What’s app. At the end we were all tested for the Covid virus and spent an extra 2 nights in quarantine as we waited for our results. We praise God that all our test results came back normal and we were given discharge papers to go home.\nThough we are home now, the country is on lockdown. No personal vehicles are allowed at all. There is a 2 pm curfew for cargo and delivery vehicles and 7pm curfew for people on foot. Everything is closed except for food markets and hospitals. Brian has been in contact with church members over the phone and internet as often as he can. We have managed to get food to those members who normally live day by day and are really suffering during this lockdown. We are very thankful that up to this point there have been relatively few cases of the virus in Uganda. We pray it stops there.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda. We are praying for all of you as well.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill,\nLuke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS · Thank you for praying for the Kanyikes during their time of quarantine. · Pray for the World during this time of Covid 19. Pray for many people to turn to the Lord during this time. · Pray for the Kanyike family as they figure out how to best minister to the church and community during this time. · Pray for the people of Uganda who normally live day to day and now cannot work and so cannot provide for their families. · Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship now from home and over the phone. · Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-april-2020/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"come-my-peopleenter-your-chambers-and-shut-your-doors-behind-you-hide-yourself-as-it-werefor-a-little-moment-until-the-indignation-is-past\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eCome, my people, enter your chambers, And shut your doors behind you; Hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, Until the indignation is past.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eStay Home and Stay Safe!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis is a saying we have all heard multiple times over the last couple of months as the world has faced the Covid-19 pandemic.  What I found comfort in is that while this is the first time for me to go thru something like this it is not the first time for God and as always He has been with His people thru it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update- April 2020"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nI think that all of us have had way more than our share of BAD NEWS recently, so in this missions update, I wanted to share some GOOD NEWS with you! At the end of April, we were able to send out our newest church plant, and I want to tell you all about it!\nI first met my friend Martin Ramirez and his wife and children about 3 years ago when they began attending our church after suffering through a difficult experience at a former church. After sitting for a season, they began faithfully serving with excellence in our children’s ministry!\nEventually a couple of Martin’s friends also joined up with our church and they all began to serve together. I learned later that all of them lived in an adjoining community called La Gloria. La Gloria is a small town of about 20,000 people located between Rosarito and Tijuana, and is about a 20 minute drive to our church.\nAs I got to know Martin, he shared with me his life-long desire to serve in the ministry but he had never had the opportunity to be trained up. I asked him to pray about joining up with our 2 year church planting program. Martin excelled in this course, and eventually, two of his friends joined up in the class, and they did well too!\nOver a year ago, I asked Martin to start a home fellowship bible study in his home in La Gloria, which is one of our first steps to church plant. When I visited their church plant, I was pleasantly surprised to see 30 teens and adults packed into a small home listening to Martin’s Bible study! In fact, the room was so stuffed, that I had to sit on the floor.\nAs I watched Martin teach, God placed it on my heart that it was time that they move out and rent a local storefront. Their first step of faith, was a very small rental that could hold 25 seats. After outgrowing that small room, they took another step of faith and rented a larger one double that size. In the final meeting before the corona virus hit, they had 60 adults attend their Sunday afternoon meeting!\nJust last Wednesday (April 29) , I had the opportunity to ordain Martin as the new Senior Pastor of this church plant, Calvary Chapel La Gloria! Even though the service was online (due to the quarantine) we were able to celebrate and rejoice in the great work that God has done and we are asking our Almighty God to do even greater things! As I watched Martin preach from our church pulpit, God reminded me that the attacks of the enemy and even pandemics cannot and will not stop the work of God!\nI was also reminded that all of our ministry is a team effort including this church plant! We could never have planted this church (or the 23 before it) without the faithful prayers and financial support of you, our precious ministry partners! As Paul the Apostle wrote about his ministry in 1st Corinthians 3:6 “I planted, Apollos watered, AND GOD gave the increase” I want to thank you once again for your prayers and financial giving, we are honored and blessed to serve the Lord as your missionaries here in Mexico!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would keep our family, church, city, nation, and world safe in this corona virus, and deliver us!\n#2- That God would bless our new church plant, Calvary Chapel La Gloria!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for the great response to our improving online services! We have had thousands of views, and many first time professions of faith!\n#2- Praise God that God’s people are continuing to give financially so we can keep our church staff employed, and continue to support our church planters!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-may-2020-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/04/94573876%5F10157556683552029%5F142893527578181632%5Fo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI think that all of us have had way more than our share of BAD NEWS recently, so in this missions update, I wanted to share some GOOD NEWS with you! At the end of April, we were able to send out our newest church plant, and I want to tell you all about it!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/04/94908317%5F2928352273938580%5F5578040165240143872%5Fn-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI first met my friend Martin Ramirez and his wife and children about 3 years ago when they began attending our church after suffering through a difficult experience at a former church. After sitting for a season, they began faithfully serving with excellence in our children’s ministry!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family May 2020 Missions Update"},{"content":" \u0026quot; And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.\u0026quot; Galatians 6:9-10\nThese months we are locked down and cannot leave our room due to the corona virus. These have been hard days. The government has prohibited local movement. But, social media has helped a lot. We are contacting believers, family, and friends via facebook and online media. We celebrated Good Friday and Easter within our family.\nWe are doing home fellowship each day. There are six of us staying under one roof.\nDuring the day, we are going through the Book of Habakkuk. We are streaming this Bible Study live through facebook, so that others can join us.God is doing great things even during this lock-down. We have been able to help one of the families, who did not have enough food due to the lock-down crisis. We provided them some basic food items and helped them.\nWe are conducting regular fellowship in our home. We also stream our Sunday and Wednesday services live. It is exciting to see people joining and engaging in the fellowship via facebook and Youtube.\nI believe God is in control of everything, even in this hour of calamity. Full of hope, I am praying and believing that everything will be for the glory of God.\nBlessings,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-is-in-control/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Rabi-pic-2-April-2020-300x174.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u0026quot; \u003cem\u003eAnd let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.\u003c/em\u003e\u0026quot; Galatians 6:9-10\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese months we are locked down and cannot leave our room due to the corona virus. These have been hard days. The government has prohibited local movement. But, social media has helped a lot. We are contacting believers, family, and friends via facebook and online media. We celebrated Good Friday and Easter within our family.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Is in Control"},{"content":"\u0026#34;In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u0026#34; Romans 8:37-38 At this time Cambodia has 122 cases of COVID-19 and all but a few have recovered. We thank God for this. It may be that the high temperatures and scorching sunlight that we usually complain about during this season are helping to keep the virus under control–only God knows for sure. Schools have been shut down until further notice so Benjamin’s school is teaching him online. Churches, bars, theaters, gyms, and casinos and some other businesses are shut down but so far we have not been put under any stay at home orders. So, the three of us are pretty much at home except for shopping, exercise, and errands.\nStill ministries continue and life goes on. I (Darryl) am in the process of recording sixteen 30-minute video-lectures for my apologetics/evangelism class for Cambodian seminary students. The seminary has set up a studio so I am thankful that I can go there instead of attempting to record everything in our apartment. The seminary will share the videos and exam online with their students.\nI also continue to make short (5-10 minute) apologetics/evangelistic videos for social media as I have been doing for quite some time. Because there is little to do in Cambodia for entertainment, many Cambodians are using social media quite a bit to pass the time so they continue to come across my website, Facebook page, and Youtube channel where I have posted several dozen apologetics/evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language over the years.\nIn addition to this, I continue to assist in editing English language articles for Light Times Magazine, the only Christian magazine in Cambodia. Light Times is available in English and Cambodian languages and is read by around 40,000 people per issue. I am thankful that I can continue to serve via computer during this season.\nKayo and I both volunteer at Precious Women Organization in various capacities but our in-person work has been canceled for a few weeks now. Kayo still does some administrative work for them from home. Please pray for this organization. Before COVID-19, they were busy retraining and evangelizing impoverished women who were at risk of becoming trapped in the sex industry. Many of these women had jobs at bars and night clubs but now they have lost their regular jobs and so they are at even greater risk. Precious Women has been providing rice and other basic food staples to help them get by, along with teaching them the Bible and other things online.\nWe have postponed our trip to visit our senders in Japan until September (if possible). Right now it is almost impossible to go to Japan and return to Cambodia and church services are closed there as well. So, we are basically, “stranded” here but we are at peace with this situation at the present time.\nWe continue to pray for Cambodians and our senders who are struggling during this season in various ways. May God grant us all peace, grace, wisdom, and provision during this time.\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/cambodia-missions-update-more-than-conquerors/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"highlight\"\u003e\u003cpre tabindex=\"0\" style=\"color:#f8f8f2;background-color:#272822;-moz-tab-size:4;-o-tab-size:4;tab-size:4;\"\u003e\u003ccode class=\"language-fallback\" data-lang=\"fallback\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"display:flex;\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u0026#34;In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.\u0026#34; Romans 8:37-38\n\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/code\u003e\u003c/pre\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/93439434%5F940465559704771%5F5428961382244548608%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAt this time Cambodia has 122 cases of COVID-19 and all but a few have recovered. We thank God for this. It may be that the high temperatures and scorching sunlight that we usually complain about during this season are helping to keep the virus under control–only God knows for sure. Schools have been shut down until further notice so Benjamin’s school is teaching him online. Churches, bars, theaters, gyms, and casinos and some other businesses are shut down but so far we have not been put under any stay at home orders. So, the three of us are pretty much at home except for shopping, exercise, and errands.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cambodia Missions Update: More Than Conquerors"},{"content":" Psalm 63: 1-5 reads: O God, You are my God;Early will I seek You;My soul thirsts for You;My flesh longs for YouIn a dry and thirsty landWhere there is no water.So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,To see Your power and Your glory.Because Your loving-kindness is better than life,My lips shall praise You.Thus I will bless You while I live;I will lift up my hands in Your name.My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. (NKJV)\nJust as Psalm 63:1-5 above says, during this season for so many missionaries, pastors, leaders and believers, all around the world, that have been busy with work most of the time rather than intimacy with God, it has been especially good to spend time with God and His Word and in prayer.\nAlthough we are not able to gather together at one place as a church to worship the Lord, we can be one in the Spirit and worship Him regardless of the place and location. After all, the Church is His believers. Because nothing can separate us from the love of Christ. Amen!\nBlessing!\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/my-soul-shall-be-satisfied/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/prakash-april-3-300x258.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePsalm 63: 1-5 reads: \u003cem\u003eO God, You are my God;Early will I seek You;My soul thirsts for You;My flesh longs for YouIn a dry and thirsty landWhere there is no water.So I have looked for You in the sanctuary,To see Your power and Your glory.Because Your loving-kindness is better than life,My lips shall praise You.Thus I will bless You while I live;I will lift up my hands in Your name.My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness,And my mouth shall praise You with joyful lips. (NKJV)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My Soul Shall Be Satisfied"},{"content":" Thank you, thank you, thank you for your generous donations! Your gifts have made it possible to continue the aid and outreach in Pakistan. The following photos are of Christians in a southern area of Pakistan receiving food supplies. Our partners found out about this struggling area after hearing that Muslims had gone in and delivered food to those in need unless they were Christian. Christian families received nothing.\nThanks to your generosity we were able to respond and bring aid to our brothers and sisters.\nIf you would like to contribute to other needs around the world, you can click on the link below to be taken to our secure giving page. The funds collected will be used to respond to needs presented to us by other SGWM missionaries around the world.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/another-update-from-pakistan/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Pakistan-Relief-Update.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"thank-you-thank-you-thank-you-for-your-generous-donations\"\u003eThank you, thank you, thank you for your generous donations!\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eYour gifts have made it possible to \u003cem\u003econtinue\u003c/em\u003e the aid and outreach in Pakistan. The following photos are of Christians in a southern area of Pakistan receiving food supplies. Our partners found out about this struggling area after hearing that Muslims had gone in and delivered food to those in need \u003cem\u003eunless they were Christian.\u003c/em\u003e Christian families received nothing.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks to your generosity we were able to respond and bring aid to our brothers and sisters.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Another Update from Pakistan"},{"content":" Thank you for your generous support! With your gifts we were able to bless 91 needy families with food and necessary supplies! Below are some pictures from three separate outreaches in Pakistan.\nIf you would like to do more, we are now asking for donations for all SGWM missionaries who serve in equally as needy areas. Click on the link below to be taken to a page for general COVID-19 relief that will be sent to SGWM missionaries in areas like Africa, Asia, and South America.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/pakistan-relief/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Pakistan-Relief-Update.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your generous support! With your gifts we were able to bless \u003cstrong\u003e91 needy families\u003c/strong\u003e with food and necessary supplies! Below are some pictures from three separate outreaches in Pakistan.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/02.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/94566666%5F10158536933958413%5F7015176844282429440%5Fo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/94640043%5F10158536933938413%5F1063793030475022336%5Fo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/94628981%5F10158536934628413%5F7224308538615529472%5Fo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/94743840%5F10158536934738413%5F6484005744726245376%5Fo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/95015691%5F10158536934773413%5F6768828798767988736%5Fo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-3\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/14.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/94468070%5F10158536934418413%5F2370560259329622016%5Fo-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/94700750%5F10158536934578413%5F3285138949051252736%5Fo-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIf you would like to do \u003cem\u003emore\u003c/em\u003e, we are now asking for donations for all SGWM missionaries who serve in equally as needy areas. Click on the link below to be taken to a page for general COVID-19 relief that will be sent to SGWM missionaries in areas like Africa, Asia, and South America.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pakistan Relief UPDATE"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family,\nIt is good to be back here in Peru! As soon as we arrived, we immediately started in ministry work. We had the opportunity to start a one-week bible study for the church. This class was taught by a very good friend of ours, Juan Carlos. Many of our members took the Apologetics class. All those who took the class were very blessed to learn about the attributes of God.\nNatalia started her women’s Bible classes and organized a baby shower for one of the ladies from our church. My wife doesn’t disappoint when it comes to organizing parties. Everyone one of the ladies had a really good time. Some of the ladies were telling Natalia she should be a professional party planner. I firmly agree!\nSundays were as usual, after the service the entire church stayed for lunch and enjoyed a time of fellowship. We all have been very blessed to serve with this amazing group of people.\nWhile we were planning out our different activities that we do on a yearly basis, something not planned happened. What we have all come to know as the COVID-19 or the Coronavirus became a worldwide pandemic. Peru had its first case on March 6th. As you know my wife is a doctor, so we talked about this subject for many days, and specifically how this would affect our ministry. After much praying and guidance, we both decided that our Bible studies and services should be done online.\nMany of you might have known that our missionary friend Elaina, from San Francisco had planned to stay with us for three months. The plan was for Elaina to work three times a week with my wife at the Belen Orphanage, but the Lord changed all the plans.\nOn Friday March 13th, my wife couldn’t sleep. She felt that something drastic was going to happen. Through the night she got up to pray and ask the Lord for direction. That morning after asking a friend for prayer, this friend happened to have very viable information regarding the Lima airport. The President of Peru announced the shutting down of the airports on March 15th, but the Lord allowed us to know one day before this happened through our friend. Since we knew that the airports were going to be closed for a long time, and that we were going to be in quarantine, we decided that it would be best if Elaina went back home that same day. It is amazing how the Lord allowed us to have the right information just in time!\nFor us to know this information ahead of time, it even crossed our minds to go back home too. My wife and I decided after praying, to stay here in Banos del Inca, serving the Lord using online technology.\nWe also told the young couple living in our house, Anita and Jose, that because of these circumstances they should either go and live elsewhere or stay in quarantine with us. They made the decision to stay with us.\nGod has everything perfectly planned. Jose is a professional video editor and now we are having to do everything through the virtual world. He is also a great musician and helps with the translations of the services. I don’t know where we would be without Jose and Anita, they have been a tremendous blessing to our family. Please keep them in your prayers. Anita is 20 weeks pregnant now!\nSunday March 15th, was our first Sunday service online. I think it turned out really well! We are having more than 200 people watching our service every Sunday! Natalia is also doing the women’s bible studies on Mondays. Hundreds of women are watching and learning about Jesus through the online teachings. We don’t know what the Lord is going to do through this time, but is great to see that a lot of people that were not coming to church for whatever reason, are watching us online now. Natalia and I are very excited to see what the Lord is going to do even through this time of crisis.\nWe have been in strict military quarantine for 30 days now and we don’t know how long this is going to last.\nHere is the most current situation in our country:\nAirports and country borders are completely closed. No one is able to get in or out of the country. We are not allowed to leave the house after 5pm. The driving of cars is not permitted. We can only walk to get our groceries and that is only if needed. The only reason someone is allowed to leave the house is for buying groceries (if you are lucky to find them) or buying medicines. You can only go to work if you work in a hospital, supermarket or pharmacy. Military and policemen are patrolling the entire country. They are even putting people in jail if they do not abide by these rules. The punishment can even be up to 3 years in jail. Children are not allowed under any circumstances to leave their homes.\nHere is what are we doing right now:\nNatalia is encouraging the ladies from church daily through their WhatsApp group. She is also leading Zoom meetings for women’s discipleship class on Fridays and on Mondays teaching the women’s Bible study through the facebook live. Natalia continues homeschooling Alejandro through 7th grade and she just started Emily with Pre-K. Both of the kids are keeping her very busy!\nJohn keeps doing the Sunday service online and also doing a Thursday night bible study on the Facebook page. He is leading prayer meetings through zoom with the whole church twice a week. On a weekly basis John makes phone calls to the members, to keep in touch with them. We have also started cooking classes online. Our goal is to keep our church encouraged and upbeat during this time of uncertainty.\nPrayer Requests:\nSafety is definitely our number one concern. We are worried that the longer this goes on stealing and physical harm might become an issue. I know that we are in the Lord’s hands and He will protect us. Natalia’s asthma has been getting worse this past month. Pray that her lungs get better and stronger. Breathing in this altitude doesn’t help either. Food Provision. Spiritual protection. For Natalia’s Immigration paperwork. To be able to travel back to the US in time for her future interview. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/back-in-peru-2020/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e            It is good to be back here in Peru! As soon as we arrived, we immediately started in ministry work. We had the opportunity to start a one-week bible study for the church.  This class was taught by a very good friend of ours, Juan Carlos.  Many of our members took the Apologetics class.  All those who took the class were very blessed to learn about the attributes of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Back in Peru 2020"},{"content":" ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/spring-2020-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Spring-2020-newsletter-791x1024.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"Spring 2020 Newsletter"},{"content":"“The King will answer and say to them, “truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.”” Matt 25:40 Every human being has been created uniquely by God in His own image. God defined the value of every human being with the shedding of His Son\u0026rsquo;s blood. Yet I still find myself assessing people to decide wether or not they are worthy of my love, my time or my consideration. It’s easy to look at an oncoming person in a crowd and decide that their grumpy attitude, or their prideful demeanor, disqualify them from a good interaction with me. We practice reactionary kindness. We practice reactionary grace. We practice reactionary love. I will bless and welcome you in a way that is directly corespondent to my assessment of your character. We find ourselves loving those that love us and hating those that hate us. Yet what greater reason could I have for being kind to someone than knowing that they bear the image of my creator. What greater value is possible to have than the worth of Jesus Christ’s own blood. Who am I to place a standard of worth higher than that. My kindness, grace and love should not be a reaction to an individual directly but a reaction to the value God has defined for human beings in the Gospel. We can love people before assessing wether they are worthy of it. The Gospel empowers us to show preemptive kindness.\n“ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11 ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/featured/preemptive-kindness/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"the-king-will-answer-and-say-to-them-truly-i-say-to-you-to-the-extent-that-you-did-it-to-one-of-these-brothers-of-mine-even-the-least-of-them-you-did-it-to-me-matt-2540\"\u003e“The King will answer and say to them, “truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.”” Matt 25:40\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery human being has been created uniquely by God in His own image.  God defined the value of every human being with the shedding of His Son\u0026rsquo;s blood.  Yet I still find myself assessing people to decide wether or not they are worthy of my love, my time or my consideration.  It’s easy to look at an oncoming person in a crowd and decide that their grumpy attitude, or their prideful demeanor, disqualify them from a good interaction with me.  We practice reactionary kindness.  We practice reactionary grace.  We practice reactionary love.  I will bless and welcome you in a way that is directly corespondent to my assessment of your character.  We find ourselves loving those that love us and hating those that hate us.  Yet what greater reason could I have for being kind to someone than knowing that they bear the image of my creator.  What greater value is possible to have than the worth of Jesus Christ’s own blood.  Who am I to place a standard of worth higher than that.  My kindness, grace and love should not be a reaction to an individual directly but a reaction to the value God has defined for human beings in the Gospel.  We can love people before assessing wether they are worthy of it.  \u003cstrong\u003eThe Gospel empowers us to show preemptive kindness.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Preemptive Kindness"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nWhat a shocker this has been for us all living through the dangerous days of the Corona Virus. Please know that I am SO SORRY that you and your family are having to live through this. I am praying for you, and believing that God is going to get you and your loved ones through these difficult days.\nIn this missions update, I wanted to update you in regards to how our church and family are responding to the tragedy of the Corona Virus. Just like up in the USA, the Corona Virus is alive and kicking down here in Rosarito, Mexico as well! Our Government and leaders have been basically following California in the wise restrictions they have put in place to limit the spread of the virus through social distancing.\nFollowing the Local laws, three weeks ago we were asked to close down our live church services and forced to go to an online only platform. Now the timing of this announcement for our church was very interesting. Our church has never done live streaming before, BUT just 3 months ago we purchased a camera and the needed equipment, and we had been doing test runs live with our equipment before the corona virus ever hit. So when we were forced to go to an online platform, God had prepared us and we were ready!\nFor three weeks now we have streamed our services live on the internet. Our main service times are Wednesday evenings at 6:30pm and Sunday mornings at 9am. If you would like to join us, you can stream our sermons live on our church’s facebook page (search “Calvary Chapel Rosarito” ) or our church’s YOUTUBE channel! (again, search “Calvary Chapel Rosarito) Both of these platforms save our content so our audience can tune in and watch at their own convenience!\nWhen the corona virus hit, I decided to change up my teaching format from our usual verse by verse teaching to a special topical series I have called “HEROES”! In each service, I pick a Bible hero and we attempt to apply the lessons and principals from that hero’s life, to our lives as Christians facing the Corona Virus today!\nTo our surprise, God has given us a large online audience. My recent Sunday sermon on David vs. Goliath, has generated over 11,000 views already. Best of all, we had three first time professions of faith ONLINE, after I presented the message of salvation and gave an invitation!\nAdditional studies at our church include a daily devotion for our congregation in Spanish that we stream live each weekday at 10am! Our children’s ministry, youth ministry, and young adult’s ministry have also transitioned to weekly online meetings! Please keep our church and ministry in your prayers during this difficult time!\nAs bad as things are, there is still a lot of GOOD NEWS available for you today as a Christian! And as I finish up this update, I want to remind you of FIVE GOOD THINGS that God is doing in the world right now!\n#1- God is still seated on His throne in heaven!\n#2- God has promised that He will never leave you or forsake you! (Hebrews 13:5)\n#3- The battle (of the Corona Virus) belongs to the Lord! (1st Samuel 17:47)\n#4- God has promised to work all things out for good in the lives of His children! ( Romans 8:28)\nAnd #5- I know that God is going to use this corona virus to bring a great revival of souls into His Kingdom! (perhaps the final great revival of them all, wouldn’t that be awesome! )\nPrecious friends, you don’t know how much your prayers and financial support mean to our family, especially in these desperate days of the corona virus. Thank you once again for partnering with us and standing firm with us to reach Mexico and beyond for Jesus Christ!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would keep our family, church, city, nation, and world safe in this corona virus!\n#2- That God would bring forth a great revival of souls through this corona virus!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for our newest church plant that we will be sending out in April, Calvary Chapel La Gloria! (20 minutes east of our church)\n#2- Praise God that our church’s online services are reaching many people with uplifting content, passionate worship, Bible teaching, and the message of salvation!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-april-2020-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a shocker this has been for us all living through the dangerous days of the Corona Virus. Please know that I am SO SORRY that you and your family are having to live through this. I am praying for you, and believing that God is going to get you and your loved ones through these difficult days.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/03/90141395%5F10157405411997029%5F287377494430973952%5Fo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this missions update, I wanted to update you in regards to how our church and family are responding to the tragedy of the Corona Virus. Just like up in the USA, the Corona Virus is alive and kicking down here in Rosarito, Mexico as well! Our Government and leaders have been basically following California in the wise restrictions they have put in place to limit the spread of the virus through social distancing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family April 2020 Missions Update"},{"content":"“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Josh 1:9 I hope this letter finds you abiding in the strength and love of Jesus Christ our Savior, As with all of you, and the rest of the world; this month has been a roller coaster for our family. We started the month in expectation of teaching our pastors the book of Jeremiah, for things to continue normally at the clinic and at BAM and to enjoy a visit from my parents at the end of the month. But it didn’t take long for all of that to change as the country of Uganda began preparing to battle the virus.\nConcerning the school:\nEarlier in the month President Museveni shut down all schools in Uganda for 30 days or until further notice. In obedience to our authorities we have postponed the Jeremiah/Lamentations class until the schools re-open. Our team is taking this opportunity to get ahead on the development of curriculum.\nPlease pray: For God to give us wisdom to create the curriculum and to encourage our students.\nConcerning the clinic:\nWe have bunkered down and prepared for any pandemic by stocking up on supplies and medicines as well as by putting our staff through various trainings on COVID-19. God has also helped give us the wisdom to create a separate “clinic” to care for any patients who have signs/symptoms of the virus so that they don’t mix with our pregnant mothers and our critical patients.\nPlease pray: For our staff to have courage and unity as they face what is coming. Unfortunately we have had 2 staff quit this month and we expect more to follow.\nConcerning the Business As Mission Enterprise:\nWe are still alive and kicking at BAM, which is necessary now more than ever. We praise God that He gave our ministry the foresight to have a self sustainability project in place for such times as these. Right now the prices of produce in Uganda are raising drastically, but God has allowed us to maintain a steady, fair, and constant supply of food for our distressed district. Also, we are starting to work hand in hand with our local government to supply goods to quarantined people in our District.\nPlease pray: For the leadership of BAM to have strength and wisdom as they continue work under more and more stressful situations.\nConcerning the Widows:\nRecently the President has banned any gathering of more than 5 people for any event, eg: funerals, weddings, church etc. With that in mind we have altered our distributions so that the widows being cared for are separated into smaller and smaller groups as they continue being supported and encouraged.\nPlease pray: For these widows to find their peace in Jesus Christ now more than ever, as they are tempted by the tribal king to revive their worship of the Acholi gods.\nConcerning our family:\nUnfortunately because of bad rumors and threats, our family had to be relocated from the village to the city as we wait for things to calm down. We are very sad to leave our home and our ministry, but we know that God is in control and that the lessons He is teaching us will shape us into the servants we need to be.\nPlease Pray: for God to give our children peace as we resettle into our temporary living situation.\nGod Bless you and yours, In Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/march-2020/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"have-i-not-commanded-you-be-strong-and-courageous-do-not-be-frightened-and-do-not-be-dismayed-for-the-lord-your-god-is-with-you-wherever-you-go-josh-19\"\u003e“Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous.  Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”  Josh 1:9\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/03/0FF39FF1-036A-4ACA-8209-73B0370A1038-1024x273.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch5 id=\"i-hope-this-letter-finds-you-abiding-in-the-strength-and-love-of-jesus-christ-our-savior\"\u003eI hope this letter finds you abiding in the strength and love of Jesus Christ our Savior,\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs with all of you, and the rest of the world; this month has been a roller coaster for our family.  We started the month in expectation of teaching our pastors the book of Jeremiah, for things to continue normally at the clinic and at BAM and to enjoy a visit from my parents at the end of the month.  But it didn’t take long for all of that to change as the country of Uganda began preparing to battle the virus.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"March 2020"},{"content":" Praise God for the time visiting we had last month! It was a great blessing to visit, share and encourage our brother, Majhiya, and his family at their Calvary Chapel. The fellowship is growing and neighbors are coming to the church.\nBlessing! Prakash, Muna and Eutychus\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sing-praise-to-the-lord/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Prakash-March-2-243x300.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePraise God for the time visiting we had last month! It was a great blessing to visit, share and encourage our brother, Majhiya, and his family at their Calvary Chapel. The fellowship is growing and neighbors are coming to the church.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBlessing! Prakash, Muna and Eutychus\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Prakash-March-1-300x249.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Prakash-March-3-300x200.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Prakash-March-5-300x151.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"Sing Praise to the Lord"},{"content":"As I am sure you are all aware, the world is being rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic and it has greatly affected everyone of us and our daily lives. This past month has been interesting as I have transitioned to working from home and have experienced a drastic change of pace.\nMinistry All of my ministry responsibilities have been on pause as we are unable to meet in person on Sundays or throughout the week but our church leadership has been very intentional in reaching out via technology. We are meeting with the youth of our church through Zoom- an online meeting platform that allows up to 100 people to connect via video chat from their own computers. We have also utilized this resource to connect with the guys and girls separately according to age group (high school girls with high school girls, etc). The high school girls are meeting twice a week to go over a short devotion together, exchange prayer requests, and keep one another accountable. It has been a total blessing to be able to see all of their faces and briefly connect during this time of social distancing.\nLife in the Midst of COVID-19 I have also found the change of pace to be very beneficial for my brain- I have few to no headaches and I feel much less stressed. Praise God all of my tests have come back normal-the doctor thinks it has been stress and now that things have slowed down and I feel better, I 100% agree.\nAnother factor that has contributed to the decreased stress is the pause on wedding planning. Isaac and I will be getting married on July 18th, 2020 but at this point, we don’t know if we’ll be able to have a wedding so I haven’t been worrying about details.\nRegardless of if we can have a gathering, we won’t be able to afford much as my mom was laid off during this time and without my parents help we will only be able to afford a very modest wedding (which I am totally ok with!) So in the strangest way that has relieved a lot of stress. I’m not worried about finding a caterer or arranging details or ordering and sending invitations because there may not be a wedding to invite anyone to.\nWe hope and pray that all of this is cleared up long before then and that everything can go off as planned (or dreamt of) but if it doesn’t, we know that the only details that are important are the two of us standing before God and entering into a covenant to honor Him and love one another for the rest of our lives. The other details of the day are insignificant and unimportant.\nWe would still LOVE to include all of our loved ones in our special day but it may not be the traditional American wedding we’ve come to expect. It might be dessert and coffee only, it might be a potluck, it might be a small ceremony broadcast live on Facebook because we can’t have more than 10 people in the room. Whatever it turns out to be I am just so thankful to have a marriage to prepare for regardless of what the wedding looks like.\nThe Urgency of the Gospel I know that the coronavirus has many of us floundering for a new “normal” and that it has shocked many, if not all of us but I also know that God is working in the midst of it and preparing people’s hearts for eternity.\nIn my own family I have seen this. My uncle, my dad’s little brother, passed away last week and he received Christ just 24 hours before he died. The circumstances of our world and his life caused him to realize the frailty of his life and his great need for a Savior and by God’s grace, he accepted Jesus before passing into eternity. My dad had the privilege of witnessing to him for the upteenth time, expecting rejection, but he was obedient to the Holy Spirit, shared, and asked if Mike wanted to receive Christ. He was ready and now he’s in heaven because of God’s grace and my dad’s obedience.\nSo in a way we see great blessing flowing out of great hardship and I want to encourage all of you to keep sharing Christ with those around you! Even those “hard nuts” who have always been hard to crack. You never know if they might be primed and ready to receive Christ in light of our world events. Don’t let coronavirus become an excuse for not doing what God has called us to do, but use it as an opportunity to shine the light of Christ in an ever darkening world.\nWith love,\nHope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/what-is-what/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs I am sure you are all aware, the world is being rocked by the COVID-19 pandemic and it has greatly affected everyone of us and our daily lives. This past month has been interesting as I have transitioned to working from home and have experienced a drastic change of pace.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"ministry\"\u003eMinistry\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAll of my ministry responsibilities have been on pause as we are unable to meet in person on Sundays or throughout the week but our church leadership has been very intentional in reaching out via technology. We are meeting with the youth of our church through Zoom- an online meeting platform that allows up to 100 people to connect via video chat from their own computers. We have also utilized this resource to connect with the guys and girls separately according to age group (high school girls with high school girls, etc). The high school girls are meeting twice a week to go over a short devotion together, exchange prayer requests, and keep one another accountable. It has been a total blessing to be able to see all of their faces and briefly connect during this time of social distancing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What is What?"},{"content":"The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.—Job 1:21 Dear Friends and Family,\nThis past season has been a bit of a difficult time for our family. Within a short period of time, 2 of our beloved dogs passed away: one from cancer and one from an unexpected accident. One week later our house was robbed, which according to the police most likely was someone who works with us and we have trusted. Shortly after these incidents, the hardest hit of all arrived when we got the phone call that my dad had passed away.\nBelow is his obituary:\nGary William Wiencke, age 81, passed away peacefully on Saturday, January 18, 2020, at Autumn Aegis Retirement Community in Lorain, Ohio. He was born August 23, 1938, to Ellsworth and Gladys (nee Pember) Wiencke in Elyria, Ohio. He graduated in 1956 from Berlin Heights High School and came to Lorain in 1957. From 1956 to 1962, he was part of the Army Reserves, obtaining the rank of Corporal. He worked for American Ship Building from 1956 until 1959 and had various other positions for companies such as Great Lakes Towing, Ripple Motors and Lee Wilson Engineering. Gary was also the owner and operator of Quik as a Wink carpet cleaning in Lorain for 35 years, retiring in 2008. He was a member of the former First Congregational United Church of Christ in Lorain and a member of Community Congregational United Church of Christ in Amherst. Gary enjoyed hunting, fishing, and reading. Surviving are his daughters, Julie Bober of Sheffield Village, Jenny (Tim) Riddle of Cornell, Illinois, Jan (Chris) Bailey of Elyria and Jill (Brian) Kanyike of Uganda, Africa; grandchildren, Dean, Aaron, David, Jesse, Rafe, Lillian, Luke, Laylee and Liana; great-grandchildren, Cole, Logan and Olivia; a brother, Chris Wiencke; and a sister, Mary Sartor. He was preceded in death by his wife of 61 years, Phyllis “Susie” (nee Bohn) Wiencke in 2018 .\nWe would like to thank all of you who made it possible to return for my dad’s funeral and who have sent kind messages of condolence or flowers.\nOn a happier note… Before coming to the states for my dad’s funeral Calvary Chapel Fort Portal asked us to help them host a youth camp. Their church has a youth outreach program called, The Lighthouse Club. The club is designed to disciple teens and young adults while also providing fellowship and a safe place to have fun.\nThe theme of the conference was “Christlikeness”. The topics covered were: Evangelism, Salvation, Baptism, Purity, Self Presentation, and Vision for the Future. Our team from Arise Christian Fellowship was asked to lead worship, to help with the mentoring, coaching, as well as to teach the youth how to boldly talk about their faith to their peers in school. It was a pretty full day, starting at 6:30 am going up till 7 pm in the evening. We started off with a short time of worship and Evelyn, our worship leader, shared a short devotion from 1 Samuel 3 about when God called Samuel. She told the youth that they are never too young to be called and used by God. There is quite the misconception by many in Uganda that you can not be called into ministry unless you are married, so for many of the youth, the idea that they can already be used by God and be active in the ministry is a new concept.\nAfter the main teachings, the youth were divided into different groups to talk about and try to apply what they had learned. Some of the worship team members were coaches, two of the team were judges, also helping as counselors for the kids along with the Youth Camp team organized by Calvary Chapel Fort Portal. By the end of the day, the youth had become like little brothers and sisters, as we had gone through a rather intense day of ministry with them, from devotions to having them watch videos of the Way of the Master to giving them an in-depth study on the meaning of the great commission to taking them through their personal presentations of the gospel. We saw quite a few of them admit to sin and conviction, even saw some tears, while others stepped up to the challenge of the personal presentations with confidence. For us, the most important part was seeing them understand what they had been taught and seeing them bond with each other, which made the whole day. I am also blessed by all our worship team learned and their own personal growth through participating in this youth camp. They are usually called to lead worship and train other worship teams, so this was a bit out of their normal realm of ministry but all the same, God used them and they were happy to join in the other aspects of the youth camp and to play a part in these youths lives.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill,\nLuke, Laylee,\nand Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS\nPraise the Lord for the ministries taking place in Uganda and South Sudan Pray for Jill’s family as they mourn the loss of her father and as they try to close up his house. Pray for the Kanyikes to raise the funds they need to cover what was lost in the robbery as well as their trip to the USA for the funeral. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship while the Kanyikes are away. Pray for those who will be teaching and for the congregation to remain strong. Pray for those who attended the youth camp. Pray they grow stronger in their personal relationships with Christ as well in their desire to share Christ with others. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-march-2020/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"the-lord-gave-and-the-lord-has-taken-away-blessed-be-the-name-of-the-lordjob-121\"\u003eThe Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; Blessed be the name of the Lord.—Job 1:21\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past season has been a bit of a difficult time for our family. Within a short period of time, 2 of our beloved dogs passed away: one from cancer and one from an unexpected accident.  One week later our house was robbed, which according to the police most likely was someone who works with us and we have trusted.  Shortly after these incidents, the hardest hit of all arrived when we got the phone call that my dad had passed away.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update- March 2020"},{"content":"“You will know the TRUTH, and the Truth will set you free.”__John 8:32\nDear Friends and family,\nGreetings from CC Pakistan, we praise God for His faithfulness and care and also we are thankful to you for your faithful prayers and support. We are doing really good, our church and teaching ministry is growing and our whole team is fine by God’s grace.\nOnline Teaching Ministry\nI shared with you about our “Online Teaching Ministry” that we started this year in our last update. Now I want to share with you the great impact of the class on the lives of our students. This is our new ministry and we were in prayer for this since October 2019. The both groups (more than 40 students in each) come from background highly affected by “televangelists”. Therefore students in both classes had so many misconceptions and were confused about their faith. They were curious about the online class as well as it is their first experience to learn this way. Out experiment with teachingand the Bible study class itself has been really amazing and very successful. The first 14 classes are titled “Introduction to the Bible” and our slogan for this class is “Back to the Bible.” This class has been really wonderful, students are very excited as they are coming to know about the Holy Word of God and thus are led to study it. Last week as I visited one group in their city, they had so many stories to tell me and they shared how this online Bible class arranged by CC Pakistan is helping them grow in their faith removing their misconceptions about Bible and helping them know and read it more daily.\nOur Second Group of Bible students is from a city at the distance of 9 hours drive. That group is near a vast desert called Cholistan. That group was fully dominated by the so-called healers and most of the people still follows such false teachers who are making merchandise of the word of God. We praise God that the group in that city is also growing much in discernment and spiritual awareness in the light of the Bible. It is really great privilege for us to lead these young people back to the Bible. We praise God for His grace and are thankful to you for your prayers.\nGod provided “Bibles\nCC Pak has been reaching very remote areas and disadvantaged and un-reached Christians at so many places from the very start of our mission work in Pakistan. We need Urdu Bibles every year for our Outreach Mission Trips to hand the Word of God to those who don’t have Bible. We want to share with you with joyful hearts that God very graciously has blessed CC Pakistan with 800 Urdu Bibles (400 for adults, and 400 Children Bibles) this year. A large number of these Bibles are going to very poor and un-reached families and children. Thank you for praying for our needs and coming forward to co-labor with us through your support.\nGod is also blessing us with Audio Bibles with the help of Faith Comes by Hearing ministry, and that is really great blessing for those who are unable to read or write, now they can listen the Word of God whenever they want.\nFirst Outreach Mission of 2020\nLast year we went on 5 days outreach mission trip to desert area and it was really great as Lord led us to some areas where people are really living in great darkness spiritually. This\nmission trip became to reason of starting the online Bible classes with a group which is really a great blessing for those people as well as for us.\nThis also gave us opportunity to disciple a group of young people in the area to reach their people by sharing the Word of God with them and encouraging them in their Christian faith. We are very happy to share that these young men are reaching people in their area and they are sharing the word of God with them and are teaching them what they learn in the online Bible classes.\nCC Pak’s team is going on our “First Outreach Mission Trip 2020” in couple of weeks. We will be reaching some new areas with the Bibles, we will reach people, pray for and with them and encourage them in their faith in the Lord. We praise God that He has provided us with the needs. We will have some special discipleship meetings with our contact and his team in that area. Please keep this mission trip and our team in your prayers.\nThank you very much once again for your prayers, love and support, we always pray for you and your families.\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/set-free-by-gods-word/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“You will know the TRUTH, and the Truth will set you free.”__John 8:32\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family,\u003cbr\u003e\nGreetings from CC Pakistan, we praise God for His faithfulness and care and also we are thankful to you for your faithful prayers and support. We are doing really good, our church and teaching ministry is growing and our whole team is fine by God’s grace.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOnline Teaching Ministry\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/massey/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2020/03/Screenshot-201-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/massey/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2020/03/IMG%5F7375-300x200.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/massey/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2020/03/012-300x169.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI shared with you about our “Online Teaching Ministry” that we started this year in our last update. Now I want to share with you the great impact of the class on the lives of our students. This is our new ministry and we were in prayer for this since October 2019. The both groups (more than 40 students  in each) come from background highly affected by “televangelists”. Therefore students in both classes had so many misconceptions and were confused about their faith. They were curious about the online class as well as it is their first experience to learn this way. Out experiment with teachingand the Bible study class itself has been really amazing and very successful. The first 14 classes are titled “Introduction to the Bible” and our slogan for this class is “Back to the Bible.” This class has been really wonderful, students are very excited as they are coming to know about the Holy Word of God and thus are led to study it. Last week as I visited one group in their city, they had so many stories to tell me and they shared how this online Bible class arranged by CC Pakistan is helping them grow in their faith removing their misconceptions about Bible and helping them know and read it more daily.\u003cbr\u003e\nOur Second Group of  Bible students is from a city at the distance of 9 hours drive. That group is near a vast desert called Cholistan. That group was fully dominated by the so-called healers and most of the people still follows such false teachers who are making merchandise of the word of God. We praise God that the group in that city is also growing much in discernment and spiritual awareness in the light of the Bible. It is really great privilege for us to lead these young people back to the Bible. We praise God for His grace and are thankful to you for your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Set Free by God's Word"},{"content":"So much has been happening since our last update! Here is the abbreviated version:\nFAMILY If you have not yet heard, we are going to become grandparents any day now! Brian \u0026amp; Brittany are expecting a baby boy – Joshua Brian – on March 17th! We are super excited for them. Brittany has been continuing with her job at Chik-fil-A in California. In January, Brian was ordained as an Assistant Pastor at their church, Calvary Chapel Playas de Tijuana. We’re super proud of him and excited to see what the Lord has in store for him in the future!\nWilliam will be graduating from high school in May. He is currently doing a four-month internship, serving in the Communications Department at a large church in southern California. His work is related to graphic design, which is one of the options he has considered as a career. Please keep him in your prayers as he gets ready to graduate and make some major life decisions.\nOur family had the opportunity to take a few weeks at the beginning of the year to visit with the majority of our supporters. We are so thankful to everyone that has partnered with us in prayer, as well as financially. We know that none of this would be possible without you. We are humbled and more grateful than you could ever know!\nWe also had the privilege of attending the weddings of two of our nieces and nephews at the end of last year. The fourth grandchild on Ron’s side of the family to marry was Emily, in Topeka, Kansas. The second grandchild on Kristy’s side of the family to marry was Matthew, who was married in Chicago, Illinois. We enjoyed sharing their special day and spending some time with family.\nMINISTRY \u0026amp; THE CORONAVIRUS We are in the process of getting ready for our spring teams! We will have a couple of months where we have at least one team every week. It will be very busy, but we are looking forward to it! We have completed several smaller projects on the 2nd floor covered patio. This includes installing windows, stuccoing a wall, finishing electrical, painting, and relocating the snack shop. We also widened the lower outdoor staircase and added some new railings.\nWe have had some teams questioning the traveling situation because of the Coronavirus (COVID-19). The fact is that there are no travel warnings at this time to travel into Mexico, nor is there any concern right now for the closing of the border crossing. There are only 7 cases as of today in the whole country, while there are 1,010 in the United States. You can click here to see what the Center for Disease Control has to say about travel \u0026amp; prevention of the Coronavirus.\nSUMMER INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY This will be our third summer offering an internship program for young adults. It’s perfect for anyone considering full-time ministry or missions, Bible college students, or other young people who feel led to serve and deepen their relationship with Christ. Click here for dates and for more information, or contact Kristy if you are interested.\nCONNECTIONS HOUSE The 3rd floor expansion project has really taken off! You can see a short video of the progress made in 2019 here. The exterior of the building is completely finished, except for the installation of the doors. All of the interior metal studs are installed, the plumbing is done, and the floor is poured in the bathrooms. Lord willing, we will have a team at the beginning of April coming to install the insulation and drywall. In the meantime, we mostly just have a little bit of sheeting to install and all the electrical in preparation for their arrival. We are a little short in funds and time, but we believe by faith it will get done. Of the $3,500 needed for this part of the project, we only need about $800 to finish it up.\nHere’s a quick look at the budget needed to complete the entire project. The previous amounts needed as of February 2019 are on the right. Over 95% of what has gone into the building so far has been donated:\n$0 – Railings ($2,400)\n$0 – Block Walls ($4,000)\n$13,000 – Occupancy: Materials for doors, ceiling, bathroom fixtures, lighting, etc. ($40,000)\n$1,800 – Cabinets \u0026amp; Kitchen Prep Tables ($1,800)\n$4,600 – Kitchen Equipment ($4,600)\n$3,000 – Dining Furniture ($3,000)\n$6,000 – Tile ($6,000)\n$28,400 – TOTAL ($61,800)\nWe’ll leave you with a few photos of the new kitchen/dining room building. We praise God, first and foremost for the progress, but we also give a huge thank you to so many of you as well!! God bless!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/whats-new/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSo much has been happening since our last update! Here is the abbreviated version:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"family\"\u003eFAMILY\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you have not yet heard, we are going to become grandparents any day now! Brian \u0026amp; Brittany are expecting a baby boy – Joshua Brian – on March 17th! We are super excited for them. Brittany has been continuing with her job at Chik-fil-A in California. In January, Brian was ordained as an Assistant Pastor at their church, Calvary Chapel Playas de Tijuana. We’re super proud of him and excited to see what the Lord has in store for him in the future!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"What's New?"},{"content":"“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.” 1 Corinthians 3:6-8 NKJV\nThey say a picture is worth a thousand words. However, this month I have neither. God is doing some cool things in our ministries here in Cambodia but we haven’t been able to take any pictures. Here are a few things that God has been doing that we couldn’t photograph.\nA missionary couple in rural Cambodia has started using Darryl’s apologetics book, Christianity: Reasons for Faith to train around 40 Cambodian pastors and church leaders out there.\nDarryl was able to share the book, Christianity: Reasons for Faith, and various videos with a Christian school teacher in Cambodia from South Africa to help him teach his students about the truth of Christianity compared to other worldviews.\nA dear sister in the US was able to Darryl’s videos in Japanese (Kayo translated and recorded) on www.internationalfishers.com/japanese to spiritually encourage a Japanese couple who had difficulty understanding English.\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for us (as we also pray for you) during this Coronavirus outbreak. We have plans to visit our senders and churches in multiple cities in Japan this summer but it is difficult to plan this trip. Cambodia depends on imports and this disease is already threatening the supply of some things that we need, especially prescription medicines. By God’s grace, so far there are only 3 known cases of Coronavirus in Cambodia. Cambodia’s healthcare system is not as developed as in other countries so if there is a serious outbreak here, we could face serious problems.\nPlease pray for Darryl as he prepares to teach Apologetics at the Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute from the end of March to the beginning of June.\nPlease pray for Kayo as she bears a lot of the behind the scenes administrative burdens for the international church worship team.\nAlso pray for Kayo’s work with Precious Women Organization as she takes on board member and administrative roles.\nPraise God for raising up more Cambodian Christian partners for Darryl’s apologetics/evangelistic video ministry. Darryl was able to release one video on God’s designs in February and God’s goodness in March. Other videos are in process.\nPlease continue to pray for our finances. God has been providing our short-term needs but we still have some uncertainty about Benjamin’s educational expenses and unmet long-term needs.\nPlease pray for other on-going ministry projects that we didn’t have space to mention this time.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-planted-others-are-watering/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor.”\u003c/em\u003e 1 Corinthians 3:6-8 NKJV\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey say a picture is worth a thousand words. However, this month I have neither. God is doing some cool things in our ministries here in Cambodia but we haven’t been able to take any pictures. Here are a few things that God has been doing that we couldn’t photograph.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Planted, Others are Watering"},{"content":"…and He shall give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)\nEver since I was a little girl, the greatest desire of my heart has been to be a wife and mother. To be the wife of the man God chose for me, who loves Him with his whole heart and loves me with the rest of it. To walk alongside that man and help him be all God has called him to be, to edify, exhort, challenge, and encourage him all the days of our lives.\nSome of you may know more of my story than others of you, but to make a long story short, I have been given the privilege of saying “yes” to that very man after waiting on the Lord for most of my life.\nWhen I was a little girl I decided that I wasn’t going to date until I was ready to get married but going through high school and college “alone” was difficult! There were so many seasons of wrestling with the Lord and crying out to Him but ultimately He helped me trust Him to bring the right guy in His perfect timing.\nWhen I was 21 years old, I met Isaac Douglass.\nAt the time I was dating my first boyfriend and Isaac was just an acquaintance. I quickly realized that my boyfriend was not the man I wanted to marry so we broke up after dating for four months. Shortly after that, God brought Isaac center stage and we quickly fell in love. I saw in him so many of the qualities I have always dreamed about in my future husband; he is kind, compassionate, outgoing, fun, intelligent, personable, friendly, trustworthy, patient, generous with his time and money, and so many other things on top of being 100% devoted to following Jesus and serving His people.\nHe’s the whole package and I am so excited to see the Lord continue to write our story as we plan our wedding and prepare for a life-long marriage that is focused on magnifying the person of Jesus Christ to all who know us.\nI love serving God alongside Isaac and I’m in awe of the grace we have been shown.\nThank you to all of you who have encouraged us, exhorted us, and poured into us throughout this journey as the Lord has brought us face to face with our sinfulness and each others’ and helped us work through so many struggles. We are so grateful for the body of Christ and the way you have all surrounded us and celebrated with us this past week.\nHere’s to a lifetime of many more struggles, victories, and celebrations in Christ TOGETHER.\nWith love,\nThe Future Douglasses\nComing to you SUMMER 2020\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/delight-yourself-in-the-lord/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e…and He shall give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/noack/wp-content/uploads/sites/99/2020/03/IMG%5F0434.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eEver since I was a little girl, the greatest desire of my heart has been to be a wife and mother. To be the wife of the man God chose for me, who loves Him with his whole heart and loves me with the rest of it. To walk alongside that man and help him be all God has called him to be, to edify, exhort, challenge, and encourage him all the days of our lives.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Delight Yourself In the Lord"},{"content":"Hey Friends!\nAfter my last update, Amy and I received a ton of remarks from people concerning my comment about praying for God’s will whether He would have us move to Jordan or not. I mentioned it casually, as we are ALWAYS trying to remain open to what God has for us, but I realize that I should have been more clear that we have received no direction from the Lord about leaving the states full-time. I just know that God moves hearts on short-term trips, especially ones where we are praying specifically about a new work God is doing, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t bring any presuppositions into Jordan that would have kept me from clearly hearing God’s voice. But, for now, at least, God still has us here ministering to His church in SoCal and supporting ministry all over the world through my work with SGWM.\nWe had an amazing time in Israel! It was a very fast-paced trip, but because of the small size of our group there, we got just about as much done in 6 days as most groups do in 10+. I’m still digesting everything I saw and learned there, but I’m already noticing how it has affected the way I read, study, and teach Scripture.\nOur time in Jordan required a huge mindset switch, as our group grew in size and the pace slowed significantly. While we did do some ministry (leading worship, refugee visits, and I got to teach at a church-planting conference we put on), our real mission was to slow down and listen to what God would speak to us about the ministry He’s laid on our hearts for that country, and who He may be calling to go live there.\nThe Jordan leg of the trip took on a unique flavor, as Pastor Trent and I were given the opportunity to give our young team a taste of what it’s like to minister in a culture so foreign to our own. We could tell that there was a big adjustment for some of our team there realizing that we cannot simply bring American discipleship tactics to that area of the world; we must contextualize our methods to reach people with the Gospel in a way that they can digest it. So our “vision tour” doubled as an on-the-ground training. The Lord had amazing things in mind that we never would have imagined, and I was honored to be a part of leading it.\nThank you all so much for your prayers over me and my family during this trip, and for all of you who brought meals and supported Amy and the kids in my absence! Please keep us in prayer as we continue day-to-day life and ministry, and as I have an upcoming trip leading youth to Nepal this Summer, and prayerfully a trip to Africa to minister to our missionaries there in the Fall.\nPlease pray for our financial needs as we live largely off of financial support just like our international missionaries, and we are praying for the Lord to provide more financially to cover some increased costs of living. Please pray that the Lord may provide for us in His will, whatever amount of support He deems sufficient (Proverbs 30:7-9). If you feel led to partner with us financially, instructions are below.\nIf you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/im-back/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter my last update, Amy and I received a ton of remarks from people concerning my comment about praying for God’s will whether He would have us move to Jordan or not. I mentioned it casually, as we are ALWAYS trying to remain open to what God has for us, but I realize that I should have been more clear that we have received no direction from the Lord about leaving the states full-time. I just know that God moves hearts on short-term trips, especially ones where we are praying specifically about a new work God is doing, so I wanted to make sure I didn’t bring any presuppositions into Jordan that would have kept me from clearly hearing God’s voice. But, for now, at least, God still has us here ministering to His church in SoCal and supporting ministry all over the world through my work with SGWM.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I'm Back!"},{"content":"“The Lord sustains all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down.” Psalms 145:14 As you may know, our primary ministry here in Uganda is the biblical training of pastors at the Terebinth School of Discipleship. However, God has surrounded that ministry with a few other ways for our team to reach the Acholi people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A more recent addition has been the widows’ ministry. As we take our students through the whole of Scripture one of the themes we highlight is God’s heart for the widow and last year God opened the door for us to not only teach our pastors about His heart towards them but to partner with them practically. We train committees at our students’ churches and give them supplies to provide healthcare, food, discipleship, fellowship, and work to the widows in their areas. By God’s grace we’re hearing a lot of testimonies, and seeing a lot of families come to know the Lord because of this practical display of love. We even have a witch doctor enrolled in the program who is receiving discipleship. We hope and pray she responds to Christ soon. In the month of February, God opened the door to triple the number of widows in the program, and we pray that He will continue using this ministry mightily.\nClose to one year ago I was placed as the Administrator over our medical clinic, which is another branch of Terebinth. The medical center has been used by God to reach the Acholi people in so many ways. In a month we can treat as many as 250 out-patients, care for 50+ in-patients, deliver more than 30 babies, and immunize 300-400 children. We see a lot of motorcycle accidents, snake bites, and cases of severe malaria. The spiritual atmosphere in our surrounding village is very dark, and we see several attempted suicides a month, alcohol abuse, and domestic violence. But we see that Jesus’ light is shining, as we open every day at the clinic with devotions with our staff and willing in-patients, and our chaplain who is a pastor who has graduated from our school who encourages, counsels, and prays with the patients even late into the night. God has used this position to stretch and grow me in a lot of ways but it’s not always easy. It’s been hard to see the harsh realities of life and death in the bush. And it’s hard to work so closely with a corrupt local government. We praise God for what He’s doing and what He will do with the clinic.\nAs a family we are doing well, as we await the arrival of my parents, who will be staying with us for the month of April. We miss all of you, and we pray that God would give us better communication skills to keep in better contact with you.\nPraise God… that He healed our pastor of his stage-4 cancer. That we were able to trade in our van for a 4 wheel drive vehicle that can better manage the roads surrounding our village. That Luke is back and well! Thank you for your prayers concerning his health, we are happy to have him back in Uganda. Please pray… for me (Matt), to have wisdom in leading the medical clinic For favor in the eyes of the local government as I look for grants and programs to help offset the cost of the medical center. That our pastors would grow in their theology of suffering as they look at the book of Job this week. That God shines the light of the Gospel into our community through the local church and empowers us with the Holy Spirit to proclaim His word. With love, The Harris’s Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline \u0026amp; Noah ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/february-2020/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"the-lord-sustains-all-who-fall-and-raises-up-all-who-are-bowed-down-psalms-14514\"\u003e“The Lord sustains all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down.”  Psalms 145:14\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/11/E3588B52-3AD6-474F-8BF2-D0325F9BA3F2-1024x182.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs you may know, our primary ministry here in Uganda is the biblical training of pastors at the Terebinth School of Discipleship.  However, God has surrounded that ministry with a few other ways for our team to reach the Acholi people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  A more recent addition has been the widows’ ministry.  As we take our students through the whole of Scripture one of the themes we highlight is God’s heart for the widow and last year God opened the door for us to not only teach our pastors about His heart towards them but to partner with them practically.  We train committees at our students’ churches and give them supplies to provide healthcare, food, discipleship, fellowship, and work to the widows in their areas.  By God’s grace we’re hearing a lot of testimonies, and seeing a lot of families come to know the Lord because of this practical display of love.  We even have a witch doctor enrolled in the program who is receiving discipleship. We hope and pray she responds to Christ soon.  In the month of February, God opened the door to triple the number of widows in the program, and we pray that He will continue using this ministry mightily.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"February 2020"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn this missions update, I am excited to talk to you about some staff changes that we have made at church since the new year! Last year, of the five church plants we sent out, 3 of the pastors were our assistant pastors. When we sent out Pastor Fernando to Las Vegas, we realized we were in dire need of some new Assistant Pastors.\nAfter 4 months of praying, we were excited to ordain 5 new associate Pastors to our Pastoral staff. Each one of these Godly men meets the Biblical requirements of being an elder found in 1st Timothy and Titus. They also have a deep love for God’s people and a long term commitment to our local church. In this update, I wanted to introduce you to our 5 new associate Pastors.\nTed Thayer (right) joined our staff as a missionary from Santa Barbara over 5 years ago. Ted joined us after serving on the wonderful staff of Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara, and he brought many gifts with him. Ted is a gifted worship leader, an amazing electric guitar player, and a fantastic Bible teacher. Ted has led our weekly English men’s Bible study for the past 3 years, and we are excited to have him serving as our Associate Pastor over English Ministries!\nMario De Los Santos and his wife Wendy came to faith in our church, were baptized, and over time, proved themselves as gifted servant leaders. Mario has recently taken over leadership of our New Believers class and ministry and is doing a fantastic job. This past month, we were blessed to baptize 22 people, and every one of these friends was part of our new believers class. We are excited to have Pastor Mario leading our New Believers ministry.\nJorge Blancas came to our church many years ago as a drug-addicted and hopeless man! Eventually, George became an intern and worked his way up to a staff position. Over that time, George also married a young lady from the church and had a couple of daughters. Last month we were honored and blessed to ordain my good friend George as our new Associate Pastor over facilities and security!\nI often call my friend Francisco Ahumada the nicest man in the church. If you have visited our church, no doubt you have been greeted by him as he leads our friendly welcome ministry! Last year, we were blessed as Francisco married our director of Celebrate Recovery Cheryl! It was an honor to ordain this Godly man as our new associate pastor over the welcome ministry and celebrate recovery!\nMario Medrano has been a missionary attending our church for over 10 years now. After graduating from our church planting program, Mario was sent out to plant a church in La Paz. After 4 years of faithful ministry there, Mario moved back to Rosarito to help me head up our church planting program. Mario is my travel buddy as we travel around Mexico together visiting and ministering to our church plants! It was a great honor to ordain Mario as our new Associate Pastor of Church Planting!\nIt blesses me to share the stories of these five men with you, because each one is a partner with you in our ministry here in Mexico! Thanks again for your love, prayers, and financial support.\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless our five new associate Pastors who have joined our church staff!\n#2- That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for our newest church plant in February, CCOtay Mesa in East Tijuana!\n#2- Praise God that we were able to travel to Mazatlan to host a church planting conference, and join them as they planted a new church! (Calvary Mazatlan East)\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on this link to directly support our family as your missionaries. https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=DFA990CC09D942B\nOr, you can go to our mission’s website, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. Please remember to type in “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-march-2020-ministry-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/02/82435473%5F10157239653747029%5F5552561272484003840%5Fo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn this missions update, I am excited to talk to you about some staff changes that we have made at church since the new year!  Last year, of the five church plants we sent out, 3 of the pastors were our assistant pastors. When we sent out Pastor Fernando to Las Vegas, we realized we were in dire need of some new Assistant Pastors.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/02/83196463%5F10157239652597029%5F2838103707613134848%5Fo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter 4 months of praying, we were excited to ordain 5 new associate Pastors to our Pastoral staff. Each one of these Godly men meets the Biblical requirements of being an elder found in 1st Timothy and Titus. They also have a deep love for God’s people and a long term commitment to our local church. In this update, I wanted to introduce you to our 5 new associate Pastors.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent  Family  MARCH   2020  Ministry  Update!"},{"content":"“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth” John 17:17\nDear Friends and Family,\nGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan, we hope and pray for all of you to be fine. We praise God for the wonderful work of the church to continue here by His grace.\nSickness\nAs the weather is changing, our whole family went through a phase of sickness because of cold and high fever. This is also one of the reasons that we are late in posting our update. We are thankful to you for the faithful prayers. Almost all of us have recovered now and the coldest wave of the weather is almost over.\nBibles for Un-reached\nWe are thankful to you dear friends for helping us get Bibles for unreached people for many years now. We remember the times when some of you donated blood to raise support for the Bibles, some of you ran long distance races and children did car wash to raise support for Bibles. We are always humbled to see your love, and while you co-labor with us that way, on this end we have been faithfully reaching remote areas, deep villages, jungles and deserts to take your gift to most deserving people.\nI have shared with you that American organization “Faith Comes by Hearing” is providing CC Pakistan with audio Bibles this year. Their Director for Asia visited Pakistan last month and we conducted a training for the pastors.\nNow not only our mission team but many pastors around us are forming small groups of people at different places and they are studying the Word of God with uneducated, disadvantaged and poor people in the remote areas. These groups listen from the Word of God and then they have time for discussion and prayer. Please continue to pray for this ministry project and provision of Bibles needed in future.\nReaching other cities Online\nIn year 2020 we started an awesome project of teaching in two other cities through\n“Online class”. This is really a great start of the year and we believe that this is the foundation of a vision for future, of Calvary Chapel “Bible school and College” in Pakistan. For first three months we have a class “Introduction to Bible” and then we will move to some\nother classes. First Week we had 21 and 27 students at in our class in two different cities and this week at both places we had more than 40 students.\nI also want to share with you that these people we are reaching through our “online class” have highly been under\nthe influence of “Televangelists, prosperity teachers”. The Teaching of the true word of God is amazingly changing their lives. Since we started these classes, we are receiving more requests from different people. Please keep this teaching project in your prayers, and please pray that we may start such projects in more cities where so many people are still unreached and they are not receiving true and simple teachings of the Word.\nWebsite\nOur devoted team is working very hard to produce Biblical teaching material in Urdu language for our website: calvarypakistan.com, the outcome is really great and our website is also becoming a great source for so many people for Bible studies, Bible commentary in Urdu and so much other information. Please keep our whole team, our ministry and all needs in your prayers!\nWe are always thankful to you for your love, care and support. We love you and pray for you and your family!\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/back-to-the-bible/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth”           John 17:17\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan, we hope and pray for all of you to be fine. We praise God for the wonderful work of the church to continue here by His grace.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSickness\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the weather is changing, our whole family went through a phase of sickness because of cold and high fever. This is also one of the reasons that we are late in posting our update. We are thankful to you for the faithful prayers. Almost all of us have recovered now and the coldest wave of the weather is almost over.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Back to the Bible"},{"content":"It’s hard to believe 2019 has already come and gone. Between all the ministry trips, CCBC \u0026amp; School of Worship classes, and the birth of Eden, the year really seemed to fly by. We are so blessed by all that God has done within the past year and are very excited to see what He has in store for 2020.\nBefore we jump into our 2019 highlights, we want to let you know about some exciting new changes in our ministry’s administration.\nWhen we first started our “adventure” in missions, our sending church, Calvary Chapel West Grove, did not have the ability to receive our monthly support. Now they have a thriving mission sending ministry. Because of this, we will be switching from Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM) to our home church’s missions sending program.\nPlease save our new email address ( sarkarccwgmissions@gmail.com) and expect all future emails to come from there. Please also check out our new blog page at sarkarccwgmissions.weebly.com. There you can add your email address to our new update list and sign up to partner with us financially.\n\\\\ For our safety and the safety of all that work with us, please do not share these highlights on Social Media. People’s names and location names will not be mentioned as a precaution as well. **\n2019 Highlights:\nWe were blessed to have Tonielle’s parents come to visit us at the beginning of the year. Her mom was able to come out for a few weeks right after Eden was born and her dad came for a week as well. It was great to have them with us again and a huge help while adjusting to being parents of two! We even had a chance to squeeze in a trip to Pokhara (8 hour drive west from Kathmandu). Despite the anti-conversion law in Nepal, God’s spirit is moving and people are still coming to a saving knowledge of Him! The congregation of CC KTM is growing and more of our new believers are wanting to be baptized. In addition to the CC KTM congregation, we were privileged to baptize three people from our newest church plant in Midwest Nepal. Salvation was able to record their first official music video! It is Pankaj and the Salvation leadership’s desire to have more materials available to people online. This video is one of the first steps to doing that. We are praying for a nice camera to use for future recordings and projects. After 7-years of praying, God opened the door for classes to finally begin for the School of Worship. Classes began in August and we have 14 students. Twelve out of the fourteen live in the Kathmandu Valley and commute on a daily basis. Two of them are from out of the Valley and stay on campus with the CCBC students. Classes are back in session after our winter break and we are excited to get back with everyone soon. Please continue to pray for this brand new work and for all the needs we have with starting a new ministry. Toward the beginning of the year, the CCBC students and staff went to a village in the midwest. They were able to do outdoor evangelism with dances, skits, and special testimonies all followed by the Good News message. They were also invited to a special community club up the mountain to share. A team from America came and we were able to go to one of the local slums and visit the leprosy colony. It was great to be able to bring all the CCBC and School of Worship students to this as well. The team hosted a VBS for the children and were able to go hut to hut distributing mosquito nets and sharing the Good News with everyone they met. Please pray for all of the seeds that have been sown through these outreaches.\nOur good friend and ministry partner came in the middle of the year and was able to travel to West Nepal and host a pastor and leaders training conference. It was a 4-day conference and the classes included Inductive Bible Study, How to Identify a Cult, and the Biblical Perspective of Worship. It was a great privilege to have the leaders and their wives come. There were over 90 people who came! We hope to turn this into a 2-year training program where we meet 3 times a year for one-week training. We hope that we would be able to cover 12 subjects in the course of the 2 years. Please join us in praying for God to provide visiting teachers and materials needed for this program. On November 22nd, CCBC Nepal had its 5th Graduation ceremony! We are privileged to be able to train up these young men and women from all parts of Nepal. Most of the past graduates from CCBC Nepal have remained in ministry at their home churches or have started new works in the area. We had 3 graduates this year and we know and trust that God will use mightily for His Kingdom. CC KTM hosted our 2nd annual Christmas Market on December 1st. This event is designed to not only help local businesses and business owners but also to be an outreach to the community. Multiple churches were involved and we had a good mixture of Christians and non-Christians that attended. Throughout the evening, we saw around 500 people come to our campus to shop, eat, and fellowship with each other. This is a great time for people to get together to hang out and there were also many opportunities for the Good News to be shared one-on-one with others who came to the event. We hope that God will allow us to continue doing this event on a yearly basis. There were many other things that happened over the past year but these are just a few of our highlights!\nThank you for your continued love, prayers, and financial support for our ministries and our family. We know that none of these things would have been possible without God and without your prayers and support.\nWe look forward to updating you on all that happened on our trip to America after we return to Nepal in March! Keep an eye out for our next newsletter (from a new email address) next month!!\nWe love you and hope you had a blessed Christmas and have a very good 2020!\nIn Him,\nThe Sarkar Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/looking-back-on-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt’s hard to believe 2019 has already come and gone. Between all the ministry trips, CCBC \u0026amp; School of Worship classes, and the birth of Eden, the year really seemed to fly by. We are so blessed by all that God has done within the past year and are very excited to see what He has in store for 2020.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBefore we jump into our 2019 highlights, we want to let you know about some exciting new changes in our ministry’s administration.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Looking Back on 2019"},{"content":"The last three months have been full of amazing stories of how God is working in and through our lives and ministry. First of all, many of you have been praying for Flavia, an 11-year-old girl in our church who was in a serious car accident just after Christmas, she was in a coma for 14 days, she had three fractures on her skull, and God saved her life! She is now out of the coma, she is back in Huacho, and she has full function of her arms and legs. She is still going through some therapy to help her regain her full eyesight, but she is a miracle. Praise be to God.\nFrom November to the beginning of February, it was non-stop action. The Church of Viera sent down some ladies to help us with our Thanksgiving outreach as we fed 160 people. We enjoyed giving thanks to God with the people in our church neighborhood. These ladies had been to Huacho several times, and they focused on the children in our church and in the local orphanage! We had an amazing time with our English Second Language ministry and relationship building during their time in Peru. Over the Christmas holiday, we had two more children’s outreaches since it was the Peruvian summer. We had one at the church with hot chocolate, fruitcake, prizes and lots of fun. Then we started a new ministry two blocks behind the church in a very poor neighborhood doing the same kind of outreach! This has now turned into an every Sunday afternoon Bible study as we have seen such a need to share Christ and His love with them.\nWe were privileged to host a team of students from Carmel Christian School at the end of January, and they were instrumental in reaching youth in our area by hosting several sports events, and activities at the beach. Our youth were encouraged by having other teens come and share their testimonies and see how youth live in Peru.\nWe not only started a new Bible study in the streets behind the church, but we are launching a brand-new ministry as we are officially opening up the School of Ministry (SOM) and are offering dorm rooms for students. This will be mainly open for the youth in Peru to get better equipped for the ministry and provide for their basic needs like food and shelter. We have 4 students signed up and will be starting classes at the end of March. There will be an exciting aspect of this ministry as it will be open enrollment for students from the USA who want to come and learn cross-culture ministry and serve with us in Huacho.\nWe want to thank everyone for praying for Daisy’s citizenship, she has passed her test and has been approved for her Naturalization ceremony, she has not received an appointment yet! We are praying that it will be ASAP so we can all return to Peru and serve together just as God meant it to be! Ryan is still studying and serving with us and we are excited to see what God is going to do in 2020. Once again, we are so grateful for all of our partners and for all the prayer warriors we have interceding for us. May the Lord bless you all.\nFollow us on Facebook; The Tippies in Huacho, Peru!\nMake donations payable to:\nSaving Grace World Missions\nBy mail:\nSaving Grace World Missions 17451 Bastanchury Rd. Ste. 203 Yorba Linda, CA 92886\nIn the memo section of your check, write The Tippie’s Peru.\nOnline: www.sgwm.com\nClick on “Find a Missionary,” then click on our picture.\nContact SGWM: 714-993-4801\nPersonal Budget information\nMinimum monthly budget needed is: $3,000.\nPersonal monthly support received: $2,400.\nChurch Café: $9,000\nMen’s disciple house – SOM: $550. a month extra\nImmediate needs are for our home missionary assignment, Citizenship fees, funds for our church Café, \u0026amp; Men’s discipleship house!\nContact us personally: E-mail: craigydaisyperu@live.com\nWatch our video on YouTube: Ride Nature Peru Episode 9\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-tippies-2020-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe last three months have been full of amazing stories of how God is working in and through our lives and ministry. First of all, many of you have been praying for Flavia, an 11-year-old girl in our church who was in a serious car accident just after Christmas, she was in a coma for 14 days, she had three fractures on her skull, and God saved her life! She is now out of the coma, she is back in Huacho, and she has full function of her arms and legs. She is still going through some therapy to help her regain her full eyesight, but she is a miracle. Praise be to God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Tippie's 2020 Newsletter"},{"content":"Funny thing about horizons… They have a way of continuing to expand.\nThis year has gotten off to a great start. Jenn and I were able to attend the Calvery Chapel missions conference which is always been a great treat for me. To be able to share it with my bride and ministry partner this year was like having my cake and eating it too. Being able to see old friends and meet new ones from all around the world really helped re-solidify the calling God has upon our lives. The feedback that I’ve gotten from every missionary I’ve talked to is that the ministry God has given us is so important. Some of them with tear-filled eyes tried to express their joy and gratitude for someone to care for them in the way the Lord has led us to do. Missionaries need care, missionaries are not super-spiritual Christian all-stars. Missionaries are normal people with normal hurts, fears, and issues. To let them know they are not forgotten and minister to them in every and any way that we can is our great passion and a God-given gift to us.\nAnother one of the multi-faceted ways we have been able to care for missionaries so far this year was in the assembling of a team to help process year-end tax statements of donations. As we folded letters, stuffed and sealed envelopes, stamped, and delivered them to the post office, I was reminded of God’s great faithfulness and provision for His missionaries and our privilege to care for them in this way.\nThere was so much more that could be shared about this month. Just to mention a few, the sending of more than 15 people to the mission field, leading a trip to Mexico to deliver furniture to a special-needs orphanage there, and being able to teach Chapel three times in South Asia.\nSouth Asia Skype Teaching\nSouth Asia Skype teaching\nMexico Team\nPraise Report:\nPraise God that Tim now has really good health insurance for only $160 a month. We are so grateful for that, however, we are seeking assistance to help cover that cost. We are also in need of financial assistance to cover the costs of providing care for missionaries. If you would like to partner with us in this, your support through prayer and finances would be greatly appreciated. We are still in need of people who wish to partner with us.\nWe are most appreciative of you who have already joined us in this area, and we are grateful that we have reached 1/2 of our monthly support needs. If the Lord leads you to join us financially, you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or by mailing your support check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd, Ste 203\nYorba Linda, CA 92886\n*Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/expanding-horizons/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFunny thing about horizons… They have a way of continuing to expand.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/pappas/wp-content/uploads/sites/63/2020/02/IMG%5F3199.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis year has gotten off to a great start. Jenn and I were able to attend the Calvery Chapel missions conference which is always been a great treat for me. To be able to share it with my bride and ministry partner this year was like having my cake and eating it too. Being able to see old friends and meet new ones from all around the world really helped re-solidify the calling God has upon our lives. The feedback that I’ve gotten from every missionary I’ve talked to is that the ministry God has given us is so important. Some of them with tear-filled eyes tried to express their joy and gratitude for someone to care for them in the way the Lord has led us to do. Missionaries need care, missionaries are not super-spiritual Christian all-stars. Missionaries are normal people with normal hurts, fears, and issues. To let them know they are not forgotten and minister to them in every and any way that we can is our great passion and a God-given gift to us.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Expanding Horizons"},{"content":"“So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.” Psalm 63:2-3 In the month of January God gave me (Matt) the wonderful privilege of attending the annual East Africa Calvary Chapel Association Conference. It was my first time to attend this conference but I hope it will not be the last. Although I love the church as a whole, I have a special place in my heart for the Calvary Chapel movement that seeks to permeate the world with the Gospel through sharing the Love of Jesus and simply explaining the words of God. It was wonderful to sit in the “sanctuary” and behold what God has done and is doing in this region of the world in and through His bride. Jesus touched my heart as I worshiped Him alongside men, of all different tribes and languages, who have separated themselves from the deceitful pleasures of this life to love and serve the King of Kings. All of us were stirred and filled as we looked at Jesus\u0026rsquo; words to the seven churches in the first chapters of Revelation. It was a perfect way for me to start the year, filling my heart with expectation for what God has in store for 2020. My prayer is for there to be a church that rightly handles the Word of Truth and believes in the transforming power of Jesus\u0026rsquo; death and resurrection in every village.\nMy family and I would like to take a moment to appreciate all of you for your partnership with us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is so evident that there are prayers going up to heaven on our behalf every day and that we are well-loved. Thank you for your love, thank you for your prayers, thank you for your encouragement. We wish it were easier to fit into our updates all that you have helped to accomplish and have made an impact on over the last year. To hear more deeply of the answered prayers. To see the faces of those who have had healing. And to hear testimonies from those being transformed. It is our hope that one day you will be able to come and see it with your own eyes.\nAlso, please pray for East Africa, as there is a massive plague of locusts moving through the region causing tremendous pain and suffering to those in its path.\nIn Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, and Noah ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/january-2020/","summary":"\u003ch5 id=\"so-i-have-looked-upon-you-in-the-sanctuary-beholding-your-power-and-glory-because-your-steadfast-love-is-better-than-life-my-lips-will-praise-you-psalm-632-3\"\u003e“So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.  Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you.”  Psalm 63:2-3\u003c/h5\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the month of January God gave me (Matt) the wonderful privilege of attending the annual East Africa Calvary Chapel Association Conference.  It was my first time to attend this conference but I hope it will not be the last.  Although I love the church as a whole, I have a special place in my heart for the Calvary Chapel movement that seeks to permeate the world with the Gospel through sharing the Love of Jesus and simply explaining the words of God.  It was wonderful to sit in the “sanctuary” and behold what God has done and is doing in this region of the world in and through His bride.  Jesus touched my heart as I worshiped Him alongside men, of all different tribes and languages, who have separated themselves from the deceitful pleasures of this life to love and serve the King of Kings.  All of us were stirred and filled as we looked at Jesus\u0026rsquo; words to the seven churches in the first chapters of Revelation.  It was a perfect way for me to start the year, filling my heart with expectation for what God has in store for 2020.  My prayer is for there to be a church that rightly handles the Word of Truth and believes in the transforming power of Jesus\u0026rsquo; death and resurrection in every village.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"January 2020"},{"content":"January proved to be yet another great month of serving Jesus here in Tijuana, Mexico! We are in a new year, 2020, and the vision of this year from our pastor to all of us at CC Pedregales, is to reach, disciple, and send out others, and to have 20/20 vision–a clear vision from the Lord in all that we do for Him!\nI was blessed to be able to attend this year’s Mission’s Conference at Murrieta Hot Springs, and what a great conference it was. It’s always nice seeing old friends and making new ones. To hear how God is working all around the globe–well, there’s nothing quite like that! Definitely, the best conference of the year for me!\nOur after school program, “Amigos del Rey” (Friends of the King), is still what takes most of my time, and I love these kids more every day! The library is a hit, (they are loving the books). We just saw a movie, “The Little Prince,” and I had my class do a journal entry in their journals, and they are improving so much in their writing skills, I am so proud of them! A sixth grader asked me recently how and when to use commas. Her teachers have never taught her this and she’s going into Jr. High! I sometimes assume that they know these basic concepts but they don’t! It’s still not too late to donate a book to add to our library. Just click above on the link that says “donate a book to Amigos del Rey.” (You can also choose a used book in good condition from the list).\nThe parents of the kids have mandatory meetings every three months, and the next one will be a little different. We received a donation, and so we decided to bless them with a fancy dinner and gospel message from our pastor. They have heard the gospel many times, but they simply don’t want to give up their lifestyle of sin! We know, however, that God has His perfect timing, and we just continue sharing the love of Jesus with them and God is in charge of the rest.\nI continue to disciple young adult single gals from our church; currently, there are 5, and it is a great blessing! We are becoming close and being able to share and pray together intimately is something very special to me. They all know that when they finish the class, they each will take a girl and do the same: disciple them. I’m excited to see how God will use them in the future.\nThere is currently construction going on here. We are making the children’s play area a little bit bigger by shortening our basketball court. (It was huge). This will be nice for the kids, as the trash area will also be separate from the play area instead of a part of it! I am praying for a brand new playground structure for the kids.\nAs I’m sitting here writing this post, it is 39 degrees outside and I have a new heater! I’ve never had heat here before and it is so nice to finally have one. It was a blessing from a friend, and I know it’s not much, but it’s the little things sometimes that mean so much. Although I can’t help but think of all the homeless people here in Tijuana that I pass by when I cross the border. It’s supposed to be 30 degrees at 3:00 am tomorrow morning!!!\nThe Lord gave me a verse for 2020, and it is John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” I so very much need the Holy Spirit in my life and desire to be led by Him!\nI truly am blessed by all of you and cherish and thank you for your support and prayers for me and the saints at CC Pedregales\nPrayer Requests:\nFor my upcoming trip to Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Michoacan to do teacher training. I will be gone from Feb. 16th until March 8th. That all would flow smoothly in my absence, and blessings on the teachings at the different Calvary Chapels. For my health, specifically migraine headaches. For continued blessings on the discipleship with the young ladies For the parent dinner in March, that they would come to Christ and give their lives to Jesus! for the Children’s Ministry–we are currently in need of several teachers for a new playground structure Lovin’ Jesus,\nDeanna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/january-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJanuary proved to be yet another great month of serving Jesus here in Tijuana, Mexico! We are in a new year, 2020, and the vision of this year from our pastor to all of us at CC Pedregales, is to reach, disciple, and send out others, and to have 20/20 vision–a clear vision from the Lord in all that we do for Him!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI was blessed to be able to attend this year’s Mission’s Conference at Murrieta Hot Springs, and what a great conference it was. It’s always nice seeing old friends and making new ones. To hear how God is working all around the globe–well, there’s nothing quite like that! Definitely, the best conference of the year for me!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"January Update"},{"content":"January was an awesome month of seeing God work and move in my life and ministry. Every day comes with its own ministry opportunities and every day I see God’s hand at work.\nI serve in the youth ministry at my church and I had the privilege of seeing 6 youth get baptized, one of them receiving Christ just a few weeks prior. I had the opportunity to sit with, listen to, pray for, and counsel one of our students as she shared her burdens with me, I just started meeting with one of our high school girls for discipleship and am excited to see how God uses me in her life and how He uses her in my life, and I will begin meeting with another girl this month. It is such a privilege to walk with God and be used by Him to plant seeds in the lives of these high school and junior high students who are just beginning to seek God for themselves and make their faith their own. I love seeing God transform and restore lives!\nWe have our youth winter camp this month and I ask you to pray with us for the salvation of the youth coming who have not yet accepted Christ as Savior and Lord and for the growth of those students who have. God has provided in amazing ways through our church body so that even students who would not be able to go because of finances are able to attend with full scholarships! Thank you to all of you reading this who were a part of that, it is such a blessing to see God’s hand move on behalf of these precious kids.\nI also had the opportunity to attend a few sessions of the Calvary Chapel Missions conference at the beginning of the month and I am excited to be able to attend a Youth and Young Adults Missions conference this February in St. George, Utah. A few interns and I will be representing Calvary School of Missions at the conference and we ask for your prayers! Please pray that God would stir people’s hearts to step out in missions and be equipped for the work.\nI want to send out a special thank you to my financial supporters- your gifts are such a blessing to me personally and I am incredibly humbled to be able to serve God in this capacity thanks to your faith and faithfulness in donating. I pray that God would be glorified through every penny and that you would be abundantly blessed through seeing the fruit of this ministry which abounds to YOUR account! I wish I could quote all of Philippians 4 because I feel it is so applicable but I will summarize with Philippians 4:19 which says,\n“and my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.”\nThat is what God has done in my life through you and what, I’m sure, He continues to do in your life as well.\nI love you all and treasure your prayers!\nRemember, please pray for:\nYouth Winter Camp on February 21st-23rd: salvation and growth! The Just Go Missions Conference in St. George: Safe travels, sweet fellowship, productive conversations. God’s continued financial provision through financial partnerships. With love,\nHope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/every-day-im-ministering/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJanuary was an awesome month of seeing God work and move in my life and ministry. Every day comes with its own ministry opportunities and every day I see God’s hand at work.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI serve in the youth ministry at my church and I had the privilege of seeing 6 youth get baptized, one of them receiving Christ just a few weeks prior. I had the opportunity to sit with, listen to, pray for, and counsel one of our students as she shared her burdens with me, I just started meeting with one of our high school girls for discipleship and am excited to see how God uses me in her life and how He uses her in my life, and I will begin meeting with another girl this month. It is such a privilege to walk with God and be used by Him to plant seeds in the lives of these high school and junior high students who are just beginning to seek God for themselves and make their faith their own. I love seeing God transform and restore lives!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Every Day I'm Ministering"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/hi/","summary":"","title":"Hi"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn this missions update, I am excited to talk to you about our upcoming church planting work outside of Mexico. As I write this report I am sitting in the San Diego Airport preparing to fly to Phoenix to visit our church plant in nearby Waddell, Arizona, Refresh Church!\nJust four weeks in, this non-denominational church plant led by my good friend Pastor Donny and Coby Aldana (who completed our church planting conference) is already averaging around 100 people. Praise God!\nAlso in January we were able to send out one of our American interns, Jonathon Fruin. (A young man that grew up in our church) Jonathon is preparing to translate for our bilingual church plant in Las Vegas led by Pastor Fernando Serrano.\nThe fun thing about this church plant is that it will be the exact reverse of our church. This will be a bilingual church in the USA, where the sermon is preached in Spanish, then translated into English. Isn’t that cool!\nOne of the most exciting things I get to share in this update is that God is extending our church planting borders to beyond Mexico and the USA! Jesus told the early believers in Mark 16:15 to go into ALL THE WORLD and preach the Gospel! As our new church planting class prepares to begin in 2020, we are happy to announce that we have four NEW NATIONS represented in our 2020 church planting class!\n#1- We have a couple taking the course who are from Sweden. (Wouldn’t it be amazing to plant a church in Europe together!) # 2- We have a couple entering into the class who have an invitation to move North to Canada to church plant. #3- We have a new intern who has moved up to Rosarito from Peru, who is planning on returning to church plant in Peru after he completes our program. #4- Forth and finally, our intern Giovanni is planning on planting in Guatemala later this year after he completes our two-year church planting and internship program.\nRecently Giovanni traveled to Guatemala on his church planting vision tour with two of our assistant Pastors. After our pastors returned, Giovanni stayed in Guatemala for two months to get his legal paperwork in order. While Giovanni is 100% Guatemalan (both his mother and father were born there) he was actually born in Tijuana and had never visited Guatemala or any of his family members living there.\nOn this trip, Giovanni got to meet his Grandma and Grandpa, Uncles, Aunts, and cousins for the very first time. Giovanni also got to share the gospel with his family and their friends and to share with them about his future church plant. (We are targeting this plant to begin in the summer of 2020!) When Giovanni held an information meeting about the future church plant in a local coffee shop, over 20 adults attended showing interest and desiring to be a part of it. Please keep this future church plant to Guatemala in your prayers!\nIt blesses me to share about these future church plants with you because all of this is your spiritual fruit. As the Apostle Paul wrote about his ministry in 1st Corinthians 3:6, I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase! Truly our ministry and church planting is a team effort and we are honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with us as your missionaries. Thanks again for your love, prayers, and financial support.\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless our new batch of church planters that are beginning the course next week!\n#2- That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a great beginning to Refresh Church located in Waddell Arizona!\n#2- Praise God that our church had the largest attended regular service in our history in January, with nearly 1,600 in attendance!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-2020-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this missions update, I am excited to talk to you about our upcoming church planting work outside of Mexico. As I write this report I am sitting in the San Diego Airport preparing to fly to Phoenix to visit our church plant in nearby Waddell, Arizona, Refresh Church!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/01/83360721%5F176571343728042%5F4693093142088384512%5Fo.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eJust four weeks in, this non-denominational church plant led by my good friend Pastor Donny and Coby Aldana \u003cem\u003e(who completed our church planting conference)\u003c/em\u003e is already averaging around 100 people. Praise God!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family 2020 Missions Update"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family!\nWith a new year, I always find it helpful to think through where God has us and what He has us doing. I am more convinced than ever of His role for me in world missions using the pastoral gifts He’s given me of leadership, encouraging, teaching, and administration. I have been stirred early this year to “go” more; to go where our international ministries are and strengthen the disciples there (Acts 13:43; 14:21-23). And, in the case of my upcoming trip to Jordan, help establish new ones while making my life a blank check written out to Christ, open to where He may send me short-term or long-term.\nBefore I leave for Israel (to bolster my biblical education) and Jordan (to pray and seek vision over a potential new SGWM ministry there), I wanted to present our latest prayer needs to you all.\n1. Pray that the Lord would use me in Jordan to help guide a few of our interns and others who are praying about moving there long-term. I’ll be praying with them, seeking vision on what God wants for that part of the world through us, leading times of worship for them, teaching some of the national leadership on the ground, and doing some ministry among refugees there.\n2. Pray that the Lord would give me vision for my own family. I will specifically be praying for our team there, my own ministry with our local church, and whether the Lord wants us to continue serving from our home in California or to move to Jordan or elsewhere. My prayer is that my life would be all the more surrendered to him after these two weeks.\n3. Pray for Amy and the kids while I am gone, as it is difficult for them when I go on long trips. The kids are already having experiences that we equate with demonic spiritual warfare. Pray for their protection and Amy’s strength. Jordan is relatively safe, but it is still a spiritually dark part of the world and the enemy will oppose me going.\n4. Finally, please pray for our financial needs as we live largely off of financial support just like our international missionaries. Our rent has just been raised a significant amount, and with 4 kids who are growing rapidly, the cost of groceries and other household consumables is rising as well. We trust the Lord always to sustain us, but we are hoping to raise an additional $350-$400 more per month. Please pray that the Lord may provide for us in His will, whatever amount of support He deems sufficient (Proverbs 30:7-9). If you feel led to partner with us financially, please visit our missionary page under \u0026ldquo;Find A Missionary\u0026rdquo; at SGWM.com.\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/renewed-vision-needed-prayers-garcia-family-update-january-2020/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith a new year, I always find it helpful to think through where God has us and what He has us doing. I am more convinced than ever of His role for me in world missions using the pastoral gifts He’s given me of leadership, encouraging, teaching, and administration. I have been stirred early this year to “go” more; to go where our international ministries are and strengthen the disciples there (Acts 13:43; 14:21-23). And, in the case of my upcoming trip to Jordan, help establish new ones while making my life a blank check written out to Christ, open to where He may send me short-term or long-term.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Renewed Vision, Needed Prayers - Garcia Family Update January 2020"},{"content":" For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” Acts 13:47\nWe thank God for carrying us through 2019- a year with many mountains and valleys. Because of God’s faithfulness in many stressful situations, our faith continues to grow as we begin 2020.\nThank you for your prayers for Benjamin especially during his hospitalization for influenza. We are also thankful that no one else caught it from him, especially because the team from Japan came just as he was recovering. Despite this, the team had a blessed time in Cambodia. They were a great encouragement both as prayer and ministry partners. They also were able to bless some poor Cambodian children through a special program in partnership with a local ministry to people who are so poor that they must live in graveyards.\nPlease pray for our senders in Japan. The pastor who heads our sending committee in Japan, who connects us with Japanese churches, and who is key to our fund-raising in Japan is going through some health problems and has had to take an extended time off from all ministries. So, please pray for this beloved pastor’s recovery and also please pray that God will open doors for us to visit churches in Japan this summer.\nPlease pray for our increasing work with Precious Women Organization, a ministry which evangelizes and retrains women who could easily become trapped in the sex industry. Kayo is praying about whether or not to join the board of Precious Women and Darryl has started working one day a week with them to produce videos to inspire the Cambodian women and other topics.\nWe are blessed with other ministry opportunities as well. Darryl continues to make evangelistic videos in the Cambodian language. One of his videos has recently been viewed by more than 40,000 Cambodians. He also continues to work with Light Times Magazine and on the development of an evangelistic/evangelistic website in partnership with a brother from Pakistan. Kayo also continues to be very busy with coordinating the international church’s worship team and reaching out to Japanese living in Cambodia.\nPlease continue to pray for our finances, especially for Benjamin’s educational expenses. With the various ministry projects that seem to need additional time and energy, we really don’t see a clear path for us to earn additional income through tent-making, at least not in this season. It seems that God wants us to trust Him to send the needed funds through His people.\nIn Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-year-new-opportunities/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/80961200%5F10220390053492334%5F5032661167839903744%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFor so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”\u003c/em\u003e Acts 13:47\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe thank God for carrying us through 2019- a year with many mountains and valleys. Because of God’s faithfulness in many stressful situations, our faith continues to grow as we begin 2020.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your prayers for Benjamin especially during his hospitalization for influenza. We are also thankful that no one else caught it from him, especially because the team from Japan came just as he was recovering. Despite this, the team had a blessed time in Cambodia. They were a great encouragement both as prayer and ministry partners. They also were able to bless some poor Cambodian children through a special program in partnership with a local ministry to people who are so poor that they must live in graveyards.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Year, New Opportunities"},{"content":"“.. .And you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.” —Matthew 1:21 Dear Friends and Family, As the holiday season has come to an end and we are jumping into the new year, we wanted to take time to share about the Christmas outreaches that have taken place.\nAs part of our church ministry, we reach out to the market place and the people who work there. This is actually how Arise Christian Fellowship began. Many men came to the Lord and the church was born. The women in the market place have been harder to reach. Many of them have had very hard lives and are caught up in practicing witchcraft. As I was preparing for this year\u0026rsquo;s women’s Christmas tea the women from the market place were really on my heart, that they would really understand the true meaning of Christmas and why Jesus came. There are a couple of ladies from church who come from the market place so in the days leading up to the Tea they were really helpful in reaching out and inviting other market ladies to come. I planned for 2 teachings and a light meal, as well as Christmas cookies and tea.\nThe first teaching was looking at Mary and her finding out she was going to be the mother of Jesus. It was designed to help the ladies to relate better to what was about to happen through the birth of Christ. I invited Kim Wargi to come down from South Sudan and share this teaching with the ladies. When I was sharing with her about the theme I shared how the first teaching I wanted to be about the human side of the Christmas story and the second teaching to be more evangelistic focusing on Matthew 1:21 where it says, “And you shall call His Name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins”. In my heart, I really wanted to teach the evangelistic message but since I was inviting Kim to help teach I let her choose and immediately she asked if she could teach about Mary. It was a beautiful confirmation.\nOn the day of the conference, we had a huge tropical storm. I was afraid the market ladies we reached out to would not come because even the ladies from my Bible study were 2 hours late. We began the tea with Christmas carols and food and eventually as the rain slowed down more and more ladies began to come. Kim’s message really touched the heart and emotions of some of the ladies who came and they shared with us after. My evangelistic message on why Jesus was born was also well received and a handful of ladies from the market stayed after and Brian was able to talk to them in their language more in detail about salvation.\nLeading up to Christmas we also had a desire to reach out to the community around the church. On Christmas Eve we planned a day of outreach in the community, games, and activities happening back at Arise Christian Fellowship, and to end the day with our Christmas Eve program and message. So many people came to the outreach. At first, it was mostly children and it was so fun to see all the kids playing on the bouncy castle and receiving gifts from “Father Christmas.” After some fun and games, we served everyone who was there a meal. Laylee wanted to help serve the children to be sure there were no “starving children in Africa.” It was a blessing to see so many children and even adults who most likely were not going to get a Christmas dinner all eating and enjoying Christmas together.\nTowards evening we began the Christmas program. All the youth from the baby class up to young adults performed a Christmas cantata of sorts with songs and dances as well as performing the Christmas story. The worship team led us in Christmas carols and Luke joined them to play Mary Did You Know on the piano.\nBy the time Brian came up to share the Christmas message the hall was overflowing and most of the gardens were filled with people. There were about 400 adults and children from the community there to hear the “True Meaning of Christmas,” which was the title of Brian’s message. We could not have even imagined the turnout we had and pray for all who came to make a personal choice to follow Jesus. After the message, we had a baptism and we are very happy to tell you that Luke publically declared his faith in Christ and was baptized as well. We ended the evening by cutting and sharing Christmas cakes with as many people there that we could. We praise God for what he is doing at Arise Christian Fellowship and in the community around us.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS · Praise the Lord for the ministries taking place in Uganda and South Sudan\n· Praise the Lord for all the people who were reached both in the market place and the community outreach around Arise Christian Fellowship\n· Pray for the women who attended the Christmas Tea. Pray that they continue to hunger for God’s Word and to know Him more.\n· Pray for those who have received Christ to continue to come to church and receive discipleship.\n· Pray for the new year and what the Lord has in store for the Kanyike family and for the ministry.\n· Pray for Brian as pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship.\n· Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thekanyike-update-christmas-outreaches/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"heading\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“.. \u003cem\u003e.And you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people from their sins.”    —Matthew 1:21\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"dear-friends-and-family\"\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs the holiday season has come to an end and we are jumping into the new year, we wanted to take time to share about the Christmas outreaches that have taken place.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs part of our church ministry, we reach out to the market place and the people who work there.  This is actually how Arise Christian Fellowship began.  Many men came to the Lord and the church was born.  The women in the market place have been harder to reach.  Many of them have had very hard lives and are caught up in practicing witchcraft.  As I was preparing for this year\u0026rsquo;s women’s Christmas tea the women from the market place were really on my heart, that they would really understand the true meaning of Christmas and why Jesus came.  There are a couple of ladies from church who come from the market place so in the days leading up to the Tea they were really helpful in reaching out and inviting other market ladies to come.  I planned for 2 teachings and a light meal, as well as Christmas cookies and tea.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update- Christmas Outreaches"},{"content":" Click here to sign up and receive the SGWM quarterly newsletter directly to your email inbox!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/sgwm-quarterly-newsletters/quarterly-newsletter-signup/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/su/7WJqsNM/sgwm\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eClick here to sign up and receive the SGWM quarterly newsletter directly to your email inbox!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e","title":"Sign Up to Receive the Quarterly Newsletter!"},{"content":"“I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.” 3 John v 4 The month of December was full of ups and downs, but the one thing we feel about it overall is joy.\nLast year we did nothing American to celebrate Christmas besides cinnamon rolls for breakfast and reading the story of Christ’s birth in Luke. The day passed slowly and ended up being kind of miserable because we didn’t sleep at all that night, hearing the disco\u0026rsquo;s throbbing music and the public showing of movie after movie, as loudly as if they were inside our bedrooms, all through the night. This year we decided to be a little more traditional and put up a few lights and decorations, do a gift exchange with the kids, and invite some dear friends, 3 single ladies, over for dinner since their families had traveled for the holiday to different villages. It was not quite a white Christmas or a comfy cozy one, but it was restful and fun for all of us. And the disco got rained out, which was an answer to prayer for us (both for sleep, but also for the sake of our community and discouraging them from celebrating in ungodly ways).\nAnd the New Year slipped in so nonchalantly. There were events to mark the day, but having no real change of season to mark the time has made it difficult to believe that another year is in the past.\nI want to let you know about our friend Luke, who’s health we had asked you to pray for. As soon as he saw he wasn’t going to get any real answers and that he was not getting any better in the hospitals here, he flew back to the States and sought treatment there. Thankfully he recovered steadily from his first doctor\u0026rsquo;s visit, and I believe he is on track with his health to be joining us again soon. The doctors in America guessed that it was an undiagnosed case of pneumonia, among other possible things. But the good news is that God has been healing Luke and giving his body strength! Praise God for these answers to prayer!\nNow we have something to share which is never easy to talk about. Over the last half a year, God has been readying our hearts to receive another child. With all 3 of our children, we’ve really felt God preparing us beforehand for them, and even with Noah, we felt God leading us to pray for a boy months before he was conceived, though we weren’t sure whether to expect one through adoption or of ourselves. This time, late in November we found out I was pregnant. We were happy to know this and were glad God had been preparing us. But just two days after the positive test, I miscarried. I was only about 4 weeks along, some people wouldn’t have even guessed they were pregnant at that point, but I had, and I was. And then I wasn’t. It was a confusing few days as we tried to understand what might have caused it or if the test had just malfunctioned to begin with. Well, just 2 weeks later we had it medically confirmed as a miscarriage in a wild rush of physical pain and emotions. After a day of cramping and a night of fitful sleep, I woke up to excruciating pain in my lower right abdomen. We packed up the kids, called our x-ray technician friend in town, and left the house at 5:30 in the morning. Friends kept the kids for us as we waited for answers: Completion of miscarriage (which can take up to 6 wks for some people), malaria, and early appendicitis. After a lot of help from the Lord, a few days of bed rest, and a whole lot of pills, I made it through and am physically feeling fine.\nEmotionally I’m doing well too. God has given us peace about the final resting place of this child. We decided to name him Jordan, after the river (it’s easier to say ‘him’, but we don’t know which the child was). When the Israelites went into the land God had promised, they crossed the Jordan River. The name seemed fitting since this baby crossed into the Promised Land before us. And while we truly are sad to miss any future here on earth with Jordan, we have such comfort knowing where he is, and where we would have hoped and prayed all his life on earth that he would go if he had stayed; the arms of the Father. A verse that has always held such meaning for me in regards to our children is 3 John, verse 4, which says, “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.”\nAnd to know that my child has already reached the end of that “walk”, and is resting now in the presence of the Lord… I have a peace that passes my own understanding and joy. I look forward now to worshipping the Lord together with him one day.\nPlease do continue to pray for us as we keep our eyes on the goal of Christ’s glory. Many blessings in Jesus, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline, and Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/december-2019/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"i-have-no-greater-joy-than-this-to-hear-of-my-children-walking-in-the-truth-3-john-v-4\"\u003e“I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth.” 3 John v 4\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe month of December was full of ups and downs, but the one thing we feel about it overall is joy.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2020/01/308A102F-EF6A-4077-93A1-9768BC28D76F.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast year we did nothing American to celebrate Christmas besides cinnamon rolls for breakfast and reading the story of Christ’s birth in Luke. The day passed slowly and ended up being kind of miserable because we didn’t sleep at all that night, hearing the disco\u0026rsquo;s throbbing music and the public showing of movie after movie, as loudly as if they were inside our bedrooms, all through the night. This year we decided to be a little more traditional and put up a few lights and decorations, do a gift exchange with the kids, and invite some dear friends, 3 single ladies, over for dinner since their families had traveled for the holiday to different villages. It was not quite a white Christmas or a comfy cozy one, but it was restful and fun for all of us. And the disco got rained out, which was an answer to prayer for us (both for sleep, but also for the sake of our community and discouraging them from celebrating in ungodly ways).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"December 2019"},{"content":"Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. _____Isaiah 40:30-31\nDear Friends and Family,\nGreetings and Happy New Year! We hope and pray for you to be fine, safe and rejoicing in the Lord. We praise God for His faithfulness during year 2019. God did many wonderful things in our lives and ministry and through it.\nIn our meeting at the end of last year, we recalled some of the important things that Lord made possible for us, and those are like this:\nMy book on Christian Apologetics was printed, All the inquiries for the registration of our organization were completed, Our church’s youth Bible study was started, Our Website www.calvarypakistan.com was made and we have put much Urdu Material on that including the translation of Pastor David Guzik’s Commentary of John and Jude. We received adults and children Bibles and Audio Bibles for our ministry, We were able to go to desert area for 5 days mission, the ministry there continues… My son Joshua went with me to the CC Pastoral conference in Nepal, and the list goes on and on. God is truly faithful and he keeps and protects us as we serve Him here. We are thankful to you for your love, care, prayers and support.\nRefreshing Time with the Team\nSpending some time with our Calvary Chapel Team during the conferences has always been the most refreshing time for me. We praise God that in November 2019 I was able to go to Nepal with my son and we were able to spend some quality time with teams of two Calvary Chapels while they were serving diligently. This year’s experience was really unique as it helped me and my son to come out of our comfort zones. My son will never every forget his time spent in the Nepali mission field with those amazing people.\nThe most joyful thing for me was that we also were able to spend some very special time\nwith our Saving Grace Team. I met some new people, had wonderful fellowship and learned many things from their lives and ministries. We praise God and give Him all glory for the ministries of our all missionary friends in different countries of the world.\nChristmas and New Year time\nThe year 2019 ended with many blessings as we look behind. December was very busy time as usual and it was full of blessings and joy for us and our church members.\nOne important thing that we always want to do in December is to reach the brick makers for Christmas lunch and fellowship with them. They are ureached people who are considered outcast of the society. During this time we help them with the food bags and warm clothes for winter. We praise God that this year’s fellowship was really great.\nChristmas and New Year time with our youth in the village\nchurch was also really amazing. These young men and women were also unreached and now they are very much thankful to be united under the umbrella of Calvary Chapel. The time of Christmas was full of joy, blessings and fun for these groups as well.\nWomen Ministry\nThis is truly amazing and very much needed ministry. The women in our society are also kind of unreached group\nthough they are totally reachable. My wife Farah is leading three Bible Study Groups in three different locations with the help of a lady named Monica. These wonderful ladies in the group also had very blessed fellowship time full of blessing and joy during Christmas time.\nNew Years brings New Opportunity\nThe year 2020 has started with really amazing opportunities for us to reach more areas with the word of God through proper online classes and mission trips. We\nvisited a city named Bahawalpur in October 2019 and went for 5 days desert mission trip. The trip was really very much fruitful and our that mission trip created the opportunity for us to start organized Bible study classes in two cities. We praise God that He has provided the needs for these classes and we need your prayers to start them soon as possible and continue them for those students’ growth in the Word and knowledge of our Lord and for our Lord’s glory.\nWe are thankful to you for the prayers, care, love and support. We love you and pray for you!\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/happy-new-year/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eEven the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. _____Isaiah 40:30-31\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings and Happy New Year! We hope and pray for you to be fine, safe and rejoicing in the Lord. We praise God for His faithfulness during year 2019. God did many wonderful things in our lives and ministry and through it.\u003cbr\u003e\nIn our meeting at the end of last year, we recalled some of the important things that Lord made possible for us, and those are like this:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Happy New Year"},{"content":" Christmas is such a precious day! Celebrating the birth of Christ and His love for us! This year we were blessed with the finances to do 3 Christmas party/outreaches. Children\u0026rsquo;s ministry party had over 700 children that attended. The icing, our daughter Gaga was asked to be Mary and put a pillow in her shirt. The children laughed to tears as she sat on her friend who was pretending to be a donkey. All those children will forever remember the birth of Christ! The Football/soccer players, fans, and all involved in the ministry had their children at our house compound. We were blessed reading the scripture about our Savior to the Muslim boys. Lastly, our church Christmas party was colorful and over 1,000 people attended, including Muslims. Christmas, a day where no one can deny the love they see, the love that only Christ can bring!\n**Land Threats\n** Please continue to pray for the land threat! The family claiming the land is theirs has called for a \u0026ldquo;Jihad\u0026rdquo; which means holy war against the infidels. By no means can we be evicted from the church belt land, by government law and by ancestral settlement we own the land. Our tribe was the first settler. The only 3 fears we have is corruption by government officials, Muslims using it as a weapon to destroy what God is doing and possibly our lives. God is doing so much here in Midigo and the Muslims see it. The Muslims have now started a holiday program of keeping children as young as 3 years old, to stay in public boarding schools instead of going to their parents, to recite the sharia law and the Quran. Our hope is in God and God alone! The top right photo is after the people started digging up the land at the hospital when they forcefully took it over.\nPeace Party\nOur clan gathered a week ago to start planning what my wife calls a peace party. The second meeting will be Jan. 27th. I will be in America at this time but will continue to communicate with the clan. Our prayer is that God will provide to buy a few cows (a cow is around $300) and make a feast. We will invite all the different clans together and give testimony of who owns the land in a peaceful manner. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s favor over this peace party. Our last resort would be court but we trust in our first resort, God! We know that many times God saves at what we think is the last moment but His plan all along. Prayer Requests and Praise Reports:\nThe Muslims have twice tried to kick us off the field for our football ministry and twice God used the community to defend us. We praise God, He has used the football ministry to make a relationship with the community. In previous years, it was the community giving us the most persecution. We are seeing many lives changed through the gospel, especially those of the Muslims boys on the team. One of the best ways to share the gospel with Muslims is through relationship and showing God\u0026rsquo;s love first. God then opens doors as hearts are softened. I thank God for healing my malaria and flu. Amazingly blessed, I will be joining my family in America on January 22nd. Excited to see all of you and share with you face to face what is hard to fit into newsletters. Please pray for the church, that God would continue to raise the ministry, bless it and protect it. It is hard to go at such time, but looking forward to the needed fellowship and discipling in America that will help me to be a better pastor for His flock. As this year comes to an end we can\u0026rsquo;t help but praise God for all the prayer requests answered! The church is coming back to Christ, orphans supported, the community being reached, lives physically saved through the hospital as the gospel goes forth. Glory be to God! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/happy-birthday-jesus/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Mu9yCXm9T3SBjTEup96Rg.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eChristmas is such a precious day! Celebrating the birth of Christ and His love for us! This year we were blessed with the finances to do 3 Christmas party/outreaches. Children\u0026rsquo;s ministry party had over 700 children that attended. The icing, our daughter Gaga was asked to be Mary and put a pillow in her shirt. The children laughed to tears as she sat on her friend who was pretending to be a donkey. All those children will forever remember the birth of Christ! The Football/soccer players, fans, and all involved in the ministry had their children at our house compound. We were blessed reading the scripture about our Savior to the Muslim boys.  Lastly, our church Christmas party was colorful and over 1,000 people attended, including Muslims.  Christmas, a day where no one can deny the love they see, the love that only Christ can bring!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Happy Birthday, Jesus!"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nOur family hopes and prays that you had a blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year! I am not sure about you, but I am tired of failing in my New Year’s Resolutions, so this new year, I have two resolutions that I think that I am going to be able to keep this year. In the year 2020, I intend too #1- Eat more, and #2- GAIN WEIGHT! (two resolutions I believe I will finally keep!)\nWell in this update I wanted to talk to you about our vision for the family and the ministry! Personally, my vision for my family for 2020 is IMPROVED COMMUNICATION! My beautiful wife Sarah has reminded me of the importance that I communicate my heart and feelings and highs and lows with my family, and this year I am committed to doing that. I also want to get better at communicating with my precious children Grace and Daniel, who I am so proud of and blessed with! Please keep my communication in your prayers!\nIn the church, our focus for 2020 is to re-focus on our church’s vision statement, REACH- EQUIP- SEND! To begin, we want to continue to REACH the lost with a relentless commitment to love the lost living around us, while continuing to present the message of salvation at every single one of our church services and events.\nNext up, we want to EQUIP! Our main church services where I preach and our 30+ weekly studies where I don’t, all have the same goal of equipping believers to do the work that God has called them to do. The Bible reminds us of the purpose of the church in Ephesians 4:12! The church exists to “equip the saints for the work of the ministry!” And that ministry isn’t just serving the Lord at church, but it always begins in the home with the family and continues on out into the community where we interact with our co-workers and friends and neighbors.\nThird and finally, as a church, we want to continue to SEND out Pastors, finances, and training to reach Mexico and beyond through church planting. We are excited about a possible 6 church plants that we believe are ripe and preparing to be sent out in 2020! This gifted group includes our first church plant outside of the US and Mexico, which is set to be in Guatemala! (Our church planter Giovanni is there right now on his church planting vision tour!) Please pray for me and our church planting program to have the wisdom from the Lord regarding who is to be sent out, and the timing of when they are to be sent!\nPrecious partners, God has a wonderful plan for you and your family as well in 2020! We are praying that God’s “good and perfect” will is fully revealed in your lives as we begin this new decade. We are thankful that you have decided to partner with our family. It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial support that God meets our physical needs. We are honored and blessed to serve the Lord as your missionaries here in the ripe fields of Mexico!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would help me grow in communication, beginning with the ones I love the most, my wife and children!\n#2- That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God last month for a new church plant sent out to Tulancingo Hidalgo (Near Mexico City)\n#2- Praise God for a blessed and fruitful Christmas season!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the SGWM mailing envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-january-2020-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2020/01/New-Year-2020-Wishes-300x181-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur family hopes and prays that you had a blessed Christmas and a very Happy New Year! I am not sure about you, but I am tired of failing in my New Year’s Resolutions, so this new year, I have two resolutions that I think that I am going to be able to keep this year. In the year 2020, I intend too #1- Eat more, and #2- GAIN WEIGHT! \u003cem\u003e(two resolutions I believe I will finally keep!)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family January 2020 Missions Update"},{"content":"I truly hope you are enjoying this holiday season alongside your loved ones! I recently celebrated my first holiday in Spain, and although it was tough being away from my family, the Lord definitely did a new thing in my heart and in my baking skills!\nAs one of the few Americans at church here, I was asked to bake an apple pie for the church’s Thanksgiving dinner. We were low on pies for the dinner, so after being encouraged, I nervously accepted the baking challenge. For many, baking a pie may not be a big deal but when the extent of your baking skills is following instructions on boxed cake mixes, it can be a pretty daunting task! I had friends and family pray for this pie, and by God’s grace it turned out pretty good!!\nAs the Lord would have it, I learned a beautiful lesson from baking the apple pie!\nI learned that I need to be bold enough to change my perspective about those things that may seem daunting and intimidating to me. Like Elisha, I need to pray for the Lord to “open my eyes” and to “let me see” what they really look like through His perspective.\n“When the servant of the man of God got up early the next morning and went outside, there were troops, horses, and chariots everywhere. ‘Oh, sir, what will we do now?’, the young man cried to Elisha. ‘Don’t be afraid!’, Elisha told him. ‘For there are more on our side than on theirs!’ Then Elisha prayed, “ O Lord, open his eyes and let him see!’ The Lord opened the young man’s eyes, and when he looked up, he saw that the hillside around Elisha was filled with horses and chariots of fire.”(2 Kings 6:15-17)\nSchool Update:\nAs the school project team and I are moving forward to getting the Christian school started, there is so much research and so many questions, requirements, and decisions still left to make. Fear and doubt can easily take over and fog our perspective on what God has called us to do. This vision is definitely not for the faint-hearted so we have committed to press on and continually ask the Lord to “let us see”.\nI had the blessing to travel with Loretta, Pastor Raf’s wife, to Fuengirola (near Malaga in mainland Spain). We went to visit an established Christian school to glean from their experience. We had many divine intervention moments as we were connected to other people involved in Christian education in Spain. We had an appointment to interview the school’s director and she supplied us with valuable information and great tips as well. This trip was very encouraging and inspiring!\nIn these last few months, we have been scouting out various potential school locations and have spoken to many building landlords and landowners. We have also met with the city mayor and other town councilmembers to ask for permitted locations for schools. There is another location within the same area of the church, not pictured here, that we are really looking into and praying over. We are trusting in the Lord for His wisdom and discernment for such a big decision! Please help us pray for this!\n“Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading.” – Oswald Chambers\nFeliz Navidad Desde España\nI have learned that part of the process of adapting to life in a new country is making my new house feel like home. So here are a few pics of some Christmas hints throughout my tiny flat…\nThank you for all your prayers!! The Lord has been faithful and He hears your prayers!! You are a part of this exciting faith endeavor of bringing the gospel to children and their families in Mallorca! I am available to answer any questions or if you would like more information on how to get involved in this work in Spain I would be more than happy to let you know what you can do. Thank you!!\nMerry Christmas and Happy New Year!!\nGod bless you!\nZully\nPrayer Requests:\nThe School Project: Please pray for God’s guidance for all the decisions and regulations that we have to follow to start a Christian school in Spain. Also, pray for my role in the school, I have a greater administrative role in getting everything organized but also in assisting with managing the team. Transportation: I need the Lord’s direction about the right time to buy a car. Family: Please pray that the Lord would continue caring for everyone in my family. Also for the upcoming holidays away from each other (Christmas and New Year), everyone is telling me to be prepared because it can be difficult. Spiritual Life: To stay consistent in my personal time with the Lord and to be open to the direction of the Holy Spirit. That I would be strong under spiritual warfare and to be aware of the different forms that it may come in. Finances: For the Lord to continue to provide as He has done so far. Discipleship: For the Lord to continue providing opportunities to share with the girls at the church here in Spain and for my time with the girls that I have remained in touch with in the US and Mexico. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/as-american-as-apple-pie-in-spain-holiday-edition/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI truly hope you are enjoying this holiday season alongside your loved ones! I recently celebrated my first holiday in Spain, and although it was tough being away from my family, the Lord definitely did a new thing in my heart and in my baking skills!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs one of the few Americans at church here, I was asked to bake an apple pie for the church’s Thanksgiving dinner. We were low on pies for the dinner, so after being encouraged, I nervously accepted the baking challenge. For many, baking a pie may not be a big deal but when the extent of your baking skills is following instructions on boxed cake mixes, it can be a pretty daunting task! I had friends and family pray for this pie, and by God’s grace it turned out pretty good!!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"As American as Apple Pie...in Spain (Holiday Edition)"},{"content":"I have been so blessed these last few months here at Calvary Chapel Pedregales serving with so many awesome people. We are a very active church, small but united, like a family, and the cool thing is that almost everybody in the church serves in some capacity!\nHere are a few events that I would like to share with you. Below is a picture of all of us who were able to attend our annual servant’s breakfast in November each year to honor all of those who serve in the church. It was a delicious meal prepared by some of the men of the church.\nWe were affected by the recent fires in Tijuana, the picture below is my neighborhood, and the fire that you see burning damaged 5 properties, affecting in total about 45 people. The house that was completely burned to the ground, (dogs and all), was a family from our church. They are currently living here at our church and rebuilding their house with donations that have come in by many gracious people. We are also helping the other families with food and clothing and some funds as well. We are showing the love of Jesus and the people are responding positively.\nI have just begun discipling these young single gals and it is wonderful. We are going through a book on being a Proverbs 31 woman. We are praying, studying, and sharing together, and I am so excited to see what God will do through this study!\nThis little guy is Gael, and he was our neighbor and good friend who went to be with Jesus this month. He was battling Leukemia and I was able to minister to him and his mom and see him accept Jesus in his heart before he died.\nThese 12 kiddos attend our after school program. One of them is Gael’s cousin, and the Lord touched their hearts as well and through Gael’s death, they also chose to follow Jesus and accept Him in their hearts as their Lord and Savior–God truly does make beauty from ashes!\nThis is our new library that we have been working on for months! Little by little the children are beginning to enjoy reading for pleasure and not just to get information for their schoolwork. We desire to grow this library to offer a variety of books to the kids. If you would like to help out, there is a button that you can press above and it will take you to our list on Amazon where you can purchase a book.\nThanks for reading this newsletter and praying for me. Here are my prayer requests: Blessings and provisions for my trip to Guadalajara and surrounding cities in Mexico in February to do teacher training at the local Calvary Chapels. I will be gone for three weeks. For continued provisions for those who lost their homes in the fires. For much-needed wisdom from the Lord in every decision that I make, and that I would be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in all that I do. God’s blessings to you all and a Merry CHRISTmas to you and your family! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/december-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have been so blessed these last few months here at Calvary Chapel Pedregales serving with so many awesome people. We are a very active church, small but united, like a family, and the cool thing is that almost everybody in the church serves in some capacity!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere are a few events that I would like to share with you. Below is a picture of all of us who were able to attend our annual servant’s breakfast in November each year to honor all of those who serve in the church. It was a delicious meal prepared by some of the men of the church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"December Update"},{"content":" The Love Phnom Penh Festival The Love Phnom Penh Festival (featuring Franklin Graham) took place over the first weekend in December. More than 23,000 attended and more than 1,300 made professions of faith in Christ. Kayo was part of the planning committee for the choir, helped with training, sang, and even sang a short solo part in Japanese. This is a praise report because all three of us were quite sick for the entire week leading up to the festival and we were not sure whether or not Kayo would be healthy enough to be part of the choir or not. But, because of the prayers of our senders, she was healthy enough to attend and sing for two of the three nights.\nEvangelism and Discipleship Website Development Darryl has started partnering with a Pakistani brother, Abid, to develop a multi-language, interactive, video-based, evangelism and discipleship website. Right now Darryl is working to develop video scripts based on correspondence courses that have been successful in Pakistan since the 1960s. Abid is working on establishing the necessary organizational structure and registering with the Cambodian government. Please pray for this huge project that God will open all the doors necessary for it to move forward and evangelize and equip many new believers.\nPrayer Requests Please pray for more Cambodian partners for Darryl’s International Fishers video ministry so that apologetics/evangelism videos can be made more frequently.\n\u0026gt; Please continue to pray for our finances, especially Benjamin’s tuition needs. We praise God for raising up enough new senders to at least temporarily stabilize our financial situation. Please continue to pray for God to stabilize and increase our resources over the long term so that we can continue to expand our ministries in Cambodia and beyond.\n\u0026gt; Please pray for Darryl’s new video project with Precious Women Organization starting in January 2020. Merry Christmas!\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-time-for-love/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/12/IMG%5F0671.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"the-love-phnom-penh-festival\"\u003eThe Love Phnom Penh Festival\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Love Phnom Penh Festival (featuring Franklin Graham) took place over the first weekend in December. More than 23,000 attended and more than 1,300 made professions of faith in Christ. Kayo was part of the planning committee for the choir, helped with training, sang, and even sang a short solo part in Japanese. This is a praise report because all three of us were quite sick for the entire week leading up to the festival and we were not sure whether or not Kayo would be healthy enough to be part of the choir or not. But, because of the prayers of our senders, she was healthy enough to attend and sing for two of the three nights.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Time For Love"},{"content":"As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. — Colossians 2:6-7\nDear Friends and Family,\nIt is exciting to look forward to the new year, knowing all that the Lord has already done. The theme through the Christmas season has been Jesus, what he has done for us and who we are in Him.\nFor me personally, this season started quite unexpectedly. Early on a Monday morning I received a call from South Sudan from Vicky Bentley. She had a family emergency and need to go back to the States. She asked if I could teach that weekend. I told her I could. Later I came to know that it was not just a teaching but it was a 2 day conference where I would be teaching 6 times as well as having questions and answers. I began to understand about being ready in season and out of season!\nWith my own Tuesday women’s study on Spiritual warfare, there was not much time for preparation. Vicky told me that the theme of the conference was Being Complete in Christ but that I could adjust it as needed. I prayed about what to share and I realized that the topic of Who I Am In Christ kept coming up during my spiritual warfare Bible study. I wondered if the Lord had been putting this on my heart so I would be ready for this conference. I went and found my notes from when I had taught this a couple years ago. The opening verse for that study was Colossians 2:10 “and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.” When I showed my notes to Vicky and told her that opening verse I was amazed to find out that was part of the theme verses for the conference. Their verses had been Colossians 2:6-10. It was definitely confirmation for me that this is what I was to share with the ladies in South Sudan.\nWe left on Wednesday but did not make it to border of South Sudan before dark so we spent the night in Northern Uganda and crossed the border on Thursday morning. I spent most of the day Thursday studying as well as seeing old friends we had not seen for about 2 years and getting a tour of all the new construction that has taken place during that time. The conference was Friday and Saturday. I have to say that it was amazing. I could see God’s hand in every little detail. Over 600 ladies attended. I had 3 translators: one for Arabic, Dinka, and Madi. There were 2 other teachers: Sarah shared once on Friday and Kim Wargi shared on Saturday. Though we never met to discuss our teachings it was as if we had arranged them together. There were topics and verses I wanted to share but didn’t have time to get to and then Sarah or Kim would say and teach that exact thing.\nYou would think that with the amount of ladies who attended that it would not be personal but the ladies were very interactive and expressive. During the 2 days we heard many testimonies and answered many questions. Many churches were represented and in between each session they would take turns leading us in worship. Some of the ladies had put together a drama that showed the effects of going to the witch doctor compared to turning to the Lord in prayer.\nAt the end of the conference the ladies presented me with a 50kg grain sack of peanuts they had harvested as a thank you for coming and teaching them and to share with the women at Arise. They asked if next year we would come back and teach a marriage conference. Please pray that this could come to pass.\nWhile we were in South Sudan, Pastor Michael of Calvary Chapel Cush, asked Brian to share the Sunday message at both services. The first service is an all English service and the second service is translated into Arabic. After the service they had an altar call and a time of prayer for any one who needed it. Many people came forward to be prayed for. Luke also was part of the service as he was asked to share about himself with the church and to perform a duet with our missionary to South Sudan, Ivan. I was very proud of Luke as he stood in front of hundreds of people and both shared and played the piano.\nThat evening, Pastor Michael told us that the whole service had been broadcast over the radio station RMC. Brian and Luke were both in shock that so many people all over South Sudan had been reached by what they had shared. After church we went on a couple of home visits. It is nice to meet with people in their homes and get to know them and their families more personally. We were fed a lot of yummy Sudanese food which I had been missing. We were also able to visit a young girl, Jackie, who has stayed with us a few times in Kampala for medical care. She just recently had her appendix removed and we were happy to see her recovering nicely. While this trip was unexpected for us it was definitely according to God’s timing.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda and South Sudan.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPrayer Requests: Praise the Lord for the ministries taking place in Uganda and South Sudan Praise the Lord for His timing and for helping Jill get all she needed accomplished to teach the conference in South Sudan Pray for the women who attended the conferences in Nimule. Pray that they continue to hunger for God’s Word and to know Him more. Pray for those who came forward after Brian’s message at Calvary Chapel Cush. Pray for those who received Christ to continue to come to church and receive discipleship. Pray for all the Christmas/New Year outreaches and ministries at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-december-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eAs you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.\u003c/em\u003e              — Colossians 2:6-7\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is exciting to look forward to the new year, knowing all that the Lord has already done. The theme through the Christmas season has been Jesus, what he has done for us and who we are in Him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update- December 2019"},{"content":"Many of you maybe wondering what has gone on since the 2019 Calvary School of Missions where I was fortunate to be able to lead the on-ground operations of the missions training school launched by Saving Grace World Missions. I do have to confess since then it has been quite an interesting season.\nFor a period of that time, quite frankly, I was asking myself what am I doing here?\nThis was the question, this has been the struggle. As I have returned to work here in the SGWM (Saving Grace World Missions) home office, fulfilling my duties as the Assistant Director as well as my role as associate pastor at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, I’ve asked myself a lot of questions. What am I doing here, why am I sitting in hours of meetings, why am I answering phones, why am I chasing emails, why am I dealing with traffic? Why, why, why? Well, a few answers became clear to me.\nFirst of all because this is what God has called me to for this season. Even though my heart longs to be in the field and to be in the lives of missionaries, God has called me for the time being to pour into them from afar and take short visits to them.\nSecondly, God has entrusted to my care several young men and women from the school who are now interning with us. The Lord has seen fit to allow me to pour into their lives, guide them, and direct them as they seek to acquire the skills and tools they will need to succeed on the mission field.\nSowing, Watering, and Harvesting Sowing: I bet sometimes the farmer wonders, “why in the world am I digging in these hard rocks? What the heck am I doing in this dusty field?” Especially if he’s had opportunity to water, watch things grow, and even harvest as I have. So, what am I doing in this office, meeting, country? Sowing, that’s what!\nThe farmer doesn’t get to only water, the farmer doesn’t get to only harvest; he gets to do the hard work of sowing as well. I say that I get to do the work of sowing because I have found it to be quite a joy once I got the proper perspective, God’s perspective.\nFrom Marriage to Mexico within Two Days Lastly, was the reality of the most excellent reason that I am back here, that is to plan and participate in a wedding. Many of you know I’ve been dating the love of my life for a little over two years God has shown me what a wonderful ministry partner, friend and helpmate Jenn is and on November 23rd, Jenn and I were married! I am excited to see how the Lord is going to use us as a couple in ministering to missionaries. God has gifted Jenn with many talents and skills, along was being very smart and beautiful she has the rare ability to truly love people, to listen to the issues of their heart, and care for their souls. I’m looking forward to partnering with Mrs. Pappas in the care of missionaries and I’m excited to see what God is going to do in and through the two of us.\nWe are in need of people who wish to partner with us financially. I am most appreciative of you who have already joined me in this area, and I’m grateful that I have reached 1/2 of my monthly support needs. If the Lord leads you to join us financially, you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mail your support check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd.\nYorba Linda, CA 92886\n*Note “Pappas Support” in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim and Jenn Pappas\nAsst. Director\nSaving Grace World Missions Phone 714-262-2260\nEmail tim@sgwm.com\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-very-different-season/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMany of you maybe wondering what has gone on since the 2019 Calvary School of Missions where I was fortunate to be able to lead the on-ground operations of the missions training school launched by Saving Grace World Missions. I do have to confess since then it has been quite an interesting season.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor a period of that time, quite frankly, I was asking myself what am I doing here?\u003cbr\u003e\nThis was the question, this has been the struggle. As I have returned to work here in the SGWM (Saving Grace World Missions) home office, fulfilling my duties as the Assistant Director as well as my role as associate pastor at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, I’ve asked myself a lot of questions. \u003cem\u003eWhat am I doing here, why am I sitting in hours of meetings, why am I answering phones, why am I chasing emails, why am I dealing with traffic? Why, why, why?\u003c/em\u003e Well, a few answers became clear to me.\u003cbr\u003e\nFirst of all because this is what God has called me to for this season. Even though my heart longs to be in the field and to be in the lives of missionaries, God has called me for the time being to pour into them from afar and take short visits to them.\u003cbr\u003e\nSecondly, God has entrusted to my care several young men and women from the school who are now interning with us. The Lord has seen fit to allow me to pour into their lives, guide them, and direct them as they seek to acquire the skills and tools they will need to succeed on the mission field.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Very Different Season"},{"content":" Persecutions\nThe Lord is moving mightily in our midst through the school, hospital and sports ministry. Therefore, we are experiencing a volume of persecution especially through the hospital ministry. Please pray for our hospital staff facing persecution from the government staff who are almost all Muslim. Last week we received eviction letters from some minority community families who are claiming to own the land where our homes are and the church premises. These evictions letters are influenced by Muslim government officials though we legally own our homes, church and have land titles, you never know. Imagine 10% Christian community against 90%Muslim community. It is only God! The Muslims had organized to come destroy our homes last week. We gathered as to pray and up till now we haven’t seen anything. We believe God will continually protect His ministry and fight for His people.\nSoccer Ministry\nWe thank God for taking us up to the playoff finals, losing in penalties and His provision through last season. A new challenge for this season has begun. We thank God, we have won our first two games. God is using this ministry to reach out to the community. Our fan base has grown which spiritually has great impact! Our relationship has cemented with the Muslim community as we share God’s love. The 70% of Muslim soccer players on the team have been reached with the Word and love of Christ. Pray for the injuries and traveling mercies as we travel around West Nile representing Christ from one town to another.\nMinistry Changes\nOur church has been going through difficult times. There is anxiety covered by hope for all fellowships that have gone through such. Please pray for the pastoral team and board members to be filled, lead and guided by the Holy Spirit. Praying for unity, steady spiritual growth, repentance worthy of fruits as we continue to experience healing and comfort.\nPrayer and Praise\nPlease pray for all the prayer points above, especially for God to go before our battles and peace amidst these. Pray that I will be able to unite with my family in America at end of January. The soccer hall outreach has resumed and the building is only remaining with plastering the floor. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-december-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/aniku1%5F1204-1024x768.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePersecutions\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Lord is moving mightily in our midst through the school, hospital and sports ministry.  Therefore, we are experiencing a volume of persecution especially through the hospital ministry.  Please pray for our hospital staff facing persecution from the government staff who are almost all Muslim.  Last week we received eviction letters from some minority community families who are claiming to own the land where our homes are and the church premises.  These evictions letters are influenced by Muslim government officials though we legally own our homes, church and have land titles, you never know.  Imagine 10% Christian community against 90%Muslim community.  It is only God!  The Muslims had organized to come destroy our homes last week.  We gathered as to pray and up till now we haven’t seen anything.  We believe God will continually protect His ministry and fight for His people.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our December Update"},{"content":"“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matt 13:44 Last month we told you briefly about a coming training for some pastors in our community. In the recent months we have seen an increase in attempts of suicide in our area, our own clinic treating several cases within a months time. Matt spoke with the pastors in the Terebinth School who are from our village of Adak, and they decided to gather pastors and leaders from every church in Adak for a special training. Nearly 50 leaders met for 3 days to learn about Biblical counseling, and how to minister to the people in their church who are dealing with depression, suicidal thoughts, or even just having a hard time. Matt was also able to speak for a few minutes on the value of life, and how we should not dismiss or look down on people dealing with these issues because Christ placed a high value on them by offering His own life for them. In all it was a good training. Please continue praying for God to work in our village and community, in the churches and especially in the lives and families of these pastors and leaders.\nIn November the pastors in the Terebinth School of discipleship went through the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew is a beautiful book portraying Jesus as God’s Only Chosen King in fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant, and it was a joy to walk the pastors through it. It was an especially fruitful time since Matt and I have been doing our memorization in Matthew.\nWe have also been blessed to receive a visitor. Matt’s mom, Tammy, was able to come and spend 3 weeks with us here. It has been a wonderful time for all of us, but especially for the kids, to be able to see her after just about a year (Matt and I both saw her separately on our short return trips). The girls missed her SO much, and Noah is very happy to have an exciting new person in the house. On top of being refreshed by the company, it has been a blessing to have someone here who can watch the kids sometimes. As I write this, Tammy is with Emma and Maddie at a kids camp put on by our friend working with Child Evangelism Fellowship. They are having a wonderful time, Noah is enjoying his uninterrupted playtime, and we are getting some much needed computer work done (like writing this letter:).\nWe also wanted to give you a quick update on our friend Luke Buescher, who had been sick in a hospital in Kampala. Since last update he has flown home to the US and is slowly recovering. It still isn’t totally clear what the problem was but we are glad to see him improving. Thank you for your prayers!\nWe love you all and look forward to our next meeting! In Christ Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/november-2019/","summary":"\u003ch6 id=\"the-kingdom-of-heaven-is-like-a-treasure-hidden-in-the-field-which-a-man-found-and-hid-again-and-from-joy-over-it-he-goes-and-sells-all-that-he-has-and-buys-that-field-matt-1344\"\u003e“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matt 13:44\u003c/h6\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/12/A32F8517-132C-4CF4-9FFF-4720A68773CF-1024x396.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month we told you briefly about a coming training for some pastors in our community. In the recent months we have seen an increase in attempts of suicide in our area, our own clinic treating several cases within a months time. Matt spoke with the pastors in the Terebinth School who are from our village of Adak, and they decided to gather pastors and leaders from every church in Adak for a special training. Nearly 50 leaders met for 3 days to learn about Biblical counseling, and how to minister to the people in their church who are dealing with depression, suicidal thoughts, or even just having a hard time. Matt was also able to speak for a few minutes on the value of life, and how we should not dismiss or look down on people dealing with these issues because Christ placed a high value on them by offering His own life for them. In all it was a good training. Please continue praying for God to work in our village and community, in the churches and especially in the lives and families of these pastors and leaders.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"November 2019"},{"content":"I can’t believe our last update was so long ago. Many things have happened in this time, including the blessing of having many teams and visitors over the summer. It was so amazing for us to see all of the gifts and talents that each team and individual has been given from the Lord. It’s so true that we are all parts of the body of Christ and that we all bring different things to the table to serve Him. Things that I have absolutely no talent in, someone else thrives in that area, and vice versa. Thank you to all of the people who came and served at Calvary Oaxaca this year, and those of you who were lifting up each team in prayer as they were here. We were so blown away by every part of these past few months.\nAt the end of August we found a new church building to move into. What an amazing thing to have found a place for the Lord to grow His church. We were getting a little too crowded in our garage and it was getting hot in there. We had one neighbor kind of causing a stink about us having the church there and we didn’t want any issues with our neighbors or the law, even though we were doing everything legally. Praise the Lord for our residency visas being “religious” visas. So now we are in a huge building fairly close to our house! Praise the Lord for this location since a few of our neighbors come to the church and we’re all able to walk if/when needed. And thank you to those who have financially made this move possible!\nJonny, Noah, and I (Allison) were able to visit Baja and California in September/early October. It was a super awesome time for us to see family and friends, and just spend some time with everyone. Austin graduated from Paramedic School and we were able to be there for that. We are so proud of him for all of his hard work, and grateful that he has an awesome wife in McKenna, who supported him during it all!\nWe had our first baptism at one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever seen. Ten people made the decision to get baptized, and there were about 70 of us in total who went, including a team from CC Santa Barbara.\nJon was able to fly up to Baja and California to attend the SoCal Men’s Conference in Anaheim. He was so blessed to be able to attend it, and hearing all of the amazing stories of lives saved and transformed is incredible. He was also able to teach at the Church Planting Course at Calvary Chapel Rosarito. As I’m writing this, he is still away on his trip and I’m so excited to know that he’s being filled and fed and will come home renewed and refreshed.\nWe are now winding down the year and have been living in Oaxaca for almost 10 months now. We’ve had some ups and downs, and have learned some very hard lessons along the way. We have a greater understanding of things we may have never even thought we’d need to learn about, but the blessings and joy and just all around awesomeness of it all has been worth every moment. God has shown up in ways far beyond our needs and has taught us what it means to trust more and more in Him. He never fails us, does He? Praise the Lord for His faithfulness in the good and the bad times.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nThis will be our first Christmas on the mission field, far away from family and friends. Each Christmas since we’ve been missionaries, we’ve been back in California for that time. Please pray for us to make it a memorable time for Jonny and Noah, and for us to not get too sad being away. I (Allison) will be having our first women’s Christmas event in December. This will be my first time teaching since we’ve been down here and I am nervous, but also super excited. Please pray that I won’t cry, which is something that I’m notorious for, and that the night would be a blessing for all who come as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. Please keep Jon in prayer as he prepares and teaches each week. He is so diligent in studying the Word and preparing for the Thursday night study and Sunday morning service. We are in need of new sound equipment and instruments for worship. We’ve come across some issues with the sound and are working them out as much as we can, but please pray for a solution to this. It may be a simple fix, or something bigger that needs to happen. We also need to find a solution to the heat in the building. We are unable to put AC in because there are openings all along the top of the building, so it wouldn’t be productive. Please pray that someone with knowledge in this area would help us with figuring this all out. It can get really hot in there and we’re not even in the hot months that are heading our way. PRAISE REPORTS:\nPraise the Lord for the new church building and those who have made it possible to get in there, and all of the help we’ve had with construction and getting it cleaned up. We are so blessed by the church body of Calvary Oaxaca. The people have a heart to serve the Lord and step in and help even before the need arises. These people have become our dear friends and brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s just such a blessing to have been called by the Lord to serve with the incredible people of Oaxaca. The boys have had friends hanging out and it’s so neat to have the sound of young men filling the house with laughter and joy. Thank you for taking the time to read this and keep up with our adventures for Jesus here in Oaxaca, Mexico. We would love to hear from you and to know how we could be praying for all of you. Thank you for your prayers, support, and encouragement always.\n1 Corinthians 12:12 “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.”\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/brechtels-november-2019-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI can’t believe our last update was so long ago. Many things have happened in this time, including the blessing of having many teams and visitors over the summer. It was so amazing for us to see all of the gifts and talents that each team and individual has been given from the Lord. It’s so true that we are all parts of the body of Christ and that we all bring different things to the table to serve Him. Things that I have absolutely no talent in, someone else thrives in that area, and vice versa. Thank you to all of the people who came and served at Calvary Oaxaca this year, and those of you who were lifting up each team in prayer as they were here. We were so blown away by every part of these past few months.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Brechtel November 2019 Update"},{"content":" Equipping Students For Evangelism Darryl taught a two week, intensive Apologetics class at Cambodia Bible Institute between October 21 and November 1. The purpose of the class is to help students to gain complete confidence in the Truth of God’s so that they will grow spiritually and evangelize non-believers and equip believers so that they too will love God with their minds in addition to their hearts.\nThe class received very good feedback. One student now hopes to become an Apologetics teacher in the future. Another student has started using information from the class to evangelize and equip the university students who live in his dormitory. Other students gained confidence to share their faith with non-believers. Instead of a final exam, the students made short evangelistic/apologetics videos which Darryl will soon be sharing on social media.\nTwo New Videos In October Darryl also produced two videos in the beginning of October: 1. God’s Cameras: Ears 2. God’s Motors: Bacteria Motors. Different videos achieve different levels of views. Some videos have been viewed by more than 37,000 Cambodians (Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?). Cambodians continue to be very active on social media and are probably more willing to learn more about the truth of Christianity through social media than they may be through other methods of communication.\nFranklin Graham’s Love Phnom Penh Festival Choir In addition to her regular ministries (Precious Women Ministry and International Church Worship Team etc.), Kayo has been part of the team which is training the choir for the Love Phnom Penh Festival in early December at which Franklin Graham will speak. Please pray for this outreach that many will come to know Christ personally.\nPrayer Requests Please continue to pray for our financial needs, the most urgent is for Benjamin’s education.\nPlease pray for more Cambodian ministry partners for Darryl’s apologetics ministries.\nPlease pray for Kayo as she juggles multiple ministries especially between now and the end of the year.\nPlease continue to pray for “Shadrach” and his family from Pakistan. He has been able to get a visa but is still looking for a full-time job. His wife has a job and he has a part-time job for now.\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/your-apologetics-class-makes-it-easier-for-me-to-share-my-faith/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/74515031%5F2444380578992552%5F4369481594151370752%5Fn-1024x768-1024x768.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"equipping-students-for-evangelism\"\u003eEquipping Students For Evangelism\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDarryl taught a two week, intensive Apologetics class at Cambodia Bible Institute between October 21 and November 1. The purpose of the class is to help students to gain complete confidence in the Truth of God’s so that they will grow spiritually and evangelize non-believers and equip believers so that they too will love God with their minds in addition to their hearts.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe class received very good feedback. One student now hopes to become an Apologetics teacher in the future. Another student has started using information from the class to evangelize and equip the university students who live in his dormitory. Other students gained confidence to share their faith with non-believers. Instead of a final exam, the students made short evangelistic/apologetics videos which Darryl will soon be sharing on social media.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"“Your (Apologetics) Class Makes It Easier For Me To Share My Faith.”"},{"content":"Hello Family and Friends!\nWe are so honored that you\u0026rsquo;ve taken the time to check out our latest update. The Lord has been doing lots of exciting things in our lives, and we are so thankful for those who partner with us financially, in the work of the ministry, and in prayer.\nMaggie at school\nJude (pre-haircut!)\nHarrison and Clara\nOur family is doing great! Maggie is doing a fantastic job in school, especially in her weekly literature class. Jude is taking leaps in his learning, especially after potty-training. Harrison is a ball of energy, and loves to play basketball with Joel after Joel gets home from work. And Clara has energy to match Harrison\u0026rsquo;s! She finally seems to be really close to sleeping through the night as well, much to our delight!\nThe Ephesians class Joel was teaching has come to an end. It was a challenging and enriching experience for him, and he is looking forward to teaching more Bible classes next year.\nAmy is doing a terrific job as a mom and manager of the household, making it a welcoming environment as we host young adults, Life Groups, and plenty of other guests regularly.\nFinally, Joel is ready for his next international adventure! In late January/early February, he will be headed off for a couple weeks to Israel and Jordan. Israel will be a great experience; he won\u0026rsquo;t be there for too long, but it will be amazing for him to get a feel for the location of where the majority of the Biblical narrative takes place, and will hopefully just be a precursor for a longer trip at some other point. He\u0026rsquo;s also looking forward to his time in Jordan, where he will be with a team scoping out what kind of ministry SGWM may be able to plant there, as well as doing some Bible teaching.\nPlease keep us in prayer with all that is going on! A trip like the one Joel is taking to the Middle East obviously comes at a cost. If the Lord so leads you, we would be so thankful if you\u0026rsquo;d like to make a financial contribution. This can be a one-time partnership, which certainly helps towards trips like that. Or, you can become a monthly financial partner, which goes a long way towards helping us maintain our ministry with SGWM and establish a budget. We appreciate your support and prayers!\nIf you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the \u0026ldquo;Become A Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/ready-to-go-joel-and-amy-garcia-update-nov-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Family and Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are so honored that you\u0026rsquo;ve taken the time to check out our latest update. The Lord has been doing lots of exciting things in our lives, and we are so thankful for those who partner with us financially, in the work of the ministry, and in prayer.\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/garcia/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2019/11/IMG%5F0949-2-1-768x1024.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Maggie at school\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eMaggie at school\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/garcia/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2019/11/IMG%5F0978-2-768x1024.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Jude (pre-haircut!)\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eJude (pre-haircut!)\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/garcia/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2019/11/IMG%5F2439-1-768x1024.jpg\"\n         alt=\"Harrison and Clara\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eHarrison and Clara\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur family is doing great! Maggie is doing a fantastic job in school, especially in her weekly literature class. Jude is taking leaps in his learning, especially after potty-training. Harrison is a ball of energy, and loves to play basketball with Joel after Joel gets home from work. And Clara has energy to match Harrison\u0026rsquo;s! She finally seems to be really close to sleeping through the night as well, much to our delight!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ready To Go! - Joel and Amy Garcia Update Nov 2019"},{"content":" “…you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8b\nDear Friends and Family, Greetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan! we all are fine by the grace of God and we are thankful to you for your prayers, love and generous support. We praise God for answering our prayers and helping us to go on desert mission last month. Lord laid this on our hearts\nin the month of March when a friend of us shared the situation about believers living in the deserted area. We started praying for the area and for the help for us to reach there, and finally God not only enabled us to go to that area for the mission but also provided many important supplies of Bibles such as regular (NT \u0026amp; OT), colorful children’s Bible and Audio Bibles with solar panels to recharge in the desert.\nGreat Opportunity of Prayer\nAfter we visited this area our hearts and minds were so moved that the first thing that we felt led to do was “Pray” passionately with and for them. Their miserable lives, spiritual condition and the need to be reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ made us start counting our blessings of everyday that we enjoy.\nThe beautiful thing is that though they are least reached, they don’t have organized churches and available teachers of the Word of God. They even don’t have the Bibles at their homes yet they profess their faith in Jesus Christ. We came to know about the people who have lost every possession because of the debts they take from landlords and can never pay that back their whole lives. We heard from the local people that there are many who are chained during the night so that they may not run away because they have to pay heavy debts. In spite of all those hardships, they do not deny Jesus Christ. There is great opportunity for us and you all to pray for people living in these dark and un-reached areas. We will appreciate your prayers for our team and the needs for mission in the desert.\nBibles Delivered\nWhen we come to know about this area, the main need was mentioned to us was “the Bibles”. We’ve been praying for almost 6 months, and finally God provided all that we needed in really amazing way. Some really loving and generous friends came up through Saving Grace World Missions with the support for Urdu Bibles. Calvary Cyprus helped us with Colorful Children Bibles, Faith Comes by Hearing (FCBY) provided Audio Bibles and World Missionary Press Inc. provided many Bible study books and other scriptural Booklets.\nPeople very very much thankful for the blessing of the Word of God that they were\nreceiving and children were very excited as colorful Children’s Bible was really something amazing for them. They were excited to receive and read those.\nThe need of mission is so great in that area that we really felt pushed to spend our late evenings in the far deep villages reaching and meeting people. Mission in the desert area is really much needed and very worthy cause. We want to request you to co-labor in this with\nus through your prayers, support to get more Bibles and sponsor mission trips in that area.\nMeeting in the Town\nThe day before we came back, our host arranged a meeting in the city where more than 90 people came, most of them were young men and women. Majority of these people was\nunder the influence of televangelists. Sharing the plain word of God in simple but reasonable manner had really powerful impact on them. We had great conversation with those people and they are willing to start an online class with us in that area. We praise God for opening this door for us to reach the hearts and minds of people in that area with the word of God. We had requests to reach some more areas for which we had to travel many hundred kilometers more. We could not go there but hope and pray to reach there as well to encourage our brothers and sisters in the Lord and help them with the Urdu Bibles, sound Christian teaching and our prayers. We are thankful to you for the prayers and want to request you to please continue praying and supporting us. God Bless You!\nIn Christ Jesus\nNadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/good-news-for-desert-dwellers/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/massey/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2019/11/IMG%5F5124-e1572958599303-300x133.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“…you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eend of the earth.” Acts 1:8b\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family, \u003cbr\u003e\nGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan! we all are fine by the grace of God and we are thankful to you for your prayers, love and generous support.  We praise God for answering our prayers and helping us to go on desert mission last month. Lord laid this on our hearts\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Good News For Desert Dwellers"},{"content":"I have been in Spain for one month! Wow!! Time goes by so fast! I arrived in Spain on September 30 and it has been a HUGE BLESSING!! I would like to give you a quick update on my first month in Mallorca, Spain!\nPRAYER:\n“Prayer is the mighty engine that is to move the missionary work.” — A.B. Simpson\nA few days before I left California, my home church sent me off with prayer! What a special time that was! I would like to express a huge THANK YOU to all those that prayed for me before I left! My home church (CC Downey), Saving Grace World Missions, Calvary Cerritos, my Care Team, friends, family… truly your support through prayer means so much and I am very grateful!!\nSent off in prayer!\nMy family receiving prayer too!\nONE WAY TICKET TO SPAIN:\n“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” — C.T. Studd\nThe day finally came to go to the airport and say goodbye to my family. I am definitely blessed by each member of my family! Their constant love and support is amazing! I love them very much!! So our time to say goodbye at the airport was filled with many hugs and tears. It was definitely not an easy goodbye but your prayers for strength carried all of us through!\nIn the midst of the emotions, there was a miracle at the ticket counter! I had an issue with my checked bags and I was being charged almost $300 to let them go through. When the ticket attendant tried to set my suitcases aside, he noticed that they had already been placed on the conveyer belt! So, he then admitted he couldn’t charge me the fee anymore. I didn’t have to pay anything extra! God is good!! The impact of your prayers on full display!!\nWELCOME TO SPAIN:\n“To know the will of God, we need an open Bible and an open map.” — William Carey\nI finally landed in Spain after about 15 hours of travel! The pastor here in Mallorca, Raf Manzanares and his wife Loretta, had a special warm welcome prepared for me in my apartment! What a blessing!!\nOne of my dearest and closest friends, Lisa Lampon, traveled with me to help me get settled in! She knew exactly how to help me! My apartment looks very nice and is in order thanks to her! Her support and prayers were a blessing. This was missionary care in a very practical and loving way, and as a single girl moving to a new country this kind of support was very much needed and appreciated. It was a blessing having Lisa in Mallorca! Love you sis!\nLET’S GET WORKING:\n“Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” — William Carey\nThe school project has been in preparation mode since before I arrived. Therefore, upon arriving it was straight to work on this exciting venture of faith! I was asked to take on more responsibilities within the administration aspect of the project so my days are filled with a lot of meetings, emails, researching, and coordinating. I know the Lord brought me here to Mallorca with that purpose. The journey that began many years ago, is now tangibly before me and I couldn’t be any more excited and honored to serve the Lord in this way!\nThere has been a lot to do as we are preparing to meet certain milestones we have set in place. These milestones will help us ensure that we can start our school next year. It is exciting, but definitely a venture that keeps us on our knees!\nThe Lord has provided an incredible team from all types of professions and backgrounds that have been a blessing and their involvement has blown us away! We have acknowledged that it is not for the faint hearted, so we have been united in prayer with the team as we fellowship together, stay in contact, and have meetings (both in person and online) several times a week. We know that the Lord will continue to lead us in His wisdom and strength to get this school started!\nGOD’S LOVE:\n“Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.” – Romans 15:7\nI have been blown away by the love and welcoming I have received by the body of believers here! Truly, I am learning a lot about a new level of love and hospitality that I have never experienced before. From catching rides to all sorts of places with new friends to enjoying meals at the pastor’s house and others from the church. I have gone shopping for groceries with new friends that are teaching me the ropes – where to shop and what to buy. It has all been a huge blessing!\nAs I am directly the recipient of that love and hospitality, the Lord is teaching me to freely receive His blessings. I often feel like I have to earn God’s blessings or prove that I deserve them. But what a lie that is!! A lie that can keep me from experiencing God’s pure love given to me FREELY because He is the source of love, and He is my Father that genuinely wants to love on me and you…without having to work or earn His love! Let’s receive those big and small blessings simply and beautifully because He loves us.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\n“The man or woman at home who prays often has as much to do with the effectiveness of the missionary on the field, and consequently with the results of his or her labors, as the missionary.” — R. A. Torrey\nMy continual adjustment period of living in Mallorca. My family back home – for their adjustment period too! For the Lord’s direction and wisdom for everything concerning the school project. To complete the final steps in getting the official Foreigner’s ID card to legally live here. This process has been a lot longer than anticipated! For continual strength and dependence on the Lord. This update is a true reflection of the impact of your prayers! Thank you for participating in this ministry with me through your support – prayerfully, financially, through encouragement, and sharing this info with others.\nIf you are new here, welcome! If you would like to know how to be a part of this ministry, please contact me via email: ruano@sgwm.com or Facebook Messenger (Zully Ruano).\nIt’s a blessing to serve together with you in this endeavor to bring the truth of the gospel to the lives of children and their families in Mallorca!\nGod bless you,\nZully\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/one-month-in-spain-and-counting/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have been in Spain for one month! Wow!! Time goes by so fast! I arrived in Spain on September 30 and it has been a HUGE BLESSING!! I would like to give you a quick update on my first month in Mallorca, Spain!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePRAYER:\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Prayer is the mighty engine that is to move the missionary work.” — A.B. Simpson\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA few days before I left California, my home church sent me off with prayer! What a special time that was! I would like to express a huge THANK YOU to all those that prayed for me before I left! My home church (CC Downey), Saving Grace World Missions, Calvary Cerritos, my Care Team, friends, family… truly your support through prayer means so much and I am very grateful!!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"ONE MONTH IN SPAIN AND COUNTING"},{"content":"“For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “in repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.”” Isaiah 30:15a I love October. The temperature change, the leaves turning, apple picking and processing, and especially getting the family together and you all bring your own meat and too many marshmallows and just sit around the fire late into the evening. But here, October just feels like another month. No significant change in weather; it’s still rainy season, no change in the leaves; although people are harvesting things here and there. No real change to mark the time of year. I do miss that about America. But there were significant events throughout the month, even if they were not particularly seasonal.\nEarly in the month, Matt had the opportunity to teach at a multi-church conference in a neighboring district. Originally scheduled to teach for the entire conference, he ended up teaching only two sessions, as God kindly provided two other teachers, one being our good friend Luke, the other being our pastor here in Gulu, Pastor Fred. They taught the churches about marriage, both for those seeking to be married and those already married, about leadership, and also about Salvation. There is great need in the church to be reminded that there is nothing we can do to earn Salvation, but that Christ offers it freely, the price already having been paid by His blood. What grace! Needless to say, preparation for these teachings was exciting.\nAfter 2 weeks of brief study and 1 week of deep study as a group, Matthew and the other teachers taught through the book of Isaiah at the pastoral school. As it is a long book of 66 chapters, it proved difficult to squeeze that much into 5 days of teaching. But we give God praise for His help both for the teachers and the students, not even one of the students failed the final test on the book of Isaiah.\nBefore the week of Pastoral class ended, Matt and I took our kids for a short respite at a Bible Camp on Lake Victoria. We have decided to take a similar trip annually, away from the daily pressures of life, work, and ministry, and all the things that fall in between those categories, to refresh our vision and focus, and to seek God’s will for the next year. This year we were joined for a few days of our trip by Luke, and the Cochran family, friends from our training at New Hope Uganda. All of us together made for a very exciting and encouraging time, and I think each party was sharpened better for the work God has for us, our family for His work here in Gulu, and the Cochrans for their new work as they step into a different mission field far from Uganda.\nThroughout the month there have come up several things that need prayer, if you would take a moment to ask our Father for help in them.\nPlease pray for our friend Luke who has been battling sickness for 2 months, but has now been admitted to the hospital with a serious and mysterious lung infection. Pray for wisdom for the doctors, and strengthening, healing, and peace for Luke.\nPlease pray for the pastors in our community of Adak, as they gather very soon to receive training in counseling to better approach the rising rates of depression and suicide in our area.\nPray also for the Cochrans who are leaving Uganda with their children, and heading to a training for church-planting among those who have no access to the gospel, who the church commonly calls “the unreached”.\nPlease pray for us also, that we would continue on with the vision God has given us for our part of the ministry here, that we would preach the gospel with eagerness, and seek first Gods kingdom and His righteousness.\nWith love and care, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/october-2019/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"for-thus-the-lord-god-the-holy-one-of-israel-has-said-in-repentance-and-rest-you-will-be-saved-in-quietness-and-trust-is-your-strength-isaiah-3015a\"\u003e“For thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, has said, “in repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.””  Isaiah 30:15a\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/11/E3588B52-3AD6-474F-8BF2-D0325F9BA3F2-1024x182.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI love October. The temperature change, the leaves turning, apple picking and processing, and especially getting the family together and you all bring your own meat and too many marshmallows and just sit around the fire late into the evening. But here, October just feels like another month. No significant change in weather; it’s still rainy season, no change in the leaves; although people are harvesting things here and there. No real change to mark the time of year. I do miss that about America. But there were significant events throughout the month, even if they were not particularly seasonal.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"October 2019"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThis month our church got to send out another church plant, and this one was not only very special, but it really hit home for me and our church family!\nI met my good friend Fernando Serrano, over 10 years ago when he and his family joined our church here in Rosarito! After seeing Fernando serve and seeing his spiritual gifting’s, I offered Fernando a full time position on our church staff as an assistant Pastor.\nOver the past 10 years, Fernando has served our church family in a wide variety of ministries that I would like to share with you. First off, Fernando started up our young adults group we call “Agamos”, (ages 18 to 30) that averages nearly 100 young adults at their weekly meetings. Next, Fernando transformed our once struggling Spanish men’s study, “hombres de fe” (men of faith) and transformed it into a large thriving weekly hub for men to grow spiritually. Fernando, also has been the director of our ever important church counseling program.\nBesides all that, Fernando served as one of my key right hand men, and one of my main translators for our church’s bilingual services. About 6 months ago, Fernando approached me and told me that he believed that God was calling him and his family to plant a bilingual church in Las Vegas Nevada. You can imagine my shock and surprise as I didn’t see this coming. But as I prayed and considered the pain it would cost our local church body to lose him, God reminded me of the early church located in the city of Antioch.\nActs Chapter 13 tells us that two men named Saul (later Paul the Apostle) and Barnabas were leaders in the local church located in the city of Antioch. We can be sure that the gifted Apostle was the favorite Bible teacher of that congregation, yet God was calling Paul and Barnabas to leave their friends and family and church to travel around the Roman Empire to preach the Gospel and plant churches. I can imagine the difficulty that church faced in this decision, yet they were willing to allow their best to depart, and they sent Paul and Barnabas out on their first missionary journey!\nThis past weekend, we had our sending services dedicated to hear from and send out our dear friends Fernando, his wife Liliana, and their children. There were many tears as we said our goodbyes and sent them out. Yet my firm believe in God’s heart to church plant has filled my heart with joy for the privilege and honor of sending out this family to complete the work that God has called them to do.\nIn October, I was blessed to travel with Fernando to Las Vegas on our church planting vision tour. We spent a lot of our time in North Las Vegas (the area of this future church plant, over 50% Hispanic) to seek the Lord. God spoke to us clearly through His word, and through prayer, and through His Spirit. We are believing that God is going to do great things through this bilingual church.\nFernando is not only one of my best friends, but we were often roomates as we got to travel around Mexico to visit our church planters. Our wives are also great friends, and our kids (who are the same age) are too! To be honest, it hurts to send out your best servants, but because we believe that this is God’s plan, we are happy to do it. Would you please keep Las Vegas Bilingual Church in your prayers, and if you have friends or family living in Vegas, please pass on the word about this new church coming soon to transform sin city!\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for partnering with us here in the ministry! It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God provides for our physical needs. We are honored and blessed to serve the Lord as your missionaries here in the ripe fields of Mexico!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would continue to bless the preparation of our newest church plant, Las Vegas Bilingual Church and the Serrano family!\n#2- That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God last month for a blessed church planting vision tour to Las Vegas!\n#2- Praise God for the 20 new believers we got to baptize in our October Baptisms!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-november-2019-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month our church got to send out another church plant, and this one was not only  very special,  but it really hit home for me and our church family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2019/11/72656511%5F10156989664767029%5F4041279095542120448%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI met my good friend Fernando Serrano, over 10 years ago when he and his family joined our church here in Rosarito! After seeing Fernando serve and seeing his spiritual gifting’s, I offered Fernando a full time position on our church staff as an assistant Pastor.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family November 2019 Missions Update"},{"content":"We are thankful for all the Lord is doing here and we want to share with you an update this month from our church and the CC Pastors Training Center \u0026amp; School of Ministry where we are serving and a new semester has begun. Thank you for joining us in prayer as we appreciate your partnership as we desire to reach this country with the Gospel together.\nOur Calvary Chapel Church Jesus says in Luke 12:22-34, that we should not worry and specifically in Luke 12:32 he says, \u0026ldquo;Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father\u0026rsquo;s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.\u0026rdquo; We have seen God taking care of us and the church He has entrusted to us. As we gather, we continue to pray that more would come and know Jesus. Each week we are growing in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. We have now finished the book of Acts which took over 1 year. Through the study of the book of Acts, God has taught our fellowship to be bold witnesses of Christ and giving testimony of Christ in our lives. Now we have started teaching through the book of Genesis during our weekly church service. I will continue to teach through the book verse by verse and look forward to what the Lord will teach me and our church through the study.\nWe recently were blessed to have Pastor Aaron visit our church and teach the Word. God gave me the opportunity to translate and He is teaching me each time I am able to do so. I want to be obedient and faithful to Him and this is a new area for me so please pray that God would give me the abilities I need to serve Him in every way.\nCC PASTORS TRAINING CENTER \u0026amp; SCHOOL OF MINISTRY This semester, I am teaching the book of John at the Calvary Chapel Pastors Training Center \u0026amp; School of Ministry. God has given me the grace to serve Him, disciple others, teach them and pray for each of our students so that in the future God may use them to establish churches. It is my heart to see the students sent to where the Gospel is needed.\nMy wife is also studying as a full-time student in Calvary Chapel Pastors Training Center \u0026amp; School of Ministry. This is her 2nd semester, so I request you to pray for her to finish race she is running as she studies God\u0026rsquo;s Word. We have been married less than one year, so please pray for me and my beautiful wife to be used in God\u0026rsquo;s kingdom for His glory. Another area of ministry that God has opened up for me is to teach the Word through Facebook, YouTube and Online Fellowship. Please pray that as I teach, that the ministry online would be fruitful and those viewing and listening would come to know Jesus and grow in His Word.\nBlessings,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/beautiful-beginnings/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe are thankful for all the Lord is doing here and we want to share with you an update this month from our church and the CC Pastors Training Center \u0026amp; School of Ministry where we are serving and a new semester has begun. Thank you for joining us in prayer as we appreciate your partnership as we desire to reach this country with the Gospel together.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Rabi-October-1-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch4 id=\"our-calvary-chapel-church\"\u003eOur Calvary Chapel Church\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJesus says in Luke 12:22-34, that we should not worry and specifically in Luke 12:32 he says, \u0026ldquo;Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father\u0026rsquo;s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.\u0026rdquo; We have seen God taking care of us and the church He has entrusted to us. As we gather, we continue to pray that more would come and know Jesus. Each week we are growing in God\u0026rsquo;s Word. We have now finished the book of Acts which took over 1 year. Through the study of the book of Acts, God has taught our fellowship to be bold witnesses of Christ and giving testimony of Christ in our lives. Now we have started teaching through the book of Genesis during our weekly church service. I will continue to teach through the book verse by verse and look forward to what the Lord will teach me and our church through the study.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Beautiful Beginnings"},{"content":"Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” —Matthew 19:14\nSummer is always a crazy time for us in Uganda. For most of the summer we have teams coming in and out of the guest house to serve with various ministries that Far Reaching Ministries has in Uganda and in Sudan. It is amazing to be a small part of what God is doing in and through so many peoples lives. While the summer keeps us busy at the guest house it is also a busy time at church and in the neighborhoods.\nThe Ugandan school year begins at the end of January and ends in November. The school year is divided into three terms with a break in between each term. The longest break besides the end of year break is after second term. This term break is 3 weeks at the end of summer. At Arise Christian Fellowship we always try to plan something to reach and occupy the kids during this time. When school is in session we have about 80—100 children. When school is on holiday that number can double.\nThis year the Sunday school teachers decided to focus on the gifts each child has and teach them how to use their giftings to worship God and minister to others. For almost 3 weeks the youth were meeting and learning about gifts and trying to figure out what their gifts were. Many of the youth love music so there was a lot of singing and dancing as well as playing sports.\nOn the last Sunday of their school holiday most of the church service was taken over by the children. They were serving in various ways, some helping behind the scenes while others used their gifts publicly. We had a choir sing 4 songs, where the youth took turns singing solos as well as in unison. Some of the teens danced to contemporary worship music. A group of girls traditionally danced to worship in the Luganda language. Another group of children recited from scripture and our own Luke played the piano.\nIt was such a blessing to see this future generation becoming aware of their gifts and how to use them. As child after child shared something with us I was moved to tears thinking how awesome our God is that even a child can know Him and have faith to publicly serve and follow after Him.\nThe only group that did not share in some way was our youngest class which is our largest class. On this day of children’s service there was a huge downpour and because most of our children come on their own from the slums they could not make it. We decided to postpone their performances and service till they could all be there so no one was left out.\nDuring their term break the youth did not just learn about singing and dancing for Jesus but they learned about how to share His love with others who do not know Him. They put this into practice by having a sports outreach. The theme they came up with for the outreach was “Christianity is Fun” We went a little bit further than the churches neighborhood to a neighboring slum area. The youth who are gifted in sports, particularly soccer, gathered children from that neighborhood together to play sports with them.\nSports, like soccer, are a big deal here in Uganda. Therefore many children wanted to be a part of the event both as players and spectators. Before the games began the youth served all those present a breakfast of porridge. After breakfast they broke up into 3 groups: Soccer, netball, and spectators. The games continued till late afternoon with a break for sodas and cookies in the middle. During the break our youth took the opportunity to share their testimonies with others and tell them about Jesus. They were also able to get to know these children and hear about their lives.\nI believe it was very beneficial for both groups of children, for the ones we were trying to reach and for our youth to realize that there are youth with similar backgrounds and struggles as them. At the end of the day the youth from Arise once again served these children whom they now knew a bit better and gave them a hot meal. By the end of this outreach there were so many children that we actually ran out of food. We are very thankful for those who contribute towards our children’s ministry and help make outreaches like this possible.\nWhile Luke, Laylee and Liana have enjoyed participating in the church activities, they have also been having a busy summer of activities. Luke was part of a large chess tournament. There were hundred s of children there. He won 4th place in his age division which is 9-12yrs old. We are so proud of him, he only turned 9 this summer. He was then invited to be part of a delegation of Ugandan chess players to a competition in Holland but we had to decline at this time as he is so young to travel alone and neither Brian or I could go. Hopefully, in the future he will get another opportunity since he is very passionate about chess.\nAll of the children have been taking Karate. This summer they had their testing to move to the next belt. It was a strenuous test but all of the children passed. Laylee and Liana moved up to an orange belt and Luke received his purple belt. We are very proud of all our children and their commitment to the activities and groups they belong to as well as their love of Jesus.\nThank you for praying for our family\nand for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS Continue to pray for my family as we prepare for the loss of my father. Pray for my father to be comfortable and not to be afraid. Praise the Lord for the ministry and spiritual growth of the youth at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for the youth to continue to use their gifts and share the love of Jesus even when school returns. Pray for the youth who attended the outreach to come to know Jesus and to find a good Bible teaching church to attend if Arise is too far. Pray for all the outreaches and ministries of Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/kanyike-update-october-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eJesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” —Matthew 19:14\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSummer is always a crazy time for us in Uganda. For most of the summer we have teams coming in and out of the guest house to serve with various ministries that Far Reaching Ministries has in Uganda and in Sudan. It is amazing to be a small part of what God is doing in and through so many peoples lives. While the summer keeps us busy at the guest house it is also a busy time at church and in the neighborhoods.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Kanyike Update October 2019"},{"content":"“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord.” Colossians 3:23\nI’ve said it before and I will say it again. Writing newsletters each month is one of the hardest parts of being a missionary. This month I am late because there was no big story or moment to talk about, it has been a month of small things that we pray, one day could make a big impact.\nThings like loving on the massive amounts of children each week and just trying to keep calm and share God’s joy with the crazy number of kids. All 6 classrooms filled and overflowing. Praying God would help us to reach each and every one of them. Teaching our staff the Inductive Bible study method so that they can grow deeper in the Word and in their walk with God. Vincent teaching Sunday, Thursday, and most Wednesdays in the church. Having fun fellowship and laughter as the married couples played the singles in a friendly football match.\nTaking some needed family time for my birthday. Seeing God’s amazing creations in person. Praying through each time our car broke down, using every moment possible as teaching moments waiting on the roadside for our car to cool down. Praying through the struggles of building in Africa. Everything taking so much longer than it would take in America. Trying to be patient knowing you are an ambassador for Christ to the unsaved workers. Marveling at the knowledge God gives our precious boys! Sometimes being a missionary is just living day to day, trying to be the best Christian you can be and asking for forgiveness in the times we fall short.\nPlease pray as the boys and I prepare to head back to America for Zachary’s therapy and doctor appointments. Pray for our adjustment and the travel. It will be over 40 hours traveling with the boys alone. Please pray God sends me someone to help with the luggage, especially at Entebbe airport with the staircase! Pray also for me to have strength and patience. We will be landing on October 23rd. Please continue to pray for health and strength, especially for Vincent and us as a family while we are apart. Thank you for your love and prayers!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/every-day-life/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord.”  Colossians 3:23\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’ve said it before and I will say it again. Writing newsletters each month is one of the hardest parts of being a missionary. This month I am late because there was no big story or moment to talk about, it has been a month of small things that we pray, one day could make a big impact.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Every Day Life"},{"content":"“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10\nWhen we moved here to the village of Adak, God gave us a burden for our neighborhood and a desire to see the Gospel come to life in our community. Within a few months of being here, I (Matt) started a bible study on Tuesday nights for the youth of the area. We pray that some of the seeds that were sown at that time will continue to grow, but it didn’t take very long for us to see that we needed a different approach to reach our neighbors. Then, at the time that we were closing down that Bible study I started meeting with one of our neighbors who’s name was Daniel. Together Daniel and I read and talked through the entire New Testament and the impact that God’s Word had on Daniel’s life was tremendous. The same week we finished Revelation, Daniel left to another town in order to study nursing. With Daniel gone Noelle and I started praying for further direction from God concerning our village and within a short amount of time we had around 15 men meeting in our home every Wednesday night to fellowship and study God’s Word and Noelle started a separate study with a couple of the women from the community! Our goal with these studies is to lead people into developing their own relationships with God where they know how to pray, how to read the Bible for themselves and understand it, how to memorize scripture, and most importantly give them an understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Praise God for his faithfulness to seek out and save the lost.\nGod has also been moving on the “official ministry” side of things.\nThis past month our pastoral students got to learn about Israel’s return from exile in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, andEsther. Please continue praying for all of the churches they represent.\nWe just finished construction on another chicken house and now have the capacity for 6,600 chickens! God also provided BAM with a means of transporting our large loads!\nAnd we have been very happy with our medical staff who in the last month have seen over 300 patients, immunized more than 400 children, delivered 48 babies and treated many tropical diseases including 143 cases of malaria.\nGod bless you\nMatt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/september-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/10/71FCBD46-FB16-41F4-A30E-894AEF1A029E-e1570196202153-1024x768.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen we moved here to the village of Adak, God gave us a burden for our neighborhood and a desire to see the Gospel come to life in our community.  Within a few months of being here, I (Matt) started a bible study on Tuesday nights for the youth of the area.  We pray that some of the seeds that were sown at that time will continue to grow, but it didn’t take very long for us to see that we needed a different approach to reach our neighbors. Then, at the time that we were closing down that Bible study I started meeting with one of our neighbors who’s name was Daniel.  Together Daniel and I read and talked through the entire New Testament and the impact that God’s Word had on Daniel’s life was tremendous. The same week we finished Revelation, Daniel left to another town in order to study nursing. With Daniel gone Noelle and I started praying for further direction from God concerning our village and within a short amount of time we had around 15 men meeting in our home every Wednesday night to fellowship and study God’s Word and Noelle started a separate study with a couple of the women from the community! Our goal with these studies is to lead people into developing their own relationships with God where they know how to pray, how to read the Bible for themselves and understand it, how to memorize scripture, and most importantly give them an understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Praise God for his faithfulness to seek out and save the lost.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"September 2019"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace.\u0026ldquo;Daniel 3:19-20 NKJV\nUrgent Prayer Request!: Please pray for my new friend and brother in Christ, \u0026ldquo;Shadrach\u0026rdquo; who urgently needs to obtain a job, work permit, and visa in Cambodia to avoid being sent back to Pakistan where his former boss is waiting to murder him (and potentially his wife and two small children as well) because he refused to convert to Islam. The boss even sent several armed henchmen to his house to beat and threaten them for several hours in an attempt to force them to convert, but their faith remained strong so they refused. Now, they are being tested in the fires of Cambodia. They have little savings which is running out, the wife has obtained a job and visas for the two children but Shadrach is still vulnerable to being deported back to Pakistan, unless God blesses him with a job soon. I have done what I can to help him practically (fixed his old laptop and helped him back up the files and shared his situation with my social networks in Cambodia etc.).\nPraise Report! Goliath #1 is Defeated: In May, we lost the funding, that we have depended on since 2007 to pay our housing expenses, because our sending church in the USA hit a financial crisis. This was a very serious loss because without housing, we could have been forced to return to one of our home countries. With little savings or hope of good employment, our situation could have turned dire. By God\u0026rsquo;s grace on Saturday morning, we were informed that the rest of our monthly housing need has been met with a generous monthly donation!\nPrayer Request: Goliath #2 is Approaching: In April, Kayo\u0026rsquo;s parents retired from their management consulting business in Japan. They had been sponsoring Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s tuition, at Hope School https://www.hope.edu.kh so now that our housing need has been met, we can finally start to seek the funding for Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s education. We have been paying his $582 monthly tuition out of our savings but that is getting low, we will have to spend some financial reserves from our missions account, but this is a temporary solution. Benjamin is doing well in school, has many friends and activities, and would be lonely in homeschool so that is not a good option either. I (Darryl) am looking into part-time teaching opportunities but this will reduce my ministry capacity. Please pray that God will raise up people around the world who will be called to invest in Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s education and keep us free to focus on ministry during his school hours. Prayer Request: Goliath #3 TBA:\nPrayer Request: Apologetics and Evangelism Class: From October 21 to November 1, I (Darryl) will be teaching Apologetics and Evangelism at Cambodia Bible Institute. Please pray for my teaching and the students\u0026rsquo; learning. Also please pray that all of the video and audio equipment will work well enough this time that I can post the students\u0026rsquo; videos on social media to minister to others. Prayer Request: International Fishers Videos: Please pray that I will be able to release two new videos in the Cambodian language 1. God\u0026rsquo;s Motors(bacterial flagellar motors) 2. God\u0026rsquo;s Camera\u0026rsquo;s(eyes) between now and the start of the class. Pray for other videos in process as well. My most viewed video on the resurrection is approaching 35,000 views in the Cambodian language. Other Prayer Requests: Please pray for Kayo\u0026rsquo;s continued work with Precious Women ministry. Please pray for Kayo\u0026rsquo;s ministry with the international church\u0026rsquo;s worship team and the Love Phnom Penh Festival\u0026rsquo;s (Franklin Graham) choir. Also, please pray for our continued health, strength, and encouragement in the Lord.\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl with Kayo and Benjamin\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/they-threatened-my-family-and-me-with-guns/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. 20 And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace.\u0026ldquo;Daniel 3:19-20 NKJV\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUrgent Prayer Request!:\u003c/strong\u003e Please pray for my new friend and brother in Christ, \u0026ldquo;Shadrach\u0026rdquo; who urgently needs to obtain a job, work permit, and visa in Cambodia to avoid being sent back to Pakistan where his former boss is waiting to murder him (and potentially his wife and two small children as well) because he refused to convert to Islam. The boss even sent several armed henchmen to his house to beat and threaten them for several hours in an attempt to force them to convert, but their faith remained strong so they refused. Now, they are being tested in the fires of Cambodia. They have little savings which is running out, the wife has obtained a job and visas for the two children but Shadrach is still vulnerable to being deported back to Pakistan, unless God blesses him with a job soon. I have done what I can to help him practically (fixed his old laptop and helped him back up the files and shared his situation with my social networks in Cambodia etc.).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"\"They Threatened My Family and Me with Guns...\""},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn this month’s mission’s letter, I wanted to give you an update on our next church plant!\nOne of the most surprising aspects for me about our church planting program is that God has given us the great privilege of planting 4 (and soon to be 5) churches back in the United States!\nOnly God could call an American Missionary to plant a church planting school in Mexico, to train up church planters to church plant in the United States. This certainly was never my plan, but I can see now it was God’s!\nI had the privilege of meeting my good friend Donnie Aldana over 10 years ago while he was on staff at a large church in Surprise, Arizona. Donnie led yearly missions teams to our church in Rosarito where we quickly became friends. After Donnie taught at one of our church’s conferences one year, God put it on my heart to ask him to pray about joining us someday to train to church plant! Although Donnie was very open to it, the timing wasn’t right, so we continued to pray!\nFast forward 9 years later, we realized that the timing was right for Donnie and his wife Coby to begin to train up with us to church plant. After a year of training where they excelled in all of their assignments and coursework, the time is now! And we are proud to tell you that Refresh Church Waddell will be having their grand opening services very soon!\nThe vision of this church is to refresh the saints, and Donnie and Coby excel at doing this. If you ever have the chance to meet them, you will be amazed at their story of how God lifted them out of the ashes for such a time as this! God has refreshed both Donnie and Coby through unspeakable trials and tribulations, and they are ready to share the refreshment they have received from the Lord with others!\nLast month, I had the opportunity to travel to Waddell, Arizona (30 miles from Phoenix) for the very first time to go on a church planting vision tour and I instantly fell in love with it. As we sought the Lord and prayed about God’s vision for this church plant, God was faithful and He gave us very clear directions about His heart for this church!\nOne interesting aspect of this particular church I am particularly excited about is that it is going to be the first non-denominational church we have ever planted! I love being a Calvary Chapel Pastor, but I am also aware that God’s plan for the world is much bigger than any particular denomination or religious tradition. I hope that this church is the first of many non-denominational church plants that we get to be a part of!\nPresently, the core team training meetings (weekly meetings for Bible Study, prayer, and preparation for the church) for Refresh Church are scheduled to begin in October while the Sunday services will be starting in January of 2020! Please keep this upcoming church plant in your prayers!\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for partnering with us here in the ministry! When you read about these church plants, please know that as ministry partners, they are all part of your spiritual fruit! We are honored and blessed to serve the Lord as your missionaries here in the ripe fields of Mexico!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would continue to bless the preparation of our next church plant, Refresh Church, Waddell, Arizona!\n#2- That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God last month for a blessed church planting vision tour to Waddell!\n#2- Praise God for the work He is doing in our local church here in Rosarito!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-october-2019-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings\nfrom Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this month’s mission’s letter, I wanted to give you an update on our next church plant!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2019/10/69928880%5F112033143515196%5F8925751496394407936%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the most surprising aspects for me about our church planting program is that God has given us the great privilege of planting 4 \u003cem\u003e(and soon to be 5)\u003c/em\u003e churches back in the United States!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2019/10/70341695%5F121335959251581%5F5745139789196165120%5Fn.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOnly\nGod could call an American Missionary to plant a church planting school in\nMexico, to train up church planters to church plant in the United States. This\ncertainly was never my plan, but I can see now it was God’s!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family October 2019 Missions Update"},{"content":" During the semester break, we were able to take several trips to different remote parts of the country to teach the Word of God and share the Gospel.\nSharing the Word at Bible College Student\u0026rsquo;s Village and Church God gave us an opportunity to visit one of the current students from the Calvary Chapel Pastors Training Center during the semester break. We visited his church in the west. I was able to share the Word of God from the book of James and teach them that it is by faith alone that we are saved and that it is not by our works.\nMinistering in a Remote Place By the grace of God, we got an opportunity to teach, train and equip them in the Word. God led us to be His witnesses in such a remote place where people don\u0026rsquo;t know the truth. The people in this region are lacking education, health centers, and proper sanitation. They suffer from malnutrition and there is a lot of early marriage. God took us to several villages to minister to these people during the semester break. The people are living in the forest area and are cut off from the rest of the world. When they heard the Gospel, they believed in Jesus as their Lord and people are changed! Pray for these people as they are able to eat for six months and then they have 6 months of famine where there is no food in the region. Pray God will provide them with quality education, home shelter, health facilities, transportation and Biblical teaching.\nVisit to my Wife\u0026rsquo;s Home Church God gave me an opportunity to share the Word of God in my wife\u0026rsquo;s home village. It was a great honor to be able to visit the place where she is from and to teach the people from the Bible. Even though we are now married and living in the capital, we both have a heart for her home area and the people there.\nPlease for for the fall semester that is now underway, that as I teach, and Mahima is a student, that we would both grow in God\u0026rsquo;s Word and be further used for God\u0026rsquo;s glory.\nThank you for praying and supporting us,\nRabi and Mahima\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/teaching-the-word-throughout-summer/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Rabi-September-DangChurch-300x167.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the semester break, we were able to take several trips to different remote parts of the country to teach the Word of God and share the Gospel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"sharing-the-word-at-bible-college-student\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSharing the Word at Bible College Student\u0026rsquo;s Village and Church\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod gave us an opportunity to visit one of the current students from the Calvary Chapel Pastors Training Center during the semester break. We visited his church in the west. I was able to share the Word of God from the book of James and teach them that it is by faith alone that we are saved and that it is not by our works.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Teaching the Word Throughout Summer"},{"content":"Hello Family and Friends!\nWe pray you are doing well, and as always, we are so thankful that you’ve taken the time to read this update and see what the Lord is doing in and through our lives. We are so grateful for each and every one of you!\nAfter a lot of traveling the first half of this year, I’m holding off on any more traveling until 2020 (but there are exciting trips in the works!). That means I’m settling down for work at the home office for the rest of this year. But that doesn’t mean things aren’t exciting!\nFive of the students from SGWM’s Summer School of Missions have opted to join us at Saving Grace as interns, as well as three other missions-minded individuals. They’ve made a year-long commitment to serve in the office and at our church, while working to raise support, so that they can see all that goes on behind the scenes of the church. During this year, they will learn most of the basics of what it may look like for them to plant a church in another country, and each of them will be going on at least one international trip as a “vision tour” to see if it may be a country that the Lord is leading them to move to.\nThis intern program has really breathed some fresh life into the home office and our church, and it is exciting for me that I get to be a part of discipling these young potential church-planters and missionaries! One of my roles over the next couple of months is to teach some Bible courses for them to give them some additional Biblical training (and we’ve also opened up these classes to the rest of our church, which is a huge blessing!)\nThe family is doing great as well, and little Clara (5 months) is coming along just fine. Maggie (5) is doing a great job in school and a new venture for her, a literature class she goes to weekly that she loves! Harrison (4) is passionate about food, singing, basketball, and life in general. And Jude (2) is now potty-trained! As you can see in the pic above, we also had a fun little family camping trip this Summer.\nThank you all for your prayers and support! Please continue to pray for Joel as he works with Saving Grace’s new interns to train them for ministry and missions, as well as his accounting responsibilities with SGWM and his pastoral role with CCSG. And pray for Amy as she manages the family and household in the thick of life with little ones.\nIf you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the “Become A Financial Partner” button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-life-fresh-vision/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Family and Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe pray you are doing well, and as always, we are so thankful that you’ve taken the time to read this update and see what the Lord is doing in and through our lives. We are so grateful for each and every one of you!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/garcia/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2019/09/VPXBq41nRegWhUEprD6Kg-1024x768.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAfter a lot of traveling the first half of this year, I’m holding off on any more traveling until 2020 (but there are exciting trips in the works!). That means I’m settling down for work at the home office for the rest of this year. But that doesn’t mean things aren’t exciting!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Life \u0026 Fresh Vision"},{"content":"I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name. -Psalm 138:2\nEach month we share about the different ministries that take place through Arise Christian Fellowship and Far-Reaching Ministries. As I was reviewing all the things that have taken place in this last month, one thing has really stood out to me: the emphasis of teaching or sharing God\u0026rsquo;s Word. It is the foundation of all the ministries, outreaches, and events that take place. Isaiah tells us that God\u0026rsquo;s Word will not return void, Romans tells us that faith comes from hearing God\u0026rsquo;s Word and 2 Timothy tells us to teach what we have learned to others who might teach it as well. As I review and write about what is happening in the ministry here in Uganda, I pray that all of these are being fulfilled and are a testimony to others.\nThis past month I started a new women\u0026rsquo;s study on Tuesday mornings at my house. We happened to start on my birthday which is also in the birthday week of a couple of the ladies in my study so it seemed like a good day to begin and begin with lots of cake. During our last study, I taught a series on Everything unto the Lord. It was based on scriptures and lessons the Lord was teaching while I was sick and having just lost my mom. This current study I have called Suffering, Spiritual Warfare and The Armor of God. The theme came about at the end of our last study when many of the women were questioning and sharing about how much suffering we all seem to keep going through. I definitely could not argue with that. We began the study looking at the verse from John 16:33, where Jesus says, \u0026ldquo;In this world, you will have tribulation, but take heart I have overcome the world.\u0026rdquo; We talked about how there is such a misconception and false teaching in the world today that Christians will not suffer if they have enough faith. Jesus never taught this and the life of the disciples and Paul definitely did not reflect this. After every teaching, I always give the ladies discussion questions to take home so they keep studying and meditating on what we\u0026rsquo;ve been learning throughout the week.\nAfter I gave them homework to study deeper, the Lord gave me my own homework. That night I got a phone call that my dad is dying and I should come right away. As I write this I am currently with my dad who is not well but still has not passed. I came without my children. I want them to remember their Papa the way he was when we were here last year. Also, my sisters needed a lot of help getting his affairs in order. I only have 3 days left here and am torn, happy my dad is still alive but sad to leave knowing the inevitable is coming and I won\u0026rsquo;t be here. I am glad I came when I did though, my sisters needed me and while I know they wish I could stay longer, I know I am leaving them with things ready for when the time comes. Please keep my family in prayer, it truly has been a season of suffering.\nThis past month we also started a new fellowship. It meets on Thursdays at 4 pm in an area called Kireka West. It is about half an hour from the church and where we live. The Fellowship came about because of a young lady in our church called Peace, of whom I have written before. She is the mother of 2 sets of twins and her husband abandoned them when she was pregnant with the second set. Because she lives so far away it was too expensive for her to come to church every week and there are no churches in the area where she lives because it is a very Muslim area. Peace comes from a Muslim family, though she herself is a Christian. Brian and I have been helping her with transport once a month but she really needed more fellowship than that. Also, because of our help after Peace\u0026rsquo;s husband left, her Muslim family members have been more open to listening to Bible teaching. All of these factors, plus prayer led us to start the fellowship at Peace\u0026rsquo;s place. So far there are about 6 people attending and we are praying that more would join us.\nEvery year there is an organization called Journey Together that hosts a retreat for missionary women. The goal of the retreat is to bring missionaries together to be refreshed through God\u0026rsquo;s Word, fellowship and counseling if needed. This year the topic was Walking in the Light. Our worship leader from Arise Christian Fellowship, Evelyn, was asked to come and lead worship with one of the missionary worship leaders. Besides leading worship Evelyn was also asked to share her testimony with the ladies. Evelyn said it was a privilege to be able to serve these women who are giving so much to serve here. She was also excited to have the opportunity to share the great things the Lord has done in her life as an encouragement to the women there and as a reminder to herself. There were about 45 missionaries from all over Uganda and South Sudan who attended. We pray they all returned to their areas of ministry ministered to and refreshed in the Lord.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS\nPraise the Lord for the ministry and spiritual growth of the members at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for my family as we prepare for the loss of my father. Pray for my father to be comfortable and not to be afraid. Pray for my new women\u0026rsquo;s Bible study, that we would truly learn what God\u0026rsquo;s word says about suffering. Pray for the new Fellowship in Kireka West. Pray for Peace and for her Muslim family to be reached. Pray for all the outreaches and ministries of Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/kanyike-update-sept-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.   -Psalm 138:2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEach month we share about the different ministries that take place through Arise Christian Fellowship and Far-Reaching Ministries.  As I was reviewing all the things that have taken place in this last month, one thing has really stood out to me: the emphasis of teaching or sharing God\u0026rsquo;s Word.  It is the foundation of all the ministries, outreaches, and events that take place.  Isaiah tells us that God\u0026rsquo;s Word will not return void, Romans tells us that faith comes from hearing God\u0026rsquo;s Word and 2 Timothy tells us to teach what we have learned to others who might teach it as well.  As I review and write about what is happening in the ministry here in Uganda, I pray that all of these are being fulfilled and are a testimony to others.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Kanyike Family Update- September 2019"},{"content":"Greetings my dear friends and family!\nI am back from Mexico! I can’t believe my six weeks at Calvary School of Missions has come to an end. The time went by incredibly fast. Although I was sad to finish the school, I’m excited to start a new season of preparing to go out as a long-term missionary. I know that the School of Missions was only the beginning of what the Lord has in store for my life! I am excited to announce that I will be interning at Saving Grace World Missions, a missions agency started by Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. As an intern, I will be taking Bible classes in order to strengthen my foundation in the Word of God. I will be learning how to prepare a Biblical message and will get to practice delivering it in front of leaders and other interns. I will also be serving in the children’s ministry! The reason for this internship is to help prepare me to serve in similar ministries when I am a part of a church plant in the near future.\nLearning Surrender My last two weeks in Mexico were filled with ministry and learning. We attended a church planting conference at Calvary Chapel Rosarito where I was able to learn from experienced church planters. While I was there, the Lord confirmed His calling on my life to be a part of a new work! Just as Paul made it his aim to preach the Gospel where Christ had not been named (Romans 15:20-21), so I know the Lord is calling me to do the same. It has been unbearably hard surrendering my plans for the future to the Lord. As many of you may know, I had been planning to move to East Africa with my best friend to serve street children and orphans. Of course, I still love the children of East Africa with all my heart and would love to be with them again, but the Lord has also been burdening my heart for the billions of people who have never heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ (this region of the world is known as the 10/40 window). East Africa, for the most part, is saturated with the Gospel. Of course there are still so many physical and spiritual needs there, but for the most part, the Word of God is accessible to the majority of East Africa. I desire nothing more than to be in the Lord’s will for my life. I have come to a place where I am willing to go wherever the Lord leads me. If He wants to send me to a people that have never heard of Him, then by His strength I will go! But if He wants me to return to Rwanda and pour my life into the children there, then so be it! He has a perfect plan. I must trust Him wherever He leads me. The Lord has been speaking to me through these scriptures:\n“For you shall go to all whom I send you.” –Jeremiah 1:7\n“I have found David the son of Jesse a man after My own heart, who will do all my will.” – Acts 13:22\n“For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God…” – Acts 13:36\nSurrender isn’t a one-time thing (though I wish it were!) Surrender is something we must do every moment of every day. I want to do all the Lord’s will and serve my generation by His will, just as King David did! This will require that I continually surrender to Him. If I’m honest, the idea of surrendering to Him used to be torturous to me. But when I stop and think of how He gave His life for our salvation, I am reminded of how He truly is worthy of my all.\nAn Open Door With that being said, a door has been opened for me to go on a short vision tour to the country of Jordan in late January. For quite some time now, my heart has been stirring for Muslims. Even when I was in Rwanda, my friend Nancy and I were drawn to a Muslim neighborhood and I was able to share the Gospel with a Muslim in the market. The Lord has put it on the hearts of the leaders at Saving Grace to plant a Bible School in Jordan in order to raise up Jordanian, Syrian and Iraqi refugees as disciples of Jesus Christ with the vision of sending them out to surrounding Muslim countries to make disciples. This vision tour will be a time to see the country and the people and meet with the pastor of a small Jordanian church who is partnering with Saving Grace to start this Bible School. I will continue to update you as the time approaches and I have more details!\nA Divine Appointment There are so many stories I could share about what the Lord did in my last two weeks in Mexico, but the one I’m choosing to share is one of my favorites. We spent one afternoon serving a woman in Puerto Nuevo by cleaning her yard and putting new steps in it. My task was to clean up the trash surrounding her home and it didn’t take long to finish. There were more than enough hands working on installing the steps, so once I had finished my task I felt pretty useless and didn’t know what to do! I prayed for the Lord to give me something to do and not too long after I met a little 8 year-old girl named Britani who happened to be in the neighborhood. I started talking to her and noticed that she was sad. She then shared with me that her mother had died of an illness 2 years ago. I asked the Lord in that moment for a word of comfort to share with the girl and He gave me Psalm 56:8: “You number my wanderings; Put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?” I shared this verse with Britani and she began to tear up! I know that it spoke to her heart. Thankfully, one of my leaders had brought her children’s Bible along, so I borrowed it and shared with little Britani about how Jesus came to the Earth to save us from our sins. She said it was her first time hearing any story from the Bible! She was excited to hear that Jesus will give us eternal life if we put our faith in Him. Afterwards, Britani and I played together and before parting ways I wrote her a letter of love and encouragement. She left with the biggest smile on her face! I am so thankful that God used me to share His love to this young girl grieving her mother’s loss. It was no doubt a divine appointment.\n“We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” –Ephesians 2:10\nI’m so excited to see what other divine appointments God has for me not only here in my country, but among the nations!\nI would LOVE to meet with you over coffee now that I’m back to share more about what the Lord did at School of Missions with you AND to hear about your summer! Please message me if you would like to meet!\nAgain, thank you for coming alongside me to support me in the Lord’s calling on my life! I appreciate your prayers and financial giving. I could not do it with out you. Together, we will bring the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to those who have not yet heard!\nLove,\nAndrea Manor\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/back-in-america/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings my dear friends and family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI am back from Mexico! I can’t believe my six weeks at Calvary School of Missions has come to an end. The time went by incredibly fast. Although I was sad to finish the school, I’m excited to start a new season of preparing to go out as a long-term missionary. I know that the School of Missions was only the beginning of what the Lord has in store for my life! I am excited to announce that I will be interning at Saving Grace World Missions, a missions agency started by Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. As an intern, I will be taking Bible classes in order to strengthen my foundation in the Word of God. I will be learning how to prepare a Biblical message and will get to practice delivering it in front of leaders and other interns. I will also be serving in the children’s ministry! The reason for this internship is to help prepare me to serve in similar ministries when I am a part of a church plant in the near future.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"BACK IN AMERICA"},{"content":"So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.\u0026quot; John 13:12-14\nIn the month of August I had the awesome privilege of teaching at the first pastors conference put on by the Northern Uganda Calvary Chapel Association. This Association was formed in 2018 as a way to help shepherd the Calvary churches in the area. The theme of the event was servant leadership and we took 2 days to look at Jesus example of washing His disciple’s feet. The Holy Spirit guided us as we taught and touched the hearts of the pastors who were listening to inspire them and challenge their methods of leadership. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and growth and we are thankful for what God did. Please pray for us as we prepare to teach at a few more conferences coming up.\nI’m very excited that recently Noelle has been meeting with two of our neighbors to teach them biblical womanhood. Noelle is taking them through the creation account in Genesis, showing the equal value men and women have, and explaining the different roles God has given us respectively. Please pray for strength and wisdom for her as she continues through the study with these women, and also homeschools our kids.\n\u0026ldquo;Let no one look down on your youthfulness, but rather in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, show yourself an example of those who believe.\u0026rdquo; 1 Tim 4:12 In Christ,\nMatt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-august-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSo when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? “You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am.  “If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.\u0026quot;  John 13:12-14\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Harris1%5F0909-1024x239.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn the month of August I had the awesome privilege of teaching at the first pastors conference put on by the Northern Uganda Calvary Chapel Association.  This Association was formed in 2018 as a way to help shepherd the Calvary churches in the area.  The theme of the event was servant leadership and we took 2 days to look at Jesus example of washing His disciple’s feet.  The Holy Spirit guided us as we taught and touched the hearts of the pastors who were listening to inspire them and challenge their methods of leadership.  It was a wonderful time of fellowship and growth and we are thankful for what God did.  Please pray for us as we prepare to teach at a few more conferences coming up.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update - August 2019"},{"content":"Piles, upon piles, upon piles. Everywhere I turn, there are piles! Piles of clothes to be sorted and given away, piles of papers to be organized, piles of toys to be donated, piles of toys the kids hope to keep. I can’t quite find my house anymore because it is so full of piles — the reality that we are making another move around the world is daily more evident. In some way, it is exciting to see things getting finished, but more often, it is overwhelming how many things are still left to do.\nRomeo, Anya, and little Romeo were blessed to be able to take a trip to Moyobamba and teach on discipleship in the Awajun community of San Rafael. It is truly a blessing to see the work that God is doing in the jungle amidst the indigenous people. Please pray that a passion for God and His word would continue to grow and that those from San Rafael would be able to bring the gospel to the tribes further in the interior that have little to no contact with the outside world.\nThe semester has already begun, and there are several new students, most of whom I have hardly been able to meet, let alone have a real conversation with. Along with the new semester came a stomach bug, followed up by a head cold. Romeo is scheduled to teach Self Confrontation in Spanish, as well as Christ in Prophecy in English this semester. It is his first time teaching either of these classes, but he is already really enjoying preparing for them.\nDespite sickness and many piles, we are really enjoying this semester. You can join us in praying that God would grow each of the students, interns, and staff to a new depth in their walks with Him. And also for us that we would be able to quickly finish all the organizing that needs to happen so that we can fully enjoy and soak in these last months in Peru and be fully committed where we are.\nThis month, we would love if you would join us in praying over the details. You can be praying for wisdom and clear direction, provision for vehicles, furniture, housing deposits, quick acquisition of the Russian language, etc. Our children have asked repeatedly for specific prayer for their hearts and attitudes related to the move. They regularly pray that God would give them a joyful heart in regards to moving, despite how sad they are about it.\n?\nUntil the beginning of October, we anticipate being “off-grid” in a sense. We need some time to really focus in here and step into devoted prayer for the coming months. We are going to take a break from social media for this time. We just wanted you to know it is a temporary “disappearance” and we will be back responding to messages in no time.\nThank you for your continued prayers and support for our family. It is an indescribable blessing to have so many people who are “behind the scenes” partners with the work God is doing here in Peru, and around the world. We would never be on the field if it weren’t for all those who partner with us in ministry. Thank you!\nWith love,\nThe Bueschers\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/piles-here-there-and-everywhere/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePiles, upon piles, upon piles. Everywhere I turn, there are piles! Piles of clothes to be sorted and given away, piles of papers to be organized, piles of toys to be donated, piles of toys the kids hope to keep. I can’t quite find my house anymore because it is so full of piles — the reality that we are making another move around the world is daily more evident. In some way, it is exciting to see things getting finished, but more often, it is overwhelming how many things are still left to do.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Piles! Here, There, and Everywhere!"},{"content":" It is so amazing that Michelle and I are able to serve as fulltime Missionaries. This couldn’t be done without the help of all your prayers and continued financial support. Each and every one of you is part of the ministry work that we are doing. We thank you so much as we continue to give all the Glory to God!\nWe continued serving weekly in the neighborhoods of Tijuana, Mexico. This month, we not only did weekly baths and shampoos but also did some VBS (Vacation Bible School) with the children. It was so special to see the joy on the children’s faces. Along with the Bath and Shampoo Ministry, we went to the dump a couple of times this month. We came alongside a church from Irvine, CA. We made lunches and handed out food to the over 400 people that call the Tijuana dump their home. The word of God and the message of salvation was spread throughout the day. Please continue to pray for the men, women, and children that live in these conditions that they may find Salvation and hope in their lives in this very dark place.\nPlease meet Pastor Fernando and his wife Liliana. They have been married for 10 years and Pastor Fernando has been a pastor at Calvary Chapel Rosarito for the last 9 years. They’re being called to leave the country they love (Mexico) and plant a bilingual church where entire families can attend together. There is a great call for a bilingual church where children that speak primarily English and parents that speak Spanish can worship and learn the entire Bible verse by verse together, in Northern Las Vegas, Nevada. Michelle and I have been praying for direction. Through prayer and others, the Lord has spoken that we are to go and serve this new bilingual church. In faith we will be moving for 12 months as fulltime missionaries to help in any way the Lord calls us, to reach the lost and broken in Northern Las Vegas.\nBeing a missionary staff member at Calvary Chapel Rosarito Beach, Michelle and I were able to attend a medical outreach with Grace Calvary in Tijuana. After people were seen by the medical staff, we were able to pray for their needs and give them the message of Salvation. Glory to God!\nPrayer request: That Michelle and I will be bold in everything we do in Christ’s Name. To give us guidance on our move to serve as Missionaries in Northern Las Vegas. For personal Support, you can give through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on the button below to be taken to our secure giving page.\nFor further info, you can reach us at Mullinsfamily1@icloud.com.\nIn His Name,\nDavid \u0026amp; Michelle Mullins\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/david-and-michelles-august/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Mullins2%5F0905-768x1024.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt is so amazing that Michelle and I are able to serve as fulltime Missionaries.  This couldn’t be done without the help of all your prayers and continued financial support.  Each and every one of you is part of the ministry work that we are doing. We thank you so much as we continue to give all the Glory to God!\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Mullins3%5F0905.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Mullins4%5F0905.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Mullins5%5F0905.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Mullins6%5F0905.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe continued serving weekly in the neighborhoods of Tijuana, Mexico. This month, we not only did weekly baths and shampoos but also did some VBS (Vacation Bible School) with the children. It was so special to see the joy on the children’s faces. Along with the Bath and Shampoo Ministry, we went to the dump a couple of times this month. We came alongside a church from Irvine, CA. We made lunches and handed out food to the over 400 people that call the Tijuana dump their home. The word of God and the message of salvation was spread throughout the day. Please continue to pray for the men, women, and children that live in these conditions that they may find Salvation and hope in their lives in this very dark place.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"David and Michelle's August"},{"content":"Do you ever feel like life hits you out of nowhere like a tornado without the tornado warning? All of a sudden, your rosy, cheery existence is interrupted by a whirlwind of upsetting change and chaos that leaves you windblown and chapped as you try to fit together the remains of what you once knew as normal?\nThat’s how this past month has been for me.\nI have just experienced a lot of personal loss that sometimes feels debilitating. My younger sister (who is also my best friend) got engaged and went away to school in Arizona, my uncle passed away, and I said good-bye to the high school ministry at my old church as I now transition to Calvary Chapel Saving Grace.\nNone of these things are necessarily bad. My sister’s fiancé is wonderful and I couldn’t have imagined a more perfect match for her. She is going to school for nursing and is pursuing her passion. My uncle was mentally disabled his whole life and is now in a better place. The High school ministry will proceed just fine without me and I still get to maintain relationships with the girls and leaders there. Plus, I am gaining a whole new family as I transition to Saving Grace.\nSo why do I feel like this? Maybe it’s just because I’m human and change is hard for humans. I am reminded of a verse from one of my favorite Psalms, which says,\n“ Deep call unto deep at the noise of Your waterfalls; all Your waves and billows have gone over me.”\nPsalm 42:7\nWhat is the psalmist saying? He is saying “God! Life just keeps hitting me! It’s one wave after another and I’m getting hammered over here!” And then, of course, I imagine the psalmist saying or thinking (because this is what I sometimes say and think) “ aren’t You going to do anything about it?“\nBut what I love about Psalm 42 is that the psalmist doesn’t stay there. In verse 11 he says,\n“Why are you cast down, O my soul? Why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, the help of my countenance and my God.”\nSo yes, sometimes life beats you up with one thing on top of another so that you feel like you just can’t take one more wave, but the cure isn’t God reaching down from heaven to stop the waves before they hit you, it’s learning to ride the wave all the way into God’s arms. Spurgeon puts it perfectly,\n“I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages.”\nI’m still learning that. I’m figuring out (slowly and with many failures) how to step on the bricks that are flying about in this tornado so that I can keep moving toward Him instead of standing there with bricks hitting me in the face or worse yet, turning around and running away back to the “safety” of a tornado shelter.\nIt’s exciting and terrifying all at once but I can’t bunker down and hide from tornados. I have been called to step out of the tornado shelter, where everything feels comfortable and safe, and brave the unknown. Not alone. Never alone, but with Jesus as my front and rearguard.\nAll that to say that I love Jesus, I love what I do, and I love serving Him even when life hurts. The good news is that life goes on and there are some pretty exciting things happening at SGWM that God has allowed me to be a part of.\nThis Sunday will be my first Sunday at Saving Grace as my official church Home and I am SO EXCITED! I will start out serving in the projector ministry and in a few months start serving with the High school and Junior High ministries. We also have 5 new interns starting with us and I get to train them on some of the office responsibilities and what it looks like to send missionaries and be part of that Homefront support network. I can’t wait to see all that God has in store for them through this next year.\nALSO, I get to go to South Asia in November! We will be attending and hosting several conferences and encouraging the believers there. My responsibilities will revolve around keeping our financial records straight and accounting for our finances on the field.\nPrayer Requests Peace in the midst of the personal chaos A smooth transition to Saving Grace Wisdom in how to prioritize my time and maintain relationships with people from both Calvary Chapel Chino Hills and Saving Grace The trip in November! Safe travels, sweet fellowship, simple financial records God’s continued financial provision Thank you so much for your prayers for me. It is such a comfort to know that as we all navigate through the tornado seasons of our lives, we have each other to look to and lean on for prayer and support. Please continue to lift me up and let me know how I can pray for you! I would love to meet up for coffee or lunch or whatever fits your schedule to pray and share more of what God has done and continues to do in my life and hear more about yours.\nWith Love,\nHope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/tornado/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDo you ever feel like life hits you out of nowhere like a tornado without the tornado warning? All of a sudden, your rosy, cheery existence is interrupted by a whirlwind of upsetting change and chaos that leaves you windblown and chapped as you try to fit together the remains of what you once knew as normal?\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/noack/wp-content/uploads/sites/99/2019/09/Unknown.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThat’s how this past month has been for me.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have just experienced a lot of personal loss that sometimes feels debilitating. My younger sister (who is also my best friend) got engaged and went away to school in Arizona, my uncle passed away, and I said good-bye to the high school ministry at my old church as I now transition to Calvary Chapel Saving Grace.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"TORNADO!"},{"content":"I must admit that up until January of this year I have had a very limited view of missionary care.\nHaving just concluded a six week trip to Mexico where I had the privilege of leading the Calvary School of Missions, I struggle to find the words to express the joy and growth brought about through this experience. It has been difficult at times as I left my fiancé, Jenn at home but both of us see the sacrifice being well worth it. I spent the last six weeks watching seven young men and women seek the Lord for His will for their lives. The Calvary school of missions was a six-week intensive Missions training School focused on education in the morning hours, teaching students the Biblical philosophy of missions, cross-cultural ministry, church planting techniques, and so much more. The afternoons were filled with various types of outreach, homework, and lessons in self-care and relationship building.\nAs the title of this update reflects, the unexpected twist in missionary care is that my focus has been on caring for missionaries in the field, I still truly believe this is the call the Lord has upon my life, however, as usual, His view is so much bigger than mine. The opportunity that I’ve had to care for and train up missionaries on their way to the field was such a rich experience and has brought much joy to my heart. Don’t get me wrong, it was not without challenges but God sustained us through every one of them. The pastors and leadership of Calvary Chapel Saving Grace put a great deal of trust in me in allowing me to lead this school and for that, I’m truly grateful. The opportunities for me to utilize the skills and gifts God has given me in team leadership, outreach coordination, safety and security, caring for others, and Bible teaching was so rewarding and I believe brought great glory to my God and King. For many years I have been leading short term trips to Mexico with absolutely no clue how God was going to use those trips in this school. As I was leading this school it seemed as if each one of my many trips to Mexico over the years condensed into one fluid experience where God was able to use me and the relationships that have been built over the years to make this school successful and safe. Much thanks to all of my friends in Mexico, I love you all so much.\nAs I have returned to the states with a renewed vigor an expanded view of what missionary care is all about, it’s with great anticipation that I look forward to what the Lord has in store for me in my new expanded view.\nThank you all so much for your prayers, love, and support. If you wish to get involved in what the Lord is doing in and through me first and foremost I need prayer partners, secondly please consider partnering with me financially. Checks can be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with my name in the memo line then mailed directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nOr For your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on the “become a financial partner” button below and fill out the information.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nThat I would be a better communicator of what God is allowing me to be involved in around the world That I would follow through with a lifestyle change the Lord has put upon my heart long ago involving nutrition and exercise That I would courageously proclaim the Gospel at every opportunity given ~ Blessings,\nTim Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/an-unexpected-twist-to-missionary-care/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI must admit that up until January of this year I have had a very limited view of missionary care.\u003cbr\u003e\nHaving just concluded a six week trip to Mexico where I had the privilege of leading the Calvary School of Missions, I struggle to find the words to express the joy and growth brought about through this experience. It has been difficult at times as I left my fiancé, Jenn at home but both of us see the sacrifice being well worth it. I spent the last six weeks watching seven young men and women seek the Lord for His will for their lives. The Calvary school of missions was a six-week intensive Missions training School focused on education in the morning hours, teaching students the Biblical philosophy of missions, cross-cultural ministry, church planting techniques, and so much more. The afternoons were filled with various types of outreach, homework, and lessons in self-care and relationship building.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"An Unexpected Twist to Missionary Care"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Tell the nations of his glory; tell all peoples the miracles he does,\u0026rdquo; Psalms 96:3\nWe are back in Cambodia now and have resumed our various ministries here after spending part of the summer in the USA connecting with our family, friends, and senders there. Thank you all for praying for us so faithfully. We had a successful home assignment in California from June 20th to August 6th. Now, we are back in Cambodia and are resuming our various ministries here. Here are a few of our top priority prayer requests:\nFinances: We praise God for hearing our prayers in this area! A few months ago, we needed to replace more than $1,100 monthly to cover our rent, utilities, and Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s Christian school tuition after our main sending church in the USA hit a financial crisis and Kayo\u0026rsquo;s parents in Japan retired (they were funding Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s tuition from their business). If all of the faith promises come in, now it looks like our rent and utilities will be covered once again! However, we still urgently need to replace more than $600 monthly to cover Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s tuition at https://www.hope.edu.kh. If we do not receive enough funding soon, we will be forced to homeschool Benjamin (we will still need funding for that too). However, we really hope that is not necessary because Benjamin will seriously miss his friends from school, we don\u0026rsquo;t feel equipped to do a good job at homeschooling, and homeschooling will probably force us to reduce some of our ministry activities. Video Ministry: Darryl recently released a new video entitled \u0026ldquo;God\u0026rsquo;s Microphones: Human Ears.\u0026rdquo; You can watch the Cambodian version of the video here and the English version of the video here. Darryl has two other videos in process, \u0026ldquo;God\u0026rsquo;s Robots: Kinesins\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;God\u0026rsquo;s Cameras: Human Eyes.\u0026rdquo; We praise God that one of Darryl\u0026rsquo;s previous videos on the evidence for the resurrection has been viewed by more than 33,500 Cambodians! Women\u0026rsquo;s Ministry: Please pray for Kayo as she resumes her work with Precious Women ministry. Precious Women evangelizes and retrains women who work in the night-time entertainment industry, so that they can have a new life in Christ and a new career. Other Ministries: Please pray for Light Times Magazine (the only Christian Magazine in Cambodia), Darryl\u0026rsquo;s partnership with Pakistani Christians to develop evangelistic/discipleship materials for Cambodia and beyond, Chinese ministry, and Kayo\u0026rsquo;s work with the international church worship team.\nLife in Cambodia: Our return to Cambodia has been a little rocky. Both our car and refrigerator needed significant repairs. Our refrigerator will probably need to be replaced soon. Our neighbors in our apartment building changed from a quiet older couple to a bunch of younger guys who make noise at night that keeps Kayo awake. We will probably need to move to a different apartment, hopefully in the same building. This move will require us to pay more for rent.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/cambodia-prayer-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Tell the nations of his glory; tell all peoples the miracles he does,\u0026rdquo;  Psalms 96:3\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are back in Cambodia now and have resumed our various ministries here after spending part of the summer in the USA connecting with our family, friends, and senders there. Thank you all for praying for us so faithfully.  We had a successful home assignment in California from June 20th to August 6th. Now, we are back in Cambodia and are resuming our various ministries here. Here are a few of our top priority prayer requests:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cambodia Prayer Update"},{"content":" “Be Still, and know that I am God!” Psalm 46:10\nEvery break from school the children and I climb the mountain. Following tradition, we climbed this week. Because of being sick I stopped halfway while the others continued. This gave me a couple of hours of just sitting, praying, being still. These last few months we have been faced with the most Spiritual Warfare I have ever had in my life. Just sitting there listening to all the birds, insects and monkeys that God takes care of, I knew this moment was a divine appointment. Hearing the wind blow through the leaves of the trees that have withheld many storms, I felt His peace come over me! Be still, I am God! I have this! One of the worship songs that we sing here came in my heart so I sang to God and the monkeys. “Who has the final say? Jehovah has the final say. Jehovah turns my life around, Jehovah turns my life around. He makes a way, when there seems no way! Jehovah has the final say.” Encouragement, strength, trust all swept over me. When there seems no way for us, God has His perfect way! Moses and the Sea, Joseph as a slave and a prisoner. God has His plan and nothing can stand in the way. After these needed reminders from God, the kids came back and we walked the rest of the way down the mountain and through the grass singing the song together.\nWomen’s Conference\nThank you all for praying for our Women’s Conference! It was one of the best ones we have ever had! You could just feel the Holy Spirit move the whole day! Everything was organized and flowed smoothly. Janay’s and my teaching went perfectly together, confirming the moving of the Holy Spirit and not us. As the women shared each one of them cried, which is very rare in Uganda! They all said that there is not a single woman that was not touched by God during the conference! Worship, prayer times both individual and group all went perfect! Thank you again so much for your prayers! Please pray that all of us women continue to grow in what God shared with each one of us. “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Galatians 6:9\nEbenezer Football/Soccer Hall\nMany years ago, we opened up a football/soccer hall to share the gospel, soften the hearts of the Muslim men, and give the Christians a safe environment to watch. Remember that most of the world loves soccer and only a hand full of people own televisions. The hospital reaches out to women and the school to the children but there was a huge gap to reach the Muslim men’s hearts. This is why God put this hall on our hearts where we are now playing worship music, having free Christian films, employing converts and helping single moms with a safe place to sell tea or cupcakes. The Muslim men, first threatening us for playing Worship music, are now singing in the town those same Worship songs. Many have come into the hidden prayer room, accepted Christ and are being discipled. We never realized the impact the hall would have until now. We just knew God was telling us to open it. Originally, we only made a temporary building because that is the funding we had. It has been breaking for some time and so we needed to close the hall down. Seeing the impact for the gospel and the change in so many lives, we are prayerfully upgrading to build a permanent Hall. We have finished the walls but are praying to finish the roofing and other details. Due to the pleas of everyone, we have opened up our front storeroom for at least some people to squeeze in.\nPrayer and Praise\nI was diagnosed with the type of Malaria that stays in your liver. This is why I keep getting Malaria over and over again. I have one more week on the medication that should kill the eggs and the parasites remaining in my body. Please continue to pray for our church! Also, continue to pray for the groundbreaking of the library. Updates for the project in our next newsletter! We had birthday’s for Clow, Gaga, Sharon, and Penninah all this month! Clow starts her internship at a hotel in Arua as part of her Catering School! She’s almost done and has really become a beautiful godly woman! During the break, we were able to get a teacher to help tutor Gaga since she is still struggling with her grades. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/be-still/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2017/12/Aniku-Family-1024x728.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Be Still, and know that I am God!” Psalm 46:10\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eEvery break from school the children and I climb the mountain.  Following tradition, we climbed this week.  Because of being sick I stopped halfway while the others continued. This gave me a couple of hours of just sitting, praying, being still. These last few months we have been faced with the most Spiritual Warfare I have ever had in my life. Just sitting there listening to all the birds, insects and monkeys that God takes care of, I knew this moment was a divine appointment.  Hearing the wind blow through the leaves of the trees that have withheld many storms, I felt His peace come over me!  Be still, I am God!  I have this! One of the worship songs that we sing here came in my heart so I sang to God and the monkeys.  “Who has the final say?  Jehovah has the final say.  Jehovah turns my life around, Jehovah turns my life around.  He makes a way, when there seems no way!  Jehovah has the final say.”  Encouragement, strength, trust all swept over me.  When there seems no way for us, God has His perfect way! Moses and the Sea, Joseph as a slave and a prisoner.  God has His plan and nothing can stand in the way.  After these needed reminders from God, the kids came back and we walked the rest of the way down the mountain and through the grass singing the song together.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Be Still"},{"content":"Some seasons in our lives are not by choice. We first arrived in the States February 20th of this year on a Home Missionary Assignment. Our goal is to obtain Daisy’s US citizenship. This has become an issue for us to be able to minister in Peru and travel back and forth from the USA. Well, we had to be here for 90 days before filing, and once filed, Daisy could not leave the States! This is a unique time for immigrations, so this immigration process required legal assistance! We appreciate and need your prayers and support!\nTaking advantage of our time here in the States, we have made ourselves available to share in several church venues, such as life groups, Bible studies, and main services about what the Lord is doing in Peru. We have had the opportunity to participate in some mission training meetings with the teams that came to Huacho this summer. We have been amazed about how the Lord has allowed us to share with many new churches on the West Coast of Florida, and seven churches in Southern California! And we want to say thank you to our host families!\nAs our hearts ache from being away from our church and ministry in Peru, we can seeGod’s hand in all this. We have met a lot of people who have a heart for mission’s and we have been sharing that it’s not just a partnership with the Tippie\u0026rsquo;s, but participating in the Great Commission, and they are really partnering with the Lord. Normally we are never away from Peru for more than 5 weeks, and one of the things we are doing while in the States is encouraging people to come alongside us to raise mission awareness and see the need for faithful missionaries. One of the blessings from all of this is to see our church in Huacho take ownership and responsibility for forming new ministries in the local Rehab Center, English classes, and a rotating teaching schedule for our young Timothy disciples. This is a stretching time for them and for us as we see them mature!\nRyan, my son and I went back to Peru to host three summer teams. We had the youth of Calvary Chapel Saving Grace partner with CC Yorba Linda, and CC Fullerton to host a youth conference and a surf camp! We had 85 campers and great surf. Erick, a Venezuelan refugee gave his heart to Christ at camp. We had a team from Youth Summer of Missions, and CC Lima that came to serve us by helping us prepare for and serve our summer teams. Our last team for the summer was from the Church at Viera. We were able to fully launch a new ministry using English as a second language. The team from CAV came to Huacho really prepared to go right into action as we hosted a week-long event called Open Spanglish! The first night we had a very fun interactive game called “Name that Tune” and we ended that evening with an ice cream social to get people to come back! The next few nights we used practical ways for people to learn basic English using everyday experiences. This method was passed onto us by some missionaries from Malaysia. The last evening ended with a bang as we hosted a game show called Huacho Has Talent. Each team was given a choice of songs to sing, and this exceeded all our expectations and we had many new people wanting to learn English. Our English ministry is going to continue on Thursday evenings will complement our vision for our church café as we merge it with our new ministries. We have several new people attending our church because of the summer outreaches, and we ask you all to pray diligently for us!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/tippies-summer-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSome seasons in our lives are not by choice. We first arrived in the States February 20th of this year on a Home Missionary Assignment. Our goal is to obtain Daisy’s US citizenship. This has become an issue for us to be able to minister in Peru and travel back and forth from the USA. Well, we had to be here for 90 days before filing, and once filed, Daisy could not leave the States! This is a unique time for immigrations, so this immigration process required legal assistance! We appreciate and need your prayers and support!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tippies Summer 2019"},{"content":"Hello Friends!\nWe are here in the middle of Summer, and this year has seen a lot of travel for Joel. On top of the 18-day trip to Peru and Brazil back in January/February, Joel got to go back to Peru in June/July with a bunch of youth and young adults from CCSG, and he also had the opportunity to go to CCSG\u0026rsquo;s 4-day youth camp in August to teach, lead worship, and minister to our church\u0026rsquo;s youth, including many who were on the Peru trip, and the children of one our SGWM missionary families.\nThat means that Joel by and large won\u0026rsquo;t be traveling for the rest of the year, but is looking forward and starting to already think ahead to getting out on the field next year. For now, he\u0026rsquo;s gotten to help support SGWM\u0026rsquo;s Calvary School of Missions in Mexico (a six-week program of intensive training for students for cross-cultural missions) by holding the fort at the home base in Yorba Linda. That means continuing his duties with the financial department, preaching periodically for Pastor Trent while he is on the field, and helping support trips like the School of Missions and a long trip to South Asia that a few of SGWM\u0026rsquo;s staff and interns will be taking in a few months.\nOne really cool thing Joel got to do this Summer was bless one of our affiliate missionaries, the Record Family, by representing SGWM at their home church for an update they were giving on their ministry. The Records have a focus on cross-cultural apologetics. It was great to meet them in person for the first time, and to help pass along our vision for sending missionaries well to their amazing home church.\nKeep our family in prayer as we prep for Maggie\u0026rsquo;s kindergarten year of homeschooling while raising our other three little ones. It is a challenge, but we are so blessed by our children and want to give our all in raising them in the ways of the Lord!\nIf you would like to support us financially either on an ongoing basis or through a one-time donation, you can do so by clicking the \u0026ldquo;Become A Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; button below, OR you can mail a check written out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Joel Garcia support” in the memo section to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873.\nWe also would love to keep you updated on our ministry via our newsletter email updates if you are interested. You can sign up for those by clicking the button below:\nEmail Updates\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/summer-update-garcia-family-august-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are here in the middle of Summer, and this year has seen a lot of travel for Joel. On top of the 18-day trip to Peru and Brazil back in January/February, Joel got to go back to Peru in June/July with a bunch of youth and young adults from CCSG, and he also had the opportunity to go to CCSG\u0026rsquo;s 4-day youth camp in August to teach, lead worship, and minister to our church\u0026rsquo;s youth, including many who were on the Peru trip, and the children of one our SGWM missionary families.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Summer Update: Garcia Family August 2019"},{"content":"Calvary Chapel Playas has gone to two services. It is so exciting to see God\u0026rsquo;s Word honored as people come to learn and fellowship with one another. Our 9am service had a great turnout and it was a blessing to see that people were excited to serve. We have concluded our first session of the School of Ministry courses and will start back up in the fall. Calvary Chapel Living Water out of Corona, California came down and blessed us during our men\u0026rsquo;s breakfast as well as with the day of fellowship. We had a fellowship and baptism day at the beach, what a great time! People from church came out as we baptized 8 people and barbecued up some burgers. It is such an encouragement to have brothers in Christ come and minister to our body of believers, what a blessing.\nCalvary Chapel Saving Grace has started a \u0026ldquo;School of Missions\u0026rdquo; and we were blessed to spend a couple of days doing ministry with their future missionaries. It was so much fun! We evangelized in the park, ministered to mentally handicapped people who have been abandoned by their families, and spent some time getting to know the team. They are a great group of young men and women who are waiting for God to confirm the call He has on their lives. They will be the next generation of those who will take the Gospel to the unreached nations. We were blessed to be a part of what God is doing in their lives.\nOur family has been busy this summer. We have been blessed with hosting many families and groups who have come to Mexico to serve alongside us. Jamie and Brian have been working hard and saving to prepare for the next season in their lives. RJ was in La Paz, BCS, Mexico for 5 weeks and served at Rancho El Camino this summer. He was also able to visit our dear friend\u0026rsquo;s Basketball Camp, offered through their ministry, Transformados, when he was in La Paz. Mackenzie was blessed with scholarships to be able to attend a Christian Camp in Northern California called Hume Lake for a week. As people are being discipled through God\u0026rsquo;s word, it is amazing to watch the transformations that are taking place in the lives of the body of believers here at Calvary Chapel. Please keep our family and the church here in Playas de Tijuana in your prayers. We appreciate you all very much!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/summer-adventures/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCalvary Chapel Playas has gone to two services. It is so exciting to see God\u0026rsquo;s Word honored as people come to learn and fellowship with one another. Our 9am service had a great turnout and it was a blessing to see that people were excited to serve. We have concluded our first session of the School of Ministry courses and will start back up in the fall. Calvary Chapel Living Water out of Corona, California came down and blessed us during our men\u0026rsquo;s breakfast as well as with the day of fellowship. We had a fellowship and baptism day at the beach, what a great time! People from church came out as we baptized 8 people and barbecued up some burgers. It is such an encouragement to have brothers in Christ come and minister to our body of believers, what a blessing.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Summer Adventures"},{"content":" As a family we have decided to visit the churches of our students and friends to see how they are doing and to bring them some encouragement from God\u0026rsquo;s Word. With the permission of each pastor we have also decided to allow you to join us on that journey so that you will be more informed as you think about and pray for the churches of Uganda. We pray that these short Pastoral Bios would encourage you in your walk with God and that you would grow in your love for Jesus as you see how He is moving in the hearts of so many people!\nBongonyinge George was born in a small village to very poor parents. From the age of 10, he began working in people\u0026rsquo;s fields to earn his school fees. Even at a young age, he valued life, counseling one young man out of killing an old woman, and when he worked for the government prison he would bring back escapees alive while others were not so careful to do so. Once while working as a prison warden, 120 prisoners escaped, for which he was sentenced to 2 years on the other side of those bars. While there, he was helped by a Four Square church who assisted in transporting prisoners to the hospital and paying their fees. After his release in 1977, he joined the Four Square church, which later turned into a Calvary Chapel. He went on to serve as assistant pastor in several church plants from that same Calvary. George and his wife Adoch Grace have 8 children and care for 4 orphan boys. Pastor George was among our 1st class of graduates from the Terebinth School of Discipleship and in January of this year pastor Bongonyinge planted Lwala Calvary Chapel under some mango trees. Calvary Lwala has around 40 members and their theme that Jesus Christ is God\u0026rsquo;s revelation to us was taken out of Revelation 1:1.\nPray for Calvary Chapel Lwala\nPray that God would continue to grow them in faith and love. Pray that people\u0026rsquo;s hearts would be transformed by the Gospel. Pray that they would have a place to meet in the future. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/pastor-bongonyinge-george/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://mlsvc01-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/6a03dbae301/08b6849c-a71c-46f1-8942-b1c86adf2346.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs a family we have decided to visit the churches of our students and friends to see how they are doing and to bring them some encouragement from God\u0026rsquo;s Word.  With the permission of each pastor we have also decided to allow you to join us on that journey so that you will be more informed as you think about and pray for the churches of Uganda.  We pray that these short Pastoral Bios would encourage you in your walk with God and that you would grow in your love for Jesus as you see how He is moving in the hearts of so many people!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pastor Bongonyinge George"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their stronghold in the time of trouble\u0026rdquo; Psalms 37:38\nJuly marks 2 years since my family moved to Uganda. It has been amazing to reflect on that time and see how faithful God has been to shape us and to work around us. We are so grateful for the call God placed on our lives and I am grateful for the joy and peace that Jesus has brought to our family as we lean on him. My wife Noelle had the blessing of traveling to the United States for a few weeks this past month to visit her family. The main purpose of Noelle\u0026rsquo;s trip was for her to spend time with her father who is in the later stages of Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s. It was really a blessing for Noelle to see her dad and it was very encouraging for her father to be able to meet our son Noah for the first time. Despite taking a little while to warm up to him, Noah really enjoyed his grandpa. While she was in NE my parents had the opportunity to pay them a visit so that my Dad could meet our son for the first time as well!\nNoelle and Noah with both sets of parents\nNoah at the Airport\nDuring Noelle\u0026rsquo;s time with her family, I (Matt) stayed home with our daughters as a single dad. It was hard to be without Noelle but my time with Emma and Madeline was very rewarding. Because I took a lighter workload, I was able to spend a lot of time playing, reading, praying and singing with my little girls.\nGod has also continued to show himself faithful on the ministry side during the month of July. Our pastors studied through the books of 1st and 2nd Samuel and got to enjoy seeing David as the picture of Jesus the King of kings. At BAM (Business As Mission) God has been going above our expectations and our goods have been selling as fast as we can produce them. We are now supplying 6 schools with our products and despite having 1500 laying chickens we have been selling out of eggs every week.\n\u0026ldquo;But for you, O Lord, I do wait; it is you, O Lord my God, who will answer.\u0026rdquo; Psalms 38:15\nLove you guys,\nMatt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-july-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;The salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their stronghold in the time of trouble\u0026rdquo; Psalms 37:38\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJuly marks 2 years since my family moved to Uganda.  It has been amazing to reflect on that time and see how faithful God has been to shape us and to work around us.  We are so grateful for the call God placed on our lives and I am grateful for the joy and peace that Jesus has brought to our family as we lean on him.  \u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update July 2019"},{"content":"Michelle and I are truly blessed by the wonderful things the Lord has allowed us to experience in his name here in Mexico. We are often asked what’s it like being full-time Missionaries. We reply very simply it is a better life, a harder life but a much better life serving Jesus than serving man.\nIn all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths. Proverbs 3:6\nThis month we were able to continue serving weekly in the neighborhoods of Tijuana, Mexico. We average about 120 children’s shampoos and feet washings weekly. There are activities for the children to do along with Bible teachings. Also, an entire truckload of produce is given out to the parents who otherwise wouldn’t have enough food to make it through the week. Additionally, they hear the message of salvation. It is so amazing to serve our Lord and Savior in this way every week. We are the ones who are truly blessed to be part of it.\nBeing a missionary staff member at Calvary Chapel Rosarito Beach and part of the Church planting, I was able to give the Corporate communion to our 1,200 members congregation. This was such a blessing.\nPrayer requests!\nThat God uses Michelle and me in a way that is always honoring to Him. To give us clear direction on where to go with church planting. For personal Support, you can give through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply click on the button below.\nIn His Name\nDavid \u0026amp; Michelle Mullins\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/david-and-michelles-july/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMichelle and I are truly blessed by the wonderful things the Lord has allowed us to experience in his name here in Mexico.  We are often asked what’s it like being full-time Missionaries.  We reply very simply it is a better life, a harder life but a much better life serving Jesus than serving man.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn all your ways acknowledge him and he shall direct your paths.  Proverbs 3:6\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/mullins/wp-content/uploads/sites/95/2019/08/IMG%5F2786-768x1024.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis month we were able to continue serving weekly in the neighborhoods of Tijuana, Mexico. We average about 120 children’s shampoos and feet washings weekly. There are activities for the children to do along with Bible teachings. Also, an entire truckload of produce is given out to the parents who otherwise wouldn’t have enough food to make it through the week.  Additionally, they hear the message of salvation. It is so amazing to serve our Lord and Savior in this way every week. We are the ones who are truly blessed to be part of it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"David and Michelle's July"},{"content":"This past month has been a whirlwind and God’s faithfulness is so evident.\nI had the privilege of serving as a counselor at two summer camps this year which happened to be back to back. Basically I left on July 24th for the first camp, got back in the afternoon on the 28th, and left the next morning for another four days!\nThe theme of the first camp was Created and we talked about science and the Bible and why we can trust the Bible to affirm true science. It was a radical week as we saw students’ questions answered and lives changed. Two of the girls in my cabin accepted Christ and were baptized! I was one proud leader.\nUsually I am EXHAUSTED after just one camp, so knowing that I had a whole other camp ahead of me after this one was a bit intimidating, but I chose to remember that God is my strength and through Him I can do all things. (I also asked a ton of people to pray for me). It was kind of surreal to go throughout the week and realize that I had plenty of energy when I would usually be wiped out and by the time camp #2 rolled around I felt pretty good.\nThis is absolutely a brag on our God and His faithfulness to give us all that we need for what He has called us to. He continues to amaze me by how involved He is and how much He cares about the “little things.” I was so blessed to be able to serve at the second camp whose theme was Assured: How to know you’re saved when you don’t feel like it.\nI had junior high girls and got to serve alongside my sister, Anna, who volunteered to be a leader for the week. We had so much fun with the students, both junior high and high school, and we were immensely blessed by the teachings.\nFor this camp we tried something we had never done before, a two hour quiet time in which the students had to get alone with God and spend time in prayer, in the Word, or simply in silence for an entire two hours. For many of them this seemed outrageous but I was blessed to hear the feedback afterwards. One girl heard from God as her Good Father for the first time. One girl was led through the Scriptures to Biblical answers for a Jehovah’s Witness friend. Many of the students found that they were stretched but blessed by the extended time. Some fell asleep (I fell asleep when I did this as a seventh grader for 3 hours at a summer camp, so I feel them).\nDuring the camp several students were saved, others came to repentance and rededicated their lives to the Lord. Overall, it was an incredible experience and my heart is so full.\nAmazingly enough, at the end of the second camp I was feeling rested rather than wiped out! I am so excited to get back into the office this week and back into the swing of things as we plan some pastoral mission trips to Asia.\nAlso, major praise report! I received my first donation as a missionary! Thank you so much for your prayers for me and for the ministry I am doing. I am so incredibly blessed to have a job that allows me to pour into high school and junior high students for nine days straight as well as missionaries from all over the world!\nWhat a good God we serve! Please continue to lift me up to Him in prayer.\nPrayer Requests: Continued financial provision God’s grace and wisdom in handling interpersonal relationships That the students would continue to seek Him and that they would grow in their faith That I would be diligent to seek and serve Him and be fully obedient in every area of my life That God would reveal some “Next Steps” as I prayerfully consider going back to school for my teaching credential Again, thank you so much for your prayers and support. I am so grateful for each one of you.\nIf you would like to sign up to receive these updates straight to your email, please click this link:\nEmail Updates For Email Newsletters you can trust.\nYou can also become a financial partner with me by clicking the button below.\nMay God bless and keep you as you follow Him and love Him with your life!\nLove,\nHope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/can-you-say-summer-camp/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis past month has been a whirlwind and God’s faithfulness is so evident.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI had the privilege of serving as a counselor at two summer camps this year which happened to be back to back. Basically I left on July 24th for the first camp, got back in the afternoon on the 28th, and left the next morning for another four days!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe theme of the first camp was Created and we talked about science and the Bible and why we can trust the Bible to affirm true science. It was a radical week as we saw students’ questions answered and lives changed. Two of the girls in my cabin accepted Christ and were baptized! I was one proud leader.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Can you say \"Summer Camp\"?"},{"content":" “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1:7\nAs Ebola spreads in our neighboring country, the Congo. There was a close call nearby us. Praise God He has protected and continues to protect Uganda from Ebola. I have to confess that on and off for a few days I had fear. As I reflected on all He has brought us through these past years, I had to laugh at myself for having fear. There is always something to fear, but God! When I first came it was swine flu, then malaria, pneumonia, staph, losing a baby, persecution, cancer, poverty, the future of the church, rumors, our loved ones back in America. The list can go on forever. As soon as we get over one fear, another one comes. Some have come to truth and God has seen us through with His perfect peace! But we must be still and know that He is God! Fear not for He is with us! He has our future and He has already triumphed! It is easy to let fear cripple us out of serving or doing what God has called us to do. But, God has not given us a spirit of fear! No! He has given us a spirit of power and love for the lost and His people. The spirit of a sound mind knowing in the midst of the storm He has us! His plan is better than ours! The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will! To quote Ian’s favorite song, “My fear doesn’t stand a chance when I stand in Your love.” Chase fear, trust God!\nPraise Reports and Updates:\nVincent and I are so excited to share that the blue prints for the library and the community center have been approved and the finances are being sent! We are in awe of all God is doing and going to do through the community and we can’t wait to see His plans unfold! Hoping to have some photos of the ground breaking for the next newsletter. Everything in Uganda takes a little longer and we want to make sure everything is done well with the government. We know God’s timing is perfect! It’s easy as a missionary mom to feel less important being at home, homeschooling, and taking care of things in the compound. Especially when it is newsletter time again. Seeing the boys grow in the spirit, life and academics helps me realize it is newsletter worthy. Sometimes the way we serve may feel small but only God knows the impact! We have started the Children’s Ministry Trainings back up and they are going well. The number of children coming keeps growing! Please pray for more laborers! Our goats have multiplied. We enjoy the little babies running around the compound. Prayer Requests:\nThe women’s conference was changed to August 10th. Please continue to pray that the Holy Spirit speaks through me and my own words do not get in the way. Our Ugandan children will be on a 3 week break mid-August. Please pray it will be a fruitful time for all of us and that God would provide their school fees for next term. Continue prayers for the church. Continue prayers for our health. Both Vincent and I are recovering from Malaria again. Thank you all for your love and prayers!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/always-something-to-fear/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2017/12/Aniku-Family-1024x728.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind.”\u003c/em\u003e 2 Timothy 1:7\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs Ebola spreads in our neighboring country, the Congo. There was a close call nearby us. Praise God He has protected and continues to protect Uganda from Ebola. I have to confess that on and off for a few days I had fear. As I reflected on all He has brought us through these past years, I had to laugh at myself for having fear. There is always something to fear, but God! When I first came it was swine flu, then malaria, pneumonia, staph, losing a baby, persecution, cancer, poverty, the future of the church, rumors, our loved ones back in America. The list can go on forever. As soon as we get over one fear, another one comes. Some have come to truth and God has seen us through with His perfect peace! But we must be still and know that He is God! Fear not for He is with us! He has our future and He has already triumphed! It is easy to let fear cripple us out of serving or doing what God has called us to do. But, God has not given us a spirit of fear! No! He has given us a spirit of power and love for the lost and His people. The spirit of a sound mind knowing in the midst of the storm He has us! His plan is better than ours! The safest place to be is in the center of God’s will! To quote Ian’s favorite song, “My fear doesn’t stand a chance when I stand in Your love.”  Chase fear, trust God!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Always Something to Fear"},{"content":"An Important Update from the Bueschers\nThe things that once felt different, the foods that seemed strange, the various sights and smells of Peru, they’re no longer foreign. In fact, they’re quite familiar. Let me share a quick story… On a recent visit to the States, I was driving along a small town highway. I had borrowed a van during my trip and the gas light came on, but on top of this, my phone had no cell service. I began to feel nervous, then borderline panicked as I was already late to a get together and the next gas station was still miles down the road. I said to myself, “I have no way to contact anyone, I don’t know how many miles I can drive once the gas light comes on, and I’m in a foriegn country with no way to ask anyone for help!”\nNow, let me fill in a couple little details… I drove down that very same small town highway every school day for years. If you blind folded me, even today, I could tell where I was on the road simply by the curves. I know the town like the back of my hand. Yet, somehow the very town I spent all my school years in, felt like a foriegn country. Despite the familiarity, it was no longer “normal” it felt new and uncomfortable.\nPeru has become our home. Which is why no matter how excited we are for the doors that God is opening for us, this news is extremely difficult to put into a newsletter. The bittersweet reality of God opening doors, is that it means He is also bringing other chapters to a close.\nMany of you know that Russian Jewish ministry has been a call on our hearts since before we were married. Yet we committed to the Lord to stay in Peru for as long as He would have us here. Over the last several months, we have continuously had it impressed on our hearts that we need to get ready. That now is the time to get rid of our things because this season is drawing to a close. Through much prayer, this will be our last semester serving at CCBC Peru. We aren’t coming off the mission field, but this will be a big time of transition for our family. At the close of this Fall semester we will be moving back to the United States for a full time Russian language training program in Washington state. The language program will begin the following Fall semester, which will give us one semester to find a house, get our kids enrolled in school, and of course, welcome a new baby into the world.\nFriends, we are so excited for the incredible things the Lord is doing in our lives. But as I said, the opening of a new chapter means the closing of another. It’s like when you get to the end of a really good chapter in a book, a chapter so good in fact that you don’t want it to end. You have no idea what the next chapter holds, and this one has been so good, you wish it had just a few more pages. That’s how it feels to come to the end of this season in Peru. We know that God is faithful, and the next chapter will be full of great things, but it’s still hard to say goodbye to this one.\nPlease pray…\nFor the kids, as they have lived in Peru the majority of their lives, and this will be a big transition. For us as we need to sort through and give away nearly everything we own in the next few months. It just feels overwhelming. For wisdom about enrolling the kids in school in Washington. There are several options. For a vehicle large enough to hold all of us when we get back to the States. That we can start making connections in Spokane area even now to help make the transition as seamless as possible. That in the busyness of sorting and packing we don’t miss any opportunities to pour into everyone on campus this semester. That it would be the best semester yet, and the Lord would be at work in every little detail of it. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/bittersweet-beautiful-life/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAn Important Update from the Bueschers\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe things that once felt different, the foods that seemed strange, the various sights and smells of Peru, they’re no longer foreign. In fact, they’re quite familiar. \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLet me share a quick story… On a recent visit to the States, I was driving along a small town highway. I had borrowed a van during my trip and the gas light came on, but on top of this, my phone had no cell service. I began to feel nervous, then borderline panicked as I was already late to a get together and the next gas station was still miles down the road. I said to myself, “I have no way to contact anyone, I don’t know how many miles I can drive once the gas light comes on, and I’m in a foriegn country with no way to ask anyone for help!”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bittersweet Beautiful Life"},{"content":"We are proud to launch our seventh annual Calvary School of Missions summer program! This six-week intensive program includes teaching and training on cross-cultural ministry, cultural immersion, church planting, God\u0026rsquo;s heart for the nations, and the current state of the unreached.\nCSOM Staff Tim and Jenn Pappas Pastor Tim is our on-the-ground Director of Students, providing pastoral oversight and wisdom to the students as they experience the ups and downs of life on the mission field.\nJenn will be supporting her husband and leadership with the students who come to CSOM with her gift of love and hospitality.\nSign up for their email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner\nTrent and Debbie Douglass Trent and Debbie Douglass have had a heart for international church planting for over 25 years. In 2018, the Lord gave them a new vision to mobilize and train up young people to be full time cross-cultural church planters. In 2019 they started the Calvary School of Missions and have been blessed to be a part of sending several of those students to be full-time workers oversees. Trent’s role at CSOM is teaching and training and Debbie is helping to lead and love on all the students, especially the girls.\nGary Barrow Gary, his wife Tina, and their 3 kids served on the mission field for 15 years; 5 years in Eastern Europe and 10 years in Germany. They’ve planted churches in Hungary, Slovakia and Germany. They have been SGWM missionaries since 2008. In recent years, Gary has joined the pastoral staff at SGWM and is primarily engaged with discipling SGWM pastors in the 10/40 window. Gary also oversees the teaching schedules at our CBI’s in one of the largest unreached countries of the world. This is Gary’s second year of serving with pastor Tim at CSOM.\nSign up for their email updates\nSerena Keeler Serena has been saved for almost 6 years, CCSG is where she got saved and has attended/served at ever since. She is currently on staff at CCSG and serving in the High School, Young Adult, and Worship ministries. She attended CSOM last year, and is excited to come back as a leader to pour into the girls and help with outreaches.\nSign up for her email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner\nAriana Landaverde Ariana decided to follow the Lord’s path by attending MTS so she can better prepare for the plans He has set for her. Ariana has been in the MTS program for 1 year now, and attended CSOM last year. Since then she has served in anything from BBQ to children\u0026rsquo;s ministry. She is hoping to be of support to this year\u0026rsquo;s girl students as well as help with outreaches and church takeovers.\nSign up for her email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner\nDeprii Haggstrom Deprii is a Missionary in training at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. From the moment Deprii met Jesus in 2020, He knew he was called to tell the world about The Son Of God. He is currently being trained to reach the unreached, make disciples, plant churches and proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. He is excited to be serving at CSOM in the areas of leadership, discipleship, encouragement and seeing God set hearts on fire for the lost.\nSign up for his email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner\nCSOM Students Dani Tsague Dani Tsague is from Vancouver, WA and currently attends California Baptist University, where she plans to graduate from in the fall. She has been walking seriously with the Lord for about 5 years now. Being raised in a family of faith, she knew the call of the Great Commission, but never applied it to herself. Through cross-cultural mission trip experiences at CBU, the Lord grew her heart for the unreached. She desires to surrender her future onto the Lord as she goes through CSOM to see if long term missions is something the Lord has in store for her.\nSign up for her email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner\nFidel Ordaz Fidel, a Colorado native, served in the U.S. Army for 10 years, completing three deployments to Afghanistan before retiring in 2017. After battling fear, anxiety, and PTSD, he experienced a life-changing transformation upon coming to Christ in 2018. Feeling called to full-time ministry, Fidel applied to the Calvary School of Missions through prayer, Scripture, and wise counsel. With a heart for service and a desire to spread hope, he is committed to growing personally and spiritually. Fidel looks forward to learning, serving, and making a meaningful impact through mission work as he follows God’s calling on his life.\nSign up for his email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner\nManuel Cañedo Manuel Cañedo encountered the Word of God early and began serving in ministry and missions at age nine. At nineteen, a life-changing encounter with God deepened his passion for Jesus and His Church.\nIn 2017, God led Manuel, Eunice, and their three children to move from northern Mexico to Mazatlán, Sinaloa, where he serves as an assistant pastor at Calvary Maranatha and teaches at their church planting school.\nNow, the Holy Spirit has called their family to plant a sending hub church on Spain’s southern coast. In preparation, Manuel joined CSOM in 2025 to be further equipped for the mission.\nSign up for his email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner\nNorman Rodriguez Norman Rodriguez is from Yucca Valley, California and is currently attending the Calvary Bible Institute that is there and is graduating this May. Norman is a servant who was saved by Jesus in 2022 when God opened his eyes to the fact that he needed a Savior. God has been so faithful and good to Norman, and his desire now is to just keep growing closer to the Lord and to spread the good news.\nSign up for his email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner\nJames \u0026amp; Tatiana Albano James and Tatiana Albano met at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in March of 2024 and were brought together by a shared love for Jesus Christ and world missions. James had been a Christian for several years before he came to Saving Grace and began to cultivate a deeper, more meaningful relationship with God. Tatiana grew up in a Christian home, and gave her life to Jesus at an early age, but only began to adopt her faith as her own when she was 16. While James has attended the school before, their expectation in doing CSOM now as a married couple is to learn more about God\u0026rsquo;s heart for missions and to discover where He would have them serve among the unreached.\nSign up for their email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner\nTimothy Gibson Timothy is from Riverside, California. He grew up in a Christian home, but it was through personal health challenges and the reality of life and death that he built a firm foundation in Christ. While studying at Bible College in Israel, friends recommended Calvary School of Missions. Stepping out in faith, he applied and the Lord has been confirming His calling ever since. Timothy is excited to grow in missions and walk boldly in the purpose God has placed on his life.\nSign up for his email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner\nBryan Barrow Bryan grew up in a Christian household, and at a young age moved with his family to the missions field in Eastern Europe. There the Lord began to work on his heart for the lost, and slowly teach him His heart for them. After returning to the states years later, and pursing a normal life, Bryan felt that pursuing a life of self gain was meaningless, eternity was what truly mattered. Seeking and wanting more, the Lord revealed His will for his life, to send him to the unreached and to trust in Him on this path.\nSign up for his email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner!\nHeather Illias Born and raised in Oregon, and growing up in the church, Heather came to know Jesus and heard a call to missions in the middle of a chronic illness as a teenager. She had to wait 9 years for healing, and has been looking for ways to answer that call any way she can. CSOM was recommended to her by a Saving Grace missionary who partners with and came to speak at her local Calvary Chapel church in Prineville, Oregon.\nSign up for her email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner\nGuiseppina (Pina) Ercolamento Gruner My name is Giuseppina Gruner. I declare and desire to obey the Lord\u0026rsquo;s call. I have spent my life serving people and dedicated to serving the homeless for many years.. My restaurant was my hub to share the gospel. I believe that the school of missions is the link God wants me to walk through to accomplish His will more deeply. In my later years, I have responded to the call, which resonates in my heart. Whom shall I send? Isaiah 6-8, Here I am Lord send me. Make me useful for the Kingdom work. I have been walking toward this call for years.\nSign up for her email updates!\nBecome a Financial Partner\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/csom/meet-our-students-and-staff/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe are proud to launch our seventh annual Calvary School of Missions summer program! This six-week intensive program includes teaching and training on cross-cultural ministry, cultural immersion, church planting, God\u0026rsquo;s heart for the nations, and the current state of the unreached.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch1 id=\"csom-staff\"\u003eCSOM Staff\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003ch1 id=\"tim-and-jenn-pappas\"\u003eTim and Jenn Pappas\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePastor Tim is our on-the-ground Director of Students, providing pastoral oversight and wisdom to the students as they experience the ups and downs of life on the mission field.\u003cbr\u003e\nJenn will be supporting her husband and leadership with the students who come to CSOM with her gift of love and hospitality.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Meet our Staff and Students for 2025!"},{"content":" Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.\nGalatians 6:10\nThis past month we had a very big surprise. Amina came to visit! She surprised all her friends and family. Only Brian and I knew. We didn’t tell the children and when they woke up in the morning Amina came to breakfast. They went crazy. Luke and Laylee were laughing/crying and hugging her. Liana was in shock, she just sort of stood there staring like she couldn’t believe it was real. She actually remained that way for a couple of days. For those of you who may not know, Amina is like one of our children. She lived with us for many years before getting married and moving to the USA. Amina originally comes from western Uganda near the border of Congo. Her family is Muslim and did not take kindly to her becoming a Christian. In fact, at one point after failing to get her to recant her faith with threats from the Imam and local witch doctor, they actually signed her death certificate. It was during that time in her life that she came to live with our family. Since then the Lord has done amazing things to begin to heal the relationship between her and her family. Before she left for America to get married her father began to talk with her and since then has met with Brian several times whenever he comes to Kampala. On this trip Amina went back to her village to see her whole family and she said it was the first time she ever remembers her mother giving her a hug. We continue to pray that not only will their relationship be restored but that they would come to know Jesus as Amina does.\nWhile Amina was here we got to celebrate two birthdays. We celebrated her birthday and we celebrated Brian’s birthday. For Brian this was a big year, he turned 40 years old! It is hard to believe how time flies. It seems like yesterday I was marrying a young 26 year old pastoral intern. At Brian’s birthday dinner which consisted of family and a few close friends, someone suggested we go around and say 40 things we know to be true about Brian. While there were many funny tidbits spoken about him, it was touching to hear all the wonderful characteristics people saw in him and how they have been blessed by him both personally and through the ministry. I was particularly moved at how the children described him as protector, provider and care giver. To be honest there was nothing spoken that I did not agree with, I give thanks to the Lord that He has allowed me to be the wife to Brian and to serve along side him in the ministry.\nWhile Amina and Brian were celebrating birthdays in Uganda, South Sudan and Calvary Chapel Cush were celebrating in South Sudan. Although South Sudan still experiences unrest they rejoice to have received their independence from the Islamic North after 30+ years of war. On July 9, 2011, eight years ago, South Sudan became the world’s youngest country. We continue to pray for peace and for the young country to grow and develop with their faith in Christ. Far Reaching Ministries and Calvary Chapel Cush have been instrumental in helping this to come to pass. Last year Calvary Chapel Cush had the grand opening of their new church building. This year, just 2 days before independence day they celebrated their 1st anniversary. We have sent 2 missionaries from Arise Christian Fellowship to minister with the church there. At the beginning of this year after serving 2 years in South Sudan our missionary, Timothy, returned to Uganda. He is now serving at Arise but he still has a heart for South Sudan so we sent him back to join in the anniversary celebration. He and Ivan, our other missionary, led the church in the worship program for the church’s celebration. Along with worship, Pastor Michael preached and the chaplain drill team performed. It was a wonderful celebration of what God has done as we continue to pray for what He will still do. Back in Uganda, at Arise Christian Fellowship, this month kicked off our Soccer outreach season. I’m sure I’ll have more to say as the season goes on but this is a time of a lot of outreach and evangelism as soccer is a big deal here and draws many spectators. So far we have only had one game, which the church team won. From that one game we have already had 4 new visitors to the church who were invited by team members. We pray for this soccer season, not just that our team will do well but that many people will be reached by the team and those church members who go to evangelize.\nThank you for praying for our family and the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPrayer Requests\nPraise the Lord for the ministry and spiritual growth of the members at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for Amina and for the ministries the Lord has called her and her husband to in the USA. Pray for her family to come to know Christ. Pray for South Sudan to truly have independence and end its fighting. Pray for the gospel to spread throughout the country. Pray for Jill’s health to continue to improve. We praise the Lord for the healing that has already taken place. Pray for all the outreaches and ministries of Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for the soccer outreaches to bear much fruit. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-july-2019/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTherefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e Galatians 6:10\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month we had a very big surprise. Amina came to visit! She surprised all her friends and family. Only Brian and I knew. We didn’t tell the children and when they woke up in the morning Amina came to breakfast. They went crazy. Luke and Laylee were laughing/crying and hugging her. Liana was in shock, she just sort of stood there staring like she couldn’t believe it was real. She actually remained that way for a couple of days. For those of you who may not know, Amina is like one of our children. She lived with us for many years before getting married and moving to the USA. \u003cbr\u003e\nAmina originally comes from western Uganda near the border of Congo. Her family is Muslim and did not take kindly to her becoming a Christian. In fact, at one point after failing to get her to recant her faith with threats from the Imam and local witch doctor, they actually signed her death certificate. It was during that time in her life that she came to live with our family. Since then the Lord has done amazing things to begin to heal the relationship between her and her family. Before she left for America to get married her father began to talk with her and since then has met with Brian several times whenever he comes to Kampala. On this trip Amina went back to her village to see her whole family and she said it was the first time she ever remembers her mother giving her a hug. We continue to pray that not only will their relationship be restored but that they would come to know Jesus as Amina does.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update- July 2019"},{"content":"After only four days of the Calvary School of Missions, the Lord has been faithful to answer many of my prayers leading up to it. Before coming out to Mexico, I had known that going on outreaches was a part of what we would be doing down here, so I began to pray that the Lord would prepare the hearts of the people here in Mexico, as well as preparing the hearts of the School of Missions students, by allowing us to be bold enough to share Jesus. Let me say that today, Thursday, July 11th, God has answered those prayers and has added to the church a special lady! I came down here seeking to hear from God, and He has spoken. The Lord has allowed us to harvest, which is what I had asked Him for before coming. Seeing God answer this prayer gives me hope and confidence that He will continue answering my other prayers, which includes God showing me where He’s calling me to serve Him.\nToday, our outreach was in the Rosarito dump. We prepared sandwiches in the morning so we could both physically and spiritually feed the people who work and live there. Those who work in the dump spend all day sorting through what the garbage trucks drop off, in order to collect things that they can sell, so that they may eat. As I was talking to the director of the ministry that we partnered with, I told him that I was surprised to find out that these weren’t government workers. I expressed to him that I guess that I still had an American mindset, and it was hard for me to believe that people actually go to the dump to “work.” His answer hit me with reality. He said, “Down here, if people don’t work, they don’t eat.” So we were given the privilege to go and be with these people, sharing God’s word with them, serving them food and eating with them, just like Jesus did when He came to earth to live with us. We got to be the hands and feet of Jesus! And through this outreach, we were able to see this special lady, who lives in the dump, profess faith in Jesus Christ, and accept Him as her Lord and Savior. What an awesome privilege it was for me to be there to celebrate with her, and to also be able to interpret the message that was taught, which helped her heart open up to Jesus. This was only the fourth day of my six weeks down here in Mexico! Praise be to God! Would you be willing to partner with me in furthering God’s kingdom? If so, pray for me, and consider joining me in this call that God has placed on my life of cross cultural missions.\nPrayer Requests: Pray for God to reveal where He wants me to go.\nPray that God would allow me to continue to grow in my knowledge of His word.\nPray that God would continue to provide the funds that I still need to raise.\nPray that He would continue to embolden our team to share the gospel and that we may continue to harvest wherever we go.\nThank you for taking the time to read this.\nFor His glory,\nBryan\nIf you would like to visit my secure giving page click here:\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-school-of-missions-week-1-the-faithfulness-of-god/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfter only four days of the Calvary School of Missions, the Lord has been faithful to answer many of my prayers leading up to it. Before coming out to Mexico, I had known that going on outreaches was a part of what we would be doing down here, so I began to pray that the Lord would prepare the hearts of the people here in Mexico, as well as preparing the hearts of the School of Missions students, by allowing us to be bold enough to share Jesus. Let me say that today, Thursday, July 11th, God has answered those prayers and has added to the church a special lady! I came down here seeking to hear from God, and He has spoken. The Lord has allowed us to harvest, which is what I had asked Him for before coming. Seeing God answer this prayer gives me hope and confidence that He will continue answering my other prayers, which includes God showing me where He’s calling me to serve Him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary School of Missions- Week 1: The Faithfulness of God"},{"content":"God is Sovereign.\nWhat a heavy-duty statement!\nThe Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath: “‘It will all happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided.’” -Isaiah 14:24\nGod’s Sovereignty points to the fact that He knows the length of our trials, the reason for our waiting, and the outcome to our circumstances.\nGod’s Sovereignty also points to the fact that He knows what He’s doing! My human logic and limited view of the future does not compare at all to God’s All-Knowing character…but I often try to squeeze Him into my way of thinking.\nI try to fit Him into my many boxes too like the “It Makes Sense This Way” box or the “It Would be Faster If…” box. And the recent one He didn’t fit into was “The Visa Process Should Work Out the Way I Planned It” box!\nAs many of you know, I have been compiling my required documents for the visa interview with the Spanish Consulate. I had finally received the important documents from Spain that are allowing me to request a religious visa. All I need is my interview appointment with the Consulate that should occur before some of my paperwork expires in August. Well, the next available appointment is not until September! When I found out, I nervously prayed, “Lord, my paperwork expires in August so when I refresh the appointment website page, can you please open an appointment in July or August? I really don’t want to wait until September.” For the next three weeks after that prayer, I have refreshed that page at random times during the day hoping and praying that God would open a date.\nIs the Lord able to work a miracle and open an interview date before August? Of course He can!\nCan the Lord make a way when there seems to be no way? Yes, nothing is impossible for Him!\nI know for certain He is a God of miracles but I also know for certain that He cares for the condition of my heart.\nHis Sovereignty reminds me to surrender.\nMy logistical plans are not the ones that need to be aligned to God’s will, it’s my heart that needs to be aligned to His will. I am quick to strive for the answers to the when, how, and the ever so popular, “Lord is this your will?” But it’s truly a matter of the heart. So I whole-heartedly surrendered and accepted the visa appointment in September.\nLet me STOP right here…. I wrote the above BEFORE THE MIRACLE!\nA few days after I wrote everything you just read, I received an email from the Spanish Consulate on July 3rd letting me know that I was granted an emergency visa appointment with them for Monday, July8th!!!\nI had 4 days (3 days really because of 4thof July) to get everything I needed for the appointment. Since my heart was at peace with the September date, I left some things undone. But God, in the way only He is able to work, allowed me to get everything done in 3 days and I was able to present all my paperwork to the Consulate on July 8th!\nNow it’s a matter of waiting for an email that states whether or not I received the visa. Payers please!!\nGod’s sovereignty amazes me! Not only did the Lord open up a visa appointment for me, but He is also allowing me to go to Spain for one week in August! I received an unexpected phone call from Pastor Raf in Spain, letting me know of an important planning meeting we will have for the school we are praying to begin. Everyone involved in the school, including myself, will be there. More on this one week trip to Spain in the next newsletter!!\nI can’t thank you enough for being on this journey with me!! If I have ever needed prayer and support it is definitely now!! This journey has been quite interesting to say the least, but it has been a huge blessing!! It’s never too late to partner with me in Spain. Contact me and I can share ways that you can be part of this team!\nGod bless,\nZully\nPrayer Requests:\nFor God’s will over the visa approval. Strength in the midst of the spiritual warfare. For the Lord to continue to provide in all areas. For the August meeting in Spain. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/trying-to-fit-god-in-a-box-gods-sovereignty-and-the-miracle/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGod is Sovereign.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat a heavy-duty statement!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath: “‘It will all happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided.’” -Isaiah 14:24\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod’s Sovereignty points to the fact that He knows the length of our trials, the reason for our waiting, and the outcome to our circumstances.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod’s Sovereignty also points to the fact that He knows what He’s doing! My human logic and limited view of the future does not compare at all to God’s All-Knowing character…but I often try to squeeze Him into my way of thinking.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Trying to Fit God in a Box, God's Sovereignty, and the Miracle!"},{"content":" !Hola! Familia y Amigos, Como estas???\nFor those who don’t yet know, I have recently been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join Calvary School of Missions this summer in Rosarito, Mexico from July 8th-August 19th. The heart and purpose behind this six week school is to train and equip young men and women in full-time cross-cultural missions in order to send us to reach the UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUPS OF THE WORLD. The School will focus on multiple levels of hands-on ministry and Biblical training from experienced Calvary Chapel pastors and missionaries on topics such as:\nCross-Cultural Ministry Cultural Immersion Church Planting God`s heart for the nations The current state of the unreached And much more! Today has only been the fourth day since we have been here in Mexico and already I have learned so much. We have had two outreaches so far. One of the outreaches was with a feeding program for the children in the neighborhood. Our day consisted of feeding the children along with acting out a skit, sharing the gospel, worshiping together, and doing games \u0026amp; crafts. Today we went to the dumps where people live and work and got to bring a message from the Bible, give out food and drinks, and engage with the people. I had a great opportunity to sit with this girl named Mary, who is 14 years old. I found out that Mary is from Tijuana, she does not go to school, and she spends most of her days working long hours in the dump with her family. I was able to share a little about me and how I became a follower of Jesus, along with how the joy of the Lord is our strength not a momentary emotion! (I am thankful for my friend who was able to translate the whole conversation!)\nI am so thankful to be learning under such sincere and humble leaders. The leaders really create a safe place for us to be vulnerable, and challenge us greatly in our pursuit of God and our willingness to be used by Him!\nI am also thankful for the six other students who have chosen to come to this school of Missions. I’m grateful to get to know them, learn from them, grow with them and build lasting friendships!\nLastly, I am thankful for everyone reading this.\nI appreciate your LOVE and continued prayers.\nStay tuned, I will continue to update you throughout this program!\nEach student has raised support for this 6 week program and I am still in the process of raising funds. I am praying for friends and family who would come alongside me and support me through this program.\nWould you prayerfully consider supporting me on this venture of faith?\nMy prayer is to develop a long term relationship with those who support me for the furtherance of the gospel amongst the most unreached. Your prayers are essential for the success of this vision. Please follow the link below if you feel led to give towards my tuition. Thank you so much!\n“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face toward you and give you peace.”\nNumbers 6:24-26\nClick here to give financially!\nMuchas Gracias!!\nBlessings,\nLacey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-school-of-missions-rosarito-mexico-july-8th-august-19th/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/olson-csom/wp-content/uploads/sites/107/2019/07/IMG%5F0187.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e!Hola! Familia y Amigos, Como estas???\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor those who don’t yet know, I have recently been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join Calvary School of Missions this summer in Rosarito, Mexico from July 8th-August 19th. The heart and purpose behind this six week school is to train and equip young men and women in full-time cross-cultural missions in order to send us to reach the UNREACHED PEOPLE GROUPS OF THE WORLD. The School will focus on multiple levels of hands-on ministry and Biblical training from experienced Calvary Chapel pastors and missionaries on topics such as:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary School of Missions: Rosarito, Mexico July 8th - August 19th"},{"content":"Hello everyone, we had a wonderful Mission trip to Peru where I was able to be a part of the leadership team for our high school and young adults mission trip. We spent 14 days journeying to Peru ministering there and returning. Calvary Chapel Huacho was our receiving church and ministry partners on the trip. Pastor Craig Tippie and his crew there took fantastic care of us.\nWe did several outreaches, and had deep fellowship with the church body there but most importantly witnessed six people give their lives to the Lord. I rejoice in the fact that six souls were saved. Another exciting thing about this is that they will be immediately discipled and welcomed into the church to have a place to grow in their relationship with Christ.\nPastor Craig said that it was a joy to have our team there and I completely agree. I was continually impressed and humbled at the level of unity, self-sacrifice, and love the youngsters from our church consistently demonstrated. One of the brothers who is a leader in Craig’s church said that our church reminded him of their church in the way that we love and serve each other.\nI was reminded of what Jesus said to His disciples,\n“…that people will know [we] are [His] disciples by our love one for another.”\n-JOHN 13:35\nAnother absolutely incredible opportunity on the trip was that I got to travel with my sweetheart, the love of my life and future wife. Ministering with her on a missions trip in Peru was an absolute joy, I think a missions trip should be part of any premarital counseling. We are getting married in November and I can’t tell you how grateful I am that we had the opportunity to serve in this way together.\nAnswering Our Call\nBreakfast is Served!\nUpon returning from Peru I took a few days to regroup and have headed out to Mexico where I get to lead an incredible group of young men and women at the six week Calvary School of Missions. More about that in my next update!\nPrayer requests:\nThat Jenn and I would continue to bear fruit as we walk forward in the call God has on our lives for the furtherance of the gospel around the world. Wisdom and humility as I lead the Calvary School of Missions (CSOM) for the next 6 weeks in Baja, Mexico. Strength for Jenn as she holds down the fort in California while we are separated for the next six weeks. Thank you all so much for your love, prayers, and support.\nBlessings from Mexico\n~ Tim Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/it-just-keeps-getting-better/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello everyone, we had a wonderful Mission trip to Peru where I was able to be a part of the leadership team for our high school and young adults mission trip. We spent 14 days journeying to Peru ministering there and returning. Calvary Chapel Huacho was our receiving church and ministry partners on the trip. Pastor Craig Tippie and his crew there took fantastic care of us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG%5F0653-1024x547.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe did several outreaches, and had deep fellowship with the church body there but most importantly witnessed six people give their lives to the Lord. I rejoice in the fact that six souls were saved. Another exciting thing about this is that they will be immediately discipled and welcomed into the church to have a place to grow in their relationship with Christ.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"It Just Keeps Getting Better"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family,\nI just started my 6 weeks with the Calvary School of Missions in Rosarito, Mexico. While I was in Bible College I met the leading pastor of the Calvary School of Missions. The School of Missions is designed for people who are interested in long term missions, and is here to disciple and prepare students for the mission field by studying the Biblical design of missions as well as providing practical experience on the mission field. During these 6 weeks, experienced long term missionaries from around the world will be coming to speak to us and teach us about their experiences on the mission field, their struggles, and the things they’ve learned over the years. While in Mexico, we will be partnering with church plants, ministries, and missionaries, engaging in everything from children’s ministry to feeding kitchens, and evangelism to serving in orphanages. During my time in Bible College I developed a heart for the lost and the unreached and became interested in the idea of missions and sharing the gospel with those who have never heard it. When I heard about this opportunity for the School of Missions I felt the Lord calling me to apply. While I am here I will be seeking to know the plans He has for my life.\nSo far during my time at this school I have already learned a lot from the classes and have had amazing opportunities for outreach in the community, feeding and sharing the gospel with children at a feeding kitchen. I am excited to be discipled and to grow and hopefully feel the Lord’s leading for my next steps. I would really appreciate prayer for these next 6 weeks, that I would be open to the Lord’s leading and direction and that I would develop a stronger and more intimate relationship with Jesus.\nGod bless!!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-school-of-missions-rosarito-mexico-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG%5F6566.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI just started my 6 weeks with the Calvary School of Missions in Rosarito, Mexico. While I was in Bible College I met the leading pastor of the Calvary School of Missions. The School of Missions is designed for people who are interested in long term missions, and is here to disciple and prepare students for the mission field by studying the Biblical design of missions as well as providing practical experience on the mission field. During these 6 weeks, experienced long term missionaries from around the world will be coming to speak to us and teach us about their experiences on the mission field, their struggles, and the things they’ve learned over the years. While in Mexico, we will be partnering with church plants, ministries, and missionaries, engaging in everything from children’s ministry to feeding kitchens, and evangelism to serving in orphanages. During my time in Bible College I developed a heart for the lost and the unreached and became interested in the idea of missions and sharing the gospel with those who have never heard it. When I heard about this opportunity for the School of Missions I felt the Lord calling me to apply. While I am here I will be seeking to know the plans He has for my life.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary School of Missions, Rosarito, Mexico 2019"},{"content":"Greetings from Calvary School of Missions in Rosarito, Mexico! I’m so overwhelmed by God’s faithfulness in leading me here. As many of you may know, I’ve been praying for over four years about where the Lord is calling me to GO as I seek to fulfill the Great Commission in my life. When the opportunity came up for me to be a student at the first ever Calvary School of Missions, I knew without a doubt that the Lord was answering my prayers and bringing me into a season of preparation for long-term, cross cultural missions. There are seven students total in the school (including myself) who come from California, New Jersey, Canada, and Mexico. The unity that we share in the Lord and in His calling to fulfill the Great Commission is proof of the unity of the Spirit and an amazing answer to our prayers. During our first evening here, we got to hear a missionary couple’s testimony of how the Lord lead them out of the USA to Mexico to start a home where other missionaries can stay. I was so encouraged to hear about God’s provision and faithfulness in their lives and how He has been working through the short-term missions teams that they host. These truths will certainly be ones I refer back to many times in my ministry overseas.\nOn our second day here, we visited a feeding kitchen for children that was started by a couple of people from Calvary Chapel Rosarito. They invite kids from the neighborhood to come over for free meals and they share the love of Jesus with them. We were able to serve alongside them in preparing a meal for the kids, playing games with them, and giving them a Bible lesson about God’s deep care for them. One of my favorite parts of the day was when a sweet, four-year old boy prayed for our meal. His words were so profound and his love for Jesus was evident to everyone (whether or not they understood Spanish). When the little boy prayed for the Lord to care for the lost children, I was reminded of the children I worked with in Rwanda and my heart was stirred once again to go out and share the love of Jesus to children who are suffering. Macintosh HD:Users:andreamanor:Desktop:IMG_4640.jpg\nEach day we have three hours of class time where we study the Bible and learn about the Lord’s call for all believers to carry the Gospel to the ends of the earth. I am so thankful to be learning from my pastor and other experienced missionaries. I’m already growing so much in my knowledge of God’s Word, and I’m so excited for what He has in store for the remainder of my time here. Please continue to pray for me as I seek the Lord about where He wants me to go. My heart is to serve the street children and orphans of East Africa, but I’m also open to going to a people that has never heard the Gospel. Please pray for the Lord to make it clear to me. I thank you so much for all of your prayers and support to get me to the School of Missions. I’m so close to reaching my goal for the School of Missions tuition! If God puts it on your heart to support me, here is the link to do so:\nFeel free to contact me with any questions you may have! Please let me know how I can pray for you also. Your partnership is so important to me!\nLove,\nAndrea Manor\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-school-of-missions-week-1/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Calvary School of Missions in Rosarito, Mexico! \u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI’m so overwhelmed by God’s faithfulness in leading me here. As many of you may know, I’ve been praying for over four years about where the Lord is calling me to GO as I seek to fulfill the Great Commission in my life. When the opportunity came up for me to be a student at the first ever Calvary School of Missions, I knew without a doubt that the Lord was answering my prayers and bringing me into a season of preparation for long-term, cross cultural missions. \u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary School of Missions Week 1"},{"content":"Saludos desde Mexico!\nWE MADE IT! I’m glad to say that we have arrived in Rosarito, Mexico. I am beyond excited that I get to be a part of the Calvary School of Missions and I am looking forward to the ways that I will grow in my relationship with God and how He will lead me to the next step in this venture of faith. I wanted to thank all of you that have been praying for me. I am blown away with the ways God has answered my prayers. I know in my heart that God has called me to be a long-term missionary and this missionary training program has been an answer to prayer. I was sitting and thinking during class about how faithful God is and remembering a while back I would pray, “Lord here I am, send me! But how do I do this!?” In His perfect time He provided this school that will further equip me in the Great Commission that He has called me to. These past few days have already been amazing and I have been learning quickly to be patient and to wait on the Lord. I came into this having ideas and thoughts on how life as a long-term missionary would be, but the Lord has been teaching me to wait on Him. To trust that He will guide me to where He wants me and to just soak in His love and enjoy being His child.\nThe first few days here have already been amazing. We had an opportunity to go to a ministry that provides meals to underprivileged kids in a poor community and we had the privilege to serve them. I had the opportunity to share a message on Psalm 139 about how God knows us. Although I was very nervous, even speaking in my mother tongue, the Lord really taught me to depend on Him. It went well and the Lord was able to use me to impact not only the kids but even people in my group. I was super blessed by that. In these next couple of weeks, we will be having missionaries from around the world come and share about how God called them and share about their ministries. We will also be going to more outreaches and visiting church plants. I am excited for the ways God will equip me and challenge me as I am here.\nI would like to invite you to partner with me in prayer.\n•Please pray that God will either, confirm a place I have in my heart, or that He would show me where He wills for me to go.\n•Please pray I would retain all the learning from class and have it engraved in my heart.\n•Please pray that I would be sensitive to the voice of the Lord\nThank you all so much for coming alongside me and partnering with me in the furthering of the gospel. Together we bring light to those that are unreached and you all take part in the writing of the story the Lord has in my life.\nIf you would like to become a financial partner please click the link below:\n“Declare His glory among the nations, His wonders among all peoples” Psalm 96:3\nIn Christ,\nNancy Gutierrez\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-school-of-missions-3/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSaludos desde Mexico!\u003cbr\u003e\nWE MADE IT! I’m glad to say that we have arrived in Rosarito, Mexico. I am beyond excited that I get to be a part of the Calvary School of Missions and I am looking forward to the ways that I will grow in my relationship with God and how He will lead me to the next step in this venture of faith. I wanted to thank all of you that have been praying for me. I am blown away with the ways God has answered my prayers. I know in my heart that God has called me to be a long-term missionary and this missionary training program has been an answer to prayer. I was sitting and thinking during class about how faithful God is and remembering a while back I would pray, “Lord here I am, send me! But how do I do this!?” In His perfect time He provided this school that will further equip me in the Great Commission that He has called me to. These past few days have already been amazing and I have been learning quickly to be patient and to wait on the Lord. I came into this having ideas and thoughts on how life as a long-term missionary would be, but the Lord has been teaching me to wait on Him. To trust that He will guide me to where He wants me and to just soak in His love and enjoy being His child.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary School of Missions"},{"content":"Praise God, we are at a point now that we are covered financially, and no longer are in need of donations. We can’t express enough how grateful we are for your generosity, thoughtfulness, and prayers. This will be our last post, and we will cease receiving donations through Saving Grace World Missions by the end of July. We are also exceedingly grateful to them for the service and support that they gave us over the last few years. They demonstrated exemplary and exceptional love of Christ, honor, and sincere hearts of service, always responding very timely to our requests. Thank you!\nAt last, at just over 5 months after returning to Oregon we’re in a house where we can unpack. Jeff’s cousin, Kelly, has been extremely gracious to give us a break on the rent so that we can get caught up with all of the moving expenses, and getting established. His cousins have been some of the greatest practical blessings welcoming us back.\nAt the beginning of June, Corinne returned to her old job as an occupational therapist, working for the school district, and is loving it. She also sometimes continues to work at Applegate Christian Fellowship on the weekends.\nWhat we can’t believe is that Sarai and Noemi just celebrated their 20th birthday. They bemoaned that they were no longer teenagers, but we comforted them by telling them that we would help them transition by calling them twenteen. They didn’t find it amusing.\nNoemi is in California with Corinne’s mom, working two jobs, and planning on easing into college by starting with a couple of classes this Fall. She’s involved with Grandma’s church, Calvary Chapel South Bay, and has been plugging into their missions team. We keep telling her it’s not too late if she decided to come home to live with us.\nWe are thrilled to still have Sarai with us. She is growing in her walk with Jesus, and we are enjoying walking with her through new experiences. She’s great at coming up with really deep and challenging questions, and we often have conversations that can carry on for hours. She has been a tremendous help with the multiple moves we’ve made (4 total). She’s becoming quite independent, learning to use the bus system, and walking all over town. We are doing our best to keep her at home as long as possible, trying to persuade her of benefits of being an “only child”.\nAgain, thank you for your love, prayers, and selfless generosity. We always wish that there was some way that we could return the favor. The best that we could offer now is that if you ever happen to be journeying through Southern Oregon we keep a bed available for weary travelers. Just give us a heads up.\nMay our Father in heaven richly bless you,\nWith much love,\nJeff, Corinne, Sarai, \u0026amp; Noemi\n…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\n2 Peter 3:18\nJeff’s contact:\n541-292-4225\njefflawrencemoody@gmail.com\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/finally-settled/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePraise God, we are at a point now that we are covered financially, and no longer are in need of donations. We can’t express enough how grateful we are for your generosity, thoughtfulness, and prayers. This will be our last post, and we will cease receiving donations through Saving Grace World Missions by the end of July. We are also exceedingly grateful to them for the service and support that they gave us over the last few years. They demonstrated exemplary and exceptional love of Christ, honor, and sincere hearts of service, always responding very timely to our requests. Thank you!\u003cbr\u003e\nAt last, at just over 5 months after returning to Oregon we’re in a house where we can unpack. Jeff’s cousin, Kelly, has been extremely gracious to give us a break on the rent so that we can get caught up with all of the moving expenses, and getting established. His cousins have been some of the greatest practical blessings welcoming us back.\u003cbr\u003e\nAt the beginning of June, Corinne returned to her old job as an occupational therapist, working for the school district, and is loving it. She also sometimes continues to work at Applegate Christian Fellowship on the weekends.\u003cbr\u003e\nWhat we can’t believe is that Sarai and Noemi just celebrated their 20th birthday. They bemoaned that they were no longer teenagers, but we comforted them by telling them that we would help them transition by calling them twenteen. They didn’t find it amusing.\u003cbr\u003e\nNoemi is in California with Corinne’s mom, working two jobs, and planning on easing into college by starting with a couple of classes this Fall. She’s involved with Grandma’s church, Calvary Chapel South Bay, and has been plugging into their missions team. We keep telling her it’s not too late if she decided to come home to live with us.\u003cbr\u003e\nWe are thrilled to still have Sarai with us. She is growing in her walk with Jesus, and we are enjoying walking with her through new experiences. She’s great at coming up with really deep and challenging questions, and we often have conversations that can carry on for hours. She has been a tremendous help with the multiple moves we’ve made (4 total). She’s becoming quite independent, learning to use the bus system, and walking all over town. We are doing our best to keep her at home as long as possible, trying to persuade her of benefits of being an “only child”.\u003cbr\u003e\nAgain, thank you for your love, prayers, and selfless generosity. We always wish that there was some way that we could return the favor. The best that we could offer now is that if you ever happen to be journeying through Southern Oregon we keep a bed available for weary travelers. Just give us a heads up.\u003cbr\u003e\nMay our Father in heaven richly bless you,\u003cbr\u003e\nWith much love,\u003cbr\u003e\nJeff, Corinne, Sarai, \u0026amp; Noemi\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Finally Settled!"},{"content":" “I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”\nPhilippians 4:12-13\nHow can I sum up my first 10 years in Uganda? I came to Midigo as a young single woman excited for a Jesus adventure! Never could I have imagined all the blessings, trials and growing that awaited me! I never wanted to be a pastor’s wife, give birth to children (because of pain), I hated needles and had never gone without before. God had to humble me completely, to almost nothing, teaching me lessons the hard way because I’m so stubborn. I started in a grass house that was smaller than most closets in America. No power, water, internet and a few nights no food. So many lessons in that alone! God taught me through His Word and through my husband that nothing that we own is ours! Everything belongs to God and if it’s not used to bless others, then we better not have it at all. Ten years later, God has provided a compound where we can house children, converts, and interns and feed everyone that shows up every day. Our vehicle is never empty and there is never lack of visitors.\nWe have had great loss but even greater blessings. We have been betrayed by those who say they love us. Through God we have freedom in love and forgiveness, seeing Jesus as the example. Knowing Judas would betray Him with a kiss, Jesus still loved and discipled him. I see in my family that we are grateful for every little thing, we know we do not deserve anything. Everything given to us is a blessing and gift from God. We know we rely on God for everything. When someone is hurt or sick, we turn to God first. I have learned to take thoughts and feelings captive, to submit to God and my husband, and to praise God for allowing this wretched woman serve Him. We do everything for Him and not man, for He alone should have all the Glory!\nI have seen firsthand how God equips those He calls for every type of service, and the way He uses me has changed many times over these years. He has helped me see that all of us are equally important and equally cherished in His body. The beauty in prayer warriors and supporters makes me speechless. We see the gifts of the Spirit working and the need to rely on Him and His leading every moment, making sure to check everything according to His Word. I can’t wait to see what the next 10 years have in store. I am sure it will be much more then I can ever imagine!\nFinish Well\n“My mouth shall tell of Your Righteousness And Your salvation all the day, For I do not know their limits. I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD; I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours Only.”\nPsalm 71:15-16\nThis season has been the most fruitful year of our sports ministry! Calvary Football Club became the Champions of West Nile as a region and almost made it to the division 2 but lost in the penalty knockout. God has opened so many doors for His Word to go forth. On the radios and all throughout West Nile, the testimony and the glory of Christ has been talked about. Some say we are just from the village but all see that God is with us. God has united the whole of Midigo, Yumbe and even Arua! Muslims that used to want to persecute us, now wear our Calvary uniforms. Over 200 went in 2 cattle trucks driving over 6-7 hours to watch the game. We shared the gospel and prayed together. The Sub county president, the Area member of Parliament and the Federation of Uganda’s football association all came to cheer for us. Even in the loss we all looked to the Word, kept the testimony and found hope for the next season. Please continue to pray as the whole region\u0026rsquo;s attention is on Calvary. Vincent has been able to share on sports news for different radio stations. Pray that God\u0026rsquo;s Word continues to go forth and that hearts continue to be softened.\nPrayer Requests:\nPray the Ebola outbreak in our neighboring country, the Congo, will be eradicated!!!\nPlease continue to pray for the church! Pray as God prepares me to share for our women’s conference. The theme is Galatians 6:9 “Let us not grow weary while doing good.”\nPray as we break ground preparing for the library, community center and then football pitch. That God would continue to go before us, lead us every step, and provide for what He wants us to do.\nPraise Reports:\nHomeschool has gone extra well this past month. Zachary and Ian have grown so much. Zachary has reached most of his goals for his IEP. The Lord is so good!\nThe ministry is growing and He continues to give us the strength we need, equipping us for His service.\nOur intern, Jacob from CC West Grove is doing a great job with the youth!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/first-decade/","summary":"\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePhilippians 4:12-13\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHow can I sum up my first 10 years in Uganda? I came to Midigo as a young single woman excited for a Jesus adventure! Never could I have imagined all the blessings, trials and growing that awaited me! I never wanted to be a pastor’s wife, give birth to children (because of pain), I hated needles and had never gone without before. God had to humble me completely, to almost nothing, teaching me lessons the hard way because I’m so stubborn. I started in a grass house that was smaller than most closets in America. No power, water, internet and a few nights no food. So many lessons in that alone! God taught me through His Word and through my husband that nothing that we own is ours! Everything belongs to God and if it’s not used to bless others, then we better not have it at all. Ten years later, God has provided a compound where we can house children, converts, and interns and feed everyone that shows up every day. Our vehicle is never empty and there is never lack of visitors.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"First Decade"},{"content":" “Trust in the lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.” Psalm 37:3\nAfter graduating our first class of pastors we shifted the class week of the second group a couple of weeks back, giving us much needed time to rest and extra time to work closer with the other parts of ministry. God has really been doing a lot in each area of His work here!\nAt BAM (Business As Mission) we are well on our way towards making a self sustaining ministry! God provided the funding for us to start building our last chicken house which will put our final capacity at 6,000 birds, 5,000 of which will be laying at any given time. This increase has allowed for us to buy a second set of maize milling machines so that we can have one set solely for the use of the community, and one set for us to produce our maize products with. We also have partnered with more schools in our district who are getting regular shipments from us.\nWe are also seeing God’s hand moving at our clinic. We start off every day at the clinic with morning devotions which all of our staff and our patients, who are able, attend. Discipleship always feels slow but “in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary” (Gal 6:9b). Recently we have been going through the book of Proverbs which is a great book for laying a foundation of biblical principles and for revealing our need for a savior. The work on the physical side has also been going well as we continue facilitating the community\u0026rsquo;s medical needs. In the last 2 months Northern Uganda has had a 3 year high in malaria cases, so please be praying for the health of the people here.\nThe time away from class over the month of June has allowed us to cultivate our home life. Our friend Luke and Matt have been able to start a Youtube channel to document our time here and Noelle has gotten to spend time teaching our kids diligence as she works in the garden with them almost everyday. It sure is amazing how responsible and happy a trained child can be! Every week day (with supervision) Emma and Madeline walk to the well and pump their very own 6 liters of water, then they happily drag that water home and keep it outside in the sun so that they can bathe themselves in warm water later in the day! We have running water at our house but we just use things like this as training opportunities.\nMay God bless you guys.\nMatt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/june-2019/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/07/14CFA139-6DA9-4D7B-B5ED-5780E17DAE41-1024x768.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“Trust in the lord and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.”  Psalm 37:3\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter graduating our first class of pastors we shifted the class week of the second group a couple of weeks back, giving us much needed time to rest and extra time to work closer with the other parts of ministry.  God has really been doing a lot in each area of His work here!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"June 2019"},{"content":"We are super excited to share with you that we are ready for our three summer teams! We have a 38 person team coming from the Orange County area of California consisting of brothers and sisters from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda, and Calvary Chapel Fullerton. Their objective is to hold a ministry conference, nightly concerts, facility improvement project, and host a surf camp so we can equip our young leaders, and draw new youth into the church.\nAt the same time we have the Youth Summer Of Missions (YSOM) team coming and serving in our church. This team is organized by Hosanna Bible College in the Andes, and they are traveling around Peru assisting and serving in many churches for 3 months. We are fortunate to have them come and spend a week with us.\nWe are also really excited to have the Church at Viera, Florida come and strategically assist us in our efforts to start a brand new ministry using English as a second language. This team will be hosting nightly events centered around English activities, concerts, and social events to help us reach the young adults who are studying English and giving them a place to practice their ESL. This team will also be assisting us in some facility improvements!\nWe are very grateful for these summer teams, and would appreciate everyone praying for their safety and health.\nPlease, keep Daisy in your prayers as we have filed for her citizenship and are waiting for her appointment to take her picture and her naturalization exam.\nIn His Grip,\nThe Tippie Family\n**\nRomans 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!**\nFacebook: Craig Tippie, Daisy Tippie, The Tippies in Peru, Iglesia Cristiana Huacho\nSaving Grace World Mission: /tippie/ and\nRide Nature: https://www.ridenature.org/ \u0026ldquo;IMPACTING THE WORLD THROUGH ACTION SPORTS\u0026rdquo;\nOur Mission Statement is to Reach, Teach and Disciple!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/tippie-update-peru/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe are super excited to share with you that we are ready for our three summer teams!  We have a 38 person team coming from the Orange County area of California consisting of brothers and sisters from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, Calvary Chapel Yorba Linda, and Calvary Chapel Fullerton. Their objective is to hold a ministry conference, nightly concerts, facility improvement project, and host a surf camp so we can equip our young leaders, and draw new youth into the church.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tippie Update: Peru"},{"content":"Hello friends and family\nI have amazing news! After months of praying and preparing I arrived in Mexico on Monday for the Calvary Chapel School of Missions. The Lord provided all that I needed to be able to attend the school. Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for me, who supported me financially, and have committed to partnering with me! I so appreciate you. Many of you have already heard that I was able to join this training program this summer and that afterward I will be interning with Saving Grace World Missions. For those who are wondering what this looks like, I will be in Mexico for six weeks, being equipped and trained for full time cross-cultural missions. For those weeks we will be taught daily in the Word about the philosophy of Missions and truths essential for our success overseas. We will be hearing from experienced missionaries as well as pastors with years of experience in working as, partnering with, and sending missionaries. We are also being trained practically through a variety of outreaches, cultural immersion, prayer, and study of the Word of God to seek the Lord and His will. After this I will start my internship with Saving Grace World Missions where I will continue to be discipled and equipped to be a missionary. I will also be learning to send updates and find and build relationships with partners in the gospel who will help me to serve the Lord wherever He would send me.\nThe School of Missions has started and yesterday was our first day of outreach and classes here is Rosarito, Mexico. We were blessed to be able to spend time at a local outreach that feeds and loves on underprivileged kids. In this very poor part of Rosarito, Mexico we played games with the kids, did arts and crafts, had lunch with them as well as did worship, performed a skit, taught from the Bible, and gave the gospel message. Class and a time of worship and waiting on the Lord followed. The Lord has blessed me so much with this opportunity and I\u0026rsquo;m so excited to see what the Lord has planned for the next six weeks.\nPrayer Requests ● Please be praying for direction of where the Lord wants me and the other students to serve as full-time missionaries.\n● Pray for all those involved in the school that we will continue to diligently seek the Lord in this time.\n● Please also pray for the Lord to help me to build relationships with those who will partner with me in the spreading of the gospel.\nIf you feel led to partner with me you can do so through the link below.\nfunctional image\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calvary-school-of-missions-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/IMG%5F0184-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI have amazing news! After months of praying and preparing I arrived in Mexico on Monday for the Calvary Chapel School of Missions. The Lord provided all that I needed to be able to attend the school. Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for me, who supported me financially, and have committed to partnering with me! I so appreciate you. Many of you have already heard that I was able to join this training program this summer and that afterward I will be interning with Saving Grace World Missions. For those who are wondering what this looks like, I will be in Mexico for six weeks, being equipped and trained for full time cross-cultural missions. For those weeks we will be taught daily in the Word about the philosophy of Missions and truths essential for our success overseas. We will be hearing from experienced missionaries as well as pastors with years of experience in working as, partnering with, and sending missionaries. We are also being trained practically through a variety of outreaches, cultural immersion, prayer, and study of the Word of God to seek the Lord and His will. After this I will start my internship with Saving Grace World Missions where I will continue to be discipled and equipped to be a missionary. I will also be learning to send updates and find and build relationships with partners in the gospel who will help me to serve the Lord wherever He would send me.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calvary School of Missions!"},{"content":"Hello Friends!\nThank you all for opening up this update so you can see what is going on in our ministry and keep us in your prayers. It really means the world to us to have people supporting us as home-base missionaries supporting international missions and missionaries. You are all an answer to our prayers!\nI (Joel) just returned home from Huacho, Peru. Some of you remember that I went there a few months ago with some other pastors to scope out SGWM\u0026rsquo;s ministry there in preparation for this recent trip. We took almost 40 teenagers, young adults, and their parents to bless Pastor Craig Tippie\u0026rsquo;s church, Calvary Chapel Huacho. It was a fantastic trip full of twists and turns. Our entire team was amazing, holding to our mantra for short-term missions: \u0026ldquo;Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken.\u0026rdquo; Here is a short video update that I recorded in the middle of the trip explaining why I love short-term trips like these with young people. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to get it uploaded with spotty internet connection in Peru, but here it is!\nAmy did great back at home with the four kids, especially with the help of our family and some of our awesome supporters. But, it was great for me to get back home, and great for the family to have me back. Keep us in prayer as I will be representing SGWM for one of our affiliate missionaries this week, and in a few weeks I\u0026rsquo;ll be heading to our church\u0026rsquo;s youth retreat with Pastor Mike, where I can hopefully use that time to follow up with our youth who were impacted by their trip to Huacho.\nHere are some pics from the trip. Thank you all again for your prayers and support!\nMe and my friend Stalin\nMe and my friend Carlos\nReferee for our volleyball outreach\nCalvary Chapel Huacho\nGroup pic for our beach camp trip\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/garcia-family-july-2019-video-update-back-to-peru/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you all for opening up this update so you can see what is going on in our ministry and keep us in your prayers. It really means the world to us to have people supporting us as home-base missionaries supporting international missions and missionaries. You are all an answer to our prayers!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI (Joel) just returned home from Huacho, Peru. Some of you remember that I went there a few months ago with some other pastors to scope out SGWM\u0026rsquo;s ministry there in preparation for this recent trip. We took almost 40 teenagers, young adults, and their parents to bless Pastor Craig Tippie\u0026rsquo;s church, Calvary Chapel Huacho. It was a fantastic trip full of twists and turns. Our entire team was amazing, holding to our mantra for short-term missions: \u0026ldquo;Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken.\u0026rdquo; Here is a short video update that I recorded in the middle of the trip explaining why I love short-term trips like these with young people. I wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to get it uploaded with spotty internet connection in Peru, but here it is!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Garcia Family July 2019 Video Update: Back to Peru!"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nOur family hopes that you are your’s have had a blessed start to the summer! In our monthly update, I love to tell you about our missions and church planting adventures, but ultimately, most of what we do is tied up around our local church here in Rosarito Mexico! So in this update, I want to talk to you about what goes on at our local church during the week!\nOur focus at our church is always on our weekend services. Presently, our weekend series is a series I have titled “The Greatest Stories Ever Told” , a verse by verse through the book of Genesis. Although our three weekend services in the sanctuary are our focus, they certainly aren’t the only thing going on in our church campus!\nDuring each one of our services, we have a new believers class taking place where those that have recently professed faith can learn the basics of the faith! These new believers graduate from this class by getting baptized at our monthly baptism. Praise God that at our June Baptism, we had the honor of baptizing 16 people, most of them new believers.\nAlso on Sunday mornings we offer a bilingual adult Sunday School class that we call “Pillars” that focuses on the pillars of the Christian faith. Graduating from this course is a requirement to serve at our church. On any given Sunday morning we will have 20 friends taking this course, desiring to join the over 200 weekly servants that volunteer their time every week to serve God and His people. Over the summer we offer a special Wednesday edition of the pillars class during our midweek service, and the first week we had over 30 people attend the summer edition! (Pictures are of our Wednesday Pillars class taking place on our new upper room patio)\nAlso during our weekend services we are averaging over 300 children that have fun, receive love, and (most importantly) learn about Jesus! Our teachers gently and kindly share the message of salvation with all of our first time little guests, and many of these children have professed faith in Jesus Christ!\nDuring the week, our activities change, but they certainly don’t slow down! At our midweek (Wednesday evening service) we are averaging over 500 men women and children coming out to study the life of Jesus through the Gospel of Luke! I have had the privilege of allowing my assistant pastors and visiting pastors to teach this series this summer, and they have blown me away with their teaching gifts.\nOur main youth services meet on Wednesday nights with special events every Friday evenings. We also have a young adult group (ages 18 to 28) we call AGAMOS ( Greek word for un-married ) and they meet every Friday night and also host a once a month worship concert for the church!\nBesides those ministries, each week we have the normal men’s and women’s Bible studies, purity groups for men and women, and over 20 small groups (we call them life groups) that meet throughout our city! We are also blessed to have a vibrant Celebrate Recovery Ministry that meets twice a week to help people overcome their hurts, habits, and hang-ups.\nOne of the things that blesses me the most is we have so many of our church friends involved in outreach and mercy ministries. Visiting the prisons and the dump weekly, serving in orphanages and men’s rehab centers, and the kids club that brings in street children every Saturday for a meal and a message about Jesus! All of these ministries are thriving and led by believers in our church.\nFinally, one of our most important ministries of all is what we call our welcome center. Our church congregation does a great job inviting their unsaved friends and family members to come to our church! When our guests arrive, they experience the love of Jesus through His people, and receive an invitation to forgiveness and salvation at the end of each sermon. But to properly welcome these guests, our welcome center team does a fantastic job of telling them about the church, and giving them a little welcome gift.\nAs you can see our church is BUSY BUSY BUSY! But praise God that our believers are not only equipped to do the work of the ministry, they do it with joyful hearts! And they aren’t the only ones that do the work of the ministry here, YOU our precious friends and supporters are just as important to the great work that God is doing here! It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial partnership that God meets our physical needs! So once again, we want to tell you thank you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would help us plug in and disciple the guests and non-believers that are visiting our church!\n#2- That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for a great start to the summer, with 16 June Baptisms!\n#2- Praise the Lord for 30 more friends that want to serve weekly at our church and are taking our Wednesday Pillars class!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-july-2019-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur family hopes that you are your’s have had a blessed start to the summer! In our monthly update, I love to tell you about our missions and church planting adventures, but ultimately, most of what we do is tied up around our local church here in Rosarito Mexico! So in this update, I want to talk to you about what goes on at our local church during the week!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family July 2019 Missions Update"},{"content":"Romans 10:15 (NKJV)\n“ And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:\n“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”\nGreetings to our Senders from California!\nOur family will be in the Los Angeles/Orange County area most of the time until August 6 when we return to Cambodia. We are looking forward to reconnecting with current senders and connecting with new senders during this time. We are available to meet with individuals, families, small groups, and larger groups as God opens the doors. Our temporary phone number (until August 6 is (562) 479-8631 or you can e-mail us at darryl@sgwm.com.\nPlease mark your calendars for July 10! We are happy to invite all of our friends in the vicinity of La Mirada area to a Dessert Gathering (we will eat desserts together, give our latest mission update, and help people get signed up to receive our e-mail updates and partner with us. The Dessert Gathering will be held a Calvary Chapel La Mirada immediately after the Wednesday night service (service starts at 7pm dessert gathering starts around 8pm). The address is 15144 Leffingwell Rd. La Mirada, CA 90638.\nWe still need to raise more than $900 monthly to cover our rent, utilities, and Benjamin’s tuition this fall. We are thankful for the one-time donations that are covering this gap in the meantime. Please continue to pray that God will raise up new/increased monthly financial partners so that we can continue our mission work over the long term.\nMinistries wrapped up very well in Cambodia. When look forward to sharing these updates when we visit with you in person, online, or on the phone.\nThese photos are from behind the scenes of a video called, “Love is Patient,” that Darryl helped a team of Cambodian Christians and French and Indian missionaries make. You can see the finished video at https://www.facebook.com/mediais4god/videos/651713955271058/.\nI (Darryl) really want to thank all of our faithful senders for your sacrifices. Please read this poem(ish) writing that I wrote a couple of months ago as an expression of my gratitude for those who stay in our home countries, work, and share their resources to make it possible for us to continue to mission work which began nearly 19 years ago now. https://www.internationalfishers.com/eternal-impact/we-stayed-so-that-others-could-go-a-missionarys-tribute-to-those-who-stay-behind\nIn Christ’s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/home-assignment-2019-record-family-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eRomans 10:15 (NKJV)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eAnd how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings to our Senders from California!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/Record1-300x198.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur family will be in the Los Angeles/Orange County area most of the time until August 6 when we return to Cambodia.  We are looking forward to reconnecting with current senders and connecting with new senders during this time.  We are available to meet with individuals, families, small groups, and larger groups as God opens the doors.  Our temporary phone number  (until August 6 is (562) 479-8631 or you can e-mail us at \u003ca href=\"mailto:darryl@sgwm.com\"\u003edarryl@sgwm.com\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Home Assignment 2019 - Record Family Update"},{"content":" Family in Christ, thank you so much for your physical and spiritual support for our family as we have been serving the Lord in Mexico for 6 1/2 years now. How the time flies! Brian and Jamie have graduated from High School, R.J and Mackenzie will follow in the next 2 years. It has been a journey of ups and downs and all arounds. Wouldn\u0026rsquo;t trade it for anything!\nWe have been reaching out in a local colonia called Hiberito. It is an area where we are partnered with a men\u0026rsquo;s discipleship home. The purpose of the home is to help men who are deported, men who are struggling with addictions. Our church has been gathering every other week to play soccer with the local youth. It has been awesome. We are inviting the community to come down to where we live, about 15 minutes away, to come have a day of fellowship and fun. Our ultimate hope is that we would plant a home church in the area. How exciting!\nStarting July 7, 2019 we will have two services on Sunday. Please keep our leaders and faithful servants in prayer as we step out in faith.We also teamed up with a Doctor to have a medical outreach. We have trained 15 people from the body to participate and are hoping more come to serve. That will be June 10th, 7a.m. We will be doing the outreach in a local swap meet, called a Sobre Ruedas. We have a space to put up 4 tents and are expecting the Lord to save many!\nWe were blessed to celebrate all of the moms on Mother\u0026rsquo;s Day and our good friend, Timothy who is moving back to the states. Please be in prayer for the Lord to direct his next steps in serving the Lord.\nJamie got a new job at Hel-THe and although the minimum wage in Mexico is $8-10/day, she is blessed to have some extra money as she is praying about her plans for the future. Brian is working hard at finishing up High School and working while RJ continues to play sports any chance he gets. Mackenzie celebrated her sweet 16 and got her drivers license. So we now have 4 drivers in the house!\nThe Gause family is very thankful to have a community of believers that supports us in the mission field, meeting both our physical and spiritual need. We have been so blessed to represent our Lord as well as those who support us. May the Lord bless you and guide you as you minister to the least and the lost.\nGod bless you\nRyan , Karen, Jamie, Brian, Ryan, and Mackenzie.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gause-update-june-2019/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Gause.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFamily in Christ, thank you so much for your physical and spiritual support for our family as we have been serving the Lord in Mexico for 6 1/2 years now.  How the time flies! Brian and Jamie have graduated from High School, R.J and Mackenzie will follow in the next 2 years. It has been a journey of ups and downs and all arounds. Wouldn\u0026rsquo;t trade it for anything!\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gause1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gause2.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/gause3.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have been reaching out in a local colonia called Hiberito.  It is an area where we are partnered with a men\u0026rsquo;s discipleship home.  The purpose of the home is to help men who are deported, men who are struggling with addictions.  Our church has been gathering every other week to play soccer with the local youth. It has been awesome.  We are inviting the community to come down to where we live, about 15 minutes away, to come have a day of fellowship and fun.  Our ultimate hope is that we would plant a home church in the area. How exciting!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gause Update June 2019"},{"content":"Numbers 9:17-23\n17 Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelite\u0026rsquo;s set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelite\u0026rsquo;s encamped. 18 At the Lord\u0026rsquo;s command the Israelite\u0026rsquo;s set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. 19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the Lord\u0026rsquo;s order and did not set out. 20 Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord\u0026rsquo;s command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. 21 Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out.22 Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelite\u0026rsquo;s would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out. 23 At the Lord\u0026rsquo;s command they encamped, and at the Lord\u0026rsquo;s command they set out. They obeyed the Lord\u0026rsquo;s order.\nThis verse has become the definition of our lives this past year! When the cloud lifts, we have set out and when the cloud has settled, we have stayed. What a change a month can bring; the cloud has lifted, and we are on the move again! It has been eleven months since we set out as missionaries, ready to follow the Lord where He would lead us. What a journey this has been. I think we can say with confidence this has been the best and the hardest year of our lives. The lessons that we have learned, the adventures we have had, the time with our kids, and the experience of living by faith have been priceless. The adventure continues as we, again, move into a new chapter of our lives.\nWe have been asked by our home church, Calvary Chapel Napa, to come back and serve in a new capacity. Calvary Chapel Napa is launching a new ministry called The Bridge Napa. This program is a residential discipleship ministry to those that struggle with addiction. Aaron will be one of the people overseeing the program, providing safety, structure, discipleship, and supervision for the purpose of restoring people back to God, family, work, and community. After much prayer we have accepted the call to come back to Napa and serve along-side our home church and community in this exciting and much needed ministry.\nOregon quickly became our home for the last two months and we are sad again to be moving on. We loved our time of service there and will treasure our friends, new and old, and the church that so warmly welcomed us. It is hard when \u0026ldquo;the cloud lifts\u0026rdquo; and we know it is time to move on, however, as a family, we have promised God that we will be on His mission wherever He sends us, for as long as He sends us.\nAaron will continue serving the Law Enforcement community, now primarily in Napa. We attended a training in May on the subject of first responder peer support which proved to be a very useful and important training. Aaron is looking forward to continuing to fellowship with these amazing men and women as they encourage one another to grow in their relationships with our Heavenly Father. The discipleship group is still meeting once a month.\nGod quickly and miraculously provided a house for us in Napa, despite the insane and ridiculously competitive market. We have found the saying true \u0026ldquo;where God guides, He provides.\u0026rdquo; We are very grateful for the people that He uses to accomplish His purposes. The house the Lord has provided will not be ready for us until approximately the second week of July. In the mean-time we are hoping to spend some time in Monterey shadowing and being trained by the Pastors of The Bridge Monterey, where the residential discipleship program originated fourteen years ago.\nThere are two big questions that keep coming up that we want to address:\nFirst: \u0026ldquo;Is Aaron going back to work in law enforcement?\u0026rdquo; The answer is no, we do not believe the Lord is leading that direction at all.\nSecond: \u0026ldquo;Are you still missionaries?\u0026rdquo; Yes, we are still missionaries. We know that we are challenging peoples common understanding of missionaries. Normally we think of missionaries as people in far off lands. Right now, we are continuing to serve as local missionaries to our community. Our definition of being a missionary is being set apart to live solely for the purpose of being on Gods mission to make disciples of all nations (including this one). That means we live by faith. It means that we trust God to provide for us what we need when we need it. He has yet to let us down and we are so grateful. There is nothing more exciting than to live by faith and watch God come through, we LOVE it!\nUntil next month!\nThe Mosleys – Aaron, Jackie, McKenna, Mia, Isaiah, and Penelope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/mosley-family-june-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNumbers 9:17-23\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/4.30.2018-Mosley-Spring-Shoot0015-e1525817145711-300x296.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e17 Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the\nIsraelite\u0026rsquo;s set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelite\u0026rsquo;s encamped. 18\nAt the Lord\u0026rsquo;s command the Israelite\u0026rsquo;s set out, and at his command they\nencamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in\ncamp. 19 When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the\nIsraelites obeyed the Lord\u0026rsquo;s order and did not set out. 20 Sometimes the cloud\nwas over the tabernacle only a few days; at the Lord\u0026rsquo;s command they would\nencamp, and then at his command they would set out. 21 Sometimes the cloud\nstayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they\nset out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out.22\nWhether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year,\nthe Israelite\u0026rsquo;s would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they\nwould set out. 23 At the Lord\u0026rsquo;s command they encamped, and at the Lord\u0026rsquo;s\ncommand they set out. They obeyed the Lord\u0026rsquo;s order.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mosley Family June 2019"},{"content":"And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2 Dear Friends and Family,\nThis past month we celebrated Luke and Laylee’s birthdays. Luke turned 9 and Laylee 8. It is so hard to believe how fast time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday they were babies. We love them so much and are so proud of them.\nOn Luke’s actual birthday I was teaching a women’s retreat in Fort Portal. Every year Calvary Chapel Fort Portal hosts a women’s retreat and I come and share. For the past couple of years since the original church planters left, I have been in charge of the theme and all the teachings. In those couple of years I have also been going to Fort Portal to train up the ladies on how to lead, counsel, and teach, that they might raise up leaders and teachers from within their own church. This year I was very blessed when they told me they were ready to try and organize the retreat themselves and that I would not be the only teacher.\nThe retreat was 2 nights and three days. I went with our worship leader Evelyn, who led all the worship for the retreat. The theme of the retreat was Salt and Light.\nI have to say, after many years of retreats this one turned out to be one of my favorite retreats ever. I believe the women’s hearts were stirred up with a fire that Evelyn and I agreed we had yet to see as they endeavored to serve each other and to teach God’s word correctly . We had great times of fellowship and discussion. The ladies were open and quick to answer questions or give opinions. I honestly think some of the conversations could have gone on for hours and continued to be fruitful. While I still did a majority of the teaching, the ladies who also taught did very well and I was very proud of them. There were a few surprises along the way, as to be expected for their first try at organizing the retreat. I ended up with more sessions then I had been told about and was reminded of the exhortation in 2 Timothy “to be ready in season and out of season.” It is quite amazing what happens when you are so reliant on the Spirit, those teachings turned out to be my favorite of those I taught at the retreat.\nWhile we were in Fort Portal Brian was asked to teach 2 Sunday services one for the English speakers and one for the native speakers. When Brian and I first got married, Brian pastored there for almost 4 months while the missionaries were on furlough. This is how we came to have such a personal connection with a church that is 5 hours away from where we live in Kampala. Brian taught from Numbers which, when he first told me, I thought was quite interesting as it is not a book you normally think of a guest speaker sharing from. The message Brain shared was about when the Israelites finally were entering the promised land yet there were still enemies to conquer. The message was so applicable for our lives lived for Christ in a fallen world. We have victory in Jesus but must put on the armor of God and fight battles everyday.\nAlmost 4 years ago Brian and I were asked by missionaries Jo and Greg Clarkson to be the godparents to their son Israel. We have enjoyed being part of his family immensely. Recently, Jo gave birth to a baby girl. While she was at the end of her pregnancy and for a short while after giving birth we were blessed to have Israel stay with us. It was so much fun to have him join in all the kids activities and Luke loved having a “little brother”. Before Jo and Greg returned to Fort Portal, they asked us if we would also consider being the godparent to their new baby, Lindiwe. Of course we said yes and we feel very privileged to have this responsibility to help care for these precious little ones. While we were in Fort Portal they had the baby dedication for Lindiwe so that we could be a part of the festivities.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPrayer Requests Praise the Lord for the ministry and spiritual growth of the members at Arise Christian Fellowship and Calvary Chapel Fort Portal. Pray for all the women who attended the Salt and Light retreat. Pray for the women leaders being raised up at CCFP. Pray for Jo and Greg as they serve the Lord and for Israel and Lindiwe to grow up in the Lord. Pray for Jill as she will be going this month for a check up and review of her thyroid and blood clots. Pray for the Children of Arise to continue to grow in their knowledge of Jesus and for their families to know Him as well. Pray for Jill and the children as they homeschool. Pray for the children to be excited about learning. Pray for Brian as he pastors and leads the ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-june-2019/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"and-the-things-that-you-have-heard-from-me-among-many-witnesses-commit-these-to-faithful-men-who-will-be-able-to-teach-others-also\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eAnd the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"2-timothy-22\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e2 Timothy 2:2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month we celebrated Luke and Laylee’s birthdays. Luke turned 9 and Laylee 8. It is so hard to believe how fast time has flown by. It seems like just yesterday they were babies. We love them so much and are so proud of them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update- June 2019"},{"content":"“If they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.” Jeremiah 23:22\nThis past month we had the awesome privilege of graduating our very first set of pastors from our Pastoral School of Discipleship. 3 years ago more than 25 pastors and church leaders joined Terebinth Ministries in a trek through the whole of scripture and on May 27th, 15 of those pastors received certificates of completion! We are so proud of those 15 pastors who took 1 week out of every month to live together, pray together, study together and worship together in order to grow in the grace and knowledge of their Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that God would bless them and keep them as they lead others into relationship with our Father.\nThis whole year, and especially the month of May was filled with weddings. In May alone we had 8 wedding invitations! It was has been a unique experience to attend weddings in another culture. Most excitingly my brother’s and Noelle’s brother’s weddings were among those 8. I had the joy of flying to Mexico to join in my brother’s celebration, but we are very sad that we didn’t get the opportunity to attend Noelle’s brother’s wedding. We are looking forward to her being able to see her family sometime this summer.\nNoelle’s brother Nathan and her new sister Jenny!\nMatt with most of his brothers and his new sister Laura!\nDuring my time in Mexico I also had the privilege of visiting other missionary families and touring their ministries and church plants. It gets hard to keep a good perspective when you’re out on the field and It was extremely encouraging to see faithful people enjoying their Lord and the work He has given them.\nA rehabilitation ministry in Tijuana\nThe wall of testimonies at the rehabilitation ranch!\nA child outreach at Calvary Pedregales in Tijuana\nThis kid is growing up!\nMaking tortillas!\n“I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him.” Ephesians 1:16-17\nWith Love Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/may-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“If they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.” Jeremiah 23:22\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/06/E68830E6-4042-4E36-A39D-A1D609E67CA4-1024x316.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month we had the awesome privilege of graduating our very first set of pastors from our Pastoral School of Discipleship.  3 years ago more than 25 pastors and church leaders joined Terebinth Ministries in a trek through the whole of scripture and on May 27th, 15 of those pastors received certificates of completion!  We are so proud of those 15 pastors who took 1 week out of every month to live together, pray together, study together and worship together in order to grow in the grace and knowledge of their Lord Jesus Christ.  We pray that God would bless them and keep them as they lead others into relationship with our Father.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"May 2019"},{"content":"South, South, South…..\nSome birds fly south for the winter, some retired folk go south for the winter and that\u0026rsquo;s exactly what I found myself doing. Granted I’m not retired nor am I vacationing or engaged in any other activities the birds might be engaged in down South, but I found myself continuing to follow the call of the Lord upon my life in the South during the season. It started with a couple of trips to Oaxaca where I was able to join SGWM missionaries who are dear friends of mine as they sought for a place to plant a brand-new church in southern Mexico\nOaxaca City square\nA few months after that I was able to take a three-week trip to South America where myself and three other pastors from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace were able to visit six missionary families in Peru and Brazil. My heart and the calling I believe the Lord has upon my life has been focused on missionary care and while we were in Peru we were able to spend deep, meaningful time in fellowship, worship, and prayer with some frontline servants of the Lord. I was highly encouraged as they shared how much our visits meant and it was a real confirmation that I am walking in the Lord\u0026rsquo;s will for my life.\nPastoral Team to Peru\nPeru Desert\nOne missionary who ministers deep in the Amazon jungle shared with us that nobody has come to see the work in eight years. They welcomed us into their home and I felt like family. As well as spending time in their home, we went with them eight hours by speedboat deep into the Amazon jungle to see and be a part of the work they\u0026rsquo;re doing bringing the Gospel and the love of Christ to a native tribe there.\nApurina Village send off\nApurina Chief\nSince then there have been a few trips to Baja Mexico in preparation for a six week school of missions class that I get to be a part of leading. More about that in my next update letter.\nWords cannot express how much I appreciate all of your prayers, encouragement, and financial support. It\u0026rsquo;s been a challenging season but if I keep my focus on the Lord, His word and those He has brought into my life I continue to find exactly what I need to stay the course.\nPRAYER REQUESTS\nPlease pray for my two major trips coming up starting June 22nd I will be in Peru for two weeks and immediately afterwards in Mexico for six weeks Please pray for my fiancé Jenn as she will be joining the team in Peru for her first overseas missions trip Please pray for the six-week School of missions in Mexico all of July and half of August. Again I think you so much for your partnership in the Gospel and Service to missionaries around the world.\n~ Tim.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/south-for-the-winter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSouth, South, South…..\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSome birds fly south for the winter, some retired folk go south for the winter and that\u0026rsquo;s exactly what I found myself doing. Granted I’m not retired nor am I vacationing or engaged in any other activities the birds might be engaged in down South, but I found myself continuing to follow the call of the Lord upon my life in the South during the season. It started with a couple of trips to Oaxaca where I was able to join SGWM missionaries who are dear friends of mine as they sought for a place to plant a brand-new church in southern Mexico\u003c/p\u003e","title":"South for the winter"},{"content":" “Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods.” Psalm 9:3-4\nWhen God gives vision, we can never comprehend all He will do! Around 2 years ago, Vincent was asked to be the manager of the Calvary Football Team. God put it on his heart long ago that sports and friendship is the way to help break through to these Muslim men. Showing them Christ and furthering the Gospel. Never did we dream of all God was going to do through this ministry. It was a rough beginning especially having a mix of Christians and Muslims on the team. But through reading the Word, praying and training together all the guys are changing and so is the community. We have seen those who used to persecute the church now try to sneak in the vehicles to watch the away games. The strongest of Muslim men say they see God working through this team. Muslims we have never seen drove from far to pick up fans and take them for free to the last away match. This is never ever heard of here. So much so that people feared to get in the cars. When they all reached the match, the Arua city team laughed because we are from the village. But what they didn’t know is that God is with us. We can’t believe and are praising God that we won the Regional League trophy 3-0! We heard on the radio during the sports news, the broadcasters talked about Calvary FC (Football Club). The team we won wanted to petition. The broadcasters said, “I have followed and watched Calvary FC for the last 2 years and I would advise not to waste your time. Calvary is an honest team that we all can trust which is very rare in this sport.” This is all God! God is showing through the testimony of this team and many are opening their eyes and hearts. Please continue to pray for God to be glorified! We have two matches left. One home and one away. The whole community is trying to see how they can go for the away match. If we win these 2 matches we qualify for Uganda Premiere League. Every time Calvary is mentioned, God is glorified because it is only Him! The guys all see what God says that they have a future and a hope both to become something for Him and to have eternity in Him.\nOmar Atibo the Crazy One By: Vincent\nLast month when Omar visited us, his greatest burden was that he cannot rest until he can build a church in his own home town where they seek to kill him. And so, we share with you to pray. Omar is the one some time back we shared about that I was able to disciple through my old school friend, and is now in school of ministry. Omar was sent by former dictator Idi Amin to Saudi Arabia to train and become a strong Muslim cleric over 18 years. How possible could a well learned Muslim Cleric end up getting converted to Christianity through a newly born again Christian? The power of the Holy Spirit. As God got hold of Paul on the road to Damascus so is Omar. Please, can you take a moment to pray for Omar and the entire family. His wife has become a Christian and was kicked out of their home. His older daughter Aisha now changed her name to Christine, has become a Christian. Her husband divorced her and she is struggling with 5 children. His youngest daughter Hayati now called Deborah is 14 years old. She is on the run now that her friends told her family she has converted. The latest news on her is that she has probably crossed over to Sudan and hiding but her phone number is not going through.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray as we hope to break ground this month and start building the library and community center. We can’t wait to see all God has planned! Pray for the next Football match. Pray for the Spiritual warfare around us and for our health. Pray as Destiny goes back to America and Jacob comes to disciple the youth boys. Please pray for our Church! Praise Reports:\nThe district officials all came to our house and approved our plans for the library and community center. Following those we hope to build a better playing field/stadium where we can preach the Word of God freely! The rains have started coming. We are starting to shift houses and continue fixing our old house for more interns to come. With the harvest plenty, we need more laborers! Please continue to pray that God stirs the hearts of the right ones to help.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/great-is-the-lord/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2019/06/IMG%5F2914-1024x769.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Declare His glory among the nations, His marvelous deeds among all peoples.  For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; He is to be feared above all gods.” Psalm 9:3-4\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen God gives vision, we can never comprehend all He will do! Around 2 years ago, Vincent was asked to be the manager of the Calvary Football Team.  God put it on his heart long ago that sports and friendship is the way to help break through to these Muslim men.  Showing them Christ and furthering the Gospel.  Never did we dream of all God was going to do through this ministry.  It was a rough beginning especially having a mix of Christians and Muslims on the team.  But through reading the Word, praying and training together all the guys are changing and so is the community. We have seen those who used to persecute the church now try to sneak in the vehicles to watch the away games.  The strongest of Muslim men say they see God working through this team.  Muslims we have never seen drove from far to pick up fans and take them for free to the last away match.  This is never ever heard of here. So much so that people feared to get in the cars.   When they all reached the match, the Arua city team laughed because we are from the village. But what they didn’t know is that God is with us.  We can’t believe and are praising God that we won the Regional League trophy 3-0!  We heard on the radio during the sports news, the broadcasters talked about Calvary FC (Football Club).  The team we won wanted to petition.  The broadcasters said, “I have followed and watched Calvary FC for the last 2 years and I would advise not to waste your time.  Calvary is an honest team that we all can trust which is very rare in this sport.”  This is all God!  God is showing through the testimony of this team and many are opening their eyes and hearts.  Please continue to pray for God to be glorified! We have two matches left.  One home and one away.  The whole community is trying to see how they can go for the away match.  If we win these 2 matches we qualify for Uganda Premiere League. Every time Calvary is mentioned, God is glorified because it is only Him!  The guys all see what God says that they have a future and a hope both to become something for Him and to have eternity in Him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Great Is The Lord"},{"content":"Hi friends!\nIt’s been a little too long since our last email update and we apologize for that. We have been really busy but that’s no excuse for not keeping you all up to date!\nSince our last update we have had two small teams come down to plan for their future trips down to do ministry in Oaxaca. We had Gregg and Vickie Seymour from Calvary Red Rock who will be bringing a team down in a couple of months. (Thank you guys for blessing us with a few things from the states!!!)\nThen we had Pastor Terry, Pastor Daniel, and Dana from Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara, who will be bringing a team down in October. Both visits were filled with times of prayer and fellowship, along with scouting out lodging, sightseeing, and eating options/prices for the teams. If you’ve ever been a missionary, you know what a blessing it is to have visitors!\nWe also had the blessing of a visit from our dear family friends and fellow missionaries, Juan and Alicia. I (Allison) have known Alicia since we were babies, and Juan since they started dating back in high school. We got to spend some time showing them around and fellowshipping with them, and they blessed us with a huge care package with many contributors. Thank you!!!\nThe church plant has been such a huge blessing to us. I won’t lie and say it’s been easy. We’ve experienced many ups and downs but the Lord is sustaining us every step of the way. I can’t imagine doing this with anyone else by my side other than Jon. The church has very faithful attenders and we are so excited to have more and more of them beginning to serve each week.\nAnd can I just say this: we love the people of Oaxaca. We love that God placed this calling on our lives. The people and culture here are so precious. We have amazing neighbors and friends here, and it’s such a blessing to call this home.\nI have started English classes and it’s AMAZING!!! I teach young kiddos for about 30 minutes each Thursday, just vocabulary and basic greetings. And on Saturdays I have two classes for anyone age 12 and up (mostly adults) for 1 1/2 hours each. It’s so fun to teach them each week and they’re all very anxious to learn, and smart! I am having such a great time doing this and it’s really helping me practice my Spanish.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nWe are changing our Sunday service time from the evening to the morning because of the afternoon rains. Please pray that this will be a smooth transition and that the people will be able to attend church. The rain is very loud because our garage/sanctuary has an aluminum roof, and it gets wet inside. Please pray for wisdom on getting a building for the church. We would really love to have a building in our colonia so that the neighbors can still come but as of right now there isn’t anything available near us. Also please pray for the right timing for this so we don’t get anxious to do something that may not be in His will yet. Wisdom on when to start a Wednesday night study. Please pray for our Spanish to continue to get better. And for Jonny and Noah to have a strong desire to learn it. We are hoping to start getting them lessons once a week from a Christian guy who was highly recommended to us by some friends. PRAISE REPORTS:\nPraise the Lord for the faithful body of Christ who want to serve Him and be a part of this church We are all pretty well settled here and are so blessed that God knew that this house would be the best house for our family. After getting down here and having the original house fall through, we see God’s hand on all of it! Thank you for taking the time to read this. We thank God for all of your prayers, support, and encouragement each day/week/month! You all are blessings to us.\n“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18\nLove you all! Jon, Allison, Jonny, and Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/brechtel-family-update-may-2019/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHi friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s been a little too long since our last email update and we apologize for that. We have been really busy but that’s no excuse for not keeping you all up to date!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince our last update we have had two small teams come down to plan for their future trips down to do ministry in Oaxaca. We had Gregg and Vickie Seymour from Calvary Red Rock who will be bringing a team down in a couple of months. (Thank you guys for blessing us with a few things from the states!!!)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Brechtel Family Update May 2019"},{"content":" When you look back at Paul\u0026rsquo;s missionary journeys, you\u0026rsquo;ll notice that he kept expanding his mission field. He started off in Antioch and then he kept moving to the west, and a little more to the west, and then farther out to the west! Heading to Spain meant traveling as far west as he possibly could; for Paul that meant sharing the gospel to \u0026ldquo;the ends of the earth\u0026rdquo;. Paul was an amazing missionary with a big vision!\n“My ambition has always been to preach the Good News where the name of Christ has never been heard…I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome….I will come to see you on my way to Spain.” Romans 15: 20, 24, 28\nYou may be thinking, \u0026ldquo;Wait a minute Zully, the Bible never mentioned that Paul indeed traveled to Spain.\u0026rdquo; You are absolutely right. Although church tradition and historical scholars indicate that Paul made it to Spain, the Bible doesn\u0026rsquo;t recount a 4th missionary journey to Spain. What the Bible does recount is Paul\u0026rsquo;s passion to keep moving forward for Christ. Paul was a man with a vision. He was a man with a desire to share Christ. Despite the hardships he went through in his three previous missionary journeys, he desired to keep pushing through boundaries, both earthly ones and physical ones too. (Read his stirring list of hardships in 2 Corinthians 11:24-30!)\nI recently listened to an interview of a Christian marathon runner named Ryan Hall. He mentioned that he runs because he enjoys pushing himself and loves realizing that he can do a lot more than what he thought he could. As he goes through the pain and exhaustion of finishing a marathon race, he is able to run all the way to the finish line because when he focuses on someone or something outside of himself (i.e. his family, his charity foundation\u0026hellip;etc.); he then has a purpose to keep running even though his body is ready to quit. Ryan Hall\u0026rsquo;s interview made me think about our Christian race. Are we running this Christian race with purpose? Are we willing to expand our vision? When the going gets tough, do we keep running knowing that we can endure this race because God and His calling are worth it?\nWhile I\u0026rsquo;m not competing in a marathon race anytime soon, I am following Paul\u0026rsquo;s footsteps to Spain. I don\u0026rsquo;t mean that just literally. I want to follow his example in expanding my vision for Christ. I want to follow his example in pushing myself a little more to do those things that the Lord is calling me to do. I want to keep asking myself: How willing am I to push myself a little more for Christ each day? Am I willing to let go, to surrender, to sacrifice, to be uncomfortable for Him and for the sake of the gospel?\nWhat is Christ calling you to do? How is He desiring that you expand your vision?\nLet me tell you that just by reading this newsletter and taking part in my missionary journey, you are allowing the Lord to expand your vision! It\u0026rsquo;s so awesome that we can expand our vision together in the furtherance of the gospel to Spain! I\u0026rsquo;m very thankful that together we\u0026rsquo;re allowing the Lord to do something through us that only He can do! It\u0026rsquo;s never too late to partner with us in Spain. Contact me and I can share ways that you can be part of this team!\nThank you for your prayers! I\u0026rsquo;m praying for you as well, that your vision may be expanded and that you may be amazed at what God can do in and through you!\nGod bless,\nZully - Blog\nUpdates\n~ The visa process is in the works. I\u0026rsquo;m waiting for an important document from Spain that will allow me to request a religious visa.\nPlease keep that in prayer!\n~ The monthly funds I need to have in place before leaving are coming in slowly but surely! Please pray for the Lord to continue to provide in all areas.\n~ My Care Team and I have been meeting once a month; I\u0026rsquo;m blessed by everyone on my team! If you would like to expand your vision in missions and would like to join a Care Team, feel free to contact me!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/following-paul-the-apostle-to-spainruano-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/zuano-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhen you look back at Paul\u0026rsquo;s missionary journeys, you\u0026rsquo;ll notice that he kept expanding his mission field.  He started off in Antioch and then he kept moving to the west, and a little more to the west, and then farther out to the west!  Heading to Spain meant traveling as far west as he possibly could; for Paul that meant sharing the gospel to \u0026ldquo;the ends of the earth\u0026rdquo;. Paul was an amazing missionary with a big vision!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Following Paul the Apostle to Spain…Ruano Update"},{"content":"But at it is written, \u0026ldquo;They who had no news of Him shall see, and they who have not heard shall understand.\u0026rdquo; Romans 15:21 NASB\nApologetics Class At Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute:\nA testimonial note from Mr. Pov Piseth, Darryl\u0026rsquo;s former M.Div. student at CPTI.\nIt was such a great opportunity for me to take an Apologetics class with Professor Darryl Record. Through his outstanding guidance in the class, I gained a lot of better understandings and clear pictures about the real meaning of Apologetics. His lecture notes are very well organized . Even when the contents of the lesson are complicated, he tries his best to simplify it in order to make sure that every student is able to understand fully…. I highly recommend Professor Darryl Record. He is the best professor for me. He is also my great counselor when I have something difficult to deal with. He always comforts me and advises me to respect the Lord and trust in Him more.\nMinistry Updates:\nDarryl continues teaching an Apologetics class at Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute until June 13. Kayo continues to volunteer with Precious Women ministry. This ministry helps to evangelize and re-train poor women who are at risk of being forced into the sex industry. Darryl continues teaching English and verse by verse Bible studies for the Chinese Ministry at the international church each Sunday morning. He is also tutoring/evangelizing two Chinese people on weekdays. Kayo continues to coordinate and develop the leadership team of the 40-member worship team at the international church while the worship leader is on sabbatical. Darryl has re-joined the board of directors at Kone Kmeng children\u0026rsquo;s ministry. Kone Kmeng partners with hundreds of rural/border churches to evangelize, educate, and protect (more than 30,000) poor children from child abuse and human trafficking. Please pray for Kone Kmeng\u0026rsquo;s finances because their largest donor, a well-known mega-church in the USA, has recently gone through major leadership changes. This has led to misunderstandings with the new staff members who have temporarily (for 2019) suspended their funding. Darryl is now partnering with \u0026ldquo;Abel\u0026rdquo; a tentmaker missionary from Pakistan (and many others) to contextualize (to Buddhist and atheist world-views), update (by seamlessly integrating apologetics concepts), and translate (into English, Cambodian, Chinese, Vietnamese, and Urdu) and distribute a Bible correspondence curriculum which has been very effective at evangelizing and discipling many Pakistanis since the 1960s despite persecution. The curriculum was sent by mail in Pakistan in the past. Now \u0026ldquo;Abel\u0026rdquo; has the vision of distributing this updated material through apps etc. to more than 100,000 people by 2030! Financial and US Visit Update:\nWe will be in the Los Angeles (La Habra, Chino Hills, La Mirada, and Whittier) areas between June 20 and August 6. We would like to reconnect with as many of our friends as possible during this time. Please e-mail darryl@sgwm.com if you are available to get together informally during that time. We are also looking for help with transportation during that time as well (borrowing a vehicle, rides, sponsor some Uber/Lyft rides etc.). We still need to replace around $950 monthly due to Kayo\u0026rsquo;s parents\u0026rsquo; retirement and one of our largest donor\u0026rsquo;s financial problems. We praise God that around $150 monthly has already been promised from the USA and Japan! We also praise God that through large one-time donations our housing and utilities ($500 monthly) has been covered through the end of 2019! These funds will still need to be replaced with smaller monthly donations from many individuals after that. This still leaves a $450 monthly shortage for Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s tuition starting in September. Given the promising opportunities for ministries in Cambodia, we believe that God wants us to stay in Cambodia over the long-term. Please pray for our needs and about your (and other\u0026rsquo;s) role(s) as Great Commission Business Partners (Senders) whether financially, practically, through encouragement, and/or intense prayer. In Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/they-who-have-not-heard-shall-understand/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBut at it is written, \u0026ldquo;They who had no news of Him shall see\u003c/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eand they who have not heard shall understand.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e Romans 15:21 NASB\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eApologetics Class At Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute\u003c/strong\u003e:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/05/IMG%5F0584-1024x765.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA testimonial note from Mr. Pov Piseth, Darryl\u0026rsquo;s former M.Div. student at CPTI.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIt was such a great opportunity for me to take an Apologetics class with Professor Darryl Record. Through his outstanding guidance in the class, I gained a lot of better understandings and clear pictures about the real meaning of Apologetics. His lecture notes are very well organized . Even when the contents of the lesson are complicated, he tries his best to simplify it in order to make sure that every student is able to understand fully…. I highly recommend Professor Darryl Record. He is the best professor for me.  He is also my great counselor when I\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003ehave something difficult to deal with. He always comforts me\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eand advises me to respect the Lord and trust in Him more.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"They Who Have Not Heard Shall Understand"},{"content":"1 Corinthians 12:5-6 reads; \u0026quot; There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.\u0026quot;\nPraise the Lord!\n1). Last month we had another opportunity to host a Worship and Music Workshop for three days in Dumre.\n2). We had a Gospel outreach near our Charis Bible Church (in Katmandu) on Resurrection Day (Easter). Over 100 people heard the Gospel program and received Gospel tracks!\n3).We visited a tiny Church in Nijgadh. We also visited Hetauda and Janakpur for future church planting.\nIn His Service,\nPrakash, Muna and Eutychus Pariyar\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/20455/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e1 Corinthians 12:5-6 reads; \u0026quot; \u003cem\u003eThere are differences of ministries, but the same Lord.\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eAnd there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all.\u0026quot;\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Prakash-May-2-300x232.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise the Lord!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e1). Last month we had another opportunity to host a Worship and Music Workshop for three days in Dumre.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e2). We had a Gospel outreach near our Charis Bible Church (in Katmandu) on Resurrection Day (Easter). Over 100 people heard the Gospel program and received Gospel tracks!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praising God for Opportunities to Serve Him"},{"content":" Greetings from Pakistan! We hope and pray for all of you to be fine and happy. The summer has started here, and it\u0026rsquo;s difficult time for most of the people around us, specially the brick makers and other people who live under the poverty line, a life without basic needs. The power outage makes the life miserable in this time of the year, many diseases breakout, but we praise God that we and all people in our church are fine. Lord is opening doors for us to reach more people in different areas and in this update we want to share with you about that:\nCall from Desert\nFor a few months, the Lord has been putting on our mind and heart the south part of our province. That is very poor area and the large majority lives without basic needs, mainly clean water to drink. As we started praying about that part of the province, we have been contacted by three different men so far who are serving in that area. They are mainly working among Christians and some Hindu tribes. They reached us because of the Free Literature of World Missionary Press that Calvary Chapel distributes in the country. They need Urdu Bibles; they need to be reached and taught. Because of the poverty, the children are not sent to schools. There are many health issues and and many other along with one major problem of lack of drinking water.\nRight now I don\u0026rsquo;t know how we can start reaching and ministering to these people. We have Audio Bibles provided by \u0026ldquo;Faith Comes by Hearing\u0026rdquo; and we are sending some to these people in that area. We have put prayer requests for 100 Urdu Bibles on our facebook Prayer Group page. Please pray for these people; help us know if there are possibilities to help these people in other ways other than just providing them Bibles. We are praying to support some of the men working in that area to work effectively and properly. Please keep the need and these people in your prayers. Please share the need with friends and family who can co-labor with us in any possible way in this geographically and spiritually deserted area.\nCalvary Foundation Youth Fellowship\nThis is our group of young people; we have weekly meeting and \u0026ldquo;Discipleship Class\u0026rdquo; with them. Every Saturday we meet at my home and we are training these young ones to grow in the understanding of the Word of God. There is a \u0026ldquo;Born Blind\u0026rdquo; guy named Saqib, he comes and teaches children music. He even leads worship at our both Sunday meetings. We have people like Honey Manzoor who is willing to come and teach at some Saturdays along with me. We have some movie days with these people where we watch the movies on lives of different missionaries. Last Sunday we watched a movie on the life of William Carey.\nThis fellowship was stopped for a time but praise God that we are meeting again and are able to invest our time, energy and the Word of God into the lives of these young men and women to help them grow as confident Christians. We are praying for some of these to become missionaries and reach other areas with the Word of God. As Lord allows, we reach more and more young people with the Word challenging them to study it and lead their lives as witness of Jesus Christ our Lord.\nAnother Church Planted\nWe have planted church at two places, one is in the town, one outside the town in a village.\nWe have morning service in the city and evening service in the villages. Besides this, we have Friday Fellowship with the brick makers; we have a regular church service with them. Recently we came across a group of people in a village that was abandoned by Roman Catholic church. They have a small place for prayer and worship but were totally unreached for being very poor and not able to give much to the ministers pastors reaching them.\nWe have adopted these people as our brothers and sisters in Christ and after our meeting with Brick Makers in the morning of every Friday, we are reaching this group in the afternoon of Fridays. Most of the people in this group are also brick makers. They have so many educational and health problems, we are currently able to fulfill their spiritual need only. Please pray for their other needs also and if you know people and some organizations or church projects that are interested to serve in Education and Health fields, please share with them about these precious people.\nThank you very much for your faithful prayer support, your love and encouragement for us in so many different and wonderful ways.\nWe love you, God bless you and your family!\nIn Christ Jesus,\nThe Massey Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/massey-family-may-2019-update/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Massey1-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Pakistan! We hope and pray for all of you to be fine and happy. The summer has started here, and it\u0026rsquo;s difficult time for most of the people  around us, specially the brick makers and other people who live under the poverty line, a life without basic needs. The power outage makes the life miserable in this time of the year, many diseases breakout, but we praise God that we and all people in our church are fine. Lord is opening doors for us to reach more people in different areas and in this update we want to share with you about that:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Massey Family May 2019 Update"},{"content":" “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service,” 1 Timothy 1:12\nI hope this letter finds you well and continuing on in the love of Christ.\nHappy Missionversary! In the month of April we celebrated a whole year of being in Uganda. By God’s grace we have done many things and endured many things, small as they may be, for the sake of Christ and His gospel. We are continually amazed by the opportunities God puts in our path, the grace and strength He gives us as we walk through it, and by the results of our obedience which are most times better than we expected. And then we look at the many people God used to bring and keep us out here, and the fact that each of you made a decision to give and support and pray, being obedient to what God put on your heart. We are humbled by Gods abundant and lavish love on us in such evident form. Praise God with us for the good things He has done, especially the ones He has done here as we celebrate our 1 year mark. And thank you so much for your part in this ministry!\nRight now Matt is on an airplane with our good friend and teammate Luke, headed to Mexico to celebrate his brother’s wedding. God answered a direct prayer and allowed Matt to go for the wedding, and we are so thankful! I’ve stayed behind with the kids and am faring well. God has put in place many good relationships in our community and I feel at peace with being here “alone”. We are in good hands here in our little village. Pray for us though, while he’s away, I think by the end of his trip the kids will be out of their minds from missing him. Pray for me too that I would have wisdom and patience.\nLast month was eventful. Besides for the normal happenings of studying, classes, and managerial work by Matt, and homeschooling and managing neighborhood kids by me, we’ve had some really cool stuff going on. We’ve seen an increase in the profitability of the clinic here at the Dream Center, which is a huge matter of praise to God. The business end was blessed to expand it’s chicken operation, and to fence off the property to protect crops and assets from cows and anyone taking advantage of the openness of things here. And the first set of pastors just finished their last week of class, which included each pastor teaching through a scriptural theme and presenting the gospel. Later on this month we will see them graduate!\nPlease be in prayer for our friend from this community, for his sake I’ll call him Edward. He was friends with the last American who lived in this house, and naturally he came soon after our arrival and wanted to get to know us a bit too. Matt would often sit with him and answer his questions, especially about the Bible, and encourage him to live the way Jesus talked about, since Edward says he is a Christian. Recently through the rumor mill we heard that he has been getting drunk regularly in the village center, which we have since found out to be true through overhearing a conversation of his. We also heard that he was providing his family’s unused hut for prostitution purposes (the women were doing it as an unfortunate way to make ends meet). When we ask him about his life right now he is very closed off, not like before, and when we ask around the topic (indirectly inquiring), it would seem as though these rumors are true. Please pray for Edward. Whether or not he truly is saved we don’t know, but we do know that he’s not living in Christ, and we need to now evangelize to and treat him as if he were an unbeliever. Please pray that the truth would come to light, that he would be convicted by the Holy Spirit and repent of his sinful lifestyle. Pray for his heart to be soft toward the gospel and that he would hope in Christ to satisfy him.\nMay the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him.\nIn Christ,\nMatt, Noelle, Emma, Maddie and Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-april-2019/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/02/IMG%5F3780-1024x322.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e“I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service,” 1 Timothy 1:12\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope this letter finds you well and continuing on in the love of Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/05/6E508137-8297-46CF-8149-00DDDC5692F8-300x225.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHappy Missionversary! In the month of April we celebrated a whole year of being in Uganda. By God’s grace we have done many things and endured many things, small as they may be, for the sake of Christ and His gospel. We are continually amazed by the opportunities God puts in our path, the grace and strength He gives us as we walk through it, and by the results of our obedience which are most times better than we expected. And then we look at the many people God used to bring and keep us out here, and the fact that each of you made a decision to give and support and pray, being obedient to what God put on your heart. We are humbled by Gods abundant and lavish love on us in such evident form. Praise God with us for the good things He has done, especially the ones He has done here as we celebrate our 1 year mark. And thank you so much for your part in this ministry!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update April 2019"},{"content":" Our first month in Portland, Oregon has gone by so fast! After we first moved here, I began to wonder what we were going to do to fill our time but after a few days I discovered that was not something we needed to worry about!\nAs we have continued to pray and ask God for direction in ministry, a door has swung wide open within the law enforcement community. After retiring and laying down my badge last year, after 15.5 years, the Lord has continued to stir my heart for my fellow Law Enforcement Officers. I am beginning to see that God may be calling me to be a missionary to the Law Enforcement community. They really are their own tribe, speak their own language, have their own culture, and can be a very challenging group to reach with the gospel. I never really saw this ministry coming but I have a growing, unquenchable desire to support these men and women of Law Enforcement as they fulfill God’s calling on their lives.\nAs I shared last month, we have a solid group of Law Enforcement guys that are meeting in Napa once a month. I flew back to California at the end of April to meet with these guys, encourage them, and support them in their job, and more importantly in their walk with Christ. We will continue to meet once a month to encourage, support, and pray for one another. My good friend John and I are producing weekly YouTube videos for the guys and gals involved in this group to help keep everyone engaged and offer support during the weeks we are not meeting together. The group has been growing in interest and we are hoping to start working toward one on one discipleship.\nI don’t believe this door for ministry would have swung so wide if we hadn’t moved up here to Portland. I have been able to make several connections with Christian Law Enforcement officers in the area. It’s through these connections I have learned about other First Responder support ministries. I’ve spent most of the month meeting with different people, whether on the phone or in person, from local and national organizations, that are involved in Law Enforcement ministry. So far, I have been speaking to an organization called Navigators and the Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers, which are both nationally known ministries. It has been exciting to connect with people that are doing great things for God within Chicago PD and with folks in the Tennessee area too. Each encounter has taught me more about how I can serve our Law Enforcement officers. There is also a possibility that Jackie will be working with Law Enforcement spouses, which is also much needed. Many times, these women go unnoticed and the impact these jobs have on the spouses can be very devastating.\nWe are working on a project called “Cover Unit. In police terms a cover unit is an officer’s backup. The job of a cover unit is to watch and offer a secondary level of protection, to support the primary responding officer on his/her call. With this in mind, I began thinking about how I could be these guys “Cover Unit” in a spiritual sense. It began to occur to me that I could be a cover unit to the officers on the street by committing to pray for these men and women and “covering” them in prayer. The idea began to grow. I want to go beyond just supporting in a general sense and support by prayer. I’ve been able to share this concept with several officers, deputies, and organizations about the idea and there is a lot of excitement and momentum behind praying for officers! So, stay tuned for more to come about the Cover Unit Ministry.\nThe other component of being in Oregon is serving alongside our friends in the local church. We had a great time helping with the Easter Egg Hunt a couple of weeks ago and it was a neat opportunity to get to know some folks at the church and meet people from the neighborhood. This week we started doing a Drive-Thru prayer stop at the church, where people can drive into the parking lot and be prayed for. It was interesting watching the people that came first drive by and then intentionally turn around to receive prayer, the Holy Spirit drew the people that needed prayer. Praise God that we have been able to meet and make some new friends and even have them over for dinner a couple of times. God knows how much we love all of our friends back home and in Mexico, so He graciously brought some new families into our lives. I’ve had the opportunity to continue meeting weekly with a brother from the church to encourage and support him in his relationship with the Lord. He has been such an encouragement to me as well. “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17).\nAs you can see, it’s been a busy month. We ask that you come along side us this month in prayer.\nPlease pray for:\nThe church here at Faith on Hill- that God would continue to use it as a beacon of light to the neighborhood. For our group of officers in Napa – that they would continue to stand strong in their faith in a dark work place. God would continue to open doors for ministry within the Law Enforcement community Unity, strength, and provision for our family Until next month!\nThe Mosleys - Aaron, Jackie, McKenna, Mia, Isaiah, and Penelope\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/mosley-family-may-update-open-doors/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/4.30.2018-Mosley-Spring-Shoot0015-e1525817145711-300x296.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur first month in Portland, Oregon has gone by so fast! After we first moved here, I began to wonder what we were going to do to fill our time but after a few days I discovered that was not something we needed to worry about!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we have continued to pray and ask God for direction in ministry, a door has swung wide open within the law enforcement community. After retiring and laying down my badge last year, after 15.5 years, the Lord has continued to stir my heart for my fellow Law Enforcement Officers. I am beginning to see that God may be calling me to be a missionary to the Law Enforcement community. They really are their own tribe, speak their own language, have their own culture, and can be a very challenging group to reach with the gospel. I never really saw this ministry coming but I have a growing, unquenchable desire to support these men and women of Law Enforcement as they fulfill God’s calling on their lives.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Mosley Family May Update -  Open Doors"},{"content":"“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” Mark 10:45 A lesson so convicting is a servant’s heart. Jesus touched lepers and corpse, beggars, thieves and those demon-possessed. This is His heart beat that He puts in each of us. Reaching home, Midigo, we have had a lot of amazing things to do. But even in the stress, God softly reminds us to have His servant heart. On Easter, we were expecting Vincent’s family but surprised with many kids and lots of boys from the secondary school. The boys at the secondary school (boarding high school) really challenge me and most people around. Most of them unloved and uncared for by adults. The more that came I felt God tell me gently, “Serve them and love them while I multiply.” So that is what we did. God multiplied the food and gave Vincent the opportunity to share with all of them. When we allow God to work on our hearts, others see it and change too. There was also a young boy of 14 caught stealing from our Soccer/Football hall. After 2 days of being in the local police station, they wanted to take him to the juvenile court. Vincent went to the police station and shared a long time with this boy, his father (who is a police man) and the other police. We have asked that the boy be released as long as he comes to be discipled and change his ways to have a future. God’s grace is so amazing! All we need is to believe in Him! He gives us a heart of servanthood, His heart! So beautiful, is Christ!\nMuch More Than a Graduation:\nOur dearest Claudia (Clow Clow), has graduated catering school! This was so much more than just a graduation. When she first joined our family over 8 years ago, she had just lost her mom to hepatitis B and AIDS. She was a hurting teenager with a mouth to prove it. Many times, she wanted to leave our house. Many times, I felt she should. We would cry and pray and cry and pray. I had to be on my knees for her and for my own heart to find patience and love more than I can possibly count. She had a hard time in school. Despite all this, she has grown in her walk with God and become a woman I truly admire! Singing in the Worship team and wanting to serve God. She has stayed true and pure. She has fought through the challenges of school, pure pressure and overcome cultural norms. She has done so much more than graduate. She has become an example to all the young ladies in the community, showing them that through Christ, you can finish school and become something for His glory. You don’t have to get married young or give yourself to get pregnant and abandoned. “With God, all things are possible.” Matt 19:26 I am so blessed that God gave us the opportunity to raise such a precious daughter of the Most High King. She asked me to thank all of you for your prayers and support with added thank you to her sponsors from Promise Child and to Calvary Galway, Ireland. She says that without God and all of you this day could not have come.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease Pray for provisions for a new solar system. We have come to find the batteries spoiled. With the rains and more interns coming we know it will not be enough. Continue to pray for all the ministries and the Church here. Also for our interns, that they would be able to learn the culture and God would use them mightily. Please pray for the workers on the house to be faithful and finish so that we are ready for Jacob (coming from CC West Grove) early June. Pray for the district officials to come and approve our constructions to start on the library and community center.\nPraise Reports:\nWe have been, for the most part healthy, thus far! We reached Midigo without any hiccup! We have also adjusted quickly, especially the boys! What an amazing answer to prayer!!!! Calvary Football Club has only 1 match remaining. They are currently the top of the division. I often forget about the impact this team has with the community and reaching to the Muslims. The match today, once again reminded me and praising God we won 2-1. We have been visited by Omar, our friend we have shared about over the years. He was so excited to share with us that most of his family members have now converted from Islam and are saved. We hope to share more about this amazing miracle next newsletter. We only share this much currently because they ask for prayer. The daughters husband has thrown her out, everything is chaotic and so they ask for prayers for safety and provision.\nThank you for reading our update and for all your prayers for us!\nGod bless you,\nThe Aniku Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-servants-heart-aniku-familys-may-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” Mark 10:45\u003c/em\u003e A lesson so convicting is a servant’s heart.  Jesus touched lepers and corpse, beggars, thieves and those demon-possessed.  This is His heart beat that He puts in each of us.  Reaching home, Midigo, we have had a lot of amazing things to do.  But even in the stress, God softly reminds us to have His servant heart.  On Easter, we were expecting Vincent’s family but surprised with many kids and lots of boys from the secondary school.  The boys at the secondary school (boarding high school) really challenge me and most people around.  Most of them unloved and uncared for by adults.  The more that came I felt God tell me gently, “Serve them and love them while I multiply.”  So that is what we did.  God multiplied the food and gave Vincent the opportunity to share with all of them. When we allow God to work on our hearts, others see it and change too. There was also a young boy of 14 caught stealing from our Soccer/Football hall. After 2 days of being in the local police station, they wanted to take him to the juvenile court.  Vincent went to the police station and shared a long time with this boy, his father (who is a police man) and the other police.  We have asked that the boy be released as long as he comes to be discipled and change his ways to have a future. God’s grace is so amazing!  All we need is to believe in Him!  He gives us a heart of servanthood, His heart! So beautiful, is Christ!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Servants Heart - Aniku Family's May Update"},{"content":"APRIL 2019 – THE RESURRECTION\n“Webster argues that the Protestant church itself is in need of evangelization, since it has been heavily influenced by radical pluralism, individualism and relativism.”Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World – Phillips, Timothy \u0026amp; Okholm, Dennis (1995)\n1 Timothy 1:5-6 read, Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Some have deviated from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion. (HCSB)\nThis April I have had the privilege to share about the importance of God having a plan to save me and the youth listening to me. This generation especially children of trauma have a hard time believing the Gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection. While none of them would go so far as to say the event did not occur, but when asked if they would repent and commit their lives to Christ, learn His teaching, and obey his commands, they shrug and have responded by saying when they see the church doing so then they will too.\nSome of you may know young people like this. Some of you may have encountered or taught young people and responded in various ways but hearing a young person say this still stings with truth. I can’t ignore their proposition but what I have been able to demonstrate is what 1 Timothy 1:5-6 shares. As a teacher, mentor, pastor, and disciple maker, my technique must be in love because that’s the way Jesus responded and spoke to people in His ministry. I’ve noticed that all the power and testimony found in the resurrection account misses its mark in another person if I don’t use the love from a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith.\nThese virtues have been so difficult for me to achieve. I can not maintain consistency in my own power and I have had to simply cry out to the Lord to demonstrate His power in my weakness. It’s in this moment precisely that the Gospel of the Resurrection of Christ comes alive because I realize this is the tangible object of my belief in God. I can not teach, mentor, preach or make disciples for God without this object of faith.\nSo, this is my encouragement to the faithful brothers and sisters who are among a generation that is saturated in pluralism, individualism, and relativism. Let the Gospel message be the singular truth, be communal, and be dependent on God to get a pure heart, a good conscience and a sincere faith in God’s goodness.\nPray for this generation because they desperately need it. They must be prepared if they are to survive the traps set for them throughout their lives.\nThank you for your love and prayers,\nThe Pavel Family - Serving in Oradea, Romania\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-pavel-family-april-2019-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAPRIL 2019 – THE RESURRECTION\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Webster argues that the Protestant church itself is in need of evangelization, since it has been heavily influenced by radical pluralism, individualism and relativism.”Christian Apologetics in the Postmodern World – Phillips, Timothy \u0026amp; Okholm, Dennis (1995)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/IMG%5F0336-e1535560729926-768x662-300x259.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e1 Timothy 1:5-6 read, Now the goal of our instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith. Some have deviated from these and turned aside to fruitless discussion. (HCSB)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Pavel Family - May 2019 Update"},{"content":"“Lord, if You were leaving to Spain and you had a long list of things to do, what would You do? How would You handle it all?”\nLately, my prayers have been very simple before the Lord. And His answers have been just as simple and practical! This is what He spoke to my heart after the above prayer:\n“Zully, if I were leaving to Spain, and had a long list of things to do, I would desperately seek my Father’s direction every single morning.”\nPretty straightforward! Two words stood out: “desperately seek”.\nHow do you desperately seek for something? Is it the kind of desperation like when you’re parched and look forward to a glass of water? Desperate like when you’re lost for hours and will do anything for the exact directions to your destination? Desperate as if you were hanging from the edge of a cliff and cried as loud as you can for someone to save you? Yes, yes, and yes. I need to be desperate enough to surrender everything to Him.\nShortly after I was learning about “desperately seeking” for the Lord, at just the right moment, I received lessons on John 15:5 that would solidify this new lesson on dependence.\nThe following are current personal updates that include a lesson I learned from the book Absolute Surrender by Andrew Murray (Ch. 9 – Ye Are the Branches):\nUpdate 1: I have been blessed to share the call to Spain at various bible studies and on platforms like podcasts and webinars. (The links to those studies \u0026amp; platforms will be at the end.) Those who know me, know that sharing on these public platforms have been a huge stretch for me; I’m amazed at what God is doing!\n“Absolute dependence upon God is the secret of all power in work. The branch has nothing but what it gets from the vine, and you and I can have nothing but what we get from Jesus.”\nUpdate 2: I started the visa process! There are so many components to the visa, so I am taking everything one step at a time.\n“The living connection of the vine and the branches is hourly, daily, unceasingly… Just so, I must take that position…and morning by morning and day by day and hour by hour and step by step, in every work I have to go out to just to abide before Him in the simple utter helplessness of one who knows nothing, and is nothing, and can do nothing…. I have no care, my cares are His. I have no fear, He cares for all my fears.”\nUpdate 3: The Association of Christian Teachers and Schools (ACTS) is providing the needed assistance to help establish the Christian school in Mallorca. Therefore, the Lord has put a team together both in Spain and in the US to help begin the school!\n“If I am something, then God is not everything; but when I become nothing, God can become all…We need to become nothing.”\nWhat freedom I found in recognizing that I am just a branch! I don’t have to strive or control anything but depend on the Vine and in His direction. It’s as if I have taken a front row seat, and I am watching His every move; it’s exciting! My heart’s desire is that you would take a front row seat with me! What ministry gift does God want you to contribute to this mission?\nYour generosity in financially partnering with me, every prayer you make on my behalf, every encouraging message and counsel you send… etc. are some ways that you can share your ministry gift with our work in Spain. If you want to learn more on how to partner with me in this exciting venture of faith, please do not hesitate to contact me! I’m truly blessed that we’re in this together!\nGod bless,\nZully\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/im-just-a-branch-a-lesson-on-dependence-ruano-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“Lord, if You were leaving to Spain and you had a long list of things to do, what would \u003cem\u003eYou\u003c/em\u003e do? How would \u003cem\u003eYou\u003c/em\u003e handle it all?”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLately, my prayers have been very simple before the Lord. And His answers have been just as simple and practical!  This is what He spoke to my heart after the above prayer:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“Zully, if \u003cem\u003eI\u003c/em\u003e were leaving to Spain, and had a long list of things to do, I would desperately seek my Father’s direction every single morning.”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I’m Just a Branch – A Lesson on Dependence – Ruano Update"},{"content":"Ministering to the People\nWe think about serving the Lord, our thoughts often turn to what we can accomplish or what work needs to be done. This is definitely a part of ministry, but it is the people that we minister to that are the objective within ministry. I was reminded of this throughout the month of March as our family was blessed to minister alongside other churches while serving those who have great need.\nWe were blessed to help out at a medical brigade in early March. We went to downtown Tijuana and ministered to the homeless while others attended to their medical needs. My good friend Gil Garcia brought some brothers and sisters from Calvary Chapel Rosedale to serve alongside us. The body of Christ was able to meet the needs of more than 500 people, truly a blessing.\nIn late March Calvary Chapel Buhl brought 20 youth and 10 adults to come and serve for a week here in Playas, Tijuana. This was an incredible group of youth as they were bold through evangelism and effective in outreach. They performed a biblical drama at a public school, shared the Jesus film and drama in local colonias, served people at the Tijuana dump and ministered to families in tent city, did construction at a nearby church plant and ministered to our body of believers as well. The objective to minister to the hearts of the lost as well as the saved were met, through God’s provision, for God’s glory.\nOur family is doing well. The Lord is so faithful to provide, He seems to know just what we need, when we need it. Ryan has enjoyed building relationships with people at the local parks through the handball/racketball ministry and local rehabs. Karen stays busy with homeschooling the kids and being involved with women’s ministry. The kids have been able to visit Bible colleges, participate in the SoCal Harvest Crusade, and build homes for people in Tijuana and Rosarito these past few months. Jamie is excited to work at a local health food cafe in Playas. Brian is almost ready to graduate and is working at a produce store started by a couple from church, their heart is to share the love of Christ to the community in Playas. R.J is busy with basketball, and soccer. Mackenzie is a diligent student and has volunteered to do children’s ministry for the school of ministry at church. We are a blessed family to be supported by such a great group of brothers and sisters in Christ. Thank you so much as you serve the Lord through your physical and spiritual support of the Gause family, serving the Lord in Mexico.\nThank you for your prayers and faithful support!\nBlessings from the Gause family,\nRyan, Karen, Jamie, Brian, Ryan, and Mackenzie serving Jesus in Tijuana, Mexico.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gause-family-april-2019-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMinistering to the People\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/gause1-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe think about serving the Lord, our thoughts often turn to what we can accomplish or what work needs to be done.  This is definitely a part of ministry, but it is the people that we minister to that are the objective within ministry. I was reminded of this throughout the month of March as our family was blessed to minister alongside other churches while serving those who have great need.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gause Family April 2019 Update"},{"content":"**\nNot forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:25**\nDear Friends and Family,\nHe is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!\nWe pray that you all are having a wonderful time celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\nThis month we once again saw many things taking place here in Uganda within the church, the guest house and our family.\nFirst off we received the sad news that a very good friend of mine who I ministered with in the Refugee camp lost his 8 year old daughter. We were able to talk with him several times on the phone but unfortunately I was undergoing tests at that same time for blood clots so we could not attend the funeral.\nOn a positive note one of my pastors, Rob Douglass, came for the funeral and was a great encouragement to our friends during this very difficult time. He was able to stay with us for one week. When I moved to Uganda almost 20 years ago to work with FRM in the Sudanese refugee camp, Rob was our team leader. The last time Rob was with me in Uganda was for Brian\u0026rsquo;s and my wedding. Rob walked me down the aisle. While Rob was here we spent a lot of time reminiscing and sharing all that we have seen God do and have experienced over the years. It is amazing how our faith grows when we remember all that God has already done. It gives us hope for all that God has yet to do. Since Rob was here for a Sunday he was able to share at Arise Christian Fellowship. In light of the death of our friends daughter, eternity had been on everyone’s mind. Rob taught the church a message on eternity. To help us better visualize what the message truly meant he used a long rope with about one inch on the end taped off to demonstrate how our life on earth is like the small section of rope while eternity, like the long part of the rope draped around the sanctuary, keeps on going . He challenged the church as to what they are living for. Were they living for that small one inch moment in time or were they living for those things that would matter for eternity. It was a very powerful message for everyone who was listening. The church was so blessed by the message they are still talking about it. I was so blessed to have someone I consider family to be with me and meet our church family at Arise.\nFor the last 10 years Tuesdays means Women’s Bible Study at my house. It started off with just a few ladies from one church but has since evolved into a larger study with at least 4 churches represented and about as many or more nationalities. Our group focuses on the Word of God, prayer and fellowship. I alternate between teaching books of the Bible and relevant topical issues. After each teaching I give a handout of discussion questions for the women to work on through out the week so they keep thinking and meditating on Gods word we have been learning. Every Tuesday we begin by discussing the questions and sharing what the Lord has showed us through out the week. After each study we share our prayer requests and praise reports with one another and then take time to pray over each request and for one another. As the group leader I often feel like I am so privileged to be the one who studies and prepares the teachings because I feel I learn so much and often times that the message is for me and what is going on in my life. I pray the ladies get as much out of what I am able to share. Currently we are going trough a study I titled “Everything Unto the Lord”. It is based on three scriptures the Lord used to minister to me while I was in the states very sick and mourning the loss of my mom. It has been encouraging for me to be reminded that all we do is for the Lord and that even when times are tough they can be used to glorify God.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Rob.jpg\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Praying.jpg\nThe Lord is always surprising us with how He is going to provide. We recently were talking about how we wished we could get some sturdier chairs for the church but did not have enough money to do so. It was really a necessity because a couple of times already the plastic chairs we have crumpled, then snapped causing the people sitting in them to fall down. This past month just 2 weeks before Easter, we got a call from Pastor Michael from South Sudan telling us they were bringing down 50 of the chairs from their old church. It was such a surprise and just in time for the holidays. We are so thankful. The whole church clapped and ulated in thanksgiving to God and Calvary Chapel Cush for blessing us.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Guest-preacher.jpg\nThank you for praying for our family and the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee and Liana\nPrayer Requests\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 201904-9.jpg\nPraise the Lord for the ministry and spiritual growth of the member at Arise Christian Fellowship. Praise the Lord for his continued provision and blessing upon Arise Christian Fellowship Pray for our friends James and Jane Nyika who lost their 8 year old daughter. Pray for Jill’s health to continue to improve and for the treatment of her thyroid and blood clots to be successful. Please for Jill’s dad who is in the hospital with sepsis and heart failure. Pray for all the ministries of Arise Christian Fellowship as well as the other ministries we partner with.. Pray for Jill and the children as they homeschool. Pray for the children to be excited about learning. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-april-2019-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e**\u003cbr\u003e\nNot forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.      Hebrews 10:25**\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHe is Risen, He is Risen Indeed!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe pray that you all are having a wonderful time celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month we once again saw many things taking place here in Uganda within the church, the guest house and our family.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update - April 2019"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family!\nWell, it\u0026rsquo;s springtime now, almost Easter, and that is the due date for our fourth little one, Clara, to make her appearance! So, I thought I would give you guys an update before we enter the busy season of bringing a new infant into the family :)\nAfter my trip to South America, I expected that maybe my return to the SGWM home office would be a bit of a downer. Don\u0026rsquo;t get me wrong, I was more than ready to return home! But when you\u0026rsquo;re out on the field amongst all of the \u0026ldquo;action\u0026rdquo; of missions, it can make the things we do as senders back in Yorba Linda seem a bit mundane. Praise God I was wrong! When I see these families on the field doing the work of the ministry, it inspires me and excites me even more to put my hand to the plow back at the home base. Not only that, but life has been as busy as ever since my feet hit home turf again; the adventures have simply continued here in Southern California. Here is a quick rundown of what we\u0026rsquo;ve been up to via pictures :)\nNear the end of March, I took a day trip to Mexico with Pastor Tim, his fiancé Jenn, and our friend Denise. We visited the special needs orphanage that we work with in Tecate, Mexico. Denise will be spending her summer there serving at the orphanage, which takes care of both young people and adults who are unable to care for themselves due to mental and physical handicaps, so we wanted to scope things out with her. We were also there for Pastor Tim and I to interview Miguel Romero, who manages the orphanage, to officially partner with us as SGWM missionaries. We are blessed to be in the process of bringing them on board with us!\nFinally, Pastor Tim and I have been holding the fort here at the SGWM home office as well as the church, as Pastor Trent and Pastor Mike are in the middle east. We\u0026rsquo;ve had the privilege of interviewing Nepali national missionaries via Skype, teaching through the Psalms on Sunday mornings with our congregation, teaching our Thursday night School of Discipleship and Ministry, and generally helping things to continue running smoothly while a few of our team members are away.\nPlease continue to pray for us in this busy season, especially for Amy\u0026rsquo;s health (and sanity!) as she gets through these final days of pregnancy. Also, would you pray about becoming a financial partner with us as we serve SGWM missionaries around the globe? We love you all and thank you for your prayers, support, and for taking the time to read about what the Lord is doing in and through us!\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-adventures-continue-garcia-spring-2019-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, it\u0026rsquo;s springtime now, almost Easter, and that is the due date for our fourth little one, Clara, to make her appearance! So, I thought I would give you guys an update before we enter the busy season of bringing a new infant into the family :)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter my trip to South America, I expected that maybe my return to the SGWM home office would be a bit of a downer. Don\u0026rsquo;t get me wrong, I was more than ready to return home! But when you\u0026rsquo;re out on the field amongst all of the \u0026ldquo;action\u0026rdquo; of missions, it can make the things we do as senders back in Yorba Linda seem a bit mundane. Praise God I was wrong! When I see these families on the field doing the work of the ministry, it inspires me and excites me even more to put my hand to the plow back at the home base. Not only that, but life has been as busy as ever since my feet hit home turf again; the adventures have simply continued here in Southern California. Here is a quick rundown of what we\u0026rsquo;ve been up to via pictures :)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Adventures Continue - Garcia Spring 2019 Update"},{"content":"“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Cor 5:17 This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 57A0B202-F5ED-4A11-9457-9C85D0C7654D-1024x295.jpeg\nThank you so much for the prayers and for the support that you have given to us as a family. Our ministry here wouldn’t be the same without you!\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 3EE4E7B9-05EC-4846-AA99-867EEFB9ED0C-300x225.jpeg\nIn our last update we wrote to you about how our organization was going to step into the new venture of ministering to widows. On the 23rd of March we had our official launch! The widows ministry is a huge blessing to it’s participants, giving them discipleship for their spiritual health, with both monthly food packages and the ability to start small home businesses for their physical health. In the future we hope to be able to include some sort of health care plan. The great part about this ministry is that since we are operating it through our students churches, it provides a practical means for their further discipleship. Even after they graduate from our school we will still have the opportunity to walk with them. We were happy to host a small team from Rocky Mountain Calvary who had the privilege of helping us with that launch.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is B55DDE47-8243-4162-A569-46582829C8D8-1024x866.jpeg\nOn the 27th of March we had the whole community of Adak (the village where we live) join us for the grand reopening of our health facility, which underwent great remodeling during December and January. We pushed the party to March so that the team from the US would be able to celebrate with us. At the party we had speeches from pastors, political figures from the community and from our staff, as well as a skit and a time of cultural dancing.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 8C5CA798-6BC0-4A66-8B7B-5C2CF846AE1F-1024x696.jpeg\nAs our family has been learning the Acholi language, we have been seeing some of the sadness and hopelessness of our community. Much as in Bible times when they used to name their children after circumstances, the Acholi also name their children after the most significant parts of their lives at the time of the child’s birth. As a result, our community is full of names meaning things like “poverty”, “born through witchcraft”, “Born to the second wife through witchcraft”, “tired”, “problem”, and even the name “cursed” is very common. This last month I (Matt) have had the unique opportunity to bring the hope of Christ to future generations. As some of you may know our clinic delivers into the world approximately 40 babies each month, and as a means of seeking Gods presence and blessing, many mothers desire men of God to name their newborns. Children who’s parents are named “Cursed” are now being named “Blessed”, who’s parents are named “Painful Death” are called “Mercy”! Never before had I named a strangers child, but it is a great honor to be requested to dedicate a new child to the Lord in such a way. Praise God!\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 084856F8-ED96-4F00-9C89-A4028E1CD62E-768x1024.jpeg\nMay the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-march-2019-update/","summary":"\u003ch6 id=\"therefore-if-anyone-is-in-christ-he-is-a-new-creature-the-old-things-passed-away-behold-new-things-have-come-2-cor-517\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.”  2 Cor 5:17\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h6\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/04/57A0B202-F5ED-4A11-9457-9C85D0C7654D-1024x295.jpeg\"\n         alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 57A0B202-F5ED-4A11-9457-9C85D0C7654D-1024x295.jpeg\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 57A0B202-F5ED-4A11-9457-9C85D0C7654D-1024x295.jpeg\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThank you so much for the prayers and for the support that you have given to us as a family.  Our ministry here wouldn’t be the same without you!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family March 2019 Update"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nI have some exciting news to share with you about an important new ministry in the church! In March, we opened up the “El Faro” (lighthouse) halfway house/discipleship men’s home! This new ministry is run by my friend and minister partner Uriel Gonzalez and his wife Jody! (and son Jonathon too!)\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 20431551_10159096502880026_575547164938342575_n-1.jpg\nUriel came to our church straight from a US jail over 10 years ago, with a tough past and looking for hope! Over the years, Uriel has graduated from our intern program, completed a 9 month discipleship program, found a virtuous wife at the church, and even left for a season to serve as an assistant pastor of one of our new church plants! But three years ago, God called this Godly couple back home to Rosarito with a vision to start this discipleship home!\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 28950877_10155613380582029_4364296288724844544_n-1.jpg\nThe “Lighthouse” discipleship home is a sober living house for men who have graduated from a rehab center/ mens’ home! As you can imagine, many men struggle with alcohol and drug addiction. Our church is (and always will be ) a place where anyone can come and receive free help and Godly counsel.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 55719221_10213902378225831_1619880493740720128_n-1.jpg\nAnd on average, we place 4 men and women in rehabilitation homes. The problem is that many of these friends have much difficulty staying sober and faithful to the Lord when they leave/ graduate and attempt to move back into society!\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 56232383_436261773608581_7916222246673186816_n.jpg\nThree years ago, Uriel came to me with his vision of opening up and leading a sober living men’s home! In this facility, the men would work full time at a job and pay rent and their own expenses, while also being disciple daily, and learn to serve in our local church! Just this past month we had our official grand opening as four men moved into this new rental home directly next door to the house of Uriel and Jody!\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 41712122_10156897258689208_3362406617592102912_n.jpg\nThese men got to move in free, and have everything provided for them, as they went out each morning to search for a job! Even though our economy here is struggling, praise the Lord, all four men found full time employment WITHIN THE FRST WEEK! These men also have their personal devotions each morning followed by a discipleship breakfast with Uriel.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 55564351_10213902384065977_6515157421697007616_n.jpg\nAfter work, these men return home to rest and serve in the church which is located only a few blocks away! These men are learning sober living skills that we believe are going to last them for a lifetime! Many of them are also hoping to be restored to their children and families!\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 55564493_10213902384105978_6462155068543074304_n.jpg\nWe are so thankful for each one of you our precious ministry partners! It is through your love, prayers, and financial partnership that we are able to reach what Jesus called, “the least of these!” Thank you so much for partnering with us. We feel honored and blessed to serve the Lord together with you in the ripe mission fields of Mexico!\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 37839819_642570029475106_3324545604704534528_n-1.jpg\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 52884247_2518056271555912_6832991650210381824_n.jpg\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless the four men that are living in our discipleship/sober living home!\n#2- That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for our 22nd church plant that we were blessed to send out to Campeche at the end of March!\n#2- Praise the Lord for the grand opening of our long prayed over men’s discipleship home, El Faro! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-april-2019-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI have some exciting news to share with you about an important new ministry in the church! In March, we opened up the “El Faro” (lighthouse) halfway house/discipleship men’s home! This new ministry is run by my friend and minister partner Uriel Gonzalez and his wife Jody! (and son Jonathon too!)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2019/04/20431551%5F10159096502880026%5F575547164938342575%5Fn-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 20431551\\_10159096502880026\\_575547164938342575\\_n-1.jpg\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 20431551_10159096502880026_575547164938342575_n-1.jpg\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family April 2019 Missions Update"},{"content":"Thank you all for praying for Tonielle\u0026rsquo;s pregnancy and the birth of our daughter. We are very happy to announce that Eden Grace Sarkar was born, via emergency c-section, on February 16, 2019 at 11:40am. She weighed 3.42kg (7.5lb) and was 18.5 inches long.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 53781082_10156231873278857_1807242008167710720_n.jpg\nIt has now been a month and a half with our sweet little girl and we are having a great time getting to know her. She now weighs 4.78kg (10.5lbs) and she is 21 inches long.\nThis past month has been a month of rest and adjustment for Tonielle, while Pankaj has been busy hosting teams, teaching at church, and preparing for the opening of the School of Worship.\nPlease continue to pray for our family - especially for Levi - as we all adjust and learn how to function as a family of 4.\nLove, Pankaj, Tonielle, Levi, and Eden Sarkar\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 53794390_10156231275958857_2158647659571707904_n.jpg\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/introducing-eden-grace/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you all for praying for Tonielle\u0026rsquo;s pregnancy and the birth of our daughter. We are very happy to announce that Eden Grace Sarkar was born, via emergency c-section, on February 16, 2019 at 11:40am. She weighed 3.42kg (7.5lb) and was 18.5 inches long.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/sarkar/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2019/04/53781082%5F10156231873278857%5F1807242008167710720%5Fn.jpg\"\n         alt=\"This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 53781082\\_10156231873278857\\_1807242008167710720\\_n.jpg\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003eThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 53781082_10156231873278857_1807242008167710720_n.jpg\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIt has now been a month and a half with our sweet little girl and we are having a great time getting to know her. She now weighs 4.78kg (10.5lbs) and she is 21 inches long.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Introducing Eden Grace"},{"content":"Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:2\nWe are going through a time which is both \u0026ldquo;in season\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;out of season\u0026rdquo; at the same time. On one hand, our various ministries are expanding both in breadth and in depth, which I will share more about in this update. On the other hand, Cambodia is going through its hot/dry season now so daily blackouts of up to six hours nationwide (so far, by God\u0026rsquo;s grace, we\u0026rsquo;ve been spared from most of these), highs around 99F, running water cuts and shortages, sicknesses, exhaustion, car repairs, and serious upcoming financial needs, mean that we must choose to keep our eyes on Christ and not the many storms around us as we walk by faith.\nChristian Apologetics Classes: Darryl will finish teaching the Leadership and Christian Apologetics Training Course the end of March. The Pastor wants him to teach more in the future but given the \u0026ldquo;seasonal challenges\u0026rdquo; mentioned above, we are not sure whether these trainings will be done before our visit to the USA this summer or in the fall, after we return to Cambodia.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 54522691_346983515938414_3481947093721939968_n_Fotor-1024x605.jpg\nDarryl will also start teaching Christian Apologetics classes again at the Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute between the end of March and the middle of June.\nVisiting the USA and Urgent Financial Need We will be spending some time in the USA this summer between June 20 and August 6. We will be mainly in the LA/Orange County areas of California. We need to take care of some banking needs and to reconnect with our senders and relatives in the US since we have been out of the USA for two years.\nPlease also pray that God will open doors for us to connect with more regular financial partners. Up until now, Kayo\u0026rsquo;s parents in Japan have been sponsoring Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s Christian school tuition. This has been a huge blessing, even though they are not Christians (yet). They are retiring soon and so we need around $600 additional each month to cover the financial gap starting this fall. We have additional financial needs beyond this, but this is just the most urgent.\nLight Times Magazine and Christian Videos Update Darryl continues to write apologetics/evangelistic articles and help with English editing for Light Times Magazine, the only Christian magazine in Cambodia. Because it is a magazine, non-Christians are much more willing to receive and read it than they would be to receive and read a tract. Recently the format has changed to focus on readers younger college and career age readers. Below is a Facebook post from Soksan, LT\u0026rsquo;s founder.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Light-Times-at-Feb-25-09-53-03.jpg\nDarryl has also joined Cambodian Christians along with French, and Indian missionaries in a joint project of producing live-action Cambodian Christian videos for social media through True Media at https://www.facebook.com/mediais4god/\nThe missionary from India told Darryl that when he was in Bible School in Bangalore, India that one of his textbooks was, Christianity: Reasons for Faith which Darryl co-authored a few years ago! It remains a mystery how the book moved from Cambodia to India.\nThis image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Screenshot-at-Mar-25-10-08-15.jpg\nPartnering With Persecuted Christians Darryl continues to work to encourage, equip, and partner with Christians from Ch!n@ and P@k!$t@n who have been forced to move to Cambodia for religious freedom. Because of the freedom here in Cambodia, we are planning to develop Christian materials here in their own languages and then send them back to their homelands via social media and underground methods.\nKayo\u0026rsquo;s Ministries Updates This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is 3E10958B-0DEE-460B-A65B-ED6890EFD5B9-1024x645.jpg\nKayo also continues to minister to Japanese missionaries and workers in Cambodia who are currently struggling with environmental challenges mentioned above and also have greater difficulty communicating with Cambodians because of language barriers. Kayo is also involved in helping the international church\u0026rsquo;s worship team learn and use new administrative software. This is even more more urgent because the main worship leader had a stroke yesterday.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/cambodia-missions-update-in-season-and-out-of-season/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003ePreach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. 2 Timothy 4:2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are going through a time which is both \u0026ldquo;in season\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;out of season\u0026rdquo; at the same time. On one hand, our various ministries are expanding both in breadth and in depth, which I will share more about in this update. On the other hand, Cambodia is going through its hot/dry season now so daily blackouts of up to six hours nationwide (so far, by God\u0026rsquo;s grace, we\u0026rsquo;ve been spared from most of these), highs around 99F, running water cuts and shortages, sicknesses, exhaustion, car repairs, and serious upcoming financial needs, mean that we must choose to keep our eyes on Christ and not the many storms around us as we walk by faith.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cambodia Missions Update: In Season and Out of Season"},{"content":" “For as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.” Col 2:1b\nCC Flower Mound, Texas was amazing! God really showed us how close we are to those who pray for us and we for them, even if we have never met in person! From the moment, we met everyone, it was like seeing a best friend you hadn’t seen in sometime and need to catch up. Like Paul says in Philippians, true companions. Encouraging each other in Christ, sharing the amazing things He has done and is doing. What a beautiful family we have in Christ! Please never cease to pray for those you have not met! We are knit together in God’s Spirit!\nHeading Home\nFinally, we are getting ready to head back home! We leave April 9thbut do not reach Midigo until Palm Sunday. Please pray as the spiritual warfare is getting strong. We praise God we still have 2 times to share and encourage the body of Christ before we leave. This time in America has been so amazing. God has kept us busy for sure which was our prayer. Encouraging our American brothers and sisters to be bold in the faith, sharing the gospel, for the days are dark. Zachary was able to grow, reaching goals quickly through the therapies he had. Zachary shares how he is excited to go back home and serve God helping the crying babies. Ian made friends and learned how to work through being bullied. Ian has turned to prayer for everything! His faith amazes me! Can’t wait to see how God will use them! Vincent was poured into by many pastors and given things to equip all the ministries! God also sent so many people to pour into me too! From weekly discipleship, women’s ministry, Bible College (so far, I am getting A’s!), Children’s Ministry trainings and conferences for both missions and children’s ministry!\nLuke 12:48 “To whom much is given, from him much is expected.” With all that was given to our whole family these months, we are expecting big things from God for each of us! Excited, yet sober minded, knowing the enemy is like a lion. Please continue to pray for us!\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for our last teachings. One of my fillings has just fallen out. Pray they can fix it before we head back. Please pray for our packing, travels, health and adjustments. We will be hitting the ground running for sure! We are going back with Destiny who will be serving alongside us. Please remember to pray for her! This will be her first time to Uganda. Continue to pray for our Ugandan Children, Ministries and the church! Please pray for my parents! I’m sure it will be quiet with all of us out of their house. Praise Reports\nGod has supplied the money to start construction on the Library and community center!!!! Pray God continues to go before us and pave the way! We don’t want to put God in a bubble and we don’t want to veer off His path in any way! We were able to get all our goals done and then some! My friend Diane spent a whole day helping me look up recourses. It is possible that we went a little laminating crazy. I feel equip, at peace and blessed! All I can say is WOW God, thank you! All God has taught me, especially about His mysteries has blown my mind! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/family-in-spirit-aniku-family-update-april-2019/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/IMG%5F7459-1024x768-1024x768.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“For as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.” Col 2:1b\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCC Flower Mound, Texas was amazing!  God really showed us how close we are to those who pray for us and we for them, even if we have never met in person!  From the moment, we met everyone, it was like seeing a best friend you hadn’t seen in sometime and need to catch up. Like Paul says in Philippians, true companions. Encouraging each other in Christ, sharing the amazing things He has done and is doing.  What a beautiful family we have in Christ!  Please never cease to pray for those you have not met!  We are knit together in God’s Spirit!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Family In Spirit - Aniku Family Update April 2019"},{"content":"In this time of preparation, I have stepped into a journey of faith that has been more than I expected….where the spiritual blessings have truly outweighed the spiritual warfare and trials!\nOne of the blessings I have been experiencing is God’s tender care for me as His daughter. A few months ago, someone prayed over me and shared these sweet words:\n“Before anything Zully, God sees you as His daughter. He wants to take care of you, protect you, and love you like the Father that He is to you.”\nAnd He has! Even in the way He answered the questions I made at the beginning of this journey. My Heavenly Father answered them in a very tender and beautiful way:\nWhy love people I don’t know? Why leave my family, friends, job, ministry…for people I don’t even know yet?\n~God’s Answer: Zully, I want you to learn to love the way I love. (John 15:12-13) Starting a school is a huge task Lord, will I be able to do this?\n~God’s Answer: If you have faith as the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. But Zully, don’t forget that I am the Mover of Mountains, I am the Author and Finisher of your Faith. You’re not doing this alone. (Matt 17:20 / Hebrews 12:2) Are you sure you want me to do this? Some things don’t make sense to me?\n~God’s Answer: Noah was told to build something he didn’t even know existed; he had to follow instructions, measurement by measurement. Gideon was told to fight a very large army with 300 men, and their weapons were trumpets, empty jars, and torches. Joshua, a military leader, was told to simply walk around the city wall and shout at it in order to overtake Jericho. Zully, do you see a pattern? I’ve called you and prepared you, all you have to do is obey and leave the rest to me! (Oh, and get used to doing things that don’t make sense!) However, in the midst of my questions, the Lord as my Father, reminded me that while I’m concerned with the what, the when, and the how, He is concerned with my heart. While I’m concerned with my timeline, He is concerned with my lifeline.\nSo, He reminded me that some proper questions to ask should be:\nHow is my devotional time with Him?\nAm I being sensitive to the Holy Spirit?\nDo I truly believe in the power of prayer?\nHow do I stand strong during times of spiritual warfare?\nHe is a great Dad! I\u0026rsquo;m blessed to be loved, called, and cared for by a loving Father who makes sure my heart is well assured equipped, and encouraged.\nBut wait\u0026hellip;one more question\u0026hellip;the question I get asked often\u0026hellip;When am I leaving? I am currently in the preparation process where some major things are not exactly under my control (raising funds and the long visa process). So in the midst of that, I know for certain who my Father is and that His timing is perfect! He is my good Father!\nThank you all for your prayers!\nGod bless,\nZully\nSome photos from my dessert gathering:\nPrayer Requests:\nTo wait faithfully for those things that are not in my control. To desperately seek God’s direction during this time of preparation. Wisdom for the visa process. Strength in the midst of the spiritual warfare. For the Lord to continue to provide in all areas. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/wait-lord-i-have-one-more-question/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn this time of preparation, I have stepped into a journey of faith that has been more than I expected….where the spiritual blessings have truly outweighed the spiritual warfare and trials!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the blessings I have been experiencing is God’s tender care for me as His daughter. A few months ago, someone prayed over me and shared these sweet words:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Before anything Zully, God sees you as His daughter. He wants to take care of you, protect you, and love you like the Father that He is to you.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Wait Lord, I Have One More Question..."},{"content":"**_All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. —2 Timothy 3:16-17 _**\nDear Friends and Family, This has been quite a busy and exciting month of ministry in Uganda. We have had outreaches, conferences and many types of celebrations.\nVicky Bentley, Brian and I were invited to South Western Uganda to teach at a conference. The conference was arranged by Moses Ouni, who has been there in the past teaching Inductive Bible Study. IBS is an important skill for pastors here as many have not had proper schooling or Biblical training. There are also very many pastors in Uganda who do not teach the whole​ counsel of God’s Word but instead teach topical messages that they think the people want to hear or that will get their congregations to tithe more. We were excited to be apart of these follow up conferences teaching verse by verse. Vicky and I taught through the book of James with the women.\nBrian taught about 150 pastors and leaders through the books of 1 and 2 Timothy. He experienced quite a range of beliefs and opinions about the word of God. There were even a couple of men who said they were more concerned with what their denominations taught then what the Bible said. On the second day of the conference, his numbers increased and we think it\u0026rsquo;s because people were interested in hearing more from this controversial teacher who held Gods word higher then church teachings. After the conference many pastors asked for Brian’s contacts so they could call and ask him to teach more to their churches and congregations.\nThis month at Arise Christian Fellowship we have had some great times of celebrations. As you may know many of our church members were living rough lives before salvation. Many were involved in drugs, alcohol, and lived in extreme poverty. Since coming to Jesus we have seen lives completely transformed and turned around. People who had given up and had others give up on them all of a sudden were full of hope and wanting to do more with their lives as a testimony of what Christ has done for them. We have in the last 4 years celebrated those who have given testimony and even said goodbye to some whose changed lives have led them to better lives and jobs in different areas of Uganda and the world. This month we celebrated with 2 of our brothers who were able to go back to school and have now graduated with degrees. We are so proud of them and look forward to what the Lord has for them in the future.\nAnother joyous occasion we got to be a part of this month was Paul Ocen’s wedding. Paul works for an organization in Uganda that trains Sunday School teachers and holds children conferences. Paul has trained our Sunday School for Christmas and Easter programs. He has also traveled to the FRM base in Sudan to train the Sunday School at Calvary Chapel Cush. When Paul announced that he was engaged he asked if Laylee and Liana could be flower girls in his wedding . We were very happy to allow them to be a part of the celebration. It truly was a very beautiful wedding and we were very proud of the girls and how well behaved they were through out the service and photos. We pray that they will have a blessed marriage and that it will be a testimony to others of Christ’s love for His church.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\n**_In Him, Brian, Jill,\nLuke, Laylee,\nand Liana_**\nPraise the Lord for the ministry spiritual growth of the member at Arise Christian Fellowship. Praise the Lord Jill continues to do well with the treatment for her thyroid. Pray for her to remain healthy. Pray for all the people who attended the conference in SW Uganda. Pray they will heed and apply the things they learned. Pray for all the ministries of Arise Christian Fellowship as well as the other ministries we partner with.. Pray for Jill and the children as they homeschool. Pray for the children to be excited about learning. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-april-2019/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"_all-scriptureisgiven-by-inspiration-of-godand-isprofitable-for-doctrine-for-reproof-for-correction-forinstruction-in-righteousness-that-the-man-of-god-may-be-completethoroughly-equipped-for-every-good-work-2-timothy-316-17\"\u003e**_All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and  is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. —2 Timothy 3:16-17\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e_**\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"dear-friends-and-family\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis has been quite a busy and exciting month of ministry in Uganda. We have had outreaches, conferences and many types of celebrations.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVicky Bentley, Brian and I were invited to South Western Uganda to teach at a conference. The conference was arranged by Moses Ouni, who has been there in the past teaching Inductive Bible Study. IBS is an important skill for pastors here as many have not had proper schooling or Biblical training. There are also very many pastors in Uganda who do not teach the whole​ counsel of God’s Word but instead teach topical messages that they think the people want to hear or that will get their congregations to tithe more. We were excited to be apart of these follow up conferences teaching verse by verse. Vicky and I taught through the book of James with the women.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update--March 2019"},{"content":"Hello Friends!\nWho knew that one missions trip would require three updates for me to scratch the surface of everything God did with our team in South America! But alas, here we are at update #3 to talk about my time in Brazil, the final leg of our South America trip.\nWhile some of my greatest spiritual warfare happened in Peru, Brazil was the toughest portion of the trip for me both physically and emotionally, despite the fact that (praise God!) my sickness did not follow me into the Amazon jungle. Physically, the pounding heat and humidity of the jungle wore on me over the first two days there, and emotionally, due to the length of the trip, I was really missing my family the most in Brazil, especially in the jungle where I had zero contact with them.\nBut we\u0026rsquo;ll start with the good\u0026hellip; the Miller family, our missionaries in Brazil, are amazing! The four of us pastors quickly bonded with their kids, and good thing, because we would all be in close quarters for our five days in the jungle! The Millers were super hospitable upon our arrival in their home city of Manaus, which is a sort of hub for missionaries who serve in the Amazon jungle of Brazil. We spent a day in Manaus just getting to know the Millers, and doing some shopping with Brad Miller in the city in preparation for our trip, which was an adventure in itself.\nThe next day, we took a 2 hour drive to Manacapuru (say that 10 times fast\u0026hellip;), the port city where we boarded our speedboat. That little speedboat would take the nine of us to the Apurina people, the tribe that the Millers minister to, in 11 hours down the Amazon river. The view was beautiful, but between that and the return trip, I\u0026rsquo;m not looking to board any more boats any time soon\u0026hellip;\nThe Apurina people are amazing, and the Lord is doing great things among them through the Miller family. Brad typically stays there in the village for three weeks at a time, sometimes alone and sometimes with his whole family, before going back to Manaus for a few weeks, and then doing it all over again. While there, he does a church service every evening on top of Sunday mornings, as well as Bible classes for a few of the men every morning, and a children\u0026rsquo;s ministry program on Saturdays. But perhaps the coolest thing is that some of the leaders Brad is raising up, who take over services for him while he is not in the jungle, are now preparing to go to other tribes to be missionaries there. It was amazing to watch God\u0026rsquo;s plans for unreached people groups unfolding before our eyes!\nThe brutal jungle environment did wear on me physically and mentally. Praise God He sent lots of rain while we were there, which did have the effect of cooling things down slightly, though the humidity was still overwhelming. One night, as I lay in the pitch black in my hammock, missing my family as all of the jungle noises made their best effort to lull me to sleep, the words of Martin Luther\u0026rsquo;s hymn played on repeat through my mind\u0026hellip;\nLet goods and kindred go\nThis mortal life also\nThe body they may kill\nGod\u0026rsquo;s truth will triumph still\nHis kingdom is forever\nWhile I certainly wasn\u0026rsquo;t facing death, I realized in a deeper way than ever all of the comforts of home and family and friends and hot water and A/C and the English language, etc., that missionaries give up, because they count lost souls as worth that sacrifice. They care so much about God\u0026rsquo;s glory, about the eternal state of the souls of the lost and unreached, that they are willing to leave everything familiar to them. And believe me, in the jungle, there is very little that is familiar to us! I praise God for this insight, and that night in my hammock, He began the process of dealing with some of the idols in my own heart.\nAs seems to be typical in foreign countries, the locals love English worship, so I played plenty of songs for them. I also had the privilege of teaching their children\u0026rsquo;s program Saturday afternoon, as well as teaching their Sunday morning service! I will always treasure those special blessings.\nWhen our time in the jungle was over, we went back to Manaus, where Pastor Trent got to share some ministry vision with Brad, and we got to bless the kids with some fun times, including a trip to see pink dolphins!\nAll in all, this whole trip was an amazing experience. I was so happy to go home to be with my family again, but I also came home a changed person, with the many things the Lord taught me and ways He showed me I need to grow. Most of all, I saw the importance of trips like these. SGWM is committed to not just making decisions from a desk in Yorba Linda about what is going on in the nations, but actually being willing to get our hands dirty, so to speak, and actually connect with the work the Lord is doing through our missionaries. That way, our partnership with them is more informed, our fellowship with them is all the sweeter, and we can carry back the great news of how the Lord is using them in order to stir up the church in America for missions. And that was more than worth it for a few days of me letting goods and kindred go.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/garcia-family-update-south-america-pt-3-brazil/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWho knew that one missions trip would require three updates for me to scratch the surface of everything God did with our team in South America! But alas, here we are at update #3 to talk about my time in Brazil, the final leg of our South America trip.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/garcia/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2019/03/gQTTpSmoQVemQcoiUIyElQ-1-1024x768.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhile some of my greatest spiritual warfare happened in Peru, Brazil was the toughest portion of the trip for me both physically and emotionally, despite the fact that (praise God!) my sickness did not follow me into the Amazon jungle. Physically, the pounding heat and humidity of the jungle wore on me over the first two days there, and emotionally, due to the length of the trip, I was really missing my family the most in Brazil, especially in the jungle where I had zero contact with them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Garcia Family Update: South America Pt. 3 – Brazil"},{"content":"March 12th marks eight months since we left Napa, in faith, on this adventure as missionaries. It was years of God changing our lives and calling us into His service. As the time approached for us to leave Napa the call became so strong and clear. We knew when we left that God had given us a warning that things were going to be difficult. Without understanding what that meant, the question came “How difficult could it really be?” Sure, as we made our way we were met with some challenges, like the van breaking down in Oregon, surviving a bee attack in Washington, a massive hail storm in Colorado that damaged the van, then we were delayed for almost two weeks in Texas waiting for our VISAS, finally ending back up in California where we abandoned our plans to drive down to Mexico and heeded the warning to fly down instead. Once we arrived in Mexico things didn’t lighten up, there was the first several weeks of culture shock and major adjustments, then our kids were very sick for weeks on end. We thought things were finally settling down when my dad’s health began to deteriorate.\nThe first week of the New Year hit us with the news that my dad was not doing well, he fell, and was taken to the hospital and then released to a nursing home to recover and regain some strength. After a few days it became clear that Jackie needed to fly home and help my mom get some things done, in order to bring him home. The kids and I stayed behind in Mexico to continue with studies since we had just begun our third level of Spanish. After about a week of being back home Jackie was ready to buy her return tickets home but felt uneasy about it, so we waited. That uneasiness was Gods restraint because four days later, my dad took a very bad fall in the nursing home. The fall caused a massive brain bleed. The doctors said he was not going to make it. Upon hearing the news the kids and I booked immediate flights home. Five days after returning home, my dad passed away as a result of the fall.\nIf you didn’t get a chance to read last months newsletter, we encourage you to recount the beginning of this story, when the Lord prompted McKenna and I to return home to share the gospel message with both of my parents. They both accepted the Lord and only God knew that my dad would take his last breath here on earth only six weeks later. The story is still shocking to us when we recount it. Never stop praying for the salvation of your loved ones and never hesitate to share the Gospel with them either. God hears your prayers and will pursue them to the very end, He can save to the uttermost even through Alzheimer’s. God is faithful!\nBeing back here in California didn’t slow down the challenges but God has had us here for such a time as this. What a blessing it has been to be here and be missionaries to our own family and friends. We’ve spent countless hours in the hospital, we’ve planned a funeral, we’ve buried my father, the kids and my mom were bit by her dog, Jackie’s mom landed in the hospital, and we moved her to a new house. In all the challenges there has also been opportunities to be a blessing. I’ve been able to minister to some people and offer helping hands all while God had our family here in Napa. It is such a privilege to serve the Lord in any way that we can wherever we are.\nNahum 1:3 says, “The Lord is in the whirlwind and the storm”. The day I read this verse in an Oswald Chambers devotional I did not foresee how it would apply to our family only a few hours later. I took a look at the word, “Whirlwind” and this is what I found. A whirlwind is, “A storm with strong winds that moves in a circle” (Cambridge Dictionary). A whirlwind is also used to describe “quickly changing, evolving situations, happening very quickly.”\nThings have sure been a whirlwind and the whirlwind continues. Since we have been here the question everyone keeps asking us is “When are you going back?” Our answer has been, “We wish we knew!” The Lord began stirring out heart that a new direction may be coming. An opportunity with Wycliffe Bible Translators opened up and we pursued it. Everything was going great with the process and we were coming to the very end but we just couldn’t seem to find that peace. Jackie and I had been praying and meeting with our Pastors and with Wycliffe staff, really seeking what God would have us to do. A few hours following my morning reading of Nahum 1:3 about the Lord being in the whirlwind and the storm I received a call from our friend and Pastor in Oregon. It was a casual conversation but I could hear something in his voice at the end of the conversation. We hung up but the Lord prompted me to call back and investigate a little further. Little did I know that conversation would dramatically change our direction.\nI found out that our friend and Pastor needs some help at his church just outside of Portland, Oregon. With a fire and spark in my heart I told him, “If you need me, I am there.” The reply was for some much needed help. After praying about it we concluded the Lord was calling us to go to Oregon. Therefore, we are halting our Spanish studies for the time and turning our attention north to support, encourage, help, and be missionaries to Faith on Hill church in Milwaukie, Oregon. We are so excited about this new direction that the Lord is leading us. It is true that it has been a whirlwind this past 8 months, but there is no adventure grander than serving the Lord and being His servant, available to go whenever and wherever He calls us to go. “At the command of the LORD they remained encamped, and at the command of the LORD they journeyed; they kept the charge of the LORD” (Numbers 9:23).\nWe are still missionaries. God has not changed our calling but He has changed our location. A missionary is one sent by God to accomplish His purposes. God has a good work to do at Faith on Hill church and people need to hear the gospel there and be encouraged in their faith just as any other place in the world. We will miss Mexico for now, but we are confident that we will have opportunities to return and serve there again in the future.\nOur plans are to set off from California soon. We ask that you pray for us as we make this next transition, especially that God will open up housing for us somewhere in the Portland area. Pray that our service in Oregon, “May be acceptable to the Saints there.” (Romans 15:31). Pray that we will be able to be a blessing to the church, our friends, and that we will be able to come alongside them, support them, and love them in a tangible way. Pray for us as we have started homeschooling the kids, which is making things much easier in all of the transitions. Thank you for all your prayers and financial support that allow us to serve the LORD wherever He sends us!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/death-and-new-direction/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMarch 12th marks eight months since we left Napa, in faith, on this adventure as missionaries. It was years of God changing our lives and calling us into His service. As the time approached for us to leave Napa the call became so strong and clear. We knew when we left that God had given us a warning that things were going to be difficult. Without understanding what that meant, the question came “How difficult could it really be?” Sure, as we made our way we were met with some challenges, like the van breaking down in Oregon, surviving a bee attack in Washington, a massive hail storm in Colorado that damaged the van, then we were delayed for almost two weeks in Texas waiting for our VISAS, finally ending back up in California where we abandoned our plans to drive down to Mexico and heeded the warning to fly down instead. Once we arrived in Mexico things didn’t lighten up, there was the first several weeks of culture shock and major adjustments, then our kids were very sick for weeks on end. We thought things were finally settling down when my dad’s health began to deteriorate.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Death and New Direction"},{"content":"By: Vincent Aniku\nThis month being stateside has been wonderful and fruitful. Spending quality time with my family has been my greatest joy. It has been different from my very busy routine ministry in Midigo but yet a colorful kind of busy here in America. Our heart beat no matter where in the world, is to encourage other believers and share the gospel. Going to the homeless ministry in Pomona to share the Gospel and serve, then seeing one of the homeless at church the following Sunday. Teaching at churches to encourage the body of Christ to step out, then having time with everyone after. Small, deep, one on one fellowship and pastoral meetings, all such a blessing and rejuvenating.\nEvery time we obey the Lord, He lets us know that the need for the Gospel is everywhere. Paul writes in Rom 10:13-14 “Who ever calls on the name of the Lord shall be Saved,” How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how Shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher. And how shall they preach unless they are sent?”\nThese weeks ahead are very busy. Radio interview with Calvary Chapel Pasadena, Teachings and meetings. Please pray it will be fruitful and restful.\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray as Melissa teaches and is on a panel for the young woman’s brunch the 16th. Please also pray for her allergies and the new medicine she is on, especially as we travel to Texas. Please pray for her midterm in online Bible college. Also pray for the trainings she has been doing for Children’s ministry, that God will help direct her in Midigo. Pray for the Lord to speak through us as we share in Texas the weekend of the 23rd. This is our first time to Texas. We are excited to meet the fellow brethren there. Continue to pray for the boys as they are anxious to go back to Midigo. Pray for their last doctors’ appointments and IEP this week. Praying all will go well and we will be equipped on how to continue in Midigo. Please also pray for our packing and preparations. Pray for the missionaries flying back with us. Pray that their time will be fruitful and God will touch not only the hearts of those they meet but their hearts too. Continue to pray for the sports ministry who has started their second phase of the tournaments. Continue also to pray for the church and our Ugandan children. Praise Reports\nWe found Zachary’s broken filling in time. We went back to the dentist and the same day was able to get a cap! He did much better this time, praise the Jesus! Feeling refreshed and excited to go back and serve at home in Midigo. Ready to share all the Lord has been doing. We have been donated books for the library and many are still wanting to give books. We are excited to see all God has planned! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/stateside/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBy: Vincent Aniku\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2018/03/IMG%5F7459-1024x768.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis month being stateside has been wonderful and fruitful.  Spending quality time with my family has been my greatest joy.  It has been different from my very busy routine ministry in Midigo but yet a colorful kind of busy here in America.  Our heart beat no matter where in the world, is to encourage other believers and share the gospel.  Going to the homeless ministry in Pomona to share the Gospel and serve, then seeing one of the homeless at church the following Sunday.  Teaching at churches to encourage the body of Christ to step out, then having time with everyone after.  Small, deep, one on one fellowship and pastoral meetings, all such a blessing and rejuvenating.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Stateside"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThis month we had an amazing Grand Re-Opening celebration for our church, and in this update, I wanted to tell you all about it! Many of you know that we have three weekend services down here in Rosarito at the church, and although our church has never experienced explosive growth, little by little the Lord has built up and added to our church! (Mostly through new believers, praise God)\nLast year our sanctuary began to fill up, so we began a fund raising campaign to prepare for a sanctuary expansion project that would be built over our old patio. Our church responded generously and 6 months ago we broke ground on our 250 seat sanctuary expansion! Last month, we were blessed to have our grand re-opening and what a celebration it was!\nIt was such a blessing to see our church families smile and rejoice, as they entered into the courts of our new sanctuary area with praise. On our very first weekend, we had over 600 local adults for our third and final service, a new single service church record! This newly completed expansion will serve our church body in a number of vital ways.\nFirst off, the new facility serves as our new family zone! Although we have a fantastic children’s ministry with many dedicated teachers, some of our parents enjoy keeping their children with them during the church service. To meet that need, we now have special family zone seating in the back where the little ones can enjoy their freedom as their parents worship!\nOur new expansion also comes with handy removable doors, that shut to transform the space into a large standalone classroom designed for weekly studies, meals, and other gatherings. Already, our Celebrate Recovery Ministry, young adults, and Marriage ministries have claimed it for their weekly meetings, and the results so far have been fantastic.\nAnother huge blessing of this expansion is that it has given us a brand new 2nd level 3000+ square foot patio for fellowship. Called the upper room, this breezy new patio will eventually be covered and equipped with restrooms and bbq facilities for the church to enjoy!\nIn Matthew 16:18 Jesus said “I will build my church”, and slowly but surely, we have seen the Lord do that here in Rosarito. We are so thankful for not only our friends and family here in Mexico, but for you, our precious ministry partners! We have seen God do great things here, and we are honored and blessed that you are co-laborering with us. Thank you once again for your love, prayers, and financial partnership!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would fill up the new seating that he has provided in our sanctuary expansion with new believers that we could love and disciple!\n#2- That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for the 27 mostly new believers that were baptized in our February baptism! (include my brother Mitch’s youngest daughter Hope)\n#2- Praise the Lord for our new batch of church planters that started a new year of classes in February!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-march-2019-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2019/03/51960937%5F316592162536890%5F3586493727352291328%5Fn-744x1024.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis month we had an amazing Grand Re-Opening celebration for our church, and in this update, I wanted to tell you all about it! Many of you know that we have three weekend services down here in Rosarito at the church, and although our church has never experienced explosive growth, little by little the Lord has built up and added to our church! (Mostly through new believers, praise God)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family March 2019 Missions Update"},{"content":" “By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; Who establishes the mountains by His strength, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples. They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.” Psalm 65:5-8 The month of February transitioned us from the dreaded dry season back to wet season, from blistering highs in the hundreds to moist upper eighties and nineties, and as always, God is still good. It is amazing to watch God’s awesome power as he controls the times and seasons of our planet. After seeing something over and over it becomes easy to forget to praise God for His constant provision for us and that the natural patterns of nature are held together by the word of our Father. It is sad how we separate the natural from the supernatural as if God is only displaying his presence through things that we can’t understand. As we are here in Uganda watching the trees flower with new life and hearing the music of the wildlife, we are taken back by the splendor and majesty of our King!\n“Pure and undefined religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself stained by the world.” James 1:27\nMany of you may know that we have the awesome privilege to be here in Gulu serving with my long time best friend, Luke Buescher. Luke and I met through a spring break missions trip when we were 11 years old. And since that time we have lived together in 3 different countries and have preached the Gospel together through many different avenues. The evil that has taken place here in Northern Uganda has left many children without parents, many families without homes and many wives without husbands. God had opened wonderful doors for us at Terebinth Ministries to reach out to many in need through the launching of our brand new widows ministry and my friend Luke has agreed to help lead that program as its assistant directer. Our Widows Ministry will both provide livelihood for widows in need and discipleship for our pastors as they “adopt” the widows of their communities. As our pastors have studied through Gods Word they have been exposed many times to God’s desire to care for the orphan, the widow, the poor, the Levite, and the sojourner, and now God has given us the ability to disciple them into fleshing that out in their own neighborhoods!\nThank you so much for your partnership with us in the Gospel! In Christ Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-february-2019/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/03/0FF39FF1-036A-4ACA-8209-73B0370A1038-1024x273.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch6 id=\"by-awesome-deeds-you-answer-us-in-righteousness-o-god-of-our-salvation-you-who-are-the-trust-of-all-the-ends-of-the-earth-and-of-the-farthest-sea-who-establishes-the-mountains-by-his-strength-being-girded-with-might-who-stills-the-roaring-of-the-seas-the-roaring-of-their-waves-and-the-tumult-of-the-peoples-they-who-dwell-in-the-ends-of-the-earth-stand-in-awe-of-your-signs-you-make-the-dawn-and-the-sunset-shout-for-joy-psalm-655-8\"\u003e“By awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest sea; Who establishes the mountains by His strength, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples.  They who dwell in the ends of the earth stand in awe of Your signs; You make the dawn and the sunset shout for joy.”  Psalm 65:5-8\u003c/h6\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/image-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe month of February transitioned us from the dreaded dry season back to wet season, from blistering highs in the hundreds to moist upper eighties and nineties, and as always, God is still good.  It is amazing to watch God’s awesome power as he controls the times and seasons of our planet.  After seeing something over and over it becomes easy to forget to praise God for His constant provision for us and that the natural patterns of nature are held together by the word of our Father.  It is sad how we separate the natural from the supernatural as if God is only displaying his presence through things that we can’t understand.  As we are here in Uganda watching the trees flower with new life and hearing the music of the wildlife, we are taken back by the splendor and majesty of our King!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update - February 2019"},{"content":"Hello Friends!\nI\u0026rsquo;m excited to bring you all part two of my South America trip update. Our time with the Tippie family in Huacho, Peru, was the shortest of the trip, only covering a couple of days. But boy, were they packed days!\nUpon arriving back in Lima via a short flight out of Cajamarca with the Tippies, we took a three hour drive that got us into Huacho (pronounced \u0026ldquo;Watch-Oh\u0026rdquo;) near 11pm. I observed that Peruvians seem to be night-owls, and they eat late! We were tired, but Pastor Craig didn\u0026rsquo;t want to send us to bed with empty bellies. I was glad for that after a delicious meal of roasted chicken, aji sauce (think Chick-Fil-A sauce with a little south-of-the-border kick), and french fries. Peru LOVES their french fries, with their almost 4,000 varieties of potatoes that grow there! I could definitely have gotten used to that.\nThe four of us stayed at a hotel in the city just a couple of blocks from Pastor Craig\u0026rsquo;s house. Accommodations were so cheap that we each got our own room and bathroom! This should have made for some good sleep, but Huacho was where I experienced some of my greatest spiritual warfare of the trip, including some spiritually dark dreams and a pretty bad stomach bug that plagued me the entire time there. Huacho is the witchcraft capitol of Peru, and we were there to do some work for God\u0026rsquo;s kingdom, so these kinds of things are to be expected, especially after our focus on the armor of God at our prayer retreat in Cajamarca!\nOur first morning in Huacho consisted of a four-hour meeting planning our upcoming youth group trip to Huacho in June, on which Pastor Mike, Pastor Tim, and myself will return to Huacho with 40 people for various outreaches including a surf camp, VBS, music, soccer, and more! It was eye-opening to see the necessity of traveling so far for such planning, as all that we accomplished could never have been done over phone or Skype. I gained valuable experience for planning future trips as Pastor Mike led the way with his expertise in this area.\nThat night, I was radically blessed with the opportunity to preach the gospel to a few dozen youth at a youth outreach at Pastor Craig\u0026rsquo;s church! I taught on the woman at the well from John 4, and showed them that Christ is the only one who can fulfill our longing for joy and satisfaction in life.\nThe next morning I had another amazing opportunity to lead a little \u0026ldquo;Gringo Worship\u0026rdquo; (as Pastor Craig calls it) for his church\u0026rsquo;s Sunday morning service! (You can check out video of that here on Facebook) One of my favorite parts of international travel is to worship with people of other cultures and languages. English worship was cool for them, but I really love the fun, lively, community-driven worship of the Peruvian people!\nIn the midst of all this activity, we also had the opportunity to check out a beach similar to the one we\u0026rsquo;ll run our surf camp at in June, as well as tour around and work through some other logistics for the trip in Pastor Craig\u0026rsquo;s super cool bright orange VW Bus! The trip ended with a sweet get-together at the Tippies\u0026rsquo; house, a surprise party for Pastor Craig where seemingly the whole community came out to celebrate the life of this man who\u0026rsquo;s done so much for the Gospel in Huacho.\nHuacho may have not been the hardest part of our trip, but between the spiritual warfare and my stomach illness, I really wanted to give up and go home, especially when I considered the possibility of carrying my stomach illness into the jungle. But the Lord was really teaching me a lesson on endurance, and the fact that missionaries endure this kind of spiritual warfare on a regular basis. Part of being a missionary is learning to endure through that and fight the good fight of bringing the Gospel to the nations. The Lord was teaching me what our missionaries go through, and was preparing me for a deeper level of that on the next leg of our journey in Brazil\u0026hellip;\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/garcia-family-update-south-america-pt-2-huacho-peru/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m excited to bring you all part two of my South America trip update. Our time with the Tippie family in Huacho, Peru, was the shortest of the trip, only covering a couple of days. But boy, were they packed days!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/garcia/wp-content/uploads/sites/65/2019/02/fullsizeoutput%5F1415-1024x576.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eUpon arriving back in Lima via a short flight out of Cajamarca with the Tippies, we took a three hour drive that got us into Huacho (pronounced \u0026ldquo;Watch-Oh\u0026rdquo;) near 11pm. I observed that Peruvians seem to be night-owls, and they eat late! We were tired, but Pastor Craig didn\u0026rsquo;t want to send us to bed with empty bellies. I was glad for that after a delicious meal of roasted chicken, aji sauce (think Chick-Fil-A sauce with a little south-of-the-border kick), and french fries. Peru LOVES their french fries, with their almost 4,000 varieties of potatoes that grow there! I could definitely have gotten used to that.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Garcia Family Update: South America Pt. 2 - Huacho, Peru"},{"content":"Greetings Friends!\nAs many of you know, I (Joel) just returned a few days ago from an 18-day trip to South America. Two countries, eight airplanes, over 24 hours\u0026rsquo; worth of boat rides, dozens of new friends, three new languages, weird foods (cow heart, anyone?), weird animals (pink dolphins, anyone?), rain, hail, heatwave, and real RAIN\u0026hellip; Joy, lots of laughing, lots of tears, lots of worship, lots of prayer, lots of Bible, lots of missing my family, lots of physical ailments, lots of sights and sounds and tastes and\u0026hellip; This was a PACKED 18 days. Our bodies, minds, and souls went through a lot, more than I\u0026rsquo;m used to, and while it was hard, my calling to be a part of this movement of God amongst the nations was only confirmed all the more.\nAnd so, because this trip, which really felt like 4 totally different missions experiences rolled into a three-week period, was such a massive undertaking, I\u0026rsquo;ve decided to roll out my update in three installments over the next month or so (which is probably about the time it will take for me to somewhat process all of it anyway!). I pray you\u0026rsquo;re encouraged along the way :)\nWith such a big trip, there were multiple purposes for myself and three other SGWM pastors to head to South America and see our five missionary families there. For this installment, I\u0026rsquo;ll focus on our time at the Calvary Chapel Bible College located in the Andes Mountains in Cajamarca, Peru.\nWe really had one goal in Cajamarca: to bless our four missionary families in Peru with a prayer retreat. I discovered firsthand the fact that missionaries do not get the fellowship and community with other believers that we often take for granted here in the U.S. They are called to lead, to teach, and to pastor, and while they love the nationals of the countries in which they serve with all their hearts, it is so refreshing for them to get to share their joys and struggles with people from their own culture and language. We got to hear about the triumphs and trials of our missionaries\u0026rsquo; lives and families and ministries, and perhaps the sweetest time was when each family took their turn having hands laid upon their shoulders and prayers spoken over them on their behalf.\nI was extremely blessed to be able to use my gift of leading worship to lead these sweet saints in singing to Jesus. Live English worship is a rarity for them, so it was a huge joy for me to be able to serve them in this way, and a privilege to worship with these men and women I look up to greatly. On top of this, we were able to teach some short devotions through the armor of God in Ephesians 6, to pray over them, and to pastor them in ways that simply don\u0026rsquo;t happen over the phone or Skype. Our hearts are now connected in a deeper way to those we serve in Peru, and we feel that our ministry alongside them will be all the sweeter and more effective as a result.\nAs is typical, while God used me and His gifts through me to bless our missionary families, I feel that I received more than I was able to give, that I was more blessed and challenged through this experience than I could have imagined, and that my calling to be a missionary serving long-term missionaries was all the more deeply confirmed. Praise God for His grace!\nCulturally and mentally, this was the \u0026ldquo;easiest\u0026rdquo; portion of the trip, as we were surrounded by other Americans and I wasn\u0026rsquo;t missing my family too badly this early in the trip. It was with bittersweet sorrow that we left three of our missionary families in Peru to head to Huacho with the Tippies, but we are praying for and will continue to fellowship and serve with the Kilgus family as they seek God\u0026rsquo;s will for them with Venezuelan refugees, the Bueschers as they teach and disciple young students at the Bible College, and the Gundersons as John pastors a local church and they open their home and hearts to the people of Cajamarca. Look out for the next two installments of the trip with adventures in Huacho, Peru; Manaus, Brazil; and the deep Amazon jungle!\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Clara Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/garcia-family-update-south-america-pt-1-cajamarca-peru/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs many of you know, I (Joel) just returned a few days ago from an 18-day trip to South America. Two countries, eight airplanes, over 24 hours\u0026rsquo; worth of boat rides, dozens of new friends, three new languages, weird foods (cow heart, anyone?), weird animals (pink dolphins, anyone?), rain, hail, heatwave, and \u003cem\u003ereal\u003c/em\u003e RAIN\u0026hellip; Joy, lots of laughing, lots of tears, lots of worship, lots of prayer, lots of Bible, lots of missing my family, lots of physical ailments, lots of sights and sounds and tastes and\u0026hellip; This was a PACKED 18 days. Our bodies, minds, and souls went through a lot, more than I\u0026rsquo;m used to, and while it was hard, my calling to be a part of this movement of God amongst the nations was only confirmed all the more.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Garcia Family Update: South America Pt. 1 - Cajamarca, Peru"},{"content":" **THE FIRST HOMECOMING\n** We arrived in the Rogue Valley, Oregon on Friday, January 25th. This is where I grew up, where Corinne and I met, and where our home church, Applegate Christian Fellowship, is. Everyone has been so encouraging and accommodating, helping us to get settled back into life here. Our church has been very gracious to give us jobs working on the grounds crew. Corinne is also hoping to resume her career as an occupational therapist.\nWe’re currently staying with my cousin as we look for a place to live. Right now happens to be a challenging time to find housing for many reasons, but many people, so thoughtfully, are keeping their eyes and ears open for possibilities. There are some potential opportunities coming available in the next month. I can’t help but see that when there are so many closed doors that that means our Father has something very specific for us.\nThe yearning to continue teaching the Word has been growing. Although I love the book of Job, it’s a book I can’t wait to be done with, because where you’re at in the Word is where you’re at. Whereas we are by no means suffering like Job did, we are eager to move into a season that is more settled.\nUnless I feel a strong move of the Spirit within me, I generally wait for the Lord to orchestrate and move me into specific opportunities. Within the first week of being here my cousin Tim and a few others asked if I would be interested in doing a School of Discipleship course, leading a Koinonia (evening home fellowship meeting), and one pointedly asked, “Why aren’t you teaching?” To all of which I am eager to do, and am waiting on the Lord’s perfect timing to bring any of those to fruition.\nLast summer, while we were on vacation, I had the great honor of sitting down and catching up with one of our pastors. He asked me if teaching was something that I loved. I responded that I love it like I love air. As I do it regularly it’s not something that I contemplate. But when I don’t have the opportunity I start to missing it… increasingly.\nThat leads to THE SECOND HOMECOMING.\nThat pastor who visited with me went to his greatest homecoming last Tuesday, February 5th. Peter-John Courson had served and pastored in many different places, including spending a Summer at the Mission when he was younger. After later visits over the years, Laura, one of the kids at the Mission, claimed him as “her pastor”. She always prayed for him, and loved watching his teaching videos. He once wrote her a letter. When we delivered it to her, and told her who it was from, we saw something we had never seen before. She held it to her chest and looked up to heaven as if it was the most precious thing she had ever received.\nPete had struggled and endured all of his adult life with Crone’s disease and brain tumors, all starting from his time on the mission field in Vanuatu. The girls at the Mission prayed faithfully for him during a time when it looked like the brain tumors would take his life. He made a truly miraculous recovery, and the power of God’s Spirit in him was a testimony to many.\nTHE THIRD HOMECOMING\nWe clearly see that the Lord has designed and orchestrated everything that has transpired. Our homecoming to Oregon coincides with others who have recently moved back. Sunday night was a homecoming of particular significance. Many people filled the church for Peter-John’s memorial service. Some traveled from across the country to honor him. Many had spent time at the Mission where they were first introduced to practically serving Jesus. From there they literally spread around the world, serving as missionaries, pastors, evangelists, and just simply loving the people that were around them, in places like Honduras, Burkina Faso Africa, Vanuatu, Europe, and various places around the U.S. On that night, after 25 years give and take, they came home to remember their brother with whom they had served. Although we don’t despair that Pete is gone, his passing has been more emotionally stirring than any I have experienced when considering that such a legacy has come to a beautiful completion\nIn this season our Father has measured out ample sweetness to offset any bitterness. He is so exceedingly gracious. We give thanks always for our family in Christ all across the country and around the world. In our time of transition all of you have demonstrated grace beyond what we had expected. We always hope that some day in some way we will have the opportunity to revisit that grace back to you in our Lord Jesus’ name.\nWe love you all. May our Father in heaven bless you abundantly.\nLove Jeff \u0026amp; Corinne\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/three-homecomings%EF%BB%BF/","summary":"\u003ch4\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e**THE FIRST HOMECOMING\u003cbr\u003e\n** We arrived in the Rogue Valley, Oregon on Friday, January 25th. This is where I grew up, where Corinne and I met, and where our home church, Applegate Christian Fellowship, is. Everyone has been so encouraging and accommodating, helping us to get settled back into life here. Our church has been very gracious to give us jobs working on the grounds crew. Corinne is also hoping to resume her career as an occupational therapist.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Three Homecomings"},{"content":" “Therefore everyone hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Matt 7:24 As we continue in our mission training pastors in the Word of God, it is easy to see the Holy Spirit moving within the church as they learn to stand on His Word. To stand on the truth of scripture is to stand on the nature of the One who created all things, and that is the only firm foundation on which to base one’s life. “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor 3:11. It is necessary for someone to truly examine their beliefs and motivations to see exactly what determines his actions. How you were raised, what your teachers said, what society demands, what your peers pressure you into, what you think is necessary for survival; all play a role in shaping your thoughts, and ultimately ruling your life. It is always painful and hard to expose what you have believed in for so long, to reshape your identity and to transplant yourself onto a new foundation. But any foundation apart from Christ is just sand anyway, it will crumble. And as we watch our new set of pastors stare intently at the perfect law, it is amazing to see how God is transforming their hearts and blessing them. And the fruit of abiding in God’s word is clearly evident in the lives of the other set of pastors who are nearing their graduation.\nOn the same note it has been a pleasure for me (Matt) to watch God stir Noelle’s heart with compassion for the neighboring children. There are close to 50 children near our home who are left to raise themselves and each other as their parents dig in their gardens and go about their regular business. It is an everyday thing to see a 3 year old carrying an infant on their back. When we were new on the ground it was easy to expend the energy necessary to love on them and take care of them, but over time it became a chore to answer the door for the 15th time on a Sunday, or to break up the 3rd fight of the day on our lawn. However, within the last month God has convicted Noelle about serving Him begrudgingly on this front, and my wife’s love for them has convicted me. The fruit is small but it is a reward in itself to strive to live in obedience.\nAlso, after 2 months of hard work we have finished remodeling our clinic!\n“Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.” James 5:7 ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-update-january-2018/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/02/IMG%5F3780-1024x322.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003ch6 id=\"therefore-everyone-hears-these-words-of-mine-and-acts-on-them-may-be-compared-to-a-wise-man-who-built-his-house-on-the-rock-matt-724\"\u003e“Therefore everyone hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Matt 7:24\u003c/h6\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/02/IMG%5F2664-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs we continue in our mission training pastors in the Word of God, it is easy to see the Holy Spirit moving within the church as they learn to stand on His Word. To stand on the truth of scripture is to stand on the nature of the One who created all things, and that is the only firm foundation on which to base one’s life. \u003cem\u003e“For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Cor 3:11.\u003c/em\u003e It is necessary for someone to truly examine their beliefs and motivations to see exactly what determines his actions. How you were raised, what your teachers said, what society demands, what your peers pressure you into, what you think is necessary for survival; all play a role in shaping your thoughts, and ultimately ruling your life. It is always painful and hard to expose what you have believed in for so long, to reshape your identity and to transplant yourself onto a new foundation. But any foundation apart from Christ is just sand anyway, it will crumble. And as we watch our new set of pastors stare intently at the perfect law, it is amazing to see how God is transforming their hearts and blessing them. And the fruit of abiding in God’s word is clearly evident in the lives of the other set of pastors who are nearing their graduation.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family Update January 2018"},{"content":"Dear Friends and family,\nGreetings in the name of Jesus Christ! We are thankful to you for the faithful prayers and support. We are sorry that we could not write last month. December and January were very busy months with all church activities, Christmas and New Year Celebration and some other things regarding our ministry registration with the government. Here we would like to give you a brief update about what God has been doing in and through CC Pakistan here.\nChurch Registration\nThe process of the registration is going smooth, as we live in a rented building and in the very same building we have our office. The officials told us that we need to have our office on our personal land. So through this Lord opened the door for us to use the church property that was purchased some years before. We had built a room in a corner of that property. So recently we needed to do some renovation and this place will be registered as the office of Calvary Chapel Pakistan on our official documents. We praise God for making this possible very dramatically. We were not able to use this place first but now it will be in use for different meetings and some other activities of the church.\nChristmas with Brick Makers\nThe Christmas program with the brick makers was really awesome, we are thankful to you for the prayer and for support to help them with food bags, clothes and vitamins. These people were really blessed with all that God provided for them. The brick makers fellowship continues on every Friday as it’s free day for them and our other services are on Sunday, Morning and Evening with our other two churches, besides Women’s Bible study with Farah (Saturday) and Youth Bible study class with Joseph on Friday Evening. Please keep these three groups we are serving among in your prayers.\nBook in Urdu\nThere is good news to share with you that my book on Christian Apologetics in Urdu language is finally going to be printed. God has provided us financial support to print it this month. The book was read by four learned pastors, two of them are professors in two different seminaries, all four of them endorsed it. The work is really liked and I hope it’s going to be great blessing for Pakistani Christians. I want to thank all the friends who prayed with us for this book to be printed and also all those who supported us financially to print it in Pakistan.\nAudio Bible Outreach\nFinally I want to share that we have been receiving Audio Urdu Bibles (in rechargeable devices) from “Faith Comes by Hearing” for those people who are not able to read the word of God. Last year we visited some very remote areas quite far from our place, where people need such things. We wish to go on once a month mission day to such areas. Our one whole day mission trip to such remote areas costs $200. We want to request you to please pray for the need, share the need with your friends and churches and please support this cause as Lord guides you.\nPlease keep our family and team in your prayers. We are thankful to you all for the prayers. We here pray for you and your family!\nBlessings!\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/holiday-celebrations-and-church-registration/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings in the name of Jesus Christ! We are thankful to you for the faithful prayers and support. We are sorry that we could not write last month. December and January were very busy months with all church activities, Christmas and New Year Celebration and some other things regarding our ministry registration with the government. Here we would like to give you a brief update about what God has been doing in and through CC Pakistan here.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Holiday Celebrations and Church Registration!"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nI hope that you have had a great start to the New Year! Our life is busy just like yours, and my wife Sarah got to begin the new year by traveling to Acapulco Mexico (home to the famous cliff divers) to teach at a women’s retreat! In this update, I want to share the highlights of her trip with you!\nSarah was able to travel south to the beautiful beach town of Acapulco to teach at the women’s retreat of the church of our good friends Stacy and Hassan Villegas! The theme of this conference was “El Camino” (The Way) and Sarah was blessed to be the featured speaker!\nIf you haven’t had the opportunity to hear Sarah speak, she is an amazing teacher, and one of very few missionaries that can teach with fluency and excellence in two languages! After living here in Mexico for 17 years and battling to get fluent in Spanish myself, I am jealous (in a good way) of Sarah’s amazing grasp of the Spanish language. (In fact, I believe she teaches better in Spanish than English, as the Spanish romance language and beautiful words brings out her passion for the Lord and His word!)\nSarah’s main two teachings were titled “Packing Lightly” and “The Detours of Life!” While talking about life’s detours, Sarah was able to share about how we can deal with God’s unexpected detours come crashing in. In those challenging times, we need to remember God’s faithfulness in the past and believe that He will not only get us through life’s detours, but even use them for good!\nSarah was especially encouraged visiting Acapulco, because even though it is one of the most dangerous cities in the world, God is moving powerfully and saving people, there and using this local church in amazing ways! Sarah made some great new friends, and was a blessing to each woman in attendance!\nI am so thankful to have Sarah as not only my wife, but a very gifted lady who is willing to use her gifts to bless ladies not only here in our hometown of Rosarito, but in this beautiful nation of Mexico! I am so thankful that God chose her to be my partner in our missions journeys here in Mexico.\nI am also thankful that God has chosen you to partner with our family and ministry in the mission field of Mexico. God has truly done beyond what we could have ever ask or think, and we are blessed to have your partnership on this journey!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would bless our new church planting class of 2019 beginning in February!\n#2- That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God for our new 250 seat sanctuary expansion that we are opening up at the beginning of February!\n#2- Praise the Lord that our Oaxaca Church Planting team has safely arrived in Oaxaca and has begun their ministry!\nPS: SPECIAL INVITATION! Do you know that 90% of the New Testament takes place in modern day Turkey? I want to invite you to join me as we follow in the footsteps of Paul the Apostle and take a tour to the Holy Land of Turkey! The trip will take place in November of 2019 and you are invited to join Sarah and I on this life changing tour, please contact me for more details!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873\nFor your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-february-2019-ministry-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2019/02/map-of-mexico-acapulco-acapulco-mexico-map-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI hope that you have had a great start to the New Year! Our life is busy just like yours, and my wife Sarah got to begin the new year by traveling to Acapulco Mexico (home to the famous cliff divers) to teach at a women’s retreat!  In this update, I want to share the highlights of her trip with you!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2019/02/50574817%5F10215662481167585%5F6754099178361585664%5Fn-1.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eSarah was able to travel south to the beautiful beach town of Acapulco to teach at the women’s retreat of the church of our good friends Stacy and Hassan Villegas! The theme of this conference was “El Camino” (The Way) and Sarah was blessed to be the featured speaker!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family February 2019 Ministry Update"},{"content":"By: Vincent Aniku\nI don’t know if you have ever felt the struggle of wanting to be in two different places at the same time? This is what happens to my family almost every year. Seeing my family leave for medical reasons while I remain for ministry is always difficult. I am a kind who doesn’t want to talk about situations. I stay busy in ministry but once I have a date to travel and reunite with my family I get too anxious and can’t wait. It is a wonderful experience of seeing God do great things through my wife in the states these months apart. Discipling and raising our children and getting more equipped for the ministry that awaits on the other side of the world.\nGod has been doing great things through the sports ministry and discipleship. The relationship through the sports ministry has opened doors to freely share the gospel in the community and the diligence to share has been so fruitful. Seeing 3 of the Muslim convert boys consistently in the Lord’s freedom. Omar who we shared about well over a year ago is getting deeply rooted in Christ and in the school of ministry in Soroti. He speaks volumes of what he hopes to do for God.\nI landed in America Friday Feb. 1st. I am enjoying time with my family and I am praying for open doors. Doors to share about what God is doing in Midigo and also to encourage all you of. I have what Paul wrote to the Romans in his desire to visit Rome. Romans 1:11-12 “For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some Spiritual gift, so that you may be established- that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.” I will also be spending time with Pastors here and excited to be filled.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for our Ugandan children as they all start a new school year this week. Pray for God to continue to provide school fees and for all their other needs. Pray for open doors while we are here. Both to be filled and to share. Pray for our ministries back home as we have some time in America. Praise Reports:\nMelissa is now in starting her second month of Bible College. She was nervous, she has disciplined herself and is doing well. I have made it to America safely although in Dubai there was some delay because they did not believe I was me. Thank you for your prayers! Ian turned 4, I had a birthday and we also had our 8thAnniversary in January. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/uganda-to-america-to-uganda-repeat/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBy: Vincent Aniku\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2018/03/IMG%5F7459-1024x768.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI don’t know if you have ever felt the struggle of wanting to be in two different places at the same time? This is what happens to my family almost every year.  Seeing my family leave for medical reasons while I remain for ministry is always difficult.  I am a kind who doesn’t want to talk about situations.  I stay busy in ministry but once I have a date to travel and reunite with my family I get too anxious and can’t wait.  It is a wonderful experience of seeing God do great things through my wife in the states these months apart.  Discipling and raising our children and getting more equipped for the ministry that awaits on the other side of the world.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Uganda to America to Uganda, Repeat"},{"content":" The last few months have been crazy and we are excited to say that we are here in Oaxaca City getting settled in our new home!!!\nA lot has happened since our last update. Our house was broken into in December. Unfortunately Jon’s Mexican residency visa was in the wallet, along with his driver’s license. His license has been replaced but he’s still in the process of replacing his visa. More on that in a minute…\nWe had an amazing sending weekend at Calvary Chapel Rosarito where Jon was able to share the Word and our calling, plans, and prayer needs for our move to Oaxaca. We were SO blessed by the outpouring of love from our brothers and sisters there.\nWe also had an awesome going away party at Calvary San Juan which was so fun. It was a blessing to spend time talking to our friends while we ate together, laughed, and shared a bit of what’s next for us. Ended the night being prayed over by our California church family.\nSuch a huge blessing to have these two churches support this calling on our lives and send us out to share the gospel with the people of Oaxaca.\nWe also got to spend some time with Pastor Gregg and Vickie Seymour of Calvary Red Rock in Las Vegas. They are fellow church planters doing an amazing work in Las Vegas, so please keep them in your prayers.\nIn early January we headed up to Calvary Chapel Santa Barbara for their missions weekend. The highlight for me (Allison) was sharing about Oaxaca with the kiddos during each service. Jon let me take the ropes and it was hilarious having the kids telling all of their stories of bugs and critters after I shared some of our stories. Plus, try getting a room full of 5-12 year olds to pronounce Oaxaca…it’s awesome!\nFast forward and here we are living in Oaxaca City. Jonny, Noah, and I flew down 10 days before Jon and Armando arrived because Jon had to be in Tijuana to take care of his visa. Originally we were going to have a house ready for us when we got here, but that didn’t work out, so the boys and I spent time trying to find a house. Things kept falling through and it got pretty discouraging, but one night Jon found one on Facebook and set up a time for me to go see the house. The peace that I was hoping to feel in other houses, I felt in this house. It’s an amazing house, perfect for the beginning of a church plant. God is so good in showing us that He has everything under control and He was preparing this house to be our home.\nIt’s amazing to have all of #teamoaxaca here now, ready to build the team up and see what the Lord has in store. We are grateful for Meg and Obed who are committed to being a part of this church plant, and for Armando who has moved down here with us and is a huge asset to our team and a great brother.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nplease pray for our visa renewals. They expire on February 7 and we are working on getting all of the paperwork turned in correctly before then. With Jon’s visa being stolen and me losing mine, there are added complications but we know God is in control. pray for continued team unity and growth. We plan on starting a bible study together soon along with some team training pray for opportunities for us to meet the people in our neighborhood and ways for us to minister to them and share the love of Jesus PLEASE pray for our spanish to grow and for us to use it even when we are insecure. we know that with us getting settled, the reality will start to hit us that we’re not near family and friends from “home” anymore so please pray for protection of our hearts, especially the boys. PRAISE REPORTS:\nPraise the Lord for a place to call home in our new city we already have new and old friends here and nearby which has made this transition a lot smoother for all of us Thank you for taking the time to read this. We love and miss everyone far, and are so excited for what’s to come here in this amazing city.\n“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen Matthew 28:19-20\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/another-move-a-new-home-in-oaxaca-city/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG%5F8720-e1549056686140-1024x768.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG%5F8730-e1549048594675-768x1024.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG%5F8757-e1549048624247-768x1024.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG%5F8774-1024x768.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG%5F8798-e1549048650230-768x1024.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG%5F8896-e1549048671499-1-1024x769.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/IMG%5F8947-1024x768.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe last few months have been crazy and we are excited to say that we are here in Oaxaca City getting settled in our new home!!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA lot has happened since our last update. Our house was broken into in December. Unfortunately Jon’s Mexican residency visa was in the wallet, along with his driver’s license. His license has been replaced but he’s still in the process of replacing his visa. More on that in a minute…\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Another Move                           A New Home in Oaxaca City"},{"content":"Greetings to everyone who is witnessing God\u0026rsquo;s love over us in Romania.\nWhen we got here we knew things would change but we couldn\u0026rsquo;t imagine how much change occurred. While we were gone the Romanian government conducted some audits of the leadership and holding them accountable for the lack of policy governing the partnerships and NGO\u0026rsquo;s that serve the children of the state. Well the fall out of that has been a major push to license institutions that want to work with the children. In order to do that many foundations needed to know what the standards were to meet in order to meet them and get licensed which costs money and our favorite here \u0026lsquo;stamps\u0026rsquo;. That\u0026rsquo;s right, bureaucracy. So when we arrived we checked in with the orphanage and found out that we couldn\u0026rsquo;t just dive right in to our relationships with the kids. So we began getting in touch with people who for the last few months have been getting their contracts renewed with the Ministry of Child Protection. After a few conversations with some local expats who work with the children at the orphanage we began the process to get an individual contract on January 8th. Today, January 29th I signed my contract and now have my access with the children reinstated. Praise Jesus! He loves these kids and our family and the workers trying to reach these kids.\nI can\u0026rsquo;t wait to sit down at the table and open the last chapter of Genesis with the children and recap where we left off. Then talk about all the people we met in the U.S. who are praying for them to see the Love of Jesus.\nBut while we\u0026rsquo;ve been waiting on the application process we\u0026rsquo;ve gotten a chance to sit and meet with some of the older boys who\u0026rsquo;ve been integrating into society. One young man that I\u0026rsquo;ve sat and discipled for many months when he was still at the orphanage shared with me his deepest struggle. Loneliness. The time after work is hard for him while he\u0026rsquo;s on his own. So I\u0026rsquo;ve committed to meeting with him regularly and showing him how Jesus has so much to show him and prepare him for. Pray that our next meeting is one that is productive and allows this man to see how time doesn\u0026rsquo;t have to be wasted but profited in.\nOther young men around town have been really busy with work and haven\u0026rsquo;t gotten the time to sit down for a dinner but I run into them while running errands through town often enough that I\u0026rsquo;ve been able to encourage them to make some time to speak with more depth on some of the difficulties they\u0026rsquo;re facing.\nMy discipleship group is starting the first week of February so pray for this group of 13-16 year old youth from our local church. They are tackling some heavy issues and I\u0026rsquo;m focusing on their identity in Christ as they navigate this difficult set of years ahead. I really love this age group because it\u0026rsquo;s an opportunity to fill in what they lack in experience with timeless wisdom found in scripture. The parents are great and are really working hard to see their children grow into who God is molding them to be. I pray this group really gets the Gospel down these next months. I really want them to know what is worth giving up your very life for if it should be for the Glory of God.\nPlease praise the lord for our answered prayers.\n1. Contract established for two years at the orphanage\n2. Relationships with the children is still strong regardless of the blocks in our path.\nPray for these matters.\n1. Registration of our new Van is finalized without incident.\n2. My wife is not feeling very well and needs strength while we seek a diagnosis. Pray that I can support her recovery by taking the children as much as possible and she rests.\n3. Pray for the youth groups discipleship.\n4. Pray for the children at the orphanage and their hearts are eager to commune with the God of the bible.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/pavel-family-january-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings to everyone who is witnessing God\u0026rsquo;s love over us in Romania.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhen we got here we knew things would change but we couldn\u0026rsquo;t imagine how much change occurred. While we were gone the Romanian government conducted some audits of the leadership and holding them accountable for the lack of policy governing the partnerships and NGO\u0026rsquo;s that serve the children of the state. Well the fall out of that has been a major push to license institutions that want to work with the children. In order to do that many foundations needed to know what the standards were to meet in order to meet them and get licensed which costs money and our favorite here \u0026lsquo;stamps\u0026rsquo;. That\u0026rsquo;s right, bureaucracy. So when we arrived we checked in with the orphanage and found out that we couldn\u0026rsquo;t just dive right in to our relationships with the kids. So we began getting in touch with people who for the last few months have been getting their contracts renewed with the Ministry of Child Protection. After a few conversations with some local expats who work with the children at the orphanage we began the process to get an individual contract on January 8th. Today, January 29th I signed my contract and now have my access with the children reinstated. Praise Jesus! He loves these kids and our family and the workers trying to reach these kids.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pavel Family January Update"},{"content":" As a family we have decided to visit the churches of our students and friends once a month to see how they are doing and to bring them some encouragement from Gods Word. With the permission of each pastor we have also decided to allow you to join us on that journey so that you will be more informed as you think about and pray for the churches of Uganda. We pray that these short Pastoral Bios would encourage you in your walk with God and that you would grow in your love for Jesus as you see how he is moving in the hearts of so many people!\nPastor David Kizito Came to know the Lord at a very young age when a preacher told him that God had a plan for his life. David took the Gospel to heart and has tried to spread the good news in many ways to the people around him. In May of 2017, Adak Bible Community Church planted Odongkicel Bible Community Church and placed David at it’s head. About 90 people there share the vision of preaching the Gospel, teaching the Word of God, and planting future branch churches. David, his wife Julian, and their baby Heaven are our neighbors in Adak Village, and David is one of our employees at our Business As a Mission. In the future we hope to have him as one of our students at the Pastoral School of Discipleship, but for now we enjoy discussing the Bible together at work.\nPray for Odongkicel Bible Community Church: That the members would be firmly planted in the Word of God and filled with love. For the family’s of the church to be strong in the Lord. Pray that the congregation would be unified in their vision of spreading the Gospel and planting future churches. That David’s family\u0026rsquo;s needs would be met ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/pastor-david-kizito/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2018/09/IMG%5F2336-1024x113.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAs a family we have decided to visit the churches of our students and friends once a month to see how they are doing and to bring them some encouragement from Gods Word. With the permission of each pastor we have also decided to allow you to join us on that journey so that you will be more informed as you think about and pray for the churches of Uganda. We pray that these short Pastoral Bios would encourage you in your walk with God and that you would grow in your love for Jesus as you see how he is moving in the hearts of so many people!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pastor David Kizito"},{"content":"“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now…. And this I pray, that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.” Phil 1:3-4,9-10 As 2018 fades away we would like to take a moment to thank you for your partnership with our family in the Gospel, as that is the core of our relationship with you as part of the body of Christ. No matter where you’re at on the map, you find the same things at the heart of mankind’s problems; selfishness and pride, which lead to all sorts of destruction whether it be extreme poverty, murder, immorality… and today, just as it was since the first man sinned, the solution for mankind is reconciliation with our Creator. No matter how noble a cause may be, if void of the redeeming work of Christ on the cross, it will fail to touch man’s true need. So we praise God that you have endeavored to join us as we seek to spread the truth of God through Northern Uganda, and we pray that our relationship with you would continue encouraging you to do things of eternal consequence in your neck of the woods, as there is no one in the world who does not need further Gospel transformation.\nDecember was a busy month for our family. Although the pastoral school was on break for the month, our work was certainly not. The holiday rush created an increase of work at our Business As Mission. It is rice harvesting season here, and have been milling up to 2 metric tons of rice most every day for the surrounding community. Our second batch of chickens, numbering 990 hens, have started producing eggs. We harvested one of our tilapia ponds. Planted a crop of green peppers. And we’ve continued producing fine Maize flour and pure sunflower oil throughout the week. Most of Matt’s time throughout the month was taken by overseeing the remodel of our dilapidated medical facility which we hope to complete sometime this month. Despite seemingly mundane work, God is ever at work, and even two of the contractors got saved. Noelle also has had an exciting opportunity to begin discipling a young woman in the community. As a family we had a restful Christmas Day, and even Boxing Day, which is very celebrated here.\nIt’s hard to believe that Christmas has come and gone considering the fact that the climate here is still the same as when we arrived in April, and we praise God for what He has done in that time:\n-Praise God that he brought us here to Northern Uganda safely!\n-Praise God that our son Noah was born healthy!\n-Praise God that in 2018 our first group of 17 pastors have studied through and tested out of Mark, Psalms, 1 \u0026amp; 2 Timothy/Titus, Ezekiel, Daniel, The 12 Minor Prophets, Matthew, Luke, Acts, Romans, and 1 \u0026amp; 2 Corinthians!\n-Praise God that in 2018 our second group of 32 pastors have almost finished the Pentateuch with only Deuteronomy remaining having studied Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers!\n-Praise God that our medical clinic saw close to 4000 patients in 2018 including delivering more than 200 babies!\n- Praise God that things are going well at the Business As a Mission and that we are on track to have our ministry operations self sustaining as of 2021!\n“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation” 2 Cor 5:18 We look Forward to a fruitful 2019 with you!\nIn Christ\nMatt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-december-update/","summary":"\u003ch6 id=\"i-thank-my-god-in-all-my-remembrance-of-you-always-offering-prayer-with-joy-in-my-every-prayer-for-you-all-in-view-of-your-participation-in-the-gospel-from-the-first-day-until-now-and-this-i-pray-that-you-may-approve-the-things-that-are-excellent-in-order-to-be-sincere-and-blameless-until-the-day-of-christ-phil-13-49-10\"\u003e“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now…. And this I pray, that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ.” Phil 1:3-4,9-10\u003c/h6\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2019/01/IMG%5F3519-1024x239.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs 2018 fades away we would like to take a moment to thank you for your partnership with our family in the Gospel, as that is the core of our relationship with you as part of the body of Christ. No matter where you’re at on the map, you find the same things at the heart of mankind’s problems; selfishness and pride, which lead to all sorts of destruction whether it be extreme poverty, murder, immorality… and today, just as it was since the first man sinned, the solution for mankind is reconciliation with our Creator. No matter how noble a cause may be, if void of the redeeming work of Christ on the cross, it will fail to touch man’s true need. So we praise God that you have endeavored to join us as we seek to spread the truth of God through Northern Uganda, and we pray that our relationship with you would continue encouraging you to do things of eternal consequence in your neck of the woods, as there is no one in the world who does not need further Gospel transformation.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family December Update"},{"content":"Over the last year and a half, I\u0026rsquo;ve gotten many lessons and realized more and more the lack of humility in my life. One of the biggest exposers of this issue has been need. Having stepped out of my career and ending the paycheck, I never realized how much I solved my problems by just buying what I wanted/needed. I always sought to honor God with my finances and feel I did a pretty good job but had no idea how many areas having a paycheck makes you not lean on God. There\u0026rsquo;s been no lack of lessons since I came to SGWM and they seem to be getting bigger and bigger. Last week right before the missions conference my car broke down for the final time.\nThe diagnosis is terminal as the car has a warped head and cracked block. It\u0026rsquo;s a 12-year-old car with 235,000 miles on it so an extremely expensive repair does not make sense. This is where the next lesson in humility comes in as I am asking for help in purchasing a replacement vehicle. I need to find something reliable with great gas mileage due to the 2-3 thousand miles I drive per month. I need your help in three ways:\nFinancially - if you are able to help please CLICK HERE.\nNetworking - if you know of an affordable vehicle that fits this description please contact me\nMost importantly, prayer for God\u0026rsquo;s wisdom, provision and that this lesson in humility would be glorifying to Him. Thank you all so much for your love, prayers and support is a journey this road and the calling I still truly believe the Lord has on my life.\nIn His Service,\nTim Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/humility-in-need/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOver the last year and a half, I\u0026rsquo;ve gotten many lessons and realized more and more the lack of humility in my life. One of the biggest exposers of this issue has been need. Having stepped out of my career and ending the paycheck, I never realized how much I solved my problems by just buying what I wanted/needed. I always sought to honor God with my finances and feel I did a pretty good job but had no idea how many areas having a paycheck makes you not lean on God. There\u0026rsquo;s been no lack of lessons since I came to SGWM and they seem to be getting bigger and bigger. Last week right before the missions conference my car broke down for the final time.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Humility In Need"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family!\nI thought I\u0026rsquo;d do something a little different for our first update for 2019. Hope you enjoy this short video packed with the tons of things going on in our life, live from the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference in Murrieta, CA! Just click below!\nhttps://youtu.be/r3PKzPCt84o\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/featured/on-location-first-2019-garcia-family-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI thought I\u0026rsquo;d do something a little different for our first update for 2019. Hope you enjoy this short video packed with the tons of things going on in our life, live from the Calvary Chapel Missions Conference in Murrieta, CA! Just click below!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/r3PKzPCt84o\"\u003ehttps://youtu.be/r3PKzPCt84o\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"On Location! (First 2019 Garcia Family Update)"},{"content":"Happy New Year from Mexico!\nOne of the most common questions we are asked about our newsletter updates is “Who writes the update?” The answer is we both do! This letter is no different. We each have things that we think are important to share and so we each take a part in writing these updates. Thank you for following along on our journey as we desire to follow the Lord wherever He leads us. We haven’t written an update since the end of October so we will catch everyone up on what has been happening the last two months.\nShortly after we sent out our October update McKenna became very sick. She had a fever for several days which by the end of the week progressed to a very high fever causing her to be hospitalized overnight. When we arrived at the hospital she had a one hundred and seven degree fever. Thankfully the doctor and nurses were able to bring the fever down within a few hours. It took her several weeks to recover and to build back her strength. During her recovery Mia and Isaiah also became ill with fevers. The end result was a diagnosis of Dengue Fever for all three of the kids. This obviously is the short version. The whole thing played out over weeks with many questions, many days home sick, and a whole lot of medication. This all began to unfold one week after we started our second level of Spanish classes. With the kids sick Jackie was staying home with them, and just about the time they were all on the mend she came down with the flu. Due to all the illnesses she missed a lot of her own studies. We thought that she wasn’t going to be able to complete the second level.\nAs the sicknesses wore on so did the discouragement. We were questioning everything and seeking the Lord desperately for His direction. Faithful friends recognized our deep need for a boost of encouragement and flew all the way down here with Jackie’s mom for a quick 36 hour visit. The visit was just the thing that we needed to make it over the spiritual hump we were stuck on. There is nothing like a faithful friend and a mom to come and encourage you in the darkest moments. They came, talked with us, prayed with us, encouraged us to continue on, and then left. After they left we rebounded and so did Jackie’s desire to get back to school. We the approval of our teachers, Jackie was able to put in a lot of effort to catch back up. It took extra classes each week on top of the normal load but she persevered and was able to catch up and successfully completed the second level. We both will be moving on to level three next week.\nIn mid December, a strong prompting from the Lord came to return home for a visit. Aaron and McKenna traveled back to the States specifically to visit his parents. Many of you know that his dad suffers from Alzheimer’s and his health has been declining over the past year. While Aaron and McKenna were back home they had the opportunity to share the Gospel with his parents. Praise God that both his parents accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior! They were also able to visit many friends and family while there. Thank you all for taking such good care of my family while they were in your midst, it warms my heart to know how much love they received. While Aaron and McKenna were gone in the States, my bother was here in Mexico visiting the kids and I. It was a blessing to be able to spend time with him and have him experience life here in Cacalote! He can attest that it is very different lifestyle than the States.\nAaron and Mckenna returned home to Mexico on January 1st. Not long after their arrival we found out Aaron’s Dad was continuing to rapidly decline. Over the course of first four days of the New Year, Aaron’s Dad was no longer able to communicate verbally, he suffered a fall, and is now unable to walk. Two weeks prior when Aaron shared the gospel with his Dad, he was able to speak and verbally confess that Jesus Christ died for his sins and surrendered his life into the hands of our loving God. Had Aaron and McKenna not responded to the Lord’s leading, Aaron’s Dad would have lost the ability to confess with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and even lost the ability to understand the message. We are very thankful to the Lord for the compassion and grace He has on His children. We don’t know how much longer we will have Aaron’s Dad but what we do have now is the confidence that we will see him again in heaven and for that we are eternally grateful.\nPlease pray for our family as we have decisions to make. Our third level of Spanish classes start in a few days. It is hard to be torn between keeping on track with our studies and our desire to be home supporting our family during a difficult time. We desire wisdom from God in what our next steps should be and we desire nothing else than to do His will. Pray that the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding would rest upon Aaron’s Mom’s heart as she navigates this challenging time.\nThis is by far the most challenging journey we’ve taken but even through all the challenges God has been so faithful and we are enjoying the journey. We are thanking Him for each difficulty, each obstacle, and each blessing because we know that we are growing in our perseverance and dedication to Him. A life of service to the Lord is not always marked with ease and comfort, as many of you know. But, it is a life marked with unexplainable joy and peace in Jesus.\nWe love you all and thank you for joining us each step of the way. We would not be able to serve in this capacity as missionaries without your continual prayerful and financial support. We pray for you often and pray Gods blessing upon all of you.\nLovingly,\nThe Mosleys\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sickness-and-salvation/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHappy New Year from Mexico!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the most common questions we are asked about our newsletter updates is “Who writes the update?” The answer is we both do! This letter is no different. We each have things that we think are important to share and so we each take a part in writing these updates. Thank you for following along on our journey as we desire to follow the Lord wherever He leads us. We haven’t written an update since the end of October so we will catch everyone up on what has been happening the last two months.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sickness and Salvation"},{"content":"Hello friends!\nIt feels a little funny to have a grown-up Christmas list. However, many have expressed a desire to bless us with one time gifts and have asked us to please share when there are opportunities to do so.\nThe airline that we are traveling when we head home to Peru in January has a generous baggage limit, and we are able to take back a lot of things to make our house feel more like home. So this is a great opportunity for those of you who would like to come alongside of us in this capacity.\nWe have set up a “Wish List” on Amazon, please click here to view our list. After you add it to your cart, you will automatically have the shipping address option, “Romeo and Jessica Buescher’s Gift Registry Address” everything will be mailed to Pennsylvania, which will be our last stop before heading home to Peru.\nWe just wanted to say thank you, we have been so blessed by how each of you plays a unique roll in this ministry, whether through prayer, financially, encouragement and words of wisdom; it is such a joy to be in ministry when you have a support system. So, thank you!\nLove,\nThe Bueschers\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/christmas-list/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt feels a little funny to have a grown-up Christmas list. However, many have expressed a desire to bless us with one time gifts and have asked us to please share when there are opportunities to do so.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe airline that we are traveling when we head home to Peru in January has a generous baggage limit, and we are able to take back a lot of things to make our house feel more like home. So this is a great opportunity for those of you who would like to come alongside of us in this capacity.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Christmas List!"},{"content":" “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1\nFrom Vincent: I grew up playing soccer, our balls were made of banana leaves and inflated by hang gloves wrapped in rags and threads. I played for schools and fun. In our time, we did not have real balls, cleats, and uniforms. Instead, one team would remove their shirts. In 2008, as youth pastor at that time, we started using soccer to evangelize to the 95% Muslim community. Most of the team were talented school dropouts who had become drug addicts. We first started with 8 clubs and it quickly grew to 18. In 2010, we registered in a league and now in 2018, we play professionally in the 3rd regional league. I want to thank my beloved wife and all the many people who have supported this ministry! Through God and your support we have recruited players, rented dorms for them, feed them, carry the traveling costs, they have cleats and uniforms and now many of them have been able to go back to school to finish their educations.\nAbove all, spiritually God has changed many hearts through the Gospel and discipleship programs. All the players received Bibles, including the 65% Muslim players and now all the players pray together and play in Jesus name, giving testimony everywhere they go. Many who knew the story of the church being persecuted, many threats of setting the church ablaze, trying to evict us from our homes, much pressure has reduced. The community is embracing the club and softening their hearts. This month Promise Child and a team from CC West Grove had a local tournament where 6 local teams played. They received full uniforms, balls, bibs, and Bible audio proclaimers! The Gospel is going out! One big challenge we have is that we do not have our own playing ground and one evening when we tried to play the Jesus film the Muslims came to stop us and took us to the police. In a miraculous way, God allowed the police to let us continue but with restricted time. As we have been praying fervently God opened the door this year to give us land!!! We have finally surveyed the 6 acres to start building the Soccer Stadium! Not only that but added space to build an adult literacy program, rehabilitation center, and a library! We pray as we continue down this venture with God’s leading that this will be a place where the Gospel is freely and constantly shared! Here is the before picture…. Can’t wait to see what God will do!!!\nMerry Christmas!!!!!\nOur prayer is that this Christmas you remember what Christmas is really for and that we all focus on the amazing things God has done!\nPraise Reports:\nThe team won their last match. Sunday, they will play against a team from Kabale. Kabale is in South West Region of Uganda, Rwanda boarder. Pray against persecution, for protection and God keep using the team to share the Gospel all over Uganda. We got the money for the spare parts for our ministry vehicle. Pray we can find original parts and it is fixed correctly before the next away match. Now that the team is traveling farther across Uganda. It is important to have a mostly working vehicle. The insurance has covered the Grass Tech tablets for my allergies. Since I cannot do the shots because I live in Africa, I am now on 5 different allergy meds everyday with my throat swelling from time to time. Grass Tech is a tablet you put under your tongue daily and it works like the injections. I will be trying it in my allergist office soon. It looks like Vincent will be coming to America next month!!!! Also, our facetime is, for the most part, working and have been able to see all the kids and Vincent spending time with them over the internet. This has helped us all very much! All our Ugandan children are doing great and we collected our last bunch from school for the holidays. Sundays arm is also healing well. Prayer Requests:\nPray, pray, pray as we start the construction! That everything is from God every step of the way! Vincent will be teaching at a crusade Thursday and Friday in the Arua District. This is one of the first of its kind so please pray! Pray for our Church, CC Midigo! Please also continue to pray for us as we are apart, Vincent’s ulcers, the boys and I. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/god-does-big-things/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2018/03/IMG%5F7459-1024x768.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.”  Hebrews 12:1\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFrom Vincent: I grew up playing soccer, our balls were made of banana leaves and inflated by hang gloves wrapped in rags and threads. I played for schools and fun. In our time, we did not have real balls, cleats, and uniforms.  Instead, one team would remove their shirts. In 2008, as youth pastor at that time, we started using soccer to evangelize to the 95% Muslim community. Most of the team were talented school dropouts who had become drug addicts. We first started with 8 clubs and it quickly grew to 18.  In 2010, we registered in a league and now in 2018, we play professionally in the 3rd regional league. I want to thank my beloved wife and all the many people who have supported this ministry! Through God and your support we have recruited players, rented dorms for them, feed them, carry the traveling costs, they have cleats and uniforms and now many of them have been able to go back to school to finish their educations.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God Does Big Things"},{"content":"Looking back at the past year, we are in awe of all that God has brought us through. We went through a time of testing, a time of sorrow, a time of joy, and a time of restoration and we are still learning and growing in every aspect.\nIn all of these times, God has always shown Himself faithful and has reminded us that He is not only the Savior of our souls but, when we trust in Him, He will guide and direct us through everything.\nWe want to thank everyone that has partnered with us through your prayers and financial support. You are all an important part of our ministries and everything that the Lord is doing here in Nepal.\nMay God bless you with the riches of His blessings! We hope you have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!\n\u0026ldquo;For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.\u0026rdquo; - Isaiah 9:6\nLove, Pankaj, Tonielle, Levi, and Baby Girl Sarkar\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/merry-christmas-from-nepal/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLooking back at the past year, we are in awe of all that God has brought us through. We went through a time of testing, a time of sorrow, a time of joy, and a time of restoration and we are still learning and growing in every aspect.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn all of these times, God has always shown Himself faithful and has reminded us that He is not only the Savior of our souls but, when we trust in Him, He will guide and direct us through everything.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Merry Christmas From Nepal!"},{"content":"“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5 Our month of November started on a high note as we taught at a marriage conference in the village of Pabbo at one of our students churches. It was truly a blessing to teach on marriage from a biblical perspective. Satan has been redefining the union of a man and a woman, what it is, what it’s for and how you actually go about it, since the beginning. Every culture sees the effects of those lies and the Acholi are no exception. They are plagued with polygamy, abuse, alcoholism, child neglect and on and on. But by God’s grace family\u0026rsquo;s are finding light as the Gospel continues penetrating the dark. Noelle and I were blessed to teach about God’s design of men and women as individuals and as a unit, we got to explain how marriage is a picture of the Gospel and that you can have peace in your family by living a lifestyle of repentance before Jesus Christ.\nTowards the end of the month we had the awesome opportunity to take a breather for a few days at Musana Camps! Located on the shores of lake Victoria, Musana is a beautiful place, designed to give rest to missionaries and to facilitate groups of young people as they learn about biblical Manhood and Womanhood. Because of the physical workload coming up in December we decided to take our Christmas break a month early. Our time there really helped us refocus and recuperate as a family, and we certainly look forward to visiting there again in the future.\nWe love you guys, God bless,\nMatt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-november-update-2/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"abide-in-me-and-i-in-you-as-the-branch-cannot-bear-fruit-of-itself-unless-it-abides-in-the-vine-so-neither-can-you-unless-you-abide-in-me-i-am-the-vine-you-are-the-branches-he-who-abides-in-me-and-i-in-him-he-bears-much-fruit-for-apart-from-me-you-can-do-nothing-john-154-5\"\u003e“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2018/11/IMG%5F3490-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eOur month of November started on a high note as we taught at a marriage conference in the village of Pabbo at one of our students churches. It was truly a blessing to teach on marriage from a biblical perspective. Satan has been redefining the union of a man and a woman, what it is, what it’s for and how you actually go about it, since the beginning. Every culture sees the effects of those lies and the Acholi are no exception. They are plagued with polygamy, abuse, alcoholism, child neglect and on and on. But by God’s grace family\u0026rsquo;s are finding light as the Gospel continues penetrating the dark. Noelle and I were blessed to teach about God’s design of men and women as individuals and as a unit, we got to explain how marriage is a picture of the Gospel and that you can have peace in your family by living a lifestyle of repentance before Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family November Update"},{"content":"Friends,\nThis year is so quickly coming to a close. We are now stateside, and currently in Pennsylvania. It has been such a blessing to be here! Romeo has had the chance to teach since being here, which we hadn’t planned but it has been a real blessing, he taught at a graduation, at a rescue mission, and at church on Sunday. He also was invited to pray with a group of the pastors from the city here, and a group of pastors from a neighboring county as well. We were invited to have lunch and play board games after church last week with a couple of other families, and it was so much fun. We’re making a Christmas list of all those board games, as we would love to take some back to Peru! Those are the sort of things that we really love to be able to be a part of as we travel. So we are really thankful that those opportunities came about.\nOur friends here in PA have a bilingual school where they are teaching the kids Spanish. It is really neat to see the school as it is just beginning and to imagine where the school will head eventually. I just wish I could be in more than one place at a time so that I could enjoy all the places we go, all the time. Haha We have only a couple more days left here which is so sad to me. It has gone by way too quickly for me, and I am definitely not ready to say goodbye.\nUnfortunately, we have all caught a cold these past couple days, and so we’re trying to recuperate before hitting the road again. You can be praying for a quick recovery for all of us.\nFor those of you in Colorado, we will be heading your direction soon. But as we have so much family to visit in that area as well, and a very short time there, please let me know if you would have time to get together. We want to see as many of you as possible. But the only way for us to do that is to plan ahead a little to make sure that we organize our time well. (December 13-20)\nWe have gotten responses from California and will make sure to respond to those soon if we haven’t already! We look forward to seeing all of you in January though!\nThank you for the blessing that each of you have been to us, and to our ministry in Peru. We are so thankful for you all.\n-The Bueschers\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-bueschers-family-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFriends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis year is so quickly coming to a close. We are now stateside, and currently in Pennsylvania. It has been such a blessing to be here! Romeo has had the chance to teach since being here, which we hadn’t planned but it has been a real blessing, he taught at a graduation, at a rescue mission, and at church on Sunday. He also was invited to pray with a group of the pastors from the city here, and a group of pastors from a neighboring county as well. We were invited to have lunch and play board games after church last week with a couple of other families, and it was so much fun. We’re making a Christmas list of all those board games, as we would love to take some back to Peru! Those are the sort of things that we really love to be able to be a part of as we travel. So we are really thankful that those opportunities came about.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Bueschers Family Update"},{"content":" Prakash and Muna Pariyar – Nepal Thank you so much for your prayers for us!\nPraise Report-As I had requested to pray for the new place for the CCBC/Pastors training center and school of ministry Praise God that He provided it.\n-Praise God that we could hold the medical camp and children outreach program this month with BWO team at Dumre Western part of Nepal and Leprosy Colony Kathmandu.\nPrayer Request 1. Please pray that God would send more the new students at Bible College.\n2. And also for the Bible college finance many things to be settled and also student-scholarships.\n3. Please pray for the healing that one of our student\u0026rsquo;s father is suffering by cancer.\nThank you for again for your prayers!\nGod Bless, Prakash and Muna - Blog\nRemember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.” – Hebrews 13:3\nThank you for praying! Your prayers are impacting lives and helping “Reach the Nations…One Soul at a Time”.\nSaving Grace World Missions\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/praise-and-prayer-nepal/","summary":"\u003ch3\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Nepal.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Nepal.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"prakash-and-muna-pariyar--nepal\"\u003ePrakash and Muna Pariyar  – Nepal\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Prakash-and-Muna-Pariyar.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Prakash-and-Muna-Pariyar-150x150.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e Thank you so much for your prayers for us!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise Report\u003c/strong\u003e-As I had requested to pray for the new place for  the CCBC/Pastors training center and school of ministry Praise God that He provided it.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e-Praise God that we could hold the medical camp and children outreach program this month \u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/nepal1-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/nepal1-1-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e with BWO team at Dumre Western part of Nepal and Leprosy Colony Kathmandu.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Praise and Prayer - Nepal"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nWe hope that you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving! As we approach the end of the year, this is a wonderful time to reflect back on God’s faithfulness and blessing. In this final update of 2018, I want to give thanks with you and for you as God allowed us to partner together to do some great things here on the mission field of Mexico this year!\n#1- We witnessed over 400 first time professions of faith this past year during our main church services.\n#2-Our daughter Grace graduated from high school and enrolled in college courses at Southwest Community College in San Diego!\n#3- Mike and Sarah were able to travel to Southern Mexico to take advanced Spanish language Courses!\n#4-We were able to plant three new churches in 2018. (In Monterrey and Tecolote Mexico,and Valley Center Ca.)\n#5- Our son Daniel went on two missions trips and committed to serving at the church 6 days/nights per week!\n#6- Our church welcomed over 1000 first time local adult guests to our weekend church services!\n#7- Nearly 200new believers publically exhibited their faith in Jesus Christ through the waters of baptism.\n#8- Sarah continued working part-time teaching Spanish to stateside homeschoolers one day a week up in Southern California! (And continues to teach our last homeschooler at home as well)\n#9- We had three of our church plants plant churches themselves! (Our 3 new granddaughter churches are Escuinapa, Todos Santos, and South Culiacan)\n#10-Our church was able to reach the least of these in our community, local orphanages, and those living in the city dump through mercy and medical ministries!\nWe want to thank you for partnering with our family this past year. 2018 was our most blessed and fruitful year ever, and we look forward to partnering together in 2019and asking God to do even greater things!May God bless you with a Jesus filled Christmas and a very happy New Year!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-december-ministry-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe hope that you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving! As we approach the end of the year, this is a wonderful time to reflect back on God’s faithfulness and blessing. In this final update of 2018, I want to give thanks with you and for you as God allowed us to partner together to do some great things here on the mission field of Mexico this year!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent  Family December Ministry Update!"},{"content":"As a family, we have decided to visit the churches of our students and friends once a month to see how they are doing and to bring them some encouragement from Gods Word. With the permission of each pastor, we have also decided to allow you to join us on that journey so that you will be more informed as you think about and pray for the churches of Uganda. We pray that these short Pastoral Bios would encourage you in your walk with God and that you would grow in your love for Jesus as you see how he is moving in the hearts of so many people! Pastor Otim Jacob and his wife Dorish Pastor Otim Jacob came to Jesus Christ during a Gospel crusade in September 1990. At that time Jesus radically transformed him from an alcoholic, an adulterer and a brawler into a man of peace who loves his family and community. He told me that his neighbors and friends were bewildered by the drastic change in his actions. Jacob is married to Dorish and together they have 4 children, the oldest of which is 17. We are also proud to have Jacob as one of our students in the Terebinth School of Discipleship.\nIn 1993 Pastor Jacob started leading home fellowships and Bible discussions as a church assistant. 10 years later, in 2003 God told him to plant a church in the town of Pabbo which was a center for internally displaced people during Joseph Kony’s reign of terror. Hope and Grace Church now consists of around 150 people who’s vision is to follow the Great Commission of our Master which he gave to us at the end of Matthew 28, that is to make disciples of Jesus. God has moved in awesome ways in the past 15 years of this church\u0026rsquo;s existence, including the births of 4 off shooting churches!\nPray for Hope and Grace Church: Pray – That God would give Jacob wisdom to lead God’s people Pray – That God would send them the funds for a church building Pray – That God would ground them in the truth of His Word as they learn the great depth of Love He has for them Hope and Grace Church\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/pastor-otim-jacob/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs a family, we have decided to visit the churches of our students and friends once a month to see how they are doing and to bring them some encouragement from Gods Word. With the permission of each pastor, we have also decided to allow you to join us on that journey so that you will be more informed as you think about and pray for the churches of Uganda. We pray that these short Pastoral Bios would encourage you in your walk with God and that you would grow in your love for Jesus as you see how he is moving in the hearts of so many people!\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2018/11/IMG_3503-296x300.jpg\"\u003ePastor Otim Jacob and his wife Dorish \u003cstrong\u003ePastor Otim Jacob\u003c/strong\u003e came to Jesus Christ during a Gospel crusade in September 1990. At that time Jesus radically transformed him from an alcoholic, an adulterer and a brawler into a man of peace who loves his family and community. He told me that his neighbors and friends were bewildered by the drastic change in his actions. Jacob is married to Dorish and together they have 4 children, the oldest of which is 17. We are also proud to have Jacob as one of our students in the Terebinth School of Discipleship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Pastor Otim Jacob"},{"content":"The Lord has been so faithful to provide!\nIt is such a blessing to be serving the Lord in Mexico as a family. We have been in Playas de Tijuana for 3 years now, wow how time flies! We have almost finished the first phase of remodeling on the Church building and after adding more seats, more people keep coming to hear the gospel. It is definitely a work of the Holy Spirit. We have tiled, built a sound room, run electrical, drywall, and painted but, we are slowing down for a bit until we have the finances to finish. Things have been going great at church. As we have expanded the sanctuary, the Lord continues to add to the church. We have had many professions of faith and are excited to see people grow in their faith as they come to discipleship studies at the church. We are organizing a women’s discipleship group which should start in November. We have a great group of Godly women who are excited to minister, encourage, and train the younger sisters in the Lord.\nAs a church family, we had a fun night of celebrating Mexican Independence day with God\u0026rsquo;s word, delicious food, music, and fun games. We were also blessed to have some dear friends visit us and we are so grateful for their loving support and friendship.\nWe have been reaching out to a local community, Laureles, every other month and are preparing to do a Thanksgiving outreach. Calvary Chapel Joshua Springs came down this past month and we were blessed to see a family come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Their family has been faithfully attending church and are growing in their faith. Would you pray with us, as we believe God is leading us to start a bible study in Laureles. It is a very poor area, with lots of drugs, suicides, and corruption. We know that Jesus wants to shine the light of His Gospel on this place, we just need His wisdom to lead us!The church body was blessed to hear a special message from Pastor Raul Cervera from Peru, about not getting distracted when God has called you to serve Him. It was a great reminder to stay focused on the calling God has on your life.\nThe kids are doing well. Homeschooling has begun, so the kids are very busy. Mackenzie and Jamie love to help out in the nursery at church. RJ and Mackenzie are both playing soccer with Calvary Chapel Rosarito\u0026rsquo;s Youth Group team. Brian continues to practice his guitar skills. After graduating, Jamie is still praying about what her next step will be. We believe God will give her direction in His time. The other kids are working hard and already looking forward to Christmas vacation. We are so thankful for our children, they serve the Lord, they are growing into adults, and although it is a bit scary as parents, we know the Lord is in control.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/time-flies/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe Lord has been so faithful to provide!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/11/44471434_2331318720216402_1759802445115949056_n-1-300x168.jpg\"\u003eIt is such a blessing to be serving the Lord in Mexico as a family.  We have been in Playas de Tijuana for 3 years now, wow how time flies!  We have almost finished the first phase of remodeling on the Church building and after adding more seats, more people keep coming to hear the gospel. It is definitely a work of the Holy Spirit. We have tiled, built a sound room, run electrical, drywall, and painted but, we are slowing down for a bit until we have the finances to finish. \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/11/IMG_0002-1-225x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/11/38252541_1775900479159540_4483693184097976320_n-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/11/IMG_0003-1-e1542150286593-250x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/11/IMG_0036-300x135.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Time Flies!"},{"content":"“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” —Rev.21:4 HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! Dear Friends and Family,\nThis month has been quite of a whirlwind of activity and emotion. We finally have been able to travel to the United States as a whole family. It has been a long 5 years in the making. It has at times seemed impossible and like it would never actually come to pass but as we all should know “nothing is impossible with God” We are very thankful to all of you who have been praying and helping to make this come to pass. It couldn\u0026rsquo;t have been more according to God’s perfect timing. There is a bitter sweet beginning to our time here. Liana was finally able to meet her grandma, my mom, but not long after she passed away. When we first arrived in Ohio my mom was very alert and talkative with the children. They were able to tell her stories, sing for her and there were lots of cuddles. Very soon after that she became less and less responsive. The second to the last day we saw her she managed small hugs to the kids and the only words she spoke were “Brian, please pray for me”. The day before we left Ohio we went to see her and she was not responsive at all. Right before we were leaving the nurse came in to give her her meds and Luke said to her, “Can you give grandma a pill that will make her talk and play with us like she used to?” I started weeping and even the nurse looked as if she was going to cry. As everyone was saying their goodbyes before leaving I really cried. I knew this was not just good bye because we were leaving Ohio but I knew in my heart this was the final goodbye and we’d never see her alive again. We left early the next morning for Illinois but in less then a week we were making the 6 hour car ride back to Ohio for her funeral.\nHere is the Obituary in case you’d like to read it.\nPhyllis L. \u0026ldquo;Susie\u0026rdquo; Wiencke (nee Bohn), age 80, of Lorain, passed away Tuesday, September 11, 2018 at Autumn Aegis Retirement Community, following a lengthy illness.A life-long resident of Lorain, Susie was born April 15, 1938 in Lorain and graduated from Lorain High School in 1957. Susie and her husband, Gary owned and operated Quik As A Wink Carpet Cleaning for 35 years, retiring in 2008.She was a member of the former First Congregational United Church of Christ in Lorain and a member of Community Congregational United Church of Christ, Amherst. She enjoyed reading, word searches, and playing board games. Susie loved spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Surviving is her husband of 62 years, Gary; daughters, Julie Bober, of Sheffield Village, Jenny Riddle, of Cornell, Illinois, Jan Bailey, of Elyria and Jill Kanyike, of Uganda, Africa; grandchildren, Dean, Aaron, David, Jesse, Rafe, Lillian, Luke, Laylee, and Liana; great-grandchildren, Cole, Logan, and Olivia; She was preceded in death by her parents, Ellsworth and Helen Julia (nee Kish) Bohn.\nWhile we have been having our own time of mourning in the States, things have also been a bit crazy in Uganda. One of the members of Parliament has been speaking out against the president of Uganda which has led to riots and acts of violence on both party\u0026rsquo;s sides. The parliament member is from near our neighborhood so much of what has been happening is near to our home and Arise Christian Fellowship. It is hard to be away when people you know and love are suffering yet at the same time feeling relieved that I am not there with the children right now. Please be praying for Uganda and for Brian’s safety as he has returned and is there without us right now.\nIn the midst of all the suffering that is going on there is one thing that is certain: we serve a God who is worthy to be praised. Not long ago we had the privilege of Worship Leader Jeremy Camp coming to Uganda. He first hosted a worship conference which all of our worship team was able to attend. He also held a free worship concert in conjunction with some local Christian artists, to which thousands attended and at least 100 received salvation. Here is what some of our worship team members had to say about the conference and meeting him:\n“He mainly talked about the reason we worship, the reason being God’s love for us. That is what causes us to worship, when we realize that His love is enough.”\n“He said the Lord wants us to worship Him in every state of emotion we have. We don’t have to wait to have the right words, we can just cry out to him, and half way through, He changes our song of sorrow and turns it into a cry of victory. Even when we are weak and we fall, we still fall into His arms and there is no safer place for us to be.”\n“He talked about the danger in worship, the fact that as you stand before the congregation to lead them in God’s presence, it is easy for people to fix their eyes on you and instead praise you, because of your talent. He talked about the real dangers of falling into pride. He said as we serve the Lord, it is important for us to remember that HE is THE Lord, not us! Whatever the crowds say, at the end of the day, God is our audience of one.”\nThey were blessed by this opportunity and I believe have blessed us through their worship of God.\nThank you for praying for us and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana PRAYER REQUESTS Praise the Lord for allowing our whole family to travel to States. Pray for Jill’s family, especially her father as they mourn the loss of her mom. Pray for provision for the Kanyikes to spend Christmas in Ohio with Jill’s family. Pray for Jill while she continues getting treatment for her thyroid while in the states. Pray for the Kanyikes and their time in the states with family and friends. Pray for Uganda, there has been some unrest and many riots. Pray for safety and stability in the country. Pray for Arise Christian Fellowship to be a light in the darkness as they worship the Lord in Spirit and truth. Pray for all the ministries of Arise Christian Fellowship as well as the other ministries we partner with.. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-november-2018/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"and-god-will-wipe-away-every-tear-from-their-eyesthere-shall-be-no-more-deathnor-sorrow-nor-crying-there-shall-be-no-more-pain-for-the-former-things-have-passed-away-rev214\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”                     —Rev.21:4\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003ch1 id=\"happy-thanksgiving\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eHAPPY THANKSGIVING!!\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month has been quite of a whirlwind of activity and emotion.  We finally have been \u003ca href=\"/kanyike/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2018/11/Tgive1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/kanyike/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2018/11/Tgive1.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e able to travel to the United States as a whole family.  It has been a long 5 years in the making.  It has at times seemed impossible and like it would never actually come to pass but as we all should know “nothing is impossible with God” We are very thankful to all of you who have been praying and helping to make this come to pass.  It couldn\u0026rsquo;t have been more according to God’s perfect timing. \u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Tgive2.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Tgive2.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update--November 2018"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Peter said to Jesus, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, all those who have left houses, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or farms for me and for the Good News will get more than they left. Here in this world they will have a hundred times more homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields. And with those things, they will also suffer for their belief. But in this age they will have life forever.Many who are first now will be last in the future. And many who are last now will be first in the future.” (Mark 30:28-31 NCV)\nSince stepping out of the boat (the USA, a stable career, comfort, and safety) in faith to follow Christ on a journey that would lead me (Darryl) on the path to becoming a long-term faith missionary in Cambodia, most of the time since 2000, this passage has comforted me. I could also give more than 100 examples of this passage coming true in my life and with Kayo since our marriage in 2004 and arrival in Cambodia on September 11, 2007 with one suitcase and one computer case each.\nWe are only where we are today because of God\u0026rsquo;s faithful provision and the sacrificial sharing of resources and comforts which we have received on both sides of the globe. For example, a couple of years ago when I was sick and needed to return to the USA for treatment, a beloved Christian couple hosted my family and I for three months in their two bedroom condo. During those three months, they insisted that we sleep in the king-sized bed in their master bedroom, while they slept on air mattresses in the home-office. They sacrificed their comfort to bless us so cheerfully that when we announced that there was another Christian house we could stay at, we almost got into an argument with them, because they wanted us to stay longer. If I could remember all of the blessings in detail, I could probably write a book by now.\nInternational Fishers really is International Now October 1-November 13 Update:\nIn order to put this update in context, please go back and read our last month\u0026rsquo;s update regarding my mom\u0026rsquo;s graduation to heaven, not being able to attend the funeral on October 1 in the USA, and the video and social media conference, the end of September. /record/2018/10/01/my-moms-journey-to-eternal-life-and-cambodia-missions-update/\nA P@k!$t@n! Pastor who is writing a Christian Apologetics book\nin his language, contacted me on October 3rd. He had already received some of my Christian Apologetics videos on a hard-drive, which he received from a mutual friend in the USA. I sent him PDF English copies of my books, Christianity: Reasons for Faith and Christianity: Discerning Essential Doctrines and Preserving Unity. He invited me to come teach at an Apologetics conference in his country at some point in the future. We are in the prayer stage at this point but haven\u0026rsquo;t made any plans. As a result of this connection, I also have made many new wonderful Christian friends at our international church from P@k!$t@n. They are living and working in Cambodia, in part because of the religious freedom here. God arranged it that, leader of the group, Robin, and his wife would move into the same apartment building where we live. On Saturday evening, Robin, arranged for P@k!st@n! food to be delivered to our apartment for supper, because Kayo had been busy in the worship team at a women\u0026rsquo;s conference and Christmas Choir practice at church all day. P@k!st@n! food is delicious! We had some flat bread called chapati left over, so I used it to make a breakfast burrito with eggs and Mexican salsa the next morning! :-)\nA Newlywed Christian Couple from Ch!n@, \u0026rdquo; Dwayne and Kara\u0026quot; came to Cambodia for their honeymoon. On the last Sunday of their honeymoon, they came to the free English class (even though their English is excellent) at the international church. I help teach this class the Ch!ne$e pastor at our international church. During the 90-minute class before the service, we teach English, the Bible (verse by verse), and I include relevant Apologetics evidence. Most of the people are from Ch!n@, a few are from Cambodia, some are Christian some are not Christians\u0026hellip;yet. Pastor Samuel has evangelized and baptized many people from his home country who first came to the church because of these English classes. Anyway, Dwayne and Kara attend a house church in their home country, which is pastored by Pastor Peter. Kayo and I met Pastor Peter in California in 2017, at the home of the same mutual friend who gave my new Apologetics Pastor friend in P@k!$t@n the hard drive which included my International Fishers Apologetics/Evangelistic Videos. It turned out that Pastor Peter was a longtime friend of Pastor Samuel in Cambodia!\nFor about four years, Pastor Samuel and I have been talking about and trying to produce evangelistic/apologetics materials in the Ch!ne$e language based on some of the materials which I have already produced in English and Cambodian for International Fishers ministry. So far, it has not worked out because Pastor Samuel and his team have been very busy with other ministries. Amazingly, Dwayne and Kara have an \u0026ldquo;underground\u0026rdquo; home studio and have been producing Christian audiobooks and music videos in their language for some time. They were looking for more evangelistic/Bible teaching/apologetics materials to contextualize, adapt, translate, record, and distribute to their people. Darryl sent them with his Reasons for Faith book, the English scripts for all of his Apologetics videos, and the English Scripts for the 26 ten-minute episodes of the apologetics/evangelistic, Anchors of Faith radio program which he wrote for Far East Broadcasting (FEBC) several years ago. They also agreed to give Darryl and Pastor Samuel a copy of any materials that they produce so that we can distribute them both in Cambodia and via other organizations that minister in their country!\nA Motorcycle Taxi Driver Who Accepted Christ in 2001, The Rest of The Story! When Darryl was growing up, his mom would always play the Paul Harvey program on the radio during lunch. Paul Harvey\u0026rsquo;s famous line was, \u0026ldquo;and now you know the rest of the story!\u0026rdquo; Many of you know the story about how when Darryl and his team of English teachers first came to Cambodia in 2000, that they met a motorcycle-taxi driver named Phany. The team evangelized and discipled Phany. Darryl and Phany are like brothers. Phany went on to start an organization (completely on his own, in his bedroom in 2006) called Kone Kmeng, which now provides education, dormitories, evangelism, scholarships, wells, and small-business starting micro-loans to around 30,000-40,000 poor Cambodian children (who are at risk for being exploited as child-laborers or child-prostitutes) and their families. https://www.kone-kmeng.org Lida, Phany\u0026rsquo;s wife, started Precious Women Ministry, which evangelizes and retrains Cambodian women who currently work in bars and nightclubs (and are vulnerable to exploitation and sexual abuse) so that they can have a new life in Christ and a better career. Kayo works two days a week at the Precious Women office plus additional work from home. https://preciouswomen.org And now for the rest of the story! Soon after Phany accepted Christ back in 2001, he took the Gospel to his village in the countryside. Many of his friends and family members got saved. One of his friends, Phanet, accepted Christ and worked at Kone Kmeng Organization for a few years. Now Phanet is married and is the pastor of a good sized church outside of the capital city. Phany\u0026rsquo;s older sister, Sampoa also accepted Christ during that season. When Kayo and I first arrived in Cambodia, Sampoa worked for us as a house-helper (going to the hot open-air market daily, cooking Cambodian food, helping with housework etc.) during our first two years in Cambodia, while Kayo was pregnant with Benjamin and when he was a baby. Sampoa also became a special sister, especially to Kayo. Sampoa\u0026rsquo;s husband hasn\u0026rsquo;t become a Christian (yet) but all four of her children attend church faithfully. The two oldest sons have mad strong professions of faith and been baptized. The oldest son, Sok Heng, only 18 years old, a recent high school graduate, is now leading a 50 person cell group (divided into 4 sub-groups with 4-assistant leaders)! This cell group is in the church where my old friend Phanet is pastoring. Sok Heng came to us because he needs financial support to help him apply for a scholarship to study at a Bible School in Singapore. After Bible School, he wants to continue to minister in local churches and then go to the university and study Political Science. His vision is to be a bi-vocational church leader/pastor and also work in the government or in an embassy. Since, Darryl considers Sok Heng as a Cambodian sister, \u0026ldquo;Uncle\u0026rdquo; Darryl is very proud of his \u0026ldquo;nephew\u0026rdquo; Sok Heng.\u0026quot; Darryl earned a BA in Political Science before coming to Cambodia as a missionary. When Phany was thinking about going into politics, Darryl and Phany had many long talks on the subject. Now Phany is in the process to being appointed to a high ranking postion in the national government while continuing his ministry with Kone Kmeng. Darryl shared a copy Christianity: Reasons for Faith and other videos and materials with Sok Heng to use in his cell group and future ministries.\nDivine Schedule Change Reconnects Darryl with Cambodian Friends Lost\nFor Seven Years, When Darryl\u0026rsquo;s Phone Was Stolen. Darryl usually attends the International (Christian) Men\u0026rsquo;s Breakfast which occurs the first Saturday morning of the month. Before, the breakfast moved from house to house, but recently it is moved into its regular location in the apartment of John, an Indian-American missionary who also lives in our same apartment building. The beginning of November, Matt, the missionary from Canada who usually organizes it, and other main helpers were all out of town. So Darryl, Garland (an American man, with a Cambodian wife, who Darryl met at church, who also lives in our same apartment building ;-) ) went to a local restaurant to meet Brandon, another American man who has recently come to Cambodia to be the country director for a Christian organization. When Darryl and Garland walked into the restaurant, they met Mr. Kim Savun, who is now one of the Vice-Deans at the Royal University of Law and Economics (RULE), where Darryl taught English from 2000-2003 and 2007-2009. Mr. Savun has been Darryl\u0026rsquo;s supervisor and good friend since the day in August, 2000 when Darryl and his team of English teachers arrived at the airport in Cambodia for the first time. Savun and other administrators from the RULE met the team at the door of the airport and escorted them through the special VIP terminal (which the King etc. uses) and then made sure they got settled into Cambodia.\nDarryl, Savun, and other administrators at RULE stayed in contact, even after Darryl stopped working there as an Advanced English Instructor in 2009. One day about or eight years ago Darryl\u0026rsquo;s phone was stolen. Since he did not have their e-mail addresses or other contact information, Darryl lost contact with them. Because they worked at the big university, it would have been hard to find them, and life got in the way. God apparently, wanted Darryl, Savun, and other non-Christian Cambodian friends from RULE to reconnect, so he arranged for them to meet at the restaurant. Savun was there with his brother, a retired aircraft engineer. Instead of having, their planned breakfast for foreign men living in Cambodia, Darryl, Brandon, and Garland had breakfast with Savun and his brother. Darryl happened to have bilingual copy of his Christianity: Reasons for Faith Book which he intended to show to Brandon and Garland. Instead, Darryl could talk about the evidence for the existence of God, Intelligent Design, Creation, the Archaeological Evidence for the Bible, and the Evidence for the Life, Death, and Resurrection, of Jesus Christ. We all had a wonderful discussion in a very natural way. Mr. Savun\u0026rsquo;s brother, as an engineer, was very interested in the Intelligent Design evidence which points to a Creator. Darryl gave Mr. Savun the copy of the book that he had at the restaurant.\nWhen Darryl and Garland returned to the apartment, Darryl gave another copy of the Reasons for Faith book to him, to study with his Cambodian wife. Garland texted Darryl, a couple of days ago, \u0026ldquo;Thank you Darryl for the lovely book filed with insight. My wife and I enjoy checking each other\u0026rsquo;s interpretations of what we are reading. I really appreciate you taking the time to involve me in some relation reading God\u0026rsquo;s Word. I was very fortunate to have met you.\u0026rdquo;\nOn November 12, Darryl was able to return to visit Mr. Savun, other Cambodian friends, and he could even meet some of the English teachers from his old organization and share some materials with them. Darryl shared some copies of Light Times Magazine, the only Christian Magazine in Cambodia with Savun and others at RULE. Light Times Magazine is also an effective evangelism tool because it isn\u0026rsquo;t a tract. Instead it is a bilingual (English/Cambodian) magazine with articles on how to be successful in your career, have a good family, be healthy, and other topics, written from a Cambodian-Christian perspective, but which are interesting for both Christian and non-Christian readers. The magazine is complete with advertisements from major hotels, supermarkets, and banks. In each issue Darryl includes an Apologetics/Evangelistic article such as, \u0026ldquo;Why Does God Allow Suffering?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?\u0026rdquo; and in the most recent issue, \u0026ldquo;Scientific Facts in the Bible.\u0026rdquo; Soksan, the founder prints and distributes 3,000 copies of Light Times quarterly. Many are placed in businesses, banks, hospitals, schools, and supermarkets around the city. They are also distributed to churches in the capital city and nation wide. In the rural churches, usually 20 families share\none copy of the magazine.\nDarryl plans to return to visit more friends at RULE on November 26. Other opportunities to get together with former co-workers without the restrictions of workplace politics will follow. Now, Darryl has the freedom and opportunities to share his life, apologetics materials, and life with them on a whole new level.\nOpportunities For Darryl to Share the Gospel with Non-Christian Cambodian Friends As Result of His Mom\u0026rsquo;s Death. Even though Darryl wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to go to his mom\u0026rsquo;s funeral in Missouri because there wasn\u0026rsquo;t time to purchase a plane ticket and fly there, Darryl still was able to connect with his family. Darryl\u0026rsquo;s brother, Donald, read a message from Darryl and Darryl\u0026rsquo;s sister, Rachel, read a message from Kayo at the funeral. Darryl also made a video tribute about his mom for his immediate family, and Darryl\u0026rsquo;s cousin sent him a few video clips from the funeral. So, Darryl felt connected. Since then, Darryl has been able to have two good, long phone conversations with his Dad, who is doing very well.\nSoksan, the Editor of Light Times Magazine, translated an evangelistic Facebook post for Darryl regarding the death of his mother and how as Christians, death is more like a graduation from a school. We miss them, but we know that they do not want to return from heaven to return to the difficult school called life. Many of Darryl\u0026rsquo;s non-Christian former colleagues and students responded to the post. Sinath, one of the students in Darryl\u0026rsquo;s Advanced English Class at RULE from 2007-2009 (who also tutored Darryl in Khmer, visited us when we lived in Kampong Chhnang, and who now works for a company that insures aircraft) came to visit Darryl soon after his mom\u0026rsquo;s funeral. Darryl was able to share his faith with Sinath on a new level because he could talk about how he missed his mom, but that he had hope to see her again. Darryl also gave Sinath a couple of issues of Light Times Magazine. There have been other wonderful opportunities to share his faith with our landlord, and the Cambodian husband, a professional musician, who is married to one of Kayo\u0026rsquo;s non-Christian Japanese friends as part of Darryl\u0026rsquo;s remembrance process of his mom\u0026rsquo;s life.\nMore Translators, Narrators, and Video Production Partners for International Fishers. More highly skilled translators are volunteering to translate Darryl\u0026rsquo;s Apologetics Video Scripts and Cambodian Language Blog Articles. Mek, Darryl\u0026rsquo;s long time translator, has been very busy with much needed extra work. His wife just had their second baby and so they need more income now. Mek, has been recording all of Darryl\u0026rsquo;s Cambodian language video scripts in his house. However, now with the new baby and a 4 year old, he cannot find 10 minutes of silence necessary to make a good recording without a baby crying or some other noise :-). So he has taken a break for a few months. But, God provided a new partnership with Veasna and Mary, two young Cambodian Christians who have a Cambodian Language Video Ministry Called True Media. They are willing to narrate Darryl\u0026rsquo;s videos and now, Darryl can have video narration instead of only audio. Other projects are in the process. Now the Cambodian language blog articles go out via Facebook and other social media platforms to more than 30,000 Cambodians. The website, www.internationalfishers.com has increased its traffic from a little over 1,000 unique visitors per month to more than 1,600.\nEquipping Other Missionaries With Apologetics Materials. Darryl has also been able to share his Christianity: Reasons for Faith book and other materials with other missionaries to help them integrate apologetics evidence into their regular ministries. For Example:\nBenjamin\u0026rsquo;s teacher, to help the Christian home children in the school to become confident in the truth of Christianity and the Bible so that they will not leave the church when they leave home to go to the university or start their careers. A Japanese missionary couple who lead a children\u0026rsquo;s ministry in a Cambodian Baptist Church. The Director of a multi-national university student ministry. A counselor at Christian counseling center. Others Kayo\u0026rsquo;s Ministry to Japanese Living In Cambodia. Kayo\u0026rsquo;s Japanese Life Group ministry is increasingly active, even though it is only a monthly meeting. One Japanese Christian family, who are not missionaries recently went through a major crises. The husband, a manager at a factory in Cambodia had serious health and burn-out related problems and had to resign his job and return to Japan for treatment. The wife and two young children could not close down their apartment, sell their belongings, wrap up the older boy\u0026rsquo;s education, and find a place to live, job, and new life back in Japan that fast. So, the wife and the two children have had to stay in Cambodia for a month or so before returning to Japan. The company stopped subsidizing the family\u0026rsquo;s expensive apartment, so we helped the wife, kindergarten aged son, and two year old daughter to rent and move into a low priced studio apartment in our building. The situation is quite complicated so Kayo has been helping to arranging counseling and therapy for the family both in Cambodia and Japan. Darryl has been giving the boy a ride to and from school along with Benjamin.\nDarryl\u0026rsquo;s Health Problems and Amazing Recovery. By now, most of the readers, including the writer (Darryl) are thinking. You guys really need a vacation! The ironic thing was that in the midst of all of this drama, we actually took about a week of a \u0026ldquo;staycation\u0026rdquo; (no work, relax, swim or bicycle with Benjamin) the week of October 7th. We really needed the rest in order to prepare us for what was to come. Kayo had several days on and off of exhaustion and various minor illnesses. On October 13, Benjamin had to go to the hospital to be treated for a severe eye irritation.\nThen the big one hit. On October 25, Darryl started having stomach problems\nand back pain. He took a sick day and thought he would get better. The next day he got worse from both conditions. By Friday afternoon, he could barely drive the car without nearly screaming from the back pain every time the car went over the numerous bumps to and from Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s school. He could only sleep 3-4 hours per night, rolling over or getting out of bed was agony and he could barely walk. Combined with the severe intestinal problems, he was miserable. Of course Kayo got exhausted too because Darryl disturbed her sleep when he had to get up in the middle of the night and try to get a little more sleep propped up on the hobbit sized sofa. Even though Darryl wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to help the Japanese family move to our apartment building, Kayo and two strong church men from Fiji stepped in and helped out. Darryl still was able to watch the kids during the Japanese Life Group and even though he couldn\u0026rsquo;t teach English at the English class at church, he could still attend.\nBecause Darryl had such a terrible night, on Monday morning, Darryl decided to drive himself to a nearby hospital to get checked out. Benjamin had a holiday from school so Kayo had to stay home with him. The car battery was dead. So, Darryl took a tuk tuk taxi to the hospital and arranged for our long time friend and Christian mechanic to come to the apartment and replace the car\u0026rsquo;s battery. At the hospital, Darryl had complete lab work done, an abdominal ultrasound, and a back X-ray done. One doctor couldn\u0026rsquo;t find any specific cause of the intestinal problem and wanted to do more tests but gave Darryl some medicine for the symptoms in the meantime. The orthopedic doctor diagnosed Darryl with scoliosis (curved spine), prescribed some heavy duty pain medicine and a back brace. When Darryl asked if there were any additional treatment options, the doctor said, \u0026ldquo;No.\u0026rdquo; Darryl returned home by tuk tuk around 3:30 pm, and despite the brace and the medicine his pain was only decreased by 10-20%. The good thing is that a fellow missionary saw, Darryl\u0026rsquo;s prayer request on Facebook and recommended a Physiotherapist. Darryl contacted them and was able to get an appointment for the very next day.\nDuring supper, Benjamin suddenly felt nauseous and suddenly got, \u0026ldquo;sick\u0026rdquo; right in front of the bathroom door! Benjamin couldn\u0026rsquo;t clean it up. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t bend down to clean it up, because of the back pain and Kayo was too exhausted from caring for Benjamin, myself, and running the house and an intense ministry weekend that she couldn\u0026rsquo;t move quickly. Just as she started to clean up the mess, the water pump in our apartment broke and we were without water for 18 hours. Kayo could only clean a little bit with wet wipes. Needless to say it was a miserable night.\nEarly the next morning, Darryl went across town in the car, leaving a sick Benjamin, an exhausted Kayo, and a smelly apartment behind. It worked out the Physiotherapist clinic was located close to the Christian mechanic shop so Darryl took the car for repairs and them made his way over to the Physiotherapy clinic. By God\u0026rsquo;s grace, the Physiotherapy worked! After the first session about, 80% of the pain was gone! After a few more sessions, nearly all the rest of the pain is gone. The intestinal problems also went away. Exactly two weeks after the pain first started, Darryl was back to regular activities and was able to ride his bicycle again. He continues to do stretching and strengthening exercises and will return for a follow up appointment on November 26.\nBanking and Financial Challenges and Praise Report. In our last month\u0026rsquo;supdate, we said that we were in a financial emergency situation. We thank God that situations changed and new sources of funds came in and we are no longer in an immediate financial crisis. However, we really need your prayers regarding our financial situation, because this is an area of great vulnerability, especially during a time of intense ministry.\nDarryl\u0026rsquo;s Medical bills look like they will cost around $1,000. Our health insurance has a $750 deductible and we are not sure how much/any of the physiotherapy treatment will be covered.\nOn October 16th, Kayo and I celebrated our 14th wedding anniversary with a nice lunch. Afterwards, when I tried to withdraw money from the ATM machine, the ATM machine malfunctioned and refused to release the ATM card. This card was the only card we have for one of our two accounts (ministry and personal) that we have in Japan.) When I called the bank, they would not send anyone to help so we could not get the card back for two weeks. As a result, Kayo had to report the card missing and so the bank in Japan deactivated it. We probably cannot get a replacement card for this account until January when a pastor from Japan is scheduled to visit\nCambodia. This adds a little more stress and complication to our lives.\nThe ATM machines used to give us $800 at a time with out any additional charge. Now they charge $5 and only allow us to withdraw $400 at a time.\nIn January the Cambodian government will begin charging a 10% tax on top of our $400 monthly rent. We cannot really downsize too much more to save money because we currently live in a one-bedroom apartment and Benjamin sleeps in the living room. Eventually, we probably need a two bedroom apartment, so this is a concern.\nDue to the changes in the laws related to our visas and work permits we will need to pay nearly $900 for visas between December 2018 and June 2019. We will also be required to pay another $600 for work permits for Kayo and myself.\nWe are concerned about the funding for Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s tuition which is more than $500 per month.\nWe are also need to start saving up some funds for Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s return to the US to start college or a career in a few years. We also need to start saving for retirement again. We haven\u0026rsquo;t been able to save anything for several years. But we praise God that we have remained completely debt free.\nI do not share these things to pressure you to feel like you are required to meet these needs or solve these problems. That is God\u0026rsquo;s responsibility. Our responsibility is to pray, trust, and obey. I just needed to write these needs down so that they can stop taking up space on the tired hard-drive of my mind and so that when God meets them, that we can join together and praise Him. He has always been faithful, even with bigger challenges than these.\nThanks for your faithful prayers, encouragement, and partnership. May God continue to bless you! There is more that I could share, but I am getting tired of typing! Thanks for reading this long update!\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Loving Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-season-of-breakthroughs-with-tribulation-intense-blessings-and-pain/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u0026ldquo;Peter said to Jesus, “Look, we have left everything and followed you.”  Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, all those who have left houses, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or farms for me and for the Good News will get more than they left. Here in this world they will have a hundred times more homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields. And with those things, they will also suffer for their belief. But in this age they will have life forever.Many who are first now will be last in the future. And many who are last now will be first in the future.” (Mark 30:28-31 NCV)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Season of Breakthroughs... with Tribulation, Intense Blessings...and Pain."},{"content":"It’s incredible how often I sit down to write an update and find myself saying the same words… Graduation is upon us, and once again I am both so proud of the students who are graduating, yet sad for us, as we have to say goodbye to the many students we have grown to love. We’re pretty excited that some of the students will be coming back as interns, what a blessing to see them put to work what God has taught them, and step into leadership. Please be praying for them, that God would continue the work that He is doing in each of them.\nThis semester our kids have been in school, and they have grown to really enjoy it. Their last day, they insisted on buying something for each of their classmates to express how much they loved them and that they would miss them until the next school year. I must admit, we weren’t enthusiastic at first at the thought of buying enough gifts for the different classes. But we saw how important it was to our kids, and were blessed that they have really begun to embrace the Peruvian culture and generosity.\nNow that Jessica has been feeling better, we have had many chances to have all the students and interns to our house these past several months. The students are typically busy studying and so it has been a blessing to have some fun nights of fellowship thrown into the mix as well. Just the other night, our fridge stopped working, and so we had a Mario Kart and “Eat all the Buescher’s food before it goes bad” party. ?\nRomeo has tried to make it to the skate park here in Cajamarca once a week with the kids (though it doesn’t always happen) and through that, he has been able to form friendships with some rollerbladers in Cajamarca. A couple of them Miguel, and Edward have been coming to English Conversation Club on Tuesdays at the church, and a couple weeks ago Miguel committed his life to Jesus! Please lift him up in prayer that he would stay committed to going to church while we are in the States. Please also pray for Edward, and Omar that they would come to know the Lord.\nWe wanted to share with you all that we are officially going to be stateside for the holidays. Our desire is to meet with as many of you as possible during our time there. Please check out our schedule and see when we will be in your area. If you would have time to get together for a coffee, or to share a meal, we would be so blessed! Please email us as soon as possible so that we can make sure to plan time into our schedule for a visit with you. Our time in each location will, unfortunately, be quite limited, and we already have some commitments in the various areas. So please, the sooner that you are able to set a time, the better, as our priority for this trip is to share with all of you what the Lord is doing in Peru! If you would be willing to invite others over to your house or church and allow us to share with everyone at the same time, that would be wonderful as well. Some of the following dates are subject to change. We are waiting for confirmation from those we may be staying the night within some areas.\nNovember 21-30: Pennsylvania\nDecember 1-5: Pennsylvania 6: Kentucky 7-12: Kansas 13-20: Colorado 21-24: Missouri 25: Kansas 26-31: Colorado\nJanuary 2: Idaho 3-5: Washington 6-7: Oregon 8-11: Northern California 12-15: Southern California 16: Arizona 17: Kansas 18-19: Missouri 20: Kentucky 21-23: Pennsylvania\nLooking forward to seeing many of you soon!\n-The Bueschers\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/stateside-for-the-holidays/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt’s incredible how often I sit down to write an update and find myself saying the same words… Graduation is upon us, and once again I am both so proud of the students who are graduating, yet sad for us, as we have to say goodbye to the many students we have grown to love.  We’re pretty excited that some of the students will be coming back as interns, what a blessing to see them put to work what God has taught them, and step into leadership. Please be praying for them, that God would continue the work that He is doing in each of them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Stateside for the Holidays!"},{"content":"Third Floor Expansion!\nWe are so excited to show you some photos of the expansion to our third floor! The foundation has been laid for the new commercial kitchen/dining hall and the firepit has been moved to its new location on the open, upper patio. Next week all the supports will be taken down on the second floor.\nWhat’s Next?\nThere are two things on the list of what comes next – railings and block walls. Two of the walls for the new building will be made of block. Once those are in place, the metal studs that have already been donated can be put up to finish the walls for the building. As soon as possible, we would like to get railings put up on the third floor for safety. The fire pit is ready for use, however, some teams, especially those with children, will not be able to use it until railings are installed.\nHow Can You Help?\nWe would like to respond to those of you who have asked how you can get involved. The Lord has His timetable as to when the third floor will be complete and ready for use. We did not start this project with the funds already in hand, it was started in faith. Of course, we are anxious, because once this project is complete, we will move on to adding more beds. More beds mean more teams and the ability to host bigger teams. Ultimately, more teams mean more people coming to share the gospel with the people of Rosarito/Tijuana! We wanted to begin working with and using what the Lord has already provided. So it is going to take some teams and some financial partners to get the job done. After seeing how the Lord provided for the purchase of Connections House, we are even more confident that we serve a big God that can do anything! Here is a little breakdown of the needs for the third floor:\nRailings – $2,400 Block Walls – $4,000 Occupancy: Materials for drywall, electric, roof, etc. – $40,000 Cabinets \u0026amp; Kitchen Prep Tables – $1,800 Kitchen Equipment – $4,600 Dining Furniture – $3,000 Tile – $6,000 Total – $61,800\n“Occupancy” will allow us to move our current residential kitchen appliances, dining room tables, chairs, etc. to the third floor for use.\nThank You!\nThank you so much to all of you who have and continue to pray for us and who have partnered with us financially. We know that we would not be here without you. This ministry would not be possible without you. This is your spiritual fruit and we are so happy you have joined us! Thank you also to those who have prayed for and partnered with Connections House and the work God is doing here! We look forward to seeing what He has in store for the future! We wanted to leave you with some awesome photos that show just some of the progress that has been made to Connections House dorms over the 2 1/2 years we have been here:\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/third-floor-expansion/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThird Floor Expansion!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are so excited to show you some photos of the expansion to our third floor! The foundation has been laid for the new commercial kitchen/dining hall and the firepit has been moved to its new location on the open, upper patio. Next week all the supports will be taken down on the second floor.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/11/IMG_9663-Labeled-Low.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/11/IMG_9663-Labeled-Low-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/11/IMAG8188-Low.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/11/IMAG8188-Low-300x209.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/11/IMAG8179-Low.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/11/IMAG8179-Low-209x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/11/IMG_0137-Low.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/11/IMG_0137-Low-200x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/11/IMAG8172-Low.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/11/IMAG8172-Low-300x169.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/11/IMAG8185-Low.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/11/IMAG8185-Low-300x209.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat’s Next?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThere are two things on the list of what comes next – railings and block walls. Two of the walls for the new building will be made of block. Once those are in place, the metal studs that have already been donated can be put up to finish the walls for the building. As soon as possible, we would like to get railings put up on the third floor for safety. The fire pit is ready for use, however, some teams, especially those with children, will not be able to use it until railings are installed.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Third Floor Expansion!"},{"content":" I am thankful for your prayers and support as I serve and lead the fellowship at Calvary Chapel Dumre, Nepal. I am going to be sending updates to keep you informed and ask that you continue to join me in praying for God\u0026rsquo;s work in my area.\nLast month, I was part of the leadership committee. The 13 of us planned and hosted a youth conference for students from all over our region of Nepal. There were 60 churches represented at the conference. 500+ youth in our district, most of whom are believers in Jesus, attended! The youth conference was held in Bhansar on a soccer field. We had so many youth register that we had to rent a tent to hold everyone for the three days.\nThe theme of the conference was \u0026ldquo;Rooted In Christ\u0026rdquo; from Colossians 2. It was an honor to be asked to teach. It was my first time to share the Word at a youth conference of this size. As I prayed, the Lord laid it on my heart to share from Acts 16, about the life of Timothy. At a young age, Timothy decided to serve the Lord. I challenged the youth to do the same and ask the question\u0026hellip;.\u0026ldquo;What are you doing with your life?\u0026rdquo;\nWe had a worship band and much teaching and all were encouraged. I am looking forward to continuing to serve on the Leadership Youth Committee. We are planning host this conference every year. I believe that this generation can make a huge impact for Christ. They just need to be taught and discipled in the Word so that they can defend their faith and share it with other young people.\nPlease pray for our fellowship of believers. Please pray that they would grow strong in the Word and that we would have many opportunities to share the Gospel with others.\nAlso, we will be hosting a medical outreach at the end of November in our church. Pray that as those who are sick come, that we would be able to minister to them spiritually while we are ministering to them physically.\nThank you,\nMilan Pariyar\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/500-youth-gather-in-nepal/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Youth-Conference-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eI am thankful for your prayers and support as I serve and lead the fellowship at Calvary Chapel Dumre, Nepal. I am going to be sending updates to keep you informed and ask that you continue to join me in praying for God\u0026rsquo;s work in my area.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month, I was part of the leadership committee. The 13 of us planned and hosted a youth conference for students from all over our region of Nepal. There were 60 churches represented at the conference. 500+ youth in our district, most of whom are believers in Jesus, attended! The youth conference was held in Bhansar on a soccer field. We had so many youth register that we had to rent a tent to hold everyone for the three days.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"500+ Youth Gather in Nepal"},{"content":"\nLast month we took our vision trip to Oaxaca City! We had a team of 12 people on the trip, and it was such a huge blessing. We spent time each morning in the Word and sharing what the Lord had been showing each of us. It was an honor to have Pastor Mike and Mario from CC Rosarito, Tim and Nikki from SGWM, Armando, and a team from CC Santa Barbara there to share in this time together. We are so blessed to have made new, lifelong friendships with the CCSB team, and grow closer to everyone.\nOne of the days together, Pastor Mike suggested a time of spending time alone to hear from God and then coming back together to share what they had felt the Lord telling them. This was a time of sweet encouragement and fellowship and it meant a lot to us to have this team pouring into us.\nGod was moving the entire time on this trip. We had an information meeting while there, and five people from the community came! Jon was invited to teach at Capilla Calvario Oaxaca with Armando translating, and then we were welcomed into Pastor Antonio and his wife Carmelita’s home for lunch and fellowship.\nWe also met Meg and Obed who are going to be a part of our team when we get settled down there. One of our prayer requests has been for a worship leader, and Obed is an answer to those prayers. And Meg is fluent in Spanish so she can help Allison with translating and working on her Spanish.\nWe are looking forward to getting to know them better and serving with them.\nOn our last couple of days there, we got to reconnect with some friends from our time in Cacalote who now live in or near the city, Toby and The Blycker family. It was so nice to see these familiar places. No one quite understands our time in Cacalote like people who’ve been there. Super excited to know that we’ll be “neighbors” in a couple of months.\nSince our trip, we have seen many doors opening for us in Oaxaca, and we’re excited to see how things come together once we are living there. Jon will be flying down at the end of November for a few days to look for a house for us. We are planning on moving to Oaxaca City in mid-January! Our time in Rosarito is quickly coming to an end and it’s definitely bittersweet. We have made many dear friends here and love serving at CC Rosarito.\nPRAYER REQUESTS\nPlease pray that Jon will be able to find a house for us on his trip at the end of the month, and for safe travels. For us to make this next transition smoothly. It’s been 2 years with lots of moving, so protection of our hearts (especially the boys) Our Spanish to improve more and more Please pray for our team to have unity and to always point each other to the Lord Thank you for your continued love, prayers, support, and encouragement. It is an honor to have you all in our lives and be a part of this calling on our lives. We love you all so much!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vision-trip-to-oaxaca-city/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/brechtel/wp-content/uploads/sites/60/2018/11/IMG_6459.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast month we took our vision trip to Oaxaca City!  We had a team of 12 people on the trip, and it was such a huge blessing.  We spent time each morning in the Word and sharing what the Lord had been showing each of us.  It was an honor to have Pastor Mike and Mario from CC Rosarito, Tim and Nikki from SGWM, Armando, and a team from CC Santa Barbara there to share in this time together.  We are so blessed to have made new, lifelong friendships with the CCSB team, and grow closer to everyone.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vision Trip to Oaxaca City"},{"content":"Dear Family and friends,\nI would like to thank everyone on behalf of my family for all your love and support. It has been a wild and crazy past few years here in Peru! God is doing something very special here. I know that I haven’t written in the past few months but I would like to highlight some of the exciting things that have been going on. I am sorry it has been a very busy time for us. I haven’t had the opportunity to put a letter together.\nAll the ministries that we have been doing are the same but God has been blessing each one with more people. This is just the highlights of what has been going on for the past few months besides the regular ministries.\nAugust: it was such a thrill to have my parents and younger siblings Rebekah and Noah here with us. It was great to be able to show them what usually happens on a weekly basis among our family here on the mission field.\nWe had a mission team here from Purpose Church Pomona serving with us for two weeks! They helped us in doing a VBS and we had around 60 kids learning about Jesus. The group also ran a sports camp with around 50 kids and an English camp for all ages with around 60 people. It was a big blessing having Pastor Sham, Ana \u0026amp; Jim Powell, Ernie \u0026amp; Lori Perez, and Paula Lantz with us. On the last night, we had a celebration with all the children and their families.\nSeptember: We had Dr. Ryan and his wife Carrie come and join us for the weekend. Dr. Ryan is the head doctor at the Osborne Head and Neck Institution in Los Angeles. They came to search out Cajamarca, as they will be doing their next medical mission here. It will be great to have Dr. Ryan with us in March of 2019, as they will be operating on over 100 patients. He will bring a team with 30 members for a 10 day trip. We ask for prayers as for the best way to reach out to the families and also the doctors that will be coming down and doing the medical work.\nOctober: what an exciting month for our Church. We went on our very first mission trip to a small city on the coast of Peru called Pacasmayo. It was great to see the Church come together in unity and help a church establish there. The women from both of the churches also had a nice tea party and Natalia was invited to teach to the ladies. This was a great opportunity for our church to step up and lead. We had 95% of our church members participating in this mission trip! It was 42 of us from Refugio Community Church. Here is some of what the team got to experience: cleaning the church before the inauguration, the tea party, baptisms at the ocean (2 people from each church got baptized) outreach at the boardwalk with our children’s ministry, two different dramas and a worship concert. Everyone had the opportunity to serve the Lord.\nWomen’s Retreat: The Ladies of our church had a wonderful weekend together as they celebrated in their annual ladies retreat. There were 26 women who showed up and enjoyed the nice weekend to encourage and to exhort one another. I want to brag on my wife for a second. I am so amazed by how gifted my wife is in the area of teaching. I heard great things about her teaching as she covered the whole book of Ephesians with the ladies. The theme of the retreat was butterflies. How we are new creatures in Christ, like the butterfly is new and a beautiful creation that comes from the gross, ugly caterpillar.\nNovember: I know we just started this month but I wanted to share about our next big event. With Thanksgiving coming up and it being my favorite of all the holidays, I wanted to make sure we celebrated here in Peru. We will be having our first Thanksgiving meal together as a church. We already have people wanting to donate ingredients towards this special meal. What a blessing to see everyone working together.\nWe are very excited to announce that we will be coming home in December until the middle of January 2019. We look forward to seeing many of you! Keep an eye out in the church bulletin for a get-together with the Gundersons. At this luncheon, we will give you a larger debrief of all that has been going on this past year.\nBlessings and Love to all,\nJohn, Natalia, Alejandro and Emily\nPrayer requests: 1. Health (physically and spiritually). Always one of the prayer requests. I can’t tell you how important prayer is for this. 2. Finish the year strong! 3. The upcoming year and all that will be going on. (Provision, prayer support, future of the Refugio church, the upcoming medical mission, the high-school team coming down for a short-term mission trip 4. Spiritual protection and wisdom to guide the church.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/exciting-things-in-peru/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Family and friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gunderson/wp-content/uploads/sites/49/2018/11/408F5BFD-DFF3-4C03-9FC4-C4E9C89DF920-150x150.jpeg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI would like to thank everyone on behalf of my family for all your love and support. It has been a wild and crazy past few years here in Peru! God is doing something very special here. I know that I haven’t written in the past few months but I would like to highlight some of the exciting things that have been going on. I am sorry it has been a very busy time for us. I haven’t had the opportunity to put a letter together.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Exciting Things in Peru!"},{"content":"October is a month usually associated with darkness, a month where much wickedness is celebrated. I suppose this October wasn\u0026rsquo;t different for many, but for me, it was a month of celebrating much light and the grace of God in my life. You see, in October nineteen years ago I got radically born again, I\u0026rsquo;m sure it was a coincidence but that was also the last time I did drugs, alcohol or went to jail. I rejoice in the fact that the Lord rescued me from the Orange County jail cell where I was a physical and psychological mess and chose to set this sucked up ex-con on a path for His glory. October is not only a month that I celebrate salvation, sobriety and being returned to my right mind but it\u0026rsquo;s also a month that Jenn and I celebrate one year of our relationship. So October is full of celebrations and milestone memories for me. It also kicks off three of my most favorite months where it seems like opportunities to engage people in conversations about the Lord are more abundant. I\u0026rsquo;m looking forward to and taking advantage of these opportunities every chance I get.\nOn the ministry front, October has been a glorious month where, thanks to the support staff here at SGWM and the incredible team that I serve with, I\u0026rsquo;ve been able to connect with several missionaries. Reaching out and connecting with missionaries is really the heartbeat of the calling God placed upon my life. It\u0026rsquo;s also been a month full of connecting with old friends and making new ones. It\u0026rsquo;s been a month where the Lord has really reminded me that people matter, relationships matter, and we are better off together. I did have the absolutely incredible opportunity to join one of our missionary families in their church planting vision tour in Oaxaca, Mexico. Thank you for everybody who prayed for me on this trip and for those who financially supported me. Both of these acts of love are vitally important and provided me the ability to do this. I\u0026rsquo;m grateful for all of you and it was an incredible trip. God has a great work in store for Calvary Chapel Oaxaca, please keep them in your prayers.\nLastly, in a few sentences, I will try to explain what a joy we had during our front yard Halloween outreach parties. On a dark and wicked night where evil is glorified and most people who love the Lord turn out the lights and lock the front doors, I\u0026rsquo;m grateful to be involved in a church who steps up to the frontline and punches holes in the darkness with the light of the world and the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. We had a front yard party in the name of Jesus where we supplied tons of candy, hot dogs, popcorn, cotton candy, water, and coffee to anyone who came by absolutely free. Oh yes, and of course a bounce house. But the best thing about this night, on a night where everyone is looking for something, we were able to share with them the gospel and the love of Christ.\nThank you all so much for your faithful prayer support and financial partnership, both of these make it possible for me to fulfill the call that God has upon my life to encourage and strengthen missionaries, to preach the Gospel, and to love those who He loves. There are two ways you could partner with me in this ministry:\nFirst, through prayer and signing up for my monthly email updates on my blog: sgwm.com/pappas Secondly, by becoming a financial partner with me in the Gospel: By clicking on the \u0026ldquo;become a financial partner\u0026rdquo; button found here or on my blog You can also send a check to Saving Grace World Missions 17451 Bastanchury Rd. Ste. 203 Yorba Linda, CA. Pappas support in the memo. All for His Glory,\nTim Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/not-so-dark/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOctober is a month usually associated with darkness, a month where much wickedness is celebrated. I suppose this October wasn\u0026rsquo;t different for many, but for me, it was a month of celebrating much light and the grace of God in my life. You see, in October nineteen years ago I got radically born again, I\u0026rsquo;m sure it was a coincidence but that was also the last time I did drugs, alcohol or went to jail. I rejoice in the fact that the Lord rescued me from the Orange County jail cell where I was a physical and psychological mess and chose to set this sucked up ex-con on a path for His glory. October is not only a month that I celebrate salvation, sobriety and being returned to my right mind but it\u0026rsquo;s also a month that Jenn and I celebrate one year of our relationship. So October is full of celebrations and milestone memories for me. It also kicks off three of my most favorite months where it seems like opportunities to engage people in conversations about the Lord are more abundant. I\u0026rsquo;m looking forward to and taking advantage of these opportunities every chance I get.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Not So Dark"},{"content":"“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are.” 1 John 3:1a\nOver and over, day after day, conversation after conversation, again and again and again we are reminded that every part of our ministry, and moreover, our personal lives, should point to Jesus. The entire Bible, front to back, points to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every story has a picture, every law is a shadow, every prophecy a foretelling of what Jesus would do. And what has He done? To the praise of the glory of His grace, He has made us His children.\nBeing the children of God, acting as ambassadors, being “Jesus with skin on” as we have heard it said, is both an exciting and humbling position. There are many stirring events that have taken place over the last month, from personal discipleship opportunities to opportunities to practice Holy Spirit patience; instances always compelling us to put out our hands and say “Father, help me point to Jesus.” The pastoral classes have continued, the first group studying through Romans, and the second making their way through Leviticus. Watching the two groups progress in their understanding of the Scriptures is a unique experience. On the one hand you run into a lot of controversy and ungrounded beliefs, which can at times be discouraging. But on the other hand, to see them taking to heart and act on things which they had not understood, done, or sometimes did not believe previously is immensely rewarding.\nOne thing which has been particularly exciting for us is the opportunity for Matt to personally disciple a young man by the name of Daniel. After many weeks of trying to get men to come to our Tuesday Night Bible Study, and only young boys coming who just could not understand; we decided to end the study and teach only Daniel until older men are more willing to come, or until the boys are a little older. Those boys need the gospel too, but it seems best to us that we train up the ones who are eager and able to understand in order to reach those less able, and even somewhat unwilling. Along with replacing the Tuesday night group study, Daniel has been commissioned by his father, our pastor, to travel with us to the different churches and act as our guide and translator. Most often Matt will end up preaching, and Daniel will be translating, thus receiving even more than a once or twice a week study. It is a special and exciting open door that we do not cease to thank God for. Please pray for Daniel as he meets with Matt, that God would reveal Himself through His word, and that Daniel would hear and take to heart all that the Father says.\nOne situation, which I’m sure will be ongoing, is with the community children. Beautiful. Lively. Fun-loving. Creative. Love-starved. Undisciplined. Bored. These children are in serious need of fatherly love and discipline. Whether they have a father in the home, he’s a drunkard, or he’s passed away, these children do not have a particularly positive influence from their fathers, and it shows dreadfully. While each child has his or her own endearing attribute, each one also has the tendency to outweigh that attribute with one much less agreeable, and often times destructive or downright rebellious. This is indeed a humbling experience, and something I would sincerely ask you to pray for. These children need fathers, and their fathers need the true Father. Pray for us as well, that we would be patient in Christ, showing love and teaching in an understandable manner. Even though we have ended Tuesday night Bible study with the boys, we have not given up on general friendship and involvement. Pray with us that we would point always to Jesus.\nAs for the family, we are doing well. Emma and Maddie have started preschool at home, and Noah, now 6 months old, continues to progress physically. We have much to be thankful for in every area of our lives, and our home life especially. However, please pray for that also as the family is a favorite battleground of the enemy, ours included.\nThank you for your ongoing prayers, they are so needed, and also for the support, either financial or relational. We are so grateful for all that you do to keep us out here on this portion of the mission field! We love you and remember you in our prayers.\nIn Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Maddie, and Noah\n“let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” Hebrews 10:22\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/october-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are.” 1 John 3:1a\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver and over, day after day, conversation after conversation, again and again and again we are reminded that every part of our ministry, and moreover, our personal lives, should point to Jesus. The entire Bible, front to back, points to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Every story has a picture, every law is a shadow, every prophecy a foretelling of what Jesus would do. And what has He done? To the praise of the glory of His grace, He has made us His children.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"October 2018"},{"content":"Hard to Go\n“The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Romans 8:26\nI can honestly say I did not feel ready to come stateside with the boys. God is moving so much and I didn’t want to miss a second of it. Being able to help all the Calvary’s unite through the children’s ministry was an amazing blessing! One of my missionary friends was sharing that she hopes it doesn’t all fall apart while I’m gone. That brought me to my knees. As I prayed, God reminded me once again, that He doesn’t need us and His work continues even when we are away. The Holy Spirit does the work and we are just blessed to be part of it. While stateside I get to continue listening to the trainings on the Calvary Curriculum website each week and translate them into Ugandan English. I email the training to the Children\u0026rsquo;s Ministry leaders and they go over it at their weekly meeting. I look forward to seeing all the Holy Spirit will do through the precious new servants and children of God!\nIt is also especially hard for us to be away from Vincent and all our Ugandan children/siblings and friends that live with us. Our Ugandan God-made family! This is when we also see the Holy Spirit work through what is hard for us to pray and put into human words. Comfort, strength, teaching, interceding, our God has everything we need for every season of our life! We appreciate your prayers for us especially in this time!\nHis Saving Grace\n“God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8\nVincent shared with me that the mother of the Muslim man trying to kick all of us off our land has gotten saved! She has been meeting privately with Vincent for some time getting prayers for health issues. He has been able to help her and pray for her. She shared with Vincent about a blanket she burned because it was itching her and people told her it was from under water (meaning witchcraft). Vincent was able to share with her that most likely it is possible she just might be allergic to the fabric. This is the only one of the stories I can share that God used to start softening her heart. All I can share more is that God turns lies into truth and hate into love! This last Sunday, as she was at our compound, she accepted Christ! She is looking forward to going to church and learning more about God. Please be praying for her! Her family members are more on the extreme side compared to other local Muslims. Please also pray for her health! God is so good! Sorry for no photo of her at this time.\nPraise Reports\nFinished the first of my series of doctor’s appointments. Excited to share that it is my bladder that has fallen and not my uterus! We are still waiting for insurance to approve the blood work to check for markers for ovarian cancer. If this bloodwork comes back ok I will not need surgery! We may even be able to have one last baby! I have remaining appointments with the allergist to see if there is any way to help my severe and growing allergies causing my throat to swell often and results from the dermatologist. Zachary started school and his therapies. He will have his IEP around January. All of this will determine when we can head back home to Uganda. We traveled safely! Our car protected us and Vincent made it back to Midigo and started teaching right away. Our trip to Ireland was successful and amazing! Blessed to spend time with the Clancy’s who were some of the first missionaries to encourage me and have continued praying for us all these years. There are some medical students praying to come and visit us in Midigo and a bookstore that said they can donate as many books as the students can carry for the community library! Praying God continues to lead the way! The boys did amazing on all the flights and travels. They adjusted to American time and culture almost instantly, although Ian\u0026rsquo;s accent stands strong. Prayer Requests\nPlease pray as we finalize the last type of land tile this coming month. We are hoping to start leveling the land and building soon. Please continue to pray for the Football/Soccer team. Pray for the team from Calvary Chapel West Grove going to Midigo this coming month. Please continue to pray for Chandiru. The young Muslim girl we have been helping with the mass in her cheek. It is cancer but we are taking her for treatment regularly. Please pray God will continue to provide for her treatment and that God can use this hard time to save her and her family. Please also pray God opens doors to share while we are here and give Vincent strength through the crazy schedule and all the needs in Midigo. Please continue to pray for us while we are apart. We are all missing each other terribly already! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/hard-to-go/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2018/10/IMG_9161-300x300.jpg\"\u003eHard to Go\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e“The Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.  For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”  Romans 8:26\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI can honestly say I did not feel ready to come stateside with the boys. God is moving so much and I didn’t want to miss a second of it. Being able to help all the Calvary’s unite through the children’s ministry was an amazing blessing! One of my missionary friends was sharing that she hopes it doesn’t all fall apart while I’m gone. That brought me to my knees. As I prayed, God reminded me once again, that He doesn’t need us and His work continues even when we are away. The Holy Spirit does the work and we are just blessed to be part of it. While stateside I get to continue listening to the trainings on the Calvary Curriculum website each week and translate them into Ugandan English. I email the training to the Children\u0026rsquo;s Ministry leaders and they go over it at their weekly meeting. I look forward to seeing all the Holy Spirit will do through the precious new servants and children of God!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Hard to Go"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn this update, I wanted to share with you about a missions trip my son Daniel and I got to take last month to visit two of our church plants! We were blessed to travel with my good friend and assistant Pastor, Fernando and his son Dan who is one of Daniel’s best friends! We also traveled with our good friends Jeff and Bonnie Johnson, who served on our church staff for many years. The purpose of this trip was to visit and encourage two of our church plants and build up the churches through conferences!\nOur trip began in the beautiful seaside city of Todos Santos located in Southern Baja! This city, home to the original famous Hotel California (for you Eagles music fans) is located on the rough and raw Southwest tip of Baja! After a quick trip to the beach, our ministry team visited our 6-month-old church plant that is called 412 Todos Santos. This is one of our 3 2ndgeneration church plants, that was directly planted by one of our church plants! (3-year-old Calvary Chapel Rancho Libertad, located 30 minutes south of us in the community of La Mision)\n6 months ago, our friends sent out a team of 5 to begin this new venture of faith! Besides supporting them financially every month, our church has a commitment to visit and encourage each one of these next generation church plants. In a certain way, we consider these churches our GRANDAUGHTER CHURCHES that have been sent out by our daughter churches!\nAfter receiving a tour of the property, we hosted a conference on the Bible. To our delight, around 40 church members turned out for the Thursday conference, and we even had one first time profession of faith. We finished up the conference with a delicious Carnitas taco feast that our church was blessed to provide. It was so encouraging to see how God is spreading our passion for church planters to our church plants.\nThe rest of our five-day trip took place in the beautiful capital city of La Paz! (Located in the South East of South Baja) Our days began early as we woke up and had our son’s lead us in morning devotions! Also in La Paz, we hosted a two-day marriage and family conference that was open to the entire community!\nWe had about 80 in attendance and our boys helped out and served all day in the bustling children’s ministry! In my teachings, I was able to teach the roles of marriage and raising children in the ways of the Lord!\nOn Sunday, I was blessed to preach to the 4-year-old congregation of CCLa Paz! They have a great ministry team, including three families that were sent out of our church in the past few years! On Sunday morning, the attendance was well over 100 adults, and we were honored to witness 3 first time professions of faith!\nThe Pastor (Michael McDonald) and his wife Sharlene then took us out to an amazing secluded beach where we enjoyed an afternoon of lunch, fellowship, and snorkeling! If you are the kind of person that loves warm clear water, secluded beaches, and beautiful fish, I highly encourage you to visit La Paz!\nFinally, I want to thank you once again for partnering with our family and ministry in the mission field of Mexico. As the church planter, Paul wrote in the scriptures, “ I planted, Apollo’s watered, but GOD gave the increase!” We feel very honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with our family and ministry! THANK YOU!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would move powerfully in the two church plants that we visited on our missions trip!\n#2- That God would continue to provide for the needs of our family and church in Rosarito!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise God that my son Daniel (and Fernando’s son Dan) got to minister with us on our missions trip!\n#2- Praise the Lord for the continued progress on our church’s new patio and sanctuary expansion!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873 For your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-november-2018-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/10/44806373_2389991277710190_6996698202757922816_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/10/44806373_2389991277710190_6996698202757922816_n-300x223.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this update, I wanted to share with you about a missions trip my son Daniel and I got to take last month to visit two of our church plants! We were blessed to travel with my good friend and assistant Pastor, Fernando and his son Dan who is one of Daniel’s best friends! We also traveled with our good friends Jeff and Bonnie Johnson, who served on our church staff for many years. The purpose of this trip was to visit and encourage two of our church plants and build up the churches through conferences!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family November 2018 Missions Update"},{"content":"“Like cold water to a thirsty soul, is good news from a far country.” Proverbs 25:25\nAfter fours months of tough transitions and emotionally charged newsletters we are pleased to be writing this month’s newsletter that is full of good news! We have been living here in Cacalote for almost two months now. What once was a place of initial shock has now become a place of familiarity and joy. The people that live here are so kind and encouraging to our family. We have been able to build a home and friends here.\nThe past seven weeks we have been studying Spanish with much intensity. We have reached our first milestone by completing our first level of Spanish classes. We will be starting level two next week. We are becoming more familiar with words and the structure of the Spanish language. Our ability to speak is about one month behind our classroom learning. So right now, we are able to put together some simple sentences in the present and past tense. Even though speaking is still a bit tricky, the good news is that we can understand much more than we can speak. We have been told that it takes about three years to really feel confident in your ability to speak another language. This helped us to realize this is not a short-term process and that we need to have a long-term approach to learning the Spanish language. So, we continue on poco a poco (little by little)!\nNot only are we learning Spanish but we are learning so many things about ourselves, our children, and our Great God.\nWhat a huge difference a month has made in our children’s lives. McKenna has decided that after spending several weeks in the Spanish school with us, she was ready to attend the multi-grade school on the base. This week she entered 7th grade and has really been enjoying it. It helps that she has been attending youth group for several weeks now and has had the opportunity to meet new friends that also attend the school. It has made the transition so much smoother since she already knows several people. McKenna loves having some additional freedoms; like riding her bike around town, hanging out with friends after school, and going to the beach. She has also been very helpful to us by riding up to the store often and picking up items we may need. It’s been wonderful watching her mature. She really loves living here.\nMia is also doing well. She is being challenged in school and is rising to the challenge daily. It’s not a surprise but Mia is catching on, comprehending, and speaking Spanish really well. She thinks its funny when she translates for us! She has made several friends at school and in the village. Each week there is a young girls bible study in town which she is attending regularly. They have a Bible lesson, a craft, and bible verses to memorize all in Spanish. Its fun hearing her rattle off verses in Spanish with such ease!\nAfter repeatedly wanting to go back to Napa his first month here, Isaiah has finally hit his stride this last week. He has made a friend that lives close by and is his age. The boys are spending the afternoons playing Legos, video games, and whatever else boys do! This past weekend Aaron and I took Isaiah for a ride in a friend’s kayak. We paddle up through a narrow waterway which eventually opened up into a lagoon with big beautiful white birds flying from tree to tree. When Isaiah saw it, he said “see this is why I love living here. And, it’s probably cold in Napa!” It is an answer to prayer that God has given him friends and a joy for living here!\nOh, Penelope! Our feisty five-year-old has many wonderful qualities. We are so thankful that God has given her a personality that is not easily swayed or pushed over. She is still having her ups and downs at school. It frustrates her when she can’t understand something or she perceives that something is too hard. Even though some days can be challenging for her, she is making friends and it seems that every day she is coming home and saying new words in Spanish!\nThis past month we were seeking the Lord on how we can serve Him right where we are. Even though our time is full with attending school, working on homework, and parenting and even though we are only here short-term, we still want to be useful servants where God has placed us. During this time, a friend here asked us what we missed from home. One thing we miss is gathering together with fellow believers, worshiping, and hearing God’s Word being taught in English. The Lord began to stir our hearts that others might feel the same way and prompted us to start a weekly Bible study with the other Spanish school students/missionaries. So, we stepped out in faith! We invited everyone from the Spanish school to come over to our house on Friday nights. It has been so refreshing to gather with a group of people, share a meal, hear from God’s Word, and pray together. One night while we were all sharing about how our experiences have been here in Cacalote and what God has been showing us, one young lady was so compelled by the Holy Spirit to share something she could not hold back. Through tears she shared that she is here because her two cousins came and she thought it would be fun to learn Spanish with them. The first week here she thought to herself, “I would never be a missionary”. She had plans to be a surgeon in the future. But after several weeks the Lord has been working on her heart and has been speaking to her about joining her family members on the mission field in Africa! It was such an awesome testimony of how God intersects our lives and our plans and can change our trajectory. We all prayed for her after she shared. It was such an honor to be among the first group of people to hear what God has placed in her heart. We can’t wait to watch God’s plans play out in her life! Praise God that He calls us and equips us to do His will. Proverbs 19:21 says “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand.”\nWe can’t thank you enough for praying for us. We know God has heard everyone of your prayers. We are so encouraged that some good things have been happening this month. We are so happy and privileged to be serving our great God! We would not be able to do this without God using many of you to support us and encourage us on this journey. It is truly a picture of the body of Christ working together to build each other up and share the good news of the gospel to all the nations. Our prayer for each one of you, this month, is that you will know God’s plans for your lives. That you will seek Him with all your heart and when He reveals His plans to you that you will, without compromise, obey Him. Don’t be surprised if His plans turn out to be different from your plans! Remember there are always blessings in obedience.\nWith much love and gratitude,\nThe Mosley’s\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/progress/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“Like cold water to a thirsty soul, is good news from a far country.” Proverbs 25:25\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAfter fours months of tough transitions and emotionally charged newsletters we are pleased to be writing this month’s newsletter that is full of good news! We have been living here in Cacalote for almost two months now. What once was a place of initial shock has now become a place of familiarity and joy. The people that live here are so kind and encouraging to our family. We have been able to build a home and friends here.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Progress"},{"content":"Weddings of Christians are joyous moments in a pastoral ministry! I had the great pleasure of officiating another wedding in Kenya. Juma and Valerie are the fifteenth couple I have officiated in Kenya. The customs and practices of the Kenyan weddings are quite similar to American weddings yet quite different. Each tribe in the country have several marriage rituals. Some of these ancient tribal traditions have pagan roots and thus are shunned by many Christian couples. But majority embrace their tribal customs and modify the rituals to be acceptable as per the Word of God. There is a Dowery ceremony which is literally the traditional wedding ceremony that usually precedes the actual church wedding. The government of Kenya regards these traditional marriages as being legitimate marriages. So we request couples to wait to have this ceremony once they are done with their premarital counseling with my wife and I.\nAmong the young Nairobi couples we have counseled the wedding rituals are as follows: the man usually proposes marriages to the woman. This is followed by the man approaching the father of the woman and asking his permission to marry her(Called Introductions). If all goes well and he is granted permission, this is followed by the groom’s family visiting the bride’s family, during this time they discuss the dowery that requirements that are made by the bride’s family. Yes, the groom has to pay the bride-price! To raise sufficient funds to meet the dowery requirements, the groom and bride’s friends and relatives gather together and have frequent fundraising meetings. During this time they cheerfully give toward the dowery and the wedding. Then marks the time of the Dowery ceremony. The groom along with his family, relatives, and friends arrive at the Bride’s home while singing joyous traditional songs. The bride is usually hiding in a room in the house while the dowery negotiations go on between the parents. As per Kikuyu tribe in Kenya, girls can be valued at 99 goats. But among the Luhya tribe, the dowry demands are payment in bulls and cows (4 goats = 1 cow). The Groom and family can choose to pay for it monetarily. Rarely are the Bride’s parents satisfied with the groom’s payment of dowery and usually demand more. This ceremony is very jovial and filled with plenty of food, dancing, and singing. If the requests of the bride’s family are met this is followed by gleeful ululations. And the grooms family departs the Bride’s home before sunset.\nOn the morning of the Church wedding day, the groom comes bearing gifts with his greater family to the bride’s home. The grooms family sings traditional songs requesting the doors be opened. There is often a sing-song exchange between the ladies on either side of the gate, this eventually leads to payment of the remainder of dowery and giving of the gifts. Finally, the bride’s family will joyfully give the bride away to go to the church to be married. The mood is always exuberant during the exchange of vows and rings and the merry ululations, tribal singing, and dancing of all the wedding guests continue for hours during the wedding. Thank you for taking your time to read our newsletter, for your prayers and financial support for our ministry!\nPlease Pray:\nPLEASE PRAY AS WE PLAN TO HOST A TEAM IN FEBRUARY NEXT YEAR. C.C. NAIROBI’S WORSHIP TEAM. PLEASE PRAY FOR ELIZABETH, THAT GOD WOULD PROVIDE FOR ALL HER NEEDS AND THAT SHE WILL FIND HER TRUE CONTENTMENT IN CHRIST. In Christ, David Zavala\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/zavala-family-october-update-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWeddings of Christians are joyous moments in a pastoral ministry! I had the great pleasure of officiating another wedding in Kenya. Juma and Valerie are the fifteenth couple I have officiated in Kenya. The customs and practices of the Kenyan weddings are quite similar to American weddings yet quite different. Each tribe in the country have several marriage rituals. Some of these ancient tribal traditions have pagan roots and thus are shunned by many Christian couples. But majority embrace their tribal customs and modify the rituals to be acceptable as per the Word of God. There is a Dowery ceremony which is literally the traditional wedding ceremony that usually precedes the actual church wedding. The government of Kenya regards these traditional marriages as being legitimate marriages. So we request couples to wait to have this ceremony once they are done with their premarital counseling with my wife and I.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Merry Ululations"},{"content":"Hello Friends!\nWe pray you are all doing well, and thank you for taking a moment to read our latest update! I (Joel) have been reflecting lately on what in the past has been, quite frankly, my least favorite portion of scripture: Joshua\u0026rsquo;s dividing up of the land to Israel after they entered the Promised Land. The list of boundary lines and cities is not a thrilling read, but I was assigned to teach this to our Bible College students in South Asia (via Skype) through the book of Joshua as I finished up my portion of this semester\u0026rsquo;s teachings. As I approached this text, I noticed that the future of Israel\u0026rsquo;s rich history was represented in what was, at that time, cities and lands full of potential. This potential for them was the choice between honoring God with the land and seeing His blessings in it (with places like Shiloh and Jerusalem), or offending God with idol worship and receiving the curse of disobedience (as with Ben-Himmon or Dan). As we move forward in our lives of following Christ, the same pregnant potential lies in front of us at all times. Will we reach out and receive His promises in faith and obedience, or end up heaping trouble on our lives with sin, laziness, or cowardice? Praise God that for us, above all of this, stands His great and faithful grace!\nThis last month has been a great one! I (Joel) got to lead worship for the church\u0026rsquo;s men\u0026rsquo;s retreat, which was an amazing experience to be a part of. It is such a privilege to have a front-row seat to seeing the men of our church lifting holy hands in prayer and worship.\nI\u0026rsquo;m also looking forward to traveling next year. Sadly, I will not be able to go to Jordan and Israel as I anticipated due to the proximity of those dates to Amy\u0026rsquo;s due date. However, that gives me a little more flexibility regarding another potential trip at the beginning of the year. I have learned to on hold loosely to plans for short terms missions, since I\u0026rsquo;ve discovered those plans can change in an instant! But once things are more firm for this particular trip, I\u0026rsquo;ll give you all some more details. I am excited about the prospect!\nOn the home front, the kids are doing great! Maggie is flourishing with homeschooling and loves to learn. Jude is starting to walk all over the place more and more. And Harrison is jumping in and learning lots of things alongside Maggie. It\u0026rsquo;s always an adventure with those three, and we can\u0026rsquo;t wait to add one more!\nSpeaking of #4, please continue to keep Amy in your prayers through this pregnancy. She\u0026rsquo;s doing great, but experiencing all of the fatigue that comes along with pregnancy and being the amazing, active mom that she is.\nWe also ask that you continue to keep us in prayer to find a larger home that fits our limited budget, as well as the additional funds needed for a move. We\u0026rsquo;d love to have a three or four bedroom house to have more space for the kids to run around, room for the new baby, and to be able to practice more hospitality and host more church gatherings.\nFinally, please pray as I enter a busy season of running two of our church\u0026rsquo;s biggest events: our Halloween Front-Yard Outreach Parties and our all-church Thanksgiving Potluck. These are a lot of work, but are super rich and fruitful events, and we have an amazing group of servants at the church who step up to lend their giftings.\nLove you all, and please feel free to let us know what is going on in your lives and how we can pray for you!\nAll The Best For His Glory, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, Jude, and Baby #4\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-land-full-of-potential/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe pray you are all doing well, and thank you for taking a moment to read our latest update! I (Joel) have been reflecting lately on what in the past has been, quite frankly, my least favorite portion of scripture: Joshua\u0026rsquo;s dividing up of the land to Israel after they entered the Promised Land. The list of boundary lines and cities is not a thrilling read, but I was assigned to teach this to our Bible College students in South Asia (via Skype) through the book of Joshua as I finished up my portion of this semester\u0026rsquo;s teachings. As I approached this text, I noticed that the future of Israel\u0026rsquo;s rich history was represented in what was, at that time, cities and lands full of potential. This potential for them was the choice between honoring God with the land and seeing His blessings in it (with places like Shiloh and Jerusalem), or offending God with idol worship and receiving the curse of disobedience (as with Ben-Himmon or Dan). As we move forward in our lives of following Christ, the same pregnant potential lies in front of us at all times. Will we reach out and receive His promises in faith and obedience, or end up heaping trouble on our lives with sin, laziness, or cowardice? Praise God that for us, above all of this, stands His great and faithful grace!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Land Full of Potential"},{"content":"As a family, we have decided to visit the churches of our students and friends once a month to see how they are doing and to bring them some encouragement from Gods Word. With the permission of each pastor, we have also decided to allow you to join us on that journey so that you will be more informed as you think about and pray for the churches of Uganda. We pray that these short Pastoral Bios would encourage you in your walk with God and that you would grow in your love for Jesus as you see how he is moving in the hearts of so many people!\nPastor Kinyera Charles and his wife Grace Pastor Kinyera Charles is our neighbor in the small town of Adak and is one of our students at the Terebinth School of Discipleship. It has really been a pleasure to watch him grow in his knowledge and understanding of God’s word. He was born into a poor pagan family in which his father had many wives. After his mother committed suicide he turned to Alcohol. But when he gave his life to the LORD he was freed from his addiction and felt the calling on his life to start a church. Charles planted Adak Bible Community Church in 2012 with a desire to bring physical and spiritual transformation through the Gospel of Jesus Christ to his community!\nPray for Adak Bible Community Church: Pray – That the Father would help Charles as he seeks to teach his children and the young people of the church to serve God. Pray – That God would bring wisdom and understanding to the elders and leaders of the church. Pray – That the Gospel would be understood in the Community of Adak and that hearts would be transformed as they learn of God’s great love for them. Adak Bible Community Church\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-pastoral-bio/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs a family, we have decided to visit the churches of our students and friends once a month to see how they are doing and to bring them some encouragement from Gods Word. With the permission of each pastor, we have also decided to allow you to join us on that journey so that you will be more informed as you think about and pray for the churches of Uganda. We pray that these short Pastoral Bios would encourage you in your walk with God and that you would grow in your love for Jesus as you see how he is moving in the hearts of so many people!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Pastoral Bio"},{"content":"After coming back from Croatia, the Lord had me in California for over a year.I’d like to say that the past year was easy and that I loved every second of it but I cant. This past year has been one of crying my heart out to the Lord, questioning His timing, and being challenged in various ways. However, this season has also been one of full reliance on the Lord, hearing His voice, sharing the Gospel with the Lost, and learning what it means to live one day at a time. It’s been a challenging season but also a very sweet season.\nIn getting ready to head back to Croatia, I packed up my things, I kept what I needed and donated the rest. Though I knew that it was going to be hard, I never imagined how scary it would actually feel to get rid of everything and leave it all behind. As fear crept into my mind, I called on the Lord and just like the good Father that He is, He answered. He took my fear and replaced it with peace. I was sent off be Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. It was a huge blessing to be able to have Pastor Trent pray over me with the entire church before I left. I’ve been in Croatia now for almost a month now. I’ve had so many people ask me how it feels to be back and honestly, it feels like I never left. The familiar sounds of the language, the smell of people smoking, the trams that take you from one place to another all feels like home. As I walk through the streets, I’m humbled by the fact that the Lord has called me back to the country and people I have grown to love so much.\nEach new day is filled with new things that just warm my heart. From the new people I meet to the friends I get to hang out with again, each moment has been a huge blessing! I reminded of God’s goodness and love towards His children. Each new day that I spend in Croatia is a constant reminder of God’s call to go share the Gospel to the Nations.\nServing with Ben and Emily Spector has been the biggest blessing! They have opened up their home for me to stay until I move into my apartment and they are constantly checking on me to make sure that I am doing well. They\u0026rsquo;ve adopted me into their family and I couldn\u0026rsquo;t be more blessed by the amount of love that they have shown. Serving alongside of them has been an answered prayer. I couldn\u0026rsquo;t be more excited to see what my part will be in Raskrižje and how the Lord is going to use this church to reach Zagreb!\nUnfortunately, I will not be able to be apart of the Roma Ministry that I initially intended to serve with here in Zagreb for reasons that I cannot explain (Partially because I don’t fully know and understand the reasons myself). At first this news was very discouraging. I have dreamed and looked forward to going back to those villages for such a long time. It shattered my heart to know that it was going to be a while until I am able to step foot back into the villages. It’s in those moments of questioning God’s will that He brings to remembrance the importance of the waiting season. I know that the Lord has a plan and I fully trust that He alone will provide a way for me to start working in the Roma villages again. Until then, I’m using all my time to study Croatian so that when I do go back, I will be able to speak to them in a language that they can understand. Please join me in praying for a way back into the villages and for a team that I can serve alongside with. Ben and Emily (Pastor and His Wife) are currently contacting ministries they know that work with the Roma community, to see if I can serve with them.\nI also just finished my second week of language classes. I can officially say that from the moment I step into my classroom till the time I go to bed, my head hurts. I’m constantly listening to people speak, trying to figure out what they are saying, and then trying to form a sentence that’s understandable which I can say before they move on to the next topic. I know that the Croatian language is going to take time to learn and I pray that the Lord gives me the endurance and perseverance that I need to learn Croatian.\nI love going to school and talking to my classmates though. I happen to sit next to a Muslim lady from Libya. I can only think that the Lord not only prepared me all summer to work with Muslims but also that He placed her next to me for a specific reason.I’ve invited her to church and to the English classes at the church and though she hasn’t taken me up on any of my offers, I will keep offering it to her. Join me in praying for her and her family. I can’t wait to see what the Lord does through our friendship that’s starting to develop. Praise Reports:\nI made it to Croatia safely and I am staying with THEE sweetest family!\nI found an apartment!\nLanguage school is going well. Prayer Requests:\nPray for me to be able to learn Croatian quickly.\nPray for the English Classes offered at the church every Thursday night.\nPray for the Roma Villages!\nPray for the Gospel to penetrate the hearts of the Croatian people.\nNeeds:\nThe Lord has provided in so many abundant ways! I know and trust that He will continue to provide the amount that I still need. As of right now, the Lord has provided $880 of monthly support. Which means that I am only $120 from reaching my goal of $1000!\nHowever, in making my original budget, I didn’t count for Social Security taxes, Conferences, Furloughs, etc. I would like to raise an additional $300 monthly on top of $120 to cover all of the extra costs which I didn’t account for. I know that this is a lot to ask for but I promise that I’m not adding the $300 for no reason. If you would like a copy of my budget,I would be more than willing to share it with you.\nIf you feel the Lord is leading you to support the work happening in Croatia, please click on this link. I want to thank everyone who has supported financially and prayed for me in any way. It’s through your support and prayer that I am now in Croatia. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you!\nMy first semester of Language school cost me 700 Euros. I chose to take this course because I believe that if I want to serve in Croatia long term, I need to be able to speak Croatian properly. If you would like to help me pay for my language class please click on this link.\nThank you for wanting to take part in the work that the Lord is doing in Croatia. I am so blessed by the fact that you are partnering with me through prayer and financial support!\nGod Bless,\nRebecca\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/life-in-croatia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAfter coming back from Croatia, the Lord had me in California for over a year.I’d like to say that the past year was easy and that I loved every second of it but I cant. This past year has been one of crying my heart out to the Lord, questioning His timing, and being challenged in various ways. However, this season has also been one of full reliance on the Lord, hearing His voice, sharing the Gospel with the Lost, and learning what it means to live one day at a time. It’s been a challenging season but also a very sweet season.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Life in Croatia"},{"content":"I\u0026rsquo;m not sure why, but one of the hardest things for me to do is write an update letter. It\u0026rsquo;s not like there are no great things to report of what the Lord is doing or that there are no struggles or that life is not in session. But the reality of sitting down and putting pen to paper has been so difficult for me. Some would think that being a missionary in California, USA would not be hard at all. Although I am enjoying all the benefits of the United States of America there are still many difficulties involved in serving here. I think it\u0026rsquo;s also a matter I\u0026rsquo;m dying to self. I say that because one of the greatest difficulties for me is to talk about me and sometimes I feel like that\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;m doing in an update later. I also think there\u0026rsquo;s a spiritual component here at work. The reality of an update letter is to bring attention and glory to what God is doing in the midst of victories, trials, and defeats and I truly believe that this is met with a special level of opposition. In any event, thank you for letting me share my heart and my struggle. Since the last update later and coming back from South Asia there have been some big changes in my life. One of them being a lady ”friend” of mine that I have been seeing for almost a year now is now officially my girlfriend. This is a wonderful thing and she is a truly godly woman who is completely in love with Jesus and His word. Even though I truly believe the Lord is in this and my friends and church family totally love her, this is a whole new level of awkwardness and dying to self as I have not had anybody in my life for the last 14 years.\nAnother wonderful and even greater privilege for me has been that I was recently ordained as a pastor here at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. This is a very humbling and sobering calling that friends have told me I\u0026rsquo;ve had on my life for some time now, I truly believe that we are all called to be ministers of the gospel and serve others daily, but to be a part of the pastoral team here is a complete mindblower. Coming from where I came from, living the life I\u0026rsquo;ve lived, and to be serving the Lord in the manner He allows me to is hard for me to believe at times. He keeps calling me deeper and using me more and for that, I am truly grateful. I often tell people if you\u0026rsquo;re driving down the road and you see a turtle on top of a fencepost you\u0026rsquo;ll know he had help.\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray for the upcoming trip to Oaxaca Mexico 10/9 to 10/16; that the Lord would keep me and the team safe and give us great vision and a clear hearing from the Holy Spirit as we scout the land on a church planting vision tour with our missionary partners John and Allison Breckel\nThat the Lord would grant me to be a man who is gracious and flexible as this has been a struggle for me lately\nThat I would be a blessing to missionaries around the world and they would see the Lord through my actions.\nI am still in need of people who wish to partner with me financially. I am most appreciative of you who have joined me in this area, and I’m grateful that I have reached 1/4 of my monthly support needs. If the Lord leads you to join me financially, you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886\nNote Pappas support in the memo line.\nAll for His Glory,\nTim Pappas Asst. Director Saving Grace World Missions\nPhone 714-262-2260 Email tim@sgwm.com\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-struggle-is-real/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI\u0026rsquo;m not sure why, but one of the hardest things for me to do is write an update letter. It\u0026rsquo;s not like there are no great things to report of what the Lord is doing or that there are no struggles or that life is not in session. But the reality of sitting down and putting pen to paper has been so difficult for me. Some would think that being a missionary in California, USA would not be hard at all. Although I am enjoying all the benefits of the United States of America there are still many difficulties involved in serving here. I think it\u0026rsquo;s also a matter I\u0026rsquo;m dying to self. I say that because one of the greatest difficulties for me is to talk about me and sometimes I feel like that\u0026rsquo;s what I\u0026rsquo;m doing in an update later. I also think there\u0026rsquo;s a spiritual component here at work. The reality of an update letter is to bring attention and glory to what God is doing in the midst of victories, trials, and defeats and I truly believe that this is met with a special level of opposition. In any event, thank you for letting me share my heart and my struggle. Since the last update later and coming back from South Asia there have been some big changes in my life. One of them being a lady ”friend” of mine that I have been seeing for almost a year now is now officially my girlfriend. This is a wonderful thing and she is a truly godly woman who is completely in love with Jesus and His word. Even though I truly believe the Lord is in this and my friends and church family totally love her, this is a whole new level of awkwardness and dying to self as I have not had anybody in my life for the last 14 years.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/pappas/wp-content/uploads/sites/63/2018/10/IMG_6618-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Struggle Is Real"},{"content":"Wow! We have had a whirlwind of teams and ministry. God is so good! He is also doing big things here at our team dorms, Connections House! In mid-July the paperwork finalizing the sale of the property went through and we officially became the new owners! We are eager to show you the improvements that we have been making over the past six months or so, and update you on our newest project! However, that will have to wait for our next update, so stay tuned!\nRight now, we\u0026rsquo;d like to give you a glimpse of the ministry from our teams and interns. If you recall, this is the first year that we have had interns at this ministry location, and it was amazing! The Lord called two wonderful young ladies, Kailyn \u0026amp; Rachel, with a passion for missions to come and serve with us for 7 1/2 weeks. God did amazing things in and through them, and we look forward to seeing how He continues to do so in the future. Over these weeks we hosted and worked with six teams, most of whom were here for a full week, plus served at a local 5-day VBS. The interns helped out in almost every aspect of ministry, from planning/preparation, to working in the kitchen, to serving on the field, and so much more! Their introduction to ministry on the field in Mexico this summer began by serving at Calvary Chapel Rosarito\u0026rsquo;s VBS. They helped in different areas, but both girls had the opportunity to teach the lesson one day to all the children. They did a fabulous job!\nThe girls had the opportunity to serve alongside some other local missionaries. A couple highlights include helping put together backpacks for a ministry that helps send local children to school. This was through Pastor Jose Luis \u0026amp; Cindy Pesina at one of our church plants, Grace Calvary, in Tijuana. The second one was working alongside our friend Jorge Najera and Baja Christian Ministries to build a home for a local family in need. This included working on the house and some street evangelism. Our interns served at orphanages, a retirement home, two local garbage dumps, Celebrate Recovery, several churches through children\u0026rsquo;s and women\u0026rsquo;s ministry, and more. They were both stretched and used greatly, and they both had opportunities to share their testimonies on how God has moved in their lives. They completed two Bible studies during their time here. One of them, entitled \u0026ldquo;Unfinished\u0026rdquo;, especially had a great impact on them (and Kristy). This study is all about the task Jesus gave to each Christian before He left this earth (Matthew 28:19-20) and how the work is still unfinished. Both Kailyn and Rachel are praying about how the Lord will have them serve through missions in the future, possibly even full-time! Here are some photos of their week at CCR\u0026rsquo;s VBS.\nHere are some highlights of the interns working in various ministries:\nWe managed to fit a little fun into our time with the interns - the wax museum in Tijuana, a harbor boat ride in Ensenada, and of course trying the local cuisine. Their time with us ended with a 2-day camping trip next to the beach.\nWilliam turned sixteen in July, so we took him out for a nice family dinner at a Brazilian restaurant in Tijuana where they serve all you can meat, over 20 kinds. They come around with these different meats on skewers, plus have a huge buffet of other foods to choose from. They gave him a \u0026ldquo;Goofy\u0026rdquo; hat to wear while they sang \u0026ldquo;Happy Birthday\u0026rdquo; to him. He also had some friends over one night to do his two favorite things - play basketball and play video games. Will recently got his driver\u0026rsquo;s permit and started his first job. He is working two days a week at Chik-Fil-A in California. It is the same location that Brittany works at as well. Will started his 3rd year of high school this fall, of which he has three more semesters to complete. He\u0026rsquo;ll spend his 4th semester doing an internship or missions work somewhere, so please keep him in your prayers and he (and his parents) decide where that will take place.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ll leave you with highlight photos from some of our teams and a huge thank you to all of you that partner with us and make this all possible!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/interns-teams/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWow! We have had a whirlwind of teams and ministry. God is so good! He is also doing big things here at our team dorms, Connections House! In mid-July the paperwork finalizing the sale of the property went through and we officially became the new owners! We are eager to show you the improvements that we have been making over the past six months or so, and update you on our newest project! However, that will have to wait for our next update, so stay tuned!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Interns \u0026 Teams"},{"content":"But if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7\nDear Friends and family,\nGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan! We are thankful to you for your prayers love and support. Our this update is about the following three things:\nRefreshing Time at CC Asia Conference New Website and Resources in Urdu Planning for Christmas program with some unreached groups Refreshing Time\nI praise God that I was able to go to Chiang Mai last month to attend CC Asia Mission Conference. It was really a very blessed time as I met many of my friends and many other new people from Calvary Chapel Family. Teaching was really great and most important for me was the “fellowship”. This was my first time attending CC Asia Conference and I am really blessed and refreshed spiritually and physically to have a short break from our routine and learn from and fellowship with some really wonderful brothers and sisters. On my way back I stayed for few days at Calvary Chapel Bangkok, which is planted by two wonderful and old friends. It was blessing to see how they were reaching people from many different countries with the Word and love of Jesus Christ. I really wished that my wife and some people from our team also could go. It was not possible because of financial limitation, we are praying for next year’s conference if that be the will of our Father. I want to request you to keep this in your prayers.\nNew Website\nWhile I was in Bangkok, I worked with my friend Tyler to build the website of Calvary Chapel Pakistan [calvarypakistan.com]. In Pakistan, we have so many Charismatic movements where people only learn about health, wealth and prosperity and so-called miracles. And along with this many cultic movements are also working and misleading many Christians. Teaching of the word of God is not very popular in most of the churches. We are going to use this website for Biblical teachings in Urdu language both in written and audio format. We have been working on many different translations in Urdu and we are also recording “Devotional Series” of the sermons, “Through the Bible” and some topical messages. We hope and pray for this website to be a great tool in the hands of our Lord to reach and touch hearts and lives of many people.\nChristmas Plan with Un-reached\nLast year we had wonderful fellowship program with the brick makers, a group of people living outside of the town. They are very poor; they lead really tough life like slaves. We have been reaching them for long time with the word. During some months in this summer we also reached other groups of disadvantaged Christians. Like last year we wish to arrange an event of worship and fellowship with these people and want to request you to join in with us through your support and prayers. Last year we provided some food items, warm clothes and vitamins to those people. Please keep this need, our church services and other activities of the ministry in your prayers!\nI want to use this opportunity to share with you about our ministry\u0026rsquo;s financial condition and need. The account balance of general [operational] funds of our ministry is in negative. We are in need of your prayers and your financial support. If Lord leads you to support Calvary Chapel’s mission project in Pakistan, please Click Here to support CC Pakistan.\nOur Next Update will be about: Brick Makers and Woman Ministry\nThank you very much!\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/refreshing-fellowship/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBut if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:7\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Calvary Chapel Pakistan! We are thankful to you for your prayers love and support. Our this update is about the following three things:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cem\u003eRefreshing Time at CC Asia Conference\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cem\u003eNew Website and Resources in Urdu\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003cem\u003ePlanning for Christmas program with some unreached groups\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRefreshing Time\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Refreshing Fellowship"},{"content":"_\u0026ldquo;O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;_but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.\u0026rdquo; 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NASB\nDarryl\u0026rsquo;s mom\u0026rsquo;s funeral was held on October 1. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t attend because we could not have found an airline ticket and flown to Missouri in time. Since she was a committed Christian, Darryl thinks of her funeral as a graduation ceremony. He misses her greatly but is proud of her accomplishments in life as a pastor\u0026rsquo;s wife, nurse, strong missionary sender, and mother of 7 (Darryl is the youngest). Just as none of us would want to return to high school or college after graduation, Darryl is comforted in knowing that his mom is much happier in heaven than she would be if she had to continue living on earth. Darryl\u0026rsquo;s sister-in-law requested that he make a video about his memories of her. You can watch it here.\n\u0026ldquo;When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord, He makes even his enemies to__be at peace with him.\u0026rdquo; Proverbs 16:7 NASB \u0026ldquo;But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense (apologia) to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;\u0026rdquo; 1 Peter 3:15 NASB\nDarryl\u0026rsquo;s International Fishers Christians Apologetics media ministry continues to grow. Darryl has made so many evangelistic/apologetics videos in the Cambodian language that he has pretty much exhausted most of the topics covered in the book he co-authored with a Medical Doctor a few years ago entitled Christianity: Reasons for Faith. The only way to find new challenges against the truth of Christianity, for new topics, was to join a few apologetics and Christians debate Atheists Facebook groups. Mostly Darryl just observes the debates for video ideas. However, a few times Darryl has felt led to post or comment. On at least three or four different occasions in the last month, belligerent atheists have come at him with a lot of prejudices and hostility but little evidence or logic. In all cases, Darryl applied 1 Peter 3:15 in his responses (sanctify Christ+defense+gentleness and reverence (respect). After a few rounds, the conversation invariably led Darryl to post something along the lines of, \u0026ldquo;salvation is a free gift. It must be freely given and freely received. I have no intention of forcing anything onto you. etc.\u0026rdquo; In all these exchanges, the atheists\u0026rsquo; anger was so blunted that they thanked Darryl for his kindness and told him that he was a rare example of the Christians that they usually encounter. Usually, after that, the atheists would stop the conversation before they could be given the Gospel, but their minds had been opened a little bit, their hearts had been softened a little bit, and a few seeds had been planted.\nIn the past month, Darryl has been able to write a few video scripts on the following topics: 1. How to Know the Truth 2. Prophecies the Jesus Christ Fulfilled 3. Did the Tower of Babel Really Exist? 4. The inspiration of the Bible. Darryl has found four Cambodian Christians who can volunteer to translate his scripts or translate them for only $5 per page (university students). In addition, Darryl still has his partnership with his Khmer narrator and has made additional connections to other Cambodian Christians who can help with videography, acting, and post-production. In other words, Darryl finally has the opportunity to make professional quality videos! However, in order to fully take advantage of these opportunities, Darryl will need more financial resources because some of these Cambodians can afford to volunteer and others will need a small stipend (poor college students etc.) and there is also a need for funding for props, locations, and equipment rentals/purchase.\nLast week, Darryl attended a three-day video training course at our International Church. Christian media experts (one was a Ph.D. professor who has made videos for Disney and the United Nations) came and trained around 70 Cambodians and Missionaries in video production and social media.\nDarryl\u0026rsquo;s team produced a two-minute video to minister to women who have had abortions before they received Christ but still feel guilty. The script idea came from a Kenyan Christian lady. She had never used video editing software before. Darryl showed her the basics and she did 95% of the editing. You can watch it here.\nDarryl was invited to give his testimony about growing up in a Christian home and nearly leaving the faith in college (88% of Christian home kids do). He also shared about his books, radio program, teaching, videos, website, and social media. Several missionaries and Cambodian Christians are interested in partnering with him in the future. Please pray that God will open and close the doors for these partnerships.\nKayo continues to be more and more involved with Precious Women ministry which evangelizes and re-trains women who work in bars and nightclubs who are at risk of sexual exploitation. She also is planning a large outreach/fundraising concert for Food for Hungry Japan and Kone Kmeng Children\u0026rsquo;s ministry (evangelizes and educates children who are at risk for child-labor and child-prostitution) in June 2019. A Christian, world-class flute player, will come from Japan for the concert.\nBenjamin is doing well in school and is making friends. He enjoys frisbee club and is learning some unusual throws. 2 1/2 years ago, we had to sell his bicycle before he was ready to take off the training wheels. We finally got him a new bicycle last week. Within a day, he was riding on his own like a boss!\nPlease pray for our finances both in the short term and in the long term. Many of our most generous and faithful financial sponsors are either close to the end of their lives or are retiring. As a result, their financial donations will either end or decrease soon. We need to replace between $400-600 monthly ASAP just to break even in the short-term (more is needed over the long-term). Please pray that God will raise up new/younger senders and churches as well as give wisdom about alternative funding streams.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Love,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/my-moms-journey-to-eternal-life-and-cambodia-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e_\u0026ldquo;O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law;_\u003cem\u003ebut thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/em\u003e 1 Corinthians 15:55-57 NASB\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/10/11010508%5F10153393184684618%5F1765218932913149668%5Fo-3-229x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/10/42509398%5F10156800032004853%5F4391422640741416960%5Fn-300x285.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eDarryl\u0026rsquo;s mom\u0026rsquo;s funeral was held on October 1.  We couldn\u0026rsquo;t attend because we could not have found an airline ticket and flown to Missouri in time.  Since she was a committed Christian, Darryl thinks of her funeral as a graduation ceremony.  He misses her greatly but is proud of her accomplishments in life as a pastor\u0026rsquo;s wife, nurse, strong missionary sender, and mother of 7 (Darryl is the youngest).  Just as none of us would want to return to high school or college after graduation, Darryl is comforted in knowing that his mom is much happier in heaven than she would be if she had to continue living on earth.  Darryl\u0026rsquo;s sister-in-law requested that he make a video about his memories of her.  You can watch it \u003ca href=\"https://www.dropbox.com/s/1pdj1oti6dfvibt/Mama%27s%20Memorial%20Video%20From%20Darryl-android-phone.mp4?dl=0\"\u003ehere\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"My Mom’s Journey to Eternal Life and Cambodia Missions Update"},{"content":"“Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God,” 2 Pet 3:11-12a Thank you for your love, for your concerns, for all of your encouragement in the LORD and for all of your prayers. It is such a blessing to be partnered with you for the sake of the Gospel. Know that your prayers make a difference here in my family’s life and in our ministry. Know that God is using you. As we are here in Uganda we are often blessed to catch glimpses of what God is doing back home through people like you. God’s heart is for the whole world to know Him intimately, and you also play a direct role in that. As members of one body let us continue working together to bring the transforming hope of the Gospel into hearts and minds, not growing tired of doing good, let us obediently carry out the good works which God created each of us for.\nOur small-scale Tabernacle model On the ministry end of things, this past month of September has been very eventful, full of high highs and low lows. On the high end, we had a great time in the School Of Discipleship this past month as one class studied through the book of Exodus and the other went through Acts. We had the awesome opportunity to replicate the Tabernacle for the pastors who were in the book of Exodus, this people group really tends to get a lot out of object lessons and props. We experienced some highs at BAM this month as well since it is harvest season here and our public milling services have been running seemingly non-stop, and a local school used us as their supplier for over 2 metric tons of food!\nPeople bringing their newly harvested crops for milling at 2.5 Cents a pound\nBAM delivering food to a schoolOur level 3 clinic However, on the low end, we had serious struggles this past month, most of which have centered around our clinic. It wouldn’t be right to go into many details but the change of staff and enforcement of certain policies has not endeared us to the surrounding community and has put us in a few rough positions. Also on the low end, please be praying for my managing partner at BAM, who’s wife just underwent surgery, and who’s brother is currently in serious condition in the hospital. Pray that God brings them peace and rest. The other bad news is that there has been a serious lack of rain during this planting season, so pray for our community as we anticipate famine next year.\nToday as we were in church our pastor told us a story concerning one of our congregants that really reminds me of why we are here, and how Uganda is in desperate need of discipleship. Many people this week have gathered together in Gulu for a gospel crusade featuring a renown so-and-so, “bishop of Christ.” Halfway through the conference, the “holy man of God” approached a member of our church and explained to him that a special anointing of the Holy Spirit was available for him and that he needed to meet with him the following morning at his hotel. When our church congregant showed up the next day, the bishop explained that the “anointing” (including a vial of “blessed oil” and a “holy handkerchief”) could be his for 1.5 million UGX (just over $400.00). Thankfully, knowing better than that, our church member left in a hurry without further entanglement. Without having received real, biblical discipleship, he would have been taken advantage of, just as so many others who are being deceived here every day. Please continue to pray that the church of Uganda would experience true discipleship.\n“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 Noelle and I celebrated our 5th year anniversary this past weekend!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-harris-family-update-september-2018-2/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"since-all-these-things-are-to-be-destroyed-in-this-way-what-sort-of-people-ought-you-to-be-in-holy-conduct-and-godliness-looking-for-and-hastening-the-coming-of-the-day-of-god-2-pet-311-12a\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God,”\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003e2 Pet 3:11-12a\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThank you for your love, for your concerns, for all of your encouragement in the LORD and for all of your prayers. It is such a blessing to be partnered with you for the sake of the Gospel. Know that your prayers make a difference here in my family’s life and in our ministry. Know that God is using you. As we are here in Uganda we are often blessed to catch glimpses of what God is doing back home through people like you. God’s heart is for the whole world to know Him intimately, and you also play a direct role in that. As members of one body let us continue working together to bring the transforming hope of the Gospel into hearts and minds, not growing tired of doing good, let us obediently carry out the good works which God created each of us for.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Harris Family Update September 2018"},{"content":"“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you.” Jeremiah 1:5\nGrowing up in America with the amazing birthday parties and many presents, it hard for me to have birthdays in Uganda. This being my 9thbirthday here, I think I finally got it! Remove the selfishness and focus on God’s truth. I thought about how God knew me. All my sins and ugliness but yet He still wanted me. Not even that He alone but gave His only son for me! He had all these amazing plans for my life as he created me in Mommy’s womb! Seeing His love, grace and His knowledge of all things have overwhelmed me. This would have been plenty for me but it didn’t stop there. Many people brought gifts even though we didn’t plan a party. I cried happy tears and had to explain why my eyes watered. Again, feeling so unworthy and extremely blessed! I know how people struggle for money and what it means to work so hard just to try to get school fees. Yet they are bringing me nice thoughtful gifts. Who am I that God could bless me so much? It’s just the unmeasurable amounts of amazing God!\nVBS “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6”\nOur first ever locally ran, 3 day VBS was more amazing then we could ever have imagined! We had made a budget for 200 children but by the second day we had well over 300 children! We kept praying that God would provide and multiply. Him being so faithful, He did! Since it was holiday season we were not expecting so many. We think because many parents were in the garden and most parents rarely know where their children are, many children from the Muslim homes around came. The second day they all brought their friends! The third day we had a few less than the second day and I assume it was because word got out by then. Everyone serving amazed me! We have so many new teachers and helpers in children’s ministry and all stepped up to the plate and served God wholeheartedly. It went so much smoother then I thought possible. All the children extremely blessed and many came to accept Christ. Our VBS theme was “Fruits of the Spirit.” We also printed out handouts for parents to know what their children will be learning. We did this in hopes that it will encourage more parents to want to spend time with their children and share the Word of God with them.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for Chandiru. She has had her face drained many times but it keeps coming back. We introduced her to the team that came from CC San Juan to get advice on how to help. They shared some ideas and even blessed her with enough to get some real tests done. Vincent has taken her to Arua today to do the tests we can. Please pray God shows us the answers on how to help this precious young lady and also that she and her family may be saved through this.\nPlease continue to pray for strength and health for us, especially Vincent. He is really being used so mightily. We see the church members growing in their walks and so much fruit out of all the hard work so that makes it worth it a million times over.\nPlease pray as the boys and I travel stateside this coming month. I already have all my doctor’s appointments lined up so please pray for guidance for the doctors. If I do need surgery that it won’t take too long to schedule so that I can heal and we can head back. Zachary’s school and therapies are all set up too. Please pray for us as we are apart from Daddy again!\nPlease also pray for our vehicle to stay strong during our travels.\nPraise Reports:\nThe government tractors working on the roads have shared they are hoping to level our land for us. This would be a huge blessing!\nThe boys are I have an opportunity to visit Calvary Chapel Galway, Ireland on our way stateside! Never thought this dream would come true but it is and we can’t wait to meet all the people that have been praying for us all these years. Also, can’t wait to spend time with the Clancy’s who helped me so much especially those first years of missions.\nThe CC San Juan team had an amazing trip and were such a blessing. Angela and I even assisted some of the midwives with the delivery of babies and name them. Angela is now hooked and going to the hospital almost every day to take photos of the new babies born. We also joined them at the refugee camp and many other blessings.\nAll the funding for the sports ministry has come! Praise God for His provision! Please continue to pray for the team as the next season is starting now.\nWe made a video I can share stateside with Vincent and photos from this year. I am defiantly not tech gifted so I’m excited it is done!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/birth-day/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2018/03/IMG_7459-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you.”  Jeremiah 1:5\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGrowing up in America with the amazing birthday parties and many presents, it hard for me to have birthdays in Uganda.  This being my 9thbirthday here, I think I finally got it!  Remove the selfishness and focus on God’s truth.  I thought about how God knew me.  All my sins and ugliness but yet He still wanted me.  Not even that He alone but gave His only son for me!  He had all these amazing plans for my life as he created me in Mommy’s womb!  Seeing His love, grace and His knowledge of all things have overwhelmed me.  This would have been plenty for me but it didn’t stop there.  Many people brought gifts even though we didn’t plan a party. I cried happy tears and had to explain why my eyes watered.  Again, feeling so unworthy and extremely blessed!  I know how people struggle for money and what it means to work so hard just to try to get school fees.  Yet they are bringing me nice thoughtful gifts.  Who am I that God could bless me so much? It’s just the unmeasurable amounts of amazing God!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Birth Day"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family!\nI pray that you are all doing well, and we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to read this quick update and join us in prayer!\nFirst of all, we\u0026rsquo;re excited to present our big news to you all: Amy is pregnant with our 4th child! We\u0026rsquo;ll be introducing our newest little one into the world in Spring of 2019. We are blessed that the Lord has allowed us to have a \u0026ldquo;full quiver\u0026rdquo; of children so close in age so that they can grow and learn and be friends together. Amy and I celebrated our 7th anniversary of marriage this past month and are blown away by God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness to us!\nWith this big news also comes a busy season in our lives. Joel has been teaching a weekly Wednesday night class through the book of Joshua to some of SGWM\u0026rsquo;s Bible College students in South Asia. It is such an honor for him to play a role in training up future leaders for Christ in a country where biblical resources are scarce and the need for the Gospel is great.\nIn addition, Joel is going to be attending our church\u0026rsquo;s School of Ministry every Thursday night for 3 1/2 hours for the next 8 months. This is a great opportunity for him, as he has never had any \u0026ldquo;official\u0026rdquo; ministry training. He will also be acting as a pastoral mentor for others taking the class in the ins and outs of ministry. Needless to say, between those two things, family, leading Life Groups and Worship Ministry, teaching Young Adults every Friday night, and running two big upcoming church events, our plates are quite full!\nOn the home front, Maggie is beginning her homeschool/charter program, and is totally nailing it! We couldn\u0026rsquo;t be more proud of her, and of course Harrison can\u0026rsquo;t help but join in on the learning action occasionally. Amy continues to be an amazing mom and excels in the role of teacher for all of our kids. And finally, we know many of you were praying for us in past months for Jude (1) to sleep better through the night. His sleep schedule has been great for many weeks now, so thank you for your prayers; God answered them!\nWe ask that you keep the following in prayer:\nFor a safe and healthy pregnancy for both the new baby and for Amy, as she juggles the difficulties of pregnancy with raising our three others while I\u0026rsquo;m at work during the days. For continued financial support. We are praying that the Lord provides the resources and opportunity for larger housing for us (specifically, we\u0026rsquo;d love a house with a yard for the kids to play in). This seems impossible in Southern California, but we trust God will provide us with it if He sees fit for us to have that for His glory. For increased energy and balance with all of the ministry on our plates. We want to do not just many things for the Lord, but we want to do many things well for His glory while maintaining a healthy family life. Please pray for Maggie (as well as Harrison and Jude) to continue to develop a love for learning, and for Amy and I to receive an ever-increasing vision and plan from God for educating our children and making them disciples of Christ Please pray for the many upcoming opportunities for Joel to travel for SGWM. He is planning on, Lord-willing, three fairly big trips in 2019, so we need wisdom on what opportunities he should take and for additional financial support to go on the trips the Lord would have him go on. (Hopefully more details to come on those opportunities in future updates!) Thank you all again for your continued prayers and support, it means the world to us! And I know we usually end our updates with this, but we sincerely ask that you would respond to us with any prayer requests of your own. We love you all and are delighted to partner in prayer with you, not just your prayers for us, but our prayers together for the Gospel.\nAll the Best for His Glory! Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, and Jude\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/big-news-and-full-plates-joel-amy-garcia-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI pray that you are all doing well, and we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for taking the time to read this quick update and join us in prayer!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst of all, we\u0026rsquo;re excited to present our big news to you all: Amy is pregnant with our 4th child! We\u0026rsquo;ll be introducing our newest little one into the world in Spring of 2019. We are blessed that the Lord has allowed us to have a \u0026ldquo;full quiver\u0026rdquo; of children so close in age so that they can grow and learn and be friends together. Amy and I celebrated our 7th anniversary of marriage this past month and are blown away by God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness to us!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Big News and Full Plates - Joel \u0026 Amy Garcia Update"},{"content":"I can’t believe it’s almost fall. Our time in Rosarito is really starting to fly by, and before we know it we’ll be planting a church in Oaxaca!\nJon completed his first quarter of teaching at the Bible College at CC Rosarito. It was a great experience for him as he studied and prepared to teach each week in the book of Daniel. He has 2 weeks off and will begin teaching a new class after the break. He’s also teaching the New Believers class on Wednesday nights. It’s neat to know that he’s teaching a class that meant so much to him when he first got saved. I love how the Lord brings things full-circle like that. He also teaches the 11 and 12-year-old class on Saturday nights.\nJonny and Noah have officially begun 6th grade. We are homeschooling them again this year, and this is our 7th year of homeschool minus the few months that they attended school in Cacalote. They are really enjoying their time in our neighborhood because they’ve become really close to one of the boys who lives across the street. It’s going to be hard on them when we move, so let’s start praying for that one now!!!\nI am really enjoying serving in the greeting ministry! It’s my favorite!!! I’m also teaching the 9 and 10-year-old class each Saturday. It’s a challenge for me to prepare each week but I think I’m finally getting a good routine down. I have a great translator/co-teacher too.\nJon and I are back in the Church Planting Course each week. It’s been such a blessing to see how the Lord has used this course to prepare us more and more for what He’s called us to do.\nWe had a great time serving at the grand opening service for Calvary Valley Center. Please keep this church plant in your prayers as they serve the people of Valley Center.\nOur vision trip to Oaxaca is just 3 weeks away!!! We are so excited to see what the Lord reveals to us while on this trip.\nPRAYER REQUEST:\nWorship leader for a church plant. Wisdom for what to do with our car when we go to Oaxaca. We don’t know if we can nationalize it because of some of the rules they have. If our vehicle isn’t nationalized then we would have to drive it out of the country every 6 months which wouldn’t really be wise financially. Our trip to Oaxaca City in October, that the Lord would show us where He wants us to plant His church Thank you for continuing to follow along as we move forward in His calling for us to serve Him in Mexico! We are so grateful for each of you who love us, pray for us, support us, call us, and everything else. We love you all!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah\nPS…my goal is to get more pictures of Jon and the boys this month.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-brechtels-family-update-september-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI can’t believe it’s almost fall.  Our time in Rosarito is really starting to fly by, and before we know it we’ll be planting a church in Oaxaca!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJon completed his first quarter of teaching at the Bible College at CC Rosarito.  It was a great experience for him as he studied and prepared to teach each week in the book of Daniel.  He has 2 weeks off and will begin teaching a new class after the break.  He’s also teaching the New Believers class on Wednesday nights.  It’s neat to know that he’s teaching a class that meant so much to him when he first got saved.  I love how the Lord brings things full-circle like that.  He also teaches the 11 and 12-year-old class on Saturday nights.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Brechtel Family Update September 2018"},{"content":"As a family, we have decided to visit the churches of our students and friends once a month to see how they are doing and to bring them some encouragement from Gods Word. With the permission of each pastor, we have also decided to allow you to join us on that journey so that you will be more informed as you think about and pray for the churches of Uganda. We pray that these short Pastoral Bios would encourage you in your walk with God and that you would grow in your love for Jesus as you see how he is moving in the hearts of so many people!\nPastor Moses is one of the students in our newest class of pastors, he is also my neighbor here in the small town of Adak, and he is our head grounds manager at BAM. Not only that, but pastor Moses is my personal friend! I love him, and his family and I am so grateful to know him.\nMoses is the leader of Adak Deliverance Church which has 150+ adults and around 100 kids; they also have 6 branches that meet in peoples houses, under trees and places like that. They desire to help the communities physical and spiritual needs as they share the love of Jesus. They have outgrown their current hut and are slowly working on building a larger church as money allows.\nPray for Adak Deliverance Church: Pray – that God would bring bibles for the churchgoers so that they can grow in their personal walks with God. Pray – That it rains here in Adak so that peoples crops would succeed this coming harvest (this has been an especially dry wet season) Pray – That God would touch the marriages and the families of Adak, that God would give understanding in the roles of wives and husbands and that he would give parents wisdom in raising their children. Pray – Pray that God sustains them as money is tight here in Northern Uganda. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-harris-family-update-september-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAs a family, we have decided to visit the churches of our students and friends once a month to see how they are doing and to bring them some encouragement from Gods Word. With the permission of each pastor, we have also decided to allow you to join us on that journey so that you will be more informed as you think about and pray for the churches of Uganda. We pray that these short Pastoral Bios would encourage you in your walk with God and that you would grow in your love for Jesus as you see how he is moving in the hearts of so many people!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Harris Family Update September 2018"},{"content":"“\u0026hellip;The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” Matthew 8:37-38 Dear Friends and Family,\nAs most of you know summertime is a very busy time for us in Uganda. Summer is when most churches plan their missions trips so it is also when we plan opportunities for them to be able to serve here with our ministry and with Far Reaching Ministries. Between the beginning of June - August we had about 60 people come through the guest house. It is such a blessing for us personally to be a part of their excitement and wonder of all the new things they are experiencing in Africa that now seem commonplace to us. It is also a blessing for Arise Christian Fellowship to see the heart of missions as they meet and hear the testimonies of the visitors.\nAs the visitors wer e coming through we were sending them in groups to both Masindi and South Sudan. In Masindi, they were participating in Far Reaching’s Love Covers outreach. During this outreach they minister to an entire school through VBS as well as providing all the children with backpacks of necessary items for school. After 3 days of children’s activities, the outreach ends with a parents meeting where the parents are presented with the gospel and are able to share a meal with the children, teachers and missionaries.\nThe visitors that went to South Sudan were teaching a refresher course for the chaplains and helping to interview them and record their testimonies. Some of the visitors were also helping to prepare for and be a part of Calvary Chapel Cush/Nimule’s church dedication.\nI would like to share a testimony from our worship leader as we sent her and the Arise worship team to join the visitors and lead worship in Nimule for the church dedication.\n“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few… Mathew 9:37-38”, This is the scripture that always comes to mind every time I visit Nimule in South Sudan. This was not just any visit, this was a special ceremony we had been invited to. Calvary Chapel Cush/Nimule was dedicating their new church building and I was invited to lead worship with my worship team. The worship team and I got to reunite with our two friends, Arise Christian Fellowship missionaries who are now serving in South Sudan, Ivan and Timothy. It was a joyful reunion! We also got to rehearse with the worship team from Calvary Chapel Nimule, and I must say our friends Ivan and Timo are really doing a great job training these guys! We were rather impressed with how much they had grown musically. The FRM compound was overflowing with guests from all around the worl d, l iterally! We had visitors from Kenya, Uganda, USA and Russia! Fellowship with these brothers and sisters in the Lord was such a precious time. Yes, we were there to minist er but it was a breath of fresh air to just sit back and listen to other believers share, talk and laugh and just have a great time. The actual service for the church dedication started Sunday at around 9 am and did not end until 2:30pm. We began with praise and worship, which my worship team and I were so privileged to lead with help from the CC Cush/ Nimule worship team who sang back up. We started off with a celebratory song; Jabulani Africa which means rejoice Africa, which we replaced with Jabulani South Sudan. It was a glorious moment, the Lord’s presence was definitely in that place! It was a blessing to look out at the congregation filled with people from various nations, all lifting up their hands to praise and worship the Lord. It was like a picture of what heaven will be like, all of us worshiping the Lord with one voice. We then had a message from Pastor Don McClure, after which he officially dedicated the new church building t o the Lord. Then began the speeches! We had speech after speech after speech from different people who have been a huge part of the chaplain ministry for a long time! I am forever grateful to the Lord for all the ministry opportunities He gives us, we could not do this without Him.”\nThank you for praying for our family and for the Ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him, _Brian, Jill,__Luke, Laylee,_and Liana PRAYER REQUESTS Please pray for the Kanyike family\u0026ndash;Jill\u0026rsquo;s mom went to be with the Lord several days ago. By God\u0026rsquo;s grace and just before her mom\u0026rsquo;s passing, Jill, Brian and the kids were able to have an extended visit for the first time in years. Praise God that the Kanyike family are finally able to travel as a family to the States for furlough and Jill’s medical treatment. Please pray for provision for tickets to travel and for medical. Praise the Lord for all that is being done to reach the people of South Sudan. Pray for those who come and minister in Sudan and Uganda for safety, health and fruitful ministry. Pray for all the teachings that took place this month. Pray that they will go beyond peoples ears to their hearts and lives. Pray for all the ministries of Arise Christian Fellowship as well as the other ministries we partner with. Pray for Jill and the children as they continue in homeschooling. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-september-2018/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"-thereforepray-earnestly-to-the-lord-of-the-harvest-tosend-out-laborers-into-his-harvest-matthew-837-38\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“\u0026hellip;The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few;\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003etherefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”\u003c/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eMatthew 8:37-38\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/kanyike/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2018/09/summer1.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs most of you know summertime is a very busy time for us in Uganda. Summer is when most churches plan their missions trips so it is also when we plan opportunities for them to be able to serve here with our ministry and with Far Reaching Ministries. Between the beginning of June - August we had about 60 people come through the guest house. It is such a blessing for us personally to be a part of their excitement and wonder of all the new things they are experiencing in Africa that now seem commonplace to us. It is also a blessing for Arise Christian Fellowship to see the heart of missions as they meet and hear the testimonies of the visitors.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update--September 2018"},{"content":"Dearest Friends,\nI hope this update finds you all well. For us, the break is over and things are back in full swing here at the Bible college. The month of June was a blessing for us, we put the older two kids (Eva and Romeo) into school and we are all still trying to get adjusted to fitting the time for public transportation (1 hr minimum each way) into our schedule. They are still struggling to get adjusted to waking up at 5:30 in the morning. It has been challenging but they are both progressing rapidly in their ability to speak Spanish. We really enjoyed getting to spend time with the scholarship students as they stayed and worked over the break. Most of them will be graduating this semester so we are trying to take advantage of every last moment we get with them.\nJuly was also a blessing but in a much busier way. We spent the month going on a mission trip with our church Rocky Mountain Calvary to Cusco, to work with Darwin and Annie Torres and their young church there. It was amazing to see how God is working in a city that is totally saturated with pantheism and idol worship. Pastor Darwin shared with me that converts are hard to win in Cusco, but when people commit their lives to the Lord they are truly all in, and they remain faithful. The church had a baptism while we were there and our son Romeo decided that it was time for him to make a public confession of his faith. I was so thankful to be able to baptize my son, and I look forward to seeing what God has in store for his life. Along with the mission trip, we also spent a couple weeks in Lima, Chiclayo, and Ecuador finishing up Jane’s paperwork and going through the process for Jessica and I’s residency. Once we are approved we will need to make two more trips to Chiclayo before we receive our residency cards. Please pray that the process goes smoothly. We also were able to spend a few days at the beach on the Ecuador – Peru border and take some much-needed family time which was very refreshing for all of us.\nAugust saw the start of the new semester along with a few new students. Please pray for all of them that they would be able to adjust quickly to life here. Many of them are straight out of high school and it’s a big change from living with their parents. Having new students is a very obvious demonstration of the work that God is doing here. It is amazing to see the growth in maturity, and understanding of the Word that God brings to these young lives in just a couple short years. One student in particular who will be graduating this semester brings me so much joy when I see who she is now compared with who she was when she first got here. At first, she was extremely loud, and would often interject very blatant heresies into the class discussions claiming that they came from the Bible but she just couldn’t remember where. She was also in a long distance relationship with an unbeliever. Over the course of her time here she broke off that unhealthy relationship and has matured into a surprisingly wise and perceptive young woman. Now when she has something to add to the class or a question to ask I am pleased to call on her instead of cringing at what she might say. After this semester, with the support of her home church, she plans on going on to complete her Bachelor’s degree at Calvary Chapel Bible College Hungary before heading back to serve in her home church. I am very proud of all the students who will be graduating this semester and I am super excited to see what God does with their lives as they continue to seek Him.\nNeeded Prayer:\nPlease pray for the classes that I am teaching this semester, Marriage Talks, Inductive Bible Study, and the book of Hebrews. Pray that God would speak truth through the classes and that the students would learn and grow. Pray for wisdom and discernment for me as the dean of men that I would truly be able to help these young men grow in their relationships with Christ. Pray for Jessica as she raises our kids, and is involved with mentoring various young women on campus. Pray for her health as it seems to be taking a turn for the worse again. Pray that God would heal her, and/or that we would be able to get an accurate diagnosis so we can find a treatment to help her. Pray for our kids that they would be lights in their school and that they would learn Spanish quickly. We love you all, thank you so much for all the support.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/buescher-family-update-august-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDearest Friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope this update finds you all well. For us, the break is over and things are back in full swing here at the Bible college. The month of June was a blessing for us, we put the older two kids (Eva and Romeo) into school and we are all still trying to get adjusted to fitting the time for public transportation (1 hr minimum each way) into our schedule.  They are still struggling to get adjusted to waking up at 5:30 in the morning. It has been challenging but they are both progressing rapidly in their ability to speak Spanish. We really enjoyed getting to spend time with the scholarship students as they stayed and worked over the break. Most of them will be graduating this semester so we are trying to take advantage of every last moment we get with them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Buescher Family Update August 2018"},{"content":"“Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.” Colossians 1:28-29 This past week our ministry chose to make this verse in Colossians our theme verse. I am so grateful that God has placed our family within a group of like-minded individuals whose desire is to make Christ known and understood through abiding in the Word of God. We have been sent by God through you, our brothers and sisters, that we might labor to reveal Christ here in Uganda. So, thank you for being partners with us in the Gospel! It is so exciting to see how God is working and moving all around us. Some days are more exciting than others, and we aren’t always on spiritual mountaintops, but we trust Gods promise that His Word won’t return to Him void.\nIn the last month, we had the opportunity as a family to visit one of our students\u0026rsquo; churches for a Sunday morning service. We were so blessed to see 200 or so people crammed together to the point of no more standing room, in a grass hut structure, with hearts and minds focused on Jesus Christ. Sometimes it can be scary to visit churches outside of America because, as a visiting adult male, the chances that you will end up preaching the sermon without any warning are very high, and that visit was no exception to the rule. Luckily I had guessed it would happen and I came prepared:). Please pray for Adak Deliverance Church, that they would grow in their understanding and knowledge of our Savior through a love for His Word, that they would be filled with the Holy Spirit, and that they would abide in Christ. Our future hope/plan is to visit one of our student’s churches on the third Sunday of every month.\nThis month had it’s highs, but it also had it’s difficulties. This past Sunday night was one of the most difficult things I’ve faced so far in life. After Noelle and I were asleep there was a knock on the door by our nursing staff from the clinic. A small child needed to be transported to a more equipped hospital due to his critical condition. He had far stages of malaria teamed with anemia. I drove him in the ambulance, along with his baby sister and his mother to the closest large hospital through extremely bad road conditions due to the rainy season. Upon arrival at the pediatric wing of the hospital, I learned that he died literally seconds before. Death is hard, but cross-culturally, handling a situation like that is even harder. I’ve had time to be candid with God and come to some closure, but please pray for the family of the boy.\nConcerning our school, our first class of pastors just finished studying through the whole Old Testament, and our second class finished the first book of the Old Testament, Genesis. This coming week we will be teaching through the book of Exodus. Through my time studying through Exodus in preparation for teaching, God has really been showing me His faithfulness to His Word in the way that He remembered His covenant with Abraham and kept all of His previous promises. God is faithful. May He make us a faithful people who are content to honor Him day in and day out.\n“I also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they sojourned. Furthermore I have heard the groaning of the sons of Israel, because the Egyptians are holding them in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. Say, therefore, to say the sons of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. Then I will take you for My people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you to the land which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I will give it to you for a possession; I am the LORD.’” Exodus 6:4-8 ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-harris-family-update-august-2018/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"him-we-preach-warning-every-man-and-teaching-every-man-in-all-wisdom-that-we-may-present-every-man-perfect-in-christ-jesus-to-this-end-i-also-labor-striving-according-to-his-working-which-works-in-me-mightily-colossians-128-29\"\u003e“Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily.” Colossians 1:28-29\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/IMG_2807.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/IMG_2807-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past week our ministry chose to make this verse in Colossians our theme verse. I am so grateful that God has placed our family within a group of like-minded individuals whose desire is to make Christ known and understood through abiding in the Word of God. We have been sent by God through you, our brothers and sisters, that we might labor to reveal Christ here in Uganda. So, thank you for being partners with us in the Gospel! It is so exciting to see how God is working and moving all around us. Some days are more exciting than others, and we aren’t always on spiritual mountaintops, but we trust Gods promise that His Word won’t return to Him void.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Harris Family Update August 2018"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThis past month, our church was blessed to host a church planting conference. In this update, I wanted to tell you about the great things that God did during this conference.\nOur church planting weekend began on Friday evening as we had 12 of our church planers return from the field to share with our church congregation about the great things God has done!\nMost of our local church planters shared, along with several who flew in for this special event. Each one gave a testimony along with some prayer requests, along with thanking our church for their support.\nA special highlight for me was listening to a church planting panel made up solely of our church planters. I felt like a proud papa as I sat back in the audience and heard our church planters answer question after question from our church body with wisdom and clarity! The evening was well attended as many in our congregation personally support their friends that have been sent out to church plant.\nWhile the Friday evening conference was open to our local church, all day Saturday we hosted a bilingual conference that was open to any and all pastors and leaders that were interested in learning about church planting. For the first time, this conference was held not in our church facility, but at one of our church plants located in a beautiful town called La Mision about 30 minutes south of us!\nThis two-year-old church plant, (Liberty Ranch Calvary Chapel) has not only flourished in their community, but they have already launched out and sent out their own church plant to a community located in the Southern Baja surf town of Todos Santos.\nWe were blessed as two of our ministry partners traveled down from the US, to be our featured speakers at the main conference. Pastor Bruce Zackary (Nexus Calvary in Camarillo) has been a long time friend and mentor to me. Bruce wrote the Calvary Church Planting Manual which is the text we use in our church planting course, and he partners in several of our church plants. Pastor Bruce gave us a powerful word and challenged us to be faithful to our calling.\nPastor Derek Neider is the pastor of Calvary Chapel in Las Vegas! Besides being a close personal friend, he is also a partner with us in several of our church plants. Pastor Derek shared a humorous yet Spirit-filled talk that left all of us blessed. Both of these Pastors have not only a deep love for Mexico but a passion for church planting and seeing the Kingdom of God grow through the entire world. We are honored to have them as speakers and ministry partners.\nFor those in attendance at the conference that felt called to plant, they left encouraged. For those not sure, they left praying for God’s perfect will for their life and family. We ended the conference by having those that felt called come forward, where our leadership laid on hands and prayed for God’s perfect will and timing.\nThe following week, our church began our new semester in our church planting class. With over 30 men and women enrolled this semester, (including several new couples) we are excited to see God’s church planting plans unfold through these faithful believers!\nIt is my hope and prayer that you are encouraged by this update. We are co-laborers in the ministry, and it is an honor and blessing for me that you have chosen to partner with us in this amazing work! Thank you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\nThat God would speak to and call those in our new church planting course! That God would provide financially for our family and church in Rosarito! Praise Reports!\nPraise the Lord for a blessed and fruitful church planting conference! Praise God for provision and for the progress on our church’s new patios and sanctuary expansion! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-september-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month, our church was blessed to host a church planting conference. In this update, I wanted to tell you about the great things that God did during this conference.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/08/Church-Planting-Conference-Aug-2018-14.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/08/Church-Planting-Conference-Aug-2018-14-200x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur church planting weekend began on Friday evening as we had 12 of our church planers return from the field to share with our church congregation about the great things God has done!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/08/Church-Planting-Conference-Aug-2018-3.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/08/Church-Planting-Conference-Aug-2018-3-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMost of our local church planters shared, along with several who flew in for this special event. Each one gave a testimony along with some prayer requests, along with thanking our church for their support.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family September 2018"},{"content":"It has been a busy and exciting couple of months.\nThe church is doing great as we have been blessed to see many people come to the Lord over the last few months and have had about 15 people baptized.\nWe had a men’s conference that went well as we had Pastor Gil Garcia from CC Rosedale, Bakersfield, CA and also Pastor Martin Garcia from CC Las Delicias, Tijuana, BC, Mexico come and share powerful messages from the Word.\nWe have begun a construction project at the church. The plan is to knock out a wall, expand the sanctuary and create a bigger space for fellowship. Calvary Chapel Hagerman came down with their youth group and helped us with some of the construction. The air conditioning is finished and working well, praise the Lord.\nJuly has been busy as we have had a family night every Friday, watching movies and playing games. Our Vacation Bible School went well as we were able to minister to 30 kids over the course of 5 days. We are looking forward to having a women’s conference in October, please keep that in prayer.\nOur oldest daughter Jamie had the opportunity to help Baja Christian Ministries with building homes for people in Tijuana. We are so proud of her as she has excelled in her studies and is deciding what her next step might be.\nBrian and RJ have been doing well in basketball and enjoying their summer. RJ’s basketball team won the championship in a church league we were involved with at Calvary Chapel Rosarito. It was a great time playing with the boys in basketball. The boys also had friends from Idaho come to stay for a few weeks, during summer break.\nMackenzie has been hanging out with her friends, she always stays busy with little craft projects and loves worshiping the Lord as she listens to her favorite worship songs. Jamie and Mackenzie attended a girl’s retreat with Calvary Chapel Rosarito.\nMany of you know my grandma, Barbara, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Karen has been taking care of her for the past three months. We have just moved her up to San Jose where she will be well taken care of by my uncle. It will be great to have Karen back at home full time, we have definitely missed her much. Keep Barbara in prayer, she seems to be doing well in her battle with cancer, the Lord is in control.\nWe are so excited to share with you what has been happening in our lives as we serve the Lord in Mexico. Thank you for your spiritual support as you pray for us and also your physical support as you provide for us financially in the mission field of Mexico.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/summer-2018-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt has been a busy and exciting couple of months.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe church is doing great as we have been blessed to see many people come to the Lord over the last few months and have had about 15 people baptized.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/08/IMG_3785-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/08/IMG_3783-225x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/08/37969539_869430316586025_938897683609812992_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/08/37962356_869429583252765_4247233888465715200_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/08/37965970_869430049919385_3478409075757154304_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe had a men’s conference that went well as we had Pastor Gil Garcia from CC Rosedale, Bakersfield, CA and also Pastor Martin Garcia from CC Las Delicias, Tijuana, BC, Mexico come and share powerful messages from the Word.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Summer 2018 Update"},{"content":"F or many years, at Calvary Chapel Nairobi, women’s ministry was one of our biggest ministries. The men would have a Bible study but the attendance used to be sparse. This year, we have held Men\u0026rsquo;s Breakfast events once every two months, on Saturdays. We have had many men show up! Men both young and old. Single and married. Men have taken turns teaching the Word to the other men, singing worship together and praying for one another. These events have caused splendid friendship and fellowship among the men! Dave has also been inviting these men to our home once or twice a month to come over to have a meal together and discuss Christian Doctrine, living a godly life and such. This has been a terrific avenue for Dave to speak into the lives of these men and to disciple them. Please pray that this Ministry to men would continue to grow.\nWe hope to start Home fellowships among the homes of the people in our church soon. Please pray that God would give our Church leadership wisdom on this.\nOur elder dau ghter, Bianca,won the best solo dance in the junior category at Kenya Dance Competition earlier this year. This led her to gain some recognition and she was invited to attend Central School of Ballet, London’s Intensive Summer Dance training course. We were pleasantly surprised to receive such a golden opportunity but we did not know how this was going to be possible financially. As we live off a humble Missionary income. We knew there was no way we could afford to send her to London. But Dave’s parents offered to help to pay for the expenses for Bianca and Twinkle to go to London for 10 days, so she could participate in the Intensive dance program. So, earlier this month, Twinkle and Bianca were in London. The training was very intensive, as she trained from morning until evening. She says she learned a whole lot of new technique and skill. Twinkle also met up with some of her old school friends who had relocated to England. It was a sweet reunion with her friends. She also got to explore and see London and some parts of England that she had not visited before.\nWe have also had the pleasure of hosting yet another summer short-term team at our home. These were our friends from our sending church. We enjoyed a lovely time of fellowship with them.\nThe Fall semester at our Bible College resumes at the end of August. Even though we only have four students enrolled this semester, our teachers are committed to teaching them diligently. Please pray that it would be a fruitful semester of learning about God.\nThank you so much for your prayers and financial support for our family and ministry!\nIn Christ,\nDavid Zavala\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/favor-and-blessings/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eF \u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_7155-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_7155-1-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e or many years, at Calvary Chapel Nairobi, women’s ministry was one of our biggest ministries. The men would have a Bible study but the attendance used to be sparse. This year, we have held Men\u0026rsquo;s Breakfast events once every two months, on Saturdays. We have had many men show up! Men both young and old. Single and married. Men have taken turns teaching the Word to the other men, singing worship together and praying for one another. These events have caused splendid friendship and fellowship among the men! Dave has also been inviting these men to our home once or twice a month to come over to have a meal together and discuss Christian Doctrine, living a godly life and such. This has been a terrific avenue for Dave to speak into the lives of these men and to disciple them. Please pray that this Ministry to men would continue to grow.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Favor and Blessings"},{"content":"Dear Family and Friends,\nWe can’t thank you enough for all your love, prayer and support. It has been an amazing privilege to be able to serve here in Banos Del Inca, Peru. God is doing some amazing things in this part of Northern, Peru. Here is the latest of what has been going on in the ministry fronts and our home life.\nBelen Orphanage: A medical and dental team from Baltimore, Maryland came and worked alongside us. We were able to take this team to the Belen Girl’s Orphanage. This was an incredible opportunity for us to know the girls on a more personal level. Natalia broke into tears when she asked one of the girls about her life because of some of the issues she was having. At the age of 7 this young girl was sexually abused by her uncle and this happened for many years. She was able to finally escape from this family member and that is how she ended up at the orphanage. This is only one story of one of the young girls, hearing story after story you will find that many have gone through the same type of situation.\nWomen’s Ministry: The ladies have been studying the book of Esther for the past few months. It is very exciting to share with you all that one of the young ladies, who we see as a future leader for the Church, has started to help Natalia with some of the teaching. It is very rewarding to see those who are maturing in the Faith, step out in Faith and start to use their spiritual gifts that God has given to them.\nAwana: Oh my goodness, we are thrilled with these kids! They are learning so much about Jesus, memorizing Bible verses. The best part is that these 20 kids are consistent and committed! These kids are so sweet they just melt our hearts! We couldn’t be more grateful for this Awana program in our Church. We have so much fun playing the games, singing the music and watching all the kids learning from the Bible!\nChurch news: This past month, I was officially named as the pastor of the church. It has been extremely challenging and we have had to deal with a lot of spiritual attacks. We are blessed though because it’s an honor and a privilege to be a witness of men and women coming to know Jesus Christ and have their lives transformed!\nWorship: Natalia continues serving on the worship team. For the next 3 months she will be leading worship while our worship pastor is away in Germany, serving with refugees. Please keep her in your prayers for strength and wisdom in the area of worship.\nMedical Mission Team: We worked along with a great group of ophthalmologists from John Hopkins. They performed 12 cataract surgeries. These operations took place in the local hospital and we were able to build good relationships with the doctors there. After having worked with the ophthalmologist from John Hopkins for a week the ophthalmology director of this hospital made a decision to follow Christ. There were 2 patients that particularly touched our hearts. One lady that loved Jesus, told us that she wants to be able to see so that she can read her Bible again. This brought tears to our eyes. It’s Interesting because she was one of the more difficult cases that the doctors had to handle. For a moment we thought she wasn’t going to be able to see at all! We were praying for her during the surgery and after it. The very next day her cornea wasn’t good, we thought she would need to go back to surgery to fix it, but we kept praying. Then on the second day after her operation her eyes worked perfect! It was a miracle! Even the doctor started jumping and yelling, “it’s a miracle!” All of the patients that were being operated on were legally blind but now they can see! It was a privilege to be part of this team. They are even willing to come back next year and perform more operations.\nIMG\\_3797-e1534993881778 IMG\\_3925 Home Life: Alejandro: Started regular school! This was an answer to prayer because he was very lonely and sad. We found a small Christian school that is only 10 minutes away from our house! He loves it and has already made some friends. Emily: Is getting so big! She loves going to church with her favorite dress and loves giving sweet greetings to everybody that comes into the church! She is a future usher! Natalia: Her liver is recovering slowly. It’s hard to have a special diet. She just recently got her permanent green card and had to travel on a short notice to the states to keep everything in line with her residency. I was so happy to have her back! I am feeling more and more comfortable preaching. It’s very challenging but it has been a good challenge. I feel that the people are very responsive and are really starting to grow more in their faith.\nGod is Good!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/called-to-pastor/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Family and Friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe can’t thank you enough for all your love, prayer and support.  It has been an amazing privilege to be able to serve here in Banos Del Inca, Peru. God is doing some amazing things in this part of Northern, Peru. Here is the latest of what has been going on in the ministry fronts and our home life.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_3786.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG_3786-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e Belen Orphanage:\u003c/strong\u003e A medical and dental team from Baltimore, Maryland came and worked alongside us. We were able to take this team to the Belen Girl’s Orphanage. This was an incredible opportunity for us to know the girls on a more personal level. Natalia broke into tears when she asked one of the girls about her life because of some of the issues she was having. At the age of 7 this young girl was sexually abused by her uncle and this happened for many years. She was able to finally escape from this family member and that is how she ended up at the orphanage. This is only one story of one of the young girls, hearing story after story you will find that many have gone through the same type of situation.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Called to Pastor"},{"content":"Hey Friends \u0026amp; Family! Here\u0026rsquo;s another quick Summer update along with some prayer requests for those of you who are following our ministry. Thank you all so much for your prayer and for faithfully partnering with us!\nLast week, I (Joel) got to go on my first youth retreat in a couple of years. It took some mental preparation to get back into \u0026ldquo;Youth Leader Mode,\u0026rdquo; as it\u0026rsquo;s been over 2 years now since I stepped away from being the church\u0026rsquo;s Jr. High Leader to being our Young Adults Leader. I was honored to lead worship for the majority of the trip and give a couple of teachings, one on God\u0026rsquo;s holiness and one on God\u0026rsquo;s mercy. What a blessing to see these students worshiping God with their whole hearts! One of my biggest takeaways was the effect that past retreats have had on these students. Youth retreats like this produce lasting fruit that many of them will look back on as spiritually defining moments in their lives, and that was what I was hearing from them on this retreat.\nOf course, all of this awesome ministry I got to partake in comes along with other youth ministry shenanigans, like having them drench you with (thankfully, waterproof) paint! But I have to say that at the end of the day, I kind of miss that sort of thing, messy and exhausting as the games and running and chaos can be.\nAs I write this, tonight will be my first night of teaching via Skype in South Asia for nine straight weeks through the book of Joshua. I am really excited to jump back into this ministry! This is, however, a busy season for me since I also teach our Young Adults weekly (currently through the book of James), as well as leading a Life Group (our church\u0026rsquo;s home groups) and helping facilitate our September New Believers\u0026rsquo; Class, on top of worship ministry. My plate is full, but I can always ask the Lord for a bigger one, and he\u0026rsquo;s faithful to do so :)\nI am also planning on going to Israel in the Spring of next year with our church to further my education as a Bible teacher, as well as to scope out some potential ministry in an adjacent middle-eastern country. I\u0026rsquo;m glad my travel schedule is finally starting to shape up for 2019 after some previous plans fell through, and I\u0026rsquo;m planning to help lead a Peru trip for our youth and young adults next Summer as well!\nOn the home front, the family is doing great. Jude is happy as a clam as always (though we\u0026rsquo;re still working on getting the kid to walk!), Harrison just turned three and is doing great learning how to be more responsible in helping around the house (he loves the working vacuum cleaner we got him for his birthday!), and we are in the process of getting Maggie enrolled in a charter program to begin her \u0026ldquo;TK\u0026rdquo; schooling. Amy, as always, is an amazing mom, and somehow squeezes in the time to meet with some of our young adult girls to disciple them on occasion. I\u0026rsquo;m certainly a blessed man to have such a wonderful family!\nHere are some prayer needs of ours:\nPlease pray for our finances. Even with young kids, food for a family of five has been a big expense and we have been stretched. We are trusting God, and praying that He will somehow, even though it seems impossible to us, provide us with a house to rent so both our kids and our young adults group, who meet at our place, have some more wiggle room. Please pray for wisdom and strength for us as parents, especially for Amy who takes the brunt of things while I am working during the days and often have other ministry at nights. She is a fantastic mother and can use prayer to continue to be so! Please pray for the additional finances we will need for me to go on the Israel/Jordan trip (over $4,000) in Spring. Please pray for wisdom in managing my busy schedule, as I am teaching and leading groups quite a bit, and this also requires lots of study time for me on top of other responsibilities. Thank you so much for your continued support and prayers, and please let us know if there is any way we can pray for you!\nAll the Best for His Glory! Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, and Jude\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/garcia-summer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHey Friends \u0026amp; Family! Here\u0026rsquo;s another quick Summer update along with some prayer requests for those of you who are following our ministry. Thank you all so much for your prayer and for faithfully partnering with us!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eLast week, I (Joel) got to go on my first youth retreat in a couple of years. It took some mental preparation to get back into \u0026ldquo;Youth Leader Mode,\u0026rdquo; as it\u0026rsquo;s been over 2 years now since I stepped away from being the church\u0026rsquo;s Jr. High Leader to being our Young Adults Leader. I was honored to lead worship for the majority of the trip and give a couple of teachings, one on God\u0026rsquo;s holiness and one on God\u0026rsquo;s mercy. What a blessing to see these students worshiping God with their whole hearts! One of my biggest takeaways was the effect that past retreats have had on these students. Youth retreats like this produce lasting fruit that many of them will look back on as spiritually defining moments in their lives, and that was what I was hearing from them on this retreat.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Garcia Summer Update #2!"},{"content":"For the past couple of months, I’ve been asking the Lord to give me a passion to share the Gospel with those who are lost. Though I grew up in the church I never felt like I had sufficient training in the Word of God to share with those who knew nothing about the Bible. I always told myself that I didn’t have the gift of evangelism so therefore I never had to share with others about Jesus. Silly, I know. Yet I feel like many in the church feel that exact way. We may not be gifted evangelists like Billy Graham or Greg Laurie but we all have the responsibility of sharing our faith with those around us. We’ve been called ambassadors for the Lord. People who He has given the responsibility to tell others about Him but many times we don’t live life in that way. In my life, I was saying that my fear of sharing my faith, the uncertainty of not knowing the answers, was more important than the soul of a person. How completely selfish I was and at times still am.\nThe crazy part is that once I started to pray that the Lord would give me people to share the Gospel with, He did! Not only did He place specific people at specific times in my life, He also opened the doors for me to work at Voice of Refugees. I went from being too scared to share the Gospel, to trying to incorporate the Gospel in every Bible lesson that I gave to Muslim children. How good is our God! I\u0026rsquo;ve learned a couple of things this summer that I would like to share with you.\nGod does not call us to the easy things. Every day it was a battle to go teach. I had some difficult students that literally kept me praying every second I was with them. Yet because they were so misbehaved, I developed a sweet relationship with their mothers that wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have developed if I didn\u0026rsquo;t have them constantly in my classroom. I also learned firsthand that God is with me in the difficult times, guiding my every step. God equips us for the work that He has called us to. Every college class I took, every Sunday school class I\u0026rsquo;ve taught, every VBS I participated in, etc was all for a reason and a purpose. To equip me for this summer and for the many adventures that are to come. Nothing is in vain. The Lord wastes nothing. Prayer changes things. Teaching this summer led me to a point where I didn\u0026rsquo;t think I was going to make it through the day. In every moment that I was overwhelmed, I took it to the Lord. It was in those moments of taking it all to the Lord that He granted me peace and grace. I prayed for the Bible lessons to be received well and they were. I prayed that the kids would learn how to pray and they did. I even had a Muslim child volunteer to pray for the snack!! I need to be willing to be used. I could have said no to this opportunity. I knew it was going to be a challenge and that it was all going to be new to me. Yet, I asked the Lord to use me in any way that He wanted. I was willing and because I stepped out and said \u0026lsquo;Here am I, Send me\u0026rsquo; the Lord used me. He wasn\u0026rsquo;t going to force me to do anything but in walking through the doors that He so wonderfully opened, I was extremely blessed. Apart from working with the kids, I was also able to develop amazing relationships with some of the mothers. I had a goal to speak to the parents as much as I could, in order to build relationships with them. I loved on every mother that walked through my classroom door. The relationships I built with the mothers was one of my favorite parts! I spent a day at the beach with them, which was an amazing time. I was also able to spend an afternoon with them at a park. I even had one lady remove her hijab (head covering) to show me her hair. That moment was HUGE and I was blown away! These women, are seeking for family and friendship. I was told over and over again that they feel like they are all alone and they simply want someone to talk to. The Lord loves these women so much and I pray that one day they will run towards Jesus and away from Islam.\nOn the second to last day, I shared with the kids about Jesus and what He did for us in order to take away our sins. I didn\u0026rsquo;t know how my Muslim students were going to take it or if they were even going to listen but as I spoke, each child listened and I pray that seeds were planted. I continually pray that the Lord would place more Christians in their lives who would continue to water the seeds that were planted. I pray that each and every student in my class would become a Warrior for the Lord!\nI learned so much this summer and I stand in awe of God\u0026rsquo;s goodness and faithfulness through it all! Stay tuned for next month\u0026rsquo;s newsletter as there is going to be some BIG exciting news shared!\nGod Bless You!\nIf you would like to volunteer at Voice of Refugees, please let me know. The missions field is in our backyard, it\u0026rsquo;s your turn to step out and reach the nations for His Glory.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/voice-of-refugees/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFor the past couple of months, I’ve been asking the Lord to give me a passion to share the Gospel with those who are lost. Though I grew up in the church I never felt like I had sufficient training in the Word of God to share with those who knew nothing about the Bible. I always told myself that I didn’t have the gift of evangelism so therefore I never had to share with others about Jesus. Silly, I know. Yet I feel like many in the church feel that exact way. We may not be gifted evangelists like Billy Graham or Greg Laurie but we all have the responsibility of sharing our faith with those around us. We’ve been called ambassadors for the Lord. People who He has given the responsibility to tell others about Him but many times we don’t live life in that way. In my life, I was saying that my fear of sharing my faith, the uncertainty of not knowing the answers, was more important than the soul of a person. How completely selfish I was and at times still am.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Voice of Refugees"},{"content":"So Shine “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:16\nIt’s amazing how every action can change a life. Coming to Uganda 9 years ago, I had to learn that our lives are always being watched like a fish in a bowl. We can easily turn people to Christ or away from Christ by how we live in our every moment. “Let your light so shine!” Men in Uganda spend the day and even night hours with each other playing cards or just sitting around the center. Very few spend real time with their children or help their wives with the never-ending work in their home. Vincent loves taking the boys out running and training. One morning I went to take photos and stopped in my tracks to praised God! The children at the public school, the guys who play football/soccer, people walking to the market, all stopping to watch and wonder. “That they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” The community knows how Vincent grew up and the type of dad he had. An abusive soldier who drank, would put a gun to Vincent’s head persecuting him then later abandoning him at one of the army barracks to grow up as an orphan. How did Vincent fight culture and his upbringing to be the man and father he is now? The only answer everyone can see and no one can deny is Christ! Christ is real! Vincent was just loving and training his boys like Christ told him to and the boys were listening and enjoying their daddy but to everyone else it was much more. I see God moving and I can picture the future. An area were people no longer fear their father/husband but come together as loving families. I’ve even started seeing more men out with their children and it’s extremely encouraging! Every moment, just simple examples through everyday life showing God’s love. How is your light shining and changing your community for Christ today?\nCalvary FC “For Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” Romans 10:13-14\nAs many of you know we live in the midst of the Muslim areas of Uganda. Reaching out and sharing the gospel with Muslim men was always a struggle. God showed us a few years ago to use football/soccer to reach these men and the fruit has been amazing! Many converts, hundreds have received Bibles and thousands have heard the Gospel! This year the Calvary team is going to the next level to reach out to even further areas. Through your prayers we have been blessed with the sponsorship for two coaches, adding some qualified players to join our local ones. We can now also rent a dormitory for them! The players now live together, train twice a day together and fellowship. We have a mixture of Muslim and Christians players all having Bibles and being discipled. Their lives are changing, both on and off the field. This also encourages the community to change. They say their boys are now more respectful and have a hope they didn’t have before. Even the crowds that come to watch them practice is an amazing blessing and testimony. The team is preparing for their tournaments starting the end of September. They asked you pray for the persecution against the team especially at the away games and for God to continue to change them and give them strength. Our heart for this ministry is to reach out to all the communities around, give out Bibles and continue to share the gospel every chance possible so that all have heard the gospel all for His glory.\nPrayer Requests:\nThe beginning of September we are having our first ever locally ran 3 day VBS. We are printing out a letter for parents with questions and a song to do with their children every day after VBS. Please pray this will not only be fruitful in the children lives but also start bringing families together through the Word of God. Pray for God’s favor and strength over the challenges we face. The spirit is moving mightily so tests are deep. Pray God go before and fight for us as we continue to love. Pray as we finalize the surveying and start leveling the land! So excited! That the Bibles we give out touch the lives of those who receive them. That there will be more and more bold converts ready to serve God! Please continue to pray for our health. Also for strength for Vincent as he continues to teach and disciple everyday! All of us including Vincent have been loving and learning from Genesis, focusing and growing from the life of Joseph. Praise Reports:\nWe have been blessed and able to get many of the children’s ministry resources we have been praying for! We only need more children’s Bibles and jump ropes. The house is almost finished! We are getting ready for any God calls to come serve alongside and stay with us. We were able to have a one day family outing to Arua! It was my first time out of Midigo in 4 months. 4-hour drive round trip, 3 hours of food, building materials and fabric shopping plus lunch with ice cream and still made it back to Midigo in time for the women’s fellowship. Daniel, Vincent and my malaria has been healed. We celebrated Gaga, Penninah, Daniel, Clow and Sharon’s birthdays this month. Angela has been enjoying her time here and being used mightily. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/so-shine/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2018/03/IMG_7459-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2018/08/fullsizeoutput_234a-300x169.jpeg\"\u003eSo Shine\n\u003cem\u003e“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”  Matthew 5:16\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s amazing how every action can change a life.  Coming to Uganda 9 years ago, I had to learn that our lives are always being watched like a fish in a bowl.  We can easily turn people to Christ or away from Christ by how we live in our every moment. “Let your light so shine!” Men in Uganda spend the day and even night hours with each other playing cards or just sitting around the center.  Very few spend real time with their children or help their wives with the never-ending work in their home. Vincent loves taking the boys out running and training. One morning I went to take photos and stopped in my tracks to praised God!  The children at the public school, the guys who play football/soccer, people walking to the market, all stopping to watch and wonder.  “That they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”   The community knows how Vincent grew up and the type of dad he had.  An abusive soldier who drank, would put a gun to Vincent’s head persecuting him then later abandoning him at one of the army barracks to grow up as an orphan.  How did Vincent fight culture and his upbringing to be the man and father he is now?  The only answer everyone can see and no one can deny is Christ!  Christ is real!  Vincent was just loving and training his boys like Christ told him to and the boys were listening and enjoying their daddy but to everyone else it was much more.  I see God moving and I can picture the future.  An area were people no longer fear their father/husband but come together as loving families.  I’ve even started seeing more men out with their children and it’s extremely encouraging! Every moment, just simple examples through everyday life showing God’s love.  How is your light shining and changing your community for Christ today?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"So Shine"},{"content":"“What a great adventure this will be!”, they said. “Think of how fun it will be!”. “What a great experience for your children!”. Truth be told the last five weeks on the road has been all of those things: an adventure, fun, and a great experience. However, often with great adventure comes great challenges. The last few weeks have not come without challenges but for the most part they have been fairly minor. We have been met with car issues, wasp attacks, sickness, and a hail storm in Colorado that left our van with $6000 worth of damages. Thank goodness for insurance! Through all the challenges God has encouraged us to keep going and overcome any difficulty that we confront.\nAs we have traveled around, we’ve seen the goodness of God through His people. Hospitality is defined as the friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, and strangers. We have experienced true hospitality the last few weeks and it has humbled us and made us exceedingly grateful for the Body of Christ. We have been guests in people’s homes that we’ve known and we’ve been welcomed in by strangers! It is so incredible to witness people living out the Bible’s command of showing hospitality. Many have fed us, entertained us, and cared for our family. We have watched our children become so adaptable. They’ve slept on the floor, in beds, in sleeping bags, on cots, they’ve been in hotel rooms, people’s house, or just slept in the car. They’ve learned to have fun wherever they are. It’s been a beautiful thing to watch.\nCurrently, we find ourselves delayed in El Paso, Texas. What was supposed to be a one-night stop has turned into a week and a half stay. We are tired and our patience is being tested daily. We have not had a consistent place to stay in days. We’ve bounced from hotel to hotel because we thought that surely any day we would be on our way across the border. However, we know God’s providential timing has kept us here.\nAs we think about moving from place to place we are reminded of Matthew 8:19-20:\n“19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, “Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go.”\n20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”\nJesus knew exactly what it was like to have no place to stay. He knew what it was like to move from place to place. But, none of that mattered because He was focused on doing the will of the Father. It didn’t matter where he slept, or if he slept His eyes were fixed on what was set out before Him.\nWhether we have a home or not does not matter. God is taking care of us. We do have a roof over our head and the Holy Spirit to comfort us. And we long to follow our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ wherever that road may lead.\nBy God’s great plan He put a Brother in Christ from Chihuahua, Mexico, in our path to provide us with some wisdom and direction on entering Mexico. As we have learned and gleaned from his experience, we are seeing that our time frame for entering the country was not God’s time frame. We are committed to enter the country through the proper channels, which is causing our delay here in El Paso. As we are waiting for documents to arrive from California we are seeking the Lord for His wisdom and guidance. We are “seeking from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions” (Ezra 8:21). As we collect all the formal documentation for entering, please pray for us that God would send favor in the sight of the Mexican officials to grant us entrance into the country. There is also a question of whether or not they will grant us a permit to bring our van into the country. If that permit for the van is rejected than we will “throw off everything that hinders us” (Hebrews 12:1), including the van! That may mean that we need to jump on a plane and head down south in order to arrive at school on time.\nThe biggest lesson learned this month is that God has created the body of Christ to work together and to be a support for one another. We have had to lean in and depend on our friends, family, and the Body of Christ more than ever before. We are used to being self-sufficient and not needing to ask for much help. We are learning that instead of the independence that we are accustom to, God is teaching us interdependence, the idea of being dependent on one another. It has been said, “Independence is rooted in pride, whereas interdependence is rooted in humility.” We have had to humble ourselves and learn to accept the kindness of others. Through it all, we have come to know a deeper appreciation for others and long to have the opportunity to be that support to whoever God puts in our path.\nThere have been many lessons learned and more experiences had and we wish we could convey all that God has done the last four weeks. We serve a faithful God and love all the “God stories” that He is building in our lives. Thank you for being a part of our story and thank you for keeping track of our family via the Blog. We also want to say thank you to those of you who have reached out to partner with us financially and thank you to those of you who have partnered with us in prayer. We are so blessed to be a part of your lives. Our prayer for you this month is that God would strengthen you to love one another and the Body of Christ more and more so that you would be able to experience the riches of his love, mercy and grace in the Saints, as we have. This is our prayer for you because we are taken back by the love of Christ displayed in the Body of Christ and we desire for you to have the same.\nGod bless and be with you all!\nLove the Mosley Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/delayed/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“What a great adventure this will be!”, they said. “Think of how fun it will be!”. “What a great experience for your children!”. Truth be told the last five weeks on the road has been all of those things: an adventure, fun, and a great experience. However, often with great adventure comes great challenges. The last few weeks have not come without challenges but for the most part they have been fairly minor.  We have been met with car issues, wasp attacks, sickness, and a hail storm in Colorado that left our van with $6000 worth of damages. Thank goodness for insurance! Through all the challenges God has encouraged us to keep going and overcome any difficulty that we confront.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Delayed"},{"content":"But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Daniel 1:8\nWe spent from June 20 to August 8 traveling around Japan reconnecting with our friends, family, and senders there after being away for four years. We spoke at around 20 church services and meetings and were able to reconnect with many but not all of our friends there as well.\nWe shared updates about what God is doing in Cambodia as well as encouraging and equipping the Japanese and international Christians there with apologetics based messages on topics such as the \u0026ldquo;Evidence for the Resurrection,\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Evidence for the Exodus,\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Evidence from Prophecy.\u0026rdquo; Japan\u0026rsquo;s national and church demographics are both getting older so it was also important to help them to be aware of some of the different perspectives and needs between first generation Christians and Christians who come from Christian families. We also talked about the importance of equipping young people with apologetics evidence so that their faith will not be shaken by challenges that they encounter in school, media, and social groups. In Daniel 1:8, we see that Daniel and his friends must have had their faith based on a firm foundation so that they could continue to stand for their faith even though they were in a foreign land. Sadly, we see in modern times many young people who grow up in church leave their faith when they go away for college or careers.\nThis pattern is not something that happens only in the USA but we met Japanese Christian young people who also struggled in the same way. As Cambodia develops both as a nation and in the church, this pattern is beginning to happen here as well. This is why Darryl has been developing (in many cases the only) apologetics materials in the Cambodian language to equip church leaders and parents so that when their young people have doubts about their faith that they will be able to point them to reasonable answers. Unlike older generations that would primarily seek answers to their faith-challenges from their families or the church, many young Cambodians are seeking answers on the Internet and other media. We are encouraged to continue developing apologetics materials for distribution via the Internet and social media. Darryl\u0026rsquo;s Cambodian ministry partner recently reported that one of the videos that they produced together in the Cambodian language had received more than 18,000 views. Darryl also shared 26 scripts with another Cambodian ministry to produce into short video dramas for Internet distribution. This ministry, made up of Cambodian young people, has produced high-quality videos in the Cambodian language that have received more than 22,000 views. The International Fishers website is regularly visited by around a thousand people each month and many of Light Times Magazine\u0026rsquo;s 3,000 copies are read by twenty people each, especially in the rural areas and in businesses.\nAs we return to our regular work/life pattern in Cambodia, Kayo will continue to serve with Precious Women Ministry to help them evangelize and transform the lives of young Cambodian women who are working in high-risk jobs in bars and night-clubs and give them a new life in Christ and the opportunities they need to pursue more sustainable careers and take care of their families.\nBenjamin will continue into the 4th grade at Hope International School.\nAs we continue to reach out to Cambodia\u0026rsquo;s next generation, we are reminded that many of our Senders in the US and Japan are from an older generation. Some of our largest financial sponsors are getting to an age where they won\u0026rsquo;t be able to continue their financial support for mission work for much longer. Please pray that God will raise up a new generation of senders who will be willing and able to regularly invest in mission work to help Cambodia\u0026rsquo;s Body of Christ to not just grow and make an impact for one generation but for the future as well.\nThanks for your faithful prayers, encouragement, and support. We are always encouraged to hear from people at home so don\u0026rsquo;t be shy about e-mailing us.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-next-generation/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBut Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way.\u003c/em\u003e Daniel 1:8\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe spent from June 20 to August 8 traveling around Japan reconnecting with our friends, family, and senders there after being away for four years.  We spoke at around 20 church services and meetings and were able to reconnect with many but not all of our friends there as well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Next Generation"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family,\nThis has been a very busy month of women’s ministry. We’ve had guest speakers and visitors, we started a new book and I taught a women’s retreat.\nIn the summer months we get many visitors coming through the guest house. More often than not they are just there briefly on the way to somewhere else. This past month we were blessed to have a team from Maranatha Chapel in San Diego spend a couple of days with us. Most people in Kampala are familiar with their church because we play Pastor Ray Bentley daily on the radio during rush hour. Annie Stone, the daughter of Pastor Ray, was on the team. She and her team came prepared to share with our ladies. Annie taught a message on fear vs faith. This message was so great for the ladies but it also ministered to me right where I am in my own life. After the teaching the ladies from Maranatha gave a gift to each our ladies. Each lady received a gift bag with a daily devotional in it. We are so thankful they took they time bless us with the Word and fellowship.\nOur women’s ministry also began studying a new book. We are studying through the book of Revelation. Before Revelation we had studied Daniel. While we were in the middle of that study we had a visiting pastor who shared with us about the 2 books together and suggested we g o straight into Revelation when we finished Daniel. The ladies were very excited about that idea and asked me if we could. I taught Revelation 7 years ago so I was excited to go through it again. There are a couple of ladies in my study from that time period but mostly it is a new group of ladies and I am enjoying their fresh ideas and difficult questions. Every week we have a teaching and we also have a discussion. Normally Bible study ends around noon but lately it can be nearing 2 before all the ladies have left. It has really been a great time of getting deep into God’s word together as well as searching ourselves and our own faith and beliefs as we tackle each new chapter.\nEvery Year we are invited to share at a women’s retreat hosted by Calvary Chapel Fort Portal. In the past I have been told the theme of the retreat or given a specific topic to teach on. This year when I asked what the theme would be they told me that they would like me to come up with the theme and the topics for each session.\nI prayed for a couple of weeks and could not come up with anything that I thought God wanted me to share. As time was going on I began to wonder what I was going to do. Then one night I could not sleep so I was praying about my kids paperwork and for their visas when suddenly I knew what the retreat was going to be about. The theme for the conference was A Passport to Heaven!\nThe conference began with a reminder of how we are saved and that it is all about Christ. The next couple of sessions focused on our journey there. I shared with the ladies that when we get saved our lives change; we don\u0026rsquo;t just sit there doing nothing but we have to make the journey there. I compared it to having a visa to travel but then just staying home. One of the sessions was on the hindrances to our journey and how we can overcome them.\nIn between the teachings we had break out sessions. We gave the ladies a simple spiritual gifts quiz and had them break into groups with people with similar gifts to discuss how they could practically be using those gifts in their everyday lives and for the edification of the church body. I pray that they will really put into practice what they learned. We ended the retreat with a teaching on reaching our final destination, Heaven. Heaven is just a joy to teach and such a motivation to keep on the journey even when it get tough. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t help but end with an afterglow and communion thanking the Lord for what He has done, what He is doing and looking forward to what is yet to come.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\n**In Him,**Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee and Liana PRAYER REQUESTS Praise God the whole Kanyike Family will be able to come to the States for furlough and Jill’s medical treatment. Pray for the finances the Kanyikes will need to cover all travel and medical expenses. Praise the Lord for all that is being done to reach the people of Uganda. Pray for those who come and minister in Sudan and Uganda for safety, health and fruitful ministry. Pray for all the teachings that took place this month. Pray that they will go beyond peoples ears to their hearts and lives. Pray for all the ministries of Arise Christian Fellowship as well as the other ministries we partner with.. Pray for Jill and the children as they continue in homeschooling. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-august-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis has been a very busy month of women’s ministry.  We’ve had guest speakers and visitors, we started a new book and I taught a women’s retreat.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the summer months we get many visitors coming through the guest house.  More often than not they are just there briefly on the way to somewhere else.  This past month we were blessed to have a team from Maranatha Chapel in San Diego spend a couple of days with us.  Most people in Kampala are familiar with their church because we \u003ca href=\"/kanyike/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2018/08/Ladies-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/kanyike/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2018/08/Ladies-1-300x218.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e play Pastor Ray Bentley daily on the radio during rush hour. Annie Stone, the daughter of Pastor Ray, was on the team. She and her team came prepared to share with our ladies.  Annie taught a message on fear vs faith.  This message was so great for the ladies but it also ministered to me right where I am in my own life.  After the teaching the  ladies from Maranatha gave a gift to each our ladies. Each lady received a gift bag with a daily devotional in it. We are so thankful they took they time bless us with the Word and fellowship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update--August 2018"},{"content":" 36816485\\_10155901392037029\\_4957552858531627008\\_o 36709386\\_10155901391867029\\_5809315671569334272\\_o IMG\\_2668-2 IMG\\_5348 IMG\\_5338 IMG\\_2835 IMG\\_5018-e1533080216249 IMG\\_5020 36969641\\_224799714823237\\_1318446198415163392\\_n Hi everyone! We\u0026rsquo;ve had a VERY eventful month of July, with many blessings.\nJon was ordained by Pastor Mike Vincent and the pastors of Calvary Chapel Rosarito. He is now serving as an assistant pastor, alongside some amazing men. We are so blessed by this! On the same night that Jon became PBJ, aka Pastor Big Jon, he also taught on Prayer and Devotions in the main sanctuary as a part of the Pillars Series at CCR. He did a great job, and had Armando translating for him.\nOur oldest son, Austin, married his beautiful bride on July 8. What a blessing to now have the daughter we never had, and one who we love SO much. We praise the Lord for their relationship that keeps Him in the center. The wedding was as close to perfect as it could have been, and it was so fun to celebrate with so many dear friends and family.\nI (Allison) was invited to serve at the youth girl\u0026rsquo;s retreat with 13-17 year old girls. The theme of the retreat was \u0026ldquo;Born to Be Light\u0026rdquo;. I got to share my testimony with the girls, and the entire time was such a huge blessing to me. I was able to get to know some of the girls, and I look forward to spending time with them some more and being there for them when they need someone to listen to and pray for them. This was one of my favorite times of ministry, although I was nervous about even going. The Lord blessed me more than I can put into words.\nJon started teaching at the Bible College on the book of Daniel. He loves it, so please keep that in prayer as he studies each week.\nJonny and Noah are continuing to love being here in Mexico. They have been focusing on Spanish with some tutoring and Rosetta Stone. They love hanging out with their friends on the street, and their friends at church.\nWe are loving our time here in Rosarito as we continue to prepare for the move to Oaxaca. We have our Vision Trip in October that will be here sooner than we know. This trip will be a time of prayer for the city that we will call our home, and also to try to find a place that we would like to live in which will be our church in the beginning also. So far there are about 11 people that will be on this trip and we are SO EXCITED!\nThank you for following along on our adventure for Jesus in Mexico. We love hearing from all of you through messages and calls. Feel free to send us any prayer requests you may have. Here are some of ours:\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nPlease continue to pray for a worship leader to go with us to Oaxaca We will be starting the next semester of the Church Planting course on August 13 so please pray that we will grow in the areas we are taught on Continued growth in the language for all of us. We feel like we\u0026rsquo;re finally starting to remember more and more of what we learned in Cacalote, and we\u0026rsquo;re using Spanish more. We love you all so much. Thank you for your love, prayers, and support. Remember: YOU were born to be light! Shine the light of Jesus everywhere you go.\nMatthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah\nClick on the photos above to see the complete picture. :)\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/an-amazing-blessed-july/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/36816485%5F10155901392037029%5F4957552858531627008%5Fo.jpg\"\n         alt=\"36816485\\_10155901392037029\\_4957552858531627008\\_o\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            36816485\\_10155901392037029\\_4957552858531627008\\_o\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/36709386%5F10155901391867029%5F5809315671569334272%5Fo.jpg\"\n         alt=\"36709386\\_10155901391867029\\_5809315671569334272\\_o\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            36709386\\_10155901391867029\\_5809315671569334272\\_o\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG%5F2668-2.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_2668-2\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_2668-2\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG%5F5348.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_5348\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_5348\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG%5F5338.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_5338\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_5338\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG%5F2835.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_2835\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_2835\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG%5F5018-e1533080216249.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_5018-e1533080216249\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_5018-e1533080216249\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/IMG%5F5020.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_5020\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_5020\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/36969641%5F224799714823237%5F1318446198415163392%5Fn.jpg\"\n         alt=\"36969641\\_224799714823237\\_1318446198415163392\\_n\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            36969641\\_224799714823237\\_1318446198415163392\\_n\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHi everyone!  We\u0026rsquo;ve had a VERY eventful month of July, with many blessings.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJon was ordained by Pastor Mike Vincent and the pastors of Calvary Chapel Rosarito. He is now serving as an assistant pastor, alongside some amazing men. We are so blessed by this! On the same night that Jon  became PBJ, aka Pastor Big Jon, he also taught on Prayer and Devotions in the main sanctuary as a part of the Pillars Series at CCR. He did a great job, and had Armando translating for him.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"An Amazing, Blessed July"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.\u0026rdquo; Philipians 4:6-7\nWe started out this month with the first week of class for the new pastors. On the first Sunday of the month all the new pastors showed up at Calvary Chapel Gulu for their introduction into the class. Each pastor was introduced and given a study Bible for the course. They worshiped, went over ground rules, and ate together. For this first week, we only covered Genesis 1-12:3; from creation through Abraham\u0026rsquo;s calling from God. These first chapters of the Bible carry so many foundational themes for the rest of scripture, it was difficult to unpack them in only a weeks time. By the end of the week, one student pastor whom we work with at the BAM was saying it was as if he had never read the Bible before and was now reading it for the first time, despite being a pastor for many years. Praise God for that work!\nWe did a lot of work with the Business As Mission (BAM), as well. Gerald, the man who manages the BAM with Matt was at a class out of town for 3 weeks, and Matt was paired with another administrator to keep things running. Things are really developing at the BAM. The first batch of chickens are about to start laying eggs, the fish are growing, and the products we make from sunflower seeds and maize are selling very well. Matt has also worked hard to get the hydroponics system working so we can feed our chickens for cheaper. I think all-in-all it was a very productive 3 weeks despite Gerald being gone and us not being farmers and all.\nThis month we were also hit with malaria. Maddie contracted it first (now recovered), and now Matt and I both have it at the same time. Matt is almost recovered, and I am still taking the anti-malaria pills. Malaria is actually a parasite, passed through mosquitoes (this is apparently mosquito season). Thankfully, for those who can get tested right away, malaria is not as fatal as it sounds. You can die from it if you don’t treat it right away, but if you have a fever and you get tested for it sooner than later, it is a very treatable sickness. The last few days have been difficult. One person with malaria is manageable, but both parents having it at once has made it hard to keep on top of things. Today we have been taking turns napping and caring for the kids, while our amazing helper, Gladys, has taken care of the house for us. Please pray for us over the next few days as we recover and as we try protect our children from the mosquitoes (thank God we have nets for our beds and plenty of bug spray).\n“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory, in the church and in Christ Jesus, to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-update-july-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003ePhilipians 4:6-7\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe started out this month with the first week of class for the new pastors. On the first Sunday of the month all the new pastors showed up at Calvary Chapel Gulu for their introduction into the class. Each pastor was introduced and given a study Bible for the course. They worshiped, went over ground rules, and ate together. For this first week, we only covered Genesis 1-12:3; from creation through Abraham\u0026rsquo;s calling from God. These first chapters of the Bible carry so many foundational themes for the rest of scripture, it was difficult to unpack them in only a weeks time.  By the end of the week, one student pastor whom we work with at the BAM was saying it was as if he had never read the Bible before and was now reading it for the first time, despite being a pastor for many years. Praise God for that work!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Update - July 2018"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThis past month, Sarah and I were able to celebrate our 21st anniversary by traveling south to the amazing city of Guadalajara! Guadalajara is not only beautiful and historic, but it is also the 2nd largest city in Mexico with over 8 million residents!\nDowntown Guadalajara is also famous for their Spanish language courses. To take advantage of that, I attended a Advanced Spanish language course, which I attended each morning from 9am to 1pm! This small international class had 5 students, 1 each from Morocco, Poland, Germany, the US, and Mexico! (Me :) ) Although the class was a challenge, studying the different advanced verb tenses each day was beneficial and I learned a lot!\nAnother reason for visiting Guadalajara was to spend time with our good friends Pastor Lalo and Linda Fernandez and their two young children. We were blessed to send this family out to church plant nearly two years ago and they have done an amazing job planting their church, Esperanza Viva! (Living hope) Throughout the week, we were able to spend quality time ministering and praying together all the while enjoying the delicious regional cuisine!\nA special highlight for me was to teach their church’s midweek service in Spanish! Although I have been fluent in Spanish for a few years, because we are a bilingual church here in Rosarito, I rarely get the opportunity to teach only in Spanish! I taught on forgiveness and the 30 in attendance seemed attentive and I didn’t get to many confused looks, so I guess they could understand me fine.\nSarah was also able to host the ladies in the fellowship for a ladies tea! During her teaching, Sarah shared her testimony here in Mexico, and using the Psalms, encouraged the ladies to believe in and follow God’s good plan for their lives! The ladies had a special prayer time afterwards and the ladies left encouraged and many of their hearts were touched by the Lord!\nWe consider it a huge privilege to travel to our church plants and when we do, we not only represent our church, but you as our ministry partners. We want to once again thank you for partnering with us as your missionaries here in Mexico! It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God provides our physical needs. We love you and appreciate your partnership!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would continue to bless the church plant in Guadalajara!\n#2- That God would provide financially for our family and church in Rosarito!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise the Lord for a blessed and fruitful anniversary trip to Guadalajara!\n#2- Praise God for provision and for the progress on our church’s new patios and sanctuary expansion!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873 For your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, /blog/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-august-2018-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month, Sarah and I were able to celebrate our 21st anniversary by traveling south to the amazing city of Guadalajara! Guadalajara is not only beautiful and historic, but it is also the 2nd largest city in Mexico with over 8 million residents!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/07/guadalajara-location-on-the-mexico-map.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/07/guadalajara-location-on-the-mexico-map-300x201.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDowntown Guadalajara is also famous for their Spanish language courses.  To take advantage of that, I attended a Advanced Spanish language course, which I attended each morning from 9am to 1pm! This small international class had 5 students, 1 each from Morocco, Poland, Germany, the US, and Mexico! (Me :) )  Although the class was a challenge, studying the different advanced verb tenses each day was beneficial and I learned a lot!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family August 2018 Missions Update"},{"content":"****Never Destroyed We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.\u0026quot; 2 Corin. 4:8-9\nIt is that season again, when the valleys become a little deeper. As I shared with my precious friend, Valerie West, we both cried through texts and she prayed for me these scriptures. I know this is a hard season for many and felt it is good to open up and share my heart in hopes it can encourage many of you also. Hard-pressed on every side. Fighting the enemy especially in my mind. This is a busy time for Vincent and I need to encourage, not get frustrated or discourage especially when I am tired. Picking up the towel and doing devotions with kids when he is late and finding ways to bless him. Seeing friends blessed with the same things we pray for is so exciting and yet sometimes honestly difficult. Remembering this is the season of the baby gained to heaven and finding the beauty through it all. Constantly reminding myself I need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit for any teachable moments, to forgive, love, be very flexible, stay humble and giving as Christ does for His church. We can feel hard-pressed but we are not crushed! When I feel hard pressed I meditate on this scripture picturing the strongest arm punching through the thickest spiritual warfare wall with ease. Health issues: the mole on my back, feminine issues that may need surgery and many nights waking up to a swollen throat. Perplexed I ask, “God why won’t you heal me from this? How is this working for Your glory?” These scriptures remind me, I am NOT in despair. He knows exactly what is going on in my body and why, all I need to do is trust in Him. Muslims all around and knowing some of their hearts and the places my husband goes to keep peace for the church and share the gospel, even in threats we know God never abandons us! There are seasons where we can all feel struck down but need to read and remember we are not destroyed! Jesus has already won and we are in His all-knowing, all faithful, all loving, already conquered arms!\nFun Photos of Everyday Life:\nWhen you have few tools, and need to get the job done. Here is Vincent using one of the boy’s plastic play toys to fix our broken toilet. Didn’t work so well by the way. When you pray for rain but need to also dry your clothes. Here is our laundry being on the extra, extra rinse cycle. When you’re not dressed to impress and the compound is a mess. That is always when you have important surprise visitors like the former MP coming to share and pray with Vincent and also get schooling ideas for his children who are moving back to Midigo. Ministries Be sure to fear the LORD and serve Him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great thing He has done for you.” 1 Sam. 12:24\nUpdates on some of our ministries:\nOur Children- Zachary and Ian have been so blessed having Angela here to work with them. They are like little sponges so eager and excited. Gaga is blossoming with the morning and evening prayers and lessons with Angela also. All our older children are doing well in school and look forward to their break in August. Daniel is such a blessing to have in our family and we continue to pray that God would provide a sponsor for him soon.\nChildren’s Ministry- This month we graduated our oldest students! It was a joyous time with the smallest pieces of cake ever. Talk about God multiplying! One cake fed the whole church and Explores class. When school is in session a vast number of our Children’s Ministry come from Muslim backgrounds and many are Muslim but like to come. Through a lot of prayer realizing this, we are starting afresh at the beginning of the Bible. Back to creation and getting creative. We hope to go through the whole Bible before they graduate. We still have few resources and materials for them, especially for the mass number of children so please continue to pray with us.\nSports Ministry- Our sports ministry is flourishing. The team is well known around the region causing more players to join. We are renting rooms in the center and making a dorm for the football/soccer players. This gives us more time for practice and discipleship. They are preparing to start tournaments soon. Please pray that God will be glorified and His Word will go out through these matches and continue to change hearts.\nHall and Compound- We are blessed this month to be able to provide jobs for 2 more people. One of them being a new Muslim convert who hopes to save up money for auto mechanical school. We praise God that He is faithful to remind us He is in control, we should not rush before His Timing. It has been difficult waiting for God’s timing to survey the land but we have been blessed for listening. The government is hoping to turn our village into a city. They have come to survey to see where they are going to build roads. One of the main roads is going to be near the land we are going to survey hopefully by the end of August. We will use these roads to better plan the stadium and the buildings for the community center and library. God’s timing is always perfect!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/never-destroyed/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e**\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2018/03/IMG_7459-300x225.jpg\"\u003e**\u003cstrong\u003eNever Destroyed\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eWe are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.\u0026quot;\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003e2 Corin. 4:8-9\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is that season again, when the valleys become a little deeper.  As I shared with my precious friend, Valerie West, we both cried through texts and she prayed for me these scriptures.   I know this is a hard season for many and felt it is good to open up and share my heart in hopes it can encourage many of you also.  Hard-pressed on every side.  Fighting the enemy especially in my mind.  This is a busy time for Vincent and I need to encourage, not get frustrated or discourage especially when I am tired.  Picking up the towel and doing devotions with kids when he is late and finding ways to bless him.  Seeing friends blessed with the same things we pray for is so exciting and yet sometimes honestly difficult.  Remembering this is the season of the baby gained to heaven and finding the beauty through it all.  Constantly reminding myself I need to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit for any teachable moments, to forgive, love, be very flexible, stay humble and giving as Christ does for His church.  We can feel hard-pressed but we are not crushed!  When I feel hard pressed I meditate on this scripture picturing the strongest arm punching through the thickest spiritual warfare wall with ease. Health issues: the mole on my back, feminine issues that may need surgery and many nights waking up to a swollen throat.  Perplexed I ask, “God why won’t you heal me from this?  How is this working for Your glory?” These scriptures remind me, I am NOT in despair.  He knows exactly what is going on in my body and why, all I need to do is trust in Him. Muslims all around and knowing some of their hearts and the places my husband goes to keep peace for the church and share the gospel, even in threats we know God never abandons us!  There are seasons where we can all feel struck down but need to read and remember we are not destroyed!  Jesus has already won and we are in His all-knowing, all faithful, all loving, already conquered arms!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Never Destroyed"},{"content":"The last few months… this whole new year, has been a series of challenges followed by blessings. I had intended to share more about all of that previously, but in the last week the Lord has made His message very clear.\nWe’ve just finished a spell from the end of June through the end of July with back to back groups. We do have more coming, but with gaps in between. The Rivera family was on vacation during that time, so needless to say, it was a very busy, but fruitful time. Lots of great fellowship, blessed kids, and completed projects. Not the least of which is that our pool finally got cleaned out, our staff got educated on its care, and now the kids are enjoying it on these particularly hot days.\nAt various times certain groups helped with the chapel. This last week I was particularly trying to free myself up so I could accomplish some steps before our family goes on vacation, so that others can continue while I’m gone. It was seeming like everything had been working against me; the electrician couldn’t come, spontaneous urgent needs arising, etc., etc.. Finally, I managed to get out there one afternoon. A thunderstorm was building (my absolute favorite weather). We were thanking God for the cover from the sun. The rain started to fall. No problem, it was still warm, and as a wiser older block layer once said, “Well, we ain’t made of sugar.” Then lightning and thunder started getting closer and closer… and we all happened to be working right next to a lot of vertical rebar (as good as lightning rods). Still being stubborn, it wasn’t until a bolt exploded right over our heads that wisdom finally entered me, and we all decided that we, or I, were resisting something that the Lord was progressively asserting more clarity on.\nIt was going to be a few days before I would have another chance to work with the group that was visiting. In that meantime a brother from the ejido (eheedo – small agricultural town) got beat up by a friend on drugs. For the following two days I was gone, and that too, was by our Lord’s design. The first day I was gone the brother who got beat up (Fausto) came, needing encouragement. He’d been getting hit hard by the enemy in other ways recently. A pastor, who had come with the group, “happened” to be the one that met him as he came into the Mission, and they spoke and prayed for two hours for the friend (Julian) who had injured him badly. He felt no animosity toward him, and couldn’t understand why the Lord was allowing all these bad things to happen. When I returned that night I was updated on what had happened, and could see the Lord’s design for having pastor Brad here that day.\nThe next day our family was gone again. When we got back Brad updated me again on what had occurred that day, “Guess who came today.” “Fausto?” I guessed. “Julian. And he gave his life to the Lord!” I told Brad that when things happen like this, it’s clear that the Lord brought him here for such a specific time and purpose as this. ( Esther 4:14)\nThe next day… Okay, I am going to make this happen. Again, against distractions, I forged my way out to the chapel site to work… and in walked Julian. He was so grateful to be saved, and that he had found people that would receive him. He wanted to help in any way that he could. I told him that would be great, but first we had to go and be reconciled to Fausto. He agreed. Pastor Brad went into town with us, and when we came to Fausto’s house there were immediate apologies, followed by hugging and tears and clear evidence of a new direction and encouragement for Fausto. We later went to the next town to share the great news with Julian’s brother, including “The Great News” of the gospel.\nLater when Brad and I were talking about everything that had transpired, I told him that first of all that day I finally recognized that our Father was trying to get my attention. Next, I could hear Him speaking very forcefully that I had to change the Sunday message that I had planned for the next day (again, God changing my plans), but to what I didn’t know. Again, later, I was thinking about the beauty that God had just wrought from the ugly, and was thinking about I Peter 2:5 – … you also , as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house , a holy priesthood , to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ .\nThen our Father made it clear to me; while He was using us to build up a physical chapel, at the same time, more importantly, He is building His church. The message was so clear that it only took an hour of study the next morning to put the 12 or so passages together. The Lord had shown me a message for churches in II Chronicles 4 a few years ago, that I always love to share whenever I get the chance, and it was clearly ordained for that day.\nOur church services could be a bit disconcerting for new people. All of our kids are there with us, sometimes making all of their loud noises. We have people join us from town, some of which don’t speak English, so we have a translator on stage, sharing only one or two lines at a time. But in light of all of this, the church in Carmen Serdan is slowly growing with people from the ejido. Some by mishap, others purely by tasting and seeing that God is good. ( I Peter 2 :3)\nFor me, last week was a clear reminder of Proverbs 16:9 – A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.\nMay I never get in the Lord’s way of building His church because I am trying to build His chapel.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/my-plans-vs-the-lords-plans/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe last few months… this whole new year, has been a series of challenges followed by blessings. I had intended to share more about all of that previously, but in the last week the Lord has made His message very clear.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe’ve just finished a spell from the end of June through the end of July with back to back groups. We do have more coming, but with gaps in between. The Rivera family was on vacation during that time, so needless to say, it was a very busy, but fruitful time. Lots of great fellowship, blessed kids, and completed projects. Not the least of which is that our pool finally got cleaned out, our staff got educated on its care, and now the kids are enjoying it on these particularly hot days.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"MY PLANS VS. THE LORD’S PLANS"},{"content":"Hello Friends!\nI pray that this Summer has been treating you well, and if it\u0026rsquo;s as hot (or hotter!) where you are as it is here in SoCal, I hope you\u0026rsquo;ve been able to keep cool!\nThe Summer months have been productive and fun for our family. Our SGWM team returned from South Asia a couple of weeks ago and brought back with them a boatload of vision for how God is going to move in that country in the coming months! One cool way that I get to participate is to bring my experience working in the financial department of SGWM to help our board see what kind of financial support is coming in and what funds are further needed to accomplish what God wants to do in that country. Crunching numbers and finances are not the most exciting part of missions, but it is incredibly vital and I\u0026rsquo;m so glad to play a role in this important aspect of SGWM.\nWhile the team was gone last month, I got to finally launch our SGWM Prayer E-Book, which you can download in PDF for your Kindle or iBooks app here! Here at SGWM, we value prayer for our ministry and missionaries over all other forms of support, so this tool is a huge deal for us and we ask that if you have a heart for SGWM that you would download this and make it a part of your prayer life. What an honor that I got to be a part of its release! Here\u0026rsquo;s just a sample of what one of the pages looks like:\nAnother aspect of my job is representing SGWM outside of our church, and I was blessed to be able to do that with SGWM missionary Rebecca Alaniz a couple of weeks ago at Calvary Chapel Downey\u0026rsquo;s Missions Conference. It was so great getting to talk to people about who SGWM is and what we do!\nPlease continue to pray for wisdom and guidance from the Holy Spirit for our ministry. With so much happening in so many countries for SGWM, different trips are getting added and moved around, so I am praying about which trips I should go on to teach overseas, scope out terrain for new ministry, and encourage our missionaries in places like South Asia, Uganda, and Peru. Please pray for additional financial support to come in to help us pay for these trips.\nI will also start Skype teachings for South Asia again next month, teaching through the book of Joshua for one of our Bible schools over there, so I am excited about that!\nOn the personal and church ministry front, things have been really fruitful as well. Our church is going through a 4-week Wednesday night series and I got to teach the first session on the subject of worship, which was a weighty responsibility and huge blessing! In about 3 weeks, I\u0026rsquo;ll also get to go lead worship and teach a few sessions for our church\u0026rsquo;s youth retreat, which I am honored I get to participate in.\nFinally, our family got to do another camping trip with some friends of ours, which was a ton of work, but produced some great memories, fun for the kids, and some crazy cute pictures! And, I got to officiate my first wedding, which was a great blessing, and Amy and I cleaned up rather nicely for the occasion :)\nPlease continue to pray for us as life gets busy with three kids and so much ministry; we need lots of wisdom! We\u0026rsquo;d also ask that you pray for our financial support, as the cost of living is rising as our kids grow and we\u0026rsquo;d love to eventually be able to afford a larger living space for them to have room for more play and for us to be able to practice hospitality in ways we aren\u0026rsquo;t necessarily able to at the moment.\nThank you so much for your continued support and prayers!\nAll the Best for His Glory! Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, and Jude\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/summer-update-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI pray that this Summer has been treating you well, and if it\u0026rsquo;s as hot (or hotter!) where you are as it is here in SoCal, I hope you\u0026rsquo;ve been able to keep cool!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Summer months have been productive and fun for our family. Our SGWM team returned from South Asia a couple of weeks ago and brought back with them a boatload of vision for how God is going to move in that country in the coming months! One cool way that I get to participate is to bring my experience working in the financial department of SGWM to help our board see what kind of financial support is coming in and what funds are further needed to accomplish what God wants to do in that country. Crunching numbers and finances are not the most exciting part of missions, but it is incredibly vital and I\u0026rsquo;m so glad to play a role in this important aspect of SGWM.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Summer Update!"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family,\nWe wanted to give you an update of what has been going on here in Banos Del Inca in May. We will send a new one in the next few weeks showing the month of June and July.\nBelen Ministry: Along with our every other week visits we also did a few events with the Belen Orphanage.In May with the help of our church members and a good friend of ours from Lima we were able to throw a children\u0026rsquo;s festival for the girls.\nWomen\u0026rsquo;s Ministry:\nFor Mother\u0026rsquo;s Day we had our first annual ladies tea party. It was a very blessed time for the women of our church and some friends from other local churches. All the women had never experienced a tea party before, so it was fun to see the big smiles on their faces. Natalia taught the story of Mary and Martha. How to put our priorities in order. Before anything, serving Jesus comes first. Natalia did a great job teaching to over 50 women.\nAwana:\nWe are thrilled to announce that we have officially started Awanas in Cajamarca. This is the first Awanas program here in this northern part of Peru. Natalia and I are now official Awanas international members as both missionaries and as a church. This will allow for us to start other Awanas Programs here in Peru. At our inauguration of Awanas we had 25 kids. It was a lot of fun! The staff loves Awanas just as much as the kids do. Most importantly it is so awesome to see the kids growing in Faith.\nChurch news: Because of difficult circumstances among the leadership of the church, for the past month we have been placed in charge of the Refugio Community Church here in Banos del Inca. I am now preaching every Sunday. Natalia continues to be in charge of the women\u0026rsquo;s ministry and helping in the worship.\nMission teams:\nWe had a youth group visit us from Baltimore. They came in May and we had the opportunity to go inside the public school to do evangelism. We shared the gospel to over 500 children and many of the school teachers. Praise the Lord, many of the children and a few of the teachers made a decision to follow Jesus!\nOther Announcements: We have hosted many missionaries and friends of missionaries in our home over the past couple Months. I don\u0026rsquo;t even know when was the last time we were only the 4 of us, lol. We had a baptism and a baby dedication! This was our first!\nFamily news: Natalia continues dealing with her medical problems, but she is doing a good job of eating healthy, in fact all of us at the house are eating super healthy now! Emily continues growing into a beautiful little girl! She is so sweet and well mannered! Alejandro loves having people coming over to the house all the time! He is so friendly! John is being challenged to study more and more the word of God and keeps taking care of our different ministries along with the preaching on Sundays.\nPrayer Requests:\n1. Health for the four of us.\n2. Spiritual protection in all the areas of our family.\n3.Wisdom in leading the Church according to God\u0026rsquo;s will and being able to deal with problems that may arise within the church.\n4.Spiritual growth for the four of us and also for the Church.\n5. Peace and unity between brothers and sisters in Christ here in the area of Cajamarca.\n6.Be able to show God\u0026rsquo;s love and being a good testimony for the city we live in.\n7.The mission team that will be working with us from July 27th-August 8th.\n8. For the kids that will be involved in our VBS, Sports camp and English Camp programs during the week that our mission team is here from Purpose Church Pomona:)\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gundersons-may-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe wanted to give you an update of what has been going on here in Banos Del Inca in May. We will send a new one in the next few weeks showing the month of June and July.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gunderson/wp-content/uploads/sites/49/2018/07/IMG_10461-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBelen Ministry:\u003c/strong\u003e Along with our every other week visits we also did a few events with the Belen Orphanage.In May with the help of our church members and a good friend of ours from Lima we were able to throw a children\u0026rsquo;s festival for the girls.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gunderson's May Newsletter"},{"content":"The long-awaited journey has begun. We left Napa a week ago and it was with many tears and sad goodbyes but also with much anticipation about what the Lord is doing in this new season of our lives. The whole week before we left was so surreal. Everything that we had been planning and preparing for was actually happening. In the last few days our family and friends surrounded us, supported us, fed us, prayed for us, cried with us, and encouraged us in our calling. They helped us toss, sort and pack. They loved our children, toted them around, and took them swimming. We were so blessed and encouraged not only by the people near to us but by all the people that came out to say goodbye and to wish us well. We really saw the significance of the Body of Christ, coming together, from all different walks of life, to rally around us and to send us off. It was a humbling experience and we truly felt loved.\nThe Lord very specifically called us to give away, sell, and donate the contents of our lives. We packed up only the essentials and even some of those things were cut as we loaded up our van. We had to make the tough decisions on what was truly important. What could we not live without? The Lord really gave us a picture of what we were doing through the story of Gideon. Gideon starts out with an army of 35,000, and the Lord says “nope, that is too many.” So, He pares down Gideon’s army. The Lord looks again and says “nope, still too many”. The Lord eventually pares down Gideon’s army to 300 men and they win the battle. We would sort through things and set aside what we thought were the essentials and then we would realize that we still had too much. So, we would pare down again and make some more cuts. Eventually, we made it out with just a van full of the essentials. But through it all the Lord is teaching us that all we really need in life is Him. As Christians we so often say, “all we need is Jesus”, but is that really true? Do we really only need Jesus? We are learning, at a deeper level than ever before, Jesus really is enough. Like the song says “you can have all this world, just give me Jesus”. Jesus increasingly has become our hearts desire and our one true focus. He is teaching us that we can only be dependent on Him and Him alone.\nFast forward a few days and we had another tough lesson on Jesus being enough. While visiting the Oregon coast with our good friends, our van went down. It decided that it was not going to move from the parked position and shift into gear. After attempting to shift it, jiggle wires and poke at it, no matter what we did we were unable to shift it out of park. Essentially, we were stuck, all ten of us, with no way to go anywhere. The feeling of helplessness was ruling the hour. McKenna came in with a great suggestion to lay hands on the van and pray! So, so we did. Afterwards, two of us walked down the road to some construction workers. We explained the situation and one of the men said that he would send someone to help us. Praise the Lord, the man that was sent was able to get the van in gear! Through this experience God opened our eyes to the spiritual significance of the situation and we felt the Lord reminding us, “You can’t do this on your own.” We couldn’t get the van unstuck on our own, we needed help. The Lord is constantly reminding us that we cannot do this journey without Him. We need Him and our dependence must be upon Him. As God showed Gideon what he needed for battle, we were reminded that God will show us what we need to be victorious too if we will trust and obey Him. We hope and pray that the reminder we received will also impact you. When it comes down to it none of us can do life on our own. You can’t live for God without trusting Him, without surrendering to Him and allowing Him to lead, guide, and provide for you. Being in the place of helplessness is not a bad place to be, it’s just a tough place to be. But there is nothing like watching God provide just what you need at the exact time that you need it!\nWe still have a long way to go. There is still six more weeks until we arrive at the school in Oaxaca. We are sure we will have many more obstacles and challenges to face along the way but we know that, like Gideon, we only need faith in God to be able to stand up against any challenges that we face.\nUntil next time,\nThe Mosley’s\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/and-were-off/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe long-awaited journey has begun. We left Napa a week ago and it was with many tears and sad goodbyes but also with much anticipation about what the Lord is doing in this new season of our lives. The whole week before we left was so surreal. Everything that we had been planning and preparing for was actually happening. In the last few days our family and friends surrounded us, supported us, fed us, prayed for us, cried with us, and encouraged us in our calling. They helped us toss, sort and pack. They loved our children, toted them around, and took them swimming. We were so blessed and encouraged not only by the people near to us but by all the people that came out to say goodbye and to wish us well. We really saw the significance of the Body of Christ, coming together, from all different walks of life, to rally around us and to send us off. It was a humbling experience and we truly felt loved.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"And We're Off!"},{"content":"Summer has definitely arrived! June and July have brought some unusually hot days our way. We are eager to begin a couple of months straight of teams, teams, teams!!\nWe are thrilled to announce that we have two interns serving with us this summer here at Connections House! This is our first time having interns at this location. Both interns have served here in Rosarito with us on at least one short-term trip. Kailyn comes to us from Colorado Springs, CO, where she attends The Road at Chapel Hills. Rachel lives in Fresno, CA, and attends New Hope Community Church (Clovis, CA). Both of our interns have missions experience, as well as a good deal of children\u0026rsquo;s ministry experience. On their second day in Rosarito, when walking into the church service at Calvary Chapel Rosarito, our Senior Pastor immediately volunteered them to help out in our Sunday School ministry. So both Kailyn \u0026amp; Rachel will be assisting teachers in a Sunday School classroom each week. They have been busy getting the dorms ready for teams, preparing their personal testimonies, practicing their gospel presentations, and even helped on a home build with a local ministry. Next week they will be helping with VBS at CCR. They will be teaching the lesson for VBS on Tuesday. Please keep them in your prayers this summer. Some of their regular responsibilities include assisting in the kitchen, helping run the dorms, and general support for teams in the field. There will be times that they are serving right alongside teams, whether it\u0026rsquo;s working with children, building a church/orphanage, or serving food to/praying with those who are less fortunate. They will be called upon to share their personal testimonies with others. There will be opportunities to share Christ with others, whether one on one or with a group of children, teens, or women. Our interns will be stretched, they will used in amazing ways, and we pray that many will be blessed because of their sacrifice and the work they are doing here with us this summer.\nWe have seven teams over the next seven weeks. We look forward to sharing photos and stories with you. God is good and we know He will do amazing things through these teams!\nPrayer Requests:\n1 - For strength and wisdom for us and all the staff as we go into this busy season.\n2 - That we will all be able to find times of rest throughout the summer and stay healthy.\n3 - For the interns, as stated above.\n4 - For the paperwork on Connections House to move along quickly (which looks like it\u0026rsquo;s getting really close)!\n5 - For our teams to have many opportunities to present the gospel to the lost people of Mexico.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/summer-is-here/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSummer  has definitely arrived! June and July have brought some unusually hot days our way. We are eager to begin a couple of months straight of teams, teams, teams!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are thrilled to announce that we have two interns serving with us this \u003ca href=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/07/2018-Photo-with-Name-Rachel-Beard.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/07/2018-Photo-with-Name-Rachel-Beard-222x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e summer here at Connections House! This is our first time having interns at this location. Both interns have served here in Rosarito with us on at least one short-term trip. Kailyn comes to us from Colorado Springs, CO, where she attends The Road at Chapel Hills. Rachel lives in Fresno, CA, and attends New Hope Community Church (Clovis, CA). Both of our interns have missions experience, as well as a good \u003ca href=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/07/2018-Photo-with-Name-Kailyn-Madole.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2018/07/2018-Photo-with-Name-Kailyn-Madole-222x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e deal of children\u0026rsquo;s ministry experience. On their second day in Rosarito, when walking into the church service at Calvary Chapel Rosarito, our Senior Pastor immediately volunteered them to help out in our Sunday School ministry. So both Kailyn \u0026amp; Rachel will be assisting teachers in a Sunday School classroom each week. They have been busy getting the dorms ready for teams, preparing their personal testimonies, practicing their gospel presentations, and even helped on a home build with a local ministry. Next week they will be helping with VBS at CCR. They will be teaching the lesson for VBS on Tuesday. Please keep them in your prayers this summer. Some of their regular responsibilities include assisting in the kitchen,  helping run the dorms, and general support for teams in the field. There will be times that they are serving right alongside teams, whether it\u0026rsquo;s working with children, building a church/orphanage, or serving food to/praying with those who are less fortunate. They will be called upon to share their personal testimonies with others. There will be opportunities to share Christ with others, whether one on one or with a group of children, teens, or women. Our interns will be stretched, they will used in amazing ways, and we pray that many will be blessed because of their sacrifice and the work they are doing here with us this summer.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Summer Is Here!"},{"content":"“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”” John 8:31-32 Last month we finished our update by telling you about the guys who would end up meeting at our house for discipleship. That picture above is who all was here last Tuesday as we worshiped God together and looked at His Word. John 8:31-32 is our theme verse and we read it and talk about it every time we meet, which is every Tuesday. The guys show up around 6 pm and we have tea and bread together, than we play some worship songs before studying Scripture. Right now we are going through 1 Peter, and I plan to continue from that point through Jude, which should take just a few years. Sometimes the meetings go smoother than other times, especially when we have a good translator and someone who can read Acholi:). When that is not the case we just play worship together and break bread!\nWork wise things have been going along at a fast pace out here as I have been trying to balance between my roles and responsibilities as a manager at the BAM (Business As Mission) and as a teacher at the School of Discipleship for the pastors. That balance is not always easy to find since there are always so many pressing needs on both ends. This month has been a doozy at the BAM since we are down multiple people; our receptionist at the clinic is on maternity leave and her replacement got malaria, our head manager is going to school for a few weeks and one of our main guys got in a boda boda (the little motorcycles they drive around Africa) accident…. So as you can imagine we have all been working over time to keep the ball from being dropped. Please pray for Stephen, who got in the accident, for Irene as she stays up at night with her new born son, and for Daniel as he recovers from Malaria. Daniel also has sickle cell, so this Malaria spell came very near to killing him.\nPrep for the new class of pastors is almost over, they arrive at church tomorrow evening for their first of 36 weeks living together at Calvary Chapel Gulu. During that week they will study through Gen 1-11, the foundation of God\u0026rsquo;s Word and the origin of all things. If a person can get a firm grasp on these 11 chapters of the Bible they can understand nearly everything else in Scripture. Please pray for me as I teach next week, on Thursday I will be covering the cursing of Canaan, which is a very sensitive issue since most evangelicals throughout Africa believe that all of their misfortunes can be traced back to that event in Gen 9.\nYou should also know that Noelle, Noah and the girls are doing well. Emma has started joining the nursery school that our ministry runs for P.E. and she has really been enjoying that. Madeline is just as cute as ever, it has been a blast watching her interact with the world around her. Noelle is nearly done recovering from her surgery but could use your prayers for her strength as I am trying to hold the reigns on BAM and the school. Please pray for Noah because he has a small fever right now and a cough. As for myself, I am very proud to announce that I am an official resident of Uganda and I have a 3 year work permit!\nIn Christ Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-update-june-2018/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"so-jesus-said-to-the-jews-who-had-believed-him-if-you-abide-in-my-word-you-are-truly-my-disciples-and-you-will-know-the-truth-and-the-truth-will-set-you-free----------john-831-32\"\u003e“So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “if you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.””                    John 8:31-32\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2018/06/IMG%5F2468-1024x768.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eLast month we finished our update by telling you about the guys who would end up meeting at our house for discipleship. That picture above is who all was here last Tuesday as we worshiped God together and looked at His Word. John 8:31-32 is our theme verse and we read it and talk about it every time we meet, which is every Tuesday. The guys show up around 6 pm and we have tea and bread together, than we play some worship songs before studying Scripture. Right now we are going through 1 Peter, and I plan to continue from that point through Jude, which should take just a few years. Sometimes the meetings go smoother than other times, especially when we have a good translator and someone who can read Acholi:). When that is not the case we just play worship together and break bread!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Update - June 2018"},{"content":"Our Quiver is Definitely Full “Behold, Children are a heritage from the LORD. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.” Ps 127:3,5\nThis last time in America I was stirred to go to the Children’s Ministry Conference. God provided and it was amazing! As soon as I returned back home to Uganda God opened doors for me to work alongside Teacher Ben to help the children’s ministry, introduce the Calvary Curriculum and every Saturday train the new teachers. I love that God is always moving even when we don’t realize. We now have 5 classes most of them over 100 children still! Our Quiver is definitely full! Most of these children come from the boarding school and from Muslim families which can bring some challenges. The conference gave so much to encourage the teachers. One of the biggest lessons is Love! There is not a person I know that doesn’t want love. What if we are the only chance they get to see God’s true love? Whenever there are children fighting (they really fight even in the overcrowded classroom) or a mischievous one, I remember we have no idea what this child’s life is like. Their dad most likely beats their mom and maybe them also, bringing home more wives and having more children, family members die in front of them, most likely they rarely have food at home, a bed, etc. Stealing and fighting might be all they know of life and have no clue there is anything different. But it’s so amazing there are no limitations to His amazing grace! We get the opportunity to share with all these hundreds of children! Helping people to see Sunday School not as babysitting but as a chance to make disciples! Every time I look out to all of them I see leaders and the future of our nation! They can become bold adults not ashamed of the gospel, changing the hostile hearts around us. I tell them this every Sunday and I hope they see it too. Another big lesson is to notice spiritual gifts in the children and encourage them even now! Acts 2:38-39 Kids do not receive a little Holy Spirit just because they are little. They have the same Holy Spirit as us adults. Imagine what God could do with their precious lives as they start using their spiritual gifts now! We get the opportunity to help them pray, sharing they can talk to God especially in their darkest times when no one else is there for them. God knows every single thought and sees each hidden tear! To hear their prayer requests for food, protection, school fees, healings, provisions, prayers to know that someone loves them (especially the orphans), humbles me and increases my love for them! Not only for children but everyone around! Am I loving them like Christ? Did I remember to stop and talk to the old Muslim lady on the road even though I have so much to do at home? When I meet someone who seems troubled or hard, do I judge and assume or do I remember I might be the only example of Christ\u0026rsquo;s love they have seen? What about you? What an amazing opportunity God has given to all of us! Share His love to the longing and lonely! As they said in the conference, \u0026ldquo;It is heart work!\u0026rdquo;\nPrayer Requests\nChildren’s Ministry: Please pray for God to continue directing all the changes and stirring more to join us in serving. Please pray for God to provide for us to buy Bibles! We need at least 200 more! Please pray as we have no play equipment (balls, jump ropes, etc.) for the children’s ministry. If possible also a DVD player for the younger church. Pray for the converts! Pray for protection! The convert\u0026rsquo;s families keep threatening them and us. Please pray for continued guidance for Vincent as he goes into the lion’s den time and time again. Going to these Muslim\u0026rsquo;s homes, sharing love with them and calming them. It’s so amazing that many times angry Muslims comes to Vincent on the road and God gives him the words and the way to touch their hearts. It’s all God!!!! It\u0026rsquo;s amazing the wisdom He gives, both culturally and spiritually, to prepare the ways forward. Thank you for your prayers and interceding for us!!! Please continue to pray for the weekly discipleship class Vincent has with them on Fridays. Pray for the surveying of our land; that it will be finalized this week to start building. Pray for Angela who is coming early July and staying with us for 5 months to help with Zachary and the children’s ministry! I think all the teachers and myself are counting down the days! I\u0026rsquo;m especially excited for Zachary since this week has been hard on him. Please pray for the Gaona’s, Teri and the Calvary The Rock team also coming July! Always continued prayer for health and protection for our family. Praise Reports\nWe had a beautiful time with the CC West Grove team! The Pastors and leaders conference was so extremely amazing! We were all overfilled spilling out on everyone. We were able to host the CC Kampala Worship team successfully even though the missions house is not complete but almost finished. They are always such a blessing to have! It’s like having a family reunion at our place for a week, not guests. Their worship and their lives reflect the spirit moving through and through. We had a baptism for over 40 refugees!!! Excitingly wonderful! The pool surrounded by praise and also laughter. There is a saying that Africans fear water more than bullets. Many almost pulled Vincent in as they bent forward instead of laying back, fearing to get their hair and face wet. The water has been coming more regularly!!! A blessing to know when we need to turn on the facet, water will most likely come. Especially in a compound where currently 10 are sleeping and more come during the day. God is really multiplying our animals and blessing our trees! This month alone we have 3 baby goats and 2 little lambs that have survived and are very strong. 2 sets of twins! New total: 11 goats, 4 sheep, too many pigeons, 4 rabbits, so many avocados, guavas, and mangos. We keep giving and still keep receiving! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/our-overflowing-quiver/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2017/12/Aniku-Family-300x213.jpg\"\u003eOur Quiver is Definitely Full\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Behold, Children are a heritage from the LORD.  Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; They shall not be ashamed, But shall speak with their enemies in the gate.”  Ps 127:3,5\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis last time in America I was stirred to go to the Children’s Ministry Conference. God provided and it was amazing! As soon as I returned back home to Uganda God opened doors for me to work alongside Teacher Ben to help the children’s ministry, introduce the Calvary Curriculum and every Saturday train the new teachers. I love that God is always moving even when we don’t realize. We now have 5 classes most of them over 100 children still! Our Quiver is definitely full! Most of these children come from the boarding school and from Muslim families which can bring some challenges. The conference gave so much to encourage the teachers. One of the biggest lessons is Love!  There is not a person I know that doesn’t want love. What if we are the only chance they get to see God’s true love?  Whenever there are children fighting (they really fight even in the overcrowded classroom) or a mischievous one, I remember we have no idea what this child’s life is like. Their dad most likely beats their mom and maybe them also, bringing home more wives and having more children, family members die in front of them, most likely they rarely have food at home, a bed, etc.  Stealing and fighting might be all they know of life and have no clue there is anything different. But it’s so amazing there are no limitations to His amazing grace! We get the opportunity to share with all these hundreds of children! Helping people to see Sunday School not as babysitting but as a chance to make disciples! Every time I look out to all of them I see leaders and the future of our nation! They can become bold adults not ashamed of the gospel, changing the hostile hearts around us. I tell them this every Sunday and I hope they see it too. Another big lesson is to notice spiritual gifts in the children and encourage them even now!  \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eActs 2:38-39\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e Kids do not receive a little Holy Spirit just because they are little. They have the same Holy Spirit as us adults. Imagine what God could do with their precious lives as they start using their spiritual gifts now! We get the opportunity to help them pray, sharing they can talk to God especially in their darkest times when no one else is there for them. God knows every single thought and sees each hidden tear! To hear their prayer requests for food, protection, school fees, healings, provisions, prayers to know that someone loves them (especially the orphans), humbles me and increases my love for them! Not only for children but everyone around! Am I loving them like Christ? Did I remember to stop and talk to the old Muslim lady on the road even though I have so much to do at home? When I meet someone who seems troubled or hard, do I judge and assume or do I remember I might be the only example of Christ\u0026rsquo;s love they have seen? What about you?  What an amazing opportunity God has given to all of us! Share His love to the longing and lonely!  As they said in the conference, \u0026ldquo;It is heart work!\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Our Overflowing Quiver"},{"content":"Three weeks and counting\u0026hellip;\nWe are discovering very quickly that being a missionary family is not for the faint of heart. We have not even left our home yet and are feeling the full impact on our family tremendously. While we are excited to embrace this new season that God is calling us to, it is not coming without its challenges. We have sold our house, retired from our careers, are in the process of selling and giving away almost everything we own, leaving family and friends behind, and moving to an unknown place. A place where we will need to re-establish ourselves, build up new friends, engage in a new church, learn a new language, and attend school full-time. There is so much to look forward to but there is also a need to mourn the loss of the things we are leaving behind.\nThe most common question we are asked right now is “How you are doing?” The answer; really, we are doing okay. We have our good days and our tough days, which will continue for some time. Our oldest girls are having the hardest time and are the most aware of what they are leaving behind. Tears flow from their eyes as they battle through the loss of all that they know and try to grasp an understanding of what life will be like in Mexico. Every tear is an opportunity to embrace them, comfort them, reaffirm them, encourage them and share with them that life isn’t always easy. Service to our Lord Jesus comes with difficulties and challenges and each time it gets hard we have to decide if it is worth it. Is it? Is it worth all of this to follow Jesus? Our family’s answer is yes! So, we press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14).\nEach day brings things to do in preparation for the move. Every day is a day we need to lean into the Lord for his wisdom, direction, and strength. It is very clear to us that we could not do any of this on our own, we would have thrown in the towel a while ago. Why? Because it’s hard and uncomfortable. The question then becomes what keeps us going? Paul said it best in Romans 8:18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” We believe there are better days ahead, we believe that there are things coming that are going to be the greatest joys of our lives, we believe that God is going to reveal His glory in us. And yes, it is hard, but it’s not worth comparing to what is ahead. We have hope that when we look back, we are going to be so grateful that we went through this, that we gave up everything that we knew and followed the call of God on our lives.\nThe truth is life is hard. Whether you are leaving all you know behind or you’ve just had a bad day at work, or a tough day with the kids. Life is hard. We need the Lord. We all need the guidance and comfort He alone offers. Being missionaries isn’t for the faint of heart but neither is being a follower of Christ. It’s going to get rocky, it’s going to get tough. The question is will you turn around when it gets hard or will you keep going? What lays ahead for the Christian is far better then what you may be suffering through as the present moment. We encourage you to keep going. Press into the Lord and lean on Him as we do the same. He will carry us through! Make the decision that no matter what comes your way He is worth it! Remember that Jesus made the same decision for us, that we were worth it! He endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2).\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/not-for-the-faint-of-heart/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThree weeks and counting\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are discovering very quickly that being a missionary family is not for the faint of heart. We have not even left our home yet and are feeling the full impact on our family tremendously. While we are excited to embrace this new season that God is calling us to, it is not coming without its challenges. We have sold our house, retired from our careers, are in the process of selling and giving away almost everything we own, leaving family and friends behind, and moving to an unknown place. A place where we will need to re-establish ourselves, build up new friends, engage in a new church, learn a new language, and attend school full-time. There is so much to look forward to but there is also a need to mourn the loss of the things we are leaving behind.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Not For the Faint of Heart"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family, This past month Luke and Laylee celebrated their birthdays. While celebrating their birthdays it got me thinking about the youth in Uganda. Uganda’s population is 78% under the age of 17. No matter where you go you find children of all ages. Our church is no exception. Most Sundays the Sund ay school is more then double the adults in service. If it is a school holiday or special event that number can even double again.\nOne of the first things we noticed about the children was their hunger and poverty related illnesses Our church is situated just a couple streets above a large market place and an area that would be considered slums. Most of the congregation and children come from that environment. To try and reach the families that live there and provide a safe venue for the children to play, we arrange many different activities throughout the year, some more often then others, for the children to take part in. One of the first things we noticed about the children was their hunger and poverty related illnesses. We were thankful to the Lord that in 2017 we were able to begin giving the children snacks during Sunday School and extra curricular activities as well as breakfast after church.\nSome of the activities we have been offering the children are Game nights, Christian movie nights, as well as outdoor games like net ball and soccer. In all that we do the focus is teaching about Jesus and helping the children to develop a personal relationship with Him. On Sundays the children are divided by age groups to be taught but during other activities, teachings and discussions are done with all the children together. Twice a year we host a family day out where we invite the church members as well as the families of the children to come for food, swimming and fellowship. We pray that as we minister to the children it would overflow to the parents and families to know Christ as well.\nIn all that we do the focus is teaching about Jesus Since most of the children who attend our church attend without their families we like to do community outreaches and home visits. We visit the homes of the children on e by one to get to know their families and for their families to know us and understand what it is that we do with their children. These visits also help us to better understand the home life and needs of the children we are ministering to. The most recent community outreach we had was this past month. We had a soccer tournament in a field with in the community. The youth from our church played soccer with local teams comprised of children from the community. It was really a lot of fun and the children made new friends while the adults also interacted with each other and many people heard the gospel as well as the testimonies of some of the older children. Since the outreach we have had many visitors at church, mostly children but some adults as well.\nAnother way the Lord has opened the door for community outreach is by providing us the opportunity to share devotions once a week at a near by school. This responsibility is shared between Brian and our Sunday School director Frank. We pray that the non Christian students and teachers would be touched by what they hear and the believers encouraged and strengthened in their walks.\nWith the rapid growth of the Sunday School and the many visitors coming to church, who will prayerfully continue coming, we needed more room. We are very thankful that the Lord provided for us to expand the sanctuary by knocking down some walls and to take the floor below us which is divided into 4 rooms and a kitchen for the Sunday School. Thank you to all who provided and continue to provide to make this possible.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee and Liana Prayer Requests Praise the Lord for all that is being done to reach the people of Uganda. Pray for those who professed Christ in the market place community. Pray for them to attend church and to grow spiritually. Pray for Jill. She will need to go to the States for treatment in August. Pray that the children can get visas and go with her. Pray for all the teachings that took place this month. Pray that they will go beyond peoples ears to their hearts and lives. Pray for Jill as she teaches at a retreat this month in Fort Portal. Pray for all the ministries of Arise Christian Fellowship as well as the other ministries we partner with.. Pray for Jill and the children as they continue in homeschooling. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/kanyike-update-june-2018/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"dear-friends-and-family\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month Luke and Laylee celebrated their birthdays. While celebrating their birthdays it got me thinking about the youth in Uganda.  Uganda’s population is 78% under the age of 17.  No matter where you go you find children of all ages.  Our church is no exception.  Most Sundays the Sund \u003ca href=\"/kanyike/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2018/06/Luke-Laylee-bday.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/kanyike/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2018/06/Luke-Laylee-bday.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e ay school is more then double the adults in service.  If it is a school holiday or special event that number can even double again.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Kanyike Update -- June 2018"},{"content":" IMG\\_4066-e1528768048193-150x150 IMG\\_4210-150x150 IMG\\_4234-150x150 IMG\\_4232-150x150 34788669\\_1649974448443614\\_1896524972273172480\\_o-150x150 34683775\\_1026983394136031\\_4004708892125691904\\_n-150x150 Hola! We have had a full May and beginning of June. In May we finished our first semester of the Church Planting Course at CC Rosarito, along with the finish of this session of guitar class for Allison. It has been such a blessing to be a part of this course, and have the opportunity to serve here at Calvary Chapel Rosarito. Jon has been teaching in a rotation in the Pillars Class on Sunday mornings, and he will be teaching in the sanctuary on a Wednesday night at the end of June. We will also be teaching with a translator in children\u0026rsquo;s ministry, each of us in a different class/age group. This will be a new thing for Allison because she\u0026rsquo;s never taught with a translator. Oh, and Allison is now a greeter\u0026hellip;does that shock anyone? Her dreams have come true\u0026hellip;seriously!\nWe also had the honor of serving as chaplains at the Franklin Graham Decision America event in Escondido with our sending church, Calvary Chapel San Juan Capistrano. It was an amazing night serving with them and witnessing lives turning to the Lord at the event.\nAt the beginning of June, Jon went with a team from CCR to Calvary Chapel Maranatha in Mazatlán. The team worked long hours doing construction on the building, remodeling the sanctuary. It was a blessing for him to be on this trip for many reasons. Pastor Tony, his wife, and son opened their home to us when we drove back to California in October from Oaxaca. They didn\u0026rsquo;t even know us but our connection went back to Roca Blanca Spanish School, to a woman who also barely knew us, Nancy, who serves at the church in Mazatlán. Just a fun story about how awesome God is!!! It was also a blessing for Jon because he really got to know the guys he was on the trip with and bonded with them. He came home refreshed even though they had been working so hard.\nNext month we will officially be gaining a daughter when Austin and McKenna get married. We praise the Lord for their relationship and can\u0026rsquo;t wait to watch them grow as a couple in the many years to come.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nfor a worship leader to be raised up to go to Oaxaca with us that we would practice/use Spanish every day and grow in the language for Jon to do well when he teaches in the sanctuary Jon\u0026rsquo;s foot to heal or for a doctor to treat it so it\u0026rsquo;s not so painful We are grateful for all of you who love us and check up on us, pray for and support us. Thank you all for being there for us! We love you!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/may-2018-3/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG%5F4066-e1528768048193-150x150.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_4066-e1528768048193-150x150\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_4066-e1528768048193-150x150\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG%5F4210-150x150.jpeg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_4210-150x150\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_4210-150x150\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG%5F4234-150x150.jpeg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_4234-150x150\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_4234-150x150\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/IMG%5F4232-150x150.jpeg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_4232-150x150\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_4232-150x150\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/34788669%5F1649974448443614%5F1896524972273172480%5Fo-150x150.jpg\"\n         alt=\"34788669\\_1649974448443614\\_1896524972273172480\\_o-150x150\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            34788669\\_1649974448443614\\_1896524972273172480\\_o-150x150\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/34683775%5F1026983394136031%5F4004708892125691904%5Fn-150x150.jpg\"\n         alt=\"34683775\\_1026983394136031\\_4004708892125691904\\_n-150x150\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            34683775\\_1026983394136031\\_4004708892125691904\\_n-150x150\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/34447602%5F1026110484223322%5F820188884947173376%5Fo-150x150.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHola!  We have had a full May and beginning of June.  In May we finished our first semester of the Church Planting Course at CC Rosarito, along with the finish of this session of guitar class for Allison.  It has been such a blessing to be a part of this course, and have the opportunity to serve here at Calvary Chapel Rosarito.  Jon has been teaching in a rotation in the Pillars Class on Sunday mornings, and he will be teaching in the sanctuary on a Wednesday night at the end of June.  We will also be teaching with a translator in children\u0026rsquo;s ministry, each of us in a different class/age group.  This will be a new thing for Allison because she\u0026rsquo;s never taught with a translator.  Oh, and Allison is now a greeter\u0026hellip;does that shock anyone?  Her dreams have come true\u0026hellip;seriously!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"May Update"},{"content":"\nApril and May have been great months! It was wonderful to celebrate our Risen Lord during our Easter service. As well as celebrate new life with Baby Dedications, Beach Baptisms and we had a special day to celebrate kids for “El día de los niños”, “Day of the kids”.\nWe are so blessed at Calvary Playas to have a great team of servants and leaders. The midweek studies are going well. It is great to see the body of Christ growing in their relationship with the Lord. We have begun teaching a midweek series on the “Pillars of Our Faith”. Thursday nights we have started providing “pan dulce”, or Mexican sweet bread, for the congregation. We want to make Thursday nights a little more intimate for the church as we learn about the foundational doctrines of the faith. Food and fellowship unite the body of Christ (Acts 2:42).\nJamie graduated from High School and we are so proud of her diligence as well as her love for the Lord. We are praying for her as she is deciding what her next step. Brian has started serving more on the worship team at church, he has worked very hard playing the guitar and is a talented young man. Our prayer is that he will continue to serve Jesus with his musical abilities. We have a traitor in the family! We are going to be involved with Calvary Rosarito Basketball League, and Brian and I will be on the same team, but R.J is jumping ship and teaming up with friends from CCR. Mackenzie recently had a birthday and we have been encouraging her to practice with the worship team, she can sing really well.\nSo proud of these kids. It is not easy to be missionary kids as well as pastor’s kids, but they are faithful servants.\nSome of you may know that my Grandmother, Barbara, has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. The doctors will begin radiation treatment shortly, but we ask that you would continue to pray for her.\nThank you for your prayers and faithful support!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gause-family-april-may-2018-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/06/Baby-Dedication-Celebration-2-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eApril and May have been great months! It was wonderful to celebrate our Risen Lord during our Easter service. As well as celebrate new life with Baby Dedications, Beach Baptisms and we had a special day to celebrate kids for “El día de los niños”, “Day of the kids”.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/06/Baby-Dedication-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/06/Beach-Baptism-e1528055407343-225x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/06/Praying-@-Beach-Baptism-e1528055310798-225x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/06/Day-of-Kid-3-e1528055157798-225x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/06/Day-of-kid-2-e1528055205266-225x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gause/wp-content/uploads/sites/57/2018/06/Day-of-Kid-4-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are so blessed at Calvary Playas to have a great team of servants and leaders. The midweek studies are going well. It is great to see the body of Christ growing in their relationship with the Lord. We have begun teaching a midweek series on the “Pillars of Our Faith”. Thursday nights we have started providing “pan dulce”, or Mexican sweet bread, for the congregation.  We want to make Thursday nights a little more intimate for the church as we learn about the foundational doctrines of the faith. Food and fellowship unite the body of Christ (Acts 2:42).\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gause Family April/May 2018 Newsletter"},{"content":"Between having a new baby in the family and the rush of the final weeks of the semester, this month has passed so quickly. We are now into our “Summer Vacation,” though here in Peru, it is not summer, nor is it really vacation. :-) But it does on the other hand mean that the majority of the students have returned to their homes in various countries and the campus feels rather empty. We are already missing the students who have left. Graduation week, despite the great blessing of seeing the students finish strong, always comes with a weight. We always feel sad to see them go, and are praying that they continue to be a light, as they return to their hometowns.\nWhile the campus is on break, homeschool is now in full swing. We are doing much more now, and will continue to through the “summer” months. Here in Peru the school year runs from March through December unlike the US schedule. We have been doing a homeschool co-op with friends for the younger girls. We look forward to starting a co-op with some homeschooling friends for the older kids as soon as all of our schedules settle in a bit.\nWe finally were able to get baby Mírabel’s birth certificate registered. We are waiting for her Peruvian National Identification card so that we can get her Peruvian passport, and we will be going to the US Embassy in Lima as soon as we are able, in order to get her US documents. The below picture is the location that we had to go to in order to finally get her birth certificate (on the seventh attempt).\nWe also need to make a trip leaving the country in order to renew our visas, prior to starting the residency process. We have had a hard time timing when to start the process for residency. So the next potential opportunity will be in July. We will likely make a trip to Ecuador prior to the next semester, so that we can start the process.\nWe have the opportunity to join our church, Rocky Mountain Calvary on a missions trip to Cusco from July 5-15. We would really love to go and serve alongside those from our church and to finally meet the other missionaries that RMC has in Peru. Cusco is the opposite side of the country from us so we have never yet made the trip to visit them. Would you prayerfully consider giving an additional gift this month and contributing toward the cost of our missions trip? It would be such an encouragement for us to be able to join them.\nAs a follow up from the last update, it looks like the specialist appointment in New York will need to be postponed until maybe next year. Things haven’t come together in order to make the trip to the states. Also, the testing is a rather long process, so it seems that it will perhaps be better to plan a couple months back in the US in order to complete the testing process. The necessary tests are extremely sensitive and often come back with false negatives several times. Due to this, it can be quite a tedious process. It would feel like such a waste to fly to the US for a quick trip, and after returning to Peru discover that all tests came back with what could very well be false negatives. Please continue to pray for wisdom for the timing of this important trip.\nWe are so thankful for those of you who have reached out to us, poured into us, and just loved on our family from afar. We are so blessed!\nPlease pray for all those on our support teams, that the Lord would be growing them and working in them. Pray that the Lord would grow their hearts for the work that He is doing in Peru. We get the blessing of seeing first hand what He is doing here, and we want to see others blessed by seeing Him at work as well. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness, and that He uses broken people like us to accomplish His work. We are so humbled and honored that He would choose us to serve here in Peru.\nWith much love,\nThe Buescher Family\nPS - If you pray for us on a regular basis, would you please send us a note and let us know? We really would like to see our prayer team grow, and we would also like to send out more specific prayer requests to those who are committed to praying for us.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/may-2018-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBetween having a new baby in the family and the rush of the final weeks of the semester, this month has passed so quickly.  We are now into our “Summer Vacation,” though here in Peru, it is not summer, nor is it really vacation. :-) But it does on the other hand mean that the majority of the students have returned to their homes in various countries and the campus feels rather empty.  We are already missing the students who have left. Graduation week, despite the great blessing of seeing the students finish strong, always comes with a weight. We always feel sad to see them go, and are praying that they continue to be a light, as they return to their hometowns.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"May 2018"},{"content":"Dear loved one, God has truly blessed my family in our transition across the world. We are extremely grateful for each of you and for all of your prayers. Adjusting to our new family member, our new jobs, our new friends and our new life while Noelle is recovering from surgery would have been so hard had it not have been for all of your dedicated prayers. We know that God heard you. Thank you.\nMany of your prayers for this transition and for Noelle\u0026rsquo;s recovery were answered in the form of the long visit of my mother. Initially my mom was going to come in order to assist with Noah\u0026rsquo;s birth (since she is a doula), but God had other things in mind and had Noah come two and a half weeks early. So instead she was able to use her other awesome skills as homemaker and massage therapist to help my wife. It was really great to have family out here, and all in all my mom was a tremendous blessing!\nWell, it took two years but we have finally started the work that God laid on our hearts in the Spring of 2016. It is so exciting to be involved in things that we really believe in. Jeremiah 23:21-22 says “I did not send these prophets, but they ran. I did not speak to them, but they prophesied. But if they had stood in My council, then they would have announced My words to My people, and would have turned them back from their evil way and from the evil of their deeds.” This verse has really been on my heart as I have been helping write the curriculum for our new class of 33 pastors who will be starting out in Genesis one month from now. The current class of pastors is still a year from graduation, and yet they have truly come a long way. It is amazing how far someone can grow in their relationship with God and their witness as they immerse themselves in the Word of God. And it is amazing how things as simple as introducing the concept of poetry can bring illumination and understanding of Scripture.\nThese are my neighbors who helped me paint and who I will be discipling.\nAs part of the process of settling in here, we have painted our house, or rather, have had our house painted. When I was first painting outside a few of my neighbors started helping me and soon thereafter they took over for me and received a job out of it. God used that to help us really develop good friendships with a few of the young men of our community! When they finished the paint job we took them out to an Ethiopian food place and then got a picture with them at a photo booth. The exciting thing is that they are coming to my house tomorrow for the first of our semi-regular neighborhood worship nights! On top of that, I and a few of the young men are going to start meeting every Tuesday night for discipleship! In no way will these gatherings replace our roles with Terebinth Ministries, but it is just one way God is answering our prayers for our community and our home life. Praise God for His orchestration of these things.\nGod Bless you Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and Noah ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/may-2018/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"dear-loved-one\"\u003eDear loved one,\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod has truly blessed my family in our transition across the world. We are extremely grateful for each of you and for all of your prayers. Adjusting to our new family member, our new jobs, our new friends and our new life while Noelle is recovering from surgery would have been so hard had it not have been for all of your dedicated prayers. We know that God heard you. Thank you.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"May 2018"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nWe have some exciting news to share with you. As God has continued to bless our church, we have undertaken a new building project. In this update, we want to tell you all about it! Over the years, God has continually brought first time guests and local visitors to our church. Unfortunately, we have not done a great job of keeping them, which was a focus for us last year as we began our New Believers class to plug them in and disciple them.\nThis program has been affective in retaining our guests and at present, we find ourselves in need of a sanctuary expansion and new fellowship areas. To meet this need, we are adding a sanctuary expansion and two new patios to our church facility!\nFirst off, in phase 1 we are redesigning and improving our patio fellowship area. This project has begun and we have already graded and enclosed our new Patio out in front of the church and it measures 50% larger than our previous one. This expanded space, will be used for fellowshipping, eating (of course) and also house our upcoming connections center which will be designed to help our congregation get connected to the right ministries and leaders at the church. Later on, in stage three of this project, we will be building a smaller 2nd patio that will be located on the roof of our sanctuary expansion. (In the space located above our present patio) Stage 2 is our sanctuary expansion. If you have visited our church here in Mexico, the old patio inside of the gates and fence is going to be transformed into our sanctuary expansion. Eventually the back walls of our sanctuary will be blown out, and a 250+ seating area will be added.\nThis sanctuary addition, will not only provide more space for our main services in the sanctuary, but will also have the capability of being closed off and have a self-enclosed audio and video system. This extra room will provide for us a much needed medium size meeting room that is able to host large meetings and bible studies, and mid-sized banquets.\nFinally, I want to once again thank you for supporting our family as your missionaries. We are honored and thankful that you have chosen to partner with us and we love and appreciate you very much!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would reveal to us His wisdom and plans for this sanctuary expansion and patio additions!\n#2- That God would provide financially all that is needed for these projects!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise the Lord that in May we were able to complete our Spring Church Planting class with 25 students completing the semester!\n#2- Praise God that our daughter Grace graduated from high school this month and our son Daniel completed his sophomore year and both excelled academically!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873 For your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-june-2018-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/05/32929976_10211840897073135_3536889440653803520_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/05/32929976_10211840897073135_3536889440653803520_n-300x153.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have some exciting news to share with you. As God has continued to bless our church, we have undertaken a new building project. In this update, we want to tell you all about it! Over the years, God has continually brought first time guests and local visitors to our church. Unfortunately, we have not done a great job of keeping them, which was a focus for us last year as we began our New Believers class to plug them in and disciple them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family June 2018 Missions Update"},{"content":"****Through Love Serve One Another “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13\nIt is such a huge blessing that Vincent is teaching and discipling and I’m excitingly serving in Children’s and Women’s ministry again wondering over and over how God uses such a person like me. I could write long stories time and time again. But as I reflect on this busy month what really blesses me to share is the learning of release. It\u0026rsquo;s amazing and beautiful the ways God wants to use all of us every minute of every day to show His love! When we got our first vehicle, a motorcycle, many years ago Vincent would give it to people and it would always come back broken. I would get so frustrated knowing how long it would take us to get money to repair it. I complained to him pleading to let us have just one nice thing. He shared with me that if we don’t share our blessings with others to minister to them, we better not have it at all. I am almost finally grasping the understanding. Yes, our car always needs work and sometimes it is scary to drive, but it is worth the blessing for the glory of God. In just this week our vehicle has been blessed to bring water, it was an ambulance, and a limo for a wedding party and a hearse to bless a family that could not afford to bring the body for the funeral and then brought the guests. God gives opportunities to make wedding invitations, decorate cakes, give birthday parties celebrating God’s amazing children - even as simple as making little treats for anyone who comes to the gate, or giving the last money to a poor child so she can go to the children’s conference to come and find money you know wasn’t in your book a few days ago. It’s having people feel at home no matter which country they are from because of God’s love! It\u0026rsquo;s a love that only Christ can give knowing there is nothing good in us and that none of it is ours to begin with! How are we all using our blessings to serve one another today? To God be all glory! Amen!\nDelivered “But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the spirit and not in the oldness of the letters.” Rom 7:6\nOne of the many prayers we have prayed for the Muslim converts is to be bold in their deliverance. I have shared many times about converts being discipled but feared to be open because of persecution. I am so excited to share that there is a revival and at least 14 of them have become bold. Instead of fasting the first day of Edi with their family members they broke bread in our compound as they started their weekly discipleship with Vincent. Even Imran who I wrote about years ago has become bold! He lived with us but when his dad threatened to kill us he went back to Islam. Now he\u0026rsquo;s bold, even attending mid-week service. One young man’s (around age 18) family had come to collect him and bring him back home but he refused, standing strong, and is now working here and staying at one of the church leaders\u0026rsquo; home who is a relative to him. These converts not only face the hardest persecution but also many added hardships. They lose their family, land, any help for a wife, a place to be buried, etc. This is magnified by living in a third world country. They are transforming from the law they knew to the deliverance of a relationship with God whom loves us. They are so precious and need prayers and support!\nPrayer Requests\nPray for the converts. Pray for the land as we hope to finalize the surveying and begin building. Pray for our health, safety, strength and continued joy! Please pray for the teams coming in June and July and for Angela who is coming for a few months. Praise Reports\nThe football/soccer party went great! Everyone, even the Muslim players, excitedly received Bibles! Even an older Muslim fan came and asked for a Bible later. Added funny: I have never seen grown men so excited for a cake! They said with such a cake they have to win the final cup next season and all took pictures with it. All the kids have started school this week! Praise God for His provision and added blessings from Promise Child! They were so excited with school shoes and backpacks and uniforms cleaned, ironed and ready to go. We did take in Daniel and he is making good friends and thriving. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/through-love-serve-one-another/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e**\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2018/03/IMG_7459-300x225.jpg\"\u003e**\u003cstrong\u003eThrough Love Serve One Another\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003e“For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” Galatians 5:13\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is such a huge blessing that Vincent is teaching and discipling and I’m excitingly serving in Children’s and Women’s ministry again wondering over and over how God uses such a person like me. I could write long stories time and time again. But as I reflect on this busy month what really blesses me to share is the learning of release. It\u0026rsquo;s amazing and beautiful the ways God wants to use all of us every minute of every day to show His love! When we got our first vehicle, a motorcycle, many years ago Vincent would give it to people and it would always come back broken. I would get so frustrated knowing how long it would take us to get money to repair it. I complained to him pleading to let us have just one nice thing. He shared with me that if we don’t share our blessings with others to minister to them, we better not have it at all. I am almost finally grasping the understanding. Yes, our car always needs work and sometimes it is scary to drive, but it is worth the blessing for the glory of God. In just this week our vehicle has been blessed to bring water, it was an ambulance, and a limo for a wedding party and a hearse to bless a family that could not afford to bring the body for the funeral and then brought the guests. God gives opportunities to make wedding invitations, decorate cakes, give birthday parties celebrating God’s amazing children - even as simple as making little treats for anyone who comes to the gate, or giving the last money to a poor child so she can go to the children’s conference to come and find money you know wasn’t in your book a few days ago. It’s having people feel at home no matter which country they are from because of God’s love! It\u0026rsquo;s a love that only Christ can give knowing there is nothing good in us and that none of it is ours to begin with! How are we all using our blessings to serve one another today? To God be all glory! Amen!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Through Love Serve One Another"},{"content":"\nIts been about two years since our church relocated from Ngong road to Karen Plains area. Being that the Karen area is mostly filled with the affluent population of Kenya. Our efforts to reach the community in our new neighborhood is challenging. We have been tirelessly knocking door to door at every house in the neighborhood. Attempting to reach out to the people. But these are the minority, upper class population of Kenya. Lovely gated large houses usually with a security guard at the gate. We are either turned away by the security guards or no one answers the door. We tried to hand out cookies (with Invitations to the church) to each home in the community but there was no outcome from that effort. Astonishingly, we discovered that among this wealthy community there also live nomadic cattlemen of the Masai tribe! They are very warm and welcome us with a smile and a handshake. They have always been eager to hear what we had to share with them about Christ. Last month, we were able to share a Bible study with the people in that community. They showed such keen interest and listened attentively as the Word was taught. We ask for wisdom, prayer and discernment to reach out to all in our community where our church is located.\nPraise Report: As parents, my wife and I experienced an exhilarating event this past month: Our youngest daughter, Sophia, asked to participate in our church Water Baptism! There is no greater joy than to see your child whom we have poured into and discipled since a tender age proclaiming her faith in Christ to the world. Please join us in praying that both our daughters would continue to grow in Christ and would never wander off from walking with the Lord.\nIn Christ,\nDavid Zavala\nPray: Please pray for the Kenyans who have been affected by the recent floods. Please pray that God would open doors for us to minister to more people in Nairobi. Please pray for healing for Twinkle’s parents who have been ill. Please pray for wisdom and guidance concerning Homeschooling. Please pray for God’s guidance as we make preparations to host summer teams. term mission teams. Pray for many to come to our bible college next semester. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/eager-ears/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/zavala/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2018/02/Screen-Shot-2018-02-16-at-6.48.27-PM.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/zavala/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2018/02/Screen-Shot-2018-02-16-at-6.48.27-PM-1024x335.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"/zavala/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2018/05/mara_north_6.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/zavala/wp-content/uploads/sites/39/2018/05/mara_north_6.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIts been about two years since our church relocated from Ngong road to Karen Plains area. Being that the Karen area is mostly filled with the affluent population of Kenya. Our efforts to reach the community in our new neighborhood is challenging. We have been tirelessly knocking door to door at every house in the neighborhood. Attempting to reach out to the people. But these are the minority, upper class population of Kenya. Lovely gated large houses usually with a security guard at the gate. We are either turned away by the security guards or no one answers the door. We tried to hand out cookies (with Invitations to the church) to each home in the community but there was no outcome from that effort. Astonishingly, we discovered that among this wealthy community there also live nomadic cattlemen of the Masai tribe! They are very warm and welcome us with a smile and a handshake. They have always been eager to hear what we had to share with them about Christ. Last month, we were able to share a Bible study with the people in that community. They showed such keen interest and listened attentively as the Word was taught. We ask for wisdom, prayer and discernment to reach out to all in our community where our church is located.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Eager Ears"},{"content":"A couple of months ago I was in the book of the prophet Isaiah in my Bible reading plan. I was down in a small room at our church with couches, an isolated little spot where I spend time with Jesus an hour or two before work during the week. This amazing poem in the book (chapter 25, verses 6 though 9) leapt off the page:\nThe Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain; A banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow, Refined, aged wine. And on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples, Even the veil which is stretched over all nations. He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken. And it will be said in that day, “Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”\nIt was a moment of clarity and vision: This is why I do what I do with SGWM! I found my heart longing for this moment that awaits us, and the Lord renewed in my heart my goal of seeing people from every nation gathered with me on that mountain as my family in Christ. I\u0026rsquo;m going to get to feast with brothers and sisters from every continent, from every people group, and our job as Christians is to start inviting everybody we know to join us by spreading the gospel to our neighbors and the nations. Those little reminders from Him are so precious to push me to continue to do what I do!\nThings in the ministry have been great! A couple of months back, I got the opportunity to go to an organization that supports me, Evangelical Christian Credit Union, where I used to work, and share in their staff meeting a little bit about what I do with SGWM as a US-based missionary. It was so sweet to share and see all my old friends there!\nA couple of weeks ago was incredibly busy, but come Saturday night May 5th, all of the work we\u0026rsquo;ve done over the last few months paid off at our SGWM Missions Banquet! It was a roaring success, as all of the pieces came together perfectly. Our administrative staff and some amazing volunteers helped us put on a fruitful night of spreading our vision of what it means to disciple the nations as a missionary-sending and church-planting ministry. I got to lead bi-lingual worship with one of our church-planters from Mexico as well as interview one of our missionaries (and my friend), Rebecca Alaniz, who is preparing to head to Croatia, about what it means to have a strong sending ministry. It was such a blessing to be a part of this night!\nTwo days after the banquet, Pastor Mike Thiemann (SGWM\u0026rsquo;s Director) and I got to head up to Sacramento for a couple of days at a conference with Church United, an organization that helps church leaders get involved in what is going on politically. It was really informative, especially regarding some troubling bills in the pipeline for California. We had a sweet time worshiping in the center of our state\u0026rsquo;s capitol building and got to meet with some of our assemblymen. The enemy is at work in the political realm, and it is time the church got on our knees to pray for our government and leaders!\nFinally, looking toward the future, I will not be able to go on the trip to the orphanage in Mexico in July after all, as I will be officiating a wedding here. I am, however, still planning on going to Uganda in October. Please pray as I will need to raise some additional support for that trip. I\u0026rsquo;m looking forward to visiting and blessing some of our missionaries there and getting a better vision for our involvement in Africa!\nOn the family front, things are going really well! The Lord has been good to our family. Maggie is growing so fast in her learning and maturity in being a helper around the house, Harrison is potty-trained and doing amazing, and Jude just turned one this month (and has plenty of dance moves to show for it!).\nLove you all! Thank you so much for your prayers and support as we seek to be a family focused on inviting the nations to that future \u0026ldquo;feast on the mountain.\u0026rdquo;\nIn Christ, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, and Jude Garcia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/come-to-the-feast/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eA couple of months ago I was in the book of the prophet Isaiah in my Bible reading plan. I was down in a small room at our church with couches, an isolated little spot where I spend time with Jesus an hour or two before work during the week. This amazing poem in the book (chapter 25, verses 6 though 9) leapt off the page:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Lord of hosts will prepare a lavish banquet for all peoples on this mountain;\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eA banquet of aged wine, choice pieces with marrow,\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eRefined, aged wine.\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eAnd on this mountain He will swallow up the covering which is over all peoples,\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eEven the veil which is stretched over all nations.\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eHe will swallow up death for all time,\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eAnd the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces,\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eAnd He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth;\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eFor the Lord has spoken.\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eAnd it will be said in that day,\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003e“Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited that He might save us.\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eThis is the Lord for whom we have waited;\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eLet us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Come To The Feast!"},{"content":"[gravityform id=\u0026ldquo;6\u0026rdquo; title=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo; description=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo;]\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/national-application/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e[gravityform id=\u0026ldquo;6\u0026rdquo; title=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo; description=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo;]\u003c/p\u003e","title":"National Application"},{"content":"After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. Revelation 7:9 NIV\nThe verse above is encouraging. There will be so many people in heaven that we cannot count them. Sometimes we minister to people and share the Gospel with them and we do not know whether someday the seeds that were planted in their lives or not. We may never know how our lives have impacted others until heaven. When we find out in heaven, it will make heaven sweeter.\nDarryl went to the countryside for an overnight ministry trip with his Cambodian/Filipino ministry partners. He spoke at a house church on the countryside. He spoke about the Biblical view of respecting the elderly and parents. The church held a foot washing service for their senior citizens. We also helped with a children\u0026rsquo;s program at a local Christian school. The trip was during the Cambodian New Year. Cambodians believe that there is a new angel that comes to the country each year. Darryl taught the children about angels and demons and that they should not worship angels or be afraid of demons because Jesus Christ, the Creator is greater.\nDarryl also continues to teach Christian Apologetics at the Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute. His students are preparing to video record their Apologetics skits at the end of this month. These videos will be uploaded to social media. Some of his students are sharing Darryl\u0026rsquo;s videos on social media to encourage their Christian friends and evangelize their non-Christian friends. Some of these videos have received more than 6,500 views. The International Fishers website consistently receives around one thousand visitors per month.\nKayo is working more with Precious Women Ministry because their other foreign staff member has returned to their own country. Her ministry to Japanese people in Cambodia continues to grow and more Japanese are expected to come in the fall. She also is ministering through the international church\u0026rsquo;s worship team.\nPlease pray for our coming trip to Japan this summer. It has been more than four years since we were able to go there and connect with and encourage our senders there.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/no-one-could-count/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eAfter this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.\u003c/em\u003e Revelation 7:9 NIV\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe verse above is encouraging. There will be so many people in heaven that we cannot count them.  Sometimes we minister to people and share the Gospel with them and we do not know whether someday the seeds that were planted in their lives or not. We may never know how our lives have impacted others until heaven.  When we find out in heaven, it will make heaven sweeter.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"No One Could Count"},{"content":"Team Ministry\nWe really sprung into spring with team ministry this year! For seventeen days around Easter time, we had four teams, did ministry at three orphanages, two VBS/soccer camp/women\u0026rsquo;s ministry locations, one kids\u0026rsquo; club, two festival outreaches, and more! Two of these teams, as well as a couple others, spent a lot of time and donated a lot of funds toward the construction of Casa de Los Angeles orphanage here in Rosarito. We have seen a huge amount of progress on this project over the last few months, which is very exciting!\nNine of those days we hosted two teams together, as all of these teams overlapped each other. This would not have been possible without our awesome staff - Shawn \u0026amp; Pam Cullen and Jody Gonzales. Shawn \u0026amp; Pam did a great job as always serving alongside the teams, hosting them, cooking meals, packing lunches, and so much more! Jody has been helping Pam in the kitchen and has been a huge blessing! Family\nIf you have not seen William in a while, this photo does not lie. He is now taller than his parents! Will is having a great school year, and will be finishing up in about a month. He recently joined a local basketball team and has gotten quite good. Brian and Brittany continue to serve at Calvary Chapel Playas in Playas de Tijuana, where Brian also works full time. They moved about five months ago from the caretakers\u0026rsquo; home at Casa de Los Angeles orphanage in Rosarito to a nice home in Tijuana, which is about a half an hour closer to work, church, and school for them. Brian is taking a music class this semester, and Brittany started a new job recently at Chick-Fil-A just over the border where she was quickly promoted to Shift Leader. (She\u0026rsquo;s following in her dad\u0026rsquo;s footsteps, I guess.) Also, CDLA was blessed to find a wonderful missionary couple to live in the caretakers\u0026rsquo; home.\nAs many of you know, our family went through a tremendous loss last year. Both Ron\u0026rsquo;s mom, Sue, and Kristy\u0026rsquo;s sister, Kimberly, went to be with the Lord in December. We would like to take a brief moment to say thank you. Our fall trip last year was primarily spent with family, as Sue\u0026rsquo;s health, especially, was beginning to decline. Normally on these trips, while also visiting with family, we strive to meet with all of our supporters. We are so grateful for your understanding in this, as well as for the time we had together. Sue and Kim were always huge supporters of ours in so many ways. We will truly miss them.\nConnections House Purchase\nAt this point in time, it looks like the final signing of the papers to purchase the property has been delayed approximately until July. Please join us in praying that everything will go smoothly and there won\u0026rsquo;t be any further delays.\nThe amount of the personal loan we have taken out that covers the difference still needed to pay off the property is $26,500. If you feel led to give toward the purchase of our ministry dorms, you may do so by one of two ways:\n#1 – GoFundMe – Just click \u0026amp; give!\nClick to Donate Now!\n#2 – Tax-deductible gift – May be sent in the mail by doing the following:\nChecks may be made payable to “Calvary Chapel Rosarito”. Please write “Connections House” on the memo line and mail to: Calvary Chapel Rosarito, 511 E San Ysidro Blvd #6355, San Ysidro, CA 92173\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sprung-into-spring/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTeam Ministry\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/31265486%5F10216352499307697%5F1254701565118251008%5Fn-683x1024-200x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/31164038%5F10216352497627655%5F957424141005225984%5Fn-1024x579-300x170.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/31166371_10216352497387649_7497283762162499584_n-1024x684.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/31166371_10216352497387649_7497283762162499584_n-1024x684-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/31172035_10216352498067666_4204591962797375488_n-1024x683.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/31172035_10216352498067666_4204591962797375488_n-1024x683-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe really sprung into spring with team ministry this year! For seventeen days around Easter time, we had four teams, did ministry at three orphanages, two VBS/soccer camp/women\u0026rsquo;s ministry locations, one kids\u0026rsquo; club, two festival outreaches, and more! Two of these teams, as well as a couple others, spent a lot of time and donated a lot of funds toward the construction of Casa de Los Angeles orphanage here in Rosarito. We have seen a huge amount of progress on this project over the last few months, which is very exciting!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sprung Into Spring"},{"content":"We are all finally here! “I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9:1-2\nApril has been a month full of thanksgiving for us as we have established our family here in Uganda. On April 12 our dear friends and family sent us off to Denver International Airport where we started our long journey across the world. We arrived the night of the 13th and have spent the remainder of the month getting established here so that we can have a firm foundation for our family. The director of our ministry has graciously given us as much time as we need to put our family life in order here so that when we start ministering we don’t burn out and suffer as a family. So we have taken this opportunity to put our house in order. Doing things like greeting our neighbors well, to fixing the solar on our house, buying our beds and water filtering systems and getting the ball rolling on our work visas.\nBut the real excitement came this weekend, on Friday morning Noelle had a pregnancy check up and everything was going well, Noelle and the baby were healthy and Noah was in perfect delivering position. Before dawn on Sunday morning Noelle started going into the beginning stages of labour although she wasn’t due for another 2 weeks. Then our tire went flat on the way into town! The labour wasn’t progressing very quickly so we had time to switch to the spare and then get the tire fixed before heading to our directors house to spend the night in town where the clinic was. Then Monday morning about 7 am when the contractions were close together we headed for the clinic. (We were going to be the first white people to have a baby there). Once we got there they discovered that Noelle was 9 cm dilated and ready to go, unfortunately however, they also learned that Noah had twisted sideways and that his right shoulder was coming out. At which point Noelle was rushed to the ambulance and transferred to a hospital equipped for a C Section. Noelle was in the operating theater for about 2 hours. If everything goes according to schedule Noelle should be discharged this Thursday. Sometimes it’s hard to stay calm here because of how “majority world” the hospital is eg; blood stained bed sheets, running out of necessary pain meds, continuously wrapping my son in insane amounts of blankets despite the African heat, hallways and corridors stuffed with patients waiting for treatment (many of whom are in active labour), and so on…. But through it all God is good and Noelle and I are confident that we are where He wants us and that His plan is well thought through and Good. Anyway, OUR SON IS OUT AND HEALTHY!\nWe praise God that after 2 years of anticipation we are now here. We saw God do amazing things in peoples lives during that period and we are looking forward to how God will move in the time to come. We are so blessed to have the privilege of announcing God’s word to His people. May Christ’s bride fall deeper in love with him and be more and more acquainted with what He said!\n“May the favor of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands, yes, establish the work of our hands.” Psalm 90:17\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/april-2018-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWe are all finally here!\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003e“I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9:1-2\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eApril has been a month full of thanksgiving for us as we have established our family here in Uganda.\nOn April 12 our dear friends and family sent us off to Denver International Airport where we started our long journey across the world. We arrived the night of the 13th and have spent the remainder of the month getting established here so that we can have a firm foundation for our family. The director of our ministry has graciously given us as much time as we need to put our family life in order here so that when we start ministering we don’t burn out and suffer as a family. So we have taken this opportunity to put our house in order. Doing things like greeting our neighbors well, to fixing the solar on our house, buying our beds and water filtering systems and getting the ball rolling on our work visas.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"April 2018"},{"content":"\nBack to Where\nWe are back home! Back to where the daily visitors are almost as many in number as the bugs. Back to where the work is hard but God’s strength proves more. Where there are more children then you can remember names, all full of joy making toys out of anything they can find. Where people welcome you with singing and dancing. Where crying is meant for death alone because every day is blessing no matter what happens. Where you depend on God for every little provision! Where no house seems to ever be completed and everyday tasks can take a month. Where the dirt is red, grass is green and trees are beyond the eyes can see. Where the game of charades is part of normal conversation. Where smiling and generosity say more than a million words. Where God is our physician, healer, teacher, our all, every moment of everyday.\nBack to Calvary Chapel Midigo, where the words on the board may not be correct but the meaning in our hearts speaks louder than the base booming in our ears. Where the sound of Worship is how everyone knows church is starting, since few have watches. Where everyone is “All most Welcome,” surely loved and forgiveness is easy because we all need each other. Where our prayer is that we can shine as bright as the clothes we wear and the back drop of the church. Following the calling God has on our lives is our heartbeat!\nMatthew 25:40\nMy mission’s scripture as I first came was Matt. 25:40. Little did I know the depth of why God gave it to me. Even after all these years it still burns strong. We keep saying we are not taking in anymore children. Why do we always say things like this? We know what God does when we say we can’t to Him.\nMeet Daniel! Vincent first met Daniel when there were Muslim/Christian Debates in town 5 months ago. Daniel ran to Vincent to share with him how these Muslims are changing scriptures. Vincent was wondering who is this young bright Christian boy. Later Vincent asked him. He is a boy whose father is from this area. His father converted from Islam to Christianity and moved away then met his mom. His mom died this last year and he does not know where the father is. His mom’s family took everything his mom had and left him alone in Kampala. The police brought him here where he sleeps with his uncle who is a Muslim. His uncle refuses to feed him, take him to school and often locks the door so he has nowhere to sleep. Most of the time when he goes home he finds his few things outside so he collects them and brings them back in. Even when he was sick they threw his medicines out. While we were away he ran to our uncle Anthony to help so they would stop locking the door. We have bought the things needed to take him to the local public school where he stands firm amongst the Muslims. He eats here and we are praying if we should take him in. We told him we cannot currently take him to the Calvary school since we already care for so many children. He says he’s just blessed because He sees God’s provision. I mean how can anyone turn away a boy like this? Please pray for him and also for God’s direction for Vincent and I. I’m almost certain we have a new son.\nPraise Reports\nWe Praise God that Promise Child found sponsors for the 2 girls from the other side of the village. They come to church although their father was a Muslim. All their siblings died by the age 4. They are the only 2 living out of many. Their father has died of AIDS and they have been struggling with the mother who has HIV. Our adjustment has just been God and all your prayers! Thank you!!! The boys are so happy and I am basically unpacked!!! One of our big prayer requests was always Zachary with Sunday School. This Sunday Gaga told me he sat with his friends and even answered a question in class so he got biscuits/cookies. We have been healthy except for some issues I’m having that are a little scary with no proper doctors here, but we trust in God and covet your prayers! Prayer Requests\nClow is starting catering school this coming month!!!! She asks for prayers! Please pray for continued health and safety! Pray as we begin surveying the land to get started on the new projects!!! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/back-to-where/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2018/03/IMG_7459-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBack to Where\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are back home! Back to where the daily visitors are almost as many in number as the bugs.  Back to where the work is hard but God’s strength proves more.  Where there are more children then you can remember names, all full of joy making toys out of anything they can find.  Where people welcome you with singing and dancing. Where crying is meant for death alone because every day is blessing no matter what happens.  Where you depend on God for every little provision!  Where no house seems to ever be completed and everyday tasks can take a month.  Where the dirt is red, grass is green and trees are beyond the eyes can see.  Where the game of charades is part of normal conversation.  Where smiling and generosity say more than a million words.  Where God is our physician, healer, teacher, our all, every moment of everyday.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Back To Where"},{"content":"Hello!After a very difficult pregnancy, both physically and emotionally, our precious little Jane “Mírabel” is finally here! She arrived after a very quick labor and literally minutes before the midwife was supposed to leave to catch her flight back to the US! She is doing great, and I am recovering well.Jane Mírabel Ashalee Buescher BuescherThat\u0026rsquo;s right, Buescher Buescher. ? Here in Peru, children are required to have two last names, the mother’s and the father\u0026rsquo;s first last name. But of course like many Americans, we only have one last name. And in the states when we marry, the wife doesn\u0026rsquo;t keep her maiden name. ?There is now less than one month left until the end of the semester. The end of the semester always comes with some sadness as it means saying goodbye to some of the students that we have grown to love. So hopefully we will squeeze in some extra game nights over the next month and make the most of the time we do have. We are so thankful for the great group of students we have had here. It\u0026rsquo;s been a blessing that many were returning students, so we have had more time to get to know them. Lord willing we would love to see them return again next semester.Romeo has finished teaching his Proverbs class, and only has one more class of Isaiah left to teach. So things are wrapping up really quickly. Fortunately the transition into having a newborn has gone smoothly. Romeo didn\u0026rsquo;t need to skip or move around his class schedule at all, so that was a blessing! This is definitely also due to the incredible amount of help we have had from friends who came from the states. My mom is here now and staying for the next few weeks as well. The help has kept our household running while we were able to take it slow.\nYou can be praying for us as we apply for the many documents we need to get Mírabel’s dual citizenship. Romeo lost his passport while traveling back from Lima a couple weeks ago. So in order to get the birth certificate, her identification documents and passports, he needed to get a new passport as well. So this week he and Romes took a trip to Lima. Praise the Lord they were able to get an emergency passport issued immediately, and we will be able to pick up his full passport in three weeks. Mírabel’s documents have proven to be very difficult to get. Her birth certificate alone we have already visited three different offices and have had five visits, and still no one has been willing to help us get her birth certificate filed. They haven\u0026rsquo;t registered foreigners in our town before, so everyone seems nervous that they will do it wrong.Please also pray for wisdom for us. Right now, I (Jessica) have an appointment set up with a specialist in New York in June. Most of you don\u0026rsquo;t know, but I have been dealing with an illness that has become very debilitating since last May. We didn\u0026rsquo;t want to share while we didn\u0026rsquo;t have definitive answers about what was going on. In fact, I\u0026rsquo;m hesitant even to say this now, as we still don\u0026rsquo;t have answers, we just have some ideas. But there were a couple months that I could hardly walk without help, and some days were even worse than that. I have been more stable since January with only a few weeks throughout where I suddenly had severe symptoms again. Please pray for us as we make the decision about whether or not I should keep my appointment. We have insurance that will fully cover the appointment itself, but still the trip will be quite expensive due to all the travel expenses.Please also pray that the Lord would stir hearts and more people would partner with us and get behind the work that He is doing here in Peru.If you are not already on one (or more) of our sending teams, would you prayerfully consider stepping up and being part of our sending teams? Visit www.bueschersinperu.com for more information about our sending teams or to sign up for our newsletter.We are so thankful for all of you who have poured into us, encouraged us and have been there for us through the transitions of this past year. We have had a lot going on, and we know that we haven\u0026rsquo;t been as faithful at communicating as we want to be. Please pray for us as we try and get better in this area. We know it isn\u0026rsquo;t a strength of ours and we apologize if ever you feel that we haven\u0026rsquo;t communicated well enough with you. Always feel free to reach out to us as well, we would really love to know how all of you are doing and how we can be praying for you.On that same note, we are planning to begin sending quick updates and pictures using WhatsApp (it\u0026rsquo;s a very handy app to stay connected) so please send us your phone number if you would like to receive messages via WhatsApp.The Bueschers\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/april-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello!After a very difficult pregnancy, both physically and emotionally, our precious little Jane “Mírabel” is finally here! She arrived after a very quick labor and literally minutes before the midwife was supposed to leave to catch her flight back to the US! She is doing great, and I am recovering well.Jane Mírabel Ashalee Buescher Buescher\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/buescher/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/IMG_20180408_193010-300x225.jpg\"\u003eThat\u0026rsquo;s right, Buescher Buescher. ? Here in Peru, children are required to have two last names, the mother’s and the father\u0026rsquo;s first last name. But of course like many Americans, we only have one last name. And in the states when we marry, the wife doesn\u0026rsquo;t keep her maiden name. ?There is now less than one month left until the end of the semester. The end of the semester always comes with some sadness as it means saying goodbye to some of the students that we have grown to love. So hopefully we will squeeze in some extra game nights over the next month and make the most of the time we \u003cem\u003edo\u003c/em\u003e have. We are so thankful for the great group of students we have had here. It\u0026rsquo;s been a blessing that many were returning students, so we have had more time to get to know them. Lord willing we would love to see them return again next semester.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/buescher/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/IMG-20180428-WA0001-300x225.jpg\"\u003eRomeo has finished teaching his Proverbs class, and only has one more class of Isaiah left to teach. So things are wrapping up really quickly. Fortunately the transition into having a newborn has gone smoothly. Romeo didn\u0026rsquo;t need to skip or move around his class schedule at all, so that was a blessing! This is definitely also due to the incredible amount of help we have had from friends who came from the states. My mom is here now and staying for the next few weeks as well. The help has kept our household running while we were able to take it slow.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"April 2018"},{"content":"What a great month of March! Calvary Chapel Playas is continuing to grow numerically and spiritually. We were blessed to have Jeff and Bonnie Johnson come down from Santa Barbara to do a marriage conference. How important it is for our marriages to be centered on Christ as well as His Word. Thank you Jesus for unified marriages.\nCalvary Chapel Buhl, from Idaho, came for a week and were able to minister to people at the Tecate dump, to the less fortunate in Tijuana and to people in our church body as well. Unfortunately, during their stay, tragedy struck. The group was on their way to do some construction projects at a home for a brother from the church. His daughter, 23 years old, had passed away the night before. It was a terrible time of grief and mourning. After a few days, Calvary Buhl was able to go up and pray for the family and minister to their physical needs as well. Please keep this family in prayer, it has been incredibly difficult, but encouraging to see our brothers and sister gather around and support them.\nOur family is doing well. Our oldest daughter, Jamie is about to graduate from High School. We are so proud of her. Our boys are doing well in basketball and school. Brian has started playing guitar on the worship team. Our youngest daughter loves hanging out with her friends and worshipping the Lord. What an incredible journey the last 5 years have been, and we feel like we are just getting started.\nPlease pray for our building expansion and the acquisition of anther small room we want to make our children\u0026rsquo;s ministry room. Also, we need to spend some serious cash and upgrade our air conditioning, so if you have any recommendations, let us know. Pray for the marriages in the church, there are a lot of damaged marriages, and we need more people to step up and help out in that area.\nThanks so much for your spiritual and physical support, thank you Jesus for your faithfulness.\nBlessings from the Gause family serving Jesus in Mexico.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gause-family-march-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWhat a great month of March! Calvary Chapel Playas is continuing to grow numerically and spiritually. We were blessed to have Jeff and Bonnie Johnson come down from Santa Barbara to do a marriage conference.  How important it is for our marriages to be centered on Christ as well as His Word.  Thank you Jesus for unified marriages.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/801FFCFE-0DA5-45F4-8670-84200E2A8DE7-768x269.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/801FFCFE-0DA5-45F4-8670-84200E2A8DE7-768x269-300x105.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e     Calvary Chapel Buhl, from Idaho, came for a week and were able to minister to people at the Tecate dump, to the less fortunate in Tijuana and to people in our church body as well.  Unfortunately, during their stay, tragedy struck. The group was on their way to do some construction projects at a home for a brother from the church.  His daughter, 23 years old, had passed away the night before. It was a terrible time of grief and mourning.  After a few days, Calvary Buhl was able to go up and pray for the family and minister to their physical needs as well.  Please keep this family in prayer, it has been incredibly difficult, but encouraging to see our brothers and sister gather around and support them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gause Family Update"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.\u0026rdquo; - Hebrews 12:1-2\nWhen we returned to Nepal in late January, we had some new ministry plans set in place. Instead, God changed those plans and has given us a clear new vision and excitement for the ministries He has entrusted us with.\nNow, within the past three months of being back in Nepal, we have already been able to do and see so many exciting things!\nPlease continue to keep our family and everyone involved in the ministries in your prayers.\nChildren’s Outreach We had a visitor from the Ukraine stay with us for the month of March and help with various things at the bible college and church. One of the major events that she helped run was a four day children’s gospel outreach event.\nIt was so neat to see the children in our community as well as some of our partnering ministries come to sing, dance, make crafts, and - most importantly - have a chance to hear the gospel.\nOn the last day of the outreach, we handed out invitations to all of the children to invite their family to share a meal with us after church.\nWe praise God that there is already some fruit that has come from this outreach. One of the ladies in our area sent her daughter to the event and later she and her two daughters started coming to church and has made a personal confession of faith.\n29186170\\_2020575944896642\\_1607778888795160970\\_n 28947142\\_2021117561509147\\_5880072529843319755\\_o 28701163\\_2022120198075550\\_4921901798632826803\\_o 28828743\\_2022120281408875\\_6363527927845306528\\_o Calvary Chapel Kathmandu Our two church services are going great. We recently switched from evening services to morning services on Saturdays (Nepali church days). At first, we weren’t sure how switching church times would affect the attendance but we are delighted to see a steady flow of regular and new people coming every week.\nPankaj has been going through the book of Acts on Saturdays and we recently started Philippians for our midweek service.\nWe are also excited to share about the very first wedding that took place at Calvary Chapel Kathmandu on April 15! Not only was it exciting that it was the first wedding ceremony, it was even more exciting because it was for Pankaj\u0026rsquo;s brother, Samir, and his beautiful bride, Pabitra!! We had a great time celebrating with them and are thrilled to welcome Pabitra into our family!\n30420010\\_10155937443850189\\_5667022281441334140\\_o 30715256\\_10155507699033857\\_408682914356658176\\_o Discipleship Classes Due to the increase in new believers in our church, Pankaj felt it was important to have a time to go through the CCWG discipleship books. He asked our friend and ministry partner, Rajiv, to lead a class every Saturday, one hour before morning service begins, for whoever wants to come and learn. We currently have around 10 people attending these classes and we can see their growth already. Please keep this class and all of the new believers in your prayers.\n31131746\\_10213226863320561\\_7834136677093212160\\_n Calvary Chapel School of Worship Nepal It is hard to believe the School of Worship is almost ready to begin (finally)!! We are in full gear of planning and starting to spread the word and take applications for the upcoming semester (starting September 2018).\nThere are many people from outside the Kathmandu Valley that are interested in attending, but we are trying to figure out how and where to house them. As of right now, Pankaj has decided to only allow up to 5 people from outside the Valley to attend and then the rest will have to commute to and from their homes every day.\nThere are many financial needs that come with starting a new work and housing students. Please keep the upcoming semester and all of the needs in your prayers.\nSalvation Worship Ministries / Music Center Our worship team recently took part in a large gospel concert where almost 5000 people attended. We played all of our new songs from our CD and the crowd loved singing and dancing along with us. It was a blessing to be able to share the stage with several different bands.\nThe Saturday afternoon bible study is a blessing for all of the Salvation team members. We are going through 1 Corinthians, right now. Pankaj has already seen the growth of each team member from their studying and sharing with each other. This bible study gives them the opportunity to teach from the pulpit and practice with each other. We have seen the guys taking the same form of verse-by-verse bible study to their churches. Some of their pastors have also seen their gift of teaching and have been using them in their churches as well. We praise God for His Word which is living and life changing.\nThe music school attendance is high right now. Local schools are on break right now which gives the students a chance to come and learn music at our school.\nsalvation 29872045\\_10213091564458174\\_6582213798267225900\\_o 29744801\\_10213091561658104\\_3046908365466816908\\_o 29744770\\_10213091563698155\\_1481658321005146684\\_o Work Projects and Improvements on Campus The staff and students of CCBC and CC Kathmandu have been very busy with different work projects! We are slowly but surely making some much needed improvements to the campus.\nIn the past month (with the help of professional contractors), we have already expanded the main gate by an additional 3 feet. This makes it easier to get our ministry vehicles in and out of the campus. We have also been able to build a rain and sun cover outside our sanctuary. Then last week, we were able to clear out some old sheet metal, wood, etc from storage and also painted the gates and some other things around campus.\n29594872\\_743359602522618\\_642887145716862055\\_n 29571389\\_2028300154124221\\_1409406952750422760\\_n 29745153\\_743359552522623\\_2417143296011585688\\_o 31084243\\_10213207754362849\\_5781895238847037440\\_n 31056829\\_10156121492541826\\_3453615741385834496\\_n 30742286\\_10213207750442751\\_7699964922423148544\\_n Please Pray:\nWe are still having problems with renewing Tonielle’s long-term visa. Pankaj’s back and neck problems. Levi to enjoy and behave in his preschool classes (half days for only 3 days a week). The new believers and their families attending CC Kathmandu. Safety for our staff, students, and congregation while the laws are getting more strict toward christianity and religious conversion. For wisdom and guidance for Pankaj while he oversees the ministries For unity between each of the ministry team members For spiritual and physical protection over their marriage, family, and ministries For ministry and personal financial provision ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/trusting-in-the-author-finisher-of-our-faith/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.\u0026rdquo; - Hebrews 12:1-2\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Trusting in the Author \u0026 Finisher of Our Faith"},{"content":"Before I try to make sense… I’ll give you all a general update on the Mission. As some of you are aware of the regular cycles of the Mission, we have recently passed from a season of abundant staff to a season of low staff. We call it “Feast or Famine”. There’s nothing to be overly alarmed about when we go through the slim seasons. Many actually really appreciate that cycle. Of course we like the assurance that we will always have enough staff, and we love having lots of people to share the load and enjoy great fellowship with. But there come times when there is a mass exodus and we realize just how busy the atmosphere had been. When we go through the famine season we do work longer and harder days, but it is calmer and quieter. It’s great to see the staff look for opportunities to cover those who are having a particularly harder day. And, when we sit around the table at meal times it feels a lot more like family. As of recently there are people who planning to come and serve at various times.\nApart from a few normal colds and flus the kids have been in good health. Our daughters, Sarai and Noemi, have returned home after spending three months in Oregon with grandpa and grandma while taking their GED tests. Corinne and I were particularly thrilled when they said that they missed the Mission and couldn’t wait to come home.\nI am always glad when I can erase another project from our extensive list. Last week a group came and did an amazing job in a short time converting one of the buildings into a dental clinic for Eli who is a dentist that has been serving with us for a couple of years. Now she will be able to treat all of the kids and we won’t have to transport them to Ensenada anymore.\nAnother group during Spring Break did an amazing job contouring the dirt in front of the chapel. They made it look better than I had envisioned. Later, when talking with the leader of the group, I asked him what he did for a living he said he is a forestry engineer… he builds roads. The Lord sent the perfect person for the job without us even realizing it until after it was done. Praise God. After that a group that comes at the end of every month came and made significant progress laying block on the chapel. Again, we praise God that he has also allowed me to be able to lay block without it affecting my head too much. We managed to get the windows set before I had to leave.\nThere are a couple of features for the chapel that God had put in motion 11-16 years ago. My brother-in-law had planted a grove of palm trees for the purpose of drying up a septic drain field that was later abandoned. Also, for 11 years, a massive boulder just sat in the middle of our field, left over from when the amphitheater was built. We had tried to move it, but it was too big for the machinery we had. But now the purpose for both of those features had come to fruition. The palm trees are perfectly arranged to shade a patio area in front of the chapel that will be an extension of the quiet place for people to meet with Jesus. Also, we were finally able to move the boulder out in front to be part of the landscaping.\nThere are often things in our lives that we question, “What was that all about?” or “Why did God allow that to happen?” We may not ever receive an answer, or it may come a decade or two later. Inevitably, it turns out to be for something beautiful.\nHe has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11\nThere are even things that we assume that we have the full understanding of what God is preparing us for, but again, it isn’t until years later that more understanding is revealed to us. Currently I am writing to you from my dad’s hospital room in Oregon. He’s had ongoing complications from his hip replacement in the middle of February. Just having the experience of working with the kids at the Mission, along with my mom’s experience working for a care giving company, has contributed significantly to caring for my dad. At this point I don’t know how long I’ll be here, but my hope is that he’ll be able to stand up without assistance before I leave.\nCorinne and the girls are helping hold down the fort at the Mission. Please pray for my dad’s rapid recovery and Corinne and the girls while I’m away. Thank you, and may our Father in heaven bless you.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/making-sense-now-of-the-things-that-didnt-make-sense-before/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eBefore I try to make sense… I’ll give you all a general update on the Mission. As some of you are aware of the regular cycles of the Mission, we have recently passed from a season of abundant staff to a season of low staff. We call it “Feast or Famine”. There’s nothing to be overly alarmed about when we go through the slim seasons. Many actually really appreciate that cycle. Of course we like the assurance that we will always have enough staff, and we love having lots of people to share the load and enjoy great fellowship with. But there come times when there is a mass exodus and we realize just how busy the atmosphere had been. When we go through the famine season we do work longer and harder days, but it is calmer and quieter. It’s great to see the staff look for opportunities to cover those who are having a particularly harder day. And, when we sit around the table at meal times it feels a lot more like family. As of recently there are people who planning to come and serve at various times.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Making Sense Now Of The Things That Didn’t Make Sense Before"},{"content":"Dear Family and Friends,\nWe are glad to share in all the big news that has been happening here in Peru.\nBelen ministry: We finally started the cooking classes in the orphanage. There are 20 girls from the ages of 15 to 17 who are taking this special cooking course. Everyone is so thrilled, even the kitchen volunteers want to participate in these classes! Thanks to the City Hall the girls who finish 100 hours will receive a government certificate. This certificate will enable them to find a nice job when they turn 18 and they have to leave the orphanage. It\u0026rsquo;s amazing how the Lord works! 50 percent of the girls in the cooking classes are girls that didn\u0026rsquo;t want to attend the Bible classes. These Bible classes were being taught by Natalia and the ladies from the Church. After we started these cooking classes for these young ladies, they are seeing the love that we have for Christ and for them. Now they are more open to talk with us and trust in us more.\nFirst Medical mission 2018! This was a very tiring few days but we were very blessed to have an amazing eye doctor from John Hopkins along with a few others from the states, working with us at the local hospital. The team came for only 3 days and checked on many of the local patients. The doctor and his team have scheduled 30 of these patients for cataract surgery. The surgeries will be taking place in June. Our God has everything under control and He works everything according to His perfect plan. We saw many people coming to see the eye doctor and we were able to show the love of Jesus to them. After the medical campaign was done, we invited the local hospital\u0026rsquo;s doctors and workers to pray with us. One of the local doctors opened his heart out and shared with us about a very personal problem involving someone in his family. He was crying out and asking for prayers! We are looking forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do in June!\nMen\u0026rsquo;s bible study: We are excited to share that we had our first men\u0026rsquo;s retreat! It was also the way we started our new men\u0026rsquo;s Bible study group. On Saturday\u0026rsquo;s from 6-8pm we have a nice time of fellowship with dinner and a study of the word. Right now I am leading the guys through 1 John. It\u0026rsquo;s great to see a group of 15 men growing in the Faith together.\nWomen\u0026rsquo;s breakfast and Bible study: This ministry is going very well. Many of the women started coming only to the breakfast study but now they are also coming to the Sunday services. It\u0026rsquo;s exciting to see all these women coming to learn more about God\u0026rsquo;s will in their lives and falling in love with Jesus. We definitely are witnessing a change in each person\u0026rsquo;s life! This makes all the hard work worth it!\nEnglish classes: Every week we have new people coming to learn English, but the most exciting thing is that some of them end up coming to church to learn about God\u0026rsquo;s word! The past 2 people that have started coming to the English classes are 2 refugees from Venezuela. We can see the pain in their eyes when they talk about the situation in Venezuela. We were able to sing happy birthday to one of them in the last class. Then we invited him to the men\u0026rsquo;s Bible study and he came. Actually both of the guys are coming to the study and also to the church!\nMemorial service: John was asked to do a memorial for a Canadian that died here in Peru. His family wasn\u0026rsquo;t able to take his body back to Canada, so he was buried here in Cajamarca. We celebrated his life here with his Peruvian friends. They were really grateful. What we loved most about doing this memorial was that people who were around burying their loved ones were listening and paying attention to what we were sharing about Jesus and His love for us.\nSports club: We are currently playing baseball with the kids. They love learning this new sport! All of these kids are so precious. They really love Jesus so much and we love them! For Easter, we had a little party here at the house with these kids and we did an egg hunt with them. It was so much fun! We also taught that day about what Easter really means for us as Christians.\nWe continue serving at the local church. I still continuing to preach on occasional Sundays. Natalia is helping with the worship, and now our son Alejandro has started playing the piano for the worship time! We are so proud of him!\nFamily updates: Alejandro continues his music lessons and home schooling. He is really happy that he is getting to participate in the worship by playing the piano. Please pray for his heart to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and that he obeys with a happy heart.\nEmily has started going to a daycare close to our house. In time she will be able to stay on her own with the other kids and the three teachers but for now Natalia is staying with her. We feel we don\u0026rsquo;t need to rush our little baby girl. We hope that in the future she will be able to stay there by herself. That will give us a little extra free time in the mornings, YAY! Please pray for health especially that we are going through the flu season right now.\nNatalia is having a rough time with her health, but nothing is going to stop her from serving Jesus! She recently found out she has a fatty liver and has to be on a strict diet. Please pray for health, self control and contentment.\nJohn-guidance and wisdom. To be a good leader for my family and the Church. Please pray that all of my Immigration paperwork is done correctly and that I will be able to receive my residency card.\nWe appreciate your love, support and your prayers.\nThe Gundersons\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/march-newsletter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Family and Friends,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are glad to share in all the big news that has been happening here in Peru.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gunderson/wp-content/uploads/sites/49/2018/04/IMG_0960-300x201.jpg\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBelen ministry\u003c/strong\u003e: We finally started the cooking classes in the orphanage. There are 20 girls from the ages of 15 to 17 who are taking this special cooking course. Everyone is so thrilled, even the kitchen volunteers want to participate in these classes!  Thanks to the City Hall the girls who finish 100 hours will receive a government certificate. This certificate will enable them to find a nice job when they turn 18 and they have to leave the orphanage. It\u0026rsquo;s amazing how the Lord works! 50 percent of the girls in the cooking classes are girls that didn\u0026rsquo;t want to attend  the Bible classes.  These Bible classes were being taught by Natalia and the ladies from the Church.  After we started these cooking classes for these young ladies, they are seeing the love that we have for Christ and for them.  Now they are more open to talk with us and trust in us more.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"March Newsletter"},{"content":"Many people, when I first mention Croatia, tend to give me a puzzled look. \u0026ldquo;Croatia?\u0026rdquo; they ask. I\u0026rsquo;ve had many people say, \u0026lsquo;Oh, the cruise that I took there was beautiful,\u0026quot; or they list the touristy cities in Croatia, which I have never been to or even knew existed. I smile at their comments and respond by saying \u0026ldquo;Maybe one day I\u0026rsquo;ll be able to experience those places as well.\u0026rdquo; For me, Croatia isn\u0026rsquo;t about the coast and its mesmerizing beaches. It isn\u0026rsquo;t about the beautiful architecture that lines the streets or anything that a tourist would know this small country for. It\u0026rsquo;s about a small group of people that most of society doesn\u0026rsquo;t want to be associated with. It\u0026rsquo;s about what the Lord is going to do through this small group of people. It\u0026rsquo;s about reaching the unreached and unloved. It\u0026rsquo;s about being called to live out the simple Gospel. For those of you who don\u0026rsquo;t know where Croatia is, let me help you out. Croatia is in central Europe in between Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In moving back to Croatia, the plan is to live in Zagreb and work with a church that is already established and has been working with the Roma Communities for a long time. For those of you who would like to know what I\u0026rsquo;ll be doing in Croatia, please keep reading. ​ What is a Roma Community? Roma communities, otherwise known as gypsy communities, are little settlements of people who are outcast from normal society. The people that live in these villages are looked down upon by society and many times are deemed unworthy. They speak their own language and most of the time marry only within the Roma Communities. Many of these families live in extreme poverty and in really filthy conditions. Most homes consist of two rooms, one for sleeping and the other for eating/hanging out, and don\u0026rsquo;t have a bathroom. Families normally have to use an outhouse (if they have one) or the nearby grassy hill. There are many homes that don\u0026rsquo;t have electricity or running water and at the same time are infested with cockroaches and rats. Families normally consist of 10-13 people who all tend to sleep on the floor in the same room. Back in 2014, I was privileged to visit a Roma Village for the first time while I was studying at Bible College. I remember being so excited to go into the villages and share the gospel with the Roma people. I also remember driving up to a village for the first time and telling myself that there was no way that I was going to get out of the car. I was struck with an insurmountable amount of fear. It was in those villages that the Lord revealed His love for the gypsies to me. It was in those villages that I got to meet some of the most beautiful people I have ever met to this day. I\u0026rsquo;ve been given the privilege to be able to work with these beautiful, energetic, loving and yet difficult people. The kids that I first met in 2014, I now know. They know my name, they give me hugs, we\u0026rsquo;ve played games and laughed together, but more importantly, they get to see Jesus lived out through me every time I\u0026rsquo;m with them. I so strongly desire for each one of these kids to KNOW JESUS. Not just to know the Bible stories and to be able to answer questions thrown their way but to experience Him. These kids from a young age are told by society that they are not wanted, I want to dismantle that lie and show them that they are very much wanted by Jesus!\nThe team that I am apart of works in three different villages every week, Loncarevo, Trnovec, and Strmec. Each village is unique in its own way. Normally we arrive at each village, gather the kids and do a Bible lesson and craft with them. Each lesson is crafted up in an interactive way that requires the kids to participate. Though these kids love the way the lessons are presented, I believe that worship is their favorite part. We end each lesson with a craft for the kids. While a couple of us work with the kids, we have 1-2 guys that work with some of the men in the village as well. The men gather together and study God\u0026rsquo;s word. In learning the Croatian language, I would absolutely love to start a study with the women. Once a month, we are able to bring sandwiches, chips, and soda to the Bible lesson. We have our biggest classes on those days. For us, a sandwich is nothing special, but for these kids, it\u0026rsquo;s like Christmas.\nWe\u0026rsquo;ve also started a program called Bright Futures, in where we take ten jr. high age kids out of the villages and bring them to the city to live with us for the weekend. In a typical Roma home, education is not important. You raise your kids to marry so that they can make more babies that can one day marry. Guys and Girls are dropping out of school at 15-16 and getting married. They have kids by 16-17, maybe even younger. Men sometimes leave the country to find work, while the women stay home and take care of their 5+ kids. Other men stay home and try to find work near home. Then there are the men that stay home and drink away all of the money that is given to them. Alcoholism is rampant, and sadly, many times this can lead to abuse or neglect in the home. We see this crippling cycle and we want to help change it. So we bring ten kids with us to the city to live with us. Over the weekend, they get tutored in Math, English, Croatian, Science, and any subject they are struggling with. However, we know that even though education is extremely important, it isn\u0026rsquo;t eternal. So we focus on teaching them God\u0026rsquo;s word through devotionals, Bible Studies, and church services. We want them to know that they are valuable, not only to society but more importantly to God. We end the weekend by doing something fun with them. It\u0026rsquo;s a blast to see a 12-year-old ride on a small roller coaster for the first time or to take them to the movies to see a cartoon, or even just taking a trip to the store to buy an ice cream cone. We do this in hopes that what they learn about Jesus throughout the weekend they take home and share with their friends and family. We do this in hopes that they\u0026rsquo;ll become the lights on the hill within the Roma villages.\nWorking in the communities hasn\u0026rsquo;t been a walk in the park. Each time we go into these villages, it\u0026rsquo;s like we are entering a battle zone. These people, as loving as they are, can be a challenge. I was recently given this statistic. There are about 16,000 Roma people in the area that the team works in. Out of those 16,000 people, most of them would say that they are religious but don\u0026rsquo;t really practice or live it out. Only 1.5% of the Roma people are actually following Jesus. If you were to do the math, that would make each team member responsible for sharing the gospel with 3,200 souls. Talk about intimidating. The awesome thing is that we already see the gospel changing the lives of some of the Roma people. Though the numbers of believers in the villages are few, we know not to limit God to what He can do. You see, when I think of Croatia, I don\u0026rsquo;t think of a postcard. I think of all of the lost souls who are unreached. I think of the 16,000 souls who are despised by society but who are loved by the Lord. Though I had some wonderful people partner with me at my dessert gathering, I still do not have enough finances to go back to serve the Roma people. As of right now, I have about 25% of the monthly financial support that I need. My heart\u0026rsquo;s desire is to be back in a Roma Village before the next school season starts. However, I cannot return to Croatia until I have reached my goal of $1,000 a month. Therefore, if you would like to partner with me in reaching the unreached people of the Roma Villages, please click on the Financial Partner button at the bottom of the page. Please pray for me as I continue to walk by faith. I am really excited to see how you\u0026rsquo;re prayers are going to bring change to the Roma Villages! God Bless You. Your Sister in Christ, Rebecca ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-heart-for-croatia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMany people, when I first mention Croatia, tend to give me a puzzled look.  \u0026ldquo;Croatia?\u0026rdquo; they ask. I\u0026rsquo;ve had many people say, \u0026lsquo;Oh, the cruise that I took there was beautiful,\u0026quot; or they list the touristy cities in Croatia, which I have never been to or even knew existed. I smile at their comments and respond by saying \u0026ldquo;Maybe one day I\u0026rsquo;ll be able to experience those places as well.\u0026rdquo; For me, Croatia isn\u0026rsquo;t about the coast and its mesmerizing beaches. It isn\u0026rsquo;t about the beautiful architecture that lines the streets or anything that a tourist would know this small country for. It\u0026rsquo;s about a small group of people that most of society doesn\u0026rsquo;t want to be associated with. It\u0026rsquo;s about what the Lord is going to do through this small group of people. It\u0026rsquo;s about reaching the unreached and unloved. It\u0026rsquo;s about being called to live out the simple Gospel. For those of you who don\u0026rsquo;t know where Croatia is, let me help you out.  Croatia is in central Europe in between Slovenia, Hungary, Serbia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. In moving back to Croatia, the plan is to live in Zagreb and work with a church that is already established and has been working with the Roma Communities for a long time. \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/4db825fa4c1ebdfe63a36a373fc90424-map-of-croatia-visit-croatia-281x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/1-300x225.jpeg\"\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/3-300x225.jpeg\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFor those of you who would like to know what I\u0026rsquo;ll be doing in Croatia, please keep reading.\u003c/strong\u003e\n​\nWhat is a Roma Community? Roma communities, otherwise known as gypsy communities, are little settlements of people who are outcast from normal society. The people that live in these villages are looked down upon by society and many times are deemed unworthy. They speak their own language and most of the time marry only within the Roma Communities. Many of these families live in extreme poverty and in really filthy conditions. Most homes consist of two rooms, one for sleeping and the other for eating/hanging out, and don\u0026rsquo;t have a bathroom. Families normally have to use an outhouse (if they have one) or the nearby grassy hill. There are many homes that don\u0026rsquo;t have electricity or running water and at the same time are infested with cockroaches and rats. Families normally consist of 10-13 people who all tend to sleep on the floor in the same room. \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/7-300x169.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/13-300x225.jpeg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/33-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Heart for Croatia"},{"content":"Of course, at some level I knew this, but in the busyness of life, the whirlwind of ministry needs, and the clear call in Scripture to die to self, the fact that we matter too can get lost. I know that I can get so guarded against pride, ego, and any other self-centered characteristic that good godly self-care slips away and I actually become annihilated in the process.\nScripture is very clear that I matter / that we matter. Clearly, we matter to the Lord, for when we were dead in our trespasses and sins Christ died for us. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever (me) would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. I have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, and the Bible says that we are the apple of God\u0026rsquo;s eye\u0026hellip;this means I matter.\nDuring the season of navigating grief and all the possible changes that the passing of my mother has brought, the Lord has allowed me to clearly see through all of your actions that I matter too. I have been overwhelmed by love, support, prayers, and food that family and friends have poured out upon me and I thank you all so much.\nI have absolutely no regrets regarding the last ten years spent caring for my mom, but I do have to say that I am incredibly excited about this new phase in my life and the calling that the Lord has upon my life of the furtherance of the gospel to the unreached people groups of the world. For Some time now I have known that the Lord has a distinct call upon my life to be directly involved in the great need of the nations for the gospel and the teaching of His word. Even though over the last year I have been able to be involved in this in incredible ways, it now seems as though the whole world has just opened up to me.\nPlease pray for:\nStability as I continue to walk through the grief Wisdom as I move forward in the call That my ear would be acutely tuned to the voice of the Master I truly appreciate your prayers as I continue in seeking the Lord’s will for me. I am still in need of people who wish to partner with me financially. I am most appreciative of you who have joined me in this area, and I’m grateful that I have reached 1/4 of my monthly support needs. If the Lord leads you to join me financially, you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to: Saving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886 Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\n~ Tim\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/i-matter-too/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOf course, at some level I knew this, but in the busyness of life, the whirlwind of ministry needs, and the clear call in Scripture to die to self, the fact that we matter too can get lost. I know that I can get so guarded against pride, ego, and any other self-centered characteristic that good godly self-care slips away and I actually become annihilated in the process.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eScripture is very clear that I matter / that we matter. Clearly, we matter to the Lord, for when we were dead in our trespasses and sins Christ died for us. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever (me) would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. I have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, and the Bible says that we are the apple of God\u0026rsquo;s eye\u0026hellip;this means I matter.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"I Matter Too"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family,\nThis past month we had a wonderful time celebrating Christ’s resurrection. We began the season with celebrating with Palm Sunday. In Uganda, on Palm Sunday, everyone is carrying palm leaves. Boda drivers attach them to their motorcycles, cars have them attached various places and people walking down the street are waving them. It was no different at our church. Almost every person present was waving palm leaves throughout worship.\nIn Uganda, they have a Good Friday parade in most villages\u0026hellip; Next, we celebrated Good Friday. In Uganda they have a parade in most villages throughout the country reenacting Christ’s walk to the cross. In Kampala we were able to watch the parade as it came down the main street of the city. It was very emotional watching someone carry the cross while others were beating them and shouting insults. I know it was just an reenactment but it was very powerful. I pray that it was just as powerful to the crowds watching. I hope it caused many to realize what Jesus has done for them and even to have given their lives to Him. At Arise Christian Fellowship we had an evening good Friday service. The church was packed to almost standing room only. Brian taught through the last supper and crucifixion then we shared communion together, remembering what Christ has done for each of us.\nEaster Sunday was a beautiful service\u0026hellip;the church was filled. On Easter Sunday it was a beautiful service. As expected the church was filled. We had an amazing time of extended worship. Songs about Christ’s resurrection just bring so much joy and hope, I am sure I wasn\u0026rsquo;t the only one that shed a tear as we worshipped. Brian taught on the resurrection and specifically that Christ died and rose again for us, for the world, because of our sin.\nAfter his message he opened it up for prayer for anyone who needed it and the worship team led us in more worship. We celebrated together after service with tea and cake. A main part of the service was the children’s play. They acted the story of the crucifixion and resurrection. Luke played Jesus and the girls acted out sinners, and they all sang in the choir. It was so beautiful and we are very proud of them.\nOur whole family got to participate in a fashion show. This past month we also had some interesting events occur. One of them was that our whole family got to participate in a fashion show. When we were first asked Brian and I were like just use the children but the designer really wanted to show a family collection. The designer is a young woman named Sylvia. Since our desire is to help people to become self supportive we agreed to be a part of it. The fashion show was part of a youth outreach hosted by a local NGO that is trying to promote youth development and providing opportunities to keep youth off the streets. Along with the fashion show there were dance and singing competitions . It was a really fun time for us as a family to be a part of something like this as well as knowing we were helping someone. The best news of the day is that Sylvia was the winner of the fashion part of the show and was given a check to help with her business.\nAnother interesting event happened to Luke. As adult Christians we understand that following Christ is not always easy. We know that “those who desire to live a godly life will suffer persecution.” I would say most children do not have this type of understanding. Luke has always been an evangelist. He loves telling people about Jesus, especially if he knows they are not a Christian. In the activities the kids participate in there are a lot of Hindus and Muslims. Luke is not new to hearing people reject Christ but what happened this month was completely different. Luke had been sharing Christ with one of the boys in his Karate class and the boy got really angry and told Luke that if he continued to talk about Jesus to him, he would have him beheaded. When Luke told me I think I was more shook up then him. When I asked him how it made him feel he said he was not so much scared because he knew he was going to heaven but was sad for the boy who was going to hell. Wow! I was really amazed that at such a young age he could have that type of understanding and compassion. I pray that Luke’s attitude and his love of Christ will only grow stronger as he grows older.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill,Luke, Laylee,and Liana PRAYER REQUESTS Praise the Lord for all that is being done to reach the people of Uganda. Pray for those who witnessed the parade of Jesus’ walk to the cross. Pray that many give their lives to Jesus Pray for Jill as she has been really ill. She recently found out she has been being misdiagnosed and actually has a severe thyroid disorder. Pray for the results of the thyroid biopsy she had recently, that the doctor will know exactly how to treat it so she finally begins to feel better. Pray for all the ministries of Arise Christian Fellowship as well as the other ministries we partner with. Pray for Jill and the children as they continue in homeschooling. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the ministries and leaders. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-easter-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis past month we had a wonderful time celebrating Christ’s resurrection. We began the season with celebrating with Palm Sunday. In Uganda, on Palm Sunday, everyone is carrying palm leaves. Boda drivers attach them to their motorcycles, cars have them attached various places and people walking down the street are waving them. It was no different at our church. Almost every person present was waving palm leaves throughout worship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update--Easter 2018"},{"content":" IMG\\_3405 IMG\\_3198 IMG\\_3345 IMG\\_3425 IMG\\_3436 IMG\\_3469-e1523325755367 IMG\\_3478-e1523325824424 We have some exciting things going on that we\u0026rsquo;d like to share with you. Just a little background to catch everyone up on what we\u0026rsquo;re doing in Rosarito. We are serving as missionary staff at Calvary Chapel Rosarito. We are also in the church planting program and things are going really well. We came here to not only learn, but more importantly to build a team to go to Oaxaca with us in late December.\nHere\u0026rsquo;s our exciting news: we have our first team member who will be going with us to serve as a translator and ministry partner. We are spending time getting to know him and already love him. Praise the Lord for Armando and his heart to serve the Lord.\nAnother exciting thing is that we have a church planting vision tour scheduled for October. We will be joined by Pastor Mike Vincent, Tim Pappas from SGWM, and Armando, and possibly some others. How exciting is all of this? The Lord is moving on this future church plant and we are enjoying watching His hand on all of the steps, past and present. We know He has great plans for the people of Oaxaca and we\u0026rsquo;re honored to be a tiny part of it.\nOther than that, things are going really well. We have had some scares with Jonny this past week with an allergic reaction. Thank you to all who have prayed and please continue to pray as he is still having some issues.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nCompete healing of Jonny and Jon\u0026rsquo;s stomach problems We are sharing an update with the church on April 25th. Please pray that we (Jon) would share all that the Lord is doing to prepare us for Oaxaca, and if there\u0026rsquo;s someone listening that feels a stirring to go, that they would let us know. Pray for a worship leader who might be called to go with us That we would focus on our Spanish and practicing as much as possible Financial provision PRAISE REPORTS:\nwe are continuing to get more and more settled and building relationships we have our first team member for Oaxaca we\u0026rsquo;ve had more and more opportunities to push ourselves into having conversations in Spanish and have come across so many people who are patient with us and excited to teach us when we try Thank you all for taking the time to read us and keep in touch with what\u0026rsquo;s going on in our lives. We are so grateful for all of the prayers and support from you.\nEcclesiastes 4:9-10 Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up.\n#teamoaxaca\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/exciting-news/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IMG%5F3405.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_3405\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_3405\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IMG%5F3198.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_3198\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_3198\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IMG%5F3345.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_3345\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_3345\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IMG%5F3425.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_3425\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_3425\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IMG%5F3436.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_3436\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_3436\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IMG%5F3469-e1523325755367.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_3469-e1523325755367\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_3469-e1523325755367\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/IMG%5F3478-e1523325824424.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_3478-e1523325824424\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_3478-e1523325824424\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have some exciting things going on that we\u0026rsquo;d like to share with you.  Just a little background to catch everyone up  on what we\u0026rsquo;re doing in Rosarito.  We are serving as missionary staff at Calvary Chapel Rosarito.  We are also in the church planting program and things are going really well.  We came here to not only learn, but more importantly to build a team to go to Oaxaca with us in late December.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Exciting News!!!"},{"content":"He spreads out the northern skies over empty space; He suspends the earth over nothing. Job 26:7 NIV Darryl is developing a new video entitled \u0026ldquo;Scientific Facts in the Bible,\u0026rdquo; in the Cambodian language. The video focuses on just a few of many scientific facts in the Bible that scientists did not discover for thousands of years. For example, the book of Job was written at a time when many cultures wrongly believed that the earth was sitting on the back of a large animal or some god but the Bible correctly teaches that the earth is suspended on nothing. His videos on the topics of \u0026ldquo;Why does God Allow Suffering?\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;God and the Value of Human Life,\u0026rdquo; will be released soon.\nDarryl also continues to teach Christian Apologetics at the Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute. He has around 20 students from all over Cambodia. One of his students, a local government official in his sixties has planted four churches. In May, his students will make Apologetics videos which Darryl will post on social media.\nAn exciting new ministry opportunity has opened up for Darryl in rural Cambodia. Recently, Darryl has partnered with a veteran Filipino-Cambodian missionary couple to help a church and children\u0026rsquo;s ministry program. In March, Darryl spoke at the church and taught the Bible and English at the children\u0026rsquo;s ministry. He is scheduled to return to the province with this couple the middle of April. Please pray for the development of this ministry especially for the development of sports and anti-drug programs.\nDarryl continues to write articles for Light Times Magazine. In March they distributed 3,000 copies across Cambodia. In rural areas, each copy may be read by more than 20 people. They also distributed copies to the largest Cambodian Christian school. Teachers there used Darryl\u0026rsquo;s article, \u0026ldquo;Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?\u0026rdquo; to teach their students about Easter.\nKayo continues to serve with Precious Women, a local ministry that reaches out to Cambodian women working in bars. Her ministry to Japanese living in Cambodia is going well. She has also been leading worship at the local international church.\nOur work permits are still in process. Our Christian mechanic and his wife went out of their way to help us with the process. Please pray for financial provision to cover this extra expense.\nPlease pray for our upcoming trip to Japan to reconnect with our Japanese senders. It has been four years since we were in Japan. Please pray for favor and good fellowship with the churches across Japan.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/he-suspends-the-earth-on-nothing-cambodia-missions-update/","summary":"\u003ch4 id=\"he-spreads-out-the-northern-skies-over-empty-space-he-suspends-the-earth-over-nothing-job-267-niv\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eHe spreads out the northern skies over empty space; He suspends the earth over nothing. Job 26:7 NIV\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/04/cropped.jpeg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/04/cropped-300x253.jpeg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e Darryl is developing a new video entitled \u0026ldquo;Scientific Facts in the Bible,\u0026rdquo; in the Cambodian language.  The video focuses on just a few of many scientific facts in the Bible that scientists did not discover for thousands of years.  For example, the book of Job was written at a time when many cultures wrongly believed that the earth was sitting on the back of a large animal or some god but the Bible correctly teaches that the earth is suspended on nothing. His videos on the topics of \u0026ldquo;Why does God Allow Suffering?\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;God and the Value of Human Life,\u0026rdquo; will be released soon.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"He Suspends The Earth On Nothing, Cambodia Missions Update"},{"content":"“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” John 3:16-19 God is so good! Over the last month my desire to know Him and walk with Him has grown as I have seen more and more everyday how much I need Him and how helpless I am without Him and how much He loves me and is faithful towards me. I praise God that He lives, and that Jesus’ grave is empty. Sometimes it’s hard for us as a family to continue down a path that is against the flow and is opposed by so many different groups of people, and it can be especially hard for me (Matt) to really lead my family in the ways of God. It would be much simpler to just work a normal job and let things “go their course”. After all, so many people don’t really believe Gods Word anyway. We talk about it in our huddles but we don’t live like it’s contents are historic facts that were recorded under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I also battle the same apathy - What is the difference between my moral and humanitarian efforts, and well meaning Mormons, Muslims, or Atheists?\nHowever, this weekend we celebrated the resurrection of our Savior and King, Jesus Christ; who’s life, death, and appearance after death is the most well documented event in all of human history. The evidence that Jesus really lived is unsurpassable, the historicity of His death is a verifiable fact, and Jesus’ resurrection is a provable truth. What separates a Christian from a Buddhist is not emotional stability. What separates believers in Christ from Agnostics is not the amount of good deeds done. What separates disciples of Jesus from devoted Taoists is not their moments of spiritual elevation. A Muslim can feed the homeless and care for an orphan. A Pantheist can live a stable, productive life. And a Mormon can have spiritually high moments of inspiration. The difference between us and all other belief systems is that what we believe in is true, and verifiably so. The Bible is proved more true every passing day. I have chosen to move my entire family, including our unborn son, across the world on April 12th, to an unfamiliar situation, because Jesus said to make disciples of all peoples and to teach them all that He (Jesus) commanded. It isn’t easy and it isn’t always popular, especially when our focus is the Gospel of Jesus Christ and not always the alleviation of earthly suffering. But here’s the thing; Jesus spoke of two separate places each human gets to spend their eternal post-earth existence. According to Jesus we all will either end up in a never ending relationship with God in heaven, or in separation from Him in the unquenchable fires of Hell. Only belief in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior will dictate which of those places you spend eternity. And no matter what earthly suffering you might be delivered from, your soul could still be in perilous jeopardy.\nI celebrate the fact that God is good, and that despite His people sharing the attitude that I often struggle with, He still saw fit to redeem us and to pay for us at the cost of His own life. I thank God that Jesus rose from the dead, proving His power over sin and death, and forever reserving a place for us in His Kingdom. We are extremely grateful for God’s faithfulness, and for your partnership with us and support as we go out. It is God’s faithfulness and your support that allow us to continue in this ministry. May God increase each of our faithfulness to His individual callings on our lives. May we each be used in the spreading of His Truth! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/happy-easter/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"for-god-so-loved-the-world-that-he-gave-his-only-begotten-son-that-whoever-believes-in-him-shall-not-perish-but-have-eternal-life-for-god-did-not-send-the-son-into-the-world-to-judge-the-world-but-that-the-world-might-be-saved-through-him-he-who-believes-in-him-is-not-judged-he-who-does-not-believe-has-been-judged-already-because-he-has-not-believed-in-the-name-of-the-only-begotten-son-of-god-this-is-the-judgment-that-the-light-has-come-into-the-world-and-men-loved-the-darkness-rather-than-the-light-for-their-deeds-were-evil-john-316-19\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e“For God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil.” John 3:16-19\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2018/04/0BAD812C-8352-40F5-873D-139340349E15-616-00000090427F6E70-300x228.jpeg\"\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eGod is so good!\u003c/strong\u003e Over the last month my desire to know Him and walk with Him has grown as I have seen more and more everyday how much I need Him and how helpless I am without Him and how much He loves me and is faithful towards me. I praise God that He lives, and that Jesus’ grave is empty.\nSometimes it’s hard for us as a family to continue down a path that is against the flow and is opposed by so many different groups of people, and it can be especially hard for me (Matt) to really lead my family in the ways of God. It would be much simpler to just work a normal job and let things “go their course”. After all, so many people don’t really believe Gods Word anyway. We talk about it in our huddles but we don’t live like it’s contents are historic facts that were recorded under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. I also battle the same apathy - What is the difference between my moral and humanitarian efforts, and well meaning Mormons, Muslims, or Atheists?\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Happy Easter!"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nPaul wrote to his young assistant Timothy in 2nd Timothy 2:2 , “ And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” Paul was reminding Timothy that different generations of men and women, should be trained up to disciple and instruct new generations of men and women in a spiritual chain! A long time dream of mine that relates to this process is being fulfilled for the first time this year in 2018, and I wanted to share about it with you in this family update!\nWhen we started our church planting program over 10 years ago, my dream was that those that we sent out would have a heart to also eventually send out their own church planters. Now I know this takes time (We didn’t send out our first planter until 7 years) but this year, 3 of our church plants have plans to plant their own churches!\nI got to visit two of these new church plants last month as I took a church planting trip to visit the Mexican state of Sinaloa! ( The home and headquarters of the captured notorious drug lord “El Chapo”) We presently have 3 church plants in the state of Sinaloa.\nMy first stop was to visit my good friend Pastor Hugo Limon and his church plant located in the capital city of Culiacan. Hugo was sent out back in 2015, and he gave me the privilege to preach and we saw 9 professions of faith during their two Sunday services. A special highlight was ordaining 2 of Hugo’s assistant pastors. One of those assistants is planning on being SENT OUT later this year, to plant a church about 30 minutes away there in Culiacan.\nOur next destination was a three hour drive away to the beachside city of Mazatlan to visit our church planters Tony and Angela Carranza and their church Maranatha. We had a wonderful time hosting a “basics of the faith” conference at their church, but our focus was traveling to a town called Escuinapa (population 100,000 about an hour away from Mazatlan) to visit Tony’s recent church plant!\nJust three months ago, Tony sent out his assistant pastor (Martin Moreno) and family to plant a church in their hometown of Escuinapa. The church is presently meeting in Martin’s home and once again our ministry team taught a “basics of the faith” conference. Of the 18 adults in attendance, we got to baptize 5 of them during their churches very first baptism.\nMeanwhile, back at Rosarito I had some friends from our church plant in La Mision (Liberty Ranch, 1 hour south of us, planted back in 2016!) come and visit and speak at our church.\nWe had one of their assistant pastors share about their plans to plant a church later this summer in the famous Big Wave surfing town of Todos Santos located in South Baja!\nBy God’s grace our ministry in Rosarito is supporting all three of these next level church plants that are scheduled to begin in 2018! In the language of church planting, these new church plants are not our daughter churches (those we sent out directly) but our GRANDAUGHTER CHURCHES being sent out by our church plants. I feel like a proud old grandpa seeing our church planters grab the vision to plant their own churches!\nSeeing this come to pass has been a long time dream of mine, and I am so thankful to the Lord that He has allowed me to see this begin to happen before my own eyes. Ultimately, these church plants and the souls harvested there are your spiritual fruit! I feel very privileged and honored to partner with you in this great work! Thank you for your love, prayers, and financial support!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That all three of these church plants would be planted and supported in 2018!\n#2- That God would provide for the financial needs of our family and church here in Rosarito!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise the Lord for our first granddaughter church plant in Escuinapa and for the 5 new believers baptized there in March!\n#2- Thank you Lord for the privilege and honor of serving Him here with you in the mission field of Mexico!\nFor our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873 For your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-april-2018-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/03/29366359_10156466480564208_3781681063034617856_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/03/29366359_10156466480564208_3781681063034617856_n-300x164.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePaul wrote to his young assistant Timothy in 2nd Timothy 2:2 ,  \u003cem\u003e“ And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also\u003c/em\u003e.”  Paul was reminding Timothy that different generations of men and women, should be trained up to disciple and instruct new generations of men and women in a spiritual chain!  A long time dream of mine that relates to this process is being fulfilled for the first time this year in 2018, and I wanted to share about it with you in this family update!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family April 2018 Missions Update"},{"content":"Heart Beat\nThis month was full of opportunity to do what we love to do most in America. From Dale’s Thursday Morning Bible Study, CC Golden Springs Leadership, Missions Meetings to CC Saving Grace, CC West Grove and CC Pasadena we have been blessed with opportunities to share. Sharing God’s Word and encouraging the body of Christ. Sharing our testimony which is really “His story” of what He has done and continues to do in these open and willing hearts. From an infant in a refugee camp and persecuted solders son to a pastor, from a selfish girl who hated school to a homeschool and reading teacher mother of many! All we can say is God!\nWe have been privileged and humbled in meeting many amazing open people! Different testimonies, all different areas of their walk. New believers with many questions, people with a heart for missions waiting on God’s timing, families going through hard times but yet holding on to God’s promises and seasoned elders who have poured into us prayers and love. As I reflect, it is like watching God’s heart beat! To see how He loves and uses each one of us in completely different ways yet all intertwined for His glory! Just so beautiful! “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.” Eph. 4:4-6 Ready\nWe are packed, yes, I said we are packed and ready to hit the ground running. With all the encouragement, love and prayers we have gotten we can’t wait to get home! As soon as we get back to Uganda we will be surveying the land and preparing for the coming soccer/football stadium, library, community center and children’s park. Praying each crawl of the way to see which doors open and close. We will be having a large community party for the sports ministry. They have been winning all their games, calling us through Facebook after each one to make sure we know they are counting the goats. We will be working on the mission’s house and unpacking as quickly as possible in between the many guests we are sure to have. We are praying for a quick adjustment, fruitful, exciting, as little as possible sickness, amazing God kind of year!\nWhat the Word of God Does\nAfter this last football/soccer match Vincent was messaged from the goal keeper/goalie. Vincent is good with healthy jokes that can also convict. He was joking around asking if the Goal keeper was still drinking alcohol since he is an alcoholic. His response was, “Papa, you gave us Bibles and are changing our lives. I am no longer drinking.” The Word of God is so amazing! It is converting the Muslims and convicting believers. It changes lives to fullest! The privilege to be part of sharing the Word and watching it work is beyond human words can describe. What an amazing God we are able to serve. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2Tim 3:16-17 Prayer Requests\nPlease pray as we travel April 18th. Pray for our travel and adjustments. Pray for our marriage, family and ministries as we are always hit with crazy amounts of spiritual warfare every time we go back. If anything can go wrong, it usually does. Please pray for our health this coming year. Past years we have had monthly spouts of Malaria, Zachary and I plagued with staph all over our bodies and I now get adult allergies where my throat swells most of the time. Praying God to heal us or at least allow us a little more of a break this year. Please continue to pray for the persecution over the converts, the church and our family. Please continue to pray for Dr. Jim and Dr. Bev. Pray for God to heal his throat so that he can start eating again. Thank you all for your prayers and love for our family!!!!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/heart-beat/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHeart Beat\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month was full of opportunity to do what we love to do most in America.  From Dale’s Thursday Morning Bible Study, CC Golden Springs Leadership, Missions Meetings to CC Saving Grace, CC West Grove and CC Pasadena we have been blessed with opportunities to share.  Sharing God’s Word and encouraging the body of Christ.  Sharing our testimony which is really “His story” of what He has done and continues to do in these open and willing hearts.  From an infant in a refugee camp and persecuted solders son to a pastor, from a selfish girl who hated school to a homeschool and reading teacher mother of many!  All we can say is God!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Heart Beat"},{"content":"There has been so much that has happened since my last update.\nAs you may have known, Ashley and Elijah, our daughter and son-in-law, have been expecting their first child. While talking with my sister, Sharalynn, Tina mentioned that Ashley was a little disappointed that she was not going to be able to have a baby shower. They do not live close to any family or any of their close friends. So, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that she would miss out on that happy event in a new mother\u0026rsquo;s life when preparing for a new addition to their family.\nWell, my sister had the idea of organizing a traveling caravan baby shower. Tina and my sister began planning and contacted friends and family. March 8th, Tina\u0026rsquo;s mom and sister, from Ohio, family and friends from California, Oregon and Washington drove to Washington. We all met at Elijah\u0026rsquo;s work on March 10th and transformed a teaching center into \u0026ldquo;Baby Shower Central.\u0026rdquo; Ashley was blown away. She had no idea. I think it took her about 10 to 15 minutes to realize what was going on.\nThe love poured out on her by the 12 women who attended, bringing gifts and the Lord\u0026rsquo;s blessings, along with many others who sent gifts, since they were unable to attend, was amazing. Thank you one and all.\nThe day after the baby shower, I got to celebrate my birthday with Ashley and Elijah, Tina, her mom and sister, along with my mom and sister. It too was a blessing. The weather in Seattle was amazing, close to 70 degrees and clear blue skies.\nAshley was due to deliver March 19. On or about March 12th, during a routine doctor\u0026rsquo;s visit, it was discovered that Ashley\u0026rsquo;s blood pressure was a little high. They decided that the right course of action was to have her return every two days so they could monitor it. When she returned her blood pressure as still a little high. They were concerned but thought to just continue to monitor her. When Ashley and Tina returned to the doctor\u0026rsquo;s office on March 19, her blood pressure was still a little too high, so they decided to keep her at the hospital. Long story short, Ashley\u0026rsquo;s water broke at 3 AM on the 20th. They were very concerned for her and the baby since her blood pressure was up and down between 160 to high 170\u0026rsquo;s over high 90\u0026rsquo;s. At 704 PM Ashley delivered Noah Khatter Knepper, 7 lbs 4 oz, 20.5 inches.\nI got to tell you, he\u0026rsquo;s probably the cutest baby ever, (says poppa G). What a blessing!\nTina stayed in Washington to help Ashley and Elijah adjust. To show them \u0026ldquo;tricks of the trade\u0026rdquo; as it were. I will fly up there the last week of April, spend time with Noah and bring Tina home the first week of May. I can\u0026rsquo;t wait to see that little guy and get my wife back. We miss her so much.\nMeanwhile, back home, I continue to teach the Bible, via Skype, Tuesday nights with the Pastor\u0026rsquo;s College in South Asia. We finished the Gospel of John and started the Book of Daniel. This group of guys are so hungry for the word, they\u0026rsquo;re just drinking in every study. The class has decreased in numbers recently due to a constant, overwhelming pressure from their families for them to leave their small villages and to move to a bigger city, get a job driving a taxi and then send money home to support the family. Please pray for the guys who remain.\nI wanted to make a correction too. In my last update, I stated that as a western missionary \u0026ldquo;I could never actually go to this area of the world.\u0026rdquo; Well, I mis-spoke. We have two Pastor\u0026rsquo;s Colleges and one Bible College that has been established there. We are able to go visit each of them, but in one area, I would not be allowed to teach. That would cause problems. But we can visit and be an encouragement.\nAnd that brings me to the next bit of news. Pastor Trent, of Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, has asked me to accompany him and a team going to South Asia to visit the schools. It would also help me in getting familiar with the country. So, in faith, I have applied for a visa to travel to South Asia. The trip is planned for early to mid June and will cost about $3000. It\u0026rsquo;s money we don\u0026rsquo;t have, but we\u0026rsquo;re trusting the Lord to provide it.\nOne last thing, if you\u0026rsquo;re in the Orange County/Southern California area on May 5th, I\u0026rsquo;d like to invite you to the Saving Grace World Missions, 2018 Annual Missions Banquet. I was able to attend one of the past banquets when we still lived in Europe, and it was amazing. There will be good food and great speakers. There will also be a raffle for a Apple MacBook Air, along with a few other things raffled off and a few prizes. All of this is to raise funds for missions and to connect with people who are missions minded and would like to get involved in the Great Commission. If you\u0026rsquo;re interested you can get further information and register at /blog/news/sgwm-2018-missions-banquet/. I hope to see you there.\nSo in closing, please pray for us.\nPray for Ashley, Elijah and Noah. Pray that God would gift them with knowledge, skills and abilities to raise Noah up in the Lord. Pray that God would use that little life, and like his namesake, stand strong for the Lord even while others are going about their business as if God doesn\u0026rsquo;t exists. Pray for Tina\u0026rsquo;s time in Washington with Ashley, Elijah and Noah. Pray that it would be sweet and a blessing for them all. Pray for traveling mercies when I go to Washington and for when Tina and I return back home. Continue to pray for the Pastor Colleges and for the students. Pray that God would continue to reveal His heart to us in equipping these men for the work of the ministry among unreached people groups. Pray that God would supply the $3000 for my trip. Pray that we would have the Lord\u0026rsquo;s heart for the region and the people. Pray for vision, anointing and wisdom for us as we go to South Asia. And please pray for Divine appointments and God\u0026rsquo;s favor. If you would like to donate to this trip you can click here to \u0026ldquo;Become A Financial Partner.\u0026rdquo; If you\u0026rsquo;re reading this on FaceBook, you can go to our website www.sgwm.com/barrow and find and click the button there. As always, we are so thankful for your prayers and support in the ministry. If there is anything we can be praying for you for, please let me know.\nGod bless,\nGary and Tina\nPS\u0026hellip;Please share, repost, forward, like, or maybe even send this update to a friend. The more people we can get praying for us and the ministry the Lord has given us, the better. Thank you.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/surprises-blessings-bible-teaching-and-prayer/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere has been so much that has happened since my last update.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs you may have known, Ashley and Elijah, our daughter and son-in-law, have been expecting their first child. While talking with my sister, Sharalynn, \u003ca href=\"/barrow/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/IMG_2980.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/barrow/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/03/IMG_2980-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e Tina mentioned that Ashley was a little disappointed that she was not going to be able to have a baby shower. They do not live close to any family or any of their close friends. So, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that she would miss out on that happy event in a new mother\u0026rsquo;s life when preparing for a new addition to their family.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Surprises, Blessings, Bible teaching and Prayer"},{"content":" March 23, 2018\nDear friends and family, It has been a hard couple of months for Leo and me. There\u0026rsquo;s been joy and tears.\nOur middle son was married to a sweetheart on December 29th. It was a joyous occasion and we are delighted to have Jennifer as part of our family! The Lord gave them a beautiful sunset, but what made it even more special is Leo\u0026rsquo;s father officiated the wedding.\nAs some of you know, Leo\u0026rsquo;s father passed away in February. He was a wonderful man, and he loved large. Not only his family, but his community and those he came in contact with. He fought the good fight and was a faithful servant.\nThank you for all of your prayers and support for us and all our family. We see God\u0026rsquo;s grace in all of it. Part of that grace was being there when normally we would have been back in Mexico for the start of the semester. But the Lord gave us a trip to the Holy Land with some wonderful people from Hattiesburg Community Church and so our stay was longer. And in the midst of the turmoil he gave us time to walk where He once walked and be with fellow believers whom now we call friends.\nThank you Hattiesburg for taking us and sharing in our suffering.\nLeo is still in Florida helping his mom. He plans to come home in a couple of weeks. Please pray for him as he makes the drive back. I came home a couple of weeks ago because I needed to renew my Mexican visa, and I am happy to say that I now have my permanent residency card paperwork in! The semester is at its halfway mark, and there are around forty students going on the spring missions trip next week. Please keep them in your prayers for traveling mercies and protection along with the Spirit of God to use them as they share in service and giving people the Good News. Thank you again for all your support. Please continue to pray for us and for Mexico ?\nGod Bless You,\nLeo and Pilar\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/april-news/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/gray/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2018/04/April-News-2-300x152.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMarch 23, 2018\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear friends and family,\nIt has been a hard couple of months for Leo and me. There\u0026rsquo;s been joy and tears.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur middle son was married to a sweetheart on December 29th. It was a joyous occasion and we are delighted to have Jennifer as part of our family! The Lord gave them a beautiful sunset, but what made it even more special is Leo\u0026rsquo;s father officiated the wedding.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"April News"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.\u0026rdquo; Acts 4:12 Dear Friends and Family,\nThis month we really have seen a testimony to the truth that, “He is working all things together for good….” A couple months ago we asked for prayer for a young man in our church called, Light. Light had been on his way home when he was hit and ran over by a truck.\nBy the time Brian and our assistant pastor, Deo, got to the hospital it appeared as if Light would not make it. He was in a coma with severe wounds all over his body and one ear almost completely gone. That night Brian and Deo were able to comfort the family and one of Light’s brothers (who was almost going mad with grief) gave his life to Christ. He realized that without Christ there was no hope and no one to turn to on Light’s behalf. We continued praying for Light and miraculously he woke up and began to recover. This past month he came to church to testify of all God had done. It was really quite the celebration.\nGod used what seemed like horrible circumstances to bring many to Himself. But even more then Light\u0026rsquo;s healing we celebrate in the way God used what seemed like horrible circumstances to bring many to Himself. On the day Light testified at church there was a lady with him whom we had never met. She was one of Light’s caretakers when he was in the hospital and was so moved by the people coming and praying for him and then by his complete recovery that she also wanted to give her life to Christ. She accepted Christ that very Sunday morning following Light’s testimony.\nAnother praise report and continued prayer request is for the muslim family of a young lady in my Bible study. Hajet came to our women’s Christmas party and since then she has continued to come with her sister in law, Peace, to Bible study. She has not participated in the discussions but she sits and listens to the message and allows us to pray for her.\nRecently her husband called Brian to ask for some counseling. They have not expressed any direct interest in salvation yet but the fact that they first of all accepted Peace being a Christian after many years of not accepting her and now are even talking with and associating with Christians in a Bible study setting gives us hope. It encourages us to pray even more fervently and to ask all of you to be praying as well. The women’s Bible study has actually just began a new study. We are studying through the book of Daniel. We have many new women and the house is overflowing. Pray for all the ladies to learn and apply what we are learning about integrity and prophecy in this study.\nCalvary Chapel Conference: there were over 300 pastors from many different countries. This past month Brian also had the privilege of being a part of the Calvary Chapel East African Pastors’ conference. He had the role as emcee as well as helping answer questions and help things to run smoothly behind the scenes. There were over 300 pastors from many different countries: Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Tanzania, South Africa, South Sudan. There were also quite a few missionary pastors there from USA, Canada and Israel. The theme of the conference was, “A Time Line of the End\u0026hellip;and What That Means to Me.”\nThe teachings were wonderful. Brian and I spend so much time teaching others that it is rare to be able to sit and listen. There were a couple sessions during the conference that really stood out to me and I learned things I didn\u0026rsquo;t even know that I didn\u0026rsquo;t know. One of the pastors did a teaching on the significance of the Galilean Wedding and how the different aspects affect the way we understand different scriptures. Another session I really enjoyed was from the director of Potters Field Ministries. He worked on the potters wheel as he taught from Jeremiah 18 and Isaiah 64. I am very visual and to watch being done to the clay while hearing the teaching and how it applies to us brought tears to my eyes.\nQuestion and answer time was definitely one of my favorite times as well. Of course many questions were asked that I\u0026rsquo;ve heard many time since living in Africa, about how many wives you can have, witchcraft, etc. but there were many questions concerning prophecy that I did not know the answers to and was surprised by the answers and how clear it is when you look at history in light of prophecy.\nIt was beautiful to see the honesty of the pastors as they asked for prayer\u0026hellip; During the conference there was a lot of time for worship and reflection. The pastors would meet at 6am for devotions and often spend late into the night in afterglow and prayer. It was beautiful to see the honesty of the pastors as they asked for prayer and also the love of the pastors who reached out to pray with or comfort those pastors who were struggling. Our worship team was able to come out one of the days and lead the pastors in worship.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke,****Laylee and Liana\n(who turned four this month!)\nPRAYER REQUESTS Praise the Lord for healing Light and for using his suffering and testimony to bring others to you. Pray for Hajet and her family. Pray that they would continue to be open to hearing the gospel and would come to know Jesus personally. Pray for all the ministries of Arise Christian Fellowship as well as the other ministries we partner with. Pray that we would get all the official documents from the Lawyers so we can come home for furlough. It is looking more difficult then expected as well as more expensive. Pray for the finances for everything involved. Pray for Jill and the children as they continue in homeschooling. Pray especially for math. Pray for health and safety for the Kanyikes. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the ministries and leaders. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"heading\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.\u0026rdquo; Acts 4:12\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis month we really have seen a testimony to the truth that, “He is working all things together for good….” A couple months ago we asked for prayer for a young man in our church called, Light. Light had been on his way home when he was hit and ran over by a truck.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update"},{"content":"“When I first heard about Christian Apologetics,” says Darryl Record, SGWM missionary in Cambodia, “my initial reaction was, ‘I’m not going to apologize for being a Christian!’ I had no idea what it meant.” I doubt that Darryl is alone in this experience, as we’ve been trained to view the word “apology” in a very specific light. But Darryl soon learned the true definition of apologetics, and he was hooked on the concept. Bruce Shelley, in his book Church History in Plain Language, says, “the word comes from Greek and means defense, such as a lawyer gives at a trial.” Darryl decided to commit the focus of his life to this defense of the faith, a journey that took him from not even knowing what the word meant to eventually receiving his MA in Christian Apologetics from Biola University.\nBut Darryl wasn’t content to remain in the states for his apologetics work, where information and resources already abound. Before receiving his degree from Biola, he had a breakthrough in his relationship with God in which he simply surrendered his all to Christ. He promised not to say “No” to whatever God may ask Him to do. So, God said, in effect, “Go to Cambodia.” After a short-term stint, Darryl returned home to finish his education, during which time he met his future wife Kayo, a first-generation Christian from Japan, who also felt a calling to missions. They married in 2004, went out back out on the field in 2007, and haven’t looked back since putting their hand to the plow.\nDarryl noticed that while there were plenty of gospel resources in Cambodia, there was not much material regarding creationism or evidence for the truth of the Bible. But surely the Cambodian people struggled with the same existential questions that had plagued Darryl earlier in his own life, right? For Darryl personally, he says that at one point in his life there was a “gradual flow of evolution and Biblical criticism that was seeping into my worldview from my public school teachers and later university professors. Little by little my faith was eroded.” These problems are not exclusive to western culture. According to Darryl, the Theravada Buddhists of Cambodia “believe that everything came into existence by water, wind, earth, fire, time, and chance.” And evolution is pushed hard in schools there, just as it is in the U.S. So Darryl’s heart is to not only present the Gospel, but also to gently and respectfully help remove intellectual obstacles in the hearts of the unbelievers there.\nTypically when westerners think of apologetics, we conjure up images of men in suites with lots of letters attached to their names trying to win an argument. But Darryl knows that apologetics is not about winning debates. Especially in the Asian culture he lives in, the focus needs to be on relationship and community, so that is how he approaches his broad range of work in his field in Cambodia. Primarily, he teaches Christian apologetics at a Bible school there, but he has also authored and co-authored two bilingual Christian apologetics books, written scripts for Christian radio programs, and is currently working on an exciting project of producing short evangelistic/apologetics videos in Cambodian. In this wide array of activity, he has mastered how to defend the faith with the gentleness of Christ in the way the Cambodian culture receives it best.\nDarryl clearly has his hands full, but he also has a laser-like focus. When asked to sum up his ministry in one sentence, he simply quotes Ephesians 4:12 - “for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” Or, when put in his own terms, “We seek to equip local Christians to reach their own families and neighbors with confidence in the truth of God’s Word.” This is a vision that fits right in with SGWM’s: training nationals to reach their own people with the gospel in ways a westerner never could. And once he’s equipped nationals with the proper tools, they will be ready to, like Darryl, “give an answer to everyone who asks you to give a reason for the hope that you have…. with gentleness and respect.” (1 Peter 3:15)\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/defending-the-faith-in-a-foreign-land/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e“When I first heard about Christian Apologetics,” says Darryl Record, SGWM missionary in Cambodia, “my initial reaction was, ‘I’m not going to apologize for being a Christian!’ I had no idea what it meant.” I doubt that Darryl is alone in this experience, as we’ve been trained to view the word “apology” in a very specific light. But Darryl soon learned the true definition of apologetics, and he was hooked on the concept. Bruce Shelley, in his book \u003cem\u003eChurch History in Plain Language\u003c/em\u003e, says, “the word comes from Greek and means \u003cem\u003edefense\u003c/em\u003e, such as a lawyer gives at a trial.” Darryl decided to commit the focus of his life to this defense of the faith, a journey that took him from not even knowing what the word meant to eventually receiving his MA in Christian Apologetics from Biola University.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Defending the Faith in a Foreign Land"},{"content":"\nPraising God, all the kids that came to the first day of our After School Children’s Gospel Outreach Program had a blast! Thank you everyone who are praying.\nThe second day of our children’s program was a success! We loved seeing the CCBC students help with presenting the Bible stories and leading dances along with Notika.\nOnly one day left to join in the fun! If you’re in the Kathmandu area and have kids ages 5-12 years old come on by!! 4pm-5:30pm at the Calvary Chapel/Salvation Campus.\nPlease continue to pray for the children, our ministry, staff and volunteers. Please pray for God to open more hearts to His Gospel message. Please take the time to read about our missionaries, Pankaj and Tonielle Sarkar serving here. Missionary Blog. Please continue to pray for their family. Thank you ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/kathmandu-salvation-worship-cc-campus-after-school-childrens-gospel-outreach/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/3d.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/3d.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePraising God, all the kids that came to the first day of our After School Children’s Gospel Outreach Program had a blast! Thank you everyone who are praying.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe second day of our children’s program was a success! We loved seeing the CCBC students help with presenting the Bible stories and leading dances along with Notika.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/3b.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/3b.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOnly one day left to join in the fun! If you’re in the Kathmandu area and have kids ages 5-12 years old come on by!! 4pm-5:30pm at the Calvary Chapel/Salvation Campus.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Kathmandu Salvation Worship / CC Campus After School Children's Gospel Outreach"},{"content":"\nGuess what! We Harris’s are officially heading back to Uganda, in less than a month! Our time here in the United States has truly been a blessing. It has been great to be mutually encouraged by the body of Christ here in America. We have been blessed so much by all of you; the way you here are pursuing God has been inspiring for us, the things you are doing in Jesus name have astounded us, your prayers have blessed us and your support has been a truly wonderful gift. Now it is time for the next season of life to begin for us as we once again leave our home-culture and enter the mission field that God has directed us to.\nAs a family we are so excited to join Terebinth Ministries in all that God is doing in Gulu, Uganda. I (Matt) can’t wait to join the pastoral “School of Discipleship” as a teacher, I just can’t think of anything I would rather do than equip indigenous pastors to continue the disciple making process! I am also excited to help establish the agricultural projects Terebinth is running, so that those same pastors can continue being trained, and so they can learn some practical skills to offset the cost of living as a pastor. Noelle is excited to settle down a little and prepare for the arrival of our son. And our girls are excited for warm weather so they can play outside without getting so sick!\nIf it has been on your mind to partner with us in the Gospel through monthly financial support, now is the time to sign up by clicking here to Become a Financial Partner. Please pray about how God would have you join us in the work of the Kingdom with the Acholi people.\nPlease keep us in your prayers while we are away.\n\u0026ldquo;Our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the trapper; the snare is broken and we have escaped. Our help is in the Name of the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.\u0026rdquo; Psalm 124:7-8\nWe love you all so much and are grateful for you.\nIn Christ, Matt, Noelle, Emma, Madeline and baby Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/departure-quickly-approaching/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/harris/wp-content/uploads/sites/66/2018/02/Harris-Family-e1518221459426-300x217.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"guess-what-we-harriss-are-officially-heading-back-to-uganda-in-less-than-a-month\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGuess what! We Harris’s are officially heading back to Uganda, in less than a month!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur time here in the United States has truly been a blessing. It has been great to be mutually encouraged by the body of Christ here in America. We have been blessed so much by all of you; the way you here are pursuing God has been inspiring for us, the things you are doing in Jesus name have astounded us, your prayers have blessed us and your support has been a truly wonderful gift. Now it is time for the next season of life to begin for us as we once again leave our home-culture and enter the mission field that God has directed us to.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Departure Quickly Approaching"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.\u0026rdquo;\nMicah 6:8\nGreetings in Christ,\nComing back from the U.S. is always exciting, filled with great encouragement, more focused in vision, restocked with some of the simpler pleasures in life, and knowing that we are returning to what we were created to do. At the same time, perhaps less spoken of, is the sense of separation we go through, leaving family and friends behind, leaving the ease of North American life, the simplicity of buying anything your heart desires or the confidence of being able to fix something that is broken in the house without having to ‘MacGyver” it.\nHere we are, back in-country for a week. We returned March 5th and now are working our way back into a routine with home schooling, repairing the things that somehow break even when we were not here, and preparing for our next trip into the village which will be next week, Lord willing.\nWe went to Church last night and reconnected with our other group of friends and family, (the first being in the U.S.) and yet, oddly, we sense a separation between us. This \u0026ldquo;sense\u0026rdquo; exists, whether those friends and family are here or in the U.S. So, we rely on the truth of God’s Word, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ”. 2 Cor. 5:20 Ambassadors…….”people who are residents in a foreign land, people who try to be part of that foreign culture but are actually never integrated fully into it…they are representatives of and spokesman for the country they are from.”(my personal definition) This is how we felt before coming to a foreign land. And in reality, how we feel being here now.\nWe pray continually for the peace that passes all understanding (Phil 4:7), discernment (1Co2:14), the love of Christ to pour out of us (Eph 3:19) and mercy and grace to be the things which shine forth. (Micah 6:8)\nNext week, after arriving in the village, I, Brad, plan to take a trip on the Indian boat for 14 hrs further up river and do another Bible Conference in a village we have previously visited two other times, and where we are hoping to possibly start a church plant later this year. Melissa will stay in village #1, with plans to do Women’s training in both villages #1 and #2, #2 being where we are planting a church and have new believers.\nWhen I return from up river, we will start Baptism classes in village #2 and continue with leadership training in both 1 and 2.\nPlease pray for this trip. Please pray for the people whom we are ministering to. Pray for strong leaders to be developed, a good children’s ministry to start in village #2, and for someone to be called to go up to village #3 to start a church plant. Also pray for the other villages downstream, those who have been asking for us to bring the Word of God to them. Also pray for Linelma, who is staying in the mission base while we are gone.\nWe will be travelling from March 20-April 6th.\nGod bless you all!\nBrad and Melissa, Josiah, Veronica and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/brazil-update-march-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee,\nbut to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God.\u0026rdquo;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMicah 6:8\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eComing back from the U.S. is always exciting, filled with great encouragement, more focused in vision, restocked with some of the simpler pleasures in life, and knowing that we are returning to what we were created to do.  At the same time, perhaps less spoken of, is the sense of separation we go through, leaving family and friends behind, leaving the ease of North American life, the simplicity of buying anything your heart desires or the confidence of being able to fix something that is broken in the house without having to ‘MacGyver” it.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Brazil Update: March 2018"},{"content":"First of all, let me report to you that it has been an absolutely incredible month. I am so grateful for the people that I have in my life and the people that I have been able to meet as I have journeyed forth in this calling the Lord has placed on my life. The Lord has been impressing upon my heart how much people matter. It might seem hard to believe but in ministry, I have found that I can get so busy with tasks, moving from one project to another, that I blow right past the people the Lord has put in my path to minister to or even those He wants to use to minister to me. Sometimes I feel like Martha and I have to remember what the Lord said to her, that she had been distracted by serving. In a new and deeper way the Lord has put on my heart the importance of people, the importance of relationships, the importance of community and I value you all so much.\nAs I minister to and connect with missionaries all around the world, I hear the same thing from them, that me connecting with them means so much to them. As I reach out to those who have gone out, I use a variety of approaches, such as, email, phone calls, Skype, Facebook messenger, and personal visits. The overwhelming response of appreciation is confirmation that I am doing what the Lord has called me to. The Lord truly has called me to be a missionary to the missionaries.\nI’ve been especially blessed to be able to spend time with missionaries who have come to the states on furlough. Each one of them has told me how much it would mean if SGWM would come visit them. This confirms to me the importance of short-term missions. We have all heard that short-term missions don’t change the world but I believe that they do create world changers. Another benefit of short-term mission trips is the edification, exhortation and encouragement of those on the field. Emails are good, FaceTime is fine, but I believe nothing replaces sitting in their living rooms with them and sharing their lives with them.\nI have known since before I started here at SGWM that this was the Lord’s desire and plan for me and I am excited to see what He is going to do in and through me in this area.\nI truly appreciate your prayers as I continue to move forward in seeking the Lord’s will for me. I am still in need of people who wish to partner with me financially. I am most appreciative of you who have joined me in this area and I’m grateful that I have reached 1/4 of my monthly needs. If the Lord leads you to join me financially, you can do so by clicking here to become a financial partner or mailing your support check to\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd., Ste.203 Yorba Linda, CA 62886 Note Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/you-matter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFirst of all, let me report to you that it has been an absolutely incredible month. I am so grateful for the people that I have in my life and the people that I have been able to meet as I have journeyed forth in this calling the Lord has placed on my life. The Lord has been impressing upon my heart how much people matter. It might seem hard to believe but in ministry, I have found that I can get so busy with tasks, moving from one project to another, that I blow right past the people the Lord has put in my path to minister to or even those He wants to use to minister to me. Sometimes I feel like Martha and I have to remember what the Lord said to her, that she had been distracted by serving. In a new and deeper way the Lord has put on my heart the importance of people, the importance of relationships, the importance of community and I value you all so much.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"You Matter"},{"content":" Hi from Mexico!!! We found a house to rent (that\u0026rsquo;s FURNISHED!) and are getting settled in down here. The neighborhood is really nice and seems super safe. It\u0026rsquo;s even guarded at the gate by actual police officers. The boys have made two new friends in the neighborhood, and they\u0026rsquo;re over right now playing video games and laser tag. We are getting into a good routine with homeschooling and normal bedtimes. Haha!\nThe Missions Night at CCSJC was a HUGE blessing! Thank you to everyone who came to hear what the Lord is doing in our lives and for all of the prayers and support. We were literally blown away by the love we felt.\nThis past weekend we were able to head to Calvary Chapel Tijuana and serve with CCSJC at the dinner for the chaplain program and local officers. Such a fun day spending time with our home church family. We even had our first visitors and overnight guests. Being away from our family and friends can be hard sometimes and having visitors is a special treat.\nWe are meeting tonight to find out which ministry/ministries we will be serving in so please keep us in prayer, that we\u0026rsquo;ll be a blessing and put our whole hearts into serving the Lord wherever He wants to use us. We are getting to know more people at the church and starting to make some awesome friendships. We are also taking a class with the boys on Sundays called the Pillars Class. We had our first class on Sunday and it was such a blessing to have Jonny and Noah (and Hanna) with us.\nWe are looking forward to what the next 10 months will hold and are so excited to build \u0026ldquo;Team Oaxaca\u0026rdquo;! And we\u0026rsquo;re really excited for the upcoming wedding of our oldest son and his amazing fiancee! It\u0026rsquo;s still a few months away but we are so excited.\nPRAYER REQUEST:\nThat we would continue to get settled in our new home and build strong relationships That we\u0026rsquo;ll stay faithful every day to this calling and the responsibilities that we have Financial provision PRAISE REPORTS:\nOur time serving with CCSJC was such a blessing The boys are making friends in the neighborhood and with church friends That we were able to rent this house that is fully furnished We got approved on the Mexico side for our visas\u0026hellip;just found out today (March 7) Thank you to all of you who keep us in prayer and support us. We are so blessed to call you all our friends and family. We pray you all are blessed by the Lord and if you ever have a prayer request, please send it our way. Love you all!\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/getting-settled/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/brechtel/wp-content/uploads/sites/60/2018/03/IMG%5F2934-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/brechtel/wp-content/uploads/sites/60/2018/03/IMG%5F3048-300x225.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/brechtel/wp-content/uploads/sites/60/2018/03/IMG%5F3101-300x226.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHi from Mexico!!! We found a house to rent (that\u0026rsquo;s FURNISHED!) and are getting settled in down here. The neighborhood is really nice and seems super safe.  It\u0026rsquo;s even guarded at the gate by actual police officers. The boys have made two new friends in the neighborhood, and they\u0026rsquo;re over right now playing video games and laser tag. We are getting into a good routine with homeschooling and normal bedtimes. Haha!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Getting Settled"},{"content":"In my previous post I asked for prayer for one of the \u0026ldquo;boys\u0026rdquo; (he\u0026rsquo;s actually turning 39 this year). He\u0026rsquo;s currently doing better, but we still have to regularly monitor his temperature because he still has a hard time keeping it up to where it should be.\nSince before my time here at the Mission he has been called The Professor. He has the ability to teach the toughest of men humility. There have been multitudes of men who\u0026rsquo;s lives have been permanently transformed. There was even one young man who loves him so much that he had his face tattooed on his leg. Girls even find him irrestible, calling him their \u0026ldquo;One and only\u0026rdquo;. The Professor doesn\u0026rsquo;t speak, but everyone knows his opinion on many things. In a split second he can go from raging mad to an intense belly laugh.\nVery little is known of his history before coming to the Mission in the early 90\u0026rsquo;s. What is known is that he had been left at a Red Cross facility. They didn\u0026rsquo;t have sufficient room, so they had set up a bed for him in the janitors closet.\nHe has cerebral palsy leaving only his right side functional and severe mental retardation. It used to be when he was mad or overly stimulated that he would punch himself or bite his hand (but never lashed out at anyone else). Now that he has gotten older he has mellowed in the last few years considerably.\nWhat he is most famous for is his love of Twinkies. Even though he can\u0026rsquo;t speak he does understand certain words that we say\u0026hellip; and Twinkie is his favorite. At one time he was actually of some financial worth. When the Hostess company ceased making Twinkies those that remained were being sold for $300 a piece. He had a sizeable supply because every year at Christmas people send him a mountain of boxes of them that last him most of the year.\nThe other thing that he loves are \u0026ldquo;J.\u0026rdquo; jokes. To him words don\u0026rsquo;t have much meaning, but if you get right in his ear and just make random sounds like \u0026ldquo;raspberries\u0026rdquo;, \u0026ldquo;zurbers\u0026rdquo;, fffff, or sssshhhhh, he loves it. His absolute favorites are the kissing sound and wolf whistle.\nCurrently there aren\u0026rsquo;t very many men on staff, so please pray that our Father would put it on people\u0026rsquo;s hearts to come and assist in their care. Pray for his health and that he would still have many more comfortable years to change people\u0026rsquo;s lives for eternity.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/professor-j/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn my previous post I asked for prayer for one of the \u0026ldquo;boys\u0026rdquo; (he\u0026rsquo;s actually turning 39 this year). He\u0026rsquo;s currently doing better, but we still have to regularly monitor his temperature because he still has a hard time keeping it up to where it should be.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/moody/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2018/03/120-205x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSince before my time here at the Mission he has been called The Professor. He has the ability to teach the toughest of men humility. There have been multitudes of men who\u0026rsquo;s lives have been permanently transformed. There was even one young man who loves him so much that he had his face tattooed on his leg. Girls even find him irrestible, calling him their \u0026ldquo;One and only\u0026rdquo;. The Professor doesn\u0026rsquo;t speak, but everyone knows his opinion on many things. In a split second he can go from raging mad to an intense belly laugh.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Professor J"},{"content":"“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. Fo r where your treasure is, there also will your hearts be.\u0026quot; (Matthew 6:19:21)\nThieves attempted to break in to the Light Times Magazine office. The founder and his family used to live in the building but after they moved out, the building became more vulnerable to thieves. We thank God that the thieves were not able to break into the office where the computers and cameras were stored. Since then, the office has been in the process of moving. However, it has taken a long time to get the Internet set up so it wasn\u0026rsquo;t possible for Darryl to work there for a couple of weeks. Darryl continues to edit articles and writes one article per issue. He also wrote an article on the evidence for the resurrection for the upcoming Easter issue.\nDarryl was invited to teach Christian Apologetics at the Cambodia Presbyterian Theological Institute from March 8 to May 24th. Please pray for this class that God will use it to equip the students to answer difficult questions about Christianity.\nDarryl continues to develop apologetics videos with the help of his intern. The video, \u0026ldquo;Why Does God Allow Suffering?\u0026rdquo; is almost finished and ready to release. Darryl is also working on another video, \u0026ldquo;God and the Value of Human Life.\u0026rdquo; Please continue to pray for these and other videos to come.\nKayo continues to mentor Cambodian women at the organization for at-risk women. Her ministry to Japanese living in Cambodia continues to grow. She continues to be part of the worship team at the international church. In March, she will join the worship team for a Christian conference.\nBenjamin continues to do well in school. He is also part of an after-school basketball club at his international school.\nPlease pray for our work permit application. It is a new and expensive requirement for foreigners in Cambodia. Pray for favor and a smooth process.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin Record\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/record-family-cambodia-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and decay destroy, and thieves break in and steal. But store up treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor decay destroys, nor thieves break in and steal. Fo\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003er where your treasure is, there also will your hearts be.\u0026quot; (Matthew 6:19:21)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThieves attempted to break in to the \u003cem\u003eLight Times Magazine\u003c/em\u003e office. The founder and his family used to live in the building but after they moved out, the building became more vulnerable to thieves. We thank God that the thieves were not able to break into the office where the computers and cameras were stored. Since then, the office has been in the process of moving. However, it has taken a long time to get the Internet set up so it wasn\u0026rsquo;t possible for Darryl to work there for a couple of weeks. Darryl continues to edit articles and writes one article per issue. He also wrote an article on the evidence for the resurrection for the upcoming Easter issue.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Record Family Cambodia Update"},{"content":"Hello dear family and friends, A nother month has passed, and so have many wonderful days of meeting with friends, encouraging and being encouraged, and planning our return to Uganda.\nE very weekend has allowed for speaking engagements at different churches and small groups, and most week nights have been spent at the homes of friends or new acquaintances, sharing on a deeper level the things God has been and is doing in our lives. It has been a blessing to be welcomed into so many homes and gatherings, and not only to share, but to hear what God has been doing in our own home-town. We are not surprised to find that God has been working in so many ways back here, but we are continually amazed and brought to a place of worship because of it. Hearing of individuals being transformed, families stepping out in faith, small groups taking new directions, and churches healing and reawakening… Praise God for all He is doing here!\nD espite a continuous string of sicknesses making its rounds through our family, we have had quite a few happy highlights. One highlight was Matt’s trip to visit our sending team, Saving Grace World Missions, in California. He spent a few days meeting with the staff and getting to know them, joining a few small groups, and even meeting a missionary family who lives just a few hours northwest of our future home in Gulu. He was greatly encouraged by his entire time there, especially by his host and our good friend, Tim. I was sad that the girls and I missed the trip, but we were very thankful for God’s provision of plane tickets for Matt.\nAnother highlight was reuniting with some of the guys from the men’s Bible study that met weekly in our home for more than 3 years, up until we left for Uganda last summer. Roughly 15 men sat around folding tables in the basement God has provided for our housing, ate our traditional Tuesday taco salad, and each shared the things God has been doing since we left. We were amazed to find that about 75% of the men from the study (including those who could not join our meal) were pursuing or actively participating in full-time ministry or cross-cultural missions. We prayed as a group, then sang several songs. It was late when we finally looked at the clock and stopped singing, but we had all been encouraged by the testimonies and worshipping together again.\nOur most recent highlight was my visit to the doctors office where they did an ultrasound revealing that the newest member of our family is a precious baby boy! We are so excited to welcome little Noah Ezekiel into the world in just a few months! We still do not know whether he will be born here in America, or in Uganda, but we know that he is in God’s hands either way.\nP lease continue to pray for us as we prepare for the return to Uganda. Several details still need to be worked out before we go, such as finances, baby related questions, and travel plans. God has provided many wonderful financial partners for us, and we are slowly getting closer to our goal of $3,500/month. We thank God for every penny given into our care. Please pray for this aspect of the mission, as we are required to have a certain percent pledged monthly before we can return. If you feel lead of the Lord to partner with us in this way, please CLICK HERE to “Become a Financial Partner”.\nPlease also pray for wisdom for us as we continue to raise our girls, travel across the states, and encounter different opportunities to share with people the goodness of our Savior.\nT hank you for your prayers, love, and gifts of support. We are praying for you all as well. May God give you His peace!\nThe Harris Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/february-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHello dear family and friends,\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eA\u003c/strong\u003e nother month has passed, and so have many wonderful days of meeting with friends, encouraging and being encouraged, and planning our return to Uganda.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eE\u003c/strong\u003e very weekend has allowed for speaking engagements at different churches and small groups, and most week nights have been spent at the homes of friends or new acquaintances, sharing on a deeper level the things God has been and is doing in our lives. It has been a blessing to be welcomed into so many homes and gatherings, and not only to share, but to hear what God has been doing in our own home-town. We are not surprised to find that God has been working in so many ways back here, but we are continually amazed and brought to a place of worship because of it. Hearing of individuals being transformed, families stepping out in faith, small groups taking new directions, and churches healing and reawakening… Praise God for all He is doing here!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"February 2018"},{"content":"Hello Friends and Family!\nI hope you\u0026rsquo;re all doing well! Thank you for taking the time to read this update; I can\u0026rsquo;t tell you how much it blesses missionaries when you read our updates and take interest in the things God is doing in our lives. Things are continuing to go well with the ministry here. If you\u0026rsquo;re not familiar with my specific role in missions, the short of it is that I am on staff with Saving Grace World Missions as Director of Communications. I\u0026rsquo;m part of a staff that makes sure our missionaries are cared for spiritually and practically. My main role, on top of assisting with financial management for our missionaries, is to get the word out about what SGWM is and what we and our missionaries are doing. Please be in prayer as I lead up the promotion of our upcoming banquet May 5th, which is a great opportunity to garner support for the organization to help us send and support missionaries in an even greater capacity! Most people don\u0026rsquo;t realize the need to support not just missionaries on the field, but the organizations that send them and support them. The work of a missionary is not nearly as effective without a great sending organization!\nI am hoping to finally get to go out on the field this year! My goal is to go to Africa in May or June with SGWM\u0026rsquo;s director, Pastor Mike Thiemann, to do some teaching and simply spend some time with our missionaries on the field there. Below are some pics of some of the missionaries we hope to visit there, and here is an article Pastor Mike wrote about why going out to see them is such an important aspect of our ministry. (On a side note, another cool aspect of my job is that I get to edit these great articles Pastor Mike writes for his missions training website).\nPastor Mike and I are also planning a trip in July to take our church\u0026rsquo;s high schoolers and young adults (ministries that Pastor Mike and I lead, respectively) to a special needs orphanage in Mexico that one of our missionary families runs.\nFinally, we are heavily praying about an opportunity to go to Cuba to do some missions training. We\u0026rsquo;ve had a couple of meetings so far, and as this would be a new area and work for SGWM, we are moving forward prayerfully. But, I\u0026rsquo;m excited about the work and my hope is that we can head out to scope the landscape and do some missions training with a passionate church body in Cuba!\nI ask that you would keep all of these trips in prayer. I do need to raise additional funds for these trips, and I am continuing to work on raising monthly support to continue to fill my role with SGWM long-term and have the flexibility to go on more trips like the ones I hope to head out on this year. If you would like to make a one-time donation online or become a monthly supporter, please click the button below:\nOr, you can send a check directly to made out to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886 with \u0026ldquo;Garcia Family\u0026rdquo; in the memo line.\nAnd finally, if you\u0026rsquo;re not signed up already, feel free to sign up for our monthly newsletter here! Love you all and thank you so much for your continued prayers and support!\nLove, Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, and Jude\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/featured/time-to-go-garcia-family-update-march-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello Friends and Family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI hope you\u0026rsquo;re all doing well! Thank you for taking the time to read this update; I can\u0026rsquo;t tell you how much it blesses missionaries when you read our updates and take interest in the things God is doing in our lives. Things are continuing to go well with the ministry here. If you\u0026rsquo;re not familiar with my specific role in missions, the short of it is that I am on staff with Saving Grace World Missions as Director of Communications. I\u0026rsquo;m part of a staff that makes sure our missionaries are cared for spiritually and practically. My main role, on top of assisting with financial management for our missionaries, is to get the word out about what SGWM is and what we and our missionaries are doing. \u003cstrong\u003ePlease be in prayer as I lead up the promotion of our upcoming banquet May 5th,\u003c/strong\u003e which is a great opportunity to garner support for the organization to help us send and support missionaries in an even greater capacity! Most people don\u0026rsquo;t realize the need to support not just missionaries on the field, but the organizations that send them and support them. The work of a missionary is not nearly as effective without a great sending organization!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Time To Go! - Garcia Family Update March 2018"},{"content":"There have been times in my life where the overwhelming sense of loneliness left me feeling isolated and separated from the rest of the world. For me, it didn\u0026rsquo;t matter that I had a family that loved me, friends that cared for me, or even a church in where I could go to hear the Word of God taught. I would read scriptures that proclaimed the truth of God never leaving me nor forsaking me, yet in those moments, He felt so far away. Since coming home from Croatia in July, I\u0026rsquo;ve experienced many moments like this. Moments of longing to fit in. Moments of desiring to be like the people around me. Moments of asking the Lord why He\u0026rsquo;s given me such a strong burden for the lost abroad, all while wondering why I couldn\u0026rsquo;t just stay in California and be like most of my friends and family so that I can feel normal and accepted. Time and time again, I fell on my face asking the Lord for forgiveness for those thoughts even crossing my mind. Christ had to teach me that I am not called to fit in. I won\u0026rsquo;t ever feel at home here on earth again but that\u0026rsquo;s okay because my citizenship is in Heaven.\n\u0026ldquo;For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ .\u0026rdquo; Phil 3:20 ​ Since coming back to California, I’ve had the opportunity to serve at Saving Grace World Missions\u0026rsquo; home base. For those of you who don’t know, SGWM comes alongside missionaries to help them accomplish what the Lord is calling them to do successfully. They work relentlessly to make sure that the needs of missionaries are being met. They routinely have Skype meetings with them to make sure that they are doing okay. They also have weekly prayer meetings in where they intercede for those on the missions field front lines. They send out newsletters and countless amounts of other emails. Overall, they are the missionaries that work super hard here in the states, so that the missionaries abroad can do the work that the Lord has called them to do more effectively. It has been one of the sweetest seasons. I get to work with people who love Jesus and live out their calling every day. I get to talk to people all over the world, whether through Skype, email or in person, who are servants of the Lord, living radical lives for the sake of the Gospel. It’s like I’m reading a different missionary’s biography every day I go into the office. It’s so extremely encouraging to hear what the Lord is doing around the world through His Body.\nAs followers of Jesus, we belong to the Body of Christ. We become a part of a new community. A new people group that we will spend eternity with. In Heaven, there won\u0026rsquo;t be different denominations. In Heaven, there won\u0026rsquo;t be churches that are separated by disputes or disagreements. There will only be one body, one group of people, who will be on their faces, for eternity, worshiping THE GREAT I AM. Just thinking about it makes me want to cry and praise the One who created this community for us, so that we may thrive together on this earth for the spreading of the gospel.\nLast Sunday, I had my dessert gathering. For those of you who don\u0026rsquo;t know what a dessert gathering is, it\u0026rsquo;s just a time of me being able to share what the Lord is doing in my life and the vision that He has given me for a group of people that don\u0026rsquo;t know Him, all while eating delicious desserts. In other words, as pastor Trent put it, \u0026lsquo;I was the mouthpiece that the Lord chose to use, to bring awareness about the Roma villages to people who would never have known about them otherwise.\u0026rsquo;\nI\u0026rsquo;m not going to lie, I was terrified that no one was going to show up. I was scared, discouraged, and I was feeling that sense of loneliness that I described at the beginning of this post. And satan, knowing where to hit the hardest, made me feel like no one cared. I didn\u0026rsquo;t share this with anyone at the time and even now I am so ashamed to even write these words, and to admit that I was starting to buy into these lies. **BUT GOD IS SO FAITHFUL!**As people started to walk into the room, I heard His still small voice saying, \u0026ldquo;These are your people, this is what the Body of Christ is for, this is the community I\u0026rsquo;ve placed you in.\u0026rdquo; It was overwhelming and humbling at the same time. My God, the Creator of the Universe, revealed to me that night what it looks like to be a part of His body, His community and He used people I knew and a lot that I didn\u0026rsquo;t. If you think that\u0026rsquo;s awesome, just wait there\u0026rsquo;s more! This is how good our God is, He doesn\u0026rsquo;t just reveal lies for what they are, He demolishes them. At the end of the night, Pastor Trent asked anyone who wanted to lay hands on me and pray to come up to the front of the room. One by one, everyone in the room stood out of their chairs and came to the front. I stood there speechless, humbled by His love, and on the verge of tears. This is my family and I can\u0026rsquo;t wait to spend eternity with them, praising Jesus!\nThe Lord reminded me that I have a community. A group of people who welcomed me in and saw me as one of their own. I belong to this Body, not because I deserve it but because Christ has given it to me, as a gift that is to be cherished. All the moments in where I felt rejected, lost, isolated, and alone didn\u0026rsquo;t matter anymore because that night Christ showed me that I wasn\u0026rsquo;t. I needed Him to show me, and though He didn\u0026rsquo;t have to, He still chose to. I am so extremely grateful. Words can\u0026rsquo;t even describe the amount of gratitude I have in my heart towards those who have come alongside me. This past weekend, the Lord revealed His love towards me through His body of believers and I was left overwhelmed by Him.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/finding-my-family/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThere have been times in my life where the overwhelming sense of loneliness left me feeling isolated and separated from the rest of the world. For me, it didn\u0026rsquo;t matter that I had a family that loved me, friends that cared for me, or even a church in where I could go to hear the Word of God taught. I would read scriptures that proclaimed the truth of God never leaving me nor forsaking me, yet in those moments, He felt so far away. Since coming home from Croatia in July, I\u0026rsquo;ve experienced many moments like this. Moments of longing to fit in. Moments of desiring to be like the people around me. Moments of asking the Lord why He\u0026rsquo;s given me such a strong burden for the lost abroad, all while wondering why I couldn\u0026rsquo;t just stay in California and be like most of my friends and family so that I can feel normal and accepted. Time and time again, I fell on my face asking the Lord for forgiveness for those thoughts even crossing my mind. Christ had to teach me that I am not called to fit in. I won\u0026rsquo;t ever feel at home here on earth again but that\u0026rsquo;s okay because my citizenship is in Heaven.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Finding My Family"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThe bible says in 2nd Corinthians 5:17, “ if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Jesus said that He “ came to seek and save the lost”.(Luke 19:10) One of the great blessings we have seen in our ministry is lost and hurting people finding faith and hope in Jesus Christ!\nSo far this year we are averaging over 10 first time professions of faith in our church each week. Now that is very exciting, but to be honest with you, one of the problems we have had in the past is connecting those people that profess faith to our church family. In an effort to meet that need, last year we created a New Believers class. This 4 week course that covers the basics of the faith meet during each one of our four main weekly church services. The four topics that are covered are: #1- Jesus, #2- The Bible, #3- The church, and #4- How to grow spiritually!\nThese courses are taught by four gifted husband and wife teaching teams, and this past week we had 29 new believers of all ages enrolled in these courses. To graduate, these new believers need to not only attend all four classes, but finish up by getting baptized at one of our church’s monthly baptisms.\nIn our two baptisms so far this year, we have had the honor of witnessing 28 baptisms. But the most encouraging part of this is that most of those baptized are new believers that have only a month or two in the faith! In the rest of this missions update, I wanted to share the testimony of one of these new believers with you.\nJuan was invited to church by a friend of mine a broken man. Juan’s marriage was on the rocks, he was unemployed and was losing hope. That very first Sunday, Juan responded to the Gospel presentation and made a public profession of faith in Christ. The following Sunday, Juan brought his wife and children with him to church, and his wife professed faith that 2nd week! (They had never stepped foot in a protestant church up until this time.) Over the next month, Juan and his wife completed our new believers course and then were baptized together at our most recent baptism. It was such a joyous time to see God restoring what the enemy had stolen. Juan and his family continue faithfully at the church and are also attending our weekly marriage builders study to strengthen their marriage.\nJuan and his family are just one of many that God has allowed us to reach with His love and offer of salvation here in the mission field of Mexico. Thank you so much for partnering with us, we love you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would continue to help us plug in and disciple these new believers!\n#2- That God would provide for the financial needs of our family and church!\nPraise Reports!\n#1- Praise the Lord for our new believers completing the New believers class and getting baptized!\n#2- Thank you Lord for the three new church plants we have scheduled for later on in 2018! (In Western Tijuana, and Campeche and Oaxaca (States in southern Mexico) For our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873 For your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-march-2018-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/02/27459751_10155512261097029_3596432440268369629_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/02/27459751_10155512261097029_3596432440268369629_n-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bible says in 2nd Corinthians 5:17,  “ \u003cem\u003eif anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new\u003c/em\u003e.”  Jesus said that He  “ \u003cem\u003ecame to seek and save the lost”.\u003c/em\u003e(Luke 19:10) One of the great blessings we have seen in our ministry is lost and hurting people finding faith and hope in Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/02/27067348_10155512264347029_1032736515203463861_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/02/27067348_10155512264347029_1032736515203463861_n-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family March 2018 Missions Update"},{"content":"It has been a great month of February. We are so grateful to be serving the Lord here in Playas De Tijuana, México. We were blessed to have our good friends Richard and Kim White come down with a group of bible college students and put on a women\u0026rsquo;s conference. It was an incredible time, over 40 women came out for the two day event. The women came away grateful as they learned about the importance of following Jesus wholeheartedly.\nOur weekly studies are going well. There are about 20 people showing up to each of the weekly discipleship studies. The church is hungry for the word of God and it is exciting to see the growth the Lord is bringing through these times of fellowship and study. Our sanctuary is filling up on Sundays, we have a very diverse group of people. Mexican nationals, Deportees, African Americans, and Gringos. It is wonderful to see people from all walks of life enjoying fellowship through the Spirit of the living God. One Lord, one faith and one baptism! Thank you Jesus for this wonderful fellowship.\nWe were encouraged this last month to begin a bible study at a nearby cancer treatment center, Hope for Cancer. These are people who have come to Mexico from all over the world seeking alternative treatment for late stages of cancer. Oh man, this has been the most encouraging thing I\u0026rsquo;ve ever done in ministry. I thought I was going to be an encouragement to the patients, but it turned out to be quite the opposite. There are about 10 beautiful born again believers with their companions, spouses and relatives, that come to the study. They shared 2 testimonies last night and they were mind blowing. These brothers and sisters share about their trial, they rejoice in knowing Jesus is on the throne and in control. We weep, we pray, we study God’s word, we praise him in song, oh man it is powerful.\nPlease pray for our upcoming marriage conference on March 24th. We also have an opportunity to do biblical counseling at a local call center. What an opportunity to see people come to Christ and see lives changed by the power of God’s Word. We will have access to over 120 deported men and women, to counsel and encourage. Only Jesus can open a door for Christians to go into local businesses and preach the gospel, we are blown away.\nPlease pray for our ministry house, we have placed our first man in the home. He was deported 5 days ago, he spent 42 years in prison. He is a sweet brother in the Lord, his name is Edgar. Our goal for the home is to continue helping deported men transition into life in Mexico as we disciple them in the word of God. What an adventure!\nThank you for your prayerful support my brothers and sisters,\nGause Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gause-family-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt has been a great month of February. We are so grateful to be serving the Lord here in Playas De Tijuana, México. We were blessed to have our good friends Richard and Kim White come down with a group of bible college students and put on a women\u0026rsquo;s conference. It was an incredible time, over 40 women came out for the two day event. The women came away grateful as they learned about the importance of following Jesus wholeheartedly.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gause Family Update"},{"content":"Heartbreak and Culture\nOne of the hardest, funniest, most interesting and sometimes heartbreaking part of missions is learning cultures. Sometimes it can be funny like the never-ending stories many of you know between my husband and I. Even small things such as sharing not to point with his middle finger while teaching in America because in America the middle finger is bad, gassing is offensive in Uganda but humorous in America, etc. I could go on forever but I am keeping myself distracted from the heartbreaks to share. Vicky was one of our first girls we took in and became our own. She dealt and constantly forgave me as I learned the culture. It seemed like every day I did something new to offend the children since I only knew how to raise children in American ways. I nick named her “My Blessing.” Vincent and Juventine baptized her and she is one of the brightest (gets the best grades) in her class. She has been with us for 7 years but the father has come back to take them. Her and her sister’s (Aleru) father abandoned them when they were very little. He then became a soldier in Somalia. He came to collect the girls a couple years back but we fought hard knowing he is Muslim, with other wives and children and very little money to help any of them. He recently came back again and this time Vincent’s family agreed. Through culture and law Aleru has left with her dad already. Vicky, since we have put her in a very good boarding school already, will finish out this year. They will have a ceremony in December to finalize the agreement. We will continue to support them and pray for them. Especially because of their age and moving in with Muslim relatives. Our prayer is that the they will remember the Word that they heard with us all these years. The girls are sponsored through Promise Child so we know they will be ok and continue their education although not the same.\nPersecutions\nLast year we had shared about Umar. He was a Ugandan Muslim Sheik sent by Idi Amin to Saudi Arabia to become one of the top Islamic leaders in Uganda. He studied there for 18 years and came back to Uganda with a passion to convert Christians. As he started sharing the Koran with believers he also heard the gospel and ended up getting saved. We met him through our friend who asked Vincent to disciple him and we also took him in for safety. As his faith grew stronger, he started sharing the gospel everywhere in our district. He was even taking the Jesus Film into the mosques. One day he was tricked by the district card (top Muslim leader) who ordered the Muslims to stone him to death. As they picked stones Umar said, “I felt a man touch me on the shoulder and I believe was Jesus.” This man led him through the crowd and Umar was able to escape. A couple weeks ago we were preparing to send Umar to a school of Ministry. As he went home to prepare his things some unknown Muslim men forced him into a van a gun point. They drove far and wanted to kill him. As they beat him with the butt of the gun he told them just to kill him since he is an old man. They started arguing about if they should kill him or not. They took him to a house and hid him there. A woman found him who claimed to be the wife of the driver and formerly a Christian. She rescued him and took him to another house. Eventually he was taken to the clinic for pain meds and sent on his way. He is now healing and will be on his way to the School of Ministry soon. Please continue to pray for him and also other Muslim converts Vincent is currently disciplining. Umar gave us permission to post his picture but we cannot post pictures or names of the other converts.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease continue to pray deeply for Dr Jim and Dr Bev as they continue to go through this deep valley of Radiation and Chemo! Pray that our time state side will be fruitful. Zachary has his IEP early March. We are Hoping for more open doors to share and encourage others while we are here. Pray for our children and ministries back home. Most of our children are in boarding schools except the young ones who stay at our home with Penninah and Sharron. Pray for the safety of the Muslim converts. The number of converts is growing quickly and the Muslims are realizing. We are not sure which persecutions are coming but we know that God is all knowing and ask for prayers. Praise Reports:\nVincent has landed!!!!! We are so grateful to be reunited again!!! Ian’s leg problems have not returned so we are hopeful! I went to the Calvary children’s ministry conference and learned so much! Many of the things I learned can also be used for adults and homeschooling. Can’t wait to see how God uses the things I learned! In fact, the boys and I can’t wait to go home! Last year we were given the Gideon bibles for the football/soccer players. They loved them so much! God heard their prayers and blessed us with the ability to provide full Bibles for them. We are excited to see how the Word of God will continue to change their lives and how He will use each and every one of them. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/culture-heartbreaks-and-persecution/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2017/12/Aniku-Family-300x213.jpg\"\u003eHeartbreak and Culture\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne of the hardest, funniest, most interesting and sometimes heartbreaking part of missions is learning cultures.  Sometimes it can be funny like the never-ending stories many of you know between my husband and I.  Even small things such as sharing not to point with his middle finger while teaching in America because in America the middle finger is bad, gassing is offensive in Uganda but humorous in America, etc.  I could go on forever but I am keeping myself distracted from the heartbreaks to share. Vicky was one of our first girls we took in and became our own.  She dealt and constantly forgave me as I learned the culture.  It seemed like every day I did something new to offend the children since I only knew how to raise children in American ways.  I nick named her “My Blessing.” Vincent and Juventine baptized her and she is one of the brightest (gets the best grades) in her class.  She has been with us for 7 years but the father has come back to take them.  Her and her sister’s (Aleru) father abandoned them when they were very little.  He then became a soldier in Somalia.  He came to collect the girls a couple years back but we fought hard knowing he is Muslim, with other wives and children and very little money to help any of them. He recently came back again and this time Vincent’s family agreed. Through culture and law Aleru has left with her dad already.  Vicky, since we have put her in a very good boarding school already, will finish out this year.  They will have a ceremony in December to finalize the agreement.  We will continue to support them and pray for them.  Especially because of their age and moving in with Muslim relatives.  Our prayer is that the they will remember the Word that they heard with us all these years.  The girls are sponsored through Promise Child so we know they will be ok and continue their education although not the same.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Culture, Heartbreaks and Persecution"},{"content":"God has been doing some amazing work in Uganda through our SGWM missionaries there. It\u0026rsquo;s been seven years since I last stepped foot in Uganda, so it is time for me to get on the ground and see the work first-hand and encourage our missionaries. We currently have six missionary families there that I am planning to spend time with and see their ministries.\nI wrote a letter titled, \u0026quot; Three Reasons Why Sending Churches Should Visit Their Missionaries \u0026quot; that you might be interested in reading.\nI am planning on flying over at the end of May (the date might shift to October), but I need to raise funding for my trip. I am reaching out to you to ask for your prayerful consideration in helping me raise these funds. You can CLICK HERE to donate a one-time gift, but if you allowed me to be honest for one moment, it would be massively helpful if you also would consider becoming a monthly supporter. For example, if I got ten people to support me $20 per month, that would provide more then enough finances to do this trip once a year.\nI am excited to see what the Lord is going to do on this trip and I am overjoyed by the opportunity to go and minister to our missionaries.\nIf you are interested in donating a one-time gift for this trip OR signing up as an ongoing supporter, please CLICK HERE. If you would like to do both, you will need to do this twice, the first time you can post a one-time gift and the second time you can sign up as a monthly contributor.\nThank you so much for taking the time to read this and for your consideration in helping me get to Uganda. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.\nGod Bless,\nPastor Mike\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/help-send-pastor-mike-to-uganda/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGod has been doing some amazing work in Uganda through our SGWM missionaries there. It\u0026rsquo;s been seven years since I last stepped foot in Uganda, so it is time for me to get on the ground and see the work first-hand and encourage our missionaries. We currently have six missionary families there that I am planning to spend time with and see their ministries.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eI wrote a letter titled, \u0026quot; \u003ca href=\"http://train4missions.com/2018/02/22/three-reasons-why-sending-churches-should-visit-their-missionaries/\"\u003eThree Reasons Why Sending Churches Should Visit Their Missionaries\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003e\u0026quot; that you might be interested in reading.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Help Send Pastor Mike to Uganda"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family,\nWe are so excited to be back in Banos del Inca, Cajamarca. Having been here for the past several weeks it is very exciting to report that God is doing some amazing things here. I will try to keep this letter short but I want to share what God is doing in this part of Northern, Peru.\nFirst let me give you an update on all the ministry fronts:\nBelen Ministry: The girls were very happy to see us! We told them, that all of you are praying for them. We will now have an additional cooking class that will be on Fridays from 9am-1pm. Participants will be given an official certificate from the government upon completion.\nWomen’s Bible Study: Natalia started the breakfast Bible study for the women three weeks ago. It takes place every Tuesday at 8:30am-10:30am. They start with a nice breakfast, buffet style and chatting with Christian music in the background. Then they start the Bible study part of it around 9:15. Right now they are going through the book of Esther. Lastly, the ladies close with a time of prayer. I cannot believe how much of an impact this time of study has made on the women of our church! I also can’t get over the fact that 15 women are showing up on a regular basis. In fact we had a new lady that came last Tuesday and she committed her life to Christ! Manuela one of our ladies in the church invited this lady to come to a breakfast and she ended up crying and receiving the Lord at the end of the Bible study. I thought that was awesome!\nEnglish Classes: I am so thrilled that we have around 20 new faces in our English classes that take place on Mondays and Tuesdays. I have already seen 5 of the 20 new people get plugged into one of our other Church Ministries. This is why we created the English classes. I knew that this would be a great way for people to get plugged into our church.\nSports Ministry: We have only had two Sports clubs take place but it’s great to see some of our older kids really growing and maturing in their faith. For the next few months I will be teaching the kids baseball and doing stories from the Old Testament for our bible time.\nAwanas: We have finally been able to connect with Awanas International in Peru, and we will be starting an Awanas program in March,\nLord willing! There is a lot of work to be done beforehand but I know that a month and half of preparation will be sufficient time to get things done.\nMedical Clinic: We are just so amazed by God! An ophthalmology team from John Hopkins has contacted us through a friend. There is a group of Christian doctors that want to bless the community of Cajamarca with free eye surgery. In the next 3 weeks the main doctor from the department of Ophthalmology at John Hopkins is coming with his wife to meet us. He will check on the future patients to be blessed with the surgery. The whole team will be coming in June of this year to take care of the patients. Natalia has a lot of work to do before the team comes. Please pray for open doors in the local hospitals and God’s guidance.\nFamily Update: Alejandro has started his fifth grade year of homeschooling. Along with homeschooling we have found a place for Alejandro to advance in his musical talents. He is so happy to be taking piano lessons again!\nEmily: We have found a very nice small daycare where Emily will be going for a few hours each morning. We really think that she will enjoy it because she is very energetic and loves to be around other kids.\nNatalia and I have added two cute little bunnies to our family. They are really cuddly and the kids love to play with them. We are looking forward to starting our garden project.\nPrayer requests: 1.For the members of our church, to continue growing in Faith and being more consistent in being a regular attendee at church and for us to be able to guide them according to God’s Word. 2.The new pastor of our Church, Adolfo. That he grows in wisdom and guides the Church according to God’s will. For him to be more prudent and learn to wait upon the Lord. Church Unity and strong relationships. 3.For us, we need prayer to have wisdom and God’s guidance in all the ministries that we are doing. We are very busy and we need to be wise in how we use our time. 4.For our family’s health and the kids to feel love.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/back-in-banos-del-inca/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are so excited to be back in Banos del Inca, Cajamarca. Having been here for the past several weeks it is very exciting to report that God is doing some amazing things here. I will try to keep this letter short but I want to share what God is doing in this part of Northern, Peru.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFirst let me give you an update on all the ministry fronts:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Back In Banos Del Inca"},{"content":"Hello to all of our faithful supporters! We are so thankful to have you all lifting us up in prayer, giving, and communication. The semester break is over and things around here are back to full speed… Well to be honest things didn’t really slow down that much over the break we just had less people on campus. Many of the students are here on a work scholarship, and so over the break there were no classes going on, but the construction projects and ministries at the church had a boost in productivity. We were able to finish the new women’s dorm which was a huge blessing. I expected to see things really slow down at the church as it is new, and two thirds of the regular attenders are students of the Bible college. I assumed that many of the people from Cajamarca would stop coming, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. God was faithful and not only did the regulars continue to come but we actually had more people every couple of weeks. Please pray for Carlos who committed his life to the Lord at our Tuesday night english conversation club. Pray that the Lord would continue to draw him into a more intimate relationship with Himself and that Carlos would resist any negative backlash for his decision to follow Christ.Through God’s grace Jessica and Eva were able to go with the students on a tour of Israel a few weeks back. Neither of them had been to the Holy Land before, and it was a huge blessing for them to be able to see the places where the events of the Bible took place. As many of you know Jessica has been struggling with health issues the past few years that at times make going up to lunch, or going into town for church seem like running a marathon. That being said God was faithful and even though she had to push herself every day of the tour she felt better for the two weeks while she was there than she has for the past six months. While Jessica and Eva were in Israel I took Romeo, Anya, and Avalina to Ecuador so that we could renew our visas (a visa is good for 6 months after which you need to leave the country and come back to get it renewed. This year we will be applying for residency which will eliminate the need for this process.) After getting our visas renewed we were able to stay at the beach in Zorritos for a couple of days. The kids and I got some real quality time together away from the busyness of life here. This semester I have been given the privilege of teaching two classes, Isaiah and Proverbs. Please pray for the truth to be taught through these classes, and pray that the students would grow in their knowledge of the Lord and in their relationship with Him.Pray for Jessica that her pregnancy would continue to go well, and that the Lord would continue to give her wisdom in homeschooling our sweet kids. Pray for our kids that they would continue to be a blessing to the other kids on campus, and that they would be prepared for life with a new baby around. Pray for all of us for fluency in Spanish, and that God would do His perfect will in the life of each and every student here this semester.Thank you all once again for all your support God bless you all!-The Bueschers\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/winter-break-has-come-to-a-close/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello to all of our faithful supporters! We are so thankful to have you all lifting us up in prayer, giving, and communication. The semester break is over and things around here are back to full speed… Well to be honest things didn’t really slow down that much over the break we just had less people on campus. Many of the students are here on a work scholarship, and so over the break there were no classes going on, but the construction projects and ministries at the church had a boost in productivity. We were able to finish the new women’s dorm which was a huge blessing. I expected to see things really slow down at the church as it is new, and two thirds of the regular attenders are students of the Bible college. I assumed that many of the people from Cajamarca would stop coming, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. God was faithful and not only did the regulars continue to come but we actually had more people every couple of weeks. Please pray for Carlos who committed his life to the Lord at our Tuesday night english conversation club. Pray that the Lord would continue to draw him into a more intimate relationship with Himself and that Carlos would resist any negative backlash for his decision to follow Christ.Through God’s grace Jessica and Eva were able to go with the students on a tour of Israel a few weeks back. Neither of them had been to the Holy Land before, and it was a huge blessing for them to be able to see the places where the events of the Bible took place. As many of you know Jessica has been struggling with health issues the past few years that at times make going up to lunch, or going into town for church seem like running a marathon. That being said God was faithful and even though she had to push herself every day of the tour she felt better for the two weeks while she was there than she has for the past six months.\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG_20180204_025852-300x169.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG_20180204_025852-300x169-300x169.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG-20180202-WA0014-225x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG-20180202-WA0014-225x300-225x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e While Jessica and Eva were in Israel I took Romeo, Anya, and Avalina to Ecuador so that we could renew our visas (a visa is good for 6 months after which you need to leave the country and come back to get it renewed. This year we will be applying for residency which will eliminate the need for this process.) After getting our visas renewed we were able to stay at the beach in Zorritos for a couple of days. The kids and I got some real quality time together away from the busyness of life here. \u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG-20180202-WA0010-300x169.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG-20180202-WA0010-300x169-300x169.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/IMG-20180202-WA0003-300x225-300x225.jpg\"\u003eThis semester I have been given the privilege of teaching two classes, Isaiah and Proverbs. Please pray for the truth to be taught through these classes, and pray that the students would grow in their knowledge of the Lord and in their relationship with Him.Pray for Jessica that her pregnancy would continue to go well, and that the Lord would continue to give her wisdom in homeschooling our sweet kids. Pray for our kids that they would continue to be a blessing to the other kids on campus, and that they would be prepared for life with a new baby around. Pray for all of us for fluency in Spanish, and that God would do His perfect will in the life of each and every student here this semester.Thank you all once again for all your support God bless you all!-The Bueschers\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Winter Break Has Come to A Close"},{"content":"In 2008 we had our first ever East African Pastors conference. During this conference, only 8 Calvary Pastors attended the conference. Fast-forward to 2018: a decade later, we now have over 300 C.C. Pastors in attendance at our annual Calvary Chapel Association of East Africa Pastors Conference! We are so enraptured seeing the movement grow and delighted knowing the word of God is going forth bearing such amazing fruit. This year the conference took place in Uganda. We had a turn out of Calvary Chapel Pastors from Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, and Sudan. It was so edifying to hear what God is doing around East Africa. As for me, personally, it was a 13-hour drive from Nairobi to Uganda. I traveled with five Kenyan Pastors who were all looking forward to fellowship and being refreshed in the Word. The theme was “A timeline of the End…and what that means to me.” We went over most of the End times themes and passages. Some of the highlights were the presentations by Mike Rozelle of Potters Field Ministries: he shared his testimony and presented the Gospel using clay and a potter wheel. Then Jay McCarl presented a re-enactment of the ancient Galilean Wedding and we learned that it symbolized and highlighted the Gospel, and major End time themes. I would highly recommend you read his book called The Best Day of Forever. He has a knack for finding out what the scriptures meant to the people in Bible times and how it applies to us today. We also had the privilege of affiliating 7 new churches during the event. These newly affiliated, Senior Pastors have all been pastoring their churches for about a year. I\u0026rsquo;m exhilarated to learn that the Word of God has reached some of the remote unreached corners of East Africa! In Christ, David Zavala\nPlease Pray Pray for Gods Protection over our Family Pray for Gods guidance as we plan for summer teams Pray that God would provide for our family and for our local Pastors. Pray for healing for Jane Kaleche Pray that peace would prevail in Kenya Pray for Twinkle as she home schools the girls. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/february-the-magnificent-growth/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Screen-Shot-2018-02-16-at-6.48.27-PM-1024x335.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Screen-Shot-2018-02-16-at-6.48.27-PM-1024x335-300x98.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eIn 2008 we had our first ever East African Pastors conference. During this conference, only 8 Calvary Pastors attended the conference. Fast-forward to 2018: a decade later, we now have over 300 C.C. Pastors in attendance at our annual  Calvary Chapel Association of East Africa Pastors Conference! We are so enraptured seeing the movement grow and delighted knowing the word of God is going forth bearing such amazing fruit. This year the conference took place in Uganda. We had a turn out of Calvary Chapel Pastors from Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Burundi, and Sudan. It was so edifying to hear what God is doing around East Africa. As for me, personally, it was a 13-hour drive from Nairobi to Uganda. I traveled with five Kenyan Pastors who were all looking forward to fellowship and being refreshed in the Word. The theme was “A timeline of the End…and what that means to me.” We went over most of the End times themes and passages.\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eSome of the highlights were the presentations by Mike Rozelle of Potters Field Ministries: he shared his testimony and presented the Gospel using clay and a potter wheel. Then Jay McCarl presented a re-enactment of the ancient Galilean Wedding and we learned that it symbolized and highlighted the Gospel, and major End time themes. I would highly recommend you read his book called The Best Day of Forever. He has a knack for finding out what the scriptures meant to the people in Bible times and how it applies to us today. We also had the privilege of affiliating 7 new churches during the event. These newly affiliated, Senior Pastors have all been pastoring their churches for about a year. I\u0026rsquo;m exhilarated to learn that the Word of God has reached some of the remote unreached corners of East Africa!\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eIn Christ,\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eDavid Zavala\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"February: The Magnificent Growth"},{"content":" Please pray for Umar, the Muslim convert who often stays at our house for safety, and discipleship from my husband, Vincent. Umar studied Islam in Saudi Arabia for 17 years and had been a very important sheik. We were sending him to eastern Uganda to the school of ministry and I’m not sure if it happened on the way or once there, but Vincent received word this morning that he has been abducted. He is our truest dear friend. Please pray for his safety and safe return.\nThank you. Melissa Hubbell Aniku Missionary blog: sgwm.com/aniku\n(Photo:Umar is the one on the left. This was just last Sunday as my husband discipled them one last time before heading to the school.)\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/urgent-prayer-request-for-umar-uganda/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Umar.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003ePlease pray for Umar, the Muslim convert who often stays at our house for safety, and discipleship from my husband, Vincent. Umar studied Islam in Saudi Arabia for 17 years and had been a very important sheik. We were sending him to eastern Uganda to the school of ministry and I’m not sure if it happened on the way or once there, but Vincent received word this morning that he has been abducted. He is our truest dear friend. Please pray for his safety and safe return.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Urgent Prayer Request For Umar - Uganda"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.\u0026rdquo; -Matt 13:44-\nThis valentines day I hope we can step back and enjoy the love that the God of the universe has for his children. We often think of the \u0026ldquo;parable of the hidden treasure\u0026rdquo; as a lesson on how we aught to love our Savior, and although it is that, it is first a lesson on how much love He had for us. Jesus was the the one who first gave up everything for the treasure that He found. Jesus decided that He loved you and I so much that He would give up all of heaven and the rights He enjoyed as Supreme King of The Universe so that He could be born into a lost, hostile, unrespectful, vulger society. Not only did He come as a vunerable human baby; He first came as a tiny, single cell in the womb of a young female. Can you even grasp that love? The One who holds the entire universe in the span of His hand decided to become a single cell because He wanted to reedem us! Then when His life came to the climax, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, the One who has the sharp two-edged sword, paid the highest price and laid down His life for His bride! God saw fit to love you and me so much that He gave up the most valuable thing in all of existence so that we could live together with Him! This Valentines day let us remember in thankfulness the great love of God.\n\u0026ldquo;For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotton son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish, but have eternal life\u0026rdquo; -John 3:16-\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/valentines-day-thoughts/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.\u0026rdquo; -Matt 13:44-\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis valentines day I hope we can step back and enjoy the love that the God of the universe has for his children. We often think of the \u0026ldquo;parable of the hidden treasure\u0026rdquo; as a lesson on how we aught to love our Savior, and although it is that, it is first a lesson on how much love He had for us. Jesus was the the one who first gave up everything for the treasure that He found. Jesus decided that He loved you and I so much that He would give up all of heaven and the rights He enjoyed as Supreme King of The Universe so that He could be born into a lost, hostile, unrespectful, vulger society. Not only did He come as a vunerable human baby; He first came as a tiny, single cell in the womb of a young female. Can you even grasp that love? The One who holds the entire universe in the span of His hand decided to become a single cell because He wanted to reedem us! Then when His life came to the climax, Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, the One who has the sharp two-edged sword, paid the highest price and laid down His life for His bride! God saw fit to love you and me so much that He gave up the most valuable thing in all of existence so that we could live together with Him!\nThis Valentines day let us remember in thankfulness the great love of God.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Valentines Day Thoughts"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.\u0026rdquo; Hebrews. 4:12\nDear Friends and family!\nGreetings! We hope and pray for you to be fine, and we are thankful to you for the prayers and support. We are grateful to be part of Saving Grace World Missions that is impacting many parts of the world including Pakistan. The friends back in the office often call us [the missionaries] \u0026ldquo;World Changers\u0026rdquo; but we in the mission field have over and over again experienced that there is nothing in us that can bring any good change in the world. The only thing that can truly transform any person, family or society is the Word of God. And that\u0026rsquo;s the only sure foundation we need to build our families and communities on.\nIn our country and many neighboring countries, it seems that there is great spiritual and religious revival in Christianity, but the facts reveal something else. So many self-proclaimed pastors and religious leaders are emerging from every place and the version of Christianity that they are trying to introduce to people is really distorted. The only thing most of the people seem to be after is physical healing and Prosperity. This is very sad and the pursuit of healing and prosperity is hurting so many people when they could not get what they were running after. And such people are becoming bitter and are turning into critics not of such so-called pastors but whole Christianity. We believe that it\u0026rsquo;s good for them and it\u0026rsquo;s also a great chance for true churches to go forward and share the true Word of God with such people.\nWe praise God that Calvary Chapel Pakistan has always been very focused on sharing the true word of God to all different small groups that we are reaching every week.\nIMG\\_1946-300x200 25138972\\_10156851494083098\\_1419287289\\_o-300x225 As you know we have two small congregations, one women\u0026rsquo;s group and one group of brick makers that is being reached and fed on the word of God by our team, and it is amazing to see these wonderful people growing in the understanding of the word of God and thus being built as true and strong Christians.\n27067745\\_1777604889212068\\_6366290872052536379\\_n-300x225 IMG\\_1092-300x200 And during this year we are expanding our mission field by reaching more people through different mediums with the word of God, namely:\nFree Scriptural Book: I\u0026rsquo;ve been working with \u0026ldquo;World Missionary Press Inc.\u0026rdquo; voluntarily for many years and I\u0026rsquo;ve translated their many booklets and books into Urdu language. We praise God that now we have Bible Study books on \u0026ldquo;Genesis, Mathew, John, Romans and Revelation.\u0026rdquo; World Missionary Press in providing these books totally free to Calvary Chapel Pakistan and we are distributing these books among different churches and ministry in whole Pakistan and we are encouraging all those who send us book requests to form different groups to study the word of God in an organized and systematic way. And these are not the only books that World Missionary Press is providing, there are 9 other titles of booklets in Urdu that are being provided from the platform of Calvary Chapel Pakistan in the whole country.\nMinistry to High Schoolers: We praise God that there are some wonderful people in educational fields who are not just concerned about their business through providing formal education but also are concerned to equip the new generation with biblical education.\n01-300x200 02-300x200 Such is one of my friends named Walter who is principal of a school. He has been asking for starting a regular Bible class at his school on every Saturday during last year, and finally, the Bible study is now started properly. It has given us chance to reach about 70 high school students, about 10 staff member and sometimes some of the parents. We praise God for such wonderful opportunity. While I am teaching these wonderful young men and women I am giving them realistic approach to see all that is going around them in the name of Christianity and religious teaching and at the same time helping them to study the word of God themselves.\nMinistry to Un-educated: In every village and area we visit, we meet so many people particularly elderly men and women who cannot read and write. They are fully dependent on others to share the word of God with them. It was always on my heart to help these precious people somehow, and finally, the Lord has provided a wonderful source for us to help them. A dear Sister and friend in the Lord named Jaylene helped CC Pakistan to get connected with \u0026ldquo;Faith Comes by Hearing\u0026rdquo; and after meeting their official requirement, they have sent us first parcel with Audio devices with the recording of New Testament in the Urdu language for those Pakistani Christians who cannot read. We are going to form some groups of such people and will provide them with these wonderful devices in order to listen to the word of God together, have some discussion and prayer together. This is really amazing how God provides the sources for His people. I\u0026rsquo;ve seen the impact of such audio Bible devices in the lives of some people and I was really encouraged to see how wonderfully their lives were changed after listening to the exact words of the Bible themselves. We are very much thankful to \u0026ldquo;Faith Comes by Hearing\u0026rdquo; and all of you who pray for us and encourage us to continue contending for the faith and striving to take the word of God to all we can reach. As I\u0026rsquo;ve mentioned before many times, we always need good Christian resources, you are welcome to share with us pamphlets, tracts, books and audio-video teachings. We are thankful to you for prayers and support. We want to encourage you to share about Calvary Chapel Pakistan with your friends and family, with your church and Bible study groups. Please continue to pray for us, for the provision of all needs and for the protection of Christians in Pakistan, of our congregations and our team. God Bless You!\nIn Christ Jesus,\nNadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/building-on-sure-foundation/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;For the word of God \u003cem\u003eis\u003c/em\u003e living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.\u0026rdquo;            Hebrews. 4:12\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings! We hope and pray for you to be fine, and we are thankful to you for the prayers and support. We are grateful to be part of Saving Grace World Missions that is impacting many parts of the world including Pakistan. The friends back in the office often call us [the missionaries] \u0026ldquo;World Changers\u0026rdquo; but we in the mission field have over and over again experienced that there is \u003cem\u003enothing\u003c/em\u003e in us that can bring any good change in the world. The only thing that can truly transform any person, family or society is the Word of God. And that\u0026rsquo;s the only sure foundation we need to build our families and communities on.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Building on Sure Foundation"},{"content":" I had a fantastic time this week in Florida visiting our church planters, (Aaron and Robbyn Smith and their daughter Eliana.) It was amazing to teach at their church and lead worship for their growing congregation! And not only is their church on fire, they are also partnering with our church on four of our Mexico church plants.\nThe hi-light of the week was spending time with my daughter Grace as she joined me on this church planting trip! (She served on the media during my sermons, just like she does at our church)\nPase un tiempo fantastico esta semana en Flordia visitando nuestros plantadores de iglesia (Aaron y Robbyn Smith y su hija Eliana) fue increible enseñar en su iglesia y dirigir la alabanza para su congregación que está creciendo! Y no solo esta su iglesia encendida, tambien se estan sumando con nuestra iglesia para apoyar a cuatro de nuestras plantaciones de iglesia en México.\nLo mas especial de la semana fue pasar tiempo con mi hija Grace que me acompaño en este viaje!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico) Pastor Mike Vincent Missionary Blog: /Vincent/ ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/from-mexico-to-florida-visiting-church-planters/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/vincent.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2c.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/2c-261x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e I had a fantastic time this week in Florida visiting our church planters, (Aaron and Robbyn Smith and their daughter Eliana.) It was amazing to teach at their church and lead worship for their growing congregation!  And not only is their church on fire, they are also partnering with our church on four of our Mexico church plants.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe hi-light of the week was spending time with my daughter Grace as she joined me on this church planting trip! (She served on the media during my sermons, just like she does at our church)\u003c/p\u003e","title":"From Mexico to Florida, Visiting Church Planters"},{"content":"\nMy heart overflows with joy to have Saving Grace World Missions office full of passionate servants of Jesus Christ. - Tim Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/uncategorized/blessed/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/sg.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/sg.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy heart overflows with joy to have Saving Grace World Missions office full of passionate servants of Jesus Christ.\n- Tim Pappas\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Blessed"},{"content":"“And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25 NASB\nOur family\u0026rsquo;s time back in the United States has been a fulfillment of this verse in many ways. Since arriving here, God has blessed us with opportunity after opportunity to encourage the body of Christ in America to love God and to love others. Although at times it has been exhausting to some degree, God has been at work during this recent period of our lives and we are grateful to be here.\nWe started our time in America by visiting our home church, Calvary Worship Center, in Colorado Springs, to visit the new missions pastor and the staff. It was amazing to see just how many of our prayers concerning the missions department at our church were answered during our absence. In very tangible ways God has given our church a renewed vision for Gods heart for all the people groups, and it has been amazing to see Jesus’ love manifest in this way.\nAfter a very short time in the Springs, we transitioned ourselves to the Omaha, Nebraska, in order to spend time with Noelle’s huge family. While there we had the awesome privilege of sharing what God has been doing through Terebinth Ministry in Uganda, with Bible studies and even a homeschool group. We pray that God used our time there to instill a love for missions into the hearts of adults, as well as children.\nSince then we have spent the last few weeks sharing about God’s work in Gulu, too many of the different groups from our church; men’s/women\u0026rsquo;s Bible study\u0026rsquo;s, youth groups, elementary classes, small groups, etc, and meeting for dinner with as many of our gospel partners as possible. I personally have found this month to be hugely encouraging to me. It is an immeasurable blessing to share what God has placed on my heart with the rest of the body of Christ. Just as in Nebraska, we pray that the time God gives us here in Colorado, will inspire future missionaries, encourage believers to live a lifestyle of discipleship, and gather in partners for the Gospel to be spread throughout Acholiland!\nPrayer: -Pray for our children who have severe colds. -pray that Noelle and baby #3 are safe throughout the pregnancy. -pray that God brings in all of our needed monthly financial partners. -pray that Gods Word sinks deep into His people, especially those in Uganda. -Pray that we are able to get back onto the field in time for the start of the next class of pastors!\nPraise: -Praise God for providing us safe transportation in our travels thus far. -Praise God for giving renewed vision for world missions to our home church. -Praise God for His Love. -Praise God that He has provided a wonderful home for my family to stay in while we are in CO. -Praise God for many new prayer and financial partners as we seek to return to Uganda.\nGiving: We have yet to reach our required monthly budget to return to Uganda. Please pray about whether God would use you in this way, partnering with us in the furtherance of the gospel. To give, please click here to become a financial partner. “Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.” Jude 24-25 NASB\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/january-2018-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003e“And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25 NASB\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur family\u0026rsquo;s time back in the United States has been a fulfillment of this verse in many ways. Since arriving here, God has blessed us with opportunity after opportunity to encourage the body of Christ in America to love God and to love others. Although at times it has been exhausting to some degree, God has been at work during this recent period of our lives and we are grateful to be here.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"January 2018 Update"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.\u0026rdquo; 1 Corinthians 15:58\nDear Brothers and Sister in Christ, Happy New Year! We praise God for His all blessings and protection during year 2017, and we pray for all of you as well as for Calvary Chapel Pakistan\u0026rsquo;s team to be able to serve God faithfully and be under His protection. In this update I am going to share particular about the second church that we have planted outside of town and I also wish to share with you a pressing need.\nThere are about 200 Christian families in a colony outside of our town where we have been visiting for almost last full year. Some visiting pastors have been going there rarely, but those people don\u0026rsquo;t have any appointed pastor and they don\u0026rsquo;t have any particular place [namely church building] to get together for prayer and worship. Since we are reaching and sharing the word of God with these people, they are becoming organized in weekly meetings and other church activities.We had been having Sunday Meetings in the yard of a family in the evenings of spring and summer of 2017, now as the winter has started, it\u0026rsquo;s not possible for the families to gather in the yard for the Sunday meetings as it the freezing cold and foggy, it\u0026rsquo;s very hard to stay outside for even short time.\nDuring Christmas we had special arrangements, we rented out a tent for covering and the people put some dirt in the yard in order to make a more leveled place for those people who were going to join us.\nIMG\\_1146-1-300x200 IMG\\_1138-1-300x200 IMG\\_1151-1-300x200 IMG\\_1148-1-300x200 IMG\\_1186-300x200 IMG\\_1188-300x200 On December 23 the whole work was finished and everyone from younger to older took part in this all arrangement. We took chairs and pulpit from our town to that place for Christmas programs.\nIMG\\_1205-300x200 IMG\\_1307-300x200 IMG\\_1439-300x200 IMG\\_1322-300x200 Finally, we were able to have services of Dec. 24 and 25 in a tent, many people joined us in the meeting, children had prepared Christmas drama and they presented many Christmas songs. And along with great fellowship and blessed evening, everyone was fed on the living and eternal word of God. We really praise God that these people are growing spiritually as we are studying the life stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph in our Sunday Services and by pondering on their lives, challenges, failures, trust in the Lord and God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness, we all are being wonderfully encouraged and growing spiritually. As we started reaching these precious souls and we faithfully started serving these scattered people, they have started gathering under the cross of our Lord and now they feel much more united and blessed to be part of our Sunday services and other meetings. We give our Lord all glory and praise and we want to thank all of you for your faithfulness to encouraging us through your prayers and all kinds of support to continue reaching disadvantaged and underprivileged people to share the word of God with them and encouraged them in Christ our Lord.\nNow one of our church members has offered us to use his yard for Sunday Services and all kinds of church activities as long as we need to. We are very much thankful to that fellow and his family but it\u0026rsquo;s not always possible to continue the church activities under open heaven because of weather severity. We need to build a temporary Iron structure and put iron roofing in order to cover that area, we will need to put some dirt there to raise the level of the place in order to make it safe during the rainy season and along with that we need some side coverings, table and chairs, a pulpit, carpets and some lights for the place. After we have a temporary structure with iron roofing it will help people to come to the fellowship and it will save us all from the severity of winter and summer as well as rainy season. In order to get this all done we need the financial support of $2,130/, so through this post, I want to request all of you to please pray for this church that we have planted, pray for us to continually reach them with the true message of the gospel. Please also pray for the provision so that we may build this structure soon as possible. If Lord leads you to financially support this special cause, we will highly appreciate that and will be very much thankful to you!\nOnce again We want to thank you for being our faithful prayer and support partners, we want to let you know that we pray for all of you and we love you!\nIn Christ Jesus Pastor Nadeem Massey\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-beginning/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026ldquo;Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.\u0026rdquo;      1 Corinthians 15:58\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/massey/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2018/01/download.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/massey/wp-content/uploads/sites/26/2018/01/download-300x83.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Brothers and Sister in Christ, Happy New Year! We praise God for His all blessings and protection during year 2017, and we pray for all of you as well as for Calvary Chapel Pakistan\u0026rsquo;s team to be able to serve God faithfully and be under His protection. In this update I am going to share particular about the second church that we have planted outside of town and I also wish to share with you a pressing need.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Beginning"},{"content":"Attending a church service at Calvary Chapel Rosarito is a dynamic experience from the very beginning. As you walk into the courtyard, you’re immediately faced with the fact that this church genuinely wants you here. They want you to feel at home. They want you to feel like a part of their family. They want you to eat with them and talk with them and laugh and cry and sing with them. Their friendly greetings and hearty handshakes and warm smiles are a message from God through His people. What they’re really saying is, “You matter to us, because you matter to Him.”\nAnd that’s not where things stop for Pastor Mike Vincent’s church in Rosarito, Mexico. If you’re a newcomer (or if you’ve brought a newcomer along with you) you’re given a gift of a book or music. But what really hooks people is the fact that this church is alive. After all of the warm greetings, you’re seated in a pew and the celebration begins. The church’s bilingual worship time is a thing of beauty, a small taste of the believer’s future singing praises with people from “every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Rev. 5:9) as Gospel-centered lyrics swing back and forth between Spanish and English in an upbeat, celebratory style. And this is functional as well, with a fair share of the church’s congregation being English speakers; Pastor Mike preaches in English through a Spanish translator as well. And with each message comes a clear presentation of the Gospel with an opportunity given for the lost to respond.\nPeople are getting saved at Calvary Chapel Rosarito in such numbers that, about a year ago, Pastor Mike implemented a new believers’ class during their first service on Sunday mornings. Those who put their faith in Christ at CCR are encouraged to skip the sermons for a month and head to a four week class where they learn the basics of the Christian faith, culminating in publicly declaring their commitment to Christ by being baptized at the church’s monthly baptism. In fact, at a recent church baptism, 11 out of the 16 believers baptized had been saved for under 2 months!\nSo Pastor Mike’s vision for CCR is to gain converts to Christ and disciple them; but his big-picture goal is not to fill his church. In fact, he’s seeking to send them out! Pastor Mike is a church-planter at heart, because that’s what he sees in scripture, and that was what was modeled in his own life as a believer. “I was sent out myself, and it was a really exciting time for me,” he says. “I kept seeing it happen around me [at his home church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace in Southern California], and from the very beginning I had it in my mind to start doing it myself.”\nIt took awhile to get the process going, getting his own church established in Rosarito and raising up leaders being the first steps. After the first two church plants to come out of CCR didn’t end up panning out, Pastor Mike became more proactive in training, implementing a church-planting class to train people in the skills it takes and the hardships involved in the process that he knows so intimately. The class is an extensive 2 year program, with weekly 3-4 hour classes led by CCR’s pastors. In addition, prospective church-planters need to be actively involved in ministry as pastors and, where possible, staff members. They need to lead at least one ministry at the church as well as a home group. It may seem like a long process, but this type of training is invaluable according to Pastor Mike. And the fruit of this work speaks for itself; out of 19 church planting teams that have been sent out of CCR (15 in Mexico and four in the United States), 16 are still presently meeting. Those are amazing numbers!\nAnd so the process continues for Pastor Mike Vincent and his team at Calvary Chapel Rosarito. They preach the gospel, sinners come to Christ, new converts are discipled, and church-planters are sent out to new locations, where they repeat the process all over again. Preach, disciple, send, repeat; this is the heartbeat and rhythm that drives this booming church in Rosarito, Mexico.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/preach-disciple-send-repeat/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAttending a church service at Calvary Chapel Rosarito is a dynamic experience from the very beginning. As you walk into the courtyard, you’re immediately faced with the fact that this church genuinely \u003cem\u003ewants\u003c/em\u003e you here. They want you to feel at home. They want you to feel like a part of their family. They want you to eat with them and talk with them and laugh and cry and sing with them. Their friendly greetings and hearty handshakes and warm smiles are a message from God through His people. What they’re really saying is, “You matter to us, because you matter to Him.”\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Preach. Disciple. Send. Repeat."},{"content":"Proverbs 16:9\u0026hellip;A man\u0026rsquo;s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.\nOver the last few weeks, more and more people we know have quoted this verse for things going on in their lives. Maybe we\u0026rsquo;ve heard this verse often but didn\u0026rsquo;t really pay attention like we have recently. That\u0026rsquo;s because the Lord was preparing us for HIS steps.\nAs it turns out, the road to Oaxaca is not a straight road for us. At the end of January we took a vision trip with SGWM to Capilla Calvario Rosarito. We met with Pastor Mike Vincent and the more time we spent with him, it became more evident that God\u0026rsquo;s hand was in this meeting. We weren\u0026rsquo;t prepared for that. Haha! CCRosarito has planted 19 churches in Mexico already and they have invited us to spend a short season with them to help us raise up a team for our church plant in Oaxaca. Raising a team is going to be a vital part of planting a church so that it won\u0026rsquo;t be just us, alone. While we are raising up a team, they have invited us to be missionary staff, where we will serve in various ministries. Some of the ministries are the dump ministry and helping at orphanages. We will also be attending their church planting class that is once a week.\nWe are excited for the Lord\u0026rsquo;s plans in our lives as we continue to prepare for our return to Oaxaca. We will be having a Missions Night Potluck and Calvary Chapel San Juan Capistrano on February 18th at 5:30. We will be sharing more about all that\u0026rsquo;s going on and answering questions anyone might have. We would love to see you all there.\nWe will be moving to Rosarito as soon as we can find a safe place to live and are able to raise enough monthly support. Please pray that this will be a smooth transition for Jonny and Noah (and us). We\u0026rsquo;ve been so blessed to be in California with family and friends for a few months.\nThank you for your continued prayers and support as we follow the Lord\u0026rsquo;s guidance and calling on our lives. We love you all and are so grateful for each of you.\nJon, Allison, Jonny, Noah Brechtel\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/heading-back-to-mexico/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eProverbs 16:9\u0026hellip;A man\u0026rsquo;s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOver the last few weeks, more and more people we know have quoted this verse for things going on in their lives.  Maybe we\u0026rsquo;ve heard this verse often but didn\u0026rsquo;t really pay attention like we have recently.  That\u0026rsquo;s because the Lord was preparing us for HIS steps.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs it turns out, the road to Oaxaca is not a straight road for us.  At the end of January we took a vision trip with SGWM to Capilla Calvario Rosarito.  We met with Pastor Mike Vincent and the more time we spent with him, it became more evident that God\u0026rsquo;s hand was in this meeting.  We weren\u0026rsquo;t prepared for that.  Haha!  CCRosarito has planted 19 churches in Mexico already and they have invited us to spend a short season with them to help us raise up a team for our church plant in Oaxaca.  Raising a team is going to be a vital part of planting a church so that it won\u0026rsquo;t be just us, alone.  While we are raising up a team, they have invited us to be missionary staff, where we will serve in various ministries.  Some of the ministries are the dump ministry and helping at orphanages.  We will also be attending their church planting class that is once a week.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Heading Back to Mexico!"},{"content":" This infectious disease doctor at Children\u0026rsquo;s Hospital, Los Angeles who has done residency in Uganda thinks Ian has toxic synovitis. This would be the best diagnosis yet when it comes to long term. Praying so hard he is right! He has taken Ian off the antibiotics! Woo hoo no more 4am meds! Now we wait and see. If in 2 weeks it comes back, it was infectious and we go back on antibiotics. If it comes back after Ian gets sick again it is toxic synovitis or if it comes back or is in different joints it is rheumatoid arthritis. His inflammation factors in his blood are back to normal levels and he is his silly self showing us he is less than enthusiastic about the traffic! (see photo) We don’t have to go back unless something happens again. He even gave us a prescription and more ideas for staph while back home over seas!\nThank you so much for all of your prayers and kind notes! Please pray that my husband is able to join us on the 16th, he is still in Uganda. Thank you again!\nGod bless, Vincent and Melissa Missionary Blog: sgwm/aniku\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/woo-hoo-no-more-4-a-m-meds/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ian-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ian-1-225x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e This infectious disease doctor at Children\u0026rsquo;s Hospital, Los Angeles who has done residency in Uganda thinks Ian has toxic synovitis. This would be the best diagnosis yet when it comes to long term. Praying so hard he is right! He has taken Ian off the antibiotics! Woo hoo no more 4am meds! Now we wait and see. If in 2 weeks it comes back, it was infectious and we go back on antibiotics. If it comes back after Ian gets sick again it is toxic synovitis or if it comes back or is in different joints it is rheumatoid arthritis. His inflammation factors in his blood are back to normal levels and he is his silly self showing us he is less than enthusiastic about the traffic! (see photo) We don’t have to go back unless something happens again. He even gave us a prescription and more ideas for staph while back home over seas!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Woo Hoo No More 4 a.m. Meds!"},{"content":"Hello friends and family! Here\u0026rsquo;s a quick update on how things have been going in my now 3-month old position as a full-time SGWM missionary. In summary, things are fantastic, and I feel more settled into my role than ever before. I still fulfill a hodgepodge of tasks for our ministry as we all work together, but my official role is Director of Communications. What does that mean? In the business world, we\u0026rsquo;d probably refer to it as \u0026ldquo;Marketing,\u0026rdquo; but I don\u0026rsquo;t think that quite fits the bill of what I do for SGWM. We\u0026rsquo;re in the work of facilitating the spread of the Gospel through our missionaries and endeavors; my job with SGWM is to let the world know about what we and our missionaries are doing. In a nutshell, I\u0026rsquo;m spreading the good news about how our missionaries are spreading the really Good News!\nWhy is that important? I think that, above all else, we want to inspire people to get involved. To pray, to support financially or otherwise, or to go out themselves. \u0026ldquo;Out of sight, out of mind\u0026rdquo; is a concept far too prevalent when it comes to missions; my job is to keep SGWM\u0026rsquo;s work and missionaries in sight and in the minds and hearts of people everywhere through some of our culture\u0026rsquo;s most powerful mediums like email and social media. One of my biggest projects in this area is SGWM\u0026rsquo;s new monthly newsletter updates, which I put together each month to let people know about all the amazing ways God is using SGWM and our missionaries! If you\u0026rsquo;d like to see the work I\u0026rsquo;ve put into our inaugural edition, check it out here!\nOf course, I still get to do a lot of other amazing things for SGWM. I\u0026rsquo;m still teaching on occasion for our Pastors\u0026rsquo; School in South Asia via Skype (sometimes with these amazing young men from the young adults group Amy and I lead for our church!). That is always an incredible honor!\nWe also recently held a Missions Sunday at our church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, to talk about all of the work that goes into facilitating missions through our home office. People don\u0026rsquo;t typically think of people working from beautiful Yorba Linda, CA as missionaries, but the fact is that we at the home office have dedicated our lives to making sure international missionaries have all the tools they need to fulfill their part in the Great Commission.\nWe ask you to continually pray for us during our first year in this role! Pray for constant vision and that we\u0026rsquo;d continue toward raising all of the monthly support we need. We love what we\u0026rsquo;re doing and would like to continue in this work for a long time as the Lord sees fit. If you\u0026rsquo;re not already signed up, feel free to sign up for our monthly newsletter here!\nIf you\u0026rsquo;d like to become a financial parter with us, the best way to do that is by signing up here to become monthly supporter. Or, you can send a check directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886 with \u0026ldquo;Garcia Family\u0026rdquo; in the memo line.\nThank you all for your prayers and support!\nLove in Christ,\nJoel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, \u0026amp; Jude\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sharing-the-good-news-about-the-really-good-news/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family! Here\u0026rsquo;s a quick update on how things have been going in my now 3-month old position as a full-time SGWM missionary. In summary, things are fantastic, and I feel more settled into my role than ever before. I still fulfill a hodgepodge of tasks for our ministry as we all work together, but my official role is Director of Communications. What does that mean? In the business world, we\u0026rsquo;d probably refer to it as \u0026ldquo;Marketing,\u0026rdquo; but I don\u0026rsquo;t think that quite fits the bill of what I do for SGWM. We\u0026rsquo;re in the work of facilitating the spread of the Gospel through our missionaries and endeavors; my job with SGWM is to let the world know about what we and our missionaries are doing. In a nutshell, I\u0026rsquo;m spreading the good news about how our missionaries are spreading the \u003cem\u003ereally\u003c/em\u003e Good News!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sharing the Good News About the Really Good News"},{"content":"During this past month, I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in what we call Missions Sunday here at my home church Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. This was a great opportunity to bring awareness to the congregation about the amazing work the Lord is doing among the nations through missionaries who set aside everything and sacrificing so much for the furtherance of the gospel.\nDuring the main services, I was able to participate in a five-person Q\u0026amp;A panel from Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM). Our goal was to shed some light on the way SGWM gets to be used by the Lord in the Great Commission\nAll of us on the panel received an overwhelmingly positive response. Time after time, people expressed to me that they had no idea of all works SGWM was involved in. All I could keep thinking to myself was “that\u0026rsquo;s what I said.” I had no idea when I first came on with SGWM how many areas of our missionaries lives this organization touches and how much there is to do in caring for them. As I transitioned from my 17-year career as a chemical dependency counselor to my new role here at SGWM there were times when I had great difficulty describing what it is I\u0026rsquo;m doing as I was overwhelmed by the magnitude of training and details that go into missionary care.\nGod used the panel discussion, along with several other divine appointments, to really help solidify in my mind the role I play here at SGWM and the plan He has for us as an organization and I am surer now than ever before that I made the right decision. I am filled with more excitement today for the calling God has on my life than ever before.\nAnother one of the incredible things I got to do this month was to lead the Bechtel family, one of our newer SGWM missionary families, on a vision tour to Rosarito, Mexico. While visiting Calvary Chapel Rosarito we were able to sit in on their church planting class and spend time with other pastors and missionaries there to glean wisdom on what the Lord might have for the Brechtel’s.\nIt is truly a privilege to walk this road with so many missionaries whose hearts are to share the Gospel and bring glory to God where ever He might call them. Thank you for joining me on this journey and investing your time in reading this update and faithfully praying for me.\nThere are three ways you could partner with me in this ministry.\nFirst, by praying for me and second, by signing up for my monthly email updates. Lastly, by becoming a financial partner with me in the Gospel through clicking here or sending a check to\nSaving Grace World Missions.\n17451 Bastanchury Rd. Ste 203\nNote Pappas support in memo\nAll for His Glory,\nTim Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thats-what-i-said/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDuring this past month, I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in what we call Missions Sunday here at my home church Calvary Chapel Saving Grace. This was a great opportunity to bring awareness to the congregation about the amazing work the Lord is doing among the nations through missionaries who set aside everything and sacrificing so much for the furtherance of the gospel.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring the main services, I was able to participate in a five-person Q\u0026amp;A panel from Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM). Our goal was to shed some light on the way SGWM gets to be used by the Lord in the Great Commission\u003c/p\u003e","title":"That's What I Said"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nWe hope that you and yours are being blessed as the New Year is upon us with all of it’s opportunity and challenges. In this update, I wanted to share with you about a very special ministry that we have here in Mexico. The CCRosarito dump ministry was founded 6 years ago as a group of us began traveling periodically to the Tijuana dump!\nUnlike American dumps, there are many people that live full time in the dump. These precious people live in homemade shacks and scavenge through the trash trying to collect enough to survive. Needless to say, drug and alcohol and sexual abuse is rampant. But it is in this dark place, where God has sent us with food and clothing and (most importantly) the hope and salvation that can be found in Jesus Christ!\nJust this past Saturday, a group of 30 of our church members traveled to the Tijuana dump for an outreach. We brought meals for 250, along with plenty of clothing, hygiene items, and some friends to offer free haircuts.\nAs always, the focus of our time there is loving those that live there unconditionally. We also provide a church service with the message of salvation. We partner with several local rehabilitation homes that allow us to rescue those that are tired of living in the dump, and bring them out to grow and heal in a safe environment.\nStarting early last year, we began a weekly ministry to the (closer but smaller) Rosarito dump. Once again, many people live in this dump in impoverished and unsanitary conditions! Each week we bring an energetic team of faithful believers that are ready to pray and minister and feed those living there.\nBecause we travel to this dump regularly, we are able to provide them with a weekly Bible study and we have monthly baptisms for those that profess faith! I would like to tell you about the testimony of one of our friends that lives in the dump!\nSofia (pictured here with our director of outreach Carlos) is an 82-year-old Christian who has lived with her family for many generations in the dump. Every time we arrive, Sofia greets us with a smile. Because of her age, she is unable to stoop over to pick through the trash so she spends her days sitting in the trash while picking through searching for little pieces of copper and other metal that she can sell to the recycler. Over the years, our church has helped Sofia with tarps to mend her leaky roof and gloves to sift through the trash! We have also been blessed to help meet some of her medical needs. Through our many visits with her, Sofia always encourages us with her sincere love for Jesus and faith that one day she will live not in a dump, but in glory with her Savior in heaven!\nPlease pray with us as it is my heart to plant a church right there in the dump in the near future. Wouldn’t that be amazing? Could you imagine God allowing our church to plant a permanent church right there at the dump! Well the owner of the dump has already given us permission to do this great work. Presently, we are waiting on the finances to build a basic structure there in the dump while also training the servant leaders that are preparing to lead this new church plant.\nFinally, thank you so much for partnering and supporting us as your missionaries. Together God has brought us together as a team to labor together in the ripe fields of the Lord. This fruitful work to the least of these in the Mexico dump is your fruit, as we are simply an extension of you and your support and partnership. We love you! Con mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests!\n#1- That God would help us plant a church in the dump this coming year!\n#2- That God would provide for the financial needs of our family!\n#3- That God would bless our new batch of church planters that started church planting class in January! For our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873 For your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-february-2018-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/01/27583151_10208397588496753_82019524_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/01/27583151_10208397588496753_82019524_n-300x158.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe hope that you and yours are being blessed as the New Year is upon us with all of it’s opportunity and challenges. In this update, I wanted to share with you about a very special ministry that we have here in Mexico.  The CCRosarito dump ministry was founded 6 years ago as a group of us began traveling periodically to the Tijuana dump!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/01/e4b69a6c4698f318df7ff734bdc52624.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/01/e4b69a6c4698f318df7ff734bdc52624-300x201.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUnlike American dumps, there are many people that live full time in the dump. These precious people live in homemade shacks and scavenge through the trash trying to collect enough to survive. Needless to say, drug and alcohol and sexual abuse is rampant. But it is in this dark place, where God has sent us with food and clothing and \u003cem\u003e(most importantly)\u003c/em\u003e the hope and salvation that can be found in Jesus Christ!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family February 2018 Missions Update"},{"content":"I wanted to let you know what the Lord has been doing and the doors that He is opening. Like Paul said, “For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries****” 1 Cor 16:9\nIt’s been just over a year since the Lord has brought us back to the states. This last year our family has been going through a time of breaking, of really pressing in and seeking the Lord for His heart, and a time of drawing close to Him like never before. It has intensified somewhat in the last three to five months. As you know, when the Lord takes you through these times with Him, it can be overwhelming. There’s been a lot of tears, a lot of tears, but also times of rejoicing and praise, with much needed comfort mixed in.\nThe Lord has answered our prayers to be part of a living, healthy, loving church. We have been driving the hour drive, one way, every week to attend Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, our sending church. After 15 years on the mission field, the fellowship and teaching is so needed to refresh our hearts and souls.\nPastor Trent, who pastors Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, has asked us to take a bigger role in Saving Grace World MIssions. He has asked us to take part in a two fold ministry, and we’re really excited about it.\n1) Saving Grace World Missions wants us to focus on and start Pastors Colleges that will train and raise up pastors in areas that would be normally closed to western missionaries.\nYou may already know, I have been teaching, via Skype, through the Book of John at a Saving Grace World Missions Pastor\u0026rsquo;s College in south Asia. I could never actually go to this area of the world, but through contacts on the ground and current technologies, I and five other pastors are discipling a group of guys. We are raising them up and in a short time sending them out to start churches to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to an unreached people group. Through this ministry, 20 churches have already been planted. After sending these guys out we continue to have contact with them to help them through the ins and outs of ministry. In other words, we continue in life long discipleship and partnership in the work of the ministry.\nThe Lord is opening doors for us to also start a Pastor’s College in the Middle East. This would require me to travel there for months at a time to get it established and to teach there. It is also a potentially dangerous area and things have to be done discreetly, but the result of this work will also be discipling and raising up pastors who will take the message of the cross to a people who have never heard of the love, forgiveness of sins and eternal life offered by our Savior. We could never go to these people and share that message with them, so we’ll raise up those who can.\nWe also have requests by people in other areas of the the 10/40 widow to came and start Pastor’s Colleges there too.\nPastor Trent has asked us to come alongside Pastor Mike, the SGWM director, and help him with discipling a new generation of missionaries here in the states and send them out. He wants Tina and I to be part of pouring into and discipling these young men and women who have a heart to serve God on foreign mission fields and pass on to them what we have learned in 15 years of living abroad as missionaries.\nHe has also asked us to help with providing missionary care for approximately 65 missionaries and missionary families that are with SGWM. So many missionaries today feel forgotten. We know first hand the struggle missionaries go through and hope to comfort and strengthen missionaries in the field. It’s a much needed work.\n2) Pastor Trent has also asked me to begin networking with other churches to help them develop a missions mindset. To come alongside those pastors who have thought they were too small of a church to take part in foreign missions and show them how they can do it. I will also be taking pastors on vision tours to the areas we can travel to and get them engaged in discipling and raising up national pastors who will take the Gospel to areas we can’t.\nThis is really exciting. The idea of helping other churches fulfill the great commission, introducing other pastors to the guys on the front lines, connecting them with young pastors they can disciple and see bear fruit for the Kingdom in areas we could never go. It’s amazingly cool\nYou might have noticed repeated words and phrases like unreached people and places we could never go. And that’s because that is what it is all about, getting the Gospel of Jesus Christ out to those who have never heard it. It may seem like it is too big of a work, but we serve a big God and His heart is for everyone everywhere to hear about His Son, to hear about the work of the cross and the free gift or eternal life.\nLike many churches today, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and Saving Grace World Missions can not afford to give us a salary, we have to raise support. It seems like we are at a critical time. I would like to be completely transparent with you. There are job opportunities for us that will provide for our needs financially, but effectively close the doors on this ministry opportunity, and maybe ministry in general.\nI’m sharing this with you, to ask you to prayerfully consider joining us in the ministry through your prayers and financial support.\nLike the prophet Isiah recorded in Is 6:8, \u0026ldquo;I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, \u0026ldquo;Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?\u0026rdquo; Then said I, \u0026ldquo;Here am I, send me.\u0026rdquo; That\u0026rsquo;s my heart, I want to go! Lord send me! I want to see God raise up men and women to take the Gospel places we could never go. It\u0026rsquo;s something we can do together to fulfill the Great Commission.\nThrough out the Bible there are stories of those who go to the front lines and fight and those who are behind them in support, Exodus 17:8-13, for example. We see Joshua fighting while Moses, Aaron and Hur are praying and supporting in the rear.\nAlso Romans 10:13-15, “For whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” How shall the call on Him whom they have not believed? And how shall the believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel, who bring glad tidings of good things!”\nThe Bible paints the picture of those who go and those who serve as senders, and they both share in the fruit. 1 Samuel 30:24, “\u0026hellip;But as his part is who goes down to the battle, so shall his part be who stays by the supplies;they shall share alike.”\nIf the Lord leads you and puts it on your heart to team up with us in raising up pastors who will go places and share the love of Christ with people who are unreached, literally unreached, you can go to our web page, www.sgwm.com/barrow and click the button that says “Become a Financial Partner.”\nWe understand that you may not be in a position to contribute to the ministry financially at this time, but would you stand with us and commit to praying and asking the Lord to lead, guide and provide? That He would make a way for us. He is the Way Maker!\nIf you have any questions about what our plans are, feel free to drop us a note.\nAs always, we are so thankful for you, for your friendship, prayers, love. We pray God blesses you and meets you in a special way, and that He would reveal the depth of His love for you.\nThanks again for standing with us.\nGod bless,\nGary and Tina\nPS, Below are a few pictures of one of the Pastor\u0026rsquo;s Colleges that is being established in south Asia and some of the new construction that is under way. This is a restricted area, completely off limits for any of us to travel to, and yet God’d word is not chained by restrictions of evil men. Praise the LORD! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/new-vision-same-calling/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI wanted to let you know what the \u003ca href=\"/barrow/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/01/What-we-believe.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/barrow/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2018/01/What-we-believe-300x174.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e Lord has been doing and the doors that He is opening. Like Paul said, \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“For a great and effective door has opened to me, and there are many adversaries****”\u003c/strong\u003e 1 Cor 16:9\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt’s been just over a year since the Lord has brought us back to the states. This last year our family has been going through a time of breaking, of really pressing in and seeking the Lord for His heart, and a time of drawing close to Him like never before. It has intensified somewhat in the last three to five months. As you know, when the Lord takes you through these times with Him, it can be overwhelming. There’s been a lot of tears, a lot of tears, but also times of rejoicing and praise, with much needed comfort mixed in.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"New Vision, Same Calling"},{"content":"Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day. Psalm 25:5 NKJV\nIt is hard to believe that the Christmas season and January have passed so quickly! We have been busy and blessed. We thank God that Kayo\u0026rsquo;s and Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s Cambodian visas were renewed for another year. Please pray that the same path for renewal will remain open for Darryl in the middle of this year.\nDarryl has been busier than usual. In addition to teaching English at the Jesus Life Center, he gave their Christmas/New Year\u0026rsquo;s service message. He spoke about the Old Testament prophecies that confirm that Jesus is the Messiah. He took a break from English teaching in January but plans to resume teaching in February.\nDarryl continues to help with Light Times magazine. He edits English articles and submitted an article on the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ for the Easter issue. He also continues to help with the Chinese ministry which is sponsored by the international church.\nThe first two weeks of January, Darryl taught an intensive Christian Apologetics class at Cambodia Bible Institute. He had ten students. The students prepared scripts and acted out Apologetics on various topics such as, \u0026ldquo;If God is Good Why is There So Much Suffering?\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;Those Who Never Heard.\u0026rdquo; \u0026ldquo;If I Believe in Jesus Will I Betray My Culture?\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;The Origin of Evil.\u0026rdquo; Darryl video-recorded the skits and made videos for Facebook, YouTube, and the International Fishers website. He also sent the scripts to a missionary in northern Cambodia for translation and production into a tribal language.\nFrom January 22-26, Darryl traveled to northern Thailand to teach Christian Apologetics to five pastors and evangelists from India. This class was arranged and sponsored by the\nMyanmar Reformed Presbyterian School of Theology. The director of this school is Dr. Jun, Darryl\u0026rsquo;s old friend and the former President of a Bible school in Cambodia where Darryl used to teach. The trip went well because it was covered with prayer. Darryl will continue to provide Apologetics tech-support for these Indian pastors via e-mail as they use his book and teaching materials to equip people in their own churches.\nKayo was also busier than usual as she had to take on extra activities while Darryl was away and occupied. She continues to lead worship at the international church. Her work with Precious Women Ministry as the Administrative Department Advisor is going well as she helps with administrative work and mentors the staff. The organization continues to grow and reach out to more at-risk women. The Japanese Life Group is also going well and is growing slowly.\nBenjamin is doing well in school. He is growing up so quickly that sometimes it is hard to believe how fast the years have passed!\nThanks in advance for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support. May God bless you and give you an amazing new year in 2018!\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/apologetics-and-more/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eLead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day. Psalm 25:5 NKJV\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is hard to believe that the Christmas season and January have passed so quickly!  We have been busy and blessed. We thank God that Kayo\u0026rsquo;s and Benjamin\u0026rsquo;s Cambodian visas were renewed for another year. Please pray that the same path for renewal will remain open for Darryl in the middle of this year.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Apologetics and More!"},{"content":"Thank you so m uch for your prayers! Ian’s knee is swelling again. He’s loosing weight and not eating well. He’s falling more often and now has a cough also. Not sure if the antibiotics are the cause of a little of this. He does have high energy so that might be increasing the swelling. We haven’t missed a single does of his antibiotics 10am, 4pm, 10pm, 4am. We are going to call the infectious doctors again in the morning. Thank you for your continued prayers!!!!\nGod bless you, Vincent \u0026amp; Melissa Aniku Missionary Blog: /blog/missionaries/aniku-family/\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/please-continue-to-pray-for-ian-aniku/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you so m \u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ian.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ian-225x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e uch for your prayers! Ian’s knee is swelling again. He’s loosing weight and not eating well. He’s falling more often and now has a cough also. Not sure if the antibiotics are the cause of a little of this. He does have high energy so that might be increasing the swelling. We haven’t missed a single does of his antibiotics 10am, 4pm, 10pm, 4am. We are going to call the infectious doctors again in the morning. Thank you for your continued prayers!!!!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Please Continue To Pray For Ian Aniku"},{"content":"Just a quick look-over of Bond and Heather Gaona’s travel schedule is an exhausting experience. If you’ve ever travelled internationally, you know that even one long international flight can be tiring. Jet lag alone tends to throw off your body’s schedule for a few days. I remember my own Missions Pastor telling me about the sensation of feeling so tired that it hurts; after returning from my last trip to South Asia with him, I vividly understood what he was talking about.\nPastor Bond Gaona, his wife Heather, and their two-year-old daughter Breanna, however, are pros at this by now. Breanna has been doing this her whole life, and her parents say she’s a better traveler than they are! This was abundantly evident to me a few weeks ago as I sat across from all three of them at a taco restaurant; they had just returned from Nepal barely 24 hours earlier and I knew they were exhausted, but they handled themselves with ease. Almost every time they land across the ocean or in the States, they hit the ground running. The Gaona family has responded to a specific call from Christ on their life that doesn’t really allow them to plant firm roots anywhere. As missionaries for SGWM, they split their time each year between three different continents. They’ll leave their home base here in the United States to spend a few months in South Asia and then head to Nepal, or to spend a good chunk of time in African countries like Uganda, and then return to the United States for a couple of months, only to go out on the field all over again. It’s a whirlwind experience that they wouldn’t trade for anything. In 2008, God stirred their hearts to start reaching the nations with the Gospel in a greater capacity. So now, they submit to a travel schedule that is, to most people, a bit dizzying. The Gaonas never seem to settle down, because for them, home is wherever God is using them to advance His kingdom.\n“There was no specific goal in mind when we started,” Pastor Bond says. “We just didn’t like the idea of staying in one place forever.” In those early days, as the Lord was beginning to give Bond a broader vision for the nations, his wife helped ground his outlook in the Bible by reminding him that this was exactly what Paul did. The great Apostle to the Gentiles has become somewhat of a model for their own missionary work.\nThe Gaona’s game plan is to go to the unreached and preach the Gospel to them, disciple those who come to Christ, and raise up leadership among that group to take over the work there for them. Then, they do their best to return there every year or so to see how they’re doing and help with any of their practical and spiritual needs. Sound familiar? It looks like a modern day layout for exactly what Paul did all through the book of Acts. While many missionaries are called to go out and plant roots in a new country to establish churches and disciple people, the Gaonas feel called to have a further reach. Raising up nationals to continue the works they begin allows them more time and freedom to reach other unreached people groups. Another upside, says Heather, is that “the people don’t become as dependent on you; they’re forced to step up and take leadership.” And this leads to fruit that lasts and multiplies itself in the areas the Gaonas evangelize in.\nBut this lifestyle has not come without some personal cost to the Gaonas; the call of Christ is never easy. There are, of course, the cultural issues that all missionaries face. It takes a lot of work to learn a culture well enough to overcome issues of language and, even amongst those who speak your own language, the interpretation of what you are trying to say (Pastor Bond calls this the “box of confusion” phenomenon). And the Gaonas are juggling this issue in multiple countries!\nAnother difficulty fairly specific to Bond and Heather is that they aren’t able to create a real “home” for themselves anywhere. This can be particularly hard on Heather as a mom and wife. But Heather is intentional about doing the best with what she is given, and understands that even with this unique issue, other missionaries who plant themselves in a specific country face problems that she doesn’t have to. The Gaonas do a fantastic job with taking things in stride and with a proper perspective.\nBond and Heather have greatly valued the relationship they have with Saving Grace World Missions. The number one thing they appreciate about their sending organization is pastoral care and guidance. Bond cites Proverbs 15:22, stating that “There’s just more wisdom and counsel available to us with different pastors and leaders on the board.” They have a team to run big decisions and vision by. Heather has really appreciated guidance and counsel from SGWM pastoral leadership, particularly when both her parents were facing health issues and eventually passed away. She was advised to give herself time to stay home and grieve her loss, and received counsel through that difficult time. The compassion and freedom she was granted during that season was a huge encouragement to her that she’ll always hold onto.\nLife on the field (or, for the Gaonas, on multiple fields) is never a breeze. But, as Pastor Bond says, “When you’re called, nothing seems too hard to handle. It’s when you’re not called that you start running into issues that are beyond your grasp.” The Gaonas know that they are called to what they are doing, and their unwavering faith in Christ through it is strong evidence to that fact.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/featured/home-is-where-the-mission-is/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJust a quick look-over of Bond and Heather Gaona’s travel schedule is an exhausting experience. If you’ve ever travelled internationally, you know that even one long international flight can be tiring. Jet lag alone tends to throw off your body’s schedule for a few days. I remember my own Missions Pastor telling me about the sensation of feeling so tired that it hurts; after returning from my last trip to South Asia with him, I vividly understood what he was talking about.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Home Is Where The Mission Is"},{"content":"JANUARY 2018 LONG NEWS No. 2b\n————————— ARRIVAL IN AUSTRIA\nOur journey to Austria this last week was better than most of our adventures over the years. One never knows how a long day of flying will pan out, but things went fairly smoothly. Thankful for that!! Mike (our right-hand man) picked us up and drove us through some pretty awesome snowfall as we made our way through the alps to Millstatt, from Munich. It was beautiful, but turned our three hour ride to the castle into FIVE!\nPASTORS CONFERENCE East and West\nSince we got here, our team pulled off the running of the “2018 CC Western European Pastor’s and Leaders Conference” here at the castle. We had over 115 pastors come, and we were all very blessed. They were so low maintenance, they made it easy for us serve them, and in fact, served us with their love! A team of 15 people from Italy and Germany came alongside our home team here and helped serve the group. Without them, and the Grace of the Lord, we would have never pulled it off so smoothly.\nPresently, a small group of us are in Budapest for the “CC Eastern European Pastor’s and Leaders Conference”. Such a blessing to be here for the first one hosted in Budapest… Pray along with us that God would move mightily among our brothers representing Eastern Europe.\nCASTLE RENOVATION\nThese next couple of months here at the Castle will involve renovation on the main floor bathrooms of the castle, in the dining hall. One of the last of the bathrooms that were never changed since the purchase of the castle in 1988. We are also getting settled into our small home adjacent to the castle and will be doing some renovations here as well. Please pray for strength to get these things finished.\nOUR GERMAN FAMILY\nAnother plan of ours is to travel to Germany to visit our family who we seldom see. So blessed to be able to spend time with our daughter Amy and her husband Michael and our three grandchildren Jonathan, Katlynn and Kimberly… We have missed them.\nOUR AUSTRIA TEAM\nWe covet your prayers for a clear hearing of Gods voice, as we seek Him for His plans for the castle in 2018. God has already started to move our hearts concerning the future of this place. We are a little more than excited, to be a part of the bigger picture for this place reaching Europe. A wide door for effective service —I Co 16:9\nPart of that will include building our team for the work here at the Castle. We presently have half the team needed. So please pray as the word goes out East \u0026amp; West. This is not an easy task, as every position is a missionary endevour. Please pray that all involved would be richly blessed with faithful supporters, and amazing health.\nBlessings upon you - our home team,\nNick and Sue\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/long-news-january-2018/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eJANUARY 2018       \u003cstrong\u003eLONG\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eNEWS\u003c/strong\u003e No. 2b\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e—————————\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eARRIVAL IN AUSTRIA\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOur journey to Austria this last week was better than most of our adventures over the years. One never knows how a long day of flying will pan out, but things went fairly smoothly. Thankful for that!! Mike (our right-hand man) picked us up and drove us through some pretty awesome snowfall as we made our way through the alps to Millstatt, from Munich. It was beautiful, but turned our three hour ride to the castle into FIVE!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Long News, January 2018"},{"content":" And we’re off!!!!!! Heading down to Rosarito, Mexico with the Brechtel’s! They are our SGWM missionaries \u0026amp; are praying about how the Lord would lead them as they have a heart for church planting! You can read more about them on their missionary blog; SGWM.\nPlease join us in praying for safe travels, clear vision, a wonderful time of fellowship and that God would be glorified in all we do.\nGod Bless you, Nikki\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/rosarito-here-we-come/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Nikki.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnd we’re off!!!!!! Heading down to Rosarito, Mexico with the Brechtel’s! They are our SGWM missionaries \u0026amp; are praying about how the Lord would lead them as they have a heart for church planting! You can read more about them on their missionary blog;  \u003ca href=\"/brechtel/\"\u003eSGWM\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease join us in praying for safe travels, clear vision, a wonderful time of fellowship and that God would be glorified in all we do.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod Bless you,\nNikki\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Rosarito Here We Come!"},{"content":"\nI had a fantastic time up in Santa Cruz visiting our church planters, Michael and Melissa Hanson. They planted Santa Cruz Bilingual Church last year, and continue to work hard in this church plant! Keep them in your prayers and plan a trip to visit them and their church up in beautiful Santa Cruz California!\nPase un tiempo fantastico en Santa Cruz visitando a nuestros plantadores de iglesia, Michael y Melissa Hanson. Ellos plantaron Santa Cruz Iglesia Bilingüe el año pasado y continuan trabajando duro en esta plantación de iglesia! Mantenlos en tus oraciones y planea un viaje para visitarles a ellos y su iglesia en el bello Santa Cruz California!\nThank you for your faithful prayers\nGod bless you, Pastor Mike Vincent Missionary Blog: sgwm.com/vincent\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/visiting-our-church-planters-michael-and-melissa-hanson-pastor-mike-vincent/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1-3.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1-3.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eI had a fantastic time up in Santa Cruz visiting our church planters, Michael and Melissa Hanson. They planted Santa Cruz Bilingual Church last year, and continue to work hard in this church plant! Keep them in your prayers and plan a trip to visit them and their church up in beautiful Santa Cruz California!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1a-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1a-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePase un tiempo fantastico en Santa Cruz visitando a nuestros plantadores de iglesia, Michael y Melissa Hanson. Ellos plantaron Santa Cruz Iglesia Bilingüe el año pasado y continuan trabajando duro en esta plantación de iglesia! Mantenlos en tus oraciones y planea un viaje para visitarles a ellos y su iglesia en el bello Santa Cruz California!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Visiting Our Church Planters, Michael and Melissa Hanson - Pastor Mike Vincent"},{"content":"\nPlease pray for our 3-year-old son Ian, to make a full recovery from this mysterious illness that had him hospitalized for a week and unable to walk. Pray for his physical therapy, that he will get full mobility back in his left leg. That this was just an infection deep in the muscle that they couldn\u0026rsquo;t find in blood or the fluid drained from his knee. That this is not Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Pray for swelling and warmth to go away with these antibiotics. Please pray that the Dr\u0026rsquo;s have wisdom. That we may get into the infectious doctors for the re-check before his scheduled appointment of Feb 21st since that is long to be on these antibiotics.\nThank you so much for your prayers!\nGod bless, Vincent and Melissa Missionary Blog: /aniku/\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/urgent-prayer-request-for-3-year-old-ian-aniku/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Aniku-Family.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Aniku-Family-300x213.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease pray for our 3-year-old son Ian, to make a full recovery from this mysterious illness that had him hospitalized for a week and unable to walk.  Pray for his physical therapy, that he will get full mobility back in his left leg. That this was just an infection deep in the muscle that they couldn\u0026rsquo;t find in blood or the fluid drained from his knee.  That this is not Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.  Pray for swelling and warmth to go away with these antibiotics.  Please pray that the Dr\u0026rsquo;s have wisdom. That we may get into the infectious doctors for the re-check before his scheduled appointment of Feb 21st since that is long to be on these antibiotics.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Urgent Prayer Request For 3 Year Old, Ian Aniku"},{"content":"\nRefiners Fire\nThese couple of months state side have been different then past. God is doing the deepest refining He has ever done in my walk thus far. As Paul said “Wretched man that I am!” It is hard to see all the junk boiling up from the depths of my heart. Things I thought I was done with years ago. Selfishness, anger, jealousy, and so much more, I just cry to the Lord and thank Him for loving me. Through this refining time I am also hoping to do missions training again through SGWM. I started going on longer term missions 11 years ago and have been in Midigo almost 9 years. I have learned a lot but also lost a lot. It is time for a new refreshed work. A new love for God, the Word and the lost sheep!\nWhy So Far?\nAs my husband and I have been on opposite sides of the world these months getting things ready for the work ahead, we have been faced with much spiritual warfare. We stand on the fact that He has already conquered and won! Our extremely strong, healthy and active 3-year-old, Ian had complained of knee pain and the next thing I know he can no longer use his leg and we are hospitalized for a week. All the best doctors telling us they don’t know what is causing such pain. I prayed for Zachary (our 5-year-old with Autism) and what he must be thinking. Where is dad and now mom and Ian? I praise God for my parents and all the amazing family and friends who came to play with him. I praise God for the fact that Zachary did ok with us calling him to sing and pray him to sleep. God showed me through all this just how strong and mighty He is. He needed to do this while Vincent is in Uganda. These next years Vincent is going to be extremely busy with the church and the projects. As his wife, I need to be more of a helper then a hinderer. God needed to remind me that He is my first love and my sustainer, through Him all things are possible and that I can do everything through Christ who strengthens me! Chasing away thoughts that don’t glorify Him and turning them to praises.\nVincent has also faced much warfare! There is always a point you get to where you have to make a decision. I praise God for my husband! A man pulled down the sides of the brick stacks out of jealousy. Knowing how many weeks of sweat and hard work went into these bricks. Vincent could have gotten discouraged as it is so easy to do but instead prayed and worked a whole day putting them back. They are burned and ready to be used on the projects! We were able to do 58,000 bricks in 3 heaps. This will not only cut the cost drastically for building the library, community center and stadium but has given work to many youths that now have school fees and others to feed their families.\nPrayer Requests and Praise Reports\nVincent came home from meetings to find that our dear friend brought a new convert to our compound. She has left her Muslim husband and has 2 small children. She gave her life to Christ and asks for prayers for safety and strength.\nWe are calling on all our prayer warriors to get on their knees and pray for our godparents, Dr. Jim and Dr. Bev. They have been with us since the beginning, in fact, God used them to save my parents and bring me to Midigo! Jim starts chemo and radiation therapy today! Nothing is too big for God.\nOur Calvary Football/Soccer team has finished the first phase in 2nd The last game was against the number 1 team and they tied 0-0. We are praying God provide for them to be able to go for the second phase. God uses this team mightily to reach out to the community with the gospel and love of Christ! Changing lives especially of the team members both Christian and Muslim. All our Ugandan children go back to school in 2 weeks! All of them except Gaga and Desire (they are only 9 years old) have reached Secondary/High School or higher. I wish I could explain how huge this is in our village! Steven is now starting his research papers in University, Clow is starting catering school and our children in Secondary/High school are in good boarding schools in Arua. They ask for prayers for wisdom, discipline and school fees. Since they have all gone on in education their school fees are quite high. There are no free schools in Uganda like we have here in the states. Gaga with her fun-loving personality did not get proper scores. She really is my daughter! We are praying how to help her better. Once Vincent helps all the children get settled into school we pray we can purchase his plane ticket and get him here!!!!\nPlease continue to pray for Ian. That this was just an infection deep in the muscle that they couldn’t find in blood or the fluid drained from his knee. That this is not Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis. Pray for swelling and warmth to go away with these antibiotics. That we may get into the infectious doctors for the re-check before his scheduled appointment of Feb 21st since that is long to be on these antibiotics.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/boiling-the-junk/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/aniku/wp-content/uploads/sites/68/2017/12/Aniku-Family-300x213.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRefiners Fire\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese couple of months state side have been different then past.  God is doing the deepest refining He has ever done in my walk thus far.  As Paul said “Wretched man that I am!” It is hard to see all the junk boiling up from the depths of my heart.  Things I thought I was done with years ago.  Selfishness, anger, jealousy, and so much more, I just cry to the Lord and thank Him for loving me.  Through this refining time I am also hoping to do missions training again through SGWM.  I started going on longer term missions 11 years ago and have been in Midigo almost 9 years.  I have learned a lot but also lost a lot.  It is time for a new refreshed work.  A new love for God, the Word and the lost sheep!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Boiling the Junk"},{"content":" Please keep our youngest son Jared in your prayers, He has a severe chest infection and high fever; our whole last week was very busy as we ran back and forth for his chest treatments. Please pray for him to recover fully soon. Also please pray that Farah and I can get the rest we need as we care for him. Thank you for your faithful prayers for us\nGod Bless you, Nadeem and Farah Missionary Blog: /blog/missionaries/the-massey-family/\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/prayer-requests/urgent-prayer-request-for-jared-massey/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Massey-Family-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Massey-Family-1-291x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e Please keep our youngest son Jared in your prayers, He has a severe chest infection and high fever; our whole last week was very busy as we ran back and forth for his chest treatments. Please pray for him to recover fully soon. Also please pray that Farah and I can get the rest we need as we care for him. Thank you for your faithful prayers for us\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Urgent Prayer Request For Jared Massey"},{"content":"(Editor\u0026rsquo;s Note: The following is a prayer request from Twinkle Zavala. The Zavalas serve with SGWM in Africa) Please pray for Pastor Dave Zavala and the other pastors as they attend the CCA Pastors conference in Uganda this week.\nPlease pray for me (Twinkle), and our daughters Bianca and Sophie in Nairobi. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection over us and for Dave as he drives for 13 hours from Mukono, Uganda back home to Nairobi on Saturday.\nThank you so much for your prayers\nPastor Dave and twinkle\u0026rsquo;s Missionary blog: sgwm.com/zavala\n(Photos) East African Pastors Conference 2018 in Mukono, UGANDA over 300 in Attendance\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/prayer-request-for-dave-zavala-cca-pastors-conference-uganda/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e(Editor\u0026rsquo;s Note: The following is a prayer request from Twinkle Zavala. The Zavalas serve with SGWM in Africa)\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/zavala-pastor-conf-2.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/zavala-pastor-conf-2-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/zavala-pastor-conf-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/zavala-pastor-conf-1-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease pray for Pastor Dave Zavala and the other pastors as they attend the CCA Pastors conference in Uganda this week.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease pray for me (Twinkle), and our daughters Bianca and Sophie in Nairobi. Please pray for God\u0026rsquo;s protection over us and for Dave as he drives for 13 hours from Mukono, Uganda back home to Nairobi on Saturday.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Prayer Request for Dave Zavala - CCA Pastor's Conference Uganda"},{"content":"The waiting period.\nAlso known as the most difficult season in my book. The anticipation of being sent out. The eagerness to get where you are going. The longing to be where you know where the Lord has called you. The yearning, the tears, the prayers that are lifted up, the crying out to God. I wish I could write that I\u0026rsquo;ve been excelling in this area of my walk but to be completely honest with you guys, it has been an area in where I constantly have to seek the Lord and ask for forgiveness.\nIt\u0026rsquo;s funny how we as humans plan out our lives. As an American, I am used to the here and now. Why wait in line for five minutes at Starbucks when I can order the coffee on my phone and not have to wait at all. Our culture has been trained to not wait. Yet countless times in scripture, we are told to wait on the Lord.\n\u0026ldquo;I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, And in His word I do hope.\u0026rdquo;\nPs. 130:5\nקָוָה\nTo expect. Wait for, on, upon. To gather together. All words used to define the Hebrew word, wait, in the scripture above. In other words, we wait with expectancy. We gather together everything we need in preparation knowing that the Lord is going to lead us out of the waiting. We have our oil lamps prepared and ready to go, so that when the Lord says \u0026rsquo;let\u0026rsquo;s do this,\u0026rsquo; you\u0026rsquo;re ready to go.\nI never really understood the real purpose behind the waiting season up until a couple of months ago. I\u0026rsquo;ve always heard and been taught that through the waiting season, your patience grows and you learn to depend on the Lord and though that is true, there is so much more!\nI look back to July of last year. I was sitting in a meeting with SGWM pouring out my heart about Croatia and the burden the Lord has given me for the Roma communities. I remember telling Pastor Trent that I needed to be back in Croatia by the end of August. I also remember him telling me, it\u0026rsquo;s not impossible but let\u0026rsquo;s see what the Lord will do. I walked out of that meeting excited that I had a group of people who believed in the work that the Lord had called me to and wanted to partner with me but at the same time I was also ready to show them that I could make it back to Croatia before the end of August.\nSince then, I\u0026rsquo;ve had to ask the Lord for forgiveness for trying to get a step ahead of Him. God knew my desire to return but He also knew that I wasn\u0026rsquo;t fully ready. In a sense, I hadn\u0026rsquo;t gathered together everything I needed to do the work that He has called me to do successfully.\nThis past couple of months, I\u0026rsquo;ve never appreciated the waiting season more. It\u0026rsquo;s in this past couple of months that I\u0026rsquo;ve scratched the surface of understanding the true meaning behind the waiting. I can say that I\u0026rsquo;ve learned more about cross-cultural ministries than I have ever learned before. I can say that I\u0026rsquo;ve learned so much through the lives of other missionaries that went before me in the past. I can even say that I\u0026rsquo;ve learned the significance of meeting with a mentor weekly and discussing the word of God but also spending time in prayer without time constraints. But most importantly, I\u0026rsquo;ve learned the real meaning behind the phrase\n\u0026ldquo;He\u0026rsquo;s in the waiting.\u0026rdquo;\nYou see, the season of waiting isn\u0026rsquo;t just a time of praying. It\u0026rsquo;s a time of doing! It\u0026rsquo;s a time of taking steps towards where the Lord is calling you so that when He says \u0026lsquo;Let\u0026rsquo;s go\u0026rsquo; you are ready. It\u0026rsquo;s a time of preparation, studying God\u0026rsquo;s Word, increasing your knowledge, praying for wisdom, sharing with others, and the list goes on and on. It\u0026rsquo;s not easy and many times you need to come alongside believers and ask them to hold up your arms so that the battle may continue to be won but what the Lord has for you, in the end, makes it worth every tear you shed, every prayer that is spoken and every lesson that is learned.\nDon\u0026rsquo;t get me wrong, I still long to be back in the Roma communities with the children and women that I miss so much, it hurts. I want to be able to hug the women, this being the only affection that they get throughout the week. I want to hang out with the young ladies of the village and help them with little things like doing their hair because I can\u0026rsquo;t fully communicate with them. I want to play with the kids, sharing God\u0026rsquo;s love with them. I want to continue to bring light into a community where darkness is what is seen and experienced daily. And though my prayer is to return soon, I have the full assurance that what the Lord has promised to do, He will complete in His perfect timing.\nI long for the day when I can see my Roma family again but until then I have to continue to prepare myself for the return. I have to continue to remain in His Word, I have to continue in prayer, I have to continue telling people about this group of beautiful people that many don\u0026rsquo;t know even exist, I have to continue raising support, and most importantly I have to continue to find people who would come alongside me in prayer. I am currently still in need of people who feel led to give financially each month. If the Lord has placed the work in Croatia on your heart and you feel led to start giving, click HERE to become a financial partner. Once I have enough monthly support raised, I\u0026rsquo;ll be able to head back to Croatia, long term.\nI know how difficult this season can be. Let me encourage you to remain faithfully active towards what the Lord is calling you to. Surround yourself with people who are on fire for the Lord and build one another up. David Guzik said this in his commentary of Numbers 32, \u0026ldquo;If you want to press on with the things of the Lord and go deeper and further with Him, there is a sure way to discourage the desire- start hanging around believers who are content with where they are and who don\u0026rsquo;t want to press on with the Lord. Complacency is contagious.\u0026rdquo; Let\u0026rsquo;s not be the people who lead our friends and family to complacency in the Lord by the way we live our lives but rather lets be the generation that challenges one another to go further in our walks, to live out the gospel, to step outside of our comfort zones and to live fully surrendered radical lives for the Lord!\nIf you need prayer for anything or simply someone to listen and come alongside you, email me. I would love nothing more than to be able to be praying for you in any way possible!\nGod bless!\n\u0026ndash;Though I am not in Croatia at this moment, I do receive pictures from the kids. Enjoy the pictures and continue to pray for them!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-waiting-period/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe waiting period.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlso known as the most difficult season in my book. The anticipation of being sent out. The eagerness to get where you are going. The longing to be where you know where the Lord has called you. The yearning, the tears, the prayers that are lifted up, the crying out to God. I wish I could write that I\u0026rsquo;ve been excelling in this area of my walk but to be completely honest with you guys, it has been an area in where I constantly have to seek the Lord and ask for forgiveness.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Waiting Period"},{"content":"\nThe Sudan Team needs your prayers:\nHere’s a photo of the complete team of seven at MAF Mission aviation fellowship. They are flying from Nairobi to the border of South Sudan this morning (our nighttime right now)\nAt about midnight (California Time) they will be driving through no mans land. This is potentially the most dangerous part of their missions trip. Please pray the vehicles don’t break down and that they have no encounters with gun men along the road.\nThank you\nPastor Rob Douglass 714.747.0458 rob@eem1040.org\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/south-sudan-prayer-request-for-pastor-rob-and-the-team/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Rob.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Rob.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Sudan Team needs your prayers:\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHere’s a photo of the complete team of seven at MAF Mission aviation fellowship. They are flying from Nairobi to the border of South Sudan this morning (our nighttime right now)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt about midnight (California Time) they will be driving through no mans land. This is potentially the most dangerous part of their missions trip. Please pray the vehicles don’t break down and that they have no encounters with gun men along the road.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"South Sudan - Prayer Request For Pastor Rob And The Team"},{"content":"Happy New Year! We pray that you had a wonderful Christmas and the opportunity to spend some meaningful time with family. I know that we did and we are so thankful to a large number of people that have made this possible. We would like to start off by updating you on the church plant in Santa Cruz, California. If you remember, in May 2017 we helped our friends and fellow missionaries, the Hansons, move back to their hometown to plant a bilingual church. They began their work by starting a life (fellowship) group in their home. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t long before they outgrew their home and moved the group meetings to the coffee house located at Santa Cruz Bible Church. On November 4th, we had the opportunity to attend and help serve at the launch service for Santa Cruz Bilingual Church. Kristy, William, Brian \u0026amp; Brittany, as well as our friend, David, had the privilege of leading worship. Two members of SCBC\u0026rsquo;s worship team, Melissa \u0026amp; Caleb Hanson, joined us. It was a meaningful time of worship and Pastor Michael did an awesome job preaching God\u0026rsquo;s word. We were blessed, and we pray that all who attended were blessed as well.\nIn the beginning of November, Kristy received a free gift of being flown to Wisconsin to spend some quality time with her sister, Kim, who was sick with cancer. She also had the privilege of attending the Chicago Bears game at Soldier Field with Kim, her husband, Dale, sister, Shannon, her husband, Tom, and their cousin, Alford. The tickets were a gift from Alford, and his brother, Mark, arranged it so that Dale \u0026amp; Kim could lead the way on the field at the beginning of the game and hold the \u0026ldquo;Bear Down\u0026rdquo; flag. It was a fun time, and we are so glad that Kim had this experience!\nThe last few months of the year have always proven to be a time with the least number of teams. This year we hosted seven teams, which consisted of serving at the dump, working on a new church building, orphanage visits, children\u0026rsquo;s ministry, and more. A team from New Hope Community Church provided a new roof for the Connections House Dorms. This fulfilled a huge need to have the roof replaced before the rainy season. Teams in December meant approximately 220 backpacks for kids that were filled with toiletries, clothing, school supplies, toys, handmade hats, and more! They were given out at Christmas party outreaches at three different churches. The parties included games, songs, cake, the Christmas story, the gospel, and then ended with piñatas and an abundance of candy! So many children were blessed with items that they need, as well as other special things they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t otherwise receive.\nThe backpacks were a special highlight of the year for us. This was the third year we\u0026rsquo;ve received these backpack gifts, and praise God that there was more than double the number of backpacks as last year! This ministry was started and organized by Ron\u0026rsquo;s sister-in-law, MeLinda (wife of Philip), from Colorado. Through her hard work, amazing sales shopping skills, and also word of mouth, the ministry just exploded this year. Many people from their home church, Chapel Hills Church in Colorado Springs, also joined in the effort. Due to the number of backpacks this year, Philip \u0026amp; MeLinda hand delivered them to Mexico themselves. There were too many to send in the mail. This was a great blessing to us, as Phil \u0026amp; MeLinda had the opportunity to serve at one of the three churches where the backpacks were given out.\nAlso in December, we had a team for a week. But not just any team. This one consisted of family! Charles \u0026amp; Erin Lasky (Ron\u0026rsquo;s cousin) brought their six children for an amazing week of ministry. They hit the ground running immediately as they arrived in Rosarito. Since the local children still had a few days of school left until Christmas vacation, one of the Christmas outreaches was scheduled for their only weekend day, Sunday - the day of their arrival. The team jumped right in, playing games with the kids, serving cake, handing out backpacks, and more. They served at and hosted three of these outreaches, providing everything (except the backpacks). The team also blessed two families by replacing the roofs on their homes. Both homes had water damage on the inside. These families could not afford the necessary repairs. So one of them used tarps to try and keep the water out, and the other family removed most of their shingles and painted a rubberized coating onto the plywood. Neither of these temporary fixes would\u0026rsquo;ve helped very much when the rains started coming a couple of weeks later. The families were very blessed by this gift and the team\u0026rsquo;s hard work.\nIt is extra special to be able to serve alongside our family here in Mexico. These two families, in particular, have been a long time, huge supporters of us and our work on the missions field. This was a very meaningful time for us and we will remember it always.\nThe day has almost arrived for us to close on the purchase of Connections House dorms!! As of now, the closing date is set for February 5th. Please pray with us that everything will go smoothly with the paperwork. This will be just over 11 months from when we were originally supposed to purchase the property, so we are praying that there will be no more delays. We are still about $28,500 short of the full amount. While we do have a loan secured for the remaining amount, it would be great to be able to pay the entire amount and not have to borrow. If you feel led to give toward the purchase of our ministry dorms, you may do so by one of two ways:\n#1 – GoFundMe – Just click \u0026amp; give!\nClick to Donate Now!\n#2 – Tax-deductible gift – May be sent in the mail by doing the following:\nChecks may be made payable to “Calvary Chapel Rosarito”. Please write “Connections House” on the memo line and mail to Calvary Chapel Rosarito, 511 E San Ysidro Blvd #6355, San Ysidro, CA 92173\nWe will leave you with some more pictures of our recent team ministry from the end of last year.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/backpacks-new-roofs-for-christmas/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHappy New Year! We pray that you had a wonderful Christmas and the opportunity to spend some meaningful time with family. I know that we did and we are so thankful to a large number of people that have made this possible. We would like to start off by updating you on the church plant in Santa Cruz, California. If you remember, in May 2017 we helped our friends and fellow missionaries, the Hansons, move back to their hometown to plant a bilingual church. They began their work by starting a life (fellowship) group in their home. It wasn\u0026rsquo;t long before they outgrew their home and moved the group meetings to the coffee house located at Santa Cruz Bible Church.  \u003cstrong\u003eOn November 4th, we had the opportunity to attend and help serve at the launch service for Santa Cruz Bilingual Church.\u003c/strong\u003e Kristy, William, Brian \u0026amp; Brittany, as well as our friend, David, had the privilege of leading worship. Two members of SCBC\u0026rsquo;s worship team, Melissa \u0026amp; Caleb Hanson, joined us. It was a meaningful time of worship and Pastor Michael did an awesome job preaching God\u0026rsquo;s word. We were blessed, and we pray that all who attended were blessed as well.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Backpacks \u0026amp; New Roofs for Christmas!"},{"content":"(Editor\u0026rsquo;s Note: This is an update from our missionary Pastor Rob Douglass, who is doing amazing work in South Sudan) Myself and a team of seven people will be leaving for South Sudan tonight. Over the next two weeks, we will be ministering to a group of people that have been devastated by war. The government is bankrupt and most of the police, military, medical officials and school teachers have left because of this crisis. Our national missionaries are determined to remain and bring hope to these hurting people. They are risking their safety to continually stay in this country and care for these people. Groups of desperate children daily knock on the gate of our missionary home asking for help. Each night, as our kids are praying and singing worship songs, the sound of their voices fill the community. Government officials have asked us to never stop singing as it’s the only thing that brings a sense of hope and peace to this broken land. On this trip, we will be celebrating with our Bible College students that are graduating a two-year missionary training program. They are desiring to go into unreached areas, bringing the hope and love of Jesus for the first time. Please be praying for them as they graduate and begin their evangelizing and church planting ministry.\nWe wil also be providing an eye exam outreach to the community and the local government officials. The last time we did this, many of the people coming to get glasses were resistant to conversation or relationship. After they received their glasses, one man began to cry and laugh and said that he hadn’t seen the world that clearly since he was a little boy. He was hugging us and laughing and so thankful that we were there. Please pray this outreach will open the door for God’s love to be poured out into this hurting land. Thank you also for praying for our team’s health and safety while traveling into these dangerous and unpredictable areas. It is often difficult to find a working vehicle, so please specifically pray that our team will be able to get to all the places we need to go. The spiritual warfare our team has been experiencing prior to this trip has been particularly intense. Thank you for standing in prayer with us as we seek to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/south-sudan-bringing-hope-and-love-of-jesus-christ-to-unreached-people/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e(Editor\u0026rsquo;s Note: This is an update from our missionary Pastor Rob Douglass, who is doing amazing work in South Sudan)\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/1-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMyself and a team of seven people will be leaving for South Sudan tonight. Over the next two weeks, we will be ministering to a group of people that have been devastated by war. The government is bankrupt and most of the police, military, medical officials and school teachers have left because of this crisis. Our national missionaries are determined to remain and bring hope to these hurting people. They are risking their safety to continually stay in this country and care for these people. Groups of desperate children daily knock on the gate of our missionary home asking for help. Each night, as our kids are praying and singing worship songs, the sound of their voices fill the community. Government officials have asked us to never stop singing as it’s the only thing that brings a sense of hope and peace to this broken land. \u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/2-1-225x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"South Sudan - Bringing Hope and Love of Jesus Christ to Unreached people"},{"content":"(Editor\u0026rsquo;s Note: Tim Rich (deacon and leader of Missionary Care Teams at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace) and his wife Mary Ann helped man SGWM\u0026rsquo;s table at the Calvary Chapel 2018 Global Missions Conference. Below is Tim\u0026rsquo;s assessment of SGWM\u0026rsquo;s reach from his experience at the conference.)\nPicture yourself sitting at the SGWM table at the four-day Calvary Chapel Global Missions Conference in Murrieta this past week when a small group of young women approach.\nOne says to another, “Oh look, there’s the SGWM table.” Another says, “There’s your picture and prayer card” among a dozen others in a display in front of you. Suddenly, you realize you are meeting one of “your” missionaries and looking into the face of what Saving Grace World Missions has become\u0026mdash;a sending organization for missionaries not just from Calvary Chapel Saving Grace but from churches\u0026mdash;some in faraway places\u0026mdash;which don’t have the wherewithal to provide administrative and other support for missionaries headed to the field.\nIn the past few years, SGWM has attracted a significant number of Christians from around the country and beyond who are being led by the Lord to the mission field. They have the desire to serve and the leading of God to go but no practical way to make it happen. Enter SGWM which has been established to assist them in receiving donor contributions and providing tax receipts for those donors, payroll, budgeting, e-mailable newsletters, updates and prayer requests, medical benefits, missionary specific tax services, pastoral support and counseling, and a myriad of other functions.\nOriginally established as the missionary arm of Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, SGWM today serves three times as many missionaries and missionary families from other churches than from CCSG. Some are the product of CCSG outreaches, most notably the pastor-training schools of ministry this church established in South Asia. Some are from other Calvary Chapels which need assistance in answering the call of reaching the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ (Mathew 28:19-20).\nIt was apparent at the four-day missions conference that SGWM is gaining a reputation as a first-class sending organization. The conference attracts missionaries and mission-minded Christians from around the world. Many who visited the SGWM table had already heard of the good work SGWM is doing and were interested in hearing more. But one such group of visitors—those depicted in the second paragraph of this article\u0026mdash;already knew the benefits of this organization. Rebecca Alaniz, who came to SGWM from another Calvary Chapel, visited the table with her friends and had nothing but high praise for the support she receives from SGWM staff, most whom she mentioned by name. Rebecca is currently home raising support to return to Zagreb, Croatia, where she ministers to children in the Roma (gypsy) community. More information about her and others serving in the world is available here at SGWM.com.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/featured/sgwm-at-the-calvary-chapel-2018-global-missions-conference/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e(Editor\u0026rsquo;s Note: Tim Rich (deacon and leader of Missionary Care Teams at Calvary Chapel Saving Grace) and his wife Mary Ann helped man SGWM\u0026rsquo;s table at the Calvary Chapel 2018 Global Missions Conference. Below is Tim\u0026rsquo;s assessment of SGWM\u0026rsquo;s reach from his experience at the conference.)\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePicture yourself sitting at the SGWM table at the four-day Calvary Chapel Global Missions Conference in Murrieta this past week when a small group of young women approach.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"SGWM at the Calvary Chapel 2018 Global Missions Conference"},{"content":"Wow! 2017 turned out to be one of the most amazing years, seeing God take command and direct in a way we’ve never seen before. During the first part of the year, I wrote about his direction with the first Season of Discipleship and the chapel. That has still continued through the end of the year. I haven’t been able to write as often as of late due to the Fall Season of Discipleship. Being the sole teacher for most of it had me studying almost all the time. And when I wasn’t studying, the construction of the chapel increased at the same time. The school ended in mid-December and we’ve had four groups visit since then, one of those for Christmas. Christmas was a great blessing and a delight for the kids. We all greatly appreciate and thank everyone who sent gifts down to the kids and the staff.\nAfter the last group leaving yesterday, the Mission is enjoying a quiet peaceful spell until more come in February. A lot of the staff left in December. Over the next few weeks, some are returning and some new people will be joining us too. It’s amazing how the Lord is using the kids to work radical changes in peoples lives. Over and over again, people that only intend to come for a few days to a week are so moved by the kids and the staff that they abandon everything back home to come spend a longer season here.\nFor a long time, I’ve wanted to share more about the kids, but DIF (the Mexican family services) is now enforcing (rightfully so) that we can’t share names or pictures of the kids over the internet. I’ve tried to find loopholes but they are insistent. I will still write about them by referring to them by their initials.\nIn general, they have been in good health. Please pray for the oldest boy (J who was born in 1979). Although he is not old, some aging signs seem to be catching up with him. A round of bronchitis went around in November and he still has chronic irritation in his throat and possibly lungs. He’s been tested and doesn’t have TB, but we haven’t yet been able to determine if it’s just a slow recovery from bronchitis or something else.\nOur daughters, Sarai and Noemi, finished homeschooling and have gone up to Oregon for three months to study and take their GED (which they like to call their Good Enough Diplomas). Fortunately, they aren’t rushing to leave home and will be coming back after that. But the reality of them moving out is close and looming over Corinne and I. We recently converted all of their old baby videos which we haven’t seen since we shot them. Corinne and I marvel at how blessed we’ve been at the relative ease of raising them. They are such a delight.\nThank you for every way that you all help us and make it possible for us to continue serving our Father in heaven here at the Mission. We greatly appreciate your prayers and support. May our Father in heaven richly bless you.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/end-of-2017-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWow! 2017 turned out to be one of the most amazing years, seeing God take command and direct in a way we’ve never seen before. During the first part of the year, I wrote about his direction with the first Season of Discipleship and the chapel. That has still continued through the end of the year. I haven’t been able to write as often as of late due to the Fall Season of Discipleship. Being the sole teacher for most of it had me studying almost all the time. And when I wasn’t studying, the construction of the chapel increased at the same time. The school ended in mid-December and we’ve had four groups visit since then, one of those for Christmas. Christmas was a great blessing and a delight for the kids. We all greatly appreciate and thank everyone who sent gifts down to the kids and the staff.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"End of 2017 Update"},{"content":"About a year ago, an opportunity opened up to visit a leper colony in Nepal and they welcomed us gladly since visitors to the compound are very few. The first bumpy bus ride to the outskirts of town was filled with thoughts that raced through our minds like “would we touch the lepers” and “how would we respond if someone wanted to shake hands”. But, knowing that these people are outcast from society and in desperate need of love….we didn’t want to miss what the Lord would have because it was outside of our comfort zone. We knew the stories in the bible where Jesus spent time with lepers, but we never thought that our lives would include hanging out at a leper colony.\nWow – are we glad that we said YES that day! As the bus door opened and we entered the courtyard at the Leprosy Colony a woman by the name of Ritu threw her arms around us and hugged tightly saying “thank you, thank you, thank you for coming”. We had over thought every aspect of what it would be like, what we would do and how we would respond. We almost missed out on the countless blessings, friendships, miracles and life altering moments that have filled this past year as we have spent time with these precious people.\nSince that first day, we have visited the Leprosy Colony over a dozen times bringing hygiene kits, distributing food and cooking items, serving meals and sharing the love of Jesus Christ. So much of the physical blessings have been provided through visitors that we have been able to take with us. There have been concerts, dance parties, testimonies, and messages from the Word that have rung out in that place this past year to encourage the 200 families that call the Leprosy Colony home.\nThis past month, our friends from Believers World Outreach sent a team to serve and they asked if an optical clinic would be needed. We responded with a resounding YES PLEASE! Bond and the team spent the first week in the village doing an optical clinic at a new church planted by one of our CCBC Nepal graduates. Hundreds lined up in the early morning to see Dr. Dennis (eye doctor) who brought a $15,000 machine to properly evaluate each patient and get them the exact prescription from the 3,000 pairs of eye glasses that were provided and brought by BWO. People walked for miles, waited for hours, were given glasses to see again, hundreds were prayed for and invited to come back to church as services in the new building that will begin soon. The team worked tirelessly to serve each and every person that came in the village.\nWhen the team returned from the village in early December, we were extremely excited to learn that the Leprosy Colony gave permission to hold an optical outreach on-site. The eye team set-up in the director’s office, the eye charts were hung in the courtyard, the construction team was working on building walkways and leper after leper lined up. What a gift to be able to share about Jesus who invaded history and is the reason we celebrate Christmas with each person living in the leprosy colony! Imagine never hearing who Jesus was or why we celebrate his birth (Christmas) and in one day you get to see both physically and now you see your need for a Savior! As Heather helped one of the ladies in the leprosy colony choose glasses and put them on, she exclaimed “I Can See”. What an incredible Christmas gift that lepers were receiving sight!\nIt is because of your prayers, financial support and endless love that we were able to bring Christmas to a Leper Colony this month in Nepal and share the love of Jesus with these precious people throughout the year! Thank you for letting us be your hands and feet this past year to those who may not otherwise be reached with the love of God.\nMerry Christmas With Love,\nBond, Heather and Breanna\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/featured/gaona-family-update-christmas-comes-to-the-leper-colony/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eAbout a year ago, an opportunity opened up to visit a leper colony in Nepal and they welcomed us gladly since visitors to the compound are very few. The first bumpy bus ride to the outskirts of town was filled with thoughts that raced through our minds like \u003cem\u003e“would we touch the lepers”\u003c/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003e“how would we respond if someone wanted to shake hands”\u003c/em\u003e. But, knowing that these people are outcast from society and in desperate need of love….we didn’t want to miss what the Lord would have because it was outside of our comfort zone. We knew the stories in the bible where Jesus spent time with lepers, but we never thought that our lives would include hanging out at a leper colony.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Gaona Family Update: Christmas Comes To The Leper Colony"},{"content":"We wanted to give you an update about what is next for us in Oaxaca. As some of you already know we were attending a language school in Cacalotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico for the past 8 months. The Lord had placed it on our hearts to spend some time learning Spanish as a first step. Our time there was definitely very trying at times, especially in the beginning. We were watching the calendar for our time to be finished there. Yet as time progressed the Lord began to put people into our lives. We began to love the people. At the same time we saw the deep need in the surrounding areas in the state of Oaxaca. By the end of our time there God had made it clear to us that Oaxaca was where He was calling us to minister. There are multitudes of unreached people groups in the state of Oaxaca, especially in the mountainous areas. A lot of these groups\u0026rsquo; primary language is not even Spanish. There are many different Indian tribes that descend from ancient times. Some of those groups are Mixtec, Zapotec, Mazateco, Chinanteca, and many more. There are many different dialects, which has made it very difficult to reach these groups.\nThe vision that God has laid upon our heart is to plant a Calvary Chapel in the state of Oaxaca. We know that it is very hard ground, especially with all of the different dialects. So we feel that it would be in our best interest to start a church in a major city in hope that we will raise up nationals that will take the gospel back to their villages. As time progresses we would like to try to establish a Bible college to train up leaders.\nAt this time we are here in the U.S. preparing for living in Oaxaca long term. Please be praying for us as we prepare our family, and for God\u0026rsquo;s wisdom and financial partners. Thank you all for your friendship, prayer and support.\nThe Brechtel Family\nA Note From the Director Greetings!\nMy name is Pastor Mike Thiemann and I have the privilege of leading Saving Grace World Missions and working directly with our missionaries all over the world.\nYou are receiving this e-mail because Jon \u0026amp; Allison Brechtel have added you to their personal e-mail list. Also, If you wish to sign up to receive monthly prayer requests from the Brechtels and the rest of our Missionaries, you can do so by CLICKING HERE and filling out the e-mail sign up form.\nIf you desire to partner with Jon \u0026amp; Allison Brechtel financially you can do so in a couple of different ways -\n1. Electronically (Check or Card) - Either click the button below that says, \u0026ldquo;Become a Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; or visit their website at sgwm.com/brechtel. That will take you to our donation page where you will find a couple of different options. The main two I would like to highlight are the \u0026ldquo;single gift\u0026rdquo; option and the \u0026ldquo;monthly gift \u0026ldquo;option. The single gift option is there for you if you desire to give a one-time gift and the \u0026ldquo;monthly gift\u0026rdquo; option is there if you desire to give on an ongoing basis. If you click that it will ask you what date you would like your gift to be processed (on the 3rd or the 18th). I would highly encourage you to consider the monthly gift option simply because it helps the Brechtels manage their budget and know how much is coming in and on what day.\n2. Check or Cash - You are welcome to send in a check or cash to - 17451 Bastanchury Rd. Suite 203 Yorba Linda CA, 92886. If you send a check please make it payable to Saving Grace World Missions and in the Memo Line write - \u0026ldquo;Brechtel\u0026rdquo;.\nAll donations are tax deductible and you will receive a donation receipt once a year. Another very practical way you can help SGWM better support the Brechtels, as well as all of our missionaries is to \u0026ldquo;Like\u0026rdquo; our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. It is extremely helpful in getting the word out about all the amazing things the Lord is doing around the world if you share our pages with your friends as well as Like and Comment on our posts. You can access our Facebook page by clicking on the links below.\nI want to thank you for taking the time to read this note and again if you have any questions please don\u0026rsquo;t hesitate to contact our office at 714-993-4801.\nGod Bless, Pastor Mike Thiemann Director Saving Grace World Missions mike@sgwm.com\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/brechtel-december-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe wanted to give you an update about what is next for us in Oaxaca. As some of you already know we were attending a language school in Cacalotepec, Oaxaca, Mexico for the past 8 months. The Lord had placed it on our hearts to spend some time learning Spanish as a first step. Our time there was definitely very trying at times, especially in the beginning. We were watching the calendar for our time to be finished there. Yet as time progressed the Lord began to put people into our lives. We began to love the people. At the same time we saw the deep need in the surrounding areas in the state of Oaxaca. By the end of our time there God had made it clear to us that Oaxaca was where He was calling us to minister. There are multitudes of unreached people groups in the state of Oaxaca, especially in the mountainous areas. A lot of these groups\u0026rsquo; primary language is not even Spanish. There are many different Indian tribes that descend from ancient times. Some of those groups are Mixtec, Zapotec, Mazateco, Chinanteca, and many more. There are many different dialects, which has made it very difficult to reach these groups.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Brechtel Family December 2017 Update"},{"content":"\nGod is on the move! There are many exciting changes within our ministries. The Lord has opened up a door for our family to partner with Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM), a missionary-sending organization. SGWM helps missionaries to funnel finances, do taxes as well as provide Biblical counseling and ongoing encouragement while on the field. Part of this change means we will have this blog to keep in closer communication with all of you. For future we will no longer be receiving donations through Go Ministries\nThose that are not familiar with us, let us introduce ourselves. My husband, Pastor Vincent, grew up as a refugee and a soldier\u0026rsquo;s son moving around Uganda. God brought him back to Midigo after the war. He since has finished Bible College and become the assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel Midigo. I (Melissa Aniku) grew up in Southern California and felt a calling for missions. I went to Midigo, Uganda in 2009 and have now become a permanent resident.\nAlong with being assistant pastor, Vincent also manages the Calvary Football/Soccer team, which reaches out to the Muslims. He also disciples new believers and converts. Most of my ministry takes place on the family compound with homeschooling and management. I also tend to the many daily guests that come to the compound for prayers and counseling. I\u0026rsquo;m involved with women\u0026rsquo;s discipleship and sewing classes. Our family financially and spiritually takes care of 13 children. Vincent and I find small jobs for those in need.\nThis year God is providing for us to start a football/soccer stadium for outreaches plus a library and community center to teach reading and writing to the adults who are illiterate due to war. This will be the first place of its kind in the west Nile bringing the gospel to Muslims and unifying the Body of Christ.\nOver 10,000 people, mostly Muslims, showed up for a football match and heard the gospel.\nFun Fact: The name Aniku literally translates: I Don\u0026rsquo;t Know. So please as you pray for us, even if you forget our names, just pray for the family \u0026ldquo;I Don\u0026rsquo;t Know\u0026rdquo;.\nPrayer Request: Please pray for safety over the compound and continued grace to pour over the Church and land. Pray for the 95% Muslim population. Pray that the LORD be glorified through the new projects, as they are able to give jobs and a safe haven to Muslim converts. Pray for the school fees for all our children. Pray for the South Sudanese Refugees. Pray for our protection, strength and for health especially for our 5-year-old Zachary who has Autism!\nA Note From the Director Greetings!\nMy name is Pastor Mike Thiemann and I have the privilege of leading Saving Grace World Missions and working directly with our missionaries all over the world.\nYou are receiving this e-mail because Vincent \u0026amp; Melissa Aniku have added you to their personal e-mail list. Also, If you wish to sign up to receive monthly prayer requests from the Anikus and the rest of our Missionaries, you can do so by CLICKING HERE and filling out the e-mail sign up form.\nIf you desire to partner with Vincent \u0026amp; Melissa Aniku financially you can do so in a couple of different ways -\n1. Electronically (Check or Card) - Either click the button below that says, \u0026ldquo;Become a Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; or visit their website at sgwm.com/aniku. That will take you to our donation page where you will find a couple of different options. The main two I would like to highlight is the, \u0026ldquo;single gift\u0026rdquo; option and the, \u0026ldquo;monthly gift \u0026ldquo;option. The single gift option is there for you if you desire to give a one-time gift and the \u0026ldquo;monthly gift\u0026rdquo; option is there if you desire to give on an ongoing basis. If you click that it will ask you what date you would like your gift to be processed (on the 3rd or the 18th). I would highly encourage you to consider the monthly gift option simply because it helps the Anikus manage their budget and know how much is coming in and on what day.\n2. Check or Cash - You are welcome to send in a check or cash to - 17451 Bastanchury Rd. Suite 203 Yorba Linda CA, 92886. If you send a check please make it payable to Saving Grace World Missions and in the Memo Line write - \u0026ldquo;Aniku\u0026rdquo;.\nAll donations are tax deductible and you will receive a donation receipt once a year. Another very practical way you can help SGWM better support the Anikus, as well as all of our missionaries is to \u0026ldquo;Like\u0026rdquo; our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter. It is extremely helpful in getting the word out about all the amazing things the Lord is doing around the world if you share our pages with your friends as well as Like and Comment on our posts. You can access our Facebook page by clicking on the links below.\nI want to thank you for taking the time to read this note and again if you have any questions please don\u0026rsquo;t hesitate to contact our office at 714-993-4801.\nGod Bless, Pastor Mike Thiemann Director Saving Grace World Missions mike@sgwm.com\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/aniku-december-update-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/an.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/an-300x211.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod is on the move! There are many exciting changes within our ministries. The Lord has opened up a door for our family to partner with Saving Grace World Missions (SGWM), a missionary-sending organization. SGWM helps missionaries to funnel finances, do taxes as well as provide Biblical counseling and ongoing encouragement while on the field. Part of this change means we will have this blog to keep in closer communication with all of you. For future we will no longer be receiving donations through Go Ministries\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Aniku December Update 2017"},{"content":"We honestly cannot believe how quickly time has flown. We want to apologize first of all for how long it has been since our last update. We are going to put forth a greater effort to update more often. We would encourage you also to add us on facebook and instagram if you have accounts on those. I, Jessica, try to update the facebook account often, and we generally are able to respond to messages within a short period of time. The messages come to both of our phones and so they are one of the quickest ways to shoot us a text. Romeo has been really good about posting pictures of where we live, and captures our day to day life really well on Instagram, and of course, photos can speak so loudly without any words at all. The past months have been packed, both with blessings as well as challenges. The semester went so well. The group of students here were just great. We were so blessed by them, and are praying that a large percentage of them will be able to return for next semester. During the semester we had groups of students over for an occasional game of Settlers of Catan. (One of our personal favorites.) And it was a really nice chance to get to know them more.The classes went smoothly and the students papers reflected a real understanding, as well as a desire to implement the things that they were learning. Romeo was able to meet on a weekly basis with several of the male students and has been keeping in contact with those students by phone since they left for the holidays. I think those relationships have been mutual blessings. For a few weeks leading up to the end of the semester Romeo told me almost daily that he was so sad to see the semester coming to a close. He wasn’t ready to see such a great group of students go home.The kids have adjusted back to being here really well. I’ll let Eva tell you about that though in a little update she is writing. :-)We were really excited to find some Christmas decorations on a good sale. The kids were so excited as this was the first time in years that we got to have our own Christmas tree. I’m not sure if the younger three would have even been old enough to remember our last one! So it has been really sweet to decorate together. Okay sweet, and a little intense if we’re going to be honest. Growing up, my family had the tradition of popcorn garland on our Christmas tree. (Look it up, it’s a thing. lol) So of course, my tree wouldn’t be complete without popcorn! But I may have yelped, “STOP pulling the needle out of my hand!” about one hundred times as we all worked together to move the popcorn down the string. I tried to explain the correct method several times, but let’s be honest, preschoolers (or one really cute one in particular) complicate things like stringing popcorn. Of course, now that it’s on the tree, I think it was cute to do it all together. haha We have managed to learn in the past month how to replicate both French’s Fried Onions as well as Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup for our green bean casserole. To make cranberry sauce out of a bag of Craisins and some brambleberry tea. As well as to make homemade eggnog! We have made Christmas cookies, but learning to bake at close to 10,000 feet above sea level, in ovens that don’t hold consistent temperature is apparently a little tricky. :-D So we’re still working on that one. And relying on things like gingersnaps that taste good flat and those green cookies in the shape of wreaths. It’s hard to ruin a stovetop cookie!Alright, I will close before this gets too long, but we would love to hear how you all are doing and how your Christmas prep has been. Isn’t it hard to believe that we’re only two weeks away already! Wow!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/fall-semester-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe honestly cannot believe how quickly time has flown.  We want to apologize first of all for how long it has been since our last update.  We are going to put forth a greater effort to update more often.  We would encourage you also to add us on facebook and instagram if you have accounts on those.  I, Jessica, try to update the facebook account often, and we generally are able to respond to messages within a short period of time. The messages come to both of our phones and so they are one of the quickest ways to shoot us a text.  Romeo has been really good about posting pictures of where we live, and captures our day to day life really well on Instagram, and of course, photos can speak so loudly without any words at all.  \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/buescher/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2017/12/IMG_20171129_181132-225x300.jpg\"\u003eThe past months have been packed, both with blessings as well as challenges.  The semester went so well.  The group of students here were just great.  We were so blessed by them, and are praying that a large percentage of them will be able to return for next semester.  During the semester we had groups of students over for an occasional game of Settlers of Catan.  (One of our personal favorites.)  And it was a really nice chance to get to know them more.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/buescher/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2017/12/IMG_20171117_175253-300x225.jpg\"\u003eThe classes went smoothly and the students papers reflected a real understanding, as well as a desire to implement the things that they were learning.  Romeo was able to meet on a weekly basis with several of the male students and has been keeping in contact with those students by phone since they left for the holidays.  I think those relationships have been mutual blessings.  For a few weeks leading up to the end of the semester Romeo told me almost daily that he was so sad to see the semester coming to a close.  He wasn’t ready to see such a great group of students go home.The kids have adjusted back to being here really well.  I’ll let Eva tell you about that though in a little update she is writing. :-)\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/buescher/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2017/12/IMG_20171129_152957-300x225.jpg\"\u003eWe were really excited to find some Christmas decorations on a good sale.  The kids were so excited as this was the first time in years that we got to have our own Christmas tree.  I’m not sure if the younger three would have even been old enough to remember our last one! So it has been really sweet to decorate together.  Okay sweet, and a little intense if we’re going to be honest.  Growing up, my family had the tradition of popcorn garland on our Christmas tree.  (Look it up, it’s a thing. lol) So of course, my tree wouldn’t be complete without popcorn! But I may have yelped, “STOP pulling the needle out of my hand!” about one hundred times as we all worked together to move the popcorn down the string.  I tried to explain the correct method several times, but let’s be honest, preschoolers (or one really cute one in particular) complicate things like stringing popcorn.  Of course, now that it’s on the tree, I think it was cute to do it all together. haha We have managed to learn in the past month how to replicate both French’s Fried Onions as well as Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup for our green bean casserole.  To make cranberry sauce out of a bag of Craisins and some brambleberry tea. As well as to make homemade eggnog!  We have made Christmas cookies, but learning to bake at close to 10,000 feet above sea level, in ovens that don’t hold consistent temperature is apparently a little tricky. :-D So we’re still working on that one.  And relying on things like gingersnaps that taste good flat and those green cookies in the shape of wreaths.  It’s hard to ruin a stovetop cookie!Alright, I will close before this gets too long, but we would love to hear how you all are doing and how your Christmas prep has been. Isn’t it hard to believe that we’re only two weeks away already! Wow!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Fall Semester 2017"},{"content":"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14\nBenjamin continues to do well in school. Here is a picture of his \u0026ldquo;ninja-bread\u0026rdquo; cookies that he made with Kayo.\nDarryl con tinues partnering with Light Times Magazine the only Christian magazine in Cambodia. For their last issue he helped with editing the English of this bilingual magazine and he wrote an article, \u0026ldquo;Why Does God Allow Suffering.\u0026rdquo; Two Light Times volunteers are working to make that article into a video in the Cambodian language. Even though it is faster for Darryl to make videos on his own, the quality improvement will be worth the wait. Darryl is also helping with the international church\u0026rsquo;s ministry to Chinese, by helping them learn English and the Bible. Translation has started for making a video \u0026ldquo;Why Does God Allow Suffering?\u0026rdquo; in Mandarin (Chinese). Making apologetic/evangelistic videos in Chinese has been a dream of Darryl\u0026rsquo;s for several years. Finally it is coming true! Darryl is also teaching English and Bible at Jesus Life Center, a Cambodian church and dormitory. He was also able to supply evangelistic videos for a Christian business owner here in Cambodia to show to his employees.\nKayo continues to lead worship for the international church. Christmas is a busy time for her. She also continues to work with Precious Women Ministry, an organization that reaches out to at-risk women. Her Japanese ministry is also going well.\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for health and strength. Please pray for Darryl as he prepares to teach two intensive Apologetics classes in January in Cambodia and Thailand. Please pray for Kayo as she balances her various ministries. Please pray for Benjamin that he will continue to grow strong in the Lord. Merry Christmas,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/merry-christmas-from-cambodia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBenjamin continues to do well in school.  Here is a picture of his \u0026ldquo;ninja-bread\u0026rdquo; cookies that he made with Kayo.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/12/IMG_1223.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/12/IMG_1223-300x224.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/12/IMG_1224.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/12/IMG_1224-300x224.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDarryl con \u003ca href=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/12/IMG_0024.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/12/IMG_0024-300x205.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e tinues partnering with \u003cem\u003eLight Times Magazine\u003c/em\u003e the only Christian magazine in Cambodia.  For their last issue he helped with editing the English of this bilingual magazine and he wrote an article, \u0026ldquo;Why Does God Allow Suffering.\u0026rdquo;  Two Light Times volunteers are working to make that article into a video in the Cambodian language.  Even though it is faster for Darryl to make videos on his own, the quality improvement will be worth the wait.  Darryl is also helping with the international church\u0026rsquo;s ministry to Chinese, by helping them learn English and the Bible.  Translation has started for making a video \u0026ldquo;Why Does God Allow Suffering?\u0026rdquo; in Mandarin (Chinese). Making apologetic/evangelistic videos in Chinese has been a dream of Darryl\u0026rsquo;s for several years.  Finally it is coming true!    Darryl is also teaching English and Bible at Jesus Life Center, a Cambodian church and dormitory.  He was also able to supply evangelistic videos for a Christian business owner here in Cambodia to show to his employees.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Merry Christmas From Cambodia"},{"content":"Last month, Saving Grace World Missions and our missionary in Pakistan, Pastor Nadeem Massey, put together a campaign to raise money for a Christmas party for some of the poor and outcast in Pakistan, a group called the \u0026ldquo;Brickmakers.\u0026rdquo; The Lord faithfully provided through His people to fund this, and the Brickmakers, who are essential slave laborers in Pakistan, were blessed with a great time of food and the Gospel from Pastor Nadeem. Thank you to all who faithfully donated and prayed over this event! Below are some pictures and a word from Pastor Nadeem regarding the outreach.\nbrickmakers xmas party7 brickmakers xmas party6 brickmakers xmas party5 brickmakers xmas party4 brickmakers xmas party3 brickmakers xmas party2 brickmakers xmas party1 Greetings,\nWe had Christmas party with brick makers on Dec. 15. It was such a great blessings for us and for all those poor and un-reached people. They live outside of the town, as an isolated community of the brick makers. Churches here are busy with many Christmas programs; they have beautiful decorations and music but while this poor community of our brothers and sisters live out side of town, no one is thinking about them at this time of Christmas as all are so busy with their preparation for Christmas.\nWe praise God that He has enabled us to reach them on regular basis and they now know that they are part of Calvary Chapel Pakistan. You can notice a little banner behind on the wall, we got that printed last year at the time of New Year, and as they welcomed us they decorated the way to their place for us and put the poster of Calvary Chapel behind on the wall. That was simple way of their expression of love.\nThank you to all our friends and family for praying for us and particularly these precious people, and also for supporting us in order to bless these people with a good lunch, food supplies and some clothes. They are very happy and blessed and send their thanks to you and everyone there!\nIn Christ Jesus\nPastor Nadeem Massey​\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/featured/christmas-in-pakistan-with-the-poor-and-the-outcast/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eLast month, Saving Grace World Missions and our missionary in Pakistan, Pastor Nadeem Massey, put together a campaign to raise money for a Christmas party for some of the poor and outcast in Pakistan, a group called the \u0026ldquo;Brickmakers.\u0026rdquo; The Lord faithfully provided through His people to fund this, and the Brickmakers, who are essential slave laborers in Pakistan, were blessed with a great time of food and the Gospel from Pastor Nadeem. Thank you to all who faithfully donated and prayed over this event! Below are some pictures and a word from Pastor Nadeem regarding the outreach.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Christmas in Pakistan with the Poor and the Outcast"},{"content":"\nWe\u0026rsquo;d like to welcome the newest additions to the SGWM team of missionaries, Vincent and Melissa Aniku! We had an amazing time meeting with Melissa in our office last week with Vincent joining us over the phone from Uganda (as seen on the tiny phone in our picture). We are excited to have them on board with us! They are currently serving in Midigo, Uganda; Vincent serves as the assistant pastor at CC Midigo, and Melissa spends time discipling women and teaching many of them how to sew. They have two children and help many Ugandan children. We\u0026rsquo;re looking forward to seeing the Lord do great things through the Anikus with SGWM!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/continents/welcome-new-sgwm-missionaries-vincent-melissa-aniku/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Aniku-1.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Aniku-1-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe\u0026rsquo;d like to welcome the newest additions to the SGWM team of missionaries, Vincent and Melissa Aniku! We had an amazing time meeting with Melissa in our office last week with Vincent joining us over the phone from Uganda (as seen on the tiny phone in our picture). We are excited to have them on board with us! They are currently serving in Midigo, Uganda; Vincent serves as the assistant pastor at CC Midigo, and Melissa spends time discipling women and teaching many of them how to sew. They have two children and help many Ugandan children. We\u0026rsquo;re looking forward to seeing the Lord do great things through the Anikus with SGWM!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Welcome New SGWM Missionaries Vincent \u0026 Melissa Aniku!"},{"content":"For the last 17 years, I have been able to serve the Lord on the front lines of the battle by doing ministry at Christ-Centered Residential Chemical Dependency treatment. I have had a front row seat to see the power of God in the transformation of men\u0026rsquo;s lives as we worked through the trauma, grief, abuse, neglect, and various other issues that arise from lives lived in rebellion to God. I have had the privilege of seeing men turn their lives back to the Lord, or come to Him for the first time, and get set free from the grip of the enemy and the bondage of sin.\nSeveral Years ago the Lord began to provoke my heart with the great need of the nations for the gospel. Not fully knowing what to do with this, I began the journey on a path of short-term mission trips where it became clear to me that the Lord was calling me to full-time engagement in His great commission both in oversea\u0026rsquo;s ministry as well as here in the states. I have been able to travel to India 3 times, Haiti 3 times, Nepal, Belize, and Mexico over 30 times. During these trips, I\u0026rsquo;ve been able to teach the word of God in School of Ministry settings, do local outreaches, engage in feeding programs, medical clinics, orphanage work, etc., all while sharing the love of God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ with others.\nHere In the states, I\u0026rsquo;ve been able to be involved in outreach to the Muslim community through door to door witnessing in refugee communities, street witnessing outside of Mosques and leading a team of 10 to Phoenix, Arizona for a week-long trip to their Arabic festival. For over five years now I have also had the privilege of pastoring two church plants in Alzheimer units in Yorba Linda, CA. I have also been able to engage in inner-city outreaches in Watts, CA, street witness and evangelize at malls, beaches, and parks. Earlier this year, I led a team to Texas for disaster relief of Hurricane Harvey and also had the privilege of leading a team of 14 young adults (some not so young) to Rosarito, Mexico.\nAll this is not to give me glory or credit, but to give glory to our Great God and King who wishes that none should perish. The God who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of truth has allowed me to take part in the furtherance of the Gospel\u0026hellip; WOW.\nA few months ago I stepped out of my 17-year career and moved forward in what I believe was a call from the Lord that took place several years ago. This call was to be directly involved in overseas missions. At first, I was sure that I was headed overseas to plant a church. But, in what I believe to be the sovereign hand of God, the door opened for me to serve full-time at Saving Grace World Missions. I am now involved in cross-cultural missions and directly involved in the lives of missionaries as the Assistant Director.\nDaily I work towards serving and equipping missionaries to share the Gospel around the world. I will also continue to lead short-term mission teams both stateside and abroad. This kind of schedule and ministry enables me to stay in the states to care for my elderly mom with Alzheimer\u0026rsquo;s and at the same time, move forward in the call God has on my life in this new season. All of this is a step of faith for me and I am now actively in the process of raising support. This is also something new to me and I would ask that each of you would pray for me as I seek to raise enough funds to provide for my daily necessities, local outreaches, and short-term missions trips. I truly appreciate your prayers as I continue to seek the Lord and His will for my life.\nThere are two ways you could partner with me in this ministry:\nFirst and foremost, I would greatly appreciate your prayers. Secondly, you can become a financial partner with me in the Gospel through clicking on the become a financial partner button below or sending a check to:\nSaving Grace World Missions\n17451 Bastanchury Rd. Ste 203\nNote Pappas support in memo\nI look forward to sharing all that the Lord is doing in Saving Grace World Missions as well as in my life.\nAll for His Glory,\nTim Pappas\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/some-might-say-im-crazy/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFor the last 17 years, I have been able to serve the Lord on the front lines of the battle by doing ministry at Christ-Centered Residential Chemical Dependency treatment. I have had a front row seat to see the power of God in the transformation of men\u0026rsquo;s lives as we worked through the trauma, grief, abuse, neglect, and various other issues that arise from lives lived in rebellion to God. I have had the privilege of seeing men turn their lives back to the Lord, or come to Him for the first time, and get set free from the grip of the enemy and the bondage of sin.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Some Might Say I'm Crazy"},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family, MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!! We also would like to thank each of you for blessing us through your support and prayer for our family and for the ministry in Uganda. We have been blessed to see all the Lord has done this past year in and through the ministry. We rejoice over the people who have turned to Christ and pray for the other for whom the seed was planted. Again we thank you for being a part of this ministry with us. We look forward to what new things the Lord has for our family and ministry in 2018.\nGod Bless You and have a wonderful holiday season as we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus!\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill,Luke, Laylee,and Liana PRAYER REQUESTS Pray for God’s direction for Arise Christian Fellowship and all the ministries this new year. Pray for the Lord to use us mightily for His Kingdom in 2018. Pray for us to raise our kids for the Lord, balancing home and ministry. Pray about joining our support team in this upcoming year. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/merry-christmas-from-the-kanyikes-2017-year-in-review/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"dear-friends-and-family\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe also would like to thank each of you for blessing us through your support and prayer for our family and for the ministry in Uganda. We have been blessed to see all the Lord has done this past year in and through the ministry. We rejoice over the people who have turned to Christ and pray for the other for whom the seed was planted. Again we thank you for being a part of this ministry with us. We look forward to what new things the Lord has for our family and ministry in 2018.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Merry Christmas from the Kanyikes–2017 Year in Review"},{"content":"Thank you for your prayers regarding Tonielle \u0026amp; Levi\u0026rsquo;s Nepal visas! The lawyer was able to obtain a short-term business visa with no inspection needed. Basically, that means that when we return to Nepal in early 2018, we should (God willing) have no problem reinstating a long-term, one year visa for the rest of 2018! There is still some red tape that we have to work through with our lawyer, but this is a huge step toward getting everything worked out. Thank you again for your prayers.\nPlease also keep the country and people of Nepal in your prayers as they are going through the election process again. There is a lot of unrest, especially in the city of Kathmandu. Pray that whoever comes into office will give back the right of religious freedom.\nAs you know from our last update, we are currently in the States for Christmas and to work on some important green card paperwork for Pankaj. We plan to be here until the end of January and we would love to meet up with YOU! :) Please reply to this email if you would like to set up a time to catch up with us, in person.\nLove, Pankaj, Tonielle, and Levi Sarkar\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/nepal-visa-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you for your prayers regarding Tonielle \u0026amp; Levi\u0026rsquo;s Nepal visas! The lawyer was able to obtain a short-term business visa with no inspection needed. Basically, that means that when we return to Nepal in early 2018, we should (God willing) have no problem reinstating a long-term, one year visa for the rest of 2018! There is still some red tape that we have to work through with our lawyer, but this is a huge step toward getting everything worked out. Thank you again for your prayers.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Nepal Visa Update"},{"content":"The transition into being full-time missionaries with SGWM, becoming intimately connected with facilitating worldwide Gospel work and raising support as missionaries ourselves, has been quite a whirlwind. But there\u0026rsquo;s a peace in the midst of the hurricane, and we\u0026rsquo;re finally settling in to see what this is going to look like for our lives in the long-term after the completion of two successful church events I got to head up: our Halloween Front-Yard Parties and Thanksgiving Potluck. (If you\u0026rsquo;re curious, planning a potluck for 150+ people gives you a taste of both delicious food, mass chaos, and an incredible display of community in your church family). I\u0026rsquo;ve been a bit more freed up now to dive into the missions side of things. In the past month-and-a-half, I\u0026rsquo;ve had a chance to make contact with ministry in Uganda, Pakistan, and South Asia, with no air travel required!\nOne highlight has been spending some time with our brother Brian Kanyike from Uganda while he was here in the States. It was such a blessing hearing how he is doing as a human being, a husband and father, and not \u0026ldquo;just\u0026rdquo; a missionary. On top of that, we were able to help launch a campaign in which our church body came together to purchase some cows for the sake of advancing his ministry back home. What a privilege it was to hang out with this man of God (and help facilitate his very first selfie! Not sure if I should actually be proud of that\u0026hellip;).\nOne of my favorite moments of each week is the missions training class we\u0026rsquo;ve gotten to do with our brother Pastor Nadeem in the Middle East via Skype. These Thursday mornings were designed for us to train him in how to facilitate missions work from his own home base. The result has been that we have all been blessed, encouraged, and built up in the process by each other\u0026rsquo;s fellowship!\nFinally, we have some amazing work going on in South Asia right now. I\u0026rsquo;ve been teaching our Pastor\u0026rsquo;s School in South Asia over Skype every Sunday night. It\u0026rsquo;s been an immense privilege to teach these dear brothers through the book of Ephesians (with some of our young adults from my church joining me on occasion). It\u0026rsquo;s wonderful to be a part of their training to go out and bring the gospel to their own unreached villages. Also, as we get closer to the opening of our Bible school there, we got to interview, via Skype, a graduate from another campus in South Asia to become a SGWM missionary and serve at the new school we\u0026rsquo;re building.\nOn a more personal note, we\u0026rsquo;re loving being a family of five, and it was such a blessing to have Jude dedicated at our church, Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, last month. All three of our children have been dedicated by Pastor Trent now, and it\u0026rsquo;s always an incredible opportunity to re-establish who we are as part of a larger family in Christ with our church community. We couldn\u0026rsquo;t do any of what we\u0026rsquo;re doing without our church family\u0026rsquo;s love and support!\nPlease continue to pray for the Lord to grow our financial support so that we can continue our work as missionaries with SGWM. Please pray as I step into my main role of helping create the \u0026ldquo;face\u0026rdquo; of SGWM (more on that in our next update!).\nIf you would like to partner with us financially for the spread of the Gospel or sign up to receive our newsletter updates via email, visit our SGWM missionary page\nSoli Deo Gloria! Joel, Amy, Maggie, Harrison, and Jude joel@sgwm.com\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/around-the-world-no-planes-required/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe transition into being full-time missionaries with SGWM, becoming intimately connected with facilitating worldwide Gospel work and raising support as missionaries ourselves, has been quite a whirlwind. But there\u0026rsquo;s a peace in the midst of the hurricane, and we\u0026rsquo;re finally settling in to see what this is going to look like for our lives in the long-term after the completion of two successful church events I got to head up: our Halloween Front-Yard Parties and Thanksgiving Potluck. (If you\u0026rsquo;re curious, planning a potluck for 150+ people gives you a taste of both delicious food, mass chaos, and an incredible display of community in your church family). I\u0026rsquo;ve been a bit more freed up now to dive into the missions side of things. In the past month-and-a-half, I\u0026rsquo;ve had a chance to make contact with ministry in Uganda, Pakistan, and South Asia, with no air travel required!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Around The World (No Planes Required)"},{"content":"This is the WPForms preview page. All your form previews will be handled on this page.\nThe page is set to private, so it is not publicly accessible. Please do not delete this page :) .\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/wpforms-preview/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThis is the WPForms preview page. All your form previews will be handled on this page.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe page is set to private, so it is not publicly accessible. Please do not delete this page :) .\u003c/p\u003e","title":"WPForms Preview"},{"content":"Sing to the LORD, all the Earth; proclaim His salvation day after day. -1 Chronicles 16:23 Dear Friends and Family,\nHappy Thanksgiving!! We have so much to be thankful for. God has done so much for all of us, the most important of all sending His Son to die for our sins that we might have salvation and spend eternity with Him.\nIn response to all He has done for us my heart and thoughts turn to worship. God created us for that purpose and there is something that seems to draw us ever closer to Him when we worship.\nI thought in this spirit of thanksgiving and worship I would share about what has been happening with our worship team. God has been using them in many ways. They bless our church, they are involved in missions both in the community and in other areas, they minister to other bodies of Christ . I am sure you will be excited in all the ways God has been using them.\nLets begin with our worship leader Evelyn. Evelyn began leading worship at my woman’s bible study when she was just a teenager. God gifted her with the ability to pick up the guitar and just learn to play whatever she heard. Since then she has matured not just in music but in her personal walk with Christ. She works for the Christian organization, Mission Aviation Fellowship, which flies missionaries to hard to reach areas. We use them to fly in to South Sudan.\nWhen we set out to church plant, Evelyn was right beside us and naturally fell into the role of worship leader. At the church she not only leads us for services but she trains others who feel called to be a part of the worship team as well. She disciples the young ladies interested in worship as to the true meaning of worship, helping them to grow closer to God through their calling and to not look to be seen for their gifts but to use their gifts to help others see God. At Evelyn’s workplace she leads the staff in worship during devotions and retreats. Our church is very mission focused and Evelyn accompanies us on most of our missions to lead worship and to teach worship conferences. While it already seems like God is using Evelyn mightily, I believe He has even greater things in store for her.\nArise Christian Fellowship started almost 3 years ago. From the very start it has been mission focused. I believe it is because the majority of the church came to know Jesus through outreaches and evangelism. In the short time the church has been established we have sent out 2 full time missionaries to South Sudan. Both of the missionaries came from our worship team.\nThe first is Ivan. Ivan has been ministering with Brian and I since before we were even married. He has a very lively personality that carries over into his worship. His joy is contagious. Ivan was our first missionary we sent out. He had gone on several mission trips to South Sudan and saw the incredible need there. He is currently leading worship at Calvary Chapel Cush while training the nationals there in worship and how to lead worship.\nThe second missionary we sent out was Timothy. Timothy was our drum player. Unlike Ivan Timothy went only once to South Sudan before he felt the Lord was calling him to serve along side Ivan and Calvary Chapel Cush. Ivan and Timothy also minister through community outreach. There are many refugees and displaced people in Nimule, where they are located. Each week they minister along side Far Reaching Ministries as the feed the refugee children. They accompany the chaplains for evangelism and home visits, bringing worship to the lost and needy. Besides ministering through worship, Ivan and Timothy lend a helping hand wherever there is a need, often this is in the form of construction work at the chaplain’s base. We miss having Ivan and Timothy as part of our worship team but are blessed to see them reaching the people of South Sudan.\nThe last member of our worship team that I want to mention is Eddy. He is a very talented musician and songwriter. He plays the piano and saxophone at church. He uses his gift to teach others music, including Luke and Laylee. Eddy plays concerts to share his music as well as the gospel message. This month he launched his very own album called Suubi, which mean Hope.\nAt the album launch Brian was able to address the crowds and share about hope and present the Gospel message. We are thankful for those who received Christ and pray for God to continue to use Eddy and his music to do so.\nThank you for praying for our family and the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill,__Luke, Laylee \u0026amp; LianaLuke, Laylee, \u0026amp; Liana PRAYER REQUESTS\nPraise the Lord for all the people who are being reached through the worship team and all the ministries they are a part of. Pray for our missionaries to South Sudan. Pray that God would use them mightily to reach the lost and keep them safe. Pray for Eddy and for the success of his album and for those who heard the gospel during the album launch. Pray that we would get all the official documents from the Lawyers so that we can get Liana a passport and visas to come home for furlough. Pray for the finances for everything involved. Pray for health for all the Kanyikes. Sickness has been a real struggle for everyone, especially Jill. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the ministries and leaders. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-family-update-thanksgiving-2017/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"sing-to-the-lord-all-the-earth-proclaim-his-salvation-day-after-day\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eSing to the LORD, all the Earth; proclaim His salvation day after day.\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"-1-chronicles-1623\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e-1 Chronicles 16:23\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"happy-thanksgiving\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHappy Thanksgiving!!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have so much to be thankful for.  God has done so much for all of us, the most important of all sending His Son to die for our sins that we might have salvation and spend eternity with Him.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn response to all He has done for us my heart and thoughts turn to worship.  God created us for that purpose and there is something that seems to draw us ever closer to Him when we worship.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Family Update--Thanksgiving 2017"},{"content":"\nIn Pakistan, my good friend Nadeem has begun ministering to a group of people known as the Brick Makers. These individuals are living in extreme poverty and are trapped in slavery as brick makers. As a platform to minister the Gospel, Nadeem would like to host a Christmas party outreach in this community. To raise the needed funds, SGWM will be hosting a Christmas photo shoot courtesy of Captured Grace Photography. On November 16th, 17th, and 18th Captured Grace Photography will have a Christmas-themed studio set up for you and your families to get their Christmas photos taken for a minimum donation of $40. As a thank you, every donation will receive a custom metal Christmas ornament of their picture. All donations will go to SGWM Most Needed to fund this outreach. Additional prints, digital copies, and Christmas cards of your pictures can be purchased through Captured Grace Photography.\nNov. 17th 6:00 - 8:30 p.m. Nov. 18th 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. Nov. 19th 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.\nYou need to reserve your spot by clicking the link below. Also, please help us make this fundraiser a success by sharing it to your social media and by inviting your family and friends.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/christmas-fundraiser/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/CCPakPic-300x169.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn Pakistan, my good friend Nadeem has begun ministering to a group of people known as the Brick Makers. These individuals are living in extreme poverty and are trapped in slavery as brick makers. As a platform to minister the Gospel, Nadeem would like to host a Christmas party outreach in this community. To raise the needed funds, SGWM will be hosting a Christmas photo shoot courtesy of Captured Grace Photography. On November 16th, 17th, and 18th Captured Grace Photography will have a Christmas-themed studio set up for you and your families to get their Christmas photos taken for a minimum donation of $40. As a thank you, every donation will receive a custom metal Christmas ornament of their picture. All donations will go to SGWM Most Needed to fund this outreach. Additional prints, digital copies, and Christmas cards of your pictures can be purchased through \u003ca href=\"https://capturedgracephoto.com/gallery/\"\u003eCaptured Grace Photography\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Christmas Fundraiser"},{"content":"October 15th, 2017\nSundays are different from the rest of the week for the mission. On Sundays shift ends at 6:00 p.m. so everyone can dine together. This last Sunday, Belo grilled carne asada and made tortas for dinner. He made his homemade salsa with roasted tomatoes, onions, chilies, and spices. Delicioso!!! The night continued with a hike up to \u0026ldquo;Shark\u0026rsquo;s Fin\u0026rdquo; (a favorite climbing spot in the hills behind the orphanage) for an evening of worship together under a clear, star filled sky.. There were candles set up on the rocks and a couple of the single staff played their guitars. What a wonderful evening with \u0026ldquo;The Mission Family\u0026rdquo;\u0026hellip;\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sunday-evenings-with-the-mission-family/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eOctober 15th, 2017\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSundays are different from the rest of the week for the mission.  On Sundays shift ends at 6:00 p.m. so everyone can dine together.  This last Sunday, Belo grilled carne asada and made tortas for dinner.  He made his homemade salsa with roasted tomatoes, onions, chilies, and spices.  Delicioso!!!  The night continued with a hike up to \u0026ldquo;Shark\u0026rsquo;s Fin\u0026rdquo; (a favorite climbing spot in the hills behind the orphanage) for an evening of worship together under a clear, star filled sky..  There were candles set up on the rocks and a couple of the single staff played their guitars.  What a wonderful evening with \u0026ldquo;The Mission Family\u0026rdquo;\u0026hellip;\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sunday Evenings With \"The Mission Family\""},{"content":"Dear Friends and Family,\nPlease watch this video and check out our November update…\n\u0026amp;feature=youtu.be\nWe are excited as always to share our hearts with you all. Around 17 months ago God led my family into the pursuit of overseas missions with our good friend Luke Buescher. After confirming our calling, we met regularly to pray for about 6-7 months before God gave us clear direction: We were to join Terebinth Ministries and minister to the physical and spiritual health of the Acholi people in Uganda, Africa.\nNorthern Uganda, where the Acholi tribe resides, has been the focal point of war and civil unrest for many, many years, the most recent of which was the unconventional war of Joseph Kony, against human life. Under Kony’s rebellion, countless children were forced to brutally kill their families and join his military ranks to wipe out anyone who did not suit his purposes. Uganda as a whole also suffers greatly from widespread witchcraft that even penetrates the church and has resulted in deep syncretism. For the past 10 years there has finally come a time of peace from war, but they are still in the midst of spiritual confusion and twisted beliefs. From a broad survey, Uganda\u0026rsquo;s population is more than 80% Christian. However, more than 80% of their pastors have no Biblical training, and the visible Ugandan church is overrun with cultural animistic witchcraft, syncretism, prosperity cult, and the like. The leaders of the true Ugandan church are in total agreement that the deepest need in Uganda is for a depth of Biblical understanding and knowledge to combat these deep-rooted lies. They describe Uganda’s spiritual state as “a river a kilometer wide and an inch deep”. There is a serious deficit of discipleship.\nTerebinth Ministries works as a partner with the Acholi church, not as a leader with typical Western goals and mindsets, but under Ugandan church leadership. They have started a pastoral school of discipleship to address the deep spiritual needs, and have been blessed to oversee a medical clinic and farming area to assist in the community’s stability and growth. We will be serving with them as teachers in the pastoral school, and as managers of some upcoming agricultural projects. To see more up-close what the ministry is doing, watch their new video posted above.\nAs you are probably aware, we are currently living in Uganda as missionaries-in-training. We have been attending the Institute For Gospel Transformation, at New Hope Uganda, for the last 4 months and will soon be graduating! During our time here we have gained countless insights about ourselves, the Gospel, and the African mindsets. God has blessed us with friends and teachers who help us prepare for life here in understanding culture, language, lifestyle, and the common local beliefs. God has really worked in us during our time in training, and has also opened the door for us to partner with Saving Grace World Missions as our sending team. We praise God for His provision! And we are excited to have a way to facilitate funds and make donations tax-deductible.\nWe would be honored to have you join us in prayer over: gospel penetration and understanding in Uganda, the equipping of the church, our stability as a family, and our continued growth.\nIn Christ, with love, Matt, Noelle, Emma, \u0026amp; Madeline\nWe rely solely on donations from people like you who have a heart to see the people of Uganda ministered to. Please consider partnering with us by clicking HERE.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/harris-family-november-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePlease watch this video and check out our November update…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/mY551t9oRiA?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e\n\u0026amp;feature=youtu.be\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are excited as always to share our hearts with you all. Around 17 months ago God led my family into the pursuit of overseas missions with our good friend Luke Buescher. After confirming our calling, we met regularly to pray for about 6-7 months before God gave us clear direction: We were to join Terebinth Ministries and minister to the physical and spiritual health of the Acholi people in Uganda, Africa.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Harris Family November Update"},{"content":" IMG\\_9864 0B609FF9-CEF6-4577-8114-50CCC0BBBAE0 IMG\\_0324 IMG\\_9589 IMG\\_E9412 IMG\\_9433 IMG\\_9437 IMG\\_9866-e1509846304357 IMG\\_9693 IMG\\_9395-e1509846603277 IMG\\_9753 IMG\\_9549 IMG\\_9898 IMG\\_9988 Hi family and friends! We did it!!! We graduated from Roca Blanca Spanish School on October 20. What a crazy ride that was\u0026hellip;filled with ups and downs, good and bad, trials and triumphs. But what an experience for us to learn to lean more on the Lord through all of those times. Even more so, what a PRIVILEGE to be called by the Lord to serve Him. Machaela finished strong in Level 1, and Jon and I really got into a great routine as we finished Level 4.\nIn October, Jon was able to go to the Pastors and Leaders Conference at Calvary Chapel Tijuana. He had a time of being refreshed and spending time with two of our pastors, along with old and new friends who serve all over Mexico. While he was away, the Spanish school went on a one day mission trip to San Martin. Machaela, Jonny, Noah, and I were able to go and it was such a blessing to be a small part of that day, while the clinic offered free medical consultations and medicine for those in need in that town.\nDuring our final weeks in Cacalote, we were able to spend time with the friends we had made while living there. The Lord really blessed us with some amazing friendships that really grew. I love looking back to when we first arrived to when we left, and seeing the Lord\u0026rsquo;s hand on our relationships. I could go on and on about all of them so I\u0026rsquo;ll stop before I get going. :)\nNow we are in California. We drove up here the day after school got out. It took us quite a while to drive up, but it was a great trip. Our first stop was Oaxaca City where we met up with Toby and Lydia, two girls who did Level 1 and Level 2 with us who now serve in Oaxaca City. So awesome that they came and went sight seeing with us at Monte Albán. The following night we ended in Mazatlán. Another friend, Nancy, (who we met on our trip last December to check out Roca Blanca) lives and serves at Calvary Chapel Maranatha Mazatlán, and she arranged for us to stay with Pastor Tony and his wife Angela for two nights. What a huge blessing that was because it gave us a day of rest after the LONG drive to get there. A couple of days later we finally made it to southern California, our final destination for this trip.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\nWe will be working on getting our temporary residency visas while we\u0026rsquo;re here, so please pray that that all goes well That we would practice listening and speaking Spanish Financial provision to be able to go back God would continue to prepare our hearts for full time ministry in Mexico PRAISE REPORTS:\none of our biggest struggles while in school was that our kids were having such a hard time. The Lord COMPLETELY turned things around and the last two months were filled with laughter and joy and a house filled with those sounds from Jonny and Noah and their friends. Praise the Lord for that!!! Jon and I also were able to build some amazing relationships with people and it was really tough to say \u0026ldquo;see you later\u0026rdquo;. We thank the Lord that He gave us those friendships that I know will last a lifetime. Thank you for praying for us and following our journey as we took this first step of our great adventure for JESUS! We are so excited to follow His leading into the next step.\nRomans 10:14 \u0026ldquo;How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?\u0026rdquo;\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/terminamos-la-escuela-de-espanol-we-finished/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5F9864-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_9864\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_9864\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/0B609FF9-CEF6-4577-8114-50CCC0BBBAE0-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"0B609FF9-CEF6-4577-8114-50CCC0BBBAE0\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            0B609FF9-CEF6-4577-8114-50CCC0BBBAE0\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5F0324-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_0324\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_0324\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5F9589-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_9589\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_9589\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5FE9412-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_E9412\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_E9412\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5F9433-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_9433\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_9433\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5F9437-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_9437\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_9437\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5F9866-e1509846304357-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_9866-e1509846304357\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_9866-e1509846304357\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5F9693-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_9693\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_9693\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5F9395-e1509846603277-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_9395-e1509846603277\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_9395-e1509846603277\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5F9753-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_9753\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_9753\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5F9549-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_9549\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_9549\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5F9898-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_9898\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_9898\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/IMG%5F9988-1.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_9988\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_9988\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHi family and friends! We did it!!! We graduated from Roca Blanca Spanish School on October 20. What a crazy ride that was\u0026hellip;filled with ups and downs, good and bad, trials and triumphs. But what an experience for us to learn to lean more on the Lord through all of those times. Even more so, what a PRIVILEGE to be called by the Lord to serve Him. Machaela finished strong in Level 1, and Jon and I really got into a great routine as we finished Level 4.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Terminamos La Escuela de Español!!!  We finished!"},{"content":" Greetings,\nIt has been over twelve years since I came on staff as a missionary with Saving Grace World Missions. I have seen God do so many radical things that I could never have imagined. Recently, God has brought in a fantastic addition to the SGWM home office, my good friend Tim Pappas. Tim will be taking a lot of the day-to-day administrative tasks from my plate which will significantly free me up to lead SGWM into the future. God has blessed me with incredible opportunities and experiences that have provided significant hands-on mission training. After gaining this level of preparation, I am now transitioning my focus and taking what I have learned and put it together in three formats - books, a weekly missions article, and an online missions school.\nTwo Books The first task that I will be focusing on is writing two books. The first book will be directed to the missionary and will answer the questions of how to transition from living in the States to becoming a full-time cross-cultural missionary living overseas. The second book will be directed towards pastors. My goal would be to provide them with the wisdom and encouragement needed to become a thoroughly equipped sending church.\nWeekly Missions Articles There will be three target audiences for these articles - the missionary, the sender, and the sending church. Each of these audiences fills a unique role in the context of missions, and I look forward to sparking up conversations and providing insight to equip everyone to become better missionaries and senders. CLICK HERE to view an article.\nOnline Missions School This, of course, is an enormous undertaking. I will start by creating online classes that will focus on training SGWM missionaries all the way from pre-field departure to developing a re-entry plan and everything in between. Once I get the classes in place, and it has been thoroughly vetted our vision will be to open this training up to the public.\nI am excited to start chipping away at these new projects, and I believe that the Lord will significantly use them to help equip others in the task of fulfilling the Great Commission.\nLastly, I want to say thank you for all the years of faithful prayer and support. Erin and I are exceedingly blessed. If anyone would like to join our financial team, you can do so by clicking the link to the below.\nGod Bless, Pastor Mike\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-new-direction/","summary":"\u003cdiv style=\"position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.25%; height: 0; overflow: hidden;\"\u003e\n      \u003ciframe allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share; fullscreen\" loading=\"eager\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/lXIlsav-isc?autoplay=0\u0026amp;controls=1\u0026amp;end=0\u0026amp;loop=0\u0026amp;mute=0\u0026amp;start=0\" style=\"position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; border:0;\" title=\"YouTube video\"\u003e\u003c/iframe\u003e\n    \u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/7b6b95c7-0282-4a7a-903a-3b4abdd23b18-250x300.png\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt has been over twelve years since I came on staff as a missionary with Saving Grace World Missions. I have seen God do so many radical things that I could never have imagined. Recently, God has brought in a fantastic addition to the SGWM home office, my good friend Tim Pappas. Tim will be taking a lot of the day-to-day administrative tasks from my plate which will significantly free me up to lead SGWM into the future. God has blessed me with incredible opportunities and experiences that have provided significant hands-on mission training. After gaining this level of preparation, I am now transitioning my focus and taking what I have learned and put it together in three formats - books, a weekly missions article, and an online missions school.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A New Direction"},{"content":"Dear ministry partners!\nOctober was a busy month full of ministry and new life! We ended the month last weekend with our monthly baptisms. It was such a blessing as we were able to witness 22 believers make their decision to follow Jesus Christ public through the waters of baptism!\nA few months ago our church started a new believer’s class to better disciple those that profess faith at our church. This 4 week class focuses on the basics of the Christian faith; Jesus, the Bible, spiritual growth and the church. These new believers graduate from this class when they are baptized at one of our weekend services. It was very encouraging to see so many of these new converts who have just recently professed faith take this step and be willing to be baptized in October!\nA major focus for me this month was our negotiations to finally purchase our church facility. We are so thankful for your prayers and financial support to help us get to this point, this was truly a team effort. Our church body gave sacrificially and generously and so did so many of our stateside friends and supporters. After 6 months of prayer and fundraising, together we were able to raise raised a great majority of the asking price for the building, and we are now in active negotiations to finalize the deal!\nAn extra blessing also popped open to us as we began negotiations on our church building. At this same time the large (empty) parking lot located directly next to our church (North side, different owner) went on the market as well. Presently, we are averaging over 1200 attending our church each weekend, and we cannot have a church facility without adequate parking. So as this lot went on the market, we viewed this as another open door from God. After praying together we realized that there are no coincidences in the Lord, so we decided to take a bigger step of faith and attempt to purchase both our church campus and the adjacent parking area at the same time!\nAt writing time, neither of these deals have been finalized yet and we covet your prayers as this process moves forward. Although much money was raised, we do not have the funds to make both of these deals with the resources in hand right now, so we need God’s favor and direction as we move forward!\n15 years ago we would have never imagined that God would have us in a position to purchase our spacious church facility and large parking lot in the most desirable area of our city in Rosarito! But once again, God has done much more than we could ever ask or think. We are so honored and blessed that you have chosen to partner with us on this amazing journey. We love you and appreciate you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests:\n#1- Pray for our new believers class and that the students will be baptized!\n#2- Pray for favor as we negotiate the land (parking) and building purchases!\n#3- Pray that God will continue to provide for the financial needs of our family!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/november-2017-vincent-family-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear ministry partners!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/23113500_10155286117693922_196428720_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/23113500_10155286117693922_196428720_n-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOctober was a busy month full of ministry and new life! We ended the month last weekend with our monthly baptisms.  It was such a blessing as we were able to witness 22 believers make their decision to follow Jesus Christ public through the waters of baptism!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/23113463_10155286119883922_1190869902_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/23113463_10155286119883922_1190869902_n-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA few months ago our church started a new believer’s class to better disciple those that profess faith at our church. This 4 week class focuses on the basics of the Christian faith; Jesus, the Bible, spiritual growth and the church. These new believers graduate from this class when they are baptized at one of our weekend services. It was very encouraging to see so many of these new converts who have just recently professed faith take this step and be willing to be baptized in October!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"November 2017 Vincent Family Missions Update"},{"content":"Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Ecclesiastes 11:1 ESV Darryl with believers from the Jirei tribe. Sometimes in life and ministry we don’t see the fruit immediately. Especially in media ministry Darryl often feels that his calling is to take the gospel to people that he will never meet, in languages he will never speak, in places he will never go. Normally it is fine to trust God that someday in heaven he will get to meet the people who have read his books, listened to his radio programs, and watched his videos. But, sometimes it is nice to receive some feedback.\nA few days ago, Darryl attended a meeting at Far East Broadcasting (FEBC). He wasn’t sure of why he was there meeting a group of Christians and missionaries from the Jirei tribe in rural Cambodia. At the end of the meeting he was told that they have translated the Anchors of Faith radio program, that Darryl developed a few years ago, (26 half-hour episodes) into the Jirei language and that they are playing the program on a radio station in rural Cambodia and in tribal churches! When they found out that Darryl has also produced videos, they were interested in translating them into Jirei as well. Thanks again to all of you who supported this project years ago! It is still bearing fruit after many days.\nThings are going well for us. We are glad that the rainy season is ending and along with it knee-deep flooded streets that cause us to pray for our car when the waves from other cars wash over the hood.\nBenjamin continues to do well in school. His class is studying the human body. Benjamin not only knew most of the body parts but knew about cells and DNA from watching apologetics/intelligent design videos. For homework, his teacher asked him to draw a diagram of the cell for his classmates and he did it.\nKayo continues to volunteer at Precious Women Ministry, to minister to Japanese living in Cambodia, and is part of the worship team at the international church. She is also reaching out to our apartment building’s cleaning-lady. Our 13th wedding anniversary! Darryl has started partnering with Light Times Magazine, the only Christian magazine in Cambodia. Some of his video scripts will be published as articles in the magazine and they can help him produce better quality videos in the Cambodian language. A new video, “If God is Good, Why is There Evil and Suffering in the World?” in Cambodian language is in process. Another missionary from rural Cambodia e-mailed and requested videos to show her students during the upcoming holidays. He also is helping out with the Chinese ministry at the international church. They are also interested in producing apologetics and evangelistic videos in Chinese and want Darryl’s help.\nThank you for your partnership in our lives and ministries. May God reward you for your faithfulness!\nPrayer Requests:\nPlease pray for continued health, wisdom, and strength for all of us as our ministries expand. We thank God for providing a temporary solution to our visa problem. Please pray for wisdom and for a long term solution. Please pray for our long-term vision and needs. In Christ’s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/bread-upon-the-waters/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eCast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days. Ecclesiastes 11:1 ESV\u003c/em\u003e \u003ca href=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/10/22810264_10203752274122672_1195004357_o.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/10/22810264_10203752274122672_1195004357_o-169x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e Darryl with believers from the Jirei tribe.\nSometimes in life and ministry we don’t see the fruit immediately.  Especially in media ministry Darryl often feels that his calling is to take the gospel to people that he will never meet, in languages he will never speak, in places he will never go.  Normally it is fine to trust God that someday in heaven he will get to meet the people who have read his books, listened to his radio programs, and watched his videos.  But, sometimes it is nice to receive some feedback.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bread Upon the Waters"},{"content":"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. John 4:14 Dear Friends and Family,\nSummer is coming to an end but ministry is not slowing down. A couple months ago we wrote about a village called Bukuya. We shared how the people of this remote village are mostly animist or Muslim and are very wary of outsiders\nWe felt the Lord showing us an opportunity to gain their trust through providing clean water\u0026hellip;God answered our prayers through many of you At that time we felt the Lord showing us an opportunity to gain their trust through providing clean water for them. On Brian’s family farm there is a natural spring. We let the need be known that we wanted to tap into that spring to bring clean water to this village. God answered our prayers through many of you and we were able to tap into the spring and provide not one but two wells.\nThis past month we went to the village to present the wells to the people there. We first went to the well which is on the main road. We shared a time of worship and prayer for them. It was a sweet time and the men who we hired to build the well actually came and participated in celebration. Afterward we invited those who were there to join us at the second well which was a bit deeper inside the bush. We were quite surprised with the turn out. We had a great time of worship again there.\nHe shared from John chapter 4 about J esus being the living water\u0026hellip;even the Muslims present stayed for the whole message. There were a lot of kids at this site so Evelyn, our worship leader, sang some motion songs. Since the majority of the people are not Christian they did not know the songs but they did try to join in and it was quite a lot of fun for everyone. At the well a message was shared by a friend visiting from my home church. He shared from John chapter 4 about Jesus being the living water. The well was going to provide the people with clean water but they would have to keep coming back to it. Jesus can give us living water. Even the Muslims present stayed for the whole message, we pray that the Lord word work that word into their hearts.\n\u0026hellip;he gave us a goat as a thank you on behalf of the whole village. Brian then prayed to dedicate the well and for the people to understand what had been shared. The chief of that area then shared. He said that he was 45 years old and has never lived any where else and that this was the first time in his life there had ever been clean water in his village and was so thankful. He also said that we were welcome to come and feel at home there. Then he gave us a goat as a thank you on behalf of the whole village. We had brought sodas for the people and Brian’s mom had prepared some food and we left the people enjoying their new wells and having full bellies. Brian’s mom told us that after we left many more people showed up. We definitely will be planning a follow up trip in the future. Arise Christian Fellowship held its very first vacation Bible School This past month Arise Christian Fellowship held its very first vacation Bible School. Nikki Diana, a friend from my home church, joined forces with our children’s ministry to come up with the theme, The Great Treasure Hunt, based on Psalms 119:162. We were also joined by Jenise Gleason, who is a missionary elsewhere in Uganda who has a huge heart for children.\nIn Uganda, there is a 2 week semester break between August and September. School vacations are a great time to reach kids because many children in Uganda go to boarding school but on vacations they are at home. Our desire was to minister to the children in our own church as well as reach out to the children in the community around us. The first day of the VBS was spent fully at the church learning about God’s Word, memorizing the memory verse, playing games and doing crafts. The second day of the VBS kept with the treasure theme but focused more on the children (us) being God’s treasure.\nThe children made a craft where they had to paint a picture of themselves and put it in a frame they made. They had a Bible quiz and played a couple of games but after lunch they headed out into the community. As we headed into the community we were joined by the students from the Vision of Destiny school that meets on the floor below our church.\nEveryone walked down to a field just above the slums\u0026hellip;to reach out to the children there Everyone walked down to a field just above the slums, where a lot of our children live, to reach out to the children there. It is important for children to have the opportunity to share their faith with others and recognize their faith is personal not just for the Sunday school teachers. Once at the field they began by playing simple games like Frisbee and tag, inviting the community kids to join in. In the end of course it turned into a soccer match which is just about everyone in Uganda’s preferred sport. Frank, our children’s ministry director shared with the children before the day came to an end.\nWe pray that many of the children as well of the families will desire to know more about God’s treasure and recognize the treasure they are to Him.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,Brian, Jill,Luke, Laylee,****and Liana PRAYER REQUESTS\nPraise the Lord for all the ministry opportunities we have had this summer and all the volunteers who have come through to help. Praise the Lord for providing the well in Bukuya Village. Pray for the people that they would come to know the true Living Water and for more opportunities to share with them. Pray that we would get all the official documents from the Lawyers so that we can get Liana a passport and visas to come home for furlough. Pray for health for all the Kanyikes. A nasty cough and infection has been going trough the house. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the ministries and leaders. Pray that the Kanyikes can begin to raise the airfare that their family will need to go on furlough this fall. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/never-thirst-again/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"everyone-who-drinks-this-water-will-be-thirsty-again-butwhoeverdrinksthewateri-givehimwill-never-thirst\"\u003eEveryone who drinks this water will be thirsty again.  But whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"john-414\"\u003eJohn 4:14\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSummer is coming to an end but ministry is not slowing down. A couple months ago we wrote about a village called Bukuya. We shared how the people of this remote village are mostly animist or Muslim and are very wary of outsiders\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"we-felt-the-lord-showing-us-an-opportunity-to-gain-their-trust-through-providing-clean-water\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWe felt the Lord showing us an opportunity to gain their trust through providing clean water\u0026hellip;God answered our prayers through many of you\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003chr\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAt that time we felt the Lord showing us an opportunity to gain their trust through providing clean water for them. On Brian’s family farm there is a natural spring. We let the need be known that we wanted to tap into that spring to bring clean water to this village. God answered our prayers through many of you and we were able to tap into the spring and provide not one but two wells.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Never Thirst Again"},{"content":"\u0026ldquo;Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.\u0026rdquo; (Matthew 7:24-25)\nDay 1\nPreparing for the backhoe\nBelo, Daniel, \u0026amp; Isaiah helped Jeff measure the outline of the area for the chapel to determine where to have the backhoe dig.\nDay 2\nDigging Continues!\nThis a view from the road above the mission after the digging was done for the day.\nDay 3\nDigging complete!\nHopefully you can get an idea of the area that the backhoe was able to dig out. We can\u0026rsquo;t even begin to calculate how long it would have taken to dig this area out with manual labor\u0026hellip;\nDay 4 to present\nThe manual labor continues\u0026hellip;\nWe are thrilled to see God\u0026rsquo;s hand consistently moving on this project, inspiring people who visit and also those who don\u0026rsquo;t to contribute to all the various steps. We are even more excited to see the ultimate purpose and designs that our Father in heaven has that would have Him push this project through with such urgency. Thank you for your continual prayers and support for our family and The Mission.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/ground-breaking/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u0026ldquo;Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.\u0026rdquo; (Matthew 7:24-25)\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDay 1\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePreparing for the backhoe\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBelo, Daniel, \u0026amp; Isaiah helped Jeff measure the outline of the area for the chapel to determine where to have the backhoe dig.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ground Breaking"},{"content":"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8 God has blessed us as we take refuge in Him. August and September have flown by as Benjamin returned to the 3rd grade at Hope International School. He is doing well and is even continuing his judo in an after school club.\nKayo has been busy with worship team at church and at a women\u0026rsquo;s conference. She restarted the Japanese Life Group ministry in August. She also serves at Precious Women Ministry as a volunteer to help with administration once or twice a week and working from home.\nDarryl released the videos, \u0026ldquo;What About Those Who Never Heard about Jesus Christ?\u0026rdquo; and \u0026ldquo;Did Jesus Really Rise From the Dead?\u0026rdquo; to more than 12,000 people in Cambodia. The website continues to equip around a thousand visitors each month.\nDarryl and Kayo also resumed Cambodian language study.\nPrayer Requests:\nThe Cambodian government is tightening regulations on foreigners including driver\u0026rsquo;s licenses and visas. Please pray for wisdom as we must navigate these new challenges. Please continue to pray for our health and strength. Please continue to pray for our various ministries. In Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/taste-and-see-that-the-lord-is-good/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eTaste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Psalm 34:8\u003c/em\u003e  \u003ca href=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/09/2017-09-10-12.08.10.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/09/2017-09-10-12.08.10-300x224.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e God has blessed us as we take refuge in Him.  August and September have flown by as Benjamin returned to the 3rd grade at Hope International School. He is doing well and is even continuing his judo in an after school club.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKayo has been busy with worship team at church and at a women\u0026rsquo;s conference.  She restarted the Japanese Life Group ministry in August.  She also serves at Precious Women Ministry as a volunteer to help with administration once or twice a week and working from home.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Taste and See that the Lord is Good"},{"content":" IMG\\_7975 IMG\\_8086-e1504561827316 IMG\\_8325-e1504561031400 IMG\\_8925-e1504560669533 IMG\\_8780-1-e1504560542671 IMG\\_8856 We have now been living in Cacalote, Oaxaca, Mexico for just over 6 months. Today (September 4), Jon and I began LEVEL 4 of Spanish School. This will be our final level of school and we will be finishing October 20! Wow, time has flown by!!!\nIt\u0026rsquo;s been a while since our last update and we are really sorry about not being better about it. Our week-long trip to California in June was a huge blessing. We got to see our beautiful niece marry her amazing husband, and spend time with family and friends. Jonny and Noah came back to Mexico with renewed spirits after going through some trials down here. Praise the Lord for that! Since our return from California, Jonny and Noah finished 4th grade, and Jon and I finished Level 3.\nWe had 3 weeks off after Level 3 and it was a time of many exciting things. I was invited to the women\u0026rsquo;s bible study at the local church and have been enjoying going each Friday afternoon. I have had to really put what I\u0026rsquo;ve learned into practice in order to understand and somewhat communicate with the ladies. It\u0026rsquo;s a total bonus that I\u0026rsquo;m building friendships with a few of the women. God knows our hearts, our needs, and our desires!\nWe also had some special visitors for a few days. Our oldest son, Austin, and his girlfriend, McKenna, flew down to spend some time with us. It was such a great time of being together and showing them how and where we live, along with doing a little bit of exploring with them. (Jon even got the opportunity to witness to a homeless man with our friend Joe.) Their visit was short but it was an answer to prayer that they were able to come see us.\nAnd a week ago we got another visitor\u0026hellip;our niece Machaela. She will be living with us for the rest of our time here and attending the Spanish School. She has a calling to serve in a deaf ministry in Guatemala, so this was the perfect option for her to do Level 1 and get some great education in learning the language. She\u0026rsquo;s a neat addition to our house and we are so excited to be on this journey together for the next 7 weeks\u0026hellip;taking this step in learning the language so we can serve our Lord where He has called each of us.\nPRAYER REQUESTS:\n*Please pray for direction for our next steps following language school\u0026hellip;location, financial provisions, what it is that the Lord would have us do here in Mexico to serve Him\n*That we would do well in school, both Jon and I, the boys, and Machaela\n*That we would stay healthy for the rest of our time here. We had a lot of health things go on during the last level of school and it was tough to play catch up after sick days, but the Lord TOTALLY got us through!\nPRAISE REPORTS: * We\u0026rsquo;ve been healthy for the last few weeks\n*That we\u0026rsquo;ve been able to start using our Spanish more often during these 3 weeks of down time from school. (Pray that we continue to do so as often as possible)\n*All of us had a GREAT first day of school today! Starting on an upbeat note, covered in prayer is the best feeling!!!\nThank you for taking the time to read this! We really appreciate all of your prayers and support. Little texts, emails, or Facebook messages come just when our hearts need a little encouragement. We thank the Lord for those. God is so good! And as always, if you have any specific prayer requests that you would like for us to pray, send us an email or text.\nJoshua 1:9 \u0026ldquo;Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you WHEREVER you go.\u0026rdquo;\nJon, Allison, Jonny and Noah\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/level-4-here-we-come/","summary":"\u003cdiv class=\"gallery gallery-cols-1\"\u003e\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMG%5F7975.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_7975\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_7975\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMG%5F8086-e1504561827316.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_8086-e1504561827316\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_8086-e1504561827316\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMG%5F8325-e1504561031400.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_8325-e1504561031400\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_8325-e1504561031400\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMG%5F8925-e1504560669533.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_8925-e1504560669533\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_8925-e1504560669533\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMG%5F8780-1-e1504560542671.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_8780-1-e1504560542671\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_8780-1-e1504560542671\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/IMG%5F8856.jpg\"\n         alt=\"IMG\\_8856\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            IMG\\_8856\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWe have now been living in Cacalote, Oaxaca, Mexico for just over 6 months. Today (September 4), Jon and I began LEVEL 4 of Spanish School. This will be our final level of school and we will be finishing October 20! Wow, time has flown by!!!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt\u0026rsquo;s been a while since our last update and we are really sorry about not being better about it. Our week-long trip to California in June was a huge blessing. We got to see our beautiful niece marry her amazing husband, and spend time with family and friends. Jonny and Noah came back to Mexico with renewed spirits after going through some trials down here. Praise the Lord for that! Since our return from California, Jonny and Noah finished 4th grade, and Jon and I finished Level 3.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Level 4, Here We Come!!!"},{"content":"\nConnections House\nWe are excited to update you on the purchase of Connections House dorms! The paperwork on the property is progressing and we hope to be able to complete the purchase in as soon as 3-5 weeks. The amount we still need to raise is $33,800. Please pray with us for the Lord to provide the funds needed and for the paperwork to go through.\nUpcoming Midwest Trip!\nThat\u0026rsquo;s right, we are heading to the Midwest to visit our supporters, family, and friends. We will keep you informed as to the dates of some get-togethers that we will have. We\u0026rsquo;d love to visit with as many of you as possible, so please feel free to send us a message and let us know if you\u0026rsquo;d like to connect. We will be visiting in Wisconsin and Illinois from September 3rd to September 26th. Ron will actually be arriving a bit early to visit his parents and staying a little later for a missions conference.\nFamily Update\nAn update on our ministry this summer will be out soon. Right now we just wanted to give a quick family update. William will be starting 11th grade soon. It\u0026rsquo;s crazy how fast the time goes. Only two more years and he will be graduating high school! Brittany is continuing to work stateside about three times a week at Bibigo, a Korean fast food place. She also continues to serve at Calvary Chapel Playas (Playas de Tijuana, Mexico) with her husband, Brian, where he works full time as the Pastor\u0026rsquo;s Assistant. They recently started the youth group at CCP on Friday nights and it is going very well. Brian will also begin classes soon at the University where he will be continuing his eduation in foreign languages. We also just got a new puppy! If you have heard, we lost our dog, Maya, to some sort of lung infection a couple of months ago. The new puppy\u0026rsquo;s name is Maverick and he\u0026rsquo;s a lab mix. He is 2 months old, very smart, and is getting along really well with Moka.\nWe recently had some family come and visit us here in Rosarito. This doesn\u0026rsquo;t happen often, so it was very exciting for us! Kristy\u0026rsquo;s sister, Kim, her husband, Dale (who is also Ron\u0026rsquo;s brother), their family, and one of Kristy\u0026rsquo;s other sisters, Shannon, all came to visit. We had a great time together! We even crossed a few things off of Kim\u0026rsquo;s bucket list!\nIf you have not heard, Kim was recently told there are no more treatments available for her cancer. Her doctors say she likely only has 3-12 months left on this earth with us. We know that only the Lord knows how much longer she\u0026rsquo;ll be here with us. We also know he can still do a miracle! Please pray with us that Kim\u0026rsquo;s migraines would lessen and that she would be not be in so much pain.\nAlso, Ron\u0026rsquo;s mom has been battling cancer. While she successfully won her fight with brain cancer, today we found out she has stage 3 fallopian tube cancer. She also recently underwent surgery, so she will have the next month to recover from that before beginning a new regiment of chemotherapy.\nThrough all of this, we can only declare that God is good! His plans are perfect and His ways are higher than our ways. It is difficult to be so far away from family at this time, but we are very thankful for our upcoming trip! Please continue to keep us in your prayers. They are what keep us going!\nWe will leave you with some photos of our recent family\u0026rsquo;s visit. God bless!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/quick-update-upcoming-midwest-trip/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2017/08/Connections-Money.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2017/08/Connections-Money-1024x410.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eConnections House\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are excited to update you on the purchase of Connections House dorms! The paperwork on the property is progressing and we hope to be able to complete the purchase in as soon as 3-5 weeks. The amount we still need to raise is $33,800. Please pray with us for the Lord to provide the funds needed and for the paperwork to go through.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eUpcoming Midwest Trip!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Quick Update \u0026 Upcoming Midwest Trip"},{"content":" We had a wonderful time during our furlough in the States. It was a blessing to be able to be with our family and friends. We loved traveling to different churches to share about what the Lord is doing out here, in Nepal. Most of our time was spend in California, but we also had an amazing opportunity to travel to Virginia and meet a church family that has been supporting us and praying for us. It was great to finally be able to put faces to the names of the people we had been emailing over the past two years.\nWe returned back to Nepal at the beginning of June and hit the ground running! We had about a week to adjust back to the time difference and lifestyle before we welcomed our first of two teams we would be hosting over the next few weeks.\nHosting Teams The first team was from a church in San Diego. The main focus of this group was ministering to the youth in a near by slum area. They hosted a two-day youth conference and a one day VBS event at a church in the middle of the slum. They also hosted a leadership conference at a church pastored by one of our Salvation Worship Team members as well as hosting an outreach at the leprosy colony. We had a great time working with each of the team members and we loved seeing their love for everyone they came in contact with.\nThe second group was a group of 10 high schoolers and 10 adult leaders from our home church, Calvary Chapel WestGrove. It was so great to see everyone and to minister along side of them. This trip was jam-packed with a ton of ministry!\nThe team spent two-days in the leprosy colony where they handed out hygiene \u0026amp; cooking packages to each person there. On each day, they provided a full meal for everyone and the team members had a chance to share their testimonies and meet the residents by going hut to hut and sharing the gospel with them.\nThe team was able to spend multiple days with the Promise Child girls too! They had a few days set aside for VBS where they had games, bible stories, songs, and crafts for the girls to do.\nThe last part of their trip, they hosted a two day youth conference where some of the members were able to lead worship, share testimonies, teach main sessions, and lead small group breakout sessions. It was awesome to see everyone reaching out to and ministering to their peers. On the last ministry day, the team partnered with the Salvation Worship Team and held a huge gospel and CD release concert. Around 900-1000 people showed up for the event where the Gospel was shared along with some awesome worship music.\nWe were grateful to be able to serve with these two groups and loved getting to know each person on the teams.\nCD Release The Salvation Worship Team’s newest album is officially available to purchase online! The majority of the CD is in Nepali but there are two songs in english that I (Tonielle) sing. If you would like to help support our ministry and get a taste of our music ministry, please purchase our CD!!\nThere are four ways you can help support our ministry by purchasing the CD: 1. iTunes: Go to the iTunes store (NOT APPLE MUSIC) and search “Salvation Worship Ministries”. The album name is listed as ” I am His” 2. Google Play: Open Google Play on your Android phone, select the Movies, Music, Books tab, search “Salvation Worship Ministries”. The album name is listed as ” I am His” 3. Amazon Music: click here 4. CD Baby: click here Urgent Prayer Request Some of you already heard that before we came to the States on furlough, in April, Tonielle’s business visa (aka – long term visa) was denied. The only reason it was denied was because we had “christian activity” happening on campus. The doors are slowly closing for religious freedom, but at this point, Nepal is still a country where you are free to practice any religion – basically, it is not even legal that they are denying the visa.\nWe are working with our lawyer to try to get the visa reinstated, but it is taking a very long time and costing a lot of money that we have not budgeted for. At this point, the government is saying they need to do an “in-depth investigation” into the business.\nTonielle and Levi are currently able to stay in the country with a tourist visa but are only allowed to remain on a tourist visa for up to 5 months per year. They have already been in-country for a little over 2 months, which means, if the business visa is not granted soon, we only have about 2.5 months until we will have to find another way to remain in Nepal.\nWe know and trust that God is in control and we am grateful that this is the only form of persecution that we have to deal with right now, but we would still like to ask for you to be praying for this process. If for some reason the visa is denied, we are trying to think of other ideas on how we can stay in the country but – obviously – it would be awesome if this can just resolve and the original visa will be reissued.\nThank you for your prayers! Feel free to share this with other believers and prayer chains as well, but please do not post on social media.\nIn Him, The Sarkar Family ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/summer-2017-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/spot-300x286.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/spot-300x286-300x286.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e We had a wonderful time during our furlough in the States. It was a blessing to be able to be with our family and friends. We loved traveling to different churches to share about what the Lord is doing out here, in Nepal. Most of our time was spend in California, but we also had an amazing opportunity to travel to Virginia and meet a church family that has been supporting us and praying for us. It was great to finally be able to put faces to the names of the people we had been emailing over the past two years.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Summer 2017 Update"},{"content":"But He answered and said to them, “I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out.” Luke 19:40 Dear Friends and Family,\nThis was an exciting month for Brian as he was able to go to Israel. My brother in-law has been a part of several archaeological digs in Israel and Jordan. This year he invited Brian to be a part of a new dig at Shilo. Shilo is where the tabernacle and ark of the covenant were located for 369 years.\nThe land itself declaring God\u0026rsquo;s Word. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity that could not be passed up. Many people wonder why archaeology is so important and I know there is probably a more detailed answer but I believe it is important because it reveals the truth of the Bible. It is literally the land itself declaring God’s Word.\nBrian getting a visa to Israel was not quite as easy as we thought it would be. There are many Israelis in Uganda and we seem to have a good relationship with them as a country, so we thought no problem. The Israeli embassy is actually in Kenya so we had to send Brian’s passport to them, along with required forms and documents they asked for. We were told it would take 2-3 weeks. Well 2 months and 5 days later Brian finally got his passport back with the visa in it. This was actually a few days after when he was scheduled to fly out. In between there they called almost everyday asking questions, wanting contacts of people in Israel and quizzing him on what archaeology is and what was he looking for in Israel. Another issue they had were the multiple South Sudan visas in his passport. We almost thought he would not get to go.\nWe almost thought he would not get to go. Towards the end of our waiting we realized it was God working all things together for good. On the night before Brian was originally scheduled to fly, and he still had not received his passport back, we received a phone call from our lawyer. She called that we had been scheduled last minute to come in the next morning for court to finalize Liana’s adoption. If Brian had received his passport on time he would not have been here and we would have missed this long awaited day. After that Brian almost immediately received his passport and was on a plane to Israel! God’s timing is perfect!\nIt is a dream of most Christians to one day visit Israel and to walk where Jesus walked. It is something every pastor and Bible teacher should get to experience. Being there makes the Bible come to life and gives a fresh realness to the truth you already know and have been teaching.\nKnowing that we were digging where the tabernacle had been\u0026hellip;was amazing. This is Brian’s personal account of his time is Israel. “ It was a privilege for me to be a part of the archaeological dig taking place at Shiloh. Knowing that we were digging where the tabernacle had been and where the ark and glory of the Lord dwelt was amazing. Everyday we were finding many pieces of pottery other artifacts. No matter how much we found, it never ceased to be a surprise and a wonder that we were holding pieces of history older than Jesus. Walking where Jesus walked and reading the words He taught where He taught them was another blessing of being in Israel. I believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God. I believe it has the power to change lives and to lead and direct us. Being in Israel strengthened what I already believe in ways that I cannot put into words. It is like the Bible comes to life for me now instead of just being words I believe and teach. Another thing that stood out to me while I was in Israel, mostly immersed in history, was that God is not done with Israel yet. There are still promises and prophesies to be fulfilled. The more that is discovered to prove what God has already done, makes that which is still to come seem so much closer.\nI am so thankful to my brother in-law for inviting me and for the whole ABR team for making me apart of their team at Shiloh. I am blessed beyond measure for all I learned and that the Lord opened my eyes to in Israel.”\nThank you for praying for and supporting our family and the ministry in Uganda. In Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS Praise the Lord for Brian’s wonderful opportunity to go to Israel and participate in an archaeological dig. Pray that we would get all the official documents from the Lawyers so that we can get Liana a passport and visas to come home for furlough. Pray for the teams coming through and the outreaches planned for this summer. Pray for continued health and safety for all the Kanyikes. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the ministries and leaders Pray that the Kanyikes can begin to raise the airfare that their family will need to go on furlough this fall. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/brian-goes-to-israel/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"but-he-answered-and-said-to-them-i-tell-you-that-if-these-should-keep-silent-the-stones-would-immediately-cry-out-luke-1940\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eBut He answered and said to them,\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003e“I tell you that if these should keep silent,  the stones would immediately cry out.”\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eLuke 19:40\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis was an exciting month for Brian as he was able to go to  Israel.  My brother in-law has been a part of several archaeological digs in Israel and Jordan.  This year he invited Brian to be a part of a new dig at Shilo.  Shilo is where the tabernacle and ark of the covenant were located for 369 years.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Brian Goes to Israel"},{"content":"\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/continents/europe/spencer-may-update-2/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/spencer\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs160/1116334796966/img/38.png?ver=1399093875000\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.egivingsystems.org/v3.0/index.php?client_id=58823\u0026amp;recurdate=3%7C18\u0026amp;recurdate_first_label=3rd%20of%20every%20month\u0026amp;recurdate_second_label=18th%20of%20every%20month\u0026amp;purposeid=934\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs160/1116334796966/img/37.png?ver=1399093875000\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Spencer May Update"},{"content":"\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/continents/europe/spencer-may-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/spencer\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs160/1116334796966/img/38.png?ver=1399093875000\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.egivingsystems.org/v3.0/index.php?client_id=58823\u0026amp;recurdate=3%7C18\u0026amp;recurdate_first_label=3rd%20of%20every%20month\u0026amp;recurdate_second_label=18th%20of%20every%20month\u0026amp;purposeid=934\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://origin.ih.constantcontact.com/fs160/1116334796966/img/37.png?ver=1399093875000\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Spencer May Update"},{"content":"Hello everyone!\nWe have been in the States now for a little under a month and it has been really amazing to see God\u0026rsquo;s hand in leading us and opening up opportunities for us. However coinciding with the blessings of God\u0026rsquo;s leading we were very saddened to hear of the death of one of the teenagers there in Romania. Stefan was a joy to be around and he will be sorely missed by everyone. Ruth and I were however encouraged to hear from Steve and Alice about how the Lord took this tragedy and brought about something beautiful. They told us of two preteen aged kids that purposely sought out Steve wanting to receive Christ in light of the events that took place. They also told us of the amazing opportunities they had to talk with people that were very open during this tragic time. We ask that you continue to pray for Stefan\u0026rsquo;s family, the church, and the teenagers there in Romania. We miss them and love them very much.\nIn coming to the States I really wanted to be able to go to school and learn a trade but we didn\u0026rsquo;t know how it would all work with getting a job and having the funds to even go to school. It\u0026rsquo;s been really amazing to see God answer those questions or worries that we had. As of this week I\u0026rsquo;m enrolled at Apollo Career Center in Lima(which is 30 minutes away). Starting the 18th of September I\u0026rsquo;ll be taking part in their Multi-Craft Industrial Technologies course which is 15 months long. In the course I\u0026rsquo;ll be learning a variety of skills that will prepare me to be a Maintenance technician. All of my classes will be in the evening from 6-10pm Monday-Thursday which will enable me to work either part-time or full-time and there is the opportunity to be hired on by a company as a paid apprentice. For quite a few years I\u0026rsquo;ve looked into various courses like diesel mechanics or aviation maintenance and I\u0026rsquo;m looking forward to the skills that I will receive from this training.\nIt was amazing how quickly my schooling all fell into place. Applications, testing, and applying for financial aid all happened within the span of a week and a half. Because of our low but sufficient income in Romania we were able to receive a grant from the government which covers half of the tuition cost and the student loans that we applied for are quite minor and cover the rest of tuition cost. It is so amazing how quickly and smoothly the process has been and we thank the Lord for this opportunity.\nWe as a family are doing well. We see the Lord\u0026rsquo;s hand in various ways and it encourages us. We know that it is going to be a huge change with me working and going to school and I will miss getting to be with Ruth and Eliana so much. Pray for God\u0026rsquo;s grace in this transition for us. At the moment our time in America has felt like we are just visiting. It has been so great for us getting to be with my parents and they have been a huge help and blessing during this transition. We have one last trip before we settle down and I start applying for jobs in the area. Tomorrow we are starting our trip down to Florida to see Ruth\u0026rsquo;s sister and her family. It has been four years since we last saw Stephanie and her family and we are looking forward to it. On our way down we are stopping off in North Carolina for a few days to visit with our friends there before continuing our trip South. We ask for your prayers as we take this long road trip and that we would pace ourselves and enjoy our time together as a family.\nAs I mentioned in previous updates, supporters can still send support through SGWM until the end of September. For those who have monthly support set up you will have to email the head of finances at SGWM, Jack Fletcher, ( Jack@ccsavinggrace.com) when you want to stop sending support.\nWe love you all and thank you for your love and support. It is amazing to see how the Lord provides and guides us all. I\u0026rsquo;m excited to see what the Lord chooses to do with us as a family here in Ohio. We ask for your continued prayers as we start this new season in our lives.\nIn Him,\nAden, Ruth and Eliana\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/back-in-the-states/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello everyone!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe have been in the States now for a little under a month and it has been really amazing to see God\u0026rsquo;s hand in leading us and opening up opportunities for us. However coinciding with the blessings of God\u0026rsquo;s leading we were very saddened to hear of the death of one of the teenagers there in Romania. Stefan was a joy to be around and he will be sorely missed by everyone. Ruth and I were however encouraged to hear from Steve and Alice about how the Lord took this tragedy and brought about something beautiful. They told us of two preteen aged kids that purposely sought out Steve wanting to receive Christ in light of the events that took place. They also told us of the amazing opportunities they had to talk with people that were very open during this tragic time. We ask that you continue to pray for Stefan\u0026rsquo;s family, the church, and the teenagers there in Romania. We miss them and love them very much.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Back in the States"},{"content":"Hello there!\nAs most of you know, we will be leaving for Peru on August 16th. The Fall 2017 semester has already begun, and so to some extent we will hit the ground running when we arrive. The timing of everything worked out for us to come in a couple weeks later than everyone else. It’s less than ideal of course, but it was the necessary timing for our family.\nLast month Romeo and I were blessed with the opportunity to go to the Czech Republic while he taught a retreat for the church in Roudnice. It was a great time of fellowship with the believers there. We enjoyed it, but more importantly, God was glorified, and it was a time of growth and drawing near to the Lord. It was exhausting in all the best ways. And we both put on a ton of weight in the ten days we were there because of the incredible food!\nWe traveled the States this Summer visiting friends, family and churches, I counted that we have been to 26 States since April. Approx. 13,000 miles (maybe closer to 14) traveled, not including flights, and so many hours on the road I can’t count them. Major bonus, our van was full of incredible kids that soak in the blessings of getting to see so many places and almost never complain about long hours in their seats. Honestly, I am convinced that we couldn’t find a better group of travelers. Even with a restless toddler in the bunch, she too was generally content! Praise the Lord for His incredible blessing in perfectly choosing each one of our family members to be a part of this missions bound team.\nDespite the grace that God poured over our travels, and the sweet times visiting with everyone… we cannot wait to be settled into our little house in Peru and get back to a routine again. This year has been a precious blessing in it’s own unique way, but we’re so excited for a season with a bit more regularity, and our own house to get back to a regular school schedule. But more so than our own desire to be back in Peru. We’re so thankful that the Lord has called us, provided for us, and continues to encourage us along the bumpy road it has taken us to make it back!\nThank you to those of you who are praying for us, for anyone who has not already begun praying on a specific day of the week or month, would you please make a commitment to spend intentional time in prayer for us? We would love to have you become a part of our prayer team. Sadly, that has been a slow developing team for us. Few people have stepped up even to commit to praying just one day out of the month. So if you have been praying already, we would love to have you set intentional time. Write it on your calendar, put reminders in your phone, and just stop to pray! We feel so strongly that prayer makes a difference in all aspects of our lives, and yours as well. So we are praying that the Lord would raise up believers to pray. In order that daily, we would have someone covering us in prayer.\nOur communication team as well still has a few gaps in it. If the Lord has blessed you with the gift of exhortation, and you would enjoy writing letters or sending packages, please consider partnering with us in this way.\nFinally, we have not yet met our financial support goals. For the many of you that have been waiting until closer to our sending date to financially support us, that time is now. The Lord has been providing additional supporters every week and it has been such an encouragement. Would you pray about whether or not the Lord might have you partner with us financially?\nPraise be to God for ALL that He has blessed us with, and His incredible grace and forgiveness. We’re so thankful for the opportunity to serve Him both here and in Peru. Thankful for the blessings and trials that stir and grow our faith and press us in, to a deeper relationship with Him! May you grow in Him daily, and rejoice in who He is!\nThe Buescher Family\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/one-week-to-departure/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello there!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs most of you know, we will be leaving for Peru on August 16th.  The Fall 2017 semester has already begun, and so to some extent we will hit the ground running when we arrive.  The timing of everything worked out for us to come in a couple weeks later than everyone else.  It’s less than ideal of course, but it was the necessary timing for our family.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"One Week to Departure"},{"content":"\nThe purposed image for stained glass (in progress).\nA few years back when we were living in Oregon the Lord was working all sorts of amazing things in our lives. It was the product of a very trying time. We spent a lot of time at our church. It was an amazing season with one sort of church service or another every night of the week. Almost daily there was morning worship, evening service, and sometimes evening worship. There were a number of things I was coming to the Lord about and every day out of desperation I would just sit and pray and read and wait… and wait… and…\nThen the Lord started moving and answering prayers in ways with results that had His signature all over it. As I kept returning to my seat to continue to wait on the Lord it was so awe inspiring to see the power, perfection, and beauty of the work that God does with precision, that all I ever want to do from now on is just wait on the Lord to see the great works that He is orchestrating. That season taught me the beauty of waiting. Now I underline any verse I come across that that speaks of waiting and being silent before the Lord.\n“…Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! Yet regard the prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O Lord my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which Your servant is praying before You: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night, toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. And may You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive.\u0026quot; II Chronicles 6:18‭-‬21\nI had never been one to put much importance in a church building, but that changed when I was in need of a place where I could daily get away to a place design and dedicated to seeking the Lord. The image came to mind of a “waiting room” where people were waiting to hear from the Great Physician who was working healing in their lives. I thought that, although the Mission is already a quiet place set apart to seek and serve the Lord, it would be great if it had chapel specifically for that. Upon our return (which was another of those answered prayers) it turned out that Adam Hulstrom, John Wencl, and Miguel Rivera (and maybe others) also had the same vision for a chapel.\nIn the last year, after finishing the last building project, we decided to finally start moving in that direction. We thought that we wouldn’t request any money for it until some other projects (seemingly more important… hahaha) were covered. That’s when the Lord intervened and readjusted our priorities according to His priorities. A man who didn’t know the Mission approached a pastor who was bringing a group and asked if we had a chapel (not a gymnasium or pool or other random thing). The pastor said, “No, but they want to build one.” The man said, “Every orphanage needs a chapel,” and proceeded to write a check for a $1000. The Lord spoke, and it was clear. Without daily coming and talking and asking Him we can do nothing.\nWe have made it repeatedly clear that this is purely a freewill offering. If someone wants to give their time, labor, materials, or money, it’s all by the Lord’s Spirit as they feel led. So far $6070 have been given towards it. A person says they have a bell for it. I’m astounded weekly when I give visiting groups options for projects that guys and girls, younger and older, choose to go out in the near 100 degree weather and pick and dig. Yesterday a guys that visits monthly “happened” to have a jackhammer in his truck and has loaned it to us for a month. There is so much more to this already long story that I will spare you. But this is the work that God has ordained for this season and will be excited to share in the coming years to see and tell the great things that Jesus is waiting to do when people come and ask and trust and wait on Him.\nThe front facade and floorplan to seat 72.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-beauty-of-waiting-a-chapel-for-the-mission/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/moody/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2017/07/Screenshot_2017-07-30_144850-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe purposed image for stained glass (in progress).\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA few years back when we were living in Oregon the Lord was working all sorts of amazing things in our lives. It was the product of a very trying time. We spent a lot of time at our church. It was an amazing season with one sort of church service or another every night of the week. Almost daily there was morning worship, evening service, and sometimes evening worship. There were a number of things I was coming to the Lord about and every day out of desperation I would just sit and pray and read and wait… and wait… and…\u003c/p\u003e","title":"THE BEAUTY OF WAITING (A CHAPEL FOR THE MISSION)"},{"content":"Dear ministry partners!\nIn this month’s update, I wanted to share with you some of the wonderful things that God has been doing through the children in our ministry! As you travel around the world on missions trips, one of the unique things that you will witness is that children are usually the first ones to come to the Lord! When missionaries move to a foreign country, it is usually the children that are open to hear about Jesus first!\nHere in Rosarito, things worked that same way with our ministry! Since the very beginning back in 2002, we have been blessed to always have groups of children around the church!\nAt the present time, we continue with our Saturday street kids ministry, where we bring 30+children to our church each Saturday afternoon to hear about Jesus, play, do a craft, and enjoy a meal! We also minister to over 300 children every week at our weekend services!\nThis past month we enjoyed a very special VBS! (Vacation Bible School) In this summer’s edition, we had over children ages 5 to 12 join us this year and the racing style theme was “The Pits”! Each day the children got to race around the church campus on mini bikes and toy race cars, and throughout the day they would make “pit stops” for bible stories, crafts, and snacks!\nThe laughter could be heard from miles around, and each child had an amazing experience. Our ministry team did a fantastic job and over 40 teachers and youth volunteered to spend an entire week ministering to these precious children!\nThe highlight of our VBS week is always the final day where we present the message of salvation to the children! This year over 20 children made first time professions of faith. IN the Bible Jesus said, “Let the little children come unto me” and this week many of them did! Praise the Lord!\nOn the ministry side of things, we continue to focus on our church building fundraising project. In July we were blessed to host two fundraising dinners and many generous donors contributed, and God provided over 40,000 dollars towards our goal! Our present lease runs out at the end of this month (August), and we are still short of the purchase price, so please keep this project your prayers!\nIf you were not able to attend one of our fundraising dinners and would like to give a special one-time financial gift towards the building project, the direct online giving link is below!\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=E28A7A549C0B4E8 Thank you once again for your love, prayers, and support of our family here on the mission field of Mexico! It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and it is through your financial giving that God meets our physical needs! We love you and appreciate you!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests:\n#1- Pray for the 20 children that made first time professions of faith at our summer VBS!\n#2- Pray that God will continue to provide for the financial needs of our family personally!\n#3- Pray that our building fundraising projects can continue to be blessed and that we will be able to purchase our building free and clear by our purchase deadline in August!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/ministering-to-children/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eDear ministry partners!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2017/08/20374518_1526314187442661_5155832515887953797_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2017/08/20374518_1526314187442661_5155832515887953797_n-300x186.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this month’s update, I wanted to share with you some of the wonderful things that God has been doing through the children in our ministry! As you travel around the world on missions trips, one of the unique things that you will witness is that children are usually the first ones to come to the Lord! When missionaries move to a foreign country, it is usually the children that are open to hear about Jesus first!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ministering to Children"},{"content":" “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some,\u0026quot; When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.\u0026quot; John 21:6\nGod blessed us with a productive month of July as we returned to our various ministries. Here are some of the highlights.\nDarryl\u0026rsquo;s new video, Archaeology and the Bible, in the Cambodian language, was made available to more than 29,000 Cambodians via Facebook. It received more than 1,600 views from www.facebook.com/internationalfishers alone. It also received 140 likes and 86 shares from two of the smaller pages that we can track statistically.\nwww.internationalfishers.com is up to 344 unique visitors and 1,062 page views per week.\nDarryl was invited to teach Christian Apologetics again at the Cambodian Bible Institute in January.\nDarryl was also invited to teach Christian Apologetics to pastors from Myanmar who travel to Thailand for training in February.\nDarryl helped a Christian hospital connect with Fount of Wisdom Publishing so they can equip their staff with the book, Christianity: Reasons for Faith. It is good that the book is still being used to equip people in Cambodia.\nKayo led devotions at Precious Women Ministry, and is exploring future activities with this ministry.\nKayo has returned to the International Christian Assembly\u0026rsquo;s worship team.\nBenjamin had a good time at vacation Bible school at ICA.\nThank you for your prayers, encouragement, and support. We sense God\u0026rsquo;s blessings and favor. Please continue to pray for strength, health, and wisdom as we continue to connect with our ministry partners and explore exciting new partnership opportunities.\nIn Christ\u0026rsquo;s Hands,\nDarryl\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/cambodia-ministry-update-2/","summary":"\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/07/20170705%5F181714-e1500861688504-169x300.jpg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some,\u0026quot;  When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.\u0026quot; John 21:6\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod blessed us with a productive month of July as we returned to our various ministries.  Here are some of the highlights.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDarryl\u0026rsquo;s new video, \u003cem\u003eArchaeology and the Bible,\u003c/em\u003e in the Cambodian language, was made available to more than 29,000 Cambodians via Facebook.  It received more than 1,600 views from \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/internationalfishers\"\u003ewww.facebook.com/internationalfishers\u003c/a\u003e alone.  It also received 140 likes and 86 shares from two of the smaller pages that we can track statistically.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Cambodia Ministry Update"},{"content":"We are in the middle of our move to the States and will be in Ohio on the 19th of July. We are currently in Cork, Ireland with my brother and sister-in-law til the 18th. Our last few weeks in Romania were quite busy for us and they were both emotionally and physically draining. We also wanted to send out an update before we left Romania but due to the kids outreaches and packing we ended up not being able to.\nOur last few meetings with the teens in Valeni were really great. We are really going to miss that group. In one of our last meetings one of the guys thanked God that our group was like a family and we are so thankful for how God brought the group together.\nDuring a different meeting two of the girls said they wanted to receive the Lord in their lives. They said they had never made that concious decision and they wanted to give their lives to the Lord. It is a blessing to see the Lord bring fruit through those girls lives.\nRuth and I are thankful to have been a part of those kids lives the last few years and we pray that they would all choose to live their lives for their God and Creator and that they wouldn\u0026rsquo;t waste their lives away.\nDuring our last full week in Romania we as a church had our kids outreaches. We did a two day kids outreach in both Valeni and Ciorani and they both went really well. We taught about the parable of the tax collect and Pharisee and we also taught on the parable of the lost son.\nWe had good turn outs in both locations and the Gospel was shared with each of those kids. It was good to see familiar faces and some new ones. Ruth and I were busy heading up the game time but we were thankful to have some fun with the kids before we left. With the outreaches we also had some extra help from two girls who are from a church in Missouri; they will be in Romania till sometime in August so we are thankful that they will be a help to the churches and to Steve and Alice till then.\nPacking everything is never an enjoyable experience we only had 4 bags to pack up and they couldn\u0026rsquo;t be over 20 kilos which is a little less that 45 pounds. We left a couple bags and our guitar behind that Ruth\u0026rsquo;s family are wanting to bring over when they come for a visit to the States this fall/winter. We definitely got rid of a lot of stuff but we know it\u0026rsquo;s just stuff that can be replaced if needed.\nWe are excited about this next stage in our lives but there is a lot that is unknown. I\u0026rsquo;ll be looking to get a job when we arrive and we know that life will be very different. It will be so strange to not be involved in ministry in the same way we have been for so many years. We want to continue to serve the Lord and to be used by Him wherever He takes us. We ask for your prayers as we take this step of faith. We will be staying at my parents for a few months until I get a job and we are able to move out.\nAs I mentioned in our last update, supporters can still send support through SGWM for 3 months after we get to the states. For those who have monthly support set up you will have to email the head of finances at SGWM, Jack Fletcher, ( Jack@ccsavinggrace.com) when you want to stop sending support.\nIt has been a huge blessing to be here in Ireland. We have been able to get good rest in this cool and pleasant climate. It has been so great to see so many friends from our time in Ireland and it has been a joy to introduce Eliana to more family(Eliana loves her uncle Ian and her auntie Siona)! The Lord is good and we see His faithfulness throughout the years and we will continue to trust in Him and not in our own understanding.\nIn Christ\n-Aden, Ruth and Eliana Knepper\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/15246/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe are in the middle of our move to the States and will be in Ohio on the 19th of July. We are currently in Cork, Ireland with my brother and sister-in-law til the 18th. Our last few weeks in Romania were quite busy for us and they were both emotionally and physically draining. We also wanted to send out an update before we left Romania but due to the kids outreaches and packing we ended up not being able to.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"July Update"},{"content":"“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord…” Dear Friends and Family,\nWe are officially the Kanyike family!!!!!!! It has been a very long process. We began the adoption process 7 years ago and this month we have finished. There have been so many trials and hindrances along the way but we praise God that they were just logistical matters. For us from day one our children have been ours, no one had to tell us or them, but it is nice to finally be recognized as a family by the Ugandan government.\nI thought in celebration of the finalized adoptions we could look back on how far we and the children have come.\n\u0026hellip;if God was not giving me children then there must be a reason\u0026hellip; In May 2010 Brian and I celebrated our 4th anniversary. From the very beginning we wanted to have children. After about 2 years and no children we went for every test imaginable but the doctors could find nothing wrong with either of us. If you have ever struggled with infertility then you know all the questions and doubts that arise. People would ask me about adoption and I felt that if God was not giving me children then there must be a reason so who was I to go and get one myself. After sometime I was having lunch with a friend of mine who has adopted several children. I was sharing with her that children are a gift from God and that James tells us to help orphans is pure and undefiled religion, encouraging her in her calling as a mother. Something happened as I was sharing with her, it was like the Lord was speaking to me, giving me those verses.\nAs soon as we saw Luke we knew he was our son. On the next Wednesday we had an afterglow and the pastors and elders were up front to anoint people with oil and pray for healing. Out of the blue one of the pastors came up to me and asked if he and the elders could pray for me and Brian. They prayed that God would give us a baby. That very Friday a couple from our church who was adopting told us that they had seen our son. With in the next 2 days 2 more people told us about the same baby. We knew it could not be a coincidence so we had to go and find out more. As soon as we saw Luke we knew he was our son. He even looked like us!\nGod is so amazing! His gift to us was perfect! Luke came home to us when he was 11 weeks old. We have been thankful everyday of his life with us for the blessing he is to us and to all who know him. He is very sensitive, compassionate, artistic and intelligent. This month he made 7 years old.\nWhen Luke was about 1 1/2 we decided that we would love for him to have a brother or sister. Around that time we had visitors at the guest house who were looking into international adoption. We visited a babies home with them and gave the social worker there our contacts. We actually met Laylee that day and fell in love with her because she was so tiny and so pretty. She actually resembled Luke. We were told that most the babies would be internationally adopted. After several months we received several calls from the babies home saying they would like to meet with us.\n\u0026hellip;Brian heard God say that He was doing something for us in an unexpected way. When we arrived for our meeting I first went in alone because Luke had fallen asleep in the car so Brian was waiting with him. They then began to tell me Laylee’s story which I had heard on our first visit there. As soon as I realized they were talking about her I told them I need to go get my husband. When we came back to the office they brought her to us and Brian heard God say that He was doing something for us in an unexpected way. Luke immediately was trying to hug and kiss her. We were certain she was to be ours but told the babies home we would go home and pray about it then give them our final decision.\nWhile we prayed about it God brought to our memory several things that had happened with in the week before they called that in retrospect were preparing us for this unexpected news. As we were praying it seemed that every word spoken to us even by those who did not know we were praying confirmed what we already felt God had spoken. When we gave the babies home our final decision we assumed it would take a while or at least a couple weeks but in 1 week and 5 days all the legal paperwork and home visits were completed and then Laylee Kyisa came home on March 30, 2012.\nI saw Liana and began to weep. I knew she was my daughter. Liana became our daughter on November 10, 2014. We had met Liana when my family was visiting in July, when we had taken them to visit Loving Hearts Babies Home. As soon as we saw her we knew she was our daughter. She even looked like Luke and Laylee. At that time the necessary police reports and investigations were not yet done for her to be considered for placement with a family. It appeared hopeless that she could ever be adopted . At one point the Babies home even contacted us about another baby but when we went to the home I saw Liana and began to weep. I knew she was my daughter. God’s timing is amazing\u0026ndash;they contacted us the end of October to see if we were still interested and we were told we could begin the process to gain custody. From that point it was one miracle after another because every step of the way there would appear to be a hindrance and instead a blessing would result.\nWe feel so blessed that God has given us the children we have. There is no greater gift then to be their mommy and daddy.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nThe Kanyike family (now officially!)__Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana PRAYER REQUESTS Praise the Lord for Brian’s wonderful opportunity to go to Israel and participate in an archaeological dig. Pray that we would get all the official documents from the Lawyers so that we can get Liana a passport and visas to come home for furlough. Pray for the teams coming through and the outreaches planned for this summer. Pray for continued health and safety for all the Kanyikes. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the ministries and leaders. Pray that the Kanyikes can begin to raise the airfare that their family will need to go on furlough this fall. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/officially-the-kanyike-family/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"behold-children-are-a-gift-of-the-lord\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord…”\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"we-are-officially-the-kanyike-family\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWe are officially the Kanyike family!!!!!!!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt has been a very long process. We began the adoption process  7 years ago and this month we have finished.  There have been so many trials and hindrances along the way but we praise God that they were just logistical matters.  For us from day one our children have been ours, no one had to tell us or them, but it is nice to finally be recognized as a family by the Ugandan government.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Officially the Kanyike Family!"},{"content":"Greetings from Cambodia!\nThen he said,“Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!”So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.John 21:6\nWe arrived in Cambodia on June 2 and God has been faithful to us. We have been able to reconnect with our ministry partners. Darryl has been working on producing a video in Khmer and English entitled, The Bible and Archaeology. He is also writing and revising other video scripts for future projects and some blog posts as well. The website, www.internationalfishers.com is ministering to Cambodians in Cambodia and in the USA as well. Around 288 people visit the website each week. This is an encouraging number considering our eleven month sabbatical.\nGod has provided a safe comfortable apartment for us and a car. Kayo will return to worship team and other ministries in the coming weeks. Right now she is busy getting us settled in our new place. Benjamin was able to reconnect with his classmates at Hope International School. He will be a third grader there in the fall. He finished his home schooling so now he is on summer vacation. He enjoys reading and listening to audiobooks.\nPlease continue to pray for health and strength for us as we resume our ministries and explore what God has for us in this new chapter of ministry in Cambodia.\nIn Christ’s Hands\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin Record\nPhnom Penh, Cambodia\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/back-in-cambodia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Cambodia!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Records-in-Cambodia.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Records-in-Cambodia-300x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e Then he said,“Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!”So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.John 21:6\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe arrived in Cambodia on June 2 and God has been faithful to us.  We have been able to reconnect with our ministry partners.  Darryl has been working on producing a video in Khmer and English entitled, \u003cem\u003eThe Bible and Archaeology.\u003c/em\u003e He is also writing and revising other video scripts for future projects and some blog posts as well. The website, \u003ca href=\"https://www.internationalfishers.com\"\u003ewww.internationalfishers.com\u003c/a\u003e is ministering  to Cambodians in Cambodia and in the USA as well. Around 288 people visit the website each week.  This is an encouraging number considering our eleven month sabbatical.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Back in Cambodia"},{"content":"In May our family had an amazing vacation in which we drove almost entirely around the U.S. in two weeks and then spent another week with our family in Oregon. We were all blessed to get to see and briefly visit many places and friends along the way. Two weeks obviously isn’t sufficient time to do any of those visits justice, but it was a great introduction.\nAs is the norm for the Mission, it cycles through seasons of what we call “feast and famine” of lots of staff followed by a mass exodus to few staff. Those cycles are actually greatly appreciated. When lots of people come we make lots of new friends, get a lot of projects done, and the kids get a lot more attention, therapy, and love . And then about the time when we’re overstimulated and in need of some quiet time people all seem to plan to leave at the same time. During those times we enjoy more of a family feel where we all sit around a single breakfast table, work a bit harder together, and sleep a bit deeper at night after longer days of work.\nWhile we were gone the Mission had gone through one of those mass exoduses and almost seemed like a ghost town compared to the 20 single staff and 4 families we had before we left. That last Season of Discipleship was an amazing time in which the Lord really did “take the reins” and take control. Whenever He does that everything works out far better than if we try to dictate or design how we think things should run. There has been much interest expressed for another School of Discipleship and we want nothing other that to just let the Lord have the reins again. But the dilemma is how to make plans without getting in the way of our Father’s plans…\nA man\u0026rsquo;s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps. Proverbs 16:9\nFortunately the Lord gives us the freedom to choose a direction and start moving in it, while yet guiding and directing us along a pathway that He sees is even better. Therefore we are putting together our plans for the school excitedly awaiting for the Lord to step in and start making adjustments.\nThe school will run from September 12 to December 14 for anyone from the ages of 18-29 who either are new believers, want to build a strong foundation for their walk, or are looking for an opportunity to live out what they believe. The cost will be $1000, and depending on the turnout there may be a couple of scholarships available for people with financial challenges.\nThe morning will be spent in class and the afternoons will be a mix of serving the kids alongside the staff or time dedicated to prayer, studying and meditating on the Word, and walking the desert roads with our Lord. The classes will revolve around the simply profound foundations of what it means to be a born again believer in Jesus the Christ. They will include:\nTHE FOUNDATIONS OF THE FAITH: the preeminence of Jesus, salvation, the deity of Christ, baptism, the trinity, the relation of faith works and righteousness, the Holy Spirit, the church, and much more.\nSPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES: prayer, reading God’s Word, communion, fasting, fellowship, evangelism…\nTHE WORD: Jesus is the Word, the Word is living, studying the Word, sharing His Word, principles of His Word…\nThere will also be days and times dedicated to corporate prayer, questions and answers, and students sharing.\nThere will soon be more information available on the website: www.one27foundation.org, but in the meantime you can contact myself:\nJeff Moody\n619-729-7277 (Mission business phone from Sunday noon to Friday noon)\nJeff-moody@hotmail.com\nTo apply fill out an application found at https://www.one27foundation.org/join-team, and indicate that it is for the S.O.D..\nMost of all, please pray that the Lord provides for the Mission and the school, and that He holds the door open for all those who He wants to come for that time. Thank you, and may our great Father in heaven richly bless you.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/fall-school-of-discipleship/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn May our family had an amazing vacation in which we drove almost entirely around the U.S. in two weeks and then spent another week with our family in Oregon. We were all blessed to get to see and briefly visit many places and friends along the way. Two weeks obviously isn’t sufficient time to do any of those visits justice, but it was a great introduction.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs is the norm for the Mission, it cycles through seasons of what we call “feast and famine” of lots of staff followed by a mass exodus to few staff. Those cycles are actually greatly appreciated. When lots of people come we make lots of new friends, get a lot of projects done, and the kids get a lot more attention, therapy, and love . And then about the time when we’re overstimulated and in need of some quiet time people all seem to plan to leave at the same time. During those times we enjoy more of a family feel where we all sit around a single breakfast table, work a bit harder together, and sleep a bit deeper at night after longer days of work.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Fall School of Discipleship"},{"content":"\nDear ministry partners!\nIn May we got to celebrate and send out our 17th church planting team. In this update, I want to tell you all about this wonderful event! I first met my friend Michael Hanson, his wife Melissa, and their three children (Caleb, Sarah, and Nathan) at our church over 6 years ago. They Hanson family had been sent out to Mexico from a church in their hometown of Santa Cruz (Northern California) to serve full time at a local orphanage that we partner with!\nAfter completing their four year commitment with the orphanage, Michael sat down with me and shared that he has always felt called to teach the word in a full time ministry position! I invited Michael to join our ministry team, and it was at that time, the Hanson family joined us as full time missionary staff. Michael also enrolled in our church planting course!\nOver the past two years, the Hansons have not only been strategic ministry partners but good personal friends of ours! We eventually ordained Michael as one of our Assistant Pastors as he took on more and more ministry responsibilities! After completing our two year church planting course, Michael and Melissa both sensed that God was calling them to move back to their hometown to plant a church to reach the large Hispanic population in Santa Cruz that would be based on the bilingual model that we have at CCRosarito!\nIn May our church was able to have a SENDING WEEKEND service where Michael preached about God’s call to the nations and also shared the calling that God has placed on his family to church plant! As always, it was with mixed feelings that we sent their family out! Not only have the Hanson’s become our good friends, but our children have literally grown up together. One of the blessings of being a sending hub is that many missionary families join our staff and it gives our children an opportunity to develop friendships with the children of other missions minded families!\nMany tears flowed as we held our going away parties for the Hanson family! We miss them terribly, but we stand firm in our belief that God has called them back home to church plant! Just last week, the Hanson’s arrived back in Santa Cruz, and they have already seen God begin to open up doors of ministry for them. Please pray that God will bless the home Bible study that they are beginning soon, and that God will bring servant leaders alongside of them to serve in this great work! Thank you once again for partnering with us! Together God has blessed us to with the opportunity to partner together to reach so many communities through church planting!\nI want to finish this update by sharing with you about the progress on our church building fundraising campaign! After 3 months of only local (Mexico/church side) fundraising, we have received over 35% of the total goal! (180k out of 480k full asking price) The time has now come for us to visit the USA for our two planned fundraising dinners!\nWe hope that you will be able to join us for one of these two dinners! If you are in the Bakersfield area and would like to join us for our Friday June 30th dinner, please contact my father Mark Vincent at 714-649-3105, so we can plan on you’re attendance! If you are able to attend our Orange County Fund Raising dinner in Yorba Linda on Saturday July 1st, we have an online sign up for you to confirm your attendance. Please copy the link below into your internet browser and kindly tell us how many seats we can provide for you!\nhttps://www.egsnetwork.com/events/?eventid=30EF7971A97D4EE#\nFinally, #1- please continue to pray that God will bring those donors ready to partner with us to these two dinners. At these dinners I will share about the history of the church, everyone will enjoy a free delicious Mexican dinner, and then have the opportunity to give a tax deductible donation to help us purchase our building! #2- Pray as we continue on with our monthly local fundraising efforts in Mexico. #3- Pray about joining us for one of our fundraising dinners, and please feel free to invite other donors that you know that might be interested in partnering with us in this worthy cause! In our next month’s update, we will include sign up information for those interested in attending one of these fund raising dinners! (The dinner is free, but you and your guests will need to reserve your spot) Thank you once again for your love, prayers, and support of our family here on the mission field of Mexico! It is through your prayers that God meets our spiritual needs, and through your financial support, that God meet’s our material needs!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests:\n#1- Pray that God will bless our newest church plant, Santa Cruz Bilingual Church and our church planters the Hanson Family!\n#2- Pray that God will continue to provide for the financial needs of our family personally!\n#3- Pray for our stateside fundraising banquets scheduled for Friday June 30 in Bakersfield and Saturday July 1st in Yorba Linda!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-new-church-plant/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2017/05/18527560_10154693307012029_1021103578429969894_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2017/05/18527560_10154693307012029_1021103578429969894_n-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDear ministry partners!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn May we got to celebrate and send out our 17th church planting team. In this update, I want to tell you all about this wonderful event! I first met my friend Michael Hanson, his wife Melissa, and their three children (Caleb, Sarah, and Nathan) at our church over 6 years ago. They Hanson family had been sent out to Mexico from a church in their hometown of Santa Cruz (Northern California) to serve full time at a local orphanage that we partner with!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A New Church Plant!"},{"content":"It has been a little while since our last update on the purchase of the Connections House property here in Rosarito. We are excited about the funds raised so far and we are completely in awe of what the Lord has done! Just over two thirds of the total purchase amount has been given. At this point, however, we are in waiting mode. There are a couple of small issues with the paperwork for the property that need to be cleared up before the sale can go through. It looks like it could be up to an 8-10 month process. So we are waiting on the Lord\u0026rsquo;s timing. We know it is perfect. We have faith that everything will be taken care of so that we can make the purchase final.\nAs we look ahead, we have two big projects here at Connections House coming up. The first one is to replace the leaking roof over the dorms, and the second is to add two new bathrooms. If your church/youth group/etc. is looking to send a team to Mexico and would like a construction project, please pray and consider one of these much-needed improvements to our dorms!\nTeams, Teams, Teams!!\nRight now we are springing into the busy season! Connections House was hopping with four back to back teams in the two weeks surrounding Easter. At the same time we had two teams housed at a different location that we were serving with as well. There was children\u0026rsquo;s ministry, soccer \u0026amp; testimonies, a dump outreach, street evangelism, a senior home visit, work projects, children\u0026rsquo;s homes visits, and so much more! One highlight was an outreach at the park, complete with carnival games, prizes, face painting, popcorn, cotton candy, soccer, and clowns, which ended with the VeggieTales movie, \u0026ldquo;Jonah\u0026rdquo;, on the big screen.\nNew Bilingual Church Plant and New Staff at Connections House!\nNext month we are going to have to say \u0026ldquo;see you later\u0026rdquo; to some very good friends of ours. Michael \u0026amp; Melissa Hanson, along with their three children, Caleb, Sarah, and Nathan, have been serving here as missionaries for six years. In May, they will be moving back to Santa Cruz, California to plant a bilingual church - Santa Cruz Bilingual Church! We are so excited for them and looking forward to seeing what the Lord is going to do through this amazing family. Next month we have the privilege of helping them move to Santa Cruz, approximately 8 hours north of here. We will visit a couple of churches along the way that we have been working with for several years. Our return trip will be to move our good friends, Shawn \u0026amp; Pam Cullen to Rosarito. The Cullens have ser ved as part-time missionaries for the past six years. Pam has served many weeks at a time, as well as several summers, here with us during our busiest seasons of teams, as Cook, Nurse, Team Host, and wherever else needed. Shawn has also served for many weeks here and there over the past six years and has recently retired from the fire department in Northern California. Shawn and Pam will be working with us in team ministry here at Connections House. The photo on the right is Shawn and Pam with their daughter, Jessica. Our trip up to California will also include some much needed family vacation time as well.\nFamily Life\nThere is never a dull moment. William is working diligently to finish up school over the next month. He is doing really well, considering all the days and half-days he takes off for ministry purposes. He is excited and striving to finish up in time for our upcoming trip so that he will not have to do school on the road. Ron has been busy getting some items ready to sell at a fundraiser at CCR and to pick up a huge load of donations near LA for the church and our church plants. Kristy is working to catch up on all the photo editing from all the teams and recent ministry. A recent project was the Easter photos at CCR. You can see the background we created in these three photos. William is pictured with one of his good friends, Daniel.\nBrittany has a new job working for Bibigo, a Korean restaurant. She commutes an hour, one way, to work on the other side of the border. Brian will be finishing up his third semester soon at a university in Tijuana, where he is studying to be a teacher of foreign languages. He and Brittany continue to serve together in worship ministry at Calvary Chapel Playas in Playas de Tijuana, where Brian is also working full-time as Pastor\u0026rsquo;s Assistant.\nThank You!\nWe truly do feel your prayers! We are so blessed to serve here in Rosarito and we are excited for what lies ahead. Thank you so much for your love, prayers, and support!\nFinancial Giving\nNo, it\u0026rsquo;s not too late to give toward the purchase of Connections House! The sooner the property is paid off, the sooner we will be able to make the improvements needed! There are still two easy ways for you to give:\n#1 – GoFundMe – Just click \u0026amp; give!\nClick to Donate Now!\n#2 – Tax-deductible gift – May be sent in the mail by doing the following:\nChecks may be made payable to “Calvary Chapel Rosarito”. Please write “Connections House” on the memo line and mail to: Calvary Chapel Rosarito, 511 E San Ysidro Blvd #6355, San Ysidro, CA 92173\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/dorm-update-spring-teams-upcoming-trip/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIt has been a little while since our last update on the purchase of the Connections House property here in Rosarito. We are excited about the funds raised so far and we are completely in awe of what the Lord has done! Just over two thirds of the total purchase amount has been given. At this point, however, we are in waiting mode. There are a couple of small issues with the paperwork for the property that need to be cleared up before the sale can go through. It looks like it could be up to an 8-10 month process. So we are waiting on the Lord\u0026rsquo;s timing. We know it is perfect. We have faith that everything will be taken care of so that we can make the purchase final.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Dorm Update, Spring Teams, \u0026 Upcoming Trip"},{"content":"Praise Reports - We praise and thank God so much for the healthy delivery of our baby boy, Jesse. God has been so good to us in providing all the finances needed for the delivery and hospital stay. He never stops amazing us and always uses these times to grow our faith in Him. - We praise God for continuing to answer our prayers of raising up people in the church to serve the Lord. This past Sunday we prayed for 2 young men, Danny and Johnathan. They will be serving as deacons at Palabra Viva. - We thank God for bringing new faces to Palabra Viva and continue to pray for more people to come and grow in the Lord. - This past Thursday we finished up Pastoral Epistles in the School of Ministry. During the last class, the students shared how much God had spoken to them through the text and are excited for the next class to begin on June 8th. Prayer Requests - Please keep Palabra Viva in prayer as a team from The Father’s House church will be here from San Marcos, California at the end of the month. They will be partnering with us to help meet some of the church’s physical and spiritual needs. - One of the things that this mission team will be helping us with is a 2 day VBS for the kids of the community. Reaching out to the community is something God has placed on our hearts so we’re really excited for this event to take place. - Last month we began our first English Service on Sunday mornings. God placed this on our hearts as we saw and heard of ex-pats who do not have a place to worship and hear the word in English. Please pray that God would use this service to bless and reach out to a different group people. We appreciate you staying updated and keeping these things in prayer! God bless! ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/praise-and-prayer/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"praise-reports\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePraise Reports\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"--we-praise-and-thank-god-so-much-for-the-healthy-delivery-of-our-baby-boy-jesse-god-has-been-so-good-to-us-in-providing-all-the-finances-needed-for-the-delivery-and-hospital-stay-he-never-stops-amazing-us-and-always-uses-these-times-to-grow-our-faith-in-him\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-\u003c/strong\u003e  We praise and thank God so much for the healthy delivery of our baby boy, Jesse. God has been so good to us in providing all the finances needed for the delivery and hospital stay. He never stops amazing us and always uses these times to grow our faith in Him.\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"--we-praise-god-for-continuing-to-answer-our-prayers-of-raising-up-people-in-the-church-to-serve-the-lord-this-past-sunday-we-prayed-for-2-young-men-danny-and-johnathan-they-will-be-serving-as-deacons-at-palabra-viva\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-\u003c/strong\u003e  We praise God for continuing to answer our prayers of raising up people in the church to serve the Lord. This past Sunday we prayed for 2 young men, Danny and Johnathan. They will be serving as deacons at Palabra Viva.\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"--we-thank-god-for-bringing-new-faces-to-palabra-viva-and-continue-to-pray-for-more-people-to-come-and-grow-in-the-lord\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-\u003c/strong\u003e  We thank God for bringing new faces to Palabra Viva and continue to pray for more people to come and grow in the Lord.\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"--this-past-thursday-we-finished-up-pastoral-epistles-in-the-school-of-ministry-during-the-last-class-the-students-shared-how-much-god-had-spoken-to-them-through-the-text-and-are-excited-for-the-next-class-to-begin-on-june-8th\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-\u003c/strong\u003e  This past Thursday we finished up Pastoral Epistles in the School of Ministry. During the last class, the students shared how much God had spoken to them through the text and are excited for the next class to begin on June 8th.\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"prayer-requests\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePrayer Requests\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"--please-keep-palabra-viva-in-prayer-as-a-team-from-the-fathers-house-church-will-be-here-from-san-marcos-california-at-the-end-of-the-month-they-will-be-partnering-with-us-to-help-meet-some-of-the-churchs-physical-and-spiritual-needs\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-\u003c/strong\u003e Please keep Palabra Viva in prayer as a team from The Father’s House church will be here from San Marcos, California at the end of the month. They will be partnering with us to help meet some of the church’s physical and spiritual needs.\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"--one-of-the-things-that-this-mission-team-will-be-helping-us-with-is-a-2-day-vbs-for-the-kids-of-the-community-reaching-out-to-the-community-is-something-god-has-placed-on-our-hearts-so-were-really-excited-for-this-event-to-take-place\"\u003e- One of the things that this mission team will be helping us with is a 2 day VBS for the kids of the community. Reaching out to the community is something God has placed on our hearts so we’re really excited for this event to take place.\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"--last-month-we-began-our-first-english-service-on-sunday-mornings-god-placed-this-on-our-hearts-as-we-saw-and-heard-of-ex-pats-who-do-not-have-a-place-to-worship-and-hear-the-word-in-english-please-pray-that-god-would-use-this-service-to-bless-and-reach-out-to-a-different-group-people\"\u003e- Last month we began our first English Service on Sunday mornings. God placed this on our hearts as we saw and heard of ex-pats who do not have a place to worship and hear the word in English. Please pray that God would use this service to bless and reach out to a different group people.\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"we-appreciate-you-staying-updated-and-keeping-these-things-in-prayer\"\u003eWe appreciate you staying updated and keeping these things in prayer!\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"god-bless\"\u003eGod bless!\u003c/h4\u003e","title":"Praise and Prayer"},{"content":"In less than a month, on June 1, we will fly back to Cambodia. We have a lot of packing between now and then and once we get there we will need to buy a car and find a place to live. We will be staying in the Green Pasture Inn for a few days after our arrival. Green Pasture Inn is a Christian run guesthouse that specializes in accommodating short term mission teams and missionaries.\nFor our friends in southern California, we would like to invite you to a Dessert Gathering hosted by Calvary Chapel La Mirada (15144 Leffingwell Road, La Mirada, CA 90638) on Wednesday May 17th immediately after the Wednesday service (around 8:45pm). It will be a good opportunity for us to fellowship and share with our senders before we depart on June 1. We hope you can come.\nThings have been going well with us. Kayo and Benjamin continue to wrap up his homeschooling for the year. Darryl is writing video scripts for future evangelistic videos once we return to Cambodia.\nIn Christ,\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/may-17-dessert-gathering/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIn less than a month, on June 1, we will fly back to Cambodia.  We have a lot of packing between now and then and once we get there we will need to buy a car and find a place to live. We will be staying in the Green Pasture Inn for a few days after our arrival.  Green Pasture Inn is a Christian run guesthouse that specializes in accommodating short term mission teams and missionaries.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"May 17 Dessert Gathering"},{"content":"FULL is the only word to describe the past 6 weeks: four untimely deaths, four opportunities to preach, two weeks away from home (family camp and a funeral), two giant events, and two big steps forward in my ministry here. PHEW! Allow me to breathe for a moment…\nThe end of March brought the deaths of two very dear friends – a grandfather-figure in Ohio, and the following day, my spiritual father in Rosarito. The hardest part, as many of you may understand, was not being there. Thankfully, I was able to attend the funeral of Rod, my spiritual father, and even had the opportunity to share. It was only fitting as all of the ministry I am participating in here is a direct result of what God did in my life through Rod’s ministry. The only thing bigger than the hole Rod left behind is the basket needed to hold all the fruits of his labors!\nFamily Camp was a huge blessing to me and Sammy as we were officially integrated into the church family here. It feels good to have family so far from home. Besides that personal blessing, we were blessed to see several families restored and several people give their lives to Christ – a very fitting way to spend Easter week.\nAt the end of April, we hosted two large events – our church’s Día del Niño celebration and a city-wide concert put on by missionaries. Thursday night, we received the missionaries. Friday we helped them prepare, then served at the concert that night. Saturday morning, we sent them off to their next stop and began the preparations for that afternoon’s party. It was a crazy weekend full of activities and blessings, and once again, many changed lives.\nGod has also given me many opportunities to preach and share. I have taught the children of La Invasión, preached twice at our Wednesday night women’s ministry, and shared my testimony at the women’s breakfast outreach. God is bringing much fruit out of these opportunities. I thank Him for using me in this way, but it appears that the “real” work is only just beginning…\nOne Monday night, I stood in my doorway begging God for a way to reach this city. The love He has given me for these people I don’t even know is tremendous, and I was desperate for a way to make a bigger impact. God not only heard my prayer, He sent the answer less than 10 hours later. Pastor Hugo asked me to lead the Missions and Evangelism ministry! With the help of people who DO know this city, we can plan outreaches and events that can significantly impact the city of Culiacán. I am very excited for this opportunity and appreciate your prayers over the next 10 days as we get that team together, start planning, and begin to impact this city.\nThe need for change was underscored by the events of the past few days. A woman in our church, who has prayed unceasingly for her unsaved adult children, had a son murdered this weekend for his involvement in the drug cartels. The following day, another family in our church lost a 6 year old to food poisoning, while corrupt politicians interfered in her medical care to protect the company responsible. Her 3 year old sister, Angela, survived, but remains in intensive care. I ask you to join us in prayer for these families, and especially for Angela, as she fights for her life.\nThrough it all, God has been faithful to me and I’m sure He will be faithful to the people of Culiacán as well. The battle is fierce, but God’s love for these people is stronger, and ultimately, He will have the victory here! Thank you for your continued prayers for me, for the people of Culiacán, and for the work God is doing here! God bless you all!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/ready-set-go/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eFULL is the only word to describe the past 6 weeks: four untimely deaths, four opportunities to preach, two weeks away from home (family camp and a funeral), two giant events, and two big steps forward in my ministry here.  PHEW!  Allow me to breathe for a moment…\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe end of March brought the deaths of two very dear friends – a grandfather-figure in Ohio, and the following day, my spiritual father in Rosarito.  The hardest part, as many of you may understand, was not being there.  Thankfully, I was able to attend the funeral of Rod, my spiritual father, and even had the opportunity to share.  It was only fitting as all of the ministry I am participating in here is a direct result of what God did in my life through Rod’s ministry.  The only thing bigger than the hole Rod left behind is the basket needed to hold all the fruits of his labors!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Ready, Set, Go!"},{"content":"\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/tippies-spring-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cav-late-spg-newsletter-017-.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/cav-late-spg-newsletter-017--232x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Tippie's Spring Update"},{"content":"I have been delinquent in keeping up with our newsletters. The last two months have been full with back to back groups, visitors, and trips. The Lord keeps lavishing His grace on us in so many ways I would either bore you, make you doubt me, or make you envious of us if I went on and on about all He’s done in this season. It has been the greatest season the Mission has ever experienced. I’ll tell all next time when the school/Season of Discipleship is over.\nHowever, one thing I will share with you is how he blessed the staff. Normally during a school we take the students camping at Bahia de los Angeles (Bay of Angels). We didn’t consider that to be an option considering that we didn’t charge for those who did come down and everyone couldn’t leave all at once. But the Lord just laughs at our limited reasoning and gives us a demonstration of how all of our impossibilities are such minuscule effortless act for Him. Someone provided for two trips so that all of the staff could go. He even provided extra experienced coverage for the Mission while each group was away.\nAlthough I love going there if, it wasn’t for my family I would have opted not to go. I was too wrapped up in all of the “coming and going.” It had been over a year and a half since I’d taken time off, and after getting there the Lord reminded me of the importance of taking a break from the service to readjust and fix my perspective and focus on Him.\nHe said to them, “Come with me privately to an isolated place and rest a while” (for many were coming and going, and there was no time to eat). Mark 6:31\nAnother reason I was hesitant to go is because of what we are about to do as a family. Two event coincide this year within just a few months of each other. This Wednesday, April 26th, Corinne and I celebrate our 20 year anniversary. Also, on July 2nd our daughters, Sarai and Noemi, turn 18. After considering that after this summer we may not have another opportunity to have all of us together again for a sufficient length of time, we decided to take a three week road trip vacation and drive around the U.S.. So on May 12th we will hit the road and try to see as much of the country as possible together.\nWe’ve told our girls that they can stay with us as long as they want, and they will be with us until they finish their homeschooling, but after they turn 18 anything could happen and we don’t want to regret missing this opportunity. Thank you for praying for us and all the other ways the Lord uses you to bless us.\nJeff, Corinne, Sarai, Noemi\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/come-aside-to-a-deserted-place-and-rest-a-while/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eI have been delinquent in keeping up with our newsletters. The last two months have been full with back to back groups, visitors, and trips. The Lord keeps lavishing His grace on us in so many ways I would either bore you, make you doubt me, or make you envious of us if I went on and on about all He’s done in this season. It has been the greatest season the Mission has ever experienced. I’ll tell all next time when the school/Season of Discipleship is over.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Come Aside to a Deserted Place and Rest a While"},{"content":"Greetings in Christ,\nBrazil Update April 2017,\nWe recently returned from another fruitful trip into the interior to visit the Apurina people.\nMat 28:19a “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…\u0026quot;\nWe arrived on a Thursday morning, 12:30 am by the big boat and were able to use our speedboat to navigate the lake and creek for another hour and arrived at our jungle house. Cleaning and hanging hammocks, we got to sleep by 4:30am.\nThe following morning, the Chief, Makao, let us know that he was stepping out in faith to take a “solo” evangelic trip 16 hrs upriver to share the Apurina Bible and invite people from the surrounding villages to our first ever Apurina Bible Conference in May, 2017.\nEach day, we had 5-9 people in our house from 8-11 am. We use their Bible to teach from, and show them how to identify key words and then form outlines to preach and teach from. Each night we had services in the church, and I taught from the morning lessons, showing them how to use their own outlines, and we averaged 55 people in attendance.\nNormally we have a movie night on Saturday, but this time when we pulled out the projector and our generator, the projector would not light. We do not believe it is a light problem, but an electronic board problem. This was one of the “modern” tools that we used on a regular basis to minister the stories of the bible in a corporate setting to an oral community. We will need to by a new one.\nOn Tuesday, Oscar, Guillermi, Raimunda, Melissa and myself took a 2 ½ hr journey down river to a new community, we shall call Santa R, (we cannot use the real names for security reasons). We shared the Bible with them starting in the creation, original sin, sacrifice for sin, and Jesus’ Resurrection.\nThis was the first time they had ever heard this. They did not know we were coming, and yet the whole village gathered to hear as we faithfully delivered God’s word for 1 ½ hrs straight. At the end, they invited us to return at any time as they longed to know more about this thing that others had not had the time to explain.\nWe returned 3 hrs upstream and had a special meeting that night to tell of all that the Lord had done through us at Santa R. Makao had returned also the night before, and he and Davi shared about what God had done up river.\nAct 14:27 And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles.\nWe are at awe, as we see the possible expansion of ministry and the sending out of indigenous missionaries from the original village.\nWhat a blessing it is to have the new speedboat, with a 40 hp motor, enabling the ministry to expand as we practically teach the Indians to evangelize and share the truth,. We praise God for meeting our monthly needs as this expansion comes with increased expenses.\nWhat is one to say in response? Only this….God provides. His goodness is shown as He faithfully calls people such as yourselves to partner with us in this wonderful work!\nI plan to return on May 2nd and then head up river with a group to have the Apurina Bible Conference. We plan to hold it on May 7-10th in the “P” community. Please pray for those who will invest the time and resources to come and hear the Bible clearly taught and preached, and that they hear the call of God and respond with a sound repentance and a humble cry, “Here I am Lord, use me.”\nAs always, May God richly bless you and keep you, may He make His face to shine upon you, and be gracious unto you, and may He lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace!\nIn the marvelous name of our Lord Jesus,\nBrad and Melissa and Family.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/greetings-in-christ/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings in Christ,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBrazil Update April 2017,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe recently returned from another fruitful trip into the interior to visit the Apurina people.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMat 28:19a “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations…\u0026quot;\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe arrived on a Thursday morning, 12:30 am by the big boat and were able to use our speedboat to navigate the lake and creek for another hour and arrived at our jungle house. Cleaning and hanging hammocks, we got to sleep by 4:30am.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Greetings in Christ!"},{"content":"Thank you all for your prayers. God has blessed us with a really nice house. It was very difficult to find a house to rent when we got here and the options were very limited, yet The Lord blessed us with a home that is over and above what we could have wished for. We live on the out skirts of Victorville in a quiet neighborhood. Since we live in the desert, there is no grass to mow. That’s a blessing in and of itself in my eyes.\nWe took procession of the keys February 1st. We bought some air mattresses, some paper plates and plastic utensils, a cooler and a couple of pans and waited for our things to arrive from Germany.\nAfter a month in a hotel and three weeks in our new house, all of our things arrived at our door step. The movers quickly unloaded, and our larger pieces of furniture were set them in place. Then we were left to the unpacking.\nGod has been so good to us. We left empty and returned full. When we left the states and moved to Hungary, we sold almost everything we owned and left with almost nothing because the Bible College supplied a fully furnished apartment for us. 15 years later God has blessed us with so much. As we have been unpacking we have been reminded by each item how God has blessed us, how He faithfully met our needs, and just gave us little things because it blessed Him to bless us.\nIt goes to show that we will never give up anything to serve The Lord that He won’t give back even more. I’m not talking about material things necessarily either. Our time in Europe, our experiences, the ministries the Lord has allowed us to be part of, the places He allowed us to go and share His love, has been more valuable to us than material things. The changes we witnessed in lives He touched, you couldn’t put a price on that. He has made us so very rich.\nDriving Home The Other Day\nAs I was driving home the other day The Lord reminded me how often I have said I have felt \u0026ldquo;so overwhelmed\u0026rdquo; since I have been back. It\u0026rsquo;s a feeling that I haven\u0026rsquo;t been able to describe.\nAs I was thinking about this I realized the core of that feeling of being overwhelmed is because I feel like I am out of the fight. We are currently living in \u0026ldquo;The Land of Plenty.\u0026rdquo; We are renting a nice house, I have an descent job and we\u0026rsquo;re living fairly comfortable. Nothing extravagant by any means, but comfortable. All the while people all over the world are dying without ever hearing about Jesus. It eats at me.\nI know The Lord has moved us back to the states for His purposes. I know that there is something here He wants to do in our lives. I know, just as one of our supporters and prayer partners reminded me, how we need a sabbatical, a time of rest, to recharge before getting back into the fight. I also know that California, and Victorville in particular, are huge missions fields; people here need Jesus.\nWell, as I was driving and thinking about this, The Lord reminded me of what He said Acts 1:8 and comforted my heart. Jesus said, \u0026ldquo;But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the Earth.\u0026rdquo; The Lord reminded me that Victorville was our new home, our Jerusalem if you will. There are people here He wants to reach, and as we are faithful to reach out to them in His name, He will broaden our spheres of influence again and allow us to be part of what He is doing in ever widening circles. He reminded me that was exactly what He did for us when we moved from California to Corvallis Oregon. How Corvallis became our Jerusalem, and as we served Him He took us to the ends of the earth.\nHow that word lifted a weight off my heart. How it encouraged me to know that He still desires to use us. We\u0026rsquo;re not out of the fight, we\u0026rsquo;re just in a different fight.\nHow sweet it is to know and understand, we serve a loving God who knows our heart, hears our prayers and desires to comfort His children and to use them for His glory.\nPrayer Requests\nPlease pray with me:\nThat The Lord will open doors for us to reach out to our neighbors in His name. Maybe even start a Bible study in our neighborhood. That Jesus would be seen in us and that He would express His life through ours, seen by the people I work with, people we meet in grocery stores and on the streets during our days. That The Lord would plant us and establish us in a new church and open doors for us to serve, to be a blessing to the body. It\u0026rsquo;s in my heart to connect with a School of Ministry or Bible College in our area, or the Southern California area, and have a chance to share and teach what we have learned in 20 years of ministry and 15 years on the mission field. To have an opportunity pour into, to stir and disciple, to be an encouragement to a group of young believers eager to see Christ glorified in thier lives and in this world. I\u0026rsquo;d like to see The Lord open doors for me to go to Nepal, India or Jerusalem this year and connect with the Bible Colleges there and be an encouragement to the missionaries there. These are things that are on my heart. I know they may just be my desires, but I believe The Lord has placed them there. Pray with me please, that The Lord would give me a fresh vision and direction for the way He would have us go. We desire to see Him exalted and glorified in the lives of people who are currently living in darkness.\nThanks for all your prayers, friendship, love and support. If you ever happen to be in the Victorville area, please let us know. We\u0026rsquo;d love to have you over for a visit.\nGod Bless,\nGary and Tina\nP.S. Tina is currently in Washington visiting Ashley and Elijah for Ashley\u0026rsquo;s birthday. It seems like yesterday that Ashley was born. It\u0026rsquo;s just another reminder of how great our God is. She is a beautiful woman, full of grace and love. God has gifted her with tremendous abilities and a great husband. I\u0026rsquo;m so happy that Tina was able to be with her for her birthday. Happy Birthday Ashley! Thank you Lord for her.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/moved-in-almost-settled/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you all for your prayers. \u003ca href=\"/barrow/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/04/thank-you.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/barrow/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/04/thank-you-300x210.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e God has blessed us with a really nice house. It was very difficult to find a house to rent when we got here and the options were very limited, yet The Lord blessed us with a home that is over and above what we could have wished for. We live on the out skirts of Victorville in a quiet neighborhood. Since we live in the desert, there is no grass to mow. That’s a blessing in and of itself in my eyes.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Moved In \u0026 Almost Settled"},{"content":"Isaiah 41:10b _I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand._We praise God for opening the doors for us to return to Cambodia as missionaries! We will be returning to Cambodia on June 1 after nearly eleven months away. We look forward to this new season of ministry. We have been blessed by our time in the USA but now the time is coming to move into the next season. Please pray that it will be a fruitful and blessed season. We want to thank everyone who prayed, encouraged, hosted, loaned us vehicles, and supported us during this time of furlough. We trust that God will bless you for your faithfulness to Him. Once we return to Cambodia, Darryl will resume his work with International Fishers: Christian Evidence Ministry. The purpose of this ministry is to equip local churches, organizations, and believers with the evidence they need to be confident in the truth of God’s Word so that they can evangelize others with more boldness. He will also resume other ministries as God opens the doors. He is writing a video script on the inspiration of the Bible so that he can hit the ground running once we return. Please pray for renewed creativity for him. Kayo will continue her ministries of mentoring Cambodian women, worship ministry, and reaching out to Japanese living in Cambodia. Benjamin will return to Hope International School as a 3rd grader this fall.\nPrayers and Praises:\nWe will need to purchase another car and find a place to live once we return to Cambodia, please pray that God will open the doors for this.We give glory to God for Darryl’s recovery, please continue to pray for complete healing. Please continue to pray for our remaining two months in the USA that God will grant us favor. We thank God that Kayo received her Green Card for another ten years.In Christ\u0026rsquo;s Loving Hands,Darryl, Kayo, and Benjamin\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/record-family-cambodia-update-returning-to-cambodia/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eIsaiah 41:10b _I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand._We praise God for opening the doors for us to return to Cambodia as missionaries! We will be returning to Cambodia on \u003cstrong\u003eJune 1\u003c/strong\u003e after nearly eleven months away. We look forward to this new season of ministry. We have been blessed by our time in the USA but now the time is coming to move into the next season. Please pray that it will be a fruitful and blessed season. We want to thank everyone who prayed, encouraged, hosted, loaned us vehicles, and supported us during this time of furlough. We trust that God will bless you for your faithfulness to Him. Once we return to Cambodia, Darryl will resume his work with International Fishers: Christian Evidence Ministry. The purpose of this ministry is to equip local churches, organizations, and believers with the evidence they need to be confident in the truth of God’s Word so that they can evangelize others with more boldness. He will also resume other ministries as God opens the doors. He is writing a video script on the inspiration of the Bible so that he can hit the ground running once we return. Please pray for renewed creativity for him. Kayo will continue her ministries of mentoring Cambodian women, worship ministry, and reaching out to Japanese living in Cambodia. Benjamin will return to Hope International School as a 3rd grader this fall.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Record Family Cambodia Update: Returning to Cambodia"},{"content":"“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21 Church Plants In our last update, we told you about the beginning church plants that have come out of Calvary Chapel Kathmandu (CCK). We are excited to share what the Lord has done since our last update. Through the grace of God, CCK has been able to continue it’s monthly support to Padam, in the far east.\nPankaj and one of our ministry partners, Sam Stockill, were able to go an visit their church and host a 1 day conference for the believers at the church and in the community. They had a great time ministering to Padam, his family, and the church family. We are also very excited to share that God has provided funds through a donor to help build a slightly larger church building (able to hold around 100 people) and house for Padam and his family!! What an amazing and generous God we serve!\nOur CCBC graduate, Milan, has been blessed over an above what we could have ever imagined! The construction of the church building is going smooth and we are excited to see how this church will be a witness to the community around them!\nThe third church plant that we spoke about happening in the far west is currently on hold. Pankaj and the leadership team at CCK are praying and asking for God’s wisdom for whether this is the right time to establish a church in that area.\nThe Ghalan Family We would like to introduce you to the Ghalan family. This family started attending Calvary Chapel Kathmandu in January 2017. On the first day they came to CCK, Vinay (the middle son) shared with Pankaj what brought them to our church.\nAll of the Ghalan family’s relatives are heavily involved in witchcraft and cast a curse on the family. This curse was so demonic that both son’s and their mother ended up becoming possessed.\nAfter years of visiting different witchdoctors to try to become free from the curse and demon possession, Vinay’s father, Jit Bhadur, met a christian who told him that if they believe in the Lord, they would be freed from the demonic torment.\nJit Bhadur came home and told his family what the christian told him and they all believed and went to find a church. They continued attending a church in Kathmandu where they were able to learn more about the Lord.\nVinay, his brother, and mother were all delivered from their demon possession and the family slowly started seeing a change in all of their lives.\nAlthough God used this first church to help rescue them from the curse their family members put on them, the family realized quickly that the church was not good and did not teach the full truth of the Word. Vinay and his family had a desire to grow and learn more about God so he did a search on Google for churches in the area and found the Calvary Chapel Bible College website.\nVinay is now a student at the Bible College and him and his family attend our church regularly. Pankaj and some of the other leaders in the church have also started a weekly meeting at their house to go through CC WestGrove’s discipleship series.\nThe change and growth in all of the family is amazing. They are growing so much and are even inviting their neighbors and friends to church whenever they can.\nPlease keep the Ghalan family in your prayers as they continue to grow and pray for a hedge of protection around them since their other family members are still heavily involved in witchcraft.\nCalvary Chapel Kathmandu (Salvation Church) After coming back from our Stateside sabbatical, in 2013, Pankaj wanted to apply all that he had learned while at CC WestGrove and School of Worship. He loved the simple concept of teaching the Word verse-by-verse and chapter-by-chapter.\nGod had been using the weekly Bible study that Pankaj and his team members had started years before but Pankaj’s heart was for the group of attendees to grow stronger in their love for the Lord.\nIt has been two years since the Bible study has officially been established as Calvary Chapel Kathmandu. It is humbling to see the people at CCK growing in the Word and their spiritual walks getting stronger.\nMany other fellowships have adopted the verse-by-verse teaching methods. We are grateful that God is using our small church to help influence other churches in the area.\nSchool of Worship Classes As you may remember, our intentions when we came back to Nepal was to start a school to help train worship ministry leaders and worship support team members.\nFor the past 4 years of being back, God has been saying “wait…not yet”. Now that the church and Bible College are established and doing well, we believe that it is now time for Pankaj to start the School of Worship!\nThe first round of classes started in February 2017. Classes meet every Monday - Thursday during the day, as well as some night classes.\nThis first semester is dedicated to training and teaching those we want to use as teachers for when classes are opened to the public in September 2017.\nPankaj has already been contacted by several churches in the outlying villages in Nepal that they have people they would like to send to the school. While this is amazing news, it is also a little nerve racking since we do not have a place or the finances to be able to house students from out of town.\nWe ask that you pray that God would provide student sponsors as well as sponsors to help us rent a building for student housing.\nWe will be taking a step of faith and starting classes in September. We are very excited to see this vision finally become a reality!\nPlease pray that God would prepare the hearts of our future students and that Pankaj would have wisdom in planning the curriculum and choosing teachers.\nIf you would like to sponsor a student, please click HERE.\nAmerica Trip We are less than two-weeks away from being Stateside and we can’t wait to see YOU!\nPlease keep praying for us as we are still in need of a car to use during our stay (March 30 - June 5).\nWe would also love to come and share with your church or Bible study groups about how God is using all of the ministries out here. Please let us know if you are interested in having us come and share.\nGod bless you and we hope to see you during our time in the States.\nPankaj, Tonielle, and Levi Sarkar\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/above-all-that-we-ask-or-think/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21\u003c/em\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eChurch Plants\u003c/strong\u003e\nIn our last update, we told you about the beginning church plants that have come out of Calvary Chapel Kathmandu (CCK). We are excited to share what the Lord has done since our last update. \u003ca href=\"/sarkar/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2017/03/17361770_10209975193910858_348020359360816663_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/sarkar/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2017/03/17361770_10209975193910858_348020359360816663_n-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Above All That We Ask or Think"},{"content":"Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it. -Proverbs 22:6 Dear Friends and Family, Arise Christian Fellowship is growing. As the members are maturing and beginning to share their faith we are beginning to see new faces at church. No area of the church is growing faster then the children’s ministry. On any given Sunday we have at least 100 children but usually more.\nJesus said “Let the children come”. He also told us to become like a child. Children have such a pure, fearless, unashamed faith. I see it in my children as they share wi\nth anybody they meet and seek out Muslims and Hindus when we are out to talk to and share with. We see it in the children at church and how they share with their friends and the children in their neighborhoods and how fast the Sunday school is growing.\nOn any given Sunday we have at least 100 children\u0026hellip; While having so many children come and want to learn is a blessing it has also been a difficulty when it comes to space. The space we rent for the church has 2 large rooms. We use one for the sanctuary and one for the children’s ministry. In the children’s ministry room we began with it divided into 2 groups 0-8, and 9-14. With the numbers so high we quickly had to take out the older children to make room for more little ones. The older children have been meeting outside under the thatch roof where the church began.\nWe have been praying about what the next step for the children’s ministry should be as all spaces are almost too full. There has been an empty floor below ours where we rent and we have been praying about whether we should try to raise the money to rent that floor or talk to the landlord about using it just on Sundays until they rented it.\n\u0026hellip;it has also been a difficulty when it comes to space As we were praying a good friend of mine approached us about introducing her to our landlord because she was interested in renting it for her ministry. My friend\u0026rsquo;s ministry is called Vision of Destiny. It is sponsorship program to help children in the slums of Kampala, Uganda get an education, get 2 meals a day, and have a chance at a better life.\nAfter asking us to introduce her to our landlord, she went on to explain that her missions organization was looking to use an international home school curriculum to teach the students they had graduating from Primary school to high school. They wanted to rent the floor below us for their school. They have about 14 students. She asked if our church could be their spiritual covering. We could share devotions with her students and they could attend our church and be apart of our youth activities. In return for helping her we can use their rooms on Sundays for extra Sunday school space at no cost. We could not believe how the Lord answered our prayers. We met with the Landlords, who are Christians, and they were very happy to help out and to rent the floor to her ministry for the school. School has been meeting for about one month now. Brian has met most of the parents and is teaching devotions on Wednesday mornings.\nWe could not believe how the Lord answered our prayers. Here is an excerpt from their newsletter. “It\u0026rsquo;s a time for new beginning for Vision of Destiny. We take the kids all the way through high school and on in to either vocational training or university. So, a decision had to be made about where these guys will be attending high school\u0026hellip;.. And I\u0026rsquo;m proud to announce they will be attending our very own high school! Having our own school will allow us to spend much more time with them which means a greater impact on their lives. Pray for us as we take this HUGE LEAP of faith! We have found a building near the slum (but not in the slum) that is perfect for a high school. It\u0026rsquo;s a great facility and the top floor is occupied by a really amazing church. Our kids will be able to be involved in their Sunday worship and a really amazing youth group (another bonus). We are stepping out in faith to begin in this building. \u0026ldquo; Thank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana\nPRAYER REQUESTS Praise the Lord for all He is doing in lives of the men and women at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the children who attend Arise. Pray they come to know the Lord at a young age and continue to have childlike faith. Pray for the new school meeting on the floor below the church. May we be used to minister to the students as well as their parents. Pray for Jill as she balances her ministries with homeschooling the children. Pray for the children to want to learn and obey. Pray for health and safety for our family. Continue to Pray that we would truly “Arise and Shine” the light of Christ in this dark place. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the ministries and leaders Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-march-2017/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"train-up-a-child-in-the-way-he-should-go\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTrain up a child in the way he should go,\u003c/strong\u003e \u003cstrong\u003eAnd when he is old he will not depart from it.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"-proverbs-226\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e-Proverbs 22:6\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"dear-friends-and-family\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eArise Christian Fellowship is growing. As the members are maturing and beginning to share their faith we are beginning to see new faces at church. No area of the church is growing faster then the children’s ministry. On any given Sunday we have at least 100 children but usually more.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update--March 2017"},{"content":"Calling. Confirmation. Preparation. Arrival. Reality Check! This is the universal reality of every missionary’s journey.\nMy calling to missions came at age 16, and my calling to Culiacán in April 2015. A missionary’s initial calling always falls somewhere between “Wow!” and “What?!?” Mine was no exception. “Really, God? That’s awesome! \u0026hellip; but Culiacán???”\nThen comes that intense phase of praying and seeking God’s will. Did I really hear right? That phase of my journey was filled with amazing answered prayers. It was a faith-building time of wonder as God laid all the details before me and lined them up perfectly.\nPreparation. Fund-raising. Logistics. YUCK! Throughout that time, God showered me with miracles and blessings and grew me in ways I didn’t know I needed to be grown! I truly felt ready for the adventure ahead.\nArrival: that highly anticipated moment you’ve dreamed of for so long! After months (or years) of preparation, the arduous hard work, prayers, and tears, you just know that everything is going to be in place and ready to go when you arrive. Let the dream begin!\nThis is what we’re all secretly expecting… (left image)\n\u0026hellip; and this is what we find. (right image)\nThat was my arrival in Culiacán – the romantic arrival at the airport, reuniting with people I’d come to know and love, riding through town, picturing the ministry and changed lives… followed by our arrival at a tiny, empty apartment. My new home.\nThe first week, I was overwhelmed with logistical details – waiting for the broken-down moving truck, grocery shopping with no car and no way to cook, fixing the apartment, hooking up internet and utilities… Not the romantic scene I had pictured.\nOur second week brought more order. I got back to work with my online teaching job. Sammy and I got settled into our tiny, but comfortable apartment. We established a routine at church, made a few new friends, and talked with the pastor.\nThen, BAM! Week 3 brought the first tastes of ministry. Through my sharing in the women’s meetings, many ladies have caught the vision of Celebrate Recovery. While the program will not be starting for quite some time yet, God is opening doors for me to minister to ladies individually who could likely become my women’s ministry team once the program starts. Our first visit to the breakfast club in La Invasion de la Esperanza, (translated, The Invasion of Hope – what an awesome name!), has opened doors for me to take over the children’s teaching ministry and to potentially take Celebrate Recovery to the moms. My participation in the church’s Preaching and Evangelism training class is also producing fruit, opening doors for me to begin preaching in the women’s groups at the church.\nThe pot pictured above was a seed Sammy planted the day we went to La Invasion de la Esperanza. On the fourth day, we found this:\nAs tiny as it may be, Sammy’s seed has sprouted! During those first 3 days, I had my doubts, but God brought life out of that tiny seed. In the same way, I had doubts during my first 3 weeks here in Culiacán, but God has caused all of the tiny seeds I’ve been planting to sprout. 1 Corinthians 3:6 says, “I planted the seed… but God made it grow.”\nPlease pray with me that God will continue to grow all of these tiny seeds – the moms and children of La Invasion de la Esperanza, the women of my church, and the beginnings of Celebrate Recovery at Capilla Calvario Culiacán – and begin to bring that beautiful harvest I\u0026rsquo;ve been dreaming of for so long.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-journey-of-a-missionary/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eCalling.  Confirmation.  Preparation.  Arrival.  Reality Check!  This is the universal reality of every missionary’s journey.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMy calling to missions came at age 16, and my calling to Culiacán in April 2015.  A missionary’s initial calling always falls somewhere between “Wow!” and “What?!?”  Mine was no exception.  “Really, God?  That’s awesome!  \u0026hellip; but Culiacán???”\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThen comes that intense phase of praying and seeking God’s will.  Did I really hear right?  That phase of my journey was filled with amazing answered prayers.  It was a faith-building time of wonder as God laid all the details before me and lined them up perfectly.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Journey of a Missionary"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn this update, I wanted to share two special stories with you! One good, one bad, both dealing with water! Let’s start with the bad news first. In February our city was hit with a flash flood! Located not to far south of California, when that mega storm hit on Friday February 17th, the eye of that storm came ashore directly over our city of Rosarito!\nWithin 3 hours we had such a torrential downpour that the entire city was flooded. Roads were closed, a state of emergency was declared, and a few people tragically lost their lives through drowning! Unfortunately, our church facility is located at a low point near a city drain that is designed to empty out the water from the 10,000 residents that live on the hills above our church!\nAs the torrents of water gushed down the hill, our little city drain could not handle the water deluge, and a lake began to gather in our parking lot next to the church! The water level continued to rise for the next two hours until it suddenly overflowed into our church facility! It was a tragically amazing site, as we had no chance to respond. The entire church was under 12 inches or more of water within 5 minutes.\nOur sanctuary, children’s ministry rooms, bathrooms, and kitchen all flooded!\nWe had nothing to do but wait and pray for the rain to subside! The next morning, the rains had stopped and we surveyed the devastation! We put out a call for help and over 60 congregants showed up with brooms, mops and shovels in hand!\nMy first thought was that we were going to be forced to cancel church for the weekend. But so many worked so hard that by the time our Saturday evening service was scheduled to begin, the church was usable! This was an absolute miracle attributed to the grace of God and the hard work of his people! After calculating all of our losses, the permanent damage was minimal!\nWe had a second event this month that was so beautiful, so touching, that it left most of our church body in tears! I want to tell you the story of a 9 year old boy named Lucio! Lucio, was led to Christ by a missionary from our church and she brings him to church (without any friends or family) every Sunday. After accepting Jesus, Lucio asked his missionary friend if he could be baptized at one of our church’s monthly baptisms!\nBecause Lucio didn’t have any family present, as he prepared to get baptized I asked any children that were willing to be his friend, to come up and lay hands on him as we prayed for him before he was baptized! About 30 children under 10 ran up and laid hands on him and prayed for him with us! It was amazing to see these children run forward to lay hands on their new friend as he took this public step of faith!\nJesus said in Matthew 19:14, “let the little children come to me and do not forbid them, for as such is the Kingdom of heaven!” It is such an honor to see children that profess faith desire by their own will to take the next step of baptism!\nWe want to thank you once again for partnering with our family and ministry! It is through your prayers that God meet’s our spiritual needs, and through your financial giving that God meets our physical needs! We are honored and blessed to partner with you and serve as your missionaries! Con mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests:\n#1- Pray for that God will keep the rains away! (We almost flooded again on Monday)\n#2- Pray that God will continue to provide for the financial needs of our family personally!\n#3- Pray that God will help us purchase our building, as our 5 year lease runs out at the end of the summer!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-march-2017-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2017/02/16649180_10212287732771074_5373880615715722471_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2017/02/16649180_10212287732771074_5373880615715722471_n-300x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this update, I wanted to share two special stories with you! One good, one bad, both dealing with water! Let’s start with the bad news first. In February our city was hit with a flash flood! Located not to far south of California, when that mega storm hit on Friday February 17th, the eye of that storm came ashore directly over our city of Rosarito!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family March 2017 Missions Update"},{"content":"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing\u0026hellip; they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God. Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes. Isaiah 35:1-7\nAt a time that we were supposed to receive rain last year it didn\u0026rsquo;t come. But this year, which was supposed to be exceptionally dry, the Lord has sent rain in abundance, demonstrating it is a gift from Him.\nLikewise, He has been pouring out His Holy Spirit on the Mission. We announced the School of Discipleship earlier, but we didn\u0026rsquo;t get enough students to have a \u0026ldquo;normal\u0026rdquo; school, but those that were interested came anyway, along with the Myer family to teach for the three month period. Just over a week ago we started our Season of Discipleship instead, and the Lord is demonstrating His hand and direction in it. Our staff are excited to have daily classes at 10 am and nightly events.\nThe Mission of course is to care for those who are blind, lame, and imprisoned in bodies that don\u0026rsquo;t function fully. But along with ministering to those who have those who have those physical limitations we also minister to one another who have those same disabilities in our spirits, souls, and minds.\nWe never tire of getting to see Luke 7, Matthew 11, and Isaiah 35 being fulfilled in peoples lives the same way that it is always astounding to see the apparently dead, dry, and dusty land of Baja come alive when the Lord sends His rain down on it.\nHaving grown up in Oregon rain was an unappreciated regular fact of life that I took for granted. But in a dry land it has great significance. Having grown up in a family that is strong in the Lord I now have a greater appreciation for our Father\u0026rsquo;s gift of His Holy Spirit after seeing so many people pass through the Mission coming from dry, broken, painful backgrounds. When He rains and breathes new life in both ways it produces a beauty that is incomparable and can only be from the Holy Lord God Almighty.\nHe hath made every thing beautiful in his time\u0026hellip; Ecclesiates 3:11\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/gods-gift-of-rain-and-his-holy-spirit-in-the-desert/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/moody/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2016/01/3-28-03-23-202x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eThe wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing\u0026hellip; they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eStrengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003eIsaiah 35:1-7\u003c/em\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/moody/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2017/02/1-19-05-7-300x203.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"God's Gift of Rain and His Holy Spirit in the Desert"},{"content":"\nWe at Saving Grace World Missions are mourning with Romeo and Jessica Buescher, missionaries to Peru, as their youngest child, Israel, has gone to be with the Lord yesterday. We can\u0026rsquo;t imagine the pain and sorrow they must be going through. We have created a separate giving account, with the link attached below, for anyone who would like to donate towards the funeral expenses for baby Israel. 100% of the funds will go directly to help them. Please continue to keep them in your prayers as there is much to process through this painful time.\nBuescher Benevolence Fund\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/buescher-benevolence-fund/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/buescher.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/buescher-214x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe at Saving Grace World Missions are mourning with Romeo and Jessica Buescher, missionaries to Peru, as their youngest child, Israel, has gone to be with the Lord yesterday.  We can\u0026rsquo;t imagine the pain and sorrow they must be going through.  We have created a separate giving account, with the link attached below, for anyone who would like to donate towards the funeral expenses for baby Israel. 100% of the funds will go directly to help them. Please continue to keep them in your prayers as there is much to process through this painful time.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Buescher Benevolence Fund"},{"content":"Hello friends and family!\nWinter is always a slower time of year in Romania for everyone. The cold and snow really prohibit what can be done during these winter months. We were blessed however to have a beautiful few days this past week where it was warm enough to get out and have a BBQ in celebration of Ruth\u0026rsquo;s birthday. We are all looking forward to things warming up and being able to do more. We as a team have started putting together what this up coming Spring and Summer will look like. We\u0026rsquo;re excited for the various teams and people that are wanting to travel and be apart of kid\u0026rsquo;s outreaches, youth events and a possible conference. It\u0026rsquo;s always an encouragement for us to have people come and be a part of what God is doing here in Romania. We want God\u0026rsquo;s wisdom and leading in what we are going to be busy with during the warmer months.\nWhile we wait for the warmer weather we have still been able to meet with teens on a weekly basis thanks to the new building we have in Valeni. It is a blessing to see how the relationships between the different “kids” have changed and grown closer. Pray the Lord would use us to reach these kids here. When the weather has been clear there have also been different work projects in Valeni. At the moment we are in the process of fixing up the cellar into a bedroom so there\u0026rsquo;s a place to stay when needed. Things have come along way with the building in Valeni but there is still a good bit of work to be done to make the building more useful for meeting in.\nThe 18th of this month our little girl is going to be 3 months old! Eliana has been such a joy for us! We are wanting to make a trip over to the States this Spring so that family there can finally meet her. We have family in the North and South of both East and West coasts as well as friends and churches that support us and we would love to be able to see everyone. However, it\u0026rsquo;s been difficult trying to figure out how we could do that with the time and money we have. At the moment our tentative plan is to get to Ohio and spend time with my parents and family there unless the means come available to do more. If you would like to help us out financially with this trip it would help us to decide what we can do and when we can do it. Paypal is the fastest and most direct way to get funds to us but you can also give through our missions organization, Saving Grace World Missions. Both methods for how to give can be found on the “Support Info” page of our website, notbysight.org.\nWe thank you all for your love and support for us here in Romania! We love to hear from our friends around the world so please feel free to send us an email or message anytime! For those of you in the States we hope to have the chance to visit with you when we are able to!\nIn Him,\nAden, Ruth and Eliana\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/winter/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHello friends and family!\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_20170111_172344194.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/IMG_20170111_172344194-169x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e   Winter is always a slower time of year in Romania for everyone. The cold and snow really prohibit what can be done during these winter months. We were blessed however to have a beautiful few days this past week where it was warm enough to get out and have a BBQ in celebration of Ruth\u0026rsquo;s birthday. We are all looking forward to things warming up and being able to do more. We as a team have started putting together what this up coming Spring and Summer will look like. We\u0026rsquo;re excited for the various teams and people that are wanting to travel and be apart of kid\u0026rsquo;s outreaches, youth events and a possible conference. It\u0026rsquo;s always an encouragement for us to have people come and be a part of what God is doing here in Romania. We want God\u0026rsquo;s wisdom and leading in what we are going to be busy with during the warmer months.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Winter"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nThe Bible teaches us in Proverbs 19:17 “ Whoever is kind to the poor, lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done!” Over the years, our church has become a hub to help the hurting in our city, and in this update, I want to tell you about a few of the mercy ministries that our church offers to our community!\nEvery month or so, we host a dump outreach. There are 100’s of people that live in shacks out at the Tijuana dump. These poor folks struggle with addiction and attempt to eek out a meager living by scavenging for trash which they sell to try and survive. This past Saturday our church sent a team to minister in the dump! This team brought with them 1000 sandwiches, gently used clothing, and they offered free haircuts and medical care. They also brought activities to play with the children that live there in the dump!\nMost importantly, when we go to the dump ( or anywhere else) we share the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ! We also bring along some leaders from a local Christian rehab center to invite any of the folks living in the dump a safe place to heal if they are ready to leave and come with us! (This past weekend, one man accepted our offer, left the dump and joined the discipleship home this past weekend!) Our church also hosts two mercy ministries at our Rosarito campus. Our first ministry is a simple food ministry that provides a large box of food staples for anyone that has a need! (no questions ask) We also have emergency financial assistance funds for those that have medical needs!\nAlso at our church, we continue to host our Saturday morning kids club that Sarah began over 14 years ago. In this club we pick up poor children in our community and we bring them to the church where we feed them and give them a fun and safe afternoon focused around Jesus!\nOur church is also honored to support and partner with a local children’s feeding kitchen that feeds children in our community! Along those lines, one of our earliest church plants located in the poor area of Tijuana (Vista del Valle) has built 2 feeding kitchens of their own that feed a combine 60 needy children every day!\nFinally, we are blessed to have two orphanages whose children call our church there home! Most of these children have gotten saved in our church, then baptized, and many of them are even serving now! And up untill 6 months ago we even had a rehabilitation center joining us for our weekly services! (Until they broke away and became one of our recent church plants!- CCLiberty Ranch) Jesus said in Matthew 25:40, “inasmuch as you did this to one of the least of these, you did it unto me” It is our honor and privilege to be merciful to the poor, the orphan and the hurting here in Mexico. And as you partner with our family, you too are spreading compassion and partnering in these wonderful mercy ministries! Thank you so much!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests:\n#1- Pray for that God will continue to open doors for different mercy ministries in Mexico!\n#2- Pray that God will continue to provide for the financial needs of our family personally!\n#3- Pray that God will help us purchase our building, as our 5 year lease runs out later this year!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-february-2017-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2017/02/16298651_10208559308517022_7493355448425498410_n.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2017/02/16298651_10208559308517022_7493355448425498410_n-251x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe Bible teaches us in Proverbs 19:17 “ \u003cem\u003eWhoever is kind to the poor, lends to the Lord, and He will reward them for what they have done!”\u003c/em\u003e Over the years, our church has become a hub to help the hurting in our city, and in this update, I want to tell you about a few of the mercy ministries that our church offers to our community!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family February 2017 Missions Update"},{"content":"Please watch this video update about our return to Saving Grace World Missions to establish a new ministry called “LET’S GO!” which stands for Local Evangelism Training \u0026amp; Strategic Global Outreach.\nhttps://www.facebook.com/brentenpowers/videos/10154999152229650/?l=842653913026809698\nIf you feel led to support this new work, as of today, you can donate through our blog www.sgwm.com/powers and click \u0026ldquo;become a financial partner\u0026rdquo;.\nThanks for watching, praying, giving and signing up for prayer and blog updates!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/lets-go-powers-returning-to-sgwm/","summary":"\u003cp\u003ePlease watch this video update about our return to Saving Grace World Missions to establish a new ministry called “LET’S GO!” which stands for Local Evangelism Training \u0026amp; Strategic Global Outreach.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/brentenpowers/videos/10154999152229650/?l=842653913026809698\"\u003ehttps://www.facebook.com/brentenpowers/videos/10154999152229650/?l=842653913026809698\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you feel led to support this new work, as of today, you can donate through our blog \u003ca href=\"https://www.sgwm.com/powers\"\u003ewww.sgwm.com/powers\u003c/a\u003e and click \u0026ldquo;become a financial partner\u0026rdquo;.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThanks for watching, praying, giving and signing up for prayer and blog updates!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"LET'S GO! Powers returning to SGWM"},{"content":"We knew that the time we had to prepare for a \u0026ldquo;normal\u0026rdquo; School of Discipleship was short, but we wanted to see if the God had something in works. The Lord did move in people\u0026rsquo;s lives, but not in our imagined way. The Myer family, Andrew, Melissa, and their four kids, are going to move down for this three month season. They are another couple who met down here during a school, got married and spent time here as a family serving and teaching in the school.\nBecause of information about the school seven people expressed interest, but because of various reasons some could not commit to the whole school. Please pray for one of them, a young man who had survived cancer but it came back after he had already applied. He is still going to spend a week with us, and we hope that we can be a blessing to him while he\u0026rsquo;s here. Besides, the Lord is not constrained by one week or three months to do a significant work in a persons life.\nAll the other\u0026rsquo;s who had applied still chose to come on as staff in spite of there not being enough students for a school. Also, some of our staff were hoping to participate. So, there will be no charge for those who do come down. They will join and serve as staff.\nSo, we are making some adjustments for the next three months and are going to focus on discipleship. Every day at 10 a.m. there will be an hour of teaching, and everyone who is available will be invited to participate. A few evenings of the week will have either teachings, koinonea, or Spirit led services. Three of us will be teaching on the fundamentals of the faith, the book of Acts, and a survey of the bible. Miguel will continue to teach Sunday morning church. But ultimately it is the kids who teach the greatest lessons of love, patience, grace, mercy, and longsuffering.\nAs the Lord leads and according to what we learn through this season, we are hoping to have a School of Discipleship next fall and we\u0026rsquo;ll be sending out a notice of that in the next couple of months. That way people will have proper time to plan accordingly.\nPlease be praying for everyone; kids, staff, and teachers during this season.\nThank you, and may God richly bless you.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/season-of-discipleship/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe knew that the time we had to prepare for a \u0026ldquo;normal\u0026rdquo; School of Discipleship was short, but we wanted to see if the God had something in works. The Lord did move in people\u0026rsquo;s lives, but not in our imagined way. The Myer family, Andrew, Melissa, and their four kids, are going to move down for this three month season. They are another couple who met down here during a school, got married and spent time here as a family serving and teaching in the school.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Season of Discipleship"},{"content":"\nWell, it\u0026rsquo;s crunch time. We are down to 43 days until we need to make our first of three $55,000 payments in order to purchase Connections House, our team dorms and home here in Rosarito. It has truly been a blessing for us to be able to rent this property, however the owners do want to sell it. We earnestly seek your prayers as we make the decision to move forward with this purchase. Please see the information below to help us with your tax-deductible donation. We will need to assess the situation again in two weeks in order to make a final decision.\nAs you can see, we have raised less than half of the first payment. While we continue to try and secure a private loan to make up the difference, we also have to remember one thing. And that is, once we make the first payment, we are all in. We\u0026rsquo;ll have 12 months to come up with the second payment of $55,000. Borrowing part of this down payment may prove to be difficult for two reasons. One, because we would be making loan payments at the same time as making interest payments to the owner. And two, because it will put us behind on being able to save towards the second down payment. Obtaining a private loan for the full amount needed to purchase the property would be ideal. For those of you that may not remember, the reason we are not able to take out a bank loan is because Mexican banks will not loan money to Americans, and American banks will not loan money for Mexican property.\nWhile we are certain that the Lord has called us to this ministry of working with short-term missions teams as well as providing housing, we want to make sure this is the property that He has in mind long term. We need to remain open to the possibility that this place was something temporary on the way to something different or better. So we ask you now to join us in praying for wisdom and discernment. This is His money and it is our desire to be mindful and diligent when it comes to how it is used. May it be all for God\u0026rsquo;s glory and for the purpose of expanding His kingdom!\nProtesting of Gas Prices in Mexico\nIf you haven\u0026rsquo;t seen our facebook posts, or heard on the news, the gas prices in Mexico made a huge jump at the beginning of the year. This has caused some major protesting, especially here in Rosarito where we have a Pemex gasoline distribution plant. This plant fills approximately 220 trucks per day with gasoline. Pemex also currently owns almost all of the gas stations in the country, which is supposed to change sometime this year. On January 1st, gas prices spiked with about a 20% increase throughout Mexico due to the deregulation of the gas industry by the government. The cost of gas here in Rosarito is about $17 pesos per liter, or $3.20 per gallon (up about $.50/gallon over night). The minimum wage here is $10 pesos per hour, which means that people need to work about six hours to earn the money to buy one gallon of gas.\nThere is protesting and unrest all over the country. Thankfully, things have been calm and non-violent here in Rosarito for the most part. There was a blockade to the Pemex plant for several days. Most or all of our gas stations ran out of gas after a few days as a result, in Rosarito, Tijuana, and beyond. However, with police reinforcements, the blockade was ended and the shortage was averted. There were some reports of looting and some injuries during the protesting. Also, our two nearby border crossings were closed on a couple different occasions. Praise the Lord that we have had no deaths and little violence as a result of the protesting, which is not the case in other parts of the country. Police vehicles are still escorting the gasoline trucks to and from the Pemex plant. Otherwise, despite the fact that gas prices have not budged, things have calmed down even more.\nPlease do keep this situation in your prayers. The peso is worth close to half as much as it was when we moved down here almost seven years ago. That along with the sky high prices of gas has made the cost of living rise heavily. While we are blessed to be able to cross the border to fill up with gas, etc., it is likely that these high gas prices are going to cause the cost of other things here to rise - food, drinking water, propane, etc.\nThank you so much to each and every one of you fo r your prayers! Thank you for your support and financial gifts. We know that we wouldn\u0026rsquo;t be here without them! This ministry would function without them. We are thankful to God for all you.\nFinancial Gifts\nChecks with your tax deductible donation towards the purchase of Connections House may be made payable to “Calvary Chapel Rosarito”. Please write “Connections House” on the memo line and mail to:\nCalvary Chapel Rosarito, 511 E San Ysidro Blvd #6355, San Ysidro, CA 92173\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/calling-all-prayer-warriors/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2017/01/Day-Countdown.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2017/01/Day-Countdown-300x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003ca href=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2017/01/Money-Countdown.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/struska/wp-content/uploads/sites/32/2017/01/Money-Countdown-300x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWell, \u003cstrong\u003eit\u0026rsquo;s crunch time\u003c/strong\u003e. We are down to 43 days until we need to make our first of three $55,000 payments in order to purchase \u003ca href=\"https://www.facebook.com/ConnectionsHouse/?fref=ts\"\u003eConnections House\u003c/a\u003e, our team dorms and home here in Rosarito. It has truly been a blessing for us to be able to rent this property, however the owners do want to sell it. We earnestly seek your prayers as we make the decision to move forward with this purchase. Please see the information below to help us with your tax-deductible donation. We will need to assess the situation again in two weeks in order to make a final decision.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Calling All Prayer Warriors"},{"content":"Greetings from Mexico,\nIn this update I wanted to tell you the story of a special young man that I have had the opportunity to mentor and grown to love. Over 5 years ago I was visiting a local discipleship home ( men’s rehab center) when I met for the first time a young man named Eduardo (Lalo) Fernandez. I began to share about church planting, and this young man’s ears perked up as he heard about God’s desire to plant churches throughout Mexico!\nI later found out that Lalo had been born and raised in the 2nd largest city in Mexico, Guadalajara. He eventually snuck into the USA in a search to find his fortune, but instead he found heartache and difficulty and returned to Mexico addicted to drugs! After getting saved and then disciple at a local Christian rehab center, Lalo entered Bible college where he met his future wife (Linda) and after graduating, they got married!\nLalo and I had been talking about his desire to church plant, so I invited him to join our church staff so that we could train him up and send him out! For two years, Lalo and his wife Linda served faithfully with us while also working full time at a local orphanage. After completing our church planting program, their small family (now 3) set off on a 6 month journey as missionaries to assist in a new work located in Nicaragua.\nUpon his return, I asked Lalo to take our 2nd year advance church planting course which he completed with excellence. Over that time, God gave Lalo and some friends a deep calling to church plant in the city of his birth Guadalajara. (A historic city with few churches and very little Christian witness!) Meanwhile, in Rosarito Lalo continued to grow in his gifting while serving with us in a variety of different ministries. He became an excellent Bible teacher and a wise and respected leader. A few months ago, I was blessed to be able to travel to Guadalajara (my first time) with Lalo and his family on his church planting vision tour! While there, we evangelized, sought the Lord, and searched for possible locations for this future plant. God spoke clearly to us that the time had arrived for this team to be sent out.\nThis past weekend, our church had the honor and privilege of sending out Lalo and his ministry team to begin this great work! This is the 15th Church planting team we have had the honor of sending out over the past 8 years! We feel so blessed that God has turned our church that started out as a small home Bible study into a sending hub that plants churches to help reach Mexico and beyond!\nLalo has three goals for his church plant that he has asked for you to pray for. #1- Please pray that they can clearly TEACH the word of God. Secondly, they want to EXALT the name of Jesus in Guadalajara! Third, they want to REACH the many non-believers in their community! Please pray that Capilla Calvario Esperanza Viva (Calvary Chapel Living Hope) can accomplish these worthy goals!\nFinally, I want to remind you that this church plant and all of the future souls that are saved and discipled there ARE YOUR SPIRITUAL FRUIT! As the Apostle Paul wrote in 1st Corinthians 3:6, “ I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase!” This verse is a reminder that as you partner with us your missionaries, we get to partner together in all of these church planting adventures.\nBiblically, church planting is and always has been a team effort. It takes senders (like you) and also those that are willing to go! ( Lalo and his church planting team) The end result is that God does a new work as we get to partner together in the fields of the Lord! Thank you so much for your prayers and partnership and love for our family!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel\nPrayer Requests:\n#1- Pray for that God will do a mighty work through this new church plant in Guadalajara!\n#2- Pray for the right apartment for Lalo’s family, and location for the church!\n#3- Pray that God will continue to provide for the financial needs of our family personally!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/vincent-family-january-2017-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2017/01/15824595_10154436781918922_1525073268_o.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/vincent/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2017/01/15824595_10154436781918922_1525073268_o-300x200.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn this update I wanted to tell you the story of a special young man that I have had the opportunity to mentor and grown to love. Over 5 years ago I was visiting a local discipleship home ( \u003cem\u003emen’s rehab center)\u003c/em\u003e when I met for the first time a young man named Eduardo (Lalo) Fernandez. I began to share about church planting, and this young man’s ears perked up as he heard about God’s desire to plant churches throughout Mexico!\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Vincent Family January 2017 Missions Update"},{"content":"\u0026hellip;I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread. Psalms 37:25\nIt has now been one full year for the Mission / One 27 Foundation opperating on its own. There were moments when we were all wondering if and how everything would work out, and God always showed Himself dependable to make sure that the everyone was covered. Although it\u0026rsquo;s often a disconcerting situation to be in, it is always exciting and encouraging to see our Lord provide in ways that we don\u0026rsquo;t anticipate.\nInitially we had a figure for our monthly opperating costs, but often times that wasn\u0026rsquo;t met\u0026hellip; but than doesn\u0026rsquo;t mean we didn\u0026rsquo;t have enough. In the past there were certain \u0026ldquo;luxeries\u0026rdquo; (peanut butter, honey, etc.) that we had to buy sparingly and heavily regulate how it was used. Well, we haven\u0026rsquo;t had the budget to even consider buying those things, BUT we have been enjoying those indulgences in greater abundance than ever before. We have been spoiled lavishly by caring individuals and visiting groups.\nEven though the monitary figure hasn\u0026rsquo;t been what we thought we needed to pay for all the things we used to, God has shrunk our shopping list to match the budget. He has been supplementing our needs with practical donations beyond what we would have justified to purchase. He has always made sure we have enough to pay the bills and buy the diapers and meds. And now we don\u0026rsquo;t have to regulate the use of peanut butter.\nHe always gives us just enough money to cover our \u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo; needs, and not too much so that we keep coming to Him remembering that it is on Him that we depend, and that we don\u0026rsquo;t spend it on things He knows we don\u0026rsquo;t need. Yet He blesses us with elaborate gifts from the body of Christ that we wouldn\u0026rsquo;t have enjoyed even if we did have the targeted monthly budget.\nThe many visiting groups have also been exceedingly instrumental in very significant improvements on the facilities. I can\u0026rsquo;t even begin to recount all the things they have done and bought for the the kids, staff, and the facilities. The infirmary is finished, propane tanks installed, palm awning built on the cocina, pool supplies, ice machine, new freezer, massive clean up, and even more great sacrificial contributions of love, work, time, and money. \u0026hellip;And then came Christmas\u0026hellip; WOW! Everything beyond what we can give sufficient acknowledgement to.\nTHANK YOU! We thank our Father in heaven and the body of Christ for this amazing demonstation of His love. We look forward to seeing all the more of God\u0026rsquo;s great demonstrations of His undeniable existance and presence among us.\nGod bless you all and many thanks from the whole Mission family!\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/2016-in-our-fathers-hands/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u0026hellip;I have not seen the righteous forsaken, or his seed begging bread.\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e \u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePsalms 37:25\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt has now been one full year for the Mission / One 27 Foundation opperating on its own. There were moments when we were all wondering if and how everything would work out, and God always showed Himself dependable to make sure that the everyone was covered. Although it\u0026rsquo;s often a disconcerting situation to be in, it is always exciting and encouraging to see our Lord provide in ways that we don\u0026rsquo;t anticipate.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"2016 IN OUR FATHER'S HANDS"},{"content":"Happy New Year! It is hard to believe that the year 2016 has already come and gone. Looking back at everything that has happened, we can definitely say it was a busy, fruitful, and challenging year.\nWe are blown away by all that the Lord has done in our lives and in the lives of those we minister to and with. All that we have been able to do over the past year would not have been possible, first and foremost, without the Lord guiding and directing our steps and second without your prayers, financial support, and the love you have shown to our family. Thank you for your continued partnership with us and our ministries, here in Nepal.\nHere are just a few of the highlights from the past few months:\nCCBC Student Outreach Trip On November 6th, the 22 students and all of the staff and family members from CCBC Nepal headed to the Gorkha region - about a 6 hour drive outside of the Kathmandu valley - to hold a 2-day outreach trip.\nThe purpose of this trip was to help put into action all that the students had all learned at CCBC Nepal, over the past semester. The trip was completely student lead. They were responsible for contacting the different locations we would be going to and to put together a program to help draw a crowd so that the gospel could be preached.\nDuring the trip, we visited four different villages. At each location, the students played music, sang, danced, and did a few skits. After the entertainment part of the program was done, there was a testimony shared and then the gospel message was preached.\nWe were so proud to watch each student step out of their comfort zone and reach out to the people who came to the events.\nIn addition to being proud of the students, we were so proud of how well Levi did on his very first mission trip to a village! He was a champ and did great with all of the travel and the different places we went. He was also a great “tool” to use to reach out to some village women in one of the locations we went to! They loved watching him play and holding him and we were able to sit and talk with them and share why we were visiting them.\n\\\\\\_________________________________________\nCCBC Graduation We had our 2nd graduation ceremony at CCBC Nepal on November 18. There were 4 students that graduated with us this time - Gopal Gurung, Rajkumar Gurung, Rabi Shrestha, and Victoria Albrecht (our first American student).\nPlease keep these graduates in your prayers as they are back in their home towns and serving in their churches. Gopal and Rajkumar are actively involved in their home church back in their village. Their senior pastor is preparing for them to take over the church after he moves to a different location. Rabi has a desire to be a missionary to his neighbors and surrounding areas in Nepal. Victoria has been accepted to “Patmos: Reality Discipleship” which is a discipleship program in partnership with Calvary Chapel Bible College - Murrieta.\n\\\\\\_________________________________________\nPre-Christmas Celebration Pankaj’s heart for Calvary Chapel Kathmandu is for it to be a mission minded church. Not only by sending people out and planting churches, but also by reaching out to the community and neighbors all around us. He has a heart for the lost and prays that each neighbor will see how we live our lives and want to learn more about the one true and living God that we serve.\nHosting special events is a key way of reaching out to people in our neighborhood. We know that they may not come if invited to a church service, but if they hear that we have a BBQ after service or are having a special music/concert, they are more likely to come and see what we are all about.\nThis Christmas season, Pankaj and his leadership team at Calvary Chapel Kathmandu, put together a huge Christmas Outreach, at the beginning of the month. There were special songs preformed by different bands, gifts for visitors, and most importantly, a Christmas and gospel message presented by Pastor Bond. After the service, everyone enjoyed a time of fellowship and food during a special Christmas BBQ feast.\nIt was overwhelming too see so many people come through the gates that would not normally want to set foot inside of a church. In total, we had over 200 people in attendance and every single person that came that day heard the true reason we celebrate Christmas and had the opportunity to accept Christ as their personal Lord and Savior.\n\\\\\\_________________________________________\nChurch Planting We are excited to share about 3 Calvary Chapel Kathmandu church plants!\nThe first church has been in fellowship for about a year now. It is being lead by a friend of Pankaj’s named Padam in a village in east Nepal named Katle. Padam attended our very first School of Ministry and a few classes when CCBC first started up. He did not graduate with us but felt the Lord calling him to move back to his home village and start a home fellowship that would, God willing, one day turn into a church. There is approximately 20 people who attend on a regular basis and Padam is currently going through the book of John with everyone. With the help of monthly support from others and tithes from our congregation, Calvary Chapel Kathmandu is able to send a small amount of funds to support Padam and his ministry on a monthly basis. Please pray that God will proved more funds for Padam to find a larger location to rent or build to have his weekend serves in.\nThe second church is being lead by one of our graduated CCBC students, Milan. God miraculously provided enough funds through a supporter, in America, to help purchase land in the village he is serving in. On this land, we will be constructing a church building as well as a small home for Milan to live in. Milan is currently meeting in a small rented room that can barely hold the 30+ people who attend every week so this new land and building will be a huge blessing to everyone there.\nThe third church is still in the praying process and has not yet been established. In March, Pankaj and a few of his ministry team leaders will travel to a village in the far west in the Mugu district (about a 3 day journey from Kathmandu). During their time there, they will meet with some leaders and talk about the possibility of planting a church there.\nPlease keep all of these churches and their pastors in your prayers. Also pray for wisdom on Pankaj’s part in training and equipping the leaders and pastors.\nPadam and his family.\nMilan teaching during one of his weekend services.\n\\\\\\_________________________________________\nTrip to America! The date is set! Pankaj, Levi, and I will be in America from March 31 to the end of May!\nThe main purpose of this trip is to work on immigration paperwork for Pankaj’s green card, Levi’s India visa, and to officially register our marriage with the Indian Embassy.\nWe would also love to meet with any of you - individuals and churches - to share about what the Lord is continuing to do, here in Nepal. If you or anyone you know would be interested to have us share, please let us know so we can put it on our calendar.\n\\\\\\_________________________________________\nThank you again for all of your prayers and love for our family and ministries. We are truly blessed to have each one of you in our lives.\nLove, Pankaj, Tonielle, and Levi Sarkar\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/winter-2016-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eHappy New Year! It is hard to believe that the year 2016 has already come and gone. Looking back at everything that has happened, we can definitely say it was a busy, fruitful, and challenging year.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are blown away by all that the Lord has done in our lives and in the lives of those we minister to and with. All that we have been able to do over the past year would not have been possible, first and foremost, without the Lord guiding and directing our steps and second without your prayers, financial support, and the love you have shown to our family. Thank you for your continued partnership with us and our ministries, here in Nepal.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Winter 2016 Update"},{"content":"\nWow! We have had a whirlwind of the last few weeks. We just had a great Christmas with many visitors, and the kids and staff have been abundantly blessed by so many generous brothers and sisters from all across the country.\nBut what we are also excited about is something that seems to defy logic, rational thinking, and common sense (sounds like God). A few weeks ago our wonderful and amazing single staff conspired and approached me with a proposition. The reason we haven’t been trying to do a School of Discipleship before is because we have only had three families and one of them has been out of commission. Our thinking was, “If we only just had one more family…” But the staff said they would be willing to take on extra responsibilities to free us up to prepare and lead and school.\nThey have been such a delightful bunch that get together and pray and worship on their own and desire to be Spirit led. For fear of possibly quenching the Spirit and missing an opportunity that may very well be coming from God through them, Miguel, Caleb, and I decided to venture forward and see if maybe our Father in heaven might just have a group of students ready and waiting. As of today, we have received our first application for the school, and we are all excited and praying repeatedly that the Lord will keep the way open for all who are able to come join us.\nThe school will run from February 10 through May 11. It costs $1200, which covers food, utilities, guest speaker expenses, and an outing or two. The mornings begin with morning worship and communion and class time till noon. The afternoons are spent either working alongside out staff as they care for the kids in various ways, or spending time in prayer, studying and meditating on the word, or just simply walking with our Lord. The subjects in class are foundational; the fundamentals of the faith, spiritual disciplines, etc..\nBut the greatest work and revelations are rarely picked up in the classroom. We have long had a saying, “As we are changing the kids, the kids are changing us.” God uses the “feet on the ground” experiences to do the most profound works in peoples lives. And many, many lives have been radically changed for people around the world. The stories of how God met people while hanging out with Juan Carlos, Lupe, Ana and the rest have been preached in Africa, England, Vanuatu, and many other countries.\nWe are inviting people from the ages of 18 to 29 to come and give the Lord three months of their lives. They will get back a lifetime of closeness to our Savior.\nVisit https://www.one27foundation.org/school-of-discipleship for an application and brochure, or email me at jeff-moody@hotmail.com\nMay God be gracious to you.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/school-of-discipleship-2017/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/moody/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2016/03/0064-300x211.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWow! We have had a whirlwind of the last few weeks. We just had a great Christmas with many visitors, and the kids and staff have been abundantly blessed by so many generous brothers and sisters from all across the country.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBut what we are also excited about is something that seems to defy logic, rational thinking, and common sense (sounds like God). A few weeks ago our wonderful and amazing single staff conspired and approached me with a proposition. The reason we haven’t been trying to do a School of Discipleship before is because we have only had three families and one of them has been out of commission. Our thinking was, “If we only just had one more family…” But the staff said they would be willing to take on extra responsibilities to free us up to prepare and lead and school.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"School of Discipleship 2017"},{"content":"Sela was born March 18, 1988 and came to the Mission October 20, 1992. She was born with cerebral palsy and has mental retardation and may also have tuberous sclerosis. There are no records on her files of her history before she came to the Mission, apart from having temporarily being in another orphanage that wasn’t equipped to meet her needs.\nSela is very limited in her abilities. She depends on the staff to do everything for her. She can’t speak and primarily only uses her right hand to hold a rattle or a bottle. She loves being tickled, so much so that if no one else will do it she tickles her self behind her head or on her leg. Depending on the mood that she’s in she sometimes enjoys holding a persons hand (particularly if it’s a boy), or she’ll let you know that’s not what she wants by pushing your hand away. She has complications eating and swallowing. Her food has to be pureed, and her drinks are thickened into a paste form so that it doesn’t go down into her lungs. There have been times that she has struggled with various health problems, but she has been generally free of major complications for the last two years. Throughout the years all of the wheelchairs have been donations that we mixed and matched to make them fit our kids. They’ve never had custom fit chairs. Last summer a couple of girls who have spent time serving at the Mission did a fundraiser called “Make Sela Smile.” They raised not only enough for Sela, but also enough for a significant portion for a chair for Eddie. On November 6th Sela’s chair was delivered. We had no idea how much difference a custom fit chair would make. She has been happier and laughing more than any other time in her life. The fit of her chair now gives her the confidence to lean forward and appear more engaged with everything going on around her, which she has never done in the past.\nAll of the staff are really amazed and are enjoying the change of character that it has brought out in her. She’s never been able to express any problems or discomfort that she may have experienced in the past. When she would cry all we could do is guess what she might be unhappy about.\nPlease pray that Sela’s comfort continues and that the Lord would give insight to the staff when she when she does cry. Also pray that she will be able to overcome her swallowing difficulties.\nThese are links to the videos related to the fundraiser:\n“ Make Sela Smile”\n“ Selabrate”\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/sela/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eSela was born March 18, 1988 and came to the Mission October 20, 1992. She was born with cerebral palsy and has mental retardation and may also have tuberous sclerosis. There are no records on her files of her history before she came to the Mission, apart from having temporarily being in another orphanage that wasn’t equipped to meet her needs.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/moody/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2016/12/010-214x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSela is very limited in her abilities. She depends on the staff to do everything for her. She can’t speak and primarily only uses her right hand to hold a rattle or a bottle. She loves being tickled, so much so that if no one else will do it she tickles her self behind her head or on her leg. Depending on the mood that she’s in she sometimes enjoys holding a persons hand (particularly if it’s a boy), or she’ll let you know that’s not what she wants by pushing your hand away. \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/moody/wp-content/uploads/sites/43/2016/12/2-7-03a-5-219x300.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Sela"},{"content":"Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Luke 18:16 Dear Friends and Family!\nMerry Christmas! As we prepare to celebrate Christmas\u0026ndash;Jesus’ birth\u0026ndash;it strikes me that God sent His Son as a little baby. God loves children. I believe that children are never too young to begin learning about Jesus and can come to know Him at a very young age. Currently, at Arise Christian Fellowship there is a lot happening among the youth. Before I share with you all that is happening I want to share how it all began. After having finished a new believers class and a discipleship class we felt that these young Christians needed to begin to also serve in the church. Before putting them in any position to serve we offered them a short course on servanthood, how to serve like Jesus.\nThroughout our studies some weren\u0026rsquo;t sure what God is calling them to and were willing to try anything. Others were very sure of what God is calling them to and had strong desires to step out in those areas of ministry. The #1 calling we found the students expressing (both men and women) was to children. This was the beginning of the amazing children’s ministry / outreach that is developing within the church and our community.\nThe following Sunday we had over 75 children in children\u0026rsquo;s ministry! As a church most of the outreaches we have had have centered around sports. Our first children’s outreach was no different. In Uganda, soccer or football as they call it, is the center of all extra curricular activities for adults and children alike. Anywhere you go you will most likely see a soccer ball being kicked around. There is a field not far from our church where children and young adults can be seen playing soccer daily. We met there and arranged the kids into teams. Our volunteers from church gave them some pointers on how to kick and play fairly then we let them play. Afterwards we had a evangelistic Bible story and served them snacks and water. We invited them all to church. The following Sunday we had over 75 children in children’s ministry! We really believe that the harvest is ripe amongst the children and Jesus is still saying, “Let the little children come to me”.\nAs we started having so many children come to Sunday school, we quickly realized that many come from poverty stricken families. They are hungry, in need clothes and some are sick. This has led to us praying about how we can best help the children physically while ministering to them spiritually. As of right now we are trying to meet the hunger issue. We can’t be at their homes everyday to make sure they eat but on Sundays when they come to us we can be try to serve them something so their tummys are full and they can concentrate on what they are learning about Jesus. Continue to pray with us for guidance on other ways we can show Christ’s love for them through meeting needs and provision to do so.\nContinue to pray with us for guidance\u0026hellip;and provision\u0026hellip; Another one of the volunteers at church felt called to minister to the children thru music. He meets with the children before Sunday school for a time of children’s worship. This allows the Sunday school teachers to sit in on worship in the sanctuary before they teach. He is also meeting with the children on Tuesday evenings after school. Currently they are practicing to share something special with the church for Christmas.\nAnother one of our volunteers felt led to oversee our movie night outreach. Since he has been using it as a platform to evangelize and invite people to church we have had a full house the last Friday every month. We show a Christian movie that is followed by a short message. Besides the evangelistic opportunity this is, it also provides a safe place for the youth to gather together.\nAs we reflect on the love God showed to us by sending Jesus to be born, to live and to die for us, let us also extend that love to others.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Kampala.\nIn Him, Brian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana PRAYER REQUESTS Praise the Lord for all He is doing in lives of the men and women at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the new volunteers. Pray that they would do all unto the Lord and for His glory. Pray for the children’s ministry at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the teachers and children. Pray for the upcoming Christmas service and children’s program. Pray that everyone would know that Jesus is the reason for the season. Pray for health and safety for our family. Continue to Pray that we would truly “Arise and Shine” the light of Christ in this dark place. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the ministries and leaders. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/kanyike-christmas-update/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"let-the-little-children-come-to-me-and-do-not-hinder-them-for-the-kingdom-of-god-belongs-to-such-as-these-luke-1816\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eLet the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.  Luke 18:16\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDear Friends and Family!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch1 id=\"merry-christmas\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMerry Christmas!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs we prepare to celebrate Christmas\u0026ndash;Jesus’ birth\u0026ndash;it strikes me that God sent His Son as a little baby. God loves children. I believe that children are never too young to begin learning about Jesus and can come to know Him at a very young age. \u003ca href=\"/kanyike/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2016/12/servanthood-class.png\"\u003e\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/kanyike/wp-content/uploads/sites/24/2016/12/servanthood-class-300x187.png\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Kanyike Christmas Update"},{"content":"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV\n2016-07-06-21-10-55\nAs we come to the end of 2016, we have the opportunity to reflect on the past year and to look forward to 2017. After serving as missionaries since 2007, 2016 has been a year of reflection, rest, reading the Word and other books, and reconnecting with family, friends, and our calling as missionaries to Cambodia, a real sabbatical. We are thankful for all of the grace and blessings we have received. We also give thanks to God for providing for our practical needs of housing, transportation, and finances through faithful ministry partners, church family, and some other amazing miraculous ways.\nWe lived and wrapped up our work in Cambodia until June 2016. Benjamin could successfully finish his school year at Hope International School and we sold and stored some of our belongings there. We arrived at Los Angeles on July 7 and are staying in the greater Los Angeles area where our mission agency and main sending church in the USA are located. Darryl has been able to get the medical treatment and member care that he needs to return to health and strength. Kayo’s Green Card process has gone smoother than we expected and so she should receive her new Green Card around February 2017. Benjamin has been occupied with homeschooling through a charter school and is also taking a Judo (Japanese martial art) class at a local community center.\nLord willing, we will start getting ready to return to our mission field, Cambodia after the first of the year. The returning date on our returning tickets to Phnom Penh, Cambodia is March 25, 2017. Thanks in advance for your faithful prayers and encouragement that God has used to restore and refresh us.\nMerry Christmas!\nDarryl, Kayo, and Benjamin Record\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/merry-christmas-from-the-record-familycambodia-missions-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eFor I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/record/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/12/2016-07-06-21.10.55-300x241.jpg\"\n         alt=\"2016-07-06-21-10-55\"/\u003e \u003cfigcaption\u003e\n            \u003cp\u003e2016-07-06-21-10-55\u003c/p\u003e\n        \u003c/figcaption\u003e\n\u003c/figure\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAs we come to the end of 2016, we have the opportunity to reflect on the past year and to look forward to 2017.  After serving as missionaries since 2007, 2016 has been a year of reflection, rest, reading the Word and other books, and reconnecting with family, friends, and our calling as missionaries to Cambodia, a real sabbatical.  We are thankful for all of the grace and blessings we have received.  We also give thanks to God for providing for our practical needs of housing, transportation, and finances through faithful ministry partners, church family, and some other amazing miraculous ways.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Merry Christmas from the Record Family/Cambodia Missions Update"},{"content":" That was us 14 years ago, shortly after we arrived in Hungary. Looking back we can clearly see God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness to our family as well as His hand on the ministry He has entrusted to us.\nGod allowed us to pour into the life of many of the Bible college students while we were serving at Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe. We\u0026rsquo;re still in contact with many of them.\nWhen God moved us to Estergom, He opened up amazing doors to teach the Bible in churches, Bible studies and on outreaches in Hungary, Slovakia, England, Wales and Scotland. It was amazing what God did.\nThen about 2004 the Lord began to move on our hearts that our time in Hungary was coming to an end. Through a set of miraculous events, The Lord opened a door for us to move to Germany. He relocated us in Middle Franconia, which is in western Bavaria. He gave us a vision of reaching out to young soldiers, Germans and other nationals in the area.\nThe Lord had us start a small Bible study which grew into a small fellowship. We introduced many people to solid verse by verse Bible study and a God who was deeply in love with them.\nWe did a 5 year study focusing on Jesus\u0026rsquo; Life and Ministry in Chronological Order. That study took us through each Gospel. After that we continued on through the Book of Acts and then into Romans.\nDuring this time we also taught a mid week study through the 5 Books of Moses (we only got through 4 of them though.) The Lord took us deep in His word and united our hearts together in sweet fellowship.\nFrom L to R, Mat (an adopted family member), Austin, Bryan, Tina and Gary\nNow after 10 years in Germany, 14 years in Europe, The Lord is moving us again. He has called us back to the states. For us it is bitter sweet. Europe is our home. The kids basically grew up here in Europe. Austin hardly even remembers living in the states. But we know that God\u0026rsquo;s past faithfulness\u0026hellip;demands our present trust.\nThe Lord put it on Tina and my hearts that we would eventually return to the states so the boys could attend college and we were to help get them take the next steps in their lives.\nWe always knew that the time would be right when God provided a way back that didn\u0026rsquo;t cost us any money, since we didn\u0026rsquo;t have any. Well, the Army has decided to move us to California, to work at Fort Irwin. They are paying for the move. And it is happening fast. We will be back in the states for Christmas and I will be starting a new job December 27.\nI have wanted to share this news earlier, but we found ourselves just trying to hang on, things have been moving so fast. Our household goods will be packed up next week and sent. We are waiting for the final amendments to our orders and we\u0026rsquo;ll be off very soon.\nI trust that the Lord isn’t done with us yet and that there will more opportunities to continue to serve Him future. It will just be in the states instead of here in Europe. We will be exchanging one dark continent for another.\nI hope that you will continue to pray for us and stand with us in sharing the love of Christ with a dark and dying world. It is our hope that The Lord will take us ever deeper in a love relationship with Him and that He will use us to point others to Him.\nThank you for your prayers. If you have any questions, please email us and we\u0026rsquo;d be happy to respond quickly.\nFor those of our friends in Europe, we\u0026rsquo;ll miss you greatly. For our friends in the states, we\u0026rsquo;re looking forward to seeing you.\nGod bless,\nGary and Tina\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/bittersweet/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"/barrow/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2016/12/US_IN_FR-Version-2.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"The Barrow\u0026rsquo;s 2002\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/barrow/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2016/12/US_IN_FR-Version-2-300x247.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e That was us 14 years ago, shortly after we arrived in Hungary. Looking back we can clearly see God\u0026rsquo;s faithfulness to our family as well as His hand on the ministry He has entrusted to us.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGod allowed us to pour into the life of many of the Bible college students while we were serving at Calvary Chapel Bible College Europe. We\u0026rsquo;re still in contact with many of them.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Bittersweet"},{"content":"Vincent Family December 2016 Ministry Update!\nGreetings from Mexico,\nWe hope that you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving! As we approach the end of the year, this is a wonderful time to reflect back on God’s faithfulness and blessing. In this final update of 2016, I want to give thanks with you for the great things that God has done in this past year.\n#1- We witnessed over 450 first time professions of faith this past year during our main church services.\n#2- Our daughter Grace read over 20 books and was able to catch some of her favorite bands in concert with her missionary friends!\n#3- Mike and Sarah were able to get away to Northern California for some R and R!\n#4- We were able to plant four new churches. (In La Mision and Mazatlan Mexico and San Ysidro, Ca., and Punta Gorda Florida!)\n#5- Our son Daniel finally gave up soccer, and followed in his dad’s footsteps and joined a team to play basketball! (He is 14 ½ and almost 6 feet tall)\n#6- This summer we had over 300 children enrolled in our summer Vacation Bible School.\n#7- 240 new believers publically exhibited their faith in Jesus through the waters of baptism.\n#8- Sarah continued to get the “home school mom of the year” award as she helped our children navigate through high school!\n#9- 160 adults graduated from our Pillars adult discipleship course!\n#10- Our church was able to reach the least of these in our community, local orphanages, Haitian refugees, and the city dump through mercy and medical ministries!\nWe want to thank you for partnering with our family this past year. It was our most blessed and fruitful year ever, and we look forward to partnering together in 2017 and we are asking God to do even greater things! May God bless you with a Jesus filled Christmas and a very happy New Year!\nCon mucho amor de Mexico, (with much love from Mexico)\nMike, Sarah, Grace, and Daniel For our personal support, checks should be made out to Saving Grace World Missions with “Vincent support” in the memo section. For special projects, checks should also be made out to Saving Grace World Missions or SGWM, with the project name in the comments section. Use the enclosed envelope or mail directly to Saving Grace World Missions, 17451 Bastanchury Rd., Suite 203, Yorba Linda, CA 92886-1873 For your convenience, you may consider giving through electronic funds transfer or direct deposit. Simply go to our mission’s website, or insert this web address into your web browser, www.sgwm.com/wp2010/ministries/calvary-chapel-rosarito/ Next, click on the “become a financial partner” button and fill out the information. If you want your gift to go to support our family, please write “Vincent” in the “purpose of gift” section.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/end-of-the-year-update/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eVincent  Family December  2016  Ministry  Update!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGreetings from Mexico,\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe hope that you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving! As we approach the end of the year, this is a wonderful time to reflect back on God’s faithfulness and blessing. In this final update of 2016, I want to give thanks with you for the great things that God has done in this past year.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e#1- We witnessed over 450 first time professions of faith this past year during our main church services.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"End of the Year Update!"},{"content":"We wanted to write a quick update to say thank you to all that have been praying for the rent situation at the ministry campus and also for our fundraising attempts to come back to America for Pankaj\u0026rsquo;s green card paperwork.\nMinistry Campus Rent Deficit - Update We are blown away by God\u0026rsquo;s provision!! Since our last email, the Lord has provided a way for our rent (including the increase) to be covered for all of 2017! We are still in need of additional support for the following years and hope to raise those needed funds throughout this year, but we are grateful we do not have to worry about 2017 rent.\nIf you would like to make a donation (one-time or monthly) specifically to help with the rent for 2018 and beyond, please click here: HERE. Once signed in, you can choose to make a donation to the CCBC Nepal general fund which will help with our rent for the coming years.\nFundraising for USA Visit - Update We are half way to our goal!! Thank you to all that have financially supported us and who have been praying for us. Please continue to pray with us as we try to raise the remaining funds for our trip.\nPlease click the links below if you are interested in helping.\nLink to GoFundMe Campaign: https://www.gofundme.com/help-bring-the-sarkars-to-america-2u36a93j Saving Grace World Missions Account (please specify in note section it is for USA trip): https://www.egsnetwork.com/gift2/?giftid=264777D43019456\nThank you again for all of your prayers!\nLove, Pankaj, Tonielle, and Levi\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/thank-you/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eWe wanted to write a quick update to say thank you to all that have been praying for the rent situation at the ministry campus and also for our fundraising attempts to come back to America for Pankaj\u0026rsquo;s green card paperwork.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eMinistry Campus Rent Deficit - Update\u003c/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"/sarkar/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2016/11/20140911_173148.jpg\"\u003e\u003cimg alt=\"20140911_173148\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/sarkar/wp-content/uploads/sites/19/2016/11/20140911_173148-300x225.jpg\"\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe are blown away by God\u0026rsquo;s provision!! Since our last email, the Lord has provided a way for our rent (including the increase) to be covered for all of 2017! We are still in need of additional support for the following years and hope to raise those needed funds throughout this year, but we are grateful we do not have to worry about 2017 rent.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Thank You!"},{"content":"My heart is particularly heavy today. Saying goodbye is really hard, over the past week we have said goodbye to countless people. It began with graduation a week ago, a night full of goodbyes to the many graduates who will now be heading to all different parts of Peru. Then all the remaining students and staff leaving for the holidays, and today to the last remaining family who is leaving on a quick vacation after a busy semester.\nIn just three short days, we say goodbye to our home in Cajamarca as well. This trip, though very full and blessed, has flown by all together too quickly. We must decide by December 1st whether or not we are keeping our house on campus. So we are praying fervently that the Lord would give us clear direction about this decision. Please pray with us over the next few days that the Lord would provide above and beyond our expectations and that we would be able to return in January, ready to start the upcoming semester.\nLuke 10:2\n“ The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.”\nThe Lord is working in great ways here in Cajamarca and we are incredibly thankful that He has seen fit for us to play a part in that work. Our prayer is that our church, our friends and our family would get to see a glimpse of what the Lord is doing here. We pray that God would reveal the value of this Bible college out in the mountains of Peru and the great work that He is doing within these walls. May the Lord stir in your hearts a love for His people all over the world and allow you to share the vision of training believers to seek the Lord wholeheartedly.\nThe pastor speaking at the graduation put it this way, “We love the Bible college here in Cajamarca, because we send them students who are like diamonds in the rough and they send them back to us as polished gems.” I felt like this was such a great summary of CCBC Peru. The students came in their first semester struggling to get along, frustrated with living out in the country, facing various trials and God worked mightily in their lives allowing them to leave with hearts that were committed to doing whatever the Lord had for them next. Their love for the Lord, attitudes towards others and their hearts for service and outreach grew in so many ways. What a beautiful thing to get to watch first hand.\nOur desire is to be back this upcoming semester as several new students and families are set to come and it is a great opportunity to be able to get to know them, and be a part of their time here from the beginning. We are ready to be back in Cajamarca in our own home and to be part of the ministry that God is calling us to. Won\u0026rsquo;t you pray alongside of us that God would stir the hearts of those called to partner with us and pray that He would open the doors quickly for us to return.\nRomans 10:14-15\nHow then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!”\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/a-month-has-passed-in-the-blink-of-an-eye/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eMy heart is particularly heavy today. Saying goodbye is really hard, over the past week we have said goodbye to countless people. It began with graduation a week ago, a night full of goodbyes to the many graduates who will now be heading to all different parts of Peru. Then all the remaining students and staff leaving for the holidays, and today to the last remaining family who is leaving on a quick vacation after a busy semester.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"A Month has Passed in the Blink of an Eye"},{"content":"The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. 2 Timothy 2:2 Dear Friends and Family, Happy Thanksgiving!\nAs always this month we have so much to be thankful for. We are thankful God has blessed us with health and family and provision. We are thankful that the Lord has allowed us to be a part of His plan for Uganda. We are thankful for Jesus and His willingness to die that we might live. We are thankful for you, all of our friends and family who support our family and ministry here in Uganda.\nA couple months ago we wrote about Pastor Doug Calhoon and his family and how God was calling them to leave Uganda and Calvary Chapel Fort Portal to work with a church plant in New Zealand. Before leaving the church was turned over to the assistant pastor Nicolas. They asked me if I would be willing to come and spend sometime with the women leaders to help them with the transition as well. Calvary Fort Portal is like family to us so of course I said I would. This month we spent a week there with the church and the leaders.\nI have taught Women’s leadership many times, as it is part of the course that I teach at All Nations Bible college. The difference between how I normally teach it and how I taught this class in Fort Portal was huge. The class normally runs once a week for about four months. In Fort Portal I taught it in 11 sessions over 3 days from 10 - 5 each day. I don\u0026rsquo;t think I have ever done so much teaching in such a short period of time.\n25 ladies came for the training. Some are currently serving in leadership in women’s ministry, children’s ministry, or the worship team. Others feel called to some form of ministry and thought the training would help them to see which way the Lord is directing them. Along with the teaching the women had homework to complete on their own and after each session we had discussions about what they were learning. It was quite intense for them as well as for me.\nIn our 3 days of teaching we covered a variety of topics that can help prepare a leader for their ministry as well as to equip any believer in a deeper relationship with Christ and ability to minister to other believers. We covered relationship building, leadership, evangelism, discipleship, counselling, studying, teaching and event planning. While it was quite a lot to cover in a short time, I prepared something like a handbook for them. This way they can refer back to it if they have questions or need guidance in a particular area we covered.\nMy favorite parts of out time together were the times of discussion and prayer. In all of my teaching I always include discussions because I believe it helps the listeners to become doers also. It also helps me to see if the ladies are understanding what I have been teaching and shows me areas that may need more time spent. The ladies were very open and honest about the struggles of the ministry as also shared testimonies of how God was leading and using them. Their openness to share was an encouragement to me as a w omen’s leader as well. At the end of each day we broke up into groups and prayed specifically for one another, for our ministries and personal lives. I believe by the end of the training we were all drawn closer together and that they have a foundation not just in head knowledge but in unity to lift one another up as they serve the Lord together. I look forward to the next time I get to go spend time with these precious women.\nBesides the women’s leadership teaching we were also able to spend some one on one time with the pastor and his wife as well as another missionary couple there. It is a blessing to see how God is working in their lives and how the transition has gone so smoothly. It truly shows that the church belongs to the Lord. Our last day in Fort Portal was a Sunday so pastor Nicloas asked Brian to share the message and Evelyn led worship. Pastor Nicolas is going to come and share with Arise when Brian has to travel next month. We look forward to having him come and bless our church.\nThank you for praying for our family and for the ministry in Uganda.\nIn Him,\nBrian, Jill, Luke, Laylee, and Liana PRAYER REQUESTS Praise the Lord for all He is doing in lives of the menand women at Arise Christian Fellowship and Calvary Chapel Fort Portal Pray for all the women who attended the leadership training. Pray they would be certain of the calling on their lives and apply the things they have learned. Pray for the Kanyike family as Brian has traveled to the states for 3 weeks and the children and Jill will remain in Uganda. Pray for health for our family. That we would not get sick so often. Continue to Pray that we would truly “Arise and Shine” the light of Christ in this dark place. Pray for Brian as pastors and leads our ministry team at Arise Christian Fellowship. Pray for all the ministries and leaders. Please prayerfully consider becoming part of the Kanyike Family support team. ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/blog/news/the-kanyike-update-november-2016/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"the-things-which-you-have-heard-from-me-in-the-presence-of-many-witnesses-entrust-these-to-faithful-men-who-will-be-able-to-teach-others-also-2-timothy-22\"\u003eThe things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.  2 Timothy 2:2\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"dear-friends-and-family\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eDear Friends and Family,\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHappy Thanksgiving!\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs always this month we have so much to be thankful for.  We are thankful God has blessed us with health and family and provision.  We are thankful that the Lord has allowed us to be a part of His plan for Uganda. We are thankful for Jesus and His willingness to die that we might live. We are thankful for you, all of our friends and family who support our family and ministry here in Uganda.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"The Kanyike Update--November 2016"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/find-a-ministry/","summary":"","title":"Find a Ministry"},{"content":" Barrow Gaona Vincent ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/","summary":"\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/barrow\"\u003eBarrow\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/gaona\"\u003eGaona\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\u003ca href=\"/vincent\"\u003eVincent\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e","title":"Home"},{"content":"Thank you for your heart and service to the Lord and your support for our missionaries and ministry. Here is a brief overview of how giving through SGWM works OR CLICK HERE to continue to the \u0026ldquo;Most Needed\u0026rdquo; giving page.\nSupporting a Missionary OR Ministry If you are looking for a particular missionary OR ministry please go to the home page and click on the \u0026ldquo;continent\u0026rdquo; ( i.e. Asia) that your missionary or ministry is working in ( there is also a page on the menu that says, \u0026ldquo;Find A Missionary\u0026rdquo; that will take you to a page that lists all our missionaries). Once you click on a continent, a window will open and you can scroll through until you find your missionary or ministry ( please note that the ministries list is below the missionary list). Click on your missionary or ministry and a \u0026ldquo;bio\u0026rdquo; page will open. There you will find two buttons at the bottom of the page - Become a Financial Partner AND Visit Missionary Blog. If you desire to donate to that particular missionary or ministry just click on the \u0026ldquo;Become a Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; button and you will be taken to the giving page with that missionaries/ministries giving ID assigned.\nSupporting - Most Needed We have a Most Needed fund that you can give towards. This fund is simply used for whatever is \u0026quot; Most Needed.\u0026quot; The Board oversees this account and allocates the funds to whatever need or needs are pressing (i.e. emergency evacuation, missionaries car breaks down, outreach opportunities, etc\u0026hellip;). This is a highly effective way to support a broad spectrum of needs. To donate to the Most Needed fund please Click Here.\nOk\u0026hellip; I Donated Now What? Well first off, thank you for your support! Secondly, once the support clears the banks, it will be deposited into the account you specified. From there, the missionaries or ministries will have access to those funds via our accounting policies and procedures.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/giving/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you for your heart and service to the Lord and your support for our missionaries and ministry. Here is a brief overview of how giving through SGWM works OR \u003ca href=\"https://www.shelbygiving.com/App/Form/ac7ac5a0-3f06-4a22-8234-9867deadc146\"\u003eCLICK HERE\u003c/a\u003e to continue to the \u0026ldquo;Most Needed\u0026rdquo; giving page.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"supporting-a-missionary-or-ministry\"\u003eSupporting a Missionary OR Ministry\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you are looking for a particular missionary OR ministry please go to the \u003ca href=\"https://sgwm.com\"\u003ehome page\u003c/a\u003e and click on the \u0026ldquo;continent\u0026rdquo; ( \u003cem\u003ei.e. Asia\u003c/em\u003e) that your missionary or ministry is working in ( \u003cem\u003ethere is also a page on the menu that says, \u0026ldquo;Find A Missionary\u0026rdquo; that will take you to a page that lists all our missionaries\u003c/em\u003e). Once you click on a continent, a window will open and you can scroll through until you find your missionary or ministry ( \u003cem\u003eplease note that the ministries list is below the missionary list\u003c/em\u003e). Click on your missionary or ministry and a \u0026ldquo;bio\u0026rdquo; page will open. There you will find two buttons at the bottom of the page - \u003cem\u003eBecome a Financial Partner\u003c/em\u003e AND \u003cem\u003eVisit Missionary Blog\u003c/em\u003e. If you desire to donate to that particular missionary or ministry just click on the \u0026ldquo;Become a Financial Partner\u0026rdquo; button and you will be taken to the giving page with that missionaries/ministries giving ID assigned.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Giving"},{"content":"[gravityform id=\u0026ldquo;2\u0026rdquo; title=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo; description=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo; ajax=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo;]\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/confidential-reference/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e[gravityform id=\u0026ldquo;2\u0026rdquo; title=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo; description=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo; ajax=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo;]\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Confidential Reference"},{"content":"[gravityform id=\u0026ldquo;1\u0026rdquo; title=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo; description=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo; ajax=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo;]\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/online-application/","summary":"\u003cp\u003e[gravityform id=\u0026ldquo;1\u0026rdquo; title=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo; description=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo; ajax=\u0026ldquo;true\u0026rdquo;]\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Online Application"},{"content":"Thank you for signing up. If you have any questions, please contact us.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/confirmation/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThank you for signing up. If you have any questions, please \u003ca href=\"mailto:office@sgwm.com\" title=\"Contact Us\"\u003econtact us\u003c/a\u003e.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Confirmation"},{"content":"","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/find-a-missionary/","summary":"","title":"Find A Missionary"},{"content":"The calling to missions is often overwhelming with the list of questions that seemingly have no answers. The anxieties of moving overseas and the realities of leaving your home, family, friends, and church. Then there is the staggeringly unclear task of raising support.\n_Where do you begin? Who do you talk to? What are the steps? Is there anyone that can help?_\nSaving Grace World Missions (SGWM) is here for you. We exist with a passion to come alongside missionaries, specifically church planters, and their churches in order to help them get to the mission field AND be successful while they are there.\nSGWM has over 15 years of experience in caring for, shepherding, and facilitating missionaries. We love to minister to missionaries by helping make the path a little more clear and their calling a little more manageable. If God is calling you to the mission field, SGWM has the experience and the staff to help you make that calling a reality.\nHere are some of the practical ways Saving Grace World Missions assists our missionaries.\nReceiving Donor Contributions One of the biggest needs that a missionary will have is financial processing assistance. SGWM has a team of people that work on receiving, inputing, and managing each missionary\u0026rsquo;s donations. Every long-term missionary will receive a personal account within our accounting department where all of their donations are posted. SGWM missionaries have access to their financial information either through our financial staff or their own personal and secure login. This is where the missionary can review and stay up-to-date on all their donor financial information. Donor Tax Receipts SGWM is a ministry of Calvary Chapel Saving Grace, a licensed 501-c3 non-profit organization that allows all contributors of a missionary to receive a tax-deductible credit for their gift. Payroll All of our long term missionaries are considered full-time staff of SGWM and will receive payroll on the 1st and the 15th of every month based upon the missionary\u0026rsquo;s personal support. E-mail Newsletters/Updates/Prayer Requests One of the services we provide our missionaries with is a newsletter e-mail service. This means that the only thing a missionary needs to do is post their update to their website (see the bullet point about the personal missionary blog) and our SGWM staff will take their update and mass e-mail it within our SGWM template to the missionary\u0026rsquo;s specific e-mail list. Medical Benefits SGWM offers an international health care plan for individuals and families that focuses on the specific care and needs of overseas missionaries. Pastoral Support and Counseling As a Calvary Chapel based ministry we have a staff of Calvary Chapel Pastors that are here to help care for and shepherd our missionaries. Pastor Trent Douglass, the President of Saving Grace World Missions, is the Sr. Pastor of Calvary Chapel Saving Grace and offers his wealth of knowledge and experience to each of our missionaries. Personal Missionary blog on www.SGWM.com We provide a medium for our missionaries to post monthly blog updates via our website. For an example of what this looks like please check out these missionary sites - Vincent Massey Online Giving \u0026amp; Ongoing Monthly Giving Options Living in the times that we do, having the option to give online and set up automatic monthly giving is a necessity. On every missionary\u0026rsquo;s website, there is a link for donors to be able to give either a one-time gift or sign up for an ongoing monthly gift of any amount. As a Calvary Chapel based ministry, we have a passion to see the nations reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word of God taught, lives touched, and people ministered to. If God is calling you, please don\u0026rsquo;t hesitate to contact us.\n\u0026raquo;\u0026gt;U.S. CITIZENS APPLY HERE\u0026raquo;\u0026gt; \u0026raquo;\u0026gt;INTERNATIONAL CITIZENS APPLY HERE\u0026raquo;\u0026gt; ","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/become-a-missionary/","summary":"\u003cp\u003eThe calling to missions is often overwhelming with the list of questions that seemingly have no answers. The anxieties of moving overseas and the realities of leaving your home, family, friends, and church. Then there is the staggeringly unclear task of raising support.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch3 id=\"_where-do-you-begin-who-do-you-talk-to-what-are-the-steps\"\u003e_Where do you begin?    Who do you talk to?    What are the steps?\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIs there anyone that can help?_\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSaving Grace World Missions (SGWM) is here for you. We exist with a passion to come alongside missionaries, specifically church planters, and their churches in order to help them get to the mission field AND be successful while they are there.\u003c/p\u003e","title":"Become A Missionary"},{"content":"Office Phone - (714) 993-4801 E-mail - office@sgwm.com Address - 17451 Bastanchury Rd. Suite 203 Yorba Linda Ca, 92886 - Google Maps Directions Office Hours\nMonday- CLOSED\nTuesday- 11am-5pm\nWednesday- 9am-5pm\nThursday- 9am-5pm\nFriday- 9am-5pm\nSaturday- CLOSED\nSunday- CLOSED\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/contact-us/","summary":"\u003ch3 id=\"office\"\u003eOffice\u003c/h3\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"phone---714-993-4801\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePhone\u003c/strong\u003e - (714) 993-4801\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"e-mail---officesgwmcom\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eE-mail\u003c/strong\u003e - \u003ca href=\"mailto:office@sgwm.com\"\u003eoffice@sgwm.com\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"address---17451-bastanchury-rd-suite-203-yorba-linda-ca-92886\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAddress\u003c/strong\u003e - 17451 Bastanchury Rd. Suite 203 Yorba Linda Ca, 92886\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003ch4 id=\"--google-maps-directions\"\u003e- \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/17451+Bastanchury+Rd,+Yorba+Linda,+CA+92886/@33.8998336,-117.8328836,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x80dcd3f59a6fdc2b:0xaafd4903b4eafba5!8m2!3d33.8998336!4d-117.8306896\"\u003eGoogle Maps\u003c/a\u003e \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/maps/place/17451+Bastanchury+Rd,+Yorba+Linda,+CA+92886/@33.8998336,-117.8328836,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x80dcd3f59a6fdc2b:0xaafd4903b4eafba5!8m2!3d33.8998336!4d-117.8306896\"\u003eDirections\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/h4\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOffice Hours\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMonday- CLOSED\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTuesday- 11am-5pm\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWednesday- 9am-5pm\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThursday- 9am-5pm\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFriday- 9am-5pm\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSaturday- CLOSED\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSunday- CLOSED\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003c/li\u003e\n\u003c/ul\u003e\n\u003cfigure\u003e\n    \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" src=\"/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/My-project-1-2.jpeg\"/\u003e \n\u003c/figure\u003e","title":"Contact Us"},{"content":"What Is The Mission of SGWM? Saving Grace World Missions exists to reach people of every tribe, tongue, and nation with the Gospel. Specifically, our vision is to reach those who are “unreached” (those who have never heard the Gospel) with the saving news of Jesus Christ.\nHow Does SGWM Fulfill That Mission? Saving Grace World Missions fulfills their vision to reach the “unreached” with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in three primary ways:\n1. Missionary Care SGWM is a sending organization for missionaries. This means that, among other services, we assist with practical, emotional, and spiritual needs of missionaries. Assistance with practical needs includes administrating the missionaries’ finances and communication of both their ministry needs and their needs with their supporters. Spiritually, we provide counseling, pastoral care, and ministry oversight to our missionaries.\n2. Raising Up Nationals We believe that the nationals of any people group are best able to reach their own people with the Gospel. Therefore, our vision is to raise up saved nationals as evangelistic leaders in their own native area. We do this by means of personal discipleship, pastors’ schools, and bible colleges in the countries we work in.\n3. Church Planting As a ministry of Calvary Chapel, we seek to follow the blueprint of missions work laid out in the book of Acts. This is through planting churches (in our case, Calvary Chapel\u0026rsquo;s) as hubs of Gospel work in a given area.\n","permalink":"https://archive.sgwm.com/about/","summary":"\u003ch2 id=\"what-is-the-mission-of-sgwm\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eWhat Is The Mission of SGWM?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSaving Grace World Missions exists to reach people of every tribe, tongue, and nation with the Gospel. Specifically, our vision is to reach those who are “unreached” (those who have never heard the Gospel) with the saving news of Jesus Christ.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003ch2 id=\"how-does-sgwm-fulfill-that-mission\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHow Does SGWM Fulfill That Mission?\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSaving Grace World Missions fulfills their vision to reach the “unreached” with the Gospel of Jesus Christ in three primary ways:\u003c/p\u003e","title":"About SGWM"}]